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Buffy The Vampire Slayer

The Lost Episode 20 1/2 - New Buffy Episode By Fan

Sunday 5 October 2003, by Webmaster

Buffy The Vampire Slayer "7-20½ : The Lost Episode"

TEASER

1. INT. DAWN’S BEDROOM—NIGHT

DAWN is sitting, curled up with her arms around her knees, in front of the mirror, desk, shelves combo in front of her big window. She is apparently talking to herself, still wearing her fetching red shirt and jeans she wore during the big confrontation, throw-Buffy-out scene. It is dark, she has lit two small votive candles, on either side of the mirror. Mirror has a LARGE PICTURE of Joyce, Dawn, and Buffy taped over the upper left corner.

2.ANGLE : DAWN’S POV OF HER REFLECTION, BESIDE PICTURE.

Dawn’s focus is on her own face.

DAWN Nothing seems real tonight. Or everything seems too real. Everyone was fighting, and now they’re all…busy. And nothing’s better.

She turns her gaze towards Joyce in the picture, gets a little weepy, but tries not to.

DAWN I miss you so much. I need you. I still don’t know what to do without you.

Now she does break down, but just a little.

ANGLE : Widening, shows reflection and picture framed in mirror, against what is beside and behind mirror : teenaged girl stuff, big window, small view of Sunnydale exodus continuing, people across streets packing their cars, people walking quickly with suitcases.

DAWN I’m still too young to not have a Mom. I guess nobody’s ever ready for their mom to die. But I don’t think most people have to face as many of these days of reckoning as I do… Or maybe they do.

Sounds float in of ANYA SCREAMING, in a good way, whooo-hooo, and various types of headboard BANGING.

DAWN Nothing seems real. I’m not real, remember ? I was a glowy ball of magic, or something. I wasn’t real, but all the memories that you and me and Buffy had seemed more real to us than me being a ball of…mystic goo. If what we remember, what’s in our own minds, isn’t what makes something real, then what makes it real ?

3. ANGLE : Just Dawn, sitting in front of the mirror. As she speaks next lines, view starts to widen. She continues to speak to reflection /picture that we can’t see now.

DAWN Sometimes it doesn’t seem real to me that you’ll never be alive again. I was too young for you to leave. And, when you left then all I had was …I’m trying so hard to grow up… (Tears flowing now, but she is calm.)But, if growing up means that you just keep having to be strong enough to lose the people you love the most…then, I’m just not ready to lose everything, to be strong enough to be only me. They even made me out of her, you know ?…they made me out of Buffy…ness, so no matter what you think is real, me and Buffy…And if I don’t have Buffy… ? So, maybe this isn’t real. Maybe, none of this is real. Maybe I didn’t just throw Buffy out…

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? (VO) Shhhh, it’s going to be OK, honey…

ANGLE : WIDENING. We see that JOYCE/THE FIRST ? is sitting, comfortably, like she belongs there and has been there a long time, behind Dawn, at the head of Dawn’s bed, with her feet curled up under her. A comfy mother/ daughter chat.

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? I know it’s hard, but you did the right thing. I’m so, so proud of you, honey…

BLACK OUT.

END OF TEASER


ACT ONE

4. EXT. SUNNYDALE—NIGHT. CAMERA pans through running feet, all the way to the wreck and, even in the middle of the night, traffic madness of downtown Sunnydale. We see that demons and monsters are starting, more and more, to creep out into the open, undisguised, to loot and pillage, or to have a Hazelnut Crème Soda at Starbucks. We zoom back to…

5. EXT. SUMMERS NEIGHBORHOOD. Sunnydale exodus is continuing. Frightened families bicker, people on foot are running or getting into fights, random cars driving over the speed limit honk at each other. We travel through them to…

6. EXT. SUMMERS HOUSE. OUTSIDE DAWNS WINDOW. Dawn is looking out.

7. INT. DAWN"S BEDROOM, POV OVER DAWNS SHOULDER. Dawn is standing at the window. Joyce/The First ? is hovering next to her, looking protective and concerned, out of view from the outside.

DAWN I should go find her…

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? Sweetheart, she needs this. Think about how not really here she’s been, she needs time. Dawnie, I know you’re scared but don’t take that away from her. I’m here.

DAWN I need to talk to her…(Turns and looks at Joyce/The First ?) I need to figure out what’s going on. What if you disappear again ? I haven’t seen you in weeks…I know you want to protect me, but you’re…

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? Dead. I know, honey, you don’t have to tell me. I’m sorry, I can only come to you when you need me most…

DAWN Then why are you here now, if everything is OK ?

JOYCE(THE FIRST) I didn’t say everything was OK. I said that your sister needs a break, it will help bring her back down to earth.

DAWN I don’t think it was right…

JOYCE(THE FIRST) (Earnest) Baby, you did the right thing. Most of the time the right thing isn’t the easy thing. I wouldn’t lie to you. I know. (looking away from DAWN, out at Sunnydale.) Everyone is doing what has to be done.

8. ANGLE : Back out the window.. Camera pans across the lawn and back through the window to…

9. INT SUMMERS HOUSE- KITCHEN-NIGHT.

ANYA and XANDER are lying on the floor beside the counter in the kitchen. Anya is lying with her head on Xander’s chest. They are both obviously completely naked, although we only see them from the shoulders up, as this is not cable. Their cloths lie strewn about them. They are aglow.

XANDER Now, that’s the way to go out…I’m so ready to die happy now.

ANYA Well, yes. This is far preferable to disembowelment, decapitation, even drowning, which I hear really isn’t really that bad…

XANDER I’m still gonna go with sex…

ANYA We’d be together, which wouldn’t be guaranteed if we drowned…

XANDER What with the currents and all…

ANYA (Pause) I’m serious though. If we have to die, I hope we die together. …Of course, I hope more that we both just don’t die.

XANDER Me too ! It’s like we have one soul…

ANYA (Thoughtful) No, wait, I change my mind…

XANDER Ummm, I don’t.

ANYA Even if I die, I don’t want you to die. I love you, I don’t want you to die, no matter what… I think this is a break through for me. Do you think it is ?

XANDER (Affectionately) Could be.

ANYA You know, my humanity blossoming in the face of eminent doom, finally learning the true meaning of love ? Or maybe that’s sentimental tripe…

XANDER Or maybe you’ve been hanging out with Andrew waaaaay too much …

ANYA …forget I said anything…I’m in such a weird mood …let’s both not die.

XANDER I think it’s a brilliant plan.(pause) I wouldn’t, you know… want to live without you…I think I’d be lost…

ANYA Well, if I die you’re just going to have to. No sentimental romanticism for us. Life goes on…(suddenly serious) Promise me…

XANDER What ?

ANYA That life will go on. If you die, or if I die…that life’s going to go on ? That who ever’s left will keep on going… ?

XANDER I promise.(Dramatic pause.) It always has before…we’ve always…we…

XANDER stops, and becomes pensive, remembering who we includes. Suddenly, noises of rapidly approaching Potentials ring out.

ANYA and XANDER (Together) Oh, shhi…..

10. INT. DOOR INTO KITCHEN-NIGHT-CONTINOUS

A gaggle of Potentials are entering the kitchen, all talking at once. XANDER and ANYA are nowhere to be seen.

RANDOM POTENTIAL SLAYER #1 I don’t think we should be doing this…Kennedy said that we would be in grave danger if we left the basement tonight…

RANDOM POTENTIAL SLAYER #2 I don’t care…we’re always in grave danger…I’m so hungry… I think it’s almost that time of the month…I’m in such a nasty mood…

RANDOM POTENTIAL SLAYER #1 Kennedy said almost certain death, that there was a Mumfredaugh Death Curse affecting any of us above ground…

From the other side of the KITCHEN ISLAND we see an Anya arm reach out and grab a few remaining items of clothing that were still in view. Fortunately the Potential gaggle stays on the REFRIGERATOR side. The gaggle are raiding the refrigerator.

RANDOM POTENTIAL SLAYER#3 I wonder why everybody else in the house can stay up stairs without the grave danger…

RONA (To VI) Grave danger of being bitch slapped into tomorrow by Kennedy if you bother her right now….

VI Or of awakening Dark Willow…whoooo…

RONA (Looking in freezer) I’m thinking Dark Rona may awaken if I don’t get some ice cream.

VI Wasn’t that Dark Rona who awoke earlier ? Remember, kicking out the woman who saved all our lives. Or are you ragging too ?

ANYA arm, unseen by potentials, reaches up and snatches ice cream container from the far side of KITCHEN ISLAND.

RANDOM POTENTIAL SLAYER #1 (Giving in to panic) Alright, just grab the food and go…come on… we’re all gonna die, go, go go !

They all run. Rona and Vi are last to go.

RANDOM POTENTIAL SLAYER #3 (On her way out) Where is everybody ? Do you think the Mumfredbla got them ?

RONA I didn’t hear you defending her at the time…

VI (Puzzled) I know…

They leave.

CAMERA pans down.

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? (VO) No one can be strong all the time. Most of the time, we’re not. We’re not 100%, we’re not our best selves, we’re not ready for what happens…

11. CAMERA pans to KITCHEN FLOOR. Xander is scrambling to cover himself with his stray bits of cloths. Anya is eating her melty ice cream and laughing.

JOYCE(THE FIRST) (VO)Most of the time, honey, we don’t even know who we really are…or who we could become…

12. INT. SUMMERS BATHROOM. WILLOW in a fuzzy bathrobe is looking shyly at herself in the mirror, like a woman who just had her world rocked. Unexpectantly she frowns, peers closer, touches her hair line lightly, realizing that she has about a centimeter of dark roots.

JOYCE(THE FIRST) It’s not easy to be your best, Dawnie, it’s nearly impossible. We have those moments when we are truly alive, , but most of the time, we’re tired, thinking about anything but the present moment, unprepared for what’s next. It’s so easy to believe you’re a failure…

13. INT. BASEMENT. The Floor is covered with sleeping potentials in sleeping bags, including the Kitchen Gang, who were very hyper not long ago. They look cute and angelic and fairly helpless in their sleep, as children usually do. CAMERA pans to GILES, sitting on the stairs, with a book in one hand, which he is not reading, and a drink, which he is not drinking. He watches over the sleeping girls.

JOYCE(THE FIRST) And sweetie, the older you get, the harder it is to know what’s right, to know what you need, to let yourself feel what you really feel…

14. WEIRD DREAM MONTAGE -with flashes of : the time BUFFY had to kill ANGEL, DAWN on that big TOWER THING from season five, GILES making BUFFY stare into the crystal thing from season three, we also get a glimpse of the white haired PRIESTESS who shows up next episode, a shot of her in a weird silver light circle with others like her, glowy glimpse of SYTH THINGY coming into being in the middle, WILLIAM(Human SPIKE)and then JOYCE talking to BUFFY. There is a dialogue montage as well, we hear "You could never hope to grasp the source of our power." "you are full of love…death is your gift" "You think you know. What’s to come, what you are… You haven’t even begun." We see that WILLIAM and JOYCE are saying things but we can’t quite make it out. Then…

JOYCE (VO) Let yourself feel what you really feel….

15. INT. RANDOM BEDROOM OF GUY BUFFY SCARED AWAY-NIGHT. CAMERA starts at Buffy and Spike’s legs, completely intertwined, pans up to Buffy and Spike with their arms tightly around each other, like people on a life raft that’s only big enough for one. Buffy rests her head against Spike’s chest, her eyes are wide open, Spike’s chin is right above Buffy’s head, he stares straight in front of him.

BUFFY Are you awake ?

SPIKE Hey ! I thought you were sleeping.

BUFFY I was. I had the weirdest dream.(laughs…well, giggles actually.)

SPIKE Well, aren’t you the merry little sprite….imagine how good you’d feel if you slept for more than an hour…don’t you humans need sleep ?

BUFFY Do vampires ? You know, I’ve always wondered.

SPIKE Depends…

BUFFY You seem to nap a lot…naked. (She giggles again)

SPIKE What ?

BUFFY This dream I had…you were in it…and you were(giggling) like this, I don’t know, Masterpiece Theater guy, and you had cloths on that had lace on them, and little wire glasses, like Victorian England’s answer to Urkel, isn’t that bizarre ?

SPIKE Completely.

BUFFY I wonder where the heck that came from…

SPIKE No idea.

BUFFY (Remembering more of the dream) The really weird thing… you, or the Urkel You, told me "Don’t be afraid to be ruled by love…." Which is, well, kinda cute, and a little hokey, but also, it felt almost like something from one of my trippy prophetic slayer dreams…

SPIKE (Alert) Did I say anything else ?

BUFFY Not really, you kinda morphed into my Mom, which was weird, and then she told me that love can save us or destroy us….

SPIKE Good thing these prophecy dreams of yours are so unambiguous.

BUFFY Yeah, heaven forbid I know what they meant before it’s too late. But, I don’t think this was one…it was more of a really tired slayer napping on her ex-evil, ex-boyfriend who is undead type of dream.

SPIKE Not that I’m complaining, but why are you so chipper all of a sudden, considering…

BUFFY I know…I think I’ve just gotten punchy…giddy…because I’m so lost…but I feel like something’s lifted…something like a fog or a weight, something dark that was over everything…and its gone…for now…

CUT TO 17.INT. KITCHEN FLOOR. XANDER AND ANYA are now fully clothed. XANDER is finishing the ice cream. ANYA is cleaning up mess from Potential swarm.

ANYA It is weird, you know ?

XANDER What, in particular ?

ANYA All those things I said to Buffy…it felt good at the time… it felt like it was a long time coming…like it was one of my uncomfortable truths that no one wants to hear, but that I say anyway…(pauses)

XANDER (Puzzled, trying to be helpful) Everybody’s good at something…

ANYA But Xander ! It wasn’t true ! What I said…about her not having earned it…she has, by now, I mean, how many times has she sacrificed herself to save others…how many times has she saved the world ?

XANDER Well yeah…there is that…

ANYA And that’s just what you said…right before you all went to the winery and you got you’re eye gauged out…

XANDER Which does tend to change a guy’s perspective…

ANYA But, not that much. I mean, how long have you been doing this, Xander ? It’s a wonder you never got seriously injured, or killed, before now, and you always knew the risks… I mean, you did lose something that’s a big deal, and maybe there would be some small, spiteful part of you that would blame Buffy for it, some mean little part, tucked away where nobody can see. But Xander, I know you, better than anyone, and that part of you is way smaller than it is in the rest of us…what we did…it was…

XANDER (Realization starts hitting) Cowardly.

ANYA It wasn’t you-not really, and I pride myself on my forthrightness…but what I said was…vindictive…

XANDER (Realization is really hitting now) Like something was bringing out the worst in us.

ANYA (Suddenly very afraid) Which led us to throw out our greatest warrior…

XANDER …possibly the only one who can save us…

CUT TO

18. INT. DAWN’S BEDROOM.—NIGHT

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? People let fear, and ignorance, and hurt keep them from doing what they have to do. But you didn’t.

DAWN I just stabbed my sister in the back…you’re her Mom too…

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? And I want you both to be safe…sometimes more than I want you to save the world…

DAWN Buffy saves the world.

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? Dawn, there’s another reason that I’m here. I have to tell you something that I don’t want to…something I want to protect you from…something you have to do that’s dangerous, that I don’t want you to have to do…

DAWN What ! ? ! What is it ? ?

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? I have to tell you something that no one else knows…that no one else has figured out…Dawn, I know that Buffy is usually the chosen one…but this time, she’s not…she can’t stop this thing…that’s why you had to send her away…because she’s powerless, and she’llget killed, for good, if you don’t do something. This time the chosen one is you.

DAWN I’m not a potential, Mom, that’s already been sorted out.

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? No, not chosen as a slayer-you’re the key, Dawn-you’re still the key-you still house mystical powers that the others have no clue about…that they can’t begin to understand…

DAWN I’m the key..

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? You are the power to open up the barriers between worlds, and to shut them…

DAWN Shut them ?

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? Yes, shut them. Like the hellmouth. Dawn, I was sent here to tell you that if your blood touches the seal…then the hellmouth well be closed forever.

DAWN Forever…

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? And Sunnydale will become a normal town…just like every other town…

CLOSE ON DAWN. BLACK OUT. END OF ACT ONE.


ACT TWO 19. INT. SUMMER HOUSE-HALLWAY-NIGHT. Willow is coming out of the bathroom in her cute fluffy robe. She has a BIG HEADBAND on (it covers her roots). Xander and Anya rush up to her.

XANDER Willow ! There you are ! How ya feelin’ ?

WILLOW (Embarrassed) Xaaander ! You silly head ! Get away.

ANYA No-he’s not asking because of his ongoing puerile interest in lesbian relations-well not just that…

XANDER Yes, there are more important things going on here than girl nookie…

WILLOW (Sympathetically)Never thought you’d hear yourself say that, did ya ?

XANDER You know, I really didn’t.

WILLOW Definitely one of the signs…

XANDER The end is indeed nigh.

ANYA Back on topic, Xander.

XANDER Right. Feelin’ good Will ?

WILLOW I don’t feel bad.

XANDER Right. Where’s Buffy ?

WILLOW Buff…

ANYA Yes. You remember her, the third part of you’re deeply annoying trio ? The trio that would all share the same super sized calzone and a liter of Dr. Pepper, like a disgusting pack of dogs…

XANDER I don’t think dogs drink Dr. Pepper.

WILLOW They prefer Mr. Pibb…he’s so much less pretentious.

ANYA Topic !

XANDER Will, where’s our Buffy ?

WILLOW (Slowly) We…threw her our ?

20.INT. BEDROOM OF GUY BUFFY SCARED AWAY-NIGHT. Buffy and Spike’s positions have changed (he, he, not like that !). Buffy is sitting up looking very alert and puzzled. Spike is sitting off the side of the bed, his back to her, with his head in his hands.

BUFFY (Slowly)You wore cloths with puffy lace on them…

SPIKE (Sighs)And spectacles, and I carried little handkerchiefs…

BUFFY Because you were a member of the gentry…

SPIKE And, for the eleventh time, yes…

BUFFY And you wrote poetry…

SPIKE Erghhh…

BUFFY …and your favorite form was the couplet…and you lived with your mother…and you found violence, and bad hygiene, unseemly…and Drusilla was your first…anything ?

SPIKE Yes, yes, yes…

BUFFY (Looking at him, sadly, affectionately) And you were only 19 when you died ?

SPIKE (Returns her gaze) Yes.

BUFFY (Pensive, surprised) Younger than I am now.

SPIKE And I basically stayed at that maturity level until I fell in love with you…are we caught up now ? Please ?

BUFFY (Smiling to herself) I may need a moment…

SPIKE Buffy, We did not just have this excruciatingly painful share time for your entertainment.

BUFFY It’s a killer perk though…

SPIKE I told you all this, at great expense to what I have been working towards for the past 100 some odd years, because I did not want you to ignore the dream you had. There might be a key in it… something you need to know…

BUFFY (Dismissive) It was all a rush of things…voices…things from my past… it could mean anything. Who knows ?

SPIKE You know, Buffy. Have you already forgotten my touching monologue ? You’re the one. Whatever you need to know, you already know, somewhere (he points to her head) here, or (points to her heart) here…so what is it ? Look inside yourself…you already know…

BUFFY takes a moment

BUFFY (Very slowly, thoughtfully) There was something wrong with my friends…

SPIKE Well, now, that is a revelation, so glad that I just exposed all my darkest, most embarrassing secrets…

BUFFY No, I mean…they weren’t themselves…like they were sick with something…

SPIKE Well, yeah, sick with being jealous, spiteful, and treacherous …

BUFFY Exactly ! And their not so much …

SPIKE (Getting it) Like they were being influenced by something.

BUFFY Yeah…I guess…

SPIKE You know, that does kinda make sense…see, that boy, Andrew, I just spent more quality time with him than I ever want to again, but the thing is…while he might have perfected the art of being annoying…he doesn’t seem to me like someone who could become a killer…of course, anyone who met me as a human would have thought the same thing…

BUFFY Anyone who met me before I became the Slayer wouldn’t have thought I could ever become anything…

SPIKE Also, Rupert trying to kill me. I have to admit, deep inside, I was a bit shocked.

BUFFY One of the things in my dreams !-it was this thing-my senior year, when I turned 18, Giles had to trick me with this crystal, this thing the Council had been doing for years that he didn’t want to do, and he finally told the council to go to hell and they fired him, they said he had a fathers love for me…

SPIKE So something is making everyone into an evil bitch…three guesses who-the first two don’t count…go…

BUFFY (Deep in thought) But that’s not all. There was something wrong with me.

SPIKE What’s that ? Do you just ignore everything I say ?

Spike lays back down on the bed, head behind hands, still listening to her.

BUFFY No-when it was all going down, I kept going on about being the one voice, and the leader, I’ve just been so into this isolation trip, all this ’it’s lonely as a drill sergeant’ stuff… and it feels true sometimes, but the one voice thing, that’s bull poop…

SPIKE Please watch the language, I’m easily offended, remember ?

BUFFY I’ve never done this on my own, as one voice, there were always these three other equally loud voices, at the least. Except the time I jumped off a tower built by crazy people, that was all me …

SPIKE I remember.

Moment. Buffy crawls back across bed, curls up on SPIKE. They re-wrap arms around each other.

BUFFY That’s what’s been different about Sunnydale, different about me. I had a family and friends, it took a village to raise this slayer…twice. You said it yourself, they tied me to life…and I just told them that I was the one voice ! What was I on ?

SPIKE Evil ?

BUFFY (Sighs)I’m so sick of this town.

They gaze into one anothers eyes, silently. They are as they were.

21. INT. SUMMERS HOUSE-KITCHEN-NIGHT. GILES is standing with his arm on the KITCHEN ISLAND. He is cleaning his glasses and putting them back on. WILLOW and XANDER are supplicating. ANYA is jumpy. Realization is hitting Giles.

GILES I allowed you to ostracize my slayer…

XANDER Allowed ? I’m recalling some distinctly British ostracizing…

ANYA That was Spike, sweetie, and it was directed at us…

XANDER No, before that…

GILES And if I hadn’t sent that pup away, he would have been affected like the rest of us, right back in the thrall of the First…

XANDER Yes. That 129 year old pup sure is lucky he has you…

ANYA has walked to the WINDOW over the SINK and is peering through the drapes.

ANYA Things are getting really disturbing outside.

WILLOW joins her, peeps over her shoulder.

WILLOW It’s the hellmouth, its getting all pumped for some reason.

ANYA And all we have is an ex-con and a herd of frightened little girls who believe in the Mummumdoh Death spell…

WILLOW Hey, very powerful Wicca right here…

ANYA Nice headband.

WILLOW gives ANYA cute frowny reaction, then turns to GILES.

WILLOW Giles, what are we gonna do ?

GILES tries to start to answer, then ANDREW walks in.

ANDREW Hello all. Is there any ice cream left ? And do any of you know why Dawn is walking through the streets towards the highschool, talking to someone who’s not there ?

CUT TO 22. EXT. STREETS OF SUNNYDALE NIGHT. Demons, vampires, regular people, and some sorta weird people are all randomly swooping by doing weird things. Dawn and Joyce/The First ? are walking together. A group of vampires go past them. CAMERA moves with them.

VAMPIRE 1 Whooo hooo, Party on the Hellmouth !

VAMPIRE 2 Party now or forever hold your pieces !

VAMPIRE 3 (To Vampire 2)Oh my God, you are soooo drunk.

VAMPIRE 4 (Peeved) Which means that, once again, we have no designated driver.

VAMPIRE 3 Hey, I’m not the one who staked Danny over a pair of thigh high boots, OK ?

They pass drunkenly by. CAMERA moves back over them and rushes back to :

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? Remember our first Halloween in Sunnydale ?

DAWN That’s just what I was thinking about !

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? You were nine, and we didn’t know Buffy was the Slayer yet…

DAWN And I went as a vampire…

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? …and we couldn’t figure out why she was so disturbed by it…

They both crack up.

DAWN I stopped dressing up after you died…I guess I was too old for it anyway…

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? You had to grow up really quick...I wish I could have…

DAWN It’s OK, it’s not like you died on purpose, you know. But, it’s so awesome having you here, it almost makes me wish I always had some mission, and you would never leave…

JOYCE I wish that too, honey. More than you can imagine.

An irate couple of normal human Sunnydale residents pass by.

WIFE You could have asked him for directions…

HUSBAND Honey, that guy had horns sticking out of his head, and I think he was purple…

WIFE But he obviously knew the way out of town…

HUSBAND I don’t think we can leave the way he did… I’ve never disappeared in a puff of smoke, have you ?

WIFE Well, have you ever tried ?

They pass by.

DAWN So, once I bleed on the seal thingy, Sunnydale’s gonna be a normal town ?

CLOSE ON : Joyce/The First ? looks ahead, hope on her face, the high school is coming into view.

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? Almost there, baby.

23.WINERY. Basement where the BRINGERS are trying to unearth something. Buffy/The First is coming in and out of focus, like bad TV reception, or like she is being beamed down, unsuccessfully.

CALEB There you are ! And aren’t, again. Mind tellin’ me what’s goin’ on ?

BUFFY/THE FIRST Men. You’re all so high maintenance. I’m a very busy original evil.

CALEB Fine. I don’t care what you’re doin’. (He’s lying.)

BUFFY/ THE FIRST Look, I’ll be back soon.

CALEB I don’t care if you are. If you’re not even gonna share what evil you’re doing, so that we can all enjoy…

BUFFY/THE FIRST Next time, I’ll bring enough evil for the whole class, I promise. Now, listen, I don’t have very much time, this is taking all my energy…

CALEB Well, maybe if you accepted some help…

BUFFY/THE FIRST Only I can do this. I’ll tell you all about it, when I get back. I may be able to get stage two going, finally…

CALEB That’s a criticism of me, isn’t it ? You’re the one that wasted time with the murder nerd and the vampire…

BUFFY/THE FIRST Caleb ! I can’t stay, I’m getting drained…just watch that (indicates the digging site) the Slayer is having dreams about it…and if she gets it…

CALEB She won’t. I told you. I’ll kill her first. Promise.

BUFFY/THE FIRST That’s my boy.

She(it) vanishes. CALEB sits on a wine keg, looking a little disgruntled.

CUT TO 24.STREETS OF SUNNYDALE-NIGHT. Giles, Willow, Anya, Xander, and Andrew are rushing after Dawn. The streets of Sunnydale remain wacky.

XANDER And when you saw her talking to nothing, it didn’t pop into your mind, the possibility that it was the First…

ANDREW Talking to Dawn ? Well, no, Dawn’s not evil…is she ?

GILES Not as far as we know, no.

ANDREW Right. So, Dawn wouldn’t talk to the First…

ANYA But she would talk to nothing ?

ANDREW Well, who would it be, anyway ?

XANDER That is a puzzle, lets see, is there anyone really close to Dawn, who’s dead ? Anyone she’s already claimed to have seen and talked to ?

WILLOW You mean Joyce ? You think it’s talking to Dawn as Joyce…

XANDER Well, yeah.

WILLOW But…but...that’s …so evil !

XANDER It’s not the First Kinda Naughty, Will.

GILES Come on, people, hurry, we have no idea what its convinced her to do, and without Buffy here to…

ANDREW Save Dawn like she always does ? You know, gang, I wasn’t gonna say anything, but that mutiny idea was a little …

ANYA Evil ? First influenced ? Yeah, thanks for catching us up…

ANDREW Ooooooh, so, the less evils than thous aren’t quite as…unevil as they thought, hmmm ?

XANDER I’m evil enough to kill you right now.

ANDREW And that would be just what it wants, manipulatable one.

GILES Children ! Dawn in peril ! Focus ! The drunk Vampire pack from earlier stumbles past them.

VAMPIRE 1 (singing) It’s the end of the world as we know it…

VAMPIRE 3 (Drunkenly, to Vampire 4) Nobody’s going to want to hang with you if you keep dusting your friends…you create your own isolation…

VAMPIRE 4 So, you think I should just condone driving irresponsibly…He’d fed on, like, six really drunk people !

VAMPIRE 1 And I feel fiiiiiiiiiine…

As they pass, WILLOW gets a little behind, then she hears a ’psssssst’

25. SUNNYDALE-NIGHT-CONTINUOS We only see WILLOW now, alone in the street, looking around, and she sees a ghostly TARA, beckoning to her from an alley.

WILLOW (Very unhappy) Oh my god ! No ! No, no, no ! Not that ! You …you don’t know what you’re messing with…or maybe you do….

TARA (Her voice is all vibrate-y, like disco.) No, honey, no…I’m not it…I’m really me…see…

She reaches out her ghostly hand, and it merges with Willow, a wave of glowy white light washes over Willow, lighting her from within for a moment.

WILLOW (Devastated) Tara ? …Tara ?

TARA Shhh.

WILLOW (Completely breaking down) Tara ?

Ghostly Tara is crying too.

TARA I can’t stay long…

WILLOW But how ?

TARA You, you called me. You brought me forth. You are so powerful, you still don’t realize…

WILLOW (Touching her hair band) But…I can’t…

TARA It’s you’re guilt, you’re guilt has so much power, it summoned me here. You gave yourself to her in a way you never have, before tonight…in a way you wouldn’t let yourself…

WILLOW (Sobbing) I can’t…

TARA You can. You’re still alive, Willow. Besides, she’s a total cutie.

WILLOW I can’t, Tara. I tried. It’ so awful..but..I don’t love her..not the way I loved you, I’ll never love anyone the way I loved you…

TARA I know. We never love any two people the same way, and that’s OK. It’s your guilt, Willow, your self hatred that’s turning your hair black…and your heart. You have to let go…let me go…

WILLOW I can’t…

TARA You’re still alive, Willow, and I’m not…

WILLOW Don’t leave me, Tara, not yet…

TARA I’ll be with you, always, but you have to go, find the others. They won’t win without you, Willow. I’ve seen it, the big fight is almost here.

She starts to fade.

WILLOW Not yet ! Tara please, not yet ! I’m not ready.

TARA You will be. Go !

She’s gone. WILLOW is frozen for a moment. Then she turns and runs.

26. SUNNYDALE HIGH SCHOOL_BASEMENT. DAWN is standing over the seal, holding a knife to her arm.

JOYCE/THE FIRST Don’t be scared baby, it will only hurt for a minute, and then this will all finally be over…

Dawn starts to cut open her palm.

BLACK OUT

END ACT TWO.

ACT THREE

27. CAMERA pans across ground, accompanied by a SOUND like RUNNING FEET .DEAD LEAVES flutter across pavement.

CLOSE ON : SUNNYDALE HIGH SCHOOL SIGN.

28.EXT. SUNNYDALE HIGHSCHOOL-NIGHT.

Giles, Anya, Xander, and Andrew are standing around outside the highschool, looking a little lost. Unlike every other part of Sunnydale, it is quiet, hushed, almost normal. Willow joins them.

GILES Seems…

XANDER Peaceful ?

ANYA Are you sure this is where she was going ?

ANDREW Ahhh, no.

WILLOW But you saw her…

XANDER Are you sure she wasn’t just talking to herself ? I do that sometimes…

ANYA It’s true, he does.

XANDER Yeah. Maybe she was just going for a walk during the apocalypse and talking to herself about it. What’s wrong with me ? Is the First Stupid an entity, does any one know ?

GILES Perhaps we should go back to the house, retrace our, or her, steps…

ANDREW This is such a weird night. Long, too.

CLOSE ON : WILLOW, she is suddenly staring into the distance intently.

29.ANGLE : WILLOW’S POV We see ghostly TARA at the doors to the high school, beckoning urgently. Just as suddenly she vanishes.

30. ANGLE : WILLOW among entire group.

WILLOW We need to go inside. Now.

CUT TO :

31. INT. SUNNYDALE HIGHSCHOOL BASEMENT-NIGHT CLOSE ON : DAWN’S HAND, Which is filling with blood, hovering over THE SEAL.

32. ANGLE : DAWN IS STANDING on the SEAL, she holds a small, growing pool of blood in her hand, which she is gazing at..

DAWN It just looks like ordinary blood, you know ?

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? Nothing about you is ordinary.

DAWN I thought I wouldn’t feel it, that I’d be numb.. but ouch ! This hurts !

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? It wouldn’t be real if it didn’t.

XANDER (VO) DAWN ! Don’t !

33. ANGLE : DAWNS POV OF : Giles, Willow, Xander, Amya, and Andrew bursting into the SEAL room. Xander runs to Dawn and grabs her, pulling her off the seal. As he does her hand flies backwards and a thick line of blood falls across the floor, but not on the SEAL. Dawn pulls herself away from Xander and edges slowly back towards the seal during the following exchange.

XANDER Dawn ! NO !

GILES Dawn, that’s not your mother.

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? So, you’re here to undermine my parenting again, Rupert ?

GILES You’re not Joyce.

JOYCE/THE FIRST I’m as much Joyce as you are Rupert Giles. You still think that you’re judgement is better than mine. That you can take away my rights as a parent because of your egoistic sacred quest ?

GILES (Less sure.)You’re…not Joyce.

JOYCE/THE FIRST So, now that Buffy’s outgrown you, you’re moving on to Dawn. Is that it ? God, why don’t you just get a girlfriend ?

GILES You mean like your ex-husband ?

XANDER (Behind his hand) Ouu ! Buuurn.

ANYA (Poking Giles) Are you sure you’re corporeal ?

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? Don’t listen to them, they don’t understand.

DAWN Guys, its not the First, it really is my mom. I can feel it. I’m sure of it. She came because she had to tell me…

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? I don’t think they’ll understand…

DAWN I can end everything…I can stop the First…

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? Honey, they always underestimate you. They don’t understand how strong you are.

DAWN It’s because I’m the key. Remember all that ?

ANYA Dawn, you’re a very special girl, even without super powers. Just like me.

DAWN It’s not about super powers-my blood has weird mystic properties, remember ?

GILES Which is a really good reason for you not to spill it on the seal of hell, there. Blood opens it, releases the Turakhan, Dawn, whatever this phantom has told you…

JOYCE/THE FIRST Please, you have no idea what you are talking about, you do not understand this situation, Rupert. You can’t possibly…

WILLOW Dawnie, I know it hurts. I know its like a hole, right in your middle, and you walk around with it, and you act like its not there, that life is going on. But its always there, and you don’t know who you are, without that person. We just need time, Dawnie. But this…this thing won’t help you, its telling you to do something that will kill us all.

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? That’s not true, I would never do anything to hurt her. I’m the one person who wouldn’t. I’m here to protect her. A mother’s love never dies.

WILLOW God, that’s just sick. You’re sick ! You..evil…evil.

ANYA (Enthusiastically.) Yes. You tell it, Willow ! Evil evil ! !

DAWN I swear, it’s my mom. I can tell, I can feel it in my gut.

XANDER Dawn, I know you miss your Mom. We all do. But that’s not her. You have to move away from the demonic manhole cover, now. That’s not your Mom.

ANDREW Not all of her.

Everyone else-huh ?. By this time Dawn has edged pretty close to the SEAL, everyone else is standing back, as they talk to her, as though they are afraid to make any sudden moves. ANDREW walks to her, but makes no move to pull her away.

ANDREW It wouldn’t work if it wasn’t some of her. You wouldn’t do what it says…if you couldn’t sense the one you love, the one you lost… the one you need to know still exists, somehow, some place, or else you’re lost.

JOYCE/THE FIRST Have we met ?

ANDREW Ummm, at the drama club bake sell once, you said my butterscotch chip cookies were the best you ever tasted. I gave you the recipe…

JOYCE/THE FIRST I don’t remember…

ANDREW You wouldn’t. It didn’t really involve your darker half…

DAWN Mom didn’t have a darker half. Maybe a partly cloudy half, at the worst.

ANDREW (To Joyce/The First ?) I’ve worked for the First, too. But I was weak, and sad, and lost. And…uhh… a little confused. Why are you doing it ?

JOYCE/THE FIRST Please, all of you. Let her do what she has to…

During the following dialogue, Andrew keeps trying to take Dawn’s hand and wrap it in a part of his shirt that he has ripped off. She won’t let him.

GILES Why ? Why does she have to do this ? She’s a child, an innocent. And you’re not Joyce, Joyce was a loving, strong woman. You, whatever you are, are willing to sacrifice a child.

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? You would assume that. After all, you’re always willing to sacrifice other people’s lives, other people’s children aren’t you, Rupert ?

XANDER Dawn, do you really believe that your mom would want you to do something that will get you killed ?

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? (Loosing it !) She won’t get killed ! If her blood opens the seal, the Turakhan can’t touch her ! She’ll survive !

Reaction beat. Joyce/The First ? wishes she hadn’t just said that.

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? I mean…

She flickers. CUT TO :

34. WINERY-NIGHT-CONTINUOS Caleb is sitting looking bored, drinking a glass of wine, as the BRINGERS toil at their digging project.

CALEB I’d offer y’all some, but, you know, you’re minions and I don’t really like you.

BUFFY/THE FIRST flickers in and out.

CALEB Well, hey there, stranger. Whoops, where’d ya go ?

BUFFY/THE FIRST You’re really getting bored aren’t you. Nothing to do, no one to play with. Not enough evil to wreck on the world ?

CALEB You know, you sound kinda like an infomercial, for hell. It’s very persuasive.

BUFFY/THE FIRST Don’t you want to help me ?

CALEB You know, I’ll do anything you ask. I once was lost, but then I found you.

BUFFY/THE FIRST Are you drunk ?

CALEB This is my second glass !

BUFFY/THE FIRST Nevermind. I’ve got a little field work for some of your boys.

CUT TO :

35. INT. SUNNYDALE HIGH BASEMENT-NIGHT

CLOSE ON : DAWN and JOYCE are standing very close, Dawn is staring desperately into Joyce/The First’s face.

DAWN Opens the seal ?

ANDREW Wait…I didn’t know that…

Realization is hitting Dawn. She is crying.

DAWN My mom wouldn’t lie…

Dawn allows Andrew to bandage her hand.

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? Oh, honey. I lied all the time. I knew there was a high risk of aneurysm after the operation. I made the doctors hide it from both of you. And that time that you found me and your Chemistry teacher with half our cloths off, it wasn’t because the air conditioning was broken…

ANYA I think we should get out of here now. Dawn, are you ready ? Dawn is still staring at Joyce/The First ? and doesn’t seem to hear her.

XANDER Dawnie, please come home. I’ll take care of you, I promise.

DAWN I know. But, maybe, that’s not what I need…

DAWN takes a step towards him.

ANYA (Encouragingly.) And we can talk about that. We can define exactly what your needs are somewhere far, far away from the boiling hellmouth you are about to let loose upon the largely unsuspecting world

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? (Desperate) Leave her alone, you don’t care about her. None of you, do. Not enough. Not even you, Xander. You’d chose your demon over her, any day.

XANDER (To Dawn) No, I wouldn’t.

ANYA What !

XANDER Choose ! I wouldn’t choose, this isn’t Sophie’s Choice, this thing is taking the truth and twisting it into lies !

DAWN You’re right.

She takes another step towards them. GILES comes to her and wraps his arm around her.

ANDREW Umm. Guys ?

GILES What now ?

ANDREW Look.

They do. ANGLE :widening : there are fifteen Bringers standing quietly between them and the door.

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? (Sighs) Now, see what you’ve done ? Beat.

GILES Why did we not bring weapons ?

XANDER To an intervention with Dawnie ? Because none of us are that evil tinged.

ANYA Speak for yourself.

She pulls a bundle with three LONG KNIFES out of her coat.

XANDER I love you.

She throws one LONG KNIFE to Xander and one to Giles, who has pushed Dawn back towards Willow. The three of them charge the bringers. Willow steps in front of Dawn and Andrew, with her arms out protectively. Joyce/The First ? stands incorporeally in the midst of the action looking worried.

XANDER (Battle Cry) In accordance with the Fire Marshall’s guidelines, please do not block the exit ! ! !

CAMERA widens for the : Big Fight. Anya skips out of the way of a Bringer coming at her with a sword, spins, then guts a different Bringer from behind. Giles takes out one with the pointy side of his KNIFE, and another coming at him from the other side with the chunky handle end. CLOSE ON : Xander pushes one away from him with the side of his KNIFE, punches another one in the face, then ducks a punch. When he comes back up a Bringer grabs his hair, and puts a BRINGER KNIFE to his throat. Anya whacks it over the head with a SUNNYDALE HIGH SWIM TEAM TROPHY that must have been lieing around in storage. Bringer falls down.

ANYA The plan is to not die !

XANDER Right. Got a little fuzzy on the details.

ANYA That’s really the only part. Don’t die.

They both duck Bringers swinging swords. Another Bringers is about to stab Anya from the back, she doesn’t see it, Giles throws his knife and kebobs it. Anya realizes what just happened.

ANYA Thank you. I forgive you for leaving me a shop that promptly got destroyed.

GILES Anya, really. You can hardly blame me for…

A Bringer conks Anya and Xander over their heads with a WOOD CLUB. They are out for the count. Another gets Giles around the throat and starts choking him. The remaining eight start to head in Dawn’s direction.

GILES (Choking.) Will-ow…Dawn…

36. ANGLE : Willow, Dawn and Andrew.

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? Don’t kill her ! You don’t need that much blood !

DAWN (Squeaks) Willow. I forgive you for that time you got all hopped up on bad magic and almost killed me. It’s in the past.

ANDREW (To Willow)Yes, I think now would be a constructive time to go ahead and deal with the whole magic issue…

Bringers are very close. Some hesitancy about Willow is making them try to figure out a way around her.

WILLOW (Trying to prepare herself.) OK. Here goes. (Deep breath, closes and then opens her eyes.) Preus Rigere !

The Bringers are all frozen in place. Unfortunately this includes the one choking Giles.

GILES Ackkk…Willow…not…to be…unsupportive…

WILLOW Oops. Release !

The one choking Giles is released from the freeze. As Willow’s release spell hits it, its grip loosens, Giles takes advantage of this to elbow it. It flys backwards, but as it does so it flings out a hand at its nearest frozen fellow Bringer and knocks it to the side. This starts a CHAIN REACTION, a zap of energy that goes from one Bringer to the next and frees them from the spell. They decide at this point to rush Willow.

WILLOW Oh, poop.

Willow closes her eyes again. When she opens them, her face is set and determined, and a little sad.

WILLOW Moriri !

All the BRINGERS drop like rotten potato sacks to the floor. They will eyelessly intimidate no more.

WILLOW (Gravely) Quiesco -Escere -Evi -Etum.

37. CLOSE : The dead BRINGERS all turn back into the HUMAN PEOPLE they once were, lids closed.

38. ANGLE : Tableux of dead BRINGERS turned human, as GILES kneels by them, emotionally exhausted. XANDER and ANYA have regained consciousness, and stagger over next to him. ANYA looks at blood splatters across her knife and arms, she turns her head away and buries her face in XANDER, who is speechless and sad.

39. ANGLE : DAWN, WILLOW and ANDREW. DAWN puts her arm around WILLOW.

DAWN You didn’t kill them, Willow.

WILLOW I know. They were already dead.

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? Actually, technically she did kill them. It was them or her. She did what she had to. Are you ready to do what you have to do, baby ? Are you ready to finally end this ? All of this ?

DAWN turns slowly and faces JOYCE/THE FIRST ?. She steps away from the others, turning her back on them.

CLOSE ON : DAWN.

DAWN Yes.

BLACK OUT.

END OF ACT THREE


ACT FOUR

40. SUNNYDALE HIGH BASEMENT-NIGHT-CONTINUOUS DAWN is standing very near JOYCE/THE FIRST ?, who has her arms out, stretched towards her maternally. DAWN is staring at her hard, her face is very sad, desperate.

DAWN If you’re not…it…then why did we just get attacked by Bringers ?

JOYCE/THE FIRST OK, it’s true, Dawnie. The First is what allowed me to be here.

GILES (To himself mostly, expositionally)Poltergeist, vengeance, it’s no wonder ghosts are always restless, belligerent to those who survive them. The First is what allows the dead to manifest themselves in this world

JOYCE/THE FIRST The dead, and the living.

GILES The parts of us all that are evil. That’s how it manifests itself…

JOYCE/THE FIRST Oh, more than that, the parts of us all that are evil, or that could be.

ANYA How is a little girls need for her mother evil ? I think you’re cheating.

JOYCE/THE FIRST It’s not. But sibling rivalry, while human, and expected, is also, often, very evil.

GILES Cain and Abel…all that.

JOYCE/THE FIRST (Scary First Voice) Goodness, they were fun.

She shakes it off.

JOYCE/THE FIRST How is a father’s love for his daughter evil ? But, it can be, can’t it, Rupert ? What a father is willing to do to protect his daughter from a man he thinks is dangerous for her ? The paternal possessiveness that lies underneath. it becomes evil very quickly.

GILES We all make mistakes, but that doesn’t make us…

JOYCE/THE FIRST Believe me, Rupert. Every human being on this planet is capable of murder, of evil, if the circumstances are right. Parents will kill for their children, a big sister will kill for her baby sister, lovers for each other. Believe me, love is my greatest weapon.

41. CLOSE ON : JOYCE/THE FIRST ? morphs into BUFFY/THE FIRST.

BUFFY/THE FIRST You are all killers. Or you could be. Just like me. Not just this little boy(indicates Andrew). Not just the bad people. And humanity really doesn’t want to comprehend that. You hide your eyes. Turn away. That’s why I’m so powerful. I’m the greatest enemy you ever had, because I’m you. I’m the dark parts of your own mind. How can you fight yourself ? To destroy me, you’d have to destroy yourselves. And then what would be the point ?

42.ANGLE : BUFFY/THE FIRST’S POV. GILES, XANDER, ANYA and ANDREW are standing angrily in a line behind DAWN. DAWN is looking quizzical.

43. ANGLE : DAWN approaches BUFFY/THE FIRST very intently, until their noses are almost touching, their faces mirroring one another.

DAWN Where is my Mom ? My real Mom ? Do you know ?

44. BUFFY/THE FIRST morphs back into JOYCE/THE FIRST ?

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? I’m in you. In you and Buffy. I’m a part of both of you. I always will be.

DAWN How do you know ? How can I trust you ? You’re not Mom. Not all of her. You might as well be none of her.

JOYCE I wish I was all of me. But this was all I could manage. This was the deal. This part of me returns to the earthly plane, I get to keep you and Buffy safe. The two of you survive. It gets everyone else.

XANDER Joyce ? You would make that sacrifice ?

JOYCE/THE FIRST ? doesn’t look at him.

GILES (Quietly) Any parent would.

DAWN My mom wouldn’t. She didn’t. She let Buffy go on fighting vampires, saving the world, even though it scared her to death. And if you were all of Mom, you would know that Buffy and I wouldn’t want to live in a world without (she indicates those in the room) everybody else.

JOYCE/THE FIRST I know. But I’d still make the deal. In a crunch.

DAWN Mom, whatever part of you is Mom, you have to go now. (Slowly)This is what I really have to do.

JOYCE/THE FIRST Dawn, are you sure ? I can stay with you…

DAWN But you shouldn’t.

JOYCE/THE FIRST/ My baby. Don’t send me away. It’s so hard for a mother’s soul to be lost, unable to protect her babies, unable to anchor to the earth that holds them… disconnected, unable to hold you, to help you…you weren’t ready…you’re just a kid…

DAWN I know. But, no matter what I do, I can’t change what’s already happened. And neither can you. But I can change what happens next. I have to be strong enough to be just myself, alone. I have to let you go.

JOYCE/THE FIRST ?, looking only like JOYCE, fades, her face sad and still. As she goes, she smiles a tiny smile at DAWN.

CLOSE ON : DAWN

JOYCE (VO) You’re never alone. Me, you and Buffy, we are all part of each other. Don’t forget who you are.

45. WIDE ANGLE : DAWN starts to cry, she covers her head with her arms and turns away from the others, she shakes silently. WILLOW tries to hug her, but she pulls away. GILES starts to cover one of the dead people on the floor with his coat. ANYA sees him and does the same. She kneels quietly by them, she and GILES exchange a look, XANDER kneels next to her and they clasp their hands.

BUFFY/THE FIRST appears a little further behind the spot where JOYCE/THE FIRST ? disappeared.

BUFFY/THE FIRST Actually, none of you should forget who she is.

ANYA (Screaming) Get out of here !

XANDER Well, it is it’s basement...

BUFFY/THE FIRST She wasn’t lying you know. When she said nothing about Dawn is ordinary. I mean, she’s one of the most powerful forces in any dimension, made flesh.

46. BUFFY/THE FIRST steps to the LINE OF BLOOD that was spilled in an arc across the floor when XANDER grabbed DAWN off the seal. Coincidentally, the line is drawn across the way out. As she steps on it BUFFY/ THE FIRST starts to sizzle and pop with dark energy.

BUFFY/THE FIRST You do the math.

BUFFY/THE FIRST dissolves into a sort of evil energy BLACK LIGHT WALL that stretches up from the line of blood and traps them in the basement, again.

ANYA Is anyone else really sick of getting trapped in this evil basement ?

GILES I don’t know, some furniture, a few throw pillows, maybe a nice Persian rug over that hideous goat…

XANDER Some attractive caskets to await death in…

WILLOW It’s trying to reach the seal !

XANDER What is ? The demon energy arising from Dawn’s cosmic blood thingy ?

ANYA No, the vintage swimming trophy. Of course, the demon energy arising from Dawn’s cosmic blood thingy !

47. ANGLE : The wall of black light, which does seem to be trying to grow over the few un-blood stained inches between it and the seal.

48. CLOSE ON : WILLOW

WILLOW OK. Back up, gang.

ANYA She said back up !

WILLOW approaches the BLACK LIGHT WALL. Waves of darkness start to wash over her, but she keeps going. At the wall, she takes a deep breath. She closes her eyes. She begins to glow. She opens her eyes, holds out her hands and reaches into the wall. Lots of explosions and scary stuff centers around her.

ANYA (Whispers) Should we be coming up with plan B ? In case she goes all, you know, Goth again ?

WILLOW pulls her hands away, they drop to her sides. The fireworks stop and the BLACK LIGHT WALL shimmers calmly like it did before.

WILLOW I can’t do it.

XANDER Ahh, Will, it’s almost touching the seal now. That won’t end well.

WILLOW I’m not strong enough.

TARA and JOYCE (VO) You’re never alone. I’m a part of you.

CLOSE ON : Willow, looks up suddenly.

49.ANGLE : WILLOW’S POV. TARA is on the other side of the wall, she holds out her hand. Willow reaches out and grabs it-just like the first time when they moved the drink machine. The BLACK LIGHT WALL explodes, like a mirror shattering, and then it’s gone. Tara is gone too.

CLOSE ON : WILLOW, she feels stronger.

50. ANGLE : Everyone just standing there.

GILES Shall we move before yet another entity traps us down here ?

Beat.

They all run up the stairs.

51. EXT. SUNNDALE HIGH SCHOOL-NIGHT-CONTINUOUS The gang is walking very quickly away from the High School. CAMERA circles them.

XANDER OK. So, first thing we do, we find Buffy, explain what’s going on.

WILLOW That we were DUIE…

ANYA (Snorts) Driving Under The Influence of Evil !

WILLOW It kinda scares me that you’re the only one that got that.

ANYA No, that’s an actual indictable offense in the Demon World. You’ve already got a record.

XANDER The important thing is that the First made us do it, I mean we would never ! God, poor Buffy.

DAWN (Thoughtful)But we did.

GILES This is an aspect of the First that we were completely unaware of. Time is of the essence.

WILLOW We have to find Buffy, and warn her, explain to her what happened.

GILES Until we find her, she’s at risk…

ANYA Until we find her we’re at risk. She’s the slayer. We’re facing unspeakable evil.

ANDREW Actually, its really chatty evil.

GILES Does tend to go on.

ANDREW If we don’t find her, we could always throw small amounts of Dawn’s blood at our enemies.

GILES So, our next step is finding Buffy and telling her it was the First. We should probably get into groups. Willow, perhaps a locator spell…

DAWN No !

Everyone stops, Camera stops too, looks at Dawn, who is trailing behind.

ANYA What ?

DAWN You can’t go running after Buffy, telling her that we didn’t do what we did…that we were being controlled, It’s not true. Didn’t you hear the chatty evil ? It wasn’t controlling us, it didn’t have to. Everything was already there, it just... helped it along.

WILLOW Dawnie, you can’t believe…

DAWN The First said we couldn’t fight it, because we couldn’t fight ourselves, but we can…we can just take responsibility for what we did. The responsibility is ours, we did it, leave Buffy alone… we’ve hurt her enough.

GILES Dawn, we weren’t entirely…if the First wasn’t present it never would have happened…

ANYA She’s right.

XANDER and WILLOW What ?

ANYA It is our responsibility. All of it. The First. The reason it’s here. Us. Me, you, Willow…and Tara. That we couldn’t let Buffy go. We upset the balance. We gave the First the foothold it needed. That’s what the Eye of Biloxi told us, me and Giles. We kept it from you two…

GILES It was in the past…there seemed no point…

They are all very quiet.

WILLOW The sun is about to rise.

DAWN No one bothers Buffy. Let’s go home.

51. ANGLE : DAWN, flanked by ANYA and ANDREW walking away.

52. ANGLE : GILES, WILLOW, and XANDER standing still.

XANDER (Quietly)We have to find Buffy.

Giles and Willow nod.

GILES Immediately.

Giles and Xander walk after the others. Willow begins to follow them, then notices :

53. NORMAL SUNNYDALE COUPLE.

WIFE Just hold my hands and concentrate.

HUSBAND Honey, I want to get out of this crazy town as much as you do, but we can concentrate till the cows come home, we are not going to disappear in a puff of smoke.

WIFE Why can’t you ever take a risk ? We are not going to just stay here and die ! You’ve been promising me for twelve years that we would go see Niagara Falls and I’m not dying until you do it ! Just concentrate on Aunt Edie’s house in Pensacola.

WILLOW Eh, what the hell.

She waves her hand and sends some sparkly magic vibes their way.

WILLOW Transicio ae Aunt Edie’s house !

They disappear in a PUFF OF SMOKE. Willow smiles. A HERD OF COWS moo past.

54. CAMERA pans across the ground, from an urban area, over country roads, then tall grass until it hits the :

55. EXT. WINERY-NIGHT

6. INT. THE WINERY.-NIGHT-CONTINUOS Caleb is still watching the Bringers try to unearth something. BUFFY/THE FIRST appears.

BUFFY/THE FIRST Honey, I’m home.

CALEB So, how was your night ?

BUFFY/THE FIRST Disappointing. The balance is so tricky, how much of the loved one to let through. Sometimes, what seems the most likely to convince them, the most likely to make them do my bidding, ends up convincing them to go all do-gooder instead. It’s such a thin line…

CUT TO

57. INT. RANDOM BEDROOM OF GUY BUFFY SCARED AWAY- EARLY DAWN Buffy is awake, Spike is asleep. She is sitting up, Spike’s head is nestled against her thigh. She looks at him affectionately. She is holding a pad and pen on her other knee. She starts to write, as she writes the sun rises further, light spreads across the room, she and Spike stay in shadow, except, as she writes we CLOSE ON : her face, which becomes lit up .

BUFFY (VO) William, I wish our story was different. We can never change the past, or the monstrous things we did to each other, but I can still change the future. There’s something I need to tell you…when it all comes down, there’s one thing I know, there will be a sacrifice…there always is…I’ve learned that love means sacrifice. ..and it will probably be me. And it should be. The Universe wants me back. I can feel it. I think that’s what my dream was trying to warn me about, that I will lose what is most precious to me. So, I want to warn you. We can’t change the past, but now that includes last night…and everything feels a little more balanced. It’s almost day, and I have to go. I have to go get back what’s mine. Sometimes, we can find what we’ve lost.

BLACK OUT.

THE END.

*****The author is (obviously) not in any way affiliated with Mutant Enemy or Buffy The Vampire Slayer. This is fan script-dom.*****