[Transcript of "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" episode Conversations With Dead People at buffyology.com.]
Musicians prepare their instruments and equipment for the performance.
Conversations With Dead People
November 12, 2002
8:01 PM
The band's vocalist, ANGIE HART, sings in voiceover all through the prologue. [Lyrics at end of script.]
BUFFY patrols alone in the cemetery.
SPIKE sits at the bat drinking whiskey.
Buffy makes her way past the shadowed grave markers and mausoleums.
WILLOW sits alone in the vast library at one of the study tables, books piled all around her. She tries desperately to keep from falling asleep.
DAWN comes home to an empty house. She finds a note with money attached.
Will and I are out until late.Buffy kneels beside a fresh grave just as a hand thrusts upward out of the soil.
Here we go.
Opening credits and title sequence.
JONATHAN LEVINSON drives, headed for Sunnydale, with ANDREW WELLS as passenger. The ancient El Camino is heavily decorated in Mexican barrio style: fringe lines the windshield and dashboard, small religious figurines are mounted to the interior.
You keep circling around. Just drive straight in.
Will you shut up? We gotta keep it low pro.
You're just scared.
Of course I'm scared. Last time we were here, 33.3-bar% of us were flayed alive.
Calm down. No one's getting flayed alive. We've got a plan. We're going to fix all that.
Wish I'd have stayed in Mexico.
I didn't like it there. Everybody spoke Mexicalan.
You could've learned it. You learned the entire Klingon Dictionary in two and a half weeks.
That had much clearer transitive and intransitive rules, okay? Besides, I can't keep having those nightmares.
Me neither. Desde abajo te debora.
It eats you starting with your bottom.
Gonna make it right.
We're outlaws with hearts of gold.
The car speeds past a highway sign: Welcome to Sunnydale.
Buffy fights furiously with HOLDEN WEBSTER, the fledgling vampire, fresh out of his grave. He's a rather strong and capable fighter for being so young. He's well- dressed in a suit and a tie and matches Buffy blow-for-blow.
Dawn munches on a slice of pizza in the kitchen.
Anchovies, anchovies, you're so delicious. I love you more than all the other fishes.
Holding a slice of pizza in one hand, Dawn sorts through Buffy's clothes with the other, taking each blouse down and holding it up to herself to see if it fits. She accidentally brushes the pizza against a white blouse.
Oh! (beat) Ah, she'll think it's blood.
Now Dawn is fooling around with the Buffy's weapons. She hefts the battle-axe menacingly.
Taste my blade, spawn of evil!
She swings the axe and it flies out of her hands, slicing into the furniture. Next, she takes out the crossbow and loads it. She waves it around like a bad movie action hero and accidentally pulls the trigger. The bolt shoots out and embeds itself in the living room wall. When yanks it out, a large chunk of the drywall comes with it.
Panicked, she moves a large houseplant in front of the hole to hide it.
Dawn listens to salsa music while she dances around the kitchen. She puts a jumbo marshmallow into the microwave and watches it swell and expand.
Cool.
She starts at a loud thump from somewhere in the house.
Willow is still studying, head propped up on one arm, eyelids drooping. She looks up when she hears a voice from the stacks. CASSIE NEWTON walks out into the open and over to Willow's table.
So this is the UC library, huh? It's so big. (to Willow) Hey.
I know you. I mean, I saw your picture.
Yeah, I know. It's kinda weird 'cause we never really met.
Or kinda weird because you're really dead.
Yeah, well...
Did I fall asleep?
No, no, I'm here. I mean, not "here" here. It's kinda complicated. Kind of ironic, too, you know. I wrote all that intense poetry about the end and here I am again, chatting you up.
Yeah, ironic.
Cassie sits down across from her and smiles.
I knew this would completely freak you out. It's just... she asked that I come talk to you. It's important.
She?
Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you or anything.
Who asked you? What are you talking about?
She says she still sings.
What?
Remember that time on the bridge when you sang to each other? Well, she says even though you can't hear it, she still sings to you.
Willow's eyes go wide with shock.
Tara?
Dawn talks on the cordless phone while watching television and eating the gooey microwaved marshmallow. An old black-and-white horror movie plays on the TV.
Oh, come on. She is so dead. Well, he's clearly a psychopath. Is so. What? No, that is not Tom Hanks. Well, what channel are you on? (bang) Okay, there it is again. I keep hearing this like thumping.
She mutes television and hears two more loud bangs.
No, I can't tell if it's--
The front door flies open and a hurricane-like wind blows into the house. It's all she can do to shut it again.
Kit, are you there? Is there a storm?
The television comes off mute and blasts sound into the room at high volume. She tries to mute it again but the remote control won't work. She tries the power button on the television itself but it doesn't work either. Finally, she unplugs it but the movie still plays louder than ever. Dawn's expression changes from frustration to fear.
Buffy's fight with the fledgling vampire rages on. They seem almost evenly matched. Webster seizes the advantage and pushes Buffy backward against a headstone, seizing her by the throat. He's about the make the kill when he stops and looks at her curiously.
Buffy? (laughs) Buffy Summers?
Have we...?
Webs? Holden Webster. We went to school together. European History. I let you crib off my Vaclav Havel essay that time. You really don't remember me?
Sure. Sure!
Dawn is terrified. The salsa music blasts from the kitchen radio. The television won't shut off and blares the old horror movie. Dawn finally has had enough. She takes Buffy's battle-axe and smashes the TV to pieces. She does the same with the stereo system. Only the kitchen radio is left.
Dawn cautiously approaches the radio and raises the battle-axe over her head. Before she can strike, the microwave suddenly pops on as well.
Oh, god. Oh, god...
She smashes the microwave, causing a tiny explosion. Shattered glass covers the floor and cuts her bare feet. The salsa music on the radio starts to fade and a faint voice sounds over the static.
Dawn?
Mom?
The fledgling vampire and Buffy are having a pleasant conversation, catching up on old times.
Okay, junior year, spring production of Pippin, I did the lighting design.
I didn't see it.
But you helped me move the lighting board and I dropped it on your foot.
Right, foot. Yes, of course. History class. It's all coming back. Sorry.
Well, you know, it's not like I was a big part of your life or anything.
No, I just-- I didn't recognize you. You know, your face all demon and I think you've filled out a lot.
Oh, yeah. Well, I got into to Tae Kwon Do in a big way at Dartmouth so...
That's great.
Yeah.
So what have you been up to?
Well, apparently dying.
They share a laugh.
No, but other stuff. You know, majoring in Psych. Really liking that. Took a year off to do an internship at the Sunnydale Mental Hospital.
Wow. That's gotta be a... popular joint.
I keep telling them we ought to get a velvet rope and a bouncer. Hey, you remember Jason Wheeler, you know, Crazy J?
Oh, yeah.
He always had that shtick of "Yeah, I'm crazy, I'm crazy."
How is he?
Crazy. He's been in the chronic ward since graduation. (laughs, beat) Not really that funny, I guess.
Ironic, sorta.
Holden's face shifts back to human.
Yeah. Whoa. Did my face just change?
Yeah. You look human now. You can do that. Go back and forth.
Oh, so I'm a vampire. How weird is that?
Sorry.
No, no. Feels great. Strong. Like I'm connected to a powerful all- consuming evil that's going to suck the world into a fiery oblivion. How about you?
Not so much connected.
No, no. I mean, with the stake and the cross-- you do this kind of thing a lot?
I'm the Slayer. It's sort of a thing.
So what? You like fight vampires professionally? Or--
Oh, I don't get paid. It's more like a calling. Since even in school.
I heard a lot of rumors about you back then. You were all mysterious.
I was?
Well, you were never around. A lot of kids thought you were dating some really old guy or that you were just heavy religious. Scott Hope said you were gay.
What? I dated that ringworm.
He says that about every girl he breaks up with. And then last year, big surprise, he comes out.
Men. Do I know how to pick 'em.
So all that time you were a Slayer?
The.
The? Like as in "the only one"?
Pretty much.
Oh. So when you said "not connected", that was kind of a telling statement, wasn't it?
Ah, Psych 101 alert.
Well, I'm just saying.
Yeah, what I really need is emotional therapy from the evil dead.
Hey, it was your phrase.
I'm connected. I'm connected to a lot of people, okay?
No, no. I hear ya.
I really am.
Buffy's cell phone rings unnoticed where she dropped it behind a nearby tombstone.
Dawn is on the phone, frantic, sitting on the coffee table bandaging her feet.
Buffy, come on, pick up. I don't know what to do!
She hangs up the phone and picks up the kitchen radio. She shakes it. Reveal JOYCE lying dead on the couch behind Dawn.
Do it again! I heard you.
Dawn stops and slowly turns around but the couch is empty. The lights shut off and come back on a moment later. All the dining room chairs are now upside down on the table. The weapons chest is overturned and the contents spilled out onto the floor. She looks around, terrified, and to find a message written on the wall in blood:
Mother's Milk is RED Today
A bloody handprint streaks the wall below it. The lights dim again and when they come back on, the words are gone and the chest and furniture are back to normal again. Dawn shiver as a loud knocking sound reverberates through the house.
Why are you doing this?
Knock.
Why are you-- I don't understand. Stop. Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!
The knocking stops.
Hello?
Knock.
Once for yes... (louder) Once for yes, twice for no. Mom?
Knock.
Mom, it's you?
Knock.
Are you okay?
Knock. Knock.
You're not. Mom... mommy... are you alone?
Knock. Knock.
The house shakes violently, like an earthquake. A strobe light flashes in Dawn's face and she screams. Lamps, pictures, vases, fall to floor and shatter.
Why are you doing this?
Jonathan, dressed entirely in black, descends from a rope through the skylight in the library. He unhooks himself and looks around.
Aaghh!
Andrew, also clad in black, falls through the skylight and lands flat on his face.
Get up, you wuss.
I have shin splints. Ow.
Jonathan and Andrew make their way down the hallway, following Andrew's map of the school.
Maybe we should turn on a light.
No, they'll see it from outside.
Right.
The sound of glass breaking comes from down the hall.
Maybe we should go get Buffy.
No way.
We should just tell her what we know about this evil Danthazar.
Think, McFly. Why would she believe us without any proof? We go to her empty-handed and we'll be cooling our heels in the clink in a Bell's microsecond.
I ain't going back to the big house. That place changes a man.
That's why we need proof. Think of it as... as trial by fire. A quest.
Una questa.
We find it. We alert the Slayer. We help her destroy it. We save Sunnydale. Then we join her gang and possibly hang out at her house.
Right. Okay. What do we do?
I think we should find the principal's office and work our way down from there.
Okay, you go check down the hallway and I'll go over there.
Check communications?
They both take out walkie-talkie radios.
Check. Check.
Check. Check.
Check.
Check. Check.
Check. Check.
Check. Check. Check.
Check.
They nod to each other, then head their separate ways.
Echo 2 to Echo 1.
This is Echo 1. Go ahead.
Do you think they'll really let us join their gang?
Andrew shrugs and Jonathan walks away. Further down the hall, WARREN MEARS steps out from behind a bank of lockers and approaches Andrew.
Nice job.
There you are. I'm scared out of my frickin' gourd here.
Take it easy. Take it easy.
Do you have any idea how hard it's been to act this cool?
Calm down, you're doing great. All specs are within parameters.
You keep leaving me. I hate it when you leave me. One time you died and I ended up a Mexican.
We've been over this. Now that death thing was all part of the master plan. Come on, "If you strike me down..."
"...I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine." (laughs) Of course. Do you think maybe Willow could kill me, too?
Hey, don't worry. If Short Round pulls off his end of the bargain, we'll both become gods.
That boy is our last hope.
No, there is another.
Wait, really? Who's our last hope?
No, I was just going with it. It was a thing. He's our last hope.
Excited, Willow talks with Cassie about Tara.
Tara, is it you?
She's sorry she couldn't come herself.
Why didn't she? I don't understand... I mean, if you can manifest yourself?
She just can't.
Why not? I don't understand.
Because of what you did.
What?
You killed people. You can't see her. That's just how it is. I'm sorry.
But... but she's talking to you? And she can hear me? (tears) Tara? Tara, I miss you. I miss you so much. (to Cassie) Can she hear me? What's happening? Did she say anything? (off her look) What? Did she go away?
She's crying.
No. No, don't cry. Don't cry, sweetie. Talk to me.
She misses you, too. She wishes she could touch you.
Me, too. Oh, me, too. Oh, god, Tara, it hurts so much. Everyday it's like this giant hole and it's not getting better.
It will. It can.
How? You're gone.
But you're not. You're strong like an Amazon, remember?
I do. I remember.
Still at the bar, Spike nurses his whiskey. A pretty, blonde YOUNG WOMAN sets a pack of cigarettes down in front of him.
He raises his eyebrows, then nods at the stool beside him. She sits with a flirtatious smile.
Buffy lies on her back on top of a stone sarcophagus, staring up at the night sky and talking with Holden.
So you meet someone, you form a bond...
But it never lasts.
Do you mean in all relationships or just yours?
My parents weren't exactly the paragon of stay-togethereyness. Maybe that's part of it. I think there're people out there who would make it. I just target the impossible ones... with deadly accuracy.
You think you do that on purpose? Maybe you're trying to protect yourself?
Protecting myself? From heartbreak, misery, sexual violence and possible death? Not so much.
From committing.
I commit. I'm committed. I'm a committee.
So it's them? You're reaching out, they're just not coming through?
It's different. I think you're confusing me because you're evil.
I just think you're in some pain here-- which I do kind of enjoy because I'm evil now-- but you should just ease up on yourself. It's not exactly like you have the patent on bad relationships.
Wouldn't it be cool if I did?
And what? Are you supposed to be settling down already? At 21? You know, my girlfriend at college, she's so sweet. We have this great thing but that doesn't mean I'm going to go vampify her just so we can be together forever.
Sire.
What?
The word-- when you turn a human into a vampire-- it's you "sire" them.
Cool.
It's a noun, too.
Oh, I have so much to learn. Come on, isn't this insane? I mean, I was afraid to talk to you in high school and now we're like mortal enemies. Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we became nemeses?
Is that how you say the word?
We're going to have to fight to the death, aren't we?
It's the time-honored custom.
Wow, reality just shows up sometimes, doesn't it? But, you know, I've got the bloodlust pumping and I kinda get it. I'm looking for a fight. And it's nothing personal.
Oh, no. I mean, you've been great.
And fun catching up. I haven't really kept in contact with many of my friends from high school. Guess I'll be looking them up pretty soon.
Yeah.
Hey, I don't mean to be Count Buttinsky here but you just don't seem as thrilled. Is it because we're going to fight?
It's because I'm going to win.
Hello? Two years of Tae Kwon Do and vampire strength. I think somebody's counting their chickens.
You're not leaving this graveyard. Can't let ya.
Do the words "superiority complex" mean anything to you?
You think I'm going to let you go kill a bunch of people? You know I'm sworn to--
No, no. I get the battle against evil. That's not the issue.
There is no issue. Don't issue me.
Just answer me this: whose fault was your parents' divorce?
Okay, you know, this is beyond evil. This is insane troll logic. What do my parents have to do with--
I'm just curious. Your opinion.
They both have a lot of--
Off the top of your head.
My dad.
Uh-huh.
He cheated. I think he cheated.
So of all of these relationships of yours-- that you knew subconsciously were totally doomed-- whose fault is that?
It's incredibly different.
I was just wondering, is it possible, even a little bit, that the reason you have trouble connecting to guys is because you think maybe they're not worth it? Maybe you think you're better than them.
Say, there's that bloodlust I was looking for.
Struck a nerve.
I'm going to strike a nerve cluster in a minute, you don't get off this. I don't remember you being this annoying.
You don't remember me at all.
Yes, I do.
Yeah, like after 30 minutes of reminding. And I don't take it personally because clearly you were in your own little world in high school. All Chosen. All destiny. Who could live with that for seven years and not feel superior?
I'm not. My god, if anything, I--
What?
I just... (sighs) If you knew what I've done, what I've let myself become. My best friends don't even... you'd laugh if you heard some of the things I've done to them.
Buffy, I'm here to kill you, not to judge you.
The last guy I was with, it got really... I behaved like a monster, treated him like... but at the same time, I let him completely take me over. Do things to me that... (tears) I'm sorry. Wow, I didn't mean to get all true-confessions there. I don't know what's wrong with me.
Holden casually inspects a figurine of the Virgin Mary adorning a nearby tombstone. He picks it up.
There's nothing wrong with you.
And slams Buffy in the head with the statue, sending her reeling across the sarcophagus. He leaps over the tomb and lands in front of her, hauling her up and leering at her, his face vampirized once again.
Everyone's got issues.
Buffy throws Holden off of her and attacks him.
You son of a bitch!
What?
I think I'm going to kill you just a little bit more than usual.
She punches. He blocks, then kicks her.
Aw, come on. I mean, we had a moment. You opened up. It was really sweet. It made me want to bite you. I'm sorry if I overstepped my bounds. I'm just new to this mortal enemy stuff. (kicks her again) Pretty fast learner, though, right?
Buffy charges him they both crash through a nearby crypt's stained-glass window.
Dawn stands in the middle of the living room, looking around warily. The power's out. Bizarre sounds come from within the house, a growling-roaring noise.
I hear you. I hear you breathing. Are you hurting my mother? Are you keeping her from coming back to me?
A strobe-like flash lights the room. Joyce lies dead on the couch, her eyes white as cataracts. She's there one second, gone the next.
Mom? I see you. I'm coming toward you, okay?
Another flash and Joyce is back, lying on the couch screaming; a dark shadowy figure looms over her, choking the life from her as she reaches desperately for Dawn.
She's trying to talk to me. Get off her and let her talk to me! (to herself) The axe!
Dawn searches the floor for the battleaxe. She looks up just as the demonic beast swings the axe at her head. She screams as the blade misses her by inches.
Get out!
The front door swings open and Dawn runs for it. Gale-force wind blows through the house. She fights her way through it and is almost out but stops in mid-stride.
No! (shuts door) She's my mother. I'm staying.
On the couch, Joyce's eyes flash open.
Andrew and Jonathan make their way through the basement, searching for something.
Seeing the high school again, part of me wishes I could go back.
Everything's shifting around. I feel like we're in Hellraiser. I hate Pinhead.
Let me see that. (takes map) Did we circle all the way around? Maybe we should start over--
While Jonathan studies the map, Andrew notices Warren standing near a door.
There it is.
Are you sure?
He shines his flashlight on the door. Warren has vanished.
Yeah.
Andrew and Jonathan enter to find an empty dirt-floored room. Jonathan looks at the map again.
You know, I think you may be right. If this lines up, what we're looking for should be right under there.
Andrew grabs a pickaxe and starts digging.
Buffy has gained the upper hand with Holden. She pounds him to the ground and straddles his chest, pushing the point of her stake into his chest over his heart.
See? You're dead. That enough of a moment for you?
Holden's face goes back to normal.
Okay. But are you killing me because I'm evil or because you opened up?
She sighs and stands.
Agghh! What is wrong with you?
He tries to get up and she kicks him in the face.
Nothing. I've got no worries. I'm dead. The biggest thing on my mind is whether or not Tricia Waldman came to my funeral or not. Do you remember her? Oh... biteable.
See this is what I hate about you vampires. Sex and death and love and pain-- it's all the same damn thing to you.
Well, you know it's kind of a guy thing. We talk about nailing a girl, there's all this--
No, it is not the same. With vampires, it is completely... believe me, I know.
Oh, my god!
Oh, your god what?
Oh, well, you know, not my god because I defy him and all of his works but-- does he exist? Is there word on that, by the way?
Nothing solid.
Oh. I keep getting off topic because my mind is racing here. All right. I'll make a deal with you. We fight. To the death. Great. That last fight was just exhilarating and I actually had a move coming up to block that stake. But you have to answer one question and if I'm right, I get to ask anything-- no secrets, no defensiveness, anything I want to know.
What's your question?
Your last relationship-- was it with a vampire?
Spike walks hand-in-hand down the street with the young woman he met at the bar. They smile and joke with each other, hitting it off.
Willow and Cassie, talking in the library.
I don't know where to start. After Warren shot you-- you know all about that, what happened? It was horrible. I was horrible. I lost myself, the regular me.
Well, you were grieving.
A lot of people grieve. They don't make with the flaying. I hurt so many people.
It was the power.
I am the power. It's in me. Did I mention the random destruction of property? The Magic Box is not so much a box now...
The power is bigger than you are.
I know but--
Things are more clear where Tara is, where we are. We can see your path and you have to stop. You can't use magick again, not ever.
Black magick, of course. But Giles says it isn't as simple as quitting it all cold-turkey.
It's too dangerous. You can't take the chance that you'll lose control.
I don't want to. I can't. I never want to cause that kind of pain.
Of course you don't.
So I won't. I'm going to be okay.
She says...
What?
You're not going to be okay. You're going to kill everybody.
Jonathan and Andrew dig up the dirt floor, exposing a huge pit in the center of the room.
We almost got this thing uncovered.
Yep.
I hope Buffy'll know how to destroy it. (beat) 36-19-27! That's it! That was my locker combination. God, it's been bugging me all night.
Dude, we spent the last few years trying to forget about high school. Why are you trying so hard to remember it?
I don't know. I guess I miss it. Don't you?
Yeah, I really miss it.
No, I'm serious. I really miss it. Time goes by and everything drops away. All the cruelty, all the pain, all that humiliation. It all washes away.
Andrew looks over Jonathan's shoulder and sees Warren standing there, staring at him.
I miss my friends. I miss my enemies. I miss the people I talked to every day. I miss the people who never knew I existed. I miss 'em all. I want to talk to them, you know. I want to find out how they're doing. I want to know what's going on in their lives.
You know what? They don't want to talk to you-- all those people you just mentioned. Not one of them is sitting around going, "I wonder what Jonathan's up to right now." Not one of them cares about you.
Well, I still care about them. That's why I'm here.
Jonathan goes back to digging and Andrew follows suit. Pull back to reveal a 6- foot wide metal object with an inverted pentagram and a horned goat's head on the face.
Dawn sits cross-legged on the living room floor, surrounded by burning white candles and thick books. She's reads from one of the books as the disembodied growling noise continues.
I know you're there. I will cast you out. My mother needs to talk to me.
She sprinkles dust from a bowl on the floor in front of her. A wave of magickal energy ripples through the room and Dawn is shoved violently backward into the wall.
I cast you from this place. It is your poison and your bane.
An invisible creature rakes its claw across her face, drawing blood.
It is the skin that is cut from your flesh!
A strong wind springs up and snuffs all the candles as the living room window explodes inward, hurling shattered glass all over Dawn and the room.
Buffy sits on the steps inside the crypt, talking with Holden again.
And the joke is... he loved me. I mean, in his own sick, soulless way, he really did care for me. But I didn't want to be loved.
Didn't you?
I have all this power. I didn't ask for it. I don't deserve it. It's like... I wanted to be punished. I wanted to hurt like I thought I deserved. I sort of think... you know, this is complicated. If you'd rather just fight...
Tell me.
I feel like I'm worse than anyone. Honestly, I'm beneath them. My friends, my boyfriends. I feel like I'm not worthy of their love. Because even though they love me, it doesn't mean anything because their opinions don't matter. They don't know. They haven't been through what I've been through. They're not the Slayer. I am. Sometimes I feel... (sighs) this is awful. I feel like I'm better than them. Superior.
Until you can't win. And I thought I was diabolical. Or at least I plan to be. You do have a superiority complex. And you've got an inferiority complex about it. (laughs) Kudos.
It doesn't make any sense.
Oh, it makes every kind of sense. And it all adds up to you feeling alone. But Buffy, everybody feels alone. Everybody is, until you die. Speaking of... you ready for our little death match?
I suppose. Thanks for listening.
You know, there's some things you can only tell a stranger.
You're not a stranger. That stuff with Spike is pretty--
Hold it.
What?
Did you say Spike?
Spike walks the young woman to her door. She heads up the stairs and gestures for him to follow. He hesitates and stays where he is so she comes back down and presses up against him seductively.
The lights are out. The windows are shattered. Paper blows through the house. The Summers home is a wrecked disaster. Dawn stands amid the debris and bravely continues with her spell.
I cast you out with every prayer from every god that walked the Earth and crawled beneath.
An invisible force hurls her across the room. She stand back up, her mouth bloody.
I cast you out with the strength of those who love me. I cast your out with the strength I have inside me! I cast you out into the void.
She throws her spell bowl across the room.
That's right! Die, you bastard!
The noise and wind abruptly stop. Blood spatters across the walls, then fades and disappears. Dawn sighs with relief and collapses to the floor just as a golden light fills the room. She looks up to find Joyce standing before of her, beautiful and
radiant in a long white gown. Stunned, Dawn pushes herself up to a sitting position.
Mom?
Willow is panicked over Cassie's revelation.
I'm going to what?
That's why I came. We needed to warn you.
You saw my path? What do you know? What did you see?
You don't want to know what we saw.
Oh, god!
But if you stop completely, no more magick...
Right, right. Stop. What about Giles? He made it seem like it was just as dangerous for me to quit completely, like I'll go off the deep end again.
You can't. If you do so much as another spell...
I tried to stop. I tried. What if I can't do this?
Don't think that way.
Well, how can I not? You're telling me I'm going to murder all my friends. I'm not strong. I'm not an Amazon. I'm just me.
Well, there is one thing. One thing you could do to stop it.
What? Anything.
And you could see her. You wouldn't have to talk through me.
Tara?
That's what you want, isn't it?
Of course.
So go. Be with her. Everybody will be safe and you'll be together again. It's not that bad. Really. It's just like going to sleep.
Willow looks at her in shock, stunned that Cassie would suggest she commit suicide. Then her eyes narrow suspiciously.
Who are you?
Buffy looks at Holden, surprised.
What do you mean? How do you know Spike?
What do you mean how? He was the guy that... oh, what's the word?
Sired.
Yeah, he was the guy that sired me.
Holding the young woman in an embrace, Spike's face changes, his fangs descend, and he buries them in her neck. He drinks deeply. She doesn't struggle and dies without so much as a whimper.
Joyce stands before Dawn, a heavenly and ethereal light glowing behind her.
Things are coming, Dawn. Listen, things are on their way. I love you and I love Buffy but she won't be there for you.
What? Why are you...?
When it's bad, Buffy won't choose you. She'll be against you.
Joyce begins to fade.
No! No, don't go! Please, don't go!
Joyce fades away completely and the light fades, leaving Dawn in darkness, sobbing.
Jonathan packs up his things, preparing to go find Buffy. Andrew approaches and puts his hand on Jonathan's shoulder. Jonathan looks up at Andrew and for the first time sees Warren standing behind him. Jonathan's eyes widen as Andrew stabs him in the belly with a large ceremonial dagger. Jonathan stares at Andrew and Warren in pain and confusion.
Willow stands, staring at Cassie with suspicion. Cassie is smug and flippant now, no longer the sweet, caring girl she was before.
Suicide thing was too far, huh? Hmm. You seemed so ripe.
Tell me who you are.
I stand by my opinion. The world would be a better place if you took a razorblade to your wrist--
Stop.
I can see it now. Candlelight, the Indigo Girls playing, picture of your dead girlfriend on your bloody lap.
Stop it!
"Oh, baby, you left such a big hole. It hurt so bad." (cold) You don't know hurt. This last year's going to seem like cake after what I put you and your friends through and I am not a fan of easy death. Fact is, the whole good-versus-evil, balancing the scales thing-- I'm over it. I'm done with the mortal coil. But believe me, I'm going for a big finish.
From beneath you, it devours.
Oh, not it. Me.
Cassie grins wickedly, then the skin of her face and head peels back, her jaws yawn open impossibly wide and her whole body turns itself inside out before disappearing completely, leaving Willow alone in the empty library.
Dawn sits on the living room floor, staring off into space, still in shock over what happened to her. Angie Hart's song plays again in voiceover through final scene.
Jonathan collapses onto the metal seal in the pit, his body splayed across the pentagram and his blood spreading beneath him in dark red pool. As his blood fills the grooves in the seal, the object starts to glow and pulse.
Spike drops the dead young woman to the ground and licks her dripping blood from his fangs.
Buffy, stake in hand, watches blankly as Holden turns to dust in front of her.
Can I make it right? Can I spend the night? Alone.
I fell into the moon And it covered you in blue. I fell into the moon. Can I make it right? Can I spend the night?
High tide inside. The air is dew And where were you? While I died and where were you?
I crawled out of the world And you said I shouldn't stay. I crawled out of the world. Can I make it right? Can I spend the night?
Alone.