Into every generation, there are Chosen Ones. A Slayer will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. With each Slayer comes a Guardian. They are protectors of the innocent.
Flashback - 1753
Galway, Ireland
Night - Town Square
The camera looked straight don from above onto the the cobblestones. A lone rider on his horse passed underneath, and the camera followed them past a well.
Angelus: (voice over) "There's moments in your life that make you, that set the course of who you're gonna be. Sometimes they're little, subtle moments. Sometimes, they're not. I'll show you what I mean."
The horseman continued past a tavern on the far side of the square. The door opened, and a young drunk Angel and his drunk friend were thrown out.
Angel spoke with an Irish accent. "We'll be back when we've found a bit more cash money. Keep the girls warm."
The tavern proprietor slammed the door shut, and Angel pounded on it a couple of times.
Angel's friend moaned. "Let's go."
Angel staggered back over to him, putting his arm around him, as they walked with a definite sway in their step. "Come on, we'll sneak in and take some of me father's silver. He'll never miss it. He eats with his hands, the pig." His friend was too drunk to go on, fainting, falling out of Angel's arm to the pavement. Angel looked down at him. "Ah, why don't you rest right here?"
Angel took a look around, spotting a noble lady in a fancy period dress standing in an alley beyond an archway. The woman gave a slight backward glanced to be sure she had his attention, starting to walk further into the alley, disappearing around a corner from Angel's view. Angel followed her.
∞
Alley
The woman continued her slow pace, looking up when Angel came through the archway, getting closer to the camera, becoming clear that she was Darla, her long curly blonde hair very nicely coiffed.
"So, I'd ask myself, what's a lady of your station doing alone in an alley with the reputation that this one has?" Angel asked.
Darla was still facing away from him. "Maybe she's lonely."
"In that case, I'd offer myself as escort to protect you from harm and to while away the dull hours," Angel offered.
Darla smirked. "You're very gracious."
Angel smiled drunkenly. "Hmm, it's often been said."
Darla turned to face him. "Are you certain you're up to the challenge?"
Angel approached her. "Milady, you'll find that with the exception of an honest day's work, there's no challenge I'm not prepared to face." He stopped in front of her, looking her in the eyes. "Oh, but you're a pretty thing. Where are you from?"
Darla smiled. "Around. Everywhere."
"I never been anywhere myself," Angel admitted. "Always wanted to see the world, but..."
"I could show you," Darla offered.
"Could you, then?" Angel asked.
Darla nodded. "Things you've never seen, never even heard of."
Angel smiled. "Sounds exciting."
"It is," Darla agreed. "And frightening."
"I'm not afraid," Angel told her. "Show me. Show me your world."
Darla closed her eyes. "Close your eyes."
Angel closed his eyes. The camera followed Darla's hand as she put it on his shoulder, and continued up to show her face vamped out. She smiled, letting out a low growl, opening wide as she leaned in to bite him. When Angel felt the pain, he opened his eyes wide, gasping, unable to keep steady, sinking to his knees. Darla let go of her bite, revealing his bloody neck, standing up straight, lifting her hand to her chest, drawing a sharp fingernail across the skin above her breasts, allowing blood to trickle out, grabbing him by the back of the neck, pulling him in to her bosom so that his lips fell directly onto the cut, forcing him to taste her blood. Angel put his arms around her, drinking.
∞
Now
Day One
Sunnydale, California
Night - Cemetery
Buffy, Brooke, Zoey, Alice, Carmen, Brady and Wyatt were patrolling, fighting off a group of vampires. Bianca walked through carefully and quietly, in hiding, watching them fight.
Brady kicked a vampire, punching him in the face, flipping him to the ground.
Bianca watched, smiling a little in amusement.
Buffy kicked another. A vampire grabbed her from behind, trying to bite her.
Buffy grabbed his arms, leaning forward, flipping him over her head to the ground in front of them hard. "Nice try."
A vampire came at Brooke with a swing. Brooke used her red Guardian energy to block the move, punching him in the face, in the gut, and again in the face, grabbing him with her power to rip him apart.
When a vampire lunged toward Alice, she used her power to stop him and send him back a little ways, closing her fist to make him fall into dust with a blast of red energy.
Wyatt released a breath of magical energy onto a vampire to make him literally start to freeze into ice, slowly until he was covered in a thin layer of ice, making a fist and exploding it out to make the icicle of the vampire explode into ash/ice.
Zoey waved her arm in a circle in front of a vampire, using purple power to attack a vampire, distracting him, magically shooting a stake into his heart, dusting him.
Carmen levitated up to kick her vampire, spinning to punch him, telekinetically throwing him away into a headstone, making it break and him fall to the ground. The vampire stood to try to fight Carmen, but she froze him with her power, telekinetically throwing a branch into his heart and turn him to dust.
Buffy's vampire came at her again with a kick, but Buffy blocked it with her arm, backhand punched him in the face, jabbed him in the gut and grabbed his arm, twisting it up high and forcing him to his knees in pain.
Brady's vampire got back up and ran toward Brady, pushing him into the mausoleum behind him. Brady cleanly jammed his stake into his chest, making him crumble into ashes.
Bianca couldn't help but snicker.
Buffy punched the one she was still holding in the face, making him roll away.
"We want you to get a message to Angel and Bianca for us," Brooke told them.
"Tell them we're done waiting," Zoey told him.
"We're taking the fight to them," Alice told him.
Bianca smiled as she listened.
"You got that?" Carmen asked. "Need us to write it down for you?"
The vampire got up and charged Buffy. Buffy grabbed him and pulled him around and down to the ground, and immediately plunged her stake into his heart. He burst into ashes.
Brady sighed. "All right. We'll tell them ourselves."
Brooke helped Buffy up.
"Zoey, you didn't have to come out patrolling with us so soon after Jenny," Wyatt told her.
"I'm fine, Wyatt," Zoey told him. "Clearly I had everything under control."
"Zoey..." Buffy trailed off.
"Oh, come on, guys," Brooke told them. "We're a team. Together we are unstoppable."
Alice chuckled. "The Slayer. Guardians. Gypsy. Witches. Hunter."
"It's a perfect match," Brady agreed. "That is true."
Wyatt smirked, letting it fade. "So. What is that, um... five vampires in three nights?"
"Yep," Buffy answered. "But no Angel. No Bianca."
"Are you, uh, really that anxious to come up against them?" Carmen asked.
"I want it over with," Zoey answered.
Carmen nodded. "I hear that."
"Oh, we better go," Brooke told them, exhaling. "I haven't even started studying for finals yet."
They started to walk away.
Zoey sighed. "Oh, yeah, finals. Why didn't I let him kill me?"
"Ah, look on the bright side," Brady told them. "It'll all be over soon."
They left the cemetery, while Bianca watched them. "Yes, my love. It will."
Bianca smirked, turning to leave the other way.
∞ Slayers and Guardians ∞
Sunnydale Museum of Natural History - Research Lab
The camera panned across a large rectangular chunk of rock over to a technician. She was carefully cleaning off a section of the rock, letting a jet of compressed air blow away some dust. A moment later, she let another jet go, reaching up with a brush, running it across the rock.
Dr. Doug Perren, one of the museum curators, came over to check on her progress. "Careful now. Concentrate in this area. There you go."
The door opened behind him, and he turned to see Giles and Alice walk in.
"Hello?" Giles asked.
"Rupert and Alice Giles?" Doug asked.
"Yes," Giles answered.
Doug shook their hands. "Doug Parren. Thanks for coming."
"Oh, not at all," Giles told him. "It's a flatter to be asked."
"I spoke with Lou Tabor at the Washington Institute, and he told me we had the best authorities on obscure relics right here in Sunnydale," Doug explained.
Giles laughed lightly. "Oh, he may have, uh, exaggerated a little." Alice smirked, rolling her eyes at his humbleness. Giles and Alice saw he obelisk. "Ah, is this the..."
"This is our baby," Doug answered, leading them closer. "Construction workers dug it up outside of town. Don't have a clue what it is. Any ideas?"
Alice touched and looked at the rock. "A few. None we'd care to share until we can verify."
Giles noticed the runes on the rock. "You have, uh, carbon dated it?"
"The results will be back in a couple of days," Doug answered. "I'll go out on a limb and say old."
Alice smirked.
Giles chuckled, picking up a jar and a scraper. "Um, yes, it--it certainly predates any, uh, settlements we've read about." He pointed. "Uh, may--may I?"
"Yeah, sure," Doug answered.
Giles leaned in, beginning to scrape at the corner of the obelisk, catching the debris in the jar, digging into an apparent groove; a few scrapes later, he stopped, tapping the scraper, cleaning it on the jar. "I assume you've, uh, you haven't tried to open it."
"Open it?" Doug asked. Alice nodded, pointing. Doug leaned over to see that they had discovered a line that would make a fall away door. "Ah, I'll be damned. I figured it was solid. What do you think is in there?"
Alice looked over it intently. "I don't know."
"Well, I guess we won't know until we open it up," Doug suggested.
Giles considered. "Yes, but could we ask, um, for you to wait? I, uh, I'd like to work on translating the text. It--it--it might give us an indication of what we'll find inside."
"You don't want to be surprised?" Doug asked.
"As a rule, no," Alice answered.
"All right," Doug agreed. "You're the experts. But I'm pretty damn curious, though."
Alice looked over the rock again. "Yes. Yeah, so am I."
∞
Day Two
Morning - Sunnydale High School - Cafeteria
The teenage Scoobies sat at the same table in the cafeteria during lunch. Buffy was sitting on Eric's lap.
Xander was holding two fish sticks, one with a toothpick stuck through the middle. He played with them like puppets, moving the one with the toothpick around. "Tell Angel and Bianca we're gonna kill them! No, wait. we're gonna kill you!" He started to repeatedly stab the toothpick into the other fish stick. "Die! Die! Die!" He made an anguished face and let the fish stick fall, then shuddered, squealing. "Mother!" He smiled at the others. He chuckled. "Scene."
"That's exactly how it happened," Buffy told him.
"Yeah, close enough," Carmen agreed.
"Well, I thought it was riveting," Eric told them. "Uh. I was a little unclear about some of the themes. The theme is Angel and Bianca are too much of cowards to take them on face-to-face? Right?"
Xander was still playing with the fish sticks. "And the other theme was 'Buy American', but it, uh, got kind of buried."
"Do you think you're ready to fight Angel and Bianca?" Willow asked. "I mean, you've all fought both of them before. But, I mean... are you ready to kill them? If it comes to it?"
"I wish people would stop asking that," Buffy told them. "Yes, we're ready."
Zoey nodded. "Also willing and able. Just the one test I might actually pass."
"Don't say that," Willow told her. "You're gonna pass everything. I will get you through this semester if I have to sweat blood."
"Do you think you're likely to?" Brooke asked. "'Cause I'd like to be elsewhere."
Carmen smirked. "It was only metaphor blood. But us girls are still on for sixth period after Will's computer class, to rock on chemistry. Zoey?"
"Pretty sure that Zoey's tired of us asking her if she's okay with going to the computer class," Brady told them. "I mean, she always tells us to shut up and let's go. I think she can handle going back for tutoring. She'll be fine."
Zoey nodded, smug to have someone understand and get it.
"All right," Eric told them. "We're all ready to rock. And, Willow, you're really got the teaching bug. Taking over computer class. Tutoring."
Willow smiled widely. "I love it. I really do."
"I think it's great to do that before you go out and fail in the real world," Cordelia told her. "That way you're not falling back on something. You're falling... well, forward."
Zoey rolled her eyes. "And almost sixty-five percent of that was actual compliment. Is that a personal best?"
"Gee, Zoey, what are you gonna teach when you fail in life?" Cordelia asked. "Advanced ninja gypsy-being?"
Zoey smirked.
"I will teach..." Xander trailed off, finishing with a French accent. "Zee Language of Love!"
Xander reached for Cordelia.
Cordelia fought him off. "Don't touch me. You have fish hands."
Snyder came into the cafeteria behind them.
"Come, let me caress you," Xander told her.
"Stop it," Cordelia told him.
"Let me in," Xander told her.
"No!" Cordelia told him, laughing. "Don't!"
"That's enough of that," Snyder told them. He looked at Buffy. "And you! Are we having a chair shortage?"
Buffy frowned. "I didn't hear anything about..." She realized he meant about her sitting on Eric's lap. "Oh." She slid off of Eric's lap and into her chair. "I get it. Yeah."
Brooke smirked, propping her chin onto her hand in boredom. "Gee. Snyder, so nice to see you, too."
"These public displays of affection are not acceptable in my school," Snyder told them. "This isn't an orgy, people. It's a classroom."
"Yeah!" Brooke said sarcastically. "Where they teach lunch."
Snyder glared at all of them. "Just give me a reason to kick you out. Just give me a reason."
Snyder walked away.
"How about because you're a tiny, impotent Nazi with a bug up his butt the size of an emu?" Carmen asked.
"Sums it up," Zoey told her.
"Don't you think?" Carmen asked.
Willow smiled, looking at the girls. "Do you guys wanna come by my house tonight and study, too?"
"Maybe they can," Brady answered. "I mean, we do have patrol."
"Again?" Eric asked. "Do you guys really expect Angel and Bianca to turn up tonight?"
"No, we don't expect them to," Alice answered.
Buffy sighed. "But that's usually when they do."
∞
Flashback - 1860
London - Abbey
Inside the nave, monks were chanting. Drusilla walked behind the pews toward the confession booths, facing the altar, kneeling, crossing herself, looking up briefly, standing, going into one of the booths, stepping through the curtain. An arm jutted out of the adjacent one where the priest waited. Muffled noises and struggling could be heard. The arm got pulled back in as quickly as it appeared.
Inside the confessional, Drusilla sat down, pulling the scarf from her head. "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned." In the next booth, Angelus was caught by surprise, dropping the dead priest. "It's been two days since my last confession. Father?"
Angelus went along with it. "That's not very long."
Drusilla's voice trembled. "Oh, Father, I'm so afraid."
"The Lord is very forgiving," Angelus told her. "Tell me your sins."
Drusilla breathed deeply. "I had... I've been seeing again, Father. Yesterday, the men were going to work in the mine. I had a terrible fright. My stomach all tied up, and I saw this horrible crash. My mummy said to keep my peace, it didn't mean noting. But this morning, they had a cave in. Two men died."
"Go on," Angelus urged.
Drusilla sighed in fright. "My mum says I'm cursed. My seeing things is an affront to the Lord, that only he's supposed to see anything before it happens." She inhaled, sobbing. "But I don't mean to, Father, I swear, I swear." She started to cry. "I try to be pure in his sigh. I don't want to be an evil thing."
"Oh, hush, child," Angelus told her. "The Lord has a plan for all creatures. Even a Devil child like you."
Drusilla was taken aback. "A Devil?"
Angelus nodded. "Yes. You're a spawn of Satan. All the Hail Marys in the world aren't going to help. The Lord will use you and smite you down. He's like that."
Drusilla was even more scared. "What can I do?"
Angelus smirked. "Fulfill his plan, child. Be evil. Just give in."
Drusilla shook her head, sobbing. "No. I want to be good. I want to be pure."
"We all do, at first," Angelus told her. "The world doesn't work that way."
"Father, I beg you, please," Drusilla told him. "Please help me."
"Very well," Angelus told her. "Ten Our Fathers an Act of Contribution. Does that sound good?"
Drusilla nodded, relieved. "Yes. Yes, Father, thank you."
"The pleasure was mine," Angelus told her. "And my child."
"Yes?" Drusilla asked.
Angelus raised his hand to the lattice between them. "God is watching you."
∞
Now
Day - Angel's Mansion - Garden
Drusilla walked downstairs.
Spike was sitting in his wheelchair, reading the newspaper. "Nice walk, pet?"
Drusilla held a hand over her stomach. "I met an old man. Didn't like him. He got stuck in my teeth." She licked her fingers, facing Spike. "But then the moon started whispering to me." She closed her eyes, leaning her head back. "All sorts of dreadful things."
Angelus and Bianca walked in.
"Well, what did it say?" Bianca asked.
"Oh, look who's awake," Spike told them.
Angelus bumped Spike's head with his fist as he walked past.
Bianca walked by Drusilla. "What did the moon tell you?" She walked around Dru. "Did you have a vision? Is something coming?"
Drusilla nodded, whispering. "Oh, yeah, something terrible. Psst, psst, psst, psst, psst, psst."
"Where?" Bianca asked.
"At the museum," Drusilla answered. "A tomb." She smiled. "With a surprise inside."
Drusilla pointed toward a newspaper. Bianca walked toward the paper to pick it up.
Angelus reached up to Drusilla's head. "You can see all that in your head?"
"No, silly," Bianca answered. "She read it in the morning paper." She read it. "Oh, my."
The headline of the Sunnydale Press read: Mysterious Obelisk Unearthed. The article subtitle read: Excavators Discover Ancient Artifact.
"That's what's been whispering to me," Drusilla told them.
Bianca smirked. "Oh, yeah."
"Don't worry, though," Angelus told them. "Soon it'll stop. Soon it'll scream."
Angelus smiled at the three of them. Drusilla waved her head around open-mouthed, playfully snapping at Angelus' cheek.
∞
Sunnydale High School - Computer Classroom
The girls were sitting around the main desk as they studied.
Brooke gave up in frustration and slapped down her pencil. "This doesn't make any sense."
"Well, sure it does," Willow told her. "See..." She took the paper and looked. "Oh, no, this doesn't make any sense."
Carmen shrugged. "It's senseless."
Zoey played with her pencil.
Alice was encouraging. "It is, but at least all of you know that, so you're learning."
"Yay us," Buffy told them. "Well, it doesn't matter anyway."
"Yeah," Brooke agreed. "I mean, when in the real world are we ever gonna need chemistry or history or math or the English language?"
Carmen nodded in agreement. "Okay. I see your point."
"I'm a moron?" Zoey asked.
Carmen gave her a look. "Will you stop that? You're not stupid."
"You've just had a lot going on," Buffy told her.
"A lot on your mind," Brooke agreed.
"You can learn this real easily, but if you're just gonna give up, then don't waste my time," Willow told her.
Zoey was impressed. "Wow. You really are a good teacher."
"Okay," Willow told them.
Alice nodded. "Look at this. A covalent bond, which means these two atoms are linked by this..."
Zoey put her pencil down on her open book, and it rolled off of the desk and into the space between it and the filing cabinet next to it. She moaned. "Hold that thought."
Zoey reached down and in with her fingers, and pulling the pencil out. In the process, she bumped the disk for Angel and Bianca's souls with the pencil, sitting back up.
Buffy nodded. "Okay. We're Learn Girls."
"Okay," Brooke told them, pointing to the paper. "So, see here..."
Zoey had an epiphany. "Deja vu."
"Really?" Carmen asked.
"Yeah," Zoey answered. "I have this perfect memory of the pencil and..." She dropped the pencil onto her book again. It rolled off of the desk again, falling and hitting the disk. She looked over into the space and saw the yellow computer disk. She reached down again for it and her pencil. "Oh, hey." She pulled up the disk and pencil. "You dropped this."
Zoey handed the unlabeled yellow disk to Willow.
Willow looked at it curiously. "It's not mine. It might be something of Jenny's."
Willow inserted the disk into her laptop's floppy drive. Zoey looked away.
"This feels kinda morbid," Carmen told them.
"Zoey and Layla had to go through Jenny's spellworks to learn more about being gypsies," Alice explained. "They showed some of it to me, my dad, Carmen and Wyatt. And Willow's had to go through her files for teaching her classes."
"Does that make it less morbid?" Buffy asked. "Or you guys really morbid?"
The program on the disk started up, and the Rumanian text scrolled into the left-hand window.
Seeing that Zoey was made slightly uncomfortable because of Buffy's comment, Brooke gave her sister a look, shaking her head. "Buffy. Mm-mm."
The translation program's percent complete window appeared, and the bar began to zip across the screen.
"It's okay, Zoey," Carmen told her. "We're all here for you."
They all watched as the bar reached the far side. It disappeared, and the English translation scrolled into the right-hand window.
Willow looked closely. "Does that say 'restoration'?"
"It's one of her spells, I think," Zoey explained.
Buffy was still reading. "Guys..."
They looked back at the screen and began reading more, realizing what it was.
"Oh, boy," Brooke told them.
Willow could only repeat. "Oh, boy."
They stopped reading, and were just stunned.
∞∞
Flashback
Rumania
Night - Woods
Angelus ran through the trees, panting in his desperation to reach a gypsy camp.
∞
Camp
The camera panned across the dead body of a young Kalderash gypsy girl that Angelus had recently killed. She was on a table, dressed in white, laying on an intricately patterned quilt with candles burning around the perimeter. Members of the clan were laying rose petals on her. The camera continued to pan over to the elder woman sitting beneath a tent canopy, chanting over an Orb of Thesulah surrounded by candles within a sacred circle. Angelus continued to run through the woods as the chanting began.
The elder woman led the chant. "Nici mort, nici de-al fiintei, Te invoc, spirit al trecerii. Reda trupului ce separa omul de animal." Translation: Neither dead, nor of the living, I invoke you, spirit of the passing. Return to the body what distinguishes Man from the beast. Angelus broke through the trees into the clearing of the camp, tripping, falling by the great bonfire raging near the center of the camp. "Asa sa fie." Translation: So it shall be. Angelus got to his hands and knees, looking at the elder woman, who was still chanting. "Utrespur aceastui."
Translation: Restore this one.
The glowing orb suddenly got very bright for an instant, going dark. Angelus' eyes glowed the same color for a moment, returning to normal, his soul now restored.
An elder man of the clan stepped up to him. "It hurts, yes? Good. It will hurt more."
"Where am I?" Angel asked, breathing heavily.
The elder man walked closer. "You don't remember everything you've done for a hundred years. In a moment, you will. The face of everyone you killed, our daughter's face. They will haunt you, and you will know what true suffering is."
Angel still didn't understand. "Killed? I--I don't..." Slowly, the memories came back to him. "No." He looked down, away, starting to cry. "No, no, no."
Angel knelt down to the ground, in sorrow and grief.
∞
Now
Day - Sunnydale High School - Library
The Scoobies were all gathered in the library, including Layla, who had been filled in on what the girls had found.
"What are you saying?" Wyatt asked.
Layla held a printout. "The curse. This is it. Zoey, Buffy, Brooke, Alice, Carmen and Willow. found it. Looks like Jenny was trying to replicate the original curse. To restore Angel's soul again. But she was trying to altar it. So we could restore Bianca's as well.
Wyatt took the printout, looking at it. "She said it couldn't be done."
"Well, she tried anyway," Layla told them. "And it looks like it might have worked. So Angel killed her before she could tell anyone about it. Before we could give him or Bianca their souls back. What a prince."
Xander looked away.
"This is good, right?" Cordelia asked. "I mean, we can curse Angel and Bianca."
Layla paced, thinking.
"Um, well, this, um... certainly points the way, but... the ritual itself requires a greater knowledge of the black arts than I--I--I can claim," Giles told them.
"It's gypsy magic," Wyatt told them. "It's not magic meant for me. Giles. Alice. Or Carmen. Or even fledgling witches in training like Willow and Eric. There's only two of us that this magic was meant for. The two that are descended from this bloodline anyway."
They all looked at Zoey and Layla.
Giles was very concerned. "Zoey, Layla, while Wyatt is right, channeling such potent magics through yourselves, it could open a door that you may not be able to close."
"Zoey," Brady told her. "Layla. We don't want you putting yourselves in any danger. Even if this is your type of magic."
"We don't want danger," Eric told them. "Big no to danger. As yes, you may be the best people to do this. But we don't want you getting hurt."
"Hi!" Xander said. "For those of you who have just tuned in, everyone here is a crazy person." He stood, walking to the end of the table. "So this spell might restore Angel and Bianca's humanity? Well, here's an interesting angle. Who cares?"
"Carmen cares," Brady answered. "I care."
"Brady's right," Eric told him. "Let's not lose our perspective here, Xander."
"I'm Perspective Guy," Xander told them. "Angel and Bianca are killers."
"Xander..." Brady trailed off.
"It's not that simple," Eric told him.
Xander was disgusted. "What, Eric, all is forgiven? I can't believe you people!"
Cordelia stood. "Xander has a point."
Xander started to go off on Cordelia before he realized what she said. "You know, just for once, I wish you'd support me, and I realize right now that you were, and I'm embarrassed, so I'm gonna get back to the point, which is that Angel and Bianca need to die."
"You know that Bianca was sick before all of this," Brady told him. "She was driven insane by everything that happened to her family, to her."
"Let's not forget that one of the main reasons why Bianca was hurting us because Brady killed Ford," Eric added.
"Thanks, Eric," Brady told him sarcastically.
"And neither of them started out evil," Alice told them. "They were sick."
Xander knew they were right but didn't want to change his mind about where he stood.
"Curing Angel and Bianca seems to have been Jenny's last wish," Layla told them.
"Yeah, well, Jenny's dead," Xander told her.
Layla approached him angrily. "Don't you ever speak of her in that tone again."
They began to argue heatedly, which where they could barely hear what any of them said.
"Stop it," Carmen told them.
Buffy ran over to stop the fight. "Stop it!"
Layla and Zoey paced away, very upset.
"What do we wanna do?" Brooke asked quietly.
Zoey sighed, speaking quietly. "I--I don't know."
"What happened to Angel and Bianca wasn't their fault," Carmen told them.
"Yeah, but what happened to Jenny is Angel's," Xander told them. "And Enyos. Even little puppy Snowy. And Bianca set all of the females of this town against Alice and Brooke, ready to kill them, just to drive Brady and Wyatt insane like Spike wanted."
Zoey and Layla gave Xander a look, while everyone else gave him a look of disbelief.
"Can't you see that Angelus and Angel are two very different people?" Willow asked.
"No one is forgiving Angel for what he did to Jenny," Layla told him coldly. "But my family? Zoey's family? People long before us or Jenny? They cursed Angel with his soul because they felt like it was their responsibility to, and they felt it was their responsibility to make sure that Angel kept his soul. Jenny felt like it was her responsibility to. Before she was killed. I'm not forgiving Angel for what he did. I'm not giving Bianca a free pass. We're going to do what our family wanted to be done for centuries. So keep your opinions about what to do when Zoey and I know what our family would want us to do to yourself."
Xander was shamed and put in his place, slowly backing away to sit at the table. Everyone else was stunned but understanding, in agreement.
∞
Night - Sunnydale Museum - Research Lab
Doug was going over his notes, hearing some whispering coming from behind him, turning around to look, but didn't see anyone there. "Hello?"
Doug stood, slowly walking over to the obelisk, hearing louder whispering, reaching up to the rock, touching the runes on the face of it. The whispering seemed to be coming from inside. Doug placed his hand flat on the face of the rock, staring up at it in amazement. Suddenly, Bianca wrapped her hand around his mouth from behind, pulling his head back to expose his neck, leaning in to bite him hard as he struggled to get away. Angelus, Drusilla and two other vampires approached.
"We'll have one of these to go," Bianca told him, continuing to feed on Doug.
The two vampires walked around the rock with some rope and tools to haul it away.
"Bianca..." Drusilla trailed off. Bianca looked up, growling, smiling a most evil smile. "Save me some."
∞
Chase Mansion - Carmen's Room
Zoey was researching what she needed to know for the curses.
Carmen was packing up what they needed for a hunt, on the phone. "Well, we'll do a couple sweeps, and we'll stop by. Yeah, Xander pretty much was being a--Willow, where did you learn that word?"
Zoey looked up, reading the word that Carmen mouthed. "My God, she kiss her mother with that mouth? Tell her we'll see her in a little while."
Carmen nodded. "Zoey said we'll see you soon."
Carmen walked over to her desk, grabbing a couple of more things, and at the bottom of the drawer, she saw the claddaugh ring that Angel had given her, looking at it sadly for a moment, reaching in for it, holding it gently with her fingers, remembering, holding it in both hands, gazing at the design. Zoey watched her hold the ring knowingly, remembering when she had been there when Angel had given the ring to Carmen, looking down sadly.
∞
Park
Zoey and Carmen met up with Buffy, Brooke, Wyatt, Brady and Alice for patrolling. Kendra and Sofia appeared in the bushes behind them, causing them to turn around, ready to fight, only to stop when they recognized the new Slayer and new Guardian.
"You know, polite people call before they jump out of the bushes and attack you," Buffy told them.
Sofia smirked. "We just wanted to test your reflexes."
"How about testing our powers or face punching?" Brooke asked. "'Cause I think you'll find they're improved."
"We were on our way to you," Kendra explained. "Saw you walking. Couldn't help ourselves."
"Which begs the question, and don't think we're not glad to see you, but why are you here?" Alice asked.
Kendra and Sofia started to answer.
"Oh, wait," Wyatt told them, imitating their accents. "No, let me guess. Your Watcher and the other lead Guardian informed you dat a very dark power is about to rise in Sunnydale."
"Dat's about it," Sofia answered.
"Great," Brady told them. "So, you have any idea what this dark power is?"
∞
Angel's Mansion - Living Room
Angel, Bianca and Drusilla walked in across the marble flower to where Spike was sitting in his wheelchair, staring at the obelisk set in front of the huge fireplace.
Spike heard them coming. "It's a big rock. I can't wait to tell my friends. They don't have a rock this big."
"Spike, boy, you never did learn your history," Bianca teased. "Let's have a lesson, then."
Angelus walked toward the obelisk. "Acathla the demon came forth to swallow the world. He was killed by a virtuous knight who pierced the demon's heart before he could draw a breath to perform the act. Acathla turned to stone, as demons sometimes do, and was buried where neither man nor demon would want to look." He turned to face the others, walking closer. "Unless of course, they're putting up low rent housing."
Bianca smirked. "Boys?"
The two vampires reached up with crowbars, prying open the tomb. The lid crashed to the floor, stirring up plenty of dust. Inside was a tall, horned, stockily built stone demon with a sword protruding from the right side of its chest.
Upon seeing him, Drusilla closed her eyes, raising her hands to the sides of her head, beginning to sway it back and forth. "He fills my head. I can't hear anything else."
"Let me guess," Bianca told them. "Someone pulls out the sword..."
Spike nodded. "Someone worthy."
Bianca chuckled. "Mm. The demon wakes up. And wackiness ensues."
Drusilla opened her eyes, lowering her arms. "He will swallow the world."
"And every creature on this planet will go to hell," Spike finished.
Bianca walked up to Acathla for a closer look, turning to face the others, smirking. "My friends... we're about to make history... end."
Bianca smiled evilly.
∞∞
Sunnydale High School - Library
The Scoobies were gathered with Kendra and Sofia.
"I've been on the phone to the museum," Giles told them. "The artifact in question is missing, and the curator has been murdered. Vampires."
Giles leaned on the table.
"And you're sure this was the tomb of Alfalfa?" Eric asked.
"Acathla," Giles corrected. "And, yes, the information provided by Kendra and Sofia's Watcher seems conclusive."
Giles stood straight.
Willow walked out from behind the counter. "Okay, somebody explain the whole 'he will suck the world into Hell' thing, because that's the part I'm not loving."
"Well, the, uh, the Demon Universe exists in a dimension separate from our own," Giles told them, sitting on the table. "With one breath, Acathla will create a vortex. A--a kind of, um... whirlpool that will pull everything on Earth into that dimension, where any non-demon life will suffer horrible and... eternal torment."
"So that would be the literal kind of 'sucked into Hell'," Eric told them. He smiled nervously. "Neat."
"Zoey?" Buffy asked. "Layla? I think you should try the curse."
"I tend to side with your friend Xander on this one," Sofia told them. "Angel and Bianca should be eliminated."
"Oh, we'll fight them," Brooke told them. "We'll kill them if we have to."
"But if we don't get there in time?" Brady asked. "Or if we lose?"
"Then Zoey and Layla might be our only hope," Carmen finished.
"Are you guys sure you can handle that?" Willow asked. "Being our only hope? Uh, I know Zoey doesn't do well under pressure. But I'm sure you can do it."
"Still," Zoey told them. "Let's have another hope."
"We have," Kendra told them, pulling a sword from her bag. "Blessed by the knight who first slew the demon." Wyatt looked at the sword, intrigued. "If all else fails, this might stop it. I tink."
Wyatt approached. "Ooh, may I?" He took the sword from Kendra. "Thank you. Well, let's, uh, hope all else doesn't fail. Zoey? Layla? How close are you to figuring out the ritual of the curse?"
"I've been helping them," Alice explained. "We need about a day." She picked up some papers and read. "And an 'Orb of Thesulah'."
Eric shrugged. "Whatever that is."
Giles sighed. "Spirit vault for rituals of the undead." He walked toward his office. "I've got one." He was embarrassed. "I--I've been using it as a... paperweight."
Giles walked into his office.
"This means we can't study for tomorrow's final," Eric told them. "Ah, we'll wing it."
"Of course, if we go to Hell by then, we won't have to take 'em," Buffy pointed out, then turned worried. "Or maybe we'll be taking them forever."
Giles came back with the Orb.
Wyatt sighed. "Angel and Bianca have a ritual of their own to perform before one of them can remove the sword and awaken Acathla. With any luck, it should take some time."
∞
Angel's Mansion - Spike's Room
Spike was pacing in his room.
He heard Drusilla's voice coming. "Spike?" Spike quickly got back into his chair. Drusilla walked through the curtain into the room. "Spike, my sweet. The fun's about to begin."
∞
Living Room
Two vampires dragged in a young man, barefoot and bare chested with his hands tied behind his back. They dropped him to the floor before Spike, Drusilla, Angelus and Bianca.
Angelus walked toward the young man. "I will drink, the blood will wash in me, over me, and I will be cleansed. I will be worthy to free Acathla." He looked at Spike and Drusilla. "Bear witness." He looked at Bianca. "As I ascend." He looked ahead, morphing into his vampire visage. "As I become." He grabbed the man by the hair, lifting him up, holding his head at an angle to expose his neck, roaring, biting him hard and fast on the neck, drinking deeply, bringing up his hand to brush it against the man's wound, letting him fall to the floor dead, looking at the blood on his hand, lowering it, slowly walking toward Acathla. "Everything that I am, everything that I have done, has led me here."
∞
Flashback - 1996
Manhattan
Night - Street
A bum stepped up to a trashcan, beginning to go through it. A man walked past him, down the street. Having found nothing, the bum made his way into the alley with slow, labored steps. A boy ran past him with a package, disappearing further down the alley. The bum, tired and weak, staggered into a concrete post at the side of the alley, stopping, coughing, rolling around to lean with his back against the post, revealing it was Angel, tired, filthy and unkempt, breathing for a moment, smelling something, searching the alley with his eyes, spotting a rat scampering across to the other side, taking a couple of unsteady steps, brushing the hair from his face, beginning to stalk the rat, reaching the other side, disappearing into a pile of trashcans and bags. Angel dove after it, scattering the cans and bags noisily, but lost the rat. Wyatt walked into the alley behind him. Angel rolled over to sit, flailing his arms at the trashcans in anger.
Wyatt walked over. "God, are you disgusting." Angel calmed down a bit, looking around. "This is really an unforgettable smell. This is the stench of death you're giving off here. And the look says, uh, Crazy Homeless Guy. It's not good."
Angel didn't look at him yet, so he hadn't recognized him. "Get away from me."
"What are you gonna do?" Wyatt asked. "You have a dark power in you. I can sense it. It's almost like a vampire, but there's a brightness inside you, unlike any other vampire I've seen. So what are you?"
Angel turned to look at him, shocked to see it was Wyatt, knowing who he was because of Spike, though Wyatt didn't know who he was at the time, taking a minute to recover his voice. "Wyatt Pratt? You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"Well, whatever you are, it's poignant," Wyatt told him. "You said my name like you know me."
Angel cleared his throat. "I, uh, I've heard of you. Wyatt Pratt. Powerful warlock. One that holds back his full power because he doesn't want to go dark."
"Well, you have me at a disadvantage," Wyatt told him. "I don't know who you are. Let's take a walk."
∞
Street
Angel and Wyatt walked down the street and sidewalk, crossing to a hotdog stand on the other side. Angel wasn't paying any attention to the traffic.
Wyatt grabbed his arm to stop him from being run over. "What are you eating? Like once a month?" Angel strayed, almost walking into another car. Wyatt grabbed his arm again, pulling him back in time. "Hey. Look, you're skin and bones here. You knew who I was when I came to you. I wanna know who you are."
"You don't know me?" Angel asked.
"Not yet," Wyatt answered. "But I'm looking to find out, 'cause you could go either way here."
"I don't understand you," Angel told him.
Wyatt chuckled. "Nobody understands me. That's my curse." He stepped over to the street vendor, pulling out some cash. "Dog me. Mustard."
Wyatt watched the vendor getting out the hotdog and squirt some mustard, turning to look at Angel, waiting.
Angel knew that Wyatt would know his full name Angelus, so he said Angel so Wyatt didn't know exactly who he was. "My name's Angel."
"Here we go," the vendor told them, handing Wyatt his food.
"Thanks," Wyatt told him, handing over a bill, turning around, taking a bite.
Angel and Wyatt walked away from the vendor.
"You're a witch," Angel told him. "I mean, I know you're not a bad guy."
Wyatt shook his head. "Nope. Not all creatures of the night are dedicated to the destruction of all life."
"What do you mean, I can go either way?" Angel asked.
"I mean that you can become an even more useless rodent than you already are, or you can become someone," Wyatt answered. "A person, someone to be counted."
Angel started to walk away. "I just wanna be left alone."
Wyatt rolled his eyes. "Well, yeah, you've been left alone for how long already?" Angel turned back. "And what a package you are. The stink guy."
Angel muttered to himself so he didn't hear. "You're definitely Spike's brother." He spoke loud enough for Wyatt to hear him. "What do you want from me?"
"I want you to see something," Wyatt answered. "We'd have to leave now. You see, and then you tell me what you wanna do."
"Where is it?" Angel asked.
Wyatt smirked.
∞
Day - Sunnydale High School - Outside
School was over for the day, and the students came streaming out. An old, rusted Chevy Impala with its windows spray painted black pulled up on the far side of the street. Wyatt was in the driver's seat of the car, which was his. Angel was in the passenger seat, rolling down his window slightly.
Carmen, Zoey and Willow walked out of the school together, smiling and laughing.
Carmen smirked. "So, Cordelia's like, 'Dad, do you want me to go to the dance in an outfit I've already worn? Why do you hate me'?"
"What about you?" Willow asked. "Is Tyler taking you?"
"Where were you when I got over Tyler?" Carmen asked teasingly. "He's of the past." Angel and Wyatt watched the girls. "Tyler would have to crawl on his hands and knees to get me to go to the dance with him. Which, actually, he's supposed to do after practice."
"What about you, Zo?" Willow asked.
"Oh, I'm not even sure about going," Zoey answered. "I mean, my mom and I are supposed to be home after work and school so we can talk to my Aunt Jenny when she gets to town. Jenny's thinking about moving to Sunnydale permanently and taking up a class here at school."
Willow smiled. "Oh, my God, your aunt's gonna be working at the school you go to? That's cool."
Xander, Eric and Jesse walked out of school together, looking toward the girls, waving. Jesse was smiling and waving to Zoey, checking her out.
Carmen smiled in amusement. "Oh, look at Jesse checking Zoey out. He's always all over you, Zo."
Zoey chuckled. "Oh, I know. I keep trying to let him down easy, but..."
"We'll see you guys later," Willow told them.
"See you, guys," Zoey told them.
They all walked away from each other.
∞
Night - Cemetery
Carmen was walking through the cemetery alone, at the point where she was just now figuring out she had powers, the only one she had so far was telekinesis, but it was strong and explosive, because she didn't have the infinity/cross necklace spelled for control yet. Angel walked through the cemetery, seeing Carmen lose control over her power as it made a headstone and a tree explode into a shower of stone and wood. While Angel was watching in concern, Carmen was freaking out because she had powers she didn't yet understand.
∞
Wyatt's Loft
Wyatt was sitting, waiting, eating, drinking. Angel walked in.
"She's gonna have it tough, that newbie witch," Wyatt explained. "She just got her powers. They're explosive and out of control. And they can get even worse. I've been trying to teach her control. Spelled a necklace to help her keep control. But she's just a kid. The world's full of big, bad things."
"I wanna help her," Angel admitted. Wyatt looked at him knowingly. "I want... I wanna become someone."
Wyatt stood, walking toward a safe with a gold combination lock, using his his power to unlock it with a wave of his hand and gold colored power, opening it to reveal a box, taking it out, tossing it to Angelus. "This isn't gonna be easy. The more you live in this world, the more you see how apart from it you really are. And this is dangerous work. Right now, you couldn't go three rounds with a fruit fly."
Angel nodded in acknowledgement, speaking with resolve. "I wanna learn from you."
Wyatt nodded. "All right."
"Why did you come to me of all people to help her?" Angel asked. "To help Carmen?"
"Because witches like me and Carmen can see links between people and their souls," Wyatt answered. "It's a rare power that only a few witches have, like the two of us. But we can see the match for people. Soulmates, my friend. You don't want to get involved with her? Want to stay free of emotions like that to protect her? Fine. That's not my business. But that girl needs you. And I think you need her, too. I think you know that."
Angel knew he was right, considering his options, opening the box that Wyatt had given to him, revealing it was the cross/infinity necklace that Angel had given to Carmen to help her control her powers in 1.01 Welcome to the Hellmouth, the necklace that Wyatt had spelled to make sure Carmen could control her powers as long as she had it on.
∞
Now
Night - Angel's Mansion - Living Room
Angelus approached Acathla, still vamped out. "I have strayed, I have been lost. But Acathla redeems me. With this act, we will be free."
Angelus grabbed the hilt of the sword with both hands. A blindingly bright light emanated from it. Drusilla and Bianca smiled as they were bathed in the light. Angelus began to shake with the power of the sword.
∞∞
Angelus held onto the sword tightly, trying to draw it out of Acathla, but it wouldn't budge, and a moment later, a bright red flame burst from the sword, throwing Angelus back and onto the floor.
Spike taunted him in a singsong voice. "Someone wasn't worthy."
Angelus stood. "Damn it!"
Drusilla was freaking out. "This is so disappointing."
Angelus paced angrily. "There must be something I missed. The incantations, the blood. I don't know."
Spike tried hard to suppress a snicker, hiding his mouth with his hand.
"What are we going to do?" Bianca asked.
"What we always do in a time of trouble," Angelus answered menacingly. "Turn to an old friend. We'll have our Armageddon. I swear."
Bianca grabbed a vase from a shelf, throwing it at the far wall, smashing it into hundreds of tiny pieces.
∞
Day Three
Morning - Sunnydale High School - Classroom
The teenaged Scoobies and the rest of the class were taking one of out final exams. Everyone was intent on it. Buffy looked up and glanced around briefly, then turned her attention back on her paper.
∞
Hallway
There were very few students in the hall. A mysterious figure with a shawl over its head walking slowly toward the room where the students were taking their test. The camera followed. The few students who passed didn't take any notice.
∞
Classroom
Everyone was concentrating on the test.
The vampire walked in, pulling the shawl away from her face. "Tonight... Sundown..." Everyone looked up. "At the graveyard..."
The teacher stood up. "Excuse me..."
Exposed now to the daylight, the vampire began to smoke. "You will come to them." She took the shawl off. "You will come to them alone or more will die." She pointed at Buffy, Brooke, Alice and Brady, and ignited into flame. Everyone watched, taken aback by the vampire's direct approach at delivering her message. "The four of you, and Wyatt Pratt. Tonight!" The students screamed, jumping out of their chairs and beginning to run from the room. Cordelia, Willow, Xander and Eric also jumped up, but didn't run. Buffy, Brooke, Zoey, Alice, Carmen and Brady remained calmly in their seats. "Their hour is at hand!"
The vampire combusted in a flash of flame and smoke.
∞
Library
They had come to tell the others. Kendra approached with her sheathed sword.
"She said more would die," Brooke told them. "We have to go."
"Den we should go wit you," Sofia told them.
"No, she said only Buffy, Brooke, Alice, Carmen, Brady and Wyatt," Xander explained. "Kinda weird that she said only them and not Zoey since Angel's been obsessed with trying to break Zoey and Layla since they're from the gypsy line that cursed him. And Bianca loves seeing Zo lash out at him."
"Kinda weird, yeah, but lucky, since we need Zoey and Layla," Eric agreed.
"Eric's right, we need Zoey, Layla, Sofia and Kendra here just in case," Alice told them. "We can take care of ourselves."
"And look, as long as Angel and Bianca are fighting us, then they can't do this end of the world ritual thingy," Carmen told them. "And that's a good thing."
"Zoey?" Willow asked. "Layla? What do you think?"
Layla looked over her research. "I just want to cross check..."
"We don't have time," Brady told them. "If this is gonna work, it has to work now."
"Okay," Eric told them. "Then we'll give them half an hour once we're all set up."
Giles looked at the shelves. "Which means you just have to hold Angel and Bianca off. Don't let them close on you."
Giles pulled a book out, tossing it to Xander.
"If the curse succeeds, we'll know," Wyatt told them.
"Why don't you just wait here to find out if it worked, see if they phone you?" Cordelia asked.
"We can't risk them killing any more people," Zoey answered.
"We better go," Wyatt told them.
"Be careful," Xander told them.
"We will," Buffy told them.
"Here..." Kendra trailed off, grabbing a stake from the table. Buffy stopped and looked back. Kendra walked over to her and held up the twisted but very sharp stake. "In case de curse does not succeed, dis is my lucky stake. I have killed many vampires wit it. I call it Mr. Pointy."
"And yes," Sofia told them. "She did name her stake. I was dere when she did. It was weird."
Zoey smirked. "Remind me to get you two stuffed animals."
"Watch your backs," Sofia told them.
"Thanks," Brooke told them.
Buffy, Brooke, Alice, Carmen, Brady and Wyatt left the library.
∞
Night - Cemetery
Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice, Wyatt and Carmen walked through the cemetery, watching all around as they went.
Angelus walked out into view. "Hello. I wasn't sure you'd come."
"After your immolation-o-gram?" Carmen asked sarcastically. "Come on, we had to show."
"Where's Bianca?" Brady asked. "Shouldn't you two be out destroying the world right now, pulling the sword out of Al Franken or whatever his name is?"
"There's time enough," Angelus told them. "Bianca's not here. But I wanted to talk to you guys first. Carmen, you are the one thing in this dimension I will miss."
"This is a beautiful moment you're trying to have with Carmen," Alice told him. "Can we please fight?"
"I didn't come here to fight," Angelus told them.
Wyatt raised his eyebrows. "No?"
"Gosh, I was hoping you friends of Carmen could help me convince her to get back together with me," Angelus told them sarcastically. "What do you think? Do we have a shot?" They have him a look. Angelus smirked. "Kidding. If I would talk to any of Carmen's friends about getting her back, it would be Zoey since she's her best friend. Oh, but wait, after everything I did to Zoey and Layla, that doesn't look too likely now does it? Sorry, Carmen."
They glared at him.
"Enough," Wyatt told him. "Let's fight."
Angelus smirked, running closer.
∞
Sunnydale High School - Library
Zoey and Layla were sitting cross-legged on the table, facing each other. In the middle of them was the Orb of Thesulah within a sacred circle and surrounded by candles, bones and stones. Zoey and Layla casted some stones, looking up at the others, nodding.
Giles opened a book and read the Latin text. "Quod perditum est, invenietur. [What is lost, return.]"
Willow and Eric swirled incenses into the air. Xander and Cordelia watched.
Zoey and Layla chanted together. "Not dead nor not of the living. Spirits of the interregnum we call."
∞
Cemetery
Buffy ducked a punch from Angelus. Brady kicked Angelus from behind. Angelus turned to try to punch Brady, but Brady blocked the move. Carmen blocked a hit from Angelus, punching him in the face, levitating herself up so she could kick him in the face, flipping through the air to kick him again, making him fall. Angelus tried to punch and kick Alice and Brooke on either side of him, but they used their red Guardian energy to block the moves, trapping his wrist and ankle in the red energy so they could throw him toward Wyatt. Wyatt created a twirl of rocks around his fingertips, twirling them around, forming them bigger into a bolder to wrap around Angelus, making him unable to move and fall to the ground, trapped.
Brooke whispered to herself. "Zoey, Layla, come on."
∞
Sunnydale High School - Library
Kendra and Sofia were guarding the main doors. Eric and Willow waved the incenses.
Zoey and Layla continued the spell. "Let them know the pain of humanity, gods. Reach your wizened hands to us. Give us the sword."
Suddenly a vampire came out of the stacks and attacked Xander from behind. The main doors flew open. Kendra and Sofia spun around to defend as two more vampires walked in.
Eric pointed to the steps and spoke to Willow, Xander and Cordelia as a fourth vampire appeared from the stacks. "Get out! Go!"
Willow, Xander and Cordelia made for the stairs. Kendra punched the first of the two vampires to reach her. Sofia used her Guardian energy to rip apart the other one coming for her. The fourth vampire jumped over the mezzanine railing, landing on Zoey and Layla, knocking them off of the table and to the floor while they had been distracted with trying to cast the curse, knowing that they had to be knocked out and seriously hurt before they could finish to spell, or before they could defend themselves or the others.
Giles ran closer worriedly. "Zoey! Layla!"
Cordelia, Xander and Willow ran up the stairs. As a vampire jumped onto Eric, Eric elbowed him in the face, knocking him into a bookcase, turning toward him.
Kendra grabbed another vampire, shoving her into the wall. Sofia took another vampire with red Guardian energy to rip him apart into ashes with a thought.
Willow ran around behind the stacks to try to escape. Cordelia was frozen in fright. Giles grabbed a vase from the table and smashes it over his attacker's head to keep him away from unconscious Zoey and Layla.
Eric's assailant ran toward Eric again, but Eric sidestepped him, spinning around, grabbing him and slamming his head into a railing.
A vampire snuck up behind Sofia. Sofia turned toward him, punching him in the face, kicking him in the stomach, using red Guardian energy to rip him apart. Willow was hiding behind a bookcase. A vampire pushed the bookcase over onto Willow, making her fall to the floor and knocking her out.
Eric's opponent grabbed his arm, looping it around tightly and pulled it down, breaking it, making him yell in pain.
Kendra ducked a roundhouse kick from her enemy, blocking several swings. Giles ducked a swing and punched a vampire in the gut. Kendra landed two punches in the face of her attacker. Eric pounded his assailant on the back. Two vampires knocked Giles and Eric out.
Xander saw this, worried. "Eric! Giles!" He picked up a dazed vampire to shove him into another one going after Cordelia, knocking them both down. "Go! Zoey! Layla! Wake up."
Cordelia screamed, running out through the stacks. Xander watched Kendra and Sofia fight off more vampires. Kendra ducked a punch to the face, coming up, holding a vampire's head back, plunging her stake into her heart, making the vampire burst into ashes. Sofia looked around for a target, seeing a vampire going after unconscious Zoey and Layla, running closer, using her red Guardian energy to grab the vampire, throwing him into the wall, making him fall. As the vampire stood, Sofia spun closer to kick him in the face, throwing him into the wall, disintegrating him into ashes due to the Guardian energy. More vampires attacked Kendra and Sofia.
∞
Cemetery
Angelus finally broke free from the bolder magic that Wyatt had trapped him with. "Jeez, is it me, or is your heart not in this? Maybe I'll just go home, destroy the world."
Buffy took out Kendra's stake.
"Well, I think Mr. Pointy will have something to say about that," Brooke told him.
Brady gave Angelus a look. "Come on."
"Let's finish this," Alice told him.
"You and us," Carmen agreed.
Angelus chuckled. "You never learn, do you? This wasn't about you. This was never about you." They realized the trap was set for the others, beginning to run. Angelus smiled. "And you fall for it every single time!"
∞
Sunnydale High School - Library
A vampire punched Kendra, making her stumble, but she regained her footing. Up in the stacks, another one came at Xander, punching him in the face, knocking him out. Sofia did a roundhouse kick to a vampire, making him fall, tearing him apart with her power.
The library doors were flung open by Bianca's Guardian energy. Drusilla and Bianca walked in.
A vampire tried to kick Kendra, but she blocked it and swung out with her leg, tripping him. More vampires surrounded Kendra and Sofia.
Bianca clapped her hands. "Enough."
Bianca gestured for Kendra and Sofia to come closer with a wave of her fingers, letting watered down Guardian energy dance from her fingertips. The other vampires backed off. Kendra and Sofia faced off with Bianca and Drusilla, ready to fight, who goaded them on by showing them watered down, weakened Guardian powered energy waving off their fingers. Kendra tried to kick Drusilla, but she blocked her easily. Sofia tried to punch Bianca twice, but Bianca was able to use her power to block the moves, punching Sofia in the face, using her power to flip Sofia to the floor, making her roll away. Sofia was angered by a vampire being able to use Guardian energy to fight her off.
∞
Street
To get to the school faster, Alice and Brooke were using their red Guardian energy to fly themselves, Buffy, Carmen, Brady and Wyatt to the school.
∞
Sunnydale High School - Library
Drusilla ducked a kick from Kendra, grabbing her by the arms, swinging her around, shoving her away. Kendra came at her again with a kick to the gut, making her double over. Bianca used her watered down Guardian energy to shove Kendra and Sofia against the counter, strangling them with her power, making sure they couldn't move.
Drusilla smiled, proud, walking closer to hypnotize the Slayer and Guardian. "Look at us, dearies. Bianca, come."
Bianca walked closer so Dru could teach her more, both of them waving fingers in their eyes, glowing with red watered down Guardian energy to hypnotize them. "Be... in our eyes. Be... in us." Kendra and Sofia were completely under their spell. When Drusilla and Bianca swayed a bit, so did Kendra and Sofia to stay in contact with their eyes. Drusilla backed away slightly, never losing eye contact. Kendra and Sofia continued to sway with Drusilla and Bianca. Drusilla extended out the fingers of her right hand at her side, smiling evilly, swinging her hand up, slicing Kendra's neck with her sharp nails. Kendra grabbed at her neck as it began to bleed heavily, and collapsed to the floor, dead. Bianca shifted to her vampire visage so she could bite into Sofia's neck and feed in peace while Sofia was completely hypnotized, unable to fight back, feeding until she killed the Guardian, letting the body fall to the floor next to Kendra's, smiling, wiping the blood from her lips. "Night-night."
Drusilla smiled, proud that Bianca was able to kill a Guardian. Bianca kissed the air, waving her fingers, which glowed brightly with red Guardian energy, much stronger of a power now because not only had she fed on three Guardians as of now, she had drained one completely.
Drusilla turned to the other vampires. "Let's get what we came for, dears." She looked at the two unconscious gypsies on the floor. "My, my, Zoey and Layla look like darlings. I'll leave them to die slowly."
Two of them grabbed the unconscious Giles by the arms, dragging him from the library. Drusilla, Bianca and the other vampires followed, leaving.
∞
Hallway
Buffy, Brooke, Alice, Carmen, Brady and Wyatt arrived, throwing opening the doors, running through the hallway in slow motion.
Wyatt: (voice over) "Bottom line is, even if you see them coming, you're not ready for the big moments."
∞
Library
Still in slow motion, they ran into the library, looking around the damage, seeing Kendra and Sofia lying dead on the floor, seeing Zoey, Layla, Eric, Willow and Xander unconscious on the floor, all running to check on them. Alice remained standing, looking around worriedly for her father, but couldn't find Giles.
Wyatt: (voice over) "No one asks for their life to change, not really, but it does. So what are we, helpless? Hopeless? Puppets? No. The big moments are gonna come. You can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. That's when you found out who you are."
Police officers walked in, aiming guns at them. "Freeze!"
Buffy, Brooke, Alice, Carmen, Brady and Wyatt looked at the officers, seemingly caught red-handed.
Wyatt: (voice over) "You'll see what I mean."