Authors Notes: I am using scripts created by Alexander Thompson to write the Edispilf universe. I give him thanks, because I honestly haven't seen much of late season two. As per normal, I own nothing, don't sue me.
The Edispilf universe is one of the five stem realities mentioned in my story Flipside. It diverges in the middle of Surprise, which is where I begin my tale. I'd like to hope some of you have been waiting for this, so here it is. Becoming, Part One. If I don't get a review from at least one of the hundred of you who I know are reading this series, I'll withhold part two until August. No joke. I do have other projects.
Becoming This episode was originally broadcast on May 12, 1998.
In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer.
A ghetto in London, England, 1874. The camera looks straight down from above onto the cobblestones. A lone rider on his horse passes underneath, and the camera follows them past a well as Spike narrates.
Spike: There are 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 continues past a tavern on the far side of the square. The door opens, and a young drunk William and his drunk friend are thrown out.
William: We'll be back, and you'll regret it!
The tavern proprietor slams the door shut, and William pounds on it a couple of times.
William's friend: (moans) Let's go.
William staggers back over to him and puts his arm around him. They begin to walk with a definite sway in their step.
William: Come on. We'll sneak in and take some of your mum's pounds. She'll never miss it.
His friend is too drunk to go on, and faints dead away, falling out of William's arm to the pavement. William looks down at him.
William: (shrugs) Okay, so you rest right here.
He takes a look around and spots a woman in a long elegant black dress standing in an alley beyond an archway. The woman gives a slight backward glance to be sure she has his attention, and starts to walk further into the alley, disappearing around a corner from William's view. He follows her.
Cut to the alley. The woman continues her slow pace and looks up when William comes through the archway and begins to speak. As she gets closer to the camera it becomes clear that the woman is Drusilla. Her rich black hair is done in an elegant French braid.
William: So, I ask ... What be a lady of your station doing alone in an alley with the reputation that this one has?
Drusilla: (still facing away) Maybe she's lonely.
William: In that case, I offer myself as escort to protect you from harm and to ease your loneliness.
Drusilla: You're very gracious.
William: I've been called many a things, but gracious has never been one of them.
Drusilla: (turns to face him) Are you certain you're up to the challenge?
William: (approaches her) Milady, you'll find there's no challenge I'm not prepared to face.
He stops in front of her and looks into her eyes.
William: Oh... But you're a pretty thing. Where are you from?
Drusilla: (smiles) Around. Everywhere.
William: I never been anywhere myself. Always wanted to see the world, but...
Drusilla: I could show you. (smiles)
William: Could you, then?
Drusilla: Things you've never seen, never even heard of.
William: Sounds exciting.
Drusilla: It is. And frightening.
William: I'm not afraid. Show me. Show me your world.
Drusilla: My white knight, soon to be my dark king.
The camera follows her hand as she puts it on his shoulder, and continues up to show her face vamped out. She smiles, lets out a low growl and opens wide as she leans in to bite him. When he feels the pain his eyes open wide, and he gasps. He can't keep steady, and sinks to his knees. Drusilla lets go of her bite, revealing his bloody neck, and stands up straight.
Drusilla: Daddy, he's ready.
Angelus stepped out of the shadows.
Angelus: You always have the best of taste, Dru. Just don't let this one starve.
Angelus cuts his wrist with a claw, and places it to William's mouth. Reflex kicks in, and he drinks.
Cut to the cemetery in Sunnydale, 1998. Drusilla walks through carefully and quietly while watching Buffy fight a pair of vampires nearby. He sees her kick one and then the other, and then continues on to a better vantage point. One of the vampires rushes Buffy, and she flips him over onto his back.
Buffy: Nice try.
The other one comes at her again with a swing. She ducks it and punches him in the face, in the gut and again in the face. He falls to the ground, dazed. The first one comes at her again with a kick, but she blocks it with her arm, backhand punches him in the face, jabs him in the gut and grabs his arm, twisting it up high and forcing him to his knees in pain. Drusilla looks on from behind a tree and smiles. The second vampire gets back up and rushes her. Without letting go of the first one she cleanly jams her stake into the other one's chest, and he crumbles into ashes. Drusilla can't help but snicker. Buffy turns her attention back to the one she's holding and punches him in the face, making him roll away.
Buffy: I want you to get a message to Spike for me. Tell him I'm done waiting. I'm taking the fight to him.
Drusilla smiles as she listens.
Buffy: You got that? Need me to write it down for you?
The vampire gets up and charges her. She grabs him and pulls him around and down to the ground, and immediately plunges her stake home. He bursts into ashes.
Buffy: Alright, I'll tell him myself.
She gets up and walks over behind a gravestone, where she reaches down to help someone up. She pulls Xander of an extremely annoyed looking Angel.
Angel: (growls) Next time, find a different landing spot.
Xander: (moans) I'm good. Don't worry about me. (rubs his neck)
Buffy: You know, you don't have to patrol with me.
Xander: (indicates the pile of ash) I had that guy under control until he resorted to fisticuffs. (cranes his neck) Oh! What is that, um... five vampires in three nights?
Buffy: Yep. But no Spike.
Xander: Are you, uh, really that anxious to come up against him?
Buffy: I want it over with.
Xander: (nods) I hear that.
Angel: We've underestimated him before. We don't want that to happen again.
Buffy: Oh, we better go. (exhales) I haven't even started studying for finals yet. (starts to go)
Xander: (joins her) Oh, yeah, finals! Why didn't you let me die?
Angel: Xander's on his own, but I'll help if you if I can.
Buffy: Ah, look on the bright side. It'll all be over soon.
They leave the cemetery under the watchful eyes of Drusilla.
Drusilla: Yes, it will.
She smirks and turns to leave the other way.
Opening credits roll. Buffy's theme plays.
The research lab at the Sunnydale Museum of Natural History. The camera pans across a large rectangular chunk of rock over to a technician. She is carefully cleaning off a section of the rock. She lets a jet of compressed air blow away some dust. A moment later she lets another jet go, and then reaches up with a brush and runs it across the rock. Dr. Doug Perren, one of the museum curators, comes over to check her progress.
Doug: Careful, now. (points) Concentrate in this area. (watches her work a moment) There you go.
The door opens behind him, and he turns to see Giles come in.
Giles: Hello?
Doug: (comes to greet him) Rupert Giles?
Giles: Yes.
Doug: Doug Perren. (shakes his hand) Thanks for coming.
Giles: Oh, not at all. It's... flattered to be asked.
Doug: I spoke with Lou Tabor at the Washington Institute, and he told me we had the best authority on obscure relics right here in Sunnydale.
Giles: Oh... (laughs) He may have, uh, exaggerated a little. (sees the obelisk) Ah, is this the...
Doug: This is our baby. (they approach it) Construction workers dug it up outside of town. Don't have a clue what it is. Any ideas?
Giles: (touches and looks at the rock) A few. None I'd care to share until I can verify. (notices the runes on it) You have, uh, carbon dated it? (inspects the writings)
Doug: The results'll be back in a couple of days. I'll go out on a limb and say old.
Giles: (smirks) Um, yes, it, it certainly... (picks up a jar and a scraper) predates any, uh... settlements we've read about. (points) Um, may, may I?
Doug: Yeah. Sure.
Giles leans in and begins to scrape at the corner of the obelisk, catching the debris in the jar. He digs into an apparent groove. A few scrapes later he stops and taps the scraper clean on the jar.
Giles: I assume you've, uh, you haven't tried to open it.
Doug: Open it?
He leans over to see what Giles has discovered.
Doug: Ah, I'll be damned. I figured it was solid. What do you think is in there?
Giles: (staring intently) I don't know.
Doug: Well... I guess we won't know until we open it up.
Giles: (considers) Yes, but could I ask, um... would you 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.
Doug: You don't want to be surprised?
Giles: A-as a rule, no.
Doug: Alright. You're the expert. But I'm pretty damn curious, though.
Giles: (removes his glasses) Yes. Yes, so am I.
Cut to the cafeteria at Sunnydale High. The camera focuses on two fish sticks that Xander is holding, one with a toothpick stuck through the middle. He plays with them like puppets, moving the one with the toothpick around.
Xander: Tell Spike I'm gonna kill him! No, wait. I'm gonna kill you!
He starts to repeatedly stab the toothpick into the other fish stick.
The camera pulls back and up to his face.
Xander: Die! Die! Die!
He makes an anguished face and lets the fish stick fall.
Xander: Aah! (makes a thudding noise) (squeals) Mother! (smiles)
Cordelia: Is that it?
Xander: Yeah. That's it. (chuckles) Scene! (grins)
Cut to Willow, Oz and Buffy at the opposite side of the table. Willow is sitting on Oz's lap.
Buffy: That's exactly how it happened.
Oz: Well, I thought it was riveting. Uh, I was a little unclear about some of the themes.
Buffy: The theme is Spike's too much of a coward to take me on face-to-face.
Xander: (still playing with the fish sticks) And the other theme was 'Buy American', but it, uh, got kind of buried.
Willow: (to Buffy) Do you think you're ready to fight Spike?
Buffy: I wish people would stop asking me that. Yes, I'm ready. I'm sorry dropping a church on him wasn't enough! I'll try harder. Just the one test I might actually pass.
Willow: Don't say that! You're gonna pass everything. I will get you through this semester if I have to sweat blood.
Xander: Do you think you're likely to? 'Cause I'd like to be elsewhere.
Willow: It was only metaphor blood.
Oz: I think you'd sweat cute blood.
Willow: (gives Oz a smile) (to Buffy) Sixth period, after my computer class, we'll rock on chemistry.
Buffy: Ready to rock.
Cordelia: Gee, Xander, what are you gonna teach when you fail in life? Advanced loser-being?
Xander: I will teach... (with a French accent) zee Language of Love! (reaches for her)
Cordelia: (fights him off) Don't touch me! You have fish hands!
Snyder comes into the cafeteria behind them.
Xander: Come, let me caress you!
Cordelia: Stop it!
Xander: Let me in!
Cordelia: No! (laughs) Don't!
Snyder: That's enough of that. (to Willow) And you! Are we having a chair shortage?
Willow: I didn't read anything about... Oh. (slides off of Oz's lap and into her chair) I get it.
Snyder: These public displays of affection are not acceptable in my school. This isn't an orgy, people. It's a classroom.
Buffy: Yeah! Where they teach lunch.
Snyder: (glares at her) Just give me a reason to kick you out, Summers. Just give me a reason. (walks off)
Cordelia: How about because you're a tiny, impotent Nazi with a bug up his butt the size of an emu?
Buffy: Sums it up.
Cordelia: Don't you think?
Willow: (smiles) (to Buffy) Do you wanna come by my house tonight and study, too?
Buffy: Maybe. I-I do have to patrol.
Willow: Again? Do you really expect Spike to turn up tonight?
Buffy: No, I don't expect him to. But that's usually when he does.
Cut to an abbey in London, 1860. Cut inside the nave. Monks are chanting. Drusilla walks behind the pews toward the confession booths. Before going in she faces the altar, kneels and crosses herself. She looks up briefly before getting back to her feet and going into one of the booths. As she steps in through the curtain an arm juts out of the adjacent one where the priest waits, and muffled noises and struggling can be heard. The arm gets pulled back in as quickly as it appeared. Cut inside the confessional. Drusilla sits down and pulls the scarf from her head.
Drusilla: Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.
In the next booth Angelus is caught by surprise, and drops the dead priest.
Drusilla: It's been two days since my last confession. (waits for an answer) Father?
Angelus: (goes along with it) That's not very long.
Drusilla: (with a trembling voice) Oh, Father, I'm so afraid.
Angelus: The Lord is very forgiving. Tell me your sins.
Drusilla: I had... (breathes deeply) I've been seeing again, Father. Yesterday, the men were going to work in the mine. I had... (shakes) a terrible fright. (draws a frightened breath) My stomach all (draws another) tied up, and I saw this horrible... crash. (calms a bit) My mummy said to keep my peace, it didn't mean nothing. But this morning... they had a cave-in. Two men died.
Angelus: Go on.
Drusilla: Me mum says... I'm cursed. (exhales) My seeing things is an affront to the Lord, (inhales sharply) that only he's supposed to see anything before it happens. (inhales, sobs) But I don't mean to, Father, I swear! (inhales) I swear! (begins to cry) I try to be pure in his sight. (sobs) I don't want to be an evil thing.
Angelus: Oh, hush, child. The Lord has a plan for all creatures. Even a Devil child like you.
Drusilla: (taken aback) A Devil?
Angelus: 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: (frightened) What can I do?
Angelus: Fulfill his plan, child. Be evil. Just give in.
Drusilla: No! (sobs) I want to be good. (sobs) I want to be pure.
Angelus: We all do, at first. The world doesn't work that way.
Drusilla: Father... I beg you... Please... Please, help me.
Angelus: Very well. Ten Our Fathers and an Act of Contrition. Does that sound good?
Drusilla: (relieved) Yes. (exhales) Yes, Father. Thank you.
Angelus: The pleasure was mine. And my child... (raises his hand to the lattice between them)
Drusilla: Yes?
Angelus: (stares at her) God is watching you.
Cut to the atrium at the mansion, 1998. Drusilla comes down the stairs to the garden below. There Spike sits and reads the newspaper.
Spike: Nice walk, pet?
Drusilla: (holds her tummy as though sick) I met an old man. Didn't like him. He got stuck in my teeth. (licks her fingers) (faces Spike) But then the Moon started whispering to me... (closes her eyes and leans her head back) All sorts of dreadful things.
Spike: What did the Moon tell you? (walks around Dru) Did you have a vision? Is something coming?
Drusilla: Oh, yeah. (whispers) Something terrible. Psst, psst, psst, psst, psst, psst...
Spike: Where?
Drusilla: At the museum. A tomb... (smiles) with a surprise inside.
Spike: (holds his hand up to her head) You can see all that in your head?
Drusilla: (smiles) What do you think?
Spike: I think some one's been reading my paper.
The headline of the Sunnydale Press reads 'Mysterious Obelisk Unearthed'. The article's subtitle reads 'Excavators Discover Ancient Artifact'.
Drusilla: That's what's been whispering to me. Sh.
Cut to the computer science classroom after school. Willow is tutoring Buffy in chemistry. Buffy gives up in frustration and slaps down her pencil.
Buffy: Waah! This doesn't make any sense. (pouts at Willow)
Willow: Well, sure it does. See... (takes the paper and looks) Oh, no, this doesn't make any sense.
Buffy: (shrugs) It's senseless. (plays with her pencil)
Willow: (encouragingly) It is, but at least you know that, so you're learning. (looks at the problem more closely)
Buffy: Yay me. Well, it doesn't matter anyway. I mean, when in the real world am I ever gonna need chemistry or history or math or the English language?
Willow: (shoots Buffy a glance) Okay. I see your problem.
Buffy: I'm a moron?
Willow: (gives Buffy a look) Will you stop that? You're not stupid! You've just had a lot on your mind. You can learn this real easily, but if you're just gonna give up, then don't waste my time.
Buffy: (impressed) Wow. You really are a good teacher. (smiles)
Willow: Okay. Look at this. A covalent bond, which means these two atoms are linked by this...
Buffy puts her pencil down on her open book, and it rolls off of the desk and into the space between it and the filing cabinet next to it.
Buffy: Ohh! (moans) Hold that thought.
Buffy: (sits back up) Okay. I'm Learn Girl.
Willow: Okay. (points to the paper) So, see here...
A wood in Rumania, 1898. Angelus runs through the trees, panting in his desperation to reach a gypsy camp. Cut to the camp. The camera pans across the dead body of the young Kalderash Gypsy girl that Angelus has recently killed. She is on a table dressed in white and lying on an intricately patterned quilt with candles burning around the perimeter. Members of the clan are laying rose petals on her. The camera continues to pan over to the Elder Woman sitting beneath a tent canopy and chanting over an Orb of Thesulah surrounded by candles within a sacred circle. Angelus continues running through the woods as she chants.
Elder Woman: 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 breaks through the trees into the clearing of the camp. He trips and falls by the great bonfire raging near the center of the camp.
Elder Woman: Asa sa fie.
Translation: So it shall be.
He gets to his hands and knees and looks over at the Elder Woman, still chanting. Cut to the Elder Woman.
Elder Woman: Utrespur aceastui.
Translation: Restore this one.
The glowing Orb suddenly gets very bright for an instant, and then goes dark. Cut to Angelus. His eyes grow bright for a moment, then return to normal, his soul now restored. An elder man of the clan steps up to him as he sits back on his ankles.
Gypsy Man: It hurts, yes? Good. It will hurt more.
Angel: (confused) Where am I? (pants hard)
Gypsy Man: 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 not understanding) Killed? I, I don't...
Slowly the memories come back to him: all the people in Budapest after the earthquake that he and Darla killed for their blood; all the people he's turned into demons; the gypsy girl that proved to be his downfall.
Angel: No...
He looks down away from the man and begins to sob.
Angel: No... No... No...
He bends down to the ground in sorrow and grief.
Cut to Angel's apartment. He wakes up from the nightmares of real life, with a great sense of foreboding coming over him.
Cut to the museum research lab. Dr. Perren is going over his notes when he hears some whispering coming from behind him. He turns around to look, but no one's there.
Doug: Hello?
He gets up and slowly walks over to the obelisk. The whispering gets louder as he nears it. He reaches up to the runes on the face of the rock and touches them. The whispering seems to be coming from inside. He places his hand flat on the face of the rock and stares up at it in amazement. Suddenly Drusilla wraps her hand around his mouth from behind and pulls his head back to expose his neck. She leans in and bites him hard as he struggles to get away. Behind her two other vampires approach the obelisk. The two vampires walk around the rock with some rope and tools to haul it away.
Cut to the park. Buffy walks through on patrol and heads into some bushes. She stops and jerks her head aside when she hears something snap. Slowly she takes a few more steps to investigate. She hears another sound behind her, and spins around to look. Nothing. Again she takes a couple of steps. Suddenly Kendra comes out of the bushes to stand right behind her. Buffy instantly pivots around with her fist held up, ready to punch. She stays herself when she recognizes the other girl.
Buffy: (exhales) You know, polite people call before they jump out of the bushes and attack you.
Kendra: (in her accent) Just wanted to test your reflexes.
Buffy: How about testing my face-punching? 'Cause I think you'll find it's improved.
Kendra: I was on my way to your house. Saw you walking. Couldn't help meself.
Buffy: (smiles) Which begs the question, and don't think I'm not glad to see you, but, why are you here? (Kendra starts to answer) Oh, wait. No, let me guess. Your watcher informed you (imitating her accent) dat a very dark power is about to rise in Sunnydale.
Kendra: Dat's about it.
Buffy: Great. So, you have any idea what this dark power is?
Cut to the main hall in the' mansion.
Spike: It's a big rock. I can't wait to tell my friends. They don't have a rock this big.
Drusilla: (pouts) You said I could have it. Besides, it's not just a rock.
Spike: Let's have a lesson, then.
Drusilla: Acathla the demon came forth to swallow the world. (strolls to the obelisk) 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 (turns to face Spike) where neither man nor demon would want to look. (starts away from the obelisk) Unless of course they're putting up low-rent housing. Boys...
The two vampires reach up with crowbars and pry open the tomb. The lid crashes to the floor, stirring up plenty of dust. Inside is a tall, horned, stockily built stone demon with a sword protruding from the right side of its chest. Upon seeing him Drusilla closes her eyes, raises her hands to the sides of her head and begins to sway it back and forth.
Drusilla: He fills my head. I can't hear anything else.
Spike: Let me guess. Someone pulls out the sword...
Drusilla: Someone worthy...
Spike: Mm. The demon wakes up, and wackiness ensues.
Drusilla: (opens her eyes, lowers her arms) He will swallow the world, and every creature living on this planet will go to Hell.
The library. Giles comes out of his office into the main room where Buffy and Kendra are waiting at the table. Willow is behind the counter, researching in a book.
Giles: I've been on the phone to the museum. The artifact in question is missing, and the curator has been murdered. Vampires. (leans on the table)
Buffy: And you're sure this was the tomb of Alfalfa?
Giles: Acathla. And yes, the information provided by Kendra's Watcher seems conclusive.
He straightens back up. Willow walks out from behind the counter.
Willow: Okay, somebody explain the whole 'he will suck the world into Hell' thing, because that's the part I'm not loving.
Giles: Well, the, uh, (puts on his glasses) the Demon Universe exists in a dimension separate from our own. (sits 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.
Buffy: So that would be the literal kind of 'sucked into Hell'. (smiles nervously) Neat. (frowns, turns to Willow) I have to work fast.
Kendra: You have fought these two before. They should already be dead.
Buffy: Will you people cut the guilt already! Do we have a clue how to kill this thing.
Kendra: We have. (pulls a sword from her bag) Blessed by the knight who first slew the demon. (Giles looks at the sword, intrigued) If all else fails, this might stop it. I tink.
Giles: (approaches) Ooh. May I? May I? (takes the sword from Kendra) Thank you. Well, l-let's, uh, hope all else doesn't fail.
Willow: (to Buffy) This means I can't help you study for tomorrow's final.
Buffy: Ah, I'll wing it. Of course, if we go to Hell by then, I won't have to take 'em. (worried) Or maybe I'll be taking them forever.
Cut to Angelus' mansion. Spike paces in his room. He hears Drusilla coming.
Drusilla: Spike? Spike, my sweet! The fun's about to begin.
Cut to the main hall before the obelisk. The two vampires drag in a young man, barefoot and bare-chested with his hands tied behind his back. They drop him to the floor before Spike and Drusilla.
Drusilla: (comes 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. (looks at Spike) Bear witness...as I ascend... (looks ahead and morphs into her game face) as I become.
She grabs the man by the hair and lifts him up, holding his head at an angle to expose his neck. She roars and bites the young man hard and fast on the neck. She drinks deeply, brings up his hand to brush it against the man's wound and then lets him fall to the floor dead. She looks at the blood on his hand. She lowers it and starts to walk slowly toward Acathla.
Drusilla: Everything that I am, everything that I have done, has led me here.
Cut to Manhattan, 1996. A bum steps up to a trashcan and begins to go through it. A man walks past him and on down the street. Having found nothing, the bum makes his way into an alley with slow, labored steps. A boy runs past him with a package and disappears further down the alley. The bum, tired and weak, staggers into a concrete post at the side of the alley and stops. He coughs and rolls around to lean with his back against the post, and it's Angel, tired, filthy and unkempt. He just breathes for a moment, and then smells something. He searches the alley with his eyes and spots a rat scampering across to the other side. He takes a couple of unsteady steps, brushes the hair from his face and begins to stalk the rat. It reaches the other side and disappears into a pile of trashcans and bags. Angel dives after it, scattering the cans and bags noisily, but loses the rat. A man comes into the alley behind him. Angel rolls over to sit and flails his arms at the trashcans in anger over missing the rat. The man comes up to him.
Whistler: God, are you disgusting.
Angel calms down a bit and looks around himself.
Whistler: 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: (angrily) Get away from me.
Whistler: What are you gonna do, bite me? (gasps and jumps back) Horrors! A vampire!
Angel looks at him in surprise.
Whistler: Ah, but you wouldn't bite me on account of your poor, tortured soul. It's so sad, a vampire with a soul. It's so poignant.
Angel: (confused) Who are you?
Whistler: Let's take a walk.
Cut to a ways down the street. The two of them walk along the sidewalk for a few paces and then turn into the street to cross to the hotdog stand on the other side. Angel isn't paying any attention to the traffic, so Whistler grabs his arm to stop him.
Whistler: What are you eating? (they continue across) Like, a rat once a month?
Angel strays and almost walks into another car. Whistler grabs him again and pulls him back in time.
Whistler: Hey! (car honks, they continue) Look, you're skin and bones here! Butcher shops are throwing away more blood in a day than you could stand. Good blood. (they reach the far side) You lived in the world a little bit, you'd know that.
Angel: I wanna know who you are. (stops)
Whistler: (stops and faces him) And I wanna know who you are.
Angel: You already do.
Whistler: Not yet. But I'm looking to find out. 'Cause you could go either way here.
Angel: I don't understand you.
Whistler: Nobody understands me. That's my curse. (chuckles)
He steps over to the street vendor and pulls out some cash.
Whistler: Dog me. Mustard.
He watches the vendor get out the hotdog and squirt on some mustard.
Whistler: (to Angel) My name's Whistler.
Vendor: Here you go.
Whistler: (takes the dog) Thanks. (hands over a bill, turns to Angel) Anyway, lately it is. (takes a bite) Mm.
Angel: (looks down) You're not a vampire.
Whistler: A demon... technically. I mean, I'm not a bad guy. Not all demons are dedicated to the destruction of all life.
Angel: (looks at him) Whadaya mean, I can go either way?
Whistler: I mean that you can become an even more useless rodent than you already are, or you can become someone. A person. Someone to be counted.
Angel: I just wanna be left alone. (starts away)
Whistler: Well, yeah, you've been left alone for, what, ninety years already. (Angel turns back) And what a package you are. The Stink Guy!
Angel: What do you want from me?
Whistler: I want you to see something.
He gives Angel an intense look. Angel just looks at him.
Whistler: We'd have to leave now. You see, and then you tell me what you wanna do.
Angel: Where is it?
Cut to Hemery High School in Los Angeles, 1996. School is over for the day, and the students come streaming out. An old, rusted Chevy Impala with its windows spray-painted black pulls up on the far side of the street. The driver's window lowers, and Angel squints out into the daylight, careful to remain in shadow. He looks over at the building and sees Buffy come down the steps with three of her friends.
Buffy: So I'm like, 'Dad, do you want me to go to the dance in an outfit I've already worn? Why do you hate me?'
Girl#1: Is Tyler taking you?
Buffy: Where were you when I got over Tyler? He's of the past. (Angel watches her) 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, so I'm gonna wait.
Girl#1: Okay. See ya later.
Girl#2: Bye!
Buffy: (waves to Girl#1) Call me!
Girl#1: Okay!
Buffy: (waves to Girl#2) Call me! (waves to Girl#3) Call me!
Girl#3: I will!
Buffy climbs back up a few steps and looks around. She takes off her jacket and sits down to wait for Tyler. She lays the jacket across her legs and idly looks around again. A man in a black suit approaches her. He is her first Watcher, who has finally found her.
Watcher: Buffy Summers?
Buffy: (looks at him) Yeah? (smiles) Hi! (confused) What?
Watcher: I need to speak with you.
Buffy: (worried) You're not from Bullock's, are you? 'Cause I-I meant to pay for that lipstick.
Watcher: There isn't much time. You must come with me. Your destiny awaits.
Buffy: (confused, shakes her head) I don't have a destiny. (nods) I'm destiny-free, really.
Watcher: (seriously) Yes, you have. You are the Chosen One. You alone can stop them.
Buffy: Who?
Watcher: The vampires.
Buffy: (considers for a moment) Huh?
Cut to a cemetery. Buffy lands flat on her back.
Buffy: Oof!
A vampire props himself over her, growling menacingly. She is very frightened, and looks around frantically for what to do. Angel watches from behind some gravestones. Buffy spots her stake, but can't reach it, so she just gets her hands underneath the vampire and pushes him off. He flies off of her and lands hard on his back.
Buffy: Oh, God...
She rolls onto her hands and knees and scrambles on all fours to retrieve her stake.
Buffy: Oh, God... Oh... Oh, God... Unh!
She grabs the stake and quickly gets to her feet. She looks at it, unsure of what to do next. The vampire gets up and lunges at her. Reflexively she grabs him, sidesteps him and sends him flipping over to the ground again, dazed. She looks at the vampire, amazed by what she just did. She glances back at the Watcher, down at her stake and then makes her move to dispatch the vampire. She quickly gets to her knees, raises the stake above her head and plunges it into him, but gets him in the gut instead of the chest.
Buffy: Oh! Not the heart!
Angel watches, concerned. Buffy plunges the stake into the vampire again, and this time hits her mark. An instant later the vampire bursts into ashes. Buffy is caught by surprise, and she screams and jumps back, landing on her butt. She just stares at the ashes on the grass in wide-eyed shock. Behind her the Watcher steps up.
Watcher: You see? You see your power?
Buffy isn't at all sure she wants to see. Angel continues to watch.
Cut to Buffy's house in L.A. The camera looks into her room from outside. Buffy comes in with her mother close behind.
Joyce: Why didn't you call?
Buffy: (faces her mom) I'm sorry. I-I didn't know it was so late. Tyler and I were talking.
Joyce: (exhales) That boy is irresponsible.
Buffy: No, mom. It's not his fault. (takes off her jacket)
Joyce: You know we worry, that's all.
They look at each other for a moment, and Joyce shrugs.
Joyce: Dinner's in ten minutes. (leaves)
Buffy: (whispers) Yeah.
She goes through the other door into her bathroom. The camera pans from the bedroom window over to the bathroom window. She turns on the water to wash up from the cemetery. Her parents talk in the hall, and she can hear as it escalates into an argument.
Hank: Did she say where she was?
Joyce: She was with Tyler.
Hank: I don't want her seeing him anymore, period!
Angel looks in at her from outside.
Joyce: You're overreacting, dear.
Buffy looks at herself in the mirror sadly. The tears begin to come.
Hank: Don't do that! Don't talk to me like I'm a kid!
Joyce: I don't! Just forget it!
Angel continues to watch and listen.
Hank: Just because you can't discipline her, I have to be the ogre!
Buffy keeps on staring into the mirror.
Joyce: I am not having this conversation again! Alright?
Buffy looks down and tries hard not to cry.
Cut to the sewers. Angel arrives where Whistler is waiting for him.
Whistler: She's gonna have it tough, that Slayer. She's just a kid. The world's full of big, bad things.
Angel: I wanna help her. (Whistler looks at him) I want... I wanna become someone.
Whistler: God, jeez, look at you. She must be prettier than the last Slayer. (Angel looks away) This isn't gonna be easy. The more you live in this world, the more you see how apart from it you really are. (sternly) And this is dangerous work. Right now, you couldn't go three rounds with a fruit fly!
Angel: (with resolve) I wanna learn from you.
Whistler: Alright.
Angel: But I don't wanna dress like you. (starts to leave)
Whistler: (follows) Again, you're annoying me. You're lucky we need you on our side.
Cut to present. Angel can't take it any more, and gets out of bed. He heads towards the library.
Cut to the mansion. Drusilla approaches Acathla, still vamped out.
Drusilla: I have strayed, I have been lost. But Acathla redeems me. With this act, we will be free.
She grabs the hilt of the sword with both hands. A blindingly bright light emanates from it. Drusilla smiles and bathes herself in it before she begins to shake with the power of the sword.
She holds onto the sword tightly, trying to draw it out of Acathla. It won't budge, and a moment later a bright red flame bursts from the sword, throwing Drusilla back and onto the floor.
Drusilla: (freaks out) This is so... disappointing! (moans) (paces angrily) There must be something I missed. The incantations, the blood... I don't know!
Spike tries hard to suppress a snicker, hiding his mouth with his hand.
Drusilla: (gets a determined look on her face) We'll have our Armageddon. I swear!
She grabs a vase from a shelf and heaves it at the far wall, smashing it into hundreds of tiny pieces.
Cut to class the next day. Willow, Buffy, Xander, Cordelia and the rest of the class are taking one of their final exams. Everyone is intent on it. Buffy looks up and glances around briefly, then turns her attention back on her paper.
Cut to the hall. There are very few students. A mysterious figure with a shawl over its head walks slowly toward the room where the team is taking their test. The camera follows. The few students who pass don't take any notice.
Cut back to the class. Everyone is concentrating on the test, and no one notices as the vampire comes in and pulls the shawl away from its face.
Vampire: Tonight... Sundown... (everyone looks up) At the graveyard...
Teacher: (gets up) Excuse me...
Exposed now to the daylight, the vampire begins to smoke.
Vampire: You will come to her. (takes the shawl off) You will come to her or more will die.
She points at Buffy and ignites. Buffy watches, taken aback by the vampire's direct approach at delivering her message.
Vampire: Tonight!
The students scream, jump out of their chairs and begin to run from the room. Cordelia and Xander also jump up, but don't run. Buffy remains calmly in her seat.
Vampire: Her hour is at hand!
She combusts in a flash of flame and smoke. Buffy just stares at the empty space before her.
Cut to the library. Xander, Cordelia and Willow are researching at the table. Kendra approaches with her sheathed sword. The camera pulls back to show Giles and Buffy up on the mezzanine.
Buffy: She said more would die. I have to go.
Kendra: Den I should go wit you.
Buffy: (faces Kendra) No. I need you here just in case. (heads for the stairs) I can take care of myself. And look, (comes down) as long as Dru's fighting me, then she can't do this end-of-the-world ritual thingy, and that's a good.
Kendra: Here...
She grabs a stake from the table. Buffy stops and looks back. Kendra goes over to her and holds up the twisted but very sharp stake.
Kendra: In case de curse does not succeed, dis is my lucky stake. I have killed many vampires wit it. I call it Mr. Pointy.
Buffy: You named your stake?
Kendra: (a bit embarrassed) Yes.
Buffy: (smiles) Remind me to get you a stuffed animal.
She accepts the stake from Kendra and looks it over.
Buffy: Thanks.
Kendra: (exhales) Watch your back.
Buffy leaves the library.
Cut to the cemetery. Buffy walks through, watching all around as she goes. Drusilla walks out from behind a small mausoleum.
Drusilla: Hello. I wasn't sure you'd come.
Buffy: After your immolation-o-gram? Come on, I had to show. Shouldn't you be out destroying the world right now, pulling the sword out of Al Franken or whatever his name is?
Drusilla: There's time enough. I wanted to say goodbye first. You are the one thing in this dimension that ever took my Angel from me. I will miss him.
Buffy: This is a beautiful moment we're having. Can we please fight?
Drusilla: I didn't come here to fight.
Buffy: (raises her eyebrows) No?
Drusilla: Alright. We'll fight.
She rushes at her.
Buffy ducks a punch from Drusilla and comes up behind him. She spins around to block her return swing. She blocks another jab from her, and punches her in the face. She follows up with a left hook, and Buffy loses her balance and nearly falls down. Drusilla grabs her by the back of her coat and throws her over onto the grounds. She rolls away and onto her back, and looks up at her. She swiftly gets back to her feet to continue fighting.
Cut to the library. Kendra guards the main doors. Suddenly a vampire comes out from the stacks and attacks Xander from behind. The main doors fly open, and Kendra spins around to defend as two more vampires walk in. Giles points to the steps and yells at the girls as a fourth vampire appears from the stacks.
Giles: Get out! Go!
Willow and Cordelia make for the stairs. Kendra punches the first of the two vampires to reach her. The fourth one jumps over the mezzanine railing and lands on Giles' back, knocking him into the table. Cordelia and Willow run up the stairs and see Xander elbow the vampire on his back, knocking the demon into a bookcase. Having punched down the one vampire, Kendra grabs the other and shoves her into the wall. The first one gets up and rushes in to fight. Willow runs around behind the stacks to try to escape. Cordelia is frozen in fright. Giles grabs a vase from the table and smashes it over his attacker's head. Xander's assailant rushes him again, but Xander sidesteps him. He spins around, grabs Xander and shoves him into a bookcase. The one down below hops up onto the table, runs across it and leaps over the railing above. Willow sees him coming, and hides behind a bookcase.
The vampire doesn't stop and just pushes the case over onto Willow. She falls to the floor, and the books and case land on top of her, knocking her out. The vampire Kendra is fighting ducks her swing. Xander's opponent grabs his arm, loops his own around it tightly and pulls down, breaking it. Xander yells out in pain. Kendra ducks a roundhouse kick from her enemy and blocks several swings. Xander grabs his tormenter's hair and smashes his head down on the railing. Below Giles ducks a swing and punches the vampire in the gut. Kendra lands two punches in the face of her attacker. Giles pounds his assailant on the back, but he just roars and spins around with a punch to Giles' face, knocking him out. Xander picks the dazed vampire up and shoves him into the other one going at Cordelia, knocking him down.
Xander: Go!
He grabs his broken arm and winces in pain. Cordelia screams and runs out through the stacks. Xander watches Kendra's opponent punch her in the face, but Kendra ducks and backs into her and comes up holding back the vampire's head. She plunges her stake into her heart, and she bursts into ashes. Xander winces again in pain. Willow lies prone under the fallen bookcase. Kendra looks around for her next target. She sees the one going for Giles, and rushes over to pull him off. She shoves him around to the floor. He tries to get up, but she just punches him back down. He tries again, and she grabs him and throws him through the window into Giles' office. Just then another one tackles her from the side.
Cut to the cemetery. Buffy punches Drusilla, but he takes it in stride. She swings again, but he grabs her arm and holds on tight. She swings with the other one, but he grabs it, too, and then pushes her away.
Angelus: Is it me, or is your heart not in this?
Buffy pulls out Kendra's stake.
Drusilla: Maybe I'll just go home, destroy the world.
Buffy: Well, I think Mr. Pointy'll have something to say about that. Come on. Let's finish this. You and me.
Drusilla: (chuckles) Y-you never learn, do you? This wasn't about you. This was never about you. (chuckles)
She realizes the trap was set for the others, and begins to run. Drusilla smiles.
Cut to the library. A vampire punches Kendra, and she stumbles, but regains her footing. Up in the stacks the other one comes at Xander and punches him in the face, knocking him out. Below Kendra is hit by a roundhouse kick, and falls. The vampire tries to kick Kendra, but she blocks it and swings out with her leg, tripping him, and gets back to her feet to face the other two, the one that came down from above, the other one now back out of Giles' office. The third one is up again also, and they close in on her, but before any more fighting can ensue one of the vamps makes a hand motion. Kendra is bleeding profusely, and collapses to the floor.
Cut to a street. Buffy runs like mad to get to the school.
Two of them grab an unconscious Giles by the arms and drag him from the library. The third vampire follow them out.
Cut outside. Buffy runs across the school grounds. Cut into the halls. Buffy throws open the door and rushes in. As she rounds a corner the scene slows. Buffy runs down the hall in slow motion as Whistler narrates over the scene.
Whistler: Bottom line is, even if you see 'em coming, you're not ready for the big moments.
Buffy barges into the library and stops.
Whistler: No one asks for their life to change, not really. But it does.
She looks around at the damage, and then sees Kendra lying on the floor. She runs to her, still in slow motion, and skids down next to her on her knees. She sees that she's still alive.
Whistler: So what are we, helpless? 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 find out who you are.
Buffy reaches up to Kendra's face with her other hand and strokes it gently. Behind her a police officer raises his gun at her.
Officer: Freeze!
Buffy looks back at him, seemingly caught red-handed.
Whistler: You'll see what I mean.