Xander turned toward Dawn and Spike and ran as fast as he could.  The demons were right behind him, outraged at being cheated of witnessing a slaughter.  "Help me!" He yelled, thrusting his arm up in the air.  Spike leaned far over the edge and picked Xander up with one arm, depositing him on the ledge.  "Where to now?" he asked.

"I think there's a tunnel over here." Dawn pointed at a recessed area in the wall.  All three hurried inside it. Spike found a large rock and rolled it across the entrance to block the horde. Xander jammed some smaller rocks around the bottom to anchor it. Dawn looked around. "It's a cave!" she cried in dismay. "We're trapped!"

"This isn't going to hold them back for long." Spike said.

"This isn't fair!" Xander punched the wall. "I had to stand out there and humiliate myself, and now we have to die anyway."

"Why did you say those things? And why did they let us go?" Dawn asked.

Xander shoulders dropped as he looked down in defeat. "Because they were true. I've messed up everything - Anya, my life…"

"How can you think that? You just gave up part of yourself to save me."

Spike snorted. "And me too. Ain't that a kicker?"

"No." Xander said, "I just…"

"Xander, you're the bravest person I know!" Dawn told him. "You fight demons without any kind of super power and you're always around when I need you." She hugged him. "You're always there for all of us."

Xander's voice was quiet. "Thanks, Dawn."

"And besides," Spike's laconic tone broke the mood. "Seems to me that carpentry would be a nice, noble trade for a good Christian boy like you."

The rock blocking the door began to shudder as the demons outside rammed against it.

"That's not going to hold much longer." Xander observed.

Dawn sounded panicked. "What are we going to do?"

"Dawn." Spike called to the girl. "Can you hit him with a rock?"

"What?" They both asked, shocked.

"I can't do it, and I need some blood."

"You're hungry? Now?!" Xander scowled at him. "Don't you ever think of anyone but yourself?"

"Listen nimrod. There are a couple hundred frothing demons at the door wanting some blood. I can make them think it's already gone, but you're gonna have to help me here. Now does Dawn break your nose, or are you gonna make me do it? I'll get one hell of a migraine, but believe me, it would be worth it. Or..." Spike's eyes widened at a new thought. "I could just throw you out to them. Make you the sacrificial lamb and all."

"Hit me Dawn!"

She didn't use a rock, just her fist.  It worked well enough.  Xander held his broken nose as blood pumped out through his fingers.  Spike wiped some on his hands and rubbed some on Dawn's neck and around his own mouth, then he morphed into demon face.

"Now lay down and try to look dead, both of you. Xander, you can't whimper if you're dead."

"My nose!"

"It will make you look rugged.  The birds really go for that."

Dawn and Xander arranged their bodies on the ground and Spike stood back as the rock gave way and roared.  The demons crowding into the opening jumped back.  They yelled at him in their language, and he answered back in the same.  He showed his fangs and the blood on his hands. He gestured to the bodies.  Finally, disappointed, they turned and crept away. He waited until he was sure they had gone. "You can get up now." He gestured to the opening.  "After you."

Dawn walked by him and smiled gratefully, followed by Xander.  Spike leaned in to whisper as he passed. "You know, Harris, you are a nummy treat!"

*****

The cavern was gone. Buffy found herself alone on a bare, rocky plain. The only thing on it: A huge forbidding-looking building with black walls. He's in there, thought Buffy, I can feel it. He's in there and he can't get out.

She entered. The entrance hall was enormous, with a dozen doorways leading down what looked like endless hallways.

"Giles?!"

The name echoed. No answer.

She headed down the first corridor. It led to an empty room, which led to another, and another, each as featureless as the last. Is that all it is, she thought, just a maze? How could that make him lose hope? Finally she reached an old, oaken door. It was half-opened.

She entered a room filled with old furniture and books. In the corner was a piano. The walls were covered in old photographs, and the windows looked out on a sunny garden. An English garden, she thought.

She studied the pictures. In some of them there was a man who looked like Giles, but not exactly. Besides, they were old photos, and the man looked almost as old as Giles was now, or older. Other pictures showed a little boy with tousled blond hair. Could it be...? Finally, she understood when she found a picture of the man and the boy together. They were smiling and happy. The caption under it read "Rupert and I on his 12th birthday."

Giles had told her so little about his childhood, only that he'd grown up knowing he had a duty to fulfill. Looking around the calm room, she thought about how hard it must have been for him to leave such a beautiful place, a place where he was happy and loved. But he had done it. She couldn't imagine anything stopping him from doing his duty. "Poor Giles," she said aloud, then realized with a pang that she had tried to stop him when he left Sunnydale.

The next door led to a long, dingy hallway, which ended on the entrance to a small, dingy room. In one corner was an electric guitar. In another was a stack of old vinyl albums, the same ones she'd seen in Giles' collection. Against the far wall was some kind of altar. With a shudder she recognized the insignia, the same one Ethan had once tattooed on her neck: The Mark of Eyghon. This is where it had happened. Buffy remembered the look on Giles' face and the tone of his voice when he told her how he'd killed an innocent man here. She hadn't understood then. How had he lived through it? She remembered the guilt and despair that she felt when she thought she'd killed Katrina. Is that what they were trying to make him feel?

She exited hurriedly and found herself among rows of strangely familiar bookshelves. There it was, the Sunnydale High library. For a moment, she was seized with a wave of nostalgia. She could almost see them: Willow at her computer terminal, Giles in his office, Xander, Oz, and Cordelia doing research. But just as quickly, she knew it was a lie. Sunnydale High was the opening to the Hellmouth, a place of suffering and death. It was a ruin now, and deserved to be. Giles would never linger there. Neither would she.

The next door was blocked, covered with yellow police tape. She pushed it aside and walked into Giles' house. The rose petals strewn on the stairs reminded her of the horrible surprise that was left for him upstairs. How had he lived here after, she wondered. Then the answer came to her: He'd come home to find the dead body of the person he loved most in the world. He'd gone on the same way she had: Because he had to.

She had to find him! She had to tell him she understood now! The next door was the most familiar of all. It was to her own living room, but she knew she wouldn't find him there. If she couldn't make him stay, Hell couldn't do it.

The final room wasn't familiar, nor was it furnished. But it wasn't empty, either. In the corner she saw a figure, sitting motionless.