Trouble
Episode 15
Buffy's House:
"What do you mean you lost them?" Giles questioned, obviously angry.
"Well," Xander began, "They were here with us and then we realized they were gone. We figured that they'd probably be gone to the Bronze."
Xander had returned home with Danielle and Ashley to find an angry Giles and a confused Willow and Anya. The potentials that had gone with them were also very puzzled.
"Where is Jake now?" Giles questioned.
"I lost him at the Bronze when the Bringers showed up," he answered.
"Bringers showed up?" Giles questioned, "You didn't say that before."
"Well, we split up to find them and that's when I saw these two," he said, pointing to the girls he had brought back, "Then while we were looking for the others, we ran into several Bringers so we fled."
"So they are most likely dead?" Giles asked, angrily.
"I don't know!" Xander exclaimed.
"I just don't understand how you could have lost seven teenage girls," Giles scolded.
"I don't either," Xander replied.
"I told you they would do something to them," Anya whispered to Willow.
"Yeah, but you said they'd seduce Jake and Xander, not that they'd run away," Willow whispered back.
"Where is Buffy?" Giles asked.
"Umm…she went out. She didn't say where she was going," Willow lied.
"That means we are all going out to look for the girls," Giles told them all, "Even if they are dead."
The Bronze:
Jake looked around the Bronze. It was in total chaos. People were running around, panicking because there was an attack going on. Bringers had invaded the club, looking for potential slayers. Jake noticed a group of five girls standing in the back of the club, shaking with fear. Instantly, he recognized them as five of the potentials. He rushed over to them.
"Come on," he exclaimed, "We have to get out of here!"
He made a dash for the door, the five girls followed. Right now was not a good time to be with the potentials and be alone. Jake was weaponless and so were the girls. Jake pulled on the door, it was locked. He backed up and kicked the door, breaking it open.
"There we go," he said and ran out.
After the girls got out, he pushed the door shut. He noticed a dumpster next to the building and had an idea.
"Look, this won't hold them for that long but I need your help in moving this," he spoke to the girls.
"Alright, if it'll help us get away quicker," Annabelle agreed.
The six of them used all their strength and quickly moved the dumpster in front of the door. They hoped that it would hold the Bringers long enough so they could get pretty far away.
"Let's get outta here!" Jake exclaimed.
None of the girls argued with that.
Buffy's House:
Jake pushed open the door to the house. It was dark inside. He walked in, the five potentials followed.
"Is anybody here?" Jake called as he walked into the family room.
The house was completely empty. This puzzled Jake because they all rarely went out at once. He called again just to check, but received no answer.
"Well, we better wait for someone to come back. We don't want to go getting killed without anyone knowing," he said to the five girls.
He sat down on the couch and flipped the television on. The girls all gathered round the TV too. Little did they know, there was in fact someone in the house, watching them. The First stood in the next room, in the form of Sarah, the previous slayer and Jake's old best friend.
It smirked while it watched Jake. It knew that it could easily cause some chaos here, without even having to physically harm anyone. The First waited for the right moment and then walked into the room.
At first, Jake didn't even glance up. The First just stood there, watching him and the potentials. Jake rubbed his eyes with tiredness and then moved them away. He caught his first glance of Sarah.
"Sarah?" Jake questioned, "B-but you're dead?"
"Jake, I never died," Sarah spoke, "They lied to you. All of them did."
"What?" Jake asked, "Why would they do that?"
"To keep me hidden from you," she answered, "They never liked you, Jake. They always thought that you got in their way."
"No, you're lying!" he shouted.
The potentials all stood up. It was obvious that they were very confused by what was going on. They all decided to leave the room and go get food. They disappeared from Jake's line of view.
"You were always getting in their way," she told him.
"Why are you telling me all this?" he questioned, "What are you trying to prove? You just came back here to tell me this. You left me. I was so alone."
"I left you?" she asked, "You left me! You left me and went across the country. I was so lost. I didn't know what to do. I cried myself to sleep every night after you left me."
Jake didn't know what to say. He never realized how much she had cared about him.
"I loved you, Jake," she said, "But you left me for that girl that you had just met. How could you?"
This shocked him even more. He had no idea that she loved him. I mean sure they had spent like two years together, but he didn't realize that she'd gotten so close to him.
"I don't know what to say," he finally spoke, "I never realized that you felt that way."
"You think these people are your friends," she begin, "They lied to you for so long. They sent me away after they tried to kill me. I finally escaped from that place where I've been living for the past year and a half."
Just then the front door burst open. Buffy and Spike barged in, Spike was out of breath.
"Get away from him!" Buffy shouted.
"Uh oh," Sarah said, smirking, "Trouble's here."
"Get out of my house!" Buffy yelled.
"Now, now, Buffy," Sarah said, "Don't be such a party pooper."
"I said get out!" she shouted again.
That's when Sarah changed. There stood an older woman. She was kind of tall with short, curly blondish hair.
"What would you're mother say if she knew you weren't a welcoming hostess?" the woman said.
"You're not my mother!" Buffy shouted, "And you're not welcome here!"
The five potentials appeared in the doorway. They had heard all the commotion from the basement and rushed upstairs to see what was going on.
"Fine, fine," the woman said, "I'll be seeing all of you later. Goodbye girls."
And with that the First was gone. It just disappeared into thin air. Buffy breathed and sigh of relief.
"Are you alright, Jake?" she asked.
"I think so," he replied, "It tricked me and I believed it. I can't believe that I fell for a trick."
"It's okay," she said, "Anyone of us would have fallen for it. Remember, it had Spike tricked for a while."
"I just don't know," he said and headed upstairs.
"Buffy, none of us our safe anymore," Spike finally spoke.
"I know," she replied.
"If the First can get to our forces, then we are in trouble," he went on.
"I know, but I just don't know how I can keep it from getting in here. It's trying to pit us against each other, to weaken us," she said, "I just wish I knew what to do."
The Bronze:
Xander, Giles, Willow, Anya, and the seven potentials all arrived at the Bronze. It was closed and there was police tape surrounding the building. There were several officers standing guard and others were investigating.
"Uh oh," Xander mumbled, "We're too late."
"Well, we just have to hope that they all got out safely," Anya said, trying to cheer everyone up.
"Willow," Giles asked, "can you teleport yourself in there?"
"I think so, why?" she asked.
"Go inside and see if you can find their bodies so at least we have some kind of clue," he told her.
"Alright, I'll be back in a few minutes," she said and with that she was gone.
A few moments later, she was inside the nightclub. She gazed around in horror. Blood was splattered all over and bodies were lying everywhere. She decided to go up to the balcony and glance around so she'd have a better view.
She reached the top and headed for the railing. She glanced around at all the bodies, looking for Jake or one of the girls. She didn't notice any of their bodies. She turned to go back downstairs. That's when she saw a familiar face.
"Tara?" she questioned.
"I've missed you so much, Willow," she said.
"Tara, is it really you?"
"Yes, it is."
"B-but you're dead."
"I know but I'm being allowed to communicate with you from beyond."
"Oh Tara, I've missed you so much," Willow said, as tears rolled down her face.
"I've missed you too."
"It's been so hard without you, baby. Sometimes, I cry at night, thinking of you."
"Be strong, Willow. Be strong for me."
"Why did you pick now to come back? It's been several years."
"I couldn't come back. I couldn't come back until I realized that you truly were better."
"What are you talking about?"
"I couldn't come back until I was really sure that you could control your power. And now I know you can."
"Tara, I'm sorry that you were killed. We should have stopped that madman before."
"There's nothing we can do about that now, can we?"
"No, there isn't. I wanted to be with you. I wanted to spend forever with you, baby," she said, tears dripping down her face.
"You still can be with me."
"How?"
"You can take a life. You can take your own life."
"I can but I can't leave all my friends."
"They aren't your friends. They sent you to that magik dimension before. How can you trust them?"
"They were trying to help me. They had no other choice."
"And you believe that? They were trying to get rid of you. They don't need you. Take your life and we'll be together forever."
"Tara, how can you say that? They are my friends and they care about me. They love me."
"No they don't. They wanted to be rid of you forever but that failed when you came back. They are still plotting to get rid of you."
"You're not Tara!" Willow yelled, "She would never say that stuff! She loved me!"
"Damn!" she exclaimed, "I tried. Oh well."
"You're the First," Willow said.
"That's right," Tara smiled, "You might as well take your life now because when I do, it'll be a lot more painful. I'll make your death slow and very, very painful. Well, I'll be seeing you around, witch."
And with that, the First was gone once again. Willow fell to her knees and began crying. She couldn't believe that she actually fell for the First's trick. She wasn't strong. She was weak. How could Buffy count on her for the upcoming battle if she couldn't even stand up to the First's tricks.
She slowly stood up and teleported back outside to the others. A few moments later, she was standing there, in front of her friends.
"They aren't dead," Willow informed, "They are either walking around town somewhere or they were taken prisoner."
"Well, let's hope for the best," Giles said.
Buffy's House:
Giles and the others arrived at the house an hour later. They were all very tired. Giles pushed the door open and stared in surprise. There were the five potentials that they had spent the last two hours looking for, sitting on the couch.
"Where were all of you at?" Buffy asked.
"Looking for the potentials," Giles answered.
"Why, where were they?" she questioned.
"I'll explain later. Where were you?" he asked.
"I was out," she replied, "I had some other business."
The others filed inside and had a seat in the family room. Jake came downstairs when he heard people come inside. Spike came up from the basement.
"We have a problem," Buffy informed, "The First has been here. It tried to trick Jake but luckily Spike and I got here in time. It's trying to turn us all against each other."
"It talked to me too," Willow spoke up, quietly.
"What do you mean?" Buffy asked.
"I went into the Bronze to look for the potentials," she told them, "It appeared to me and tried to get me to take my own life. It appeared as Tara and I almost believed it. Luckily it let something slip."
"Are you gonna be okay, Will?" Buffy asked.
"I should be," she replied.
"Alright everyone," Buffy began, "This war is starting to heat up. If anyone from your past appears to any of you, run! It will be the First. Do not talk to it! Get away as fast as you can. We are not letting this evil pull us apart and turn us against each other. I need each and every one of you to beat this thing."
