Trip
Episode 16 (Part I)
The Cemetery:
Buffy and Giles had finally made up. After Giles explained himself and apologized, Buffy quickly forgave him. Now they had taken a few of the potentials out patrolling in the cemetery.
"They're impressive," Giles commended.
"That's not the problem, Giles," Buffy spoke, "They're not all gonna make it. Some will die and nothing I do will stop that."
"You're doing your best, Buffy," Giles reassured.
"Alright, listen up!" Buffy commanded, "We are getting closer to the big battle and most of you cannot fight. That's why we are gonna start showing you how."
"I thought we came here for protection?" Rona asked.
"Well you also signed on to be apart of this fight and you got to know how to fight before you can be in the battle," Buffy informed.
The small group continued walking through the dark cemetery, looking for a vampire or demon. Giles was walking along in front of the group, while Buffy was bringing up the rear, protecting everyone from behind.
Suddenly a dark figure came out of no where and tackled Giles to the ground. Buffy dashed to the front and all the potentials began to panic.
"Attack that vampire!" Buffy shouted.
"Get off of me!" Giles shouted.
"Giles?" the vampire said and stood up.
It was Spike.
"Spike?" Buffy questioned, approaching the bleach-blonde vampire, "What are you doing here?"
"I thought I'd help out by patrolling," he informed, "Didn't know that all you had gone out. I saw you all walking through the cemetery and thought you were vampires. Sorry 'bout that."
"Your chip?" Giles questioned, "Why didn't it go off?"
"Chip?" Kennedy asked.
"Well…uh…it's kind of a long story, Giles," Buffy said, ignoring Kennedy.
"We had it removed," Spike blurted out.
"You what!" Giles shouted.
"I had it removed," Buffy repeated.
"Buffy, what were you thinking?" Giles questioned, very angry.
Somewhere in Kansas:
"Well, we made it so much further in a few short weeks," Cindy said, sarcastically.
"Shut up," Faith said, "I've gotten us this far already and I will get us the rest of the way to Sunnydale."
Other than a few occasional arguments, the three girls seemed to getting along fairly well. They were pretty exhausted from their trip and desperately needed a long rest. Unfortunately, there was no time at all for a rest.
"Can't you just teleport the three of us there?" Liz questioned, "I mean you're a witch."
"Nope, I can't," Cindy replied, "I could only teleport myself a short distance. Probably not even out of this town. Witches don't have that strong of teleportation powers."
"Oh," Liz said, kind of disappointed.
"Okay look," Faith spoke, "We have to find another person that'll drive us at least out of this state."
"Is this what our lives are gonna come to over the next few weeks?" Cindy asked.
"To tell you the truth," Faith began, "The answer is yes. Our only goal is to reach Sunnydale alive."
"Figures," Liz murmured.
"How much longer do you think it will be until my temporary slayer powers are gone?" Cindy questioned.
"I'm not sure," Faith replied, honestly, "I just hope that they last until we get to Sunnydale."
"We are gonna have a lot of explaining to do," Cindy added.
"Yeah, especially about the fact that I am still alive and about the temporary slayer powers bestowed to you," Faith put in.
"Shouldn't we be going now if you want to get there before the end of the year?" Liz asked sarcastically.
"Yeah, yeah," Faith said, "Come on; let's find another person to hitchhike with."
Buffy's House:
Later that night, Willow approached Buffy with information on the bag that Robin Wood had given her.
"What did you find in that bag?" Buffy questioned, rolling out some sleeping bags.
"Well, aside from it smelling weird, trinkets, weapons, one very large textbook. Translation is gonna be a bitch, but did you know that ancient Sumerians do not speak English?" Willow went on.
"They're worse than the French," Buffy replied.
Buffy turned to open the bathroom door and stopped in horror. Willow came up to see what was wrong and her face turned white. Chloe, one of the potentials, was hanging from the bathroom ceiling by a twisted bed sheet.
"Oh my god!" Kennedy shouted, coming up behind the two.
A few more potentials came running over after they heard Kennedy yell. They stared in horror at Chloe's limp body, hanging from the ceiling.
"Get a knife," Buffy told Willow.
"Good thinking but on the other hand, why the rush? Up or down, I'll still be dead," Chloe said, standing next to her body.
"You're not Chloe!" Buffy shouted.
The First/Chloe turned and faced all the girls, standing behind Buffy.
"Chloe and I talked all night. She's really is a good listener. She knew you would all die eventually. Why wait, right?" the First/Chloe told them.
"Don't listen to it, any of you!" Buffy commanded, "It's the First!"
"Oh let 'em. The only reason Chloe offed herself is cuz she knew what you're not getting. I'm coming…you're going. All this…It's almost over," the First/Chloe told them.
"We'll be here," Buffy shouted.
"All of you?" the First/Chloe questioned, "But wait. I thought…" the voice became Buffy's voice, "They're not all gonna make it. Some will die and nothing I do will stop it," the voice changed back to Chloe's, "Hey! I didn't say it. But I'll be seeing all of you. One by one. TTFN."
And with that, the First was gone from the bathroom. It just disappeared into thin air.
"What's TTFN?" Buffy questioned.
"It's tata for now," Rona answered, "It's what Tigger says when he leaves."
"Chloe loved Winnie the Pooh," Amanda butted in.
"Willow, where's that knife?" Buffy asked, coldly.
Unknown Wooded Area:
Buffy stood in a partially wooded area, somewhere near the cemetery. She began covering up the hole she had dug. She shoveled the dirt back over the open hole. She patted the soft dirt and bent down to pick up the lantern that she'd brought for light. She sighed loudly and began to walk away from Chloe's grave.
"You knew that they wouldn't all live through this," someone comforted.
Buffy turned and looked in the direction that the voice had come from. She glanced back to where the fresh grave was. There stood Giles, looking over the grave.
"Where have you been all day?" she asked.
"I went out to look for another potential. The Covent called and told me the location of another," he replied.
"You didn't get to her in time, did you?" she questioned.
"No, I didn't," he replied, "And I feel bad that I couldn't save that girl's life. But you can't keep beating yourself every time something goes wrong."
"Giles, you don't understand," she began.
"No Buffy, you don't understand," he interrupted, "This is war. And war always has casualties. You can't stop people from getting killed. You can only try. Like you said before, some of them are gonna die and nothing you do will stop that."
"You're right, Giles," she said.
Buffy's House:
Buffy came walking in the front door, Giles followed. Everyone came into the family room and either stood or sat around Buffy.
"Anyone want to say a few words about Chloe?" she asked.
No one said a thing. They all stayed in their places, looking sad and some were sobbing.
"Let me," Buffy said, breaking the silence, "Chloe was an idiot. Chloe was stupid. She was weak. And anyone who is in a rush to be the next dead body I bury, it's easy. Just…think of Chloe, and do what she did. And I'll find room for you next to her. I'm the slayer. I'm the one with the power. And the First has me using that power to dig our graves. I've been carrying you…all of you…too far, too long. Ride's over."
She threw down the shovel, obviously very pissed.
"You're out of line!" Kennedy shouted in retaliation.
"No she's not!" Willow shouted back.
"You're gonna let her talk to you like that?" Kennedy questioned, "Willow, she's not even the most powerful one in this room. With you here, she's not even close."
"You're new here, and you're wrong," Buffy yelled, "Because I use the power that I have. The rest of you are just waiting for me."
"We're only doing what you tell us to do," Xander piped up, "Because you're the leader and we're followers."
"You should do what I say!" Buffy shouted, "Not just follow."
"We're behind you all the way, Buff," Xander said, backing off, "We're you're friends."
"Willow, get the potentials upstairs and break out that emergency kit!" Buffy shouted.
"What are you gonna do?" Willow questioned.
"I'm declaring an emergency," Buffy said.
Later That Night:
Willow pulled out small, metallic objects from the bag and a large book. Buffy, Giles, Xander, Anya, Kennedy, Spike, and Principal Wood were all sitting around in the family room, rummaging through the bag. Jake had gone off for a few days, trying to recover from his encounter with the First.
"What are those?" Xander questioned, pointing to the metallic objects.
"The book says that they are shadow casters. You put them in motion and they tell you a story," Willow said, "You can't just watch. You have to see."
"You can't just watch, you have to see," Buffy questioned, "See what?"
"That's where all my fancy translating skills break down, but I think it's an origin myth. The story of the very first slayer," Willow replied.
"Oh," Buffy said.
"Okay, according to this," Willow began, "I think you put the puppet guys on, one by one. They cast shadows and the shadows tell a story."
Xander lit a match and touched it to the candle in the center of a clay rotating pedestal. Willow stood next to Xander as she read from the book.
"First there is Earth," she began.
Xander grabbed a metal plate and inserted its lower pegs into the pedestal It cast a shadow upon the wall showing a rocky silhouette with a crescent moon above. Just then tribal drums started to sound off somewhere.
"What's that sound?" Kennedy asked.
"Okay. So far, so creepy," Xander said.
"Then there came the demons," Willow went on, "After demons, there came men. Men found a girl. And the men took the girl to fight the demon…all demons. They chained her to the earth. And then…and I…I can't read this, something about darkness."
Each time Willow said something, Xander added another metal object to the pedestal. It was spinning, casting shadows on the wall.
"What about darkness?" Buffy questioned.
"It says you cannot be shown. You cannot just watch, but you must see. See for yourself, but only if you're willing to make the exchange," Willow finished.
"Geez, Will!" Xander exclaimed, "When did you get so good at reading Sumerian?"
"It's not in Sumerian anymore," Willow replied.
She stared down at the book as the writing began to glow. It changed into English. The pedestal began to spin faster and the light started to grow, the shadows on the wall took on a life of their own and everyone saw the girl struggling against the chains, the demons approaching, and the three tribal men beating staffs on the ground. Faster and faster it spun and all in the room are confused until there is a bright flash.
The pedestal was now floating in a blue and white mass. It was roughly the size of a door. Buffy stood up, circling the portal. She knew what she had to do.
"I have to go inside," Buffy said.
"No!" Willow shouted, "You don't know what the exchange is!"
"Buffy, you don't even know if you're ready for what's inside there," Giles tried to persuade.
"You can't go!" Willow shouted again, "You don't know where you're going or how you're gonna get back."
Buffy hesitated as she stared at the portal. It was now starting to shrink.
"I'm going!" she exclaimed.
"How will we get you back?" Willow asked.
"Find a way!" Buffy shouted and jumped into the portal.
It closed in the blink of an eye. Everyone is standing around, very confused at what had just happened.
"What did the book mean by an exchange?" Anya questioned.
Just then, a bright flash lit up the room. A large horned demon appeared right in front of them.
"Ah, this must be the exchange student," Xander said, jokingly.
Xander was grabbed off the couch and tossed into a table on the other side of the room. He lie there, unconscious.
"Willow!" Kennedy shouted, "Use your magik! Send it back!"
"I'm trying," she replied.
She uneasily tried to start a spell. The demon backhanded her into a wall. Giles and Wood rushed the demon but were easily thrown back.
"Weapons!" Kennedy shouted.
She grabbed two swords, tossing one to Anya.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" Anya questioned.
"Just attack it!" Kennedy shouted.
The two girls rushed the demon, swords drawn. It easily swatted them aside. Spike jumped on the demons back, from behind.
"Get out!" he shouted.
"What are you gonna do?" Kennedy questioned.
"What I do best," Spike boasted and began hitting the demon.
The demon reached behind and grabbed Spike by the throat and tossed him upwards. Spike crashed through the ceiling and into an upstairs bedroom. The demon turned and smashed through the newly repaired windows and ran off.
Unknown Location:
A bright flash appeared in the middle of a desert. Buffy is thrown out of the portal and into the sand. She stood up and looked around. Then she turned and headed off to her left.
After walking for a few minutes, she came upon three adult, black males.
"Hello?" she questioned, "I'm Buffy, the Slayer."
"We know who you are," the one spoke, in Swahili, "And why you are here."
The three men began circling her, looking her over.
"You were expected," the second man said, "The end is approaching."
"You are the hellmouth's last guardian," the third one said.
"No, latest guardian," Buffy corrected, "I came here to learn. So tell me what I need to know."
"We have no knowledge to offer," the first one informed, "Only power."
"You know what," Buffy concluded, "I'm not even here. This is all a dream."
The third man came up behind her, without her noticing. He raised his staff and struck her on the head with her. Buffy fell to the ground, unconscious.
TO BE CONTINUED
