Willow had started to return to consciousness when Dave came streaking across the room. Her eyes opened and she saw the jagged rocks scrape his side, tearing the man open. By the time Faith realized what was going on, Willow was already on her hands and knees. She crawled towards them. She knew what Cordelia had said, and if this vision were coming true then Faith would soon be dead and somewhere out there, another Slayer would be called.

Her moves were slow and her foot caught on Angel as she climbed over him. He started to move, grabbed her leg, and she jerked free. She turned her head back just long enough to say, "Get the scroll," then turned back. Faith was starting to rise and Willow could feel the defeat coming off of her as she grew nearer.

The young witch understood how she felt. She remembered holding Tara's lifeless body in her arms, begging Osiris to bring her back to life. She remembered the feeling of utter helplessness and despair at the thought of life without her lover. She thought that her life had ended. But, she also remembered the fury that had welled up inside of her. She remembered every evil thing she had done in her quest for revenge, and that was what she would have expected from Faith.

Seeing Faith so defeated is what made her realize that their Slayer was truly gone. The old Faith would have gone ballistic on the creature and made it sorry that it had ever broken into this dimension. The fact that she had given up, that she thought her life was over, that she had been so much like Willow in her loss... She knew that despite the strength and the senses, Faith the Slayer was gone, and in its place stood something else, someone else. The knowledge made her much more ameniable to the idea of letting her stay with her wrestlers, if they could keep her alive. If any of them were still alive.

Willow reached Dave and threw her arm over him. His body was still and his face was slack, but that didn't necessarily mean death. She needed him to be alive because that was the only way to save Faith. She felt around his neck until she landed over his jugular. She waited, no more than a few seconds, then felt something. It was faint and the blood pumped slowly, but it still pumped all the same.

"Faith!" Willow pushed herself over until half of her body was on Dave. If her arms were a little longer, she could have reached out and grabbed Faith's ankle. "Faith! He's still alive!"

The Slayer heard the words and her body instantly went into action. Life in Dave sparked life in her. The beast's arm was already swinging towards her and at Willow's shout, she dove to the side. The fist came down and Faith heard a scream. She whipped her head around and was relieved to see that, though Willow had cried out, neither she nor Dave were hurt anymore than they had been previously.

"Willow!" Faith pushed herself to her feet. "How alive is he?"

"Enough!"

"That's not an answer!" She rotated her neck and rolled her shoulders. "How much time do I have to get him the hell outta here!"

Willow checked again, then called out, "Ten minutes, tops!"

Faith smirked, then clicked her tongue. "I'll have him out of here in two." She ran towards the lumbering beast. Her feet caught it at the knee and she ran up its body. When she reached its chest, she jumped over to the shoulder, launched herself off and kicked it hard in what was left of its face. She did a backflip and landed on her feet. The creature stumbled backwards.

She looked around and found the pole she'd had earlier. Faith ran forward, then rolled. When she came to her feet, she was holding the pole. She ran back screamed at the beast. "You wanna come to my domain?" She swung and impacted, taking out one knee. The beast roared and she moved to the other side. "You wanna play with me, you ugly son of a bitch?" She took out the other knee. "Let's see how well you play, then."

Faith dropped the pole to the ground and to work with her hands. The creature was bent forward, giving her a perfect angle to take off the rest of its head. Her fists slammed into the sides, back and forth, until there was nothing left but a jagged neck. Her hands burned and she knew that if she touched it for too much longer, her skin would peel away. She switched to her feet. Though she wore no shoes, the burning wasn't too bad. If anything, the heat closed the open cuts on her soles.

Chanting came from behind her and Faith jumped back. What remained of the beast's body rocked from side to side. It tried to get up from the floor, but there was nothing to rise onto. Faith moved backwards, staring at the creature as its body started to pulsate. She dropped down and covered Dave's body, expecting what was coming next. She felt a body falling down on top of her and moved enough to see a flash of red hair. She had forgotten that Willow was so close. Faith rolled so that she was on top. If something came flying, she would survive the impact better than Willow.

A few feet away, Angel dropped to the floor. He pulled Giles down, and the Watcher continued to read. When he reached the last word, the beast exploded in a shower of burning rock. Angel growled and hissed as his body was dotted with simmering coal. Each rock extinguished itself quickly, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

Faith felt the most burning on her legs and arms. She kept her head down until the showers stopped, then slowly looked up. The floor was littered with bodies, some alive and others dead. While she took a moment to mourn the loss of people she once knew, she couldn't help the relief that welled inside of her when she lightly touched Dave's neck. His head lolled to the side. Hastily, Faith moved Willow out of the way and took Dave's face in her hands.

"Come on," she said, squeezing his face, "open your eyes. Just for a second." He didn't oblige, but his lips parted slightly. "You're alive," she said, though she wasn't sure if she was talking to him or herself. "You're alive, and that thing is gone and..." She shook her head, then bent down and pressed her lips to his. Dave's skin was growing cold, but he was still alive. She whipped her head around, "Get an ambulence here, now!"

Willow stood up and left the two on the floor. She went to stand near Angel as he pulled a phone out of his pants pocket, miraculously still in tact. She watched as Giles got to his feet. He turned towards Faith and sighed. Willow put a hand on his arm and thought she knew what he was thinking. He had his own remorse, but it wasn't because of what he had failed to do. It was because what he had achieved meant that he had to give up his other designs.

Willow squeezed his arm slightly and sighed. "We have to leave her here, Giles. She's not our Faith, anymore."

"I know," he whispered.

"But, she's still Faith, and she'll do what she has to do. But... we can't take her away from him."

Giles looked down in defeat and nodded slowly. "I know."