Act 2
Buffy is walking on the tarmac of the Kinsasha Airport carrying a small bag after disembarking from a private plane. The plane has the legend Wicked Witch of the Network on the side of it.
"Buffy, over here!" Xander yells. He is standing next to two people. One is a girl of about thirteen with very short hair, the other is a tall man with a salt and pepper hair. Both are clearly African.
"Xander!" Buffy runs up and hugs him.
"Geeeeyugh!" Xander says, "You're kinda crushing me here, Buff!"
"Oh!" Buffy says. "Xander, I'm sorry! I forgot my own strength."
"Buffy, you've been a slayer for awhile now, that's not an excuse any more!"
"Well, actually…we'll talk later." Buffy sticks out her right hand to the other man. "Jono, right? Xander really sings your praises in his letters."
"Ah, then," Jono says, taking Buffy's hand briefly. "I'd like to hear these musical letters."
"Musical…?" Buffy says. "Oh, I get it. Long flight."
Buffy turns to the girl.
"Genevive Kayana, right? I'm Buffy."
Genevive replies in French. Jono translates.
"Genevive says that she is very pleased to meet you. When she first became a slayer in Mbuji-Mayi, she says she saw you fighting the ugly vampires."
"The ugly…?" Buffy says, confusion briefly marring her face. "Oh! She means the Turok-Han! Yeah, they were really ugly, and a lot of girls had visions of them right after they became slayers"
"Hey, Buff," Xander says, clapping his left hand on Buffy's right shoulder. "You think your last airplane ride was long, wait until you ride this one. We're taking Jono's plane to get us to where we're goin'. It's small, cramped, and best of all, no peanuts!"
Buffy shrugs and pouts half heartedly as she follows Xander, Genevive, and Jono.
"I'm too tired to even pout right," she grumbles.
Giles walks out on Edna's balcony, and finds Dawn looking out over his grandmother's vast back lawn. Tears are in her eyes.
"Are you all right?" Giles asks.
"I don't know," Dawn says as she wipes her eyes. "I dread Buffy finding out about this. I mean, basically, she's back to being the only 'real' slayer again. And the whole idea about the spirit of the original slayer 'choosing' girls who otherwise would have been stillborn, that's just soooo creepy."
Giles doesn't say anything. He just stands next to Dawn and looks out at the lawn. There are some horses grazing in the distance.
"Did you know our Mom was told by several doctors that there was something wrong with her uterus?" Dawn says. "They said that her uterus probably wouldn't support a full pregnancy. Mom called Buffy her miracle child, and she called me the dessert miracle. Then it turns out that I am a creation of a bunch of monks, and now it turns out that the spirit of the original slayer is responsible for Buffy being born.
"I mean, I look at Karyn and her mom and sister, and I see a real family. Were Mom, Buffy, and I a real family, Giles? Or are the two of us a couple of immortal supernatural parasites that took advantage of a good woman?"
"Don't be absurd!" Giles snaps.
Dawn is silent for a moment.
"You know, with all that happened after Glory's death and the scattering of her minions; Buffy dying then coming back, you leaving Sunnydale, Willow's descent into madness, the Xander and Anya stuff, and Tara dying, we never really processed the idea of a bunch of monks taking a mystical Key and making it human."
"That would be true enough, I suppose," Giles says. "We were all quite distracted."
"Giles, take a minute to think about what the monks supposedly did. They took the Key, then somehow used Buffy, and maybe our mom, to create me and make the Key human. Then they modified the memories of everyone who knew or even met the Summers family. But all that was just the beginning. They also had to create or recreate all of the artifacts of a life; clothes, photographs, journal pages, school records. I even have a social security number and a birth certificate. I have cousins who're wearing my old Osh Kosh hand me downs in Chicago. Think about the amount of power and detail required in a spell to create not only a human being, but the appearance of a human history. If they were able to do all that, why would they need to hide the Key from Glory in the first place? Why didn't they just send Glory to another dimension, or erase her from history?"
"Dawn, I remind you that Glory was a god," Giles says.
"A god who was ultimately taken down by Buffy playing hit and run with the hammer of a troll," Dawn says. "Giles, against those with the power to create a human life and the physical appearance of a history from scratch, I don't think super strength, speed and brain sucking would have been enough. I mean, let's face it, Glory wasn't much of a strategist. Pretty much the epitome of a strong back and a weak mind."
"You've obviously put a lot of thought into this," Giles says.
"I've been researching the Key during my free time," Dawn says. "Oh! Among my other talents now? Speed reading in half a dozen ancient languages.
"Anyway, when your grandmother talked about the spirit of the original slayer choosing Buffy, things came together. Giles, my mother, because of Buffy, came to believe that she could carry a child to term. My guess is, my Mom and Dad tried to have another child, one who was stillborn. That is, until the monks decided to change history."
"Change…?"
"Giles," Dawn says. "The Key opens a gate between dimensions by creating a hole in space and time. Space and time,Giles. The monks didn't have the power to go up against a mad god, but they did have the ability to harness the power of the Key they were guarding. Or perhaps they convinced the Key…me…to go back. The chosen one had already provided the model. The Key is sent back in time and keeps alive a girl child who otherwise would have died. When you change history, you don't have to worry about changing the details, the details take care of themselves."
"But that…if that's true, that's wonderful news, Dawn!" Giles says. "It means that our memories of you are true. The monks didn't change the appearance of history, they literally changed history. You really have been present for the past seventeen years."
"Yeah," Dawn says bitterly. "They found a woman who had been used by one supernatural being, and pulled a repeat trick."
"Dawn," Giles says. "Your mother was not used. Not in the way you think. She wanted children, and thanks to the spirit of the original slayer, and the Key, she had two wonderful children."
"And what if that's what killed her, Giles?" Dawn says.
"Dawn, that's beyond absurd," Giles says. "There is no reason to think that. People die who shouldn't. It happens all too often. You both enriched your mother's life immensely. Stop torturing yourself with unanswerable and unlikely 'what ifs'."
"Well," says Dawn as she leans on the rail and looks out over Edna Giles great green lawn. "I guess you're right. Besides, you knew my Mom pretty well, what with the police car thing and all."
"What???" Giles exclaims. "How would you know about that? Buffy never would have confided anything about that to you."
"Nope," Dawn says. "Xander let it slip on the Great Slayer Bus Trip to LA."
"Remind me to kill that young man next time I see him."
"Funny," says Dawn. "That's exactly what Xander predicted you would say."
Xander and Buffy are sitting together in the back seat of Jono's Cessna. Xander has an open map and is pointing to an area circled with red ink.
"This is where Willow read the presence of the new slayer, but that makes no sense," Xander says, then points to a location just south of the circle. "Here is where the nearest village is. Once in awhile small hunting parties, particularly pygmy, have gone into the area but except for the occasional logging outfit trying to create a road, no one really goes, much less lives, there. Most of the forest is second growth, and the ground is very, very muddy, which makes it difficult to create passable roads."
"Boy, Xan," Buffy says. "You are really getting knowledgeable about Africa."
"Not really," Xander replies. "Africa is the second biggest continent in the world. There are things I love about this place, but mostly, I just feel needed here."
"So where are we going to land?" Buffy asks.
"Here," Xander says, pointing to a spot well south of the circled area. "There's a small airfield here run by the UN. We can then follow a logging road to where the slayer is supposed to be. But like I said, Buffy, it makes no sense."
"Perhaps it's a camp follower," Jono says from his pilot seat.
Xander nods. "That's a possibility."
"Camp follower?" Buffy asks.
"Yeah," Xander says. "Sometimes the loggers will take a girl with them for…"
"Never mind," Buffy says quickly. "I get the picture."
"Yeah," says Xander. "Hey, how is everyone?"
"Well, Willow and Kennedy seem to be doing OK in Rio, although Willow's really busy with her consultation business, and goes to Switzerland at least once a month, so we see her a lot. Kennedy and Ana run the Rio Academy in Will's absence. Giles is Giles, trying to recruit new watchers. I see Robin once a month to go over curriculum."
"Buff, I pretty much knew all of that," Xander says.
"Yeah, well," Buffy says, her expression turning very serious. "The Rome and Tokyo Academies were attacked. We lost two slayers in Rome, and nine in Tokyo."
"Nine?" Xander asks.
"Yeah," Buffy says very quietly.
"I'm sorry, Buff. Is there anything…?"
"It's just good to see you, Xan," Buffy says. "You're looking good. Africa agrees with you."
"Thanks!" Xander says with enthusiasm. "I really feel like I'm doing some good down here. I've even been able to get some subcontracts in some of the bigger cities like Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam to help pay for the houses and schools I'm building. I'm able to pay local workers, and rent Jono's plane full time."
Buffy looks at Xander with a combination of awe, pride, affection, and perhaps something more. Xander continues to enthusiastically speak about his work in Africa. She reaches towards his hand, and then stops. Xander doesn't notice.
Giles, Dawn, and Edna Giles are all on horseback. Dawn and Edna, riding side by side, look comfortable. Giles, riding behind them, does not look so comfortable.
Dawn leans towards Edna.
"So because Buffy is the reincarnation of the original slayer, every time one or more of the other slayers die, she will feel their deaths and their strength will become hers," Dawn says.
"That's correct," Edna says.
"So, how do we stop that?" Dawn asks.
"Stop it?" Edna says. "My dear young lady, you don't stop it. You can't. Your sister is the latest incarnation of the source of the slayers' power. With the entirety of that power here, on this plane of existence, that power will be compelled to return to the source."
"You didn't see what it did to my sister when the Tokyo slayers died," Dawn says. "She was…I don't think she even knew where she was."
"I'm certain it was awful," Edna replied dryly. "For the Tokyo slayers as well."
"That's a cheap shot," Dawn says. "Buffy being connected to them didn't save them."
"True enough," Edna replies with a slight shrug. She looks at Dawn. "You don't give an inch, do you?"
"No," Dawn says.
"It doesn't matter, there is nothing I can even suggest," Edna says. "In fact, the coming of the original slayer in the form of your sister might well be what has been prophesied concerning the apocalypse."
"You mean the next apocalypse," Giles says, riding up next to them. He now looks more comfortable on horseback.
"No," Edna says. "I mean the apocalypse. The ones you and your slayer averted were distractions, indeed often obstacles, to the one that is now coming."
"I'd like you to explain what you mean by that," Giles says as his horse backs up nervously and rears slightly. "But let's do it inside. What is wrong with this horse, anyway?"
"Francis is a nervous horse," Edna says. "Other than myself, she hasn't let anyone ride her until you. I thought you might like a challenge."
"I have plenty already, thank you very much," Giles says.
"Actually," Edna says. "Francis is just confirming something that I should have acknowledged long before now. You are indeed my grandson. Your father, in the end, did very well to raise you. When all is said and done, starting the family that produced you will probably be my greatest accomplishment."
Giles looks at his grandmother, his mouth open.
"I'm 102 years old, Rupert," Edna says. "I may look healthy, but I know I don't have much time, certainly not the time to continue the emotional isolation games I initiated with you and your father so long ago."
"Then….then why didn't you contact me?" Giles asks.
"Because I didn't have your courage, grandson," Edna says. "I wanted to pretend that I could shelter you from what was coming. The apocalypse…the apocalypse, has begun. You need to know what I know about it."
Francis the horse calms, and Giles edges her alongside Dawn's and Edna's mounts.
"Fine," Giles says. "But let's talk about this on foot, shall we?"
Buffy, Xander, Genevive, and Jono are riding in a canopied jeep. The dirt road they are on is extremely rough, and Xander, seated in the back, looks a little green. Buffy, seated next to him, looks like she is dozing behind her sunglasses. Genevive and Jono are speaking to one another in French.
Genevive looks back at Xander.
"Is he all right?" she asks Jono.
"He will be," Jono says. "He is feeling sick because this is a rough ride."
"Yes, he was the same way on your airplane," Genevive says.
"Actually, I thought he was doing well," Jono says.
"No, I didn't mean this last trip," Genevive says. "I mean the other ride. My first airplane ride."
"Ah yes, I remember that," Jono says. "The flight to take you to the academy in Johannesburg. You insisted that Xander ride with you."
"He has a good face," Genevive says. "An honest face. If he went with me, I knew we would be safe."
"So why were you so afraid to ride in the airplane?" Jono asks.
"It was my first time!" Genevive says.
"But there was more to it than that," Jono says.
"Well," Genevive says. "In the village I grew up in, there was one TV set in the Chief's home. We got to watch it about once a week. On the TV, I saw airplanes on the ground three times. Each time, they had crashed, their passengers were dead. Occasionally, I have seen airplanes in the air overhead, but I had never seen one land. I never saw the airport in the city."
"So you weren't sure that an airplane could land?" Jono asks.
"No, but I trusted Alex," Genevive says.
"You know," Jono says. "You're the only one he allows to call him Alex."
"He is a good man," Genevive says.
"Hey!" Xander says. "I'm not so sick I don't know you two are talking about me."
The jeep hits a particularly hard bump.
"Stop the jeep!" Xander yells.
Jono stops the jeep, and Xander gets out and runs into the nearest brush. We hear vomiting sounds. Buffy stirs briefly.
"Again?" she says.
"Again," says Jono.
Xander, wiping his mouth and looking pale, returns to the jeep.
"Sorry," he says.
"Maybe you should ride up front," Buffy says.
"Between Jono's driving and the condition of the mud road, it won't help" Xander says. "And Jono's the only one of us here who can keep us going at this pace."
Xander returns to his seat in the jeep and nods. Jono starts the vehicle on its rapid, rough, and bumpy way again. Buffy pulls Xander's head onto her shoulder. His eye goes wide.
Giles, Dawn, and Edna Giles are all seated on a picnic blanket. Several picnic baskets and a very expensive, appetizing looking spread of food surrounds them. The scene is quite tranquil, or would be if it weren't for the eight armed men in black standing around them, all facing outwards and watching the grounds like hawks.
"So tell us about the apocalypse," says Giles.
"Tell me what you know about Wolfram and Hart," says Edna.
"Evil law firm," says Dawn. "They represent demons, and corrupt humans."
"What else?" Edna asks.
"They aid and abet demons and humans in the evil they do," Dawn says. "They set out to…corrupt things."
"Exactly!" Edna says. She looks at Giles. "She really is quite brilliant, you know."
"I know," Giles says. He takes a bite of an apple.
"There are, as you both know, multiple hells," says Edna, looking at both of her companions. "These hells are quite philosophically distinct, but they are united in one specific aim. Our world, indeed our universe, was once a hell dimension itself, until control was wrestled away from the ruling Old Ones by beings known in history or pre-history as the Elder Gods, or Higher Beings. Variations of this tale are told in stories of conflict between gods and titans, or gods and frost giants, or heaven and hell. The defeat of the Old Ones resulted in clearing the universe, including our world, for new forms of complex life."
"The Cambrian Explosion," says Dawn.
"Probably," says Edna. "At any rate, the hells all regard our world and our universe as stolen territory, and are all united in their desire to get it back. However, there are very fundamental philosophical differences between the rulers of the hells on how to accomplish this aim. Some wish to invade our world, or even destroy it. So they created hellmouths to connect our world to theirs. They sent demonic shock troops, such as vampires or The Scourge, to weaken possible resistance to invasions.
"The rulers of other hells, however, have a different strategy. They claim that our world already belongs to them, and with enough effort and patience, our world can be returned to its original corrupted state. Included in this effort are some of the beings who, millions, indeed billions, of years ago ruled our world and our universe. Among these beings are Wolfram and Hart's so called 'Senior Partners'."
"OK," says Giles. "So just as we have some factions who desire to invade or destroy us, there are others who desire to corrupt us, indeed to convert us."
"Precisely!" replies Edna. "And this is a very basic disagreement. The corrupters see our world as fertile territory, one that an invasion would destroy. Indeed, they see themselves as potentially among the invaded if such a thing were to happen.
"With that in mind," Edna says. "What do you think Wolfram and Hart's philosophy would be with regards to hellmouths and would be demon invasions?"
"They would oppose them," says Dawn. "As surely as the Watcher's Council would, or any other force for good."
"Ahhhhhhh," says Edna. "Did you hear what you just said? The Watcher's Council or other forces for good. But that, my dears, is precisely the point. The original Watcher's Council was not a force for good. It was started by three warlocks who murdered the original slayer and inflicted her power on an innocent young girl. Why would they do that?"
"Are you saying that the original Watcher's Council was like Wolfram and Hart?" Dawn asks.
"Worse, much worse than that, my dear," Edna says. "The Watcher's Council was founded by three warlocks, the so-called Shadow Men. Eventually, the Shadow Men became immortal, if they were ever really mortal and human to begin with. And as their power grew, they became known by the names of their totems."
The scene shifts so that we see the three Shadow Men during their encounter with Buffy during Get it Done.
We see one Shadow Man, and hear Edna's voice.
"They became known as the Wolf…"
Then we see another Shadow Man.
"…the Ram…"
Then we see the last Shadow Man.
"…and of course, the Hart."
"Dear Lord!" exclaims Giles. "You're saying the original Watcher's Council and Wolfram and Hart had the same founders???"
"Yes," Edna says. "The Watcher's Council and Wolfram and Hart were two of three of the organizations started by the Shadow Men, the three who would corrupt our world from within. The three who wished to keep other hells from invading us even as they made their own plans to change us from within. The slayers and their watchers were both their instruments, meant to protect the seeds of a new hell."
Giles and Dawn sit in stunned silence. Finally, Dawn speaks.
"You mentioned a third organization."
"My dear," Edna says, holding up a sheet of paper portraying a black circle with thorns. "You've brought their symbol with you. The third organization is known as the Circle of the Black Thorn."