"Oh, Jesus!"
"Get the fire extinguisher!"
Chloe sprints for the fire extinguisher as Sam tries to smother the fire with a towel. Slightly jumping and twisting his hands, Andrew says over and over, "Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry."
With the fire extinguished, Trista turns to Andrew and says, "This is a hotel room. There is, in fact, no object that can make fire. How the hell did you set the dresser aflame, Andrew?"
"Well, see what happened was, well, to be smooth and suave takes, you know, primping. Both spiritually and physically so I burn incense to, cleanse…" he trails of, seeing the futility of his explanation. He smiles weakly and says, "I'll just clean it up."
Glaring, Trista says, "You go do that."
Just then, Spike comes in, carrying a six-pack of beer. He instantly crinkles his nose and says, "What is that smell?" Without a word, Trista grabs a beer, twists the cap off, grabs Spike's arm and they leave.
After taking a deep swig, Trista addresses Spike, "Sorry. I just had to get out of there. The little bastard set the freaking dresser on fire. On fire!"
Spike smiles at her and offers, "Want me to kill him?"
"Nah. I think I need him."
They smile at each other and continue to walk. After a few moments of silence, Spike asks, "What exactly are you looking to do, love?"
She shrugs. She stops to answer her ringing cell phone, "Willow?"
Willow hangs up the pay phone and moves deeper into the airport. She gets as far as she can and waits near security. She checks her watch and looks anxiously as passengers start to come out of the gates. After a few minutes, she sees a head of blonde bobbing through the crowd. Willow smiles.
It was a long flight and very rushed. No sooner did she get the call, was she in flight on an intricate flight plan that ensured a connection through Boston. The doubling back really wasn't fun and added on an hour to her flight. She's been awake for the past 24 hours and it seems that her flight buddy has too.
Willow watches as Buffy and Faith walk out to the terminal. They're both jet lagged, Faith's wearing dark sunglasses, and both are holding carry on duffle bags. Even though they seem the same as every other person around them, their inner power seems to make everything slow down. These girls aren't just powerful. They are power.
Buffy drops her bag and, smiling, hugs Willow. Faith does a half waive and says, "Hey, Will."
"Hi, Faith," she looks to Buffy and continues, "Buffy! How was your flight?"
"S'good. They had those little bags of the little peanuts."
"You love those!"
"Indeed I do."
Faith walks between them, saying, "Shall we then."
Buffy puts her arm through Willow's and says, "We shall then. So what's the what?"
"Apocalypse."
"Well, yeah. What else would it be?" she shrugs half-heartedly and continues, "At least it's not a first evil sleeper agent big badness apocalyptic melee. Just a good old wiccy magic slice and dice deal, right?"
"Heavy on the slice. Did Giles tell you about Trista?"
"Who?"
Spike and Trista walk back into the hotel room, laughing together. They stop to see everyone, Giles, Andrew, Sam, Chloe, and Willow, sitting or leaning in a loose circle around Faith and Buffy. They all look at Spike and Trista, who are instantly uncomfortable. Spike looks at Buffy. She's staring at him with an unreadable expression. Her head is cocked, her mouth is slightly open, and her eyes are welling with tears. She regains her composure and greets him, "Spike."
He barely nods in shocked greeting, "Buffy."
Trista looks at them both, back and forth. She thinks, "Of course. Stupid Trista." She shakes her head and speaks up, taking the lead. She addresses Faith and Buffy, "Glad that you're here. Now we can really get started," she pauses as she moves to a chair in the corner and deliberately avoids Spike's eye contact as she does. She continues, "So, tomorrow night's the full moon. You know what else it is? The apocalypse. We're suiting up, we're taking-- Buffy?"
Everyone looks to Buffy, who's raising her hand. Buffy says, "Are we sure?"
"Giles checked it out."
"All of it? I mean, wasn't there a fact check problem last time?"
"Well, yeah but he checked it out. A few times."
Faith grins at Trista and says, "B has problems with staying in the backseat."
Buffy smiles self-consciously and says, "Sorry."
"Just so we're clear," begins Trista, "The plan's changed a bit, but the premise is still the same, seven girls are going to be involved in the ritual itself but instead of it being six teenage slayers and myself, Buffy and Faith are in it now. It still equals out the same."
Trista checks her watch and looks to Chloe and Sam, "Bus station?"
Chloe checks Sam's watch and sees that they need to leave. As Chloe passes, she says, "We're on it." and gives Trista a "good luck" look.
Trista continues, "When they get back, we need to be ready to leave," she addresses Buffy and Faith, "Did Willow fill you guys in?"
They nod. Buffy says, "The general stuff. Apocalypse. Demon. Queens. The et's have been ceteraed."
Trista nods and continues, "There's jobs for everyone, and we need to get it done tonight."
Faith, sporting a bandage wrapped around her left hand, walks into the crowded nightclub and takes in the pulsating techno and the flashing lights. She pauses a minute to let her eyes adjust and then she moves to the dance floor. She grooves to the beat and starts dancing with a cute guy and then two cute guys… and then three cute guys.
After the song ends, Faith moves to the bar. She doesn't notice that the guys follow her. Faith passes the bar and goes into a back room. It's empty but it's clear that people hang back here. The room is dark and has many sofas and some areas sectioned off with ratty curtains. There's a low coffee table in front of one of the sofas. Faith looks around in disgust. This room reminds her a lot of the one she was in a year ago. The smell, the noises, the junkies.
The three guys file in behind her, grinning wickedly. Faith turns around and grins invitingly. She says, "So. Which one of you is Luke?" None of them answer. They just drink her in with their eyes. All three of them morph into vampface and one of them takes the first step forward. Faith grins and says to herself, "Luke."
She grabs a low pipe and flings her legs up and, in a half circle motion, kicks them all in their faces. They growl at her angrily. She dropkicks VampOne in the face. Almost instantaneously, she elbows VampTwo in the face. She uppercuts VampOne and sends him down momentarily. She pushes VampTwo across the room and grabs Luke. She growls, "Stick around." She elbows him in the face, knees him three times in the chest and once in the face. He's out. VampOne comes at her, she pushes him away with her foot, causing him to flip over a sofa. VampTwo is back up and comes at her from behind. She flips him over her and, locking his arm, slams him into the wall. And again. And again. And again. She flings him away, causing him to spin and slam his back into the wall. Faith walks over to the coffee table and slams her fist down into it. Time seems to slow down. It breaks and she pulls up a jagged shard of wood. VampOne flips back over the sofa. Faith rears back her fist and it's like time speeds back up. Her fist connects and, as he falls back, VampTwo comes at her. Faith stakes him hard and, in the same swift motion, stakes VampOne.
She turns over to Luke who is just coming to. She picks him up and slams him into the wall. She holds him there as she speaks to him, "Hi. I'm in a hurry and I was wondering if you could be a sweetie and help me out."
"Go to hell."
She hits him hard, causing him to spin onto the floor again. She slams him back onto the wall and says, "Look. You've got a choice here. You take me to the boss," she thrusts her thumb into his eye, enough to hurt but not enough for it to pop, "Or, well, I'm gonna rip your eyes out."
Luke, still rubbing his eye, leads Faith into yet another back room. In the room, there's a gigantic cherry wood desk. The large leather chair spins around to show a deep-blue demon. He's about six feet tall, and has three horns on his head. The middle one is a bit bigger than the other two and it sort of an off gray.
"And what do you want?"
Faith grins at him. She takes the stake that she's still holding, slams it into Luke's heart and leaves it there. He's dust. She then whips out a dagger and says matter-of-factly, "That horn." She charges him.
"It's really cold. Super cold in point of fact. I might only have four fingers at this point but I wouldn't know because my hands are really, really numb."
"Shut up, Sam."
Chloe looks out down the road expectantly. She rubs her hands together and blows into them. They've been waiting at the bus station for close to an hour.
"How long do we have to wait?"
Chloe checks her watch and sighs, "Until the bus shows up, I guess."
"Oh."
Chloe looks at him and asks, "What? Do you want to leave?"
Sam replies, "Breaking news from Duh, USA. Of course I want to leave!" he shakes his head and continues with some solemnity, "But I'm not going to. I signed up."
Chloe smiles at him and then looks down the street again. She says, "You scared?"
"Terrified. You?"
"Senseless." She looks at Sam with a fear in her eyes that hasn't been seen before. Tears well up in her eyes and she says in a cracking voice, "Sam. I don't want to die."
Sam takes his baby sister into his arms and whispers, "You're not gonna die."
"And I don't want you to die!" she cries.
Sam makes her look at him. He says with authority, "I'm not gonna die either."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
Suddenly, harsh headlights come streaming down the street, lighting the way for the large charter bus. Sam and Chloe part. Chloe wipes away her tears hastily. Sam looks to the bus and sighs, "We're up."
Buffy sits on the chair in the hotel room lost in thought. She stares at the instant hot chocolate in the Styrofoam hotel cup that contains it. She doesn't know what she's thinking. She doesn't know what to think. Before she can even form a coherent thought, Spike comes in. He stops slightly and thinks a moment that he should turn back. He changes his mind and moves forward, hastily looking for Trista's dagger. Buffy steals a glance at him at the same time he steals one at her. They both avert their eyes.
Spike finds the dagger and goes to leave after a last glance at Buffy. He's halfway to the doorknob when Buffy pipes up in a slightly shaky tone, "I missed you." Spike lets go of the door. He knew this was coming. He turns around and sighs, "Yeah." He goes and sits on the bed by her, yet still keeps his distance.
Buffy looks down at her feet and says, "It's so strange. First you're here and then you're gone and then you're-- it's all so… I don't have the words." Spike just watches her. He doesn't have any words either. They sit there staring at anywhere but each other for a moment before Spike, with a bit of animosity, says, "How's The Immortal?"
Buffy smiles ruefully and sadly before replying, "Mortal. He was into some dirty dealings. He got the side of the axe that is all glinty when you put it up to the light."
Spike smiles slightly at the idea of the Immortal get axed but looks up to see that Buffy isn't smiling anymore. In an infinitely gentle tone, Spike says to her, "What do you need, love?"
"Closure," she says in a soft tone before pauses to collect her thoughts before she continues, "When you died that was, well, it was pretty closey but now I just don't-- It won't work."
Spike closes his eyes and makes a decision. He comes closer to Buffy so he can face her better. He speaks to her as if he's calm and fine, when he's really being torn up inside. He says, "No. It won't. It never could and it never will. And that's okay."
Buffy, crying slightly now, chokes, "It's hard."
"I know."
"How can you? I don't even know. I'm not sure what I'm feeling and it's really, really confusing."
"It is. That's what makes it all poetic and Shakespearean, love. Buffy, I'm not the right person for you. I'm not even a person. You need to go out and find the right guy," he stops because she looked away from him. He makes her make eye contact again, "But just remember that I will always love you. And that if that little bollocks hurts you, I'll rip his throat out."
Buffy laughs slightly and wipes away her tears. Spike smiles at her comfortingly. He glances towards the table and sees something behind the curtain. He goes over and looks. It's the dagger he was looking for. He picks it up and nods at Buffy as if to say "bye" and leaves.
Once in the hall, Spike nearly breaks down. Tears well up in his eyes as he clenches his fists and his jaw to keep himself from crying. He hits the back of his head onto the wall as he leans there for a moment. He knew he had to do it. He had to help her forget. He didn't want her to forget. But she has to if she really wants a normal life. Spike stands there in the hall, leaning on the wall. Alone.
Trista, sporting a bandage on her left hand, and Willow are packing up the gang's stuff and putting them into duffle bags. Trista says, "Okay, so once Sam and Chloe are back we're gonna go."
"Okay," says Willow in a slightly worried tone.
"What's up?"
Willow shrugs, "I guess I'm just worried. It all seems to make sense but we have no basis that says--"
"That if we make one, it'll work. I know. We just have to believe in it I guess."
Willow nods. She smiles at Trista and says, "You're doing a good job, you know."
"I'm not doing any more than you guys. This all full of ensemble-y goodness."
Just then, Andrew comes in with Giles. He asks Trista tentatively, "You wanted to see me?"
"Yeah," says Trista. Willow gets the picture and quietly leaves into the hall. Trista looks at Andrew gravely. She takes a deep breath and says, "We need to talk, Andrew."
Giles leaves the room by way of the adjacent hotel room. He sees Buffy still sitting where Spike left her. Giles goes to her and Buffy smiles at him. He kisses her lightly on the head and sits by her.
"How are you?"
"Okay, I guess. This is all so weird. I get a year of essential normalcy and I'm right back where I started, only not. I've never been the Not-General. It feels weird."
"A bad weird?"
"I don't know. I think it's kind of a mix between a good and bad. I don't have to worry about all the leader-y type brouhahas that come with it, but I don't like not knowing what's going to happen."
Giles smiles at her. It still amazes him how far she's come. He can still remember when she was a young sixteen year old. He can still remember first meeting her. His little Buffy is all grown up.
"I missed you, Giles. It's been forever since we've sat. Just sat. You know, with the sitting."
Giles nods, "Yes. It has. Maybe--"
Faith enters, dirty and bloody, but with the horn. She walks to the table, energized. She throws it onto the table with a thunk. She looks to Giles and says, "Got your horn."
"Good. Good. Thank you, Faith."
Faith nods and says as she flexes her shoulder, "Damn. They sure did put up a fight. I think I'm gonna shower."
Buffy says, playfully, "I think I'm gonna insist."
Faith grins slightly at Buffy and moves off to the bathroom and Giles goes to the horn and starts cleaning it off with a handkerchief. Buffy says, "Maybe…"
"Sorry?"
"You were in the middle of a proposal of the maybe variety."
Giles puts down the horn and turns to Buffy and says, "Oh. Right. Well, I thought that maybe after this is all over you and Willow and I could go and eat. Maybe catch up some."
Buffy gets up and goes to the table by Giles and says, "Sure. Sounds good." Giles smiles and then picks up a vicious looking dagger. By the look on his face, there's no doubt that the dagger is intended to be used on Buffy.
The water in the sink runs and turns a sickly red as a stone faced Giles washes his dagger. The blood mixes with the water and swirls down the drain. Once clean, Giles dries it with a towel. Giles looks up into the mirror and hears Trista call, "Giles?" Giles picks up the dagger and moves into the room.
Trista turns to him and smiles, "Hey. I want you to introduce you to the new guys."
"Yes. Yes, of course."
Trista sees the dagger and says, "You want me to pack that up for you?"
Giles, looks at it and smiles. He says as he hands it to her, "If you don't mind."
"Not at all," she moves to the other room as she continues, "Come on."
They move into the next room to find five new teenage girls along with the entire gang, including Spike, Buffy, now with a bandaged hand, Sam and Chloe. Chloe says, "This is Hannah, Caitlyn, Lindsay and Megan." The four girls, still pretty self conscious and nervous, barely murmur "hi".
Trista says to Giles, "These are the four that are going to be doing the ritual with us," she looks to everyone and sighs, "You guys ready?"
Everyone nods in general assent and they head out.
In Queens, Trista sent Willow and Giles off to find the temple as Chloe and Sam occupied the girls. Trista walks into the dark magic shop, while on her cell phone.
"Andrew, I swear it's gonna be fine. Yes! I promise it will," she sighs and puts her hand on her forehead, "Put Spike on. Hey, Spike. Yes, I know he's a-- I'm aware of that, Spike. Dude, you're over 100! Freaking act like it!" She hangs up, but smiles despite herself as she moves deeper in the shop.
The shopkeeper, a gothic woman of about thirty, watches Trista intently. She cranes her neck with an amused grin on her face to see Trista better as she turns the corner.
Trista goes deeper and looks at an old spell book with a smile still plastered on her face. She can't take her mind of Spike. He's so funny, and sharp, and nice. And, oh god, the accent. He's so--
"You really like him, huh?"
Startled, Trista spins around to find the shopkeeper leaning on one of the bookshelves. Trista collects herself and says, "Oh. Hi. Um, I just need to find a book. Bronsum's Blood Rights and Ritualistic Bleeding. Not to buy it or anything, just check some--"
"Does he know how much you like him?"
"What?"
"Spike. Does he know?"
"Do you know Spike?"
The shopkeeper smiles and says, "Nope."
Trista's starting to get creeped out. She starts to move to the door but the shopkeeper calls after her, "Trista!" Her tone is what stops Trista. She sounds frightened, frantic. Trista turns around and waits expectantly.
"You care about him, right? Then you need to save him."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Have you been listening? Spike. I'm talking about Spike. He's in danger."
Trista doesn't know what to say but she's trying not to believe her. Random people don't just know things like that. How can she even know what she's talking about?
"I don't believe you," says Trista confidently, "You can't just tell me that and expect me--"
"I could show you," says the shopkeeper. She sounds extremely desperate to help, if not even a little afraid.
"How?"
"Come here."
Trista warily approaches the shopkeeper. She smiles at Trista in says, "It's okay. I don't bite… unless asked to." The shopkeeper closes her eyes and starts to mumble something that Trista doesn't hear and then puts the tips of her fingers on Trista's temples.
The minute the fingers connect with Trista's temple, Trista is wracked with pain. She experiences visions not unlike Doyle's and Cordelia's. The person in the vision is Spike. He walks to Trista's grave at night. He walks through life alone long after everyone he knows has died. He's fighting with a demon, stabs him with a dagger with a green blade. Spike is infected with a poison. He lies in a ratty motel dying, scared and alone. Trista can't take it, she starts crying. It hurts her physically but it also hurts her heart. She doesn't want that for Spike. She doesn't want that for anyone. She also sees people. People that Spike could've saved if he hadn't died. There's so much death. So much destruction.
The shopkeeper let's go of her. Trista falls to the ground, unable to control her crying. She's mumbling under her breath, "No. No. No. No…" The shopkeeper kneels in front of her and says quietly, "It's been prophesized. It kick starts hundred years of torment. You need to stop it."
Trista looks up at her, scared and vulnerable and asks, "How?"
Andrew walks, scared and upset. He seems to be lost. It's so dark here that he can't even see. He clutches his thermos tightly and looks around. He says to himself, "I am a warrior. I am Andrew. I'm not afraid of the dark. I'm not-- GYEHHH!" Andrew screams like a crazy girl as Avachius jumps out in front of him, his sharp muscles flexing in the night.
"And so this night begins. And so this life ends," growls Avachius. He hits Andrew causing him to fly back twenty feet. Andrew crawls and grabs his thermos, clutches it to his chest. He stares up at Avachius as he comes upon him. Andrew almost whispers, slightly amazed at himself, "Got you."
He then uncaps the thermos and courage explodes in him. Andrew, for reasons unknown to him, found a heroic bravery inside him that no one knew existed. He flings the contents of the thermos onto Avachius. It's blood. Andrew screams insanely and, pulling the horn Faith got out of his back pocket, slams it into Avachius's side. Avachius screams in pain and hits Andrew, sending him flying across the room. Andrew, dazed but conscious, smiles for himself.
As Buffy, Spike and Faith run out of the darkness towards Avachius, Andrew remembers how afraid he was earlier this morning. It was hard enough to watch Giles take blood from the girls but it was necessary. Trista said that you need blood from all the girls for the new Slayer line to make it work. He remembers thinking that he didn't know why she wanted him to put it on the sacrifice, but he realized it now. It needed to be him. He needed it to be him. "You can do this Andrew. It's right for you. You won't let me down."
Trista walks with purpose down the street, as her cell phone rings. She answers it with a snap, "What."
"Turn around now," growls Lorne through the phone, "I don't care what she told you but you need to not go do anything stupid."
Trista stops and asks, "How'd you know?"
"Hello? Empath demon? Knows all through the beauty of song."
"Spike's going to die, Lorne."
"We all die someday! One person tells you one thing and you're all Jack Nicholson in the end of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest! Just because you think--"
"I don't think! I know! I can feel it! I'm scared, Lorne. Yes, we all die but not in pain, afraid and alone. That's not how it should be!"
"Tris, you--"
"If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?" sings Trista, as she begins to cry, "I must be travelin on now. Too many places I got to see…"
A wave of shock and fear comes over Lorne. He's about to freak out and he knows that, no matter what, he can't do anything about what's about to happen. He wants to say something but can't find the words. It's too late. Trista's already hung up on him.
She reaches her destination, an old bookstore. She goes in and makes a beeline for the back. She reaches the back room and walks in to find a beautiful man of about forty. He has shaggy brown hair and piercing green eyes. He looks at her but makes no attempt to rise.
"Can I help you?"
"That's what I've been told."
Buffy, Spike and Faith attack Avachius, he's not buckling because, hey, he's strong. After taking a particular brutal punch to the jaw, Spike screams, "Where the hell is Trista?"
Faith, as she punches Avachius, screams, "Don't. Know!"
"What if she doesn't show?"
"We have her blood," Buffy screams, "It'll be enough."
They continue to fight Avachius, mostly ducking and trying to push him back. When they get him to back up about five feet, Spike runs away as he hears Giles scream in the darkness, "NOW!"
In a swift chorus, torches that line the room light themselves. Willow comes towards the middle of the room, towards Avachius, chanting. Her eyes are black and her palms are out. The light from the torches brightens the room intensely. We can now see where they are. They are underground in what looks like a primitive temple. This is the temple. This is our temple.
"Bring forth that which must be cloned," chants Willow.
"Bring forth ever lasting," chants Giles, coming from behind Willow holding a book.
Chloe and Sam come up also. They each have a vase of thick liquid, terrified, they both circle around the girls and Avachius, pouring the ceremonial liquid. They also chant repeatedly, "Nowhere to nowhere. Everywhere to everywhere. All to all."
"Take what's given through sacrifice," continues Willow with authority.
"Give us the power of what we seek. Give us life through death," overlaps Giles.
"Open! NOW!" screams Willow to the ceiling.
Above them, light energy becomes fused as Avachius is also fused to his spot. Spike backs off as Faith, Buffy and the girls all circle around Avachius. They unbandage their left hands and, in an almost trance like state, raise their left hands, revealing a symbol that was carved into them when they were bled. It's clear now what Avachius is standing in: A crossroads, not unlike a four-way intersection. It was drawn on with paint and lined with sacred stones. The light energy above them starts to become a bright, beautiful gold ball, not unlike the sun. It spins and writhes above them, alive and powerful with the lives of all the Slayers in the world. As Willow chants, Trista's voice rings in her ears.
"Crossroads are tricky things. They're neither one place nor another. They're everywhere yet nowhere…"
Trista's eyes are closed and the man whispers into her ear. He whispers and then morphs into vamp face. She looks at him in fear. She knows what's really going on, but this feels so real. He digs his teeth into her neck.
"In a crossroads, anything is possible because the space is nothing. Demons can possess you in a crossroads…"
Trista screams almost silently. No one can hear her.
Willow starts to rise as she continues to chant as an energy very similar to the above starts to emanate from her chest. It snakes up from her chest and connects it to the slayers. For this moment, they are all fused. The horn on Avachius starts to glow as grey light comes from it, crackling up Avachius's body. He opens his mouth to scream but it silenced as the energy shoots from his mouth into the gold ball.
"People can find you, people can loose you. That's the point. If we make it to this point, if we can make our own crossing that can effectively be nowhere, as all crossroads are, then we can make these Seven and we can save the world."
The girls are all glowing blue. The energy starts to ball above them, like the gold. A stream of light comes from the gold one, causing the blue to grow bigger and turn green. It writhes and spins with the power of these seven women. Buffy, Faith, Trista, Hannah, Caitlyn, Lindsay and Megan, all Chosen again. Chosen to be the Seven that will protect the world. Chosen to be the Ones that fight. Chosen to be the Ones that die so the world may live.
Trista can feel them, as she glows also but it's fleeting as this vampire drains the life from her. He lets her go and slits his wrist and she drinks. She drinks deep and let's go, gasping for air. Her eyes become glassy and she dies.
