It's day and, once again, our gang is in a cemetery. However, their black garments and forlorn faces show that they're there for a new reason. Off in the distance, Spike stands in the shade of the mausoleum, just staring. Chloe is shaking and having trouble holding back her tears as she puts flowers on Sam's grave. Buffy puts a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Ding! The elevator doors open and the gang files out to the hall. Chloe first, then Buffy, Willow, Faith and lastly Spike, blanket at the ready. The last time they were here, the hallway was destroyed. There was so much broken, tarp on the windows and the dust of new sheetrock everywhere. Now, everything is as it was. The windows are clear, the floors their shiniest. They move down the hall to Chloe's apartment. As they walk, she takes big Lamaze breaths in an attempt to quell her nervousness. They get to the recently repainted door and Chloe unlocks and pushes it open. She enters and it's like the air goes out of the room. She's choked by the memories. She can hear Sam and Trista's voices, she can see them walking around the room, talking, playing, living. Chloe begins to hyperventilate and falls back but Sam catches her.
"I got you."
She screams and launches herself forward, terrified. When she looks back, she sees that Sam isn't there. All she sees is the bemused faces of the Scoobies. Buffy takes a tentative step forward and asks gently, "Chloe, are you okay?"
"Huh? Yeah. I just…" she trails off. They all file into the apartment. She calls over her shoulder absently, "Make yourselves at home."
Spike passes behind Buffy pausing to whisper, "Bird's flying off the handle."
"Ya think?"
Trista stares at the mirror for a few beats before she knocks on it, as if she's seeing if her reflection'll come out and play.
"Um… what are you doing?" asks Augustus.
Trista stares at the mirror and says distractedly, "Nothing. Nothing." She turns to him and asks, "Have you ever killed someone and regretted it later?"
Augustus's eyes bug a bit and says, "Whoah-oh! Okay, not my business." He begins to back out of the room.
"It's just I killed Damian and now I think I need to talk to him."
"Oh. Ohh! I thought you were talking about a human. Because, that's just not natural."
"Something's wrong."
"Something's not?"
Trista looks at him, bemused. He says, "We're vampires. That's a big ol' brouhaha of wrong."
Trista grabs her coat and goes to leave the room, without a word.
Spike and Faith play poker at the dining room table as Buffy and Willow converse in the living room. Spike leans back and swings his leg over the corner of the table and lets it hang there. Chloe, starting to look very pale, passes by them. Spike looks at her and asks, "Want us to deal you in, love?"
"Huh? No," she answers and keeps moving towards the kitchen. Spike shakes his head and turns back to Faith.
The phone rings. Chloe ignores it and lets it ring. Buffy looks up and asks, "Clo, you want me to answer it?"
Chloe turns back to look at Buffy but sees Trista sitting there. She clasps her hand over her mouth and begins to cry. She runs to her bedroom, slamming the door. Buffy looks at Willow, confused. Willow shrugs and says, "I guess that's a yes?"
Buffy grabs the still ringing phone and answers, "Hello?"
On the other line is a very forlorn little green Pylean.
"Be a dear, and get Faith please," says Lorne.
Buffy hands the phone to Faith and says, "For you."
"Um. Hello?"
"Hi, hun bun. Good to be talking to you again."
"Who is this?"
Lorne takes a large gulp of his sea breeze and answers, "The little green demon with jingling bells and a heavy heart."
"Who?"
"It's Lorne!" he says a bit overzealously, "I met you a couple years ago. At the hotel? I took care of you when you were frickin dying!"
"Ohhhh. What's up?"
Lorne sighs heavily and says, "Well see, sugar lump, I had this friend. One of the best friends I ever had, and she called me a while back, crying about a loved one's destiny. She was afraid for him and decided she needed to do something about it. Turns out, in her action, she tripped the switch that caused the big wheels to get on turnin'."
"Trista," answers Faith, beginning to understand. This grabs the gang's attention.
"What?" asks Willow.
Lorne continues, "Every day that passes, we're another step closer to hell. You need to dig deeper. I know a girl, well a demon. She's the sweetest thing and gifted with the sight. She'll help you on your path."
The gothic shopkeeper is standing at her counter, nursing the bruises she received from Faith. She goes to grab her pen but accidentally knocks it off the counter. She bends down to get it, and when she rises, sees Trista standing there. The shopkeeper looks at her, excited about her arrival.
"You've come!"
"Uh, yeah?"
The shopkeeper scurries to the back of the room calling back, "I've been expecting you! We have so much to talk about. You, what happened to you, the apocalypse!" She finds a very large and ancient book that she carries back to the counter. She continues, "And, of course, the prophecy."
"What prophecy?" asks Buffy.
Buffy and Faith stand in the backroom of Dana's Delectable Pastries and Desserts speaking to Dana. Dana has long flowing hair and her eyes are two intense pools of white. She sits at a wooden table, palms flat on the surface staring ahead.
"In the 14th Century, Aberlen Scotts wrote of the coming of a vampire-"
"-stronger than any that's come before. You became a slayer before a vampire. You're special. You'll bring about the Apocalypse."
"The Apocalypse?"
"Yes. That's why I've been protecting you! You may be strong but you're still vulnerable to magic."
"You've been protecting me…"
"You'll deliver us. You'll kill them all."
Spike sits with Willow and Chloe as they wait for Buffy and Faith to get back. Chloe fidgets some and asks, "How long has it been?"
Willow, working on the computer, answers, "It's only been about an hour, sweetie."
Spike cracks his neck and says, "Well, you two can sit around all night waiting for the gallant heroes to return."
He gets up and moves to the back of the apartment, grabbing a blanket out of the hall closet on the way. He turns and moves into Trista's bedroom. It's essentially empty now except for the stripped bed and dresser. He undresses and drapes the blanket over him on the bed. After a few minutes, he's asleep.
"Seems Alberlen believed that the Vampire would be born of the holiest of the holy. 'And he shall walk with a hero's heart and die with a hero's gasp. He shall awaken with a demon's vengeance and kill with Lucifer's strength.'"
Buffy and Faith take it all in.
On a cobweb afternoon… In a room full of emptiness… by a freeway I confess… I was lost in the pages… of a book full of death... reading how we'll die alone… and if we're good we'll lay to rest… anywhere we want to go…
Spike moves through the dark club, feeling the heat and heaviness of the air. He also takes in the music. It's slow, sad and intense. As the chorus comes, Spike looks to the dance floor and since Trista, in the thick of it all, dancing sensuously, staring at him.
In your house I long to be… room by room patiently… I'll wait for you there… like a stone… I'll wait for you there… alone
They're sitting at a table now. She looks at him, knowingly, sweetly. The music's still playing.
"Do you know what they're talking about now? You."
She looks at the crowd. Even though her lips aren't moving, Spike can hear her.
"It's sad. So much loss, so much sadness. We're all wondering around wishing for someone to bring us to salvation. He never comes."
She looks at him forlornly and sighs, "Where did I go?"
The chorus comes again, passionately. In your house I long to be… room by room patiently… I'll wait for you there… like a stone… I'll wait for you there… alone… Aloonee! /u
The guitar solo begins.
They're dancing but then they're sitting at the table like it never happened.
She looks to him and says "It's you now. It's you." He nods to her, understanding. The music slows down as she rises and moves back towards the dance floor. Spike sits, watching her.
And on I read… until the day was gone… and I sat in regret… of all the things I've done… for all that I've blessed… and all that I've wronged… in dreams until my death… I will wander on
The music kicks up, louder, faster. As Spike, who rose and followed Trista, spins her around and kisses her passionately. They kiss deep and long, through the rest of the song, lost in each other.
Spike awakens from his dream, her voice ringing in his ears. She's whispering, "I love you."
"She will rise and rid this earth of humanity. She will bring about a new order. The Old Ones will rise and the world will be as it was."
"How can I kill her?" asks Buffy, not liking what Dana is telling her.
Dana smiles sadly and says, "You can't. No living thing can stop the Scourge of Humanity."
"You're not serious," says Faith, disbelieving.
"It has been said and so it shall pass," after saying, Dana frowns and says, "Odd. Very odd."
Trista walks back to the nest, surprised and excited about the massacre that will come to pass. She stops at a window of TVs and watches the news coverage of the orphanage. She smiles at her accomplishment. Suddenly, her reflection appears in the glass. She backs up startled. Then, there's an intense beating in her chest that causes her to fall to her knees and grab at her chest. She starts breathing hard, something she hasn't done in a while. She screams. As soon as it started, it ends. As she lies on the sidewalk in a paralyzed silence, she thinks back to the night she was turned. The incense, the chanting, the anointing. She had never seen anything like it. She didn't know it could even be done.
Buffy and Faith walk down the street, on the way back to the apartment. Buffy is lost in the thought. She mumbles, "No living thing…" She stops, looks to Faith and says, "I've got an idea."
Spike sits, perched on the dresser, thinking. While he thinks, Buffy, still with Faith on the street, says, "This isn't over. No living thing can stop her. Lucky for us, we're not all living."
