Her heart breaks at the scene before her. She will not condemn a boy to her fate and she will certainly not kill him. She does intend to use her power to help him in another way. She starts to turn back the clock when The Lord of Dragons appears.
"This is not your purpose. Make the bargain or destroy him." he demands.
"He is a child. I won't hurt him but I will help him." she declares.
"If you do this, our bargain is broken. Your friends will suffer the fate you envisioned. Judgment Day will come and this boy will never have been born. The world will cease to exist. Are you truly prepared to sacrifice all that to help this child?" he exclaims angrily.
"If I don't help him then what is the point. My friends would gladly trade their lives for his. I can do no less. The life this child is worth it." she fires back.
The Lord of Dragons does something unexpected. He claps.
Confused, she is then blinded by a bright light. She finds herself back on the day The Lord of Dragons faced the Archangel Gabriel. The Lord of Dragons says "She has proven her worth."
"Of that there can be no doubt" the Archangel replies. "You have saved the world with your sacrifice Willow Rosenberg. You have proven man deserves to be allowed to continue on Earth. You have given hope to angels. No small feat." he tells her. With those final words, he and the army of heaven take their leave.
Finding herself on the street outside Wolfram & Hart in LA, Willow faces The Lord of Dragons to ask "What just happened? Was any of that real?"
"You view of reality is too limited for me to fully explain. Needless to say Judgment Day has been postponed as promised. I have fulfilled my part of the bargain. Are you prepared to fulfill yours?" he inquires.
"This was all a test by Heaven?" Willow asks still trying to figure out what happened.
Sighing The Lord of Dragons explains "Heaven did not test you. I did. When you passed I used it to prove that Judgment Day should wait. Heaven agreed. Without my intervention, Heaven would have just unleashed Judgment Day and your friends would have died as you witnessed trying to prevent it. Now, will you honor your side of the bargain?"
"Of course. I knew what I was doing when I made the bargain. Just remember I won't harm the innocent." she replies. She has already seen what her life will be and she is ok with it. It is a small price to pay.
The Lord of Dragon places a claw on her shoulder and teleports her to her room. Buffy is still fast asleep in their bed. 'She always looks so beautiful when she sleeps.' thinks happily. "What are we doing here?" she asks.
"You are fulfilling your part of the bargain. Since you are mine, I decide what your fate shall be. I demand that you spend your days here with your friends making this world a better place." He declares.
"Thank you but why. This is not how the bargain usually works." she points out.
"I have lived a very long time and I know how rare people like you and your friends are. Even before you passed my test, your lover Tara convinced me. She was prepared to sacrifice her place in heaven to protect you. I had never seen so many beings willing to sacrifice everything they were to help their loved ones. When I tested you, you sacrificed yourself willingly to save your friends. Then you sacrificed everything including your friends to save a child you didn't even know. The world needs people like you and your friends. Fair well little witch." The Lord of Dragons says to her and then he is simply gone.
Willow is speechless. Before she recovers, he is gone so she can only thank the empty air. Not willing to waste the gift she has been given, she climbs into bed with Buffy. With Buffy's arms wrapped around her she drifts off to sleep.