A little while earlier:

Buffy fell to her knees, crying. This was just too hard. She could hear Charlie's voice muffled through the jungle. It sounded like he was calling her name but she tuned out the noise and took a few deep breaths. She tried to focus by blocking out all sounds. She closed her eyes. She could feel the gun in her hand. She took another breath; every breath meant one more moment the earth was in danger. She gulped and brought the gun up once again to her head. This was it, she thought.

She began to put pressure on the trigger and her whole life began to flash before her eyes.

"Daddy," a 4 year old Buffy yelled as she ran to her father, who had just come home from work.

He scooped her up into his arms, "Hello, precious. So how was school today?"

"I learned how to count backwards," the toddler said proudly, "5..4..,"

"3…2," Buffy whispered to herself.

"Buffy, there's something you're father and I need to discuss with you," Joyce said.

"Can it wait, Nicole and I are hitting the mall," Buffy whined.

"Buffy, you're mother and I have talked it over," Hank said.

"We're a getting a divorce," Joyce finished.

"What?" Buffy said, shell-shocked.

"Nothing's going to be the same anymore," Buffy whispered to Pike. They were sitting on a swing set in the park, watching the sun rise.

"That tends to happen when you commit a felony like arson," Pike quipped.

She smiled, "You know what I mean, slaying vampires...not a normal activity for a teenage girl."

"Buffy I hate to break to you but you were never normal. You're extraordinary."

"Oh, why can't you people just leave me alone?" Buffy told Giles.

Giles came down the steps of the library, "Because you are the Slayer. Into each generation a Slayer is born, one girl in all the world, a Chosen One, one born with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires..."

"We've prevented the Master from freeing himself and opening the Mouth of Hell. That's not to say he's going to stop trying. I'd say the fun is just beginning," Giles said as he walked with Buffy, Willow, and Xander outside, Sunnydale High.

"More vampires?" Willow said.

"Not just vampires. The next threat we face may be something quite different," Giles replied.

"I can hardly wait!" Buffy said as she sucked on a lollipop.

"We're at the center of a mystical convergence here. We may, in fact, stand between the Earth and its total destruction," Giles said, trying to make them see the gravidity of the situation.

"Well, I gotta look on the bright side. Maybe I can still get kicked out of school!" Buffy said as she walked away with Willow and Xander.

"Oh, yeah, that's a plan.'Cause lots of schools aren't on Hellmouths," Xander replied.

"Maybe you could blow something up. They're really strict about that," Willow suggested.

"I should..." Angel said as he stood in Buffy's room.

"...go... You said..." Buffy replied, approaching him.

Then they moved in closer and kissed. Slowly, they pull apart and kissed again this time more passionately.

Buffy came over to eye the dress her mother had bought her, "It's beautiful."

"I think you should wear it. To the dance," Joyce told her daughter with a smile.

"No, I-I can't go to the dance."

"Says who? Is it written somewhere? You should do what you want. Homecoming, my freshman year of college. I didn't have a date, so I got dressed up and I went anyway."

"Was it awful?"

"It was awful. For about an hour."

"Then what happened?"

Joyce smiled, "I met your father."

"He didn't have a date either?"

"He did. And that's a much funnier story that you will not get to hear. Oh, but it was a beautiful night!"

"And you had your whole life ahead of you."

"Yeah."

"Must be nice."

Buffy pulled the trigger and found the gun empty. She pulled it again and still nothing. She looked down at the weapon, slightly confused. That's when she heard movement behind her and she felt the bullet tear through her skin. Buffy fell forward on the floor and the turned over on to her back. She watched as the blood spread over her shoulder and seeped into her clothes, staining them, a crimson red. She could see a face above her but she couldn't tell who it was everything was blurry and dark. That's when she blacked out.

"My baby! They took my baby!" Clair yelled. She was standing on the beach that they had all made their home. It was now a war zone. People were running around left and right and fighting was occurring everywhere.

Locke ran over to her, "We have to go; it's not safe."

"They took my baby! They took Noelle!"

"Where? Who took Noelle?" Locke asked her grabbing her shoulders.

"I don't know."

Locke looked around for any clue and that's when he saw a portal expand across the night sky. He grabbed Clair's hand and they ran towards the part of the beach it was located on. They saw a familiar man standing by the portal and he was holding Noelle in his arms.

"Noelle!" Clair yelled, running forward.

"It's too dangerous," Locke said.

"I'll go," Sayid told them as he ran off towards the man. He stopped when he reached him. The man was all alone, except for one other person, who was chanting and the baby, "Give me the child."

"No!" the man said and that's when Sayid recognized him. He was one of them. His name was Ethan. He had helped Sayid build the fire, their first day on the island. Sayid couldn't think why this man would want Clair's baby and that's when he came to a realization. Ethan wasn't on the plane. He couldn't remember him being there and that day when he had helped Sayid, he hadn't had any injuries, nor were his clothes wet. He was one of the others.

"Give her to me!" Sayid yelled and he took a step forward.

"Sayid!" Shannon yelled. She had seen what he hadn't. She watched in horror as another man came up behind him and stabbed him with a long knife.

She ran over to him, tears streaming down her face. She cradled him in her arms as he died.

"You can't leave me," she cried, "You can't. I need you."

"I love you," he said, caressing her face affectionately one last time.

Clair ran forward now that Locke was distracted and ran over to Ethan, who ran through the portal. She was about to jump in when she was restrained by Jack. She watched helplessly as the portal closed.

"Noelle," she cried as she collapsed into his arms, shaking as the sun began to rise over the beach and Shannon cried over Sayid's body. Boone went to her, trying to comfort her. Jack held Clair and looked around, the others were gone. They had taken Noelle, killed Sayid, and who knows what other damange they might have caused.

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