Author's Note: The scenes for Faith (In this chapter and Becoming Part 2) come from the Buffy novel Go Ask Malice by Robert Joseph Levy.


Chapter 22: Becoming Part 1

May 10, 1998 – Sunday

Restfield Cemetery

Buffy was fighting two vampires at once. One of them came at her with a swing. She ducked it and punched him in the face, in the gut, and again in the face. He fell to the ground, dazed. "Come on. Ooh, nice try," she said as she turned toward the other vampire. He went to kick her, but she blocked it before hitting him with backhanded-punch in the face. "Now that was just sloppy. If you're not even going to try, then…"

The first vampire got back up and rushed her. She cleanly jammed her stake into his chest, and he exploded to ash.

Buffy turned her attention back to the other vampire and punched him in the face, making him roll away. "I want you to get a message to Angel for me. Tell him I'm done waiting. I'm taking the fight to him. You got that? Do you want me to write it down for you?"

The vampire charged her. She grabbed him and pulled him around and down to the ground and immediately plunged her stake home.

"All right, I'll tell him myself." Buffy got up and walked over behind a gravestone, where she reached down to help Xander up.

Xander took hold of Buffy's hand, and Buffy pulled him to his feet. "I'm good, don't worry about me…" he said groggily.

"You know, you don't have to patrol with me," Buffy reminded him.

Xander rubbed his neck. "Hey, I had that guy under control until he resorted to fisticuffs," he said. "What is that: five vampires in three nights?"

"Yep. But no Angel," Buffy replied.

"You really that anxious to come up against him?" Xander asked her.

"I just want it over with."

Xander nodded. "I hear that," he said.

"We better go." Buffy sighed as they walked toward the exit to the cemetery. "I haven't even started studying for finals yet."

"Oh, yeah, finals," Xander groaned. "Why didn't you let me die?"

"Look on the bright side," Buffy replied. "It'll all be over soon."

Cambridge, Massachusetts

A seventeen-year-old girl named Faith Lehane walked down the street with her girlfriend, Alexandra, the lead singer of the rock band Merciless Reaper. Faith was from South Boston and had a rough childhood, but she had been taken away from that life over two months ago by Professor Diana Dormer of Harvard University. Diana had informed Faith that she was a Potential Slayer, subject to possible activation immediately upon the death of the current Slayer. Faith had accepted it easily enough, because she had already encountered - and killed - a child vampire. At Diana's insistence, she kept her double life a secret from everyone, including Kenny.

"So Merciless Reaper is heading out on tour for a couple of weeks," Alex told Faith. "Do you want me to bring anything back from out on the road?"

"Just give me one of those plastic globes with the snow inside," Faith told Alex, "the tackier, the better."

"Anything for my girl," Alex said, and winked.

Faith could tell Alex was kind of joking but kind of not.

Alex tried to cover it up. "By which I mean…I'll add you to the list," she said as Faith punched her in the arm. She howled. "Damn, girl, you got a mean left hook! You're too strong."

"Damn straight," Faith said, and smiled. 'I'm not that strong,' she thought to herself. 'But maybe someday I will be.'

May 11, 1998 – Monday

Sunnydale Museum of Natural History

Giles walked into the research lab of the museum. There he spotted a large rectangular chunk of rock as a female technician ran a brush across it.

"Hello?" Giles called.

Dr. Doug Perren, one of the museum curators, walked toward Giles. "Rupert Giles?" he asked.

"Yes," Giles answered.

"Doug Perren," Perren said and he shook Giles' hand. "Thanks for coming."

"Oh, not at all," Giles stated. "I'm…flattered to be asked."

"I spoke with Lou Tabor at the Washington Institute, and he told me we had the best authority on obscure relics right here in Sunnydale," Perren told him.

"Oh…" Giles laughed. "He may have, uh, exaggerated a little." He looked toward the obelisk. "Is this the...?"

"This is our baby," Perren answered the unfinished question. "Construction workers dug it up outside of town," he informed Giles as they approached it, "you know where they're putting up those high-rises. I know there were Spanish settlers here from way back, we've found plenty of artifacts. But whatever's written on this…well, it isn't Spanish."

"No. Not Spanish," Giles agreed as he stared at it.

"Any ideas?" Perren wondered.

Giles looked the rock over. "A few. None I'd care to share until I can verify," he said as he noticed the runes on it. "You have, uh, carbon-dated it?" he asked as he inspected the writings.

"The results will be back in a couple of days," Perren answered. "I'll go out on a limb and say 'old.'"

"Um, yes, it certainly…predates any, uh…settlements we've read about," he said as he found a faint line running up the side. He motioned to one of the workers to hand him a brush. "Um, may I?"

"Yeah. Sure."

Giles leaned in and began to brush away the dirt. "You haven't tried to open it, I assume."

"Open it?" Perren asked as Giles pointed to the crack. He leaned over to take a closer look. "Ah, I'll be damned. I figured it was solid. What do you think is in there?"

Giles stared intently. "I don't know."

"Well...I guess we won't know until we open it up," Perren stated.

"If I could ask, um...would you wait? Let me work on translating the text. It might give us an indication as to what we'll find inside."

"You don't want to be surprised?" Perren asked in surprise.

"A-As a rule, no," Giles answered.

"All right. You're the expert. But I'm pretty damn curious, though."

Giles removed his glasses. "Yes. Yes, so am I."

Sunnydale High School

Buffy sat with Cordelia, Willow and Oz in the cafeteria, eating lunch, as they listened to Xander recapping the previous nights events.

"You can't sneak up on me!" Xander said using two fish sticks and a toothpick for the visual. "Tell Angel I'm going to kill him—no—wait—I'm going to kill you! Die! Die!" He made the toothpick wielding fish stick stab the other. "ARRGGHH! Mother!" He let the toothpickless fish stick fall to the plate.

"Is that it?" Cordelia asked.

"Yeah, that's just exactly how it happened," Buffy confirmed.

"I thought it was riveting," Oz said. "I was a little unclear about some of the themes."

Buffy sighed. "The theme is, Angel's too much of a coward to take me on face-to-face."

"The other theme was 'Buy American,' but it got kind of buried," Xander added.

"Do you think you're ready to fight Angel?" Willow asked from where she sat in Oz's lap.

"Can everybody stop asking me that," Buffy stated. "Yes, I'm ready. I'm also willing and able. It's the one test I might actually pass."

"Don't say that," Willow said, concerned. "You're going to pass everything. I'm going to get you through this semester if I have to sweat blood."

"Do you think you're likely to?" Xander asked. "'Cause I'd like to be elsewhere."

"It was only metaphor blood," Willow informed him.

"I think you'd sweat cute blood," Oz informed his girlfriend.

"Sixth period, after my computer class, we'll rock on Chemistry," Willow informed Buffy.

Buffy smiled. "I'm ready to rock. You're the best, Will. Thanks."

"Boy, Willow, you've really gotten the teaching bug," Cordelia stated. "Taking over that computer class, tutoring…"

"I love it. I really do," Willow said happily.

"I think it's great to do that before you go out and fail in the real world," Cordelia said. "Because then it's not like falling back on something, it's like falling…well, forward."

"And almost sixty five percent of that was actual compliment," Xander told his friend before looking at his girlfriend. "Is that a personal best?"

"Gee, Xander, what are you going to teach when you fail in life? Advanced loser-being?" Cordelia asked sarcastically.

"I will teach…" Xander said as he took on a bad French accent, "…the language of love."

As Xander reached for Cordelia, she shrank back. "Don't touch me! You have fish hands!"

Xander smirked as he moved his hands toward her face. "Come, let me caress you…"

Cordelia laughed, batting away his hands. "Stop it!"

Snyder came into the cafeteria behind them. "That's enough of that," he said before looking at Willow. "And you! Are we having a chair shortage?"

"I haven't read anything about," Willow said before realizing what he was wanting. "Oh! I get it." She slid of Oz's lap and into her own chair.

"These public displays of affection are not acceptable in my school," Snyder informed them with his usual sneer. "This isn't an orgy, people. It's a classroom."

Buffy nodded. "Yeah! Where they teach lunch," she said sarcastically.

Snyder glared at her. "Do you have something to say?"

"This is a cafeteria," Buffy answered. "I'm pretty sure."

"Always with the wisecracks," he said. "One day you're going to go too far."

"Or I could go with the classroom theory…" Buffy stated.

"Just give me a reason to kick you out, Summers. Just give me a reason," Snyder gloated before walking off.

"How about because you're a tiny, impotent Nazi with a bug up his ass the size of an emu?" Cordelia suggested.

Buffy nodded. "Sums it up."

Cordelia nodded. "Don't you think?"

Xander smiled. "Now 'lunch' I could actually teach."

"I can see that," Oz agreed. "Baloney," he said mimicking a teacher, "It's not a toy. Let's put it on the bread—The rye bread! Careful!"

Willow smiled at Buffy. "Do you want to come by tonight, do some cramming?"

"Maybe…I do have to patrol," Buffy interjected.

"Again? Do you really expect Angel to turn up tonight?" Willow asked.

Buffy shook her head. "No, we don't expect him to. But that's usually when he does."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

After school, Willow was tutoring Buffy in the computer science classroom. Buffy gave up in frustration and slapped down her pencil. "Waah! This doesn't make any sense." She pouted at Willow.

"Well, sure it does. See…" Willow took the paper and looked at Buffy's work. "Oh, no, this doesn't make any sense."

Buffy shrugged. "It's senseless," she said as she played with her pencil.

"It is, but at least you know that! So, you're learning." Willow looked at the problem more closely.

"Yay, me," Buffy cried. "Well, it doesn't matter, anyway. I mean…when in the real world am I ever going to need chemistry or history or math or the English language?"

Willow shot Buffy a glance. "Okay. I see your problem."

"I'm a moron?" Buffy asked.

Willow gave Buffy a look. "Will you stop that? You're not stupid! You've just had a lot on your mind. You can learn this really easily, but, if you're just going to give up, then don't waste my time."

Buffy was impressed. "Wow. You'd make a really good teacher." She smiled.

Willow smiled. "Good pep talk?"

"I got the pep," Buffy informed her.

"Okay. Look at this," Willow informed her friend. "It's a covalent bond—which means these two atoms are linked by this one electron. You know, basic linkage. Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Chlorine…"

Buffy placed her pencil on her book and rolled off and fell into the space between the desk and the filing cabinet next to it. "Hold it," she said as she reached in and grabbed her pencil, her fingers almost brushing the disk that still lay there. She pulled out the pencil and straightened up. "Okay. I'm learn girl."

"Well, you see—" Willow started.

"Whoa," Buffy interjected. "Déjà vu."

"Really?" Willow asked with a raised eyebrow.

The thing with the pencil—I have a perfect memory of being exactly like—" Buffy said as she bent down and saw the disk. She reached down for it and pulled it out. "—hey. I think you dropped this."

"It's not mine. It might be something of Ms. Calendar's," Willow informed her friend as she and Buffy looked at each other. She popped the disk into the computer.

"This feels kind of morbid," Buffy admitted as they waited for the disk's contents to come up on the screen.

"Well, I've gone through most of her files already," Willow admitted.

"Does that make this less morbid or you really morbid?" Buffy asked with a pointed look.

"I had to—to teach the class," Willow reminded her.

"Relax. I'm making with the funny," Buffy said as the program on the disk started up, and the Romanian text scrolled into the left-hand window.

The translation program's percent-complete bar appeared, and the bar began to zip across the screen. Jenny watched as the bar reached the far side. It disappeared, and the English translation scrolled into the right-hand window.

"What does that say…'restoration?'" Buffy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's one of her spells, I think," Willow said. "You know, she wasn't a practicing witch, but she did dabble in—"

"Willow," Buffy said as she read the text, her eyes getting steadily wider.

Willow looked back at the screen and her eyes went wide. "Oh boy."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Willow had printed out the spell while Buffy rounded up the gang, and they went to the library. Oz, Cordelia and Xander were seated at the table.

Giles walked up to Buffy and Willow. "What are you saying?"

"The curse," Buffy held out the printout. "This is it."

"It looks like Ms. Calendar was trying to replicate the original curse," Willow informed him. "To restore Angel's soul again."

Giles took the printout and stared at it. "She said it couldn't be done."

"Well, she tried anyway," Buffy informed him. "And it looks like it might have worked."

"So, he killed her," Xander said. "Before she could tell anyone about it. What a prince."

"This is good, right?" Cordelia asked. "I mean...we can curse him again."

Buffy paced, thinking.

Giles looked at Cordelia. "It's not that simple. This points the way, but the ritual itself requires a rather more advanced knowledge of the black arts than I can claim."

"Well, I…I've been going through her files and reading up and…I've been sort of checking out the black arts," Willow admitted. "Just for fun—or, educational fun. I might be able to work this."

"Willow, performing this kind of ritual, channeling such potent magicks through yourself—it will open a door you may not be able to close," Giles warned.

"Will, I don't want you putting yourself in danger," Buffy stated,

"And I don't want danger," Willow agreed. "'No' to danger. But I might be the best person to do this."

"HI! For those of you who have just tuned in, everyone here is a crazy person," Xander said. "This spell might restore Angel's humanity? Well, here's an interesting angle: Who cares?"

"Xander, let's not lose perspective here—" Giles interjected.

"I'm perspective guy! Angel is a killer," Xander countered.

"Xander—" Willow started.

"It's not that simple," Buffy finally admitted.

"What, come back home, all is forgiven?" Xander asked. "I can't believe you people!"

"Xander has a point—" Cordelia said agreeing with her boyfriend.

Xander turned to Cordelia. "You know just once I wish you would support me…" he stated before realizing she had just did that. "I realize right now that you were and I'm embarrassed so I'm going to get back to the point which is that Angel needs to die."

"Curing Angel was apparently Jenny's last wish—" Giles countered.

"Yeah, well, Jenny's dead," Xander reminded the Watcher.

Giles strode forward like he might actually strike Xander. "Don't you speak of her in that insolent—"

"Can't you see what I'm saying—" Xander cut in.

"All right, stop it!" Buffy cried stopping the argument.

"What do you want to do?" Willow asked.

"I don't know…" Buffy admitted. "What happened to Angel wasn't his fault…"

"What happened to Ms. Calendar is," Xander reminded her. "You can paint this however you want. Way I see it you want to forget all about Ms. Calendar's murder so you can have your boyfriend back."

Buffy glared at Xander before turning and storming out of the room.

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Faith was training with Sensei Kanno, who she had started with a few weeks ago, in jujitsu. He had brought armed combat into the moves that he'd been teaching her. Her favorite weapon was the tanto, which was like a knife or small sword. She had her eye on one special tanto at the dojo that was ivory-handled and kept in a matching ivory sheath.

He noticed her interest in it. "I might give it to you, if you advance further in your other techniques. You have a problem exploring the spiritual and philosophical aspects of the discipline, which carries over into other areas, especially now that we've started aikido training."

"Hey, just give me a shot. I'm willing to work at anything, especially if it gets me that knife."

He gave her a look.

"What, there's nothing wrong with the reward system, is there?"

He didn't reply.

"So, what's the deal? How did you come to be involved with me? With the Prof?"

"My wife was killed by a vampire…Nakamura…in Japan in the '60s, and that's when I started studying martial arts," he explained. "Eventually mastering nine different combat traditions and becoming a kind of personal trainer for Potentials—as well as three different Slayers over the past twenty years."

"So, the Watchers Council must love you," Faith said, "helping out with the heavy lifting and all."

"I don't do it for them," he said, shaking his head. "I do it for my wife. I do it for vengeance. Now," he said, his attention returning to the lesson. "What are the four qualities you must attain in order to perform your duties, should you be called?"

"Agility, clarity, stamina, and strength, Sensei!" Faith replied confidently.

"Good," he said, nodding his approval. "Very good."

"So, what do you think, you know, if I'm called?" Faith asked him. "Do I have the right stuff?"

"Let's work on your sweep and ankle lock technique, and I'll let you know at the end of the lesson."

But he never did. And she forgot to remind him.

Summers Home

Buffy was loading her bag with weapons and crosses as she talked to Willow on the phone. "Yeah, I'll do a couple of sweeps, then I'll stop by." She listened as Willow mentioned Xander. "Yeah, Xander was pretty much being a…" she paused as Willow cussed out their friend. "Willow. Where'd you learn that word? My god. You kiss your mother with that mouth?" She then noticed the ring Angel had given her on her dresser. "Okay. I'll see you in a while."

She hung up as she walked over to the dresser and picked up the ring looking at it silently.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Where are you going?" Joyce asked as Buffy made her way down the stairs.

"Oh. Uh, to Willow's. To Study," Buffy answered. "Got two finals tomorrow."

"All right," Joyce said as Buffy started to head down the stairs again. "Get a ride back if you come home late."

Dawn stood at the base of the stairs as her sister approached. "Be careful," she said knowing what Buffy was really doing.

"Promise," Buffy said as she hugged Dawn before walking out the door.

Streets of Sunnydale

Buffy walked down the street on patrol. As she passed a row of tall hedges she stopped and jerked her head aside when she heard something snap.

Suddenly, someone came out of the bushes to stand right behind her. Buffy instantly pivoted around with her fist held up, ready to attach. She stayed herself when she recognized Kendra.

Buffy sighed. "You know, polite people call before they jump out of the bushes and attack you."

Kendra smiled. "Just wanted to test your reflexes."

"Would you like test my face-punching?" Buffy asked. "Because I think you'll find it's improved."

"I was on my way to your house," Kendra informed her. "Saw you walking. Couldn't help myself."

Buffy smiled. "Which begs the question, and don't think I'm not glad to see you, but...why are you here?" she asked. Kendra started to answer before she cut her off. "Wait. Let me guess. Your Watcher informed you that a very dark power is about to rise in Sunnydale."

"That's about it."

"Great. Did he give you any idea of what this dark power is?" Buffy asked her.

Sunnydale High School

Giles emerged from his office, joining Buffy, Kendra and Willow. Kendra was putting her bag on the table. "I've just been on the phone with the museum," he said. "The artifact in question is missing. And the curator has been murdered. Vampires."

"And we're sure this thing was the Tomb of Alfalfa?" Buffy asked him.

"Acathla," Giles corrected. "And yes, the information Kendra's Watcher has provided seems conclusive."

"Okay, can somebody explain the whole 'he will suck the world into Hell' thing?" Willow asked. "That's the part I'm not loving."

"The demon universe exists in a dimension separate from our own." Giles explained. "With one breath Acathla will create a vortex, a kind of whirlpool that will pull everything on Earth into that dimension, where any non-demon life will suffer horrible, eternal torment."

"So that would be the literal kind of 'sucked into Hell'." Buffy smiled nervously. "Neat."

"You think Angelus and the others are responsible for the theft of the tomb?" Kendra questioned her fellow Slayer.

"I'd bet folding money on it," Buffy stated.

"I can't believe you date him," Kendra said as Buffy gave her a look. "I mean, he's got to be stopped."

"We don't know where they are," Buffy sadly admitted.

"They moved after Giles torched their house," Willow added.

"You did?" Kendra asked, clearly impressed. "Good for you."

"It was nothing, really," he said.

"Willow…I think you should try to do the curse. Bring Angel back," Buffy informed her friend.

Kendra frowned. I tend to side with your friend Xander on this one. Angel should be eliminated."

Buffy looked at Kendra. "I'll fight him. I'll kill him if I have to. But if I don't get there in time, or if I lose, then Willow might be our only hope."

"I don't want to be only hope," Willow said with a twinge of fear. "I crumble under pressure. Let's have another hope."

"We have." Kendra pulled a sword from her bag. "Blessed by the knight who first slew the demon." Giles looked at the sword, intrigued. "If all else fails, this might stop it. I think."

"Let's hope all else doesn't fail," Giles said before looking at Willow. "How close are you to figuring out the ritual for the curse?"

"I need a day, maybe. And I need an Orb of Thesulah, whatever that is," Willow informed him.

"Spirit vault for the Rituals of the Undead. I've got one," Giles informed her. "I've been using it as a paperweight," he said sheepishly.

Willow glanced at Buffy. "This means I can't help you study for tomorrow's finals."

"I'll wing it. Of course, if we go to Hell by then I won't have to take them," Buffy said and then the fear began to creep in. "Or maybe I'll be taking them forever…"

"Well, Angel has a ritual of his own to perform before he can remove the sword and awake Acathla. With any luck, that may take some time as well," Giles informed them.

May 12, 1998 – Tuesday

Sunnydale High School

Willow, Buffy, Xander, Cordelia and the rest of the class were taking one of their final exams. Everyone was intent on it. Buffy looked up and glanced around briefly, then turned her attention back on her paper.

Everyone was concentrating on the test, and no one noticed a mysterious figure come in and pull a shawl away from its face. "Tonight…sundown…" she said as everyone looked up. "At the graveyard…"

"Excuse me…" the teacher said as she stood up.

"You will come to him." She took the shawl off revealing her vampiric visage. She moved toward Buffy, deliberately stepping into the sunlight. She began to smoke as the other students began to move away from her screaming. "You will come to him, or more will die."

Buffy watched, taken aback by the vampire's direct approach at delivering her message.

"His hour is at hand!" she said as flames engulfed her and she exploded to ash.

Buffy just stared at the empty space before her.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Willow was deep in a pile of books at the table as Kendra approached with her sheathed sword.

Buffy looked at Giles. "She said more would die. I have to go."

"And I should go with you," Kendra said.

Buffy faced Kendra. " I need you here. Just in case." She headed for the stairs and went down them. "As long as Angel's fighting me not doing this end-of-the-world ritual, and that's good. And with any luck." She reached the table. "Willow? What do you think?"

Willow looked up from her research. "I'm not sure. I just want to cross-check—"

"We don't have time," Buffy informed her. "If this is going to work, it has to work now."

Willow nodded. "I need maybe a half-hour once we're all set up."

Giles looked at Buffy. "Which means you just have to hold Angel off. Don't let him close on you. If the curse succeeds, you'll—you'll know."

Cordelia looked at Buffy. "Why don't you just wait here to find out if it worked, see if he phones you?"

"I can't risk him killing any more people. I better go." Buffy started out.

"What if he shows up with an army?" Xander questioned.

"I'll run away," Buffy answered.

"A Slayer never runs aw—" Kendra started as Buffy looked at her. "Good plan."

"I'd better go," Buffy stated.

"Please be careful," Xander said, unknowingly echoing Dawn's words.

"I will," Buffy said as she started for the door.

Kendra ran up to Buffy and handed her fellow Slayer her a stake. "Here. In case the curse does not succeed…This is my lucky stake. I have killed many vampires with it. I call it Mister Pointy," she admitted sheepishly.

"You named your stake," Buffy said clearly surprised.

"Yes," Kendra answered embarrassedly.

"Remind me to get you a stuffed animal," Buffy said as she put the stake in her jacket. "Thanks."

"Watch your back," Kendra said as Buffy walked out of the room.

Restfield Cemetery

Buffy made her way through the cemetery, looking all around for Angel.

"Hello, lover."

Buffy turned to watched as Angel walked out from behind a small mausoleum.

"I wasn't sure you'd come," he said as they began to circle one another.

"After your immolation-o-gram? Come on, I had to show," Buffy informed him. "Shouldn't you be out destroying the world right now? Pulling the sword out of Al Franken, or whatever his name is?"

"There's time enough," Angel replied. "I wanted to say goodbye first. You are the one thing in this dimension I will miss."

"This is a beautiful moment we're having," Buffy said suppressing her emotions. "Can we just fight, please?" she asked.

"I didn't come here to fight!" Angel said sounding hurt.

"No?"

"Gosh, I was hoping we could get back together! What do you think, do we have a shot?" Angel said as Buffy glared at him. "All right, we'll fight." He lunged at her.

Sunnydale High School

Willow sat at the table, on which was elaborate markings, the orb in front of her. She had even painted a mark on her forehead. Cordelia was waving a burning sage bush, not loving her task. Giles stood on Willow's other side, holding a large book. Xander stood up on the balcony, watching while Kendra guarded the door.

"Quod perditum est, invenietur," Giles said in Latin.

"Not dead, nor not of the living," Willow said. "Spirits of the interregnum, I call."

Restfield Cemetery

Buffy ducked a punch from Angel and came up behind him. He spun around to block her return swing. He blocked another jab from her and punched her in the face. He followed up with a left hook.

"Come on, Willow," she said quietly.

Sunnydale High School

"Let him know the pain of humanity, gods—reach your wizened hands to me, give me the soul of—" Willow recited.

Suddenly, a vampire came out from the stacks and attacked Xander from behind. The main doors flew open, and Kendra spun around to defend as two more vampires walked in. Xander whipped out a stake as a fourth vampire appeared from the stacks.

Willow got off the table. She and Cordelia made for the stairs. Kendra punched the first of the two vampires to reach her. The fourth one hit Giles knocking him down and out as Willow and Cordelia ran up the stairs.

Having punched one vampire, Kendra grabbed the other and shoved her into the wall. The first one got up and rushed in to fight. Xander grabbed a vase from the table and smashed it over his attacker's head. A vampire rushed Willow, who sidestepped him. He spun around, grabbed Willow, and shoved her into a bookcase knocking her out.

The one down below hopped up onto the table, ran across it, and leaped over the railing above. Cordelia saw him coming and hid behind a bookcase. The vampire didn't stop and just pushed the case over. She got out of the way just in time, and the books and case landed on the floor.

The vampire that Kendra was fighting ducked her swing. Xander's opponent grabbed his arm, looped his own around it tightly, and pulled down, breaking it. Xander yelled out in pain.

Kendra ducked a roundhouse kick from her enemy and blocked several swings.

Xander grabbed his tormentor's hair and smashed his head down on the railing. Cordelia ducked a swing and punched the vampire in the gut.

Kendra landed two punches in the face of her attacker. Cordelia shoved her vampire into the other one going at Xander, knocking him down.

"Go!" Xander grabbed his broken arm and winced in pain.

Cordelia ran out through the stacks.

Kendra's opponent punched her in the face, but she ducked and backed into her and came up holding back the vampire's head. She plunged her stake into her heart, killing her. Xander winced again in pain.

Drusilla wafted in; eyes alight.

Restfield Cemetery

Buffy punched Angel, but he took it in stride. She swung again, but he grabbed her arm and held on tight. She swung with the other one, but he grabbed it, too, and then pushed her away.

"Is it me, or is your heart not in this?" Angel asked her. "Maybe I'll just go home, destroy the world…sulk…"

Buffy pulled out Kendra's stake. "Well, I think Mr. Pointy is going to have something to say about that," she said as Angel hesitated. "Come on. Let's finish this. You and me."

Angelus chuckled. "You never learn, do you? This wasn't about you. This was never about you." He chuckled again.

Buffy realized the trap was set for the others and began to run. "Shit!"

"And you fall for it every single time!" Angelus yelled after her.

Buffy ran like mad to get to the school. She raced through the cemetery, leaping a bench as she ran.

Sunnydale High School

Xander's vampire hit him knocking him unconscious. He spun to see Kendra fighting off the other vampires.

"Enough," Drusilla said as the vampires backed off and Kendra turned to face her. She dropped her shawl, looking dreamily into the heavens. Kendra lunged and she evaded. She then grabbed Kendra's throat, pushing the Slayer against the wall.

Kendra struggled, pulling at the arm.

Drusilla met Kendra's gaze, her eyes boring into Kendra's, hypnotizing her. "Look at me, Dearie. Be in my eyes. Be in me." She stepped back and let go of Kendra, who stood still. She then slashed at Kendra with her fingernails, drawing blood.

Kendra's eyes widened as she grabbed grabs her throat, blood willing out between her fingers.

"Night, night," Drusilla said as Kendra fell to the floor dead. She looked toward the vampires. "Let's get what we came for, dears."

Two of the vamps bent down and lifted Giles up.

Cambridge Massachusetts

Faith was sitting down to dinner with Diana when Diana started rambling on about the next day's schedule and Faith's required reading. She pretended to listen, but in reality, was just staring down at the bowl of tomato soup in front of her. She moved her spoon through it, back and forth, thinking about a recent dream.

And then she started to get a feeling like something was different all of a sudden. And then Faith knew, and panicked. She stood up from the table and she could feel my chair fall out from behind her. She couldn't move to catch it, the wooden back hitting the floor with a loud bang.

"Faith?" Diana jumped up from her seat. "Faith, what is it? What's wrong?"

All of a sudden Faith felt a sudden rush of energy, of adrenaline, running through her, hitting her like she'd bitten down on a power line. She felt totally juice, her body humming, alive, overwhelmed, crazy, filling up with strength, with power.

"Here," Diana said, putting a glass of water in Faith's hand, "drink this."

Faith brought it halfway up to her lips before it shattered in her hand, the glass spraying everywhere.

"Good lord," Diana gasped, taking Faith's hand in hers. She opened Faith's palm and laid it flat. It was cut open across the surface. "Your hand," she said, then looked up at Faith, and she met Faith's eyes. She could tell Faith wasn't fazed by the wound. "Faith, do you know, what's—"

Sunnydale High School

Buffy ran across the school grounds. She threw open the door, and she rushed into the hall. She rounded a corner, running down the hall, she barged into the library and stopped.

She looked around at the damage, and then Buffy saw Kendra lying on the floor. She ran to her and skidded down next to her on her knees. She felt for her pulse, found none, and realized she was dead. She took her hand. Buffy reached up to Kendra's face with her other hand and stroked it gently.

"Freeze!"

Buffy looked back and saw a police officer pointing his gun at her.

"Put your hands up. Back away from the girl slowly."

Another officer came in behind the first, gun drawn and surveying the scene.