Final Thoughts by CheriChapter 15
Fade in Exterior-Night Cordelia and Anya walk along a deserted road. Anya: So, I really like what you’ve done with your hair. Cordy: Thanks. It wasn’t planned. It just kind of happened over time. Anya: But it’s good. You look mature. It’s nice. Really. Cordy: Again…thanks. You really didn’t have to come you know. Anya: I wanted to. I mean, what else was I going to do, stand around the house waiting for the next attack? At least this way, I might see Angelus coming. Cordy: It’s not his fault. Everyone says that he’s evil now and there’s only one way to deal with him. But this isn’t his fault. Anya: But it doesn’t make him any less likely to kill us though. (pause) You really care about him don’t you? Cordy: Of course I do. I’ve worked with the guy for three years. We’ve seen some horrible things and lived through them, because we had each other…and the others too of course. Anya: Sure. I get it. It’s amazing how close demons and evil and all this mess we deal with can bring two people. Or four or five people. Cordy: Right. You would not believe the things I’ve seen. That I’ve done. And he’s been there every step of the way. Anya: Wow. Cordy: (stops walking and looks at Anya) Wow what? Anya: You don’t love Xander. Cordy: (shocked) What? Why would you…Xander? Ok, that was so ancient we would have to call in an archeologist to unbury it. Anya: I just thought… Cordy: Listen Anya, I know you and Xander have your thing. And he will always mean something to me. But whatever troubles you might have or fears you may carry, I’m not part of them okay? I wish the best for the both of you. I swear. (laughs and turns to walk again) Me and Xander. Yeah that’s it. Angelus: (stepping from shadows) Already forgotten all about me huh? That’s so typical of you. Cordelia startles and stops in her tracks looking up at the smirk on his face. Anya stops as well watching quietly from behind. Cordy: (putting on a brave front) Just who I was looking for. Angelus: Really? Cause you’re not who I was looking for. She struggles to not let the hurt show. Angelus: No offense, I’m sure drinking you would give me hours of pleasure, but I’m kind of on a schedule here. Cordy: Well, I think you might have to do some juggling in your date book. Cause I’m not through with you. Angelus: Aren’t you the feisty one? And look, you brought desert. Anya: I don’t think so. Cordelia: You’ve made a serious mistake. Angelus: Really? And what is that? Cordelia: You forgot who I am. Why do you think you’re little friend wanted no part of me? I’ve still got some power. And you might want to think about that before you go off on your tired Buffy-quest. Angelus: Oh I get it. You think this is some kind of contest. You have to prove you’re better than her. It’s always been about that with you. And being back here is like going back in time then isn’t it? Cordelia: (deadpan) You are like the biggest undead blowhard I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting. Angelus takes offense and backhands her hard across the mouth. Anya: Hey! Cordelia: (straightening up to smile at him) Nice to still you can still get it up for me. She punches him in the stomach and he is surprised by her strength. He retaliates quickly and she ducks under another blow. They begin swapping moves as Anya watches worried.
Cut to Abandoned warehouse Buffy walks in a conveniently open door to find Lilah standing in the middle of the empty room alone. Lilah: There she is. The slayer. Buffy: And there you are. Lilah: You made the right choice. Buffy: Excuse me if compliments from you don’t bring on the tingles. Lilah walks to move closer to her but Buffy sidesteps to maintain a distance. Lilah: So where are they? Buffy: Who? Lilah: I know you didn’t come alone. Even if I told Wes it was imperative you did. I’m not stupid. Buffy: That remains to be seen. But there’s no one here. You’ve got a phone. Use it. Call my house. Check it out. Lilah: (studies her closely) No. If you want to risk it, I can’t help you. Let’s get down to business. Buffy: First you bring out Copperfield to release Angel’s soul. Where is he? Lilah: Not so fast. You have to hear what I have to say first. Buffy: That wasn’t the deal. Lilah: Ok, number one, bad guys never hold up their end of the deal. And number two, when you hear what I have to say you’ll thank me for insisting. Buffy: I wouldn’t hold your breath on the thanks part. Cut to Roof of warehouse Connor moves quietly across the roof looking for an opening. He crouches low when he spies a man lurking down below through a skylight. He looks closer and sees Buffy facing off with Lilah only feet away. The man is watching intently. Connor pauses for only a second longer before continuing his search.
Cut to Cemetery Faith, Spike and Gunn are walking along looking for any sign of action. Faith is the first to spot it. Faith: It’s about time. Gunn sees a vamp strolling out of a crypt just as he spots Faith. Vamp: I know you. Faith twirls the stake once and looks at him. Faith: No you don’t. Spike: Actually he probably does. You kind of left an impression on Sunnydale. The vamp comes up as if to talk and Faith punches him. Vamp: Hey! What is your…(looks at Spike and then Gunn) Oh so it’s like that again huh? Faith punches him again and then stakes him quickly. Faith: Damn straight. Gunn: Well, that was fun. Is this what we do now? Walk around waiting on random vamps to appear? I thought there was going to be some major action. Spike: Don’t worry Mate. We’ve only hit two gardens. Wait till you see the school. Faith: Let’s go there now. These guys aren’t worth the effort. Spike: None of this is. We should have gone with Buffy. Faith: Man, what is it with you and Buffy? I’d say it was a slayer thing, but you and Angel both are like some kind of…it’s almost like some sick twisted spell. Gunn: Magic ain’t that cruel. Spike: Why don’t the both of you just mind yours? And don’t set about comparing me and Angelus. I’m not the one out to torture the lot of you now am I? Faith: Let’s just get to the school. Gunn: Works for me. They walk off leaving Spike mumbling to himself. Spike: Bloody Angelus has been the thorn in my side for nearly two centuries. Not much longer though. He strides off in another direction and the two ahead of him don’t even notice.
Cut to Summers Home Wesley and Giles are having a quick paced hard to follow conversation. Dawn: It’s like Giles in stereo. Willow: (smiling) Yeah. I haven’t seen them this way in…well I don’t think they ever worked together this way. Dawn: Can you make out anything they’re saying? Willow: Not much. It’s like a tennis match. Except instead of balls, they’re lobbing watcher lingo back and forth. I don’t think we’re supposed to understand. It’s good though. I mean, I think they’ll be able to figure out where to look together a lot better than we could. Dawn: I can’t believe we just let Buffy go like that. What if Angelus found her? Willow: Don’t worry. She knows what she’s doing. Besides, Angelus doesn’t like to just fight and be done. He’s more about the suffering. Dawn: And this is supposed to make me feel better how? Willow: I just mean that he won’t go after her yet. He’ll want to play the game. Dawn: Great. Why can’t she just have a normal stalker? No, she’s got to go and find the undead ones. Cut to Giles and Wes conversation Wesley: Are you certain? Giles: Wesley, I have been following this thing for months. It’s the First. Now what that has to do with your beast in LA and Spike and Cordy and Connor and whatever else has happened in the last year, this is all sprouting from the work of the First. Wesley: I suppose it would be hard to argue that point. Giles: Very good. Now Willow managed to send the one back to wherever it came from but I’m sure it will be back. I would assume that the forces are gathering underneath us as we speak. And Angelus or no, they will strike and they will strike with great power. We must be prepared. Wesley: It has to be the school. The gate is there for a reason. It will start there. Giles: And there is where we just sent three of our best fighters. Now we just have to hope Buffy can release Angelus’ soul before he finds the seal and decides to speed things up. Wesley: Do you think he’ll…yes, I guess he will. How could we have let him do this? Giles: Angel isn’t an easy man to argue with once he has something in his head. But intentions are irrelevant now. If Buffy doesn’t succeed we could be in serious trouble. She wasn’t lying when she said she doesn’t’ want to fight him again. And I don’t know that even if she tries it, she’ll succeed. Her heart has been broken too many times. Wes: She’s a slayer. She’ll do what’s necessary. Giles: Maybe. I think we should round up the others and head for the school. It’s no use sitting here. There’s nothing else to help us. If we don’t know what we need to survive by now, then we won’t learn it in the next hour. They stand up and Willow and Dawn sit up straighter. Willow: Did you find them? I mean, the First? Did you figure out where to go? Giles opens his mouth to speak when a scream is heard from the kitchen. The four run in to find Lorne holding the door against some sort of demon. Lorne: Little help here! Giles and Wes push against the door as well. Dawn: I thought you were supposed to scream when you first saw him, not after he was halfway in. Lorne: I did. It was both I’m afraid. Suddenly the demon is pulled away and the group sees Xander through the glass in the door throw it on the ground. Fred charges with an axe above her head and Xander takes it from her to kill it before it has time to recover. Wes: Well done Fred. Are you alright? A noise interrupts her answer and they all turn to see a group of more coming their way. Xander: I’m thinking outnumbered. Giles: Come in! Hurry! They slam the door closed and run through the house to the front. Willow opens the door and sees three more coming at them. She reacts instinctively holding up a hand. Willow: Disperse. The three are thrown in all directions and Willow grabs Dawn’s hand. Willow: Everyone come on now! Xander grabs Fred’s hand and Lorne follows Wesley and Giles. The group runs away from the house.
Cut to Warehouse Connor is inside now. Still undetected and watches for signs of others to attack. Buffy: Listen, I appreciate the trip down memory lane but since I’m not living in LA and probably never will again, could we move this along? Lilah: Move it along? Fine. Let’s see if this is fast enough for you. When you came back from the dead…congrats by the way…you came for a visit to see your precious ex. Buffy: Wrong. We met. I never stepped foot in LA. Lilah: I know that. But your meeting wasn’t as private as you’d have liked. Buffy doesn’t respond and Lilah continues. Lilah: My recently dead co-worker was playing with Angel long before he knew. He set up bugs and surveillance without my being aware years ago. Buffy: And this is relevant how? Lilah: When I learned of the surveillance, it was just after Darla came back bigger than a house. Buffy is visibly bothered by this. Lilah: Needless to say it was a priority. But later, after the dust had settled, I found out something interesting. You see, you and Angel were quite the troublesome pair for my side back in the day. Buffy: At least we got something right. Lilah: The only problem is as long as you were alive, we knew there was a chance that it would get worse. Then when your girlfriend brought you back there was all kinds of repercussions to deal with. It’s always been about the balance. One slayer against the evil. A balance. (starts pacing) Then there was Angel, cursed and with a soul. He went to your side and it upset the balance. When he found you, it was almost too much. Then you died. Buffy: You really do your homework don’t you? Lilah: When you defeated the Master, the balance shifted again. Plus there was another slayer. Not good for my team. Buffy: Ok I get it, Angel and I can’t be together. We already knew that so this is all kind of unnecessary. Lilah: You came back and the first thing he did was call you. Had to see you. And you needed him too. That’s where the problem lies. Buffy: We haven’t seen each other since. We agreed. Lilah: Yes! The agreement! You two made a new and improved pact that day didn’t you? Never told anyone else about it. Not even those closest to you. Buffy: But somehow you know this already. Lilah: Gavin heard Angel arrange the meeting. He had him tracked and you two were monitored the entire time. I wish I could have been there. The notes in the reports are pretty graphic, but I don’t think even they did it justice. Buffy: I’m really starting to wonder why I’m not hitting you now. Lilah: Didn’t you wonder why it was so easy? How could you have just stopped that kind of love, that kind of passion with a handshake and your word? Buffy: Because it’s all we have. Lilah: It’s not. Gavin told me that he was coming at Angel from a different angle. I thought it was only about the cameras. But I found out later it was something even more. And I have to give it to him. I’m all about my job and getting business done, but Gavin seems to enjoy the emotional side of things. Buffy: I’m really getting bored. Lilah: He played you both. (pause) You thought you’d just outgrown the intensity, the fire. No sweetheart, it was taken from you. Buffy: What are you saying? Lilah: We had to make sure you two would never reconnect. If you were both going to live in this world, then just killing you wouldn’t be enough. Gavin figured out the perfect way to ensure that the dynamic duo was done forever. He had a dark wiccan perform a little whammy, you two were stripped. Buffy: Excuse me? Lilah: (looks at watch) Ok, this is taking too long. I’m gonna have to be blunt. Buffy: That’d be a nice change. Lilah: You and Angel were tainted that day. When you agreed to live on your own. That worrying about the other and living for the chance was too much, it wasn’t really you doing the thinking. It was a spell. A very powerful, very ancient spell that planted the seed and has grown in you every day since. Everything you’ve done since that night has been a reaction to the spell. The feelings you’ve had, anything associated with love or any of it’s subtext is all part of Gavin’s work. You’ve been played like puppets and now it looks like the Senior partners and those above them are finally gonna have their D-Day. Buffy is in complete shock trying to let the words sink in. Lilah: It may seem impossible but I have everything with me to prove it. Unfortunately we don’t have time. Now here’s the kicker. The spell only works on someone with a soul. So when Angelus got loose, the spell went bye bye. So now he’s reverted back to who he was before you sent him to hell last time. Meaning he’s jonesing for his girl. That’s you by the way. Although now it equals bloodlust and your eventual death but you get the drift. Buffy: So why are you doing this at all? You can have your cake and eat it too. You and yours had your fun at my expense and now Angel’s lost everything. What I can’t figure out is why you’re risking the beating I’m guaranteed to deliver just to say ‘nanny nanny boo boo’. Lilah: Despite the maturity that was lacking in that threat. I’ll keep going. I have a problem with being out of the loop. Also, I kind of like my life. I’m making ungodly amounts of money, am head of an evil law firm and spend my days making other people’s lives miserable. These are the things that make me happy. Buffy: You really are beyond insane aren’t you? Lilah: Maybe. But I’m the only one that can help you right now. Buffy: (scoffs) Yeah that’s glaringly obvious. Lilah: (looks at watch) I have to go. I’ll be missed soon. So this is your choice. Listen carefully, I’m only going to say this once. And believe me when I say it’s a limited time offer.
Cut to street Anya steps in front of Cordy’s battered body lying on the ground. Angelus stops to look at her. Anya: Enough. Angelus: (smiling) And you’re gonna stop me? You heard her. She was begging for it. Anya: Well she’s not saying anything anymore is she? Angelus: (thinks for a moment) I wouldn’t kill her this quick anyway. (leans to look over Anya’s shoulder) Sweet dreams Cordelia. He laughs cruelly and walks away into the shadows. Anya: (bending over Cordy) Cordelia? Cordelia he’s gone. Can you hear me? Cordelia moans once when a light flashes startling Anya and she backs away. Soon Cordy is surrounded by the light and begins to life off the ground. Anya shields her eyes from the brightness the best she can.
Cut to school Gunn and Faith walk along the basement corridor. Gunn: I can’t believe he just took off. Faith: You just don’t know Spike. Hell I don’t know him since everything’s changed, but I’m surprised he stuck around as long as he did. Gunn: (checking out the area) So this is what’s left of the last big showdown in Sunnydale? Faith: One of them. I was sort of batting for the other team back then until Buffy tried to gut me and I ended up in a coma. Gunn: (shaking head) Yet here you are. Faith: I had it coming. I tried to kill Angel among other things. She was doing it to save him. Gunn: And this is the thanks she gets. Faith: If there’s one thing I’ve learned these last couple years, it’s that everything happens for a reason. Gunn: Be sure and explain the reasons for this mess when you figure it out. Faith: Sshh. I hear something. Gunn: What? Faith: Up ahead. I think we found the gate they were talking about. They come around the corner and see the now unburied seal. Several vamps surround it and the two quickly back up and lean against the wall. Faith holds up five fingers and Gunn nods in understanding. She changes it to three fingers and points to herself. Gunn answers by holding up two and pointing at himself. They each nod and reach for weapons for each hand. Faith enters first. Faith: I’m gonna assume my invitation was lost in the mail and try not to be insulted. Vamp1: Slayer. Faith: I was hoping you’d recognize me. She lets him take the first swing as a second advances on her. Gunn appears to stop the double team. He blocks the first blow with his fist that holds a dagger and the one with the stake swings right behind it. Vamp 2 sees it coming and dodges it. He connects with a left hook to Gunn’s chin and he stumbles. Faith is jumped by the third and fourth while the fifth seems to be waiting for something by the seal. As she overpowers the first, the second comes at her from her blind side and she finds herself grabbed in a headlock. She kicks out and shoves the one in front against the cave wall and drops forward to flip the one behind her over her shoulder. He falls on his back and she effortlessly sinks the stake into his chest. Meanwhile, Gunn has dispatched his first and now is struggling with the last who finally left his spot at the mouth of the seal. A rumbling begins but none notice it. Cut to school campus – exterior Willow, Giles, Dawn, Lorne, Wesley, Fred and Xander all are running towards the school when an earthquake shakes the ground beneath them. They stop to try and maintain balance looking at each other in fear. Cut to Street Anya watches as Cordelia is lifted until she’s several feet off the ground. Spike walks up behind them. Spike: Bloody hell. What’s she doing up there? Anya: Do I look like I know? Spike: Hey you! Get down from there! Stop playing around. (leans to Anya and speaks quietly) This isn’t normal, even by our standards. Cordelia finally begins to dim and she lowers slowly. She looks from Anya to Spike and seems confused. When her feet hit the ground, her eyes turn white and she doesn’t see them anymore. Now she sees something else.
Cut to Mansion – interior Angelus enters slowly looking around at what was once his home. Decay has set in, but the ornate beauty is still there. He walks into the main room and looks at the dormant fireplace. He hears a sound and turns quickly to see her walking out of the bedroom. Buffy: I guess we’re just a couple of sentimental fools then aren’t we? Angelus: Fools maybe, sentimental not likely. Buffy: You’re right. (steps to just in front of him and looks up) I found something that belongs to you. Angelus: And what is that? She nods and he looks in the corner of the room as the man steps forward holding the box. Angelus: Who is..? (realizes) No. Buffy: Come on Lover, I had it wrapped and everything. Angelus: Go to hell. Buffy: (smiles and whispers) I’ll race you. They face off in deadly silence. |