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Enemies

Prologue

Buffy and Angel leave the movie theater where they have just seen Le Banquet d’Amilia. Neither of them looks very comfortable.

“Well…” says Buffy. “That was very…artistic.”

“Yeah,” says Angel.

“Wasn’t what I expected,” says Buffy. “I’ve never actually seen… Well, from the title I thought it was about food.”

“Well there was food,” says Angel

“Right,” says Buffy. “The, the scene with the, the food. So, feel like getting some hot chocolate? Or some cold shower?”

Angel apologises to Buffy. He had wanted to take her someplace fun, but movies seem to have changed a bit since the last time he went to one.

Buffy’s sorry too. “I just…don’t like getting you worked up like that. We can’t actually do any of those things. You’d lose your soul. Besides, I don’t even own a kimono.”

“Buffy, you don’t have to worry about me.”

“I just don’t like to rub your nose in it,” says Buffy. “Suddenly wondering where that expression comes from.”

“Look, I don’t need to see movies to get worked up,” says Angel. “Just being around you does that just fine. Doesn’t mean that I’m going to lose control, that I’m going to be frustrated around you. It feels nice, just to feel.”

“It doesn’t drive you crazy, when we’re close?” asks Buffy.

“Watch this.” Angel gives Buffy a long gentle kiss. “See? Safe as houses.” He kisses her again.

“Check out the lust bunnies!” says Faith. She’s just shown up to join Buffy for the evening’s patrol. The Council has put Faith back on duty. “Don’t worry, big guy. Just keeping her warm for you,” she tells Angel as she takes Buffy away.

Buffy and Faith’s patrol takes them into the cemetery. Faith tells Buffy how impressed she is with the amount of willpower she’s showing with Angel. Buffy really wants to talk about something else. She suddenly tells Faith to duck. Faith ducks as Buffy punches the guy who has appeared behind her.

Buffy and Faith grab his arms and push him up against the side of a crypt. “Ow! Ooh! What are you, nuts?” asks the guy. “Going around punching people?”

“People?” Buffy pulls off his hat, and reveals his horns.

“So what, I’m a demon. That makes it okay?” Buffy and Faith raise their stakes. “Hold it! Whoa! Stake me now, and you never find out what I got for ya, huh? Think about it: demon seeks Slayers. Highly unusual!”

Faith tells him to talk fast.

“How would you like to get your hands on the Books of Ascension?”

Neither Slayer reacts to that. Buffy tells him she’s never heard of them.

“Books of Ascension. Very powerful works and I’m not talking about the prose. They deal with some, ah, dark stuff. And the Mayor would hate for somebody to get ahold before he, ah, well you know.”

Buffy doesn’t know, and the demon tells her she can read all about it when she gets the books. He’ll meet them tomorrow night, and if the price is right, they can have the books. Buffy isn’t really interested in trading with a demon. The demon isn’t interested in trading either. He wants cash. Five thousand dollars worth of it.

“So you can buy, I’m guessing here, some skin care products?” asks Faith.

“Plane ticket,” says the demon. “Out of the Hellmouth before its adios, Slayer Loco. So, five G’s, what do you say?”

“I think ‘die fiend’ sums it up, wouldn’t you say?” Faith raises her stake again. The demon takes off.

Faith wants to chase after him, but Buffy stops her. “I don’t think he falls into the deadly threat to humanity category. I’d like to know about these Books of Ascension. Anything that would pin the Mayor down would be great.”

“Yeah,” says Faith. “It’d be great.”

Act I

Faith tells Mayor Wilkins about the demon with the books for sale.

The Mayor looks at Faith. “Hmm. You know what I wish? I wish you’d pull your hair back. I know, I know, fashion’s not exactly my thing, but, gosh darn it, you know, you’ve got such a nice face. I can’t understand why you hide it.”

“Yeah, sure. Whatever,” says Faith. “It’s just a matter of time before this demon guy is going to spill. Then Buffy and the superfriends are going to—”

“You know, you worry too much for a girl for your age,” says the Mayor. “That’s unnecessary stress. Luckily, I’ve got just the thing.” He pours Faith a glass of milk. “There you go. Now, first you load up on calcium. Then find this demon, kill the heck out of him, and bring the books to me.”

Faith looks at the glass dubiously before she sets it down on the Mayor’s desk without drinking from it. “And if Buffy gets to him first?”

“Oh, well. Frankly I don’t like to think about that,” says Mayor Wilkins. “I like good, positive, up thoughts. If you fail me in that way…well, you know, replacing Mr. Trick was chore enough. Oh, come on, don’t worry. Drink up. There’s nothing uncool about healthy teeth and bones.”

Buffy tells Wesley and Giles about the demon selling the books. A demon after money strikes Wesley as unusual.

“Demons after money,” says Giles, in mock disgust. “Whatever happened to the still beating heart of a virgin? No one has any standards anymore.”

Xander asks what this Ascension thing is, but neither Giles nor Wesley has any idea what it might be. Willow remembers a reference to Ascension in The Marenschadt Text in the section on genocide. Giles is a little concerned to learn that Willow has been reading that book. It’s one of the ones he tried to hide from her in the top of the book cabinet in his office.

Giles gets the book and looks it up. He finds a reference to a diary entry by Desmond Kane, the pastor of the town of Sharpsville: “May 26, 1723. Tomorrow is the Ascension. God help us all.” Sharpsville disappeared from the map the next day. There were no survivors to tell anyone what happened.

Cordelia comes into the library. She has something important she wants to ask Wesley. She needs some help on an English paper, and since he’s English, she figured he could help her. She tells him she studies best in a good restaurant, around eightish. Wesley is rather flustered. She tells him to think it over, and goes.

“And on the day the words ‘flimsy excuse’ were redefined, we stood in awe and watched,” says Xander.

Wesley takes a few seconds to recover, and then suggests that Buffy should go find this demon and see if she can persuade him to hand over the books, free of charge.

“I think Faith might be useful in that persuasion part,” says Buffy.

“I imagine so,” says Wesley. “Where is Faith anyway?”

The demon is packing up, preparing to leave town. He’s wondering what to do with his goldfish when Faith breaks open his door. She is there for the books. The demon steps into his kitchen and flips on the lights. He tells Faith he wants to see some money before he hands them over to her.

Faith negotiates by punching him around a bit, and the demon shows her the books.

Faith examines the books, making sure they’re all there.

“Now, the five grand, it’s ah, you know, negotiable,” says the demon.

“I don’t like to haggle.” Faith pulls out a knife and stabs it in the belly. She starts picking up the books.

The demon isn’t quite dead yet. It grabs Faith’s leg and pulls itself up. They struggle and fall to the floor. Faith stabs it several more times before it finally dies. Faith has the demon’s blood all over her hands. She looks at them, and trembles.

Faith goes to Angel, and tells him she’s in trouble and needs his help. He asks her to tell him what happened. She tells him she is scaring herself. Angel understands the feeling.

“That’s why I came to you,” says Faith. “Remember when you told me that killing people would make me feel like some kind of god?” She shows Angel her bloody hands. “I think I just came down to earth.” She quickly tells him that the blood isn’t human, but that isn’t making her feel any better.

“Faith, you need help. You can’t do this alone,” says Angel.

“I know,” says Faith. “For real now, I’m scared. Scared of what I am, what I’m turning into. Cold-blooded straight up killer. Like you.”

“Not like me,” says Angel. “I didn’t have a choice. But you do. You can stop this.” Angel offers to help her.

Faith hugs Angel, and then she kisses him.

Angel pulls away. “Faith, look, I can be here for you. But not like that, all right? I’m with Buffy.”

Faith understands. She and Angel are just friends. She says she has to go and think things over a bit. She gives Angel a parting hug, and a kiss on the cheek.

Buffy sees the tail end of this through the garden doors. She leaves without talking to Angel.

Faith reports back to the Mayor. She tried giving Angel a moment of happiness, but it didn’t work.

“I just don’t understand what that boy could be thinking. says the Mayor.

“Try Buffy Summers,” says Faith. “Like in a big, fat, one track way.”

“Hey, come on, don’t be discouraged,” says the Mayor. “You’re a bright, young, energetic girl with a whole life ahead of her. And I won’t tolerate brooding. So you couldn’t give him that one moment of true happiness, and he spurns your advances. So be it. There’s more than one way to skin a cat, and I happen to know that’s factually true. We want to take Angel’s soul away. If we can’t do it by giving him happiness, well, by golly, we’ll just have to do it in the most painful way imaginable.”

Act II

Wesley asks Giles if he has found out anything new about the Ascension.

“Six course banquet of nothing with a scoop of sod-all as a palate cleanser,” says Giles. He thinks it might be a good idea to call the Council, and see if they can come up with anything.

Wesley thinks that it would be best if he did it. He hasn’t told the Council that he is letting Giles work for…with him. He doesn’t think they will be too pleased to learn about it. Giles isn’t too pleased with the situation himself.

Buffy enters the library, and Wesley tells her that she and Faith should find the demon and his books. Buffy doesn’t want to wait for Faith, but Wesley insists. Finding the demon will be extremely difficult. It will take both of them.

Xander walks into the library. “Found your demon.”

Wesley sits staring at Xander with his mouth hanging open.

“Fashion tip, Wes,” says Buffy. “Mouth looks better closed.”

Xander pulls a slip of paper with the demon’s address on it out of his pocket and hands it over to Buffy. “I beat it out of Willy the Snitch personally.”

“You beat up Willy?” asks Buffy.

“Sure!” says Xander. “Well, actually, let’s just say I applied some pressure. Or more accurately, that I asked politely, and then…okay, I bribed him.” It cost Xander twenty-eight bucks. He asks Giles if the Council reimburses for that sort of thing. Giles asks if he got a receipt.

Buffy checks the address. “I know this. It’s down by the bus station. Not the nicest part of town.”

“Again. See, no standards,” says Giles. “I mean, any self-respecting demon should be living in a pit of filth or a nice crypt.”

Faith comes into the library and asks what’s up. Buffy is not really pleased to see her. She tells Faith that she can handle this one herself. Faith wants to come along, so Buffy tells her they’ve located the demon, and shows her the address. The two of them leave together.

Xander watches them go. “Is it me, or did it just get really cold in here?” Giles and Wesley seem to have noticed it too.

Buffy and Faith arrive at the demon’s apartment. Faith just barges in, despite Buffy’s recommendation for caution.

The room is dark. Faith reaches around the corner into the kitchen and flips on the light switch.

Buffy finds the demon’s body, with multiple stab wounds. “Looks like somebody got here first.”

“Betting they got the books, too,” says Faith. “Some hit.”

“This wasn’t just a hit,” says Buffy. “This was somebody’s idea of a party.”

“Maybe the guy put up a fight,” says Faith. She’s anxious to leave, and hurries Buffy out of the apartment.

The Mayor has a shadowy robed guest in his office. He offers him a mint, which is declined with a head shake. The Mayor asks several more questions, to make sure his guest knows what his task is, and has all that he requires to perform it. The guest doesn’t answer any of them aloud. He just nods or shakes his head.

“You’re not much of a people person, are you?” asks Mayor Wilkins.

His guest finally breaks his silence. “You have risked great danger in calling on me. The deadliest magics are needed to rob this creature of its soul.”

“Big job all right,” agrees the Mayor.

“And so it shall be done,” says his guest.

“Oh, that’s just swell. Listen, you sure you don’t want any?” Mayor Wilkins offers the bowl of mints to his guest again. “’Cause they’re low calorie.”

The guest declines the offer again.

“Okay.” The Mayor pops a mint into his mouth.

Willow and Buffy are sitting in the student lounge. Willow notices that Buffy is distracted, and asks if she’s okay.

“It’s nothing,” says Buffy. Willow just looks at her. “It’s nothing,” repeats Buffy. Willow’s eyebrows raise minutely. “Alright, alright, stop with the third degree! It’s Faith.”

“What about her?” asks Willow. Buffy tells her about what she saw last night at Angel’s. “No way,” says Willow. “I know what you’re thinking and no way!”

“You’re right,” says Buffy. “Faith would never do that.”

“Faith would totally ‘do that.’” says Willow. “Faith was built to ‘do that.’ She’s the ‘do that girl!’”

“Comfort, remember comfort, here?” says Buffy.

“I mean, please,” says Willow, “does Angel come up to Faith’s standards for a guy? Let’s see, is he breathing?”

“Actually, no.”

“But Buffy, Angel. There’s no way he would ever do that. I mean, you’re the only thing in the world to him.”

“Sometimes I wonder,” says Buffy. “Angel and Faith have a lot in common. And there’s so much he doesn’t tell me.”

“But it’s so clear the way he feels about you. Buffy, I too know the love of a taciturn man and you have to look at their actions.”

“I was!”

“Well, what did he say?” asks Willow.

“Say?” asks Buffy. “You mean when I straightforwardly asked him what was going on?”

“So you bailed?”

“I couldn’t,” says Buffy. “I mean, not…”

Willow has heard enough. She tells Buffy to stop being crazy and to go talk with Angel. Buffy still doesn’t want to.

“No.” Willow points at the exit. “Go. I give you leave to go.”

Faith arrives at Angel’s and apologises for the way she was acting the night before. Angel tells her that he understands.

Faith steps toward Angel, and he backs off.

“You don’t trust me,” says Faith.

Angel stops retreating. “It’s not that.”

“Hey, no problem. Join the club.” Faith turns away from him.

“Look, Faith. I know what you’re going through, all right, and how hard it can be. It’s important you have somebody who’s been there and who understands what you’re going through.” Angel puts his hand on Faith’s shoulder and turns her around. “I want to trust you.”

“Chump!” Faith tosses the contents of a jar of blood onto Angel.

The robed sorcerer appears from the shadows, and starts chanting, and gesturing. Angel is enveloped in swirling lights, and pain.

“Faith!” says Angel.

“I wanted to do this the old-fashioned way, but hey, your loss,” says Faith. “Lucky I’ve got some tricks Buffy don’t know yet.”

“You don’t have to do this!”

“I know, but it’s fun,” says Faith. “Now relax, it’ll be over soon.”

The sorcerer completes his spell, and Angel collapses to the floor. The sorcerer withdraws.

Angel gets back to his feet. He’s in full vampire face. He grabs Faith and kisses her.

Act III

Angel and Faith continue to kiss, until he pushes her away. “Thanks, so much.” He punches her to the floor. “It’s good to have the taste of a Slayer back in my mouth. It’s like cigarettes, you know, just when I thought I’d quit.”

Faith is climbing back to her feet.

Angel kicks her in the ribs, knocking her down again. “No, don’t get up. It’s good to be back in Sunnydale. Nice climate, plenty to eat, no tortured humanity to hold me down.”

Faith flips back to her feet.

“But you know what bothers me?” asks Angel.

Faith attacks Angel, and he grabs her by the throat. “You don’t seem to be getting the big picture here, Faith. Now I don’t know why you turned me, but let me tell you, I’m just glad you did.”

Faith breaks away from Angel, and gives him a kick. She pulls out a stake. “I’ve got my reasons.”

“Let me guess,” says Angel, “You summoned back the true Angelus because you need a new boy toy. Sorry, doesn’t work that way.”

Angel and Faith exchange a few punches. She tells him that if he’s smart, he’ll listen to her. She kicks his legs out from under him, and Angel falls to the floor. Faith sits astride him, and brings her stake down toward his chest. Angel catches her arm.

“You want to listen or you want to die?” asks Faith.

“As long as you’re there, I mostly want you to wriggle,” says Angel, “But I’m listening.”

“Last time you got like this, Buffy kicked your ass all the way back to Hell. You want to do better this time?”

“Still listening.” Angel’s face shifts back to its human form.

“Good boy,” says Faith. “Now all you got to do is play nice and call truce and I’ll hook you up with the real power in this town. Interested?”

“Very,” says Angel.

“Then get ready to meet the new boss.” Faith leans down and kisses him.

Wesley maps out their complete lack of information about the Mayor and the Ascension in the library. This doesn’t matter to Cordelia, who is just happy to listen to Wesley speak. Buffy is worried that Faith and Angel are both missing, but Willow tells her it means nothing.

They need to find out more about this Ascension thing. Giles suggests that Buffy try to break into the Mayor’s office to see if she can find the books.

Buffy needs to go home to stock up on weapons, and change into something more appropriate for a break-and-enter operation.

Willow reports that her attempt to break into the Mayor’s computers was fruitless. Once she got in she found that all the files had been deleted. He must have seen her coming. Oz suggests that maybe they should go to the source at the Hall of Records.

Xander doesn’t want to join them. He’s going to look around town, see if he can learn anything else. Giles will stay at the library, they will report back to him if they find anything.

“Be careful.” Giles tells Buffy as she heads out.

Faith introduces Angel to Mayor Wilkins.

“Now then, Angelus, may I call you Angel?” asks the Mayor.

“Well, actually, I’m thinking more along the lines of you calling me Master,” says Angel.

The Mayor isn’t impressed. “Ah. You know, Angelus, attitude may get you attention, but courtesy wins respect. I am the one responsible for your new attitude.”

Angel picks up a letter opener off the Mayor’s desk, and fiddles with it as he looks around the office. Wilkins asks him how the transition went.

“Had a soul, now I’m free,” says Angel. He’s wondering when the Mayor is going to get to the point.

“Kids today,” says Mayor Wilkins. “Rush rush rush. Well the point, Angel, is you’re a very powerful young man—good for Faith—and there just may be future for you here in Sunnydale. I see you’re admiring my letter opener.”

“Well, actually, I was thinking of stabbing you through the heart with it,” says Angel.

The Mayor swings around in his chair to face Angel and spreads his hands. “Please do.”

Angel throws the letter opener at the Mayor’s heart. He blocks it with his hand. The letter opener penetrates right through it.

The Mayor turns his hand around and looks at the letter opener. “Nice shot!” He pulls the letter opener out. He holds up his hand so Angel can see the wound heal almost instantly. The Mayor pulls a moist towelette out of the box on his desk and wipes the letter opener clean as he tells Angel that he is impervious to any sort of injury.

“Can’t be killed, but you don’t like germs?” asks Angel.

“Uck, ew, awful things, unsanitary,” says Wilkins. “But my question is, now that Faith has brought you back, what are your intentions?”

“Well, gee, sir,” says Angel, “I thought I’d find that Slayer that’s given you so much trouble and torture, maim, and kill her.”

“Fine!” says the Mayor. “You know it’s nice to see you’re not one of those slacker types running around town today. Torture Buffy. Killing her’s fine, just make it a slow one.”

“My favourite kind,” says Angel.

“Wonderful, wonderful,” says the Mayor. “We don’t want a replacement Slayer anytime soon. They can’t all turn out like my girl Faith. Have fun.” Faith and Angel start to leave the office. “Uh, do try to have her home by eleven.”

Wilkins sighs after they have left his office. “She’s not a little girl anymore.”

Xander walks the streets of Sunnydale. “I love when you talk, Wesley,” he says to himself, imitating Cordelia’s voice. “I love when you sing, Wesley. Can you say the words ‘jail bait,’ Wesley? Limey bastard.”

Xander sees Faith and Angel coming up the street toward him. He’s is glad to see them. “Hey guys! Man, where you been? You got to find Buffy. She’s going to her place and stocking up on—”

Angel decks Xander with a single punch. “That guy just bugs me,” he tells Faith as they continue down the street.

Faith and Angel arrive at Buffy’s. Joyce lets them in. She hopes they aren’t there for some vampire thing.

“The only vampire here is me, Joyce,” says Angel. “Say, you change your hair?”

Joyce shrugs. “Highlights,” she says.

“Nice.” Angel smiles at her, and he and Faith go upstairs, leaving Joyce looking a little bemused.

Buffy is in her room packing up the supplies she needs to break into the Mayor’s office. They tell Buffy that they have the Books of Ascension at Angel’s.

“We’d take ’em to Giles ourselves,” says Faith, “but I think strength in numbers is the way to go. Come on.”

Angel offers to carry Buffy’s weapons bag.

They arrive at Angel’s. Buffy asks to see the books.

“Actually, there’s been a slight change in plan, Buff,” says Angel.

Buffy’s puzzled. “Buff?” Angel never calls her that. “You just called… What’s the matter with you?”

“Nothing.” Angel turns to face Buffy in his vampire face. “Matter of act, I haven’t felt this good in a long time.”

“Angel?” Buffy doesn’t want to believe what she’s seeing.

“You know, I never properly thanked you for sending me to Hell, and I’m just wondering where do I start? Card? Fruit basket? Evisceration?” Angel grabs Buffy by the arms.

“No!” says Buffy.

“Yeah, I know what you’re thinking,” says Angel. “Maybe there’s still some good deep down inside of me that remembers and loves you. If only you could reach me. Then again, we have reality.”

Buffy pulls away from Angel. “I will kill you before I let you touch me! Faith, we need to get out of here, now!”

Faith is standing in front of the door, blocking her. “Speak for yourself, B. Me, I like it here.”

Angel growls behind her, and Buffy spins around. He punches her, and Buffy falls to the floor.

Angel looks down at Buffy’s unconscious body. “One thing I learned about Buffy: she’s so cute when she’s sleeping.”

Act IV

They aren’t having much more luck in the Hall of Records learning anything about Mayor Wilkins until Oz finds a hundred year old picture of Richard Wilkins, the first Mayor of Sunnydale.

Willow compares the old photo with a recent picture of the Mayor. “Wow, like father, like son.”

“How about like exact same guy, like exact same guy?” says Oz.

“Mayor Wilkins is over one hundred years old,” says Wesley. “He’s not human.”

“I, hate to spoil the mood,” says Xander as he enters, “but this is so much worse than you think.”

Willow notices Xander’s bruised face, and asks what happened to him.

“You know how some people hate to say ‘I told you so?’” says Xander. “Not me. I told you so. Angel’s back in the really bad sense, and um, I told you so.”

“Angelus has turned?” asks Wesley. “Xander, this is terribly serious. Are you sure?”

“Gee, let me think,” says Xander. “Kind of hard to tell. Last thing I remember was his fist.”

Wesley wants to talk to Giles about what to do, but Xander doesn’t like that idea. “Let’s waste time with a lively debate. Leave Buffy alone. See how dead she gets.”

“Slow down, Xander,” says Cordelia. “This isn’t Wesley’s fault.”

“Actually, it is.” Xander looks at Wesley. “Faith was your responsibility. Guess who’s Angel’s new playmate?”

“Faith and Angel? Together?” asks Willow.

“Imagine the possibilities,” says Xander.

Buffy wakes up as Angel is chaining her to the wall. He can’t really believe that they haven’t tried chains before. Faith thinks that bondage looks good on Buffy, even if her outfit is all wrong.

“You don’t know what you’re doing,” says Buffy.

“Really?” asks Faith. “Weird, because something about all this just feels so right. Maybe it’s one of those unhappy childhood things. See, when I was a kid I used to beg my mom for a dog. Didn’t matter what kind. I just wanted, you know, something to love.” She kisses Angel.

Buffy can’t watch, she closes her eyes.

“A dog’s all I wanted. Well, that and toys.” Faith lifts a cloth off Angel’s coffee table, revealing an assortment of surgical instruments. “But Mom was so busy, you know, enjoying the drinking and passing out parts of life, that I never really got what I wanted, until now.”

Buffy tries telling Faith that once he’s done with her, Angel will turn on her. Angel agrees that he probably will.

Faith isn’t concerned. That just means that they will have to take their time with Buffy.

“Why, Faith?” asks Buffy. “What’s in it for you?”

“What isn’t?” asks Faith. “You know, I come to Sunnydale. I’m the Slayer. I do my job kicking ass better than anyone. What do I hear about everywhere I go? ‘Buffy.’ So I slay, I behave, I do the good little girl routine. And who’s everybody thank? Buffy!”

“That’s not my fault,” says Buffy.

“Everybody always asks, ‘why can’t you be more like Buffy?’” says Faith “But did anyone ever ask if you could be more like me?”

“I know I didn’t,” says Angel.

Faith shoots an annoyed look at Angel, before turning her attention back to Buffy. “You get the Watcher. You get the Mom. You get the little Scooby Gang. What do I get? Jack squat. This is supposed to be my town!”

“Faith, listen to me!”

“Why?” asks Faith. “So you can impart some special Buffy wisdom, that it? Do you think you’re better than me? Do you? Say it, you think you’re better than me.”

“I am,” says Buffy. “Always have been.”

“Um, maybe you didn’t notice.” Faith hugs Angel. “Angel’s with me.”

“And how did you get him, Faith? Magic?” asks Buffy. Angel hands Faith a knife “Cast some sort of spell? Because in the real world, Angel would never touch you and we both know it.”

Faith walks across the room to Buffy and hits her with a backhanded punch.

“You had to tie me up to beat me,” says Buffy. “There’s a word for people like you, Faith. Loser.”

Faith hits the wall beside Buffy’s head with the handle of the knife. “Uh huh. You’re just trying to make me mad so I’ll kill you. I’m too smart for that. Stick around.”

“For what?” asks Buffy. “Your boss’s lame Ascension. Like I couldn’t stop it?”

“You can’t.”

“I will.”

“Keep dreaming,” says Faith. “No one can stop the Ascension. Mayor’s got it wired, B. He built this town for demons to feed on and come Graduation Day, he’s getting paid. And I’ll be sitting at his right hand—assuming he has hands after the transformation. I’m not too clear on that part—and all your little lame ass friends are going to be kibbles’n’bits. Think about that when your boyfriend’s cutting into you.”

“I never knew you had so much rage in you,” says Buffy.

“What can I say? I’m the world’s best actor,” says Faith.

“Second best,” says Angel.

Faith turns around and looks at Angel, a confused look on her face.

“Graduation Day,” says Buffy “You think we missed anything?”

“I think we know everything she knows,” says Angel.

“May I say something?” Buffy pulls her hands free of the chains which had apparently been holding her, and waves them at Faith. “Psych!”

“You played me,” says Faith. “You played me!”

Xander and the others come rushing in. They’re armed with crosses, stakes and other anti-vampire weapons. Faith grabs Angel and throws him at them. Angel knocks Xander to the floor. The others ward him off with their crosses.

Buffy and Faith fight. Buffy grabs a knife off of Faith’s tray of toys, she slashes at Faith’s throat. Her blade stops just short.

Faith’s knife is at Buffy’s throat. It’s a stand off.

“What are you going to do B?” asks Faith. “Kill me? You become me. You aren’t ready for that.”

Faith knocks Buffy’s blade away from her throat. She grabs Buffy’s head and pulls it toward her. She kisses Buffy on the forehead. “Yet!”

Faith releases Buffy, and runs from the house.

Willow rushes to Buffy’s side, and asks if she’s okay.

Buffy doesn’t say anything. She just looks at Angel.

Epilogue

The sorcerer meets with Giles in the library. Giles thanks him for the light show.

“This restores the balance between us, Rupert Giles,” says the sorcerer. “My debt to you is now repaid in full. Do not call upon me.”

“I shan’t,” says Giles. “Peace with you.”

“And with you.” The sorcerer backs away from Giles, and fades away.

“His debt to you is repaid?” asks Willow. “What did you do?”

“I introduced him to his wife,” says Giles.

Wesley is not happy. Buffy and Giles played out their charade without telling him. He is going to tell the Council.

Giles thinks Wesley should. “We have a rogue Slayer on our hands. I can’t think of anything more dangerous.”

“At least now we know,” says Buffy.

“And we know a little bit more about the Ascension,” says Giles.

“Graduation Day,” says Willow. “There’s a big scary un-fun. At least Angel’s not bad, though. That’s good, right?”

“Yes.” Xander waves his hand over his bruised face. “I feel so much better knowing that he broke my face in a good way. It’s a good bruise.”

“He was only acting, Xander,” says Buffy. “It was just an act.”

Faith is upset. She doesn’t like the way Buffy and Angel played her. The Mayor isn’t concerned. So she lost some friends. She still has him, and come the Ascension, they’re all going to die anyway. Faith isn’t cheered by the thought.

“Still unhappy?” asks the Mayor. “Okey doke. I’ve got two words that are going to make all the pain go away: Miniature. Golf.” He giggles.

Faith shakes her head and laughs.

Buffy meets with Angel at his mansion. He asks her if she’s okay. Buffy has felt better. Things between Angel and Faith went further than either of them had expected. She needs some time away from him to think things over. She starts to go.

“You still my girl?” asks Angel.

Buffy pauses and looks back at Angel. “Always.” She walks out into his garden.

Death Toll