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Bargaining, Part II

Prologue

The Buffybot staggers as the demon bikers circle her on their motorcycles. She is getting close to total system shutdown. “I’m—oh—disengage from combat…so…Willow can service me.”

“I’ll service you, girl toy!” Razor swings a chain around her legs and pulls her off her feet. More demons close in.

Tara and Anya circle around, and find Willow and Xander. Tara is worried about Willow, but Xander thinks she’s going to be okay, “Or as okay as anyone who just had snakes coming out of their mouth.” He asks Tara what that was all about. Anya thinks they should save that conversation for later. Right now they should be running.

“New plan,” says Xander. “Let’s split up.”

Anya thinks that’s a bad plan.

Tara tries to pick up Willow, but Xander takes her. He promises Tara he’ll keep her safe. Tara thinks they should meet up somewhere.

“The Magic Box,” says Xander. “And whoever gets there first, call Dawn and Spike.”

“What, um… The Buffybot,” says Anya.

Xander looks back toward the clearing. “We can’t. It’s lost. Go!” Tara and Anya disappear into the woods.

Hellions surround the Buffybot, and kick at her. Six feet beneath them Buffy pounds at the sides and lid of her coffin. She tries to cry for help, but no sound escapes her mouth.

Act I

Buffy gasps for breath, and pounds at the sides of her coffin. She starts to tear at the cloth covering the lid.

Xander sets Willow down against a tree, and pauses to rest. Willow wakes up, and asks where they are. He tells her to speak quietly. Willow asks where Tara is.

“Off and running, like we need to be,” says Xander. “We got to keep moving.”

“Oh. Right,” says Willow. “Demons…on bikes.”

“Yeah, we got trouble right here in Hellmouth City, and our very own Robobuffy led them right to us.”

Willow wants to go back to Buffy’s grave, to try the ritual again, but Xander tells her they can’t.

“We have to, Xander. She’s— she’s waiting. She’s counting on us, on me. I can’t leave her there anymore. I won’t. We have to finish.”

“Shh. Will… The Urn of Cirrhosis…”

“Osiris?”

“Yeah. It got kind of…”

“Broken,” says Willow. “It’s broken. I remember.”

Xander tells Willow that they’ll find another one, or fix the one they’ve got, but Willow knows it’s no use. There is no other one, and this one has been defiled.

“It’s gone,” says Willow. “Nothing. It was all for nothing. Buffy’s gone. She’s really gone.” She begins to cry. Xander hugs her.

Buffy punches through the lid of her coffin. Dirt pours in onto her. She starts to dig upwards.

Tara pulls Anya down behind a rock. She’s heard two of the demons, Mag and Klyed, searching through the woods, coming nearer to them.

Klyed doesn’t want to be there. “Razor and the others head back to town, leave us here to hunt down strays. It’s bullsh—”

“Hey, you got a bug up your crack, you take it up with Razor,” says Mag. “Until then, you do as he says and shut your hole before I rip you a new one.” He decides Klyed is right. “Ah, screw this. Let’s get out of here. Let’s go hit some stores.”

Tara is relieved. From the sound of things the demons haven’t found Xander and Willow.

Anya is more concerned about what Mag said. “Did he say stores? Hitting stores? Does that mean looting?”

Tara thinks that’s likely. She points Anya in the direction she thinks they should go to get out of the woods. They should stay off the streets, take the alleys if they can.

“They can’t loot the magic shop,” says Anya. “Not now. I just got it.” Tara gets her moving through the woods. “You don’t think they’ll cause a lot of damage, do you?”

Dawn watches through the front window as a group of demons firebomb the house across the street. Another Hellion smashes the Summers’ mailbox with his baseball bat as he roars by on his motorcycle.

Spike has been searching through the weapons chest, but it’s badly depleted. All he finds are stakes, holy water and a cross. He burns his hand on the cross when he tries to move it to see if there’s anything underneath it.

Spike looks up and sees Dawn at the window. “You want me to bloody thump you?” He pulls her away. “I told you to stay away from the window.”

Dawn asks who these demons are.

“Hellions,” says Spike. “Road pirates. They raid towns, use ’em up, burn ’em down. It’s usually backwaters. Any place…any place they think is vulnerable.” He looks at Dawn.

“They know,” says Dawn. “The Slayer’s gone.”

Spike doesn’t think they should stay in the house. It’s just a matter of time before the Hellions hit it too. They need to be moving.

Dawn doesn’t want to go. “But we need to wait for the others and Buffy…bot. You know, the Buffybot. We have to wait to see if the others—”

“Look!” Spike grabs Dawn by the shoulders, and looks her in the eyes. “Dawn, I get that you’re scared. But I’m your sitter, so mind me. I’m not going to let any of those buggers lay so much as a warty digit on you. Right?”

“Right.”

“Right then. We can’t wait around to see if the others will pop in. We’re on our own. No one’s coming to our rescue.”

Buffy’s hand breaks though the sod covering her grave. She claws her way clear, and lies on the grass, gasping for breath.

Act II

Buffy climbs to her feet, and looks around. She’s all alone in the woods. She slowly turns around. She stops when she sees her headstone. It horrifies her.

Buffy walks slowly down a Sunnydale street. It’s been trashed. All the cars parked along it are smashed and burning. She stops and looks at what remains of a burning police car. Her vision is blurred, everything looks like she’s looking through thick fog. One of the Hellions roars past on his motorcycle. It throws a beer bottle, which smashes by her feet.

Tara and Anya run in the side door of the Magic Box calling out for Willow and Xander. Tara goes back to check the training room, while Anya checks the rest of the shop. “They’re not here,” says Tara.

“Oh, thank god,” says Anya. Tara shoots her a look. “No. I mean my store hasn’t been looted.”

They hear the sound of breaking glass coming from out on the street. “Yet,” says Tara.

Anya and Tara go to the front of the shop and look out the window. A group of Hellions is looting the bookstore across the street, tossing books into a fire burning in the street.

Anya instantly starts worrying about Xander. She expected him and Willow to be there. “They could be hurt. Xander could be lying somewhere, broken and bleeding, calling out my name.”

Tara tries to reassure her. If anything had happened to Willow she’d know, and she thinks that Anya would know the same about Xander. Anya isn’t so sure.

Tara grabs her in a hug. “I’m sure of it. They’re fine. They’re both fine.” Tara doesn’t look as sure as she sounds. “Maybe they got lost in the woods.”

Anya doesn’t like the sound of that, she doesn’t want to go back out into the woods.

“No, it’s okay. Lost is good,” says Tara. “Willow and I always know how to find each other.” She pushes some books off the round table, and sits cross legged on it, resting her hands palm upward on her knees.

“With yoga?” asks Anya.

“Shh.” Tara closes her eyes.

“Aradia, hear my words.”

Xander and Willow are lost in the woods. He has given her his jacket. Xander doesn’t understand how this could be happening, these woods aren’t that big, and he knows they’ve been travelling in a straight line. He’s been using the North Star as a guide.

Willow looks where he’s pointing. “Xander, that’s not the North Star. It’s an airplane.” She needs to rest, and stops to lean against a tree.

Xander doesn’t think they have to go much further, but he said the same thing an hour ago. Willow still needs to rest. That spell took a lot out of her.

“As, for example, snakes?” asks Xander. “How come you didn’t tell us how much—”

Willow doesn’t want to talk about that now, but Xander doesn’t want her avoiding his question.

“I’m not avoidy,” says Willow. “I just— We have bigger problems— Demons.”

“Demons,” says Xander. “Ah, there’s something you don’t see every day. Heh heh. Unless you’re us.”

Willow sees a light through the trees, moving rapidly toward them. At first Xander thinks it might be the headlight of one of the demon’s motorcycles. He steps in front of Willow and picks up a big stick. The small blue light rushes toward them, and Willow starts to smile behind Xander’s back. She tries to tell him that it’s all right but he tells her to stay back.

“Xander, it’s—”

The light starts to buzz around Xander’s head. “A bug!” He tries to swat it. “It’s a big, fiery bug thing!” He keeps trying to swat it. “Get off! Do fireflies bite? No, they probably burn, don’t they? They— yeeh!”

The light darts around him, and moves to hover in front of Willow. “Xander, it’s not a bug. It’s Tara. Come on.” The light starts to move off through the trees, and Willow follows it.

Xander tags along behind her. “And how long have you known that your girlfriend’s Tinkerbell?”

Buffy walks down a quiet residential street. She can hear the sound of distant sirens. The Hellions have passed by here, but they only seem to have kicked over a few garbage cans. She pauses to rest, and leans against a car parked in a driveway. The car’s alarm goes off, and its lights start to flash. Buffy covers her ears against the noise.

The owner turns on the front light of his house, and comes out onto the porch carrying a shotgun. Buffy shields her eyes against the bright light. “What are you doing?” the man shouts at her. “What are you doing? Get away from there. You hear me?”

Buffy doesn’t move, she looks dazed and confused.

“I said get off my property. Leave us alone. Get out of here!” He fires his gun into the air, and Buffy runs away.

Spike tells Dawn to keep back, and he cautiously peeks around the edge of a back yard hedge at a group of Hellions who are trashing a house across the street. A woman inside the house starts to scream.

Dawn peeks over Spike’s shoulder. “It looks like they’re just wrecking stuff, with no thought other than just destruct-o-rama.” She notices a smile creep across Spike’s face. “What?”

“Uh, oh, nothing,” says Spike. “Just, uh…looked like fun. I’m just saying.” He schools his expression into something more serious. He doesn’t think that they will get far creeping through back yards like this. He sees a kid’s football helmet lying in the yard and gets an idea. He grabs it, tosses it to Dawn, and tells her to wait.

Spike steps out into the street. One of the Hellions sees him, and races toward him on his motorcycle. Spike stands his ground, waiting until the last instant before he steps aside, and kicks out at the demon as it passes him. He knocks the Hellion right off his bike.

Spike runs to the fallen bike and picks it up. “Let’s fly, Pigeon!” he yells to Dawn. She puts on the football helmet, and runs toward him. Spike picks her up and races off down the street with her before the other Hellions even begin to react.

Anya hears a knocking at the side door of the Magic Box. She tries telling whoever it is that they’ve already been looted, and that they should try the appliance shop down the block. The knocking resumes, and she hears Xander calling to her. She unlocks the door and lets him and Willow in.

Xander hands Willow off to Tara, who half carries her to a chair, and sets her down in it. Willow asks if there’s any word on Spike and Dawn. Tara tells her that they got no answer when they tried phoning the house.

“Maybe they’re on their way here,” says Xander. “This place is NORAD, and we’re at DefCon 1.” The girls all just look at him. “Okay, I so need male friends.”

Willow wants to go out and look for Spike and Dawn, but Anya really doesn’t like the sound of that. Willow asks if anyone has any better ideas.

Anya doesn’t want to leave the Magic Box. “We’re minus a Buffybot, and Spike is missing in action somewhere with Dawn. Giles flew away, and, um, you’re looking a little magicked out.”

“Ahn, honey, we’re nearing your point, right?” asks Xander.

“It’s just how are we supposed to fight these guys?” asks Anya. “I mean, you know, we can take a vampire or two, sure, but there’s a whole cavalcade of demons out there, and, uh…I mean, I think this— you know… It takes, um… I mean, we need…”

“Buffy,” says Xander.

“Buffy…is not coming back,” says Willow. “We failed. So…we’re it, gang.” She climbs painfully to her feet. “Xander, grab the weapons. We’re going to look for Dawn and Spike.”

They hear the sound of more breaking glass. Tara thinks that if they’re going to do anything they should do it soon. The Hellions are getting more worked up by the minute.

“They can’t keep it up forever,” says Xander. “I mean…maybe they’ll party themselves out, tire of this place and move on.”

“Say ‘hello’ to your new home, boys!” says Razor.

The Hellions have gathered in a parking lot. They have built themselves a bonfire with a car that had been parked there, and other things looted from the surrounding area. “This here is a momentous occasion,” says Razor. “The beginning of a new era.”

Buffy slowly walks down the street toward the gathering. They are all too intent on their leader to notice her approach.

“Now, no question, the open back roads and highways have been good to us,” says Razor, “but we got ourselves a juicy little burg here just ripe for the picking. And I ain’t in no hurry to leave. Are you?”

”No way!” shout the assembled demons.

“So I figure what better way to kick off our semi-settling down than with a little christening?” says Razor. Mag, Klyed, and a couple of other Hellions attach chains to the backs of their motorcycles. “A symbolic act commemorating the new order around here, and ridding ourselves of any not-so-pleasant reminders of the old…” Razor pulls a revolver out of his belt, and loads a single bullet into it. “…all in one quick, really, really violent fell swoop.” Razor raises the gun over his head. “Gentlemen, start your engines.”

The four Hellions kick start their motorcycles. Each of the chains is tied to one of the Buffybot’s arms or legs.

“Bye-bye, Slayer.” Razor fires the gun into the air.

Buffy and the Buffybot spot each other at the same time. The Buffybot’s cry of “Buffy!” is drowned out by the roar of motorcycle engines as the four Hellions take off in four different directions.

”No!” screams Buffy as she sees herself get ripped to pieces in front of her.

The demons nearest Buffy turn and look at her. Razor sees her too. “Another one for the fire, boys. Tear it up.”

Buffy turns and runs away.

Act III

Mag chases Buffy down the street on his motorcycle. She dodges aside, and doubles back the way she came. Mag turns around and roars back toward her, swinging a chain over its head. Klyed rides toward her from the other end of the street. Buffy is trapped between them as they converge on her.

Buffy ducks under the swinging chain, and it catches Klyed across the throat. Both demons are pulled from their bikes, and she runs away.

Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya move through an alley. Willow is armed with a crossbow, and Xander is carrying a battle axe. Tara tries to tell Willow that the failure of the resurrection spell wasn’t her fault. It might not have worked even if the demons hadn’t interrupted it.

“It would’ve worked,” says Willow.

“Maybe it wasn’t supposed to,” says Tara. “I mean, those demons show up at the exact wrong time. Maybe we were really in over our heads, invoking forces that we have no right to. Maybe the fates sent down all that destruction on us to stop us. I mean…”

“You mean…maybe it was my fault,” says Willow.

Buffy runs up to the fenced off end of an alley just ahead of another Hellion on its motorcycle. She jumps the fence.

Xander and Anya follow a little behind Tara and Willow in the alley, quietly talking to each other. Anya thinks that maybe now would be a good time to announce their engagement. Willow could really use a morale booster. Xander really doesn’t think this is a good time to be discussing this.

“But it’s just all the excuses for not telling everyone we’re engaged are gone now,” says Anya. “Aside from hell bikers, there’s nothing standing in our way. This is it. No more surprises.”

Something lands in front of them in the alley. “Watch it,” says Xander, and Willow raises her crossbow. Buffy stands up.

“It’s the Buffybot,” says Tara.

“Ah, peachy,” says Xander. “No doubt to lead the Wild Bunch right to us again. Hey, Will, next time this thing’s damaged, couldn’t you program it to find the nearest Radio Shack?”

Willow isn’t paying attention to him. She lowers her crossbow. “Buffy?” she asks. The others realize that this isn’t the Buffybot too.

Buffy looks lost and confused. She turns and runs away.

“Buffy!” shouts Willow. They all run after her.

They lose Buffy in the alley, and spread out looking for her. Tara finds her crouched and cowering by the wall. Willow slowly approaches, and tries to talk with her. Buffy looks up at her, not seeming to recognise her, and looking terrified. Willow’s voice sounds distant and muffled to her.

“What’s wrong with her?” asks Anya.

“Nothing!” says Willow. “She—she’s…she’s in shock.”

Tara notices that Buffy’s hands are bleeding, and that she’s covered in dirt.

Xander is horrified by a sudden realization. “Oh no! No. How could we— So stupid!”

“Xander!” says Willow. She still doesn’t get it.

“Our spell. Our resurrection spell worked like a magic charm.” Xander looks down at Buffy. “We brought you back to life, Buffy.” He looks back at Willow. “Right where we left her. In her coffin.”

“Oh god!” Willow turns away and hugs Tara. She and the others are horrified by the realization.

Xander turns back to Buffy. “Buffy. Buffy, it’s Xander. We’re sorry. We didn’t know.” She still doesn’t seem to recognise him.

Anya bends down beside her. “Hey, Buffy. Here’s some good news that might perk you right up. Xander and I have an announcement.” Xander pulls her away. “What? I was just trying to help.”

Xander tries again. “Buffy…it’s going to be all right. We brought you back. You’re home now.” Buffy looks up. Her attention is drawn to something behind him. “Yeah, that’s it. You’re home.”

“Yeah, welcome home, Slayer,” says Razor. He and about half a dozen other Hellions have come up behind them in the alley. “Alive and kicking after all. Well…alive, anyway. Not looking too good, though, is she?”

Xander stands and turns. He swings his axe up onto his shoulder and steps toward Razor. Razor is not impressed. He steps toward Xander.

Tara raises her hand. “Incendire!”

A sheet of flame erupts in front of Razor and he steps back. “So you got a witch in the mix.”

“I happen to be a very powerful man-witch myself. Or male—” Xander looks back at Willow. “Is it a warlock?” He turns back to Razor. “Warlock.”

“Plus, we have a Slayer here…who might actually be looking to eat some brains,” says Anya. “So I think a quiet moseying, no hard feelings, and I’m sure your demon horde won’t think any the less of you.”

Razor doesn’t think that will happen. His boys want a massacre, and he figures that they have enough magic between them for a kiddie birthday party.

Willow steps forward and tells him he’s wrong. “Look, we don’t want trouble. You don’t want trouble.”

“Of course we want trouble,” says Razor. “We’re demons. We’re really all about trouble.”

“Not this kind,” says Willow.

Razor seems to consider that. “Oh, I get your point.” He lashes out and hits Willow with the back of his hand. Willow goes flying. Xander attacks him with his axe and gets swatted down too. Tara and Anya rush to help Willow and Xander.

Razor looks down at them. “Now let me tell you something, children: we’re not going to fight you. We’re just going to hold you down and enjoy ourselves for a few hours. You might even live through it, except that certain of my boys got some anatomical incompatibilities that tend to tear up little girls. So, who wants to go first?”

Buffy stands up and steps toward him. The terror is gone from her eyes.

“I was really hoping it’d be you.” Razor snaps Buffy’s head back with a quick punch.

Buffy slowly looks back around at Razor. Her lip is bloody, and she stares at him with eyes full of fury.

Razor punches at Buffy again. She catches his fist in her left hand, and gives him a couple of quick punches with her right, followed by a kick to his head. Razor falls the to ground.

Buffy stands over the unconscious body of Razor, and looks at the other stunned Hellions. Tara and Anya help Willow and Xander sit up.

“Does this mean we win?” asks Anya.

One of the demons rushes Buffy with a baseball bat. She kicks it in the head and sends it flying. More demons attack her and the others. Xander defends himself with his axe, while Buffy punches and kicks anything that comes near her. Willow shoots one of the demons with her crossbow.

A Hellion comes at Buffy with a knife. She catches its arm and holds it while she kicks another baseball bat armed demon away. She swings the Hellion around and throws it at a couple of its comrades.

One of the Hellions manages to hit Buffy from behind with its baseball bat. She is staggered by the blow, and three more of the demons close in and start beating on her with bats and chains. Buffy suddenly throws off two of her attackers, and quickly kicks another away. She catches the bat of the next demon to swing at her, pulls it away from it, and smashes it into the face of another demon, before turning back and hitting the demon she took it from.

Spike and Dawn ride down a deserted street on their stolen motorcycle. It’s littered with burning trash. Dawn spots something in a parking lot, and they pull into it to investigate. They see that it’s the remains of the Buffybot. Dawn and Spike get off the motorcycle, and Dawn drops her football helmet onto the ground. She slowly approaches the torso of the Buffybot.

“It’s just a machine, Dawn,” says Spike.

“I know.” Dawn slowly kneels down beside the Buffybot’s torso. Spike turns away, and starts looking for more pieces. Dawn reaches out toward the Buffybot’s face, to close its staring eyes. She gasps when the Buffybot’s head turns toward her.

“Dawn. You’re my sister Dawn. Where did I go?” asks the Buffybot.

“What?” asks Dawn.

“Where did I go? I was here. Here. But then I ran away.”

Dawn is puzzled. “I—I don’t—”

“No, not me. The…other Buffy. Yes. The…other Buffy.”

Dawn’s eyes go wide. “Buffy?”

“I don’t— I don’t…know where she ran off to. Maybe—” Something shorts out, and the Buffybot stops. Dawn stands and slowly backs away from the Buffybot. She turns and runs away.

Spike has found one of the Buffybot’s legs. He doesn’t think that Willow is going to be able to put it back together after this. He looks around, and notices Dawn has vanished. “Hey. Little Bit? Dawn!”

Dawn hears Spike yelling her name, but she ignores him, and keeps running.

One of the Hellions is choking Tara. Willow hits it with the crossbow, and knocks it away. Mag tries to pin Xander down on some crates. Xander kicks him away, and sinks his axe into his head.

A Hellion swings a chain at the bat in Buffy’s hands. It wraps around it, and the demon pulls the bat away from her. It comes at her with its knife. Buffy grabs its arm, and twists it around. A bat wielding Hellion charges at her. Buffy plunges the knife still being held by the Hellion in her arms into its gut, and kicks it away. She grabs the head of the Hellion she’s holding and snaps its neck. She drops the body to the ground.

Tara looks around at the demon bodies littering the alley. “Well, they wanted a massacre.”

They all look at Buffy. “She’s Buffy,” says Xander. “She’s herself again. You’re back, Buffy. You really are.” He steps toward her, and she takes a step back. She is looking frightened again. Xander stops and takes a step back. He raises his hands. “Whoa. Whoa.”

Buffy looks around. She raises her hand to wipe the blood away from her lip, but sees that it’s all bloody too. She runs away. Willow calls after her, but she doesn’t stop.

“Should we follow her?” asks Tara.

“I don’t know,” says Willow.

“She just…needs some time is all,” says Xander. “The important thing is that she’s back. She’ll be fine. Everything’s going to be fine.”

Razor wakes up.

Act IV

Razor stands behind Xander and extends his claws. He starts to swing at Xander’s back, but Anya sees him and pushes Xander out of his way. Xander falls to the ground, and tries to crawl backwards away from Razor.

Razor moves toward Xander. “Now, what kind of Slayer is it runs out on her buddies just when they need her most?” He slashes at Xander again. Xander grabs a garbage can lid to block the attack, and Razor’s claws rip right through it.

Buffy hears the snarl of a demon and turns around. Another Hellion rushes at her. Buffy gives it a quick punch to the head, and throws it onto a pipe sticking out of a pile of garbage. The pipe impales the demon through its back and sticks out of its chest.

Buffy stops and looks around. She sees the tower that Glory’s minions built.

Razor steps toward Xander. He stops when he feels something hit him on the back. He turns and sees Anya swinging a pipe at him. She’s joined by Willow and Tara, armed with a baseball bat and a chain. He staggers under their blows for a moment, but then throws them off, just like Buffy had thrown off the Hellions attacking her.

Willow sits up, and holds out her hand. “Obfuscate!” A white mass appears floating above her hand, and she throws it at Razor’s head. It complete engulfs his face, and solidifies there. He tries to pull it off.

Dawn stops in her tracks when she finds the body of the demon impaled on the pipe. She slowly backs away from it. She looks up and sees the tower.

Buffy slowly walks up to the base of the tower. She looks up at it.

Anya starts beating on Razor with her pipe again while he struggles to get the glop off his face. He pulls it free, grabs Anya, and throws her away. Xander rushes at Razor, and gets an elbow in his face. Tara attacks with the chain.

Razor grabs Tara, and extends his claws to slash her. Willow holds out her hand. “Fragilis!” There is a flash of light, and when Razor slashes his claws across Tara’s throat, they shatter. He tosses Tara into a stack of tires and turns on Willow.

Razor grabs Willow by the throat, and picks her up. “So Witch, you’ve got a little power after all. Well, let’s see what tricks you can manage while I choke the life out of y—” He drops Willow, and collapses to the ground with the axe sticking out of his back.

Tara bends down to help Willow get back to her feet. “Nobody messes with my girl.”

Xander and Anya join them. “Tara, nice axing,” says Xander.

“My first,” says Tara.

Willow looks off in the direction Buffy left. “Buffy.”

Buffy walks out onto the platform at the top of the tower. She remembers the last time she was up there, the portal opening, and diving into it. She remembers Dawn pleading with her not to, and telling Dawn that she has to do it.

Buffy hears Dawn’s voice behind her. “Buffy?” She turns around and sees Dawn on the platform with her. “Buffy… Buffy. How? Is it you? I mean, really? What are you doing—” The tower shudders, and Dawn grabs one of the girders to stay on her feet.

Buffy turns away, and looks out off the platform.

“No!” screams Dawn. “Don’t!” Buffy looks back at her. “Don’t jump, Buffy! Don’t move! Just walk to me. Please!” Buffy looks down again. “Please? I’m your sister. Dawn. We were up here…together, and then…you went away. And you don’t want to do that again.

“I don’t know how you’re back, but you are, and please, just stay still.” The tower shudders again. “Or—or move, but towards me because the tower was built by crazy people, and I don’t think it’s holding up very well!”

Buffy doesn’t move. She just looks down.

“Talk to me,” says Dawn. “Say something!”

“Is…this hell?” asks Buffy.

“What?”

Buffy looks back at Dawn. “Is this hell?”

“No! Buffy, no! You’re here…with me. Whatever happened to you… Whatever you’ve been through, it’s— it’s over now. You’re—” Dawn shrieks when the tower shudders again. “We have to get off of this tower!”

Buffy turns away from Dawn again. “It was so…clear…on this spot. I remember how…shiny and clear everything was. But now…now…”

“Buffy…please…listen to me. You told me I had to be strong. And I’ve tried! But it’s been so hard without you. I’m sorry. I promise I’ll do better. I will! If you’re with me. Stay with me… Please! I need you to live. Live. For—”

The tower shudders again, and a falling piece of metal nearly hits Dawn. She drops to her knees and the platform begins to rock. “Buffy!”

The fear in Dawn’s voice snaps Buffy out of her daze. “Dawn!” She runs back along the platform, and grabs Dawn in her arms. She looks around for a fast way down from the tower. She sees a cable strung over a pulley, and still holding Dawn in her arms, she jumps for it.

At first they just hang from it, but whatever is holding the other end of the cable breaks, and they plummet earthward, barely slowed by the passage of the cable through the pulley. The cable snags in the pulley while they’re still twenty feet from the ground, and jerks them to a stop. The pulley breaks free from its mount, and they fall the rest of the way to the ground. Buffy manages to cushion the impact enough that Dawn isn’t hurt.

Buffy looks up and sees the platform falling toward them. She grabs Dawn and pulls her clear. They run out of the construction site as the tower collapses.

Buffy and Dawn collapse by the fence. Buffy sits huddled on the ground.

“Buffy?” asks Dawn.

Buffy looks up at her.

Dawn reaches out and gently puts her hand on Buffy’s cheek. “Buffy. You’re— You’re— You’re really here.” She grabs Buffy and hugs her tightly. “You’re alive, and you’re home. You’re home.”

Buffy stares impassively into space.

Death Toll