Introduction
Season:
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Other Bodies | Episodes | Dramatis Personae
Ramblings | Links | Fanfic
| All the Way | Tabula Rasa |
Buffy is awakened at 7:00 AM by the ringing of her alarm clock. She reaches across to her bedside table, picks it up, and looks at it.
Willow and Tara are already up, and dressed for the day. Willow moves into the bathroom, brushing her hair while Tara makes their bed. Tara finds the flower that was under her pillow and picks it up. She smiles and sniffs it.
Dawn comes out of her room, still in her pyjamas, and knocks on the bathroom door. She needs to get inside. Willow comes back out, brushing her hair, and walks down the hall toward the room she shares with Tara.
Buffy is still lying in bed, looking at the ringing alarm clock in her hand.
Xander and Anya lean against the counter in the Magic Box perusing a copy of Tomorrow’s Bride. Xander points out something in the magazine. Anya frowns, and goes to help a customer.
Dawn is leaning against the nearby bookshelf, reading one of the books. Giles comes out of the back training room and takes the book away from her. He points her toward the shelf containing the books he thinks might be more appropriate for someone her age.
Tara and Willow are sitting reading books at the round table. Buffy is sitting at the table too, doodling something on a sketch pad. Giles waves the axe he’s carrying under her nose and points back to the training room. Buffy sets aside her sketch pad and follows him back. The page that Buffy was doodling on is completely filled in with black.
Buffy walks through the cemetery at night. She starts to sing.
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Buffy Every single night, the same arrangement. I go out and fight the fight. Still, I always feel this strange estrangement. Nothing here is real, nothing here is right. |
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I’ve been making shows of trading blows. Just hoping no one knows That I’ve been going through the motions. Walking through the part. Nothing seems to penetrate my heart! |
Buffy is attacked by a vampire. She continues to sing as she fights it. She stakes it through the heart as she finishes her verse. |
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I was always brave and kind of righteous, Now I find I’m wavering. Crawl out of your grave, you’ll find this fight Just doesn’t mean a thing. |
Buffy sees two more vampires, along with a horned demon. They have a boy tied to a nearby tree. One of the vampires attacks her with a sword. It’s first swing misses, and the sword embeds itself in the ground. |
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Vampire She ain’t got that swing. |
The vampire punches Buffy, and she falls to the ground beside the sword. |
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Buffy Thanks for noticing. |
She looks up at the vampire. |
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Chorus She does pretty well with things from hell, But lately, we can tell, That she’s just going through the motions. |
The vampire is joined in a chorus by the demon and another vampire, who dance as they sing. Demon Going through the motions. |
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Chorus Faking it somehow. |
Buffy flips to her feet, grabs the sword, and decapitates one of the vampires. She kicks the second vampire away. |
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Demon She’s not even half the girl she…Ow! |
Buffy stabs the sword into the demon. It falls over dead. |
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Buffy Will I stay this way forever? Sleepwalk through my life’s endeavor? |
Buffy walks over to the tree that the guy’s tied to it. She slices through the ropes with the sword. |
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Blond Guy How can I repay… Buffy Whatever. |
Buffy just turns and walks away, without even looking at him. She throws the sword away. |
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I don’t want to be going through the motions. Losing all my drive. I can’t even see, If this is really me. And I just want to be Alive! |
Buffy walks away through the cemetery. She climbs up onto a low crypt. The surviving vampire attacks her, and Buffy stakes it as she finishes her song. She is left standing alone in the cemetery as the vampire dust blows away into the night. |
Buffy enters the Magic Box next morning. Giles and Xander are eating donuts at the table, and Anya, Tara and Willow are scattered around the shop. Willow asks if Dawn got off to school alright, and Buffy absently tells her she did. Buffy has something else on her mind right now. “Uh…last night, you know, did anybody, um…burst into song?”
Giles freezes mid-chew.
“Merciful Zeus!” says Xander.
“We thought it was just us!” says Willow.
“Well, I sang, but I had my guitar at the hotel,” says Giles.
Everyone start talking at once. Xander and Anya were arguing in rhyming harmony, and dancing with coconuts, and Willow and Tara did a duet about dinner. It was bizarre.
“Like you were in a musical,” says Buffy.
“That would explain the huge backing orchestra I couldn’t see and the synchronised dancing from the room-service chaps,” says Giles.
“It was very disturbing,” says Xander.
Giles asks Buffy what she sang about, but she says she doesn’t remember. It seemed normal at the time though. Xander asks Giles if he thinks it will happen again. He doesn’t know, but they should look into it.
“Do we have any books about this?” asks Tara.
“Well, we just got to break it down, look at the factors before it happens again,” says Xander. “’Cause I, for one—”
Giles leans forward, and pulls off his glasses.
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Giles I’ve got a theory that it’s a demon. A dancing demon— No, something isn’t right there. |
Giles leans back in his chair. |
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Willow I’ve got a theory. Some kid is dreaming, And we’re all stuck inside His wacky Broadway nightmare. |
Tara does ‘jazz hands.’ She doesn’t think that’s the answer. Anya comes over and joins them at the table. Buffy turns, and steps away, separating herself from the group around the table. |
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Xander I’ve got a theory. We should work this out. All It’s getting eerie. What’s this cheery singing all about? |
Everyone looks around nervously. |
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Xander It could be witches! Some evil witches! Which is ridiculous ’Cause witches, they were persecuted Wicca good and love the earth And women power, and I’ll be over here. |
Xander notices the way Willow and Tara are glaring at him, and slinks back into his chair. |
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Anya I’ve got a theory. It could be bunnies! |
A silence so deep you can hear crickets chirping falls over the group as they all look at Anya.
Xander sits back down. “See? Okay, that was disturbing.”
Willow thinks it was kind of neat.
“So what is it?” asks Buffy. “What’s causing it?”
Giles looks at her. “I thought it didn’t matter.”
“Well, I’m not exactly quaking in my stylish, yet affordable, boots,” says Buffy, “but there’s definitely something unnatural going on here. And that doesn’t usually lead to hugs and puppies.”
“Well, is it just us?” asks Anya. “Is it only happening to us? That would probably mean a spell, or…”
Buffy goes to the front door, and looks out into the street.
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David Fury They got the mustard out! Chorus They got the mustard out! |
A man holds his plastic wrapped shirt up into the air. Behind him a chorus of other happy dry cleaning customers dance and wave their dry cleaned clothing around. Some of them are doing cartwheels. |
Buffy closes the door. “It’s not just us.”
The bell over the Magic Box door jingles as Dawn comes into the shop. “Oh, my god! You will never believe what happened at school today!”
Buffy doesn’t even look up from the book she’s reading at the table. “Everybody started singing and dancing?”
Dawn tries to cover her disappointment that they already know. “I gave birth to a pterodactyl.”
“Oh, my god!” says Anya. “Did it sing?”
Xander asks Dawn what she sang about.
Dawn takes a seat by the counter. “Math.”
Willow and Tara are sitting at the table, giggling, and holding hands. Willow whispers something in Tara’s ear.
“That’s right!” says Tara. “The volume. The text!”
Giles wonders what Willow and Tara are talking about, and Willow tells him that they have some books at home that may have something about this sort of thing in them. Maybe they should go get them.
“Well, I’m a hair’s breadth from investigating bunnies at the moment,” says Giles. “So I’m open to anything.”
Dawn notices a necklace lying on the counter, and looks toward the others. No one is paying any attention to her, so she picks it up, and slides it into her pocket.
“Great,” says Willow. “We’ll, um, check it out, and, um, we’ll give you a call.”
“Yeah.” Tara grabs Willow’s hand and pulls her up from the table. “This could blow the whole thing wide open.”
They leave the shop together.
Willow and Tara walk through the sunlit park together. Tara asks if they really have any books back at the house. Willow tells her no, but this is much too nice a day to spend cooped up in the Magic Box. They walk along a shady path by a brook.
A couple of guys walk past them, and Willow notices the way their gaze tracks Tara. “Those guys are checking you out.”
Tara can’t really believe that some guys think she’s good looking. “Those boys really thought I was hot?”
“Entirely!” Willow and Tara start across a foot bridge over the brook.
“Oh, my god. I’m cured. I want the boys!” Tara laughs and turns toward them.
Willow pulls her back. “Do I have to fight to keep you? ’Cause I’m not large with the butch.”
“I’m just not used to that,” says Tara. “They were really looking at me?”
“And you can’t imagine what they see in you,” says Willow.
“I know exactly what they see in me,” says Tara. “You.”
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Tara I lived my life in shadow. Never the sun on my face. It didn’t seem so sad, though I figured that was my place. Now I’m bathed in light Something just isn’t right. |
Tara steps out of the shade, into a patch of sunlight. |
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I’m under your spell. How else could it be, Anyone would notice me? It’s magic, I can tell. How you set me free. Brought me out so easily. |
Tara and Willow continue across the bridge, and on to the path on the other side of the brook. |
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I saw a world enchanted, Spirits and charms in the air. I always took for granted I was the only one there. |
They walk, hand in hand along the path, and Tara sweeps her free hand through the air, leaving a trail of silver sparkles. Willow twirls her hand, making a red spiral of sparkles. |
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But your power shone Brighter than any I’ve known. I’m under your spell, Nothing I can do. You just took my soul with you. You worked your charm so well. Finally, I knew Everything I dreamed was true. |
Tara twirls away from Willow. A couple of picnicking girls get up and start dancing behind her, and providing backing vocals. |
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You made me believe. |
Willow and Tara start to dance together. They twirl from the park into their bedroom. |
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The moon to the tide, I can feel you inside. I’m under your spell, Surging like the sea. Pulled to you so helplessly. I break with every swell, Lost in ecstasy. |
Tara and Willow sit on their bed together. Tara lies back with Willow over her. |
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Spread beneath my Willow tree. You make me complete. You make me complete. You make me complete. You make me— |
Willow slides down toward Tara’s feet. Tara levitates off the bed. |
“I bet they’re not even working,” says Xander.
Buffy doesn’t look up from her book. “Who now?”
“Willow and Tara. You see the way they were with each other? The get-a-roominess of them? I bet they’re…” He glances toward the counter where Dawn is doing her homework. “…singing. They’re probably singing right now.”
“I’m sure Willow and Tara are making every effort,” says Giles.
“Oh, yeah,” says Xander.
“Xander…” warns Buffy.
“Buffy, it’s okay,” says Dawn. “I do know about this stuff. Besides, it’s all kind of romantic.”
“No, it’s not!” say Xander and Buffy together.
“Come on,” says Dawn. “Songs, dancing around. What’s going to be wrong with that?”
A man tapdances in an alley. He’s unable to control himself. He dances faster and faster. Smoke starts to rise from his clothes, and he bursts into flames. He screams, and his body falls at the feet of a red skinned demon dressed in a red zoot suit, and two tone shoes.
“That’s entertainment!” says Sweet.
Xander and Anya lie together in their bed. He asks if she wants him to make breakfast.
“You don’t have to go to work?” asks Anya.
“No. I shut the crew down for the day. My guys started dancing around me, I don’t know if I can deal. It’s a flab thing. So, waffles?”
“Will you still make me waffles when we’re married?”
“No, I’ll only make them for myself, but by California law, you will own half of them.” He kisses Anya’s nose. “Hey, how about omelettes? I can do an omelette. I almost got that…”
Anya throws aside the covers and sits up on the side of the bed. She’s wearing a two piece red lace negligee.
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Anya This is the man that I plan to entangle, Isn’t he fine? My claim to fame was to maim and to mangle, Vengeance was mine. But I’m out of the biz, The name I made I’ll trade for his. The only trouble is… I’ll never tell. |
Anya raises her hand, and gazes at her engagement ring. She twiddles with it while she sings. |
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Xander She is the one. She’s such wonderful fun. Such passion and grace. Warm in the night when I’m right in her tight— Embrace, tight embrace. I’ll never let her go. The love we’ve known can only grow. There’s just one thing that— No. I’ll never tell. |
Xander sits up, and moves over beside Anya on the edge of the bed. He’s wearing green silk pyjamas. He puts his arm around her. Anya pulls away, and puts on her slippers. Red fluffy toes, and high heels |
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Both ’Cause there’s nothing to tell. |
They sit awkwardly beside each other on the bed for a moment, not looking at each other. |
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Anya He snores. |
Xander and Anya leave their bedroom. |
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Xander She wheezes. Anya Say “housework,” and he freezes. |
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Xander She eats these skeezy cheeses, That I can’t describe. |
Xander opens the fridge, and looks inside. He picks up a green and yellow slice of cheese, and sniffs at it. |
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Anya I talk, he breezes. Xander She doesn’t know what “please” is. Anya His penis got diseases from a Chumash tribe. |
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Both The vibe gets kind of scary. |
Xander shoots Anya an annoyed look as he closes the fridge. |
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Xander Like she thinks I’m ordinary. Anya Like it’s all just temporary. Xander Like her toes are kind of hairy. |
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Both But it’s all very well, ’Cause, god knows, I’ll never tell. |
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Anya When things get rough he Just hides behind his Buffy. Now look, he’s getting huffy ’Cause he knows that I know. |
Xander picks up the paper off the kitchen table, and starts to read it. The headline reads: “Mayhem Caused. Monsters certainly not involved, officials say.” |
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Xander She clings, she’s needy. She’s also really greedy. She never— Anya His eyes are beady! |
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Xander This is my verse, hello? She— |
Anya launches into a flapper style dance. “Look at me! I’m dancin’ crazy!”
Xander looks at her for a moment, and then he joins in and they dance together all around their apartment.
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Xander You know, you’re quite the charmer. |
Anya You know you’re my knight in armour. |
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Xander You’re the cutest of the Scoobies. With your lips as red as rubies. And your firm yet supple— Tight embrace. |
Xander holds Anya in his arms. |
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Anya He’s swell. Xander She’s sweller. Anya He’ll always be my feller. |
Xander and Anya separate, and go sit in chairs at opposite ends of their kitchen table. |
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Xander That’s why I’ll never tell her that I’m petrified. Anya I’ve read, this tale. There’s wedding then betrayal. I know there’ll come the day I’ll want to run and hide. |
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Both I lied I said it’s easy. I’ve tried But there’s these fears I can’t quell. |
Xander and Anya crawl up onto the table, and move toward each other, until they are cheek to cheek. They turn and lean against each other’s backs. |
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Xander Is she looking for a pot of gold? Anya Will I look good when I’ve gotten old? |
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Xander Will our lives become too stressful If I’m never that successful? |
They get down off the table. |
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Anya When I get so worn and wrinkly That I look like David Brinkley. Xander Am I crazy? Anya Am I dreamin’? Xander Am I marrying a demon? |
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Both We could really raise the beam In makin’ marriage a Hell, So, thank god, I’ll never tell. I swear that I’ll never tell. |
Xander and Anya start dancing together again as they sing. The start to move back toward the love seat in their living room. |
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Xander My lips are sealed. |
Xander makes a key locking gesture against his lips. |
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Anya I take the fifth. |
Anya raises her hand as if taking an oath. |
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Xander Nothing to see, move it along. |
Xander waves imaginary people by. |
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Both I’ll never—tell! |
Xander and Anya fall back onto their love seat together. They both start to laugh.
Xander and Anya walk down the street on either side of Giles, telling him about what happened. They are both talking at once. They pass by various people on the street engaged in their own dances and songs.
“It has to be stopped,” says Anya.
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“It’s like we’re being watched. Like there was a wall missing from our apartment, like there were only three walls, and not a fourth wall—” |
“It’s like I didn’t want to be saying these things, but they just kept pouring out,” says Xander. “And they rhymed and they were mean and…” |
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“My toes aren’t hairy!” |
“My eyes aren’t beady!” |
“Giles, you got to stop it,” says Xander.
Giles has been looking into some leads, but he isn’t having much luck.
“Of course! Clearly our number is a retro-pastiche that’s never going to be a break away pop hit,” says Anya.
“Work with me, British Man,” says Xander. “Give me an axe and show me where to point it.”
Giles doesn’t think it’s going to be that simple…
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Marti Noxon I’ve been having a bad, bad day. C’mon won’t you put that pad away? I’m asking you please, no! It isn’t right, it isn’t fair! There was no parking anywhere! I think that hydrant wasn’t there! Why can’t you let it go? I think I’ve paid more than my share. I’m just a poor girl, but you don’t care. Hey I’m not wearing underwear. |
Giles is drowned out by a woman who is trying to sing her way out of a parking ticket. |
They move away from the woman and the traffic cop. Giles tells Xander and Anya about several people having been burned up around town.
“Somebody set people on fire?” asks Xander. “That’s nuts!”
“I don’t know,” says Anya. “One more verse of our little ditty, and I would have been looking for a gas can.”
Giles tells them that the people seemed to have burned up from the inside. They spontaneously combusted. “I’ve only seen the one. I was able to examine the body while police were taking witness arias.” A trio of men in white overalls, with brooms, are dancing behind him.
Xander asks if he’s sure if the burned people are related to the singing and dancing.
Giles doesn’t know. “Buffy’s looking for leads at the local demon haunts. At least…in theory, she is, but…she doesn’t seem to…”
“She’s easing back into it,” says Xander. “We pulled her out of an untold hell dimension. Ergo, the weirdness. The important thing is to be there for her.”
“I’m helping her as much as I can,” says Giles. “But, uh…”
Anya gives Giles a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
Spike climbs up from the lower level of his crypt with a Cuervo bottle in his hand. Buffy is just coming in the front door. “The sun sets, and she appears. Come to serenade me?”
“So you know what’s going on,” says Buffy.
“Well, I’ve seen some damn funny things the last two days. Six hundred pound Chirago demon making like Yma Sumac. That one’ll stay with you. I remain immune, happy to say.” He holds up the bottle. “Drink?”
“A world of no.” Buffy takes a seat. “So, any idea what’s causing this?”
“Oh. So that’s all. You’ve just come to pump me for information.”
“What else would I want to pump you for?” Buffy looks away from him. “I really just said that, didn’t I?”
Spike tells Buffy that he doesn’t know anything. He goes to his door and indicates she should leave. Buffy wonders what’s gotten him so moody. He says it’s nothing. A strange look comes over his face.
“What?” asks Buffy.
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Spike I died so many years ago. You can make me feel like it isn’t so. And why you come to be with me I think I finally know. |
Spike looks disgusted with himself as he starts to sing. He isn’t immune after all. Buffy isn’t any happier. |
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You’re scared, ashamed of what you feel. And you can’t tell the ones you love, You know they couldn’t deal. It doesn’t make it real. |
Spike slowly walks toward Buffy. She doesn’t want to hear this. She looks away. |
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That’s great, but I don’t want to play. ’Cause being with you touches me more than I can say. And since I’m only dead to you, I’m saying stay away. And let me rest in peace. |
Spike lays down on top of his sarcophagus, and spreads out his arms. He folds them across his chest. |
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Let me rest in peace. Let me get some sleep. Let me take my love and bury it In a hole six foot deep. I can lay my body down. But I can’t find my sweet release. So let me rest in peace. |
Spike rolls off the sarcophagus lid, and grabs his liquor bottle. He smashes it against the wall. Buffy is startled to her feet, and backs away from him. |
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You know, you got a willing slave. And you just love to play the part that you might misbehave. Until you do, I’m telling you stop visiting my grave. And let me rest in peace. |
Spike kneels on the floor in front of Buffy. He gets back to his feet, goes to the door, and holds it open for her. |
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I know I should go, but I follow you, like a man possessed. There’s a traitor here beneath my breast, And it hurts me more than you’ve ever guessed. If my heart could beat, it would break my chest. But I can see you’re unimpressed. So leave me be, And let me rest in peace. |
Spike follows Buffy out of his crypt. They walk between the rows of headstones in the cemetery, toward a group of pall bearers who are carrying a coffin toward an evening funeral. |
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Let me get some sleep. Let me take my love and bury it In a hole six foot deep. I can lay my body down, But I can’t find my sweet release. Let me rest in peace. Why won’t you Let me rest in peace? |
Spike jumps up on top of the coffin. The pall bearers drop one end, and he rolls to the ground. Spike vamps out, and wades into the funeral guests, Tossing people and chairs aside. He grabs hold of the priest’s vestments. Buffy pulls Spike away from the priest, and she and Spike fall into the open grave. Buffy lands on top of him. |
Buffy lies on top of Spike for a moment, looking into his eyes. She jumps out of the grave, and runs off into the night.
Spike pokes his head up above the lip of the grave and looks at Buffy’s departing back. “So…you’re not staying, then?”
Dawn dumps her schoolbooks out on her bed. Tara looks in from the hallway door, and asks if she’s got a lot of homework.
“Math,” says Dawn. “It seemed cooler when we were singing about it.”
“Willow said they have a lead on the whole musical-extravaganza evil,” says Tara. “This demon that can be summoned, some sort of Lord of the Dance. Oh, but not the scary one. Just a demon.”
Dawn asks if they know who summoned it, but they don’t. Tara is sure that Willow will figure it out soon.
“I’m glad you guys made up,” says Dawn.
“What?” asks Tara.
“That fight you guys had about magic and stuff,” says Dawn. “It gives me belly rumblins when you guys fight.”
“Dawn, Willow and I never fought about—”
“It’s okay,” says Dawn. “It’s just— You guys are so great together. I just hate it when you… But that was the only fight I’ve seen you guys have, anyway, but, I’m still glad it’s over.”
Tara’s hand goes to the flower she has pinned to her bodice. “Dawn, I, um… There’s something I need at the shop. Will you be okay for a little while?”
“Yes,” says Dawn. “The fifteen-year-old can spend half an hour alone in her locked house.”
Tara says she won’t be long, and leaves Dawn’s room.
Dawn turns away and goes to the jewelry box on her desk. She lifts out the top tray, revealing the area beneath it, which is full of stuff she has stolen. Anya’s earrings, the medallion from the Magic Box, and other things, some with their price tags still attached. She takes out the necklace she stole the day before and puts it on. She looks at herself in her mirror.
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Dawn Does anybody even notice? Does anybody even care? |
Dawn turns and sees that there are three demons in her room. They have heads like a ventriloquist’s wooden puppet. She screams when they grab her and pull a sack over her head.
Dawn wakes up on a pool table in the Bronze. She sits up and looks around. She seems to be alone. She swings gracefully down off the table, and dances toward the door. She finds her path blocked by one of the puppet headed demons.
She dances away from it, and around the stairs. Another of the demons blocks her escape. It grabs her and swings her around toward its comrade. Dawn ducks away from them, and dances toward the back door. One of the demons runs ahead of her, and blocks her. Dawn turns back, and the third demon appears, she’s surrounded. The three demons dance around her, and she sinks to the floor.
Dawn makes one last attempt to escape. One of the demons grabs her and swings her around. She slides across the floor, and stops by edge of the stage. She sees a pair of two tone shoes, and looks up at Sweet. He starts to tapdance down the steps from the stage.
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Sweet Why’d you run away? Don’t you like my style? |
Sweet dances across the floor. His red zoot suit changes colour to blue. |
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Why don’t you come and play? I guarantee a great big smile. |
He pulls his mouth from his face and holds in front of Dawn. |
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I come from the imagination. And I’m here strictly by your invocation. So what do you say, Why don’t we dance a while? |
Sweet’s mouth returns to his face, and he snaps open a parchment scroll. An RSVP invitation. |
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I’m the heart of swing, I’m the twist and shout. When you gotta sing, When you gotta let it out. You call me, and I come a-runnin’. I turn the music on, I bring the fun in. Now we’re partying, That’s what it’s all about. |
Sweet beckons, pulling Dawn to her feet. |
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’Cause I know what you feel, girl. I know just what you feel, girl. |
Sweet dances with Dawn. He puts his arms around her. |
Dawn twirls away. “So, you’re, like, a good demon? Bringin’ the fun in?”
Sweet laughs.
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Sweet All these melodies, they go on too long. Then that energy, starts to come on Way too strong. |
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All those hearts lay open, that must sting. Plus, some customers just start combusting. That’s the penalty when life is but a song. |
A door drops out of the ceiling to the floor of the Bronze. Sweet opens it. A charred corpse falls out onto the floor at Dawn’s feet. |
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You brought me down and doomed this town. So when we blow this scene, Back we will go to my kingdom below. And you will be my Queen. |
Sweet gestures toward Dawn, and her jeans and sweater are transformed into a silvery blue formal gown. |
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’Cause I know what you feel, girl. Dawn Now you see, You and me, Wouldn’t be very regal. |
Sweet I’ll make it real, girl. |
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What I mean, I’m fifteen, So this “Queen” thing’s illegal. Sweet I can bring whole cities to ruin, And still have time to get a soft-shoe in. Dawn Well, that’s great, but I’m late, And I’d hate to delay her. Sweet Something’s cooking, I’m at the griddle. I bought Nero his very first fiddle. Dawn She’ll get pissed, if I’m missed, See, my sister’s the Slayer! |
Sweet freezes in mid step, and looks around at Dawn. “The Slayer?”
Dawn is suddenly afraid she’s said something she shouldn’t have. “Ya-huh.”
Sweet laughs. “Find her,” he tells his minions. “Tell her—tell her everything. Just get her here. I want to see the Slayer burn.”
Dawn shakes her head. “No!” she whispers.
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Sweet Now we’re partying. That’s what it’s all about! |
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Buffy breaks an inch thick board in Giles’ hands with a single kick. “I feel like I should bow, or have honour or something.”
“It may seem hokey,” says Giles, “but we need to work on precision and concentration as much as power. We’re still not sure what we’re facing.”
Buffy goes over to her pommel horse and does some stretches. She’s just afraid that this training session is going to break down into some sort of eighties movie training montage.
“If we hear any inspirational power cords, we’ll just lie down until they go away,” says Giles. “Anyway, I don’t think we need to work that much on your strength.”
Buffy swings up into a handstand on the pommel horse. “Yeah. I’m pretty spry for a corpse.”
Giles asks Buffy if she’s spoken to Dawn about the incident on Halloween.
Buffy flips back down onto the floor. “I thought you took care of that.”
“Right,” says Giles.
“What would I do without you?” asks Buffy. “Okay, I’m ready.”
Giles walks toward the weapons rack on the wall.
|
Giles You’re not ready for the world outside. You keep pretending, but you just can’t hide. I know I said that I’d be standing by your side. But I… |
Giles takes a couple of throwing knifes from the weapons rack, and turns back toward Buffy. |
|
Your path’s unbeaten, and it’s all uphill. And you can meet it, but you never will. And I’m the reason that you’re standing still. But I… |
Giles throws the first knife at Buffy, and she dodges it. He throws the second, and she deflects it with the palm of her hand. He turns back to the rack to get another knife. |
|
I wish I could say the right words To lead you through this land. Wish I could play the father And take you by the hand. Wish I could stay here, But now I understand. I’m standing in the way. |
Giles throws the knife at Buffy, and she kicks it away with a sweep of her foot. Buffy starts into her calisthenics routine as Giles walks around the training room, watching her. There’s a disconnect between them, Buffy seems to be moving in slow motion. |
|
The cries around you, you don’t hear at all. ’Cause you know I’m here to take that call. So you just lie there when you should be standing tall. But I… I wish I could lay your arms down, And let you rest at last. Wish I could slay your demons, But now that time has passed. Wish I could stay here. Your stalwart, standing fast. But I’ve been standing in the way. I’m just standing in the way. |
When Buffy’s done the calisthenics she goes and works out at her punching bag. She still seems to be disconnected from Giles, like they are in separate worlds. |
Buffy finishes her exercises and looks at Giles. “Did you just say something?”
Tara comes into the Magic Box. She avoids Willow, and runs up the ladder into the loft. She starts looking through a book on magical herbs. She finds what she’s looking for. A picture of the flower she found under her pillow. She reads the description from the book. “Lethe’s Bramble. Used for augmenting spells of forgetting and mind control.”
Tara turns and looks down at Willow. Buffy has just returned from her training session and is talking with her.
|
Tara I’m under your spell. God, how can this be? Playing with my memory. You know I’ve been through hell. Willow, don’t you see? There’ll be nothing left of me. You made me believe. |
Giles comes out of the back training room, and looks toward Buffy at the front of the shop. Giles …believe me, I don’t want to go. |
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Tara and Giles And it’ll grieve me ’cause I love you so But we both know. |
Tara watches Willow, while Giles watches Buffy. |
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Tara Wish I could trust That it was just this once, But I must do what I must… I can’t adjust to this disgust, We’re done, but I just… |
Giles Wish I could say the right words, To lead you through this land. Wish I could play the father And take you by the hand. |
|
Tara and Giles Wish I could stay. Wish I could stay! Wish I could stay! Wish I could…stay. |
The bell over the Magic Box’s front door rings. Spike shoves one of Sweet’s puppet headed minions into the shop. “Looky-looky what I found!”
Tara comes down the ladder. “Is this the demon guy?” Willow is surprised to see her there, but Tara avoids her gaze.
Spike tells them this guy just works for their demon, and he has a story to tell them. He shoves the demon forward. “Come on, then. Sing.”
The music swells, and the demon takes a deep breath. “My master has the Slayer’s sister hostage at the Bronze because she summoned him and at midnight he’s going to take her to the underworld to be his Queen.”
“What does he want?” asks Giles.
The puppet headed demon points at Buffy. “Her!”
The demon breaks free from Spike’s hold and runs from the shop. “Strong,” says Spike. “Someday, he’ll be a real boy.”
“So, Dawn’s in trouble,” says Buffy. “Must be Tuesday.”
Tara says she just left Dawn for a few minutes.
Buffy tells her it’s not her fault. “So what’s the plan?”
Xander doesn’t think they need a plan. They mount up.
“No!” says Giles. Everyone looks at him.
“Dawn may have had the wrong idea in summoning this creature,” says Anya. “But I’ve seen some of these underworld child-bride deals. They never end well. Well, maybe once.”
“We’re not just going to stay here,” says Willow.
“Yes, we are,” says Giles. “Buffy’s going alone.”
“Don’t be a stupid git!” says Spike. “There’s no—”
“If I want your opinion, Spike, I’ll—” Giles reconsiders. “I’ll never want your opinion.”
Willow has an idea. “A little confusion spell could—”
“No!” says Tara. “I mean, I don’t think it’ll help.”
“Forget them, Slayer,” says Spike, “I got your back.”
“Thought you wanted me to stay away from you,” says Buffy. “Isn’t that what you sang?”
“Spike sing a wittle song?” asks Xander.
“Fine,” says Spike. “I hope you dance till you burn. You and the Little Bit.” He leaves the shop.
Buffy looks around at her friends. “You’re really not coming?”
“It’s up to you, Buffy,” says Giles.
“What do you expect me to do?”
“Your best.”
Buffy walks down the street alone.
|
Buffy I touch the fire, and it freezes me. I look into it, and it’s black. Why can’t I feel? My skin should crack and peel. I want the fire back. |
Buffy holds her hand over a flaming barrel, while people dance in the street. |
|
Now, through the smoke, she calls to me. To make my way across the flame. To save the day, or maybe melt away. I guess it’s all the same. |
Sweet pushes Dawn into a chair on the stage in the Bronze. She tries to get up again, but he signals for her to stay put. He sits down in the chair beside her to wait. |
|
So I will walk through the fire. ’Cause where else can I turn? I will walk through the fire And let it… |
Buffy turns and walks toward the Bronze. |
|
Spike The torch I bear is scorching me. Buffy’s laughing, I’ve no doubt. I hope she fries, I’m free if that bitch dies. better help her out. |
Spike sits on a crate in an alley smoking a cigarette. He tosses the cigarette away, gets off the crate, and walks toward the Bronze. |
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Sweet ’Cause she is drawn to the fire. Some people never learn. |
Spike She will never learn. |
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Spike and Sweet And she will walk through the fire And let it… |
|
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Giles Will this do a thing to change her? Am I leaving Dawn in danger? Is my Slayer too far gone to care? |
Giles leans against the counter in the Magic Box. |
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Xander What if Buffy can’t defeat it? |
Xander comes up to Giles. |
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Anya Beady eyes is right, we’re needed! Or we could just sit around and glare. |
Anya walks up behind Xander. She looks back at Willow and Tara, who are sitting at the round table, not looking at each other. |
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All We’ll see it through. It’s what we’re always here to do. So we will walk through the fire. |
They all start to head out of the shop together. |
|
Buffy So one by one, they turn from me. I guess my friends can’t face the cold. But while I froze, not one among them knows. And never can be told. |
Tara What can’t we face, When we’re together? |
|
Anya She came from the grave much graver. Spike First, he’ll kill her, then I’ll save her. Tara Everything is turning out so dark. Buffy Going through the motions. Spike No, I’ll save her, then I’ll kill her! Willow I think this line is mostly filler. Giles What’s it going to take to strike a spark? |
Sweet So one by one, they come to me. The distant redness as their guide. But what they’ll find Ain’t what they had in mind. It’s what they have inside. |
|
Buffy These endless days are finally ending in a blaze. |
Sweet She will come to me! |
|
All And we are caught in the fire. The point of no return. So we will walk through the fire. And let it burn! Let it burn! Let it burn! Let it burn! |
Giles, Xander, Anya, Tara and Willow cross an intersection. Fire engines race across it behind them. Spike jumps over a fence into an alley. Then he looks around. He shakes his head in disgust, and turns back toward the fence. The alley is a dead end. |
Buffy kicks the door of the Bronze off it’s hinges.
“Show time,” says Sweet.
Buffy steps through the shattered doorframe into the Bronze, and looks around. Dawn and Sweet are sitting in chairs on the stage.
“I love a good entrance,” says Sweet.
“How are you with death scenes?” asks Buffy. Sweet laughs.
“You got a name?” asks Buffy.
Sweet lounges in his chair. “I got a hundred.”
Buffy leans against the side of the pool table. “I ought to know what to call you if you’re going to be my brother-in-law.”
“Buffy, I swear I didn’t do it!” says Dawn.
“Don’t worry, you’re not going anywhere,” says Buffy. That gets Sweet’s attention. “I am.”
“What?” asks Dawn.
Sweet straightens up a bit in his chair. He leans toward Buffy.
“Deal’s this,” says Buffy. “I can’t kill you, you take me to Hellsville in her place.”
“What if I kill you?” asks Sweet.
“Trust me,” says Buffy. “Won’t help.”
“Hmm, that’s gloomy.” Sweet leans back again.
“That’s life.”
“Come now, is that really what you feel?” asks Sweet. “Isn’t life a miraculous thing?”
“I think you already know,” says Buffy.
|
Buffy Life’s a show, and we all play our parts. And when the music starts, We open up our hearts. It’s all right if some things come out wrong. We’ll sing a happy song, And you can sing along. |
Buffy pulls her coat off her shoulders, and drops it to the floor. She steps toward the stage, and looks around. She can see Sweet’s puppet headed minions in the shadows, arming themselves with pool cues. |
|
Where there’s life—There’s hope. Every day’s—a gift. Wishes can—come true. Whistle while—you work. So hard—all day. |
The minions attack. Buffy takes a pool cue away from one of them and breaks it, making herself a sharp stake. She kicks and stabs at the minions, and quickly kills them, while singing her staccato song. She finishes off the last of them by throwing her pool cue stake through its heart. |
|
To be like other girls. To fit in in this glittering world. Don’t give me songs. |
Giles, Xander, Willow and Tara run in through the door. |
|
Don’t give me songs Give me something to sing about. I need something to sing about. |
Giles takes in the situation. “She needs back-up. Anya, Tara…” Anya and Tara quickly move into position behind Buffy and start to dance with her, and provide backup vocals. |
Buffy breaks into a frenetic dance, with Tara and Anya echoing her moves.
Buffy flips down off the stage, and begins her frenetic dance again. This time she doesn’t stop. Her moves become faster, and faster, and she starts to spin wildly. She starts to smoke. Sweet leans forward in anticipation.
Spike grabs Buffy, and stops her.
|
Spike Life’s not a song. Life isn’t bliss. Life is just this: It’s living! You’ll get along. The pain that you feel only can heal By living. Have to go on living. So that one of us is living. |
Dawn gets up from her chair, and steps toward the edge of the stage. “The hardest thing in this world is to live in it.”
Sweet applauds. “Now that was a show stopping number. Not quite the fireworks that I was looking for.”
“Get out of here,” says Willow.
Sweet looks at Willow. “Hmm, I smell power.” He rises from his chair and steps toward Dawn. “I guess the little missus and I should be on our way.”
“That’s never going to happen,” says Giles.
Sweet laughs. “I don’t make the rules. She summoned me.”
“I so did not!” says Dawn. “He keeps saying that!”
Sweet points at the necklace Dawn’s wearing. “You have my talisman on, Sweet Thing.”
“Oh, but, no. I—I, um…this—at the Magic Box— on the floor—I was…I was cleaning, and I forgot… But I didn’t summon anything!”
“Well, now, that’s a twist,” says Sweet.
“If it was in the shop,” says Giles, “then one of us probably…” He looks around at Willow. Xander puts up his hand.
“Xander?” says Anya.
“I didn’t know what was going to happen!” says Xander. “I just thought there were gonna be dances and songs. Just wanted to make sure we’d work out, get a happy ending.”
Sweet chuckles. “I think everything worked out just fine!”
“Does this mean that I have to…be your queen?” asks Xander.
“It’s tempting,” says Sweet, “but I think we’ll waive that clause just this once.” He looks around, as Xander sighs with relief. “Big smiles, everyone. You beat the bad guy!”
|
Sweet But what a lot of fun, You guys have been real swell. And there’s not a one Who can say this ended well. |
|
|
All those secrets you’ve been concealing. Say you’re happy now, once more with feeling! Now I gotta run. See you all in Hell! |
Red and blue light swirls around Sweet. He vanishes, but his voice still echos through the Bronze. |
Silence falls over the Bronze. Everyone looks around uncertainly. No one knows what to do next. Dawn walks toward the steps down from the stage.
|
Dawn Where do we go from here? |
|
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Buffy and Spike Where do we go from here? Giles The battle’s done, and we kind of won, Giles and Tara So we sound our victory cheer. Where do we go from here? |
|
|
Xander and Anya Why is the path unclear? When we know home is near. |
Everyone moves together, forming a line across the Bronze’s floor. |
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All Understand we’ll go hand in hand But we’ll walk alone in fear. |
They link hands in sequence. Buffy, to Spike, to Dawn, to Giles, to Anya, to Xander, to Tara, to Willow. They break apart, and move off in separate directions. |
|
Giles Tell me… |
|
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All Where do we go from here? When does the end appear? When do the trumpets cheer? The curtains close on a kiss god knows We can tell the end is near. Where do we go from here. |
They all turn to face the stage, and start to dance in unison. Spike breaks off. “Bugger this!” He turns and walks toward the door. Xander moves to fill in the hole he made in their formation. |
Buffy follows Spike out of the Bronze. He tells her to go back inside. “Finish the big group sing, get your kumbayayas out.”
“I don’t want to,” says Buffy.
“The day you suss out what you do want, there’ll probably be a parade,” says Spike. “76 bloody trombones.”
Buffy steps toward him. “Spike…”
“Look, you don’t have to say anything.”
|
Buffy I touch the fire, and it freezes me. I look into it and it’s black. This isn’t real But I just want to feel. |
Spike I died… So many years ago. You can make me… Feel. |
|
All Where do we go from here? |
Spike and Buffy grab each other, and kiss passionately. |
| Who or What | Where | How |
|---|---|---|
| Vampire 1 | The cemetery | Staked by Buffy |
| Vampire 2 | The cemetery | Beheaded by Buffy |
| Horned demon | The cemetery | Stabbed with a sword by Buffy |
| Vampire 3 | The cemetery | Staked by Buffy |
| Two dancing men (there are others we don’t see.) | Spontaneous combustion from excessive dancing | |
| Sweet’s three puppet minions | The Bronze | Killed by Buffy |