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| Beneath You | Help |
9:23 PM, Sunnydale Airport
Passengers from the flight from London come out though the gate, and are greeted by friends and family. A girl leaving the plane gives her little brother a shove, and knocks his backpack off his shoulder. Their father picks up the pack, and tells them to cut it out. A couple of teenaged boys follow the little family group out into the terminal.
Buffy, Xander and Dawn are waiting, watching the passengers disembark. Xander hopes that Willow will get the sign he’s carrying.
Buffy takes a look at it. “Get the sign? I don’t think she’s going to see the sign.”
“Why is it so pale?” asks Dawn. The sign is white, with “WELCOME BACK WILLOW” written on it in yellow.
“I used yellow crayon,” says Xander “It was a thing from when I talked to Will on the bluff. I hope she gets it.”
“Oh. Tell us again what you said,” says Dawn.
Xander starts into the story. “Well, I was talking from my heart. And I knew Evil Willow wasn’t really ready to—” He notices the look Buffy and Dawn are giving him. “You were kidding.”
Dawn admits that she was. She and Buffy have both heard the crayon story many times now.
“I saved the world with talking, from my mouth,” says Xander. “My mouth saved the world!”
Dawn is feeling nervous about seeing Willow again. So’s Buffy. “It’s going to be weird seeing her. What do you say to someone in this situation?”
“I’m going to say: ‘Hi, Willow.’” says Xander.
Buffy thinks that Xander isn’t quite as conflict free as he’s letting on. “I mean, we saw her kill someone. She was about to kill Dawn.”
“Giles wouldn’t let her leave unless she completed that…whatever recovery course,” says Xander.
“Right” says Dawn. Buffy doesn’t say anything. “Right?”
“She kinda didn’t finish,” says Buffy.
“She didn’t finish?” asks Dawn. “She didn’t finish being not evil?”
“He said that it was really important that she come back early,” says Buffy, “and that she was doing really well and we shouldn’t worry.”
Xander is looking toward the arrival gate. “Guys, I just noticed something.”
“What?” asks Buffy.
The airport staff are closing the gate doors. “Everyone’s off the plane so… Where’s Willow?”
9:23 PM, Sunnydale Airport
Passengers from the flight from London come out though the gate, and are greeted by friends and family. A girl leaving the plane gives her little brother a shove, and knocks his backpack off his shoulder. Their father picks up the pack, and tells them to cut it out. Willow follows the little family group out into the terminal.
Willow looks around for someone there to greet her. She sees no one she knows. “Welcome home, me.”
Something stalks a boy as he’s spray painting graffiti on a retaining wall in the construction site for the new high school’s gym. “All alone.” it whispers, and clacks its claws together. The clacking claws sound just like the clacking of the spray paint can as the boy shakes it.
“Are you frightened to be all alone?” asks the voice in the darkness.
They boy turns around. “Hey, is somebody there?”
“The wind talks when you’re alone,” says the creature in the darkness. It laughs.
The kid steps toward the sound of the creature’s voice. “You better clear out, whoever you are!”
The creature screeches and rushes at the boy.
Willow stands on the front porch of the darkened Summers house, and rings the doorbell. She gets no answer, so she tries knocking on the door, with the same result.
Willow picks up her suitcase, and carries it around to the back of the house. She leaves it on the back porch and lets herself in through the kitchen door. “Buffy? Hello?”
The clock on the microwave says it’s 10:41 when Willow passes it. She goes upstairs, and into the master bedroom, that she had shared with Tara. She sees that Buffy has moved into it.
Willow moves toward the window, and reaches out and touches the pane that the bullet had come through. She remembers the sound of the shot, the breaking glass, and Tara dying.
Willow notices a stand holding several photos on a table by the window. There are pictures of Buffy with Dawn, and a couple of pictures of Anya with Xander, but there are no pictures of her. She moves over to Buffy’s desk, and sees Buffy’s open daytimer. There is a list of family phone numbers: Buffy and Xander’s work numbers, and Dawn’s cell phone. She isn’t listed there either.
Willow is startled by the sound of a door closing downstairs, and drops the daytimer on the floor. She runs down the stairs. “Dawn? Did I hear the door?” The house is still empty.
Willow moves into the living room, and sits down on the sofa. After while she lies down on it and rests her head on a pillow.
The clock on the microwave reads 10:41 when Buffy, Xander and Dawn come in the front door. Buffy has just gotten off the phone from Giles, and he confirmed that he did put Willow on the plane.
“So she got off at Chicago when they stopped?” asks Xander.
“Maybe she doubled back,” says Buffy. “Got off the plane in London after Giles left.”
“Well, if she’s doing that, ducking Giles, then she’s evil, right?” asks Dawn.
“Well, I’ve avoided Giles tons of times,” says Xander. “Just meant I was lazy, not evil.”
“I hope you’re right,” says Buffy, “because defeating lazy Willow… Probably less hard.”
Dawn suggests that they check the answering machine. Maybe Willow called. Buffy thinks that’s a good idea.
Xander closes the front door. They hear something thump upstairs.
“What was that?” asks Dawn.
They start up the stairs. “Willow?” calls Xander. “Is that you?”
Buffy returns from upstairs, as Dawn comes out of the kitchen. There was no sign of whatever made the noise, and Dawn didn’t find any messages waiting for them. They join Xander on the sofa in the living room. Buffy has checked in with Giles again. He still hasn’t heard from Willow either.
“Is he throwing a tasteful British wiggins?” asks Xander.
“Oh, with extra wig,” says Buffy. “He’s blaming himself pretty hard. Like he should have known she wasn’t ready to come back. I—I kept telling him, you know, it wasn’t his fault. Maybe it’s something about us she couldn’t face.”
“Like she didn’t think we were ready to forgive her,” says Xander. “I get that.”
“So Giles is blaming Giles,” says Dawn, “and we’re blaming us. Is anyone going to blame Willow?” She sees the look on Buffy’s face. “Oh, don’t give me shock face. I mean, will anyone around here ever start asking for help when they need it?”
“If Willow flipped out, it’s her bad,” says Buffy. “We can only be here for her so much if she won’t be, you know, here.”
Willow has fallen asleep on the sofa.
Willow is awakened by the morning light. She sits up, and stretches out some of the accumulated kinks from her night on the sofa, and her flight from London. The house is still empty except for her. She goes to the phone and hits the top speed dial button.
Willow tells the person who answers the phone that she needs to talk to Giles. She is told that he’s in an all day meeting with the Council, and can not be reached there. She hangs up the phone.
Willow walks through downtown Sunnydale. She enters Maple Court, and sees the remains of the Magic Box. The windows are all boarded over and have condemned signs on them. The “B” is hanging upside down from the sign.
Willow sees Anya coming out the front door with a box of stuff in her hands. “Anya!”
Anya sees Willow, and starts backing up.
Willow runs toward her. “Anya, don’t! Don’t run away.”
Anya stops backing away. “What are you doing here? I thought you were with Giles studying how to not kill people.”
“I just got back,” says Willow.
“Just got back as in you’re all better,” asks Anya, “or, just got back to bring about a fiery apocalypse of death?”
“Neither,” says Willow, “but I have been studying, working real hard, and I’m going to be fine.”
Anya isn’t feeling very encouraged. She’s heard that before. “I’ve spent a lot of time since then cleaning the debris out of my ex-livelihood, stuff like that.”
“Yeah, I—I want to help any way I can with that,” says Willow. “I—I feel really responsible.”
“You feel really responsible?” asks Anya. “You are really responsible!”
Willow knows that she hurt Anya, and the others, and she’s really sorry about it.
“Here’s something you should know about vengeance demons,” says Anya. “We don’t groove with the sorry. We prefer: ‘Oh, god! Please stop hitting me with my own rib bones!’”
“Go on,” says Willow. “Say whatever you want, rib bones and so forth. I—I deserve it.”
“And you won’t mind?” asks Anya.
Willow shakes her head.
“Well, then that’s no fun.”
“Sorry,” says Willow
Willow sits down on the curb. After a moment, Anya sets down her box of stuff and sits down beside her. Willow is a little surprised, but pleased to have the company. She looks back into the box, and takes the skull of a three horned demon out if it. “So, um, where is everyone these days?”
Anya tells Willow that she’s moved back into her own apartment, but vengeance has been taking her all over the world. She was in Brazil yesterday.
Willow is fidgeting with the skull. “And the others? Dawn, and uh…” she breaks off one of the skull’s horns. Anya looks mildly annoyed. “…Xander…” Willow puts the pieces of skull back into the box. “…Buffy?”
Anya is a little surprised that Willow hasn’t seen them already. “I guess they’re still mad at you. They’ve been a little temperamental lately, just between you and me. We had this little mix-up a few days ago, and—”
“That sounds great,” says Willow, “so, um, where do you think they’d be?”
“Oh, at the new high school, probably,” says Anya. “Everyone’s all about the high school. Buffy’s got some kind of job there helping junior deviants. Spike’s insane in the basement. Xander’s there doing construction on the new gym.”
“Wait,” says Willow. “Spike’s what in the what-ment?”
“Insane. Base,” says Anya. “Xander does construction. He likes to start early, so he’s probably there by now.”
Willow reaches the construction site, and calls out for Xander. She gets no answer. The place seems to be deserted. She climbs down a ladder into the excavation.
Willow sees some bloody clothes lying on the ground near an excavator. She moves around it, and sees a skinless body.
Buffy and Xander stand staring at the skinless body in the excavation. Neither of them wants to look at it, but they can’t pull their eyes away. Xander found it when he arrived on the site. He gave his crew the day off, and called Buffy right away.
“I got to get a job where I don’t get called right away for this stuff,” says Buffy.
They hear the sound of footsteps on the ladder, and look toward it, but they see nothing.
Willow climbs the ladder quickly out of the hole.
Xander and Buffy go back to looking at the skinless body. “Yeah, I know exactly what you’re thinking,” says Xander. “Maybe Willow is back.”
Willow walks down the middle of a corridor in the school as students pass by her on their way between classes. The bell rings, and soon she is all alone. She finds a door leading down to the basement.
Willow walks down the stairs, and through the darkened basement corridors. Spike jumps out of the shadows in front of her. “Out! This is my place! You need permission to be here! You need a special slip with a stamp!”
“Spike, my god, I—”
Spike turns away from Willow. “You go off, and you try to wall up the bad parts, and put your heart back in where it fell out, and you call yourself finished, but you’re not. You’re worse off than ever, you are.”
Spike stops, and half turns back toward Willow, but he still isn’t facing her. He takes a couple of steps. “You went away. You’ve been gone since—”
“Yeah,” says Willow. “I—I needed to go, but I’m back now. And I found— there’s a body.”
“Tragedy.” Spike looks back toward Willow. “Is there blood?”
“Yeah,” says Willow, “and I can’t find Buffy or Xander or Dawn…” Spike looks puzzled, and looks away from her. “…and there’s this thing killing people. And the victim was…skinned. What could do that?”
“You did it once,” says Spike. “I heard about it.”
“Anything other— other than me?” asks Willow.
Spike steps away from Willow again. “Look at you. You’re glowing. What’s a word means ‘glowing’? It’s got to rhyme.”1
“Spike?”
Spike suddenly backs away into a corner, and puts his hand to his head. “Oh, uh, no! I—I should hide. Hide from you, hide my face. You know what I did.”
“What you did?” asks Willow. “You didn’t do anything. Did you?”
Spike looks toward Willow again. “Everyone’s talking to me. No one’s talking to each other.” He looks around.
“Spike, please try to listen to me,” says Willow.
“Someone isn’t here.” Spike starts circling around. “Button, button, who’s got the button? My money’s on…” He looks at Willow. “…the witch.”
Buffy and Xander move through the school basement, looking for Spike. The blueprints of the school aren’t any use down here. The walls seem to move around all on their own. Buffy hears Spike talking up ahead.
“…and put your heart back in where it fell out,” says Spike, “and you call yourself finished, but you’re not. You’re worse off than ever, you are.”
Buffy and Xander find Spike talking to himself. He turns and steps toward Buffy. “You went away. You’ve been gone since—”
“The church,” says Buffy. “You scared me a little. I didn’t— I didn’t know what to think.”
“We’re here for a reason, Spike,” says Xander.
“Tragedy.” Spike looks away from them. “Is there blood?”
“He knows,” says Xander. “He must have seen the body.”
Spike is still looking away from them. “You did it once. I heard about it.”
“Spike, we need to know who did this,” says Buffy
Spike turns back, and steps toward her. “Look at you, glowing. What’s a word means ‘glowing’? It’s got to rhyme.”
“Spike, please.”
Spike suddenly backs away from Buffy. “I—I should hide.” He puts his hand to his head. “Hide from you, hide my face. You know what I did.”
“Boy, he’s extra useful today,” says Xander.
Buffy gives Xander a reproving look. “This isn’t the time.”
Spike looks around. “Everyone’s talking to me. No one’s talking to each other.”
“We might as well go.” Buffy tells Xander. They start to walk away.
Spike starts circling around. “Someone isn’t here. Button, button, who’s got the button?” He stops, and looks away from Buffy and Xander. “My money’s on the witch.” Buffy and Xander stop. “Red’s a bad girl!”
Buffy looks back toward Spike. “He’s talking about Willow.”
“And that means something, because he’s chock full of sanity,” says Xander.
“Maybe he saw her.” whispers Buffy.
Spike is still looking away from them. “They think you did it. The Slayer and her boy. They think you took the skin.”
“Is there something here?” asks Buffy. “Something that killed?”
“‘Her boy?’” asks Xander. “I’m ‘her boy?’”
“I have to go,” says Spike. “There are things here without permission. I have to check their slips… Make sure they have authorization.” He turns and walks away from them
Anya opens the door of her apartment and sees Willow. “I need help.”
“I don’t have any money,” says Anya.
Willow walks past her into the apartment. “I don’t want money.” Anya’s apartment looks like she has just moved into it. It is bare of decorations, and there are unpacked boxes scattered around.
“Come in.” Anya closes the door. “Enjoy my personal space.”
Willow tells Anya about finding the dead body at the school. Anya isn’t surprised. That happens a lot.
“Something horrible killed a boy!” says Willow. “Took his skin right off.”
“Was it you?” they both ask together.
“No!” they both say.
“Well, with the skin thing, they’re definitely going to think it was you,” says Anya. “Buffy is, anyway.”
“Yeah,” says Willow. “I mean, maybe she already does. I don’t know. I just— I have to find whatever did this. I just—I need to do something right.”
“Oh, and so they’ll think it wasn’t you, right?” asks Anya. “I mean, that has to be part of it. Maybe you’re even thinking you kill this thing, they don’t even have to know about it. Won’t suspect you even for a minute.”
“No, I don’t,” says Willow. “When did you get all insightful?”
“I’m surprisingly sensitive,” says Anya.
“So will you help me?” asks Willow.
Anya sighs, and looks around. “Is it difficult or time-consuming?”
Willow and Anya sit on the floor of Anya’s apartment with a map of Sunnydale between them. The curtains are pulled closed over the windows, and they are surrounded by candles.
“This isn’t going to get all sexy, is it?” asks Anya.
“I’d be shocked.” Willow picks up a small glass bottle. “Okay, do you have your powder?”
“Oh, I ate that,” says Anya. Willow glares at her and Anya smiles. “I have it.” She picks up a matching bottle.
“Okay, we scatter it over the map, and everywhere there’s a demon, a little light appears,” says Willow.
“Oh, pretty,” says Anya. “Will it hurt the carpet?”
“No.” Willow rests her hands on her knees, closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and lets it out. She opens her eyes. “Okay, scatter.”
Willow and Anya sprinkle the powder over the map. Little glowing lights start to appear all over it.
Anya points to one of the lights. “Oh! Hey, look! That’s me!” She waves at the light. “Hello!” There is one large cluster of lights on the map. “What’s that huge clump?”
“It’s the high school,” says Willow. “It’s all Hellmouthy underneath.”
“Things have been stirring there lately,” says Anya. “Is it getting brighter?”
The lights at the school are indeed getting brighter, and the map begins to smoke. It bursts into flames. Willow jumps to her feet, and stamps out the fire. She smiles an apology at Anya, bends down and picks up the map.
Anya sees the scorch mark left on the carpet. “Aah! Okay, remember our talk about the carpet?”
Willow isn’t really paying any attention to Anya. She’s looking at the map. There’s another burn mark on it, in the middle of a park a couple of blocks west of the school. “Hey, this could be it. It’s strong. It’s near the body, and it’s all by itself. Hiding in the woods, or maybe a cave? There are a couple good caves around there.”
Anya is still trying to clean up the ashes and scorch mark on her carpet. She thinks it sounds pretty thin.
“Well, that’s why you teleport over there real quick like a bunn—” Willow sees the look Anya’s giving her, and rephrases, “…real quick, and, uh, see if I’m right.”
Anya is no longer in a cooperating mood, since Willow damaged her carpet, and she can’t just teleport over there like Willow wants anyway. “As it turns out, teleporting isn’t a right. It’s a privilege. I withdrew a vengeance spell last week, and this is my punishment.” She starts picking up the candles. “I can only teleport for official business. I have to file a flight plan and everything.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” says Willow. “That—that must be hard.”
“Yeah, it bites a pretty big one,” says Anya. “And the vengeance itself, it’s… It’s not as fulfilling as I remember.”
“Really? ’Cause I got the impression that you enjoyed, you know, inflicting.”
“Well, causing pain sounds really cool, I know, but…it turns out it’s really upsetting. Didn’t used to be. But now it is.” Anya starts cleaning up the candles and things from their spell.
“Is it like you’re scared of losing that feeling again,” asks Willow, “and having it be okay to hurt people, and then you’re not in charge of the power anymore, because it’s in charge of you?”
“Wow,” says Anya. “That was…really over-dramatically stated, but, yeah, that’s it.”
“I get it,” says Willow. “Believe me.”
“I’m sorry, Willow. I wish it were better for you.”
“You, too.”
“It did get a little sexy, didn’t it?” says Anya.
Willow flashes Anya a bit of a smile, but it’s quickly replaced by a look of consternation. “I have to find this monster.” She goes to the door and picks up her jacket.
“Willow?” Anya stands holding a couple of burning candles in her hands. “Um, isn’t there another spell? I mean, you’re trying to find Buffy and Xander. Couldn’t we use a spell to do that?”
Willow looks back from the doorway. “I did. I tried, and something went gaflooey and it didn’t work.”
“What did it say?” asks Anya.
“It said they don’t exist.” Willow leaves the apartment.
Anya blows out her candles.
Buffy, Dawn and Xander have set up research central in the back of the living room of Buffy’s house. Buffy and Xander look through books, while Dawn researches on her iBook.
“Okay,” says Dawn. “I looked up demons that skin their victims and demons that flay their victims. ’Cause, you know, same thing. There’s a ton of prospects. Anything else gone? Eyeballs, toenails, or viscera? That’s guts.”
Buffy looks up from her book. “She knows about viscera. Makes you proud.”
“Just skin.” Xander tells Dawn.
“Okay, I’ll work on that.” Dawn resumes typing on her keyboard.
“Oh…” Buffy sighs in frustration, and gets up and starts pacing. Xander asks her what’s wrong.
“I need to do something,” says Buffy. “I just… I have this feeling in my gut…”
“In your viscera,” says Xander.
“That we know exactly who did this,” says Buffy. “And all of this work that we’re doing is just a way for us to convince ourselves that Willow’s okay.”
Dawn calls for attention, and Buffy and Xander to back and join her at the table. She’s found a likely prospect. “Demon called Gnarl, he’s a parasite with these nasty long fingernails. He secretes something through them and uses that to paralyze his victims. He then cuts strips of their skin while they’re still alive. It takes hours.”
“We didn’t find any strips of skin,” says Xander. “Which, by the way, guhh!”
“You wouldn’t,” says Dawn. “He eats them. That’s why he’s a parasite. It’s like his natural food.”
Buffy knows that Dawn wants to be helpful, and everything, but she thinks she might be jumping to a conclusion a little too quickly. “I’m not exactly sure why this demon is any more likely than any of the others.”
Dawn smiles. “You never said ‘pool of blood.’”
“There was no pool,” says Buffy, “just splatters.”
Dawn points to her computer screen. “Then this is your guy. He laps up the blood. You could say it’s like his natural beverage.”
Xander looks at Dawn. “You’re terrifying.”
“Now if we just knew how to find this thing,” says Dawn.
“Well, we could ask some questions over at Willy’s Place,” says Xander.
Buffy starts to stand up again. “Or we could be smart.” She gives Xander a look. “Sorry, Xander.”
“What?” Xander seems to have missed the unintended insult.
“Whoever did this had to get blood on them,” says Buffy, “which means they left a trail.”
“Right,” says Dawn. “Minute traces of blood.”
“And we have a way to track it,” says Buffy.
“We have a…” Dawn pauses. “Oh! I get it.”
“What?” Xander just looks confused. “How… What’s going on?”
Buffy, Xander and Dawn follow Spike through the woods. Dawn is armed with a sword, and Xander has a crossbow slung over his back.
“William’s a good boy,” says Spike. “Carries the water, carries the sin. It’s supposed to get easier, isn’t it? It’s supposed to help to help, but it doesn’t. It’s still so heavy.”
Xander thinks that they should have put a leash on Spike, but Buffy doesn’t think it would be such a good idea to tie themselves to the crazy vampire.
“Do you really think it’s going to work?” asks Xander.
“It’s pretty easy,” says Buffy. “Spike follows the exciting smell of blood. We follow the fairly ripe smell of Spike.”
“It’s smellementary.” Dawn ducks under a low tree branch. “Also, I’m sure there’s tons of stuff like this, you know, procedures we can use that don’t involve magic spells, just good solid detective work. And we could develop a database of tooth impressions and demon skin samples. And I could wear high heels more often.”
“Wow,” says Buffy, “that was so close to being empowered.”
“Everybody loves a slender ankle,” says Dawn.
Spike suddenly stops, and Xander runs into him. “That’s it, end of the line. Everyone off.” Spike turns and whispers to Xander. “Keep your ticket. You’ll need that.”
Buffy is a little uncertain, there seems to be nothing there but a rock cliff.
“Well, give him a break, Buffy,” says Xander. “Maybe it’s a vicious skin-eating rock cliff.”
“There’s a cave in it. Look.” Spike pulls aside some brush, revealing a narrow entrance into a cave. He looks at Buffy. “I’m insane.” He nods toward Xander. “What’s his excuse?”
Spike leaves Buffy, Dawn and Xander standing looking at the cave entrance.
Willow stands at the entrance to the cave in the woods. She crawls through the narrow opening into a larger interior cavern. It is dimly lit by torches on the walls, and a fire burning in a pit on the floor. She slowly moves deeper into the cavern.
Gnarl’s voice comes from the darkness. “All alone.”
Buffy, Xander and Dawn enter the cavern. Xander looks around. “Dark and dank. I was hoping it would be dark and dank.”
Buffy hears something moving in the darkness. “Shh… Do you hear that?”
Xander doesn’t at first, but soon he hears it too.
Gnarl’s shadow darts across an opening into a deeper part of the cave. “Something’s moving in here,” says Dawn.
“Guess we’re in the right place,” says Buffy.
Willow moves slowly through the cave.
“Look at the shorn lamb,” says Gnarl. “See how it trembles. Is it the cold wind? Ah! Or is it that the flock is nowhere to be seen?”
Dawn moves a little way away from Buffy and Xander. Gnarl’s voice echos through the darkness. “Poor little lamb, all alone.”
Dawn looks around, trying to find its source. “You guys hear that, right?”
“It’s echoing,” says Buffy. “I know it sounds close, but I don’t think—”
Gnarl suddenly shrieks and darts out of the shadows. He rakes one of his claws across Dawn’s abdomen, and then disappears into the darkness again.
Buffy and Xander rush to Dawn’s side. “Dawn! Are you okay?” asks Buffy.
“I guess so.” Dawn looks down at the scratch across her stomach. “Uhh… poison paralyses.”
“Dawn!” Buffy catches Dawn as she collapses. She looks around the cave. “Okay, we need to get her out of here. We’ll deal with him later. We’ll seal him in.”
Willow hears rocks moving by the cave entrance. She runs to it. “What’s going on? Who’s there?” She sees a final boulder fall into place, sealing the cave shut. “No! Stop!”
Gnarl’s laughter echos through the cave.
“No way out now,” says Gnarl. “No way out.”
Willow starts a spell:
“Protect me, Goddess.
In thy name, I supplicate myself.
Take the powers from my enemy
And lay him lower than the lowest field…”
“Gnarl loves spells,” says the voice from the darkness. “He keeps them as pets. They love him, and they leave him alone.” It laughs.
Willow tries shoving the stones blocking the entrance away, but she can’t budge them. She turns back into the cave. “You may be immune to magic, but I got more than that,” says Willow. “You want to fight?”
“Your friends left you here,” says Gnarl. “No one comes to save you.” it sings. “They wanted me to have you.”
Buffy and Xander carry Dawn through the woods. Buffy hopes that the computer records Dawn found for Gnarl will have the antidote.
Dawn apologises for getting scratched, in a voice that’s muffled by her paralysis.
“Oh, it’s okay,” says Buffy.
“You couldn’t help it,” says Xander. “It had paralyzing fingernails.”
“Just like she said it would,” says Buffy, “so good on you.”
“Did they leave you as a gifty for me?” asks Gnarl. “Are you a tasty little gifty?”
“Stop it!” says Willow.
“Or did they just throw you away?” asks Gnarl.
“Were they here?” asks Willow. “Were my friends really here? I heard something.”
Gnarl suddenly shrieks, and darts out of the shadows. It rakes a claw across Willow’s abdomen. She is paralysed almost instantly, and falls back against the cave wall.
“They were here. Here they were. And there they went. Gone all gone, what a pretty song!” sings Gnarl. “They sealed you in with me.”
Gnarl finally shows itself. It’s a naked humanoid demon, incredibly gaunt, with greenish skin, and its ribs clearly visible. It has a bald head, pointed ears, and a huge hooked nose. It grabs Willow by the ankles and pulls her away from the cave wall, so that she’s lying on the cave floor.
“I love a gifty. Can’t wait to unwrap it.” Gnarl clacks its claws together, and bends down over Willow. It licks the blood from the scratch on her stomach.
Xander and Buffy carry the stiff Dawn in through the front door of Buffy’s house. They carry her into the living room, and dump her face down onto the sofa.
“’Ace u’!” mumbles Dawn. “’Ace u’!”
“Oh, she’s right.” Xander rolls Dawn over. “Face up is better.”
Buffy goes to check the computer, to see if it says anything about an antidote, while Xander tries to reassure Dawn. “We’ll get you fixed up. You’ll be doing limbo in no time.”
“Yeah, as a ’ole.”
“No. Not as a pole,” says Xander. “I promise.”
“Oh. Got it!” Buffy pauses. She doesn’t like what she’s found. “It says the paralysis is permanent.”
“’It!” says Dawn.
“No. Oh, wait! My bad.” Buffy has read a little more. “Um, permanent until the creature dies. Sorry.” Buffy comes back to the sofa. “Ahh, guys, we have to go back.”
“We can’t just leave her here like this,” says Xander. “What if she vomits?”
“I ’on’t ’o’it,” says Dawn.
“Do you think she’ll vomit?” asks Buffy.
“Sto’ talking adout ’o’it!” says Dawn.
“I’ll call Anya.” Buffy goes to the phone, and starts dialing Anya’s number. “She can watch her.”
“Right,” says Xander. “She’ll love being called for vomit watch.”
“Sto’! Talking! Adout! ’O’it!” says Dawn. Xander pats her hand.
Gnarl carves another cut across Willow’s stomach with its claw. “Gnarl makes a pretty picture. It’s easy when you know how. It’s easy when everyone helps.” It licks Willow’s blood from its claw. “They helped me. Too bad there’s no one to help you.”
Gnarl peels off a strip of Willow’s skin, tilts its head back, and slurps it down.
Anya looks at Dawn lying on the sofa. “I bet she’s dying.”
Buffy straps a sheathed knife to her calf. “She’s not dying.” She pulls her pant leg down over it. “She’s just paralyzed.”
Anya wants to know what sort of paralysis it is, there are lots of different kinds. “Did you try this?” She grabs Dawn’s ankles and lifts her feet up into the air.
“Hey!” says Buffy.
“’Ey!” says Dawn. She’s stuck with her legs pointing up into the air.
“Oh!” says Xander. “You’re posable!”
“She’s posable?” asks Buffy.
“It’s a common variety. Watch this.” Anya lifts Dawn up, and swings her around so she’s sitting on the sofa. “Hah. Neat as you please. Hardly need to undo her.”
“’Es, ’ou do!” says Dawn.
“No need to thank me, by the way, for sitting with her,” says Anya as Buffy goes back to her weapons trunk for more. “I’m feeling very benevolent today. Helping Willow, helping you. Might even call it even for that whole worm thing last week.”
Buffy pulls an axe out of her trunk. “Yeah, I don’t think we could call— Wait. You saw Willow?”
“Mm-hmm,” says Anya. “Oh, she’s looking for you, by the way. Decided you might be out in some cave. Sounded pretty tenuous.”
“’Ave?” asks Dawn.
“Anya, listen. This is really important,” says Buffy. “Did Willow go to that cave?”
“Mm-hmm,” says Anya. “Last time I saw her, that’s where she was headed.” Anya lifts Dawn’s left hand up and starts manipulating her fingers. “Shall I make her salute? That’d be very cute.”
“Xander, she could be there right now!” says Buffy. “Willow could be trapped with the Gnarl!”
“It’s not the Gnarl,” says Anya. “It’s just Gnarl. Whoa, wouldn’t it be tragic if you were here being kind of silly with your comically paralyzed sister while Willow was dying?”
“Anya, you know about this creature?” asks Buffy.
“Uh-huh. Sure.”
Buffy hands Anya the axe. “You’re coming with us.”
“Oh.” Anya stands up, and pats Dawn on the head.
Dawn is left alone sitting on the sofa, with her left hand stuck in a cub scout salute. Buffy comes back briefly to shove the TV remote into her hand. “Mmph,” whines Dawn. She can’t work it.
“’Ouldn’ lea’e,” cries Willow. “’Ey’ll ’eturn!”
Gnarl laughs. “They don’t want you. Lock you in, nice white skin.” It lifts its face away from Willow’s stomach, her blood running down its chin. “And if they do return, where would they find you? Inside me you’ll already be.”
Gnarl peels off another strip of skin from Willow’s stomach. “Oh…lovely…” It leans down and licks her blood.
Buffy, Xander and Anya run through the woods. Xander yells for Anya to keep up.
“I’m out of shape!” says Anya. “I’ve been teleporting for months!”
“Hurry!” shouts Buffy.
Willow whimpers as Gnarl peels off another strip of skin, and slurps it down.
Buffy breaks through into the cave, and sees Gnarl. “What’s going on? Where’s Willow?” Gnarl retreats back into the shadows.
“She’s right here.” Anya points to Willow on the ground. “Can’t you see her? She’s hurt.”
“What? Where?” Xander starts waving his hands through the space Anya pointed at. “There’s nothing here.”
“Your hand, it’s going right through her!” says Anya. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, but I’m starting to get why we haven’t seen her,” says Buffy.
“Because we haven’t seen her,” says Xander.
Buffy looks around. “I have this feeling that whatever’s causing this invisible thing is a whole separate issue from the skin-eating monster.”
“Behind you!” calls Anya.
Buffy spins around, and dodges, just as Gnarl slashes at her. Its claw slashes her blouse, but misses her skin. “Close one!”
“Remember what I said,” says Anya. “Get him in the eyes!”
Buffy attacks Gnarl, slashing with her knife while staying out of range of its claws.
Anya kneels beside Willow. “Willow. I’m here.” She looks at Willow’s bloody stomach. “Wow, you’re really hurt.”
“’Ut’s going on?” asks Willow.
“Buffy is fighting the demon over there.” Anya points toward Buffy and Gnarl. “See?”
Willow looks, but all she can see is Gnarl, ducking and dodging something she can’t see.
“But if they get too close,” says Anya. “I’m going to have to run.”
“I ’own’ see!” says Willow.
“But they’re here,” says Anya. “Buffy and Xander.”
“So’eone came!” says Willow. “’Ey ’idn’ lea’e ’e!”
“No. They didn’t leave you,” says Anya. “They can’t see you.”
“’Ey’re ’ere,” says Willow. “’Ey’re ’ere. I’ not alone.”
“Good,” says Anya. “You’re doing really good.”
Gnarl and Buffy are still dodging one another, slashing with claws and knife, and neither letting the other get close enough to strike. Gnarl laughs, and jumps over top of Buffy, trying to get behind her.
Buffy ducks, and spins. She drives her knife through the top of Gnarl’s foot and into the ground, pinning it in place. She stands quickly as it screams from the pain and grabs its head in both hands. She drives her thumbs into its eyes.
Gnarl screams as its eyeballs pop, and it collapses dead to the ground.
“Eww!” says Xander. “Eww. Thumbs? I can’t believe you did that.”
“Ah.” Anya tells Willow. “Buffy killed the demon. It was gross.”
“I can… I can move.” Willow gasps in pain. “Oh…”
Dawn squeals as the paralysis leaves her, and she falls off the sofa.
“Willow, are you here?” asks Buffy.
“Where is she?” asks Xander. “Is she alive?”
“She’s right here,” says Anya. “Okay, stand back. You’re getting your feet in her. She’s hurt really bad, you guys. I’m going to go get help.”
Anya leaves the cave. Xander stands pointing to a patch on the ground. “I think she’s sort of… here-ish.”
“Willow?” asks Buffy. “We—we can’t exactly see you. But we’re really glad that you’re back. I—I don’t know how badly you’re hurt, but—”
Lights start to sparkle around the patch of ground that Willow is lying on.
“What’s happening?” asks Xander.
“I couldn’t find you guys, and I looked everywhere,” says Willow. “And the demon said that you left me and—” Willow sees Buffy and Xander appear over her. “Oh! There you are. There you are! Don’t go away!”
“We’re not going away,” says Xander. He sees the wound on Willow’s stomach. “Oh, god.”
Buffy knees beside her friend. “It’s going to be okay, Will. You’re going to be okay.”
“I know,” says Willow. “You’re here.”
Buffy looks in the door of her old room, and sees Willow sitting with her legs crossed on the bed. Her eyes are closed, and she’s resting her hands on her knees. Willow is wearing pyjamas, and Buffy can see the bandage on her stomach. She turns to go.
Willow opens her eyes. “Buffy.”
Buffy turns back. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“That’s all I had left in me anyway,” says Willow.
“I didn’t realise meditating was such hard work.”
“I’m healing,” says Willow. “Growing new skin.”
“Wow! That’s magic, right?” Buffy steps into the room. “I mean, when most people meditate, they don’t get extra skin, right? ’Cause Clem should, like, cut back.” She sits down on the edge of the bed.
“It’s magic,” says Willow. “I’m drawing power from the Earth to heal myself.”
“We’re on the second floor,” says Buffy.
Willow smiles. “You know, Giles says everything’s a part of the Earth. This bed, the air, us.”
“Explains why my fingernails get dirty even when I don’t do anything.”
“Plus you stuck your thumbs in a demon,” says Willow.
“True.” Buffy watches Willow very carefully lean back against her pillows. “You’re wiped out. I should go.”
“No. Please stay,” says Willow. “I missed you so much when I couldn’t find you.”
“We missed you, too,” says Buffy. “I missed you. Dawn’s working on what caused the mutual no-see-ums, but so far we haven’t—”
“I did it,” says Willow.
“You did a spell?”
“I didn’t mean to,” says Willow. “I just remember thinking I wasn’t ready to see you guys yet, and I was afraid we wouldn’t, you know, connect.”
“So… you made it happen just by thinking it?” Buffy isn’t sure how she feels about that.
“Guess I have a ways to go before I master my powers, huh?” says Willow.
“It’s okay,” says Buffy. “As long as you’re all right.”
“It’s nice to be forgiven,” says Willow. “Too bad I need so much of it.”
“I have a confession to make.” Buffy glances down. “I thought it might be you…with the flaying.”
“I know,” says Willow.
“I want to be the kind of person that wouldn’t think that,” says Buffy. “Xander never thought it.”
“He did, a little,” says Willow. “Heck, I did a little. Xander has the luxury of not saying it. But you’re the Slayer. You have to say stuff like that. It’s okay. It’s okay, too, if you still don’t think I can recover from this magic stuff. Because, honestly, I’m not that sure about it either.” Willow lifts herself back up into her meditation pose.
“I thought you were too tired,” says Buffy.
“It hurts too much not to try,” says Willow.
“I’m sorry.”
“Well, it just takes so much strength,” says Willow. “I don’t have that much.”
Buffy moves in front of Willow on the bed and crosses her legs too. “Well, I got so much strength, I’m giving it away.” She reaches out and takes Willow’s hands in hers.
“Are you sure?” asks Willow.
“Will it help?” asks Buffy.
“Much,” says Willow.
“Good.” Buffy closes her eyes.
Buffy and Willow sit together facing each other on the bed, holding hands and meditating together.
| Who or What | Where | How |
|---|---|---|
| Teenaged boy | School gym construction site | Skinned alive by Gnarl |
| Gnarl | Cave in the woods | Eyes gouged out by Buffy |