Act 5
Cut To:
Int.
College Campus Union – Basement – Resume
The individuals in the circle all looked at each other.
“You’re here to save us? What does that even mean?” one of the women asked in confusion.
“A battle is coming.” Grace told her. “There’s a threat facing Earth unlike any other we’ve seen in decades, if ever. Some of you may have heard some rumblings about an Empress named Zorgy. If you heard she is going to do terrible things, I can assure you that rumor is true and happening sooner rather than later. We suspect she’s listening to us via our electronics, so that’s why we needed the phones off.”
“That still doesn’t answer why you’re here.”
“The world needs your help,” Xander replied.
“Yes,” Grace agreed. “And not just the vampires in this circle, but the other demons you know, maybe even other vampires who still feed from humans, unlike all of you. Even they have a stake in what happens.”
“No pun intended?” Xander asked, as a few people nervously giggled in the room. Grace smiled at the remark.
“We are not here to harm anyone,” she reassured them. “Quite the opposite. This Empress is threatening to destroy everything on Earth, including all of you.” Grace shifted to focus on the other side of the room. “So we need fighters who are strong, who are coordinated and who are demons with something worth fighting for here on earth, because let’s be honest, if she wipes out every living creature, what will any surviving vampires drink?”
“Are you promising immunity?” a man asked.
“Meaning?” Xander answered.
“Once the war is over, and we win, we’re not going to be hunted by the Council immediately after?”
“We haven’t so far, have we?” Grace posed.
“No,” the vampire agreed. “But…as you most likely already know, the faces you see here tonight are just a few of us. If we’re all together in one place, it might be easier to…get the inevitable over with and just destroy us then and there.”
“We won’t,” Grace said. “You’ve been building a community of non-bloodsuckers for decades now, rather successfully, I might add. That makes our life easier. Besides, we already know all about you, about everyone here. If we wanted you dead…”
“We’d be dead,” he finished.
“Exactly,” Xander added. “As for any friends or family who still feed on humans? No immunity. With them, it’s more like a temporary ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ situation. Point is, we need strong individuals to help us face this threat. Grace asked me to be the recruiter for the vampire brigade. So I’m asking all of you…please consider helping us in this fight to save life as we know it, or in your case, un-life.”
He began to pass out business cards to each vampire in the circle. “Take a few and please give them to other demons who, y’know, enjoy that crazy thing called existing. Trust us. Zorgy is not coming to hand out friendship bracelets, so we all need to depend on each other.”
The vampires smiled and began to take the cards Xander passed out, while the group leader came up to Grace.
“Thank you for remembering us.”
“Thank you for letting us speak tonight,” she replied.
“I’ll be honest. I’m not sure who will join you, but I know I will. Xander and the Council have helped us with weapons to help fight against the Chaben demons that keep attacking us. We wouldn’t be here without you. I get that. Several of us here do. So if this threat is so large that you need our help…well, we’ve got your back.”
“I meant what I said. What you created here is brilliant…and appreciated,” Grace told him.
He looked down at the container Xander had placed on the floor. “Not to go all Brad Pitt in Seven, but…what’s in the box?”
Grace smiled at the reference and then opened the top to reveal pouches of blood.
“Just a thank you for listening to us tonight,” she told him. “And I plan to have more at the battle for you.”
“That’s great, thanks, so…” He trailed off and looked at the packaging. “Wait. Is this…?”
“Yeah, O negative. Our resident vamp Skye swears the universal blood type is delicious. Personally, I wouldn’t know. Only blood I’ve tasted is my own, A-positive, by the way.”
“Hopefully it’s been a while since you tasted it,” he offered.
Grace shook her head. “A baseball got away from me when practicing for the first pitch. I missed it with my mitt, but I caught it with my face.”
“Ouch. I saw the game, by the way. Good to see you’re up and around now.”
“Thanks. I’m glad you like our host gift this evening.” She motioned to the box.
“Are you kidding? This is like Dom Perignon,” he said.
“Should I mention this is also slayer blood, or will that blow your mind?”
The vampire made a noise between a squawk and a squeal and Grace chuckled.
Black Out
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Briefing Room– Evening
Grace and Jim stood together in the wings of the Council’s Briefing Room. He peeked out between two curtains and said, “It’s a full house. That’s something, at least.”
“As long as there are no Olsen Twins,” she replied, leaning heavily on her crutches. He gave her a wan look over his shoulder. “Sorry, failed attempt at humor to ease the tension. Anyway, I’m more worried about the people watching on TV and online than the people here.” She let out a long, slow breath. “We’ve gone through this a bunch, you and I, but I gotta say, when I was growing up, I never thought that the fate of the Earth would rest on my public speaking skills. I might have skipped a couple WoW raids, had I known. The text is in the prompter?”
“Yes,” he replied, turning back to face her. “With the new language you wanted.” He put a finger to a small earpiece nestled in one ear. “The networks are about to cut in. Are you ready, Chairwoman?”
“Nooope,” she said. “But we’re gonna do this anyway.”
Cut To:
Int.
TV Feed – Anchor Desk – Same Time
A TV anchor sitting behind a desk put a finger to his ear, then looked back into the camera. “We’re getting word now that the Watchers Council Chairwoman is about to begin her address. So we’ll head live to Cleveland now.”
Cut To:
Int.
TV Feed – Watchers Council – Briefing Room – Same Time
With the assistance of her crutches, Grace pulled herself out onto the stage in front of the large Council coat of arms to a barrage of flashbulbs. Upon reaching the podium and its microphone, she stopped for a moment, looking around at the gathered crowd of reporters. Below her, the news network ran a large-print chyron reading “Important Announcement from Chairwoman Hatherley.”
Then she cleared her throat and said, “First, I want to thank everyone for their well-wishes for the last few days. As you can see by my being able to walk out here, well, sorta anyway, I am on my way to a full recovery following the vicious attack on my life made at the baseball game. That attack has only made me more resolute in my urge to oppose all threats to the safety of this planet and its inhabitants.”
“We now believe, and trust me that I do not say this lightly, we now believe that the assassination attempt was only the opening salvo in a war for this planet and the lives of everyone on it. We are not providing additional information at this time, in order to maintain security, as I’m sure you’ll understand. But the threat is real, it is imminent and it is to the entirety of the human race.”
“Here’s the good news: the Watchers Council is aware. This is the fight we have been preparing for the last decade or more. But we’re going to need everyone’s help to hold back this threat. And when I say everyone, I mean you, watching on your TV or your phone. How can you help, you might ask? The answer is, leave Cleveland. But do so in an orderly fashion.”
She took a sip from a glass of water sitting on her podium, more flashbulbs bursting as she did. Then she said, “I have spoken to the Mayor of Cleveland, the Cuyahoga County Executive, the Governor of Ohio, the Governor of Pennsylvania and the U.S. President. All national guard units in the Midwest are on standby. We have all agreed to issue a mandatory evacuation order for all civilians from the Cleveland Metropolitan Area. What does that mean? Well, we’re asking everyone to leave the area before midnight this Sunday, May 26. If we’re right, it won’t be long before Cleveland is a battlefield.”
She licked her lips, paused and looked around the room. “I know this sounds scary. Maybe it sounds like the big bad Council is trying to control you and you’ll refuse to leave. We can’t guarantee your safety should you stay. What we need most from you right now is to calmly and orderly evacuate the counties near Cleveland. Take family pets and anything of value with you, whether it’s monetary or sentimental. All residents should travel away from Cleveland to the next county. Mr. Pollan will discuss the full evacuation procedures, but in short, go at least one county away from Cleveland. For example, Lorian residents should move further west where we have shelter locations in nearby Erie, Ottawa and Sandusky Counties, as well as Lucas and Wood Counties. Those in the south and east are advised to move further south and further east, respectively. In addition, all toll roads are open and free from charges during this emergency, while major roads coming into the city will be closed tomorrow morning.”
“I can also make you this promise, right now: this is not the end of the world. We will win this. Because we have to win this. That’s all.”
Then she crutched off the stage, ignoring the several dozen reporters shouting questions at her. Jim rushed to the podium to take her place.
“Sorry everyone, the Chairwoman is extremely busy and still recovering, so she won’t be taking any questions today. But I will do my level best to clarify anything regarding the logistics of the evacuation that is still unclear, or–”
Cut To:
Int.
Briefing Room – Watchers Council – Same Time
Grace returned to the wings of the Briefing Room to find Shannon there, waiting for her.
“If it isn’t Little Miss Sunshine,” Grace said, with clearly false enthusiasm.
“You can’t tell people that,” Shannon said seriously. “You have no idea whether the world will be here next week or not.”
Grace looked the Lead Slayer in the eye and replied, “If it isn’t, nobody will be around to call me on it. If I’m able to reassure one person, then isn’t it worth going out on a limb?”
Shannon took a deep breath through her nose, but said nothing.
Cut To:
Int.
Vor – Zorgy’s Palace – Same Time
“Ha!” Zorgy crowed.
Wearing a t-shirt from a Something Corporate concert tour, she sat back in her surprisingly modern swivel chair, its wheels bumping over the black marble tiles beneath. The aftermath of Grace’s speech played out on the laptop monitor in front of her. She laughed again, loudly.
“Empress?” Krog’s hulking silhouette appeared in the doorway behind her. “Is anything wrong?”
“I’m good,” she assured him, once she got the laughing under control. “The bitch has some fucking ovaries; I’ll give her that.” She looked over her shoulder at her enormous, horned minion. “I don’t know exactly what they’re thinking, but I know for sure that they think that got me pegged. You tell me, Krog, buddy…You’ve known me as long as anybody. Have you ever known anybody, anywhere, anytime, that really had me pegged?”
Krog thought for a few long seconds, then said, “No, my Empress. You remain ever an enigma.”
“Damn Skippy.”
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Waiting Room Outside Grace’s Office – Night
Kennedy arrived in the waiting area outside the Chairwoman’s office to find Faith and Shannon already sitting silently in widely separated chairs.
“Ms. Calendar,” Grace’s assistant Carolyn acknowledged from behind the reception desk. “I’ll let the Chairwoman know you’re here as well.”
“You guys here for the emergency planning meeting, too?” Kennedy asked as she walked over and took a seat next to Faith. The other woman raised an eyebrow at her choice of seat. Shannon just nodded.
“Not sure why she asked me here,” Faith said. “Grace, you and Shan make three branches: Watchers, Coven and Slayers. I’m the odd one out.”
“Well, this is why you came back, right?” Kennedy said. “To help out ’cause the world’s in danger or whatever?” Faith said nothing in response to this, just gave a small nod. Kennedy looked down at her hands, hesitating, then said, “So, Kadin and I’ve been talking. Do you want to, I dunno, come over for dinner sometime soon? After the world doesn’t end, I mean?” When she finished her question, she looked up at the other woman hopefully.
Faith blinked in surprise, then cut her eyes over to Shannon. The Lead Slayer’s eyes betrayed nothing, but she was watching Faith intently. She took a deep breath, then said, “Well, I–”
She stopped, looking up at the outer doorway. Kennedy and Shannon also looked over to see Tess Muller standing just inside the waiting room, accompanied by a slayer guard.
“Oh good,” Shannon said quietly. She did not sound like she meant it.
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Grace’s Office – Minutes Later
“This is the time,” Grace said, from her new chair behind her Chairwoman’s desk. Her former chair was nowhere to be seen. Kennedy and Faith sat on either side of one round table in the other half of the office, Tess and Shannon in other chairs nearer the desk. “We have a rare opportunity here, to actually get all our ducks in a row before the big battle. We don’t have a lot of advantages here, but that’s one of them. I wanted to get the three branches together and talk to our two biggest trump cards when it comes to information. And I do want to thank you, Kennedy, for coming in Jeff’s place. He just took over, but he says you’ve been here and know exactly what resources are where, and he’s very busy getting up to speed in any case.”
“I don’t know how much of a trump card I am,” Tess said. “I’ve answered every question you’ve asked me as best I can, but it doesn’t feel like I’ve been much of a help.”
“I agree, at least with the last part,” Shannon said darkly.
“I think we might have a better idea of exactly what questions to ask now,” Grace said, “And I haven’t had you ladies in the room with Ms. Muller before.” She looked over at Shannon. “Now that we’ve all been de-cursed, I’m hoping that this will work out without anyone coming to severe physical harm?”
Shannon shrugged, keeping her eyes locked on Tess. “Well, maybe not severe harm.”
Tess swallowed nervously.
“Okay, but that doesn’t explain…” Kennedy trailed off, looked over at Faith, and licked her lips. “You said two trump cards. I’m assuming Faith is the other one. But…I feel like I’m missing something here.”
Faith opened her mouth to reply, but it was Grace who spoke. “Faith is here because she knows the future,” she said matter-of-factly.
Faith’s eyes got very big. Kennedy and Shannon both turned to look at her, brows creased in confusion.
“I know you haven’t been telling anyone whatever your deal is, and I’m sorry to force you out of the closet or however you’d like to think of it,” Grace continued, “but this is the apocalypse, okay? Whatever you know, we all have to know it. Now.”
Faith glanced back over at Kennedy, who was now threatening to glare a hole through her. She sighed and said, “She said that wrong. I don’t know the future, okay? I know…I knew what happened in one shitty-ass version of the future, one that we hopefully stopped from happening, knock on wood. So…”
“So tell us what not to do,” Grace insisted. “Whatever we did in that timeline, we should definitely not do that stuff.”
Shannon leaned forward, one hand raised. “I-I’m sorry, I’m going to need way more backstory here. Future? Timeline? What the hell?”
Grace just gestured to Faith with both palms out, giving her the floor.
For her part, Faith took a deep breath, then said, “I was…sent back. Well, a version of me was sent back. By you, Slick. Future you, that is. It’s so hard to talk about this shit.”
“Don’t call me Slick,” Kennedy said coldly.
Faith hesitated, just for a moment, then kept going. “In that world, Zorgy won. Grace got killed at the baseball game, the invasion came right after. The Council lost. I was in LA. By the time I made it to Cleveland, it was months later. The only…the only people from the Council alive were Ken and a couple of Red & Blondie’s kids. Everything sucked, pretty much.” She looked over at Kennedy. “So future you figured out how to send my, I dunno, my consciousness back into this body before Grace got killed, so I could stop it.”
“Just like Days of Future Past,” commented Tess, sounding like she was in shock at the revelation.
“I need to watch that movie,” Faith sighed.
“Read the comic, it’s way better,” Grace said quietly, not looking at anyone.
Faith blinked at the Chairwoman. “Anyway, I…don’t know how any of this works. I’m not sure anybody really did. We were desperate. But the one thing that you knew…” She pointed to Kennedy. “Grace’s death was the snowball that became an avalanche. But I know that the me from that world, the one that was in my head…she faded away, I guess? She’s gone. It’s just me now. But I remember remembering what she remembered, if that makes sense.”
“It doesn’t,” Shannon put in.
“The point is, nothing that’s happened since the Slayers game has been the same as that other world,” Faith explained, sounding slightly exasperated.
“The point is, you lied to me,” Kennedy said. Hurt showed through in her voice. “Lied to all of us. Again.”
Faith opened her mouth to speak, but she made no sound before she was interrupted.
“The point is,” Grace put in, raising her voice slightly, “the Council in that other world had the same resources this one does, and Zorgy’s army slaughtered it. If we don’t figure out something the us in that world didn’t, all of this is gonna be moot.” After a few moments of silence from the other women, she turned back to Tess. “Okay, you’re the only person I know who’s actually seen Zorgy’s forces with her own eyes. Let’s start there…”
Cut To:
Int.
Buffy & Xander’s Apartment – Living Room – Evening
When Buffy opened her door, she was startled to be immediately pulled into a bear hug by Emma.
“I’m so glad you’re not quitting,” the slayer said, her voice muffled due to her face being buried in her watcher’s shoulder. “I don’t care about being independent, I don’t want to do this without my Summers.”
In response, Buffy could only produce a strangled squeak, her eyes bulging.
“Oh, sorry!” Emma took a step back, releasing her watcher. The door behind her was still open, and she retrieved the pair of large reusable shopping bags she had brought with her before closing it behind her. Buffy, meanwhile, took a second to remember to breathe again.
“It’s good to see you,” she said. “I’m glad I’m not quitting, too. And I’m glad you came. Figured you might be busy with other stuff, given the impending battle situation.”
“Seriously, there’s nowhere I’d rather be.” Emma swallowed. “And, um, my room is just a little too quiet, since…” She trailed off, her eyes wandering down to the carpet.
“Yeah,” Buffy agreed awkwardly. Hurriedly, she changed the subject. “I just, um, I actually wanted to talk, now that we’re both, y’know, totemless and fancy free.”
“For sure,” Emma agreed. She held up her shopping bags. “Just let me put these down. I hope you guys haven’t started cooking tonight, because I thought I could share some of my favorite stuff with you guys, if that’s okay?”
Buffy’s smile in response had the definite air of being forced. “Nope, we haven’t started yet”,” she managed through her teeth.
Cut To:
Int.
Buffy & Xander’s Apartment – Kitchen – Moments Later
Xander walked into the kitchen from the other side as Emma and Buffy entered from the living room. He placed Joyce and her carrier on the table.
Emma put her bags down next to the baby and leaned down over her. “Hey girl!” She reached a finger toward Joyce and found it grasped between thick baby fingers. Emma looked up at her watcher. “Are you guys sure this one’s not a slayer? Because she’s got a helluva grip.”
“We are actually not sure of that,” Xander said, leaning back on the counter. “You never know. I might’ve, um, been with more slayers than any other stud alive, so I have had the thought that having to deal with having a slayer for a daughter would be like balancing the karmic scales somehow.”
Buffy’s eyes got very big. Emma snorted and laughed, holding up a hand. “Wait wait wait. How many slayers have you…?”
For a moment, Xander looked like he was doing math in his head. Then Buffy took a few steps forward, waving her arms between him and Emma like a referee breaking up a fight. “Nope! We are not doing that.” She turned to her husband and pointedly continued, “And if Joyce did turn out to be a slayer, it would have nothing to do with you and your karma. It would be because she was Chosen by the mystical forces of the universe. Your only job would be to support and help her. Are we clear?”
“Crystal,” Xander replied, an enormous grin now on his face.
With a put-upon sigh, Buffy turned back to her slayer. “Now, I did want to talk, with all three of us here, before you got too busy with stuff.”
Emma’s brow furrowed slightly, and she sat down in one of the chairs at the table. “Is this about the DC thing? I totally understand why someone would say no thanks. Really, who in their right mind wants to move to the place nicknamed ‘Demontown’? I get that you have a life and stuff.” She nodded toward Joyce in her carrier. “But in spite of all that, this is important work, and I’m needed there. Truth is, they could use you, too, but I was serious when I said you’ve got a life here. Roots. I get it.”
Xander and Buffy looked at each other, and he nodded for her to go on with a small smile. She sat down at the table next to Emma. “Well, that’s the thing. I do have a life. We have a life. And whether any of us planned for it or not, you’re a part of that life. A part of this family. You get that, right?”
Her slayer sniffed loudly, her eyes misting over. “I mean, I guess so. I don’t…I didn’t want to assume.”
“You are family. And this new position, Lead Slayer at a whole branch, at one of the largest cities on Earth, it’s a huge opportunity for you, Em. And well deserved,” Buffy continued. “It’s everything you’ve been working for. And…okay, if Joyce here turns out to be, say, an Olympic figure skater, we would move wherever she needed to be so that she could pursue her dream, right?”
“I mean, we never actually discussed the Olympics…” Xander began, but Buffy turned to him with a raised eyebrow, and he quickly closed his mouth.
Emma blinked several times, eyes getting shinier by the second. “Are you…”
“I’m your watcher. I want a front row seat to all the wonderful things you’re gonna do,” Buffy told her proudly.
Emma’s voice broke, and she tried again. “Are you saying that you’ll come with me?”
“I’m saying we all will.” Buffy nodded with a smile.
“Oh, Summers…” Emma jumped forward, arms again enfolding her watcher. She managed not to strangle her this time. For a solid four seconds, the two women just hugged each other. Xander watched them with a smile.
Buffy turned her head to speak into her slayer’s ear. “You know I love you, right?”
Emma sniffed again, a huge smile breaking out on her face while, at the same time, tears began to fall from her eyes in earnest. “I love you too, Summers,” she barely managed.
She pulled back then and grabbed a tissue from the dispenser in the middle of the table. She loudly blew her nose, while Buffy and Xander shot each other knowing looks and small smiles. Joyce giggled at the noise.
“Shoot, I’m sorry, I’m such a mess,” Emma said as she dabbed at her eyes with another tissue. She took a deep breath, gathering herself. “Okay. Well, they have a lot better Korean food in DC than here, so you guys better get used to it.”
She got up and started rooting through one of the bags. Buffy’s smile waned slightly.
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Grace’s Office – Later
Tess held her fingers together in a prymid shape as she appeared to be deep in thought. “Zorgy never said anything about other embedded mages, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have them,” she said, as the emergency meeting continued in Grace’s Office. “For all I know, she could’ve cursed me, too. Is there any way you could use your detector to figure out if I’m cursed?”
Grace sighed and ran a hand over her face. “I mean, once we win this, I’ll have a lot more time for that. So it’s in your interest to help with the winning.”
“It’s in her interest anyway,” Shannon pointed out. She looked hard at Tess. “If we can’t stop her, she’s not just going to kill you, she’s going to make an example out of you. You know that, right? And if the world ends after all and we’re both still here, I’ll kill ya myself for helping her.”
“Shannon,” Grace sighed in frustration.
“Hey, this is me totem free,” Shannon told her. “Totems can’t make you different. They only amplify, right? She’s damn lucky I’m better, or I’d probably toss her out the window without a second thought for teaming up with that snake.”
“Shannon,” Grace tried again. “Please.”
The room fell silent for a moment.
“Look,” Faith began, “I haven’t been in all the jam sessions here, so maybe I’m missing something,” she said, holding up a hand. “I know she wants to murder all the humans or whatever, I get that, but it seems like this chick is out to get the Council, specifically. Am I wrong?”
“At the risk of being tossed through a window for speaking…you’re not wrong,” Tess offered quietly.
“Exactly. She didn’t just curse you guys,” Faith continued, “she went out of her way to try to kill you, Grace, you personally. It seems to me like she got captured because she wanted to fuck around with you guys, specifically, and not just over Zoom or whatever. So my question is, why?”
“I don’t know how much of the interrogation transcripts you read,” Grace replied, “but assuming she wasn’t lying, which, who the hell knows, but it seems like she blames us for killing her mom? And her brother? And kinda ruining her life in Vor? And that maybe she sort of had a point? Not a point that would justify genocide, but still.”
“The bitch is an Empress now, how much could her life have been ruined?” Shannon asked.
“I mean, no offense, but get back to me with that question after somebody murders your mom,” Kennedy said pointedly. She pitched a thumb toward Faith. “Faith’s got a friend who knows all about killing moms,” she snarled.
“Yeah, the same friend who recently saved your stranded ass on a mountain.” Faith shook her head, trying to ignore the venom and get back on topic. “Here’s the thing, I don’t buy it. None of this feels like revenge stuff to me, and I say that as somebody who’s done some revenge in her day, y’know? The totems, shooting Grace, the stuff with Tess and her slayer people…it’s very specific. She doesn’t want the Council to be in fighting shape when she gets here.”
Tess cleared her throat. “She told me that, when she was done with them, the Council wouldn’t be in any shape to stop anybody,” she offered. “She said over and over that we didn’t need to worry about you guys.”
“In my experience,” Faith said, “you know who talks the most about how not worried they are? Worried people.”
Grace blinked as she thought this over. “Okay.” The mechanism inside her brain ticked over. “Okay. So, there is something we can do, could do, that she thinks could be a problem. We’ve just gotta figure out what that something is. Somehow.”
“Why do you think Zorgy bothered with you?” Faith prompted Tess.
“I-I was the CEO of the third-biggest pharmaceutical company in the United States,” the former CEO stammered. “A lot of people bothered with me.”
“Which begs the question, why not the CEOs of the first- or second-biggest pharmaceutical companies,” Kennedy pointed out. “No offense.” She paused. “Maybe some offense.”
“You guys were working with the Council already, right?” Faith asked. “On figuring out if there was some way to bring back powers for slayers over thirty?” Tess just nodded. “And the actual thing that you were doing for her caused…what? A bunch of deactivated girls to die horribly. Right?”
“Well, she used different words than this, but she basically told me that even if girls didn’t take the serum themselves, she wanted to sow distrust between them and the Council. She wanted to separate the Council from the slayers, even deactivated ones,” Tess said.
Shannon leaned forward, interested. “Did she ever tell you why she cared about deactivated slayers?”
Tess shook her head. “No. I always thought it was weird, honestly. Shouldn’t the active slayers be the ones she was worried about?”
Grace was still thinking. “I wonder…”
“What?” Shannon pressed. “I hate to say it, but Tess here’s right. It doesn’t make sense.”
“What if…?” Kennedy began quietly. She cut herself off, but when she looked around, she realized everyone was looking at her. She swallowed then repeated, “What if her seers saw something…something that makes her worried that we’ll figure out how to give all the deactivated slayers their powers back?” This received some dubious looks from the group. “I’m serious,” she said defensively. “It seems like we need a home run swing here. That would be a grand slam, if we could pull it off.”
“But…” Grace sighed. “But in order to hit a Grand Slam, don’t we have to hit the ball first?” She paused, then looked over at Shannon. “Sorry, sports metaphors aren’t my wheelhouse. I got that right, didn’t I?” Shannon looked like she was thinking for a second then nodded. Grace sighed. “What I mean is, we’ve had, I don’t mind saying, the biggest and best magical and medical minds on this, for years. They’re still at square one. There’s no way they’ll figure this out between now and when the invasion gets here.”
“And Willow’s tried practically everything,” Shannon replied. “Even scaled Mount Olympus to chat with Artemis, but no go.”
Kennedy held up a finger. “I was with Willow when she activated all the slayers with the Scythe. What if we did that again?”
“I lost the Scythe, remember?” Shannon sighed. “I think maybe Lorinda shoulda saved it instead of me.”
“You’re much more important,” Kennedy assured her. “What I mean is…maybe Will and company have been thinking about this the wrong way.” She sat forward, enthusiasm suddenly showing through in her voice.
Faith was looking at her former friend with appreciation, but the others seemed less sanguine. “I’m gonna need you to spell it out for me, Ken,” said Shannon.
“We’ve been working hard to try to give the deactivated slayers their powers back for good, because we’re worried about what happens to them after the powers go away, right? We know some have ailments and diseases that slayerhood kept at bay,” Kennedy explained. The room nodded. “As someone once paralyzed while a slayer, I know that’s what worried me. But Zorgy doesn’t give a shit about any of that. Why is she worried about it? It’s because all those extra slayers would give us an edge when she comes over for the world’s most violent girls’ night.”
Grace’s mouth opened slightly in realization.
“Zorgy’s not worried that we’re going to give the slayers back their powers forever,” Kennedy continued. “She’s worried that we’re going to give the slayers back their powers for a night, consequences be damned, because that’s what she would do.”
“We’re not going to load these women up with that serum,” Shannon said firmly.
“Agreed,” Kennedy replied. “But they don’t need to keep their powers, and that’s what Willow tried to do. I’m thinking short-term.”
“Is that…is that something we can do?” Shannon asked hesitantly. “Bring back all the slayers, just for a day?”
“Yeah,” Faith said, shaking her finger at Shannon in agreement. “We need it just long enough to kick Zorgy’s ass back to hell, right? That would be wicked cool!”
“I mean, I don’t know for sure that we can’t, and that’s step one,” Kennedy replied. “It’s like when I went to Fairyland, right? I couldn’t bring iron for fairy stabbing purposes, so I figured out a spell to make some iron once I got there. The whole point of knowing what you can’t do is that it helps you figure out what you can.”
Grace took a deep breath. “Okay, that’s something. This is your baby, Ken. Sorry, bad choice of words given recent events.”
Kennedy hesitated before replying. “I’m not saying no. I just think your confidence in me might be misguided here.”
“It’s not,” Faith told her firmly. “You got this. I’ve seen what you can do.”
“That was a different me.”
“No. Same you. Different timeline.”
“If I was so powerful, then how did it end up being me and the twins left? Why couldn’t I save anyone else?”
Faith paused for a moment. “Twins were gone. Jake and Soph survived.”
Everyone in the room looked surprised.
“How? They’re so young,” Kennedy asked.
“They might not have all the training yet, but those two… they’ve got the power. It’s easy to forget, ’cause Red and Blondie are great at treating all those kids like the one big family they are, but those are the two who Red popped out personally, okay? They have the bloodline of the mega-witch herself. And Xander’s no slouch, either.”
Shannon snorted. “Yeah, you told me once, but…not sure how that’s relevant here.”
Faith shook her head. “No, I mean, he’s the kinda guy who says something in Latin in front of the wrong book and we have to call the fire department. Anyway, you didn’t see those kids, not…there, in that world. I’d want them watching my back any day.” She turned back to Kennedy. “Just like you. You’re the reason Grace is alive now, not me. Well, I mean, it wasn’t zero percent me, but that’s not…So, for the record, I didn’t lie. My mission was to save Grace. What you didn’t know was that you were the one who gave me that mission. And even though we managed that, somehow, I…I feel like my work’s not done here, not yet. We might have dodged one bullet, or weird bone fragment thingie, or whatever, but there are a lot more to come. So yes, I’m here, now, because I want to help save this frickin’ planet, because I remember what it was like when we didn’t. After that, you want to start a Let’s Hate Faith Club, go right ahead. I’ll even sign up.”
This was followed by a silence of several seconds. Then Kennedy quietly said, without looking at Faith, “I don’t want to start a club. It seems like a lot of work. I have a baby, remember.”
“I could help do a Facebook group, if you wanted,” Shannon offered. “Well, I could make Norm start a Facebook group. You know I don’t do any of that shit.”
“Anyway!” Grace interrupted, raising her voice a little. She looked at Kennedy and said, “I want you to take point on this, and I know it’s late, but I want a report in my inbox by noon tomorrow. Nothing formal, I just want to know where we are: can we do it or not?” Kennedy nodded, and Grace turned to Tess. “As for you, Slayer Vargas is gonna take you down to the library, and you’re gonna hang out there with somebody from the Watchers Division, whoever draws the short straw, who is then going to show you as many pictures of demons and beasts from Vor that we can find, and you are going to tell them which of those you think you might have seen on your fun extradimensional vacation.”
Finally, her eyes landed on Faith. “And the same goes for you. I’ve been really extra understanding about not doing a formal debriefing with you after, well, everything, but I’m gonna need it now. Expect an email telling you where to report in the next half hour, and to be clear, I want every little detail you can remember about this alternate timeline, no matter how dumb or insignificant it might seem. If you were eating ice cream when the invasion started, I wanna know the flavor. I want everything. History’s not repeating itself on my watch.”
Faith hesitated and glanced at Kennedy, whose face was unreadable. Then she turned back to Grace and gave her a salute. “Aye aye, Cap’n,” she said with mock enthusiasm.
“Actually,” Kennedy told the room and turned to Faith, “can you come with me to the infirmary first?”
“You sick?” Faith asked.
Kennedy shook her head. “You have something I might need.”
Faith only nodded in response.
Shannon looked thoughtful for a moment. “If you’ve been to the future, does that mean you know, like, who’s going to win the World Series?”
Faith shook her head. “World ended before the Series. And I don’t know any future sports scores, sorry. So no Back to the Future Part II for you, Biff Tannen.” She paused. “That movie, I have seen.”
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Infirmary – Night
Faith followed Kennedy into the Council Infirmary. There were still several girls there receiving treatment as a result of the face-off with Zorgy.
“I guess I’m missing something,” Faith said. “Why are we here again?”
“Okay,” Kennedy replied, turning to her, “what we’re hoping to do is really deep Slayer Line stuff, right? We don’t have the Scythe. So I figure, the next best thing is the blood of the last original Slayer and the blood of the first slayer after Willow’s activation spell in Sunnydale.”
Faith blinked at her. “Wait, the…You mean us? Me? My blood?”
Kennedy nodded. “Sure, Buffy had powers, but you were the active Slayer at the time of Willow’s spell. We know this because when Buffy died the Summer of 2001, a new slayer wasn’t called. The reason is, from the time you got your powers on down, the Slayer Line went through you. I know it’s a little bit of a random ask, and I can feel myself sprouting red hair even as I say this, but if we can have a little bit of your blood, I can think of a couple experiments I could run. Then–”
“Ken, is there…” Faith hesitated, licking her lips. “Is it really blood you need? It can’t just be any DNA? I can’t just, I dunno, blow my nose and give you the tissue?”
Kennedy half-smiled. “Okay, first off, that’s gross. Second, since when did you get so squeamish? You’re worried about getting a little blood drawn?”
“I just…didn’t ask for this, okay!” Faith sat down on a nearby chair, arms crossed, her attitude becoming increasingly agitated and closed off. “I came back to save everybody here, and all everybody keeps doing is pushing me and prodding me and asking me to explain myself over and over, like I’m the bad guy. You guys don’t know what we’re dealing with, okay? You think you know, but you don’t.”
Kennedy sat down on the side of an empty infirmary bed across from her, face hard. “Then why don’t you tell us, Faith?” she said evenly. “What am I missing?”
Faith took a deep breath, not looking at Kennedy. “This isn’t a battle that’s coming. It’s a bloodbath. Zorgy isn’t bringing an army you can beat. It wasn’t just that the Council lost a battle in my…in that future. The demons kept coming, and coming, until they overwhelmed the whole planet. I watched An…I saw people ripped apart in front of me, by swarms of the worst things you can think of. We’re talking A Quiet Place, but a thousand times worse.” She looked up at Kennedy, who hadn’t visibly reacted. “If you can pull off this spell of yours, it might slow her down for a couple hours, a day, whatever. But she’ll keep coming, until everyone you and I love are dead, and the only thing that’s real is the suffering.”
Kennedy sighed, looked down at her shoes and quietly said, “Well, one problem at a time.” Then she looked back up at Faith, her eyes very hard. “You may want to give some bullshit excuse not to help the Council, to help me, because…I don’t even know why. You can do what you always do, but I don’t care, because it’s not about us. It’s about Vanessa and Nikki and everybody like them. And no, it can’t be any DNA, because this isn’t science, it’s magic, and blood is life and blood is all kinds of things. It’s about what the blood represents. Hell, it was slayer blood that opened the hellmouth in Sunnydale. So if you won’t let me draw a little bit of blood, Faith, God help me, I…”
Faith stood up and ran a hand through her hair. “No, it’s not that, I just…” she slumped a little. “The last time they took my blood in a hospital, they told me it was just routine, and then they came back and told me I was pregnant. With Nik. I love her so much, but it also feels like that’s when all the trouble started. When I started screwing up again.”
Kennedy stood up as well, her expression softening a little. Very awkwardly, she put out one hand and touched Faith on the arm. “We’re not testing it for anything. So, if you’re pregnant, you won’t find out from me. I just want to use it as a spell ingredient, I promise.” She paused. “You’re not pregnant, are you?”
“I better not be, the IUD hurt like a bitch when I got it put in.” Making a decision, Faith nodded. “Okay, let’s do it.”
Kennedy gave her a short nod and led her over toward the back of the Infirmary.
Cut To:
Ext.
Watchers Council – Exercise Fields – Day
Buffy and Grace sat next to each other on the metal bleachers next to the running track, watching Emma lead her squad in laps.
“Wait, so that’s her theory?” Buffy asked. “That she literally meant that she would see us next Tuesday, not…” She sighed. “It’s outside the box, I’ll give her that.”
“I agree, it’s thin,” Grace agreed. “But I think she’s right about the entry point. And it sort of seems in line with Zorgy’s whole deal. I just think…we’re going to have to take some risks if we’re gonna survive this. A lot of risks.”
“Yeah, but…” Buffy kept her eyes on her slayer, running around the track. “If there are any risks we can avoid, I’d feel better about it. Give me a day before you lock in the defense plans? I have an idea.”
Grace just nodded. Buffy’s hand went to her pocket, and she briefly got a panicked look in her eyes before calming down.
“I feel naked without my phone,” she said. “I thought for a second that I’d lost it somewhere.”
Grace just kept staring out at the exercise field. “I kind of think it’s nice, actually. This is the most relaxing preparation for a possibly world-ending battle I’ve ever had.”
Cut To:
Ext.
Edgewater Park – Day
Buffy and Giles walked next to each other on a tree-lined path near the shore of Lake Erie. On a loose lead, Frank waddled ahead of them. Buffy hugged her arms around herself, shivering.
“I don’t understand how it can be this cold here in May,” she said. “I wish we could just talk in your house. It’s nice in your house.”
“I would remind you that this excursion was your idea,” Giles said with a sigh. “In any case, I think it’s pleasant.”
“Of course you like this weather. I’ve been to England.”
“I meant, of course, that I enjoyed excursions with just the two of us. We could go for walks like this when the world was not in the midst of ending, you know.”
“Says the retired guy,” Buffy said, but she was smiling. “No, you’re right. Throw in a couple tombstones, and I’d be having some serious flashbacks. But still, I…I hate asking you to put yourself on the line like this. You think you can do it?”
“With Brell and Reteesk’s help, yes,” he replied. “They have been keeping up the lines of communication within Vor, staying in touch with our contacts in the Resistance there.” He sighed. “Such as it is. Zorgy has been very effective at crushing dissent. But she has been making no attempt to hide her military build-up, so there’s a good chance we can get the confirmation you’re looking for.”
Buffy stopped and looked out at the lake. “You know, this might be the last chance we get to talk. You know, before…”
“All hell breaks loose?” Giles offered with a half-grin.
“Yeah. That. Look, Giles, I–” She sighed again. “If…when we all survive this, I’m leaving.” Giles immediately looked over at her, surprised. “Town, that is. Emma’s taking over as Lead Slayer in DC, and it’s such a great opportunity for her, and Xander, Joyce and I, we’re all going. She…a slayer needs her watcher, Giles. I can’t make her go alone.”
He smiled softly and brought her into a hug. “Of course,” was all he said.
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Coven Room – Morning
Kennedy found Jeff supervising a busy group in the Coven Room, including both Dawn and Skye, as they went through ingredient lists. Several young slayers were passing through as they carried various magical items out of the room. She turned sideways as she went through the door to avoid a girl carrying what looked like it might be the severed, clawed arm of a large monster.
“No, you can’t touch that without wearing gloves!” Jeff raised his voice to get the attention of a young witch in the crowd, who pulled their hand back from a normal-looking stapler. “If it gets any human sweat on it, it’ll curse everybody in a two-block radius to have ‘Get This Party Started’ stuck in their head for the next month.” He turned toward Kennedy as she made her way toward him. “Kennedy, thank the Goddess. Do you know if we have any more supplies of Eye of Newt somewhere?”
Kennedy shook her head. “We filed the renewal paperwork for our Sustainable Newt Harvesting Permit, but it hasn’t come through yet. Willow kept saying she was going to call the EPA about it, but…I guess that was one of those things that got lost in the shuffle during Curseapalooza.” She pointed at the stapler. “Does that…does that have military applications?”
Jeff considered this for a second. “Maybe if we, like, dropped it on the opposing army from a helicopter? It might just piss them off, though.” He took a deep breath then asked, “What can I do for you?”
“Althenea’s coordinating the Covens worldwide, right?” Kennedy asked. Jeff nodded. “Well, I talked to Faith last night, about her whole…” She trailed off, not sure what to say.
“Time travel scenario?” he suggested.
Kennedy sighed and crossed her arms over her chest. “Was I the only one around here who didn’t know?”
Jeff put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I don’t know who does and doesn’t. I was just there when she talked to Grace afterward. I don’t think she was keeping it a secret because she didn’t trust you or didn’t want to tell you. I think it was more–” He made a ‘kaboom’ gesture with his hands.
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” she said sullenly. “It was because of sci-fi nonsense. Welcome to our stupid lives. Anyway, she said some things that… I think this might be even worse than we’ve been imagining, and we need some outside-the-box thinking. This slayer spell I’m looking into, even if it works, that’s not gonna cut it on its own. She…she was talking about the way, in her…in that future, Zorgy’s army overran the whole planet. How they just kept coming until humanity was overwhelmed. Even if we can hold her off for a little while–”
Jeff cut her off by clearing his throat significantly. Kennedy turned to find Sophie Allister-Rosenberg standing behind her, holding a glass jar of dried bat ears that seemed a little too big for her.
“Oh, hey, Soph,” Kennedy said awkwardly, plastering on a slightly-too-wide smile. “I actually wanted to talk to you, too.”
“You’re saying Zorgy’s army might be too big for us to fight, right?” the young girl asked.
Jeff gave Kennedy a significant look, and she knelt down in front of Sophie, bringing them eye-to-eye. “This is why the Council is here, okay? To fight the bad guys, even when it seems hard. We just need to figure it out.”
“I know that, Aunt Ken, I’m not dumb,” Sophie replied, sounding slightly annoyed. “I just mean…Okay, Jake was watching Vampirina the other day. I don’t watch that cartoon, I think it’s for babies, but Vampirina is super strong, but couldn’t open the door to the blood bank because the mean girls superglued it shut.”
Kennedy nodded in understanding. “That’s a good thought, Sophie,” she said, “But Zorgy’s going to be tearing open her own door from Vor to Earth.”
“But what if we put the superglue on, like, the whole wall, so she couldn’t make a door?” Sophie said.
“Sophie, I don’t know if that’s how superglue–” Jeff began, but then he stopped himself, thinking. “Huh.”
Cut To:
Int.
Reteesk’s Apartment – Night
“Should we be doing this here?” Giles asked. “Given the current tactical situation, I mean.”
He, along with Dawn, Skye, Brell and Reteesk, huddled around a black marble pedestal in the center of the latter’s well-appointed, if cluttered, living room.
“My involvement with the Council is not public knowledge, yes?” Reteesk asked. “It seems unlikely the enemy bothers to monitor us here. Still, we have removed all electronics from this room. I find I use them little, anyway.”
“Good for you,” Skye replied. “Social media is so toxic.”
Dawn nodded in agreement. “That’s where the real bloodsuckers are.”
“Zorgy has known much that is not public,” Brell noted. “But we must risk it. This magic must be controlled, and a full portal would definitely be noticed by her mages.”
Giles nodded. “Very well, let’s proceed.”
Without further preamble, Reteesk stretched out his arm and cast a mixture of green powder and small bones onto the top of the pedestal. He spoke several words in a language that seemed like it could only be pronounced by someone with tentacles for a mouth.
The powder burst into a green flame. The group waited a few seconds, watching the edges of the bones char. Then Reteesk spoke the words, “Go Bhfaca,” and the green flame changed shape. In a few seconds, it had formed into something approximating a face. Then, the face spoke.
“Ill tidings, Friend,” said the voice. “The Unmerciful Horde is at the doorstep of your world.”
“Thank you for contacting us,” Reteesk replied. “I know the risk you are taking, Shar–”
“No!” the voice said suddenly. “No names. I think we have eluded the Empress’s ears with this spell, but nothing is certain, and the consequences for failure are…too great to risk. One of our number was caught by the spies of the Empress. She killed them, but not before she killed, not only every member of their family, but every person she could ascertain they had ever met. She swore to erase not only their life, but their memory from the cosmos. That is the price the Empress Zorgrafilloraxtragor exacts for rebellion.”
Brell swallowed nervously.
“Well then, thank you for your bravery today,” Giles said. “We will not abuse it. We have one question. Is what we guessed about the date of the invasion correct?”
The face was silent for a moment then said. “Few of us have remained undetected in the Palace, but…they tell me the invasion will be on the Eve of the Fourth Moon.”
Silence followed.
“What…what day is the Fourth Moon?” Giles finally asked.
Skye seemed to contemplate for a moment. “Lil Sis’s birthday for one,” she remarked.
“You’re right,” Dawn said. “Not just Shannon though. Liz too.”
“Yes,” Giles remarked. “Different years, but they share a birthdate.”
Cut To:
Int.
Voinovich Park – Morning
The Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame in the background, Jeff walked along the waterfront of Cleveland’s North Harbor. Normally, the grassy area behind him would have been full of dogs bringing balls back to their owners and picnicking sweethearts, but after Grace’s evacuation order it was mostly empty. He spoke into a flip phone at his ear.
“So you’ll coordinate with the other branches and get me the specifics? We’ll need everybody on this, or it’s not gonna work. And make sure you talk to Simone in Chicago. I trust that Dawn can anchor this thing, but if it goes wonky, that could be really, really bad, and from working with Simone the past few months I trust her more than anyone to step up if she’s needed.”
He stopped as he came to a bench where Grace was sitting, drinking a cup of coffee, her crutches propped up next to her. “I have to go…yes, I love you, too.” He rolled his eyes, while Grace gave him a half-grin. After closing the phone, he walked over and sat beside his wife.
“So, that was your side piece from Chicago, I take it?” Grace asked. Her tone indicated she was mostly giving him a hard time. Mostly. “She might have bigger boobs than me, but I’ll bet you she also likes terrible pizza, so…”
“No, it was Althenea, thank you,” Jeff replied with a small smile. “She’s very…touchy feely. How are you doing? Did you crutch yourself all the way out here?”
“I may have forced one of the slayers in my detail to drive me the three blocks,” she admitted. “That’s her over by the coffee vendor. Don’t make any sudden moves or she’ll end you.”
For a moment, the couple sat beside each other, gulls calling in the background. Grace took another sip of her coffee then said, “I asked the vendor why he hadn’t evacuated. He said he couldn’t close the stand if he wanted to make rent this month.” She sighed. “Even if we win this, somehow, a lot of people are going to die. And for what? Because of one evil asshole. That’s how it always is, isn’t it? It just takes one asshole in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Jeff took a deep breath. “Well, on that front, I’ve been talking to the team, and we have a proposal. Even if we beat back the first wave, Zorgy’s army is too much for us. Vor is too big. They’ll just keep coming and coming until we’re all overrun. If we close one hellmouth, they’ll just come through another. Faith says that’s what happened in her timeline. It’s just a matter of attrition.”
“I’m still waiting for the proposal here,” Grace said, tension in her voice.
“If Giles can secure the items we need, as expected, then we think we can close off the border between Earth and Vor,” he said. “Permanently. Or at least for a lot of years, nobody’s ever really done this before. Not close the hellmouth, close the whole dimensional border, no portals, no nothing. That’s it.”
Grace stared straight ahead for several seconds then said, “That could do it. Then we’d just have to beat her forces that are already on this side of the hellmouth. No biggie.” She turned toward him. “But if we do this…there are so many refugees from Vor here already. Thousands, hundreds of thousands, maybe. Brell and his family. Reteesk. The nice Vermori lady who does my hair. They could never go home.”
“It might be the price we have to pay,” Jeff said.
“But we aren’t the ones paying it, not really,” Grace said. “Do we have that right?”
“I hate to say it, dove,” Jeff said quietly, “but I think that might be up to you.” Grace sighed. “I should tell you, though, that there’s another reason we haven’t done this before, which is that it’s going to take a lot of power. I mean, a lot. As in, all of the covens at all of the branches working together might not be enough. But…maybe they will be. We won’t know until we try. I just told Al I want Dawn Summers to anchor it. That’s going to be a big job. If there’s anybody I know who can cash that check, it’s her, but…we actually don’t know for sure that there’s anyone, period. It’s not safe.”
“None of this is,” Grace agreed quietly. She licked her lips, then asked, “What happens to the folks in the Coven if it doesn’t work, if we really are biting off more than we can chew?”
“I mean, kind of the same thing that’ll happen to all of us,” Jeff said. “Just a little bit soon–”
Then Grace was kissing him, and a moment later he was kissing her back. She grabbed the back of his hair and pulled him toward her. It wasn’t a “I love you” kiss, more of an “I’m worried I’m not going to see you again and I’m pissed about it” kiss.
Finally, Grace pulled back a bit and gasped, “Look, this doesn’t…I’m not saying…”
“Honey…” Jeff interrupted her. “Shut up.”
Then they were kissing again. Some distance away, Grace’s detail slayer, a girl with deep brown skin and her hair in a bun, turned to the coffee vendor with a sigh. “I’ll take another. They might be a while.”
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Office Behind Coven Room – Morning
Willow was shaking her head vehemently. “No, no, no, no, no! Absolutely not! No!”
She was in her office along with Kennedy and Faith, who both ran their fingers through their hair at the same time. Both women wore a look of frustration.
“I can’t do this without them,” Kennedy stressed. “They are our best shot.”
“They’re still students. They’re not even in the Coven,” Willow reminded her.
“Were you in a coven when you created me and all the slayers?!”
“Not officially, but I-I was an adult!”
“They won’t grow to be adults if this doesn’t work! I need them.”
“No,” Willow said firmly. “We’ll find somebody else.”
“Who? All the Coven members are spoken for with other tasks.”
For her part, Faith said nothing. She just looked at the two of them verbally volleying back and forth.
“Come on, Ken! We aren’t even putting Alex and Jen in this fight, because there has to be some kind of second front if we fail. So why on earth would I put Jake and Sophie, who are half their age, in the middle of it?!”
“They wouldn’t be in the middle,” Kennedy replied. “They’d be…middle adjacent.”
“They’re just kids!” Willow pleaded.
“But they’re not,” Faith said calmly, her voice devoid of emotion. Kennedy and Willow both paused in their squabble and looked at her. “They’re not just kids. They’re powerhouses with the magics. The two of them, along with her,” she pitched a thumb toward Kennedy, “they sent me here with their magic. Ken and your kids are why Grace is alive.”
“They’re not the same people,” Willow replied.
“They are the same,” Faith countered. “Just in a different timeline now.”
For a moment, no one spoke, until Faith continued, “That girl of yours has got a lot of power, and your son’s no slouch, either. In fact, I heard about how she disarmed you magically with literally a flick of her wrist. They are the closest biological link to having Willow Rosenberg do this spell, and we both know you’ll be…occupied.”
Willow took a seat in her chair behind the desk and closed her eyes.
“Magic always has a price,” she said before opening her eyes to look at the pair again. “If they do this, a-and I’m not saying they will, but if they do…You don’t get the gift of slayer powers again, even temporarily, without a price. A really expensive price, if I had to guess. I’m selfish, okay?” Willow told them, coming close to tears. “I don’t want them to be the ones to pay that price.”
“I promise,” Kennedy said, “once the spell works, Faith and I will have our powers, and we will get them out of the city. It will be our only job. I swear to you.”
Willow didn’t say anything at first. “That’s not what I mean,” she muttered. She took a calming breath and then, in a louder voice, said, “If she finds out, she’s going to be gunning for them. Neither of you will have powers if the spell doesn’t work, and if that happens–”
“I’ll protect them,” a voice said from the doorway.
They all turned to see Emma there. She shrugged and continued. “We’re family, and we take care of each other. Easy Peasy.”
Willow didn’t say anything immediately. Instead, she rubbed her temple and said, very quietly, “We don’t know if the kids would even want to do this, and it’s their decision too. There’s also another hurdle you probably haven’t considered. I don’t know if Rowena would approve, a-a and I wouldn’t blame her if she didn’t, because I’m not on board yet myself.”
Faith pulled her burner phone out of her pocket. “You heard the conversation. What’s your vote, Blondie?” she asked.
Willow immediately looked annoyed.
“Well,” Rowena’s voice said through the phone’s speaker, then there was a slight pause. “I say we leave it up to the kids,” she finally finished.
“Not fair,” Willow growled at the two other women in the room.
“Tick Tock, Will,” Faith said. “Rowena had to be a part of this convo, too. I was just tryin’ to save a step.”
Willow ran a hand over her mouth, but said nothing at first. “I’ll talk to my wife about this in person tonight.”
Cut To:
Ext.
Rocky River Reservation – Morning
Willow walked alone down a path in a bucolic forest setting. Dappled sunlight shone through the tree-tops. After a few moments, the path came to a footbridge over a babbling stream. Willow walked to the center of the bridge, then leaned on the railing on one side for a second, watching the water quickly flowing beneath. Then she reached into a pocket and pulled out a small cellphone, of the older, non-smart variety, and dialed.
After waiting a few moments for the phone to ring, she smiled and said, “Hey, Al.”
Cut To:
Ext.
English Garden – Late Afternoon
Althenea sat on a wooden swing beneath an arch of clipped hedges in the midst of a highly manicured garden, holding her own lower-tech cell to her ear.
“Hello, it’s good to hear from you,” she said quietly. “This is all rather exciting, isn’t it? Clandestine meetings, burner phones…I feel as if I’m in a Bond film.”
Split-Screen
Willow and Althenea continued their phone conversation, each on one half of the screen.
“I think you would make a great Bond girl,” Willow said.
“I’m not the damsel, luv,” Althenea replied. “I’m Bond.”
“Of course,” Willow said with a grin. “So, listen, how are things going on your end? Coordinating all the branches, I mean?”
“We have succeeded in contacting most of them via somewhat more…low tech means, primarily telegrams. I was honestly surprised one could still send telegrams, but apparently it is possible in many places. For some of our more isolated branches, we have sent out junior watchers to bring the message by hand. We should reach most of them prior to…well, whatever is next, I suppose.”
“Have you tried stringing two tin cans together?”
“Yes, very droll, thank you,” Althenea commented.
“No, seriously, thank you,” Willow told her. “Really. I think it’s important we coordinate from somewhere other than Cleveland, she’s watching all of us too closely. Not to mention we may all be neck deep in demons before too long.” She paused before adding, “We’ve been running with the misinformation on this end. Hopefully Zorgy thinks we’re all camped out in the Flats waiting for her with some secret weapon.”
“It would be nice, actually, if we weren’t lying about the weapon bit,” the English witch pointed out, rising from her bench to pace as she did so.
“Who said that was a lie?” Willow mentioned cryptically.
“Oh, do tell, dearie,” Althenea said excitedly.
“If other ears are listening, I don’t want to ruin things. For now, tell me how it goes? How’s Andrew doing with his side of the world?”
“He’s got a solid handle on everything west of the Mississippi. I must admit I was worried that his show on the telly might take precedence, but he knows what’s at stake. Overall….our circumstances remain more…dire than I would prefer.” Althenea looked around, seemingly still worried someone might be listening in despite all their precautions. “I know your status with the Council is a bit up in the air right now, but I take it you’ve heard about Kennedy’s idea regarding a temporary slayer spell?”
Willow sighed, looking down at the stream below her. “Yes, she told me. It’s worth a try, but…I dunno. She wants my kids to do the spell with her, you know. And not…she wants to pull my little ones into the middle of a battle.”
“What did you say?” Althenea asked seriously.
“I…if I’m being honest, I feel like I would have to be taking crazy pills to let them do it, right? Sure, they’ve both shown promise, but… they’re not even tweens at this point. They’re…pre-tween.”
“What does Rowena think?” Althenea kept her voice quiet.
“We…” Willow ran a hand through her hair. “We haven’t talked about it yet.”
“You should ask her. I say that because I want you both to be very sure. Because yes, as parents, I’m sure that you want to protect your children, to wait as long as possible before throwing them into the world, and that’s a good thing. But I want you to hear me when I say, you cannot protect them from what’s coming, whether they’re at your house or on the front line. Grace said on TV that all of Cleveland will be a battlefield.”
Willow looked slightly sheepish. “That’s almost exactly what Kennedy said.”
“But you’re more likely to listen to me,” Althenea pointed out with a small smile.
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “Yes, okay. It’s the accent.”
“But Willow, there’s something else.” Althenea leaned up against her garden wall, hair flowing in a gentle May breeze. “I’ve been looking into the spell Kennedy’s been working on, talking to her on our very sneaky burner phones, and there’s something you should know about it.”
“What is it?” Willow asked.
“I should emphasize, we’re both still working, and as you know, sometimes putting together the elements for this type of casting from scratch can be an inexact science, and–”
“Al!” Willow almost yelled. “I’m gonna ask again. What is it?”
Althenea took a deep breath and said, “In order to restore the powers of the deactivated slayers, even temporarily, the spell is going to require a sacrifice.”
Willow closed her eyes.
Cut To:
Ext.
Watchers Council – Main Entrance – Day
Nikki, along with what appeared to be five other watchers-in-training, greeted some of the people coming in. With some council members, they let them walk past, while others were stopped and handed an envelope. One recipient started to open theirs, but Nikki put her hand across theirs and shook her head. Then she pointed to the front of the envelope, which had a note that read.
“Don’t open on Council grounds or private residences. Turn off all devices and read only in areas of no surveillance.”
The person then nodded in acknowledgement, and Nikki smiled silently. She watched as they casually put the letter inside their satchel before walking into the Council, as Nikki moved on to the next person.
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Slayer Training Room – Same Time
Emma appeared to be benching about three hundred pounds easily as Buffy began to make her way over. She reset the bar and wiped her hands on her gym shorts as Buffy arrived. The former slayer reached into her satchel and counted out a certain number of envelopes. With just a single motion of her finger, Buffy instructed Emma to come closer. Emma obeyed and put her ear near Buffy’s lips. Using her other hand, Buffy cupped her hand over her mouth. Her other hand slightly raised the envelopes that were in her satchel, but never cleared the fabric. When she straightened up again, Emma gave a short nod. Buffy did the same and then began to walk away as Emma resumed her exercise regimen.
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Residential Apartments – Same Time
Liz was on one side of the hallway while Trina was on the other side, knocking on doors. When someone came to the door, the junior watcher motioned them to come into the hall and held up the envelope for only the recipient to read. They didn’t hand the envelope over, face down, until they received a nod of confirmation.
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Slayer Locker Room – Moments Later
Emma worked the combination of her locker. When she opened it, she found a small stack of envelopes. She took them with her, leaving only one behind, and began to make her way to the row of lockers behind her.
Another slayer was taping her hand with boxing tape. Emma stood directly in front of the slayer and held the envelope up to her chest so that her arms were blocking the sides of the envelope, but the slayer could read it. The slayer nodded and took one of them before placing it in her locker.
“Off-campus lunch at Leo’s with all the leads?” Emma asked.
The other slayer simply nodded.
Cut To:
Ext.
English Garden – Afternoon
Althenea still sat in her garden, flip phone to her ear. “As for your second request, for a spell to seal the borders between Earth and Vor, well, do you want the good news or the bad news?”
“It can’t be done?” Willow asked in defeat.
“Did I say that? No. I did not. The good news: I can say with confidence that we have found a spell that most likely could work.”
“Most likely could work? Doesn’t sound too reassuring, Al.”
“This next part won’t either.”
“Another sacrifice?” Willow asked, concerned.
Althenea ripped the band-aid off and said, “We can’t close Vor forever without fully opening it first.”
There was silence on the other end. Then Willow asked, “Is there a time maximum it has to be open? Like, can it be two seconds, or does it have to be two years?”
“Just until the spell is started,” Althena answered.
“Okay,” Willow said, with a touch of optimism. “That’s something, right?”
Cut To:
Ext.
Rocky River Reservation – Same Time
Willow, phone to her ear, ran her fingers in her hair as a growing look of frustration and concern came over her features. She began to shake her head back and forth, as if in disagreement. After a few seconds, the shaking stopped. Willow closed her eyes and then let her chin rest practically on her collarbone.
Cut To:
Ext.
Watchers Council – Outdoor Track – Later That Day
Emma and her squad of twelve slayers stood near the center of the Council training field, arrayed along the running track. There were also eight other squads, four to Emma’s left and four on the right, with their leads in front of them.
Emma addressed her group of twelve girls.
“Ladies, we are going on a cross-country run today,” she said, eliciting a few grumbles. “It’s gonna be a long one, so that means no cellphones, no Fitbits, no devices of any kind. Am I understood?”
“Yes, ma’am,” they all answered in unison.
“Put any of that electronic gear over there by the bench. Go! Go! Go!”
Emma began a light jog on the track, and the girls who did not have items to drop fell in behind her immediately as she made her way out of the field area and towards the wooded area. The others quickly caught up.
The other instructors seem to be doing the same exercise that she was doing with their own troops.
Fade Out
Fade In:
Ext.
Lakefront Park – Some Time Later
Emma looked drenched, along with the girls behind her. Sweating and breathing hard, she came to a stop along the shore of Lake Erie, a mostly empty park around them, and motioned everyone to huddle up. The girls all gathered around her and took a few moments to catch their breath. That’s when she pulled the envelope out of her running pants.
“That’s gotten damp,” one of the slayers commented.
Emma revealed that she had it folded in a plastic baggie. “Always be prepared,” she told them as she opened it up.
Some of the girls giggled or smiled at each other.
“This was given to me by my watcher,” Emma went on. “The other squad leaders have also been given similar envelopes. What I’m about to discuss with you cannot be discussed anytime you are using a device, in a private residence or anywhere within Council grounds. We also advise not talking about this in public spaces like restaurants, gyms, and so on. Instead,” she said, motioning toward the water, “get in touch with nature when a sensitive matter comes up. We’re talking end-of-the-world stuff ladies, which is why I brought you here today. Do you understand the directive?”
“Yes, ‘ma’am,” they replied in unison.
With that, Emma tore the seal on the envelope as the slayers waited for her to speak.
Cut To:
Int.
Watchers Council – Buffy & Xander’s Apartment – Evening
As Buffy opened her apartment door, the sound of Joyce crying got louder.
“Yes?” she asked. She sounded and looked extremely tired, the baby in her arm and placed on her hip.
She found Giles holding a piece of paper that just said, in his neat handwriting, “Liz was right.”
“Sorry to interrupt,” he said as he put the paper back casually in his pocket.
“No,” Buffy said as she moved Joyce to her shoulder. “Would you like to come in?” She opened the door wider in invitation.
“Thank you, but I can’t stay. I just stopped in to say we’re canceling Liz’s birthday party. Turns out she has other plans that day.”
Buffy gave a slight nod. She licked her lips and said, “Aww, it’s her big one-eight. Well, that’s okay. Hey, you should probably tell Rowena and Willow on the way home. I know they were looking forward to it, too.”
“That’s a wonderful idea,” Giles agreed wholeheartedly. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen them. Again, sorry to interrupt.”
“You’re always welcome here, Giles,” she told him with a smile. She continued to try to soothe Joyce by rocking her back and forth as she patted the baby’s back.
“Thank you. We’ll get together soon,” he told her as he backed away.
Suddenly, Joyce emitted a loud belch that made her bounce twice against her mom’s shoulder. Just as quickly the burp came, the crying stopped. Giles and Buffy both chuckled.
“She’s full of hot air, like her father,” Buffy teased.
Giles just chuckled again as he waved and walked away.
Cut To:
Ext.
Rosenberg-Allister House – Backyard – Evening
Rowena sat in a deck chair on her family’s back porch. “How did your talk go with Al?” she asked as she accepted a glass of ice tea from her wife.
Willow watched as Jake and Sophie, decked out in their motocross gear, jumped their bikes over the hills on their backyard course in the distance. “She said what I expected. She thinks Ken is on the right track.”
“That’s wonderful,” Rowena replied. Noting Willow’s sober demeanor, she then added, “What am I missing?”
Willow didn’t say anything immediately. She continued to watch the kids riding in the backyard. She took a drink from her glass and said, “All magic has a price. And the bigger the spell, the larger the costs.”
Rowena paused for a moment and then said, “She thinks it requires a sacrifice.”
Willow rolled her shoulders. “She’s looking into it a bit more. She thinks she may find a workaround. It might work if they sacrifice something of importance to each of them. Since we’re not using dark magic, she believes the sacrifice won’t have to be human life.”
“But she can’t say for sure,” Rowena finished.
Willow took another drink and then said, “She can’t. And with Ken and Faith wanting Sophie and Jake to cast with them…”
“You’re worried.” It wasn’t a question. She simply reached out and took Willow’s hand. The witch returned her grip.
Willow didn’t look in her wife’s direction as she began to speak.
“I keep thinking about Tara…I used black magic to bring Buffy back, and four of us performed that spell. We got Buffy back, but maybe the very fine print I didn’t notice, or-or I didn’t want to admit, is that one of us had to lose our life to pay for the gift of Buffy being returned.” As soon as she spoke the words, she turned and looked at Rowena, her eyes glossy. “I’ve never mentioned this suspicion to anyone. I don’t want Xander or Buffy to know they might be responsible in any way for Tara’s death. Okay? It’s my burden to carry. So please don’t let this conversation go further than here.”
Rowena gripped Willow’s hand harder. “I promise. And truthfully, Will, you don’t know for a fact that’s true.”
“You’re right. I don’t. A-and Warren fired the gun. He killed her. But it’s something that crosses my mind. Especially in times like this.”
Rowena paused. “You’re just as worried that the spell will work, aren’t you? You’re afraid for the kids.”
Willow nodded. “Magic always has a price.”
The pair were quiet, and the only noise that could be heard was the rumbling of the motorbikes in the not-so-far distance of the backyard. As the kids began to make their way back toward the house, Sophie, who was in the lead, was approaching the last hill when she hit a bump and took a header over the handlebars. Willow and Rowena both shot to their feet.
Sophie flew through the air, her arms flailing. From behind, Jake noticed she was going down. As he approached the top of the hill, he jumped to stand on his seat with his bike still in motion. As Sophie began to make her descent, he could see her bike was falling behind her, about to land on her. Jake leapt from his bike seat and flew through the air toward her. He suddenly moved his hands and arms in opposite directions in a single sweeping motion. Immediately, Sophie and the bikes were now far from each other on opposite sides of the track. Both bikes crashed to the ground, while Sophie found herself floating for a few moments before touching down softly on the dirt track. Jake managed to get himself vertical and, with arms and legs pumping as he flew through the air, he literally hit the ground running as he made his way to Sophie.
Both of them quickly took off their helmets and began to talk to each other in a very animated fashion. Soon they laughed, and Sophie put her arms around him. Jake mostly seemed relieved as he accepted her hug. Willow and Rowena released the breaths they both held and grinned briefly.
“Okay, I’ll say it,” Rowena said. “Maybe Ken’s right, and Faith’s telling the truth. Plus, did you notice…no nosebleeds?”
Willow kept watching her children as they went to retrieve their bikes. “Maybe they are the key.”
Black Out
End of Act Five