6 x 02 - Aftermath

Scene: Belfry. CONNOR, ELISE  and LORNE are lying on the floor out for the count. SPIKE is standing in the middle, looking a bit lost, looking around him for clues.

Scene: The ground floor of the church. BUFFY, VI and the two other slayers are lying on the floor.

They get up very slowly and gingerly. There’s a noise from upstairs and BUFFY looks up. VI starts helping the other slayers to their feet and BUFFY signals that they have to continue onwards and upwards. Everyone starts climbing the stairs very warily.

Scene: Belfry. ELISE is slowly struggling back to consciousness.

She raises herself up on her elbows and suddenly notices the extra figure in the room. There’s a good few moments of him looking at her and her looking at him, both of them not sure exactly what to do or what the hell’s going on. Finally, ELISE manages to gather her wits enough to ask:

ELISE: Are… are you Angel?

Shot of SPIKE’s face and the sheer disgust that’s evident at this question.

Scene: Still in the Belfry.

SPIKE stretches out an arm. There’s a crackle of sound, a rippling of the air and some smoke and SPIKE pulls his hand back sharpish. He tries punching, only to get the same effect. There’s some kind of forcefield around him.

SPIKE (to ELISE): What the bloody hell’s going on?

This is obviously not what ELISE expected.

ELISE: Are you Angel?

SPIKE: No I’m not! Who are you? Where am I? What is the place? What’s happening?

ELISE looks very lost and looks imploringly at CONNOR, who is still out for the count. Then we hear from O/S in the corner:

LORNE: Spike? Is that you?

LORNE comes into frame.

LORNE: Sweet holy Moses you’re alive! We’re saved.

LORNE goes to embrace SPIKE, who pulls back in preparation to push him away. The hug never actually reaches him as LORNE is deflected by the forcefield.

LORNE: Ow! A little more unapproachable than I remember.

SPIKE (relieved at the abortion of the hug and at a familiar face): Lorne, what’s happening? Where am I?

LORNE: Don’t you remember?

SPIKE thinks and we get a little flash, picture after picture after picture – the horde, the fight, Gunn’s death, the wooden dagger and that last despairing punch as he dusts.

SPIKE: Yes… yes I… <looks at LORNE> I died. Again.

LORNE: Well, you look very well on it.

SPIKE: You brought me back. Why?

LORNE: I just follow orders mon ami. But boy am I glad that you are.

ELISE: So he’s not Angel.

SPIKE: Do I look like a complete prat?

LORNE: Honey, this is Spike. He’s one of the good guys. We get him out of here and I guarantee you, he’ll have everything fluffy bunnies and puppy dogs before you can say Jack Spra…

LORNE is interrupted mid-sentence by a thrown fighting axe, which neatly decapitates him, sending his head flying across the room. His body stands upright for a second in front of ELISE and SPIKE, both of whom are frozen stock still, before it crumples to the floor.

They turn to the doorway to see BUFFY (in a pose suggesting that she’s obviously the thrower), backed up by VI and the other slayers.

Fade out/Fade in

ELISE starts screaming and backs away from LORNE’s body, tripping over herself in her panic. BUFFY advances into the room and SPIKE comes out of his stupor.

SPIKE: Buffy? <beat> BUFFY!

He bangs his hands on the forcefield, but gets exactly the same shock. BUFFY walks past him as if he’s not there.

SPIKE: BUFFY!

BUFFY doesn’t even turn. She strides up to ELISE, standing over her ominously. She pulls the fighting axe out of the wall and brandishes it.

BUFFY: Where is he?

ELISE sobs, too scared to say anything.

BUFFY: I know you’re helping him. <more sobs> I’m giving you a chance here. Where is he?

CONNOR comes flying up from O/S, grabs the axe from BUFFY’s hands and delivers a flying headbutt to knock her away.

CONNOR: Stay away from her!

There is a moment’s peace and then all hell breaks loose. BUFFY is up on her feet and flying at CONNOR who blocks her attack, but is being driven steadily backwards.

SPIKE (yelling at the top of his voice): Buffy! What the hell are you doing?

The other slayers pile in and now CONNOR is fighting tooth and nail not to be utterly wiped out. SPIKE is yelling and banging on the walls of his confines, but BUFFY and the slayers don’t appear to be able to see him.

The axe is kicked out of CONNOR’s hand and he is thrown on the floor next to ELISE.

CONNOR (to ELISE): Run!

CONNOR bounces back up and ELISE goes for the door, but BUFFY detaches herself from the fight to bar her way and throw her back down. ELISE obviously goes down a lot easier than BUFFY expected.

BUFFY (surprised): You’re human.

CONNOR goes for her and BUFFY is back in the fight.

LORNE (O/S): Honey?

ELISE looks around in complete bemusement and realises that the voice is coming from LORNE’s head which is sitting by her side. She screams.

LORNE: Ow! Don’t scream. <off ELISE still screaming> Don’t scream. I can’t put my hands over my ears anymore!

ELISE scrambles away, utterly traumatised.

LORNE (calling after): Wait! Help me!

The fight is still going on pell-mell. CONNOR sees an opening. He ducks under a young slayer’s punch and throws himself to the floor, rolling to pick up with the fighting axe. He springs up, blocks a punch and swings the axe at the slayer’s throat. Blood sprays from her neck and she falls, very dead.

VI: No!

She hurls herself at CONNOR who spins, batting her away with the side of the axe. VI flies across the room, crunching through a pillar. She falls with her eyes open, also dead. The roof creaks ominously.

SPIKE: All of you stop! You’re on the same side!

BUFFY punches CONNOR, driving him back with punch after punch. CONNOR breaks free and lashes out at the final Slayer, sending her flying towards SPIKE. She hits the forcefield and the entire thing collapses in a flash of light and smoke and noise. Both SPIKE and the Slayer scream and there is a pillar of light, which collapses in on itself, to burn both of them out, leaving nothing but smoke and ash.

It’s only BUFFY and CONNOR now. BUFFY has a very ferocious-looking knife in her hand now and she and CONNOR trade blows, their weapons singing through the air in a vicious and dirty fight, both of them using every trick and advantage they can. The belfry is suffering from the fight and more and more of the surroundings are getting destroyed. Debris is raining down from an increasingly unstable superstructure and this is not helped by CONNOR and BUFFY throwing each other into the walls. ELISE is cowering in the corner. It’s utter bedlam.

BUFFY backs CONNOR into a corner, blocks his punch and stabs him in the stomach. There’s a moment of quiet and then BUFFY pulls the knife back out.

ELISE: Connor!

She runs towards him. A floorboard disappears from underneath her and she falls, screaming, down the 40ft to the bottom of the church. She lands badly. The entire building shakes and BUFFY loses her feet and her knife as the belfry starts to collapse. The floor tilts away underneath her and she grabs wildly for a handhold. Her hand catches the remnants of a pillar and she is left dangling at the top of a slope that leads to a fatal drop.

We see the body of the slayer with the slit throat. There’s a sizeable pool of her blood on the floorboards and we see her body slide away towards the drop.

BUFFY looks up to see CONNOR crouched in front of her on a stable piece of floor, holding his side where he was stabbed, obviously on the way out. His face is empty, completely cold and devoid of any humanity or hope. End of Season 4 Connor has returned.

She grabs for another handhold to pull herself up, but it’s just out of reach. CONNOR presses his foot to her fingers and we see her gasp.

Focus on the Pythic Miasma. It is lying on the floorboards and slowly sliding towards the same drop that the dead slayer fell through. It gets closer and closer to the blood of the slayer, then slides through it. Light sparkles around it again and sparks crackle off it. It slides towards the lip of the drop, sparkling more and more.

CONNOR increases the pressure on BUFFY’s fingertips, then lifts his foot. There is a beat, then he brings it down hard on BUFFY’s face. She reels and he kicks again. Her grip starts to fail and we get a couple of close shots – her fingers slipping, the look on her face as she realises she’s going to fall and the cold triumph on CONNOR’s face.

The Pythic Miasma teeters on the edge of the drop, shining and sparkling and crackling. The building is shuddering, collapsing further into itself and CONNOR stumbles, finding his legs going out from underneath him as he falls heavily on his arse. He’s clutching his side, obviously only just realising that his wound is mortal, and he’s gasping for breath.

We flick back to the Pythic Miasma and watch as it teeters on the same precipice as BUFFY. It falls, twisting and sparkling in the air, getting brighter and brighter. We flick around the scene in slow-motion with all sound muted apart from the faint crackle of the Miasma, which throbs like a heartbeat – Pillars and beams fall around the dying CONNOR, across the bodies of the Slayers, debris falling with BUFFY as her grip fails – all cries, crashes and sound silenced apart from the throbbing pulse of the Miasma.

Close on the Miasma tumbling through the air. Suddenly it flashes and brightens to a brilliant white light which fills the screen, which segues into…

He licks his lips with a dry tongue, as though moistening them, and then strains, pulling down on one of the arm chains, trying to snap it. Close on one of the links – it’s whitening, buckling under the stress. ANGEL takes a deep breath. Focus on his tongue wiping across his lips and then we see him pull again. The chain gives and his arm jerks down. He gives a grimace of pleasure and we see his wrist against the iron manacle. It’s bloodied and bruised from where he was pulling against the chain.

He turns to the other arm chain and applies both arms to it.

VOICE (singsong): Annnngelllll.

ANGEL looks up, letting go of the chain.

VOICE: What are you doing Angel?

ANGEL says nothing, but turns back to the chain. Or at least he tries to. The arm which he’d just freed is back attached to the ceiling as though nothing had happened. The only evidence that he’d done anything at all is the trail of blood that’s trickling down his arm from his battered wrist, easily visible through his torn shirt. He licks his lips again. It’s looking like a nervous tick and we focus on it every time.

ANGEL: Cute trick.

VOICE: You should see what I have for an encore.

ANGEL (realising he’s been taken): You don’t even need the chains, do you?

The VOICE laughs, as though pleasantly surprised.

VOICE: Finally! You’re looking in the right place.

ANGEL: So why are they here?

VOICE: Still not too bright though.

VOICE-SPIKE: In the right place, but someone’s removed all the bulbs, haven’t they Angelus? Never were one to see what was right in front of your face. You had the plans, the scheming, the patience, but you still managed to be an idiot.

ANGEL (defiant): Enlighten me then.

VOICE-BUFFY: About the chains? Oh, that’s right, you and I never had the pleasure of that. Though I do know you were particularly fond of them in your day. <beat> Maybe I wanted you to feel comfortable?

ANGEL: Comfortable?

VOICE: Well, you are my honoured guest. <mocking> Your wish is my command.

ANGEL: Well, in that case, I’m impressed with the cleaners, I mean, it’s gotta be hell keeping a white room spotless, but I’d like to offer a complaint about the locks.

VOICE-LORNE <belting out the song>: Welcome to the Hotel-California. You can check out any time you want, but you can never leave.

ANGEL (looking down and shaking his head): Another cute trick.

VOICE: Very true. But one that keeps me entertained, nonetheless. I am but a simple creature. <beat> You of course are far simpler still, but I suppose I cannot choose my company just yet.

ANGEL (licking lips): Why not? Why do you want me here?

VOICE: You’re fun. <beat> Even if you are a little slow. You bring chaos wherever you go, both inside and out.

ANGEL: Why do you want chaos?

VOICE: Why can’t you avoid causing it?

ANGEL: I’m making things better.

The VOICE laughs again, killing itself with derisory mirth and it echoes around the room. ANGEL scowls and pulls on his cuffs. He flinches as it digs into the cut there and a fresh trickle of blood runs down his arm to drip onto the floor. He looks down at the red splashes on the pristine white.

Suddenly a body appears out of thin air, falling at ANGEL’s feet and he starts. It rolls when it hits the ground and we see that it’s a girl. She’s dressed in the same garb as the girl from earlier, but we do not see her face this time. She has vampire bites in her neck. ANGEL catches himself licking his lips again and suddenly realises what he’s been tasting there.

ANGEL: You. You did this to her.

VOICE: Does it make it better? To convince yourself that I forced you to do this?

The chains springs from ANGEL’s limbs and he falls by the girl. He checks her for a pulse, then closes his eyes in despair.

ANGEL (softly): She’s dying.

VOICE (mocking): And of course you didn’t want that at all. This was the last thing you wanted – the taste of her blood in your mouth, the rush of energy, the sharp focus of mind and body…

ANGEL (shouting): You killed her!

He turns his back on the VOICE.

ANGEL: I won’t have any part of your games.

VOICE: Strange that you should disdain the being you summoned.

ANGEL turns back. The girl is gone again and the floor is pristine once more. There is a beat of silence.

ANGEL: You’re lying.

VOICE: Why?

There is a long pause of silence whilst the familiar sights are panned around - the desk, the offices, the circular settee in the middle, all disused.

A wind starts up, kicking and swirling. It gathers up dust as it move around the lobby and starts to spiral into a miniature tornado that swells, growing to the tall ceiling of the lobby. Static crackles from the exterior. Suddenly the tornado freezes in midair, every speck of dust stopped still. Then there is a rumble of thunder and it explodes, dust scattering everywhere.

There are four thumps and we see, one after the other, shots of CONNOR, SPIKE, LORNE and ELISE fall to the ground.

Scene: The ground floor of the church. BUFFY, VI and the Slayers are back lying on the floor as they were before the start of the episode. They clamber to their feet, looking very confused and checking themselves for injuries. BUFFY looks around to get her bearings and then looks up towards the belfry. She runs up the stairs.

Scene: The belfry. BUFFY comes pelting in only to screech to a halt in the doorway. The room is empty. On the floor where everyone was are two things: a melted lump of metal that was the Token of Eigos and a dull rock that used to be the Pythic Miasma. They’re both dead now.

VI comes up behind her and sees the empty room.

VI: But… they were here. Weren’t they?

BUFFY’s not happy.

VI: Where’d they go?

BUFFY (quietly furious): We have to find them.

LORNE reaches his knees and  then drops his head, obviously regretting attempting the vertical. He rubs his temples. SPIKE is lying on his back, his eyes closed, but obviously awake.

SPIKE: Ow.

LORNE: Seconded, thirded and fourthded. (to CONNOR) Hey kid, did all of our shared adventures end with me being decapitated? It’s no wonder I forgot you.