| Begin Momkat Xander: You�re letting Spike live with you?! Anya: Damn, Willow promised not to tell. Xander: Oh, she didn�t tell all right. She so didn�t tell so hard that I could tell that something was going on. And it is. Have you gone insane? Has all the demon-human-demon-human jumping around made you nuts? You on the buddy system here with Spike? Anya: Stop it. He couldn�t stay in that basement any longer. No one else was going to help him. I did. I owe Spike. Xander: (mumbling) Yeah, we all saw your down payment. Anya: You know Harris...sometimes you�re such a jerk. Spike has saved my life more than once - and yours, and Buffy�s, all of us. He did something for love I don�t think you can even conceive of. No, how could you? What did you do for love - walk away. Love is taking a chance. Like walking down a dark street in Sunnydale. Its ironic, but to have a life you have to risk it sometimes. You and Buffy are cowards, you know that? Both of you are afraid to take a chance, and you both screw up your own lives. And hey, that would be okay except in the process you screw up everyone else�s lives! Xander: So now everyone should live their lives to best suit you? If we spent our time making Anya happy, then we�d be happy? Anya: (angry) Yes, maybe you would be! Xander: You never change, do you Anya? (Xander turns and walks away) Anya: (sadly, to herself) Make up your mind. I change, I don�t change. Which is it? Anya watches him leave, then turns and also leaves, walking the opposite way. Cue soft, bluesy rock music. Anya winds up at the Magic Box, the only place that seems to match the confusion and loss she herself feels. The green figurine still sits on the counter. Anya notices the softly glowing broken had. She cocks her head, then carefully picks up the tiny hand. It pricks her, and a drop of blood appears on her finger tip. The hand grows very bright, and with a crackly of green lightening, a strange energy enters Anya through the nick. Anya stiffens as the magic pours through her body, her eyes blazing green. Cut to: Xander sitting at a bar, nursing a beer. Willow sits next to him, lost in her own memories. He looks thoughtful, and a short series of flashbacks reconstruct that unnatural disaster that was his wedding day. He shakes his head. Bartender: Bad day? Xander: Try bad life. Bartender nods sympathetically. Willow: Oh, sorry Xander. I phased out there for a minute. Did you tell her that I really didn�t tell you, that you just could tell that something was going on? Xander: Yeah, I told her. Then she told me. What a jerk I am. And you know something, Will? She�s right. She thinks I left her because I didn�t love her enough. (Laughs sadly). I left her because I loved her too much. That last image - (flash to Xander smashing Anya�s face with an iron skillet) - I couldn�t bear that. Not that, me hurting her, ever. Maybe it was a lie, false, but maybe it wasn�t. But I�m not willing to walk down that Sunnydale street.... Willow: Huh? Xander: Something Anya said. About living your life and taking chances. Bartender: Nuts? (offering bowl of nuts) Xander: Thanks. (Xander nods his head at the bartender) I bet you get tired of hearing all these depressing conversations. Bartender: Not at all, sir. (The bartender turns away, and this perfectly ordinary looking guy is briefly reflected in the mirror behind the bar. He is - you got it - a Dark Robed Guy. He speaks softly): For you�re the one and only, and I shall serve you. Camera cuts to: Summers home, night. Dawn and Buffy are getting ready to patrol. Buffy: Now, listen to me. You hang back if we run into anything. Thing being the operative word here. This is observation night, remember? Dawn: Yes, yes, just like third grade: �stop, look, listen� for safety. Buffy: (pertly) And if you�re very, very good, I�ll take you out for ice cream later. Dawn: (rolling her eyes and shrieking), Get out, get out, get out! (No, just kidding. She doesn�t do that, I�m just being mean) Oh, goody. (Then she rolls her eyes) Cut to window, and Robed Figure is peering in, no doubt up to no good for Our Heroines. Robed figure: For you�re the one and only, and I shall serve you. Cut to Spike, sitting on a park bench, deep in the woods. He too, is re-living the past this strange night. We see what Spike is thinking. Young William is still struggling through the woods, but his father has caught up with him. The drunken lout tears the robe off the boy to reveal the typical 19th century garb young William usually wears. ;) Father: What is this, eh? Think you�re bleeding Shakespeare, don�t you, boy? Soddin� William Shakespeare the second. He curls his fist and swings at William, knocking the boy down. A trickle of blood appears on his left eye-brow which has been split.) Get up. Get up you pouncy little git. Can�t you be a man? Bloody hell, by your age I�d busted a dozen heads and been with more than one woman. How many women have you been with, William? He grabs the boy up by his neck, then backhands him. William�s head rocks back violently, but his father never releases his grip. He continues to viciously slap the boy. William�s mother appears over the man�s shoulder. She is holding an ax. Mother: Get away from my son! (She swings the ax flat sided, so the man�s head is flattened, not split. It is a killing blow at any rate, and he falls sideways, dead. William looks up at his mother in wonder, admiration, love, and perhaps, a little fear) The Dark Robed figure appears behind a tree, watching Spike. He speaks): For you�re the one and only, and I shall serve you. End Momkat Begin malum_forma Cut to Graveyard. Night. Buffy is walking ahead of Dawn, stake at the ready. Dawn holds a cross in her hand, hanging by her side. She looks thoroughly bored. Dawn: Y�know Buffy, we�ve been out here a while� maybe there�s not gonna be any action tonight. Buffy: (annoyed) I love how you say �action� as if it�s a good thing. Dawn: Isn�t it better than wandering around aimlessly for hours? (Buffy pauses, so Dawn can catch up with her) Buffy: I guess. I just don�t feel like doing any major sweeps before you�re ready, in case you need to help back me up. This probably isn�t the most thrilling observation night for you, huh? Dawn: Well, no. I guess it�s just that let�s face it-I�ve been exposed to some pretty extreme stuff before. So there�s slim to nothing that could shock me on a routine patrol. Buffy: You�d be surprised. Dawn: I�m sure I could be. But really, I guess I�m saying that sheltering me from this kind of stuff, or even trying to ease me into it this slowly, its kind of pointless. Especially seeing how a) I always seem to wind up in sticky situations anyway, and b) there is the pressing matter of this thing from beneath. It�d be nice to have some skills, however minimal, in the self-defense department. Buffy: I hear you. And I�ll try to make these outings more exciting. Buffy spots robbed figure hovering at a slight distance, watching them. The figure and Buffy stare at each other, and the figure disappears in a light flash, the color of that light a familiar green. Scene: Anya�s apartment. Anya, eyes no longer glowing, but obviously still full of whatever came at her from the statue, gropes her way towards a chair. Her eyes go to the statue, trying desperately to remember what that figure is of. Anya: (mumbling) Almera�no. she�s pleasure, and pain� She doesn�t look like a muse. Atwan�no, not, gossamer enough. In what looks like a sudden pain, her head comes foreword. She rubs her forehead with one hand. Anya: God, if I could only remember� Just then, Spike appears from the bathroom, this time fully dressed. Spike: (realizing something�s wrong) Anya� Anya: WHAT! (she whips around the face him, her eyes glow green for a moment) Spike: Anya�what happened? Anya closes her eyes, as a new wave of pain comes. Anya: That statue..thing�over there. (Spike looks at the statue, and stares at it while she speaks, his eyes showing something�it is familiar and haunting to him, but he doesn�t understand why) It�s enchanted or something. It held some kind of energy, a magic or something It infected me somehow. Spike: (forces his eyes off of figure, and to Anya) Infected you�the magic got into you? Anya: Yes! I don�t remember who she is. Spike: She? Anya: That figure. It�s modeled after someone. I can�t remember who. Anya whimpers and jerks with a new wave of pain It�s so, intense. Spike: You should..lay down. Spike escorts her to the couch. Anya: Thanks, I just..it hurts. All over, it�s strong. Spike: (sits on the table besides the couch) Where can I find out who it is? Maybe if we knew what the figure represents, we can find out what kind of mo-jo might be lingering in it. Anya: Willow might know. Or if not, she might be able to find it..in a book at the house. Spike: (standing up) Right. I�ll call over there now. (walks to the phone) CUT TO THE BAR. Willow and Xander still sit, Xander has obviously had a few more drinks since the last time we saw him. Willow sticks to bottled water, figuring she can�t let herself fall under the influence and control of anything. Anyway, they are THERE, at the bar, not at home where: THE PHONE RINGS IN THE EMPTY SUMMERS HOUSE Cut back to bar. Willow: (to Xander) I think you�ve had about enough for one night. (He tries to encourage him to stand) Xander: NO! NO� I can�t have anything else in the world, you might as well let me sit here and willow, Wallow. Willow: (nervous, because she�s not used to being the strong arm with people lately) Ha. Funny. Speech impairment. Next will be your motor functions. Xander: Wait, I know this� (starts making boat motor sounds) Willow: Glad to see your razor sharp wit is still intact. Let�s GO. Xander: Fine. (he stands, and follows her out) Back At Anya�s. Spike Hangs up the phone defeated. He walks back over the Anya. Spike: Is there anything else I can do? Anya: No. Spike: I�ll head over to the house. See if I can�t find any books on obscure goddesses and such. Maybe they�ll be something there. I�ll be back as soon as I can. Spike leaves, and as he does so, he stops once more to look at the statue. He remembers something about it, somewhere from deep in his memory, but cannot recall it entirely. Exit spike. Anya flinches in pain again. Cut Back to Buffy�s house. The front door opens, and Buffy and Dawn come in, and turn on lights. Buffy: It really is ironic how stuff always happens as you�re basking in the lack thereof. Dawn: I totally know what you mean. Just as we�re discussing how much I�d love for something interesting to happen-bam. Moderately interesting cloak guy, but way interesting light show. Buffy: Yeah, well, it was out there for a reason. I�m guessing not just a star gazer. I think it was following us. Dawn: Seems likely. Slinking in the shadows, disappears as soon as it�s detected. Buffy: Exactly. I just want to find out what that thing was. We need research on robbed figures that might hang out around here in a spying capacity. Passive instead of aggressive, because it disappeared. That�s important too - the color of the light it disappeared into. That green. Dawn: Check. So, I�m looking for a robe wearing sulky stalker type, that disappears into a blinding green flash. Buffy: Correct. Even if it wasn�t following us, that disappearing act makes me think that it could be threatening. Dawn: Definitely. I�m on it. (she disappears into the next room, presumably towards the computer) Front door opens. It�s Spike. Buffy: Spike�what are you doing here? Spike: Something�s happened to Anya. Buffy: Is she ok? Spike: I don�t know. I left her in her apartment, she was shaky, but that�s it. She had some kind of small statue, a totem or something of what looks to be a goddess. Somehow an essence or a magic escaped that statue, and got into her system. She�s in a lot of pain. I came to see if Willow could help me figure out what the goddess was. Maybe that could help us figure out what possessed her. Buffy: Well, Willow�s out right now, but, our research center�s currently in the kitchen. Dawn�s working on something else right now, it�s been a hectic kinda night. But we can see what we can see. Spike: Sound like a plan. CUT TO ANYA�S APARTMENT�She is still lying on the couch where Spike left her, dripping in perspiration. She breathes heavy. All of the sudden, there is a green flash. She hears a voice, and the shot remains on her: (OS VOICE) For you�re the one and only, and I shall serve you. She sits up, and sees the robbed figure, drop down to its knees at her side, bowing to her. VOICE: Clantus, goddess of Indignity, I serve you in your quest for retribution� Anya�s eyes widen in confusion. And she feels the magic inside of her now, and she realizes the magic belongs to Clantus� Her eyes are still wide, but now in horror� Cut to commercial. (Buy American!) end Malum_Forma |
| RETRIBUTION |
| PART III |
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