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| By Mazzy |
| DISCLAIMER: The characters are owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar Television and Kuzui Enterprises. While this is an original storyline, it is borne from the events and storyline/episodes owned by the aforementioned parties. (SEASON 6 �: The following takes place after the events of Season 6 �Grave� and prior to the upcoming season 7 episodes) EXT. CAMPFIRE�NIGHT Willow and crew are around in yoga positions, chanting. They seem calm, at peace. Their eyes are closed. GROUP LEADER We join together in forces. Good and evil; whole and part. We implore the wisdom of the woods, the wind in the air, the birds in the sky and the worms in the ground. Rejoin our souls with heart and mind. These words will bring forth our fears so that we may combat them. Our inner strength will help us to face them down and learn to become whole again. Before Zen� GROUP (including WILLOW) �Mountains were mountains and trees were trees GROUP LEADER During Zen� GROUP �Mountains were thrones of the spirits and trees were the voice of wisdom GROUP LEADER After Zen� GROUP �Mountains were mountains and trees were trees. ALL Forego, forbear, forget, forgive. Forego, forbear, forget, forgive. There is a moment of calm, of silence and then they all open their eyes. GROUP LEADER Congratulations, for some of you� (acknowledges Willow) �you have just taken your first step into a larger world. You should be feeling peaceful and restful and I recommend that you mediate on your own a little before going to sleep. Willow gets up, smiling at the other campers. They all nod at each other before heading to their tents. Willow gets herself together and enters her tent. She throws down her sleeping bag, lights a candle and closes her eyes. She begins to meditate. Her eyes are closed peacefully, but then a low voice calls her name. VOICE Willow�. Her eyes snap open, and fear plays across her face. VOICE Willow�come out. The voice is not really heard, it�s more of a voice in her head, her extrasensory perception is at work and is keen. Willow is up on her feet and slowly ventures out of the tent. The voice keeps calling. She looks around and sees nothing, but senses a rustling coming from a nearby, wooded area. She walks as if transfixed, into the woods. It is creepy and dark and the leaves continue to rustle. VOICE Willow, I need to talk to you� The rustling gets louder and closer. Willow hears it behind her and whips around. She is frozen in fear. VOICE Willow� She bolts, running through the woods, not looking back as the rustling grows louder. She�s being chased and it�s gaining on her-- closer and closer. Suddenly, Willow comes upon a spot that looks familiar. She stops short as her mind is pressed with a memory. Flashback Warren is tied to tree, ensnared with tree vines. Flashforward Quick cut to CU Willow�s face as she begins to despair Cut back to Flashback Willow slowly bores a bullet into Warren�s chest. A scream is heard. She stitches his mouth shut. She speaks, �Can you feel it?� Flashforward Quick cut back to Willow. CU on her eyes, she is tearing. The sounds of the past echo in her head. Cut back to Flashback Warren begs for mercy. Willow speaks �Bored now.� Warren is flayed. Flashforward Back to Willow in the woods. A familiar spot. The spot where the murder of Warren occurred. It completely breaks her. She falls down crying, but the �thing� that was chasing her has caught up. She looks at it�face-to-face. It is a beast, wolf like and frightening. She screams out. WILLOW No! Suddenly the beast transforms into a figure, it is a man. It�s DANIEL �OZ� OSBOURNE. OZ Willow� WILLOW (confused) Oz? OZ Willow, don�t be frightened. He approaches her slowly WILLOW Oz, is that really you? She cries out and reaches for him. He comes to her and puts his arms out to her. She grabs him, clinging to him as if he were a life preserver and sobbing into him. He soothes her. OZ It�s gonna be OK. I�m gonna help you through this. COMMERCIAL BREAK EXT STREETS OF SUNNYDALE--NIGHT Buffy and Anya are walking. Buffy�s loaded with weapons, primarily a crossbow and a broadsword. She is determined to have a victorious fight; Anya follows with her spell book. BUFFY Which way did this thing go? Can you sense it? ANYA (points) There�that way. Wait a minute Buffy, do you think you can take this thing on by yourself. You saw what happened. Don�t you wanna wait for Xander to come back? BUFFY Wait? Wait for what? For it to track down Willow and hurt her? I�m not gonna let that happen. She�s been through too much, and she can�t handle this. I�m the Slayer Anya, remember? My job, to slay, to be one with the Slayage. Besides, I�ve taken on much bigger and nastier demons than this guy. ANYA Yeah, like that Mr. Snake-mayor. But you had a lot of explosives then, and Buffy, you almost got killed. BUFFY I almost always get killed. Wait a minute, strike that. I�ve been killed twice! 3 times if you count my flatline courtesy of Warren. Why are you being Little Miss No-gung-ho about this? ANYA I just want you to be smart about it. I don�t think we�ve done enough research on the changelings and we don�t really know what it�s after. BUFFY It�s after my best friend, not to mention what just happened to my sister. That�s all the research I need, so are you gonna help me or not? Buffy takes off, and Anya runs after her, tripping on her heels ANYA (muttering) Had I known I�d be patrolling, I would�ve changed out of the Manolos. She runs after Buffy EXT WOODS--NIGHT Willow is beginning to compose herself and Oz holds her shoulders steadying her. WILLOW Oz, you did it? You can control yourself? OZ (nods his head) But it�s constant work. WILLOW And you�re okay--with me? OZ Part of the work. You might�ve noticed. WILLOW You�re so strong. Always were. And I�m so ridiculous. I don�t know why I came here --to this group. OZ This group-- (acknowledges the camp.) they�re good people. I�ve run with them. Some are wolves. Some are just dealing with dueling natures. You can learn from them. We travel to places, sometimes some of the guys even gig with me. WILLOW The chanters? And I thought that was a joke �just me finding an easy way out of it. I�ve been trying all these stupid things, and I�ve been kidding myself �cause no matter what I do, it doesn�t make a difference. I can�t change it. Only with magic could I change things, make a difference OZ That�s not true. WILLOW Isn�t it? OZ Let me show you something. He grabs her by the hand, and they get up. He walks over to a large stone and turns it over. OZ Look. Underneath it is a dead rat, insects crawl all over it, nourishing themselves. Willow is grossed out. WILLOW Yuck. OZ (grins) Sorry, but look there too. He points to a cocoon on a nearby tree, and emerging from it is a butterfly. OZ Life comes from death Will. Death brings about change. You can�t get stuck in the death. The point is, that the world keeps turning. I made that mistake, remember? When I came back to Sunnydale? I thought it�d be the same. That you�d be waiting. You weren�t. My heart couldn�t take it, but it had to be �cause I had to learn. With the death of �us� came change--rebirth, like you and Tara. He looks at her tenderly, respectfully. She smiles. OZ With change� He instantly transforms to the wolf, Willow tenses for a second, but he quickly changes back again OZ �comes growth. She smiles and sighs in relief. He acknowledges the site of Warren�s death. OZ You did this; you did bad. You made the wrong choice. WILLOW So did you�with Veruca OZ (nods head in acknowledgment) But still here; still gotta deal. They look into each other�s eyes. He reaches his hand to her face and caresses her cheek. She nudges it and grabs it. WILLOW Oz, how did you know? OZ (hesitates) Would you be surprised to hear that I�ve kept some tabs on you? I know you don�t need looking after� WILLOW But I�m glad you did. OZ The group. They helped bring you to me. But Willow, I�m not gonna lie, there is no easy way out. EXT ALLEY BEHIND BRONZE--NIGHT Buffy has trapped the demon in its wolf form in the alley. She faces it, holding out the broad sword and slashing at its claws. She�s not causing much damage. It opens its mouth wide, revealing huge, long sharp teeth and howling menacingly. BUFFY There�s no easy way out of this. (exhausted) I�m trying everything and I�m only keeping it at bay. Anya, can you do something? Help? ANYA Is this the part where I say I told you so? The demon is still wolf-like in its appearance. It strikes at Buffy with a claw. DEMON She who has taken my Master�s life, must pay for her sins. It strikes again, slashing Buffy on the face. A light bulb goes on over Anya�s head. ANYA Wait a minute. I know why you can�t defeat this thing. BUFFY Care to share, before I lose an eyeball? ANYA Willow. It came for Willow, so only Willow can defeat it. Be back in a sec. BUFFY (muttering) That weasel Warren. Even in death he gets someone to do his dirty work. Buffy reaches down for the loaded crossbow, aims and fires off a shot. EXT WOODS--NIGHT OZ I know you had hurt. I know you had rage. Probably still do, but you can�t hide. Deal with it, transform it. Disperse it. That�s how you�ll heal. Suddenly, Anya *poofs* right in between them in their conversation. Oz is startled by her sudden appearance, and Anya looks at him, somewhat startled herself. After a moment she turns to Willow. ANYA Willow, there�s no time, you have to come back to Sunnydale. OZ (evenly) What�s up with the poofing? WILLOW (turns to Oz) Oh yeah, Anya�s a vengeance demon again. OZ Guess I�m have to readjust some of my tabs. ANYA Now that we�re all caught up. Willow, you have to face this changeling demon. It�s come for you, for what you did to Warren. WILLOW Me? I don�t know, I can�t? She looks at Oz. He nods reassuringly. OZ Will, it�s a way to deal. Changeling demon? Came across one of those with a friend of mine. There�s a trick. It�s most vulnerable before it changes. Then you can slay it. But that happens so quickly. The only way I�ve seen it freeze in that state was done with magic. Oz turns to Willow who looks worried by that prospect. ANYA Hurry, there�s not much time, Buffy�s fighting and losing. WILLOW Buffy! I gotta help her. I gotta find a way. OZ I�ve got my van. Let�s go ANYA And I�ll go see what I can do. The alley behind the Bronze. OZ That�s a surprise. ANYA Hurry you guys! EXT ALLEY BEHIND THE BRONZE�NIGHT Buffy is in the alley by herself. She�s fighting with all her might, but she is weakening. Her body is quite bruised. She swings the sword through the midsection of the creature, standing on its hind legs again, but the demon slashes at her again with its huge paw knocking her back against the wall. Her sword flies from her hand. Her body slams into the brick and then slumps down on the ground. She�s unconscious. COMMERCIAL BREAK |
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| Part 3 |