DISCLAIMER: See Prologue.
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Part Eight
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ACT 4, Scene 4. INT. The Library as it appeared in PROLOGUE, Scene 2.
There is a THUNDEROUS ROAR followed by the BLARING OF SCHOOL FIRE ALARMS. Stunned, Buffy is lying flat on her stomach amidst the book stacks in the library. All around her, fire and flaming volumes are falling as one stack after another topples. She shakes her head trying to get her bearings. As she looks up, she sees Angel standing over her, warding off the rain of flaming books and holding up one collapsing set of shelving with his back.
BUFFY
(shouting over the din)
ANGEL! Where the hell are we?!
ANGEL
(gasping)
I don't know!
BUFFY
I can't move! It's like something has me tied down!
Angel drops to his knees beside Buffy, still shielding her with his body. He raises her so she is sitting. Both have to shout to be heard over the ear splitting fire alarm and the general roar of destruction all around them.
BUFFY (cont'd)
Shit! We're back in the Library!
ANGEL
No! It only looks like it! Remember what Scott said!
BUFFY
What? Where's everybody else?!
Buffy stares out from her vantage spot on the floor at the chaos in the library. The scene of horror that meets her drives her to the point of despair. It is the same scene of violence and death, with a few variations, that confronted Giles in the Prologue, Scene 2.
By the library door, Cordelia lies prostrate, her throat slit. Above her, three vampires have just finished running Xander through with a sword. They drop his inert body sprawling across hers as if he were trying, in a final futile act, to protect her. Their blood mingles in one spreading pool. Buffy screams at the sight.
BUFFY
XANDER!
By the check out desk, Oz, now transformed into his werewolf subconscious is furiously beating back assault after assault of vampires. On the floor motionless beneath his legs is Willow, a stake protruding from her chest. Finally, a second wave of vampires armed with crossbows, storms through the door and releases a hail of darts at Oz. He is thrown back against the check out desk, and as he drops to the floor, his body returns to its peaceful human form.
Scott leans against one of the still upright stacks. His body is twisted and contorted, his face bloody and his eyes still glassed over. Nevertheless, he still breaths.
Suddenly a familiar shout comes to Buffy's ears.
GILES
NO! NO! Buffy! Get away! It's a trap!
Buffy turns her head towards Giles' office. There she sees him restrained by several vampires. At his side stands the image of Ethan Rayne.
BUFFY
(yelling)
Giles, I'm coming!
GILES
NO, BUFFY!
Marshalling her last remaining strength, Buffy staggers to her feet and leaps out from amidst the blazing stacks into the middle of the library. She is followed by Angel. Back to back, they battle wave after wave of vampires. For a few moments they seem able to hold their own. At the same time, Ethan, quite satisfied with himself, looks around at the wreckage of the library.
ETHAN
(to the vampires)
That was pretty good, boys. You can back off now.
At Ethan's command, the vampires draw away from Buffy and Angel. The two stare around them, waiting for a renewal of the assault.
ETHAN
(to one of the vampires holding Giles)
Now comes the fun part. Your turn...
Without warning, the vampire sinks its fangs into Giles' neck, sucking the life out of him in a matter of seconds. Giles' head drops forward. At the same time, Buffy's eyes widen with panic and terror as if this final act of brutality has robbed her of any last strength to intervene. The flames from the burning stacks now spread and begin to lick up the walls. The CRACKLING OF TIMBERS along with the SCREAM OF THE FIRE ALARMS echo in her ears.
Barely heard amidst the noise, Scott begins moaning, then crying out to Buffy.
SCOTT
... no... No!... Buffy, No! It's not real!
She doesn't hear him. Hanging on to the crumbling stack with his one remaining good arm, Scott drags himself to his feet. His face twisted with pain, he can barely balance with his shattered leg dangling uselessly at his side.
Buffy's eyes remain rivited on Giles. To her horror, his still form suddenly moves once more. Giles looks up and meets Buffy's gaze. Across his face are the malformations and distortions of the vampire rage.
BUFFY
(screaming at Giles)
NO!
ETHAN
(sarcastically)
Pretty good effect, don't you think?
Buffy steps back but as she does, she senses something from behind her. As she spins around she is confronted not by Angel but rather the hideous form of Angelus.
ANGELUS
Hey, Buff!
Instinctively, Buffy pulls a stake out of her jacket and draws her arm back in preparation to strike it home.
ANGELUS
Go on! Do it, Buff! You always wanted to!
Buffy channels all her strength. At the same time, Scott, seeing what is about to happen, lurches the few feet from the book stack and throws himself between Buffy and Angelus.
SCOTT
No! Buffy!
It is too late for Buffy to restrain the blow meant for Angelus. As Scott slips between them, the stake in Buffy's hand strikes Scott's chest sinking in deep. Buffy lets go, leaving the shaft protruding while her eyes scream silently in agony at what she has just done. Scott gasps briefly. As he begins to totter, Buffy quickly wraps her hands around his face and her eyes beg him for forgiveness.
BUFFY
(in a tearful whisper)
... no...
A look of peace sweeps across Scott's face. Behind him, the image of Angelus fades away leaving a shocked Angel staring at Scott as he gasps out his last breath.
SCOTT
(whispering)
... it's not real... only what we do to each other...
Scott's eyes close. As he sinks to the floor, Buffy wraps her arms around him, catching his twisted body. She supports him for only a fraction of a second. Then his form dissolves into a faint blue vapor and quickly dissipates, passing through her shaking embrace to vanish into thin air. Buffy's stake that moments before was so firmly imbedded in Scott's heart, now drops alone to the floor with a CLATTER.
BUFFY
(in a agonized whisper)
... Scott...
Buffy looks up at Angel. His face, too, is torn by the horror of what he has just seen.
ANGEL
(aghast)
Buffy!... What did you just do!...
BUFFY
(stammering and confused)
You... you were... Angelus...
ANGEL
But Buffy...
Before Angel can finish the sentence, his face contorts in a sudden death agony. Instantaneously, his whole body explodes into dust and disintegrates before Buffy's eyes. As the dust cascades to the floor, revealed behind where Angel stood is the vampire image of Giles, holding another stake and sporting a ghoulish grin. Buffy slowly looks up from the spot where both Angel and Scott perished. Her eyes meet those of Giles. As she gazes at him, the panic she feels recedes. In its place is a furious, cold anger.
BUFFY
(to Giles, firmly, controling her fear and anger)
You're not Giles.
The vampires standing around Ethan suddenly stop snickering.
BUFFY (cont'd)
You're not Giles!... (looking around at all the vampires)... none of you are real! That's what Scott meant!
Buffy spins defiantly to face the image of Ethan Rayne.
BUFFY (cont'd)
None of this is real! It's all my own Hell! The creation of my own mind that you're using against me!... And it's stopping right now!
The grin on Ethan's face collapses into a surly frown. He looks at the vampires around him, shakes his head and sighs.
ETHAN
(to the vampires)
Oh well, sorry boys... playtime's over. Time to get *real.*
As Buffy glares at the image of Ethan, the flames leap up all about her, obscuring the wreck of the library, Giles and the vampires, and the fallen bodies of Xander, Cordelia, Willow and Oz. The red glow from the lapping blaze intensifies until it is a blinding flash once more. Buffy closes her eyes and winces. At the same time, the BLARING SCREAM OF THE FIRE ALARM subsides. In its place returns the DEEP SUBTERRANEAN RUMBLING and the steady MOAN OF THE DAMNED.
As Buffy opens her eyes, she finds she is back standing on the path at the edge of the lava pit. Less than twenty feet in front of her looms the image of Ethan Rayne.
BUFFY
(coldly)
So, your little magic trick bombed out, and we're back in your playground.
ETHAN
Slayer, where do you really think you are?
BUFFY
(her voice laced with sarcasm)
... Hell...
ETHAN
(grinning)
Hardly... actually all of this... is closer to heaven.
Buffy scowls.
ETHAN (cont'd)
You see, Hell... true eternal damnation, is incomprehensible in its horror. It is the one thing the human mind and soul cannot fathom... Hell is non-existence.
Buffy's eyes widen with Ethan's revelation.
ETHAN
Oh, you understand... good, good. Most Slayers I've had the privilege to meet have been far less insightful... even your good friend Faith there.
Buffy doesn't move and yet cannot take her eyes off Ethan.
ETHAN
You see, we don't fear Death itself or the realm of torments we believe to follow. Those are our own creations, fantasies for our comfort. Rather, since all reality must be perceived through the vehicle of the soul and mind, if that soul ceases to exist,... upon death... so too does the reality. Self non existence is the horror beyond comprehension. Hell if you will.
BUFFY
(looking around her)
But then... what is all this?
ETHAN
Merely my training ground where I prepare souls for actual Hell. You see, after centuries of torment, they welcome gladly the descent to the true Avernus, the black empty pit of Nothingness. Only you, Slayer, stand in the way of expanding this, my true realm.
BUFFY
Scott was right. You *are* a liar!
ETHAN
You've really spent too much hanging around with that Rarak. Bad influence you know.
Buffy swaggers up toward the image of Ethan. As she speaks, her voice begins to take on a tone that is similar to Faith's.
BUFFY
You know something, Mr. D? A real special friend of mine wrote once that nothing since the beginning has been created or destroyed, only changed. And that means everything from the dirt under our feet all the way up to and including our souls. So your little pit of nothingness, your non-existence of the soul, it's bullshit!
The image of Ethan stares back at Buffy. For the first time, traces of fear crease his face.
BUFFY (cont'd)
So you're a liar, number one! Number two, Giles said that Hell is really just our own rotten little place that we wallow in until we finally get fed up and realize there's a better path. That's number two!
Buffy struts even closer to Ethan who begins to pull back in fear.
BUFFY (cont'd)
And number three! A really cool old friend of Willow's explained to me that since nothing from the beginning has been either created or destroyed, *anything* could be "touched by the finger of God!" Trees, water, rocks,... Scott tried to tell me the same thing. "It's not the stone, but what it represents."
Buffy bends down and picks up a fistful of dirt.
BUFFY (cont'd)
Even this... it all came from the creation... so it was touched by the Great Creative Force! The Finger of God!
ETHAN
(growling)
Bitch... you Bitch!
BUFFY
So, Mr. D!
Buffy furiously hurls the fistfull of dirt at Ethan. Instead of passing through him, the dirt gets in his face, mouth and eyes.
ETHAN
(screaming and gagging)
DAMN YOU!
BUFFY
I Demand the return of the soul of Rupert Giles! In the name of the Great Creative Force!
Buffy bends down and scoops up another fistful. She hurls that at the image of Ethan as well.
BUFFY (cont'd)
And I Demand the return of the soul of Angel!
She bends down again, over and over, and with each name, throwing another fistful of dust into Ethan's face.
BUFFY
And the soul of Scott! And Willow! And Oz! And Xander! And Cordelia! And Jesse! And all the souls you've taken without cause for the past three hundred years!
Ethan screams wildly as he tries to scratch the clinging blinding dust from out of his eyes. Suddenly his body begins to twist and lose its cohesiveness. Still writhing, Ethan dissolves into a nebulous, gaseous black shape, both with form and without.
BUFFY (cont'd)
(as she holds one final fistful of dust and sand)
And one last thing... I'm so fricking tired of dealing with you and all this shit of yours!... I want everything returned the way it's supposed to be!... I want everything back to normal!
VOICE OF ETHAN
(threatening from the black cloud)
You really don't want that one, Slayer Bitch!
BUFFY
(her anger rising to an hysterical fury)
I want that one most of all!
She hurls the fistfull of dust into the black cloud seething in front of her. The voice of Ethan Rayne emits one final last scream. Everything around Buffy, the path, the looming cliffs, the boiling lava pool, and the black cloud that is "Mr. D" all vanish in a sudden blinding flash of white light.
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