NOTES: I wrote in a pseudo-screenplay form to keep it short.
*** START ***
SCENE 1: Giles' Apartment. It is dusk.
PROLOGUE: [superimposed onto a chipped and scratched apartment
door. The apartment number reads "2-C".]
From the Codex of the Slayers:
"From the kharove of a Slayer, betrayed by the Trusted One, shall
arise the Slayer of Slayers, to asor the world of Evil. And the
Trusted One shall become Vetchteg, remembered while Time still
burns."
[End of Prologue]
[A hand knocks on the door. We pull back and see that it's Buffy,
the Vampire Slayer]
[The door opens. Giles, the "Watcher" of the Slayers, welcomes her
inside and takes a look into the hallway before closing and locking
the door]
Buffy: So what's so urgent? You beep me at the most annoying
times. I do have a life outside of Slaying, you know?
Giles: Odd that you should say that.
Buffy: So what is it this time? Another Vampire King? The
Apocalypse? Giant turtles? I can handle it. [She looks at her
fingernails]
Giles: It is about the Codex -- Angel gave me several more pages...
Buffy: You saw Angel? How was he?
Giles: Fine. From the new pages I was able to confirm a few of my
pet theories regarding the Slayers. The translation is always
troublesome...
Buffy: Did he ask about me?
Giles: Who? Angel? [annoyed] Yes, I guess so. It will take a while
to explain. Please have some tea. [He gestures to the dinner
table, ready for tea-time.]
Buffy: [inspecting the extravagant layout of cups, teapots, and
strainers] So the rumor's true?
Giles: I don't follow you.
Buffy: [lifting two teacups to her eyes, playfully treating them as
eyeglasses] About the British and their tea. I guess it's true,
huh?
Giles: Well, it's certainly better than Americans and their...
Buffy: [Buffy quickly removes the teacups from her face, revealing
her perky eyes] Coffee?
Giles: Crack. [adjusting his eyeglasses] Please help yourself.
I'll get some napkins. [He exits to the kitchen.]
[Buffy pours herself a cup of tea. She sips it quietly while
surveying Giles' apartment. It is unusally barren of decorations
and furniture.]
[Giles returns with his own cup, already full of tea.]
Buffy: You're sure you live here? It looks abandoned.
Giles: [carefully regarding Buffy] I, as a Watcher, must re-locate
fairly frequently. I will have to move very soon, in fact. [He
puts his cup down onto the table.]
Buffy: Why's that? You just got here a few months ago.
Giles: But I must move to where the Slayer is. And the Slayer...
Buffy: Is right here. Am I going somewhere? Giles, you're acting
strangely, is everything all right?
Giles: [He speaks as if Buffy were not in the room] As I said, I
must move to where the Slayer is, and the next Slayer could be
anywhere in the world.
Buffy: The next one? What about me?
Giles: [crosses his arms stiffly and looks at Buffy seriously] You
are dying.
Buffy: [surprised and scared] What? You're scaring me, Giles.
What are you talking about?
Giles: The tea. It was in the tea. [He gestures to the teapot on
the dinner table.]
Buffy: [staring into her half-empty cup] What...
Giles: You'll be dead within a few minutes. It won't hurt too much
-- you've had worse. I'm sorry Buffy.
Buffy: I don't understand...
Giles: [He shrugs his shoulders] It was either this or a knife in
the back. I don't have the stomach for the latter. [He shudders
slightly, as if recalling an unwelcome memory.]
Buffy: [angrily] Is this some kind of sick joke? Ha ha, joke's
over. Everybody can come out now! [shouting to the bedroom and
kitchen]
Giles: I did it for humanity Buffy. I hope you can understand
that. It is written in the Codex...
Buffy: I said quit it! This isn't funny! [Buffy feels a twinge of
pain in her abdomen. She clutches at the pain, and looks up into
Giles' glassy eyes. The pain grows worse and she doubles over,
falling to her knees.]
Giles: I'm terribly sorry. [stepping back, expecting her to vomit]
I did it for humanity. You must remember that I did it only for
humanity's sake.
Buffy: [halting moans with difficult breathing] Giles, help. I
think I'm sick.
Giles: [worried] Oh dear, I don't think I can watch this. [He
stays, watching Buffy die.]
Buffy: [now sideways on the floor, slowly twisting in pain] Help.
Help me. Please.
Giles: I'm sorry, Buffy. I will never forget you. [He gulps the
last of his tea, then checks his wristwatch.]
[We fade from Buffy's last breath, eyes wide open in terror, to her
pale, dead face as she lies on her back on Giles' kitchen table.]
SCENE 2: Giles' Apartment - Kitchen
[Giles has arranged several candles around her body, which has been
partially wrapped in a bed-sheet. He is conducting a ritual. In
one hand he holds a vial of liquid, in the other hand he holds his
worn and tattered copy of the Codex, stuffed with crumpled notes
and bookmarks. He reads aloud from the Codex.]
Giles: "From the ashes of a Slayer, betrayed by the Trusted One,
shall arise the Slayer of Slayers, to... asor the world of Evil."
So it is written, and the Codex never errs.
[He pours the clear liquid along the length of Buffy's body.]
Giles: The Slayer is purified. Here me, Slayer of Slayers, the
ashes of your birth come anon.
[He snips a lock of Buffy's hair into a small crucible, which he
then sets onto his stovetop with a full flame. Soon, the hair
starts to smoke, and it gradually turns into a white ash.]
Giles: I give to Thee, most Sacred One, the ashes of your birth.
Slayer of Slayers, arise! [He casts the ashes onto Buffy's body
and steps back, not knowing what to expect.]
[Nothing happens.]
Giles: I command thee! Arise!
[A fly buzzes from the ceiling onto Buffy's face.]
Giles: [shooing away the fly] ARISE! It is written! It is
written!
[Nothing happens.]
[Giles is astonished. In frustration, he runs his hands over his
head to the back of his neck, then slams them onto the table.]
Giles: [furious] Damn it! [swiping several candles onto the
floor] Damn it all! I was certain! It had to be her!
[He paces the room, mumbling snippets of prophecy, lost in thought.
He stops abruptly.]
Giles: Perhaps it is the next Slayer. [He refers to the Codex,
flipping pages wildly.] Yes, yes, I think I have it. The next
one. It is certainly the next one. [He looks at Buffy's body. He
is both disgusted and worried.] Hmm, I still have *this* to take
care of. [grabbing some trash bags from under the sink] You would
think after so many times that I might get used to this part. [He
begins to stuff Buffy into a trash bag.]
[As he stuffs her into the trash bags, the camera zooms out of his
kitchen window, and pans up past the twinkling valley, past the
setting sun to settle on a starry night sky.]
EPILOGUE: [superimposed]
"From the ashes of a Slayer, betrayed by the Trusted One, shall
arise the Slayer of Slayers, to cleanse the world of Evil. And the
Trusted One shall become a New Evil, remembered while Time still
burns."
*** END ***
