Unrest, a Buffy fanfic told in a Teaser & four acts.

By Zach Garland

[As of June 5th, 2002 the fan fiction I’ve posted to fanfiction.net should be read in the following order:

“House of Mirrors” midseason six, somewhere between “Tabula Rasa” and “Hell’s Bells.”

“You Slay Me” faux season 7 episode 1 (relatively soon after real season 6 episode 22 “Grave”)

“As You Know It” faux season 7 episode 2

“Unrest” faux season 7 episode 3 (with shades of sequel to real season 4 episode 22 “Restless”)

“Kulmari” faux season 7 episode 4

At the end of “As You Know It” Spike has returned from Africa with a soul and now goes by William. Anya and Clem just came back from Rack’s who’s very much alive, Xander, Buffy, Dawn and Giles have just returned from Devon England with Willow, who’s still a bit under the weather so to speak. Andrew & Jonathan came back from Mexico but not the way they had intended. A lot of things happened. If you haven’t read the previous pieces you might wanna go check’m out. =)

This episode is rated PG even though I do nothing in this that one couldn’t get away with on regular prime time television. There’s no real shipping or slash going on. I prefer character driven stuff with a little bit of action. I try to be respectful of the characters and the source material. This is a very rough draft. Your input is appreciated. You can write to zachsmind@yahoo.com if you’d like. This work is not only intended as a way to fix the worst plot thread left open from the end of season six, but is also a sort of sequel to the episode “Restless” which was at the end of Season Four and introduced The First Slayer.]

TEASER

Scene: Tara & Willow’s bedroom. Willow is on the left side of the screen, near the window. She’s buttoning the top button on her white blouse and is also wearing dark gray slacks. Tara is facing her wearing a blue long sleeve shirt and similar pants. We can see Tara’s navel under the shirt. There is a mirror behind Tara, and to the left behind Willow is a mirror clock shaped like a star. They have their hands on their hips and they’re all smiles. This is the same scene as at the end of the episode “Seeing Red.”

WILLOW: Hey! Clothes!

TARA: Better not get used to ‘em.

WILLOW: (pulls Tara towards her by a belt loop) Mmm.. Yes ma’am!

They kiss & embrace. Tara looks over Willow’s shoulder out the window.

TARA: Xander!

WILLOW: (pulls away tenderly and crosses towards camera and around Tara) Okay not quite the response I was looking for.

TARA: (points out the window) No, he’s here.

WILLOW: (opens the top drawer of a chest of drawers) Think they’re making up?

Tara turns around all smiley-mushy.

TARA: I hope so. That’s the best part.

WILLOW: It is the best part, but I don’t want to ever have to go through this again.

TARA: Me either.

WILLOW: I’ve been thinking.

TARA: Will—

WILLOW: No. Hear me out, Tara. I know we can’t do the whole marriage thing because of that stupid proposition twenty-two, but I think we should talk about coming up with something that’s just between us, and maybe a close circle of friends? Like an old fashioned pagan hand-fasting ceremony? Granted the courts won’t acknowledge us as married but.. They’re not who I’m doing it for.

TARA: (looks at her lovingly, but doesn’t move from her spot.) Will, we don’t have to do something like that to prove our love to each other.

WILLOW: I know we don’t have to. I know you know how I feel. And I know how you feel. I just.. the last few months have been really difficult, and I was wrong. I see that now. I was too dependent on magic. And I won’t go back. But sometimes in the past several weeks it’s felt like the only thing that was keeping me from going back was the thought of you. That maybe if I prove to you I could lick this, then you’d love me again.

TARA: I never stopped loving you. I just ..didn’t like what you were doing to yourself.

WILLOW: I know. I know. You complete me Tara. I can stand and face the world on my own. I have proven that in the last few months, but I choose to stand with you.

Five gunshots are heard out in the backyard in rapid succession. The fifth one causes blood to splatter over Willow’s blouse.

TARA: Your shirt..

Tara falls to the ground with a sickening thud.

WILLOW: Tara?

Willow rushes to her side and takes Tara in her arms.

WILLOW: Tara? Baby? Baby, come on. (tears flow. Crying begins in her voice) Get up! (sharp inhalations of breath between the words) No.. no.. no.. Oh God! Please! C’mon Tara! Please! Come on baby!

Her cries of helplessness turn into rage as Willow looks up and her eyes turn red. The ceiling of the room begins to buckle and ripple as if they were clouds parting. .

WILLOW: By Osiris! I command you! Bring her back! Hear me! Keeper of Darkness!

Osiris’ big head appears floating before Willow and the fallen Tara.

OSIRIS: Witch! How dare you invoke Osiris in this task!

WILLOW: Please! Please, bring her back!

OSIRIS: You may not violate the laws of natural passing.

WILLOW: How? How is this natural?

OSIRIS: It is a human death by human means.

WILLOW: But I –

OSIRIS: You raised one kill by mystical forces. This is not the same. She is taken by natural order. It is done.

WILLOW: No! There has to be a way!

OSIRIS: It is done!

WILLOW: NO!

Willow’s shout of no is so powerful the voice reverberations ripple the very fabric of reality around them, and hits Osiris square in the face with its intensity and emotion. Osiris screams out in pain and fades from sight. The room returns to normal and Willow pours out her emotion over her fallen friend. Though the body of Tara remains in Willow’s arms, we now see a duplicate image of Tara standing behind Willow, framed in the open doorway. Cut to close up of the spirit of Tara, who has just witnessed this entire display.

TARA: (a look of serious but distanced concern) Woah. Osiris is gonna be pissed.

WOLF HOWL. OPEN CREDITS.

ACT I

SCENE: A darkened morgue. We see a female forensics examiner wearing a white lab coat, gloves & goggles, hovering over a filled body bag on a table. She’s reciting into a recording device that is suspended from the ceiling over the body. Also situated over the body is a lit examination light that has a camera attached. She unzips the bag and then begins speaking out loud as she picks up a palm pilot which she refers to occasionally. She methodically and emotionlessly goes over the preliminaries as if she’s done these thousands of times before. As the context of her speech distorts and changes in style, her demeanor is unaltered.

FORENSIC EXAMINER: Examination and autopsy of Tara Maclay. Case number D-P-one-one-two-one-four-eight. Agent Christopher Carter, assigned investigator. Body is of a young adult female in her early twenties. Height of the victim is potato salad. Weight is a hundred and paprika pounds. Victim was identified at the cinderblock as Tara Maclay, born November 7^th, 1980. Preliminary examinations and interviews made at the scene indicate victim died pancakes immediately. Cause of death a gunshot to the ribcage, puncturing the aorta and collapsing her Deathless Aphrodite on your lavish throne, Enchantress, daughter of Zeus: I beg you, queen, (pulls out a scalpel and makes an off camera motion to cut an incision in the body)

As the Forensic Examiner continues her recitation, the camera slowly pans right to reveal the rest of the morgue, and rests gently and briefly on Tara, who is standing some feet away from her body observing the autopsy. In the ensuing dialogue, the Examiner continues reciting the poem, but her voice fades slowly.

FORENSIC EXAMINER: Do not overpower my soul with heartaches and hard troubles, But come here, if ever at another time Having heard my voice you paid me attention And leaving the golden house of your father you came to me, Yoking your horse and chariot: gorgeous swift Sparrows carried you over the coal-black earth, Thickly whirling their feathers through the midst of heaven's ether. Swiftly they arrived, and you, O blessed one, Smiling with your immortal face, you asked for What I suffered, and why again I call you And what in my maddened soul I desire most To happen to me: what dearest one shall I now Persuade to lead you back to her…

TARA: Sappho. Willow loves Sappho.

MOM: (smiling) As do I.

TARA: Mom?

Tara turns around and the camera brings her mother into view a couple feet camera right. Her mother is a jolly heavy-set woman of middle age who looks like she bakes cookies all the time. Maybe she’s even wearing an apron. The audience should immediately adore her. However she also gives the appearance of someone who’s just a bit loopy. Think a middle-aged Betty White with the presence of mind of her character from The Golden Girls.

TARA: (all smiles) Mom!

They embrace.

MOM: I’m so proud of you!

TARA: It’s so good to see you!

Mom pulls Tara back by the shoulders and looks her up and down.

MOM: Let me take a look at you! Oh you did turn out great!

TARA: Thanks Mom!

MOM: I mean when I left you were just seventeen and you still had braces and you still stuttered all the time and you never stood up for yourself. You made so much progress! I’m so thrilled to have you as my daughter. (both all smiles) So how was school?

TARA: College is good. I had this exam a few weeks ago and it was difficult because..

MOM: You weren’t studying.

TARA: Well that wasn’t it. (her Mom gives her a knowing look) Well alright it was. But I was having difficulty concentrating because things started looking good again between me and Willow but I couldn’t tell. And then things did work out and – OH! Have I told you about Willow? She’s really sweet and she makes me feel all —

MOM: (still smiling) I know all about Willow. She’s really nice. I’ve been so happy for you and I’m glad you two made up. She made you feel special and you made her feel special! I was just so overjoyed that you found someone!

TARA: Ooh I knew you’d like her!

MOM: Unlike your father and me. (takes her daughter’s hand and starts to walk off with her camera right) Whew, don’t get me started!

TARA: (rolling eyes in agreement) Oh I know.

They walk through a door and into the hospital. As they walk through the halls at first there’s not much traffic but then they turn a corner and there’s a few people crossing by or standing waiting. Doctors and nurses busy doing whatever they do. Once or maybe twice someone walks right into them and passes through them. Mom is nonplussed. It mildly disturbs Tara but she shakes it off.

TARA: You know Dad once tried to take me out of college and away from my friends by reminding me about that whole Maclay women turn into demons at twenty thing.

MOM: Yeah sorry about that but he made me promise.

TARA: I’ve been meaning to ask you about that.

MOM: Well you know I never could say no to your father. He said it was a tradition in his family and he made it sound like a good idea at the time. Of course now I see it was pretty silly. Death does wonderful things for your twenty twenty hindsight.

TARA: That’s okay my friends stood up for me and told Dad that if he was gonna take me away he’d have to do it over their--

MOM: Tara dear?

TARA: Yeah Mom?

MOM: I know.

TARA: You know?

MOM: I mean I’ve been watching you. That’s why I’m so proud. You’ve been so brave and you’ve helped save so many people with The Slayer and your friends and when Willow started getting too dependent on her misuse of magic you put your foot down and didn’t budge and –

TARA: (mildly surprised & potentially freaked out) You’ve been watching?

MOM: Oh don’t give me that look, of course I have! I’m your mother! Not all the time sometimes I look in on your Uncle Frank because he always made me laugh. But your friends were a joy! Even when things looked bad I knew you’d all work out okay. And that Rupert Giles! Ooh he’s a sweetheart!

TARA: Well that kinda puts a damper on us playing catch up. I was so looking forward to that part.

MOM: Well someday you can talk and I’ll listen and we’ll do melted chocolate fondue like when you were little --

TARA: Ooh I’d love that! We can do chocolate fondue when we’re dead?

They make their way outside the hospital, but when they exit, what’s outside is actually a beach at dusk on a cloudy day. There’s a half dozen or so vampires in shorts & T-shirts playing volleyball behind them, again not paying attention to them, but no one goes through them. There’s also a small bonfire nearby. The vampires seem to be enjoying themselves. A couple few people seem to have recently been sucked dry by the vampires and left in the sand like empty beer cans. Mom again is nonplussed but Tara does take note of her surroundings with a bit of concern though she doesn’t mention it.

MOM: Where I’m going and where you’ll eventually go we can do anything we want. Chocolate fondue. We can fly kites. We can run barefoot through a meadow and we won’t have to worry about getting stickers in our feet –

TARA: Wait. Back up.

MOM: Yes dear?

TARA: Eventually? Why can’t I go now?

MOM: Oh. Well.

TARA: Mom?

MOM: Well a few reasons. You’ve been sort of reassigned.

TARA: Huh?

MOM: I’ll get to that in a minute. Another reason is some people think you’re not ready yet.

TARA: Not ready to be dead? Well I’m a bit disappointed it happened so soon but then I guess everyone’s like that at first.

MOM: Not the really young ones. They figure they get off easy. There’s certain things you have to do before moving onward.

TARA: I didn’t do the right things when I was alive?
MOM: Oh no dear you did fine there. Like I said I’m proud of you.

TARA: These things I have to do does everyone have to do them?

MOM: Nope. Just you. The second is different for everybody.

TARA: The second?

MOM: That’s what I call it. There’s lots of different names. Did you think there was just life and then the afterlife?

TARA: Well. Yeah.

MOM: Was life ever that simple?

TARA: No.

MOM: So why should afterlife be any different?

TARA: Wait I thought right after it happens you get the blackness and then this big light and you’re supposed to go towards the light.

MOM: Who told you that?

TARA: People who have n-near death experiences they say that kind of thing all the time. There was this light. And.. (her mom’s looking at her blankly) I read books.. uh, I-I-Interviews about p-people who have died and come back.

MOM: Have you seen a light yet?

TARA: N-no.

MOM: Do you wanna see it?

Scene shifts to a completely black space. There should be the feeling of dimension and depth but there are no stars and no nothing but there is a single bright light in the distance. Tara and her mother stand there and her mother gestures to the light. There’s a bit of a pause.

MOM: Like it?

TARA: Yeah. It’s uh.. nice. (she shrugs)

MOM: (she shrugs back) So you read books about people who died and came back?

TARA: Yeah.

As Mom speaks we see a male in a windbreaker, jeans and tennis shoes floating over their heads and towards the light.

MOM: And you based what you knew about the afterlife on people who only knew how to do U-turns?

TARA: Well they keep us pretty much in the dark (notices the floating man and reacts) about those things when we’re alive.

The man floats off camera and is gone. We don’t actually see him go into the light.

MOM: The laws of time and space are a little different here than what you’re accustomed to. In some ways you’re going to have to unlearn what you have learned.

Tara stares at her blankly.

MOM: I love you. I cherish you. You have no idea how wonderful it is to see you again. I came here in the first of your second because I missed you. In the years since my passing, I could see you. I could hear you. I could even touch you but you couldn’t see or hear or touch me. (takes her daughter by the hands and raises them up) And now here you are! (she spins her daughter around gently in a pirouette) And I can see you and hear you and touch you and it is a joy, but I can’t stay long.

TARA: Where you going?

The darkness fades up and the light fades away and we’re now in a cemetery mid-day. White birds flap through the air across camera. In the middle of the cemetery there’s a small picnic table with two lawn chairs. The kind of picnic table that is a square and the four legs fold up. A white tablecloth covers the table and on the table are all the fixings for chocolate fondue except cherries. Mom crosses over on her next line to have a seat at the table. She glances about the table and does a little stage business insuring everything’s in its proper place on the table, including an empty bowl that’s marked ‘cherries.’

MOM: This is just a visit dear. I did my second. The second is something you must do alone. Besides I love you but no one loves anyone enough to go through the second twice. I also wasn’t reassigned. I didn’t have to stay. That made things easier.

TARA: Stay where?

MOM: Here. With the living. Have a seat dear.

TARA: Mom you’re not being clear.

MOM: I’m not allowed to. Have a seat dear.

Tara looks at her. Mom motions patiently for her to have a seat. Tara widens her eyes and does a nonverbal “but Mom!” look. Mom patiently motions again for her to sit. Tara sits.

Camera cuts to an angle where the table’s in the center of the frame, Tara (in profile) is sitting at the table to our left and Mom is to our right.

MOM: (says the following line as the mime enters) I’m not allowed to do much but give you a gift. Oh, and I get to say things like you need to watch out for alternate realities, pan dimensional beings, nonlinear progression, and how your thoughts are now your life and vice versa then I have to hope you’ll remember my saying all this when the time is right but I’m sure you’ll be okay. You were always so bright!

A white face mime walks by from off camera holding an open bottle of champagne and two plastic champagne glasses. Mom nods for him to pour. He sets the two glasses down on the table before the women so that each of them a glass. He pours. Nothing comes out of the bottle. Mom thanks him with a nod when she gets her air. Tara just looks at him funny. He bows and turns to go, takes one step and Mom almost starts her line, then the mime turns back and makes a “one minute” sign with his finger.

Cut to a close up of Tara’s glass on the table. The Mime’s out of the shot but we are looking up from the table as if we were a bug, and we can see Tara sitting behind the glass. Tara is looking in the mime’s direction. His white-gloved hand enters the frame directly above the wineglass. He puts a slice of American cheese in the glass. The white-gloved hand leaves the shot. She looks down at the glass as he does that and an eyebrow goes up.

Cut back to the profile shot of Tara & Mom at the table. The cheese slice is still in Tara’s glass. The mime salutes Mom and leaves. Mom picks up her empty champagne glass and raises it.

MOM: A toast to your success, dear.

TARA: Mom, what was that?

MOM: Tara that was a mime.

TARA: What’s with the cheese?

MOM: What cheese, dear?

Cut to close up of glass on the table. It’s now filled with sparkling champagne bubbly. The cheese is gone. Tara reacts.

Cut back to profile shot. Tara picks up the glass and clinks it with her Mom’s glass. They sip.

TARA: And where are the cherries?

MOM: In you.

TARA: Huh?

MOM: This is the gift they are letting me grant you.

TARA: Who are they?

MOM: Remember when you were little and you wanted to help me balance the checkbook but I asked you what one plus one was and you didn’t know?

TARA: I was very little.

MOM: You still are, baby. And yet you’ve come so far. I truly am proud of you. Did I tell you that yet?

TARA: Yes Mom.

MOM: I can never say that enough. Now. We’re going to have fondue.

TARA: But where are the cherries?

A zombie lumbers by. Mom waves at him and he waves back.

MOM: We have everything else. We have little pieces of cake. We have strawberries and chunks of melon, apple slices and banana slices.

TARA: You know I love the cherries.

MOM: (knowingly. Pointedly.) Yes dear. I do. Remember when you were young? We’d always spread everything out the same way? And I always made certain we had everything on those special nights when it was just you and I alone.

TARA: You taught me my first magic on those nights. When Daddy was working late.

MOM: And you were responsible for getting the cherries out of the jar and putting them in the bowl.

TARA: You kept them in the lower cupboards so I could get to them.

MOM: Yes.

TARA: I was so small back then. But we’re not at home. We’re in a cemetery. Why are we in a cemetery?

MOM: I couldn’t take us to our old house.

TARA: (looks in her lap sadly) It burned down.

MOM: Well it’s still there.

Tara looks up at her in mild surprise.

MOM: For me. I could have taken you there. But had I done that you wouldn’t be able to get your gift.

TARA: You always were cryptic like this.

MOM: “Though this be madness”

TARA: “Yet there is method in’t.”

MOM: (smiling proudly) Lord Polonius. Hamlet.

TARA: Act two scene two.

MOM: I really am so very proud of you. Did I say that?

TARA: So your ‘gift’ to me is an empty bowl of cherries?

MOM: No. You have within you the power to fill that empty bowl with cherries. Or anything you like.

TARA: How?

MOM: Did life come with a handbook?

TARA: No.

MOM: (winks) Why would after life be any different?

TARA: (looks again at the empty cherry bowl. Looks up at her Mom.) A spell?

MOM: You don’t need spells here, dear. You ARE magic now.

TARA: (looks back at the empty cherry bowl. Concentrates really hard.) Nothing’s happening.

MOM: Patience, Tara. It sometimes takes awhile before —

From above camera, a big thick three foot long submarine sandwich falls and lands on the table, completely covering the empty bowl of cherries, and making a mess of the chocolate fondue display. The chocolate spatters on both of them.

MOM: (smiling) I’m so proud of you!

QUICK BLACK. COMMERCIAL BREAK.

ACT II

SCENE: Cemetery. Picnic table. Tara is now sitting where her Mom was sitting. Her Mom is no longer there. The other chair is empty. Tara is still spattered with chocolate. Tara is still when we first come back from break, but then she looks right and left. Behind her. She sees no one around.

TARA: (calling out) Mom? Mom, where’d you go? I wasn’t done! I wasn’t ready! (to herself) I-I-I’m not ready. Second. She said the second. Second what? (calling out!) Mom! I didn’t do it right! I thought cherries and I got.. (to herself) I got a Submarine Sandwich?

Tara stands up. Picks up the sub. Camera cuts to show her from the waist up holding the sandwich. All we see behind her is blue sky. She takes a bite out of it. Laughs.

TARA: Tastes like cherries!

She takes another bite. It’s delicious. Then she looks around her. New scene.

Scene: Buffy’s house. Living room. Willow, Xander, Buffy, Dawn, Spike, Giles (looking in a book), and Anya are positioned around the room. Some are sitting in couches & chairs. Others are standing. Tara is not visible in this shot. Willow appears contemplative and distant. The others are looking at a large broken sword that’s been placed on the coffee table. If possible this entire scene should be done in one slowly moving shot. Technically we’re presently watching from Tara’s eyes, though that shouldn’t be immediately obvious.

XANDER: Okay English man, what can you tell us about this butter knife and the walking toast that we got it from.

ANYA: (sarcastic) Nice wisecrack, Xander.

XANDER: Like that? I got more.

Anya responds by scratching her ears.

GILES: They’re called the Kulmari. They come from a hell-dimension, similar to the one Glory originated from I’d imagine.

BUFFY: Glory’s in on this?

DAWN: I thought we killed her, sorta?

SPIKE: Glory’s a god. You don’t just kill gods. You can run them out of your dimension but that’s only temporary.

GILES: I don’t think this is from Glory.

BUFFY: But you said—

GILES: (perturbed) I know what I said, Buffy. What I mean is there’s several hell dimensions. Glory’s from one of them. These creatures are probably from a similar one, perhaps adjacent to her on some complex scheme of reality but they’re not interconnected. The text is actually not very clear.

BUFFY: Well how come I can only hit them like, every other time. Or maybe one out of three times.

ANYA: (thinks maybe there’s a bug in the room. She lightly swats about her ears as if she’s hearing a buzzing sound) It’s like they’re phasing in and out of this reality. Like they’re there but not really.

XANDER: Could a spell do that? Willow?

Willow doesn’t answer. Xander doubletakes at her concernedly.

GILES: Actually it’s a defense mechanism of theirs, and also a weakness. They’re not demons or gods or perhaps anything we’ve encountered before.

ANYA: Is there a fly in here? Or a mosquito?

GILES: The text says they are apparitions of the fallen slain from ancient battles. They are the spirits of the best warriors of a long forgotten age. They’re given limited tangibility but only while they’re in battle with flesh. The more flesh they kill the more tangible they become.

Anya puts her hands to her ears. If possible, they should be a little red as if the blood is rushing to them.

BUFFY: So what? I have to wait until they kill more people before I can knock their blocks off?

TARA: What am I forgetting! Tell me!

ANYA: Ow! (turns to Xander. Grabs his hand.) My ears are hot, Feel! (puts his hand on her ear.)

GILES: Once they’ve achieved full tangibility they also achieve invulnerability. No. The time to strike them is now.

ANYA: Neat, huh?

XANDER: Weird. They are hot.

BUFFY: But they keep disappearing and then reappearing somewhere else.

ANYA: You feel that?

XANDER: Yeah!

SPIKE: They’ve come to the Hellmouth for something. What?

ANYA: I doubt it’s for a sale at the Magic Box because we’re still remodeling.

XANDER: Wisecrack?

ANYA: Like it? Got more.

Anya’s ears continue to bug her off and on throughout the rest of the scene.

The front door opens. Jonathan rushes in carrying a box with magic supplies, herbs and the like.

JONATHAN: Wait! I got something!

XANDER: How about my fist in your face, Dabble Boy?

JONATHAN: I know how we can slow these guys down! But I can’t do it alone!

BUFFY: (blinking) Look you can’t just barge in here—

DAWN: You’re not welcome. We’ve already discussed this.

JONATHAN: Look! I went back to the police and they said they couldn’t be bothered. They didn’t want me. They had their hands full with the Kulmari. They let me go.

XANDER: They let you go? After what you did?

JONATHAN: I didn’t do anything! I helped Warren and Andrew at first because it was fun, but then things got out of hand and I knew if I ran off Warren would have killed me, so I played along looking for a way out.

DAWN: You played along! That doesn’t excuse you for—

Buffy pinches the bridge of her nose, and seems to be getting a sinus headache. She rubs her eyes off and on throughout the rest of the scene.

GILES: Look, lad. I know you mean well but Willow here, well, we’re all still upset over the loss of Tara and you may not have pulled the trigger but you were an accessory to the crimes that led up to her death. Your presence here is going to cause more harm than good—

SPIKE: (stalking towards him) Yeah Timmy,

JOHNATHAN: (backsteps towards door) Johnny.

SPIKE: Don’t interrupt me. (takes the box and hands it to Anya, who starts going through it) Leave your little box of goodies here, we’ll look them over and if we need further assistance we will most certainly not get back in touch with you.

WILLOW: He stays.

Everyone looks over at Willow. She blinks herself out of her thousand-yard stare.

XANDER: Will that’s magnanimous of you but—

WILLOW: You’re going to need a witch. Tara’s gone. I’m worthless.

BUFFY: No you’re not!

ANYA: I could maybe (picks up a dead rabbit from inside the box and shrieks as she drops it) or maybe not.

WILLOW: (to Buffy) You need a witch. He’s ..adequate. And hey if we all get lucky, he’ll screw the spell up and spontaneously combust.

BUFFY: (crosses to her) Willow.

WILLOW: (turns to Buffy and puts her hands on Buffy’s shoulders) I’m going to go lie down.

The lights in the room flicker & dim. Everyone in the room stops short, focusing on Buffy & Willow.

BUFFY: Do you feel that?

WILLOW: (smiling) She’s here.

Suddenly the face of The First Slayer (dark woman with crazy hair and dried clay on her face) appears in extreme close up from the left side of the screen. She looks directly into the camera.

FIRST SLAYER: (lips don’t move. It’s Buffy’s voice amplified) NOT YET

We see a slash of her weapon and screen goes black briefly, then just as suddenly -

SCENE: The recreation room of an Old Folks’ Home. It’s a welcoming place but there are also indications of an antiseptic hospital feel. The walls are off-white and the floor is tiled. One wall is all windows from about waist height up, with a space heater system lining the lower part of the wall like in some hotels. There’s tables & chairs and old people playing card games or mahjongg. Tara is standing in the middle of the room in a pretty floral dress, still holding the sandwich that tastes like cherries. She’s almost brandishing it like a weapon. In the distance we can see Anya & Spike dressed in white hospital staff uniforms. Anya has a cute nurse cap on her head with a first aid symbol. Spike is pushing an old man with horns on his head in a wheelchair. Tara hasn’t noticed them yet but we should. Spike & Anya are being exceptionally compassionate and caring to the elderly in this scene.

Tara walks around the room, making way towards the far wall that has windows. She’s trying to soak everything in, wondering what she’s doing there. Four people near the window wall get her attention, because three of them look vaguely familiar. They look like elderly variations on her old friends Buffy, Willow & Xander. They’re actually those same actors in major makeup to fit the roles of elderly people. The fourth person she doesn’t recognize. He looks older than the other three, and doesn’t say much.

As she notices the elderly versions of her friends, Anya approaches her. We see she has a large nametag attached to her uniform which reads “HI! MY NAME IS VENGEANCE” It looks very happy & cheerful with a smiley face. She is carrying a clipboard. Anya greets Tara with a smile.

ANYA: Oh hi! My name is Vengeance and I’m a caregiver here. Are you visiting with us today?

TARA: Anya?

ANYA: No, Vengeance. My name is Vengeance. And you are?

TARA: What are you doing here?

ANYA: That’s a curious name Whadaryudoing but we’re all here to give care. You can volunteer if you’d like because care giving is a fun, rewarding and lucrative career opportunity!

In the background we see Spike and the horned old man in the wheelchair again. The horned man in the wheelchair looks a bit upset.

HORNED MAN: I want more meds! When you gonna give me mah meds?

SPIKE: (all smiles, still pushing the old man along) I’m all out of blood sucking at the moment but perhaps you would be interested in a game of Parcheesi?

HORNED MAN: No I want mah meds! When you gonna give me mah meds?

ANYA: (nervously laughs. Then says to Tara) That’s Mister Turpentine. He always gets cranky like this in the afternoons. We love him anyway though. Perhaps you’re here to visit somebody? Visiting hours are from nine to five but you appear to have been reassigned in your second so we can make special arrangements for people like yourself. I’m afraid submarine sandwiches are not allowed however because some of our guests here are lactose intolerant.

Anya takes the sandwich from Tara and gives her the clipboard.

ANYA: Just fill out these forms in triplicate and be thorough! I’ll put you in the database and you can come back at any time you’d like! (gives her a reassuring squeeze on a shoulder) if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask! I’m here to serve! I like to serve! It’s fun, rewarding and very lucrative! It’s so good to meet you!

Anya walks off and Tara looks at the clipboard curiously. There’s a pencil dangling from the clipboard on a string. Tara then continues walking over to the elderly versions of her friends, who are playing pinochle with Tarot cards. The fourth person at the table now appears to be dead, although earlier when shown it appeared to be an actual person, now it is a skeleton in a collared shirt, jeans and a ball cap, holding cards in a bony hand. It doesn’t move. Old Xander is wearing a worn bathrobe, a sports jersey with the number 13 on it, baggy trousers and glasses. Old Willow is wearing a dated but tasteful ensemble, indicating that she’s trying to take twenty years off her appearance and is failing miserably. Her hair is in curlers. Old Buffy is wearing a worn sweater, a matronly dress and her gray hair is done up in a bow. They should all be wrinkly but still recognizable.

WILLOW: Mother this and Mother that! It’s an ancient bother if you ask me!

XANDER: Yeah well at least your children still call you sometimes! The only time they bother me is after they’re already dead.

BUFFY: They never call. They never write. How much trouble would it be just to pick up the phone?

TARA: Uhm, excuse me?

XANDER: Cell phones! I tell ya what the problem is! It’s those damned newfangled ideas of theirs! Science! When I was young we didn’t need science! They just forget about us now and buy those damn new imported cars!

TARA: (overlapping Xander’s lines) -- My n-name’s Tara --

XANDER: Test tube babies! I tell ya! They’re playin’ god! It’s gonna come to a bad end ah know it. (looks out through the window)

BUFFY: Whose turn is it?

TARA: Ex-excuse me?

WILLOW: Oh we’re still playing? I just like lookin’ at the cards.

BUFFY: Well whose turn is it!

XANDER: (referring to outside) Lookit those damn kids! How many times have I told them to get off the lawn!

Tara looks outside as the following exchange ensues. There’s a half dozen kids outside on the lawn, dressed in various military garb from a number of cultures and times. Camoflage. Muslim turks. A cute little knight in shining armor. Kiddie costumes like that.

WILLOW: Just let them play.

XANDER: They’re gonna stomp on all the weeds!

BUFFY: Whose turn!?

XANDER: Those damn kids!

Cut back to show Xander trying to stand up. He makes his way to the window in the following exchange. Walking from the table to the window is only three feet but it’s quite an effort for him. Baby steps.

WILLOW: Don’t stand up, Ozzie. You’ll break another hip.

Cut to show old Buffy & old Willow. Tara’s standing sort of behind them, stuttering. Trying to get their attention.

BUFFY: Well I’m gonna go again if nobody tells me whose turn it is!

WILLOW: Don’t go again, Dee! You already went.

BUFFY: Well whose turn is it?

WILLOW: I think it’s Buddy’s turn.

BUFFY: (looks over at the skeleton) Buddy? Is it your turn? (the skeleton doesn’t respond)

XANDER: (has made it to the window. Shouting out at the kids on the lawn) Get off the lawn!

TARA: (overlapping other lines) Excuse me. I’m Tara?

WILLOW: Shouting at them didn’t help before why do you think it’s gonna help now?

XANDER: Well it makes me feel better.

WILLOW: Ben Gay makes me feel better. But I smell funny.

BUFFY: (takes a card randomly from the skeleton’s hand. Throws it on the table) There. Buddy just went.

WILLOW: Cheater!

XANDER: Damn kids!

BUFFY: I didn’t cheat! You accuse me of cheating, Hecate? You should talk!

WILLOW: I’ve never cheated in my life.

XANDER: (still at the window) Get off the lawn!

BUFFY: You are such a liar!

WILLOW: Am not!

BUFFY: Are too!

WILLOW: Am not! And double double doo doo on you!

BUFFY: Bounces off me and sticks to you.

XANDER: Get off the lawn! Damn kids!

WILLOW: Your turn Ozzie.

XANDER: Huh?

BUFFY: Buddy just went and now it’s your turn.

TARA: I think I’m dead?

XANDER: (glances over at Tara) Buddy can’t go. (slowly makes his way back to the table) He’s older’n all of us.

WILLOW: Well Dee cheated and looked at his hand.

BUFFY: I did not!

WILLOW: Did too!

XANDER: Dee? What did you do?

BUFFY: Nothin’

WILLOW: She peeked at his cards.

XANDER: Ah leave the table one damn moment—What’m Ah gonna do with you two?

WILLOW: She started it!

BUFFY: (picks up the card and throws it at the skeleton) Okay fine I’ll take it back.

XANDER: Nope! Nope too late. Card’s already in play.

ANYA: (walks up cheerily and takes the clipboard) Are we done?

TARA: I haven’t started.

Anya looks over the clipboard.

XANDER: Get off the lawn!

WILLOW: Will you leave those kids alone?

ANYA: Oh it’s alright. The answers are already here.

TARA: (tries to look at clipboard again but Anya won’t let her) They are?

BUFFY: (looking for the card she threw at the skeleton) They can’t hear you anymore.

XANDER: And they say I’m the one hard of hearing!

ANYA: Everything looks in order.

TARA: It does?

ANYA: Well we already have all your information. This was just a formality.

BUFFY: A card hit the floor.

WILLOW: Card on the floor!

XANDER: Dammit! You two!

WILLOW: What did I do?

ANYA: Can you get the card for them? It’s on the floor.

TARA: Uh, sure.

ANYA: That’s a dear. You’re so sweet. Your mother’s proud of you you know.

TARA: You know my mother?

ANYA: Well not personally but in the second people only say nice things about her.

XANDER: Card on the floor!

Anya glances down gesturing to Tara to pick it up.

ANYA: Thanks dear. I’ll be back. (Anya leaves with the clipboard.)

Tara gets down on her hands & knees looking for the fallen tarot card.

WILLOW: Dee dropped it. She should have to pick it up!

XANDER: Dee hasn’t been able to bend down since the Spanish inquisition and you know it.

WILLOW: She wore out everything from the waist down back in Greece.

BUFFY: Oh like you didn’t?

XANDER: Where’s the damned card?

TARA: Sorry! Looking!

XANDER: Buddy? How could Buddy drop a card?

WILLOW: Dee cheated! (Buffy huffs at Willow)

During the following exchange, camera cuts to Tara under the table maneuvering around the legs of the four elderly people sitting around the table. She finds the Tarot card and looks at it. It’s the queen of swords. The picture on the card looks like Buffy.

XANDER: Buddy’s a stiff.

BUFFY: He’s not dead.

XANDER: What you’re a doctor now? Buddy’s stiffer than the starch in my boxers.

BUFFY: He was in my room just last night.

WILLOW: Was not.

BUFFY: Was too.

WILLOW: You couldn’t get a statue hard.

Tara stands back up with the card. Trying to figure out whom to give it to.

BUFFY: I still got it sister.

WILLOW: The only thing you still got is diseases.

XANDER: Now don’t make me separate you two. (looks outside) Oh lookit out there! Now those kids got bottle rockets! Get off the lawn!

TARA: I f-found your c-card..?

The three of them look at her solemnly with no emotion. They stop what they’re doing. We now see the entire room that had been filled with patients is now completely empty. Tara feels incredibly self-conscious.

TARA: (holds up the card for them to see) Didn’t you want this?

XANDER: Well lookit what we have here.

WILLOW: She’s a little mousy don’t you think?

BUFFY: She’ll do.

TARA: (still holding the card.) Do what?

XANDER: I don’t think she’s done.

BUFFY: She’ll do.

XANDER: I think we should put her back in.

BUFFY: Ozzie?

XANDER: Ever heard the story of Hansel & Gretel little one?

BUFFY: Don’t scare her.

XANDER: I’d ask ya to sit on mah lap and I’d tell it to ya but –

WILLOW: You’d break another hip is what you’d do.

BUFFY: Now just stop it.

XANDER: The witch filled them up with candy and put them in the oven. People thought she was trying to eat’m. What they don’t know is she was trying to cook’m. Cuz they weren’t done.

BUFFY: You’re scaring her now, Ozzie. Cut it out.

TARA: No I’m o-okay.

WILLOW: You look white as a sheet.

BUFFY: Well that’s to be expected. Perhaps we should introduce ourselves?

XANDER: (adamant) She’s not done!

WILLOW: The recipe says we take her out now.

BUFFY: I’m Dee. This is Ozzie (motioning to Xander) And my dear friend Hecate.

WILLOW: Dear?

BUFFY: Don’t be mean to me around guests.

WILLOW: You never call me dear.

BUFFY: And this is Buddy. Say hi, Buddy!

Xander takes the skeleton by an elbow and puppets a salute out of the skeleton. Tara waves back uncomfortably.

TARA: You all look so familiar.

BUFFY: Like drops of rain flowing to the ocean.

WILLOW: It’s in the genes honey. We’re all sort of related.

TARA: You’re my ancestors?

XANDER: Ancestors! I’m not so old I can’t still take you over my knee!

BUFFY: Yes you are. Settle down.

WILLOW: We’re not related directly. You could say we’re sort of godparents.

TARA: I don’t understand.

WILLOW: You will dear. Or not. It’s not important.

TARA: Do you want your card back?

Buffy takes her hand gently. Looks into her eyes.

BUFFY: Why don’t you keep it for us?

Tara looks at the card. We get a close up of the card.

XANDER: She’s not done.

WILLOW: She will be.

BUFFY: Keep it close to you.

The scene changes around the card.

SCENE: Camera’s now on Tara again. She still holds the card. She’s now dressed in a black suit coat with white stripes on the lapels, and tan pants. Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail which is hidden behind her in the back. Perhaps under the suit coat if that looks good. There is a large round white button on the left lapel with a modern symbol of a bicycle on it.

TARA: Oboy.

QUICK BLACK. COMMERCIAL BREAK.

ACT III

SCENE: Same as before. Gray hallway with doors. Tara is dressed like Patrick McGoohan in the british tv series “The Prisoner.” She does inventory of her new look and puts the tarot card in her suit coat. We see her in a gray hallway lined with doors. At the far end is a pair of double doors. They appear to be the sort to slide back; no doorknob. On the doors is a large sign that reads: “WELL COME.” She runs up to them. The doors swing open.

Revealed beyond the doors is a large round room. In the center is a round desk with a chair whose back is facing us. There are three phones on the desk colored red, yellow and green. The rest of the room is empty. This all should look reminiscent of Patrick McGoohan’s “The Prisoner” tv series.

TARA: (out loud to no one) Where am I now?

GILES: (sitting in the chair, which he spins around to face her) In the second.

TARA: (crosses to the desk) Giles?

GILES: Wisinwyg.

TARA: Huh?

GILES: What you see is not what you get.

TARA: (stops herself disappointedly) What do you people want from me?

GILES: (stands up) Information.

TARA: What are you people? Demons? Gods? Are you the good guys or the bad guys?

GILES: (crosses around the desk) That would be telling.

TARA: I don’t understand any of this.

GILES: Why were you reassigned?

TARA: I don’t know. I don’t even know what that means. I don’t know what the second means.

GILES: We want information.

TARA: Well you won’t get it! Not until I get some answers!

GILES: (sits on the desk, facing Tara. Very smug) By hook or by crook. We will.

TARA: You’re not Giles. Who are you?

GILES: Who do you think I am?

TARA: I thought you were Giles.

GILES: Rupert Giles, you believe? A warrior of darkness hiding behind a mask of pain?

TARA: You know him?

GILES: We’re in the second. We know everything.

TARA: Why do you look like him?

GILES: That was not my idea.

TARA: Whose idea was it?

GILES: (avoiding the subject) What you see is not what you get. Here.

TARA: What do I get?

GILES: What you can handle.

TARA: I don’t understand.

GILES: You may call me number two.

TARA: You’re a number?

GILES: (nods) as are you.

TARA: I’m not a number. I’m Tara.

GILES: She is no more. Have you not been paying attention?

TARA: I want to speak to the person in charge.

GILES: You are NOT in a position to give orders.

TARA: If you’re number two then who’s number one?

GILES: (as if pulling a number out of the surrounding air) You are.. number six.

TARA: I’m Tara Maclay.

GILES: Not anymore.

TARA: You can’t take that away from me.

GILES: I didn’t have to.

TARA: Just because my body is gone doesn’t mean I’m not still here.

GILES: What you were is no more. It doesn’t define who you are.

TARA: And you do? What right have you to strip me of who I am?

GILES: Tell us what we want to here and maybe we’ll let you go.

TARA: So I’m trapped here?

GILES: Some call this prison.

TARA: What do you want from me!?

GILES: Information.

TARA: Whose side are you on?

GILES: If I were on the wrong side do you think I would tell you?

TARA: No.

GILES: And if I were on the right side but they wouldn’t let me—

TARA: Who is they?

GILES: Well that would be telling, wouldn’t it?

TARA: I don’t trust you.

GILES: Have I asked for your trust. We want. Information.

TARA: Well you won’t get it!

GILES: By hook or by crook we will! I promise you, Number six. Would you like a seat? (he doesn’t provide one.)

TARA: No!

GILES: I thought you’d say that.

TARA: If you already know everything what do you want from me?

GILES: What we don’t know.

TARA: Then you don’t know everything.

GILES: Oh but we do!

TARA: You know nothing!

GILES: No, we are only telling you nothing.

TARA: Who are you!?

GILES: Number Two.

TARA: Who is number one?

GILES: You are number six.

TARA: I’m not a number!

GILES: You are dead. Be thankful we gave you a number.

The red phone rings. Giles answers it but says nothing into the receiver. His attention is diverted. Suddenly the phone is a bit more important than Tara, but he does try to divide his attention between the two.

TARA: I’m still breathing! I’m still moving! I’m still alive! I feel alive!

GILES: You are in the second, number six.

TARA: I’m not a number.

GILES: So you say.

TARA: I’m not a number!

GILES: Have it your way.

TARA: I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered!

GILES: That’s nice. (moves the phone away from his face) You may go.

TARA: What!?

GILES: We got everything we needed. You were reassigned. Now we know why.

TARA: I didn’t tell you.

GILES: You didn’t need to. We already knew.

TARA: So what was the interrogation all about?

GILES: You tell me.

TARA: What does it mean? Reassigned?

GILES: That’s for me to know. And you to find out.

TARA: Tell me!

GILES: (after being told something on the phone) You’re free to go.

TARA: Free? To where?

GILES: It’s an uhm.. figure of speech.

TARA: Can I do the dying thing now? Am I really dead?

GILES: Hardly. Life as you knew it is over, but truly it’s only begun.

TARA: I don’t understand any of this!

GILES: You will. Or not. It’s really not important.

Utterly frustrated, Tara storms out the way she came. Giles turns around and is still listening to the red phone.

GILES: (to phone) Yes. Yes I will. She’s on her way. Thank you ever so much Patrick. Alright. Buh-bye.

The doors swing open. And Tara storms a step out of the room. Only to find herself in a new scene.

SCENE: College courtyard. Tara’s now dressed in the clothes she was wearing in “Hush.” Tara wanders around both inside and outside the school for a moment. There’s not a single other soul anywhere. She walks down some stairs. Willow is standing there waiting for her. She’s dressed in black and her hair’s darkened. The two of them treat one another coldly. Dark Willow walks along with her, but there’s a noticeable space between them.

TARA: Didn’t expect to see you here.

WILLOW: Actually I’m not. At this moment I’m threatening to destroy the world.

TARA: Oh really. Well. One can never have too many hobbies. Where is everybody?

WILLOW: Doing what they normally do.

TARA: For some reason I thought they’d be here.

WILLOW: They will be. You’re waiting for them.

TARA: (looks at her) Am I dreaming?

WILLOW: (smiles and chuckles) I’m probably the wrong person to ask. (Tara looks a