“You really thought you were going to get off that easy?”

If the Griffin is expecting a response from Angel, it’ll have to wait until he gets his bloody and battered self back up off the ground. The Griffin, or Twilight, packs rather a punch. Angel genuinely wants to know: what part of this has been ‘easy’ so far?

The Griffin tells Angel that he was abandoned! By it’s parents, Buffy and Angel. Their child. Their new world.

It claims that Buffy rejected it out of conflict, and yet look at this reality! It is so clearly waning. It warns Angel that it will be bigger and more monstrous that anything she has ever fantasised or feared.

Throughout all of this, Angel is avoiding it’s slashing claws and trying, unsuccessfully, to find an opening to strike. “You think I’m going to give up fighting?” he asks the creature, who thinks he would have if it hadn’t been for the Slayer. “The Queen is dead,” it says, “long live me.”

The Griffin pounces on Angel, still not stopping with it’s story, still constantly talking! “It was Buffy who set it all in motion. When she activated the other Slayers. But it’s you, father, who will finish it. Who will bring me the Seed. My soul.”

Angel, face to snout with the creature, tells him that there will be no Twilight. The Griffin roars, almost like a laugh. “Father, there already is. It’s you,” he says.

Inside the crater, deep below the ruins of Sunnydale, California, Willow has brought Xander, Dawn, Faith and Giles with her. Dawn shudders when she sees the Master: “It’s got him defending it?” Spike says that his sources mentioned a powerful vampire who, eight hundred years ago, was enslaved by the Seed, but the Scoobies supposedly killed him! The Master turns to his descendant and snarls. “Death is nothing to the Seed. It restored me when Twilight chose Angelus… I sort of thought he’d show.”

Spike is sure he’ll show up shortly – usually just in time to take the credit for everything. He lights a cigarette, partly to avoid the look Buffy throws at him. Giles says that before Twilight, he wasn’t even sure that the event was real, let alone the Seed, or how it could have been right under their noses the whole time. Willow also has concerns: so it was just hiding, behind the Hellmouth, all those years, pulling the Master’s strings, all those centuries, without him knowing? The Master claims he wouldn’t put it quite like that, but Buffy just really, really wants to punch him in the face again. The Master seems confused, and Xander comments that he seems to have gone slightly crazy. He gets it… too much time around his ‘precious seed’.

The Master snarls in his direction and his voice grows louder. He tells them that they don’t understand the Seed or Twilight. If they remove the Seed it will doom their world! “Has she told you,” he says, pointing at Buffy, “Has she told you there’s a place in her new world for you? No. She and Angelus will see this plane dead. You all, dead!”

Spike tells him that that’s all over: the Slayer is done with Twilight and they’ve all come out on the side of stopping the demons from pouring into this dimension from the Twilight realm. The problem they have, he shares, is that there’s a load of nasty demons moving in on them, who are anticipating the removal of the Master’s little ‘cosmic bauble’. Dawn checks her iPad. “Speaking of which, guys, I don’t think it’s going very well up there.” She looks up, two demons towering over her. “Or down here,” she manages to say, before the demon knocks her aside, unconscious. Xander yells her name and starts to panic. Not again.

The rest of the group swing into action, targeting the demon closest to each of them. One grabs Willow, who sets him on fire for his trouble. Xander has picked up Dawn, carrying her unconscious form towards Buffy. He asks her if she can carry Dawn – she’s kind of heavy. Dawn asks to be put down as she stirs. She looks at Xander, only half-joking: “You did not just call me heavy.” As he tells Buffy that he’s going to take Dawn above to safety, they begin to walk off, back through the tunnels, to make their way to the surface.

The Master creeps up behind Buffy, complimenting her on her strength and power since they last met. He suggests they protect the Seed together. She doesn’t even let him finish his suggestion, calling Spike to help, as she pulls out a stake and pushes the Master towards a wall. Willow tells her to wait.

Buffy says that it’s the Master: it’s kind of a no-brainer. But Willow is anxious. “There’s an incoming army of demons up there that wanna remove the Seed. We’re at war. And we’re not winning. If Man-Bat-Face wants what we want, then he’s gotta be on the team.”

A short while later, the Master is leading them through dark tunnels, deep below Sunnydale, even deeper than his old crypt. As they walk, Buffy balks at teaming up with the only creature on the planet that’s actually successfully killed her. Giles asks if the Master is any worse than Dracula: “This crisis has led to many unlikely alliances, Buffy. A demon already attached to this world doesn’t want this apocalypse any more than you or I.” Willow maintains that if the Master is linked to the Seed, then they may need him. Buffy argues that the Master killed her, but Willow suggests that she and Spike weren’t friends at first either.

Buffy knows that Willow isn’t telling her something. She asks her what the demon snake-lady told her when she fainted. Willow isn’t very forthcoming, but she has a plan: “If the Seed can connect the spiritual realms to this new Twilight Eden you created, maybe we can use it to heal the Earth, chase the demons out. Maybe we can use it to make the world better, Buffy.”

They enter what looks like an old steeple tower. The Seed of Wonder, egg-shaped and glowing crimson red, rests on it’s altar in the centre of the room. The Master approaches it with reverence. “Perhaps it was the Seed that called me here, from across the sea. It’s power embraces the world,” he says, suddenly turning and punching Buffy in the face, “and it’s not letting go.” Spike vamps out and snarls at him, but he’s thrown back against the nearest wall.

Giles has a crossbow ready, but Willow stops him. The Master has moved between them and the Seed. As Buffy gets up, Willow remembers the vision Buffy saw when they visited Robin: Buffy in this room, alone, shaken and betrayed. “She can’t beat him here.”

The Master indeed has the upper hand on Buffy, dealing with her blows with ease. “You remain the same little girl I killed,” he says, holding her by the throat. “I can still smell the acne scrub,” he sings, delightfully. Willow suddenly raises her voice and everyone stops.

“Master, we don’t want to hurt the Seed. Let us help you protect it.” She tells the group that Buffy needs to leave as the Seed is like Kryptonite to her. It’s draining her power, making her less. Buffy is stunned that Giles would actually look for this artifact, to possibly kill her with it? He tells her that she doesn’t understand. “The prophecy of Twilight was unclear, but terrifying.” Buffy gets it. All this started when they changed the world, so she figures there was bound to be some casualties. It’s what they do.

Elsewhere, Angel lies on the ground, his eyes glowing green. The Griffin is standing watch over him, and, eventually, orders the vampire to stand up. Angel does so, without saying a word. The Griffin tells him to fly and he obediently starts to hover.

On Spike’s pod, the General uses something heavy to kill one of the cockroaches. Amy can sense that Willow’s seal has come down. Amy offers to heal the General, but he declines: he has his own people here now. They should leave. He never wants to see them again. With that, Warren and Amy both make a hasty retreat.

Buffy is emerging from underground to a war front in the centre of the crater. She’s glad Spike and Giles are with her, but Giles tells her he won’t be much help as he couldn’t keep up with her as her powers return, and Spike can’t since the sun is shining. He looks at her, pride in his eyes and in his voice. “You’ve become something I never could have imagined. It’s not the powers. But you must put those powers to use now. And I can help , but not here.” He smiles at her and she touches his arm. “I’ll see you when this is over,” he tells her. Spike tells him to hurry up and go, pushing him on his way as the demons approach the cavern, putting him back in the game.

Xander, in the meantime, has crossed the battlefield with Dawn. When he gets to the tent, he’s not expecting to see the General. He tells Xander not to worry: Amy and Warren have left. A medic comes to check on Dawn, but he’s stunned: what did this to you, he asks her? “Bad guys,” she says as she removes her clothing. The General takes Xander to one side, quietly. “Bad guys. This really want you want for your girlfriend?” He knows that Xander is a normal guy, who could easily be mistaken for a soldier – and a good one at that. And she’s not a Slayer, he says, nodding at Dawn and noticing the bruising. He tells Xander that they know what to do: find the artifact, destroy it and all this fighting ends. Xander looks down at Dawn. The General looks at him again, making sure he has eye contact with Xander. “But they want to protect it? Son, believe me, I understand the temptation of power, but are your friends so addicted to it, they want all this war too?”

Willow is in the chamber, altar in front of her. She’s bound the Master in mystical chains for a moment. She’s chanting a spell, trying to awaken the Seed, communicate with it, beseeching it to allow it’s protector to stand against the Seed’s enemies. Her eyes are glowing a fierce, roaring, crimson red. “Keep evil from those who are faithful to you,” she continues.

In the tunnels, Buffy and Spike continue to rip their way through the demons who are determined to get past them. A massive double-eyed monster appears in front of them and Spike asks her what the Hell he is supposed to do with that thing? He doesn’t get an answer from Buffy, as the demon suddenly, and very messily, comes apart. On the other side of it is Angel. He looks at Buffy, who smiles and says his name. She’s happy he’s returned. Spike is slightly less happy, but it’s not the worst thing ever. He watches as Angel approaches Buffy – and slams her into the wall with his fist!

Spike roars in defiance. “Angelus!” he shouts, until Angel pushes him to one side with ease. Buffy recovers and looks up at Angel, blood pouring from her face. Angel looks straight at her.

“Twilight,” he announces.