Buffy Summers is disgusted at the perversion of everything she believes in in front of her. Even pinned to the ground by the ‘Slaypire’, Buffy still fights back with the only weapon she currently has: her mouth. “How could you, Doffler? You were a Slayer.”

Simone’s fangs are dripping and her thin slit-like eyes are glowing red. She has, what Buffy thinks, is what she calls a smile, on her face. Xander gasps quietly from behind the demon. “Not anymore.”

Still holding Buffy’s broken wrist, Simone, argumentative as always, answers back. As predicted.

“Spare me the self-righteous lecture about power, duty and the proper way to hold a stake. No one ever asked me if I wanted to be a Slayer. I was Chosen.” She senses Xander behind her, moving into position to grab her and, without looking, punches him back, hard, against the cavern wall. She points to herself and applies more pressure to Buffy’s wrist. She drops the Scythe. “But this? This I chose.”

She picks Buffy up by her throat with no effort at all and grins at her, her teeth flashing in the light. Buffy looks around for Xander, but he’s drifting out of consciousness, blood seeping from his nose.

“And Summers? It was the best decision of my life.” Raising Buffy up, Simone Doffler prepares to kill her rival.

Flying at quite some speed inside the inner workings of the Deeper Well, Willow finally senses what she was searching for and congratulates herself. “Bingo.”

She swiftly enters a room that looks increasingly familiar the further in she goes: it looks like the Seed Chamber, the one under Sunnydale. She searches for the source of the feeling inside her, but can’t see anything. “Magic detector says I’m in the right place. So where’s all the magic that’s gonna save Buffy’s little sis?”

As she glides around the room, she looks down at the light in her chest, which suddenly seems brighter and, to her, more fiercer than before. She feels the pain coming before it hits, so attuned to everything around her, and screams in agony as the bright light erupts from her chest.”

At the same time, still on the hovering glass platform, Severin, still in pain and fighting off a huge amount of magical energy cries out in an inhuman wail. He begs for help, weakly calling his girlfriend’s name, but the break in the pain is too short and, once again, he shouts into the abyss.

High above Severin, D’Hoffryn is yelling at the few soldiers his army has left. Maloker rages below him, feeding on and ripping the Council members apart. The Old Wizard has his staff in his hand, but even his intense magic is useless against the monster. D’Hoffryn, keeping his distance, orders again! “We must weaken this beast!”

Listening to D’Hoffryn’s futile commands, Illyria and Eldre Koh continue their way past the battle, racing to the glass platform. The Old One seems to mock the demon lord’s words. “Maloker is the least of our worries.”

Koh looks at her, still nervously following behind. “Even if we defeat the Old One, we will not get close enough to stop the Siphon.” He remains unconvinced that their goal is even achievable.

Illyria disregards him. “I can go,” she offers, but Koh reaches out to stop her. He looks at her, his yellow eyes silently pleading. “The Siphon will take whatever shred of magic that’s keeping you alive. You will die.”

Illyria looks at him and tilts her head. “He already has my power.” Then she looks down at her almost human form and looks away from him. “And I do not think magic is what’s keeping this vessel alive anymore.”

Without warning, a large, clawed hand bursts through the battle and clutches Koh in his hands. The Nitobe yells Illyria’s name for aid, but the Old One is already off, propelling herself faster than before. He energies his blades, and turns to face Maloker, his fear gone, only anger remaining.

Elsewhere, Buffy manages to flip herself up and kick Simone in the chest, sending her reeling against the cavern wall. “Get off!” she yells, as Simone lands with a thud on the ground.

Buffy isn’t surprised when she simply gets back up. It would have been nice though! She turns to Buffy and grimaces again. “I would have turned a lot sooner. Just took too long to find a vampire whose blood had more kick than the weak sauce upstairs.”

Buffy rushes her, telling her that she has her priorities wrong: Severin has to be stopped before he destroys the entire universe. Simone actually chuckles at her as she dodges Buffy’s strike. “That kid’s not gonna destroy anything other than himself and hopefully what’s left of the Council.”

She grabs Buffy by her broken wrist as she flips and uses Buffy’s own momentum to smash her into a wall. She still can’t resists bragging to her foe. “That’s just like you, Summers. I guess I should thank you. Without that brand of pessimism, you never would’ve have destroyed the Seed to stop Twilight. And your magic-free world cleared the deck for me to be the most powerful being around.”

Simone’s speech is cut off as Xander unexpectedly comes behind her, rock in hand and smashes it against her head. He yells at the demon in rage. “You used me! You said we could undo all this!”

Simone drops Buffy for a moment and regards Xander as an annoyance to be flicked away. She spins, grabs him by the throat and dangles him off the side of the rocks, the almost-bottomless abyss below.

“Did you really think I was going to save… who was it? You can’t even remember who you came here to save, can you?”

Her question is rewarded by a punch to her face. She’s actually slightly rattled. “Yes, I can,” he spits at her in defiance.

Simone smiles, and simply drops him. “Not for long.”

As Xander falls to his death, he hears Buffy yell his name. “Xander!” She leaps for him without hesitation, but Simone grabs her fast, forcing her to watch her friend fall. “You’re not going anywhere.”

Falling, Xander closes his eyes. He thinks about his life, the love he feels for the girl left at home. Smiling with contentment, he remembers. He remembers the one thing that everyone else has forgotten: “Dawn. Her name is Dawn.”

Tears in her eyes, but using it to power her anger, Buffy swings the Scythe, broken wrist or not, at Simone, her teeth firmly clenched together. “You’re dust,” she says, with more than a hint of menace.

Elsewhere, in the chamber, Willow recovers from the sudden burst of energy. “Talk about heartburn.” She looks down at her smoking chest and realises that the light has gone. But the crimson glow is all around her.

She looks up and gasps. “Oh my Goddess.”

In front of her, shining and glowing that deep red, floating in the centre of the room, is an egg shaped orb. Willow gasps again and stares at it. “It’s a Seed.” Something inside her mind remembers and she smiles broadly. “You gave me a gift.” She then talks to the Seed, as if she can hear something silent. “You didn’t bring me down here to find a new Seed. You brought me down here to give birth to one.”

She looks at her hands and then back at the Seed, getting closer to it. “So, why can’t I make with the magic? You need to be plugged in or something.”

You have saved this world. There will be magic. But it will come in time.

“Wait? What? How much time?”

Millennia.

“Why didn’t you tell me that before?” This time the magic doesn’t respond. Willow is left in silence with more questions.

“Buffy’s sister doesn’t have millennia. She’s gonna die because I messed up.” Then she looks at the Seed and then listens to the sound of battle. She smiles, a plan forming in her brain. “Unless…”

In San Francisco, Andrew is frantic. He swears to Spike that he only went to turn the oven off, but now he’s by the couch. Andrew’s waving his hands around the room, trying to connect with something he cannot see. “You sure she’s still here? She didn’t evaporate?”

Spike looks at him glumly and puts his head in his hands, a pained expression on his face, like he doesn’t know quite what he’s sad about. “I hope so. I bloody hope so.”

At the battle for the Deeper Well, Maloker continues to cut the Council to pieces. The Wizard’s latest attempts to slow the bat-like Old One down have failed miserably, and Koh, still held in the monstrous demon’s claws, is finding his light blades less than successful in freeing him. Instead, he yells in the creature’s silent face. “I will slice you from the inside.”

Suddenly, a blurred form comes speeding towards his head like a bullet. He doesn’t have time to say or shout anything, as it careens into him, knocking him from the demon’s grip. The demon looks for it’s prey in surprise.

Koh and his projectile fall quite some way, but in the end, land with a crunch on a casket, projecting out from it’s crevice in the wall. He looks at the form whose fall he just broke. Xander Harris turns around, looks at Koh somewhat relieved and coughs.

“My gratitude. You must fight alongside me.” Xander looks up at him, feeling dizzy. “Um, I think I’m better at falling,” is all he can manage.

Above them, Simone catches Buffy’s latest parry and mocks her. “You can’t win.”

Buffy swings again “I don’t need to win. I just need to keep you busy while my friends do my winning for me.” She goes to bounce forward, but her wrist finally gives out when Simone grabs it again. “Don’t think so.”

Buffy is horrified as Simone picks up the Scythe, gives it a twirl, mocking her with it’s whistle, and simply throws it over the edge, down into the hole in the world. She grins in triumph. “Now I’m finally going to do what I’ve wanted ever since I first heard the word Slayer.” She grabs Buffy by the throat and snarls. There’s nothing in her way now. “I’m going to kill Buffy Summers!”

On the glass platform, surrounded by the arcane energy, Severin is on his hands and knees, staring at his reflection in the smooth surface. He’s begging to anything or anyone that can hear him. “Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop.”

In answer to his pleas, Illyria finally reaches her goal and drops herself silently next to him. In the light, she looks like an angel, sent to deliver him. “I can help.” She reaches out to him, and he almost looks like he can’t see her. “You must listen to me.”

Severin squints his eyes in the glaring light. Tears form in his eyes and he smiles in relief. “Clare? Did it work? Are we back?”

Illyria has no time to lie. “There is no going back. If you attempt to reverse the flow of time, it will rip apart the fabric of the universe.”

He shakes himself, realises who he’s talking to, but he remains focused on his plan. But there’s nothing left now. He’s simply existing. His voice is soft and gentle. “But Clare is..”

Illyria bends down and places her hand on his shoulder, in an uncharacteristic show of humanity. “Clare is gone,” she tells him, finishing his sentence. “And you cannot contain this power much longer. Now focus.” She looks around at the power circling them. “Or you will kill us all.”

He tells her in hushed tones that he can’t and shakes his head. Then a voice, comes from the other side of the platform. “I’ve got an idea to help both of us.”

As Willow floats up to Illyria, she smiles at the Old One and presents the Seed in her hands. “Got any jumper cables?”

As the ledge holding Buffy and Simone begins to collapse, Simone is still bragging, dangling Buffy half over the edge. She’s manic now, ranting loudly. “You can’t stop me. You’ll die down there with the rest of them when Severin goes atomic.”

As she lets go of her, Buffy mocks her back. “Maybe,” she smiles, gleefully, before grabbing at Simone’s ankle. “But at least I’ll take you with me!” And with that, the ledge they’re standing on finally gives way, sending both Slayer and Slaypire into the abyss below.

They crash down, landing on another casket jutting out of the walls. Simone grabs Buffy and slams her head into the concrete. “Why won’t you just give up!?” She kicks Buffy over, intending to send her over the edge, but Buffy recovers and flips herself backwards.

“I’m a Slayer, you’re a vampire.” Out of the corner of her eye, a short distance behind Simone, still laying where it had fallen, Buffy sees the Slayer Scythe. Simone catches her gaze and looks back at the weapon. “Forget it Summers,” the vampire snarls, and, at the same time, both of them jump for the blade.

Simone is quicker.

On the platform, Illyria tilts her head at Willow and the object she’s holding. “A Seed?” she questions. Willow shrugs and grins again. “More like seedling. But it needs help to make it take hold now.”

She walks to Severin, gestures down at him with the Seed. “Severin’s been collecting mystical mojo for months.”

Illyria shakes her head. “Transferring the energy will kill him.” Willow looks at her, sadly and with understanding. “Look at him. He’s gonna blow. If we don’t put all that power somewhere, he’ll kill all of us.”

Severin looks up at them both now, pleading with them. He swears he can do this, he can turn back time. He can bring her back.

Illyria once again turns to the man, aware of his pain. She once again places her hand on his shoulder. He’s burning white now, glowing through his skin, as if it’s consuming him from the inside out.

“Even at the height of my power, I was unable to alter the past.”

Severin allows himself one final moment of gloating. “I have more power than you.”

The Old One is not swayed by his arguments. She looks at him, straight into his frightened eyes and holds onto his unstable form. “You still do not know what power is. You must listen: you are not the first man to desire nothing more than to save the woman he loved.”

There is sadness in her voice as she recounts her tale. Something Willow has never heard before. Something human. “I had a friend. He lost someone important to him. He became obsessed with finding a way to return her. He would have done anything.”

Severin looks at her, question in his eyes. “Did he save her?” Illyria bows her head in remembrance and grief. “No. And he was only at peace when he finally let her go.”

“But how did he live without her?”

“He didn’t. He died. But he died trying to save the world. Not destroy it. You cannot bring Clare back. But you might be able to restore magic to this realm.”

He looks at her, finally understanding her words. He breathes in slowly and then turns to her, firmness in his voice. “What do I need to do?”

Illyria guides him as he places his hands on the Seed. She takes it from the other side. “I will stay. I will help you through it.”

Willow objects, letting the pair secure the Seed but unwilling to let the powerful artifact out of her grasp yet. “No. I’ll stay. The Seed is my responsibility.”

Illyria turns to her. She smiles. “You must go. If you are right – if Severin accelerates the Seed – your power will return. You can save the Slayer’s sister. You must live.”

Willow smiles back, noting how like Winifred Burkle the Old One suddenly seems. “Gotta say, not what I expected from someone with the last name “The Merciless.”

She looks at Willow with just as much surprise. “It is not what I expected either.” She looks up at the swirling energies and looks at Willow one more time. She turns back to Severin and commands Willow. “Now go.”

As Willow takes her leave and climbs her rope up from the platform, she spies Xander on a nearby ledge and yells his name. Looking up, she can now see Maloker, Koh leaping from his grasp and D’Hoffryn, the only Council member still alive, pointlessly throwing blasts at the Old One. He may as well be throwing sparkles.

As his friend reaches his side, Xander looks at her, trying to maintain his humour in light of the chaos surrounding them. “How about a little hocus-pocus, Will?”

“Sorry. Kind of left it down there!” Although it’s a joke, her next words come out with intense concern. “We need to get to the surface before this elevator shaft becomes magical Chernobyl!”

Koh is immediately by their side, landing gracefully. “Start climbing. I will occupy the beast.”

A voice from above stops them. “No one’s going anywhere.” As Willow and Xander look up, their eyes widen in horror.

“Buffy?”

The Slayer is impaled, on the point of her own Scythe, dangling precariously over the edge and unable to speak.

Down below, Severin yells at Illyria as the light starts to engulf him completely. “I can’t hold the power in any longer.”

Illyria screams at him. “You must. You must give them time to escape.” Beneath her, the glass platform begins to crack.

Above her, Simone looks down at Xander, Willow and Koh, brandishing Buffy like a trophy. “Who’s next?” she snarls, evilly.