The demon doesn’t get far. It suddenly finds itself the size of a hamster, and is scooped up into Dawn’s hands like a cat carrying its kitten. She reminds Xander that the locals are terrified of her and her powers.

She eyes the tiny demon, who’s shaking like a leaf. He apologises to the ‘Goddess Dawn’, and begs for mercy — directing them further in the direction of a nearby river. There’s fruit there.

Dawn questions whether to trust the creature, but is distracted by Xander who suddenly yells in pain. “Ow,” he exclaims. “Did something just sting me?”

The demon, now restored to his own size, glances up in horror. “The Devouring Rain!” he yells. “We must flee.”

As Dawn holds a forcefield over their heads, the three figures rush through the rough landscape, heading for a cave with other local inhabitants. When they’re all safe under cover, Dawn asks how often the acid rain comes.

The demon tells her that it happens often, and even eats through the top of their shelters. When Xander asks them how and why, he questions why they don’t use slanted roofs to run the rain off.

The demon looks at him stupidly. “Explain this word: ‘slanted’.”

Many moons away, on Earth, specifically in an antique store and antiquary in Los Angeles, Spike has a baseball bat. He’s threatening a demon with it as Buffy, angrily, holds a David Bowie cosplayer — the shop’s proprietor — against his shelves.

“Tell me how to get to Anharra!” she screams at him, the Scythe gleaming in her hand. The proprietor claims he can’t help — Anharra is not the most desired dimension. There’s nothing much there — which is why no one ever really needed to find a way in. Or out.

Buffy looks at Spike over her shoulder and he grins. She points out the merchandise on display — just as Spike starts trashing the rest of the store. The proprietor cries out — he’s telling the truth!

“There’s no simple way to get to Anharra. Not without going through unexplored worlds full of dangers no one’s even conceived of. If you’ve got enough provisions, and a couple of decades to spare, a well‑armed party might be able to find it. Might.”

Spike tells the owner that he said the same thing. Buffy doesn’t respond. She just curses in frustration.

Feeling like this shouldn’t be a completely wasted trip, she asks the owner about the Mistress and the Soul Glutton — but they’ve both gone to ground. They were last heard of recharging somewhere. The demons are, however, gathering — he can give them a list of demons who were preparing for war.

Buffy agrees — but not before shredding a mystic fabric with her Scythe. “Fine. Make me a list. Longer you take, the more I break. Fair warning: my mood is not improving.”

On Anharra, still in the middle of an acid rain downpour, the demons are joyously celebrating.

Xander has managed to make them a robust shelter from the rain — with a slanted roof. The demons are dancing and cheering — hailing Xander as a Lord amongst them for his Gift of the Gable Roof! They’ve never known such a thing.

Xander smiles. Indoor plumbing is next, he declares, which gets him several looks of confusion. When a demon asks Dawn what it is, she whispers a reply. The demon is stunned by her answer — the thought had never occurred.

“On your world, is he worshipped?” the demon asks her.

“Only by himself,” Dawn chuckles back.

On Earth, home in San Francisco, Buffy’s voice is raised again, this time at Willow.

“You’ve got nothing?”

“Lake’s doing her best,” her friend insists. “Dimensional travel is a whole new area for the Government. And the network is not what it used to be. Since I broke up with Aluwyn, most of the Coven isn’t speaking to me.”

The room goes quiet. Everyone looks at Willow. “We were sort of the ‘Brangelina’ of witches,” she smiles. Giles offers that he and Sundrop — as well as the rest of the Fae Folk — are doing what they can, but as Anharra doesn’t have any forests, they know next to nothing about it.

“That’s the real problem, isn’t it?” Buffy snaps, from out of nowhere. Her friends look at her, confused.

“Both of you are more interested in your new relationships than getting Dawn and Xander back.”

Spike immediately tells her that she’s not being fair. “We’ve bashed in every head from here to Transylvania. And we haven’t had any luck either.”

Willow glares at Buffy, anger in her eyes. “I know you’re upset. And that’s why I’m not going to take what you said personally. But don’t ever say anything like it again.” It’s not a warning. It’s a threat.

Giles leans forward, also slightly angry. “I might also point out that D’Hoffryn and the Magic Council have had no success either. But we all continue to pursue the matter, along with hunting for the Mistress and the Soul Glutton, plus locating and neutralising the demons they brought to our world.”

He looks straight at Buffy. “The latter two being things you have virtually ceased to do, despite the fact that eliminating those threats would allow us more time to find Dawn and Xander.”

Buffy angrily gets up from her chair and reaches for the shelf. She pulls down the Vampyr book. “Fine. I can see there’s only one way this is gonna get done. I’m using the book.”

Giles immediately objects. Buffy says that if Harmony can have unicorns, then she can use it to get her sister back. But Spike gently approaches her, tells her that the book’s qualities can be misinterpreted.

“We try to open the portal to Anharra, in direct contradiction to the rules we wrote, making dimensional barriers stronger, it’s all but certain we end up causing a worse dimensional crisis than the one Dawn solves. Maybe one she can’t fix with her Key powers.”

Buffy snaps back. “Perfect. You judged me for letting her stay there, and now you won’t let me do what it takes to get her back. That’s just you in a nutshell, isn’t it?”

Willow gently takes the book from her and tells her that Spike is right. “We’re not there yet,” she says, quietly. “I’ll start thinking about what we’d write in it, if it comes to that. But for now, let’s just keep doing what we’re doing, for a couple more weeks, at least.”

Buffy sighs and swallows hard. She doesn’t look at Willow, or any of the others. She heads to the stairs and doesn’t look back, telling them that she’ll be in Dawn’s room — and she doesn’t want to be bothered unless it’s important.

On the barren plains of Anharra, Xander has his hands full with two demons, passionately — and violently — clashing over which type of windows to put into their hastily put‑together home.

One wants a bay window. The other doesn’t. And since there’s a disagreement, the oldest — the demon Xander first encountered with Dawn — insists that he flay the other alive. Xander suggests that he may prefer to simply ask nicely. The four‑eyed demon, whose name is Bub, looks at Xander, somewhat sadly. “I can’t. It’s cultural. You wouldn’t understand.”

Xander takes Bub to one side. He wants to know what’s angered his friend — and knows it’s more than just a difference of opinion over a bay window. “Anger is a masking emotion,” the human offers. “We use it in place of feelings we’re afraid of. What’s really at the core of this?”

Bub looks quietly at Xander and whispers, so that the other demon, Rancidus, can’t hear. “I want Rancidus to respect me. To value my feelings and needs. I worry he doesn’t. That no one does. Because, really, why should they?”

Xander smiles. “Bub. I want you to listen to me. Really listen. I care about you. Not because you’re strong and mean or because you find creative ways to cause excruciating agony. But just because you’re you.”

Bub suddenly makes a hideous screeching noise and buries himself in Xander, wrapping his long arms around him. He’s crying. He thanks Xander for helping him. Xander responds by ensuring that every demon on the makeshift construction site gives Bub a cheer — for inspiration. He asks anyone else if they want to share anything.

At least three demons raise their hands. Xander starts at the beginning and begins listening as they speak, Dawn smiling at him the whole time, watching him.

In San Francisco, Willow cautiously enters Dawn’s room. Buffy is lying on the bed, staring at a picture of her and her sister. Willow tells her that the Council are on their way to discuss rescuing Dawn.

Buffy shrugs. “Let me know when they get here.”

“Look… You know how the Council can be. I realise things have been tense lately. But it’s important we present a united front. And that we look like we have our act together.”

Buffy sighs, but doesn’t take her eyes off Dawn’s photo. “I know. And it takes time to get my game face on when all I want to do is curl up into a ball. So, like I said, call me when they get here.”

She buries her head in the pillow as Willow walks out of the room. “It shouldn’t be too long,” she says, knowing that as she speaks D’Hoffryn will be gathering the Magic Council together.

Except he’s not. All around the globe, D’Hoffryn seeks out his Council.

From the pits of Cedric the Slime Man, to the Japanese water spirit. He tracks down the Monarch of the Fae and the Quiet Man. He even approaches the Tibetan Gods.

And he massacres them all.

They try to fight back.

They fail.

In Anharra, clearly later after many discussions, Rancidus and Bub are standing before their fellow demons. They kiss, causing a resounding cheer to elevate over the group.

They’ve just completed acting out the story of The Princess Bride. Dawn thanks Xander for the play. He shrugs. He understands it’s a rather unique version of the story, but the demons really worked hard — they wish to please their Goddess.

Dawn smiles. “I was homesick,” she says. “But everything you’ve done… The way you manage to make the best of everything… You reminded me that some of what I liked about home…”

She moves her hand until it’s gently grazing Xander’s own. “…Is right here with me.”

There is awkward laughter when one of the demons refers to Xander as the Goddess Dawn’s consort. He thanks them for sharing their shelter magic and their emotional healing — arguing that the others who came to this dimension were too secretive and hid away.

Dawn rises from where she’s sitting. “There are other outsiders here?” The demon points to a mountainside, with caves built into the crevices. An eerie green light emanates from one cave.

Dawn turns to Xander. “Maybe they can get us home! Or at least help Buffy find us.”

The demon, however, shakes his head. He doesn’t advise Dawn to talk to the hateful creatures of the cave. He believes they are called ‘lawyers.’

Indeed, inside the bigger‑on‑the‑inside cave, a group of demons, all talking, wearing suits and conducting business, are rushing about. One picks up a phone and dials a number.

“This is Glbb. In the Anharra Office. No, no… An‑Har‑Ra. I assure you, we exist. Look it up… Really… Just put me through to the Senior Partners, will you? I have something I guarantee they’ll want to know about…”

Back in San Francisco, D’Hoffryn, later than expected, finally appears to an anxious Buffy. When she notices he’s alone, she asks after the Council, but D’Hoffryn shrugs off her concerns: they can move forward without them.

Buffy reminds him about Dawn and Xander, and D’Hoffryn makes a point about them using the book for this when they haven’t for others. “You really aren’t equipped for it,” he claims, clearly with disdain. He picks up the Vampyr book and smiles.

“It’s about time an adult took charge.”

Spike and Giles question how he can even pick up the book, considering the magicks protecting it. It’s at that moment that Willow’s eyes glow a fiery red.

“Something’s wrong.” She fires a blast of flame at D’Hoffryn. “Drop the book!” she yells.

D’Hoffryn laughs at her, defending himself and blocking her blast. “I don’t think so. Look at how careless you’re being. Not even caring that you might damage it.”

Spike swings a sword from behind, straight at D’Hoffryn’s head, but a pure energy field reaches out from the vengeance demon, pushing Buffy and Spike back.

Giles casts a spell and realises that D’Hoffryn has made himself impervious to magical attack. He realises what has happened. “You’ve stolen the powers we granted to the other members of the Council. How?”

D’Hoffryn snarls. “I killed them, of course.” He looks at Giles. “Oh, I see. You weren’t familiar with our charter, subsection theta‑seven: ‘Should a Council Member be rendered unable to discharge their duties, the rights and responsibilities of their office shall be equally divided among the remaining members of the Council until a replacement may be named.’”

He turns to Giles, his eyes pitch black. “Therefore, all duties and powers fall to me.” He sneers at the Scoobies. “You cannot hurt me, children. I highly doubt anything can.”

Buffy is enraged at his tricks and deception. D’Hoffryn taunts her with how easy it was to manipulate them. “If only you knew I was a soulless demon whose reason for being is revenge… Oh, wait. You did.”

He’s doing them a favour, he claims, taking the book from them. Spike disagrees, warning D’Hoffryn that they won’t give up. D’Hoffryn knows.

He won’t risk damaging the “old and delicate” book. He won’t kill them. “You are free, children. Free of a responsibility you never wanted. Continue with your small, self‑obsessed lives… Your romantic travails and dramatic outbursts… Your grandiose weeping and wailing… The world is in good hands.”

Then he looks directly at Buffy. “Mine.”

He uses his powers to literally raise the roof of the building, exposing it to the night air. He hovers above them now, warning them. “My patience has limits. Interfere with me, in any way, and you will die in agony you cannot possibly imagine. I will annihilate your very souls. There will be no further warning.”

He takes one more look at them, grins and flies off into the night. “Have a pleasant evening,” he says, as the roof slams back into place, a thick layer of dust the only sign it had moved at all. “Pray we do not meet again.”

Buffy, Spike, Willow and Giles look around at each other, utterly defeated.

There is silence in the room as they take in what just happened.

But no one says a word.