buffy8x21 Script created with Final Draft by Final Draft, Inc.
[previous | bottom]
22 INT. SUMMERS RESIDENCE - FRONT ROOM. NIGHT. 22
Buffy is talking to Dawn as Jackson stands behind her.
BUFFY
So you're sure that's where the
alleyway was?
DAWN
Very sure. You don't forget it in a
hurry when something mean and
demonic leaps out of a dark shadow
to attack you.
Dawn glances at Jackson to check he's buying the story.
BUFFY
Then we're settled. I'm going to go
and find this thing and see if it
can lead me straight to Ulithios.
(beat)
And then ask him why his boss chose
such a name lame..
JACKSON
Is there anything more you can tell
us about whatever attacked you? You
know, help us identify it, get an
idea what we're expecting.
BUFFY
(still rambling)
.. and I mean, how do you try to
get people to remember your name
when you spell it like that? Is
there some kind of demonic contest
to have the most vowels possible in
one name?
Jackson lays a hand on Buffy's shoulder to bring her out of
her rant.
BUFFY (cont'd)
Ahem. Anyway, Dawn, you stay here
for when the others get back.
Jackson will be here too in case
anything happens. I'll be back
soon.
Buffy stands and turns to leave, but Dawn suddenly shoots up
to her feet also.
DAWN
Wait! You can't leave me with-
(beat)
I mean, don't leave me alone.
Again.
She shoots a look across to Jackson, who smiles warmly back
at her.
JACKSON
(nods)
Relax, I'm going to be down here
keeping a lookout, you can just
stay upstairs and rest.
Dawn looks back to Buffy, who nods as if to say 'it's okay.'
DAWN
(frowns)
Fine. I'll be upstairs, then, by
the looks of it..
She turns and walks up to her room. Jackson looks down at
Buffy when Dawn is out of earshot.
JACKSON
You be careful, okay?
BUFFY
I will. Hey, this is me, remember?
Careful's my middle name.
JACKSON
I thought it was 'Anne'?
BUFFY
I have lots.
(kisses him)
See ya.
She picks up her scythe, pulls on her coat and heads out
through the front door, leaving Jackson looking after her.
23 EXT. ABOVE THE STREETS OF CLEVELAND. NIGHT. 23
We're close on Faith, grunting with exertion as she tries to
hold on to the dragon's back, losing her footing several
times but holding on grimly.
She reaches one hand round to her back and draws the sword, a
wicked-looking serrated blade. Using the long spines on the
dragon's scales for leverage, she starts to push her way
along towards its head, all the while buffeted by the strong
winds and the dragon's attempts to unseat her.
The dragon is concentrating on its flying and doesn't really
notice Faith getting closer to its head until she is able to
sit just at the top of its neck, legs out either side of her
to hold herself in place as she raises the sword up above her
head.
FAITH
End of the line, Godzilla!
She SLAMS the sword down into the back of the creature's head
with all her considerable might. It screams out in pain,
writhing desperately in the air as Faith continues to push
the sword down, dark green blood jetting out from it and
spraying over her.
The dragon's wings start to fold up as it curls up in pain,
and the dragon becomes about as aerodynamic as a house brick,
starting to hurtle towards the ground at terrifying speed.
She looks up, and her eyes widen as she sees the ground
rushing up towards her.
The dragon's head is in the foreground, still yowling in
agony, as the concrete streets below race towards us.
She takes one last look and then closes her eyes and starts
to brace herself for the impact.
BLACK OUT:
END OF ACT THREE
ACT FOUR
FADE IN:
24 EXT. ABOVE THE STREETS OF CLEVELAND. NIGHT. 24
Still screaming down through the rain with Faith and the
dragon, the Slayer using the sword buried in the back of the
dragon to hang on for dear life as the beast hurtles towards
the ground.
25 EXT. CLEVELAND - STREET. NIGHT. 25
With an almighty SMACK it finally hits the deck, throwing
Faith clear as it leaves a dragon-sized dent in the street
below, shattering glass windows of the thankfully closed
shops and setting off car alarms up and down the road.
With a yell, Faith flies into frame, crashing through the
branches of a tree planted between two small shops and
snapping every one on the way down to the ground.
She lands in an undignified heap and rolls onto her back, the
wind knocked out of her but a grin on her face.
FAITH
(laughs)
Heh, that was kinda cool..
She hears the sound of falling bricks and leaps to her feet,
looking behind her.
Pawing desperately at the back of its head to try and
dislodge the sword stuck in it, hobbling from side to side
and knocking chunks out of the buildings all around it in its
efforts. The dragon suddenly pauses and stares straight
towards the camera.
Getting to her feet and already tensing to start running as
we hear the dragon's footsteps and its shadow starting to
loom over her.
With a howling roar, the dragon bows its head and starts to
race after the Slayer, who takes to her heels and runs down
the street as fast as she can. Faith runs past a closed café
and yells to someone off screen.
FAITH (cont'd)
Incoming! Big and mean at six
o'clock! Go, go, go!
Faith races off screen, and as the pounding of the dragon's
footsteps becomes ever louder, we stay on the café as Willow
steps out into the rain, staring the beast down. She gulps
once and raises her hands.
WILLOW
(quietly)
Here goes.. again..
(shouts)
Locum numque ex domicilus!
As before, the green tendrils of mist spiral from Willow's
fingers and into the air, forming a thick green cloud in
front of the dragon, which is now almost on top of Willow.
She closes her eyes and braces herself. We wait a long beat,
before Willow carefully opens one eye.
She can just see the green cloud and nothing else. She
breathes a sigh of relief and waves her hands once to
dissipate the cloud...
... to reveal the dragon, standing just shy of the edge of
the cloud, glaring down at her with its one good eye, not
having fallen for the same trick twice.
The blood drains from her face as she stands, frozen to the
spot in terror. The dragon's snout looms into frame, sniffing
the air experimentally around the wicca.
Sensing her power, the head rears back a little and then
roars at maximum volume right into her face.
Willow stumbles backwards, hands over her ears and yelling
against the deafening noise as Faith quickly sprints back
into frame, grabbing the dazed Willow and running back off
screen, away from the dragon.
26 EXT. CLEVELAND - ANOTHER STREET. NIGHT. 26
Faith drags the senseless Willow along, round a corner and
away from the dragon as it steps out from behind a building
overshadowing them, watching the two humans scurry away from
it down the street. It glares down at them as the fog and
clouds start to build up around it again.
FAITH
What happened? I thought you were
going to zap it with that portal
thing?
WILLOW
(groggy)
It.. it knew.. what I was..
trying..
FAITH
Oh great, a smart two-hundred ton
pissed off dragon. Just what we
needed!
27 EXT. CLEVELAND - CENTRAL PARK. NIGHT. 27
Andrew stands, almost hidden by the foliage around him,
camouflage paint smeared over his cheeks and forehead, urban
cammo print clothes on and a helmet topped with leaves and
twigs to complete the look.
He scans the still evening with a pair of binoculars,
lowering them and frowning when he doesn't see anything.
JODY (O.S.)
Hey.
ANDREW
Woah!!
Andrew jumps out of his skin, and looks to his right. We pan
across a little to pick up JODY, dressed perfectly normally
in hooded top and jeans, hood up against the rain.
JODY
Sorry, did I scare you?
(beat; grins)
Captain Commando?
ANDREW
I'm making the best use of natural
cover, um, to facilitate my part of
the plan, actually.
JODY
Oh, cool. This what you called me
out here for?
ANDREW
Yes it is, my friend, yes it is.
A beat as Andrew looks round with his binoculars again. Jody
coughs once to get Andrew's attention.
JODY
So!
ANDREW
Yes..
Another beat, then both boys start talking at once.
ANDREW (cont'd)
(over Jody)
I've been pretty dumb..
JODY
(over Andrew)
I was kinda rough on you..
The boys pause, then grin as Jody bows his head to let Andrew
speak.
ANDREW
I'm, uh, sorry I wasn't straighter
with you.
(beat)
Uh, if you know what I mean.
JODY
I get it, no pun intended. I'm
sorry I rushed you into things. I
like you, Andrew, and I want to
keep spending time with you. You're
cool, in a geeky sort of way. And
if you don't want it to be a full
on relationship just yet, well..
well then that's cool too.
ANDREW
Really?
JODY
Yeah, man, you know how it is
sometimes. Not a great amount of
other gay guys round here, so me
pushing away the first one I met
that I actually liked wasn't a
brilliant plan..
They share a smile, disturbed by the approaching sound of
heavy, thunderous footsteps. Jody looks alarmed as Andrew
grits his teeth and raises his binoculars again.
JODY (cont'd)
What the Britney Spears is that?
ANDREW
The final part of the plan..
28 EXT. CLEVELAND - ANOTHER STREET. NIGHT. 28
Faith runs past, supporting the hobbling Willow with one arm,
frantically looking round for some way to outrun the dragon.
She throws her head round as we hear a roar from behind them.
Willow raises a weak finger, blood dripping from her damaged
ears.
WILLOW
That way.. park's that way..
FAITH
(flustered)
Yeah, I know, but we're gonna end
up as a Happy Meal if we don't
start movin' faster.. damn it! We
need some wheels. Will, you still
too weak to just snap your fingers
and zap us over there?
WILLOW
Yup.. I'm all zapped out..
Faith frantically looks round, then spots something off
screen and manages a grateful grin.
29 EXT. CLEVELAND - MORE STREETS. NIGHT. 29
The dragon plods into view, bloody gashes all over its body
from both the rough landing and ploughing through the inner
city blocks of Cleveland, swinging its head from side to side
to look for its quarry.
We suddenly hear the VROOM of a motorcycle engine revving.
As the dragon whips its head round, Faith and Willow burst
out from an alley next to a boarded up biker's bar, riding a
gleaming motorcycle. Faith rides, Willow hanging on for dear
life behind her.
The dragon roars and sets off after the girls again, who this
time can stay ahead of the monster thanks to the raw speed of
the bike.
FAITH
Hang on, Will, this could get
bumpy!
Faith plants one foot down and pulls a hard left, wrenching
the handlebars to one side to make the sharp turn.
We stay and watch the bike power away from us as the dragon
follows them awkwardly round the turn, still howling as it
chases them.
30 EXT. CLEVELAND - CENTRAL PARK. NIGHT. 30
Andrew watches out from the foliage as we hear first the
motorbike's engine, then the howls and crashing footsteps of
the dragon as they come closer. Jody is backing away, looking
pretty alarmed.
JODY
So.. this is still part of the
plan?
ANDREW
Um, I think Faith had to improvise,
but yeah, kinda.. come on, quick!
Andrew darts off screen, dragging Jody with him.
Looking towards the bike with the dragon gaining in the
background, Faith throws one look behind her then accelerates
again.
As we watch, she drives up a disabled access ramp and flies
through the air, landing with a wobble on a path inside the
park, kicking up clods of muddy dirt as the bike powers
along.
Faith slows the bike to a stop and hops off, scooping up
Willow as the bike crashes to its side. She jogs up to where
Andrew and Jody are waiting, inside the cover of the thick
trees of the forest.
ANDREW (cont'd)
Is she okay?
FAITH
She blew her batteries. Slight
change of plan but five by five
now. You guys ready?
ANDREW
Uh, yeah.
We hear the dragon roar off screen, and the group turn back
round towards the park entrance.
FAITH
Good.. 'cause we're about to find
out if you spent your life watching
the right movies or not..
The dragon reaches the entrance to the park and takes one
step forward, its mighty head swinging from side to side as
it sniffs the air.
All is quiet except for the storm lashing down around us as
the beast takes a few more steps forward, trying to locate
its prey.
We stay with it for another beat, until we hear a distant
yell:
FAITH (cont'd)
Do it!!
Standing next to some hastily rigged up cables, they hack at
them once with axes, slicing the material in two and jumping
clear as the thick cables whip up and out of sight.
The dragon raises its head as a thick pair of power cables
suddenly swing down, cut loose from their restraints
overhead.
It has enough time to register a vague look of surprise
before FWIPP! The cables slice clean through the neck of the
dragon.
It stands still for a moment, before a thick green line of
blood starts to form across the base of its neck, and as we
watch its head slowly slides forward, and the headless torso
topples backwards.
Watching from the safety of the treeline as the dragon's huge
head lands before them with a loud CRASH, shortly followed by
another thud as the body hits the ground. Silence for a few
beats.
JODY
Woah. Which movie did you get that
idea from?
ANDREW
Um, actually, I was just kind of
goin' with it..
31 INT. SUMMERS RESIDENCE - FRONT ROOM. NIGHT. 31
Dawn suddenly looks round, as though hearing some distant
call, and then looks crestfallen as she realises that her
demon is dead. Jackson walks back into the room with a cup of
coffee that he finishes off.
JACKSON
Hey. You okay?
DAWN
Yes. Yes, I'm fine.
Jackson looks outside as the storm starts to lift, its reason
for existence now lying headless in the city's central park.
Jackson grins.
JACKSON
I think that's a good sign!
Dawn, distracted, manages a fake smile as Jackson sits.
JACKSON (cont'd)
You know, Dawn, there's something I
wanted to ask you.
DAWN
Me?
JACKSON
Yeah, I need your help with it too.
Dawn sits, a curious look on her face.
DAWN
So what's up?
JACKSON
When I was dozing off earlier, when
Buffy was doing her big speech
thing.. I saw something.
DAWN
You did?
JACKSON
Yeah, I think.. I think it was one
of those Powers That Be things that
I hear so much about. At least, I
think so, it didn't really have a
form, you know? It was just..
there.
Dawn looks blankly at him and Jackson chuckles.
JACKSON (cont'd)
Yeah, I know, pretty random, huh.
But it told me something, it told
me how we can beat Ulithios.
DAWN
(tries to hide suspicion)
Really? It did?
JACKSON
Yeah, it said that apparently all
we needed was this one passage from
a book that Buffy left round mine,
and this axe of hers too.
Apparently, we put this spell on
the axe, and it enchants it so that
it can actually hurt Ulithios.
(grins)
Pretty nifty, huh? I mean, we
should probably wait for Buffy to
get back before we tell her..
DAWN
(quickly)
No, wait.. Wouldn't it be cool if
we had it ready once she got back
from shaking that demon down?
You know, the others are off
fighting that dragon and probably
winning, if the sudden change in
weather is anything to go by, and
here we are, doing nothing.. You
follow me?
JACKSON
So.. we head to mine and do this
spell, then just hand Buffy the axe
when she gets back, right?
DAWN
(smirks)
Exactly.
JACKSON
Okay, cool. Come on, let's go, I
don't live too far away.
Jackson stands and grabs his coat as Dawn gives his back her
best evil grin.
32 EXT. CLEVELAND - CENTRAL PARK. NIGHT. 32
Andrew stands proudly in front of the dragon's head as Jody
takes a Polaroid of the two of them, and we see that Giles,
Marie, Xander and Anya have joined the group.
Willow sits on a tree stump, gathering her breath while Faith
stands over her.
FAITH
You back up to max again?
WILLOW
Easy, Faith, I'm not the Energizer
bunny, you know!
The two girls share a smile as Faith points a thumb back
towards the dragon's carcass.
FAITH
What do we do about that thing?
It's still the middle of the night,
but I doubt very much we can bury a
whole headless dragon by the time
the morning shift rolls in..
WILLOW
Well, I may be able to, uh, burn it
up or something, or..
Before Willow can finish her sentence, the dragon's head
suddenly hiccups once, and Andrew shrieks in fear and jumps
away.
As the group watch, the head and body slowly start to
dissolve, oozing down and soaking into the muddy ground
below. Willow grins.
WILLOW (cont'd)
Heh, biodegradable bad guys.. now
I've seen it all!
Anya snuggles up happily to Xander, who is looking relieved
that everybody made it through this okay.
XANDER
Well! Another one bites the dust,
huh, An?
ANYA
Yes. I'm glad you're not dead.
(beat)
Xander, remember what we were
speaking about a few weeks ago?
XANDER
Well.. probably, why don't you
remind me?
ANYA
About kids. And us having them.
XANDER
Oh, that.. heh, I stick by what I
said then, honey, not for a long,
long time yet.
ANYA
Oh.. oh, okay.
(long beat)
Xander, I'm pregnant.
XANDER
(long beat; snaps head to
look at her)
What?!?
Anya smiles hopefully up at him, but the blood seems to be
draining from Xander's face.
XANDER (cont'd)
But.. how.. when..
ANYA
Oh, and I've also worked out why
I've been feeling so funny since I
stopped being a ghost.
(beat)
That's because of the baby too.
Xander is lost for words for the first time in his life. He
just stares blankly at Anya as she snuggles up against him
again, squeezing him tightly.
33 INT. JACKSON'S PAD. NIGHT. 33
Jackson opens the door and heads inside, Dawn cautiously
stepping inside as Jackson flicks a light switch on.
JACKSON
Ah, good, the power's back on. Come
on in, the stuff's just in the
front room.
Jackson walks off screen into his living room as Dawn steels
herself, glaring at his back as she follows him.
34 INT. JACKSON'S PAD - LIVING ROOM. NIGHT. 34
Jackson is rummaging through a makeshift weapons chest behind
his sofa, a thick red leather bound book next to him. Dawn
looks down, reaches to grab something off screen and then
creeps up behind him.
JACKSON
(without turning round)
The book's there, the axe is in
here somewhere.. ah, man! Where is
it?
We look at Dawn's back, and Jackson leaning into the chest in
front of her, panning a little to the side to see Dawn
holding the axe in question!
Jackson sits back, huffing as Dawn raises the axe to strike
the killer blow.
JACKSON (cont'd)
Nope, it's not here. Hmm.. where
did I leave it?
DAWN
(with venom)
Maybe you're not looking hard
enough!
Jackson turns, and Dawn swings the axe down towards him. He's
got no time to react, and no room to dodge..
SNAP! Buffy's hand streaks into frame and grabs Dawn's arm,
holding the axe steady.
The axe has stopped inches from Jackson's forehead, and after
his eyes boggle at it for a moment he leans carefully back
and gets to his feet.
Dawn stares coldly into Buffy's eyes as the Slayer holds her
sister's arm up, a cold, cold look in her eyes. There's no
need for words.
The secret is out.
BLACK OUT:
END OF SHOW
[top | previous]
Script created with Final Draft by Final Draft, Inc.