Chapter 5

A frat party in full swing. Beers, bros, whatever else goes on at these things. Buffy and Parker stand and talk both gazing into each other's eyes.

Parker: "Think I could get a dance with the prettiest girl at the party?"

Buffy : "What am I supposed to do? Stand over here and watch?"

Parker smiles and grabs her hand, leading her to the dance floor. They dance, in a rather close intense way.

Later on they sit comfortably on a couch together.

Parker : "Well, I declared premed. But I hated it. So I switched to history."

Buffy : "History? Fascinating dates and compelling faces."

Parker : "But there something amazing about these huge events that when you dig down into them they're just about regular people trying to make choices. When you look back at it seems like people were swept up in events they couldn't control. But I don't believe that. I believe you have a choice in everything you do."

They kiss.

Parker : "Is this okay? Because I can stop if you wanna. It's your choice."

She pulls his face close and strokes his cheek.

Parker: "What are you doing?"

Buffy : Making a choice.

They kiss again. Buffy's heart melts.

-Cut to them kissing in Parker's room and shedding clothing.

-Cut to Giles looking through his books and calling someone. The phone rings and he gets Buffy and Willow's answering machine.

Giles : Buffy are you there? Call me, I need to talk to you.

-Cut to Buffy and Parker getting to know each other between the sheets. (Its a steamy scene, whatever you deem steamy to be)

—

Buffy wakes up alone and without knowing where her clothing are.

Buffy : "Parker?"

She wraps the sheet around her and gets up looking through his messy room for her discarded clothing.

Buffy : "Just shirt. Pants. Everybody needs pants."

Parker walks in bearing coffee, and Buffy turns around.

Parker : "Hey, you're up."

Buffy : "You're here."

Parker : "I live here."

Buffy : "Oh, I just, didn't know where you were."

He sits on the bed, Buffy standing near him.

Parker : "It looked like you were going to be out for a while. So I ran for coffee. Better than what I got around here. Warm soda and breath mints."

Buffy : "Breath mints. Wouldn't be turning them down right now. So, do you have any plans for today?"

Parker : "Actually my mom's coming to visit."

Buffy : "Oh, well I'll just clear out then. But maybe we could um, talk or something later."

Parker : "Absolutely, I'll give you a call."

Buffy : "Great. Oh, uh, one more thing before I go."

Parker : "A kiss."

Buffy : "Well I was going to go with pants, but a kiss is good too."

They kiss.

—

Buffy strolls into her dorm room. She starts to undo the straps on the back of her shirt as she heads towards her bed.

Giles : "Oh, good morning."

Buffy startled as she sees Giles and Willow at work at Willow's computer. She abruptly stops then starts to redo her top.

Buffy : "Giles, I didn't know you were here."

Giles : "Uh really."

Buffy : "I was studying at the library. All Saturday night."

Giles gives her a look.

Buffy: "Uh, you know what. I'm an adult now and it's none of your business what I do."

Giles : "I'm sincerely relieved to hear that. Now can we discuss the important matter at hand."

Willow : "Giles found something."

Giles: "As you know, Angel only received his souls because it was in fact a curse for him. So to give him back his soul we had to undo the curse. But Octavia's soul has been taken and there's no undo spell or anything like that. But what I've found are a couple of loose sets of texts that provide a bit of a framework for that type of spell, bestowing a soul to a vampire. And at that a slayer turned vampire. It will be complex. But it's a start."

Buffy: "How do we do it?"

Giles: "There's no guarantee this will work but it would seem that the main item we need is a moon stone."

Willow: " A couple of moon stones actually."

Buffy: "Do we know where we can find moon stones?"

Giles: "Well they are incredibly rare but I've isolated to a few possible locations. If you and your assassin friend are up to the task."

Buffy: "I am, can't speak for him but I'll try to find him or run into him or have him find me on purpose."

Giles : "Right."

Giles gets up and hands her a map with about five locations in and around Sunnydale.

Willow: "Giles and I are going to research the spell some more later tonight."

Giles gets ready to leave.

Giles: "Yes, the writings we have right now are mostly incomplete but getting the moon stones would be a step in the right direction."

Giles starts for the door.

Giles: "Oh and do be careful Buffy. Even if you're an adult now."

Buffy smiles.

Buffy: "I will, thanks Giles."

Giles smiles and exits.

Willow turns looking excited.

Willow : "It happened right? (Bounds over to the bed where Buffy is sitting.) Did it happen? With Parker?"

Buffy : "Yeah, it happened."

Willow : "Well, and details. I mean not details. I don't need a diagram. But, you know. Like maybe a blurry watercolor."

Buffy : "It was nice. It was really nice. He's going to call."

Willow : "I love this part. Don't you love this part. Like when it's all new and everything's a discovery."

Buffy : "I don't know. I guess I do."

Buffy smiles to herself. For a short time when she was with Parker she didn't have the weight of the world on her shoulders. She wants to chase that feeling.

—

Octavia's lair. She sits among her vastly diminished gang of vampires.

"What are we going to do about those soldiers? They've captured so many."

"And they haven't stopped looking for me. We will have to move lairs, it won't be long before one of our people they've captured talks. My bet is on Evan." Octavia says. "We'll continue to lay low for a little while longer."

"What of the slayer?"

"I have the perfect plan for her but it will take time. Slow is the knife that cuts deepest. Little by little we will chip away at her strength. Then when the time is right we break her." Octavia says smiling maniacally.

—

BEGIN MONTAGE

-Cut to Buffy walking through campus. Riley spots her from across the yard.

-Buffy and Willow attending class.

-Giles and Xander researching the spell.

-The answering machine shows 0 messages.

-Buffy checks out one of the locations one Giles' map, no moonstone.

-The commandos interrogate Evan and seem to get an answer.

-More commandos sweeping the grounds capturing a few sub terrestrials. They search Octavia's old hideout, the abandoned sorority building but find nothing.

-Cut to Buffy at night at a pay phone. Phone : You've got one new message at 9:05 p.m. Its from Willow "Hi, It's me. I'm at Giles. Did Parker call yet?"

-The Assassin observes the commandos from the rooftops

-Buffy being followed back to her dorm at night

-Cut to answering machine showing 0 messages again. Buffy looking upset lets herself fall on her bed to the side.

- Buffy asleep in bed. An unknown person walks in and injects her with a syringe.

-Fade Out-

END MONTAGE

Buffy walking along the campus, were she spies Parker talking to a random girl.

Parker : "You know it hit me hard, my dad. Since then I just don't put stuff off anymore. It's about living for now."

Buffy walks over to them.

Buffy : "Parker?"

Parker : "Buffy. Buffy Summers, this is Katie Loomis."

Buffy : "What's going on?"

Parker : "Hey, Katie, you're going to be late for class. I'll catch up later, okay."

He picks up her bag and hands it to her as she leaves.

Buffy : "She's a friend of yours?"

Parker : "Yeah, you'd like her a bunch. So, what's up?"

Buffy : "Well, um you didn't call. I'd, uh I understand if you were busy or sick or something."

Parker : "It's only been a few days. You need to talk to me about something."

Buffy : "Is everything okay?"

Parker : "Sure it is."

Buffy : "It is?"

Parker : "Sure."

Buffy: "Oh, um, so maybe do you wanna do something?"

Parker : "Sure, we could do that absolutely."

Buffy : "So what about tonight?"

Parker : "Oh... Uh... I think I'm supposed to get together with some people later ..."

Buffy : "Parker, did I do something wrong?"

Parker : "Something wrong? No, of course not. It was fun didn't you have fun. Watch out how you answer that. My ego is fragile."

Buffy : "You had fun? Was that all it was?"

Parker : "What else was it supposed to be?"

Buffy : "It seemed like you liked me."

Parker : "I do. But I'm starting to feel like you felt what? Some kind of commitment? Are you sure that's what you want right now?"

Buffy : "I just thought..."

Parker : "I'm sorry if you missed something. I thought things were pretty clear."

Buffy : "I'm sorry if I missed...I'm sorry."

Parker : "Look, I really have to go now."

He walks off leaving Buffy looking dejected.

—

Fresh off the uncomfortable meeting with Parker, Buffy walks into Professors Rhys' room and puts her head down. She doesn't want to talk to anyone, see anyone. She doesn't want anyone to see her. The other students file in and professor Rhys strolls in late.

Rhys drops his stuff on his desk, walks to the board and simply writes "Sex" on the board. This garners a few chuckles from students.

Buffy looks up at the sound of the chucking. Just what she didn't want to talk about.

"Yes, we will be talking about it today. Sex and literature." Rhys says. Rhys notices Buffy's saddened mood. He begins pacing around the front of the room.

"I'll read some quotes from famous authors on the subject." Rhys reads various quotes from his notes. "No wonder people took sex so seriously, or not seriously enough at all. Sex addled your wits and stole your body. It was like being lost and found all at once."

Rhys turns to another quote. "Since sex has become easily accessible, love has become harder to find." He continues to another quote. "I felt like an animal, and animals don't know sin, do they?"

The class contemplates each quote.

"So what do we make of sex? What do these stories tell us about sex? Important? Unimportant?" Rhys says. "And does love and romance play a role?"

The class is silent.

Finally one student speaks. "Well, in older works of romance sex wasn't described in detail and now it is and sometimes conflated with intimacy. An author will stick a sex scene in and thats supposed to get us to believe the couple love each other."

"Interesting, it's almost banal or trivial, you're saying?" Rhys asks.

Another student joins in the conversation. "I think that because there were more social restrictions and dogma surrounding sex, the romantic literature reflected just that, romanticized scenes. It was more of a form of escapism. Rather than showing the reality of sex and romance."

"Do you think there was more of an emphasize on sex showing or producing love back then? Where as today it's sex showing or producing intimacy only?" Rhys asks.

Buffy takes in the whole conversation. The wrong lecture for the wrong day.

A third student enters the discussion. "I think they said love and sex had to go together in a novel because people would wait until marriage."

"All right so I guess the question is can the two be separated?" Rhys asks. "Are they mutually exclusive? Or always intertwined?"

"Yes." "No."

Rhys laughs.

"Sounds like we have some disagreement. I happen to think the two cannot be separated and that sex is always more than just casual." Rhys says.

Some chuckles.

"I think earlier authors were seeing something we don't see anymore in our modern day. That something occurs when two persons meet, something important and something that should not be overlooked." Rhys says.

"It's just for fun. That's it." One student says. Another laughs.

The words sting Buffy.

Rhys laughs his tone light. "Fun? Just fun? Fun is bowling. No one goes against their entire family and drinks poison because of some fun they had in the parking lot of a diner."

The class erupts in laughter.

"That's why the more experience you get the less you get hurt." One student says.

"I think that's true to some extent but that's because you've trained your body to be desensitized. I don't think that's necessarily good." Rhys replies. "What I mean is to... to strip down naked and stand across from someone completely vulnerable. I don't think that's ever trivial. To consume another human being and toss them aside is to forget that they're a complex being with their on thoughts, feelings. I think that's what the greatest romance novels tug at. That these things mean something and always have." Rhys says.

Buffy completely floored. Some of the students all pondering.

"I think someone broke professor's heart." Someone calls out.

The class snickers. Rhys laugh too but his laugh can't hide the truth.

"It happens to everyone at least once." Rhys says with a sad smile. "Dismissed, great job today."

The class begins to filter out. Buffy stays behind.

"Buffy."

"Hi."

"Are you okay? You came in with sad eyes today." Rhys asks concerned.

"I...no. Not really. I just wanted to say I enjoyed the lecture even if it did hit a little too close to home today." Buffy says.

"Still figure it out the college landscape?"

Buffy's eyes well up a little.

"Buffy?"

"Why does every guy become evil afterwards?" Buffy asks innocently.

"Oh, Buffy. Don't be ashamed." Rhys says. "You were right to expect more. You value yourself and your body and thats a good thing."

"I just don't get it." She says.

"Neither do I." Rhys says.

A short moment passes. Rhys words calm Buffy.

"Did yours turn evil to? At the end there you looked like a painful memory came back to you." Buffy asks.

"That was a long time ago." Rhys says.

"But it doesn't feel like that." Buffy says thinking about Angel.

"She was— we were colleagues and it wasn't good to have that sort of relationship. She is far away from me now." Rhys says defeated.

"Same thing almost. At least the first time." Buffy says.

"Where is he now?" Rhys asks.

"LA." Buffy says.

They laugh.

"So not too far but still." Buffy says.

"Understandable." Rhys says.

"I just— thank you for listening." Buffy says.

"I'm glad you feel you could come to me." Rhys says with a gentle smile.

"I don't thank I've ever met someone like you." She says.

"I'm just trying to be all things to all people." Rhys says. "So that by all possible means I might save some."

"Save them from?" Buffy asks.

"Whatever they need saving from. Just to let them know they're not alone." Rhys says.

Buffy smiles. They stare into each other's eyes a moment. Both feeling like someone finally sees them. Both feeling like they have just removed their masks, stripped down and become completely vulnerable.

"Now if you'll excuse me I have to go tell professor Walsh why I missed her class." Buffy says.

"Good luck." Rhys says.

Buffy starts to leave.

"And Buffy."

"Yes."

"Just be careful who you let into your life." Rhys says.

Buffy nods and exits.

—

At the Psyche-lecture room at UCS. Buffy walks up to Prof. Walsh and Riley as they get ready to leave.

Buffy: "Excuse me, Professor Walsh? I came to get today's assignments. I, uh, couldn't make it to class for personal reasons."

Walsh: "Right. I count four limbs, a head no visible scarring, so I assume your personal issue wasn't a life threatening accident of any kind, I'm therefore uninterested. You got problems, solve them on your own time. Miss another class and you're out."

Prof. Walsh walks past Buffy.

Riley: "She means it, you know."

Buffy: "Yeah. I got the impression she wasn't saying it to make me laugh."

Riley: "You've got to be aware your work's taken a little down turn lately. I can't remember the last time I've seen your hand up."

Buffy: "Does stretching count?"

Riley: "Look, things get pretty intense Freshmen year, - as I dimly recall. Too much fun or not enough?"

Buffy after a beat: "Both actually."

Riley hands her the assignments: "Yeah, well, you just got to keep your priorities. Prof. Walsh is worth your time."

Buffy: "Thanks, I'll get this done tonight."

Riley can notice her depressed demeanor.

Riley: "I may be out of line here, and it's not really my business, but - you seem like the kind of person that makes things really hard on themselves. It doesn't have to be. You probably have a lot more people looking out for you than you realize."

Buffy: "Well, thanks for the pep talk, coach."

Riley: "Don't make fun. I worked long and hard to get this pompous."

Buffy: "No, I mean it."

Riley after a beat: "You're welcome."

Buffy smiles and walks out while Riley looks after her.

—

Buffy goes on patrol attempting to find a moonstone. She feels as if she is being watched and when she looks up she sees the Assassin perched on the edge of a building. The Assassin descends and lands next to her.

"Nice intro." She says. "You're a hard guy to reach."

"I'm sorry, those soldiers have made it difficult to move at night."

"I know they're all over." Buffy says. "Listen we found something that may help Octavia but we need to find a couple of moon stones for the spell. Giles gave me a few locations to search."

"Lead the way."

The two walk to the outskirts of Sunnydale to a more desolate area.

"So is there anything more to that creed?"

"Nothing is true, everything is permitted." The Assassin says.

"Wow that sounds... I don't know how that sounds."

"To say that nothing is true is to say that you cannot always trust the information given by your eyes and ears. That there is a higher reality that is at work and the veil between the natural and supernatural is thinner than we think." The Assassin says. "And to say that everything is permitted is to acknowledge that  law and morality may be subject to change but we must hold ourselves to a transcendent standard. No matter what society says, we are always the architects of our own decisions and we are anchored by our convictions.  We must live with the consequences whether glorious or tragic and to remind us that we will be judged for what we have done."

"I have made many hard decisions and I'm not sure if they have been glorious or tragic." Buffy adds.

"Above all there is God's grace and forgiveness. That is why we must try to save this fallen one." The Assassin states proudly.

They reach the outside of a small stone temple, taken over by nature.

"Did you know Octavia personally?" Buffy asks.

The Assassin looks down at the ground. "I did, I was sent by the council to observe and mentor her and I was there when she fell." The Assassin says sadly.

The Assassin turns and looks at Buffy. "I will be with you on this path to it's destined end no matter where it leads. I will not fail another slayer." He says.

Buffy finds comfort in his words.

"Let's go in." Buffy says as she leads the way.

They enter the stone temple and walk through it's jagged corridors. They enter the main room and see a moon stone. A silky dull glow emanating from it.

"This has to be it." Buffy goes to pick it up but is attacked by a group of stone men, demonic men covered in grey scales, they wield horrible axes and spears.

Buffy and the Assassin spring into action the assassin dodging and using his blade. Buffy using her acrobatics to dodge the strikes of the stone men. She disarms one stone man and claims his axe for herself. She buries the axe in one of the stone men. Only she finds it difficult to pull it out. As if her strength has been weakened or the hardened exterior of the stone men have trapped the weapon.

The Assassin fights with two stone men but they overpower him and are about to deliver the killing strike when Buffy jumps in and saves him. Back to back they defeat the stone men. It takes Buffy longer than expected but they prevail. As the last stone man falls his skin becomes dry and cracks until he disintegrates.

"You might want to get a skin care routine." Buffy says as she claims the moonstone. Victorious.

—

A knock on Giles' door. Giles answers it and in walks The Assassin and Buffy. Buffy tosses Giles the moonstone nonchalantly.

"We got it."

Willow and Xander are there placing different texts from different sources around the table.

"Hey Buffy." Willow says.

"Hey guy." Xander says to the Assassin the Assassin doesn't respond.

"We've think we almost have the spell together. We've been pooling from different sources but we'll need at least one more moon stone."

Buffy scoffs. "Do you know we had to fight demons with extremely dry skin."

"Oh how dreadful." Giles says.

"It was Giles." She says.

The Assassin stands over the texts.

"Do you have anything to add?" Xander asks.

"Hell is a door locked from the inside." The Assassin says mysteriously.

"What?"

The Assassin points to the texts. "Hell is a door locked from the inside." He starts. "Which means Octavia will have to willingly choose to reclaim her soul."

"Why wouldn't she?" Willow asks.

"Hell is a door locked from the inside. They can only let themselves out. Sometimes resentment and hatred have overtaken them. Even hatred for what they used to be." The Assassins says.

"Unfortunately he's right." Giles adds. "If she wants to be saved she will have to choose to be. There's no capturing her and forcing her to become good again."

The group frowns.

"Let's not worry. We still need another moon stone and we still need a few more texts in place. One thing at a time." Willow says with hope.

They nod but they still sit in silence. Wondering if Octavia will want to come back to the light. Or is she too far gone?

End of Part V