The Long Way Home, Part Three

"The Long Way Home" was the third story from Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight.

Synopsis
The figure in the duster and red shirt is revealed to be Ethan Rayne, a former friend of Giles and chaos-worshipping sorcerer. He reveals that they are trapped within Buffy's dreamspace, the conglomeration of all of a person's possible dreams. Ethan urges Buffy to escape so she can help the battle raging outside.

Willow and Amy are locked in a magical duel, with Willow absorbing Amy's magics to "decode them". Willow then casts a spell that makes the undead army behave as if they were at a ball. Amy retaliates with another magic spell, which Willow counters - her eyes and hair turning black in the process. While Amy taunts her, the gigantic Dawn crushes Amy beneath her foot. Meanwhile, Ethan has led Buffy through her dreamspace to Amy's cage from her time as a rat. Buffy then sees three Xs (which she associates with either Vin Diesel or pornography), and Ethan begins speaking in riddles, saying that "Twilight is falling", and to remember the things she has seen in her dream.

With Amy out of the way, Willow addresses Buffy's condition. She reveals that someone in the room is in love with her, even though that person may not have realized it or won't admit it. Willow then commands all the people in the room to close their eyes and asks the person in love with Buffy to come forward and kiss her. Buffy, feeling something on her lips, suddenly awakens, yelling "Cinnamon Buns", but the source of the kiss is not revealed.

Giles contacts a demon of the same breed as those killed in Part 1, asking for information about the symbol found on the bodies, but the demon insists that the symbol is meaningless to his kind. Xander contacts Andrew in Italy to see if their station was attacked, and cautions him to be on alert. Xander then visits a wounded but recuperating Renee, reassuring her that she did her best in the battle.

Buffy and Willow examine Amy, now held in a binding spell. Buffy and Willow attempt to catch up: Willow asks about Dawn's giant condition (asking Buffy if the cause was having sex with a Thricewise) and Buffy asks about Kennedy. Willow reveals that Kennedy died(which causes Buffy to be shocked and sympathetic), but she quickly explains that it was only a short-lived mystical death(stating she always says that wrong), and that they are currently taking a break. Willow traces the source of Amy's power, finding that it came from something besides Amy herself. The tracing spell opens a portal, and forcibly transports Willow to the army base with Amy in tow; Buffy fumes to Xander that they've been tricked. At the base, Amy mentions that they had agreed to capture Buffy, but figures that Willow will serve as bait. The voice of Amy's 'boyfriend' claims to be looking forward to killing Buffy, but that he is most excited about revenging himself on Willow. The figure emerges from the shadows and is revealed to be a skinless man: Warren Mears.