Twilight, Part Three

"Twilight, Part Three" was the thirty-fourth story from Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight.

Summary
At Twilight HQ, reinforcements (in the form of Willow, Dawn, Xander, Satsu, Amy, the General, and Warren) arrive. Faith is seriously injured and bleeding badly, but alive, Giles tends to her while the rest of the group takes in the realization of what just happened (while off to the side Warren argues with Andrew over his shield, each claiming ownership). Giles fills them in on Twilight’s true identity, while Willow pieces together that the forces at work in Buffy and Angel are the same forces that were at work in both of them when the originally met—passion and love, and Willow explains that these two powers are more potent forms of magicks then any of them realize. Xander tells Willow to do a spell to locate them, but she tries to explain that it would not be a good idea to find them at this moment in time, claiming that what they’re doing after being apart for so long is not something any of them need to see.

Cut to the jungle, Angel and Buffy are now semi-nude amidst the ruins of an old Tibetan temple. They begin to have sex, with such passion flowing through them, what should be very gentle actions are causing destruction to the temple.

Back at Twilight HQ, Faith recovers and quickly realizes that she has her powers back and that her wounds have healed. Satsu has picked up surface wave radar that can be used to track Angel and Buffy. Faith turns to Giles and begins to angrily ask him about what him and Angel were discussing. Giles remains silent for a moment, and suddenly, with the whole room waiting for him to speak, he finally does. He goes on to talk about how the Watchers Council, back in the 1680’s, thought something (referred to as “this” by Giles) was going to happen, so thirty of its members took their lives in fear. Willow begs him to tell them what is going on, he tries to convince them that what is happening was just a Watchers fairy tale, but Xander is quick to remind him of all they have seen and encountered and urges him to continue. We flash to another sequence of Buffy and Angel having sex, they are still at the temple, but Buffy, in throes of passion, begins to take flight, hovering a little of the ground as Angel tenderly kisses down her body before reaching the point of performing oral sex on Buffy.

Back at HQ, Satsu reads her scanner, and notes that Buffy and Angel aren’t moving, but they’re speeding up in another way. She quickly realizes what they are doing and hands off her scanner to Dawn and leaves upset. Faith continues to revel in the return of her powers while Giles continues to explain about how the Universe is answering. Xander has had enough of his vague references and angrily urges him to tell them how what is going on now is connected to the Universe. He explains that the Universe does not create anything it doesn’t need for its ecosystem and that in order to keep balance, the predators cannot overtake the prey in population or the prey will die out too quickly leading to the extinction of the predators. He then takes this analogy and refers it to Slayers. He talks of when the vampires first appeared on Earth, and that shortly after they appeared, so did the Slayer. We see flashbacks of past Slayers (the First Slayer staking a vampire and Claudine as she fights her last battle) as he explains that throughout history, wherever vampires were found so was the Slayer, generation after generation fighting and ultimately losing, and losing again, but even though Slayers constantly died, the balance was kept through the awakening of a new Slayer (we get flashbacks of the death of an 18th-19th century African American Slayer being killed by a vampire and a newly activated Slayer being called in the 1920’s). But Xander and Willow are confused and Xander asks how the balance is kept when it is one Slayer versus thousands of vampires. He simply states that the greatest battles are never fair. Dawn alerts the group that the Earth’s temperature rose 0.9 degrees and Andrew points out the waves in the oceans are churning 4% faster than normal. We are then shown another flashback to another past Slayer, this time a Slayer from India, fighting and losing to a vampire, and we are also shown a series of strange events happening in the world. We see a volcanic eruption in Luzon, Philippines and fish acting strangely in the Indian Ocean and Willow’s return to power three days previous after being hit with the ball of magical energy. Over these series of events, Giles is asked that if that even though Buffy and Angel miss and love each other, is it possible that she is being pulled by something far more ancient, powerful and destructive then anyone has ever experienced before, and that if the universe can create Slayers and Vampires to balance each other out, is it possible that the universe has something bigger planned for Buffy and Angel.

We cut to another scene of Buffy and Angel having sex, which causes an immense glow that can be seen miles from the mountains where they are hiding. As Buffy and Angel get closer to reaching orgasm, there is a series of strange events that occur in the world (the fish in the Indian Ocean acting strangely, a cyclone destroying a house, stones cracking and a Jaguar acting strangely.) As they reach climax, the pair burst through the side of the mountain and take to the skies in one powerful move.

Back at HQ, Andrew is reporting seaquakes being reported in the entire Arctic Ocean and Dawn informs the group that Buffy and Angel are moving at a super fast pace and are also using their super speed for personal purposes. Xander and Giles continue to discuss what is happening, and while Xander thinks that Buffy was given these powers by the universe to consummate her relationship with Angel, Giles again explains that these powers are the universes way of evolving her, as a way of protecting her from what is coming, which the Watcher’s Council referred to as “the next step up the metaphysical ladder.” Willow is worried about what is happening, and Giles warns that she should be, because Buffy’s powers are not just a reaction to a change in the universe, but it is the universe’s way of giving birth to a new reality. During this time, Buffy and Angel continue to have sex as they use super-speed to fly through the sky, they fly over the ocean and pass right through the side of another mountain, and come out unharmed on the other side.

Giles continues his tale to the group, (and we flashback to a more recent Slayer of ethnic origin, possibly Asian or Hispanic, hunting a vampire and being drained by him and left bleeding on the street) that for centuries, the universe watched and waited for the arrival of a Slayer who measured up to its test, but was disappointed with the failure of each passing generation, until the arrival of Buffy Summers, who did the one thing that no Slayer before her had done—She shared the mystical power of the Slayer, and not just that, but with the aid of Willow and the Scythe, created the power, and thus, created a new breed-a new evolution. Dawn then says the Earth’s temperature is up 1.2 degrees and that there is a mass of hurricanes happening in the world. Amy’s magic detects quaking and rumbling, she then words that “it’s” coming. (During this conversation Buffy and Angel continue to have sex, this time rising high above the earth.)

Giles continues to tell that because of Buffy creating the Slayer army, the universe rewarded her with the powers, as a way to step up to the next phase of evolution, with the power to survive the “Twilight.” Warren interjects that he hasn’t the faintest idea what the evolution of Buffy has to do with Angel. Willow explains to him that Angel is the part of the equation to balance Buffy, and explains that while Buffy was the first Slayer to share her power, in the grand scheme of her place in Slayer history, she was also the first to love a vampire. Dawn can no longer detect the whereabouts of Buffy and Angel, and Willow assumes it is because they are no longer on this plane of existence. As Buffy and Angel plummet towards Earth, the oceans churn as they pick up speed. During their plummet back to Earth, Willow ponders that maybe the pair is traveling through time. We are presented with a series of time slips, the first showing Buffy and Spike, ready to fight a large demon (this occurrence will happen soon) the second shows Willow being hit with the mystical energy (this occurrence happened three days previous) and the third shows Willow, in the current moment, coming to the realization that whatever Buffy and Angel are under the influence of, will not allow Buffy to stake Angel, and that the universe is urging on their actions. Another time slip shows us the 23rd century, with Melaka Fray in possession of the Scythe. Willow continues to explain her theory, that two of Buffy’s greatest loves, Spike and Angel, were vampires, humans infected by demons, just like Slayers, and it is that connection that Buffy is destined to make. Giles agrees and comes to the conclusion once this happens, the regular humans that populate the Earth will cease to exist, and that the Old Ones, the ancient magicks and demons will come pouring back into our dimension. Amy’s magic picks up an inter-dimensional rift and an army of demons come pouring out. As the army of demons descend on Twilight HQ, Faith confronts Giles about what Angel said he was searching for in England and Germany. He explains that there was said to be a totem in existence, and as horrible as it sounds, he was going to use the totem to kill Buffy as it was rumored to be the only thing in existence to destroy the Slayer who had reached the status of a god, but states that it is too late now, because Twilight has arrived. Twilight HQ crumbles around the group, and Buffy and Angel come around, dressed in god and goddess garb and realize that they have pierced the final wall and they are now in the dimension known as Twilight.

Individuals

 * Faith Lehane
 * Rupert Giles
 * Andrew Wells
 * Dawn Summers
 * Xander Harris
 * The General
 * Willow Rosenberg
 * Warren Mears
 * Amy Madison
 * Satsu
 * Buffy Summers
 * Angel

Species

 * Witch
 * Vampire

Weapons and Objects

 * Stake

Deaths

 * 0 Deaths

Collections

 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 7: Twilight

Quotes
"We need to be scared. That’s why they only whisper about it, Willow. This isn’t just the earth’s reaction. It’s how the earth gives birth to a new reality."

- Rupert Giles

"They are the best of their kind…the first of a new kind. And when they truly become? We humans won’t matter at all."

- Rupert Giles