Chapter Eleven

We begin with Wes remembering the shock of receiving the memories of his betrayal, and the effect the First is having on him.

Buffy's heart stops with Willow's help and she goes into a state of hallucination, imagining herself outside the back entrance to the Bronze with Spike (in S5 'Beneath Me'). She says she misses him and wishes he wasn't dead but Spike just smirks and asks her what irrefutable evidence she has seen that concretely proves his death. She is puzzled, and is suddenly forced back into the fight when Wes throws himself at Willow, thus breaking her hold on the Slayer's heart. He is ragged around by Willow and ends up by cracking his head against something hard and sharp. Buffy evades several of Willow's attacks but is rendered unconcious by a flying chair hitting her.
Suddenly, Cordy and the Erus Veneficus burst into the room through the wall and Wes - after his wound is miraculously healed - uses the oppurtunity to hit Willow over the head with something heavy and knocking her unconcious. Cordy grabs the scythe and disappears, leaving the smug Erus Veneficus. He knocks them around a bit, then takes both the scythe and Willow and disappears. Kennedy reveals that she thinks the Potentials aren't Potentials any more.

They assess the crippled house and decide it'd be for the best if they found another base of operations. They also have to decide what to do now - go after the First or the Erus Veneficus? They don't make a decision, but Robin says he can provide the transportation needed to move a houseful of gear to another location. Wes and Gunn join him, and they drive to the school to take two school buses. Robin asks Gunn what Wes's deal is, and after explaining about Connor's kidnapping, Robin expresses some distaste for the Englishman. Gunn however defends Wes and storms away to the second bus.

Meanwhile, the Erus Veneficus is torturing Willow and she tells him the scythe's destiny has been fulfilled and now he can't alter it; he isn't convinced.

Robin's bus abruptly explodes, throwing Gunn against the side of the second bus and into a daze, while Wes is mostly protected from the blast. He staggers off the bus to see a group of Turok-Han circling them, ready to move in for the kill.