In the Dead of Night

Buffy script references from: http://www.mustreadtv.com/buffyscripts/

Air Date: unknown/11/2000

Previously on SanFranSlayer....

Jayde and Gemma arrive home to find David talking to the portrait of Leda in the front hall. Gemma notices that he is surrounded by a silvery blue shimmer and as he hears them come in and turns to see them the shimmer turns vermilion. He goes off to make tea and she notices the picture seems different somehow, like Leda's expression has changed slightly, and there is a silvery aura about it…

That night Gemma dreams vividly.

EXT. FIELD - DAY FAITH : You think it's gonna rain? Now we are looking up at the most perfect BLUE SKY you ever saw. Tilt down to reveal Faith and MAYOR WILKINS, sitting on a blanket to a perfect picnic lunch. Alone together in a field under the clear blue sky. MAYOR WILKINS: Nonsense. There's not a cloud in the sky. Now eat your sandwich. They eat a little. FAITH: I don't know, it just seems like it always starts raining right about now. MAYOR WILKINS: You're too young and too pretty a girl to start wearing worry lines on your face. Oops... He notices a small, harmless GARTER SNAKE slithering across the blanket. Nothing to worry about. He picks it up and sets it on its way, away from them. MAYOR WILKINS: There now, little fella. I don't know where you belong, but it's sure not here with us. There you go. (to Faith) You see? There's nothing that can spoil our time together. The Mayor reaches into the picnic basket, fishing about... MAYOR WILKINS: Now who wants cheese cake? Faith smiles, a little re-assured. Then suddenly: FAITH: NO!!! We cut back to the Mayor - he's being horribly, brutally HACKED APART by Buffy with her knife. He's real dead real fast. Finished with his prey, Buffy whips her gaze to Faith, impatient and peeved. BUFFY: I told you I had things to do. Faith tumbles back and crawls backward away from Buffy as fast as she can. It's not nearly fast enough. Buffy is on her in an instant. She lifts the bloody knife high out of frame - then lashes it down to strike into Faith as the thundering sound of a rainstorm blasts out. EXT. GRAVEYARD - NIGHT Faith is now RUNNING, dead-out panic. She passes, near-stumbling, through a Sunnydale cemetery, pursued by some monster we can't see. What we can see is Faith more scared than we've ever seen her. She runs past a headstone, painfully bashing her knee. Limps along, looks back to see: Faith's P.O.V.: Buffy's walking calmly toward her, knife in hand. Faith runs some more. Trips and falls - into an OPEN GRAVE. ANGLE ON THE GRAVE: Faith lands painfully onto the packed dirt. Tries to get up and out, but Buffy walks over like she's got all the time in the world, knife dangling in her hand. Buffy drops into the grave with Faith. We hold outside the grave, hearing but not seeing the fight within. Grunting, punching, and finally a wet noise - followed by silence. Long pause. A drop of RAIN falls. Then another. Then another. A dirt-caked HAND thrusts itself up out of the open grave, clutches soft grass and pulls itself up. It is FAITH, Beaten, bloodied and torn, but alive. Victorious. The drops of rain escalate into a torrential RAINSTORM as she pulls herself all the way out of the open grave and stands. Looks to the night sky and lets out a YELL of pain, agony, triumph and anger all at once.

After tossing and turning in her bed, Gemma wakes up with a start. Her mother is sitting on the bed in an oversized 'reclaim the night' Tshirt. "You had a bad dream too, huh? Its funny. I always heard it was the twins who are ment to have this psychic connection, but Jayde is fine."

Gemma looks around, feeling weird. "Err... uhhh... yeah." Isn't her mum dead? No. She remembers her mother looking after her when she was sick. But.. Nothing makes sense.

"I was just going to make a banana smoothie. Want one?"

"Err yeah. Sure." She gets up and walks to the kitchen with her mother. "Err, what was your dream about?"

"It was horrible. No-one could see me or anything. I tried to talk to people but they didn't listen. I tried with all of you and at the bookshop, but nothing."

"That must have been horrible."

"Yeah. What about yours?"

"This bad girl was escaping from somewhere."

"That.. that's familiar."

"It was horrible. There was all this fighting."

"Oh, Gemma, you ok? Here.." Leda goes to hug Gemma, but Gemma's arms pass right through Leda, giving no sensation.

Leda's eyes go wide with increasing horror. Leda pulls back, staring at her hands "I... This was in my dream..."

Suddenly Gemma's memory returns to normal. Her mother is dead. She wasn't there when she was sick. Everything makes sense again, as much as a wierd freaked out dream can.

Leda looks pained. Gemma prompts, "You know you are, like, err, dead?"

"Yes. I was in the hospital and a man came to me. He showed me pain and suffering and evil that is in the world. There was this chinese girl, fighting to keep something evil at bay. She was choking it and it reached down and, it had big claws, and..." Leda lifts her tshirt and there is a huge tear in the lower left of her stomach, right next to a surgical cut. "She needed my help so I gave what I could."

"Jayde's doing that now."

"Are you two ok?"

"Well it cramps the social style a little..."

"But you have to help.."

"What was this man like?"

"I dont remember. I.. its so long ago. I can't recall. I know that some of me stayed, as a gift. Its hard to remember."

"Do you talk to dad? And Jayde?"

"I talk to all of you." She looks sad and alone. "But you can't hear me. You are the first person I have spoken to since you father's accident."

"Where do you sleep?"

"I sleep with your father, unless he is with someone else."

"Don't you mind that?"

Leda smiles and looks happy and cheeky, "No. Not at all."

"Have you been watching us? I saw you at university!"

"Yes. I've been with you always. I can only go some places. Here, the book shop, with certain people. You, Jayde, your father..." she looks like she is going to continue, but stops. She looks thoughtful.

"Err this is weird." Gamma states

Leda cheers up at that, but says nothing.

"So," Gemma forges on, "Faith, the girl in the dreams."

Gemma looks confused, "I dont know what to make of it all. Its confused. She needs your help."

"She's dead, mum."

"No. No. She is linked to Jayde and Buffy. Somehow."

"She died in prison, didn't she?"

"No. She was in a van, unconcious."

"Burnt? She was burnt to death in prison!"

"No. She wasn't. Someone close to you knows." Leda's brow folds with heavy consentration, "He.. someone. He was there. The man with you in the park."

"Conrad?!?"

"Yes! Yes! He was there in the van. I.. I was there."

"Where is she?"

"I dont know. I can't tell places any more."

"Conrad knows? Why would he lie to us? Can we trust him?"

"He isn't supernatural, like the others. I'm not sure really. He is very confused... I get conflicting colors. All wrong. Fear and satisfaction. Panic and calm. Wrong."

"Colors?!?! Like around people."

Leda smiles, "Yes, silly. People have auras. Didn't you know?"

Leda and Gemma get side tracked discussing auras and colors for a while. Silver is love, blue is sadness and vermilion is happiness. Suddenly, the colors on her father as she walked in make more sense.

Returning to the discussion of Faith. "Is she Evil, mum?"

"Evil is powerful here, Good is weak. Evil enfuses with things power, but good must make do by turning the power from evil. I... I dont know what to say. Jayde and Buffy and Faith are linked. She needs your help."

Roll Credits

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