"Previously on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer":" "Anya!" "I thought you were with Giles studying how to not kill people." "I just got back." "Are you asking me to be a counsellor?" "Spike's insane in the basement, Xander's there doing construction." " l was wondering why I..." " Have this job?" "I still haven't finished college." "These students need someone who understands them." "I need someone who understands these students." " You did good work on her." "She looks good." " Thanks." " She's all set for the service tomorrow." " Good." " All right then. I'll see you in the morning." " Good night." " Hey!" " Sorry." "33 minutes." "Since when do we go to all this trouble for one lousy vampire?" "Excuse me, one lousy potential vampire." "Vampire by vampire." "It's the only way I know." "(knocking)" "I think this thing has a freakin' child lock on it." " Shh!" " l'm not the shortest one here." " l don't know why I had the kid coffin." " l know it's my job..." "No. I'm sorry. I wanna help." "I've been stressed lately." "I'm sorry I took it out on you." "No big." "Been kinda stressed myself." "The whole Willow sitch is not unstressifying." "She's here, but not "part of the gang" here, and hopefully not "under my feet here in another time dimension" here." "There is Willow." "There's the looming humungo bad." "And it's a school night." "I should be cuddling up to my insomnia, worrying about how I'll mess up tomorrow." "You'll be fine." "A great counsellor." "It's my first week talking to the kids." "What if their problems are weird and tricky?" "I think you underestimate your familiarity with the world of weird and tricky." " This job's perfect for you." " Check out perfect me." "Taking my sister on an educational outing to the..." "Dead body." "I don't know." "Amateur opinion here, but she looks dead." "I mean like natural-causes dead." "The paper said she had unusual cuts on her neck." "Maybe she cut herself shaving and then died naturally of embarrassment." " She looks..." " (Buffy) Peaceful." "I am not peaceful." "That I can help with." "I always thought closed caskets were more tasteful anyway." "Hello?" "Come in!" "Hi." "Mr Miller sent me here." " Do you know why?" " l'm not sure." "Maybe cos this guy was picking on me." " l don't wanna talk to you." " OK." "That's fine." " l'm serious. I don't wanna talk." " OK." "You know, I hate to miss bio, but I thought it was best I come speak with you." " So, what's on your mind?" " On my mind?" "Are you worried about school?" " Friends, girls, your parents?" " Yeah." "Yeah, that's it." "My parents." " So, what about them?" " Um... issues of divorce." "You know, it's awful being teased." "But the thing is, with bullies, they're just... lnsecure?" "Yeah, everyone says that." "You know, I'm really tired of everyone being so insecure." "Divorce is terrible." "My parents got divorced when I was a kid." "Yeah, my parents are happily married." "It's hard." "I feel left out." "But I'm also concerned about girls." "OK, I'm just bored." "Maybe I should get back to bio?" "Stick up for yourself." "You need to show this bully that you're not gonna take any more of his sh... guff." " Any guff." " Cos that's what I did." "I stuck up for myself." "The other day after class, I jumped him in the parking lot, and slammed his stupid-ass insecure face right into the pavement." "You what?" "I guess that's another reason Mr Miller wanted me to see you." "Do you think I should pound on him some more?" " l bet she's giving them great advice." " Absolutely." "Those kids are lucky to have Buffy looking out for them. I just wish she believed it." "She's still stressing over the whole "dropped out of college, not actually qualified" thing." "Plus the salivating Hellmouth under her feet and the whole..." ""From beneath you, it devours." Not the friendliestjingle." "It's no "l like Ike" or "Milk: it does a body good."" "I know. lt's gonna be bad." "It's gonna be real bad." "And I wonder, will I..." "Well, if it comes, when it comes, will I be able to help?" " l think so." " l don't know." "I don't know what I can do." " Frankly, I'm scared of what I might do." " Yeah, I get that." "Figuring out how to control your magic seems a lot like hammering a nail." "Fine, hear me out." "So you're hammering, right?" "If you hold the end, you have the power, but no control." "It takes two strokes to hit the nail in, or you could hit your thumb." " Ouch." " So you choke up." "Control, but no power. lt could take like ten strokes to knock the nail in." "Power, control. lt's a trade-off." " That's actually not a bad analogy." " Thanks." "Except I'm less worried about hitting my thumb, and more worried about going all black-eyed baddie and bewitching that hammer into cracking my friends' skulls open like coconuts." "Right." "Ouch." "Sorry." "Xander, being back here. I don't know... lt'll take time." "Are you sure you're ready for this?" "Hey." "It's me." "I'm scared." "I don't wanna be left all alone." "My brother's joining up with the marines." "You know, if he knew I was making a fool of myself, he'd smack me in my head." " l'm being stupid." " Sounds like your brother's pretty tough." "Yeah, you know, he's a man." "I'm just all messed up right now." "You are not messed up. lt's not messed up to worry about your brother." "What if he doesn't come back?" "What if he gets blown up?" "Have you talked to him?" "Have you told him how you feel?" "No." "No, I don't wanna talk to him." "I don't wanna do that." "I don't wanna talk to him." " OK." " D'you understand?" " So, Josh, what's on your mind?" " Well, I'm worried that I'm gay." "OK, first of all, I think it's great that you would come and talk to me about this." "And second of all, you should know there is nothing shameful about being gay." "Nothing." "I know. lt's just... I'm not positive, so I was thinking that..." "Why don't you go on a date with me so I can be sure?" "It sounds like it's difficult for you." "Like maybe your sister makes it hard for you to establish your own identity." "You said she's controlling, she doesn't let you make your own decisions..." " And she borrows my clothes without asking." " l understand." "That must be hard." " So, you're not doing your homework?" " l guess not." "It all just... seems kind of... whatever." "High school can seem frustrating." "But if you just get through it, you can go to college, or you can join the French foreign legion, or anything you want." "Yeah, well, I'm not gonna do all that stuff." "OK, no foreign legion. I get that." "Changing your name, and being indentured for all those years, and occupying Algeria... I'm not graduating from high school." " Why not?" " l really like that shirt." "Where'd you get it?" "Cassie, don't change the subject." "Why won't you graduate?" "Because next Friday I'm gonna die." " What?" " Can we talk about something else?" " No, we have to talk about this." " Just..." " Never mind." " What makes you feel like this?" " Feel like what?" " Like you wanna hurt yourself." "Oh, I'm not gonna commit suicide if that's what you're saying." "No way." "OK." "Then what are you saying?" "I don't mean to be a pain." "You seem nice." "I know you're just trying to help." " But I'm wasting your time." " No, you're not." "This is why I'm here." "Why do you think you're gonna die?" "I don't think it, I know it. I just know." "What do you mean, you know?" "Are you saying that someone's going to hurt you?" " Has someone threatened you?" " No." "No, I just know that next Friday I'm gonna die." "Some things I just know." "I don't know how, I just do." " Like I know there will be coins." " Coins?" "Mm-hm." "Lots of coins." "Weird ones." "And I know that you'll go someplace dark underground. I don't know." " What do you mean, "underground"?" " l know you'll try to help..." " l don't understand what you're saying." " But you can't, OK?" "I gotta go." "Trig. I don't want Mr Corrigan sending me to Principal Wood again." " Please..." " Thanks for being so nice." "I do like that shirt." "You should put a sweater on so it doesn't get stained. I gotta go." " Cassie, wait, please..." " Gotta go." " What am I supposed to do?" " You did it." " You reported the situation to me." " And?" "Listen, it's hard." "Kids this age, they're hurting, they're pissed off, and they say things." "Sometimes they say awful things." "When I was in high school, I had a thing with this guy, right?" "Real bully." "I told everyone that he'd better sleep with one eye open cos l was gonna bust his ass." "Well, I got suspended." "Talk like that is taken pretty seriously where l come from." "The hood?" "Beverly Hills." "Which is a hood." "Listen, the point is, I was talking big because I was scared." "I couldn't bust a move, let alone someone's ass." "Most of the time, that's what it is when these students act out." "Fear, pain." "But sometimes it's notjust talk, right?" "Every time there's a threat like this, we do the same dance. inform teachers, search lockers." "But we can't know what's gonna happen." "We can't search their brains." "We just..." "We just do what we can." "It's not enough. I need to fix this. I don't usually get a heads-up before somebody dies." " What do you mean, "usually"?" " No." "Not since... I mean, I'm sure it's not usual to get a chance to stop something like... I need to do something." "I have to make this better." "Oh!" "Oh." "Shoot." "I have a job for you." "What are you drawing?" "Don't you have a history test to study for?" "When are you gonna design me a tattoo?" "A tattoo?" "Oh, right. I can imagine that." "Come on." "Design something and maybe we can get matching tattoos." "How about like a snake with some fire coming out of its mouth?" "Or a sexy hula girl that wiggles when you flex?" "Yeah, now you're talking." "Sexy hula girl." "But a sexy snake hula girl." "(Cassie laughs)" "You are so ridiculous." "So, I was thinking..." "maybe we should go to that dance after all." "What do you mean?" "I told you I don't wanna go." "I assumed you were kidding." " lt'll probably be lame anyways." " Well, yeah, but lame is funny." "And, you know, maybe fun if, you know, we're hanging out together." " We hang out together all the time." " Right." "And therefore we should hang out together at the winter formal." "Hey." "Um... I'm in ceramics class with you." "I'm Dawn Summers." "I forgot if we had an assignment last week. I spaced." "Right." "Um..." "Hey, Dawn." "Yeah, we did have an assignment, but I didn't write it down." "I think something to do with glazes." "As scintillating as the pottery talk is, I'd better actually go study." " l'm Mike, by the way." " Hi." " l'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." " Don't worry about it." "I better go hit the books if I'm gonna ace this test." "Nice meeting you." " Cass, I'll see you later?" " Yep." " Hey, Mike, you're gonna get a B." " Oh, A-plus, baby, A-plus." "So, is that any good?" " Yeah." "Actually, yeah." " What do you have to read it for?" "Oh, just for me, I guess." "I stopped reading homework assignments." "I just read what I want." "That's so cool. I'd do that, but my sister would be down my neck in a second." "Summers." "Hey, are you the counsellor's little sister?" "No." "She's my sister." "Lucky me, huh?" "No, no, she's really nice." "I actually just saw her this morning." "Oh, really?" "What about?" "I'm sorry, that's none of my business." "No, I don't care." "So, Mike's a cutie." "Are you guys going to that dance?" " No, I don't think so." " Oh." " l mean, didn't he ask you?" " Only like 105 times." " And you said no?" " 106 times." "No, I can't go." "I'm not gonna be around that night." "Cassie's records all show the same thing." "Good grades, good kid, then, all of a sudden, not-so-good grades, absenteeism, comments about apathy and depression." " So the question is, what changed?" " Right." "If she did have psychic vision, that would explain it." "Do you really think this girl is some kind of precog?" "I don't know." "I told you about the shirt, right?" "You spilled coffee. I'm not saying you don't have Slayer grace, but it's not the first time." "Maybe you're trying so hard to help you're seeing paranormal when there's just normal." "Maybe." "But maybe not." " You want me to check her medical records?" " Her doctor already sent them." "Strep throat." "Ear infections." "Yeast infections." "None of my business." "No real info here." " Have you Googled her yet?" " Willow, she's 17." "It's a search engine." "Look." "OK, let's see what Cassie Newton pulls up." "Hey, look." "Check this." "She's got her own site." "A day and a half of researching, and we finally try looking up her." "Wow, that's a lot of poems." "Poems." "Always a sign of pretentious inner turmoil." ""The sheets above me cool my skin, like dirt on a madwoman's grave."" ""l rise into the moonlight white and watch the mirror stare."" ""The pale fish looks back at me."" ""Pale fish will never swim."" ""My skin is milk for no man to drink."" ""My thighs unused, unclenched."" ""This body is not ready yet."" ""But dirt waits for no woman, and coins will buy no time."" ""l hear the chatter of the bugs." "It's they alone will feast."" "OK." " Death really is on her brain." " We all deal with death." "This girl isn't dealing." "She's giving death a long, sloppy word-kiss." " She has a yen for the big dirt-nap." " l don't know." "I mean, a lot of teens post some pretty angsty poetry on the web." "I even posted a melodramatic love poem or two back in the day." "Love poems?" " l'm over you now, sweetie." " Love poems." "Look, all I'm saying is that this is normal teen stuff." "You join chat rooms, you write poetry, you post Doogie Howser fanfic." "It's all normal, right?" "Let's see what other sites there are." "You guys are way off track." "I got a hunch." "Oh, wait, no." "Here's something." "No, that's Phillip Newton." "No, that's her dad." "Open it." "Guys, I'm telling you." "I got this case cracked wide open." "I got the perp fingered." "I told you about Mike Helgenburg?" " The guy that asked her to the dance?" " Right." "The one that keeps asking her to the dance." "I'm thinking, who likes to be rejected?" "Nobody. I'm thinking, some people can't handle the rejection." " l'm thinking that..." " Hey, I got something." "Whoa, drunk and disorderly, disturbing the peace." "There's a lot of charges here." " Her dad's a drunk?" " A violent drunk?" "We'd better find out. i have his address right here." "You got your keys?" " Yeah." " Guys, I'm telling you." "I'm liking Mike Helgenburg for the perp." "Let's collar him before he..." "lawyers up." "Buffy the Vampire Slayer would break down this door." "And Buffy the counsellor?" "Waits." " Mr Newton?" " That's right." "I work at your daughter's school." "I need to talk to you." "So, is she screwing up her grades again?" "Because she's not the sharpest apple in the barrel." "She's got some problems." "But it's..." " lt's you we wanted to talk about." " What about?" "We know you've been picked up by the police." "We wanted to know if you still... drink a lot." "What's that got to do with Cassie?" "Frankly, we were worried that you might drink too much and hurt Cassie." " That's all." " Oh." "I see." "That's all." "You just come in here in the middle of the night, into my home, and start accusing me of beating on my daughter?" "That's all?" " We just wanna make sure that Cassie's..." " Well, that's a lie!" "Who told you this?" "Did Cassie's mother put you up to this, cos l pay my support, OK?" "To the dime." "She just wants to take away the one weekend a month I get to be with my girl." " Which is when?" " What?" "Which weekend is it?" "I just had her last weekend." "Look." "I may not be the greatest dad in the world, but I don't beat up my daughter." "So, you won't be seeing her this Friday, then?" "Not unless my ex-wife gets a personality transplant." " OK." " OK, what?" "OK now you'll get out of my house?" "Yeah, we will." "It's not him." "He's not the one who does it." "Thank you for trying, but I probably shouldn't have told you anything." "You're making such a big deal out of it, and I want it to all just go away." " Are you talking about killing yourself?" " No, of course not." " Then fight." "Try." " There's no point. I told you..." "Doesn't sound like someone who wants to live." "You think I want this?" "You think I don't care?" "Believe me, I want to... be here, do things." "I wanna graduate from high school, and I wanna go to the stupid winter formal." "I have this friend, and..." "it would be fun to go with him." "Just to dance and hear lame music." "To wear a silly dress and laugh and stuff." "I'd like to go." "There's a lot of stuff I'd like to do." "I'd love to ice-skate at Rockefeller Center." "I'd love to see my cousins grow up, cos they're really mean and I think they're gonna be fat." "I'd love to backpack across the country or... I don't know, fall in love." "But I won't. I just never will." "You will." "Cassie, you will." "You just have to tell us what you know." "You have to tell us everything." "Please, help us." "I can't. I just know it's gonna happen." "I don't know why and I don't know how, but something out there is gonna kill me." "(chanting)" "Hey, how we doin'?" " l'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." " No, it's OK." " l just didn't get much sleep last night." " lt's been a long week, huh?" "Thank God it's Friday." "I can't believe I just said that." "See you later." ""l sit alone at my windowsill."" ""Trees crackle, sunshine blares."" "(Cassie) "And children laugh like death."" ""Their sharp happiness is a knife to me."" ""One jealous snake on a windowsill."" ""They will be here, trees and sun."" ""And children with canes and pruney skin."" ""When I am but a memory, I laugh in the trees of time."" ""l sit alone and try to love them."" ""l sit alone, a snake."" ""l sit alone and try to love them." "I sit alone and laugh."" "Spike, what are you doing?" "Nothing." "If I don't move, if I don't think, if I don't listen to the voices, then I won't hurt... much." " l need to ask you something." " Don't." "There's a girl." "She's in danger, and she needs your help." "Now." "Time is running out. lt's Friday, the day Cassie said she's going to die." "I can't. I can't hear you." "is there something evil in the school?" "Down here, maybe." "Spike, please, do you know anything?" "(sighs)" "Yes." "There's evil." "Down here." "Right here." "I'm a bad man." "William is a bad man." "I hurt the girl." "Spike, stop it!" "What did you do?" "I hurt you, Buffy, and I will pay." "I am paying because I hurt the girl." "Spike." "No." "It's not me. lt's a different girl, OK?" "Her name is Cassie Newton." "Please, do you know anything specific?" "Don't... don't leave me." "Stay here, and help me be quiet." "I think it's worse when I'm here." "Don't let 'em hurt the girl." "Well, there's nothing in this one." "What've you got?" " Where's your hall pass?" " Free period." "You seem kind of upset." "Something on your mind?" "No, not really." "Well, I got a lousy B in Egyptian history." "Knew this stuff cold, so that pisses me off." " You get pissed off a lot?" " No, I..." "Let me cut to the chase. I hear you can't get a date for the winter formal." "Whoa, look. I know it's yourjob to talk to kids with problems, but honestly, I don't have any. I'm fine." "All right, it's really no big deal." "I have a friend that I really wanted to take." "I don't know. I guess she doesn't see me that way." " She makes me crazy." " Crazy?" "Yeah, sometimes I just..." "That's... that's funny." "You're Dawn's sister, right?" "Uh..." "That's right." "Dawn is my sister." "Oh, that's so weird." "I was just thinkin' about her." "I was thinkin' if, you know, Cassie won't budge, maybe I'll ask Dawn." "You aren't mad at Cassie, with her rejecting you like that?" "Nah." "She's a girl right?" "Making boys crazy is like yourjob description." "You're asking my sister to the dance, and she's your second choice?" "I'll be keeping an eye on you." "Seems like someone's got quite a coin collection, huh?" "You wanted to see me?" "You have locker number 281?" "Yeah, why?" "I want you to tell me what this is, and what this has to do with Cassie Newton." " l don't know. lt's late. I'll miss my bus." " l know it's late." "That's why I don't have time to mess around." "So you need to talk to me." "Now." "Believe me, if I knew anything, I'd tell you." "I just... don't." "You know why I came back to Sunnydale High?" " To creep me out?" " To help." "I'm a counsellor here because I wanna help." "I know what it's like to walk these halls and feel lost, alone." "I just wanna make things better." "Connect." "And I'll connect with your face if you don't stop wasting my time and help me do my job." "I..." " Please..." " A girl could die." "I know who you're talking about." "She's some weirdo suicidal poet girl." "These guys I know wanna mess with her." "They've got this plan..." " (Cassie) Well, I guess this is goodbye." " No. I mean, let me walk you home." "Don't worry." "I'm going to my Mom's. lt's kinda far." " Far is good." " Dawn, I know what's going on here." " What?" " Buffy told you about me, right?" " She told you to pretend to be my friend?" " No." "Maybe." "Cassie, she was scared." "She wanted to help you." " Well, she can't." " Maybe she can." "She's not like you think." "She's got powers... of helping." "And..." "Look, she was worried and now I'm worried and I wasn't pretending at all." "I really wanted to be your friend." " You are my friend." " l am?" "Yeah." "Just remember, I'm not as dumb as I look." "I'm glad." "Hey, Summers!" "Listen, Dawn, whatever happens now, it's not your fault, OK?" " Summers." " What's up, Peter?" "I was just wondering if anyone had asked you to winter formal." "What?" "Oh." "No." "Not exactly." "Well, I was just doing a poll." "(laughs)" " l'll see you." " That guy is such an ass." "Cassie?" "Cassie?" "Cassie!" "(chanting)" " All present?" " All present." "Then we begin." " Mandell, shut up." " Sorry, dude, it's... lt's just so cool." "We're gonna be rich!" "Keep your shorts on." "We have to do the ritual if we wanna score." "OK." " Keith, did you take care of the fire exits?" " Yeah." "Anybody who tries to bust in is gonna get a nasty surprise." "I set up this booby trap my cousin Ben always used to do..." "Then nobody is getting in." "And nobody is getting out." "Dude." "This is our sacrifice." "It's nothin' personal." "It's just that you have this death-kick suicidal vibe goin'." "I figure if you disappear, everybody'll assume you threw yourself in a river somewhere." "Extinguish." "Almighty Avilus, please accept our sacrifice." "Please appear before us, oh, mighty soldier of the dark." "Please appear before us, and grant us with infinite riches, and we will pay you with our sacrifice." "We kneel before you with the gift of flesh." "OK, that is going on your permanent record." "The counsellor!" "What the hell is she doing here?" "It was his idea!" "Back off." "Get back!" "Get back, you stupid bitch." "You're gonna die!" "Do you know how lame this is?" "Bored teenage boys trying to raise up a demon." "Sorry it didn't show." "I bet it's cos you forgot the boom box playing some heavy-metal thing, like Blue Clam Cult." "I think that's the key to the raising of lame demons." "That lame demon?" "Dude, help!" "No!" " Spike?" " Here to help." "No hurting the girl." "Untie her. I'll take care of this." "Ah!" "Uh!" " Who are you?" " l'm a bad man." "No, no, please..." "She'll tell you." "Someday she'll tell you." "You OK?" "Ow." "Ow." "You can't be dead." "Where are my infinite riches?" "Ow!" "It bit me!" "Come on." " Help!" "Help me, please!" "I'm bleeding." " Sorry." "My office hours are ten to four." "It's all OK now." "I hope you're not too disappointed." "See?" "You can make a difference." "And you will." "Cassie?" "Cassie." "Cassie." "No, come on." "Cassie." "Cassie." "How was her mom?" "OK." "As OK as..." "She told me their family had a history of heart irregularities." "But she never told Cassie." "Cassie didn't know?" "Then it was fate?" "I think she was gonna die, no matter what, wasn't she?" " lt didn't matter what you did." " She just knew." "She was special." "I failed her." "Uh-uh." "No." "You didn't, cos you tried." "You listened, and you tried." "She died cos of her heart, not cos of you." "She was my friend cos of you." "I guess sometimes you can't help." "So what then?" "What do you do when you know that?" "When you know that maybe you can't help?" "Visiontext Subtitles:" "Abigail Smith" "Urgh!" "Argh!" "english SDH"