7.1.1 DUTY/ FORM/ WORD

descend: to lower oneself in status or dignity

thread: a projecting helical rib (as in a fitting or on a pipe) by which parts can be screwed together

cord: the hangman's rope
 

7.1.2 DUTY/ FORM/ WORLD

This is not an age for heroes. Still, there they are, out in the meadow, fighting their natures to choose what might be worth living for, and dying for, in this sorry world. They battle the demons in themselves to stand in light and witness against the dark, just mortal, mostly, but never alone. Because this is the garden that the Slayer made them, her mother's notions of safety and home living inside her even in this first version of her world, her family, the source of all that strength she even gave away.
 

7.1.3 DUTY/ FORM/ MAKER

It's the end of the world, but the Slayer is thinking of gardens. In her bare feet she steps carefully over the puddles of blood, and in her mind replaces them all with crocuses. It is a kind of game she plays when the fields of death stretch out before her too far, too wide for the mind to hold. Her mother's seed catalogs continue to come to the house. She never has time to garden, but she likes to look at the pictures in them and dream a little. She wonders idly whether the vampire, who has had plenty of time after all to learn the world he unlives in, knows anything about the soil. She trusts with perfect confidence that he will never countenance a garden gnome.
 

7.2.1 DUTY/ DIVINATION/ PROPHECY

So we will come to the end of prophecy, in the last days when the Slayer will choose to cast aside the mantel of the rule of order, and will no longer patrol the borders between light and darkness which will disappear in the time to come. She will choose to mate with darkness caught and held inside her light, and they will stand against the final dark together two in one. For time and space are one, as life and death are one, as light and darkness mate again outside the boundaries of the natural world, the Protector of that world and the Protector of Protectors meet in, mate in, love, and choose to 

7.2.2 DUTY/ DIVINATION/ TARA

So, how are we doing? Is the line in the meadow still holding?

Yep. So far, so good. And they'll have plenty of stories of derring-do to tell you later.

Still gonna be a later, huh?

Oh ye of little faith.

Occupational hazard. Is he going to wait for me?

Always.
 

7.2.3 DUTY/ DIVINATION/ FATES

You've left it all too late, you have. And now you're all aflutter, and it won't do a bit of good. We're all learning the next set of lessons, and he's gone on before, my clever boy. Which one do you think you are today, then?

Drusilla, please, I need to know....

You need? But who are you to need, our father not in heaven? I also need, I who am bound to you by blood that you deny.

I am not Angelus.

Angelus knows I need to drink the children of this world, because he taught this duty to me. Do you say otherwise today? But I have seen your end and mine, my guardian angel, and it burns, and still it is more merciful than you have ever been to me. Come dance with me tonight, the plague halls wait, the stars will sing, and we will make up a better ending to this play.

Tell me the end you see.

I see it crimson, I see it red. I've read your entrails too, you know, and yours. They're both the same. Cronus swallowed his children too. No mask will hide you from yourself, not when you live in a hall of empty mirrors, not where we used to dance, unfather. Will you not dance? Which one do you choose to be today?

I'm sorry, Dru, I just can't let you go this time. I can't leave him this duty.

Your time and mine are done. The True King comes. True William I have sired, who has the gift of sight. He sees her clear in all her glory, and he does not burn. 

Drusilla? Help me, please, there must be something I can do.

There's no help for you. What do you want to do, Angel, alone in the dark? Did you expect a picnic? Angelus built me once for just this moment out of time. You know the story. The old world dies. What will you give me? Peace? It isn't in you. Go and give what you have, protect the boy for once, your boy and mine, my darling boy who always knew how to love.

I can set you free at least.

Which one of you is free? What use is freedom to the damned? What mercy can you bring, which one is you, transfixed inside her light, forever cruel to be so kind?
 

7.3.1 DUTY/ CHORUS/ FORCES OF EVIL

Change or die. It's time to choose.

The Master always said you'd stand at his right hand, come the day of judgment, Angelus.

My name is Angel. And I am Master now. Do you deny me?

The Order of Aurelius has always stood steadfast against the light.

Have to say, you picked the wrong Slayer for that stance. Picked the wrong Champion, too. Picked the wrong mating. Guess that's the way it goes, when you choose to live in the dark. C'mon, admit it. You failed to stop the Council. They went beneath you and mined the stairwell. You need a cause? The Senior Partners are stirring. Want them to have the glory? As for all the rest of it, it's a done deal. Your plan worked. His seed is fertile. The Slayer's almost there. I know that girl and nothing in hell will stop her. We could use some help holding this meadow. There's a new world coming. Want to stick around and see how it can be made to work? Change or die. It's time to choose.
 

7.3.2 DUTY/ CHORUS/ FORCES OF BALANCE

Well, will you look at all of you? Getting way better at combat training, but every time you see me coming you get this sacrificial lamb thing going. Think I'm likely to kill you today?

Uh, only if we really deserved it?

Hmm. Thanks for the judgment call, at least. So, were you scared of Buffy, then?

Oh no. Well, except when she started in to make speeches. 

So, is it good for a Slayer, you think, to get this fear vibe going?

Well, yeah, cause it's a tactic. Part of the weapons locker.

So, which one of us do you think is the better Slayer?

It's you, cause we can see you got more power.

So how come Buffy's The Slayer, then?

Just older, we figure, she came along first.

Which one of us would you want guarding your back?

Will you kill us if we tell you the truth?

Not today.

I'd rather have Buffy, because I trust her more.

So who's the better Slayer, then? Tell you a secret, I fought her lots, more than once to the death, and I never even came close to beating her. She had something I didn't. She knew what was right. You see all these heavy-duty people around, guarding her back, putting themselves on the line? They don't know what the hell she's doing, but they know it will be right. They're willing to die for it, they're just that sure of her. I don't have that kind of power. Maybe I never will.

What was it like, being called?

It was a rush. Really cool. All that power, license to kill. Where's the down? Except my Watcher got killed, and I bolted right across the continent to Sunnydale, trying to get lost. And then she tried to teach me what a Slayer really was. My better half. Slayer in Light, Slayer in Dark. The Chosen Two.

Did you share the Power? 

No, just the dreams, we both got the power. But I thought of the gig as more of a lifestyle than a calling. I went for the power, no matter who had it. The bad guys had it. She beat them too, though, even when they had me on their side. And she kept on trying to show me a Slayer wasn't the same as a killer. Miss Goody two-Shoes, I figured. I was wrong. Girl's got more power in her little finger than all the Senior Partners combined. Takes a lot of power, you know, not to let it show. She'd always rather be just a girl, see, whereas me I felt like without being a Slayer I was nothing, really. You stick with her, see what you can learn. Let me play the Bad Apple. Deal?

Okay. Can we ask you some questions?

Sure, long as I can ask some too. First off, you guys have seen them both now. So dish. What's Spike got that Angel doesn't have?

Well, see, Mr Spike is a real scary guy. He could bite you at any moment.

Sometimes he does. Andrew got bit. That was a First deal, though.

He's more like you as a fighter than like Buffy or Angel. They're really masters, beautiful to watch. Spike's a street fighter, all out, not as strong as Angel but his endurance, wow, and he'd do absolutely anything to win, so you can't take your eyes off him for a moment.

Plus, you won't want to. He's really beautiful.

He'd do anything for her. That's why he went to get the soul.

So, lots of screwing going on, I take it?

Not even a little bit. She put her hand on his chest once, checking for broken ribs, and he touched it.

You're kidding me. That's the whole deal?

She goes out on dates with other people.

He sleeps on a cot in the basement.

Xander always wants to stake him.

She keeps the pig's blood in the fridge.

Man, if I live a hundred years, I'm never gonna figure that girl out. One girl in all her world with the strength and skill to keep them all guessing....
 

7.3.3 DUTY/ CHORUS/ FORCES OF GOOD

Do you ever get tired of holding the line, Xander? I mean, you're only human, shouldn't somebody stronger be holding it?

I like the weapons part, they make me feel all manly. And I quite like the saving the world parts. After they're done, at least.

But, I mean, if you think about it, where's the logic? Humans are puny, poorly trained, way too vulnerable. Weapons hardly begin to even those odds. Whereas we could be living. Amassing capital, and putting that to work. Soon we might buy a condo, pretty things, a lot of stock in something, and start having babies. Separately, of course. Doesn't that make more sense?

Are you trying to get me to rise to your bait, Anya? Or do you really not get it after all this time?

No, I get it, I think. See, I used to think it was just your Buffy fixation.

I don't have a Buffy fixation.

Yes, you do, whenever she calls, off you go, following behind her like a puppy. And, considering that you are not the Slayer, it's really quite foolish. You've never even trained to fight properly.

I kind of specialize. Newly fledged vamps in cemeteries, protecting Buffy's back while she fights, and rescue of innocents.

I know. One of your most endearing qualities. Brave. Big heart. But that's not what I started to say. See, I thought, love of Buffy. Illogical. Investment without return. All true, but not exactly right. See, when we were together, I humored you with Scooby stuff. Also I thought someone should be watching your back. Why is your mouth open?

I'm trying to decide what to object to first.

Well, close it. It's unseemly in a grown man. But now, here I am. Just like you. Holding back the night. Could be a big stadium number, if we got that demon back. So now instead of asking myself why on earth you're doing it, I'm having to ask myself why I'm doing it. 

And what's your answer?

Because we're human, and it matters. Do you think we'll die tonight?

We might die any night, Anya. We might die crossing the street. That's part of being human too.

It's a messy business, being human, isn't it? All these unruly feelings. I'd really prefer not to care, because it really hurts.

Welcome to the world. I'm sorry I hurt you, Anya.

I know.

Do you really think I'm brave? I'm almost always terrified.

That's your secret weapon. Along with your heart. I got this really bad scrape off that one time, so I know.

You're pretty ferocious yourself, in battle.

I'm glad we're here.
 

7.4.1 DUTY/ SOLILOQUY/ ANGEL

She promised she would take me places, show me things.
My sister opened the door, and she let me in.
In one hundred and fifty years we were never bored.

I am an expert in the art of the kill.
I am the architect of continents of pain.

I tried to stake her when Dru turned her back.
I tried to save her once before she died.
I tried to keep her here when Connor came.

She was the strongest one, because she knew
All that we are, and we can never be.

I saw her once before she was ever called.
I saw her burn in sunlight on her wedding day.
I saw her die and could not give her breath.

I wanted just to give her something clean
But there was nothing clean in me to give.

I drank from her and then I could not stop.
I killed her friends. I meant to kill her too.
I dreamed of how she tasted in the dark.

What she wanted from me, she could never have.
It's not the monster in me that needs killing, it's the man.

I am the Master of Los Angeles.
I am the Master of the Aurelian Order.
I am the Master of Myself today.

I valued her, because she told me truth.
I trusted her to kill me, when she must.
I waited for her, but she never came.

I fight my battles on the side of Good.
I have a family that I protect.
I'm still a better monster than a man.
 

7.4.2 DUTY/ SOLILOQUY/ SPIKE

For one hundred and twenty years, my duty was to do right by Drusilla. Right, doesn't rate up there with saving the world, I know, but that's why I was turned, really, to do for Dru so Angelus and Darla didn't have to. So I chose to take it seriously, that duty, although it was their idea of a good joke at the time. For a long time that was all I was allowed to have for myself, the thing that made me useful enough to keep, that responsibility. And it wasn't a small job either. She was mad enough she forgot to do for herself, or couldn't remember how to do, all the little things: staying clean, eating, dressing herself, doing her hair. She'd get into a rage for no reason at all, and then she'd do such things, such terrible things, and she had no sense at all of self-preservation, so I'd try to keep her calm somehow, clean up all her messes, get her out of trouble. 

Angelus would enjoy himself by pretending I was her maid of all work sometimes, but I was her fixer, really. I never minded. Dru was broken, but so innocent somehow at the bottom of that. I couldn't help wanting to do whatever I could to take away her pain. Such terrible things were done to her, and she did dreadful things in their wake, but somewhere inside she wanted to make things right, only her mind had such horrors around every turn, she tried to reenact them, I think, hoping to change the ending. She felt she was saving the children, wishing to save herself no doubt, but only made things worse, especially for herself when Angelus and Darla lost patience with her. Then they would teach her lessons, and me too of course, because it was my fault really, I had to learn to do better.

Left to myself, I valued a clean kill, but it didn't do to let any of them know that or they would have tried to teach me otherwise and I preferred not to learn. But this was not Dru's way, so I indulged her sometimes and where I could I tried to save her from herself. She didn't want to be saved, though, she had passed that stage long since, warned off by another in Angelus' series of long hard lessons, written on her body so deliberately by the Master of the house. And she had been schooled to love instruction, so that was another thing I could do nothing about.

So when the Slayer came back from the dead so broken, I thought I knew how to help, because I loved her. I didn't really understand, even after so many years, how thoroughly inhuman the demon's thinking really was. All the things I tried to do for her seemed monstrous to the girl, and even when they helped she was so horrified that they did, she thought herself a monster for responding. I couldn't understand the nature of her objections. And I frightened her, and failed her, and then, trying to fix things, almost destroyed her. And understood at last, in a moment, what she found to fear in the love I tried to give. 
 

7.4.3 DUTY/ SOLILOQUY/ BUFFY

I should have done better by you, Faith. Now here's the last dream, sending: Slayer Power, from my heart to yours. It's my choice this time and I'm trusting you to make things right with the line. Yours to decide. It isn't power, it's strength inside that counts, and you've got plenty of that. You gave me all you had in dreams, after I tried to kill you, and now I'm sending it all back. We who are about to live salute you. One last kiss, Chosen Too. Welcome home. We always could be kinder to one another in dreams. But what I feel for you is real, little sister. Go make things nice for Dawnie till I'm back.
 

7.5.1 DUTY/ ECHO/ WITNESS ARIAS

She's gone. The ether trembles. The last seer on this whole plane is dust at last. That poor dead girl, she waited so long, a hundred years, for them both to come. She paid too much for that gift of prophecy she never chose.
 

7.5.2 DUTY/ ECHO/ MEMORY

She left the web, she left the loom,
She made three paces thro' the room,
She saw the water-lily bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
      She look'd down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
'The curse is come upon me,' cried
      The Lady of Shalott.
  
And down the river's dim expanse -
Like some bold seer in a trance,
Seeing all his own mischance -
With a glassy countenance
      Did she look to Camelot.
And at the closing of the day
She loosed the chain, and down she lay;
The broad stream bore her far away,
      The Lady of Shalott.
  
(Alfred (Lord) Tennyson, The Lady of Shalott)
 

7.5.3 DUTY/ ECHO/ INVOCATION

In the last circle of darkness, the Slayer walks.
In the name of the light you remember, let her pass through.
In the midst of death, her gift is love.
She has died twice, lost all she loved, given up her dreams of a normal life, and still she does her duty.
Beyond death, beyond reason, she has been called, and she does her duty.
She is the Bright One, she is not for you.
Yet her light will shine on you as she passes.
Lend her your blessing, and clear the path before her.
 

7.6.1 DUTY/ PLAINSONG/ BARD'S TALE

And the Slayer came to the keeper of the seventh gate. "Let me through", she said. "Where is your token?" "I come unprepared. What would you have from me?" "All of your duty." "Done." And the gate opened, and the girl walked through empty-handed, her burden lighter. And descended the stairs.
 

7.6.2 DUTY/ PLAINSONG/ LYRIC

7.6.3 DUTY/ PLAINSONG/ BALLAD

To whom is duty owed? the Chosen gives
Her sacrificial self to the end of doom.
For everywhere around her, evil lives.
The Slayer's is the Hand that cuts the loom.

In the land of Men her duty is so clear
And she is chained, a Champion left to die,
A tribute for the dragon every year,
A dead world to protect, another lie.

Instead one day she acts a different part
And chooses to give life where death is owed,
The demon calling her to seek her heart
And own herself as all that is bestowed.

Stripped of her offices she is the same:
Human forever, rich in family.
Strong in her heart, she cannot lose the game.
There are no rules she cannot oversee.

Through the last gate she steps, with every stride
Dissolving prophecies predicting doom.
No voices tell her gods are on her side.
But she's the only player in the room.