Two Monsters

Cut to morning. 

Sunlight pours in through the cage window and down on Oz lying there naked. 

The camera pans up to Giles arriving with a cup of coffee in his hand. 

He looks down at Oz to make sure he's not a wolf, unlocks the door and pulls it slightly open. 

He takes a sip from his cup and heads over to where he sees Buffy in the stacks curled up and asleep in a chair with a book on her lap and a drawer from the card catalog next to her on a stepstool. 

Other books are lying on the floor around her. 

He quietly takes the steps to the upper level and reaches down for one of the books. 

As he does so Buffy stirs from her slumber and looks up at him. 

Buffy: 

Hey. 

Giles: 

Hmm. Hello. 

(sips his coffee) 

Buffy quickly realizes what it must look like, her surrounded by all these books, and tries to play it off. 

Buffy: 

Oh. Boy. 

(stands up) 

Faith and her nutty books. 

Giles: 

(reads some book titles) 

'Exploring Demon Dimensions' and 'Mystery of Acathla'. 

Buffy: 

Yeah! And she still listens to heavy metal. 

(walks toward the stairs) 

Freaky deaky. 

Giles: 

Buffy... 

She realizes that he hasn't bought it and leans against the railing. 

He gives her his attention and slowly comes over to her as she speaks. 

Buffy: 

What if... I told you that... 

I had a dream about Angel... and, um... it brought up some questions? 

Giles: 

I'd say it was to be expected. Must have been some dream. 

I didn't think you knew what a card index was for. 

(sips his coffee) 

Buffy: 

I dreamt that he came back. 

She sits down on the steps. 

Giles comes down to sit with her. 

Giles: 

Of course. After Jenny was killed, 

(sets the cup aside) 

I had dreams that she was s-still alive, that I saved her. 

Buffy: 

This was vivid. Really vivid. Three-dimensional, sensurround, the hills are alive... 

She stops when she realizes her use of Jenny's metaphor. 

Giles takes off his glasses and considers for a moment. 

Giles: 

Do you believe it was a prophecy? 

Buffy: 

No. I-I don't know. 

I... (inhales deeply) 

I guess it just... it made me wonder. Giles looks away in thought. 

Buffy: 

Is there a chance even? 

Could it happen? 

Giles: 

Well, there's no record of anyone returning from a demon dimension once the... gate was closed. 

I-I-I can't imagine how it could happen or-or why. 

Buffy: 

Let's just pretend for a second that... 

Angel somehow found his way back to Sunnydale. 

What would he be like? 

Giles: 

I really can't say. From what is known about that dimension, i- it would suggest 

A World of... brutal torment. 

And time moves quite differently there, so... 

Buffy: 

I remember. 

So he would've been down there for hundreds of years. 

Giles: 

Yes. 

(looks up at her) 

Buffy: 

Of torture. 

Giles: 

It would take someone of extraordinary... 

Will and Character to survive that and, uh, retain any semblance of Self. 

(swallows hard)

 

Most likely, he'd be, be a monster. 

Buffy: 

(hopelessly) 

A Lost Cause. 

Giles: 

Maybe. Maybe not.

 In my experience, there are... 

Two Types of Monster.

 

The First, uh, can be redeemed, 

or more importantly, wants to be redeemed. 

Buffy: 

And The Second Type? 

Giles: 

The Second is void of Humanity, 

cannot respond to reason... or love.