The Young the Brave and the Beautiful
Chapter Four
TRAILER. NIGHT. Lane screeches to a halt in front of the trailer. The trailer is located in an isolated wooded area outside of Hartford. Lane, Buffy, Faith and Rory hop out the jeep. The grievously wounded Paris is sprawled in back.
FAITH: I’ll grab her arms. Buffy, you grab her feet.
BUFFY: Gotcha.
They carry Paris inside the trailer.
INSIDE TRAILER. NIGHT. Waiting for them is Babette and Morey.
RORY: Oh, my God... Babette, you’re a Guardian?
BABETTE: Yes, Sweetie… What happened to Paris?
LANE: Kirk.
BABETTE: Ah, jeez… Please, lay her down on the sofa… Gently now…
Buffy and Faith lay Paris on the sofa. Paris reels there in pain. Babette turns sternly to Lane.
BABETTE: The Grail. Have you got it?
LANE: Yes, I’ve got it.
BABETTE: Let me see it… Let me see it!
Lane takes the Grail out of her backpack. Babette snatches it from her and kisses it.
BABETTE: Thank God.
She hands it to Lane, who places it back into her backpack. Sobbing, Rory kneels beside Paris.
RORY: Please, Paris… Please… Stay with us…
LANE: She’s going to be OK. Babette will know what to do.
BABETTE: I’m going to need some bandages and a blanket.
LANE: Got it.
Lane gets some bandages and a blanket from the closet and hands them to Babette. Babette pulls up a chair next to the sofa and sits in it.
BABETTE (to Rory): Sweetie, I know this is a tough time right now, but I’m going to need some room to work. OK?
RORY: OK… Please help her.
BABETTE: I will.
Rory steps back from the sofa. Babette starts bandaging Paris’ chest wound. Paris is now unconscious and looks pale. Babette checks Paris’ pulse. The color flushes right from Babette’s face. She starts CPR on Paris, pounding furiously on Paris’ chest.
BABETTE: Damn it… C’mon, Paris. Breathe… C’mon…
RORY: What’s wrong?
Babette is silent. She continues with the CPR. After several minutes, she stops.
RORY: What is it? Paris is going to be okay, isn’t she?
BABETTE: I’m sorry…
LANE: Oh, God…
RORY: No.
BABETTE: Sweetie…
RORY: No! No!
BABETTE: I’m sorry, Rory.
RORY: No!
BABETTE: She’s gone… Paris is dead.
It takes a second for Babette’s words to sink in. Rory looks like she is in shock. They all look like they are in shock.
LANE: Are you sure?… I mean…
BABETTE: Yes, I’m sure.
Babette reaches down and closes Paris’ eyes. Rory breaks down.
RORY: No… No… No… Paris can’t be dead… No!
Rory throws herself across Paris’ body, crying uncontrollably.
BABETTE: Sweetie… I’m sorry… We all know how much you loved Paris.
FAITH: Damn. I knew it. I knew we should have taken her to a hospital.
BABETTE: No. You did the right thing coming here. Think how many innocent people would have been put at risk if you had gone to the hospital… It was… It was Paris’ time… It was her time.
RORY: Please, Paris… Please… Talk to me… Say something!…
Babette walks up to Lane.
BABETTE: She needs time to grieve… C’mon, let’s go outside. Let’s give her time to be alone with the body.
They all step outside, except Buffy. She hesitates at the doorway, then turns and walks over to Rory.
BUFFY: Look, I know we don’t know each other all that well, and I don’t pretend to know what you’re feeling right now, but I can tell you that I have died before. As a matter of fact, like I was saying back in the cave, I’ve died twice. And I can tell you, that Paris is in a better place now - Paradise. And there is no pain there and no suffering –
RORY: No, you could never understand… A person like you… Your whole life has been nothing but death and pain and suffering. I can see it in your eyes. I could see it the second I laid eyes on you… When I held Paris in my arms, it was Paradise… And now she’s gone… You did it. You and Faith. If you had never come to Stars Hollow, none of this would have happened… Get out. Get out! Get out! Get out!
Anguished, Buffy steps outside. Rory cradles Paris’ lifeless body in her arms. Through the torrent of tears:
RORY: Paris, what did you think you were accomplishing by saving my life? How did you think I could live without you? You didn’t save my life, you destroyed it. Destroyed it! Because without you, my life is nothing… Don’t you know loving you was the one noble thing I ever did?… This world is so crazy, so fucked up. But what we had together was pure and beautiful… And now it’s gone. And my heart is broken. And I don’t know how to live with this pain. And I can’t…
Rory unsheathes her sword.
RORY: Don’t you see, Paris, you’ve left me no choice but to join you? I swore the day we got married that we would always be together. And here, now, I keep that vow.
Rory presses the sword against her chest and prepares to ram herself through. But just then, she hears the trailer door swing open. She quickly sheathes the sword. Babette and the rest of them walk into the trailer.
BABETTE: Rory…
RORY: I’m… OK… I’ll be OK.
BABETTE: Um, Rory… Look –
FAITH: Look, we talked it over, and we don’t mean to be insensitive, but we really can’t stay here. It’s only a matter of time before Kirk finds this place.
LANE: She’s right.
RORY: I agree. You all can leave.
LANE: And what are you going to do?
RORY: I’ll stay here with Paris.
LANE: Umm….
BABETTE: Umm…
RORY: Look, I’m not a Guardian anymore. I quit. I’m through. Haven’t I lost enough as it is?… I curse the day I ever met any of you and you dragged me and Paris into your pathetic, ghoulish little lives. And I curse the Grail, and He who supposedly drank out of it, and I curse this whole fuckin’ world while I’m at it.
Rory kneels next to the body and hugs it fiercely. Suddenly, Lane’s backpack starts to shake violently.
BUFFY: What the…
Lane opens the backpack and takes out the Grail. It is shaking so violently she can barely hold it. Finally, she is forced to let go. But the Grail doesn’t fall to the floor. Instead, it floats there in midair.
A sphere of light emanates from the Grail. The sphere floats over to the sofa. Rory falls over backward trying to get out of the way.
The sphere hovers over Paris’ body, then envelops it.
RORY: Oh my God.
The sphere gives off a piercing bright light. Then just as quickly, the sphere disappears. The Grail itself floats through the air and lands on a table in the corner.
They all look on, confused, not sure what exactly has happened. Suddenly, Paris opens her eyes! She sits up on the sofa. She takes in the sparse surroundings of the trailer with a cynical eye. She stares at Babette and Morey.
PARIS: Well, if it isn’t Ma and Pa Kettle. Don’t tell me. This is your summer home… Well, what are you all staring at? What’s a person got to do to get something to eat around here? I’m staving.
They all burst out into laughter. Rory rushes up and embraces Paris, overcome with joy.
FAITH: I guess maybe it wasn’t her time after all.
HIGHWAY. NIGHT. Kirk stands just off from the highway, where Rory had parked her jeep earlier when they first went to the cave looking for Lane. He sees the tire tracks of Rory’s jeep leaving the roadside back onto the highway, heading north towards Hartford. He converts himself into a whirlwind and – WHOOSH! - races north down the highway at breakneck speed.
INSIDE TRAILER. NIGHT. They all sit around the table, preparing to have dinner. Off to one side Buffy is on the phone with Willow back in LA.
BUFFY: …That’s right Willow. We need a cloaking spell. Like right now. We got a really mean big bad bearing down on us.
WILLOW: Roger that. I just need your location, precise as possible please.
BUFFY (to Babette): Hey, were are we?
BABETTE: Twelve miles south of Hartford.
BUFFY (to Willow): Got that?
WILLOW: Twelve miles south of Hartford, Connecticut. Got it… (chanting): Let Faith and Buffy, And all their comrades bidden, While in the humble abode they dwell, In a cloaking mist be hidden.
BUFFY: Hold on. Let me go outside and see if it worked.
Buffy runs outside, and sees that the trailer and surrounding area has indeed vanished from view. She rushes back inside.
BUFFY: Fab job Willow.
WILLOW: You should be safe for now. Can’t say how long it will hold though, because of the distances involved.
BUFFY: Understand. Thanks a mil.
Buffy hangs up. Lane takes a peak outside and then steps back inside.
BUFFY: Sabrina isn’t so bad having around after all, hey?
LANE: I guess not.
Babette finishes warming up some pork and beans on a Bunsen burner, and places it on the table. She also has some rolls, Spam and canned peaches.
BABETTE: I know this isn’t much. But it’s all we have.
BUFFY: Hey, this is like a feast compared to what it’s like at dinner time around our house. Right Faith?
FAITH: You got that right.
BUFFY: Let’s just say cash flow is not exactly what it could be… You okay there, Paris?
PARIS: How could I not be? I’ve been given a second chance at life.
Paris kisses Rory on the cheek.
BUFFY: The first time I died, I wasn’t really dead long enough to remember much. But the second time I died, I was in Paradise, and it was cool.
PARIS: Well, every time I look in Rory’s eyes, it’s like Paradise for me.
BABETTE: Okay, everybody. Let’s eat.
They start eating.
RORY: I have a question. Babette, now you’re a Guardian too. Right?
BABETTE: Yes. I’ve been a Guardian since I was your age. Actually younger… The history of the Guardians, boy, that’s a long story... See, when Lionhearted captured the Grail, she of course kept it with her at all times. She couldn’t risk it being captured or destroyed.
BUFFY: Wait a minute. She kept it with her? Wasn’t that kinda dangerous? I mean, I would have buried it somewhere where nobody could find it.
BABETTE: For you or me it might have been dangerous, but for Lionhearted, are you kidding? She was probably the greatest warrior that has ever lived. I mean, good grief, she defeated the Templars to capture it. She was invincible.
Anyway, she discovered guarding the Grail, and performing her slaying duties, at the same time, was virtually impossible. So she convinced a sorcerer she knew by the name of Jocasta, who was enormously powerful, to cast a spell on her that would leave her dead just long enough so that the next slayer would be called up. Once the slayer was called, Jocasta then revived Lionhearted.
The new slayer knew nothing about what had happened. She just went about her slaying duties. Lionhearted, freed from having to slay, devoted herself solely to protecting the Grail. And that’s how the slayer line split off, with us Guardians only concerned with protecting the Grail.
The way it works is, if a Guardian dies, the next slayer is a Guardian. If a regular slayer dies, then the next slayer is a regular slayer. Lionhearted, working with Jocasta, was able to ensure this.
Now, as time passed, it was realized having one Guardian was not enough. The potential for a corrupt slayer who could sell or destroy the Grail was too great –
BUFFY: Hey, I know how that works.
Faith rolls her eyes contemptuously.
BABETTE: Especially since the Council of Watchers knew nothing about the Grail, and any new Guardian would not have a Watcher to guide her. Lionhearted herself had trouble with the law – boy, did she ever – when she was young, so the Guardians who came after her knew the temptation was there. A Guardian by the name of Marissa, a Brit, who was very wise, got another sorcerer to cast a spell so that the next Guardian in line would be activated, even while she, Marissa, was still alive. Not unlike the spell that Willow cast that activated all the Potentials. And that’s how it came to be that there are always two Guardians at all times. The two Guardians act as a check against each other, to ensure the safety of the Grail.
It’s a system that has worked perfectly. We’ve never lost possession of the Grail in five hundred years.
Babette finishes up.
BUFFY: I’m thirsty.
Suddenly, the Grail fills with wine.
BUFFY: Whoa.
FAITH: Are we suppose to drink from this? I mean, can we?
BABETTE: Sure. Why not? If it was good enough for Christ, it’s good enough for us.
They each take turns sipping the wine from the Grail.
BUFFY: Wow. This feels all Last Suppery.
LANE: Yeah.
BUFFY: OK, Babette, I have a question. Now, Lionhearted defeated all these Templar Knights and captured the Grail. Right?
BABETTE: Right.
BUFFY: But we’re vampire slayers. We kill vampires. We don’t kill people. Even evil people like the Templars. I mean, how could Lionhearted do that?
BABETTE: Well, why don’t you ask her yourself?
BUFFY: Uh, because she’s been dead like five hundred years.
Babette rises and walks over to a chest. She opens it and takes out a book. She walks back to the table and places the book down in front of Buffy.
BUFFY: A Book of Slayers. I have one of those too.
BABETTE: This book is very unlike your book. It has all the Guardians in it, who of course would not be in your book. But this book is also a magical book. All you have to do is touch the portrait of any slayer in here, and that slayer will appear before you. Of course, this only works if you are a slayer yourself.
FAITH: You mean they come back alive?
BABETTE: Not alive. But the essence of what they were. But it only lasts for a short while.
Babette turns to the page containing Lionhearted’s portrait.
BUFFY: Wow. She’s beautiful. Looks kinda on the wild side though.
BABETTE: Here. Touch it.
Buffy does so. Suddenly, a cloud of dust forms in the room. It swirls about. After a few tense seconds, a form emerges from the cloud. It is Lionhearted.
She is short and slender, with the hard facial features of a French peasant girl. Dark complexioned, dark haired, she has fierce eyes and a stern countenance. She is like a force of nature, wild and untamed and untamable. She is wearing mailed armor. She carries a sword in each hand, and twirls them expertly about.
LANE: Oh, my God. You’re… You’re Lionhearted. Capturer of the Holy Grail.
LIONHEARTED: Yes.
LANE: I’m –
LIONHEARTED: I know who you are. I know who you all are… (to Buffy): So you want to know why I, a vampire slayer, killed mortal men to capture the Holy Grail? Is this why you disturbed me from my eternal rest?
BUFFY: Yes.
LIONHEARTED: Very well, I will answer your question… At one time, I was a lot like your Faith –
BUFFY: Uh, "my Faith"?
LIONHEARTED: Please, do not interrupt me… Yes, your Faith. You see, not long after I was called, I fell in with a group of ne’er do wells and thieves. I used my powers to enrich them and me. One day, we robbed a farmer. We then drove his family out of the farmhouse, and set fire to it. Just for fun.
What we didn’t know, and what the farmer tried to tell us but we were too drunk to listen to or care, is that he had an orphanage in the back of his home that he ran. He did so out of the goodness of his heart. When the house burned down, twenty-two orphans, mostly young children, some of them babies, were killed.
LANE: Wait a minute. You burned down an orphanage?
LIONHEARTED: Yes. I did not learn of the tragedy until several days later when I found out the authorities had placed a bounty on my head and the reasons thereof. I took refuge in a convent. I asked myself, what am I doing? This is not me. I am Alexis – Alexandrine. Which means "Defender of mankind." I repented and turned my life over to God. I also once again devoted myself to my slaying duties. But always in the back of my mind I burned with a desire to truly atone for what I had done.
Over the years I had learned that the Knights Templar were in possession of the Sangreal. I thought that if I could capture it, that would make up for my earlier crimes. And so I engaged the Templars in battle. For two days and nights I fought them without rest. On the morning of the third day, I surveyed the battlefield. It was as still and silent as a spring mist. All the Templars were dead. I had defeated them. I captured the Grail.
Not long after this, the Lord Christ came to me in a vision. He said that as long as we slayers possessed the Grail, He would bestow mankind with the blessings of freedom and prosperity. This is known as the Covenant of the Grail.
About a year after this, Columbus made his historic voyage and discovered the New World. This, of course, changed everything. The Renaissance came into full flowering. Then came the Enlightenment. Later, the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, the founding of the American state, the rise of modern civilization, and the freeing of the common man from serfdom.
Everything you see here, your entire civilization, none of this would be possible if it were not for me. What Sir Lancelot could not do. What Sir Galahad could not do. What a thousand other noble knights could not do. I did it. I captured the Grail.
BUFFY: Yes. But still –
LIONHEARTED: Yes. The Templars were men. But there is always that one exception. And this was it. To show you how just and righteous was my achieving of the Grail, imagine a world in which the Grail was recaptured by the Templars.
FAITH: What would happen?
LIONHEARTED: It would mean that the Covenant that God established with the slayers would be broken. It would mean the end of your modern civilization, the end of the freedom enjoyed by the common man, and a new Dark Age.
You see, I lived in a world in which the very powerful lorded like gods over the poor and needy. A world in which the common man was little more than a slave of the rich. I was determined to smash that world to pieces… I don’t want to sound immodest, but me achieving the Grail was perhaps the greatest single achievement of man. I, a sixteen year old girl, changed the course of human history. But if Kirk were to recapture the Grail, all that would be undone. You must not let that happen… He nears.
LANE: Wait a minute. You mean Kirk is near here?
LIONHEARTED: Yes. And closing fast.
HIGHWAY. NIGHT. Kirk approaches a dirt road leading off the highway. He sees the tire tracks from Rory’s jeep winding up the dirt road. Kirk exits the highway and takes the dirt road to the wooded area containing the trailer. But since the whole area is cloaked, Kirk doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary. He fumes in anger at his ill luck, and circles back to the highway and continues north.
INSIDE TRAILER. NIGHT. Lionhearted continues to speak.
LIONHEARTED: Your cloaking spell has worked for now. But Kirk won’t be fooled for long. Your time grows short.
Lionhearted walks over to Faith. She places her hands on Faith’s shoulders.
LIONHEARTED: We are kindred souls, you and me. You have done things you regret, I know. But like me, you will atone for your mistakes. Remember this: Sometimes for those whom much is expected, much has to be given. Let the desire to do good works burn like an unquenchable fire inside of you. I tell you, Faith, you will accomplish great things, beyond your imagination.
Lionhearted faces all of them.
LIONHEARTED: I want you to understand what has happened here. When you drank from the Sangreal, you did not drink wine, but the blood of the Lamb, which cleanses and purifies. Some of you will not survive your encounter with Kirk, who is the source of all evil. But through the blood of the Lamb, you shall taste the just fruits of all true servants of God, and drink from the everlasting Spring. May God bless all of you.
Lionhearted walks up to Buffy.
LIONHEARTED: You are an old fuddy duddy. There is very little joy in you. You do not know how blessed you are. If I would have had someone like Faith by my side, even with all that I accomplished, there is no telling how much more I would have achieved. Learn to embrace life, rejoice in it. I know you have lived a hard life. But you do not know what true hardship is. I lived in a world where men were bought and sold like cattle. Where the vast majority of men and women lived lives of unspeakable misery, then died penniless and destitute, with only vails of tears to comfort them.
Being a slayer is a gift from God. It is not a curse. It is a sacred honor. Do not wear it as a burden, but rather as a beautiful robe that God Himself wove for you.
Lionhearted moves right up against Buffy.
LIONHEARTED: Is there some place we can go to be alone?
BUFFY: Alone?
BABETTE: There’s a wood shed out back.
BUFFY: Uh… Why?
LIONHEARTED: Every great enterprise begins with a good roll in the hay.
Buffy’s eyes do a major league BUG OUT.
BUFFY: Ah no… Ah no!
LIONHEARTED: Oh yes. Oh yes.
Buffy resists, but Lionhearted is far stronger than her. She heaves Buffy on top of her shoulders, and carries her outside to the wood shed. Buffy finally, after all these years, succumbs to her desires, and allows Lionhearted to take her pleasure.
TWENTY MINUTES LATER. Buffy walks into the trailer. She’s disheveled. Her hair is a mess, and her blouse open, exposing her bra. Faith walks right up to her.
FAITH: You OK?
BUFFY: I’m fine.
FAITH: I bet you are… Where’s Lionhearted?
BUFFY: Gone. Back to the dust from which she came.
FAITH: Oh… So you all set for the big bad?
BUFFY: Ready and rarin’ to go.
The jealously in Faith’s eyes is obvious. But there is also a glimmer of hope, she realizing if Buffy finally faced up to her lesbianism with Lionhearted, then it was only a matter of time before she, Faith, tasted of Buffy’s glorious forbidden fruits.
Lane puts the Grail in her backpack and they start for the door.
RORY: Aren’t you coming with us, Babette?
BABETTE: No.
PARIS: Won’t you be in danger? I mean –
BABETTE: Me and Morey will be safe here. It’s the Grail that Kirk wants. Besides, I may be getting up there in years, but I am still a Guardian. I wield a pretty mean sword. I can take care of myself. It’s you girls I fear for. I will pray for all of you.
The girls exit the trailer. They pile in the jeep and take off, heading down the dark highway, towards the great unknown.
Chapter Five