The Nocturnum
Episode 22: World on Fire
Original Air Date: 10/2/2005 (Season 3 finale)This episode is based off of original adventure notes which may be found Here. As with The Dwellers in the Well, These notes are far more sketchy than my usual scenarios, honestly becuase I was getting pretty burned out. But they give a nice breakdown of the events that occurred.
Special Guest Stars:
World on Fire
Lyrics by Sarah McLachlan
Hearts are worn in these dark ages
You're not alone in this story's pages
Night has fallen amongst the living and the dying
And I try to hold it in, yeah I try to hold it in
[Chorus]
The world's on fire and
It's more than I can handle
I'll tap into the water, I try to pull my ship
I try to bring more
More than I can handle
Bring it to the table, Bring what I am able
I watch the heavens and I find a calling
Something I can do to change this moment
Stay close to me while the sky is falling
Don't wanna be left alone, don't wanna be alone
[Chorus]
Hearts break, hearts mend
Love still hurts
Visions clash, planes crash
Still there's talk of
Saving souls, still the cold
Is closing in on us
We part the veil on our killer sun
Stray from the straight line on this short run
The more we take, the less we become
A fortune of one that means less for some
[Chorus X2]
Synopsis
Another week has passed since the Cast's adventure into the Deeper Well. There are three days left before the ritual at Point State Park, which will take place during the city's Fourth of July celebration.
Anita and John are surprised when a representative of Wolfram and Hart shows up to request their presence at a dinner meeting with Lilah Morgan, who has a business proposal for them. Intrigued but suspicious, they accept. The rest of the gang, assuming they aren't invited, decides to go to the Upstage after a light dinner. Anita goes home to change, while everyone else accompanies John and Cyan back to their house, since John wants Cyan to make sure he is presentable for the meeting.
Upon arriving home, Anita finds a plain, brown package in her mailbox. After scanning it for an Essence signature and making sure it's not ticking, she carefully opens it, discovering inside a video tape labeled, "PLAY ME." She puts it in the VCR and watches, in horror, as the tape reveals a group of cultists pulling Kat's rotted body out of the Hellmouth. Panicked and enraged, she calls John and yells, "GET OVER HERE, NOW!" then hangs up the phone.
At John and Cyan's, Drake, having heard her through the phone and across the room, charges out of the house, leaps on his motorcycle, and takes off, beating the rest of the group to Anita's by several minutes. He kicks the door down, swords in hand, to find Anita staring at a blank, blue TV screen with a drink in her hand. She sits him down, where they await the arrival of the others, and she re-plays the tape. All are horrified. Anita tries to call Joe to report the incident but is informed that due to a personal emergency, he is not in the office.
Anita goes upstairs to use the bathroom, and as she reaches the top of the stairs, smells an awful, pungent odor. She calmly walks into her bedroom and proceeds to smash anything breakable. John runs upstairs, catches the odor (and recognizes it as the stench of rotting flesh), and peeks in Kat's room, where his worst fears are confirmed: the young Slayer's body is neatly laid out on her bed. He closes the door and stands in front of it, until Cyan and Drake come upstairs. Cyan goes into Anita's room and closes the door behind her, at which point Drake, John, and Klaus wrap the body in linens. Klaus and Drake take it to a crematorium to be disposed of. Drake calls Father Bob, Amara/Katherine, and the gang to meet at the mausoleum, where Kat's empty urn is interred, so they can finally have a funeral and lay the girl to rest. When he tries to reach Sandra, he gets her voice mail and leaves a message.
Anita calls Lilah Morgan's office to inform them that she and John will be a half hour late for dinner, and the group attends Kat's impromptu funeral. When they pull the empty urn from the mausoleum to place Kat's ashes in it (at last), they discover the following slip of paper tucked into the urn:
Heaven gains a new angel
We will miss you Kat
Following the funeral, John and Anita go to meet Lilah at the Grand Concourse restaurant, where Lilah informs them that the CoR is a mutual enemy, because they're "screwing with our [W&H's] time table." She then offers every last security commando at W&H's disposal to help the group stop the ritual at the Point, no strings attached. When John suggests she investiate the backgrounds of their security forces for CoR involvement, she tells him that they've already executed several traitors that their seers have uncovered. After John mentions his intent to riddle the head of the cult (presumed to be Alan) with bullets, Anita gets up and leaves.
Meanwhile, Cyan, Drake, and Klaus go to the Upstage, where Klaus and Cyan proceed to get wasted, Cyan doing "immoral" things to a pole, and Klaus calling Anita's cell phone to demand she come drink with them. After Drake takes the phone away from Klaus, he talks to Anita and, noticing how down she is, asks her to meet him at his house. He then calls John to come pick up Klaus and Cyan and heads home.
John retrieves the drunken Klaus and Cyan, and takes them home. Drake meets Anita, and the two of them have a long talk, which goes a good way towards getting Anita centered again.
That night, Cyan and Drake have visions. Cyan's vision involves walking through an ancient Egyptian necropolis with Nectanebus, who has been tutoring her in the ways of magic. As they talk, Nectanebus offers her a dangerous but potentially useful gift: the ability to (one time only) tap into all of her magical knowledge. The price, however, is potentially high: it could lead to Cyan not being able to process the power and falling into a coma. She decides the potential benefit is worth the risk, and agrees to learn the phrase of power that will unlock Nectanebus' knowledge. Nectanebus further tells Cyan that she's missed something and needs to recheck the books about the coming ritual.
Drake's vision is substantially different: he first sees Alan, violently arguing with the mysterious Black Witch, screaming that there are some lines you just don't cross, and that he can't believe she's actually done what she has. In the end, she (combined with Xalotun) delivers a severe mystical smackdown on Alan. The vision then shifts, and Drake sees the entire city in flames, buildings blasted out, bodies everywhere. In the middle of the carnage is Alan, kneeling down and sobbing.
The next morning, the group convenes at the Hive to research the books and hold council. Cyan, with Anita, Drake, and Klaus's help, discovers that a specific sacrifice is needed to bind Leviathan to this dimension once he is through the portal...a sacrifice that must consist of a Seer, one blessed of the gods, and an innocent, bereft of power. Panicked, and knowing well that Xalotun and Alan are going to target them directly, the Cast begins making phone calls, to discover that Kay Hito, Sandra, and Lexie Carver have all gone missing in the past few days. Detective Joe Knonaem puts aside his badge for the time being to offer his services to the Cast in fighting this final battle with the CoR.
Things are further complicated when Odin, Michele, and Amara show up to inform the Cast that a contingent of Covenant Refugees are en route to Pittsburgh to assist in the final showdown. The bad news is that Ben Franklin has disappeared, and Katherine has left Amara. When Anita tries to contact Franklin or Amara, she finds that the Veil between worlds is closed; Earth is almost completely cut off from the other Sephiroth, and she can't get through. The only way to repair the gates between the Sephiroth, she reasons, is to stop Leviathan.
A call from Dr. Armedt provides at least some good news: the Seers and Spirit Masters among the Rosicrucians have been able to combine their powers to pierce the Veil and locate Daniel's spirit in Hod. They think they can have him back on his feet soon.
The Cast also comes to the horrific realization that this Covenant War has been far more than a distraction: it's creating a body count that's adding to the massive sacrifice needed to bring Leviathan into the world, and the Cast strongly suspects it's scheduled to come to a head the night of the ritual. John makes phone calls and begins assembling a veritable army to patrol the city and do whatever it can to stop Leviathan. He also begins work on modifying the Crystal Urn to fit into a gas-powered grenade launcher, which he can then use (he figures) to fire the urn into the rift when the time comes.
Finally, the night of the ritual arrives. The Cast assembles, with their army scattered about, at Point State Park. Drake and Klaus take position near the stage closest to the Hellmouth, while John, Anita, and Cyan stake out the other stage. As the fireworks launch and the band begins playing, an explosion rocks the city. As people turn, more explosions rock downtown, followed by gunfire. The war has begun. The crowd at the park panics, a situation only made worse when about thirty percent of the people reveal themselves to be vampires, and start feeding with impunity.
The Cast leaps into action. Seconds later, robed cultists charge into the mix, along with dozens of werewolves who leap from behind and atop the stages. As Anita, John, and Cyan do battle with these creatures, Anita gets blindsided by a hard punch that sends her reeling, and a sneering voice says, "Hello, Mom."
She turns to look right into the face of her dead Slayer, Kat, who sneers at her and draws a huge knife. Anita, truly traumatized, freezes like a deer in headlights. Cyan calls upon Nectanebus's power, and casts a levitation spell, grabbing Anita and floating 30 feet in the air. Kat responds by leaping high into the air and plunging her knife into Anita's back, then doing a backflip to land twenty feet away from John. John draws down and fires a shot at Kat, who catches the bullet, then leaps over the crowd to land in front of John, attacking him with her knife. The two go back and forth, until finally John (with the aid of Righteous Fury, Full Offense, and a Heroic Feat Drama Point) defeats the Slayer, who turns into a puddle of smelly yellow ooze, thus revealing her origin as a Twilight World doppelganger.
Cyan uses healing magic on the unconscious Anita.
Meanwhile, at the other stage, Klaus and Drake fight their way to the stage, when Alan is thrown onto the stage, on his knees, and the Black Witch herself steps out behind him, revealing her identity to all.
The Black Witch is none other than Lexie Carver.
The entire Cast is dumbfounded at the revelation, and astonished that they could've been so blind as to miss the signs of it. Worse, a small rift has opened over the Hellmouth as Lexie performs the ritual incantation to bring forth Leviathan. Drake launches himself over the crowd and lands on the stage opposite Lexie. A ferocious battle between the two begins.
Cyan, realizing that John has the Urn and that they're at the wrong stage, sets Anita down on top of a tunnel, and goes to pick up John. She is partially thwarted when vampires attack the two of them, allowing time for the rift to widen. A massive tentacle tears it open, and the audience gets their first full look at the Mad God as it struggles to get through the opening. Many people die outright just from seeing the monster.
The battle is going badly for Drake, even as Klaus makes his way onto the stage to assist his comrade. Things take a turn for the worse when Detective Joe Knonaem, unable to process the fact that his girlfriend is the evil behind all this, starts shooting at Drake to save her.
On top of the tunnel, Anita sees Alan leap out the back of the stage and begin to run away. She jumps down and starts to fight her way towards where she saw Alan, knowing well she has little chance of actually catching him.
Cyan and John dispatch the vampires. Cyan grabs John and levitates upward, then summons a gust of wind to blow them towards the rift, which is widened enough that Leviathan is actually squeezing through, its tentacles swooping down and scooping up innocents, feeding them into its thousands of mouths.
Anita as well, finds herself lifted from the ground by a gust of hurricane-force wind, which lands her atop the stage, beneath which Drake and Klaus are fighting Lexie. From a catwalk, Daniel emerges, sheepishly offering, "Sorry I'm late. Let's go get Alan." Together the two jump off the roof (Daniel's magic allowing them to land unharmed) and chase down Alan.
Below, Lexie throws Drake against a wall using Telekinesis, then blasts him with Taint and engulfs him in flame. Drake grits his teeth against the agony, and puts everything he has remaining into one last storm of blades against Lexie. His heroic effort is successful, and "Lexie" falls...dissolving into a puddle of pungent yellow ooze. Drake then drops his swords and turns to face Joe, who, unable to process any of this, simply opens fire on Drake, who falls to the ground motionless.
Over the Hellmouth, John levels the grenade launcher and fires. The urn sails past Leviathan and into the rift. Cyan summons another gust of wind, and the two fly as fast as they can away from the rift. Klaus, seeing this happen, scoops up Drake's body and runs.
Meanwhile, a group of sorcerers atop a bridge complete a spell they've been chanting for several minutes. The park is suddenly bathed in sunlight, torching all the vampires.
Behind the stage, Anita and Daniel catch up with Alan, who stands waiting for them, tears streaming down his face. He begs forgiveness for what he's done, and Anita tells him, "you're coming back with us to make this right, now."
At that moment, the rift explodes, the tainted shockwave hurling everyone in the park to the ground. When the dust settles, the rift and Leviathan are gone. As the combined armies of the Alliance, Wolfram & Hart, the military, and all the others John got together work cleanup, Alan leads Daniel and Anita to where Sandra, Kay, and the real Lexie were being held prisoner. They dig through the rubble and find the three women, unconscious and injured but alive. Alan falls to his knees, repeating over and over again, "What have I done?"
As Anita and Daniel are about to get Alan out of the park, a voice behind them all says, "He isn't going ANYWHERE." Anita turns to find herself face-to-face with Nodens, a powerful Elder God who is an eternal enemy of all the Mad Gods and Outer Gods. Justifiably enraged at Alan's sins, Nodens drags the man off to unimaginable torment. Anita, grieved beyond reason, simply falls to the ground, comatose. Daniel picks her up and carries her out of the park.
Klaus attempts to use his healing powers on Drake and is relieved to find that they work; Drake is not dead, though he's far from okay. As Klaus brings Drake out of the park, Katherine comes running up, wearing a physical body, and begins to fawn over Drake. She explains that she's been in the battle this whole time, that she was pulled out of Amara when the Veil dropped, and she had to take physical form to remain in this reality. She asks the group not to question where she got the Essence reserves she needed to maintain her body for two days.
The group walks home, through the burning husk of a destroyed city.
Scottish Trad.
Oh Bonny Portmore, you shine where you stand
And the more I think on you the more I think long
If I had you now as I had once before
All the Lords in Old England would not purchase Portmore.
Oh Bonny Portmore I am sorry to see
Such a woeful destruction of your ornament tree
For it stood on your shore for many's the long day
Till the long boats of Antrim came to float it away.
All the birds in the forest they bitterly weep
Saying, "Where will we shelter or where will we sleep?"
For the oak and the ash they are all cutten down
And the walls of Bonny Portmore are all down to the ground.
Oh Bonny Portmore, you shine where you stand
And the more I think on you the more I think long
If I had you now as I had once before
All the Lords in Old England would not purchase Portmore.
The following morning, Anita walks the wreckage of Point State Park alone, when she feels a familiar presence. She turns to see the spectre of her fiancee, Chris. He smiles at her as she gapes, and tells her she needn't blame herself for what happened to him, nor should she worry. He is, he says, at peace. He goes on to tell her that she has done well and he expects her to continue to do well, and that he will always be with her, watching over her. He joins her on her walk through the ruins before returning to the Death Realms.
Epilogue: One Month Later...
Rebuilding has commenced on the city, with millions in federal disaster aid having been diverted to Pittsburgh. The official story was that a massive terrorist attack upon the city caused millions of dollars in damage and lives in the thousands. The incident at the Park has been officially explained away as hallucinogenic compounds released in the air, and most people seem to buy it...at least openly. There are many, however, whose lives will never be the same.
John and Cyan's wedding takes place at Heinz Chapel near the Hive. The guest list includes our heroes, Riley Finn, Timothy Ekloff, Willow, Faith, Kennedy, Giles, Buffy, Amara, Michele, and all of the series' regular NPC characters. In the middle of the ceremony, an explosion rocks the back of the church, and a group of CoR cultists charge in, vowing revenge against the Cast. Just as Cyan prepares to incinerate the cultists, someone cries out a phrase of power, the chapel glows with energy, and the cultists are consumed. Out of the shadows steps the Cast's old friend Silas, who says, "Sorry I haven't been around much. I've been working on that incantation for months. Consider it a wedding gift."
John and Cyan are married. Anita, the maid of honor, does not show up at the reception.
After leaving the reception, Drake goes home, packs a bag, and stops at the Hive to gather a few things, where he's the first one to see a letter from Anita, hung beneath a sign on her office that reads, "Blake Investigations closed indefinitely."
Drake reads the letter, returns it to its place on the door, and leaves for Ireland, where he spends the summer with Katherine. He doesn't say good bye to anyone.
During the summer, Katherine tells Drake that he has done well and saved them both. She says he no longer needs her as a guide, bids him to enjoy his well-earned new life, and tells him that when his time comes, she will be waiting for him on the other side. For now, it is time for her to at long last cross over to her final rest.
After their honeymoon, Cyan is treated to a surprise when she discovers that John has placed (as Klaus puts it), "two cupcakes in her Easy-Bake Oven".
Great Quotes:
Julie (Upon hearing Midnight Syndicate music playing): Well that's never good...
(The W&H lawyer places a hundred dollar bill in the tip jar.)
Anita: The enemy of my enemy is my enemy.
Dr. Armedt: We've already searched Alan's offices. We didn't find anything important.
Anita (re: a cocktail dress): You think this is too much skin for my daughter's funeral, or am I good?
Lilah: No problems, I hope?
Anita: I'm a little pissed at John right now.
(Phone conversation)
Drake: I was a vampire for a long time. I've seen many acts of depravity. What Cyan was doing to that pole takes the cake.
Jason: Anita looks so hot, she's getting hit on by guys...and girls.
Doppelganger Kat: Hi, mom...
Director (looking at stats): Wow, Mad Gods have really crappy Dex...Strength of 30, but really crappy Dex.
Anita (to Alan): You! You're going to help me fix this, now, then we're going to have a talk.
Silas (On incinerating a contingent of cultists): Consider that a wedding gift.
Cyan: Well that was nice of him.
(Anita pockets the hundred.)
Klaus: Ja, unt zat vas not very nice of you!
(Anita hangs her head and returns the bill to the tip jar.)
John: And nothing more.
Jason (Director, editorial comment): What you mean is, the enemy of my enemy is my ally...of convenience.
Anita: I wasn't going to search it. I was going to torch it.
Armedt: Okay, as a personal favor, I'd appreciate it if you didn't burn my place of employment to the ground.
Anita: Just burying my daughter, no big thing.
Lilah: Oh. I'm sorry for your loss.
Anita: No, you're not.
Klaus: Is zis about ze whole 'pumping Alan full of bullets' thing?
Anita: Yeah. Little bit sensitive, touchy subject there.
Klaus: So you'd rather have Alan pump you full of tentacles?
Drake: WHenever you're done, you may want to head to the Upstage.
John: Why?
Drake: Klaus is quite amusing right now...and your wife is...she is doing things to a pole that I don't think are morally right.
Robert: So...her milkshake brings all the boys to the yard?
Jason: That's right...
Both: It's better than yours!!!
Great Moments:
Xalotun leaves Anita a gift: the dessicated body of Kat, laid out in her own bed.
John buys Odin a keg of Guinness.
Odin takes a liking to Klaus.
Anita is attacked by the Twilight World doppelganger of Kat, who almost kills her.
The Black Witch is revealed to be Lexie Carver! It's later discovered that she is in fact Lexie's evil double from the Twilight World.
Alan repents of all the evils he's done, but is hauled off to final judgment and torment at the hands of an Elder God.
Anita has a moment of peace talking to her dead fiancee, Chris. Drake, likewise, finally gets to see Katherine go to her final rest, content that he has saved them both.
Three (very) near-death experiences: Anita, to Kat; Cyan, to a vampire and an explosion; Drake, to Lexie and Joe.
Cyan discovers, after the honeymoon, that she is pregnant...with twins!