'Killer in Me' Story Code '7ABB13' by Drew Z. Greenberg

In an attempt to help the Potentials gain further understanding of their powers, Giles takes them on a camping trip into the desert, planning meditation and a vision quest or two. While the girls fight over who gets to drive, Willow tells Giles that Kennedy has the flu, and so will be unable to accompany them. After they leave Buffy goes to see Spike, who, at his own insistence, is currently chained up in the basement; but the Slayer is horrified when Spike screams out in pain, blood dripping from his nose. It seems that the chip in his brain is causing Spike to experience unbearable pain. Willow takes a cup of tea up to Kennedy and is surprised to find the girl dressed and in perfect health; Kennedy has faked her illness, and she takes Willow to ‘The Bronze’ to talk. Once there, Kennedy seriously flirts with Willow, throwing the Wiccan off-balance. Kennedy charms Willow by telling her about her past, both as a Potential and as a lesbian. As Spike continues to suffer agony from the chip, Buffy seeks help by telephoning a number that Riley once gave her as a means to contact the Initiative; however, she is unsure if she has gotten through to a real flower shop, or an undercover one. When Willow and Kennedy return home after their ‘date’, Kennedy tenderly kisses Willow; but upon opening her eyes, instead of seeing Willow, Kennedy finds the face of Warren staring back at her! While Kennedy freaks out, Willow is horrified to see the face of her dead nemesis staring back at her in the mirror; she races downstairs, but when she meets the rest of the Scooby gang, Buffy immediately punches her. Realising that Buffy could touch ‘Warren’, they conclude that ‘he’ is not the First, but take some convincing that ‘he’ really is Willow, although Andrew is overjoyed to see Warren again, and hugs him. Willow is concerned with her predicament and leaves to fix the enchantment on her own, convinced that she has brought it upon herself with her own guilt. Kennedy follows her, and Willow begrudgingly allows her to come along. At the Summers house, Andrew receives a phone call from England; it is from Robson, a colleague of Giles. Robson tells Andrew that he remembers Giles checking to see if he was alright after he was attacked by the Bringers, but the last thing he recalls before blacking out was another Bringer swinging an axe at Giles’s head, about to decapitate him. Unable to see how Giles could have escaped his fate, the Scoobies become concerned: if Giles did die, it would mean that the First has been masquerading as him all the time. They desperately try to remember if Giles had touched any of them or even any object since his return from England; when none of them can recall such an incident, they realise that they may have sent all of the Potentials off alone with the First. Anya, Dawn, Xander and Andrew set off into the desert after them. Meanwhile, Willow and Kennedy go the University to seek help from Willow’s old coven, where Willow is shocked to discover that Amy is now a member of the group. Amy tells Willow that she has been attending the meetings to try and sort out her own problems with magick; she offers to help, but her spell fails to have any effect. Willow reacts by slapping Amy - Warrens’ personality is starting to surface and he is attempting to dominate Willow completely. Willow runs off, and performs a spell to stop Kennedy from following her; she goes to a gun shop and buys another of the guns that Warren used to kill Tara. Meanwhile, Spike and Buffy enter the disused underground headquarters of the Initiative, hoping to find a solution to Spike’s chip problem. They discover that the abandoned facility is littered with demon and human corpses left over from Adam’s earlier attempt to take over the base. However, one of the demons is still very much alive, and it attacks the defenceless Spike and drags him away. Buffy manages to kill the demon, but then the lights come on and a small contingent of soldiers announces that Riley sent them to help Buffy. Their commander states that it is up to Buffy to decide on what action to take: they can either repair Spike’s chip, or remove it completely. Elsewhere, after a long trip into the desert, Anya, Dawn, Xander and Andrew find Giles and promptly attack him, only to discover that they can touch him. The four of them happily inform Giles of their suspicions, and help him up. Talking to Amy, Kennedy realises that the witch is not as sympathetic to Willow as she first seemed; Amy admits that she is responsible for Willow’s transformation, revealing that she was envious of Willow’s enormous power and so placed a hex on her, one that would allow Willow to chose her own punishment: out of guilt over Tara’s death and murdering Warren, Willow is now losing her own identity. When Kennedy stands up to Amy the witch transports her to the Summers back yard - just as a gun-wielding ‘Warren’ arrives, about to re-enact the events that lead to Tara’s death. Willow raves at Kennedy, who is confused by everything that is happening. Willow realises that she is no longer feeling guilty about killing Warren, but is instead upset for forgetting about Tara in the moment that Kennedy kissed her. It is killing her inside to completely let go of Tara, but Kennedy realises that the spell can be broken; she kisses Willow again, restoring the girl to her proper self.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), James Marsters (Spike), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn), Anthony Stewart Head (Rupert Giles), Adam Busch (Warren), Tom Lenk (Andrew), Iyari Limon (Kennedy), Elizabeth Anne Allen (Amy), Megalyn Echikunwoke (Wiccan Group Leader), Rif Hutton (Military Commander), Terence Bernie Hines (Shop Keeper), Anna Maria Maccarrone (Waitress)
Directed by David Solomon

TX (US): 4th February 2003

Notes:
*Featuring Buffy, Xander, Willow, Anya, Dawn and Giles