- A vengeful Willow uses her enormous power to track down Warren, despite Buffy's strong feelings about targeting humans.
- An ambulance arrives at the Summers' house and Xander leads them to Buffy's still body. Meanwhile, upstairs, a tearful Willow begs for Tara to return to her and calls upon Osiris to bring Tara back to life. The god denies Willow's request, explaining that the death was natural and human and cannot be undone. The resurrection of Buffy was allowed because her death was the result of magical forces, but Tara's was the result of a mortal killing a mortal. Devastated and angry, Willow banishes the god with a violent, powerful scream. Xander accompanies the paramedics to their truck out front as a determined Willow exits the house. He tells her Warren shot Buffy and she leaves on a mission while Xander joins Buffy in the ambulance.
At the police station, Andrew and Jonathan talk about the fact that they're in jail and debate about whether Warren will be rescuing them. Elsewhere, Warren buys a round of drinks at Willie's bar. He brags to a vampire about how he killed the Slayer. The vampire and demon bartender inform Warren that Buffy's still alive, as the news just reported the story.
Willow barges into the magic shop and heads directly for the black arts books. Anya tries to stop her, but Willow literally stops her from moving. Willow pulls the books off the shelves, sticks her hands into the pages and sucks the words into her body. Her eyes and hair turn black as she completely consumes the darkness.
Dawn returns home from school to an empty house and walks into Willow's bedroom, finding Tara's dead body lying on the floor.
Warren visits Rack's place (claiming that one of Rack's 'regulars' told him for a $20 bribe), demanding protection from the Slayer. Rack warns him that his biggest concern lies with Willow, who really wants him dead and she's got the power to do it. In exchange for a lot of money, Rack agrees to give Warren some powers to help him combat Willow. But Rack tells Warren that there's no guarantee any of it will work, for a scorned witch's powers are greater than anything in the world.
At a hospital, doctors and nurses struggle to keep Buffy alive but soon their job is taken over as Willow, now wearing dark clothing, enters the room and orders everyone else out. Xander watches as Willow approaches Buffy's body and raises the bullet from Buffy's chest and heals the wound. Buffy wakes up and feels fine and asks what happened. Willow welcomes Buffy back and tells them that they must hurry to get to Warren.
Xander follows Willow's directions as he drives down a deserted desert road and Buffy tries to reason with Willow about her choice to go after Warren, and that Willow's using magic again. Willow snaps at Buffy by informing her that if she didn't use magic back at the hospital to heal her, Buffy would be dead right now. To both Xander and Willow's chargin, Buffy responds with indifference and tries changing the subject about their pursuit of Warren. Xander then intervenes on both first telling Buffy to give Willow a break considering that she saved her life, and then to Willow about breaking her promise not to use magic. Rushed, Willow takes control of the car and leads it to another road where a city bus is approaching. She uses magic to take control of the bus and once it is stopped, she orders Warren off the bus. He barely manages to beg for forgiveness before she wraps her hand around his throat and starts to strangle him. Willow is only angered more when she finds that she was tricked and it was actually a Warren robot. Willow finally tells Buffy and Xander about Tara's death, that Warren shot her when he was shooting at Buffy. Buffy pleads with her not to kill Warren, because it's wrong and it will take her to a dark place from which she might never return. But Willow doesn't want to listen and shoves them away as she departs.
Buffy and Xander return to the house that evening and find Dawn crying and huddled in the corner of Willow's bedroom, staring at Tara's dead body. Buffy tries to comfort her sister, neither of them really able to grasp the situation.
The coroner takes Tara's body away and Xander sees them out. When Xander and Buffy begin to talk about Willow, an angry Dawn jumps in saying that Warren deserves to die for killing Tara. Buffy tells Dawn not to say things like that, but Xander sides with Dawn and says that they must find and kill Warren for his crimes, insisting that as of now since he has killed two people and may kill more, Warren is no different than any murderous vampire or demon the group has ever fought. Buffy is clearly disturbed by this. The way she sees it, Warren is a normal human and that it's wrong for a Slayer or anyone to kill a human regardless of the bad deeds he's done, even though she knows that the justice system does not always work. Concerned for her friend, Buffy wants this crisis to end without Willow destroying herself. Xander and Dawn agree with Buffy that they must find Willow and bring her home, but they both still firmly stick to their views that Warren must die for killing Tara. Not wanting to waste more time arguing with Xander and Dawn over their determined views to kill Warren for his crimes, Buffy lets the matter drop. Buffy refuses to allow Dawn to tag along with them as long as Warren is still out there and may come back to the house to try to shoot and kill Buffy or anyone again. Dawn asks to stay with Spike. Xander immediately gets upset by Buffy's willingness to let that happen and reminds her of Spike's actions the night before, but she's confident Spike can't hurt Dawn and he is their only option.
In Tara's dorm room, Willow uses her shirt, splattered with Tara's blood, and magic to create a map to guide the way to Warren.
Buffy and Dawn show up at Spike's crypt, but find Clem there instead watching a show on the TV set. When Buffy asks where Spike is, Clem tells them that Spike left town late last night. Clem is also surprised that Spike left without saying goodbye or anything else. Neither Buffy or Dawn know how to react to this news. Since Spike is gone, Buffy asks Clem if Dawn can stay with him for a while, and he's more than happy to have the company. As she leaves, Buffy asks about Spike and his whereabouts and if he will be returning, but Clem has few answers.
Meanwhile, in a remote part of Africa, Spike enters a cave, despite warnings from one of the tribesmen. Inside the cave, Spike greets a demon standing in the shadows where he tells it that he wants a change. The demon assumes that Spike wants to return to his former self, and he doesn't think Spike has what it takes to earn that. Spike is confident that he will earn it, and he demands what he came for if he succeeds.
Back in Sunnydale, Xander arrives at the Magic Box and talks to Anya as she recovers from Willow's magic. She feels Willow's cry for vengeance and Xander discovers that she's returned to being a vengeance demon. Buffy soon arrives, and she and Xander question Anya about her loyalties. Anya tells them that she's willing to help them find Willow, but only for Willow's sake, thus clearly revealing that Anya too believes Warren should die for Tara's murder.
Trees part as Willow walks through the woods, hot on Warren's trail. As she reaches a small clearing, Warren sneaks up on her and plunges an axe deep into her back. She revives almost immediately, her powers much too strong to be hampered by an axe. Warren uses several magical implements and weapons to stop Willow, all of which she easily overcomes. She then uses magic to tie Warren spread-eagle between two trees. As the now-captive Warren rambles and threatens to kill her and getting away with it through legal representation, Willow realizes that Tara wasn't Warren's first kill and brings forth the specter of Warren's dead ex-girlfriend, Katrina. Katrina's ghost taunts him, saying she should have killed him a long time ago. When Warren gets angry, Willow makes Katrina vanish. All the while, Anya leads the way for Buffy and Xander to reach Willow.
Willow says Warren needs to feel what Tara felt when he shot her. She produces the bullet that she extracted from Buffy at the hospital and magically penetrates it into Warren's chest in slow-motion. He begs for mercy as she describes the damage the bullet will do to him and what it did to Tara, and when he continues to interrupt her, Willow magically sews his lips shut. She questions why someone like him gets to live when someone wonderful like Tara has to die. When he's free to speak again, Warren begs forgiveness and tries to convince Willow that she's better than this. As Buffy, Anya and Xander arrive at the clearing, an unimpressed Willow says "Bored now," conjuring a spell which flays Warren's skin from his body from the waist up. She then magically engulfs his dead body in flames and it disintegrates. Buffy, Xander and Anya look on in horror at this summary execution as a satisfied Willow proclaims, "One down," before disappearing into thin air.
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