A Slayer's greatest weapon- Book One- BTVS

The Puppet Show- 5

Willow was sat at the computer while Buffy continued to look in horror at her hands. I mean, to be fair, she had just held a human brain. Oh, and apparently everyone in the talent show was there whilst Sid had done a runner.

"I'm never going to stop washing my hands."

"So, the dummy tells us that he's a demon hunter, and we're like, fine, la-la-la-la. He takes off, and now there's a brain. Does anybody else feel like they've been Keyser Soze'd?"

"Sid's on the level, I'm sure of it. But why would the demon have rejected the brain? I-I mean, I thought Morgan was the smartest kid in school."

"He was. Look at his grades: all A's. He was even taking college classes. Wait a second."

"What?"

"All these sick days."

"He was off for, like, half the year."

"Check the school nurse's file."

"Look at this! 'In case of emergency, contact Dr. Dale Leggett, California Institute of Neurosurgery, Cancer Ward.'"

"Brain cancer?"

"That's why he had all those headaches." I realised.

"This means that whatever's out there still needs a healthy, intelligent brain."

"In other words, I'm safe."

"Finally, these head-splitting visions are useful. The Seer is safe." I cheered as Xander and I nodded at each other.

"And it's going to be looking for the smartest person around." We all turned to Willow.

"What? What could a demon possibly want from me?"

"What's the square root of 841?"

"29. Oh, yeah."

"Don't worry, Willow. As long as you're with us there's absolutely no way that demon is going to get what he wants."

A little while later, we were still waiting for the demon to show up for Willow.

"This is ridiculous! We can't just sit here and wait for him to come to us. We have to figure out who we're dealing with."

"I still vote dummy."

"No! Okay, so we ruled out all the people in the talent show..."

"That's because they were all there. But that's before we found the brain."

"Right. So it probably is one of the, and Giles doesn't know! He's with them all right now!"

"Giles can handle himself. I mean, he is really... smart!" We all realised what this meant and ran down to the talent show.

"Giles!"

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Giles was tied to a bench with a guillotine hanging above his head, and Marc getting ready to chop the last bit of the rope that was holding it up. Buffy managed to reach him first, tackling him to the ground. She kicked him repeatedly across the face until his human skin peeled away revealing the demon skin underneath.

"Ewww!"

As Buffy continued to fight Marc, the rope finally snapped, bringing the guillotine down to Giles' head. Luckily, Xander and I grabbed it in time. Willow raced to Giles, looking for a way to release him.

"Where are the keys?"

"Marc's got it!"

"Willow!" Xander yelled, as he kicked a hatchet over to her.

"Hurry!" Giles begged while Willow started to chop away at the lock. Meanwhile, Marc had fully changed back into his demon form.

"What's happening?"

"Willow, swap!" I yelled to her. She ran to grab the rope with Xander, whilst I ran over to the lock. I mustered up enough strength to kick the lock out of the restraint. I quickly lifted it up and helped Giles out of his feet restraint. Sid decided to finally show up, stabbing the demon in the back. With the demon distracted, Buffy kicked the demon on to the guillotine bench.

"Let go!" Buffy ordered, as Willow and Xander let go of the rope, slicing the demon's head off. We all stared at the headless demon's body.

"Uh... I must say, all of you... your timing is impeccable."

"And now for the big finish." Sid said, as he hoisted himself onto the bench, holding a knife over the demon's heart.

"What are you doing?"

"It's not enough. He'll come back. You have to get the heart. Then all this'll be over."

"Let me."

"I got it. Thanks." He plunged the knife into the demon, slouching over afterwards. Buffy lifted the lifeless puppet up, sadly.

"It's over."

Except, it wasn't. Because suddenly the curtain was lifted, leaving all of us to stare helplessly at the confused audience.

"I don't get it. What is it, avant-garde?"

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We still had to perform. I was playing my violin as my friends... well... they were rubbish.

It was all so boring until Willow finally ran off stage in fear, leaving Buffy and Xander standing together at the front. So I played them out. (first clip only)