Afterlife

Picking up where "Bargaining" left off, the Scooby Gang rush to find Buffy and figure she is at her house. The bikers are on the run now that Razor has been destroyed. At the house, Buffy is confused and acting weird as she surveys they changed scenery of her house and is told by Dawn that Giles has left. Spike arrives, angry and looking for Dawn, then when realizing the real Buffy is back he softens and helps clean up her wounded hands. They talk about how long she's been gone, then as the Scooby Gang arrives and focuses on the Slayer, Spike slips out.

Unable to stand all the concern, Buffy goes upstairs while Xander and Anya leave for food. Outside, the two find a hurt Spike who's mad that he wasn't told despite helping the gang all summer. He releases that his closeness with Buffy would make him an obstacle in the case that Buffy returned as something that would have to be destroyed. He warns Xander of the consequences they'll have to face because they always exist with magic.

After notifying Giles of Buffy's return, Willow and Tara go to bed and talk about the spell and changes in Buffy. In her room, Buffy looks at the pictures surrounding her and they briefly turn to pictures of skulls. Willow and Tara receive a visit from Buffy in their room as she yells at them and hints at what Willow did to the baby deer. When the girls get up to investigate, Buffy's asleep in her room and neither know the source of the incident. A moving lump appears in the ceiling motivates Willow to call Xander. In the background while Xander talks, Anya enters the room with a knife and smokey eyes, slitting her cheek before collapsing as the lump travels across the floor.

The gang gather the next day for brainstorming, but no one is sure what this thing is and Buffy is still very closed off. At the magic box, Buffy still seems out of place and leaves for patrol...alone. With Buffy gone, the demon has taken over Dawn who shouts at her friends and breathes fire before collapsing. Buffy finds Spike at his crypt and the two talk, rather awkwardly at first. Spike opens up to her, expressing his guilt for not saving her or Dawn. He explains that every night afterwards, he thought up better ways to rescue her and he wishes so much to have been able to do it for real.

Led on by Spike's hinting that Willow knew her spell might do something bad, Xander questions whether either of the witches new the dangers but is quickly quieted. Willow reveals that this creature was created by the spell but the demon is formless without possessing a body and it is tied to Buffy. If it is killed, the spell is canceled. After Dawn freaks out about that particular concept--of losing Buffy *again*--Willow discovers that it is only temporary and the demon can only survive if Buffy is killed. The demon, which had been housed in Xander's body while Willow shared information, heads for the Slayer.

Buffy is attacked by the formless demon which she can't hurt, but she can be hurt by it. Willow and Tara cast a spell to make the demon solid. Buffy kills the demon with an ax. Normalcy is somewhat resumed as Dawn heads to school the next day and Buffy sees her off. Buffy visits her friends at the shop and confesses to them that she was in Hell and she appreciates that they brought her back.

Later, out at the back of the shop, Buffy goes to be alone and finds Spike hiding in a patch of shade. He tries to talk to her and offers to help her if there is any way he can. She admits to him that although she wasn't sure, she wasn't in Hell...she thinks she was in Heaven and her friends took her away from that. Spike gapes as she tells him the reality she's a part of now is her Hell, and stresses that her friends can never know the truth.