Graduation Day (Part 1)

Xander and Cordy pick up their gowns for graduation then discuss how Xander doesn't think he'll live through Graduation. Willow's signing yearbooks, and basking in the happy feeling in the air for all graduating seniors. Buffy just can't get pumped about the whole thing and doubts she'll even attend. Then they find out that the Mayor is going to be the commencement speaker at graduation. Faith is sent on a mission to kill a Professor Lester Worth, and she does, not even knowing the reason why she was asked to kill him.

The Mayor gives Faith a cute pink dress to wear to the ascension and, she says she hopes she doesn't let him down. Percy shows Willow his B- on his History final, and how excited he is to just graduate and forget everything. Oz shows up and Willow's now bummed about the chance of everyone dying so she suggests finding a spell to stop it. In class, since finals are over and they're doing nothing but playing Hang Man, Anya attempts to ask Xander on a date but is unsuccessful. He mentions the ascension and she tenses at the word. It turns out, she's been through one.

While Buffy is discussing the recently murdered Professor with Giles and Wesley, Xander brings Anya in and she tells them all about the ascension she witnessed. She tells them that the Mayor will turn into a true demon, not anything like the demons that walk the earth today. A true demon is not tainted by human qualities, and they're much bigger. Snyder shows the Mayor the setup for Graduation Day, and the Mayor tells him his great debt to Sunnydale will be repaid in full.

The Mayor then visits the Scooby Gang in the library. He tells them he's going to eat Buffy and Giles stabs him with a sword. After pulling it out, he walks away, leaving them all in shock. Anya leaves to get as far away from Sunnydale, knowing that there is nothing that can stop it. At home, Buffy packs her mom's things and after plenty of convincing, Joyce agrees to leave town.

Willow and Oz look for a spell, but Willow is doubtful she'll find what she wants since she can't even turn Amy back from a rat. Oz continues to be calm and finally, Willow can't take any more of it. She tells him to panic and he does by kissing her. Buffy searches the professors office and Angel shows up to watch her back at Giles' request. Outside, the two argue but are interrupted when Faith shoots Angel with an arrow. It misses the heart, but as they find out later at the library, the arrow was poisoned. They discover--from material Buffy took from Lester's apartment--that he found a body beneath lava rock of a dormant volcano. They realize the Mayor can be killed once he's in his demon state.

They move Angel to the mansion while Wesley contacts the Council for the cure to the poison. The phone rings, disturbing Willow and Oz in the peaceful afterglow. The two did sleep together but they don't have time to waste when they are needed to help find the cure for Angel. Later, at the mansion, Wesley informs Buffy that the council won't help a vampire. Fed up with the Council she tells him she's no longer working for the Council. The Mayor reveals he has to eat some of the spiders in the Box of Gavrock and he sends Faith home to wait for the ascension. Anya, packed and ready to go tries to convince Xander to come with her, but he refuses to leave his friends.

At school, Oz finds a cure for Angel: draining the blood of a Slayer. Buffy goes to Faith, armed with Faith's knife with intent on bringing her to Angel dead or alive. The two fight for quite a while before Buffy pulls out the knife and stabs Faith in the stomach. Standing on the ledge of her apartment building, Faith congratulates Buffy on actually killing her and then jumps off and lands onto the bed of a truck as it's driving by. Buffy just stands there and watches in horror with the bloody knife still in her hands.

To be continued...