Up top, Dawn is shrieking in pain as Doc makes a series of shallow cuts on her torso. Blood dribbles onto Dawn's feet. Suddenly, Buffy is there; Doc turns towards her and says, "This should be interesting," but Buffy doesn't even pause in her walk towards Dawn and just shoves him off the tower with a casual push. Dawn sobs, and her blood drips off the edge of the deck as Buffy unties her. Where her blood falls mid-air, a pulsating ball of energy zaps, and a hole begins to open. Buffy helps Dawn towards the stairs, but the girls pause as they realize that the portal has begun to open. Energy zaps a huge chasm in the main street of Sunnydale. Another bolt hits a large building, which morphs eerily into a hellish Giger-esque structure, from which screaming Alien-esque monsters appear. Kinda derivative, but full-on creepy. Almost as creepy as the Gentlemen. More bolts zap from the portal, and everyone at the bottom of the tower cowers in fear. Anya shoves Xander away, and she takes the fall of bricks she saved him from square on the head. She lies amid the rubble. Dawn apologies to Buffy and then tries to throw herself into the portal, but Buffy stops her and demands to know what she's doing. Uh duh, Buffy. Dawn insists that she must stop the ritual by leaping into the portal, but Buffy won't hear of it. Above their heads, a huge dragon appears and flaps off towards Sunnydale. "Buffy, you have to let me go," sobs Dawn. She insists that her blood must stop flowing, but Buffy just stares at her in anguish. "It has to have the blood," reminds Dawn, in case Buffy didn't hear her the first eighty-seven times. Buffy has a series of memory flashes: Spike talking about blood earlier in the episode, the girls doing some blood bonding in "Blood Ties," Buffy herself insisting the monks made Dawn out of her, First Slayer Guide telling her (say it with me), "Death is your gift." Buffy turns towards the portal, and the girls stare as the sun begins to rise.