Chapter 10: Trying to Stop a Prophecy

Disclaimer: I own nothing but an intense hatred for this episode. BtVS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Charmed characters belong to WB, I think. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

A/N: Thanks to my betas for their help...BkwrmDancer, DawnDreamer, AshDawnSoulmates, ktweaver, and Chrislover.

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Scooby House

The next morning, most of the Potentials went across the street to train with Buffy, even those that didn't particularly like her. Kennedy managed to convince them that it was important for them to 'keep an eye' on what they were doing over there. Of course her description sounded much better than the blunt truth that they were spying on their once leader.

Meanwhile, the Scoobies were having their own meeting concerning the blonde Slayer.

"I think we'd better start looking through the prophecies to see what we can find out about these 'Charmed Ones'. Their influence on Buffy is…unsettling." Willow stated suspiciously, still smarting from the thought that she didn't merit a whitelighter.

Many hours and several books later, Xander yelled out, "Ooo, I found something but I'm not completely sure. I mean it sounds--"

"Just read it!" Giles snapped at the boy, frustrated by the events of the last few days and the possible loss of the girl he had once seen as his own daughter.

"'The twice-fallen Chosen

Shall join the sisters three

To claim the powers

Of her denied destiny

Both shall join

Her powers full

Will shut the gate to hell

And stop the evil'

"Well, I wasn't expecting that. It isn't a very long prophecy is it?" Xander finished.

Willow didn't look all that happy about the prophecy and it wasn't guilt over her actions denying Buffy her 'destiny'. "We'd better find a way to stop it from happening," she said assertively.

"Why? It sounds all good for Buffy," Dawn interjected, narrowing her eyes at the wicca. She was starting to wonder about the redhead's loyalty to her sister.

Willow thought fast, then hurried out, "Think about it…she'd be burdened with the weight of two destinies, one of which goes beyond death. How could that be good for her? No, she may not enjoy being a Slayer, but she's accepted it. But to make her do it forever? She just might fold under the pressure," she added, knowing that she had a winning argument with that last bit.

Xander obviously agreed when he spat out, "She has a good point. Since coming back, Buff hasn't been very clear-headed. Spike is obvious proof of that."

Giles looked unsure, thinking that there may be more going on than he knew. He didn't really know the group dynamics anymore. "Be that as it may, how do you propose to circumvent this prophecy? If it's even possible to."

"We just have to seal the Hellmouth for good," Willow announced confidently.

"Oh, is that all? Let's just get right on that, then!" Anya snarked. She was looking at the others like they had lost their minds, thinking that they could seal a Hellmouth.

Willow's eyes flashed in anger at someone doubting her power. True, she hadn't been openly using it, but that was because the others were scared of her when she did. So she only did it when she was alone, or lately with Kennedy, who thought it was a great idea for her to strengthen her magick. "Of course it's not going to be easy. But we have the spell from before to close it. All I have to do is provide a little more oomph to make it permanent," she snapped.

The Watcher again studied the redhead with concern. 'Was she up to something?' Something seemed off about her. "Are you sure that's wise in your current state?"

Looking down, seemingly meek, she admitted, "Honestly, no. But the other option is to lose Buffy and I'm just not willing to do that," she replied with exaggerated selflessness.

Dawn thought this all sounded too familiar to her. She interrupted, "Maybe we should get her input on this. Remember the way she reacted when you tried to hide the prophecy about the Master from her?"

"No, she'd just try to talk us out of it because it sounds too dangerous," Xander declared, since he made up his mind that Willow was right about this. Willow was always more reliable than Buffy…well, except for that little time she tried to end the world. But that only happened once, and she had a good reason for cracking.

"Well, shouldn't that tell us something?" Dawn tried again. They just seemed too eager to work behind Buffy's back.

Willow went on like Dawn hadn't spoken, "Plus, we don't know how much influence her 'new Slayer Squad' has over her already. It's best we take care of this ourselves and then get her away from them so we can get things back to the way they were before." Willow used the argument she was sure would win the others over. Even if they 'asked' her to step down and accept Faith's leadership, Buffy belonged to-- with them. And nobody gets to steal her away.

Figuring that the matter was settled, Xander started the planning. "Alright, well…who should help us with this then?"

"Of course the five of us for the points, but we should leave Faith out since she'd just rat us out to Buffy. Do you think we'd need any of the Potentials?" Anya added. 'Oh well, they'll just have to learn the hard way that no seal is permanent,' she thought to herself. 'It's not like it would open the Hellmouth or anything.'

"Maybe just a small group to guard the area while we do the spell. Kennedy should have a good idea which ones will keep quiet." Willow knew that Kennedy would have no problem about helping them, especially if she made it sound like it would be bad for Buffy.

Dawn shook her head at the others. "I just want to go on record as saying that I still think we should talk to Buffy about this. But if you agree this is the right thing to do Giles, I'll go along," she allowed, hoping that he would make the right choice for his Slayer.

Hesitating, Giles started to say something, only to lose his train of thought. He started polished his glasses absent-mindedly before uttering, "I have my own concerns as well, but Willow has a valid point about what the stress of having two destinies would have on Buffy. I wouldn't want her to have to suffer through that if there was something we could do about it." Then he shook his head slightly to clear a sudden hazy feeling he had.

The others missed the small look of triumph sweep over Willow's face at his statement.

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Site of the Hellmouth

Hours later

Willow began the ceremony that she believed would seal the Hellmouth for good, when the group was suddenly surrounded by blue swirling lights. A large group of people in robes appeared, along with two grim-looking men in suits.

Grim-looking guy #1 stepped forward and pronounced in a firm and thunderous voice, "Willow Rosenburg, for actions that will lead to the exposure of the supernatural, the Elders have hereby bound your powers, pending a review by the Tribunal." Then he rejoined his partner, glaring at the young and arrogant wicca that caused more trouble than even the Charmed Ones ever did, including when they were caught on camera vanquishing Shax.

"What's going on?" Willow demanded, after trying and failing to use any of her powers.

One of the Elders took off his hood and studied the group. Three of them were responsible for stealing one of his whitelighters that had earned her reward. Yes, she would still have to serve the side of good, but given the young lady's spirit, it wouldn't have been long before she became bored with eternal rest. For the first time in a long time, he forgot that he was a pacifist. He bit off the retort he desperately wanted to say, then he composed himself and explained in a professional manner, "Had you been allowed to continue, the world at large would have been made aware of magick and the supernatural."

He pointed to the suit guys and continued, "These men are Cleaners. They are charged by both sides to prevent these things from happening. We came to take custody of Miss Rosenburg so she can be judged."

"What is this 'Tribunal'?" Giles inquired, not liking the sound of things. But if they were to be believed, this spell could have ended tragically. He was wondering again why he had gone along with it. Especially without talking to Buffy first.

"It is a court made up of delegates from both sides. When something of this magnitude happens that affects us all, the Tribunal makes the decision of what needs to be done," the Cleaner informed the group, his contempt clear in his voice.

Still shook at the implication of what must have happened, Giles spoke hesitantly, "What sort of punishment is there if she is found guilty?"

"Generally the binding or stripping of her powers. In extreme cases, erasing her memory of the supernatural. Which in her case, would result in losing several years of her life," stated the Cleaner blithely.

"How would that work?" Willow questioned, fearful that she might lose her powers for good. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was supposed to seal the Hellmouth, save the day, and prove, once and for all, that she was stronger than even Buffy. Or some dumb group of witches that had to have a written destiny instead of being in control of it themselves like her.

Seeing that the Cleaner was getting tired of answering the seemingly endless questions, the Elder spoke again, "She would simply wake up and believe that she was who she was before her first encounter with the supernatural, which I believe was the day she met the Slayer, Buffy Summers. She would believe she was in a coma for that length of time."

"Does she get to put on any sort of defense or is the verdict already decided?" Xander piped up, angered that his friend was getting railroaded for trying to do something good. He could just imagine the things Buffy said to them for them to do this. 'She just couldn't handle not being the hero!' he thought, bitterly, figuring that she was responsible for this. 'I mean, there's gotta be a reason they mentioned her specifically.'

"It is clear what her actions were, but if you are referring to her motivations…yes, she is allowed defenders…As long as they are already aware of magick," he allowed.

"Are the rest of us on trial as well?" Anya asked, worried that this affected her somehow. She wondered what could have happened. Even though she knew it wouldn't work, she didn't think that it could actually do any harm.

The Cleaner stepped forward again to glare at them before warning, "Not unless you attempt to expose our world to the public. She is the power behind this spell, so she is the one responsible."

Another Elder decided that this had gone on long enough and commanded, "Who would you like to serve as your defenders?"

Willow looked at the others anxiously. "Umm, Giles and Xander and…Do you think I should get Buffy?" she asked Giles and at his nod, added, "...And Buffy."

They missed Xander's look of distaste at the addition.

"Very well," the lead Elder accepted. He turned to the Cleaners and said, "Please inform Leo to bring the Slayer to the Tribunal."

Then three Elders stepped forward to grab hold of Giles, Xander and Willow.

"They will return once the decision has been rendered." And just like that, the group vanished in a swirl of the twinkling blue lights.

"I guess we should go tell the others," Anya acknowledged bluntly. Dawn nodded numbly and stumbled after the retreating ex-vengeance demon.

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The Elders that brought them to the court simply dropped them off and disappeared again without a word to the disoriented trio. They stood on the edge of a lighted circle. The room (space?) around them was shrouded in thick darkness.

Buffy appeared moments later with Leo, both of whom looked utterly bewildered. She glanced at the others and knew that whatever was going on had something to do with them. "Uh, guys? What's going on here? These two guys came out of nowhere, demanding that Leo had to bring me to something called a 'Tribunal'. I'm going out on a limb in guessing that it's not of the good."

Willow shifted uneasily and began her ramble at full speed, "Well, you see…we came across this prophecy concerning you and the sisters…. And to keep it from happening, we decided to seal the Hellmouth…. Only something went wrong because these guys in robes show up saying they've bound my powers because the spell we were using would lead to the discovery of magick to the world…. Now I have to be judged for them to decide what to do with me." She took a deep breath in an effort to calm herself.

Buffy thought she already knew, but asked anyway, "First, what did this prophecy say that was so bad?" They repeated the prophecy, but missed the look she shot Leo.

Xander appealed to Buffy, hoping that she would see reason, but still believed that if she hadn't bad-mouthed Willow to the robe guys they wouldn't be in this mess and his best friend would have gotten off with a warning, "If it goes bad, she could lose her power and her memory ever since she met you!"

This time Buffy openly looked at the whitelighter. "Leo, what do you know about this?" She didn't think that he would go behind her back and do this, but wasn't so sure about his bosses.

Leo caught the hidden question and answered, "This specifically, nothing. But the Tribunal is made up of representatives of both Good and Evil to protect the secret of magick and the supernatural. It is only used in cases where the exposure was so immense that the Cleaners were unable to contain the damage. In other words Beth, this is really bad." And went beyond their earlier discussions of binding the wicca's powers, he added silently.

She nodded in understanding and turned to the others. "Okay, so what am I doing here?"

Xander snarled, "They've pretty much decided she's guilty. You're here to help them decide what to do with her." Practically daring her to let down her friends…again.

Buffy reeled back in shock, but not from his tone, which she just ignored. "Whoa, why is this up to me?" Okay, she knew the Elders might listen to her, but it sounded like this Tribunal was beyond them in rank.

"Because Willow requested you," Giles stated simply. He had little doubt that she would defend her friend. They might be going through a rough patch, but she wouldn't let that blind her to the needs of the group.

She sighed, mentally repeating her version of what her former Watcher thought, but sounding decidedly less tweed-ish. "What can be done to her and what can I do to stop it?"

Leo looked at her alarmed, afraid that she would risk her life over this. "You can't stop it. This goes beyond anything you've seen before. This is about the safety of all magick. As to what can happen: her powers can be bound for a period of probation or they can be stripped permanently."

He paused, knowing she wouldn't like what came next. "In addition, they could erase her memory like your friend said, going back to the first time she became aware of the supernatural," he added hesitantly, remembering what the other whitelighter had said about erasing memories.

Buffy shook her head vehemently, "Nuh-uh, mind messing is bad, uber bad! I won't let that happen." She didn't really like the redhead much right now, but nobody deserved to have their mind screwed up, not even her.

Leo tried to reason with her, silently begging her to understand, "They would only do it if they believed she continued to pose a threat of exposure."

Something occurred to Buffy and she asked, "Just out of curiosity, why haven't they done this before? I mean, last year she went all 'Darth' Willow and exposed a whole bunch of magick," she stated bluntly, not caring about hurting Willow's feelings at the moment.

"Yes, but not beyond Sunnydale. There is such a shield of disbelief surrounding the Hellmouth, that the risk of lasting exposure was minimal," he explained patiently.

"Huh, I guess that explains a lot," she allowed, thinking back to all the weird explanations for what happened in that town.

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A/N: Next…The trial of Willow Rosenburg.