Consequence

Disclaimer: A little something I got to thinking about in a post Buffy/Angel world after their respective shows ended. And makes use of a line of thought I've had for a long time since the Buffy finale.

Summary: Actions have consequences.

In the aftermath the collapse of Sunnydale, and later the events in LA involving the Fang Gang going against the Circle of the Black Thorne, some things had shown that life just wasn't going to be easy in some ways. For one, a number of the girls who'd been activated by Willow's Spell had not been happy about it as it had disrupted their lives in a number of ways. Chief among them being practically beacons for death and mayhem and lawsuits had been thrown in the Scoobies' way, forcing Willow to come up with a way to de-activate them in order to make amends. Which forced her on to an ever thinning line of needing to be extremely careful when it came to the Magics. Now other girls either took advantage of the situation by becoming hired guns or going into business for themselves. Some either joined the new Council or fought on their own and those who were trouble magnets were ones Willow also had to de-activate as well much to their immense ire. Which occasionally put her in harm's way thanks to how unhappy those women were. And what many didn't know until later is that Rupert Giles had started to suffer from mental health issues stemming from the numerous blows he'd suffered to the head over the years.

Something that actually would play a part in why he refused to help Angel when Fred was being consumed by Illyria's take over of her body. The man's addled thinking that it all being a ruse in order to get them into Wolfram and Hart and do as they pleased to them because he thought that Angelus was back again. The First Evil, unknown to anyone until much later, had taken advantage at the last possible second to inhabit Robin Wood's body after he had actually died on the bus in front of Faith. Easily fooling her into believing he'd been playing a little joke and would slowly acquire power for some time before making his next move. Xander some time later ended up disappearing after nearly killing Andrew in a blind rage after the younger man had been irksome in his own way once again, blaming him for Anya's death and wishing it'd been him who died instead of her. No one could find where Xander had disappeared too and this had bothered those closest to him greatly and did what they could to keep an eye out for him while dealing with their own problems. Buffy's experiences with the Immortal had seen to it that she was effectively done with men for a good long time and had chosen to return to College with a goal of someday becoming a Counselor.

As she had come to like the job before things had gone belly up in Sunnydale and was even in therapy herself for a variety of reasons. Dawn, seeing how things were going for everyone, had opted to actually stay out of the Supernatural life as much as she could, not wanting to end up seriously screwed up in some way like her sister and the others had become over the years. Something Buffy was actually happy about for that matter. Faith having broken out of prison had meant a bullseye was forever on her back and this would catch up to her thanks in part to the First acting in secret to ensure she'd end up back in prison for life. Nina Ash, though massively unhappy about how Angel had handled things between the two of them and as well as the Werewolf life, had been surprised when she found out he'd sent someone named Oz to help her with the Werewolf life as by that point, he had plenty of experience with the whole thing. Oz had told her that Angel thought he could make up for things by sending her him. It worked but it still made her miss the ensouled Vampire like nothing else.

Illyria, having survived the battle against the Forces of the Senior Partners, had chosen to travel the world and slowly built an army as she did so. Slowly becoming disgusted by a number of things in the Modern Age and wanted to lay waste to it all because of that. Several agents of the Powers and of the Partners had tried to remove her completely but each act failed, causing her to vow great vengeance on them in the process. Her army would later clash with the First and his own army in an epic clash of wills a number of years later. The battle with the Senior Partners' army had also seen to it that the Supernatural had become exposed to the world at large, making for a lot of upheavel that made life for the fractured Scoobies difficult to deal with in addition to their own personal problems. The LAPD in particular would have a lot of crow to eat considering how they handled things with Kate Lockley and would try to get her to come back so her knowledge could be of benefit to them. She had almost told them no in a rather rude way but realized it was perhaps for the best to take the job as it would help save lives.

Lorne, having been asked to take the life of Lindsey McDonald thanks to Angel, had become something of a bitter individual and always could be heard wishing he hadn't ever done that request as he felt dirty and felt he couldn't ever be clean again because of it. Connor Reilly would end up developing a sort of Bipolar Disorder thanks in part to the Orlon Window having been broken by Wesley. There'd be moments, a day, or even days where he'd be a broody youngster thanks to his dual memories and it made it hard at times to deal with and function properly. He also largely tried to stay out of fights with the Supernatural, half out of fear it would seriously screw with him even ore and half out of honoring what Angel wanted for him. Actions had consequences, whether for good or bad, such was life. How it would all ultimately affect the world in the end was anyone's guess.

Author's Notes: Glad I got that out of my head. The thing with Robin and the First is that line of thought I was talking about earlier.