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Chapter 6- Break I

Buffy, Willow, Xander, Tara, Dawn and Giles walked out of the viewing room, into what looked like a dining room, where their future selves were all sitting around, and there were 6 empty chairs, clearly kept for them, and there was some freshly baked food there as well.

"Figured you'd be hungry", Rosenberg told them.

"Figured right", Willow said as the past people all sat down, slowly eating up the food in front of them.

"There's a problem", Dawn said as everyone looked at her. "Like, if we call out a name, then other than Giles, there are two of us here, how would we know who's being called? It can cause a lot of confusion, you know."

"Just call us by our surnames", future Buffy said.

"Wouldn't work on us though", Dawn said, gesturing to herself and Buffy as well as their future selves. "We are all Summers women."

"Well then you can be Dawnster", future Dawn shrugged.

"Why do I have to be Dawnster? Why can't you be Dawnster?" Dawn asked her future self.

"Because you are younger than me", Dawn said with a chuckle as Dawnster pouted. "Because I am from the future, and I am an adult, unlike you."

"Hate it when that happens", Dawnster muttered to herself as she chewed on her food a bit too loudly.

"So, what kind of spell did you use for that television thing?" Tara asked the future people.

"It's basically a spell that reads through memories of people and scans them in a three-dimensional view, and then we can store those wherever we want", Rosenberg told her. "In this case, a TV, since that can play all of the memories too."

"I did read a little about it, but no one has tried it so far", Willow said.

"We had to try about 5 times before getting it right", Maclay told her. "It's a very dangerous spell, we were lucky nothing too bad happened when our attempts went a little wrong."

"So you took memories of Angel and some others, and made them into a TV series or something like that, for us to watch", Buffy summed up and the future people nodded at that.

"But why?" Xander asked. "Like, why do we need to watch what he did after our graduation at Sunnydale High? There's something important about that? Because so far, all we've seen is him, Cordelia and Doyle solving random supernatural events every week, and of course Spike showed up that one time."

"Yeah, we get that the first few can be a bit tough to get through due to the random supernatural investigations that happen every week", Summers said. "But it is all important, especially if you are to understand all of what comes later."

"You said something bad happened? What was it if you don't mind me asking?" Giles asked.

"Can't tell yet", Harris said to him. "We feel you should get through enough of these before we actually tell you what happened, and why, so that you can make some better decisions when we send you back to your time."

"So, whatever happened was because of bad decisions we made?" Dawnster asked and the future people gave nods once more.

"Yes, bad decisions were made, horrible ones", Summers said, her eyes lingering at Giles for a second before turning away. "By us, as well as by Angel and his team, and well, they lead to a lot of trouble for us all down the road, for quite a few years."

"And now, stuff is fixed, but it is going to get worse in the future if the prophecies are to be believed", Rosenberg said. "Which is why we are doing this, to show you, so that you do not make the mistakes we did."

"So, what exactly were the kind of decisions that lead to stuff going this bad?" Buffy asked.

"Black and white ones", Maclay said, looking at Giles again for a second before turning away.

"As for this thing, where you are making us view Angel's memories, did you get his consent?" Willow asked, having learnt about it the very hard way clearly.

All of them sighed, before Rosenberg said. "We did get consent."

"Anyway, we are making you watch this because we want all of you to understand Angel, as well as his friends, better", Summers said.

"I think I understand him just fine", Buffy shrugged. "I mean, we used to be together after all."

"You think you do, but with you, he was actually the worst version of himself", Summers told Buffy. "Without the relationship with you, he actually evolved into something more, and he had a lot more to think about rather than just you."

Buffy didn't really argue. Back in her teenage days, she considered her romance with Angel the best thing to ever happen to her, but looking back, she could see the problems they had. First of all, it was clearly his mysterious persona that had made her swoon over him, and so she had fallen for him quickly.

But then really, all they did was make each other miserable, or to put it more accurately, she made him lose his soul, and then he made her miserable, so she had to kill him to save the world, and when he came back, they tried, but it was obvious it could never work out.

"Yeah, I don't think it was as good as I thought it to be back then", Buffy agreed.

"I never really approved", Xander piped up.

"I know", Buffy sighed.

"Yeah, but your reasons of not approving were very different", Harris said to his past self, and Xander couldn't disagree.

"When Angel was with us, he actually lived through us in an unhealthy way, we were all that mattered to him, which is why we made him perfectly happy at the time", Summers explained to Buffy, who listened, absorbing the explanation. "But now, you will see him actually trying to live a proper life which isn't reliant on a single factor."

"And also this mess that you are talking about", Buffy muttered.

"The start of it", Dawn told her.

"Anyway, you all must be tired, so you can sleep tonight, and we will continue tomorrow", Rosenberg said and everyone nodded, feeling tired as they got up, and the future people led their past selves into different rooms, with Buffy, Xander, Dawnster and Giles each getting one, and Willow and Tara both getting one for themselves.

And with that, they went to sleep, but the thought of what exactly had happened was still in the back of their heads.

So that's the first break, where I managed to get through without revealing any future details, other than cryptic hints.

And well, this is my opinion on Buffy/Angel really, you don't have to agree with it, but that's what I always took it as, and really, beyond the 'forbidden love' aspect, Sarah's and David's chemistry, and 'Close Your Eyes', I never had much reason to care for their relationship.

And after examining the complexities of Angel and Darla, Angel and Buffy basically looks to me like the equivalent of a divorced middle-aged man dating a much younger partner to get over his previous partner.

Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed and see you all next time with another chapter. Stay safe from the coronavirus ya all!