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Chapter 11- Break II

Summers found Buffy near a window, trying to wipe her tears, though the sound of her sobs was still pretty audible.

"Hey", Summers said, putting a hand on her shoulder from behind as Buffy turned to face her future self, tear tracks on her whole face.

"How can you be so calm after seeing that?" Buffy asked in a husky tone.

"I saw it once before, remember?" Summers reminded. "And my reaction was just like yours, even worse due to stuff that happened recently."

"I and Angel, we could have had….." Buffy trailed off, not sure how to finish the sentence, or just not able to due to the emotions within her. "Then he just…had time turned back by 24 hours!"

"He did it for us", Summers reminded. "He prefers that we live and are not with him over being with him but not alive."

"Yeah, I know, but in that timeline", Buffy said, still not over it. "We had it all, I had it all, what I wanted at the time, and then it was all undone."

"Yeah, you're thinking you and Angel could have had a happy life before you died eventually", Summers said and Buffy didn't deny, since that was what was going on in her mind right now.

"I know it's selfish, but it's just not leaving my mind now", Buffy said.

"Yeah, I get it, and it's a human thing", Summers shrugged. "We Slayers aren't robots, right?"

"No, we aren't", Buffy said with a sigh. "Guess it's a good thing then that I feel this way."

"Yeah, but remember, even if we and Angel had a happy life in that future, many others would have had to pay the price for it", Summers reminded. "Including us. And being with Angel may had been all we wanted back then, but with how our relationship with him had played out, you think it would have actually worked out in the long run?"

Buffy tried to respond, but she couldn't really think of a good response to her future self's arguments, since her future self wasn't wrong.

"Like I said, he is a great guy, but when we are together, it regresses us and brings out the worst in us", Summers told Buffy. "He always tries to baby us and treat us like a kid when we're together, as if we can't handle responsibility and problems on our own. He decided to risk his life just because he wanted to be a warrior while also being with us."

Buffy thought about what Summers had said and again, didn't have it in her to disagree. She didn't see her relationship with Angel with rose-tinted glasses anymore, or more accurately, high school nostalgia in her mind.

Was he a great guy? Sure, he was amazing. But were she and him good for each other? No, they weren't. Even if they loved each other, that didn't mean they were good for each other. Their way of handling their relationship was bad, and there was just too much baggage now.

"You're not wrong", Buffy said to her future self. "We are both good people, but not good for each other clearly. And he did it for me, so while not ethical, I can't hold it against him. He was thinking about me and many other people when he decided to take that step. Just not himself."

"Which is what a hero has to do", Summers said and Buffy nodded. "Come on."

The two walked into the dining room, where the past and future versions of the Gang were already eating, and the two then took their seats.

"You okay now?" Tara asked Buffy before any of the other Scoobies could.

"Yeah, I'm good to go now", Buffy sighed as she looked at her future self gratefully. "It's all good now."

"You sure?" Willow asked.

"Yeah", Buffy said.

"I'm here for you if you aren't", Dawnster offered.

"We all are", Giles assured.

"Just say the word", Xander agreed with a nod.

"I'm fine, you guys", Buffy said before smiling. "But I appreciate it."

They nodded and continued eating as Willow then said. "So, time travel was done long before you decided to bring all of us here."

"Yeah, just not by mere mortals, rather the Oracles of the Powers That Be", Maclay told them all. "And they only do that when they feel it is absolutely necessary."

"And when do they feel that?" Tara asked.

"No one knows, they are mysterious, their motives are not known to us mere mortals", Rosenberg said. "Though I wish they were, since it would make all of this much simpler."

"Yeah, but when are Higher Beings ever simple? They get their kicks from being complicated and making people jump through hoops", Dawn told them all.

"Truer words have never been spoke", Dawnster said.

"We can't afford to ask them to do stuff for us, so now we do it ourselves", Harris told them all before looking at Rosenberg and Maclay. "So we just had them do the time travel spell instead, it was risky, but it worked, and we really don't care what any of the Higher Beings think of this move, since if they have any brains, they would approve of this."

"This mess that happened is really bad, isn't it?" Buffy asked. "If you're doing what even Higher Beings rarely do?"

"Like you have no idea", Summers said with a sigh. "And sad thing is, what happened wasn't even what Angel turned back time for, though we thought for a long time that it was."

"So, horrible stuff happened, and it was all for nothing", Xander muttered in a disgruntled tone. "Typical. Very typical."

"You also said you'd be watching some recordings after the first 22 of them with us", Willow reminded the future people.

"Yeah, all of us will be watching that one", Rosenberg said. "Those ones are important."

"I believe all of them are", Giles said.

"Yeah, in one way or the other", Summers said, the food finally being finished.

"So, I guess you won't be joining us on the other ones before the first 22?" Buffy asked her future self.

"No, I think you can get through them on your own", Summers said as they all got up. "Though I have to warn you, next one is pretty brutal too."

"Thanks for the warning", Dawnster said, all wondering what would happen in the next recording that could be worse than this one.

With that, they parted ways again as the past people made their way to the viewing room and the future people went on with their normal routine for the day.

Break II is done finally. These breaks are definitely harder to write than the viewing chapters, even if they're shorter ones, since I'm not going to reveal what happened in the future this early, just offer cryptic hints at best, and so I have to make up some content to stretch it out to 1000 words at least.

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