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Chapter 31- Break VI

The Scooby Gang of both the past and the future returned to the dining room, which already had the food ready. The future version of the Scooby Gang had probably prepared it before arriving here, which was a good move.

The events of the latest recording had shaken them up a lot, since they had seen Angel do something petty and vindictive in spite of having his soul back, though it was perfectly understandable since he had been betrayed by the very people he had tried to help against the Thesulac that had been haunting all of them.

As they started eating, Summers asked. "You want to say anything?"

"I still can't believe that happened", Buffy said honestly. "I know it did, and I understand why it happened, but my mind is unable to believe it."

"Like we said before, Angel lived for many years after getting his soul back and before he met all of us", Rosenberg reminded once more. "A lot of stuff had happened to him by then, which he never told anyone."

"Probably too ashamed to", Maclay said.

"Yes, who would want to tell things like that?" Tara agreed.

"I'm glad he never told me of this stuff back in the day", Xander said. "I know I'd have jumped on his throat."

"Well, at least you admit it, that's good", Harris said to him.

"Yeah, but you know, I'd do the same probably", Xander sighed.

"Having a soul doesn't make anyone perfect, it just gives you the ability to decide between what is right and what is wrong", Willow said to everyone. "And sometimes, people make the wrong choices too."

"Others paid the price for this one", Giles said.

"And what about when I made the wrong choice?" Willow asked and that made Giles silent regarding this matter, since he still had a bit of a bias when it came to Angel and Spike.

"The Thesulac did influence them in this case, but it's not like people don't let their paranoia get the better of them without one influencing them", Summers shrugged.

"Yes, I believe that is about right", Giles said, since he could get pretty paranoid at times, though not too paranoid, but still paranoid enough.

"The Thesulac said Wesley was the paranoid of them all", Dawnster popped up. "Is that true?"

"Very true", Dawn said. "And like my sister said, some people don't need to be influenced by a Thesulac to let their own paranoia get the better of them. Wesley happened to be one such person, unfortunately."

"If you hadn't said unfortunately, I'd have thought he did something good due to his paranoia", Dawnster said with a sigh.

"He got paranoid, did something very stupid, stuff happened, then more stuff happened, then it went a little normal, then more stuff happened", Summers summed it up for the past Scoobies. "You get the point, right?"

"As much as we could, yeah", Tara nodded.

"So not all humans are good, and not all Demons are bad", Buffy said. "Like the Prio Motu."

"Yeah, that one was protecting the pregnant woman", Willow said. "Even though they are normally killer Demons, how did that happen?"

"I highly doubt he got a soul", Giles agreed.

"Well, you are either like ensouled Angel or Spike, or you end up being like Spike when he had a chip inside of him", Rosenberg told them. "This Motu was like that actually, but a bit better than that, since I don't think he was gonna get any chompy on humans or anything."

"Ain't that good?" Xander muttered. "Now if only we could tell the difference between both kinds."

"Not all of them are fond of talking like Clem is", Maclay said sadly. "So unfortunately, such accidents are bound to happen at times, like that little incident with Angel and the Motu, though at least Angel managed to fix it."

"The Judge had said they would protect the baby girl of that woman till she was eighteen", Buffy remembered.

"Right now she would be about 7 to 8, so they are still under protection", Summers reminded. "But we still have no idea how that girl is supposed to be a force of good or anything, though we are all trying to figure it out together."

"Let's just agree the Powers That Be are weird", Dawnster said.

"Amen", Dawn agreed with her younger doppelganger.

"And you said you will be sitting with us on quite a few of these recordings", Buffy said while remembering that. "So I take it stuff like this happened a lot in more of these recordings, is that it?"

"Well, kind of", Summers said. "Stuff like this is bound to happen, because Darla is back now, and Wolfram and Hart are trying to use her to get Angel to unleash his dark side once more."

"So they can control it", Willow realized. "But isn't that stupid? It can backfire on them too."

"Tell me about it", Rosenberg muttered.

"So, he doesn't hate Darla then?" Buffy asked. "He killed her all those years ago to save me."

"Their relationship is a lot more complicated than just simply loving each other or hating each other", Maclay counseled Buffy. "Theirs was a complex thing, it will take watching it to understand it."

"Even though he left Darla years ago, she always had a hold on him, they had a bond, they were connected to each other in one way or the other, there was darkness, and there was some light too", Rosenberg tried to explain. "At this point, I'm confusing myself, you all got it, right?"

"Yeah, we got it", Willow said with a smile. "Well, as much as we could that is."

"So, watch and understand what happened, right?" Tara asked and the future people nodded once more. "Then that's what we shall do."

By that point, the food was finally finished.

"So I guess we should get to watching again", Buffy said.

"Yeah, you should", Summers agreed.

"And when will you join us?" Willow asked.

"I think I can tell when we will do that", Maclay said and they nodded again before going their separate ways once more.

And with break chapter over, we can get to the next 4 episodes, which means from 'First Impressions' to 'Guise Will Be Guise'.

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