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Chapter 56- Break XI

The Scooby Gang all found themselves in the dining room, none of them in a very good mood obviously due to what they had just seen, which was the ending of the final recording to the 2nd year, since it had reopened old wounds for every single one of them.

The future Scooby Gang was already there, and the food had been laid out of for all of them as well, and based on their faces, it was clear they knew what their past selves had just seen, and were sorry they had to see it.

"Sorry you had to see that", Summers said to the past versions of the Gang as they pulled their chairs and sat down on them, all sighing and immediately getting on to the food.

"It brought up really bad memories", Willow sighed. "You know how that goes."

"Yeah, unfortunately", Rosenberg agreed with a sad sigh and a nod herself. It hadn't been easy making these recordings and deciding what to put and what not to put in them.

"I heard Angel want on some spiritual retreat after this", Buffy remembered.

"Yeah, that was his way of processing the grief that overtook him", Dawn told her from what she had seen. "Of course you know our luck, he couldn't even grieve in peace."

"Well, that sucks", Xander muttered, as they hadn't been able to grieve in peace much either, due to the constant nightly patrols against the forces of evil that lurked at night in Sunnydale, a Hellmouth.

"It's like, none of us really get to do any kind of grieving peacefully", Tara said in realization. "Over anyone."

"I think we should move onto something else", Harris now spoke up, since the atmosphere was only getting gloomier from all this sad talking about Buffy's second (and longer) death, and it was gloomy enough already due to the reasons for having brought the past Scoobies into the present to witness Angel's and his team's adventures in Los Angeles.

"So, Year 3", Dawnster said. "You said it's going to get much worse for them from this point forth."

"Yeah, in the beginning it's not too bad, but as things go on, it gets much, much worse for all of them", Maclay told them, remembering. "I mean, you saw the first 2 years, right?"

"Yes, we did", Giles said with a nod.

"Well, in the first 2 years, in spite of a lot of bad stuff happening to them, they kind of had a happy ending there, Willow telling their team about my death aside", Summers said and they agreed, while a lot of bad stuff had happened, the ending of both of those years was mostly happy, asides from Buffy's death, and even there, she had been resurrected a few months later. "Anyway, from now on, none of the years are going to have a happy ending, it's just gonna get that much worse for them."

At this point, all of the Scoobies looked shocked and horrified, even Willow, since while she kept in touch, even she did not know the full details of what went on with Angel and his team.

"So, like the next year was hard for us too", Buffy said, remembering her own depression and toxic relationship with Spike which ended with him attempting to rape her, Dawn's feelings of loneliness, Willow spiraling into her magic addiction, losing Tara in the process, and when they finally got back together, she was murdered tragically, leading Willow to almost destroy the world until she was talked down and brought back to her senses, Xander ditching Anya at the altar, and of course Giles leaving like that. "How much harder was it for them?"

"In the beginning, they were better off than we were", Rosenberg said. "But I think by the end of the year, they all had it as bad as we had it, if not worse. Especially Angel, Cordy and Wes, I wouldn't want to be any of them near the end of the year."

"That bad, huh?" Xander muttered before asking. "What about Angel and Cordy?"

"Yeah, like, did anything happen?" Buffy asked.

"Almost", Maclay said grimly. "Almost did, many times."

"But?" Dawnster asked.

"The Universe just loved throwing obstacles in their way", Dawn scoffed. "After a certain point, it just got repetitive and very tasteless."

The past version of the Scooby Gang could only wonder what was it that had made the condition of Team Angel so bad. Sure, they did know what had happened to Angel, and a little bit of what had happened to Cordelia, but not the specifics of any of those, and now they were going to find that out.

"And Wesley", Giles asked. "We saw him being a little cold during the leading process in the final recording. He is going to go further down this path, isn't he?"

"Yeah, not at first, but eventually", Summers said with a sigh. "By the end of it, he was a completely changed man. In some ways, it was a good change, in other ways, it was a bad change, but he was still a good guy at the end of it, if not the most stable one, and after what happened, I understand why he went that way."

"We also have Fred, she needs a lot to recover from every single thing she went through", Willow said, still appalled by the conditions her friend had lived in for 5 years. "I mean, I couldn't even handle seeing the Dimension, and she managed to survive in it for 5 years. Like, yikes!"

"Oh yeah, she was very strong, though it affected her badly, it took her a good long while to come out of her shell after that", Rosenberg told her. "But when she did, she was happy that she did."

"Guess that's a good thing", Buffy muttered as they realized the food was finished by now.

"So, Year 3 from tomorrow then", Summers told them and they nodded before spreading and going into their rooms.

And this is the end, next chapter onwards we begin Season 3.

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