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Chapter 111- Break XXII

The Scoobies, both past and future, were now back in the dining room, as Rosenberg and Maclay got their food for them, and they started eating first, not saying much, as there was a lot to process and absorb here in this case, with everything that had happened with Angel, Cordelia, Connor, Wesley, Lilah and the rest of the team as well. It was heartbreaking to watch really, and think about as well.

At first, they ate in silence, still thinking about Angel's expression after he had left Connor behind forever, and also Connor's blank expression at the end of it all, where he felt he had nothing to live for now, poor guy.

And there was Cordelia too, having been possessed by Jasmine under the pretext of ascending to be a Higher Being, and then she had been degraded and used in the worst ways possible, and now she was just in a coma, and no one was sure if she would ever wake up from that one, considering how bad Jasmine's possession and birth had been.

All because she wanted to rule the world, and so Connor lost his childhood, Cordelia her free will, and Angel his son and the love of his life.

"So", Buffy finally spoke up. "How did the whole reality altering thing happen with Connor?"

"Yeah, we didn't quite get that either", Willow agreed with a nod.

"So, Wolfram and Hart were going to do a ritual to change reality for Connor's sake", Summers said to them all.

"And to do it, some blood of his needed to be spilled", Rosenberg added.

"So wait, he needed to be killed?" Xander asked in surprise.

"No! Just blood needed to be spilled", Maclay corrected him. "You think Angel would kill his only son over an assurance by his worst enemies?"

"She does have a point there", Dawnster agreed with her.

"All right then", Xander nodded.

"Anyway, once his blood was spilt, the spell came into effect, and so Connor's life was rewritten so he was part of that other family from the start, and they also got memories of him so they believed he was there from the start as well", Rosenberg told them.

"Kind of like me then", Dawnster realized.

"Exactly like us", Dawn agreed. "And like us, his family was loving too."

"That's a good thing", Tara said with a nod.

"And, he also had his team's memories of Connor removed", Harris added. "So then he and the powers running the firm remembered the kid still, but not his team, or the rest of us for the matter."

"Yeah, you all were made to forget, basically the whole world was", Maclay sighed.

"And Connor, through no fault of his own, kind of broke the team apart", Summers pointed out to them. "Again, not his fault, it was indirect, but it happened, and so by removing Connor from their minds Angel has given them as much as a fresh start as he gave his son."

"Well, altering minds like that is wrong, but I understand why it was done this time", Buffy sighed. "He wanted to save his son."

"You all know I don't like violating minds like that either", Tara said as Willow looked guilty but Tara's look assured she wasn't mad now. "But this was a worst case scenario, so I understand why it happened."

'Yeah, worst case scenario this was", Maclay agreed with a nod.

"So, random question, how did their new lives go in this altered reality without Connor around?" Dawnster asked. "I think a lot of stuff would go differently with Connor not around anymore, right?"

"Right", Dawn agreed with her. "Let us break it down for you then."

"So, Year 3 was the same at the start, but, remember the Vampire cult?" Summers asked and they nodded. "So in this new reality, Darla ended up being their leader and brought them to kill Angel and his team for revenge."

"Yikes!" Buffy said. "Sucks for her to be remembered like that after what she did."

"Well, no one decided the new memories, they came up on their own", Rosenberg pointed out. "Anyway, there was a fight, and here Angel ended up staking Darla, instead of Darla staking herself. And since there is no Connor, Wesley never betrayed them either."

"And so he was present when they trapped Sahjhan, who was still after them for whatever reason", Maclay added. "And the slug Demons still came after them due to their battle against Sahjhan, but Wesley was with them then too."

"Did him and Lilah still happen?" Xander then asked.

"Actually, they did", Harris revealed to their surprise. "Lilah tried to seduce Wesley to get an 'in' with Team Angel, and due to Fred and Gunn being a thing, poor dude was depressed."

"And so he ended up responding", Giles realized and got nods. "Bloody hell."

"Yeah, so they got together, it was kind of the same as you saw, and they did fall in love too", Dawn added.

"Now Year 4", Dawnster realized.

"Yeah, so without Connor to throw Angel into the ocean, he was with them for all the months he was missing, and he also ended up killing Holtz after the man had lost all reason, and it was a big fight", Summers added.

"Well, he'd lost reason in the actual reality too", Buffy shrugged.

"Cordelia still went missing, and Lorne left as well", Rosenberg continued. "Then Cordy came back and didn't shack up with Connor at his place, but stayed at Hyperion with the rest, and then when her memories returned, she went back to her apartment."

"The Beast still came, but without Connor, and so they didn't go to Wolfram and Hart, other than Wesley to save Lilah", Maclay then said. "Then the pregnancy happened too, but it was a mysterious, unexplained pregnancy this time, then Jasmine came, it went mostly the same."

"When Jasmine's spell over the team was broken, they just snuck out because Connor wasn't there to blow the cover", Harris said. "And in the final battle, Angel killed Jasmine instead of Connor."

"Wolfram and Hart made their offer, and they accepted, not much to change there since outside of Angel everyone wanted to accept it", Summers finished it for them finally.

"So that's how it played", Buffy muttered, absorbing the tale of this new reality as well.

"Well, at least the team was together in this one", Tara pointed out the bright side. "But Angel had to lose his son for all of this to happen."

"Yeah, bad stuff always happens to good people", Rosenberg said bitterly.

"Anyway, we're done for now, the next year, most of it you can watch and decide for yourself", Maclay said to them all.

"I hope so", Willow muttered, knowing it was gonna get bad as they got up and moved off in opposite directions to watch more.

Now it was time for the final year.

Thank you to Stand with Ward and Queen for suggesting how Seasons 3 and 4 would go in the characters' altered memories without Connor.

Hope all enjoyed and see you all next time with another chapter where we begin Season 5, and Spike returns! Stay safe from the coronavirus ya all!