Watchers Journal

Rupert Giles

It appeared I was a bit- hasty in my decision to train them right away.

There were too many unanswered questions- from all groups. We needed

to know our teammates, our allies, and our soon-to-be friends. So we

"talked".

Rupet Giles's living room

The pandemonium. The chaos. The confusion. The bewilderment. All were

present as each group tried to tell their tale. And no one was getting

the other groups. Questions of disbelief hung over, and everyone did

their best to answer them, but these things weren't easy to accept.

"What do you mean vampires exist?"

"Am I supposed to believe you come from another planet?"

"I've lived 1000 years, and I've never heard of any 'Charmed' witches!"

"Don't talk about averting apocalypses, I've had my share!"

"What are you trying to pull- aliens with powers?!"

"One cannot freeze time!"

"Actually-."

"Oh and you mean there's a supergirl around!"

"A Slayer, and yes, there's two!"

"Okay, this is all a bunch of sh-"

"I've had enough!"

"QUIET!" roared Giles, getting on his wits end with everyone asking

questions at the same time. Everyone looked at him, shocked into

silence at seeing the mild-mannered man blow up like that. Giles stood

up, taking charge of the situation. "Now that I have your attention-

we need to focus. I know our tales may seem- unbelievable, fairy-tale

like. It may appear that way for a while, but we have to join together,

and fight this bloody war!" He sat back down, a bit calmer now that he

had yelled. "Now, if anyone has any questions, please, ask it calmly

and one at a time."

"I have a few questions on this whole 'war' idea." Prue interjected.

"I mean, did someone actually declare war? Who are we fighting against?

Some demon? What goes, and what doesn't, I need details about this. You

can't just bring us here, and expect us to fight a war when we don't

even know what we're fighting for, and who we're fighting against."

The others nodded their agreement, glad someone had finally brought up

all of their questions regarding the war.

Giles was frustrated, this was not an easy thing to explain. He

thought for a moment, staring at the wall, trying to think of the best

thing to say. "This war has been prophesied for hundreds of centuries

now." He tried to explain. But of course that didn't go over well with

anyone.

"And that's supposed to answer things? Oh hey, things were prophesied

so we do them," Prue replied sarcastically. "I want real answers, and

if you don't have them, I want someone who does." Maybe Leo could orb

back and try to explain things, because Giles wasn't doing well yet.

"I do have some answers- I can't answer everything, that'd be

impossible. In the present time, both sides of good and evil have

extremely strong forces, stronger than it has ever been. Our Slayers,

the Charmed Ones, the Royal Four, and everyone else here- we're the

forces that the dark side has been dealing with for the past few years.

And there's more on their side, that will prove to be rather, er,

difficult for us to face. The purpose of this war is to eliminate one

of the opposing forces." Giles tried to explain.

"But what if what's the whole point of calling it- a war?" Cordelia

asked, having trouble swallowing the image of wars she's seen before.

"It seems so- brutal." She had seen all the war movies, and they were

not pretty. They could call it a fight or something just as easily.

"Because it is a war. One side will lose. The other will win." Giles

stood up, hoping that the side that wins would be them. Otherwise,

they had all just jumped into a death trap. But he did not want to

think about losing now. They would simply have to win. "Any more

questions?"

Michael half way raised his hand before glancing at Isabel. "Yeah,

what if we choose to blow this whole thing off? What'll happen?" He

prepared himself for the shots- how could he possibly want to leave in

the midst of this whole crisis, yada yada?

Giles looked terrified. He was about to have a heart attack, they

could not afford to lose anyone- everyone was needed. If Michael

decided to leave, he didn't want to know what would happen. "We can't

survive- we need all of you here." He only hoped that it would go

through his head.

Michael shook his head. "No, I mean all of us. Like you, me, them, all

of us. What'll change? Evil will still be around." He looked around,

wondering if anyone else saw his logic in this- winning this war

wouldn't get rid of all the evil things in the universe.

"We can't beat these particular enemies alone, we've all been called

here to defeat them, once and for all as a team." Giles nodded. He

understood what Michael was saying, sometimes he's had the same

thoughts, but you just had to keep on fighting. "Now- are we ready to

start training?"

"Hold on," interjected Michael. "We haven't decided if we want to

fight."

"What!" exclaimed Isabel, staring at him in disbelief. What the hell

was Michael thinking- oh that's right- he wasn't. "Of course we-"

"You do. We know that," Michael broke in. "But I think we should all

discuss this." Meaning him and the rest of the people from Roswell. As

of now, they had been pretty quiet throughout the whole speech, and

Michael had decided to speak for them. If they wanted to leave, they

were going to. Personally, he would rather go home. He wasn't

comfortable with all these people knowing his secret, and this whole

"war" sounded dangerous. He didn't want anyone- particularly Maria-

to get hurt.

Giles looked shell shocked. How could he want to leave, to put the

universe at stake. "Have you heard nothing I said!" Michael just

arched an eyebrow at him, and crossed his arms stubbornly.

Max nodded. "We'll be outside." He said, not wanting a fight to start

between them.

Watchers Journal

Rupert Giles

With those words, I nearly had a heart attack. Or a stroke. Or both.

They had to fight, it was absolutely crucial that they stayed. I could

only hope and pray that they decided to stay. After all- one couldn't

literally force them to stay and fight? Or could we?

Outside Giles's house

"Michael, I can't even believe you'd suggest not fighting! People will

get hurt, die, and the world may even end if we don't!" Isabel was

appalled, she was completely not expecting anyone to object to

fighting. This was just so like Michael- he always had to go against

the crowd, and take his own viewpoint when he was clearly wrong.

"And if we do, then we'll get hurt, possibly die. Vampires? Witches?

Those are a bit out of our league here- we don't even know if we can

trust these people. I say we go back, and wish them the best." Michael

stated his opinion clearly.

"Do you even hear what I'm saying? People will die, those brave enough

to stay and fight instead of taking the coward's way out!"

"And do you hear me? We're out of our league on this- I'm looking for

our own best interests!"

Before punches were thrown, Max interjected, "Why don't we vote.

Majority rules, no arguments afterwards. Agreed?" He looked at both

Michael and Isabel, waiting for their promise.

Isabel nodded, "Fine. No arguing."

Michael shrugged, "Whatever."

Isabel looked around. "So who's all for staying?" She immediately

raised her hand, followed by Alex and soon after, Liz. Then Max

tentatively rose his hand, then Maria threw a pained look at Michael,

she rose hers.

Michael said, "Who's for leaving?" He raised his hand, and Tess

followed his lead. At least he had someone on his side, not that it

mattered anymore.

Isabel looked straight at Michael and replied, "Five to two. We're

staying." Max glanced at Michael to see if he'd raise an argument, but

surprisingly, he nodded and started back for the apartment. Maria

looked at him apologetically, feeling bad for not taking his side. But

she knew this was the right thing to do.

Watcher's Journal

Rupert Giles

So the Roswell group had voted to stay. Bad for Michael, good for the

rest of the world. There have only been a few times when I've been

more relieved. So, finally, maybe we'd be ready to fight. We'd have to

be ready soon Katherine, our first enemy, would be coming. But first,

a very different one.

End Part 2