Chapter 8: Consequences

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Angel returned to find Willow and Tara dozing on the couch, Giles studying some text (what a surprise), and the other three in the living room. Sounds of laughter and quiet chatter came to Angel's ears.

His first instinct was to run in there and tear Spike away from the Summers girls. Taking some useless deep breaths, he calmed down, remembering his decision regarding Spike.

Upon seeing Angel, Giles reluctantly closed his book and lay it reverently on a nearby table. "I take it you've had your time to think?"

The witches woke up, and the others came into the family room.

"What, has the great Peaches made up his mind? Do you approve, Grand-Sire?" Spike sneered. "You know that what you say doesn't matter. I'm stayin', whether you like it or not."

"Oh, grow up, Spike!" Giles muttered. Sighing, he addressed Angel, admitting reluctantly that "as Spike said, what you say will likely not change much. However, I would be interested to know, what are your thoughts regarding the matter?"

An odd sound made Angel hesitate. Not seeing or smelling anything amiss, he continued, stating plainly, "I don't like Spike."

Some murmurs arose, most notably Spike's murmur, "Feelin's mutual, git."

Angel continued. "However! Personal feelings and past aside... it's obvious Spike... loves her. And, though it pains me to admit, when he loves, he truly loves with all his being. If everything you all told me was true, then... I guess, well, what I'm trying to say is that I'm ok with the situation. Not happy about it, but ok with it. Plus, Spike has a lot of experience dealing with someone... someone not all there."

There was a loud noise, and suddenly Xander was revealed, some sort of cloak at his feet. "That's it?! That's all you're going to say!! I don't believe this!" he shouted, face red. "You're gonna let that sick, soulless monster use and abuse Buffy?!"

Everyone's face revealed shock, first at Xander's startling appearance, and then at his brutal words. His words surprised some more than others. Dawn, Willow, and Tara looked absolutely flabbergasted. Spike had his hands full calming down Buffy, who was once again freaking out with the heightened voices and tensions in the room.

"Hey! Keep your hands off of her!" Xander yelled, springing towards Spike. With his faster reflexes, Angel intercepted him and immobilized him, twisting Xander's arms behind him. Xander struggled futilely for several long minutes, trying to appeal to his friends to come to their senses and stake Spike. Meanwhile, Angel just stood there, holding him firmly.

When Xander finally gave up and stayed silent, Angel dragged Xander to the door. Angel spoke lowly, for Xander's ears alone- "Just so you know - Spike's got a soul. Her name is Buffy." With that, Angel literally threw Xander out.

"And stay out!" Angel growled.

With a few last muttered curses and some dirty looks, Xander stalked away, looking murderous.

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Inside the Summers' house, all was silent, save for Spike's quiet, soothing murmurs to Buffy. Gradually, they all seated themselves, no one having any idea what to say.

More as something to say than for any other reason, Dawn grabbed up the cloak Xander had let fall. "Um... so, what is this?"

Giles cleaned his glasses. "I believe it's a Xurabash cloak. The wearer is not only invisible; their smell is also masked."

"Wow. Cool," Dawn said, petting the cloak covetously.

"Uh, yes, quite. Unfortunately, it tends to have some side effects, such as terrible head aches. And besides, I suspect that belongs to the Magic Shop. I believe that it was among the items we received in a recent shipment."

"As fascinatin' as all this is, let's not ignore the big fat elephant in the middle of the room," Spike said dryly.

"Yes, indeed. That was... rather startlingly," Giles stated. "The question that should now be posed, is: where do we go from here? What can we do?"

"I can't believe this," Willow said softly. "I mean, it's, you know, Xander! He just... doesn't do stuff like this."

"People change," Giles said softly.

"Not like this, they don't. Not like this," Willow wept. Tara held her, comforting her as best she could.

Spike took Buffy and Dawn up to bed again.

"Spike? Is... is everything gonna be ok? I mean, Xander, he's like... like my big brother, you know? Well, like my other big brother, besides you..." Dawn trailed off, hoping Spike wasn't offended by the comparison. "Is he gonna leave? Everyone leaves..."

"I know, Bit, I know... I don't know what's gonna happen now. But I promise I'll always be here, no matter what," he assured her. "Get some rest, we'll talk more tomorrow." He kissed both his girls on the forehead before going back downstairs.

It looked as though no one had moved when he returned to the family room. Just as Giles started to speak, there was a frantic banging on the door.

"Oh, what now," Spike muttered as he opened the door, quickly dodging backward to avoid the first rays of the dawn.

"Anya?"

She burst into the room, Spike closing the door behind her.

All were shocked to see Anya sobbing. None could recall ever seeing her cry before.

"Anya, dear, what's happened?" Giles asked, bringing her over to sit down. Once she was in the light, everyone could see a dark bruise starting to show on her face.

"It-it's Xander!" she wailed. The men in the room exchanged deadly glances, promising violence.

In between sniffles, Anya told them how Xander had come home a little while ago, ranting and raving madly. When she finally understood what he was carrying on about, she'd spoken up for Spike, said she thought he was trustworthy, able to take care of Buffy.

"He looked so wild, and so angry! I've never seen him so angry... h-he hit me!!"

"You're lying!" Willow shouted, jumping to her feet and stomping over to Anya.

"No, I'm not!" Anya yelled back.

"Shut UP!" Willow shrieked, eyes turning black as she pointed a finger at Anya. Spike jumped between the two women.

"Red! Calm down," he told her.

"Out of my way," the witch hissed, flinging him against a wall with a wave of her hand.

"Willow, no!"

It was Tara's voice that finally stopped Willow from whatever she was going to do. She staggered back, gasping. "Oh, goddess! I-I'm sorry, I...." she retreated to the safety and comfort of Tara's arms.

"Spike, you ok?" Dawn asked worriedly as she and Buffy hurried to his side

"Yeah, 'm fine... what the hell was that, though? Red?"

"That's just it!" Anya exclaimed, drawing attention back to herself.

"Um, I'm sorry, what's 'just it'?" Giles questioned, brow furrowed. Trying to follow Anya's train of thought was oftentimes exceedingly challenging.

"See, I think that are two possible reasons why Xander did what he did this morning," Anya explained. "One could have to do with him still being obsessed with Buffy, maybe. Or it maybe - what I'm sort of hoping - it could have had something to do with a negative backlash from the spell."

"Woah, what's this about Xander being obsessed with Buffy?" Dawn spoke up from her position on the stairs. She and Buffy hadn't even fallen asleep before being brought downstairs, once again, by the loud voices.

"Well, it would explain a lot of things about our engagement," Anya said.

"Engagement?" numerous voices repeated quizzically.

"Yes. He first asked me to marry him when he thought the world was going to end because of Glory, then again after the world didn't end, but when Buffy was dead. See, the first time he didn't think he'd actually have to go through with it, and the second time Buffy wasn't around. And then he wouldn't let me tell everyone 'cause they were all in mourning. Later, once we started talking about bringing Buffy back, he became even more insistent that I not tell anyone; eventually he wouldn't even talk about it with me. So maybe he's just been obsessed with Buffy all along, and I was just... just second choice."

Shocked silence followed Anya's speech.

"But," Anya continued, more brightly, "maybe it was just evil backlash from the spell! See, same for Willow. That might have just been Willow being Willow, or backlash."

"Wait, wait... what's this 'backlash' you keep talking about?" Willow asked.

All of the older people in the room looked at her with amazement.

"You mean... you mean you didn't know?" Anya demanded.

"Know what?!"

"About all the possible negative consequences of dark magic! You have to know about all of those!" Seeing Willow shake her head in confusion, Anya was exasperated. "What kind of witch are you, anyway?"

"An untrained one," Giles inserted. "Which, I fear, is my fault." He cleaned his glasses, sighing. "I knew you wouldn't like the idea of leaving here, leaving all of your friends, for an indefinite amount of time. However, now that's really what you must do."

"What?! That's not fair-"

"Not fair?" Giles voice was cold. "Don't talk about fair, little girl, most especially not after that stunt that you just pulled."

"Stunt? That was no stunt, that -"

"Silence!" Giles thundered. "There aren't words to explain just how wrong that spell was, just how wrong things could have gone... you're very stupid. The lines you've crossed, the unbelievable risks, the dangers involved-"

Willow: I thought you'd be impressed, or, or something.

Giles: "Oh, don't worry, you've ... made a very deep impression. Of everyone here ... you were the one I trusted most to respect the forces of nature."

Willow: Are you saying you don't trust me?

Angel: (angrily, protectively) Think what you've done to Buffy.

Willow: I brought her back!

Giles: At incredible risk!

Willow: Risk? Of what? Making her deader?

Giles: Of killing us all. Unleashing hell on Earth, I mean, shall I go on?

Willow: No! (stands) Giles, I did what I had to do. I did what nobody else could do.

Spike: Oh, there are others in this world who can do what you did. You just don't want to meet them.

Willow: No, probably not, but ... well, they're the bad guys. I'm not a bad guy. (upset) Why are you all attacking me? Spike, Angel, Giles- I know you all love Buffy, so why are you so mad?! I brought Buffy back into this world, a-and maybe the word you should all be looking for is "congratulations."

Giles: Having Buffy back in the world makes me feel... indescribably wonderful, but I wouldn't congratulate you if you jumped off a cliff and happened to survive.

Willow: That's not what I did, Giles.

Giles: (angry) You were lucky.

Willow: I wasn't lucky. I was amazing. And how would you know? You weren't even there.

Giles: If I had been, I'd have bloody well stopped you. The magicks you channeled are more ferocious and primal than anything you can hope to understand, (even more angry) and you are lucky to be alive, you rank, arrogant amateur!

Willow: You're right. The magicks I used are very powerful. I'm very powerful. And maybe it's not such a good idea for you to piss me off.

Everyone in the room stared at Willow, shocked. Tara gasped.

Willow: Come on, Giles, I-I don't want to fight. I ... Let's not, okay? I'll think about what you said, and let's all... try to be happy Buffy's back.

Giles: (quietly) We still don't know where she was ... or what happened to her. And I'm far from convinced she's come out of all this undamaged.

Dawn gasped, and ran upstairs, crying.

"Damn it! Nice goin', Watcher. Look, give Buffy some time; I think she'll be ok. Now, if you'll 'scuse us, we're gonna go to Dawn." Spike took Buffy's hand and led her upstairs.

Giles turned to Anya, now. "If you knew about all of the dangers, why didn't you put a stop to it?"

"I talked to Xander about it. He said he was willing to take whatever risks necessary to get Buffy back. And he said that Willow must know about the dangers 'cause she always does all her research, and she must have decided the risks weren't too high, and he trusted her."

"I see," Giles said. Turning to look at Willow, he pressed on with her. "Look, you must go for training, with a coven I know of in England. Willow, you really don't have much of a choice, here."

"Are you saying you're planning on making me go?" Willow asked stubbornly.

"No," Giles replied testily, "I'm saying that if the Council finds out what you've done, they'll likely have you killed."

His words drew gasps from most of his listeners.

White-faced and trembling now, Willow said softly, "K-killed?"

Giles nodded solemnly. "Yes, Willow, killed. That is how serious the Council would take something of this sort. However, I believe that if you are already studying with the coven when the Council finds out, they won't harm you."

"Could I go, as well?" Tara asked shyly.

"Oh! Oh, goodness, I hadn't thought of that, but... the coven doesn't turn down any who truly want to learn, so yes, I suppose so."

"Ok, we'll go," Willow agreed, squeezing her lover's hand. "When?"

"Immediately. Take with you as much as you can; anything else, I can send along."

"You really think we'll need that much?" Willow questioned.

"Did you miss the part about this being for an 'indefinite amount of time'? Because I truly can't tell you how long you'll be gone. And once you begin your training, you can't leave until the Coven says you can."

Willow and Tara exchanged glances. "I guess we don't have much of a choice," Willow murmured.

"No, we don't... But I think it'll be a good experience for us. I haven't had any training since... since my mother died; it'd be nice to have someone to teach us."

"Very good, then. Go pack; I'll make the necessary transportation arrangements."

"Um... wow. Sudden. But, yeah, ok, we get it... thanks, Giles. Sorry about... what I said earlier," Willow apologized.

The witches made their rounds, hugging everyone (except the possibly dangerous Buffy). Dawn cried, and Spike protested weakly that he wasn't the 'hugging' type - then grabbed them both up in a big bear hug, and whispered, "Red, Glinda, stay safe... I... I'll miss you." He turned and walked away rapidly before they could embarrass him by saying how sweet he was. But what he'd said was the truth, and he wanted them to know how he felt.

The witches left; Spike, Dawn, and Buffy remained upstairs, while down in the living room, only Giles, Anya, and Angel were left.

Of those who'd brought Buffy back, two were exiled for a time, one was nearly insane with rage, and the last was heartbroken. Yes, Giles reflected, perhaps Anya was right; perhaps they were being punished for what they'd done. So be it.

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A/N: So, what did ya think? Did ya like it? Hope the Scoobs got knocked down enough for you.

Thank you again so much for the reviews; I know I say this every chapter, but it's still true - reviews just mean so damn much to me! I'm so glad you guys are enjoying my story, that makes me so happy! :)

Please review!

(Oh, some of the lines were from Flooded; a few I altered a bit)