"Giles. You have a lot of explaining to do." Willow said to her friend. Giles, Faith, Willow, Xander, Dawn, Robin, Buffy, and Andrew were all sitting around a table. Dawn had been people sized for officially two days now. Once Willow had figured out what had happened it was simply a matter of reversing the magics that had been put on her. She seemed to be doing a lot better ever since she went back to her normal size. Giles and Faith had arrived earlier that day after hearing about the "helL A" incident as it had been dubbed. Robin and Andrew had arrived not long after that. Willow had just flown back from Rome after learning what had taken place in LA. Well at least part of it. The tension in that room could be cut with a knife. It was clear that there were some disagreements about what had been going on over the past few months. This was the first time that the whole group had met together in months. They would have been happy to see one another, but so much had changed in the past year. Misunderstandings had occurred. Friends had been betrayed. It was a long year.
"I'm not exactly sure what you expect me to explain Willow. You certainly know more about what happened than I do." Giles responded. "If anyone would have known what was going on or was going to happen, it would be you."
"You may not know WHAT happened… but I have a feeling you know WHY it happened, and your not getting off the hook this time. You are going to explain to EVERYONE why we didn't hear about this in advance." Willow was starting to get angry now. She knew full well that Giles had an idea of what had been going on in LA. There was no way that he didn't After all, he had been the one who had sent Andrew to LA to retrieve Dana. He had been the one to tell Andrew that Angel and his friends were not to be trusted.
"Willow, What happened in LA is a perfect example of why I did what I did. They were not to be trusted, and clearly… if what happened in LA is not a perfect example of this then I don't know what possibly could be… evil!" Giles responded. "For starters, Angel knew full well what Wolfram and Hart is and yet he joined up with them. Also you have to take into the account that they were clearly hiding Spike from us for the past few months. If they were so trustworthy why didn't we have any idea that Spike was alive?"
"What?! Spike is alive?!" Buffy gasped. She looked completely shocked. She had no idea whatsoever that Spike had been alive all this time. Why hadn't anyone told her? Why hadn't HE told her? Why hadn't he come to her? "Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't I know this?" Buffy asked
"He told me he wanted to keep it a secret." Andrew said. He sounded ashamed and sad.
"What did he do that for? He knew that we would want to see him, and know that he's all right. " Dawn pointed out. She looked almost as confused and hurt as Buffy. Spike may have been a vampire, and he may not have always been good, but he was her friend, and he had helped her and Buffy in ways that no one else could really understand. She cared almost as much for the blond vampire as her sister.
"I'm no sure…" Andrew replied. "At first, I think he just wanted you to have a normal life Buffy. I guess he figured that you would have moved on, and he didn't want to disrupt that. Later on though… well… He and Angel both thought that you had moved on… that you loved someone new… the Immortal."
"You told them WHAT?!" Buffy was really upset now. She had known about her double in Rome, and she had know that her double was publicly dating the Immortal, but she hadn't thought that Spike or Angel would have known about it. I guess I should have assumed that they would think that was me. She thought to herself. But then she thought WHY would they assume that was me? They both know me! "How did they even know I was dating the Immortal? They were half way across the world!"
"A couple of weeks ago… they… they both… they both came to Rome. To visit… to visit you. They were worried about you. Angel… Angel had found out that you were dating the Immortal. I think… I think they wanted to… save you from him." Buffy could tell that Andrew was afraid of her, and he should be. Buffy was really angry now.
"Why didn't you tell them? Why didn't you tell them that that wasn't me? Why did you let them think… think that I had moved on? Why did you let them think that I was in love with someone else?"
"Because I told him to." Giles added. "As I've said before, and I'll say again, they were not to be trusted…"
"And tell me again Giles. Tell me why I trust YOU!" Buffy asked him. "You don't know if they were evil. You didn't really know what was going on. Did you even know Spike was alive? You didn't even give them the benefit of the doubt. They've both… they've both fought by our sides and helped us for years. Not just Angel and Spike either, Wesley, Cordelia, they've helped too. Where do you get off telling us… deciding for us not to trust them when you don't even know the whole story?!"
"Buffy, You don't understand. Wolfram and Hart isn't just an ordinary law firm. Hell! It's not just an ordinary evil. They have power. They have power the like of which only the first can compare to. In fact they have MORE power than the first. They're more dangerous. Messing with wolfram and Hart is like playing with fire. I don't care how many times Spike or Angel or even Wesley for that matter have helped us. It doesn't matter. You don't mess with Wolfram and Hart. If you do, you get what happened in LA. Do you want that Buffy? Do you want another LA?" Everyone in the room could tell the Giles was getting angry. He was sick and tired of everyone questioning his judgment. They had no right. He had made a call. A call that at the time was the right one. He knew in his heart that no matter what anyone said, it was for the best.
"No…" Buffy said defeated.
"I've dealt with Wolfram and Hart before, and they are definitely scary." Faith said. "The first time I visited Angel in LA, before I went to prison… They tried to hire me to kill Angel. They were pretty desperate to get to him. They knew who I was… WHAT I was, and they tried to use it to their advantage. They wanted him dead… or worse evil, and they knew everything. They even knew about you, B." Buffy looked surprised.
"I'm the slayer. Of course the knew about me." She responded, but she didn't need to ask to know that that wasn't what Faith had been referring to. She knew what Fait had meant. She knew that Faith was referring to the time that Angel had lost his soul… because of her.
"Enough." Willow interjected. "It's over now. Now we just have to figure out what happened, and what we can do to help." Everyone in the whole room turned and looked at the red head. "I guess I should start explaining now… I don't know the whole story yet, I'm still working on it but this is what I know: Angel wasn't evil. He was trying very hard to convince the Senior Partners and everyone at Wolfram and Hart that he was, and he was doing a good job of it, but he wasn't. He needed them… he needed the world to think that he was evil so that he could take out the Circle of the Black Thorn. And before any of you ask what that is let me explain. The Circle of the Black Thorn was a secret society here on earth whose job was to help the Senior Partners keep their hold on this dimension. In order to do this, they needed to keep certain people… like you Buffy, Angel, and Spike busy. They did this by creating chaos… creating apocalypses."
"What do you mean… apocalypses?" Buffy asked
"I mean exactly what it sounds like I mean. I mean that everything that has been thrown at you… at us… for the past eight years… for the most part has been sent by them. Somehow. The Master, Angelus, Spike, Drusilla, The Mayor, Adam, Glory, Warren, The First, and…"
"you?" Buffy asked looking at her friend. How could this be? How could there be one organization responsible for all of her suffering for the last eight years? How was that even possible? Why hadn't she known about this? How long had Angel known? And if he had know, Why hadn't he told her? A million questions were racing through her mind at once.
"yes. Me. I don't have any idea how they are responsible, but they claim that they are, and well… I'm not disinclined to believe them. I'm sure you can probably imagine now why Angel would want to take them out… but there was only one way to do it… From the inside. Angel needed the world to think that he was evil so that he could join the Circle of the Black Thorn, And from what I understand he did a pretty good job of convincing people that he was evil. Rumor has it that even his friends thought that he had gone over to the other side… so I guess Giles can't entirely be blamed for not trusting them… but the important part is that it worked. The only way for Angel to know for sure who the members of the Circle of the Black Thorn were was to join the group himself. Which he did… and the preceded to kill each and everyone of them… Which as you can imagine did not make the Senior Partners of Wolfram and Hart very happy."
"So that whole incident in LA… That was just their retaliation? That was there punishment?" Xander asked. He was really pissed at Angel now. All those people… All those people who died, or lost there love ones… all because Angel wanted to take out some evil secret society?
"Yes. And No. After Angel killed all of the members of the Circle of the Black Thorn the Senior Partners began to loose their hold on this dimension. That's why all the Wolfram and Hart branches have been closing and their stock has been plummeting. In a last ditch effort to regain control they sucked the entire city of Los Angeles, along with everyone in it, into a hell dimension. There they could hold Angel and his friends with out them making trouble, while the senior partners worked to regain their hold in this dimension."
"So they're in hell?" Buffy asked. "You mean, they're not dead?" All of a sudden Buffy just started laughing. Laughing so hard she almost fell out of her chair. "Hell?" she giggled. "Of course they're in hell! Where else would they be?!" Everyone was looking at Buffy as if she was loosing her mind. "Don't you get it? They're in hell! Come on guys. Think! It's Angel and Spike we are talking about. They're like hell magnates. If there were a way to get to hell the two of them would find it. This is at least the second trip there for both of them." Buffy continued to laugh.
"Third" Willow cut in.
"What?" Buffy asked between giggles.
"I said third. This is the third time that Angels been to hell." She smiled at her friend and then started to laugh herself. Typical. She thought. Of course. It would make sense that Angel of all people would end up in yet ANOTHER hell dimension. It was pretty funny if you though about it. Even the others started to laugh now. They all began to realize just how ironic it all was in the end. Everyone except Robin that is.
"I don't know what the hell you all think is so AMUSING! But need I remind you that your quote on quote friends got an entire city sucked into hell along with them." Robin pointed out angrily. The laughing stopped.
"Okay…" Buffy said trying to regain her composure. "How do we get them out?"