"Okay" Buffy said, "How do we get them out?"
"I'm not sure that we can." Willow told her.
"What?! But you just said…"
"I said that they were in hell. I didn't say that there was anything we could do about it. As far as I know they are in that dimension because the Senior Partners want them there. There is a really good chance that the only way they are getting out of hell, is if the Senior Partners let them out." Willow explained. "Besides, It's one thing to break one person out of hell, but this time we are talking about millions."
"…and were not going to just save your vampire lovers and their friends." Robin added.
"Shut up Robin! You have no IDEA what you are talking about." Faith said surprising everyone. It was exactly the type of thing they had all expected Buffy to say. "Angel was the one person in my life who never gave up on me. He is reason why I am here today. I owe him my life… my sanity… and that isn't something that you can ever repay. I don't really know Spike, but he seemed like a nice enough guy. The things he's done for B here I don't blame her for trusting him. You don't know either of them, and you don't understand what they've done for me, B, us… and the world." Everyone was surprised by Faith's speech, but in the end they knew what she meant. Buffy looked at Faith with understanding in her eyes, as if to say, "thank you".
"Faith, Buffy, they were my friends too, and I will do whatever I can to get them back… to get all the people of Los Angeles back." Willow told them. "In fact we should all make a point to find out what happened there and how to fix it… and before any of you say anything else…" Willow said looking across the table at Robin, Xander, and Giles. "This isn't just about Angel, Spike, and their friends… this is about saving an entire city… millions of people from eternal damnation."
"so… where do we start?" Buffy asked her friend.
"With research… lots and lots of research…" Giles told her. " I think that much is obvious. Willow is right. We have to save these people."
"Giles, The man I spoke to in Rome told me about some kind of prophecy about Angel. Do you know what he was talking about?" Willow asked him.
Giles sighed, " I don't know… I've heard things… from terribly unreliable sources mind you… There is supposedly a prophecy about a vampire with a soul playing a major role in the apocalypse." Everyone looked at Giles expectantly. "Rumor has it that it hasn't been decided which side, good or evil, the vampire is going to help."
"It'll be for good." Buffy said with certainty. Xander and Robin stared her down from across the table, making it clear that they did not agree with her assumption.
"That's not all…" Giles said, "The prophecy says that if the vampire should avert the apocalypse and save the world then he will become human."
"What?!" They all asked at the same time.
"Uh Giles?" Willow asked.
"Yes Willow."
"Which vampire with a soul?" It was a question some of them had been thinking, and the others had forgotten, but it was an important question, and the whole room was held at attention. "There… There are two of them now, you know?"
"I am aware of that Willow, but the fact of the matter is that I just don't know. I am assuming that for years many people assumed that the prophecy was about Angel. After all he has had a soul for over a hundred years now, except for that period in Sunnydale… but now… now there are two of them, and there is no way of knowing which vampire it refers too, or if it refers to both… I just don't know." Giles looked defeated. As soon as he had mentioned this part of the prophecy something in Buffy seemed to wake up. He didn't know why… well he had an idea why, but he didn't know which vampire she was hoping would fulfill the prophecy. He wished he could give her the answer that she wanted, not matter which one it was, because he just wanted to see her happy again. She had been so closed off now for so long… he just didn't care anymore if she needed a vampire to make her happy. He just wanted her to be happy.
"However, as I said before, the sources I received this information from were extremely unreliable." Giles warned.
"Well that at least clears one thing up." Willow said happily.
"What do you mean?" Buffy asked her,
"The man I spoke to in Rome talked about how the Senior Partners would probably be keeping Angel alive in the hell dimension. He told me that the Senior Partners thought that they needed Angel." Willow explained. "I knew Angel was special, with a soul and all, and I knew that when he was evil… well let's just say he is REALLY evil… but I couldn't figure out why some all powerful evil beings would think that they need a vampire… no matter who he is… but now I get it. They read the prophecy. Assumed it was about Angel, and they are holding him in hell until the time comes when they need him to fulfill the prophecy. At that point they hope that they have done enough to either corrupt him or make him go completely nuts so that he'll end the world… and just for good measure they grabbed Spike and dragged him into hell to just to be on the safe side."
"Yes Willow. That makes sense." Giles agreed with her, "it also explains why a multi-dimensional EVIL corporation, would want to keep the first from succeeding in Sunnydale. They used that amulet to get both vampires under their control. They don't want anything to mess with their plan."
"So" Robin interjected hoping to be the voice of reason. "Now that we know what happened in LA, why it happened, and that were going to try and fix it, What are we going to tell those girls out there who lost their friends and family?"
"Robin has a point." Xander added before anyone else could speak up. "Getting LA out of hell isn't going to be easy. It's going to take all of us, and we can't ask these girls to fight… maybe die… without telling them what they are fighting for, and why they have to be fighting at all."
"We are going to tell them that the people of LA need saving, and that we are going to do just that." Buffy ordered.
" No Buffy. If they are going to know, then they need to know everything. We won't be able to hide the fact that all those people are in a hell dimension, and they are going to want to know why… and you're going to tell them. They deserve to know." Xander replied angrily. He knew that Buffy wasn't going to want to tell the other Slayers what had gone down in LA, but while she had been locked in her room he had been comforting all the girls who had lost their friends and families in LA. He knew that if it had been his friends and family he would want to know the truth. He also knew that if it were Buffy's friends and family she too would want to know the truth.
"Fine. We'll tell them, but since we don't exactly have ALL the facts we aren't going to go making things up." Buffy said as she got up and began to leave the room.
"Where are you going Buffy?" Xander inquired.
"I'm going to go tell them myself. Now. I know that if it were my family and friends that were in hell I would want to know what was going on. I would feel better knowing there was something I could do about it… something I would do about it. I am going to give them that." Xander didn't know, but Buffy had been watching him and the other slayers after the announcement. She knew how hard it had been for them. She also knew what it was like to loose the people that she loved. She wanted to do what she could for those girls. She was, like it or not, their leader… their role model, and It was time for her to step up and act like it.