Warning: Rated T for now, but may change later to M for darker subject matter. There is some darker matter in this chapter, but not too much for M I don't think.

Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel belong to their copyright holders, I own nothing.

Chapter 11: The Split

Xander allowed a few tears to fall, thinking of everything that had happened in such a short amount of time. He tried to wrap his mind around what had actually happened. Buffy came around and fooled them all, at least for a minute there. Then she'd attacked. But…but how? She had a soul, didn't she? Or did Willow's spell not work? Either way, she was angry and attacking them and threatening to kill them eventually and releasing information about Giles and killing another innocent Slayer, Shannon.

After enough time passed for everyone to regain their composure, Xander entered the living room. Giles was cleaning his glasses, appearing nervous. Oz was standing by Willow, nearly comforting her. Tears were falling down her face. Buffy's attack on her really seemed to affect her badly. Dawn seemed to have gone back into a shocked phase, staring off blankly.

"Shannon's dead," Xander said slowly, quietly. There was no need to speak loudly. Everyone was silent anyway. This time they heard him.

They all knew Shannon, except for Oz. She was a nice enough girl, a good fighter. And Buffy had killed her by drinking all of her blood. God, Shannon didn't deserve that.

"I thought her soul was back," Dawn spoke through a clenched jaw, surprising everyone.

Willow wiped a few tears away and sniffled. It felt like crying was all she'd done the last few days. "I-I did. I think. No, I know I did the spell right. Buffy has her soul."

"So what you're saying is it didn't help," Oz concluded.

"It must've changed her in a way we didn't expect," Giles said, putting his glasses back on. "It made her evil. Much eviler than before. She attacked me before, but she hadn't killed anybody. And now…" He sighed.

"Giles…did you let Fred die?" Willow asked. She hated asking it because she knew the consequences. She already knew what the answer was, she suspected. Plus, she wasn't an idiot. Buffy's plan was fairly obvious. She said so many things that clearly she wanted what Giles did revealed. The question was: What did Giles do? Why had he lied to them?

Giles didn't want to come clean. He was tempted to tell them what he told Angel and Spike. But hell, what did it matter anymore? It was time to tell the truth. That was the only thing to do now.

"Not too long ago I got a call from Spike." They asked questions about how Spike was alive, just had Buffy and Dawn did, and when Giles explained he wasn't sure how, they moved on. "Their friend, Winifred, was in danger of dying. Apparently an Old One was inside of her and taking over. I don't know how much any of you know about Old Ones, but I know quite a lot. There is absolutely nothing that could've been done to save her unless they wanted the death of millions. Yet they asked if we over here could research anything, just in case. I…look. You all know Spike and Angel. They've been like-like a plague in Buffy's life, taking over and affecting her decisions. And you know how Spike treated her so horribly. I didn't see it right to bring that back into Buffy's life. I told them we would not help Fred and that they should never call again. I told them Buffy said she didn't want anything to do with them so that the information that they shouldn't call really sank through."

Willow's eyes met Xander's. Both were shocked and trying to gather all the information.

"That wasn't your decision to make," Willow said.

"Well, I made it. But Buffy found out. Angel called and apparently wouldn't hear her side out. We had an argument that night. That was…that was the night she was turned." Giles shook his head, but no one was sure at what exactly.

"I hate Angel and Spike as much as anybody," Xander spoke up, "but you're telling me you blamed Fred's death on Buffy just because of your own grudges with Angel and Spike? Giles, if she didn't want to talk to them, she wouldn't have. And now, because of a stupid argument, she went out and got turned into a vampire?"

"Xander, I-"

"No!" Xander was getting worked up. "Our best friend is a vampire! Not to mention the fact that you lied to us about the truth. Buffy deserved better from you. We all did! But it's too late. She's a vampire, a vampire with a soul at that. But she might as well not be."

"Do you even feel bad?" Willow went on. "The Buffy we know is dead because of this. She's dead because you lied."

"I still stand by my decision," Giles said honestly. "I just wish it had a different outcome."

Willow remembered what Buffy said, that if he was so against Angel and Spike than why wasn't he against her, Oz, and Dawn? "What about me?" Willow asked. "I've affected Buffy's life, not always in the best ways. Should she not have talked to me either?"

Finally, Giles began to look worried. "No, Willow, no. What you're saying is all Buffy. What she said has gotten into your head. We can't allow that."

"Sorry, it's just a little hard to trust you," Xander said sarcastically. "Giles, you lied to Buffy. You lied to Angel and Spike. You lied to us. What if you're still not telling the truth now? We can't rule it out."

"Fred was a good woman," Willow told them, branching off of Xander's words. "Even if there was nothing that could've been done, Angel's friend died and then you told them Buffy let it happen. He must be devastated right now. Has anybody even told them about Buffy?"

"What's done is done," Giles tried to move on. "What we need to focus on now is the present. Buffy's gone. Even with her soul she's…she's taken a turn for the worse."

"Oh, great, what's your genius solution for that?" Xander asked. "More lies?"

"Buffy's my sister," Dawn stopped the back and forth with Giles and Xander/Willow. "There has to be another way to save her."

"But how?" Oz questioned. He really seemed to have just jumped into this situation so normally that it was like he'd been here all along.

Something poked and prodded at the back of Giles's mind. It was unspeakable, unthinkable, and yet there it was. The solution. Only it was a horrid solution that would be sure to cause more controversy over them. They didn't need that right now, anymore. They needed to agree on something before more badness came.

"There is no way," Giles said. "We gave her a soul and it didn't work."

"I thought that was supposed to be a fool-proof system," Willow opinionated. "I mean, it worked with Angel and Spike."

"Apparently different situations. We have to face the truth of this matter."

"And what would that be?" Xander questioned.

"There-there's no hope." Silence followed Giles's words. Was he right? It sounded pessimistic and horrible, but what if it was true? Or was there hope? Both ways, Willow refused to believe there was just nothing they could do, and she knew Xander and Oz and Dawn would feel that way too. At this point, she didn't know what Giles would feel. "We either let her live like she is now with the threat of her looming over our heads for…well, ever," Giles continued. "Or we…we…we rid of the threat."

"Well, we can't kill Buffy," Xander responded immediately. For some reason he thought of Anya. No, there was no way they were going to lose anyone else forever. "So there has to be another way to save her."

"Now wait," Giles stopped him, knowing that once he said what he was going to that there would be no going back. "What else could we possibly do? I'll tell you: Nothing. And you saw Buffy. She killed another Slayer. She'll be back for us."

"Are you seriously suggesting we kill her?" Willow asked.

"I'm suggesting there may not be any other possibility."

"No!" Willow cried. "Buffy wouldn't want us to give up."

"If there's even a little bit of the old Buffy left, she would want us to give up, she'd want us to end her," Giles defended himself. "Remember her worst nightmare? Being a vampire was the nightmare, soul or not. We'd be doing her a favor. It's not like I want to, but we might have to."

"We can't kill her," Dawn said slowly. But deep inside she had to wonder what her sister would truly want. For the moment, anyway, she didn't believe Buffy would want them to just give up.

"Giles, you're out of control!" Xander exploded, the anger of the entire night finally getting to him fully. "First lying, now this?"

"What do you want from me? What do you want to do?"

"We can think of something!" Xander closed his eyes. "I just… I can't even look at you right now, Giles. Gosh, I-I need to get out of here."

"I'll come with you," Willow walked next to Xander and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Me too," Dawn said next.

"Yeah," Oz weighed in. "Me too."

They all looked at Giles with a bit of hope in their eyes as if to say he could still take what he'd said back and be forgiven.

"Fine," Giles said. "Do what you want. But I'm staying. I'm going to do something, do what Buffy would want."

"What do we do about Shannon?" Willow finally posed the question.

"I-I'll call the police," Giles offered. And then there was another call that he'd have to make.

Buffy paced back and forth. A half-empty bottle of holy water sloshed around as she walked around, thinking. She was in a small room with the door closed. The room was generally empty aside from her and the vampire named John, who was tied down to a table in the middle of the room. He was making groaning noises, like he was in pain. Good. Let him be in pain.

"You know, it's nothing personal," Buffy said, stopping in front of the table. John looked up at her with a bit of fear in his eyes. "It's just that if I let you off the hook that easily, they would all look at me as weak. And I'm not weak. In fact, I'm the strongest vampire anyone will ever meet." She began untwisting the bottle to the holy water. "Just don't worry. In a couple hours it'll all be over and then everyone will know I'm the real deal."

"Please don't," John begged. "I-I understand. I'm sorry. I'll follow you, do whatever you want. Please, just stop!"

"No can do," Buffy smiled like it was the easiest thing in the world. She flung the bottle upwards a bit, causing many drops of water to fall onto John's bare skin. He let out many angry yelps of pain. She capped the bottle again. Steam was rising off his body on all the places the holy water touched. Other parts of his skin had burn marks on them that would heal eventually.

"Please!" John screamed this time.

"Fine." Buffy placed the holy water on the ground and grabbed her stake. She neared John. Then she struck him in the chest, as close to his heart as she could get without killing him.

Faster than he could see, Buffy grabbed the holy water, unscrewed the cap, and poured just a little down his throat while he was yelling. Steam started to rise, making him incapable of screaming. He was making a chocking face that made her laugh.

"Come on," she told him, "you can take it. It's not enough to kill you. Although, maybe just a little more and it would've been. Hm. Something to try next time."

Minutes passed until John could finally speak again (and the removal of the stake did help a bit). "I was a fool. I see that now. Please, just let me go. There have to be so many more important things you could be doing right now rather than torture me."

Oh, a reasonable approach, Buffy realized. She chuckled and decided to play along. "And what else could I be doing right now, John?"

"W-well, your friends. Don't you want to go…kill them or something?"

"Yawn. My plan for them is in motion this very moment, and mind you that plan is not to kill them."

"But what about those two vampires, the ones with souls? Angel and Spike."

This was enough to make Buffy pause. Angel and Spike, Angel and Spike. Did they even know that she was a vampire? She doubted Giles told them, but surely by now Willow, Xander, Dawn, and Oz knew that Giles had lied about everything and most likely didn't tell them about her. Well, still, she supposed it was possible they still didn't know. But it mattered a lot, more than she could say. If they didn't know, then she could go have some fun. But if they did, then the element of surprise was gone, and that was what she would've cherished most.

John did have a point, though. Buffy had already begun devising a plan for Angel and Spike. A great plan, she might say so herself. When would be the correct time to go ahead with that plan? While her "friends" in England were now dealing with new revelations and drama, maybe now would be the perfect time to go to Angel and Spike. She could mess with both groups of her "friends," including her ex-lovers.

Oh, jeez. John had actually gotten into her head. Now she was seriously considering going to L.A. because the thought of seeing her ex-lovers was making her excited. She couldn't wait to see the look on their faces.

I can't go yet, she told herself. But then: Why the hell not? I can go wherever I want whenever I want to. My plan for Giles and everyone else is beginning, just getting started. That doesn't mean I should just have to sit around and wait for them to be ready for her to come in and destroy them even further.

"You're right," Buffy said. "I do want to go see them."

"Then-then go. I'm not important."

Buffy grinned, her mind racing faster and faster, the thought of seeing Angel and Spike causing her to become so much more excited. Oh, she wanted to see them, and she wanted to see them soon. She wanted them to see her.

Buffy left John behind in the room. He called out to her for her to untie him or something, but she let him be. He wasn't important now. She needed a plane. She was headed towards L.A.

But first, a few stops.

Once the police were called and they got statements from everybody (they all claimed they had no idea who she was or how she got there) and left, Willow, Xander, Dawn, and Oz left too. The apartment suddenly felt too big and empty for Giles. Maybe he'd been making a bunch of mistakes all along.

No, he couldn't afford to think that way. Just because he and Buffy had an argument didn't automatically make it his fault she got turned into a vampire. She probably would've gone out patrolling that night anyway and turned into a vampire. He grabbed a drink to calm himself down and try to relax just a little bit. Then he went and picked up the phone. There were other people who would understand, who would know they had no choice. Giles wished there was another option, but there was none. They had to kill Buffy. He was just doing what he believed she would want.

He dialed and then waited.

"Hello?" Faith answered the phone.

"Faith. Where is Kennedy? And Wesley?"

"Doing a little book work, I think. Wes wants to teach Kennedy about all the demons and such. I think Ken's more focused on the fighting part, though, so she's not enjoying it. Why?"

"I need you to come to England," Giles told her. "Buffy… Faith, there's nothing left but pure evil."

"No. You're saying we have to take out Buffy?" Faith did sound sad and distraught.

"I'm afraid there's no other option. I figured if anybody could get the job done, it'd be you and Kennedy."

"Yeah, we'll be there as soon as possible," Faith said hurriedly and then hung up.

Unfortunately for them, Buffy had plenty of resources, thanks to Vamp Master's previous reign. She was already in a plane with windows made out of glass similar to the ones at Wolfram & Hart—sunlight wouldn't affect her in here. So, as they got ready to come to England and as the other group planned to find a way to save Buffy, they had no idea she was already long gone. It was okay, though. She'd be back. She just wasn't sure of when. And for now, she wasn't headed to L.A. just yet. There was one stop she had to make first. France.

The Slayer named Vi brushed her red hair, getting ready for bed. It'd been an excruciatingly long day, doing at that slaying and stuff. She was in charge of a small group of Slayers who just dealt with demonic activity in this little area of the world.

A doorbell rang, causing Vi to jump and flinch and accidentally hit herself in the head with her hairbrush. She laughed it off stupidly. The doorbell was just so loud in this seemingly dead of night. And who would be here, anyway? It wasn't like she was expecting anyone. Maybe there was some big news, some dangerous activity going on.

She hurried down out of her room and down the stairs to the front door. Vi flung it open and found someone standing on her doorstep she would've never expected to see.

"Buffy," Vi said excitedly. It was great to see her! But also, if she was here, that probably meant bad news; like a world-ending apocalypse or something. Buffy was, after all, pretty much the "leader" of all the Slayers, so to speak. Plus, she had no idea about Buffy being a vampire.

"Vi," Buffy smiled. "Well, what are we doing, standing out here? Aren't you going to invite me in?"