There's a story on Twisting the Hellmouth, unfinished, with a fascinating concept. Minus the sadomasochistic elements in the story, it's basically this, a group of families, the Legacy families, are well aware of what Mayor Wilkins is doing and colluding with him. These families include the Chases, the Harris' and the McNally's. Xander's dusting of Jesse is more to keep secrets then to destroy what's left of his best friend. I don't copy people's stories, but I do sometimes get inspiration from them.

This story will start with several families being aware of what's really going on in Sunnydale, but instead of helping Mayor Wilkins, they're going to be fighting him. Quietly, behind the scenes. Every episode, up until Wilkins is finally destroyed will be looked at from the perspective of these people and how their fighting this war. And the Slayer and later, the Slayer(s), will each play a role in this fight. It's not what you think, in the case of both Buffy and Faith. And yes, as I'm sure you're already aware, some of the Scoobies will be aware as well. Which will put a whole new spin on each episode. The episode itself will mostly be the way it is in canon, it's the behind the scenes that's going to show you why the episode happened that way.

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A group of five families, the Chases, Charles and Madelyn, their daughter Cordelia, sixteen, the Harris', Tony and Jessica, their son Alexander, known as Xander, soon to be sixteen, the McNally's, James and Margaret, their son Jesse, sixteen, Coral Maxwell and her daughter Aura, also sixteen and the Levinson's, Joshua and Mary and their son, Johnathan, also sixteen gathered in the Chases manor house. This was the latest meeting of a group of people who had been quietly fighting a war since they themselves were teenagers. It had been a silent war against the vampires and demons that haunted their town. They had raised their children in the knowledge of the truth of Sunnydale and this on going war.

"It's done." Charles Chase announced to the group. "Joyce Summers, mother of the current Slayer, Buffy Summers, has bought the space I offered her to open an art gallery here in Sunnydale. By mid January, they will be here. Our contact in the Watchers Council has confirmed that the Watchers are aware of it as well. They will be stationing a Watcher here by mid December, he'll make contact with the Slayer and begin guiding her. Xander, are you prepared to try to get close to her?"

"Yeah, I'll do it. She's not my type, but if it keeps her distracted, I'll do what I need to."

"I'll make it up to you." Cordelia said with smirk. "Just think of me when you kiss her."

"Works for me." Xander grinned at her, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"We don't have much time." Charles Chase said. "We can't get to Wilkins directly, he's too well guarded magically. But if the Slayer can keep him sufficiently distracted, we can still make little moves against him. We can weaken him slowly and then hopefully destroy him."

"We know he's planning something big for the centennial in two and half years." Madelyn said. "That's how long we have to make this work. And given that we can only do small things and must work slowly and carefully to avoid him realizing what's happening, it may take that entire time to weaken him enough to stop him."

"If only we knew what he was planning." Tony said. "It would make it so much easier to plan and fight if we knew what he was doing."

"Unfortunately we've never been able to get anyone on the inside." Jessica reminded him. "If we get an opportunity to get someone in there, we have to take it."

"Agreed." Mary Levinson said. "But for now we stick to the plan. We use the Slayer to distract him and Xander to distract the Slayer. And we work to weaken his support and his protections."

Mid December a new librarian arrived at the school. Rupert Giles, formerly of the British Museum, set up shop in the library and patiently waited for the Slayer, Buffy Summers. Johnathan Levinson spent time in the library, quietly familiarizing himself with the books of demon lore the Watcher had brought with him. It was an impressive collection.

Mid January, Buffy Summers arrived. Xander was trying out his new skateboard when he spotted her. He was a little distracted. 'She's alot shorter then I thought she'd be. Man, she's gonna give me a krink in my neck.' He wasn't paying as much attention as he should have been and ran into the railing. 'Pay attention!' He scolded himself. 'There's alot riding on this.' He spotted Willow, an old friend and needing an excuse to be in the library when the Slayer got directed there, asked Willow to help him with math.

"You'll need Theories in Trig. You should check it out."

"Check it out?"

"From the Library, where the books live."

"Sure, see I want to change." No actually, he thought, I just have to pretend I do. He headed to the library and not seeing the new librarian, headed into the stacks, looking for the book. He was aware of the moment Buffy Summers came into the library, after being directed there by Cordelia, and heard the entire conversation between her and the new Watcher. 'Interesting, she doesn't want to be the Slayer. Maybe there's a way I can use that. Encourage her to do fun things, it might be the way I can ask her out.'

Later, in the hall, he pretended to run into her. It allowed him to place a magical tracker on her and pick a stake out of her bag. It would give him an excuse to talk to her later and now they would know where she was at all times. It would help keep her alive, long enough to finally deal with Mayor Richard Wilkins the I, II and III.