Quentin Travers did not want to be in the colonies, let alone in this benighted city. But the only clue the Watchers Council had to the current crisis was that utter failure of a Cruciamentum in which those brats had told him that vampires weren't allowed in Sunnydale. At the time, Mr. Giles failure to properly prepare his Slayer for her Cruciamentum had been of more interest then a group of misbegotten teenagers who had somehow found out about the vampire they had brought with them and destroyed it before the Slayer could be made to face it. But now their odd behavior was part of why he was once again in Sunnydale, California and knocking on that disgrace of a Watcher's door.

"Quentin? What are you doing in Sunnydale?" Giles was certainly not expecting Quentin Travers to ever knock on his door, but here he was, doing just that.

"I'm not surprised you seem unaware of the current crisis given your failure as a Watcher. But the Council needs answers and our seers say the answers are here, so I am here to get those answers."

"If you're referring to the current shakiness of the global economy, I believe the collapse of a number of business had a great deal to do with that."

"That is part of it. How or why the United States government came to declare Wolfram and Hart suspected domestic terrorists and supporters of terrorists, let alone succeeded in destroying them without that cabal of demons being able to muster a response, is worrisome, but I am referring to the fact that vampires seemed to have simply disappeared and we can not figure out how."

"Oh that I can answer, humans figured out a way to destroy them, worldwide."

Quentin stared at the lunatic in front of him.

"There is no way they could have done that, Mr. Giles."

"What exactly did your seers say, Quentin?"

"That warriors of a forgotten age were brought forth in Sunnydale to lead the world out of the darkness."

"Well that's true enough."

"Who are these warriors? How are they leading humans out of darkness? How were they brought forth? When last I was here, those teenagers you allowed the Slayers to fraternize with somehow knew we had a vampire contained in that house. They stated, there were no more gangs of vampires in Sunnydale. How is that possible?"

"Nearly four years ago, Ethan Rayne played his idea of a Halloween prank on the people of Sunnydale. He enacted a ritual and channeled the power of a god. Since gods can only come in when invited, said god did indeed call forth two warriors of a forgotten age and yes, they are leading humans out of the darkness."

"And you did not report this to the Watchers Council? Why?"

"You would have tried to stop them."

"The Council fights evil, Mr. Giles. That is how it has always been."

"The Council has never fought evil, the Council has allowed evil to flourish. It has been brought to my attention that humans could have destroyed vampires themselves when the ages of Enlightenment and Industry began, but the Watchers Council betrayed humanity by making them forget they even existed."

"How dare you say that! After everything we have sacrificed in our fight?"

"All you have sacrificed is the broken lives of little girls, an endless stream of them."

"It is their sacred duty to protect humanity, it is why the gods created them."

"It has also been brought to my attention that the gods did not create them, cowardly humans did and lied about it being the will of the gods. A lie the Watchers Council perpetrates in order remain in power."

"Mr. Giles, I do not know what lunacy leads you to believe any of that is remotely true - ."

"You have not bothered to ask which god."

"Excuse me?"

"Ethan called on a specific god for his ritual, you have not asked which god."

"Which benighted god is responsible for this mess?"

"Janus."

"Janus? One of the oldest, most powerful gods? Protector of gates and transitions, among other things? Why would he agree to allow his power to be used in such a manner?"

"The old gods can only come in when invited, Quentin. You know that. In all the stories of the Slayer, no where is it mentioned that a god was ever invited, either to create them or to guide them or even to look after them in the after life. So if no god was invited to create them, but a god was invited who brought forth the warriors who are destroying the enemy they were supposedly created to fight, does that not suggest to you that nothing about the Slayers is sanctioned by the gods? Including the Watchers Council and their horrifying methods of controlling the Slayer? Face it Quentin, you're irrelevant and always have been. The Council's attempts to maintain their power over the Slayer and their betrayal of the humans who died in ignorance because of its attempts to remain in power have condemned the Council to the same fate as Wolfram and Hart. Oblivion."

"Sooner or later, there will be more vampires. They may have succeeded in destroying the ones currently existing but the Hellmouths will ensure the creation of more."

"Which is why they also found out how to close them. All of them, worldwide. Hellmouths are gates Quentin and the god of gates brought forth the warriors leading this fight. Finding out how to close the Hellmouths was therefore, inevitable. The Janus gate is closed in times of peace and open in times of war. Peace is coming and that ritual Ethan enacted was the start of it."

"And what of the Slayers? What role will they have in this peace?"

"The freedom to choose because they will no longer be Slayers. With no Slayer for the Council to use and control and enemies of humanity for you to sacrifice them to, they too, will be unnecessary."