Giles called a meeting of all the people currently living in Buffy's house, the Potentials, Faith, Dawn and Buffy herself. Anya and Andrew were also there, Andrew because no one knew what to do with him and Anya because she didn't know what to do with herself.
"Attention everyone, please." Giles said. "I have several things I need to go over with you all and this could take awhile. First off, on the matter of Willow. It's been determined that she is not a mutant nor is she possessed. Willow has a second personality. Both personalities have caused considerable damage. Willow has confessed to her crimes and is being transferred to the Vault, a high security prison for dangerous and powerful people, usually mutants who require special handling, so that they can't use their abilities to escape or influence people."
"But Willow's powers have been stripped, why would they send her there?" Buffy asked.
"Because while her power has been stripped, her knowledge of spells have not." Giles replied. "She needs to be secured in a manner that means others couldn't exploit her knowledge. Her ability to use Magic has been bound and the Vault has a psychiatric wing, she will be incarcerated there while they attempt to integrate her second personality into a cohesive whole. Once that's done she will be moved to a regular cell in the Vault, until a court date can be arranged to sentence her. Said sentencing will only be for her crimes committed in the United States. Since she's likely to be sentenced to either life in the Vault or death, that means crimes she's responsible for in other countries, the deaths of the Watchers and Potentials killed in those countries, will likely be sentenced pro forma."
"Pro forma?" One of the girls asked.
"They want convictions on record in case she ever escapes or is released for some reason, then they can legally move to incarcerate her themselves." He answered.
"But Dark Willow did the killing or at least recruited people to do the killing." Buffy said. "Why is Willow paying for it?"
"Because Dark Willow is Willow, Buffy. She's apart of Willow, herself. Willow is one person, so regardless of how many personalities she might have, the whole person is held accountable. It might seem unfair, but at the same time, Willow was aware of Dark Willow's existence and did nothing about her. She never sought treatment herself for her condition. Therefore, she's as responsible as Dark Willow is."
"So Willow's never coming back?" Buffy asked.
"Unlikely. I'm sorry, Buffy." Giles told her. "But this is how it must be. We could have gotten her help if we'd known about Dark Willow sooner, but Willow never revealed her existence to us. And before you ask, no. You will not be allowed to visit her. At least not for a long time."
"What about Xander and Cordelia?" Dawn asked.
"Both are mutants." Giles confirmed. "And unusual ones at that. It seems someone made them to be mutants on purpose, by manufacturing custom DNA helixes for them. And perhaps as many as thirty total other people in Sunnydale may also have been manufactured this way. The Xavier Institute is investigating and when I know more, I will let you know."
"What does manufactured DNA mean, Giles?" Faith asked.
"It means they both have multiple genetic parents. And the parents who raised them are not genetically related to them. Something they didn't know."
"Oh." Faith said, she wasn't stupid. "They were tricked somehow."
"Yes and as I said, the Xavier Institute is investigating."
"Are Xander and Cordelia going to be coming back to Sunnydale?" Dawn asked.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, they're on their way now and should be arriving tomorrow. At least one of the X Men teams will be returning with them."
"Why?" Buffy asked.
"Because I've asked the Xavier Institute to help with locating Potentials and training them. They've decided to make Sunnydale the base of operations for what is essentially the new Watchers Council, though it will not be called that. Those of you who have family to go home to, will be assigned Watchers to oversee your training at home. The rest of you, a facility will be built here in Sunnydale to house, educate and train you. You will not be trained in the traditional Watchers methods. Charles Xavier is very clear on this. He will help us on his terms. Which means different training methods, up to date weapons and no more isolation."
"What does up to date weapons mean?" Buffy asked.
"It means no more stakes." Kennedy told her. "It means real weapons and not having to get up close and personal with something that wants to take a chunk out of our necks."
"If we'd had a real weapon when Buffy locked us in a crypt with a vampire instead of just one stake between us, we wouldn't have come so close to dying." Rona said. "Still not sure how we didn't."
"That was a training exercise." Buffy protested.
"Face it B, it was a stupid one." Faith said.
"Kind of like the Watchers Council and the Cruciamentum." Dawn added.
Buffy gaped at Dawn and the glaring girls around her. "You're comparing it to that?!"
"Dawn told us about the Cruciamentum." Amanda told her. "They suppressed your power and sent you up against a vampire. We had no power and you sent us up against a vampire. It's definitely comparable. I'm looking forward to the new methods, I've never heard of the X Men having training methods that nearly get people killed."