"You said being a higher being could manifest in a different way." General Higgins continued. "Besides the possibility of reviving one's self from death. You did know Buffy shouldn't have retained her strength after being revived. Setting her up to go after the Master and die and revive on her own would prove she was the Slayer in the Twilight prophecy, but she revived because Corporal Harris revived her with CPR, which you knew. She retained her strength though and you knew she shouldn't have, unless there was an another reason. You assumed that reason was related to the prophecy, to your belief that she was a higher power. You didn't know at the time that she'd died in a mystical prison. Two Slayers, awful tempting for the Watchers Council to make more and here supposedly was proof that it was entirely possible, yet they apparently didn't even try. Aaron tells me there are magical ways to revive someone. Willow Rosenberg not only resurrected Buffy Summers, she magically revived her after she flatlined when she was shot. Which means the Watchers Council, who well know Magic exists, had centuries to experiment with the possibility of multiple Slayers. If they're so heartless they'd conceive of, let alone enact the Cruciementum, they're equally capable of killing and magically reviving Slayers in an attempt to have multiple Slayers to supposedly fight evil with. You may well have assumed the reason Buffy retained her strength was because she was a higher being but the Council didn't. The Watcher Council didn't research the prophecy until after the incident where Angel was poisoned by Faith so they definitely didn't connect her retaining her strength to any prophecy. We haven't found anything yet that explains why the Council personally thought she retained it, but we're optimistic."
"You tell an interesting story, General." Giles said. "But you have no proof I thought Buffy was the Slayer from the prophecy."
"No, you're right, I don't. What I have is proof that you abused your charges, all of them, mentally and emotionally. Especially Buffy and Faith. You made Buffy dependant on you emotionally and abandoned Faith. You allowed Buffy to be in an emotionally and mentally abusive relationship as an underage teenager. Angel's behavior is classic grooming. You forced her into combat knowing she was compromised. You made her insensitive to the deaths of humans, humans that died because of her choices. I can't prove you used a memory charm on Hank Summers and I can't prove you 'discouraged' Mrs. Summers somehow from not objecting to her underage daughter being involved with that vampire, a crime for both Buffy and Angel."
"I don't believe you actually have proof." Giles protested smoothly. "None that would stand up in a court of law anyway. You have the debriefings done by the survivors of Sunnydale. Willow Rosenberg is dead and was an addict who tried to end the world. Buffy Summers is currently institutionalized and has spent time being treated for a mental condition prior to coming to Sunnydale. Dawn is a child who knows little about the particulars. Angel and Spike have both been destroyed. Who else is there that could testify against me?"
"The one you ignored, both in High School and over the last four years. Granted he wasn't actually in Sunnydale for the last four years, the Echo was and he's ceased to be. But Corporal Harris can certainly testify to the events that occured in High School."
"A jealous boy?" Giles scoffed.
"A decorated soldier with an exemplary record." The General replied. "A happily married man with a child and then there's Faith, who can testify that you were placed in charge of her care and abandoned her, a traumatized teenager to the streets of Sunnydale, a city with a horrifyingly violent past."
"She's spent time in jail for murder."
"Her conviction's already been overturned, the psychologist's report was very thorough and your actions and lack of actions contributed heavily to her breakdown. Aaron asked you why you thought Buffy's supposed idea to activate all of the Potentials simultaneously worldwide was bloody brilliant and your explanation didn't make any sense, especially since you had to know the ages of the Potentials. You knew they would die, even if you didn't know the First wanted them to die for its own reasons and it would be one more thing that would tear Buffy down and make her someone capable of destroying the world, especially if it led to exposure. That many Slayers, demons and vampires going after them and everyone around them, we're working hard to keep the lid on it now and they were only active for half a day. You set them up to die, just like you did Buffy."
"You still haven't explained why I would assume Buffy was the subject of the prophecy."
"A vampire came into her life at the same you, someone obsessed with the prophecy did. A vampire who claimed he had a soul, you could have hardly missed their interest in each other and the prophecy spoke of both a Slayer and vampire being involved, both with each other and the prophecy. And you wanted to be the one who guided the Slayer who become a god. But first you had to destroy her, so she'd want to destroy the world."