I can definitely see the logic behind this, even though I've always understood exactly why they did that. After all, Buffy died by jumping into a portal opened by a hell-goddess into her home dimension. Under those circumstances, I would also have assumed that she was trapped in that hell dimension, and it wasn't like Giles was around to set them straight.

Still, it's an interesting take on the subject, and well handled.

I'm not sure if you're asking for help figuring out who the sniper is, but if you are, since performing the soul restoration spell could not be considered good, maybe the sniper is affiliated with the Vatican? A Van Helsing, maybe, who transferred to UC Sunnydale with their help to assess the situation after the Glory fiasco and discovered what Willow was up to regarding Buffy?

Yes! I have never understood how performing that spell could in any way be conscrued as a good thing. Good job!

You may ask who the narrator was.

Well, if the Council had given enough of a damn to notice events after 'The Gift', it would be one of their hitters. And he would have felt utterly justified.

I love your stories. your one of my fav writers right up there with crazydan. I would love to see a ncis or harry potter cross from you some time to see what you would write.

Damn I'm up there with crazydan! Thanks!!

I tried a x-over with NCIS and it was bad. I can't write Gibbs at all.

Actually. When I read the part about the sniper being a student, my first thought went to the student who was going to use a rifle in canon.

Do you remember the ending of the episode when Buffy got telepathy.

What if he wasn't going to use it on himself after all.

Never got to see the esp. Around then I moved to a place that didn't have cable or a satilite. Never rented the DVD either. I should do that someday.

Well written - I also first wondered if the sniper was Xander. I can see a more soldier-influenced Xander taking her out because of her slide to the dark side rather than letting her do more harm but I decided he wouldn't take money for it, or be as outraged as the sniper appeared to be for Liam's soul. He was against resouling Angel, mostly because people were dying as they kept trying to 'save' the vamp instead of staking him. I ended up finally deciding (because of mention of the money), that Spike caught wind of the plan to ressurrect Buffy and hired a Terakan to stop Willow (he'd resorted to them before, and the others wouldn't/couldn't proceed without her).

It is only the will of whatever deity you believe in that can determine if a soul can come back to earth again.

Then she didn't do anything wrong since she succeeded.

While the diety the Kalderash clan worship might agree to it, doesn't mean the diety Liam worshipped agreed to it.

Yikes! Yeah, that's dark. Course, I have to wonder who was the one who hired the sniper or told him/her about Willow's plan to resurrect Buffy. Maybe it was one of the Council's wetworks guys who saw that she was trying to get the Urn of Osiris and guessed her intentions.

EDIT: Or Edward from Anita Blake or one of the hunters from Supernatural - especially Gordon Walker. They aren't especially concerned about fairness. You gave me chills with the Soldier!Xander option though. That would be freaky to read a follow-up of his reaction when it was over.

What's bad is that after writing this it dawned on me that it could be Soldier Boy taking over Xander so he could deal with the threat.

I did not write it that way. I mean I have no clue who the sniper is but that is one possibilty

*snort* For some reason I imagined Gibbs, from NCIS, as the sniper.

That is one person I never thought of but yeah I could see it

yeah, this apparently psychic murderer should have been around to kill someone to keep Buffy alive, not keep her dead.

edit:Cause he knew what was going on in Willow's head.

How do you get that he's psychic?

A very interesting story that really makes you wonder whether pre-emptive actions to resolve what one considers a crime are valid or not, especially when one considers the age and the mental and emotional states of the person being condemned.

Which raises another question: was this vigilantism, or justice?

Have to think about both questions.

I think he's actions were more for the crime of bring Liam's soul back than for Willows plan for Buffy. I think he sees that as more of a bonus