This sounds like the old Watchers Council hit squad; ridiculous overkill and callous disregard for human life.

It's the only way to be sure, as someone once said.

Cheers,
D.

I was going to echo the "Buffy really has no legal problem" thing, but the scenario she & Willow were discussing was "what if Faith remembers and decides to confess?" --Faith's testimony would implicate Buffy as being present at the death of Finch and of helping to cover it up. Accessory at the very least, if a DA felt like going for that. And even if it's not enough to put her in prison, the scandal might kill Riley's career, ie have bad effects.
Gee, Xander is really going at it here (assuming he's behind these attacks). Somebody is going after the Council in a smart way, finally. Decapitation strike-take out the leadership. I'm kind of surprised they didn't go in to make sure. X has seen the scoobies save the world at the last moment via research, so he's (maybe) moving to make sure nobody's going to do that.
He's responsible for his actions, but damn, Willow and Buffy are going to feel real bad when they find out his role in all this. If they'd been better friends maybe it wouldn't have happened, etc. Meanwhile... over the years he's probably of lots of items /spells with a lot of mojo and he does know how to cast (Once More with Feeling ep).

I'm sort of assuming that Giles got away before anyone could cut off his retreat...or the enemy is incompetent...or their timing was a bit off.

These things happen.

Cheers,
D.

Whoa, someone is slaying slayers with commandos! Gods man someone's declared war on the new ISWC.

It was bound to happen eventually!

Cheers,
D.

Why do I want to run away screaming every time that Willow has an idea :S???.
And yeah, no matter how hard we try, we tend to drift apart of our friends in time, only a few remain, such is life =(.
Cool chapter, see ya!.

Screaming and running won't help!

Yep its amazingly easy, even nowadays to lose track of friends.

Cheers,
D.

Dare I suggest that...it might be wise to *consult a lawyer* to see if there' s anything to actually be concerned about? This was years ago. Sunnydale's at the bottom of a lagoon now. The police department was notoriously corrupt and incompetent. There is ZERO evidence for this. Any halfway competent attorney Buffy could find would get her acquitted for this - and that's if any DA would actually bother charging her with the crime as they would KNOW that her chances for acquittal were near 100%, so that's doubtful to begin with.

Once opened its hard to put all the worms back in the can and mud sticks too!

Enough cliches.

If I was Buffy I'd be concerned about anyone looking too closely at my past.

Cheers,
D.

Willow is still the arrogant amateur if she thinks its just about the power. The monks probably used a ritual created by very wise ancient sorcerer(s), and then used by mage-monks with decades of experience in properly utilizing magic, after deep meditation.
She is so cavalier in the way she finds solutions.

BTW the death of Finch - not murder, arguable that it was even manslaughter - a decent lawyer could make the case that it was an accident. But even if considered criminal, there is the problem of lack of evidence. Sure, Faith could confess (unwarranted in my view; if she wanted to confess to a crime then it could be the murder of the vulcan(ologist) [thank you Andrew!], there would be no need to drag Buffy into it). However, if she wanted to claim Buffy was an accessory, again a competent lawyer could make a very strong defense for Buffy that would separate her from the alleged crime - it is one thing to confess to a crime, it is another to accuse someone else of involvement, that pesky evidence requirement again.

Also, I think Willow is underestimating Faith. This is not the Faith of the original timeline racked by guilt. This is a strong, mature Faith who might consider her duty to her nation and her military service of greater importance than having herself committed to prison, which benefits no one, and definitely prevents her serving her nation and the world. Damn, hasn't Willow learnt anything from that whole business of interfering with Tara's and others' memories?! The truth is better (and also simpler).

True it might have been manslaughter, but everyone forgets that Buffy tried to murder Faith, she chose a vampire over a human.

If any of that sequence of events ever got out, no one is going to look innocent. They all had a hand in a lot of bad stuff.

Actually this has made me think.

Buffy couldn't have told Riley the FULL story because she worried that its going to all come out. Who's going to be the first to go for the Immunity deal and rat out the others?

Cheers,
D.

I honestly don't know if this is a "Oh Willow Rosenberg, No!" moment or if she's actually got the most genius point ever. I mean it's not like she'll be casting in the Hellmouth, so those dire influences are kind of past. BUT it is altering history, which, is definitely 50/50 on the chances of things "turning out." I both dread and look forward to seeing the outcome. I'll be hiding my eyes behind my fingers on this one.

In fact she'll be casting in a place that is the exact opposite of a Hellmouth. We've mentioned several times that apart from all the ghosts Grandview is way down on the 'weird' scale.

Cheers,
D.

I see disaster on the way if Willow follows through on her, as usual, hasty and poorly thought out plan. Willow is all about expediency and her familiarity with big problems needing quick solutions is going to hoist and petard her in a bad bad way. Faith may yet recognize craziness while protecting Buffy and derail it. What a great opportunity for Faith to get answers while saving the day.

Indeed it is.

Cheers,
D.

Aw man. The problem of returning memories is going to be magiced away? I was looking forward to how your more mature Faith would deal with it!

That depends on how effective the spell is and Faith will still have to deal with any new memouries.

Cheers,
D.

Willow's idea will end badly, very very very badly.

Maybe not 'very, very very badly'. Perhaps just 'very badly'!

Cheers,
D.

Well it is positive that Buffy is thinking of Xander right? Not so positive that he slips her mind so easily though :( I can't help think that Willow's spell is a bad idea though. What if it changes what actually happened and Willow and Faith are no longer together, or Buffy and Riley are no longer together? Either of those could be very bad.

So many things could go wrong with this...but it'd mean I'd have to do major rewrites of the stories that follow this one...so only minor rewrites until I get to the stories I've not finished.

But there will be consequences...MAW-HA-HA!

Cheers,
D.

Buffy & Willow aren't responsible for Xander's bad decisions... but yeah, one would think they'd keep in touch. My guess is Robin et al haven't told them about his latest batch of problems or that he's now 'persona non grata' with the Council.
This reality-perception altering. Willow is nuts. The monks didn't just change perceptions & memories, they altered reality. Recall the room when Buffy did that 'spell to see spells'? -- storeroom/then Dawn's room? They changed actual physical stuff. This is a very bad idea. Also, any big magic has consequences. Willow should know that. Something very big and unexpected, and 'consequential' will happen as a result of this. Maybe Dawn will vanish (and the monks didn't create her from nothing, they modified the Key to be human). ... AND... what if Faith's amnesia is magic-related? Such a spell could interfere with Willow's spell in strange ways. What if the dust settles and bam, Xander and Faith are married or something weird like that? This reminds me of "The Wish" for some strange reason. Willow is not thinking clearly; also she's no Cyrus Vail. Hey, is there a Connor in this AU?

Everything you say is true...this has never stopped Willow before and yep there will be consequences. Maynot in this story but eventually.

Cheers,
D.

Willow seems to be a little too fond of the "overkill" in this one. Maybe psycho-killer Faith isn't the one we should be worried about ?

Hmm, wait for the ninja to shoot you while you think of the non-lethal way of dealing with the situation... Nope, I'll stick with 'overkill'!

Cheers,
D.

Really great start. I loved the end of chapter 2, Buffy's reaction was priceless.

Thank-you,
D.

This attack of the ninjas seems to be on multiple levels. Confusion sown on their minds and overwhelming force. It's like two different groups. Faith is going to excel here. Her agenda to uncover her personal history will put a major spin on events.

The initial ninja attacks are a little disorganised and haphazard...wait 'til the Big Bad comes along!

Cheers,
D.