Absolute Power

A Watcher's Council Round Robin

Disclaimers: We don't own any of the BtVS charcaters portrayed within this fic- we do own ourselves though.

Notes: This is crazy, but fun. It's to celebrate our 1 year anniversary- enjoy!

Part 1

By Danielle

"It's all wrong I tell you! None of this was supposed to happen!" Danielle slammed her fist down on the table at the 1st annual meeting of the Watcher's Council.

Mediancat sat to her left, echoing her sentiments. "She's right. I can't see Cordy and Xander bicker anymore. That was so much fun."

Nodding her head, Mistiec agreed. "I miss the C/X interaction! These days I'm stuck writing all kinds of crazy 'ships for Cordy, and even though they're fun, I miss her with Xander!"

Karen sat weeping in the corner, choked sobs emanating from her throat. "Oz… is gone… very bad," was all she could muster.

Standing up for the girl who shared her name, Amy groused, "And what about Amy Madison? She's been a rat for a year! And you're telling me no one noticed?"

Robyn interjected, "Well, I did, in one of my fics, but I don't think that counts, does it?" The group shook their heads no in unison.

Rebecca and Megdalen, on videophones from their respective homes agreed wholeheartedly. "No Dru!" said one. "And Spike is funny but he's such a wuss!" called the other.

Suddenly the room was awash in tangled shouts of Joss' misdeeds. "No Buffy/Angel romance!"

"Faith is still in a coma!"

"Miss Calendar is still dead!"

"Joyce has disappeared!"

"And no one knows about Xander's Lie!!!" came the final shout from Mediancat, who has yet to reconcile Xander's actions in the season 2 finale.

"I say enough is enough!" cried the list mom. "I propose we take action! I say we go back in time and right the wrongs that Joss has done us! You have free reign- all is at your discretion. Whatever you feel is wrong in Sunnydale- fix it! Take no prisoners!" And so, the group dispersed to their various computers, ready to rewrite major scenes and plot threads from the past 3 ½ seasons.

Part 2

By Mediancat

Mediancat sat down at his typewriter, grinning evilly … then realized that he'd already DONE a story about what would have happened if Xander hadn't lied.

Well, shit. What now?

Have them find out and kill him?

No. Been done.

How would the characters react?

Also been done.

Damn. The lie had been such a fertile field, too. But even fertile fields can be over-planted.

So what should he change?

Well, hell, who said he had to be logical?

And so he sat down and typed … and typed … and typed.

And in the end he had his perfect Slayer world.

Buffy and Angel were together, and remarkably angst-free, for the most part.

Giles was still a Watcher.

Spike and Dru were still together, and evil, and causing merry havoc in dear old Sunnyhell.

Mr. Trick was still in Sunnydale as well. He and Spike took an instant dislike to one another.

No one named Veruca had ever come into contact with Oz. Any Veruca-wolves who existed had been introduced to friendly a werewolf hunter named Cain, on the off chance that they might ever come into contact with Oz in the future.

Therefore, Willow and Oz were also together.

The fluke hadn't happened; Cordy had gotten into UC Sunnydale on a scholarship (layers, people!) and she and Xander were still dating and still fighting, and still making up.

Riley Finn was just another man in camouflage gear.

Amy Madison was a human being.

The Mayor was still dead.

Jenny Calendar was cheerfully alive, and she and Giles were engaged. (In what, we can't say.)

Nasty-good Faith was there, and having long since come to terms with her sexuality, was dating Anya.

Wesley Wyndham-Price had never come to Sunnydale, and was immersed in the Watchers' Council Library doing research, which is where he damn well should have stayed in the first place.

Parker regularly got beaten up by motorcycle gangs and narrowly escaped vampire death on a nightly basis. So did Snyder, except every once in a while he got a night off.

Doyle was still alive, and had come to Sunnydale to send Angel on mysterious errands. He and Cordy flirted occasionally, but that was it. (Can't have everything.)

That should pretty much take care of everyone, Mediancat thought, give or take the odd Kendra or Ethan Rayne.

So he sent his universe to Danielle to see what she thought.

They IM'd later.

Deedee2b: Um, well . . . .

Mediancats: Yes?

Deedee2b: It's a good universe!

Mediancats: But?

Deedee2b: But itl ooks like you haven't left anything for anyone else to do, that's all

Mediancats: Well, you did say to change the Buffyverse any way we wantde -

Deedee2b: Yeah I did

Mediancats: So I did.

Deedee2b: But there's nowhere left for anyone else to play

Mediancats: I thought they were going to create their own umniverses.

Deedee2b: But that's not really the point of a round robin. One part leads into the other.

Mediancats: And this is kinda like variations on a theme instead.

Deedee2b: Exactly

Mediancats: Variations omn a theme makes me ahppy enough.

Deedee2b: Please go abck and change it?

Mediancats: Okay, I'll wroite a whole new beginning, okay?

Deedee2b: You don't have much space - round robins aren't supposed to have huge parts.

Mediancats: Talk to you alter, then -

Deedee2B: Bye

Okay, Mediancats thought, so now where do I go?

Well, hell, let's give them this beginning. And we'll see what they can do with it:

Buffy and Angel kissed as they huddled on his bed, the incident in the warehouse with Spike and Dru seeming more and more a memory. Slowly they began to undress…

And then Buffy said no, it wasn't the right time, and Angel, ever the gentleman (though this time a horny and frustrated gentleman) backed off and all they did was literally sleep together …

And so Angel NEVER LOST HIS SOUL.

Part Three

Robyn the Snowshoe Hare reporting live from a swivel chair in CT

'Twas the night before Thursday, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

Well, not really. Two small rodents by the names of Max and Hamlet were stirring, but since they were in their little habitrail, no one really cared. A venerable Siamese named Shintsu was sitting on top of the cage, living in eternal hope that somehow the little enclosure would open and Max and Hamlet would soon be known as Entre #1 and Entre #2. And curled up before the shrine to Bill Gates known as a Gateway computer in a battered swivel chair was Robyn the Snowshoe Hare, completely conked out and snoozing away peacefully.

It was really a lovely scene, but one which was completely ruined by the shrill sound of a telephone ringing. Max and Hamlet retreated to the sanctuary of their nest (which had begun life as a tissue box), Shintsu retreated to her Fortress of Solitude (which was known to the common plebeian who fed her - aka, Robyn the Snowshoe Hare - as the top of the refrigerator), and Robyn TSH very nearly fell out of her chair. After the few blinks it took her to realize that she was sitting in front of the computer and not actually standing on an iceberg, surrounded by penguins, and discussing socio-economic trends with Mr. Sulu (actual dream), she made a quick grab for the phone.

"Talk to me, Goose," she said.

"Hello?" the voice on the other end asked, clearly wondering if they had accidentally dialed the number for the funny farm.

"This isn't Mary, is it?" Robyn TSH asked, wondering if perhaps she should've just stuck with Mr. Sulu and the penguins.

"No, this is Danielle. From the Watcher's Council."

"Oh. Snazzy. What's up?"

"I was just wondering if you would mind writing your part to the round robin. Because you've put it off for six days."

Oops. Sure enough, it was right on Robyn TSH's day planner for last Friday. 'Write Perfect Buffyverse' and 'Do Laundry'. No wonder she was running low on clean socks.

"Suuuuuure," Robyn TSH said, stalling for time, "listen, just give me a few days, and I'll-"

"Robyn," Danielle began in a voice that all procrastinators know and fear. That tone of voice that screams, You're-Going-To-Do-This-Right-Now-Or-I'll-Come-Down-And-Kick-Your-Butt. Robyn TSH hated voices like that. It made procrastination so much harder when someone was actually going to hold you to a deadline.

"Okay, okay. I'll do it tonight."

"Good. The Council anticipates your response by 0100 hours Thursday."

Robyn TSH blinked a few more times after she hung up the phone. Danielle had sounded like a mixture of Professor Walsh and Quentin Travers. Robyn TSH made a quick note in her day planner to be afraid. That done, she pulled up Mediancat's part. Hey, a beginning. She could work with this. Setting it up on the screen, because clearly by this time everyone reading this would have forgotten completely about any other plot developments, she got up and grabbed a Sprite. Coming back, she read over the beginning once more.

>Buffy and Angel kissed as they huddled on his bed, the incident in >the >warehouse with Spike and Dru seeming more and more a memory. >Slowly they >began to undress . . . .

>

>And then Buffy said no, it wasn't the right time, and Angel, ever the >gentleman (though this time a horny and frustrated gentleman) backed >off >and all they did was literally sleep together . . .

>

>And so Angel NEVER LOST HIS SOUL.

It was a good beginning. Because, hey, this was written by Mediancat. But it was a trifle too pro-Angel for Robyn TSH's sensibilities. Taking a long drink out of the best darn non-caffinated yet highly sugared drink that could be manufactured legally, she cracked her knuckles and started typing quickly.

After all, once you have a beginning, you need a middle...

...until next Tuesday, that is. It turned out that the 'right time' for this couple was in the backseat of Giles' Citroen while they were supposed to be keeping an eye out for roaming werewolves. Despite the cramped quarters, Angel got his one moment of true happiness (Buffy wouldn't really comment on how much she got out of twenty minutes thus spent), and Angelus was released to roam around in leather pants and excessive hair gel once more.

And so that is how Angel LOST HIS SOUL. He got it back, of course, and there was a disgusting amount of angst until he took off to LA, where he hooked up with Cordelia and a charming demon named Doyle. Things were settling into a nice routine of kill, destroy, and quip, until a nasty group called The Scourge hit the town. This plot device reached its climax when the Scourgy Ones raised a Giant Christmas Ornament of Death high over a group of tired, poor, huddled masses of demons who were yearning to breath free.

In a heroic gesture, Angel prepared himself to sacrifice his own life to save everyone else from the GCOoD, pausing only long enough to bid his angsty farewells to Doyle and Cordelia.

"The good fight, eh?" Doyle asked, placing a supportive hand on Angel's shoulder. There was a long and expectant pause, and then Doyle shrugged and said, "Well, go to it then."

So Angel died in an impressive display of Techno Light and Magic, leaving Doyle and Cordelia to finally go out to dinner, and Buffy to move on to a charming commando boy.

Part 4

By Karen

Karen stared at the computer. "So tired. Brains leaking out. Must write part in Watchers RR." Karen grabbed a soda and downed it. It was 2 am. It was dark as hell and it was her turn. "Okay, think. Angel's dead...Heh heh...." Karen began to type furiously.

All was perfect in the 'Dale. Then a guy named Parker Lewis Can Lose Abrams came on the scene. He was hot. He was scum. He was into Buffy in a bad way. Plus he brought a skank he called Veruca the Dogfaced bitca with him. They thought that they could move in on whomever they liked because they thought they were all dat and the damn bag o chips. Unfortunately they didn't factor in the fact that they were as close to the mouth of hell as to be spitting on the Devil's favorite toys.

Parker started talking his way into Buffy's bed, but Riley heard all about it. In a show of true brains he kidnapped Parker and released Hostile 13 on them. And then because Spike had promptly torn Parker into loser chow, Riley was forced to release Spike with a stern warning to leave town. Spike laughed. He'd heard that one before!

Bored, because Angel was Hasta la Dustbuster, Cordelia and Doyle came to Sunnydale. As he entered the city limits, Doyle has a vision and rang his little Bam, Bam.

Veruca liked to eat and tilt her head and be a skank. So when she started making the moves on Oz, Willow shot her. Twice in the head with silver bullets. Oz knew all about it because of Doyle and they buried Veruca in the backyard like a bag of garbage...

"Good enough." Karen grinned. "Oh wait..."

Then Oz and Willow got it on.

"Perfect. The perfect Karen universe. But it needs a cliffhanger. I love those."

And while they were having wild monkey sex...Angel was dropped from hell, mercifully clothed in pants this time. Although last time Karen had been kersnukkered as to how he had acquired the pants last time. So he dropped from hell in pants... Sweaty and evil again.

"Good. Now the Angel likers can whatever..." Karen fell against the keys hitting the <send> button with her right eyebrow as snores rose up off the keys.

Part 5

By Mistiec

The cast of Buffy and Angel gathered around in the library that never burned down, looking slightly out of sorts.

"Anyone know why we're here?" Cordelia asked, looking slightly bored.

"Nope." Xander said.

"Alright!" The group looked up in surprise to find a brown haired girl of twenty staring at them all. "Gather round, everyone. I've got a 70 page Xena story to edit, I'm coming down with the flu, spring rush is starting for my sorority and six sites to update, so let's get things movin'."

"Who's this?" Giles asked

"Hey, look. It's the librarian hottie."

"Who died and made you the boss?" Cordelia Chase muttered under her breath to the smarky half demon.

"Me," was the flippant reply. "Well um... I didn't DIE, exactly. But I've got Joss tied up in the back there, and Donna Danielle's permission to screw with your lives. Not like they aren't all funky and dead ALREADY. Face it, you guys suck!"

"Excuse me?!" Buffy hissed, her eyes hooded, and dangerous.

"Oh, great. Slayer's mad. Hey," her eyes drifted to Cordy and she winked. "Um... hey, Angel?"

"Angel?" Buffy's who face turned to putty and turned spineless and weak.

"See? Like a charm. Now! Quickly!" Melissa said. "Now first, Cordelia Chase, coolest chick in the world. Front and center."

Cordelia looked slightly unsure as she stepped forward. "Is she hitting on me?"

"Nope, straighter than an arrow. In fact, I'm trying to figure out whether to jump Xander or Spike or Angel first. But no distractions, come here." She grabbed Cordelia and pulled to the front. "Now turn around." Cordelia did, her eyes clearly indicated she thought the girl was nuts. "You have layers. Everyone now will understand that and NO ONE will demean them or Spike will eat them."

"Okay, I like her." Cordelia said, smiling.

"Spike! Now you!" Spike came forward uncertainly. "Okay! You, that implant, gone. Be evil, and get Dru back. Do me a favor. Kill her."

"Alright!" Spike grinned and took off.

"Xander." Xander looked surprised but walked up.

"You're kinda cute..." was Xander's frazzled reply.

"Xander, you'd flirt with a monkey. Consider yourself castrated." Xander's eyes widened and he gasped. Melissa grinned, winking before turning to Anya. "Now you. As much as I love to tolerate you... you do not belong here. You exist merely as a substitute for Cordy, when Joss suddenly realized that HEY! Buffy needed her. So off you go. I wish you gone!" There was a flick and suddenly the ex demon had disappeared.

"Hey!" Xander protested. "That's my girlfriend!"

"That was your sex toy, Xander. From now on you'll be used. You are now a stand up guy for Cordelia. You will support her and relearn how to fight to defend her. You even get to be a hero instead of a comic relief. Sound good?"

"Uh... yeah, actually," was the surprised reply.

"Good. Now, Buffy, stop drooling at Angel and come over here." Buffy tore her eyes from the broodster and looked at the writer. "You too Angel."

"Okay. These are MY personal feelings, and since they are MY personal feelings, I think you two are boring, angsty and broody when you're together, and cool, hip and funny when you guys are apart. So! Buffy, you will slay, get OVER Angel, and date Riley, as LONG as you don't' start acting like a moron, you are allowed to date him, cause he's cute. Angel?"

"Yeah." he breathed.

"Smile. It's all about the smile. You will become best buds with Cordy and develop a personality, then when you realize you love her too much to weight her down with your broodiness, you'll marry Kate. Understood?"

"Umm... kay."

"You'll be happier, okay?" she patted his shoulder.

"What about us?" Willow asked.

"I don't like you. I think you're boring, and a whiny. BUT, Karen likes you. And I like Karen. And I like Oz. Soo. Oz, you are free to keep her around until you get tired of her, just as long as she doesn't interfere with the rest and stays outta sight."

"But I love her."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. "Melissa rolled her eyes. "Lastly, Giles! I love you. I adore you, and think you've been underused and reduced to dribble. Therefore, you get the greatest gift of all!"

"What's that?"

She flashed him a brilliant smile. "You get to marry Cordelia."

"What?!" replied both Cordelia and Giles.

"Oh, shut up, Cordelia. He's cute, he's older, he's wise, and he has money! Come on! Plus he's got that cute accent!"

"Oh... okay." She shrugged.

"And, Giles. Get with the picture! Look at her!? Can you honestly say you'd do any better?"

"Well, I guess not."

"Good! Then my work is done. Now, Amy will be by later to change this to her liking, so be nice to her! And off I go!"

With a flash, she was gone, leaving the group to stare at her with confusion.

"Well," Cordelia said. "I liked her."

Part 6

by Rebecca Carefoot

Rebecca pulled a roll of Mentos out of her trenchcoat pocket and popped one in her mouth, then she steadied her sunglasses and beret. She peered out from behind a tree on the Sunnydale campus. She was sneaking. Thus the sneaking outfit. Technically the sneaking outfit was not necessary since no one could see her, her not having a corporeal body in this reality and all. But it was fun to play dress up. She checked her watch. She was late. Two days late. She was also scared. She looked behind her reflexively, half expecting to see Danielle swinging a lead pipe at her knee caps. Instead she saw Buffy and Riley walk by hand in hand. They kissed each other tenderly exactly once every five minutes.

After taking a moment to vomit into the bushes, Rebecca followed them. Riley was telling a very long and involved story about the ways to cook corn, and when he was done with that he began a treatise on how to assemble a MK-whatever. Rebecca's eyes rolled back into her head, and she stifled a yawn. Buffy seemed a little distracted, or maybe Rebecca was just misinterpreting the blank look on her face. Nope, she was definitely distracted, bored, and so on. There was no real heat here; that needed to be fixed.

Rebecca frowned.

She snapped her fingers and ended up at the main, er...only office of Angel Investigations. Angel was sitting on the couch necking with Kate. They weren't talking 'cause really they had nothing common and besides which Angel was only capable of loving one person, who was Buffy, so he really didn't care about making that much of an effort. Despite the wrongness, Kate had an engagement ring on her finger. Rebecca gritted her teeth. Then she realized Angel and Kate were moving into the bedroom.

"Aiiieeee!!" she screamed. But since she wasn't really a Sunnydale resident, and therefore she had no corporeal body in that universe, she could not interfere. And Angel lost his soul again. And he killed Kate immediately and hightailed it to Sunnydale. And once he got there he tracked Buffy to the Bronze where she was hanging out with Riley and listening to him list all the different parts of the brain by name. When Angel approached, she was a little taken aback. And Angel was a little pissed off to find her with another guy. She stammered and blushed, looking awake for the first time in weeks.

Angel decided to try to play it cool, since no one in Sunnydale knew about the whole "I'm evil again" thing.

"Hey, I'm Angel," he said to Riley.

"Oh," Riley answered. He didn't know who Angel was because Buffy never mentioned him, goddamn her, and had apparently decided to pretend Angel never existed.

"ANGEL," Angel said again in confusion. There was no way this guy didn't know who he was. Surely Buffy had mentioned her first love, her true love.

"Yeah, I heard you," Riley answered woodenly. "Do you know this guy?" he asked Buffy, who was holding her head in her hands. Angel stared at her in disbelief.

"I'm her ex-boyfriend," he grunted, his eyes turning yellow.

"No, that's Parker," Riley said blandly. Angel snapped. He wasn't exactly a patient demon. He growled, his face changing instantly. Buffy watched wide-eyed as he grabbed a fork off the table and stabbed it through Riley's chest. Then he snapped his neck. Then he did a little dance on his body.

"Um, Angel, that was my boyfriend," Buffy pointed out.

"Not anymore."

"Oh great," she muttered. "You're evil again, aren't you? God damn it! You leave for just a few months and lose it...idiot! What were you thinking with cause it sure wasn't your head!" Then she knocked him out and locked him up with some of Oz's chains.

Giles and Cordy were busy getting to know each other better. Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink. So Buffy called Willow to do the re-cursing spell. And since she had finally figured out how to de-rat Amy, she got the more experienced witch to help her take the clause out of the curse (in exchange for lots of cheese and a water bottle). So when Angel became conscious again he was permanently re-souled. He decided to take a vacation from private detectiving so both he and Doyle moved back to Sunnydale. Buffy was spared the necessity of breaking up with Riley by his untimely death, and was able to forgive Angel for killing the guy because frankly he was so bland she forgot his name several hours later.

Rebecca watched as they headed for the old mansion, got Spike and Dru to leave for a couple days and had a lot of sex. Well, she didn't watch them having sex cause she's not a pervert and that's private. But she did watch some of the foreplay and declarations of eternal love and stuff like that. And she couldn't help the tears of joy she wiped from under her sunglasses. Buffy and Angel were together again. All was right with the world.

Part 7

by Amy

The light outside was soft and bright, warming everything it touched. Amy gave an annoyed sigh. She needed dark for this. She did the little nose-twitch thing that Samantha on Bewitched always used to do and gave a satisfied smile when the sun blanked out and the moon stole its place.

The crickets were chirping. The night was very peaceful. And, from beyond the grave (his body bruised and torn by a well-deserved Angel-killing), Riley continued to blather on.

Jenny looked at his bruised and torn body and smirked. "Angel killed you, too, didn't he?"

"Yeah," he agreed, completely forgetting that everything that happened to him was supposed to be secret. He was dumb that way.

"God, you're dumb," Amy muttered. Riley turned to her with a hurt look, and Amy felt a pang of badness (because she didn't exactly *hate* Riley.... He was simply a very dumb complication.) before shaking it off. She turned to Jenny.

"Wanna go back?"

"You can do that?" Jenny asked, awestruck.

"I can do anything right now. It's my part of the round robin," Amy replied with a smug smile.

"Oh, okay." Jenny smiled back.

"Well, what about me?" Riley whined.

Amy looked at him for a long moment before giving a frown and a slow nod. "All right. I'll bring you back on one condition."

"What?"

"I'll tell you that condition later," she snickered. "I feel just like Rumplestiltskin."

Riley looked blank, not understanding the reference, and then nodded eagerly. Amy sighed and snapped her fingers, and they were all whisked out of the dark night of the eternal limbo.

"Stay," Amy told Riley, who promptly sat down in the middle of the road.

She waved Jenny over, and they walked inside Giles's apartment complex. They weighed the option of knocking on his door, but then decided against it and went inside without and invitation. Jenny and Amy both stopped dead at the sight that met their eyes.

Giles was kissing someone else.

And they didn't have any chemistry!

Tears filled Jenny's eyes and she murmured a shocked, "Rupert?" before fainting.

Giles looked up in surprise, his eyes growing round with recognition. He let go of Olivia and ran over to Jenny's side, clasping her hand. "Jenny, oh my love.... What have I done?!"

Jenny sat up (because she wasn't really the type of woman to faint), and slapped him forcefully on the arm. "You've cheated on me!" He looked confused, and she continued. "I mean, yeah, it's been a few years since my death and all, but geez... I thought I could count on you, trust you to stay celibate until I came back."

"You were dead," he finally stammered.

Amy rolled her eyes.

"This is Sunnydale!" Jenny yelled, annoyed. "It didn't occur to you for a minute that I'd find a way back? And, Goddess, you're not just dating *any* woman, you're dating a goddamn model! How'm I supposed to feel about that?"

"Oh, my dear," Giles said tenderly, stroking her hair back, "She was never as lovely in my sight as you were. I still love you, Jenny. I always will."

Jenny gave him a hard look, and then smiled in satisfaction, snuggling into his arms. He leaned down for a warm kiss, then lifted her up and began carrying her off to his bedroom.

"Ahem," came from Olivia.

Giles stopped and smiled at her. "Oh, sorry, 'Liv. Help yourself to anything you like. And thanks for all the great sex." Then he continued carrying Jenny off. A moment later, behind closed doors, Amy and Olivia heard a squeal (from Giles or Jenny, they couldn't tell), and smiled sheepishly at each other.

"What do I do now?" Olivia asked.

Amy thought for a moment. "Oh! Here!" She snapped her fingers and Spike (without his lame-ass transplant that made him a complete wussy) appeared, half-naked.

"Why is he half naked?" Olivia whispered to Amy.

Amy simply gazed at the vampire and shrugged.

Spike looked at them in annoyance. "Because I was in the middle of something with Dru, and because *she*," he jerked his head toward Amy, "Thinks that I don't get enough (or any) naked airtime."

"You're very clever," Olivia whispered to Amy. Amy nodded.

Amy grinned brightly at Spike. "So, do you want to make Olivia a vampire? She's really pretty, and it would help me bunches if she was on Giles's opposing team. He's busy having sex with Jenny."

Spike stared at her a moment, and then shrugged. "Okay. Come on, Olivia. You need to meet Dru."

Amy nodded, and snapped her fingers, watching them disappear. She sat down on the sofa (trying to ignore the sounds of passion that filled the apartment), and snapped herself a soda, opening it. She took a long draw, warm with contentment, and then leaned back.

A moment later, she sat up again, groaning. "I forgot about Riley..."

She didn't feel *too* bad, though, because he was a very forgettable person. Instead she snapped herself to where he was still waiting patiently, sitting in the middle of the road. He looked pretty banged up, and Amy rolled her eyes at him, intuitively knowing that he hadn't moved at all when a car came along.

Amy twitched her nose (because sometimes she got sick of snapping her fingers), and Buffy and Angel appeared. Riley looked up, pleased.

"Buffy! Hi! Missed you. I was dead, you know."

"Who are you?" Buffy asked, genuinely confused.

Amy looked surprised too, and then started laughing, remembering that Rebecca had written Riley out of Buffy's memory. "This is Riley," she introduced.

"Oh, yeah," Angel narrowed his eyes, "Didn't I kill you?"

"Yup."

"I'm going to kill you again, okay?" Angel asked politely.

" 'Kay."

So Angel did, and then he and Buffy went off to have lots of more sex with ice cream and chocolate. On the way there, however, Angel saw something glimmering on the sidewalk, and leaned down to pick it up. His eyes widened. "Buffy, do you know what this is?"

She looked, and gasped. "It's the ring of Amara! Put it on, put it on!"

Angel put it on.

Amy snapped her fingers.

It was day again.

Buffy and Angel looked at each other adoringly in the sunlight (completely ignoring Riley's dead body in the middle of the road.), and started kissing. Like they should always do no matter what without question. So they always did.

And Amy smiled her happiness that she was able to help the star-crossed lovers, even the smallest bit, and snapped her fingers to leave. 'Cause there were a lot of fanfics still left to read.

Part 9

By Megdalen

Megdalen handed the antique spyglass over to Robyn, who gave her a sidelong glance before she took it.

"You stole this from Giles, didn't you," she smirked.

Megdalen smiled enigmatically and let Robyn take her turn looking out the window. At the end of a long whirlwind of plot changes, strange pairings, resurrections, killings, and a fair amount of mocking, she was ready for some quiet.

"Getting back to business," Willow said to Megdalen, tugging on her fellow redhead's arm. Megdalen sat cross-legged in a circle with Tara and Willow and tried not to smile too much at the obvious flirtage between the two. After all, it was just subtext, and that's why they needed her help. Giggling would not help the situation.

"All right, ready?" Megdalen asked, checking with Robyn to make sure the coast was clear.

"All set," Robyn chirped. "Giles is busy with Jenny, and sometimes Cordelia. Angel is with Buffy doing the star-crossed lover thing, Spike is set with Dru, Riley is dead so he won't be a problem, Xander… I think he's hanging out with Doyle, but not in a gay way."

"And, Oz?" Willow whispered tightly clutching Tara's hand.

"No sign of him," came the report.

Megdalen lit a scented candle, just for effect. After all, her power as a writer transcended actual magic. All she needed to do was write the words.

And suddenly, some Sarah McLachlan music started playing and candles filled the room.

"Uh, Meg?" Robyn said hesitantly. "I think your subtext is rapidly becoming text."

Megdalen ushered her friend out of Tara's bedroom so the young lovers could get on with the beautiful subtlety.

Oz ran straight into Megdalen after she bid Robyn a farewell and watched her go through a portal back to Connecticut.

"You completely unwriteable swearword!" he screamed, enraged.

Angered, Megdalen kicked his legs out from under him and pressed her right heel against his groin. His face went pale, the freckles standing out stark on his cheeks. She tried to ignore his incredibly handsome upper body and bright red hair. Ruined the effect of her scowl.

"Now, I'm not gonna step down, and do you know why?" she said menacingly.

"Why?" Oz whimpered.

"Because I have other plans for you."

And Oz disappeared, to spend a blissful afternoon in Karen's arms.

Megdalen looked around at all the happy couples and realized there was still one thing left to do.

She sat down with a pen and a yellow writing tablet and swiftly wrote the following words:

"Dear Watcher's Council, I have resisted sending everyone headlong into despair at the end of this Round Robin. Mostly, because I have the last part and it would be MEAN because then you couldn't do anything about it, MWAHAHA! But, no, really it's cause I fear the wrath of Donna Danielle. And the possible influx of cows Robyn might send my way. There's one last thing I have to do, though. Ending with ambiguity is really cool, especially when it involves a beautiful girl in a questionable outfit. Forgive me for this."

And so Faith woke up from her coma, immediately escaped from the hospital, and found her way to the Sunnydale campus…

The End?

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