History Fanfic / TheDevilsTruthSeries

** While a twenty-foot tall giant with antlers and hooves is hardly "comfortable", at least it's within the parameters of what the Scoobies are prepared to deal with, and in any case much more comfortable than [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm the true form of a god of life and death]]

* AuthorAvatar: Belial is basically this for the author, who is displeased about the fact that the many sins of the Scoobies and Angel Investigation teams go unanswered for.

* RageBreakingPoint: Buffy is slowly pushed to this by Belial, who reminds her of the different sins they committed against her and never actually apologized. The final straw is when he reveals that [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E22BecomingPart2 Xander lied to her about Willow's message to ensure Buffy would kill Angel]]. Buffy has a massive FreakOut, has to be physically restrained by Angel and Riley from tearing Xander apart, and ends up giving Angel a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown.

[[Fanfic/TheDevilsTruthSeries The Devil's Truth Series]] tells the story of what happens when a Big Bad with enough knowledge and power forces the Scoobies to face their secrets - ''all'' of their secrets - and what comes after.

* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: [[ANaziByAnyOtherName The Scourge]], amongst the demon population not that they're popular amongst the rest of the supernatural community
* AuthorAvatar: Belial is basically this for the author, who is displeased about the fact that the many sins of the Scoobies and Angel Investigation teams go unanswered for
* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: When he's still trying to tempt Buffy, Belial takes human form. The Metatron takes the form of [[ShoutOut Alan Rickman]]

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: While tempting Buffy, Belial asks Buffy if she knows how many girls were raped in UC Sunnydale

** ''Force Magic'': Usually when Willow and Tara combine their collective {{mana}} to cast stronger spells
** ''RitualMagic'': They did this twice, first to cast a hate-bond to track Angelus and later to rein Oz' werewolf curse
** ''[[ReligionIsMagic Theurgy]]'': Invoking the power of gods through seven religious symbols[[note]]more specifically, the Christian cross, the Jewish Star of David, the Islamic Crescent-and-Star, a neopagan pentacle, an Om symbol of Jainism and Hinduism, yin/yang symbol of Taoism and Buddhist mandala[[/note]] to allow Cordelia to contact the PowersThatBe

* {{Heaven}}: [[spoiler:Faith]] goes here for a few minutes after she's wounded in battle to recieve instructions on how to defeat Belial. Cordelia later visits it too during an induced trance
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Faith]] does this to stop Belial. [[DeathIsCheap She gets better]]

* KillItWithFire: Willow and Tara combine their {{mana}} to cast a fireball spell, killing half of the Scourge forces and wounding Angelus
* LetsYouAndHimFight: Belial's goal

* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Cordelia when Belial tells that her [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E19Choices 'this conservation is restricted to people who actually have a future']] comment was so cold and cruel that it even impressed a devil

* BargainWithHeaven: Cordelia goes into a trance to contact the Powers, whom [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness for once]] give precise, non-vangue instructions. Cordelia even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades it]]

** When Joyce conviced Angel to [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E20TheProm leave Buffy]];

* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: Belial uses this argument during his temptation of Buffy by pointing out that the world is with horrible people

* PowersThatBe: Here the TropeNamer|s are composed of angels and pagan gods, instead of being merely powerful EldritchAbomination|s like in canon

* BargainWithHeaven: Cordelia goes into a trance to contact the Powers, whom [[OOCIsSeriusBusiness for once]] give precise, non-vangue instructions. Cordelia even [[LampshadeHanging lampshades it]]

* {{Heaven}}: Faith goes here for a few minutes to recieve instructions on how to defeat Belial. Cordelia later visits it too during an induced trance

* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Cordelia when Belial about her comment [[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E19Choices 'this conservation is restricted to people who actually have a future']] was so cold and cruel that it even impressed a devil

* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: All over the place. The Scoobies are dealing with gods, archdevils, archangels and other greater forces of the universe in this one, and their sanity is tested. Belial weaponizes it, Metatron's presence drives Cordelia to her knees before he can [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith take a more comfortable form]], and [[spoiler: simply looking in Cernunnos's eyes burns away Spike's demon and restores his soul]]

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: When he's still trying to tempt Buffy, Belial takes human form. The Metatron takes the form of [[ShoutOut Alan Rickman]].
** While a twenty-foot tall giant with antlers and hooves is hardly "comfortable", at least it's within the parameters of what the Scoobies are prepared to deal with, and in any case much more comfortable than [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm the true form of a god of life and death]].
* EldritchAbomination: Angelus in his form as a "true vampire demon". The angels probably count, too. They're just prettier.
* GagPenis: Cernunnos is twenty feet tall, but since he's a fertility god, he has one of these even in proportion to his size.
* LetsYouAndHimFight: Belial's goal.
* MarryThemAll: The solution to not one but ''two'' love triangles.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Buffy delivers one to Angel. They're usually better matched, but he's talking instead of fighting in the hopes of [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight getting through to her]].
* OurAngelsAreDifferent: Belial is too metaphysically "big" to enter our universe, and requires a large natural crystal to use as a "bridgestone". Fortunately, the Hellmouth is happy to provide. When he takes angelic form, he looks like he's made of crystal and his "halo" looks like orbiting stars.
** The Metatron looks like a giant (as in, one eye takes up most of the sky when he opens it) figure made out of night sky and he speaks with a voice like a chorus of people of all ages and sexes speaking in perfect unison.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent: Belial is a fallen angel variant, and once Angelus [[spoiler: is pulled out of Angel and]] becomes a "pure vampire demon", he goes full-bore EldritchAbomination in short order.
* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: All over the place. The Scoobies are dealing with gods, archdevils, archangels and other greater forces of the universe in this one, and their sanity is tested. Belial weaponizes it, Metatron's presence drives Cordelia to her knees before he can [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith take a more comfortable form]], and [[spoiler: simply looking in Cernunnos's eyes burns away Spike's demon and restores his soul]].

A lot of issues were never dealt with in BuffyTheVampireSlayer. Quietly papered over and ignored because no one wanted to face them. It's a way to quick and easy peace. Unfortunately, that approach leaves gaps. Chinks in the armor. When the fallen angel Belial, the greatest of tempters, comes in from the Outer Dark, the Scooby Gang and especially Buffy are vulnerable to his blandishments.

* YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm: All over the place. The Scoobies are dealing with gods, archdevils, archangels and other greater forces of the universe in this one, and their sanity is tested. Belial weaponizes it, Metatron's presence drives Cordelia to her knees before he can [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith take a more comfortable form]], and [[spoiler: simply looking in Cernunnos's eyes burns away Spike's demon and restores his soul]].

* OneTrueThreesome: Willow, Tara and Oz form a pack.
** May be the only known fanfic to solve [[spoiler: Buffy/Angel/Riley]] this way.

[[Fanfic/TheDevilsTruthSeries The Devil's Truth Series]]

* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: When he's still trying to

* OurAngelsAreDifferent:
* OurDemonsAreDifferent: