Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. Though, okay, wishing it was. Thanks to Joss & Co!

May, 2005. Cleveland, Ohio. The Current Hellmouth.

Dawn Summers sighed to herself, her green eyes rimmed with red from being up all night. It had been a long, long night, and the young woman was looking forward to crawling into her bed at the break of dawn.

The past two years had been tough on the youngest Summers girl, and how could it not be? Xander had pretty much become a recluse after Anya died, and while he and Andrew had started a comic book store together, Xander had himself hid from the world. There was speculation among the old Scoobies, though, that Xander would soon come back to the fold...or at least out into the open.

Andrew, who was running the shop, had also started his own comic book series, calling it "Legends of the Lyncher", which bore a striking resemblance to myth of the Slayers. The same went for many of the main characters' names, Dawn had noticed in issue one, with mild humor and skepticism. Muffy and Dysis Winters, for example, as well as Hope, Niles, and other names. It was a hot seller though, or so it seemed.

Willow, who had now become Patron Goddess of the Sisterhood of Slayers (as many of the Slayers fancied themselves), lived an ethereal life. No one really knew where she was...but she made guest spots in peoples' lives quite frequently. There was speculation among many of the Slayers who had been with her in Sunnydale that the former witch had set up shop on Mt. Olympus, though to Dawn that idea sounded just plain hokey. Last Dawn had heard though, was that Willow was still trying to get in contact with Tara. No matter how much the redhead loved Kennedy...Tara would always be the Angel to Willow's Buffy, in terms of relationships.

Giles had moved back to England to restart the Council of Watchers, with new rules and guidelines. He had felt that it ought to be done, and the new Council had started sending Watchers over to Slayers to help them in their worldwide fight against evil. It was the only thing that Giles knew to do, for he figured that if anyone had that much power and no knowledge of how to harness it, it would surely create much havoc in the world.

Faith had finally calmed down, and she, along with Robin Wood, had set up a good life for themselves in Cleveland along with Dawn. They had acted as Dawn's guardians for the past two years while Buffy had traveled the world...trying to figure out what to do with herself now. She definitely wasn't big on the vampire slayage lately, though Dawn was.

Dawn herself had finished off high school in Cleveland and, in the meantime, had also become Cleveland's official guardian. She was no Slayer, that she knew, but Cleveland had no Slayer except Faith, who had given reins over to Dawn since Dawn was the Final Guardian's little sister. Dawn had done a fine job of it too, thwarting two apocalypses already in the past two years.

Now, though, things had changed for the young woman. She was on the brink of college, but she wanted more. She wanted to find some answers about herself, because she still had so many questions that needed to be answered. Then there were the dreams she was having. Dreams of something old, something great, something incredibly evil. Something that Dawn felt only she could thwart, though how, she did not know. After all, she wasn't a Slayer...and weren't they the most powerful of creatures on the planet? Then there were the voices as well. The ones that hinted at her powers, that she was a great source of power. They hinted that her Key-ness was still there, within her, that she had to find it.

The dreams and voices intrigued the eighteen-year-old. She had to know more.

So, the young woman had made up her mind. She would head to Los Angeles, and find some answers for herself. There were Oracles there, or so she had heard, along with a good demon named Whistler and, of course, Angel and company, who she was sure would help out Buffy's little sister. Besides, Andrew was there too, and she had heard rumors of Spike's existence too, that the peroxide-headed vampire still lived.

Dawn knew she had to find some answers, and she knew that, at least at the moment, she'd have to go at them alone.

She was, in a way, much like her sister had been at that moment.

A Chosen One.