Buffy the vampire slayer.
Fanfiction set in season 5.
Inside the key- by Marion Tucker.
The monk that Buffy had saved from, had died shortly after they escaped. Buffy remembered the cold black night, and how the man had seemed so sad. He begged that Buffy understand, that yes, Dawn was the key. Yet she was innocent in all this. He had been fatally wounded, by the Demonic woman, who wore a beautiful face.
Buffy had walked home that night, beaten badly by the blond woman. This new enemy had long curly blond hair and had worn a pencil red dress and high heels. Buffy was frightened by these new events, the woman seemed stronger than a vampire.
Buffy didn't know what the key meant, only that the monk had sent it to Buffy's family, in the form of a sister. Dawn! She loved her sister Dawn, and as she walked home, the weird realisation, that everything she knew about her younger sibling was a fabrication. Time had changed forever, her memories were pictures that made believe.
That night, Buffy was thankful not to encounter any more demons. She limped home, feeling achy. It was a half hours walk back to her house, and as she passed the old cinema and shops, she felt glad of the walk. She peace in her sadness. As she glimpsed her reflection in the mirror, she saw her own beauty and felt sadness for the world around her.
Her mum was in. To add chaos to catastrophy, her mum was sick. She didn't know what was wrong with Joyce Summer's, and her spell has proven that whatever it was, wasn't demonic in origin. She greeted her mum with a smile. Dawn was sitting next to her but stormed upstairs when Buffy came in.
"What was that about?" her mum asked.
"Oh nothing, just sister stuff," Buffy said.
"Go talk to her," her mum said, "I'll make us some tea".
"Thanks, mum, you're the best" Buffy said as she left the living room and quietly went upstairs.
The pictures on the wall outside of Dawn's bedroom illustrated a happy family. Yet when she had done the spell, Dawn had ghosted in and out of the photo's, all because she wasn't who she thought she was. She was a key to some unknown thing, a mystical vortex made human.
Did this mean that Buffy didn't really love her sister? As she tapped on the door, opening it before Dawn objected. Her sister was sitting on her bed. A young girls room, illustrating her innocent age. Her long brown hair had a purple texture to it, that was illuminated by the light.
"I'm sorry about earlier Dawn," Buffy said, looking at the girl, who's face resembled her own, "Slayer stuff has been driving me crazy lately, I shouldn't have taken it out on you"
Her sister huffed. "Yeah. Well your an idiot"
"Can I be patron of the idiot club?" Buffy sighed.
"I'm patron, you can be janitor" her sister smiled with a bright expression.
"Fine. Janitor" Buffy sat on the edge of the bed, playing with Dawns long hair. "I'm really sorry. Everything's been just so weird lately. Life is so strange".
Dawn didn't say anything. The words in the monks dying breath wrung in Buffy's mind. "The girl, she doesn't know that she is the key, she is an innocent in all this"
Buffy didn't say anything because she didn't want to scare Dawn. But she could see his ghost standing in the room. He was still battered and wounded, from the blond woman. He looked urgently at Buffy, with pleading eyes.
"She's... good. Something made from evil, into something pure" said the ghost of the dead monk.
"I know she's good. I will keep her safe" Whispered Buffy, in the direction of where the ghost stood.
A light that only Buffy could see shone in the room, like sunlight. The ghost's wounds healed and he smiled. Then he was gone.
"Buffy, what did you say?"
"Nothing, Dawn. Just thinking about something"
Mum called. The two girls went downstairs for a cup of tea. Happy families for now. Buffy held the secret and the promise to the monk.