Chapter One

A seemingly fourteen-year-old girl aimlessly wondered the streets of Sunnydale, not really paying any attention to her surroundings. The reason for it being somewhat fundamental - entire world around her has just crumbled. At first she tried to think about as being ruined, unconsciously trying to find someone she could blame for it, someone responsible, her sister for being a Slayer, her mother for not being her real mother, Giles for being incompetent enough not to keep his possessions well protected from inquiring mind of fourteen-year-old teenager, (heck technically speaking 6 months old baby!), Spike for agreeing to help her to break in into Magic Box, monks for figuring nothing better to protect their precious Key than by creating her however they managed to pull this out, the new Big Bad - Glory - for forcing monks to do that, heck anyone as long she could figure out the reasons to blame. And no matter how ridiculous they would be, they would fit as long as they served the purpose of distracting her from asking herself those questions, those damn questions. But there was no one really to blame except maybe those monks that created her and her fake memories, again however they managed to pull this out, and the collapse of her world was only a matter of time and it didn't really matter who or what triggered it and Dawn instinctively knew it. Life sucked and you had to deal with that. What once again brought her to those creeping questions that she tried unconsciously to avoid: Who am I, What am I? Am I more than just the Key? Do I really belong here? Psychologist would state that she was experiencing identity crisis at the moment, but Dawn didn't have a word for it, she was supposed to be fourteen year old after all. And having a word for the problem doesn't necessary makes it easier to solve it anyway. So here she was again - aimlessly wondering the streets of Sunnydale trying to find the answers for questions, she couldn't possibly hope to find and paying very little attention to what was going on around, which wasn't a very smart thing to do considering where she was living.

However even if she was the most vigilant person in Sunnydale, the honor of being one currently belonging to Slayer, she would hardly be able to notice a pair of hazel eyes that were following her progress on her way to nowhere in particular.

It was time to act. Which basically meant that two weeks of careful planning were going to be thrown out through the window. And considering that it was Methos who was behind planning, the Plan must have been really good even if it took only 2 days to develop. But it didn't matter now. Even though Methos was of a high opinion of his ability to plan things ahead and then precisely executing them, which very rarely failed him, he knew the value of being flexible and not restricting himself to initial plan of actions when necessary. Ability to carefully plan and adapt depending on situation at the same time was one of the things that made him so successful at keeping his head for the last 5 millennia. That's why he didn't hesitated now. He knew an opportunity when he saw one and he was going to use it.

The girl was wondering the streets without any noticeable pattern and any escort whatsoever for the last fifteen minutes. Potentially it could be a trap to lure him out if they somehow have managed to notice his unhealthy interest in Slayer' residence, but that was unlikely, since he have seen how the kid fled the house through the window of her bedroom and has followed her ever since. And Slayer most likely wouldn't risk her little 'sister' in such a manner especially when she knew what exactly and how important she was. The kid was obviously under a lot of stress at the moment, caring little about her surroundings, therefore bumping into occasional obstacles in her wake for example other pedestrians plus her eyes seemed to be wet. And there she was fifteen meters away from the place where he parked his SUV and approximately in the next 30 seconds was expected to pass it by. It was dumb luck. Methos was parking his SUV every time in different place and at respectful distance from Slayer's residence whenever he was going to spy on it. This time it happened to be a deserted street with only two people except Dawn both heading side by side in opposite direction than she. They were obviously lovers too preoccupied with each other to even notice the frustrated state of the kid or him hiding on the other side of the road. It was time to act.

Methos quickly crossed the street without making any noise with his feet, a skill that he had perfected so long ago, that he couldn't even remember when exactly. Possibly he acquired it in the early stages of his live when his survival in the wild depended more on the control of his body than on his sharp mind. Even Duncan Macleod who has spent some time of his live with American Indians or Amanda, a professional thief of no little skill, could match him in ability to keep silence on the move. The faint signature of pre-immortal as he approached his target from the back somewhat surprised him but didn't lower his determination or slowed his pace. He pressed the button on the remote controller of his car opening the doors almost on the last second before the attack. Even if Dawn wouldn't be so deep in her uneasy thoughts she would never notice that something was wrong because the SUV standing near by never made a beeping sound or any other noise, not even a brief flash of lights she wouldn't be able to see anyway. It was something that Methos also took care of with any car he was using. She never knew what hit her. It took only 4 seconds. One second to perform a disabling move that took away her consciousness and to open the door of the car. Two seconds to put her inside the SUV and close the door. And one second to open another door, to get into driver seat and close the door. It didn't take a lot of time for SUV to disappear from not only the street, but Sunnydale either, since the eldest immortal alive really didn't fancy hanging around the Hellmouth unless he had a very good reason, especially with the Slayer and the Beast around, not mentioning the Key on the backseat of his car. No one saw Dawn Summers in Sunnydale since then. Ever.

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