AN: I know this story is set in early season 4 but I'm including Dawn. She's not the key. She's an ordinary human and really has been with Buffy since birth. I always saw Dawn as more of a key in seasons 6 and 7 even though I do feel it was a bit of a bad move introducing her in season 5 just for her to sort of be a bystander in the last 2 seasons.
She was ready. Ready to take them on but every time she swung a punch, she felt all her strength, all her energy fly out of the ends of her fingertips and fade into black. Exhausted, the slayer fell to the ground as 3 hooded figures started to chuckle...
The cloaked imposter in the centre pulled a dagger from out of the depths of his robe and held it poised high above Buffy's head.
This is it. No one's around and there's no way I can beat them off.
Suddenly, Buffy felt more awake as a gush of wind blew her hair off of her face. Someone had run along side her. She barely mumbled 'help' before the passerby had knocked her attackers over and was pulling her into their arms. They'd made it look so easy. Whatever the figures had done to her hadn't worn off, leaving her as weak as a defenseless child. She tried to lock eyes with her savior but they were moving too fast, bobbing up and down as they ran. Seeing through blurred vision, she managed to make out an outline, followed by slightly more detailed shapes.
Buffy awoke with a start panting with fear.
What the hell was that? A slayer vision?
She'd never dreamt anything so intense. She had felt the horror of her imminent death but at the same time she'd felt the joy of the men as she faltered. She massaged her temples lightly, trying to recall every individual detail from the dream when she was interrupted by someone bounding down the hall towards her room. Dawn swung the door open and poked her head around.
"Hey! Giles is over! Demony stuff I think."
"Give me a minute.""Don't leave him hanging. He sounds pretty urgent…"
Buffy found a worried looking Giles flicking through several pages of a chunky looking text. Her mom was already at work so they remained alone downstairs.
"What's the deal?" she sighed as she made her way over to him and collapsed next to Giles on the couch.
"Ah, Buffy. We seem to have a bit of a de -." He stopped when he saw Buffy not paying attention and stifling a yawn.
"Sorry am I boring you?" he asked an obvious hint of sarcasm in his voice. Buffy looked bewildered, genuinely not meaning to be disrespectful.
"No! Of course not, sorry. I just didn't get much sleep. Nightmare." Giles suddenly started to show more interest.
"Oh? Was it a vision?"
"I don't know. There were a few freaky looking hooded things though."
"Demons?"
"Maybe, I couldn't fight them off. It was like they were draining my strength or something."
"So it was just you and your attackers in the dream?"
"Yes. No. Sort of." Giles looked at his slayer in confusion.
"There was someone else there. They fought off the power sucking people and then carried me away. I couldn't see their face but they were familiar. Like I met them in the past."
"Were they saving you or taking you somewhere against your will?"
"I wasn't in much of a position to run away even if I wanted to but they were...gentle when they picked me up." Giles took a moment to consider everything.
"It sounded like a terrifying dream so maybe an unconscious part of your mind knows of this person but you aren't allowing yourself to remember. This person may be of importance." Buffy pouted slightly, thinking on what her watcher had told her. She wanted desperately to remember so why couldn't she?
"Anyway, what's the deal with encyclopedia Britannica?" she chuckled, pointing at the old, fusty smelling book lying on Giles' lap.
"There have been several reports of decapitated bodies down by the graveyard over the past several nights."
"Ew."
"Unfortunately, there are over 100 species of demon that kill their victims in this way."
"Any other gross clues to follow?"
"As of yet, no."Buffy jumped to her feet.
"Well, nothing I can do now, so I'm off to class. I'll patrol tonight"
"Of course." Giles replied, tucking the bulky book under his arm and starting towards the door.
"I'll let you know if any other details come up." Buffy nodded.
"Sure." As soon as the door had shut, Buffy called up the stairs to her sister.
"Dawn! School! We're running late!" A distant squeak came from the back bedroom and Dawn was at the top of the stairs in moments.
"Everything okay with Giles? Any slay-age I can help with?" she titled.
"Not in a million years."
What do you think of the first chapter? Please let me know :)