Disclaimer- Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon. The Lord of the Rings belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien. I only own the story and any original characters presented throughout the duration of this fic.
Summery- Buffy and Dawn are on vacation with only each other for companion. On vacation, Dawn steals an old talisman from a weird store, not having the slightest clue what it is except an old, pretty talisman necklace 'thingy'. Buffy finds out and gets angry with Dawn, which inevitably causes a huge fight to erupt between the already bickering sisters. Dawn grabs the talisman and Buffy tries to snatch it away when the oddest thing starts to occur. Both girls are suddenly sucked into another dimension, far from their own. Revelations will be revealed. People will be betrayed.
A/N 1- I am currently revising the first five chapters of this story. Looking back at it, it makes me cringe. I haven't given up on the story, and I won't be changing anything, I'm only going to be fixing grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. Also, I'll be deleting the exclamation marks; God I think I was in love with those things. Also I changed the title from A Slayer, A Key, and a Whole New World, to A Slayer, A Key, and Middle Earth. Same story, just a different title.
A/N 2- As for the time and place, for Buffy this fic takes place takes place sometime after 'Older and Far Away', Season Six. In addition, for The Lord of the Rings the time and setting for that is the second they leave the Mines of Moria. Understand, not confused are you?
A Slayer, A Key, and Middle Earth
Chapter 1
Buffy Summers, Vampire Slayer extraordinaire, walked around the dimly lit shop she and her younger sister, Dawn, had just stopped at on their way to Baja, Mexico. She couldn't help but roll her eyes whenever she thought of their destination. Why Dawn wanted to go there, she didn't know. They couldn't even speak Spanish for Christ sakes. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, continued her observation of the small shop. Full of dust, books, artifacts that looked ancient, a bit expensive, and just right down creepy; the shop seriously gave the native Californian the wiggins.
A piece of hair escaped past the clip that held her hair away from her face, and past the sunglasses perched on top of her head. She cocked her head to the side, looking at the object that fixated her attention so thoroughly. It was a ball, a ball that glowed a brilliant yellowish orange. She shivered. It wasn't from the cold. No, it was far to hot in the musty store to be cold, even if she did only wear lightweight hip huggers and a V-neck blue spaghetti top. No, it was from pure recollection. Recollection from the most awful experience of her young life (though she felt so very old beyond her twenty-one years). The day at the tower when she fought Glory, the insane Hell god, and when her sister's life was being balanced on a perilous string. The day that she had been more than willing to let the world end, if only her sister was allowed to live for a little longer. She closed her eyes tightly, banished the thoughts with force. She had never experienced, nor did she ever want to experience again, something so awful, terrifying, and gut wrenching. She forced herself to continue walking.
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Dawn walked down the aisles looking at different objects in the shop. So far, nothing had been worth stopping for, and she had no clue where her older sister had gone, nor did she care actually. It wasn't that she didn't love her sister because she did. Her sister was the most important person to her. The fact of the matter was, however, they just were not getting along very well as of late. That was one of the reasons why they had decided to take their little vacation to Baja, Mexico, to try and 'resolve their differences'- that was what the Scoobies had said anyways. Yes, this had been their idea to send her and Buffy away for vacation (they hadn't even taken into consideration that she still had school though Buffy had). Dawn was complaining, however, quite the opposite actually. She was quite happy about leaving Sunnydale along with Buffy. However, so far all they had done was bicker and argue about everything from A-Z. It was most disconcerting.
Dawn sighed and looked down at her watch to see what time it was. Just past one o'clock PM. She rubbed her arms, the white tank top she wore not helping to fight off the chill that suddenly ran through her. She pushed at a piece of her brunette that framed her face, placing it behind her ear. Suddenly something caught her eye that she didn't remember seeing on the dirty shelf before. A talisman. She tilted her head slightly to the left and looked at the talisman before carefully picking it up.
It was old, silver, and strangely enough in perfect condition, so unlike the other tarnished goods in the store. It was round and had a weird insignia that Dawn had never seen before, in the middle. Small red gems bejeweled the rim of the talisman. The heavy sliver chain hung limply from her hand. Dawn looked at it closely; bit her lip before slipping it into her bag.
"Dawn!" She heard a familiar female voice all but yell her name.
Dawn rolled her eyes before turning to face her sister. "What?" She snapped.
"I told you not to wander off. Didn't I tell you not to wander off?" Buffy questioned Dawn irritably.
"God Buffy, I'm not a child," Dawn said her blue eyes looking into the deep green of her sister's.
Buffy rolled her eyes and turned away from her sister. "Come on, we're leaving," Buffy called over her shoulder and tapped her foot impatiently for her sister.
"Thank god," Dawn mumbled walking up to her sister. They left the store bickering lightly, neither sister noticing a pair of eerie yellow eyes boring into both of their backs, a weird smile twisting the thin lips.
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Dawn and Buffy entered their hotel room that they had rented for the night. Dawn threw her bag on her bed before heading toward the small bathroom. Buffy closed the door and watched as the bathroom door closed harshly behind her younger sister. She sighed in frustration and flopped down on her twin sized bed wondering what she kept doing wrong. However, her thoughts were interrupted when a silver chain hanging out of Dawn's bag caught her eye. Buffy's brow wrinkled in confusion as she reached for the chain and carefully pulled it out of the bag.
Buffy's eyes opened in anger and she grunted. "Dawn! Get your ass out here now!" Buffy yelled, one fist on her hip and the other holding the talisman.
Dawn emerged from the bathroom looking irritated. "Can't a girl take a pee?" She snapped before her eyes fell on what Buffy was holding. Her fist reaction was worry before turning into fierce anger. "You went through my things! How could you?" Dawn yelled standing right in front of Buffy now. Being a few inches taller, she had to direct her gaze down a little to stare Buffy in the eyes. Furious green eyes met angry blue.
"You stole this from that store!" Buffy yelled out her sister.
"No duh Sherlock." Dawn said sarcastically and was met by Buffy's hand on her cheek.
Dawn looked shocked at first and Buffy looked equally as shocked, her eyes opened wide. However, Dawn's shock quickly turned to anger as she returned the favor to Buffy. "You bitch!" Dawn yelled at Buffy as she slapped her also.
Buffy snapped out of her stage of shock when Dawn called her a bitch and slapped her hard again. Dawn's head swung from the Slayer's muted force. Buffy's eyes were opened in anger. Her whole body shook with it. "You're going to go and return this Dawn, now," Buffy said dangerously calm.
Dawn rolled her eyes. "No way. That place creeps me out," Dawn said. "And that's pretty bad coming from someone who's seen a lot of horrors in their short life."
"I don't care, Dawn. You are going to take this back now!" Buffy yelled.
"No! It isn't like you ever care nowadays anyways!" Dawn shouted.
"Yes, you are!" Buffy ordered, ignoring Dawn's comment about her never caring. She cared, she really did.
"I'm sick of this, I'm leaving," The younger Summers stated and grabbed a bag that carried both hers and Buffy's clothes.
"Where the hell do think you are going?" Buffy snapped.
"Away," Dawn snatched the talisman away from Buffy and started to walk toward the door. Buffy grabbed her arm. The fifteen-year-old was forced to stop.
"Let go of me!" Dawn screeched angrily. Buffy held on to her sister's arm, making a grab for the talisman. However, the second Buffy touched the object neither sister could let go of it. Blinding white light shot out of the middle of the talisman, exactly where the insignia was located. It started to circle the sister's, the white light spinning extraordinarily fast. Where their hands touched the talisman, a painful burning began. It felt as if their skin was melting off. Was it? Dawn cried out as the blinding light and burning became worse; the sound caused Buffy's stomach to clench tightly. Suddenly a dark black hole appeared above the girl's head. It grew to spectacular width as the light and burning intensified tenfold. Dawn and Buffy looked up at the dark black hole. Buffy tightened her grip on her sister. Dawn whimpered as the blackness began to grow bigger, drawing closer to the girls.
"Buffy!" Dawn yelled terrified as the blackness engulfed them and sent them whirling through oblivion. It felt like knives were sticking them everywhere as they flew on through the impossible darkness, not seeing anything but never-ending black. It seemed to go on for eons, when in actuality it was only minutes until it stopped.
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"Give them a moment's for pity's sake!" Yelled Boromir after Aragorn had told Legolas to get them up.
"By nightfall these hills will be swarming with orcs!" Aragorn yelled back, trying to get the other man to see reason, all the while Legolas slowly started to get the weeping hobbits up. Suddenly a flash of blinding white lightning struck at the vibrant blue sky harshly. A ball of blinding whiteness ripped the sky in half and opened up to nothingness, emptiness, a devastating blackness. The fellowship looked upward toward the sky, fear welled up inside them, especially the hobbits. The clouds started to swirl and be sucked into the blackness of the hole as lightning started to strike at the ground. As quickly as it had started, it had stopped without any signs it had ever occurred. The fellowship did not move, but merely looked up toward the sky to see if it would start up again.
"What in the blazes was that about?" Gimli, the dwarf, asked looking around at the sky with his axe in hand.
"Never have I seen such an occurrence like it before," Legolas marveled cautiously, looking at the sky as if it would give answers to them.
"We must move, we have strayed here long enough," Aragorn stated removing his hand from his sword, a deep wariness settling over him.
"Aragorn do you hear that?" Legolas asked listening intently.
Aragorn looked at Legolas before also hearing what the Elvin prince heard. A person was groaning and moaning not far away from them, just behind the rocks it seemed. Aragorn put his hand on his sword and him and Legolas slowly made their way to the rock to see who was making the noise. However, what they found was something that had not been anticipated.
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Buffy felt herself being tossed. Felt herself losing grip on Dawn. She knew she had let go as soon as she felt her hand grasp nothing but air. She felt herself dropping, and dropping fast. She dared not to open her eyes, afraid of seeing blackness. Afraid of actually seeing Dawn gone. She did not want to believe that she had lost her grip on Dawn, but what was she supposed to believe when she could no longer feel her holding Dawn's arms tightly? Suddenly she hit something hard and solid. Something sharp. The wind was not knocked out of her, her fall having been painful.
Afraid to open her eyes, she dared not cough or breathe. She failed miserable. She let a small groan slip past her lips. She immediately wished she could take it back. She heard voices, or noises to be exact. She could not tell if they were human or not. They were only blurry sounds to her ears. She began to feel panic creep up on her, was she deaf? Her whole body hurt, her head felt as if it was splitting open. It hurt to breath, as if she was burning inside. She felt liquid running down her head and arm. She heard the sounds getting closer. Footsteps, she recognized them as footsteps. 'Dawn maybe, but Dawn's would be lighter,' She reasoned with herself, besides she knew exactly how her sister's footsteps would sound. There was no way the footsteps belonged to Dawn. She then heard the footsteps stop, could feel someone above her.
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Legolas and Aragorn stopped when they saw a petite woman with golden hair lying on the sharp rocks. She was very pale, and breathing rigidly in and out. Aragorn quickly knelt down beside of Buffy.
"Milady can you hear me?" He asked gently looking her wounds over. "She has a small, but deep gash on the top of her head, and a large deep gash on her arm all the way down to her wrist." Aragorn said looking Buffy over.
Buffy's senses and hearing slowly began to come back to her. She could understand the words that were being spoken. Relief was like a tidal wave washing through her; she wasn't deaf. Her stomach and ribs hurt, she guessed they were bruised and would heal on their own. They always did. She slowly and painfully opened her eyes, but quickly closed them as the vibrant sun hit her eyes. She groaned in pain.
"Milady." She heard a male voice say.
Buffy slowly and carefully opened her eyes and found a shaggy haired man accompanied by a blonde haired male blocked out the sun. She looked from one face to another, noted somewhere in the back of her mind randomly that they were both attractive. Her voice was raspy, it hurt to talk. "Where's Dawn?" She asked, her first priority
Both men looked confused and exchanged glances. "Milady if you would be so kind as to give us your name?" Legolas asked, ignoring her question.
Buffy looked at him warily and began to grow irritated. "Buffy. Buffy Summers. Now where am I? Who are you? And where the hell is Dawn?" Buffy asked. Her injuries were quickly forgotten, they weren't important. Her sister was.
"I am Legolas and this is Aragorn. You are in Middle Earth. We, I regret to inform you, do not know who this Dawn is that you speak so vehemently of," He answered.
"Oh god, I lost her." Her words were defeated, heartbroken. Her eyes were tearing up. No, this couldn't be happening. She was supposed to protect Dawn. She was the slayer, her big sister. Her lip and chin quivered. She found herself not caring how much she was displaying in front of complete, and maybe even hostile, strangers. Her train of thought abruptly stopped. She looked inquiringly, and suspiciously at the two males. "Hold on, I'm where?" She asked, just catching on that she was not in America anymore.
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Dawn felt herself being tossed and losing Buffy. She knew Buffy had been pulled away from her as soon as she felt Buffy's tight grip leave her tender arm. Dawn then felt herself dropping, and dropping fast. She dared not to open her eyes, afraid of seeing blackness, afraid of not seeing Buffy holding onto her. She did not want to believe that Buffy had lost her grip on her, but what was she supposed to believe when she could no longer feel her holding her arm tightly? Suddenly she hit something hard and solid. The wind was not knocked out of her. Pain coursed throughout her body. She wished vaguely that she had slayer tolerance and healing. Her fall would leave one hell of a bruise later on.
Dawn did not want to open her eyes, however, she felt the need to. She felt the need to know where she was, if Buffy was anywhere in sight. She felt something cool and soft, what she guessed was grass, beneath her fingertips. Her head and ribs hurt greatly from the force of the fall. She was short winded. She moaned and slowly rolled over to her side. Wished she had not afterwards. She was met with great pain in her ribs. She slowly opened her eyes. Wished beyond anything that she were still back in Sunnydale, back on her vacation, and more importantly back with Buffy. The sight that greeted her was, at least, ten dangerous looking arrows directed straight at her. She gulped. 'Buffy.'
A/N- Okay this is the revamped Chapter One. Not much has been changed, manly just grammatical and spelling errors. Hopefully it bettered it somewhat. When I first reread over it, I literally cringed. It was horrible. One just never realizing just how bad one of their first few stories are until they have reread over it a few years later. Anyways, I will be continuing to revise chapters two-five later on. I'm not right now because I am trying to finish Chapter 6. If you read the chapters I haven't went back over and redid, then um… well just look over the mistakes and come back and read those chapters again when I've revamped them. Also, I am not Tolkien, so this will not be perfect. This will also be, probably, more movie verse then book verse. If you do not like that, then do not read it. Anyways, no flames. They will be ignored and discarded.
ZombieGurl98