NOTE: The Buffy timeline may be a bit messed up so just to make it a bit clearer; Buffy was called at 15 and has been a slayer for almost 6 years. Extra NOTE at the end of this chapter.

Two Earth years earlier, Sunnydale, California

Dawn watched as Doc pushed Spike off the tower. She knew deep inside this was the end. As Doc sliced her she knew she was going to die.

Then Buffy appeared and knocked Doc to the ground and untied her.

Buffy the hero.

Buffy the Slayer.

Buffy her sister.

Buffy who was real.

She saw the portal opening, "Buffy…"

Somehow, maybe an echo over time, Dawn knew what Buffy was going to do, she couldn't let that happen. She ran past her sister, who was so shocked she didn't even try to stop her. Buffy could only watch and scream as Dawn launched herself into the portal.

And then there was nothing. The portal closed, sucking Dawn in as it did. Spike and Buffy both screamed, Giles stood back his face grave after killing Ben, Willow and Tara softly crying to one another, Xander holding the dead body of Anya.

Dawn felt herself fill with energy as the portal pulled her through, as if it was feeding her. She fell for what seemed a very long time before landing ON someone.

The man she'd landed on was dressed in black and green, had ice blue eyes and dark hair, and smelled like energy. Dawn felt instantly drawn to the man, much like she was drawn to her mother and, to a lesser extent, Buffy.

She felt the oddest shiver travel her body and when it stopped she realized the dress Glory had thrown on her was a lot bigger…or she was smaller. Looking up at the man she knew it was the latter.

The man picked her up and she guessed she probably looked 5 or 6. He looked at her with wonder and sniffed her long hair. "Where did you come from and why do you smell like you're mine?"

Dawn gulped but figured there was no reason any more to keep her secrets and explained her creation, her "life" with Buffy and their mother, Glory, the portal and her jump.

The man held her higher, "Your mother, Joyce, she looked like this?" His face warped and did indeed look like her mother, only younger and she told him so.

The man clutched her tightly as she began to cry. His face returned to normal as he whispered an Asgardian lullaby to her.

Eventually pulling her back a bit, "They lied; the monks. I met your mother when she was in the middle of her divorce from her husband. She and I had a weekend of physical love, but she did not want it to go further, that was five years ago. The monks must have taken you when you were born and erased all memory of the pregnancy then when they needed you they used some illusionary magic to make you appear older and shoved your memory into the world."

He growled, "It is good that the monks are dead or I would have killed them myself. They had to have known they would need an innocent, a child, to push this Glory's magic into. When she as cast to Earth, if that's even true, the monks must have been tasked to contain her siphoned off magic. Whatever they stored it in would have started to leak, so they had to put it someplace safe, you."

Dawn looked at the man in awe not knowing what to say.

The man sat on the ground and set her on his lap. He brushed her hair away from her face and kissed her forehead. "I didn't know you existed but I do now and you're mine, all mine, my precious little girl. Glory's magic has been purged from you and now your own magic is returning. I will teach you to use it."

The man clutched Dawn as if she would float away at any second, "I am Loki, prince of Asgard and you are now Lykill, princess of Asgard."

Loki held her close to him, she could feel his heartbeat, and she remembered her mother holding her this way when she was upset. "Lykill? You're naming me Key?"

Loki smiled, "Your mother named you, Glory wasn't actually looking for a key she was looking for her powers, the monks manipulated the narrative to further hide you."

Dawn/Lykill tilted her head, "So you're the lock and I'm the key?"

Loki smiled, "You are the key to my heart, your mother would know that you would be. Now sleep, you are exhausted.

Dawn/Lykill's adrenalin crashed and between the lack of sleep before Glory's ceremony, her grief, and the extremes of magic, emotions, and physical exertion she passed out in her father's arms.

For the first time, Loki felt whole and allowed himself to truly open his heart.

EXTRA NOTE! Dawn was conceived just after Buffy was called. She was born and named and was only days old when the monks kidnapped her and warped reality.