Disclaimer: I do not own Highlander or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Chapter Four.

'I am Marie Winters, I was once a powerful entity known as the Key. Fifteen years ago on the Sunnydale Hellmouth I was placed into the body of an innocent teenage girl. I am Immortal and I am not alone. For centuries we have waited for the time of the Gathering, when the stroke of a sword and the fall of a head will release the power of the Quickening. In the end, there can be only one.'

I had just turned nineteen when my training began to pick up. I asked Duncan to teach me everything he could. I told him that I didn't care how long it took, I had the time. Time was the only thing I did have. The Highlander was more than understanding. He took me in off the streets, and brought me half way across the world, to Paris, of all places. He taught me not only the rules of the game, but everything he thought I would need to survive it.

I didn't understand then, why he cared enough to teach me. I didn't understand why he didn't just take my head and be done with it. After all; in the end, there can be only one.

That's our creed, isn't it?

"Marie, you're dropping your shoulder."

Marie growled low in her throat and corrected her form, only to have her feet kicked out from underneath her a moment later. She felt the cool edge of her teacher's practice blade against her throat signaling the end of the fight.

Duncan: Too high to count.

Marie: Zero.

"Again." He demanded.

She sprung to her feet in an acrobatic move her sister had done in front of her many, many times, though her every muscle protested the movement. Her own practice blade was held securely in her sweaty palm and she danced the dance again, only to have her blade knocked out of her hand, and the familiar feeling of the cool blade against her throat a second later.

"Forget everything you knew. You're not fighting demons. Strength doesn't matter here, Marie. Skill does."

"Right." Marie nodded curly at the mild reprimand and picked her sword up off the dojo floor.

In the beginning she had whined and complained. She hadn't understood; she had just wanted to go home. It wasn't until she saw Duncan challenged in his own home by a man two hundred years his senior, that she realized the implications of what had happened to her. They didn't care that she was the little sister of The Slayer. They didn't care that she didn't want to be a murderer. They didn't care.

She was just an obstacle on their path to winning the game. That was when she started taking the game seriously. She didn't want to lose. She didn't want to be an obstacle in a game beyond her control; she wanted to be a player. She wanted to win.

"Again."

Marie hefted her sword in an easy grip, and shifted her stance. It was time to be Marie Winters, Immortal. Dawn Summers, little sister to The Slayer, was dead.

They clashed in the middle of the room, and Marie pressed him, looking for any advantage. She spotted it in his stance a second later, and dodged his blow expertly. She pulled in close to him and locked a leg around his ankle while simultaneously elbowing the wrist holding his sword, causing it to release to the floor. Her sword raised, she brought it to his neck, and couldn't help but smile.

A second later, she was on the ground rubbing her head where he had head butted her.

"Good, Marie. Very good. Again."

Marie nodded. She could do this.

"Bit."

Dawn shifted slightly in her sleeping bag, though she settled a moment later.

Spike took a step into the room and the floor creaked.

Dawn shot up and in unsheathed her sword in the same motion. She looked around with wide eyes, before her eyes locked on Spike. He was leaning against the wall with his hands up in a mockery of the known innocent gesture. His eyes betrayed him though, and Dawn could see that she had startled him.

"Nice reflexes." he commented idly.

Dawn sheathed the sword with a sigh. She had forgotten to tell him to be careful waking her up. She was even more paranoid when she slept than she was when she was awake. It hadn't helped that people had attempted to take her head while she slept more than once. When she was a headhunter, it had gotten so bad that she had only slept on Holy Ground. It had been nearly seven months since she stopped hunting, but the other immortals hadn't gotten the memo yet.

She felt entitled to a little paranoia.

"Sorry." She said sheepishly.

"All inked up?" He asked with a head gesture to her left upper arm.

Dawn glanced down at the tattoo she had gotten on her twenty fifth birthday. It had been her first birthday on her own since becoming immortal, and she had decided to treat herself. It was a Celtic knot that wrapped around her arm twice. It was small and classy, and pleased her to no end. "Not all inked up, just that. It was my twenty fifth birthday present to myself."

"I let you sleep a bit longer."

Dawn smiled cheekily, "Went through all my stuff, didn't you."

Spike shrugged, "Nothing interesting."

"Couldn't figure out the security on my laptop, huh."

Spike shrugged again, though he looked slightly annoyed.

"Don't fret. It took me weeks to figure the thing out. But the Security was necessary, as I use it for work."

"What do you do? You never got into that."

"Stuff." Dawn said dryly. "I'll tell you later. I need to get going. I have to talk to Buffy, and then I have to get my electricity hooked up, and then I have to go shopping. You may have noticed, but I didn't really bring much with me."

"I did notice." Spike admitted. "Figured you weren't planning on staying."

Dawn smiled bitter sweetly. "I'm not. Now, get out so I can get changed."

Spike shrugged indifferently and moved out of the room.

Dawn pulled her non-work cell phone out from her duffel bag and sent Duncan a text.

"Still alive, I'll call you tonight."

Dawn felt small as the building loomed in front of her. It was more intimidating than the Wolfram and Hart office in Rome, which was full of demons. Of course, Dawn would take demons over high school students any day.

Her sword, under her tan trench coat, was more comforting than she would ever admit. She was extremely grateful that while her shirt had been destroyed by blood the night before, her trench coat had made it through the situation fine. She really needed to go shopping. She was wearing her last good clothing, and who knew if it would survive her encounter with Buffy.

She had forgotten how violent her family was.

"Oh, hey!"

Dawn swiveled around to come face to face with the redhead from the day before. "Oh, hello." She said happily. She loved distractions.

"Are you going to school here?"

Dawn winced. Sometimes it really sucked being stuck at age eighteen for all of eternity. Even if she managed to look closer to mid twenties with different makeup and fashion; it still sucked knowing she would always be mistaken for a high school student. "School? Me? Uhh, no. I'm here to talk with… with one of the staff."

The redhead looked her over, and Dawn resisted the urge to shift nervously under the examination. Instead, she took the time to look the redhead over. She noticed small things that she hadn't noticed the day before, such as the fact that the redhead had a stake up the sleeve of her sweater, and that she held herself gingerly, as if she was sore. The girl was no Slayer, that much was obvious just by her stance, but Dawn would bet her laptop that the girl was a potential.

"You're here to see Buffy." The girl said finally with a firm nod.

"Y—yeah." Dawn replied. "I'm—well, I need to see her."

"Come on. I'll show you to her office. You're not really in town to visit family, are you?"

"Uh, no. I mean, I am. Mostly?"

"I'm Vi." The redhead said suddenly.

"Marie." Dawn replied. She hesitated slightly, "Okay, sorry. No. My name's Dawn, but, please, call me Marie, or I'll probably just keep walking."

"I thought you were French?"

"Huh?" Dawn asked, "Oh, I am. Mostly, sort of? I grew up in Paris. I travel a lot though, and I've not been to the States for a good ten years or so. Languages are kind of my thing though, and sometimes, I mix them up. Sometimes I just like how a word sounds better in a different language though."

"Cool. I'm from England, myself."

"I like England." Dawn said brightly with a perfect English accent, "I lived there for a few months a couple of years ago. I really don't like to stay in any place very long though, it makes me… paranoid."

"I understand."

Dawn hummed non-committingly. She frowned and rubbed her head, the buzzing from the Hellmouth had risen to almost unbearable levels the further into the school she walked and it was making it incredibly hard to focus.

"…kay?"

"Huh?"

"Are you okay?" Vi repeated.

"Huh? Yeah. Headache." Dawn stopped walking just in time to avoid a collision with a black girl whose arm was in a cast. Dawn almost winced when she saw the girl's dreadlocked hair. There was no way that was healthy.

The girl stopped in front of Vi, "We're late for gym."

"Sorry, I was showing Marie to Buffy's office." Vi said. "Marie, this is Rona. Rona, this is Marie; she's new."

"Huh? Oh. Oh! Yo. I'm Rona."

"Pleasure." Dawn replied. Inwardly, she frowned; did they honestly think she was a Potential Slayer? She had forgotten how bad the Sunnydale crew was at keeping secret identities secret. It seemed as if the next generation was no better. Amanda would be so bored; there was no challenge in figuring these people out.

"Well, Marie, it was super nice meeting you. Buffy's office is through that hallway, the second door on the left. It has her name on it, so you can't miss it."

"Thank you, Vi. Rona. I suppose I might see you guys later." Dawn said politely as the two bundles of energy booked it down the hallway to avoid being late to their next class. Distraction gone, Dawn continued walking down the hallway as if she was walking to her death, which, could be true. She doubted her sister would decapitate her though, so she had high hopes that she'd make it out of this mostly intact.

Dawn stopped just in front of the door that read clearly, "Councilor, Buffy Summers."

Her heard was hammering in her chest so loudly that she was almost positive Buffy could hear her. She had never been so scared in her life. A cool hand landed on her shoulder and she spun around with a yelp.

"She doesn't bite, you know."

Dawn winced and pushed her panic down as far as she could. The man in front of her was dark skinned, and in a fancy suit. If she had to guess, she would say that he was the headmaster of the school. Or principal, perhaps? She forgot what the Americans called it. The reason for her jumping though was because of the faint buzz she could feel from him. He was a pre-immortal.

Her heart calmed slightly when she realized that he wasn't out to get her head, yet. She decided that she had to get off the Hellmouth as soon as she could though. She hadn't even been there a full day and she was already ready to start cutting off innocent bystanders heads.

"I'm aware. You could say that I'm a bit… nervous."

"You're not a student here."

"No." Dawn agreed, "I'm not even American."

Well, not anymore. Marie had been born in France.

"Oh. You're here to see Buffy for… other reasons then."

Dawn nodded. So he knew about the night life? Hmm…

"Yes. I'm not sure how to… talk to her." Dawn said carefully.

"She's not scary." The man said.

"Hah. You can say that with a straight face. You're not her wayward little sister." Dawn said wryly.

"…Dawnie?"

Dawn flinched and turned very slowly with her hands raised non-threateningly, but all sense of reason left her when she actually saw her sister standing there before her after so long. It hit her then, just how much she had missed her only blood. "B-buffy?"

Without thought, Dawn flung herself at the blond and lost all sense of composure. "I'm so sorry!" She sobbed. "I know I should have come back, but I couldn't, and I was afraid, but then, I thought you must have hated me, so…" Slowly her words became more and more hysterical till she wasn't even speaking in English anymore.

Buffy continued to stand in the hallway, completely stunned. Her arms wrapped automatically around the girl sobbing in her arms. Wood sent her a look and went back to his office.

"Dawn?" Buffy said again. She couldn't sense anything demon about the girl, and she was solid, so it wasn't The First, and she looked older. Could it really be?"

"I'm sorry." Dawn repeated.

"Dawnie?" Buffy whispered disbelievingly.

Dawn pulled away and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her coat, "Yeah. It's me."

"You're dead." Buffy said softly.

"So I've heard." Dawn replied, just as softly. "Spike nearly broke my jaw. Thought I was the First."

"You know about… wait, Spike knows you're alive?"

"I ran into him last night." Dawn assured, "I went to visit- I went to visit mom. He—we talked, a lot. He said you went looking for me."

Buffy pulled Dawn into her office and shut the door.

"Who are you?" Buffy demanded.

Dawn flinched slightly but kept her eyes locked on Buffy. This was going better than she had thought it would, but she could almost feel the Slayer in her sister. She had never been in tune with things like that before, but she had never had any reason to be. Buffy had never been a danger to her. She hadn't been a demon. Now though…

"My name is Dawn Marie Summers. I was created as your little sister by a bunch of monks when I was thirteen. When you found out I was created, you told me I wasn't your sister, and later I told you that it was you who wasn't my sister, and that you were actually a howler monkey and mom just didn't have the heart to tell you. Ten years ago, I died."

Dawn paused and looked down for a moment in thought, "I woke up in a morgue, and found out that I'm what is known as an Immortal. I assume it has something to do with how I was created, but there are many others like me. We don't age after our first death, and we don't stay dead. Naturally, we are foundlings, and have no family, which makes life less painful because there are no family attachments. I wasn't created like the others; I have family. Family that—that's going to grow old and die, while I never will. So, I stayed gone. I was going to stay gone, but I had to come back."

Buffy sat down and gestured for Dawn to take the seat across from her. Dawn sat down slowly and continued her story, "I changed my name, after- after I died for the first time; and I moved to Paris with my teacher, who taught me all there was to know about life as—as an immortal."

Buffy continued to look at her as if she wasn't sure what she was.

Dawn looked down and hurried on, "So- so if you want me to go, I'm gone, and—and you'll never have to see me again. I had to come back to get something, and after- after, I can't stay. Because the Hellmouth is already driving me insane, and I've not even been here for a whole day. People—people like me, are more sensitive to things like the Hellmouth. It's like—like a screaming buzz in the back of my mind that makes it impossible to focus on anything. I'm babbling, sorry. This—this isn't how I was expecting this to go. I expected you to shout at me, possibly try and kill me thinking I was a demon… or—something. Buffy, please, say something!"

"Dawnie?"

"It's me. I'm still- I'm still Dawn."

Buffy stood from her chair and moved so that she was standing in front of Dawn. She dropped to her knees to that they were eye to eye. Her senses said that the girl in front of her was completely human. Nothing screamed out to her, except the obvious, her sister was dead. There was no way this could be real. "I don't believe you."

Dawn closed her eyes in an attempt to fight back tears. "How can I prove it to you? Do you want a blood test? A- a spell? I'm trying, Buffy. I didn't have to tell you I was here, but I did, because- because I shouldn't have left. I was a kid, a stupid kid. I had abandonment issues, so I took it into my hand, and decided that—that this time, it was my turn to abandon you."

"I was so stupid though, Buffy. I spent all the money I had saved up to get away from Sunnydale… and it had never occurred to me that no one would ever hire a—a kid. It took me three years to make enough money to come home, and then- and then the bus crashed, and my last thought was that I'd never get to say how sorry I was for leaving you. But—but I woke up, in the morgue, and then, I couldn't come home. I thought -I thought I was a demon. So—so when my teacher found me, I took the out he offered. I haven't been back to the states for ten years, because I was afraid."

"Willow." Buffy interrupted. "Willow will be able to tell. Perhaps, Tara, too."

"Okay." Dawn agreed quickly.

Buffy leaned forward slightly so that their foreheads were nearly touching. "I want to believe you."

"I know." Dawn said.

"I'll take the rest of the day off." Buffy offered. She stood up, and offered a hand to Dawn who took it without hesitation. Dawn could see Buffy's almost physical need to believe what she was saying, and Dawn pushed down the guilt that threatened to overwhelm her.

As she started walking out the door with Buffy behind her, her cell phone started to ring, though it was a quiet noise, signaling that it was her work phone. "Uh… I have to take this." She said apologetically to Buffy, who had tensed at the noise.

"Hello?"

"Miss Winters, if I could have a moment of your time?"

"Mr. Pierson." Dawn said respectfully. "I'm actually taking a bit of a vacation from work at the moment. If it's not life or death, can I call you back later?"

"That's fine. Talk to you soon."

"Have a nice day." Dawn replied as he hung up.

"Who was that?"

"Adam. He's… a friend of a friend. We've been working on something together for the last three months. He's an absolute genius with languages, but he came across something he had never seen, which I recognized as a demon dialect, so I've been helping him translate it."

Buffy made a noncommittal noise as they walked down the hallway. She stopped outside the main office, and the pre-immortal met her at the door. "I'm going to take the rest of the day off, if that's alright."

"Is everything okay?" He asked gently.

Dawn leaned against the wall to let them talk and took a moment to close her eyes and settle her thoughts. She hadn't meant to tell Buffy half of what she had. She just hadn't been able to help herself. It was as if coming back to Sunnydale had reverted her back to the smart-ass kid who had been all talk. The girl who always had her sister there to protect her. The girl who meant well, but was stupid.

So much for being grown up.

Dawn couldn't wait to get out of this town and back to her life, she really couldn't.

"Come on, let's go." Buffy demanded.

Dawn nodded and allowed herself to be steered out of the school, which was a good thing, as she didn't remember the way out on her own. "Are we going to walk? Where are we going, anyway? Do Willow and Tara still live at… at your house?"

"Yeah. They do. And no, we're driving."

Dawn stopped walking, "Oh, hell no. Sorry, I mean, I may not be able to stay dead, but that doesn't mean I want to try! I've seen you behind the wheel of a car. It was messy!"

Buffy's mouth twitched into a slight smile before going back to emotionless. "I've improved."

Dawn looked skeptical, but allowed herself to be led through the parking lot regardless. It's not like she would have the strength to pull away from Buffy even if she wanted to. "Buffy-"

"-No." Buffy cut her off. "Don't talk. If- If this is real, then we'll talk."

Dawn closed her mouth and allowed Buffy to push her into the passenger seat of the car. She shifted slightly so her sword was in a more comfortable position. Dawn held on to the door the entire trip, and when they got to the house, she threw the car door open and jumped out to the much safer, stable ground. "Oh, thank god. I thought you said you had improved!" She accused.

"I didn't crash." Buffy said calmly before she once again grabbed Dawn's arm.

"You know, if I was planning on taking off, I probably would have done it before talking to you. You can let go of my arm." Dawn said huffily. She wasn't used to being treated with such careless disregard. Buffy wasn't even looking at her.

"Willow!" Buffy shouted as soon as they crossed the threshold.

Dawn looked around wildly. It had been thirteen years, but besides some new furniture, everything looked much the same, if not a little more run down. Everything in this damn town seemed to have stayed the same. Even Buffy didn't look much different. Her hair was a little closer to a white blond, and she looked slightly older, but other than that, even her clothing hadn't changed much.

"Buffy, what's, oh my god!" Willow cut herself off as her eyes locked onto Dawn.

"Is it her?" Buffy demanded. "Tell me if it's her, and if it's not-" she trailed off threateningly.

"Dawnie?" Willow asked softly.

"It's me, Willow." Dawn replied firmly.

"Tara!" Willow shouted.

The gentle witch appeared from inside the kitchen, and her eyes went wide. Like Willow and Buffy, the blond hadn't changed much besides the fact that her hair was longer and more of a light brown then a blond. "You're alive…?" Tara whispered in awe.

"I am." Dawn replied.

"Is it her?" Buffy asked, pleadingly.

"It's her." Tara replied. She could tell just by looking at her that it was Dawn, though her aura was slightly different; as if something immense had happened. But it was Dawn. Dawn was alive.

Buffy pulled on the arm she still held and Dawn found herself in the petite Slayers tight grip. Unlike from earlier, this time it was Buffy who was holding on for dear life. "You're home… You're home now."

Dawn allowed her tense shoulders to relax for the first time since she had drove past the Welcome to Sunnydale sign.

"I'm home." She agreed softly.

But was she really? Dawn had absolutely no intentions of staying in Sunnydale, in fact, she had a feeling that if she stayed for more than a month, this place would drive her insane. Besides, Europe was her home now, wasn't it?

Dawn didn't know.

What she did know, was that her sister's arms were wrapped around her, and she hoped that the older girl would never let go.

She could deal with everything else later.