Faith finished wrapping her right hand and flexed it experimentally into a fist. It had been a very long time since she'd done any formal physical training, and she couldn't help feeling a bit nervous about it. She glanced around the dressing room and sighed. It was a fairly small room with bare concrete walls. Benches lined three of those walls, while the fourth opened into a short hallway, which led on the left to a cluster of shower stalls, and on the right to the main hall of the building.

Willow had driven her here about twenty minutes ago for her first training session with Dawn. This building was owned by the North American branch of the Watcher's Council, and had been set up for the expressed purpose of Slayer training. Thus, while most of the facilities were standard gymnasium fare, there were also some more unique features - like the target room where Slayers could practice knife-throwing, or the small shooting range that was set up out back.

Quietly, the dark Slayer ran her fingers through her hair. Then she got up, casting a long glance at the rumpled clothes and empty gym bag sitting a few feet down from her own things. Dawn. Faith sighed quietly. Wonder what she grew up like? All I remember is that annoying little squirt who was always whining to Buffy 'bout how we never included her in nothin'. Like some dumb little twelve-year-old coulda taken on a vampire or somethin', anyway. She examined her fingernails. Though if what Red says is true, Dawn wasn't even around then. She was still some crazy cosmic blob of energy, until some weird monks made her into a kid. She rolled her eyes. God, is anything ever normal around the Summers clan? Faith shouldered her way through the door of the dressing room.

The muffled smacks of fists against leather drifted to Faith's ears as she paused just outside the door of the small gym. She knew it must be Dawn. She took a few deep breaths as she looked down at herself, evaluating the denim cutoffs and tank top she was wearing, and the white tape wrapped around her hands. Then, squaring her shoulders, Faith pushed through the door and strode into the training room.

A young woman was there, dressed in blue basketball shorts and a white soccer jersey. Her hands were neatly wrapped up. She was average height, maybe five foot six or seven. She had a lithe, lean body, like a dancer's. Her long, brown hair was tied back with a white hair scrunchie. At the moment, she was dancing around a punching bag on agile feet, throwing punches at it with workmanlike vigor. Faith watched in silence. Dawn was taller now, and her muscles were larger and much more well-defined, but she was still unmistakably Dawn. She'd have known her anywhere.

Mind you, she'd never seen Dawn rock a hundred-pound punching bag with a straight right before.

As she thought this, the young woman stopped her pummelling and turned toward Faith, her fists dropping to hover slightly above her hips. There was a pause. "Hi, Faith," Dawn said abruptly. "Long time no see."

"Yeah." The dark woman studied her. "Long time never see, if what Red says is true. I mean, 'bout you bein' some ball of green stuff, an' all those memories bein' just make-believe from some monks, or somethin'."

"Green energy. Yeah." Dawn shrugged a shoulder as if the subject didn't matter much to her. She picked up a white towel and slung it around the back of her neck. "C'mon, Faith. Let's talk before we get started." And she went over to a mat that lay on the floor in a corner. The dark Slayer slowly moved to it. Dawn sat down cross-legged and leaned back on her hands. She was obviously waiting for Faith to follow suit. Faith sat down, not without some uncertainty.

There was silence for a few moments as the two studied each other. Faith was struck by how like Buffy Dawn looked, despite being taller and brunette. It was something in the lines of the face and the intensity of the green eyes. "Damn, look at you. Little brat's all grown up," the dark Slayer murmured.

Dawn's lips curved. "Yeah. Something like that." She put her head on one side. "I was surprised you came here," she said. "To us in LA, I mean. I would have expected you to go to Angel."

The dark Slayer rubbed her ear and shrugged, unable to meet Dawn's gaze. "Eh. He's cool. But he ain't the one I hurt worst."

"No. Buffy is." Dawn stretched out her legs and crossed them at the ankles. "But you didn't go directly to her, either. Why, Faith?"

The dark woman scowled. "What is this, twenty questions?"

"I just want to know what I'm getting into," the younger woman said.

"What I'm up to, you mean," Faith snorted. Dawn said nothing, and the dark Slayer sighed. "Naw, I didn't go straight to B. I figured if I showed up on her doorstep, she'd kick my ass. Plus I figured she'd wanna see proof that I ain't out t' screw her over anymore, an' that'd take time. Needed to be kinda near her, but not in her face." She arched her dark brows. "Satisfied, Dawn?"

"With that answer? Yep." Dawn nodded and smiled. It was still an innocent expression, as if she were much younger than her twenty-five years. "You have to answer more, though." Faith glowered at her in mingled annoyance and uncertainty. She wasn't sure what to make of this confident and seemingly un-hostile young woman. "What do you want from my sister, Faith?"

Uncomfortably, the dark woman shifted. "Short answer? Want 'er to forgive me," she said curtly.

"What's the long answer?" Dawn's serious gaze caught and held Faith's. The older woman was suddenly very aware of the fact that Dawn wasn't...quite...human, in a way. Those green eyes certainly held a depth and mystery that belied the youthful face out of which they peered. Willow's words came back to her. "She's the Key. We still don't really understand what that means..."

Faith was unsettled, but she tried not to show it. She looked down at the mat. "Long answer? I wanna be her friend," she muttered. "Show 'er I can fly right. Be what I shoulda been to her back when I was young an' stupid. You know, help 'er out an' shit." She looked back up. "I ain't here to hurt her, Dawn."

"I know." The younger woman nodded. "I already checked the runes and the cards about you. There's dark energy around you, Faith, and sometimes it'll use you, but it isn't your soul. It isn't you."

The dark Slayer's discomfort increased. "God, since when are you all Sylvia Browne?"

Dawn gave a small, enigmatic smile. "Sorry. You haven't talked to me since I started learning magics. I guess it must be a little confusing."

"Yeah. Confusing." Faith snorted. "'Specially 'cause Red tells me I never knew you at all, what with the whole Key thing." The younger woman nodded silently. "Is that...weird...for you?" Faith asked hesitantly. "I mean, knowin' everything you remember before you got here ain't even true?"

"I was pretty upset about it for a while," Dawn said. "And sometimes it still does bother me, because I know I'm not like other people in some ways. But I figured out the important things. And if I hold onto those, everything else usually sorts itself out." She smiled at Faith. "I know Buffy loves me, and I love her. Same with Willow and Xander and Craig. And I know I want to use whatever power I have to keep those people as safe as I can."

"Craig. Yeah, I heard you got yourself a boy toy," Faith said. "You two pretty serious? Red seems t' think so."

Dawn nodded. "We've been dating a year and a half. He's great. He seems to deal with my life okay." She gave Faith an appraising look. Then, seeming to make a decision, she got up. "Well, I think we're supposed to be training. What do you want to do first? Sparring, or drills, or what?"

Faith grimaced. "Guess we better do drills," she said. "I did a buncha weights an' cardio stuff in prison, but they don't exactly let ya do a lotta martial arts work. Betcha I don't even remember which end of a damn sword to hold." She sighed and rose to her feet. "You're prob'ly gonna have to show me some stuff."

"That's what I'm here for," Dawn said cheerfully. "We'll start out slow. How are you with tai chi?"

They worked together for some time on some basic tai chi forms. Faith had never done anything like it before - her fighting style had always been a mixture of explosive kung fu-style moves mixed with scrappy street fighting and some sword play. The tai chi seemed to concentrate on grace and maintaining perfect control of her body. It was kind of relaxing, she thought.

After a while, Faith started to get restless. "No offense, Dawn, but I'm jonesing t' hit somethin'," she said. "Can we punch the bags now?"

"Actually, I think we should spar," Dawn said, falling out of the tai chi position she'd been holding. "I need to know exactly where you are in your fighting skills so I can figure out the best way to train you. And the best way to figure that out is to fight you." She moved back a few steps and stood up straight, looking at Faith. "Attack me." Then, seeing the dark Slayer's hesitance, "Relax, I can take it. Come on, attack me."

"It ain't you I'm worried about," Faith muttered. Nevertheless, she sprang and swung a fist at the younger woman's head. Dawn slid sideways, twisting her body out of the way. Faith spun, whipping her leg up in a roundhouse kick. Again, Dawn avoided the blow. Then they came together in earnest, with Faith actively trying to connect with her strikes, and Dawn blocking or dodging them almost effortlessly.

Finally, when Faith was exhausted and panting, the younger girl stepped back and held up a hand. "Okay, that's enough."

"Like hell," snarled the frustrated Faith. "I ain't tagged you yet!"

The Summers girl lifted a brow and smiled coolly. "That isn't what this was about," she said. "I just needed to see where you were at, and now I know." She glanced up at the clock on the wall. "We've got another hour before your patrol," she said. "Go skip rope for half an hour, and then you can hit the treadmill. I'll talk to Willow and come up with a training schedule that'll work for you. We can go over that next time."

The dark Slayer's eyes narrowed slightly. "You know I got issues with authority figures, right?"

"Yep. But you're going to go do it anyway, because I'm your trainer." Dawn went back to the hanging punching bag she'd been working with earlier. As Faith watched, the younger woman resumed hitting the bag, alternating punches with vicious kicks. With a sigh and much internal grumbling, Faith went to the wall where the skipping ropes were stored, pulled one out, and set to work.

The workout made Faith feel better. By the time the hour was up, she'd worked up a good sweat. Dawn tossed her a towel and then took one for herself with a quiet smile. "That was good. Your cardio's all right, and it looks like you've kept your muscles strong. Your flexibility might need some work, but you're pretty good, considering you've been out of slaying for sixteen years."

"Yeah. Not bad for an old coot, I guess." Faith shrugged and glanced at her. "Y'know, back when I was sixteen, I didn't think I was even gonna live t'see twenty. Slayers never did."

Dawn nodded. "Buffy was the same," she said. "She really never started talking about the future or anything until after we defeated the First, and Willow did that spell to activate all the Potentials." She smiled as they walked back to the dressing room together. "Things are better now. Slayers usually go out in groups of three, and it's a lot safer. We've got technology now, too. Willow had a lot of fun with that for a while."

Faith arched a brow as she pushed open the door to the showers. "Technology?"

"Sure. You know, guns that fire stakes, flack jackets, holy water grenades, neck guards to protect against vampire teeth. That kind of thing."

The dark Slayer blinked and stripped off her sweaty shirt. "God. An' here I always just wore high collars an' carried a pointy stick." Dawn giggled as she stepped into a shower stall. "Seems like this slayin' gig's gone kinda mainstream." Faith stepped into her own shower and turned on the water.

"Not really." Dawn's voice echoed weirdly through the spraying water. "The general public still knows as little as possible. But we do have more government people who know what's going on, and we sometimes exchange information." There was a pause. "They don't really like that we exist outside their control. I think their solution would be to nuke all the Hellmouths."

Faith pumped some soap out of the dispenser and began to scrub herself down. "An' that's a bad idea why?"

"Well, for one thing, the Hellmouths are pretty much all beneath major urban centers." Dawn sounded amused. "Can you picture a politician trying to sell America on the idea of nuking Los Angeles, Bridgeport, Fort Lauderdale, Portland, San Antonio and Washington, DC? And without telling the population about Hellmouths? I'm sure that would go over just great."

"Oh, yeah. Good point." Faith tilted her head back to let the warm water rinse the soap out of her hair. "Still, would be hella easier. Get th' civs out, drop a nuke, poof - all done."

Dawn laughed a bit. "Not a good idea, though. Some demons like radiation. We'd probably end up creating some kind of real life Godzilla or something." Faith winced at the idea. She stepped out of the shower and towelled herself off. "We have classes for Slayers now, too. Schools. They learn Slayer-specific skills while they get their high school education. We have two schools in the US, one in Rome, and we're working on establishing one in China."

"Brave new world." Faith buttoned up her jeans. "Guess they can afford t' do without washed-up ex-cons, then, with so many Slayers runnin' around now."

The Summers girl paused in the act of towelling her hair. Her penetrating green eyes fixed themselves on Faith. "Is that what you think?" The dark Slayer tugged her t-shirt over her head and shrugged. "Because that's not what I think."

"You ain't the Council. An' you ain't B." Faith sat down to pull on her motorcycle boots and fasten the straps. "Big sis wishes I'd choke, Dawn. Don't really blame her."

"You should." Faith looked up sharply, but Dawn's expression was simply matter-of-fact. "She's got a block when it comes to you, Faith. She's forgiven people for doing worse than that. I mean, Willow alone far outstripped anything you ever did."

Faith paused in the act of fastening the last buckle on her left boot. "Red? Why, what's Red ever done? Ain't she the vanilla little bookworm?"

Dawn studied her for a moment. "Well, I'm not sure I should be the one telling you this, but it is common knowledge. You'd find out sooner or later," she said. "You heard that Tara was shot, right?" Faith nodded. "Well, Willow was...I guess she was a junkie at the time. Not drugs, though - addictive black magic. When Tara died, Willow went off the deep end. She...well, it's hard to describe. Her hair and her eyes went all black, and there were these dark veins on her face." Dawn paused. "She hunted down and murdered Warren, the guy who killed Tara. Buffy said Willow ripped his skin off and incinerated him."

Faith's mouth fell open in shock. "She what?"

"Then she went to this black magic dealer and killed him, too. She wanted to kill Andrew and Jonathan because they'd kind of teamed up with Warren, even though they didn't have anything to do with Tara getting shot. She beat up Anya and Giles and Buffy, and then..."

"Wait, hang on. Red kicked B's ass?" The dark Slayer couldn't believe her ears.

The younger woman gave her an enigmatic smile. "You don't really know how powerful a witch Willow is, do you?"

"Obviously not." Faith was floored. "God...I mean, Red's...she's got mojo, but I just can't picture her doin' crap like that. I mean, Red was always the one who flossed an' listened to Enya an' did homework an' stuff."

"It was the black magic. It did stuff to her." Dawn tugged on a pair of jeans, followed by white tennis shoes. "She sucked a bunch of magic out of Giles once she beat him up, and then she went to try to destroy the world."

Faith laughed. Then she saw Dawn's serious expression, and groaned. "Aw, you gotta be kiddin' me."

"No, I'm not." Dawn slung a denim jacket over her shoulders. "Buffy and I were stuck in a hole in a graveyard fighting some weird dirt monsters that Willow sent after us. Willow went to a Satanic temple on Kingman's Bluff and was doing some spell to burn the world. Xander stopped her."

"Holy shit, man." Faith rubbed her chin absently. "I mean, my contacts said that Red was the new power t' look out for, but no one ever told me all this crap."

"Yeah. And Buffy forgave her," Dawn said pointedly. "But not you. There's something about you that makes her hold that anger against you. What do you think it is?" The dark Slayer gave her a suspicious look. "Well, there must be something. And Buffy won't talk to me about it."

Faith picked up her rucksack and started for the door, pulling on her leather jacket as she went. "You might not've noticed, kid," she said dryly, "but your big sis don't exactly share a lotta heart-to-hearts with me. An' she sure as hell doesn't tell me why she does stuff."

"I know," Dawn said, following. "But you said you want her to forgive you. The cards show a strong connection between the two of you - but it's a connection marked by a lot of strife and misunderstandings. If you want to ever get past that, you're going to have to figure out what it is about you that makes Buffy so angry."

"I was wrong," Faith said. "You ain't Sylvia Browne, you're Doctor fuckin' Laura." The younger woman gave her a look. "Seriously, though. How come you're all worked up 'bout this? You don't even know me, not really."

"Buffy's my sister," Dawn said quietly. "I love her more than anyone else in the world. I care about anything that might influence her fate. And you will. A lot." She studied Faith again with an enigmatic look that made the dark woman very uncomfortable. "Your line crosses with hers," she murmured. "Always hers. It's inevitable, like yin and yang. But be careful, Faith. It's a volatile connection. It could easily explode, and there's so much more at stake now than there was then. And if you hurt her..."

The dark Slayer sighed. "Then you an' Red an' whoever the hell else will kick my ass. I got it, Dawn." She lifted a hand. "I ain't gonna hurt B. I promise."

Dawn regarded her silently for a moment. Then she nodded and smiled a bit. "All right. As long as we're clear on that." She stopped walking. "Hey. Want a ride to your patrol area?"

Faith looked down, and her eyebrows rose. They were standing beside a sleek blue motorcycle - a Ninja, if Faith knew anything about bikes, and she did. "Hey," she said, her interest piqued. "Not bad." She noted the smug look on Dawn's face, and grinned. "I'm more a Harley girl myself, but I got nothin' against a sweet crotch rocket." She ducked down to look at the engine. "Nice. Betcha this baby can move when you open 'er up."

"Oh, yeah," Dawn said cheerfully. "So, you want a ride?"

"Sure." The dark Slayer smiled at her. "I ain't ridden bitch seat in a long time, though. You sure I can't drive 'er?"

"Maybe later. This is my show off time. It isn't every day I get to wow Faith Lehane with my riding prowess." Dawn plucked a helmet from her bag. "I've only got one of these. Do you mind?" Faith only laughed. The younger woman shoved on the helmet and swung astride the motorcycle. Faith hopped on the back and rather self-consciously grasped Dawn around the waist. The girl's body felt very solid, despite her slim stature. Must be a Summers thing. B's the same way, Faith reflected. "Ready?" Dawn grinned back over her shoulder as she started the engine. "Hang on tight!" And the Ninja sped out of the parking lot, weaving into the flow of Los Angeles traffic.