Darkest Knight and the Dawn

Prologue

Janus looked at the plan he was being asked to sign off on, since the Key couldn't be moved without his permission. On the whole it seemed pretty straightforward 'Key made flesh, yada yada…' ahh, there was the touch of idiocy he expected, the 'Powers that Be' wanted to minimize his favorite's effects by shifting the credit for about half his deeds to the Key.

Janus gestured and the mist forms of Dawn Summers and Xander Harris appeared before him, well simulations of them anyway. As he studied them closely he began to snicker and then to laugh. The Powers that Be had be had outsmarted themselves. For her to do half of what Xander did, she'd have to be able to think like him, meaning that rather than minimizing Chaos' influence on events they'd doubled it.

Janus scratched his chin thoughtfully as he considered his options. Being a god of chaos meant he had a bit of a free hand in how he granted requests, to put it mildly, but how best to use this? Turning back to the pair he was surprised to discover that they'd moved. Xander was standing in front of Dawn as if to protect her and Dawn was preserving her modesty by hiding behind him. A closer looked at the motionless simulations showed them both to be blushing. Dismissing the simulations he examined the proposed timeline. Normally he didn't even bother to look at them, as they were attempts to control and predict what should be unknowable, but in this case he wanted to see what the PTBs had planned.

He nodded to himself. They made Dawn younger than the others, so her actions would be dismissed as luck and to provide a barrier to Xander and Dawn joining forces. He was also amused by the women they threw at Xander, apparently they were really concerned he might have children so they thought to nip that in the bud by throwing women at him that wouldn't have children and that might kill him.

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

Xander and Dawn looked through the paired costumes while Buffy tried another halfhearted apology.

"I'm sorry I stopped that jock from beating you up," Buffy said clearly not meaning it since the sarcasm was thick enough to cut through with a knife. Letting someone hurt a friend was just completely counter-intuitive to her.

"Do you mind Buffy? I'm trying to repress." Xander replied sourly.

"I just don't get it," Buffy admitted. "I see a friend in trouble, I have to help. I promise that I'll let you get beat up next time."

Xander paused at that. Buffy clearly had no clue what she'd done wrong and he had to admit her reasoning sounded a lot like something he would say. He supposed he could forgive her this once. "OK Buff, I…" He turned to Buffy only to find her wandering off. "Well, so much for our tearful reconciliation scene."

Despite being mesmerized by the multilayered medieval monstrosity of a dress in front of her she still heard him and replied, "Sorry but this dress…"

Dawn shook her head while Buffy and Willow cooed over it like a puppy.

"Sorry Xander, I'm afraid my sister is far too self-absorbed to care about your feelings or what you'll have to do now," Dawn said as pointing out her sisters many, many flaws to Xander was one of her favorite hobbies. "So how bad is it, really?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to fight all the jocks over again," Xander sighed.

"I wish I could come along to at least bandage your wounds afterwards," Dawn said wistfully, finding herself once more deeply impressed with Xander and jealous of her obviously blind older sister.

Xander smiled warmly at Dawn. "Don't sweat it. I've had more than enough experience fighting to take them on without worrying about getting hurt that much, it's just… I told Buffy that it wasn't her job to deal with bullies it's mine. That didn't turn out all that great, but that was because of the whole Hyena thing and we weren't near the zoo this time."

Dawn hugged Xander suddenly, knowing that incident still brought up bad memories, even if he claimed not to remember anything.

"Thanks," he said warmly as she released him. "So my choices are I either have to really hurt a couple of people or minorly hurt a lot of them. They may be jocks but I still don't like hurting them and I blame the adults for encouraging them to behave like…pack."

"You were always nice to me even when that was going on," Dawn pointed out.

"Heh, I just realized why I was chosen to be pack leader. I'm the one who is usually stuck reining everyone in and trying to make them act like human beings," Xander said. "Not sure why I was a jerk to people though, with the exception of you."

"Because I'm too awesome for words of course," Dawn joked.

Xander grinned. "Well that explains that then. Now I've been looking through this and have found nothing that tickled my fancy. How about you?"

"I have found one pair I like," Dawn replied, having chosen the pair for their close association and the female's sexy outfit that should make Xander realize that she wasn't that much younger than her sister. The fact that Xander would basically be wearing a thin black leotard and a cloak that she could sneak under a time or two claiming she was cold or it was more authentic that way was beside the point. Really!

Dawn pulled out the outfits for Cloak and Dagger and Xander did look interested for a moment, then he frowned. "There are just two problems with this," he said thoughtfully. "One, Dagger's outfit makes her look like a stripper and no hero should look like they are waiting for ones to be shoved in their waistband," Xander said firmly.

"What about Wonder Woman?" Dawn asked.

"I stand by my words," Xander replied haughtily.

"And two?" Dawn grinned trying not to laugh.

"Cloak is black, and ever since I found out about the mistral shows, I just don't feel comfortable in blackface," Xander admitted.

"I may be able to help you there," a voice said from behind them, startling them both.

Xander jumped about a foot and spun around stepping in front of Dawn, who'd pulled out a cross and was holding it in front of her.

"Err, sorry," Ethan apologized, knowing these two were the ones his god had commanded him to help, and having gotten rid of everyone else so he could concentrate on them alone. Spotting the cross he raised an eyebrow. "It's daylight."

Dawn blushed and clung to Xander's back, not that she was scared, but it was a good excuse so she was using it.

"You know about the infestation?" Xander asked curiously.

Ethan nodded. "I was a bit of a demon hunter, back in the day, but once I'd dealt with my fair share of the blighters and used up most of my magic I retired. I just sell costumes now. It's relaxing, a bit of fun and I can use what little magic I have left to make a profit by mending and coloring costumes easily," he lied.

Dawn relaxed and reluctantly let go of Xander and put her cross away. "So how can you help make these two work for us?"

Ethan grinned. "Glad you asked. A little armor and you become a medieval version of Cloak. It covers your skin so you don't have to color anything. A simple tabard with a large cross/dagger design on it and you become a medieval version of Dagger and modesty is preserved."

"That's not bad," Xander said thoughtfully.

Dawn decided to be happy Xander was going with her idea, modified it may be, rather than upset she wouldn't get to see him in tights. "Sounds like a plan to me."

*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*0*

Dawn looked at herself in the mirror. Dagger's outfit did look good on her, too bad Xander was right about it being way too racy for trick or treating.

*Knock Knock*

"Come in," she replied at the knock.

"Umm, are you planning on wearing that?" Joyce asked cautiously, knowing that forbidding her daughter from wearing it was the surest way to ensure she would insist on it.

"Kinda sorta," Dawn sighed.

"Kinda sorta?"

"Xander said it was far too much like a stripper's outfit, so I have to wear a tabard over it and some other Knightly odds and ends, but I'm sure I could make him notice me if I wear it like this."

Joyce smiled. "Depends on if you want a relationship with him or are looking to be used and discarded like a wad of Kleenex."

Dawn's eyes shot open and she stared at her mom.

"Let me tell you about high school," Joyce said. "It's where the students spend far more time working out how to get into the hearts and pants of each other than they ever spend on schoolwork."

"So it's like Jr. High then?" Dawn asked dryly.

Joyce winced. "Yeah, but with the hormones cranked up to ten and the drama cranked up to eleven."

"Still not seeing the difference," Dawn said with a frown.

"Honey, please leave me my delusions about Jr. High. In my day they were a lot better at oppressing the kids and scaring them into not thinking about sex."

"Ok," Dawn agreed. "Now dispense the wisdom!"

Joyce grinned. "Well getting into the pants is easy, just dress like you are right now. It says use me and forget about me I'm looking for sex and can't be bothered remembering your name, because I'm pretty much spreading my legs for anyone who asks."

Dawn winced.

"Getting into his heart involves more modest clothes in public, accidentally immodest ones in private and… is more than a bit like taming an animal now that I think about it."

"Really?" Dawn asked.

"Really," Joyce assured her. "It's all about tone of voice, gentle stroking and the use of a leash."

"Leash!?"

"Not literally, but metaphorically," she explained. "Your tone of voice and the way you say his name has a greater effect than you know, though most people don't consciously realize it. Casual touches and gentle stroking just like you'd use to calm down a skittish horse allow you to get closer to him than he'd normally allow someone he wasn't having sex with or a member of his family."

"That sounds nice, but I'd also like to have a serious relationship with the man, not become his little sister," Dawn whined.

"I'm getting there," Joyce said calmly. "Patience. The leash runs both ways, it's entirely built by the shared interests and affection of the two people involved. It is your relationship as a whole. A lot of foolish young girls like to yank on it a lot to test how strong it is, of course that weakens it and it eventually snaps. That is what's called a bad breakup."

"So where does the sex come into it?" Dawn asked.

"Sex is a very strong, but short-lived bond," Joyce explained. "So never try to build a relationship on it, but don't ignore it either. You have to make a little innuendo, some light touches at the proper place and time, etc… the key is to let him know that you are a sexual being, but you are also very picky and no one else is up to your standards."

"This sounds nothing like the relationships I've seen in school," Dawn said.

"You mean the intense, short-lived ones because the entire relationship was built on and sustained by sex?" Joyce asked innocently.

"Put like that I can see it," Dawn said thoughtfully. "So… just following my hormones is a bad idea?"

"Remember how you wanted a queen sized bed?" Joyce asked.

"yeah," Dawn agreed, not seeing what one thing had to do with another.

"I found one for a good price and we can pick it up today."

"Excellent!" Dawn said happily.

"Yeah, one of the local motels is redecorating, so we can get it for a song."

Dawn got a horrified look on her face. "Do you know how many people have used those?!"

"You've slept in motels before dear," Joyce pointed out.

"One night or so on clean sheets, sure," Dawn agreed. "But you don't bring a motel bed home with you!"

Joyce just smirked.

Dawn closed her eyes and groaned, "Point taken."

"So any time you feel like following those hormones in anything but a committed relationship, just ask yourself 'WWMMD'."

"WWMMD?" Dawn asked.

"What would a motel mattress do?"

"You give frustratingly good advice," Dawn said. "And I'm probably going to end up a better person because of it."

"I'll try and live with the guilt," Joyce said with a smile.

"Didn't Buffy dress like this at her old school?"

"Sadly," Joyce admitted.

"So…" Dawn asked questioningly.

"A fairly common last ditch effort to simply move, and pretend like you were never like you were at all."

"So that's why she's claiming to be a virgin?"

"She's reinventing herself, something not too uncommon among teens. Fortunately this Buffy seems a lot better than old Buffy."

"I'll reserve judgment," Dawn said haughtily. "Until she stops calling me butt pain and trying to keep Xander away from me."

Joyce chuckled. "Well best get ready, Xander will be here soon."

"Send him up when he gets here," Dawn pleaded. "I want his help making sure the rest of this is on right."

Joyce raised an eyebrow.

"OK, I also want to make sure he sees me in this and to flatter him a little about how right he was, as no way would an innocent girl like me wear this in public."

"That's my girl," Joyce beamed proudly.

Typing by: The Last Primarch!

AN: I have no idea how many years ago I wrote this one.