Disclaimer: All I own is the particular plot for this story. If you sue me, I sue you.
Chapter Ten
Angel was down in the basement his daily exercises with Cordy. He couldn't believe that his soul was permanent, or the fact that he was going to marry Cordy. Angel was also having issues believing that his son was home to stay and that Buffy was dating Spike; but as long as Spike didn't hurt her, he figured that he could live with it. Speaking of his son, Connor was watching them from one of the corners, but he wasn't paying as rapt of attention as normal. He kept staring upwards, almost like he was asking The Powers That Be for help of some kind.
Angel frowned. 'Best not try to figure out what is wrong; it's giving me a headache.'
Cordelia, however, had a soft smile gracing her lips as she looked at Connor. She new that he was thinking about Dawn, and since he grew up with Holtz in a hell dimension, she figured that he hadn't a clue as to what he was supposed to be doing. She just hoped that he would figure things out before Dawn went back to Sunnyhell, or else he might not get another chance to talk to her. If worse came to worse, she would team up with Buffy and play matchmaker.
For now, though, she had to keep her mans mind off of a certain slayer and her new beau. Cordy wasn't surprised in the slightest when Spike came rushing down the stairs in that superior way he and Angel seemed to have. What did surprise her, was that he looked surprised that Connor was there, and a little uncomfortable.
"Can you get lost kid? I have to talk to Cordy and Peaches alone." Spike was trying to be polite, but you could tell that he was upset about something.
"Does this have to do with Dawn?" Cordy asked as she and Angel came over to Spike and Connor.
"Does it matter?" Spike shot back with a growl.
"Sigh Steven, sweetie, go upstairs and please don't eavesdrop on our conversation. We will talk to you about whatever this is after Spike goes back upstairs." Cordy gently shooed Connor upstairs and then turned around to face Spike.
"What do you want to talk about Spike?" Angel asked in a wary tone.
"Dawn. And Connor, I guess. Look Peaches, Lil' Bit came into our room a few minutes ago nearly in tears because she likes JR, but believes that he could never want to date her. I don't know what to do and quite frankly I am doing all that I can not to kick the crap out of him." Spike was pacing waving his hands in the air and was beginning to sound panicked. "Peaches, I have never seen Lil' Bit that upset; and trust me when I say that I have seen her pretty damn upset!"
Cordy started laughing and the guys stared at her like she was nuts.
"Oh, my!" She gasped as she wiped away a tear. "I am sorry, it's just that you looked so funny Spike. Ok, I think I am alright now. Sigh He likes her too Spike, but think about it; Steven was raised in a hell dimension, and the man who raised him? Probably didn't bother going over the subject of dating."
Spike and Angel looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.
"Are you telling me that I need to leave this to you and Buffy?" Spike asked with a hopeful look on his face.
"Yes, that's exactly what I am saying, and I will need your help with this Angel, just not right now." Cordy said as she headed up the stairs. "Oh! I will be upstairs talking to Buffy; don't talk to Steven until after we do alright?"
Spike rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath while Angel gave a solid nod. Cordy walked upstairs and saw Connor sitting on one of the round benches in the foyer with his arms crossed, and pouting. She walked over to him, and without saying a word, kissed his forehead and headed upstairs.
Cordy walked up the stairs to Buffy's room thinking about how they were going to get Connor onto the right path to getting Dawn without his knowledge.
Knock Knock "Buffy? Are you still up?" Cordy asked with a slight anxious giggle in her voice.
"Yes, Cor. Come on in." Buffy replied as she laughed at Cordy's tone. She knew why Cordy was there and couldn't wait to get started herself.
Cordy walked into Buffy's room with a big toothy smile on her face. She nearly skipped over to the bed and sat down as Buffy sat up and crossed her legs Indian style. They each waited for the other to say something, but when neither started to talk, they both burst at the same time.
"We have to get Dawn and Connor together." They said in unison. Looking at one another they laughed and started planning their strategies, this continued well into the morning.
Meanwhile, Spike couldn't wait five minutes before he went upstairs and glared at Connor.
"She likes ya. I have no idea why, but she does. If you hurt my Lil' Bit in anyway I will be forced to put my lessons from Angelus to good use." Spike growled at the startled teen. "Understood?"
Connor kept his face blank, but nodded anyway. He wasn't going to let Spike know that he had scared the 'fearless' hunter; but he wasn't going to provoke the vampire either. As Spike stormed out of the hotel to fight some of the worlds 'big bads'; the only thought passing through Connor's head was, "Dawn LIKES me?"
Dawn had cried herself to sleep, and started to dream.
It was a beautiful day, the clouds were fluffy and white, the sun was shining and everything was green. Dawn noticed a two story house in front of her and jumped when she heard a scream.
"Mommy!" A small five year old brunette squealed as she ran to hide behind her mother's skirts. "Make them stop; they are being mean to me again!"
Dawn watched a familiar women, who appeared to be about 24 years old, laugh and pick up the little girl as two boys who looked a lot like Steven ran around the corner of a two-story house.
"What on earth?" Dawn asked no one in particular as she watched the sight before her.
"Rupert! Liam! Stop terrorizing your little sister. Do I have to tell your father to have a talk with you?" The woman tried to sound stern.
Rupert and Liam both paled and pleaded with their mother.
"No Mommy! Not that! We'll be nice, we promise! We'll even teach Hope to climb trees with us, and we will play tea party with her. Won't we Rupp?" Liam quickly turned to his brother.
"Yeah, we promise! Just don't send us in to Daddy!" If you looked at Rupert's eyes you could tell that he wasn't really scared. He just didn't want to get in trouble for having fun.
Before the woman could respond a man, Dawn assumed to be an older version of Steven, came out of the back door.
"Dawn, Buffy is here, she brought those little terrors of hers too." Steven said with a stern voice but a twinkle in his eyes.
Not seconds after he finished his announcement, two mini- Spikes with brown curly hair and glasses can running out of the back door.
"Aunty Dawn!" the six-year-old twins squealed as they made a mad dash for their aunt. Hope's eyes became huge causers and she squirmed until her mother put her down before making a mad dash for her father.
The twins threw themselves into their aunts' arms and hugged her. Steven chuckled as he picked up Hope. When Dawn set the twins down, they turned to Rupert and Liam and got mischievous grins on their faces.
"Why hello Rupert, Liam." The twins said in unison and a little too politely.
"Why hello Xander, Connor." Dawn's boys replied in the same tone. "Why don't we escort you up to our room so we can show you our new toys?"
You could tell by looking at Steven and Dawn that they knew the boys were up to something but that they wouldn't stop them for now. As the boys ran inside with matching smirks on their face, Buffy came out of the house looking tired.
"Dawnny!" Buffy whined. "Can't you take the twins for the weekend? Between keeping Spike happy and keeping up with the twins I haven't gotten a single good nights sleep since they were born!"
Dawn laughed as she walked over to hug her sister. "Now Buffy, you know I can barely handle the triplets, but I bet you Cordy would be willing to look after the twins."
Buffy's face lit up at this idea. "Yeah, she always knows what they are going to do before they even have a clue. She could keep them in line and give me a kid free weekend." Then turning towards Steven she said. "Although, I wouldn't mind having my favorite niece for the weekend either. Come here girl and give me a hug."
Hope jumped out of her dads arms into her aunts and settled into Buffy's arms. She quickly fell asleep and Buffy had to chuckle. The adults headed inside whispering softly to one another, and the scene Dawn was watching changed…
It was raining now, all Dawn could see was a black sky shooting lighting out at the ground, pouring rain, and tombstones. Off in the distance Dawn could hear a bugle march playing. Fear gripped her stomach and she stood there, looking up the sky she shouted, "I KNOW THIS ISN'T A NORMAL DREAM! SOMEONE BETTER EXPLAIN THIS TO ME!"
A hand landed gently on her shoulder and reacting on instinct, Dawn grabbed the hand and spun around, twisting the arm behind the persons back and knocked their legs from under them. Guiding them to the ground and digging her heal into their armpit, she looked at her attacker; it was a young girl, about her age, with hair a vibrant red that made Willow's hair seem dull. She was wearing a dress that looked like it was from the time of the Romans. She had a forest green belt around her waist and matching sandals on her feet.
"Who are you?" Dawn growled, feeling the power that was radiating off the girl beneath her.
"Does it matter?" The girl asked, "I could kill you right now without moving if that was my intention, and no could, or would, stop me."
Realizing that the girl was right, she removed her foot and in a quick movement she had learned from her sister, yanked the girls arm sideways and up spinning the girl off the ground and soundly on her feet. Dawn automatically moved her hand from the girls wrist to her elbow, stepped forward and placed her free hand on the girls waist to steady her. Releasing her and standing back she crossed her arms and stared at the girl.
"What's going on?" Dawn asked as she sighed, knowing that it couldn't be good if someone this powerful was involved. "What am I seeing?"
"The strongest path your future will take. I'm supposed to be your guide but I doubt anything will need explaining." The brushed off her dress and straightened out her hair with her fingers. "You can call me Sight. It's the closest translation to my name in your language."
"Sight, huh? You like the goddess who allows people to see the future or something?" Dawn asked with a raised eyebrow in much of the same manner as Spike.
Sighed waved her hand and turned her head in a manner that clearly stated she felt the question wasn't relevant. "Do you have any questions about your first vision, Dawn?"
"Naw," Dawn said as she shifted on her feet, "It was self explanatory. This vision though, which direction to I have to head?" Her voice shook, knowing she was about to see something she wasn't going to like.
Sight smiled sadly and gently took Dawn's hand as they walked through the graveyard towards the music. Completely soaked by the rain; Dawn saw a fairly decent sized group of people surrounding a casket.
Looking at Sight, who sqeased Dawn's hand in a conforting manner, they walked over to the group as the pastor said his prayers. First she saw Spike and Buffy with their boys, Angel and Cordy surrounded by at least a dozen children, as well as Gunn and Fred, Giles, and Wesley standing around the casket. She looked around for herself, her children and Steven. She finally saw herself, she was sobbing on her knees next to the casket, clinging to Hope and one of the twins. One of her boys was standing by himself, his face vacant, almost looking bored.
Steven was nowhere to be found; dropping Sight's hand, Dawn slowly walked over to the open casket and had all she could do to look inside. Her fears had been confirmed; Steven was lying in the casket. The boy standing off by himself started muttering to no one in particular.
"Stupid prick. If he hadn't interfered I wouldn't have had to kill him." He glanced at his mother and siblings and his eyes softened. "Damn you Connor, did you have to be so stupid that you got caught by your namesake? Now Mom and Hope and Liam are heartbroken. I can't even mourn with them for I was part of the crime."
Dawn covered her mouth and started to cry. Unexpectedly, Rupert turned to her. "It will be for the best Mom." He whispered to her.
"Connor and I are looking out for the girls. Father has to die if we are to succeed in ridding the world of evil. Of course, Connor and I will then turn to the 'dark side' and give the rest of them a run for their money. Until then, our only goal is to protect the many instead of the few." There was genuine sadness in his eyes.
Before Dawn could respond the scene changed again, and she was in the house that she had been in before. Sight came up beside her, her eyes wide with shock, but before Dawn could ask her what was going on, she heard a scream coming from upstairs and ran as fast as she could. Upon entering a bedroom upstairs, Dawn couldn't believe what she saw. Both Buffy and an older version of her lay on the floor killed by Connor while Liam and Xander were escaping with Hope out the window.
Rupert came running down the hall into the room and took one look at the sight before him before pouncing on Connor.
"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Rupert cried out as he punched his cousin, "I TOLD YOU TO STAY AWAY FROM WHAT'S MINE!!" He growled. Connor just smirked evilly before pulling out a knife.
Dawn watched in slow motion as Connor lost his grip on the dagger and it flew straight at Liam who's back was two the boys. The younger Dawn cried out in warning too late and watched as Liam fell out the window, Hope's screams as loud as if she were standing next to Dawn. Turning quickly, Dawn saw a horrified Sight standing in the doorway.
"What the fuck is going on?" Dawn screamed at Sight, "How the fuck do I change this?"
"This shouldn't be happening!" Sight cried out.
"Nothing ever goes as planned, you should know that." Dawn swung around to stare into her sons eyes. She watched as he snapped Connor's neck kneeled next to the bodies of Buffy and older Dawn. "I'm the unknown. I'm the factor no one counted on. Tell me Aunt Sight, what happens when the offspring of two vampires and the Key who's life-force is mixed with that of a slayer is freely given the powers of the Fae?"
"It's not possible. You can't be the one given the powers." Sight whispered to herself, "The Fae would never give someone so evil and so powerful their gifts."
"It was supposed to be Liam, but Connor interfears. He stops fearing me after I lose a fight to Pop-pop. He stops fearing Ma'amma after he kills her. I foolishly believe he still fears me and is weak and share, not give, but share my powers with him. It's my fault he killed Mom and Dad and Aunt Buffy. Its my fault Pop-pop turns his back on Uncle Spike and his children. I thought sire's were supposed to stand by their fledglings no matter what, why did Pop-Pop leave Uncle Spike to turn to dust?" Rupert stares at Sight, sending chills down both Sight and Dawns spines.
"Mom can't stop this Aunt Sight. Not alone, and she won't remember this night until its to late. She won't remember anything but you, actually. You know the others want to destroy earth and its inhabitants before they become strong enough to over-throw them." He looked over their shoulders, "You might want to kill him Aunt Sight." Dawn and Sight turn around in time to see this huge monster with skin that is a mixture of rock and metal and huge granet horns walking towards Sight.
"You will never exist!" Sight cries as a white light envelops them both and Dawn starts to struggle for her life as she feels someone grab her shoulders.