Part 3, the merging of two worlds.
Dawn was upset. Her house was for sale, actually would be sold the day she left. She was being forced to leave her friends, and her sister and her mother. Dawn shook her head and continued packing. She was taking everything. All of her stuff, and all of Buffy's. She'd already packed her sisters room, saving Mr. Gordo and Mr. Pointy to travel with her. She was leaving in 4 hours. She was supposed to be sleeping, and Willow would pack, but Dawn wanted to make sure everything came. Finally she was satisfied. She curled up on her bed- or what had been her bed. It was up for sale with the house. Fully furnished.
Willow was going to send on the bedding. Scott had said that Dawn could bring anything she wanted. And so she was. All the linens, all the clothes. Some of her moms antiques. They would eventually be gifts for people, but for now all that mattered was that they belonged to her mom. She looked at her room, the walls bare, the closet empty. It was weird to see it like this all bare bones the way it had been when they moved in. Willow popped her head in through the door.
"Wesleys here." She said softly. "We'll get his car filled, and they we'll leave, ok?" Willow left and Dawn stood, grabbing her carry on bag and her jacket, it had been Angels once, then Buffys now it was Dawns. The car was loaded quickly and then they were on the road. They passed a derelict gas station and Dawn fought back tears. The rest of the drive was a blur. They stopped at the hotel, and Dawn said goodbye to Angel, Spike and Cordelia quickly.
At the airport, Dawn didn't say goodbye to Willow. They hugged, and She thanked Wesley and said goodbye to him. But She and Willow didn't say goodbye. She was flying first class, complements of her cousins boss. They still had forty minutes before boarding, and at the moment they were wandering around the concourse, shopping randomly.
"Dawn!" called a strange yet familiar voice, she turned to see her father, arms open standing only a few feet away.
"Daddy." She said, not moving at all. He frowned and his arms fell.
"Did you come to greet me?" He asked eagerly, moving closer. Willow and Wesley moved closer and he frowned. "Who are your friends? Where's Buffy?" It felt like she'd been kicked in the stomach, he didn't know that Buffy was dead. They'd called everyday. "Where's Joyce?" He stepped closer, and her fists balled up.
"We've been calling." Dawn said, her voice stiff. "Every day. The police are even looking for you."
"What, why?" He asked, his face confused.
"They're dead." Dawn spat, anger rising in her. "Both of them. You didn't say you were leaving town. They both died, and no one could find you." His face was white, and tears filled his eyes.
"I'm home now. I'll make it up to you." He said softly.
"No you won't" Dawn spat, stepping away from him. "I'm going to live with cousin Scott."
"Your my daughter. You'll live with me." He said, reaching out for her. "I won't have you going to live with some mutated freak." Dawn slapped his hand away.
"You don't have a choice. The courts handed me over to him. They sold my house, and i'm leaving mom and Buffy behind." Dawn spat. "I wouldn't ever go and live with you."
"You'll do as I say." he spat, reaching out for her. Willow stepped in between them and was shoved out of the way. Security guards started homing in on them as Hank grabbed Dawn's arm and began dragging her away. Wesley stepped forwards but Dawn got there first.
"I won't go with you!" She screamed and twisted away from him, kicking out with one foot, she connected solidly with his right knee and he went down. "You never cared before, so why should you care now?" She spat down at him. Airport security surrounded them and they all wanted to know if she was alright. Willow and Wesley explained things, and Hank was hauled away, all the while declaring that she was his daughter, and she'd listen to him. Dawn got a security escort all the way to her flight, where she was boarded ahead of time, just in case anything happened. Sitting on the plane, she succumbed to tears, and was rewarded with cookies and pillows and blankets. The flight was long, and they landed in Cincinnati where she was supposed to switch flights.
There was two hours between her flights, and she was surprised with another airport security escort. This one an older man who had all sorts of horror stories to tell. She giggled and gaped when she was supposed too, but mostly ignored him, thinking of the way his face would look if she told a few of her horror stories. Then in the midst of his babble she saw a familiar face out of the crowd. It was St.John, a kid who'd been in her class for her first three years in sunnydale. He been sent to Boarding school somewhere in NY.
"St. John," she called, throwing a bag of chips at him to catch his attention. The security guard frowned at her, but it worked. "Where are you going?" She asked, as he looked at her in that way that screamed 'oh crap, i forget her name...'
"Uh, Dawn right?" John guessed. He was right, so she rewarded him with a smile. "I'm going back to school. Where are you going?" He sat down across from her.
"Moving cross the country." She said softly. "To Westchester."
"Really why?" St. John asked, looking around. "Where's your mom, your sister, Bunny?" Dawn sighed, and her stomach jumped.
"They're dead." She said softly. "I'm going to live with my cousin Scott." St. Johns face was dead white.
"God, I'm sorry." He whispered. "I didn't know. No one mentioned anything."
"It was a while ago." Dawn said softly, looking away. "Mom first, then Buffy."
"Oh god." St. John whispered. "Student prank goes horribly wrong." That had been the headline. "I never thought that it was your sister. I saw the name and wondered, then i just dismissed it." Dawn shrugged.
"Don't get all weepy on me." She said softly. "So tell me about your school." He blinked, and then sighed. Subject change accepted.
"Xaviers institute for the gifted." St. John smiled, and Dawns mouth dropped open.
"NO." She said, "that's where I'm going." His eyes widened.
"Why? I didn't know you were coming." he said. "No one mentioned an new student."
"I'm not just a student, I'm a relative. My cousin teaches there." Dawn explained.
"Please say its not Scott." St. John muttered, crossing his fingers.
"I see you know him." Dawn said drying. "Are his undies still shoved really far up his behind?"
"And twisted." St. John returned. "Ever seen him mad?"
"His face turns so purple that his heads like an inch away from exploding, and you can see the swear words in his eyes, then all his says is like one word sentences." Dawn laughed. "I remember the time he came to visit, and we turned all his underwear pink."
"By accident?" John asked.
"On purpose." Dawn said. "and then we hung it all around the guest room and wrote Scott loves pink on all of them in black marker."
"What happened?" John asked, on the edge of his seat, even the security guard was paying close attention.
"Well we shrunk all his boxers, and we were hiding in the closet. The look on his face was wicked. complete and utter shock. Then he found the boxers, and heard us giggling. He was purple and shaking, Buffy thought he was gonna swear, but all he did was point at the door and go 'out.' Thats it. Just out." Dawn giggled at the memory. John was laughing, and so was the guard.
"What happened next?" John asked.
"The whole time he was home, he was wandering around walking like he had a pickle up his butt. He refused to wear the pink underwear." Dawn said.
"So, where are you sitting?" St. John asked, waving at the window of which the plane was taxiing in to disembark. Dawn checked her ticket.
"5b- its in first class." She answered somewhat smugly.
"Well we're sitting together." He replied, "I'm in 5a. I can tell you all about the school on the flight."
"Cool." Dawn replied. "Are there lots of students?"
"Bout 30 or 40 of us. We're not all the same age, your 16 now right?" At Dawn nod, St. John continued, "You'll be with us, most of the time. The youngest student is 9 and she's the professors adopted daughter. He runs the school."
"Who's the oldest student?" Dawn asked, gathering her stuff. St.John frowned.
"That'd be Gambit, hes 19." St. John replied.
"What sort of name is Gambit?" Dawn asked giggling.
"I never asked," St. John replied, "Hey we got half an hour before boarding right? Come and grab some junk food with me? Airplane food sucks." He stood, and Dawn joined him, pulling on her back pack. "I'll get ya something, if you want?" He offered as they headed down the concourse Dawns secrutiy guard trailing behind.
"Chips." She retorted. "Salt and vinegar." Soon they both had arm fulls of junk food in addition to the back packs each carried.
"I didn't know Scott had any relatives." He ventured as they boarded the plane.
"Well his folks disowned him cause he burnt down the gym at prom or something." Dawn told him, frowning as she tried to remember the details. "And that Professor guy took him in. We never disowned him. But he had a better life than we could offer. So he stayed with the Professor. Who he know works for." Dawn sighed. "Its funny, when my parents got divorced, Dad blamed Buffy's burning down her high school gym at the spring fling on Scott. They havn't talked since the divorce. But he came and visited us."
"Your sister burned down the gym at her old high school? I thought that was a gas leak?" John asked, settling into his seat.
"No no, your thinking of Sunnydale high, that was a gas leak." Dawn explained. "this was in LA, and was the reason we moved to Sunnydale, it was the only high school that would accept her as a student."
"Oh ok, that's different." john said. "why did she burn down her highschool gym?"
"Its a long story, and I'll tell you when we aren't crammed in a plane with a bunch of other people." Dawn said rolling her eyes as a very fat man squeezed by. John snickered. "So tell me about people at the school. Tell me about Scotts girl friend."
"Well, her name is Jean Grey, and she a doctor. Shes really good looking, and," St. John looked around furtively, lowering his voice. "She s a telepath and a telekinetic."
"How'd she learn that?" Dawn asked, very curious. John laughed and shook his head.
"Do you not watch the news?" He asked, "Didn't Scott tell you anything?" Dawn shook her head.
"I live in Sunnyhell." She retorted, "When you lived there, how much attention did you pay to the national news?"
"Good point." St. John returned absentmindedly as the stewardess began her preflight demonstration of what to do in case of an emergency. "Well everyone at the school are mutants." Dawns brow furrowed, remembering her fathers words.
"Is that a bad thing?" She asked tentatively.
"Depends on the mutant really." St. John replied.
~~~~~
end this part