I own nothing, nothing at all. I am all poor. All belongs to Joss Whedon and co.

Spike jumped down from his perch and ran round the front of the house; opening the door, he sprinted up the stairs and watched as Buffy threw her sister against the wardrobe door. Quickly stepping in front of Buffy, he put his hands on her shoulders, and looked into her face. Her eyes were clear; she was out of the trance. He hadn't wanted her to know that he had been watching her, but Buffy would never forgive herself if she did something to Dawn while in a trance. "Buffy, what are you doing pet?"

Buffy squirmed in his grasp trying to turn her attention back to Dawn, "No.let go I have to."

But Spike was determined; he knew that Dawn was well.Dawn. He knew her scent; he had known it for over three years, "No, Buffy, you have to tell me what's wrong. Tell me and if you're right, whatever it is you're trying to do I'll help."

Buffy stared at him for a second, "You don't understand.she's not, I don't know."

Buffy looked a little scared, Spike rubbed her shoulders with his thumbs and turned to Dawn, "Go down stairs bit. I'll try and figure out what's wrong here." Dawn looked at Spike uncertainly for a second, she knew he was a vampire; she had been there the first time that Spike had ever attacked Buffy. She didn't know whether to trust him, but seeing no better option she quickly turned and ran down the stairs. Spike turned back to the Slayer, "Buffy, tell me what's wrong. Why don't you think that Dawn isn't your sister? Buffy, tell me. You have to tell me."

Buffy was confused. She didn't understand how Dawn could not be her sister but she knew that she wasn't the trance had worked and it had told her that this thing was not her sister. "I was in a trance. I saw things. That thing is not my sister. Maybe she's possessed, or maybe she's been replaced with something. I don't know exactly but I know that.it is not my sister."

Spike was confused, but he did not doubt her sincerity. She was being as honest as she could be telling him all that she could, "Buffy, that is Dawn. No, listen to me pet. I know Dawn's scent. I know that Dawn hasn't been.changed. She is the same as she ever was."

Buffy was shaking her head, she looked about to cry for the second time that day, but she didn't, "I can't explain it Spike. But I know it. That is not my sister."

Spike was stopped from answering by the phone ringing. "You'd better get that pet."

Buffy and Spike walked down the stairs. Picking up the phone, Buffy took a deep breath. Hearing Giles voice, Spike was touched to see her turn the phone so that he could hear the conversation about this glow-ball that Buffy had found, "It's called the Dagon-sphere and it has a history going back many centuries"

Buffy's eyes flicked to Spike, "Go on."

"It's a protective device used to ward off ancient primordial evil."

Buffy grew more agitated, "Any word on what this evil looks like?" Spike could tell that Buffy thought this evil had something to do with Dawn. But he didn't see it. You couldn't dress as someone and have their scent. It was as clear as a fingerprint, just as unique but about a hundred times harder to fake.

"Unfortunately no. All it says is that the Dagon-sphere was used to repel 'that which can not be named'."

Buffy turned questioning eyes to Spike, "I'm gonna go back to the factory where I found it. Whoever planted this doo-hickey's got answers." Spike knew that she was asking him to go with her. He nodded.

"Buffy I know I've said this before but for goodness sake be careful. Anything that goes unnamed is usually an object of deep worship or great fear. Possibly both. Have you completed the trance to see what's harming your mother?"

Buffy felt an urge to tell the man who was still her watcher and practically her father, "That's the thing, I just saw." Buffy's voice trailed off as Spike touched her arm and indicated behind her, signalling that Dawn was in the room. "Nothing, it didn't work."

Buffy was walking quickly to the factory, she had to be back home before her mother got there and was alone in the house with that thing pretending to be her sister. Buffy couldn't understand how something could fool Spike, but it had to be powerful, and she wasn't going to let it happen, not to her, her mom, or her sister, wherever she was.

Spike was worried, Buffy was very tense, her heart was pounding, Spike could hear it, and she was almost running to the warehouse. He didn't know what she had seen to convince her, so completely but it had to be amazing. After a few second, he took her hand and squeezed it. He saw her smile as she squeezed his. Her pace slowed and she seemed to relax minutely.

They crept through the old warehouse and Buffy felt a tug on her arm Spike pointed to the monk, Buffy let go of his hand and ran to the man, "It was you who planted the Dagon-sphere right? I got it. Don't worry I'm stronger than I look." Buffy glanced at Spike and flicked her eyes to show she knew about the approaching person, Spike stood back into the shadows, the woman hadn't seen him yet and an element of surprise might be useful. "I've had experience with this sort of thing before, but best of all." Buffy turned and put her and on the woman's throat, "I'm not stupid." Next thing Spike saw was the woman in the red dress pull Buffy's hand off her throat and hit the Slayer in the face. Buffy flew across the room and landed in a crouch. Spike was stunned for a second, but that was all it took for him to get across to her and pull her to her feet.

"Are you sure about that last part? Two of you huh? Well wont be that difficult." The woman stopped after a second, "A vampire? A vampire? A vampire that wants to fight me? Never even thought about that. But maybe I can find out if anything besides the basics kill you, you know, like dismemberment, castration, anything else really."

Spike squirmed, at the very idea. He didn't like this one little bit. This bitch had thrown Buffy without a second thought. She was strong. They needed to know what they were up against before they fought her. Unfortunately, that wasn't really an option. Buffy wasn't going to leave without the monk. So fight it was.

The woman was winning, even against the two of them and Buffy knew it. She knew that Spike knew it. The bitch wasn't even breaking a sweat. Neither of them could keep this up for much longer. Buffy grabbed Spike by the arm and ran for the monk. The woman gave chase quickly but not before Buffy, closely followed by Spike, jumped through the plate glass making sure the already injured monk didn't hit the floor.

Hearing the building collapse behind them, Buffy began to drag the monk away with Spike's help, but he didn't seem to want to be dragged. He pulled away from them and lay down on the floor, "I'm done. My journeys done." Spike gripped the man's arms and tried to haul the man to his feet, "No it bloody well isn't. We need your help. I'm betting you know what is happening with Dawn. We need you to explain."

The monk nodded, "The key. You must protect the key."

Buffy nodded, "Yes, excellent plan, we'll protect the key together, all three of us. We'll do it somewhere that's not here though because that thing is strong and we're going to need your help."

The monk didn't seem to hear her, "The world.many will die.everyone will die, if you don't keep it safe."

Spike was getting impatient, "Look, if we don't get out of here now, there will be no one left alive to protect the key, we have to go now."

Buffy could see that the man was really about to die, "What is it? The key, what is it?"

Spike looked up at the factory checking for signs of life. Finding none, he let the man answer "For centuries it had no form at all, my brothers, kept it safe. Now we can't I am the last. The Beast found us before we could escape. We hid ourselves with magic for years but she still found us."

Buffy sighed, "Yes but what is it?"

The man looked nervous as thought he might be chastised but he carried on anyway, "When the Beast found us, we learnt that our magic's were inadequate they weren't going to work anymore. We had to try something else, we had to hide the key. Gave it form, moulded it flesh made it human and sent it to you."

Buffy looked as thought she was going to be sick. Spike felt her grip his arm, the man couldn't mean, surely the bloke couldn't be telling them.but Buffy answered before Spike could even ask, "Dawn?"

The monk nodded, "She's the key. We knew the Slayer would protect. But we had to be sure. You have memories of her, you have memories of loving her, and so you will protect her."

Buffy clutched Spike tighter, "You put that thing into my home. You went inside my head.minds of everyone I love and built memories?" The monk nodded, "Then you un-build them. You can't just insert her into my life."

The monk became agitated, "You can not just abandon her, she, is you. We made her out of you, taking your memories and made her."

Buffy trembled as realisation hit her, "She's not my sister. I don't have a sister. How? She's always been there.she's my.How can she not be my sister?"

The monk smiled sympathetically, "She doesn't know. She's an innocent in this. She has memories of her life. She doesn't know that she's not your sister."

Spike watched as the man's eyes glazed over and heard his heart stop. Looking at Buffy he saw that her eyes were filled with tears, but she seemed beyond crying. Spike moved away from the body and wrapped his arms around the Slayer, who suddenly seemed so very small to carry the burden she always carried.

Buffy clung to him as though she would never let go. She couldn't cry she was in too much shock. Dawn, her baby sister, how could she not have always been there. She remembered so many things, the time that Dawn had cried because one of her porcelain figures had been broken in the move, the time that she had cut her knee when learning to ride a bike.how could those things not have.not she couldn't think about these things. She didn't need to. But she needed him, she needed him desperately to hold her. Buffy felt him rock her, kissing her hair, telling her that he loved her. She just hid her face in his coat.