Disclaimer: Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.
Colleen The new slayer
Jordan Psychic who receives The Visions
Holly Half Sellar Demon
Dawn The Key
Aaron Currently exploring magicks
*****
Mike walked into the Magic Box without saying a word. He looked around at the faces of his friends. Everyone shared the same concerned expression. This whole year had been filled with so much dread and turmoil and it felt as if this night was the crescendo that had been built up for the past eight months.
"Mike," Holly said as she looked up and saw the living vampire standing in the doorway.
"Hey," Mike said as he walked to the others. "I came as quick as I could. What's going on?"
"Kaoryn has Jordan," Colleen explained to her ex-boyfriend. "She took him back to her dimension."
"What are we going to do?" Mike asked.
"I'm going to open a portal," Aaron told Mike.
"Once we're there it will be up to us three to get Jordan back," Holly chimed in.
"Do we have any specific plan?" Mike asked.
"Other than kick the crap out of a Hell God, a super vampire, and who knows what else?" Colleen said sarcastically. "We're just going to have to play it by ear."
Mike looked around. There was something going on that he didn't know about. "What aren't you guys telling me?" Mike asked
Aaron looked back to Dawn. She looked into his eyes and then looked down to the ground. "In order to open the portal," Aaron explained to Mike, "I'm going to need to tap into the power of The Key."
"There's a chance that it could go wrong," Colleen told Mike.
Mike took a second to take that in. "Do we have any other options?"
"Let Jordan get tortured and eventually killed," Holly told Mike. "And then Glory finds out where the Key is anyway."
"I mean do we have any other way to get to Jordan?" Mike asked. "There has to be some other way."
"There isn't," Dawn spoke up for the first time. "We have to do the spell."
"Dawn…" Aaron tried to talk to his girlfriend who had only been his girlfriend for a few hours now. Still, Aaron had cared for her more than he cared for himself for a long time now.
"No," Dawn said to Aaron. "This is my call not anyone else's. Get the spell ready."
"Dawn have you thought about what this means?" Colleen asked her friend.
"Yes," Dawn said. "More than you know. Start the spell."
*****
Dawn sat in Anya's office writing a letter. She had to have something to leave behind. Dawn had thought about what this day would be like for a while. Although she knew that she would never be truly ready to go back to being the Key she had prepared herself enough that right now she could pretend to be calm. As she finished the letter to everyone that loved her she wiped a tear out of the corner of her eye.
Dawn hoped that after whatever happened to her was over she would be able to see Buffy and her mother again. She hoped that somehow, even if she wasn't allowed into Heaven, that she would find someway to talk to them again. She wanted to tell them how much she loved them. How much they mean to her. Buffy had given her life so that the world could go on, but more than that she sacrificed herself so that Dawn wouldn't have to. Now Dawn knew that she would have to do the same.
"Hey," Aaron said as he entered the office.
"You're not going to talk me out of this Aaron," Dawn said to Aaron.
"I realize this," Aaron said to Dawn. "As much as it tears me up inside I realize this." He handed Dawn a glass filled with a slightly bluish liquid. "You need to drink this."
"What is it?" Dawn asked Aaron.
"It's kind of a catalyst," Aaron explained to Dawn. "It will get your Key energies going."
Dawn looked at the strange liquid for a moment and then drank about half the glass in one sip.
"That's enough," Aaron told her.
"It tastes like Kool-Aid," Dawn said to Aaron.
"I added some," Aaron said to her. "So it wouldn't taste too bad."
Dawn smiled thanks. "Thanks." She looked into his eyes for a little bit and reached for Aaron's hand. "For everything." Dawn stood up and kissed Aaron for the second and possibly last time. As they kissed tears began to fall down Aaron's cheeks. They broke and Dawn looked at Aaron. She smiled for him and wiped away his tears with her fingers. Her own tears somehow managed to stay in her eyes. Without another word Dawn left the office.
Aaron took a moment to compose himself. He wiped away his tears and then sat at Anya's desk. He looked at the half glass of blue potion. He reached for it and finished the glass. After chanting a few words in Latin he had managed to link his lifeforce with Dawn's. If everything worked the way that Aaron thought it would it meant that Dawn had a better chance of surviving by sharing Aaron's life. Of course, it also meant that if Dawn drained all of Aaron's life that he would be dead as well. They were either both going to live through this or they were both going to die.
*****
Jordan had didn't remember what happened when he initially woke up. At first he thought that he was dreaming. The shackles on his wrists and ankles didn't make sense in his mind. Being suspended from the ceiling wasn't ranking high in the making sense department either. When Jordan saw Kaoryn standing next to a blonde woman he suddenly remembered what happened.
"So," the blonde woman who Jordan realized was Glory said to him, "You must be the Slayer's pet psychic."
Jordan wished that he was brave enough to come up with a witty comment to make. Something about being face to face with a hell god sucked all the bravado out of him.
"So this is your lucky day," Glory said to Jordan. "This is your one and only chance to just tell me where the Key with and suffer no pain whatsoever."
Jordan just looked at Glory. Just being in the same room as her scared Jordan more than anything else in his entire life. He gave her a sad smile.
"Fine," Glory said as she grabbed Jordan's wrist. She broke it with out exerting any real effort. Jordan let out a scream of pain. "Have it your way."
*****
"Is everybody ready?" Aaron asked as he sat in a circle with his friends. Mike was on his left, Colleen was on his right, Holly across from him, and in the middle was Dawn. There was a large symbol drawn on the floor of the Magic Box and various candles and incense were lit. Everyone gave Aaron a nod telling him that they were ready. At the same time everyone gave Dawn a concerned look.
"By the powers of the Key and the ancients that created it I summon the energies that bind together space and dimension," Aaron said. His eyes became pupil-less as he focused mystical energies through his body. "Warp the walls of the dimension and bid us passage."
Dawn had been breathing heavy. She closed her eyes and her head looked to the ground. Aaron wanted to reach out and comfort her but instead he joined hands with Colleen and Mike as they closed the circle around Dawn.
"Ancient ones accept the energy we offer you and bid us passage," Aaron called out. The sound of wind and crackling energy filled the room. Aaron had to scream to be heard. A swirling mass of green energy formed above the group. "Accept our offering and let us pass!" As Aaron screamed the room filled with light and when it faded the five of them were gone.
*****
I remember being born. Birth is a good analogy for how I came into this world. Although the people who created me did not have had the best intentions in mind when they preformed the spell that created me there was still a residual goodness in the act. They wanted to block off a Hell Dimension with gods who could oppose their power. What they did though was create a focal point for all of the energies that bind all of the dimensions.
They had created the Key. The created me.
I was the link of every dimension. I was everywhere and nowhere all at once. Although my energies were confined to a definite spot in space my essence was not bound by any such rules. I was free to explore.
Created something as powerful as a nexus to all dimensions won't result in a passive form of energy. Something that powerful, something as powerful as me, results in a living form of energy.
I was alive. Not alive in the traditional, tangible sense. However, I was more alive than a lot of other people on this Earth. And from the moment I was born there was one over powering feeling inside of me.
Curiosity.
*****
"Dawn!" Aaron said as he shook Dawn by the shoulders. "Dawn wake up!" Dawn lay on the barren ground of the strange dimension they were in. Mike, Holly, and Colleen looked over Aaron's shoulder and stared down at Dawn in concerned. Both of Colleen's hands covered her mouth. Holly couldn't help but allow a few tears to escape her eyes. Mike put a hand on Aaron's shoulder to comfort him.
"Is she okay?" Holly asked Aaron. Aaron felt for Dawn's pulse and put his hand on her chest and felt her breath. He gave out a sigh of relief.
"She's here," Aaron said. "Barely though."
"Can she get us back?" Mike asked Aaron.
Aaron shook his head. "I don't know. I'll look over her. I can put up a barrier around us while you guys rescue Jordan."
Everyone looked over into the distance at the expensive looking mansion in the middle of the strange desert that they stood in.
"Are you going to be okay?" Colleen asked Aaron. Aaron reached into his pocket and threw some dust into the air as he spoke some words in Latin. A small dome appeared around Aaron and Dawn for a moment and then faded until it was invisible. Colleen reached out for the dome and it became visible as she touched it. It felt strong.
"Get Jordan," Aaron said to the others. They nodded and made their way to the mansion.
*****
Jordan was still chained to the ceiling. He was bleeding, bruised, and broken. Jordan was able to psychically numb out the pain but that didn't mean that he still couldn't die from his energies. However, despite all the physical torture that he went through he never even let the thought of selling Dawn out enter his mind. If he was going to die then he wasn't going to let Dawn die.
"I don't understand you hero types," Glory said to Jordan. "What are you getting out of keeping my Key from me? I mean, what are you getting other than a lot of pain?"
Jordan still had yet to speak other than the occasional scream of pain.
"Well," Glory said as she dusted her hands off and moved away from Jordan. "As much fun as it has been beating you to within an inch of your life I think it's time that we tried another way of getting you to talk."
Glory stepped aside and let Kaoryn move towards Jordan. Kaoryn's face shifted from human to vampire.
"See, as a human you have a soul," Glory said to Jordan. "You have all these stupid morals and such. But, when you become a vampire, you'll lose all that."
Jordan's eyes grew wide as Kaoryn's mouth moved towards his neck and broke the skin. That's when all Hell broke loose. At that moment Colleen, Mike, and Holly broke into the room as well as several other vampires. Colleen saw Kaoryn biting Jordan and tackled her to the floor. They both were almost immediately up and fighting each other. Mike worked on trying to dust the three other vampires that were in the room while Holly, in her demon form, took on Glory.
"Nice look," Glory said to Holly. She gave her a backhand to the face that sent Holly through the wall. Glory was on her in an instant. Although she was weakened by dying two years ago she still was incredibly strong and fast. "Can I peel the gold off?"
Colleen hit Kaoryn had and she was knocked to the floor. She moved over and hit Glory which distracted her from Holly.
"And who are you?" Kaoryn asked Colleen.
"Colleen," Colleen introduced herself. "The Vampire Slayer."
Glory looked a little confused. "Didn't you used to have blonde hair?" Glory asked. Colleen didn't realize that Glory was confusing her with Buffy. Glory punched Colleen hard in the face and Colleen stumbled back a few steps while she recovered. "Not that it matters anyway."
*****
There were prophecies that no one ever knew about. I knew about them though. They spoke of the guardian of the Key. The warrior who would protect the Key from the Beast. She would be a Slayer. I didn't find her until she was six years old, living in Los Angeles. I watched her and her family and I envied them. I envied the way that they loved each other. I envied the very fact that they were a family.
That's when I decided that I would become a part of it. I decided that I would be born into the family and be one of them. I would become a Summers. Although it wasn't real I still lived out a human life. I worked my way into Buffy's world and went through a life that she was never aware of. We grew up together as sisters and she never even knew I existed, although some people were aware of my presence.
Everything changed one day though. The monks who looked after my physical being knew that the Beast was coming after me. They sent me to the one person that would take care of me. They sent me to my sister, the Slayer. They used their magicks and my energy to transform my fantasy into a reality. They made my dreams come true.
*****
Aaron sat by Dawn and stared at her, looking for any sign of change. He looked up and towards the mansion in the distance. There was still no sign of the others. He held Dawn's hand.
"Come on Dawn," Aaron said to her. "You have to pull through this."
*****
Mike and Holly fought together against Glory. Mike had managed to stake the other vampires and now it was Colleen, Mike, and Holly against Kaoryn and Glory. Glory pushed Mike and Holly away as if they weren't even there. Still, every time they got knocked down they were right back up again. Jordan still remained chained.
Kaoryn and Colleen sparred against each other. After all of their fights Colleen had learned Kaoryn's fighting style. She was able to block her attacks blow for blow. Kaoryn knew this and she knew that Colleen now had the advantage. She knew that she had to do something to regain the upper hand.
"So Colleen," Kaoryn said, "It seems that you finally got better than your mother."
"How many times do I have to tell you," Colleen said as she gave Kaoryn a hard roundhouse kick that launched her into the wall. "You are not my mother."
Glory punched Mike hard in his face and he flew back about fifteen feet. She then turned and punched Holly hard in her stomach and she bent over in pain. Glory then elbowed her in the neck and she fell to the ground. She then looked down at Holly and smiled and picked up her foot as she prepared to bring it down on her neck.
"No!" Mike shouted as jumped on Glory and managed to get a series of hits in on the Hell god. His fury radiated from the fist and Glory was momentarily stunned long enough for Mike to send her to the ground. He reached down and helped Holly up.
"Are you okay?" Mike asked Holly. He held her hand is his and Holly looked down at it and then at him. She nodded but didn't say anything.
"Holly switch," Colleen shouted as she did a round off into a kick right to Glory's face as Glory tried to stand up. Holly quickly ran over to Kaoryn and fought her while Mike and Colleen tried to fight Glory.
Colleen was a better fighter than Holly but she still wasn't tough enough to take out Glory. Mike and Colleen fought hard together but they weren't doing much better than Mike and Holly had done.
In the meantime Holly fought Kaoryn. Unlike Colleen, Holly didn't have Kaoryn's move memorized. Kaoryn landed several punches to Holly's face and followed it up with a leg sleep that left Holly on the ground. She kicked the gold demon across the room. Kaoryn looked up and saw Jordan, still unable to free himself. She ran over to him and again sunk her teeth into his throat.
Jordan closed his eyes when he felt the pain in his neck but just as quickly as it started it stopped. He opened his eyes and saw Colleen, standing with a stake in her hand and with a cloud of dust swirling around her. She reached for Jordan's chains and snapped each of them. Her expression was a slight frown.
"Colleen," Jordan said to her. He didn't know what to say.
"She can rest now Jordan," Colleen said to her friend. "She can finally rest. Now let's get out of here." Before Colleen could even take a step Glory threw her against the wall. She did the same to Jordan. Mike was also lying on his back and looked to be in a lot of pain. Holly slowly stood up.
"No one is leaving here until I get my Key," Glory said to them.
*****
Aaron wasn't even paying attention when Dawn's eyes slowly opened. He didn't realize she was awake till she sat up. She looked over at him with a look of strange wonder on her face.
"Dawn," Aaron said, elated that she was okay. He noticed the look on her face. "What's wrong?"
"I remember," Dawn said. She stood up and Aaron stood up at the same time. "I remember all of it."
"Remember what?" Aaron asked. He was very confused.
"Everything," Dawn said as she walked over to the edge of the barrier. She touched it and saw the wall form beneath her hand. "I remember being the Key."
Aaron had no clue what to say. Dawn turned around and smiled at him. She moved closer and kissed him for a moment. She broke away and Aaron noticed the green energy the swirled around them. The energy swirled for a moment and when it was gone so were they.
*****
"Just tell me where the Key is," Glory said as she punctuated each word with a punch to Colleen's face. Glory dropped Colleen and she fell to the floor. Glory kicked her in the face and Colleen was thrown back. "This is starting to be incredibly boring."
"I agree," Dawn said as she appeared in the room in a green flash with Aaron at her side, looking very confused. Everyone else looked over to them sharing a similar expression as Aaron.
"Who are you?" Glory asked Dawn. Dawn just stared and something happened to Glory. It was as if a fog was suddenly lifted from her brain. "The Key." Glory's eyes became wide. Dawn had restored her memory.
Dawn nodded. Before Glory could react to having her memory back Dawn lifted her hand into the air towards her. Energy began to swirl around Glory.
"What's happening?" Glory asked.
"You're alive right now because of me," Dawn said. "You're living off of my energies." The energy swirling around Glory grew and grew until Glory faded away with a scream. "I just cut you off. Think of it as finishing what my sister started." Glory was finally gone.
Slowly the others all stood up and approached Dawn. Everyone was a little apprehensive about getting close to her from her display of power.
"What happened?" Colleen asked Dawn.
"The spell," Dawn explained. "It let me tap into my key side."
"Are you okay?" Colleen asked her.
Dawn stood there silent for a moment. She really thought about the question before she answered it. For two and a half years her life didn't make sense. In the last hour everything had pieced itself together. For the first time everything really made sense. All of Dawn's concerns and fears had finally been put to a rest. She looked at her friends and smiled.
"Yeah," Dawn said to them. "I'm okay." On the other hand the others, specifically Jordan, definitely were less than okay. They needed to get to a hospital.
"Come on guys," Dawn said. "Let's go home." There was a swirl of green energy and all six of them disappeared back to Earth. As they left, the strange pocket dimension ceased to exist.
*****
Author's Note: So that's the end of season two. Season three is in the planning stages. I don't know when I will be able to get it started though because of midterms. That's also why it took so long to get season two done as well. Anyway, I promise that season three will be the most interesting season to date. Hopefully I will be able to get it started soon. In the meantime please review and/or email me about what you think about the conclusion to Sunnydale: Secrets Better Left Untold. Also any speculation or even what you want to see next season would be appreciated. So make sure you give me some feedback and then read Sunnydale: A Friend Indeed when it comes out.