13.       Dawn stared up at the floating blue head, mostly bald with but a small amount of pure white hair around the back of his head and leading up to his temples.  Dawn was pretty sure it was a he too, because there were just so many masculine features about the face that also reminded Dawn of the grandfather she never really had.

            "Do not fret little one," the head spoke in a gentle voice that matched Dawn's image of a grandfather, "You are in no danger.  No harm can come to you in this place.  It is your home.  Or rather…your ancestral home."

            "Wh-what?!" Dawn instinctively responded.

            The big head just smiled gently down at her, and answered patiently, "Allow me to explain what is happening to you, but first, my name is Kwikawrylikoiskolekodiak.  You may call me, Kole, if you wish, although you seem to be thinking more of me as "grandfather", and that is actually more accurate than you can imagine."

            Dawn just shook her head and spared a long look around at the other floating blue heads.  Each was it's own individual face she could tell, and each was calm and smiled gently at her in either kindness or open friendliness when they caught her gaze.  Finally she turned back to the closer one, Grandfather, the only one to have spoken so far.

            Despite being in scarier situations, and far more hopeless ones as well, Dawn felt completely petrified under the blue being's face.  She had no idea what was going on, and what Grandfather had told her already didn't make any sense whatsoever.  Then something he'd said clicked in her mind.  'Ancestral home…?'

            "What do you mean my ancestral home?  You mean…the Key's home?  Where…where it came from?  But…  I'm not the Key anymore!" Dawn suddenly raged against the beings before her, "Glory's dead!  The portal opened and Buffy closed it!  I'm not the KEY ANYMORE!!"

            "Ofcourse you aren't.  You never were young one," Grandfather calmly placated the distraught girl.  "And the 'Key' is nothing more than a name.  People and things often have many names used to describe them.  The 'Key' never even existed until you were lost on Earth.  But this… this place is your home.  It is where you existed for several billions of years.  Before that…you existed in each of us.  The Guardians."

            "Guardians?" Dawn repeated, trying desperately to understand, despite all that was happening recently.

            "Yes, the Guardians.  You recall the demon telling you about us.  What is happening to you young one, is you are having a sort of dream…but at the same time are not.  You are no longer on Earth, and yet you are.  This place, your home, is the planet called OA.  It still exists, despite having been abandoned and desolate for thousands of years now." Grandfather explained patiently.

            Dawn was silent, listening and for some odd reason beyond her, remembering everything Grandfather told her.  "Your physical body remains behind on Earth, while your spirit and mind have journeyed across the cosmos to this place, where we, the last vestiges of the Guardians of OA, summoned you.  To tell you, explain to you, what and who you are, and to see if you are ready for the work that needs to be done."

            "Work?" Dawn couldn't help nervously asking.  Grandfather's head bobbed a couple times in the air, nodding.

            "The work that we, sadly, were forced to leave unfinished.  But first, your own origins, and then we will decide if you are ready or not." Grandfather and the other Guardians then lifted their eyes to the open night sky above them, drawing Dawn's attention as well.  It started as a small point in the infinity of space, but soon and quickly grew to cover the entire dome, a green rimmed image, like some kinda giant television screen or hologram (probably hologram, Dawn thought), of a planet hanging in space.  Earth, Dawn realized with a start.

            "The universe, this universe is trillions of eons old.  And it's not even middle-aged yet." Grandfather began.  "And we, or rather our ancient ancestors, the Malusians, were the first life forms in this universe, and quite a few others as well.  In a matter of weeks the Malusians evolved from single-celled organisms into extremely highly evolved beings, higher than humans could ever become, or ever will.  They were immortal, as well as having incredible power at their fingertips, what was released through the Orb of Kal'El is less than even an infant Malusian had.  However, because of the danger of this power, and because they could still have children, and yet all were immortal…"

            "They stopped having children, and colonized other worlds, didn't they?" Dawn interrupted.

            Grandfather smiled and nodded once again.  "Yes.  Of these colonies, one was OA, the central pillar for the Guardians in the whole of the universe, and the location of the Central Battery."  The image changed to a bright green orb, which Dawn immediately assumed was the planet she was now standing on, and then quickly shifted to what looked like a central plaza where a very big green colored, yet old-fashioned, lantern shone brightly at the center of that plaza.

            "The Battery was the pillar of the Green Lantern Corp, the source of their power, because it was the outward manifest of our power.  You see, little one, the settlers of OA had even greater power than the Malusians, and therefore we had no problems in sharing that power.  In fact we considered ourselves the most powerful and oldest race in all the cosmos, and our responsibility, our duty to protect, guide, and ensure the safety of all the younger and weaker races from dangers that we knew existed.  Which is why we chose the name Guardians for ourselves.  In order to do this, we invented and invested in the Green Lantern Corp."

            "For billions of years, we and our Green Lanterns protected the universe from threat after threat, whether it came in the form of cosmic danger, natural disasters, or even the younger races, in their foolishness, creating galaxy-wide wars.  And then…" Grandfather trailed off.

            "Anti-Monitor," Dawn whispered, somehow knowing what Grandfather was going to say and in some part remembering what Whistler had told them.  How the Guardians fell.

            "Yes," Grandfather continued.  The image above shifted to the visage of a gigantic monster that Dawn couldn't have imagined in her worst nightmares.  "The Anti-Monitor was the ruler and most powerful being therein of the Anti-Matter Universe, a place that has no duplicates as other universes do."

            "This universe is both older and younger than a great many other universes, which exist both parallel and alternate to us.  Anti-Monitor one day got it into his head that he wanted his universe to be the only one in all of existence.  And so he systematically began wiping out universe after universe.  He would have destroyed this one as well…if not for our delaying action, and those that finally defeated the Anti-Monitor and in so doing created a new universe from the scraps of those he had almost destroyed in his final moments."  The image reverted back to the planet OA.  "Our delaying action forced the Anti-Monitor towards the universes where champions existed that could hopefully, and did in fact destroy him."

            Dawn got the sense that Grandfather wanted her to ask, or at least figure out, something right then, although she could only guess as to what.  Then she recognized what it was.  "So…what was this…"delaying action" that you used?" she finally asked, fearing the answer as much as wanting to know it.

            "We sacrificed ourselves by pouring all of our life essences, all of us, into the Battery, and then creating a shield to seal in this universe from other realities.  It greatly altered a great many things, most including the balance of power in the cosmos here.  The Battery, the Source of the Green Lanterns' power, became stronger than ever, and through that, so did the Green Lanterns.  Yet not only did the Battery gain more power, it also gained…a sort of sentience.  It began to evolve, to change from what it was, a source of power, into a living…entity.  It became the Key of the Universe."

            Dawn's breath began to quicken, as she understood where this was going, but she didn't say anything or do anything, for fear that she would either scream or faint all over again.

            "And then came the crisis of the Goa'uld," Grandfather continued before Dawn could do anything more but listen.  "The Green Lanterns tried to stop them, even by defending the place which was the target of the Goa'uld.  Yet it was never enough.  Finally, in an act of pure desperation, the Key, once the Battery, was moved to Earth and the lines of the universe were redrawn once again.  Earth became the center of the universe, where before it had been OA.  Not only was it the source of the Goa'uld's slaves, but also it was now the central pillar of the Green Lantern Corp, the defenders of the universe.  Not even a hundred years later, the Key was lost to the Lanterns.  Hidden even from them on the Earth."

            "And then a bunch of Russian monks found it, tried to turn it on, Glory found out about it, and they turned it into me," Dawn said sarcastically, becoming angry as she turned her back on the remnants of the Guardians.

            "Yes," Grandfather said gently.

            "You have every right to be angry young one," a new, female Guardian, judging from her voice, spoke kindly to Dawn.  "But you must also understand what the actions of those descendants of the last Lanterns succeeded in doing."

            Grandfather continued, "The Knights of Byzantine, the Monks of the Order of Light, and quite a few others, are all the descendants of the remaining few Green Lanterns that were left after the loss of the Key.  But they lost their claim to the Key a long time ago.  Little one…the reason as well as the way that the Key was lost to the Green Lanterns, was because the Key chose to abandon the Lanterns, because they were no longer worthy of its power.  Neither are any of their descendants, even if such descendants learned from their mistakes that cost their ancestors the power."

            "So what's that got to do with me being here?  Are you here to tell me that I can no longer exist because the Key is needed for Buffy and the other?!" Dawn raged.

            Grandfather gave her a harsh look, which made Dawn immediately want to take back what she had just said, but it wasn't a reprimanding look, it was one of disappointment and pity.

            "Do they?" a third, male, Guardian asked.

            Dawn looked at him confusedly.  "Do they truly need the power of the Key?  And would you willingly sacrifice yourself so they could have it?"

            Dawn was startled by the charge, but she found herself actually thinking about it.  Would she give up her life…just so her sister and friends could have another weapon to fight the darkness?  One that would probably guarantee them victory no matter what.  Dawn didn't have to think about it long.  To protect her sister, and help in saving the world, no matter how much she may regret things or want attention that she wasn't getting, she wanted to protect her world just as much as Buffy did, and she wanted Buffy in that world, whether she herself was or not.

            "Yeah," Dawn finally spoke, deathly serious, "I would."

            The Guardians were quiet for a long time after that, giving Dawn the impression they were conversing amongst themselves as much as giving her the time she needed to herself.  Finally, after an untold amount of time, Grandfather, the Guardian Kwikawrylikoiskolekodiak announced, "It is unanimous then.  She is worthy."

            Dawn looked up at that, her face showing her confusion clearer than ever.  She tried to ask "Worthy for what?" but when she tried to speak, nothing came out.  Her voice was gone!

            "Fear not little one," Grandfather spoke.  "First, you must know of the sacrifice we Guardians made to keep the Anti-Monitor away from this universe, and then, then you will know your own destiny."

            Without warning, Dawn suddenly felt herself being lifted up into the room until she was level with the floating Guardians.  Trying to bite down her fear, Dawn remained as impassive as possible, though her breathing was a bit hitched and her pulse was racing out of control.  It was the female Guardian that first began to change, but soon all the others were also; each vivid blue transparent head was beginning to glow an overwhelming green color.  So bright, so intense that Dawn felt as though it were going through her as it shown on her and the room, soon blotting out all else save the all-encompassing green light.

            Then…shapes…images…lights and shadows…began to make their way through the green.  Slowly, as with someone waking up from a dream, the images came sharper and clearer to Dawn's eyes.  It took only a second of watching to realize that this was the collective memories of the Guardians, the last of this universe.

            "It has been confirmed," a familiar voice said through the still present fog, "the Anti-Monitor has gone completely mad, trying to absorb all other universes into his.  And what's worse, not even we can stop it."

            Suddenly, everything snapped into view, though through a greenish haze, and Dawn realized it was Grandfather, Guardian Kole, that had spoken that forbidding sentence.  She startled again when she looked around and realized that it was the same council room she had been in, but the blue Guardians were no longer floating heads, but each dressed in immaculate red and green robes, but again through a haze of green.  Dawn looked down at herself and was momentarily surprised to see herself in "normal" color, but the Guardians started speaking again, so she paid more attention to them.

            "We cannot do nothing," the female Guardian that had spoken earlier (Guardian Terrela Dawn realized at seeing her face, not knowing where the knowledge came from) begged Kole, the apparent leader of them all.  "Neither us nor our Green Lanterns are ones to just sit idly by waiting for destruction."

            "The Anti-Monitor is the sole god of an entire universe.  The antimatter universe," Kole stressed.  "There is nothing in ours or any neighboring universe that can defeat such a creature!"

            Then, a new Guardian, shorter than most of the others, and with more white hair making him seem younger (Guardian Zeta), walked forward and proposed something.  "Well if we cannot defeat him…is there anything that we can do to…delay him?  Keep him away from our universe, or maybe direct him and his forces in the direction of one that has the power to defeat him?"

            "What universe in all the mighty cosmos could that be?!" another Guardian that Dawn could not see shouted at the younger one.

            Zeta shrugged, "I do not know, but it is obviously not us.  At the very least it will save our universe for a time."

            "But how much time?" Terrela asked.

            All the assembled Guardians looked to Kole, who was tapping his chin in a very thoughtful way.  "There…is only one way in which to keep the Anti-Monitor and his forces from entering this universe, and it will only last a short time.  Barely even one galactic millennia."

            One hundred Earth years, Dawn somehow knew.

            "But I too believe that there might be a way defeat the Anti-Monitor.  Beings such as himself have fallen before.  The only hope would be if beings such as Kal'El of Earth or J'onn J'onzz of the Oech Anya Empire were as commonplace as our Green Lanterns.  Sadly, they are far and inbetween in this and our neighboring realities," Kole said remorsefully.

            Dawn then noticed that Zeta looked rather excited, like a bolt from the inspiration storm had just struck him.  "There are at least three universes where beings such as Kal'El and Manhunter are in multitudes.  DC!"  The other Guardians began to look excited as well, though Dawn didn't really understand why.  Even Grandfather looked hopeful again.

            Kole then nodded.  "Then there is only one course of action we can take.  When the Anti-Monitor comes…we must create a multi-phasable inner-dimensional barrier around this reality, and phase adjust it so that Anti-Monitor will be attracted in the direction of DC and its neighboring universes."

            That was when Dawn noticed the tension level rise once again.  In fact a couple of the Guardians looked rather sick.  "How…how can we generate enough power for that?" Zeta was the one to ask.  It seemed to the Key that he and a few others already knew the answer, and just were waiting for it to be put into words before becoming really afraid.

            "By increasing the full power of the Battery," Kole answered simply in monotone.

            "But that would mean…" Terrela trailed off suddenly, leaving Dawn wondering in suspense.

            Kole nodded.  "And in order to successfully accomplish this…everyone must be cast into the Battery.  All of the Guardians and however many descendants of the Malusians are also willing to give their lives to protect the rest of this universe.  For if this is not done…nothing will survive."

            "The Green Lanterns…?" Zeta tried to ask.

            Kole, at least, smiled at that.  "No, not them.  In fact, I would insist on leaving and recruiting as many Green Lanterns as possible for the time until the Anti-Monitor's arrival.  The Lanterns' powers will be significantly increased after the barrier loses its strength, but hopefully by then, Anti-Monitor will either be destroyed, or far from here.  We have discussed, and this is the only course of action left to us."

            Silently, Kole looked to each of his brethren in turn, and then finally asked for a vote.  One by one, "Agreed," was whispered around the room, and as each Guardian came to their decision, a look of pure resolve entered their expressions, and Dawn found herself rather proud to be descended from such people.

            Just as suddenly as the scene had appeared, it rapidly dissolved into the green mists of memory once more, and before Dawn's eyes, reformed into a sight that had she not already seen such amazing things, would never be able to comprehend.

            Hundreds, if not thousands of Guardians in red and green robes encircled, in ordered groups, what Dawn instinctively knew and just generally assumed to be, The Great Battery.  The source of power for the Green Lantern Corp, the channeling device of the power of the Guardians, and what Dawn used to be.

            It was more awesome and inspiring than any of the rinky-dink artists of the comics could ever conceive of.  It was taller than the greatest or biggest man-made construction ever completed, or even thought of.  It did, somewhat, resemble a giant green-colored lantern, save that there were no handles, it was definitely a structure and not something to be picked up and used to light the darkness of space by a giant big enough, and that the "light-port" was more like a see-through sealed door from those movies with radiation and stuff like that.  Oh, and it wasn't a candle or electricity making the ever-lasting pure green light highlighting the landscape.  It was the green fire of a contained star.  From just looking at it anyway.

            Dawn was suddenly distracted from the Battery by the actions of the multitude of the Guardians, the oldest race in the cosmos of the universe.  Beginning with those closest to the Battery, each Guardian began to glow with pure green energy that mimicked and enhanced the light of the Battery itself.

            Too late, Dawn realized with startling clarity what was about to happen.  Every single being on the planet below her that was facing and glowing in time with the Battery, suddenly and violently became energy themselves, continuing to glow, and in a cataclysmic flash of all that energy, surged forward into the Battery…and the changes began.

            Dawn, before she understood all of what was happening, suddenly found herself swept up in the changes as they occurred before her, a revisiting of a long forgotten past event…and began to change herself.

            The young human girl's, up to that point, mind was slammed, violently, with image after image, memory after memory, and knowledge so deep and so dangerous that she began to doubt her own sanity.  Flashes of the first living creatures in the universe, the first sentience, the Guardians, the Old Ones, the Gods, demons, Hell, Heaven…all of it all at once.  She remembered everything, she now was the Guardians, all that they were, she had now become, and more.

            Her mind screamed for mercy, begged for the onslaught to stop…but it did not.  It only increased, the closer she got to present time in her new memory, and began to realize things.  It came with the memories, the knowledge, the wisdom of the Guardians and their ancestors.  She was the descendant of all.  She was the culmination of the first living race in the universe.

            She was the Dawn.

            The Key, the Battery, the Guardians no longer existed.  They had passed on, blurred into one another, and evolved.  Into Her.  The Dawn.

            And there was no more.

            Far too late, Buffy began to realize that something was wrong with her baby sister.  She could feel Dawn's mind, but it was not getting any closer to consciousness, though her body showed other signs of it.

            When Dawn's twitching hand had turned into a minor convulsion, and her head started rolling, everyone got concerned, but it only looked as though she were having a nightmare.  And then it became too much like a seizure for anyone's comfort.

            "Dawn!" Buffy shouted, getting down next to her sister when the girl's frame started to clench up and shake in terrifying convulsions.

            Still terrified of her own powers because of past experiences, Buffy swore silently to herself and pushed aside her fear and reached out with her mind for Dawn's.  It was surprisingly more difficult than she had imagined.  It was like Dawn's entire consciousness was in an entire other solar system.  But when she finally managed to reach Dawn's mind, what she found, and saw, made her realize something.  No matter what she was, or how much they disliked each other at the moment, Dawn was Buffy's sister, and always would be, and they loved each other.

            If forced to describe, the image that Buffy saw as she found Dawn; was a small green orb, shaped almost like an egg, surrounded by a torrent of brighter, dangerous green energy, and somehow, in that egg, she saw her sister, huddled up, naked unprotected from the energy, and in pain.  Unable to stand the mental sight longer for than a second, Buffy sought to end it and reached her hand out to her sister, desperate to reach her, to protect her and cover her.

            Unfortunately, Buffy had to move through the torrent of green energy, and the moment that her mental extension even got near it, she was bombarded by less than an infinitesimal fraction of what Dawn was going through.

            In the real world, everyone was staring down, concerned for the youngest.  Faith in particular became worried when she saw Buffy 'blank out' while kneeling next to her sister.  Then, as they all watched on, something else began to happen.

            Dawn's seizure died just a little, but as it did, green energy, almost lightning, began to spark between Dawn's body and Buffy's.  The sparks continuously got bigger and bigger until all of a sudden, a large blast of the green energy shot out and blasted Buffy back against the far wall, faster than anybody could have imagined.

            The gold Slayer slid down the wall, unconscious.  Faith was instantly by her side.

            "B!" Faith shouted, racing to the side of the one person she did not want to let down ever again.  "B!  Are you all right?  Talk to me B!"

            'Some…somethings wrong with Dawn.  I don't know what.  Help her…' Faith heard in her mind before she felt Buffy lose consciousness.

            While Faith was with Buffy, the sparks of green energy that had been unleashed against the once-Key's sister, had not dissipated.  In fact it seemed to only get stronger and more present as Dawn's seizure made it look more like she was being electrocuted by the green energy than anything else.

            Everyone, even Xander and the two immortal Balance demons were afraid of getting too close to that energy, after seeing what it had done to Buffy.  After another minute of the energy becoming more prominent, Dawn finally stopped having fits, but the energy remained, and was soon augmented by an all-encompassing green glow that covered all of Dawn's body.

            Before anyone could say or do anything, the young girl's body floated up off the cot, and then floated to the center of the room, and then righted itself, still floating at least a foot off the ground.  All of a sudden, Dawn's eyes opened, and what had been a partial hazel green was now solid emerald green.  The energy stopped flowing from Dawn's body, but the glow remained, until she slowly set herself down on the floor and only then did the glow dissipate.  But not before changing one more thing about the younger Summers.

            Her clothes, which had been denim jeans, and a soft red blouse, was now a green and black outfit that would normally be seen either in the comics, or on Faith.  The pants, which were either a soft leather or a hard vinyl, were entirely black.  Starting at the waste, the shirt she wore was an emerald green that brought out her eyes.  However, starting at the shoulders were two parallel lines of a brighter green that went down in a V to just below her chest.  Between and above these lines was black, including the sleeves that went to just past the girl's elbows.  In the center of her chest, between the V, was a strange symbol that nobody in the room recognized immediately.  It was a white circle with two green triangles and a circle in it.  The triangles were on the top and bottom respectively, and curved along with the circle.  At their points was the inner circle, which actually seemed to be glowing with the same green energy that had been covering Dawn and had blasted Buffy back.

            "I am the Dawn," Dawn announced.  "The inheritor of the Guardians of the Green Lanterns, and next evolution of the Key."

            "Oh boy," Xander muttered aloud.