Chapter 1

Life will never be the same

There was a loud, annoying ringing noise that made Buffy Summers leap from her bedside and fall onto the floor. She cursed the alarm clock silently and slowly got up and got dressed.

"Oh crap," she muttered as looked at the clock. It was 7:30 in the morning and she had to get to work. She ran down the stairs and in the kitchen she saw Dawn, her sister on the table eating cereal.

"Took you long enough," she said.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Buffy asked.

"Well… I thought that you needed a lye in, you know, after last night…" Dawn stared at her innocently and smiled.

"Nothing happened between Angel and I we just met up and talked for longer than we thought…" she said.

"Yea right, come on, what happened?" Dawn asked still grinning.

"Nothing OK we just…" Buffy suddenly noticed the time, "Come on, we have to get to school."

"But…" protested Dawn.

"Now!"

"Okay, okay," Dawn frowned, slung her small teddy-bag over her back and walked to the door.

Sunnydale high had been built a year ago having been destroyed by a giant snake. It also happened to be placed directly over the hellmouth which was an apocalyptic pain in the butt for Buffy. Buffy Summers being the Slayer had the job of protecting the Earth from the forces of darkness and it wasn't easy at all. She had faced demons, vampires, a God, even the source of all evil and she has died no less than three times.

She couldn't have got through with out her best friends though, Willow Rosenburg who was one of the most powerful witches in the world, founder of the new watcher's council and an Information Technology teacher at Sunnydale high and Xander Harris who was a construction worker and engaged to Anya, an ex-demon. They helped her through the worst of times and she loved them dearly with all her heart. Rupert Giles, her mentor and her watcher was also one of her best friend, he trained her to use her slayer powers and to overcome difficult problems involving the supernatural. After the First destroyed the watcher's council in England he decided to join the new watcher's council where he had the task of looking for people willing to become watchers to protect and train the potential slayers.

Buffy sat down on her desk inside her little office in the school. Her job was to talk to the students about their problems, comfort them and help them solve their problems. She liked her job and it was much better than her old job at the double meat palace.

"So, the prodigal girl returns," said the familiar deep voice of Principal Wood.

"Oh, yea… about those days I took off, well I meant to call but I…" Buffy murmured nervously. She had skipped a few days off work because of a nasty horde of demons that were planning to take over the Sunnydale museum of history and turn it into a breeding ground.

"You don't need to worry about it. The kids missed you though, they've taken a really shining to you." Wood smiled.

"I am… really sorry"

"I said it was OK, I know you've got a lot of important duties you have to do, you know being the slay…"

"Shh!" Buffy interrupted.

"Sorry," he said with a smile. Wood was a vampire hunter and found out that she was the slayer after some unfortunate events.

"Right now, work. I have this kid who's been having a lot of trouble, he's just moved in from England and he's having trouble adjusting," Wood said, then he walked out the door and the boy walked in. He was quite tall for his age and quite handsome and looked about 16 years old. He had short, neat hair and worn a white T-shirt with scruffy blue jeans. He smiled politely.

"Hi there, I'm Buffy Summers, what's your name?" Buffy said with a friendly smile.

"I… uh… my name's Chris Redwood," he said. He sounded rather like Giles and his eyes showed sincerity and kindness.

"OK, so, what's your problem?"

"Well I… don't really want to talk about it…"

"Come on, it's what I'm here for. I won't tell anybody. Promise."

"It's this girl…"

Chris frowned as he noticed Buffy smirking. "I'm sorry, go on."

"I don't know her name exactly but she was just so beautiful and I just had to talk to her but when I tried to ask her out she just laughed at me and walked away, she didn't even say no, it just… you know… it hurts when you don't get noticed."

"I know how you feel but you shouldn't get depressed about some girl you hardly know, she must be a real b**** if she just laughed at your face like that, she's not worth it."

To Buffy's relief, Chris smiled and nodded.

"Thanks Miss Summers, your right, I better get back to class now, see you later." He smiled and walked out the office.

"A good day's work" Buffy thought as she began to go through her paperwork.

***

"Are you sure? I mean, she can't be cause, you know, she isn't one of them."

"I am sure, the seer is one of the most powerful seers in the coven and she saw her to be the new slayer." Giles took off his glasses and wiped them clean with a tissue.

"But she isn't a potential, she just can't be the new slayer, it's not possible."

"Magic works in mysterious ways, you know that above all people Willow."

Willow smiled. "Sure I do but that doesn't mean that… that…"

"I know it's hard Willow," Giles put his hand gently on Willow's shoulder, "but you have to accept it, she is the new slayer, I don't know how she could be, but she is."

Willow and Giles were talking in the middle of a huge library created in the new watchers council mansion on the outskirts of SunnyDale. Watchers and witches were busy all around them sorting out the books they had managed to save from the destroyed Council building in England and a large amount books from all over the world which were about demons, prophecies, magic and history.

"Hey Will! Giles! Up here!" shouted Xander from the second floor of the library.

"Hey Xand!" Willow shouted back, smiling, "What's up?"

"This place is huge! How the hell do I get down?"

"Stairs to your left!"

Xander laughed at his stupidity and ran down the stairs to meet up with his friends.

"This is some place you've got Will! It's amazing," Xander said in awe.

"Your quite right Xander, this is the best library I've seen in all my life," Giles added.

Willow smiled shyly. "Well, I had a lot of help."

"I'm proud of you Willow," Giles said.

"We all are," Xander said as he hugged her.

When they finally separated and Willow put on her serious face. Xander looked at her confused about what could be wrong.

"Willow, why are you giving me that look?" Xander asked.

Willow looked at Giles who nodded and she turned and looked Xander in the eyes.

"There's something you need to know… about Dawn."

***

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Dawn and her two friends, Kit and James practically ran out of Math class when the bell went.

"God Math is such a drag! What was Mrs Crowsons problem? She gave me four days of detention!" Dawn protested.

"Well to be fair you did shout out what's the point of all this right into her face, you were kinda asking for it," James said.

"Well I…"

"Dawn isn't that your sister on the mobile over there?" Kit interrupted.

"Yer, I wonder what she's up to."

They began to walk close enough to Buffy to hear what she was saying.

"I just can deal with this… I mean… Dawn… I just… no way I can't tell her now… I know Giles," Buffy suddenly noticed Dawn and gave her a guilty look, "Giles, I gotta go, I'll… I'll see you later… OK, bye."

Dawn saw Buffy look at her, then at her friends and then back to her. Dawn could tell that something was wrong. "Why were you talking about me?" Dawn asked with a scorned look on her face.

"Dawn, we need to talk, in private," Buffy said nervously.

"Fine," Dawn looked at her friends, "I'll meet you in the library later, OK?"

"Sure," they both replied and then they quietly walked off.

Dawn and Buffy walked to an empty corridor. Dawn felt quite nervous, afraid that someone she cared about had died, she remembered when Buffy had told her about the death of their mother, she hoped nothing had happened to anyone.

"Dawn, there's something… there's something I need to tell you…" said Buffy. Dawn prepared herself for the worst.

"Uh… I was talking to Giles and he said…"

"What? What's wrong?"

"Dawn, you have been… chosen… you are the new slayer."

Dawn just stared at her sister, completely shocked, "H…h… how? I mean… I'm not a potential, I'm just… well me…"

"Listen, I don't know how you became a slayer but the fact is, you are so you're gonna have to deal."

"Deal? This is just so cool! I can go on patrols with you and dust vamps…"

"Cool? Every slayer in history has had their life expectancy severally shortened."

"Thanks for the confidence boost!" Dawn said as she crossed her arms.

"I didn't mean it like that, it's just, I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'll be OK, look I have to go now, I'll see you later," Dawn smiled and walked away before Buffy could protest.

Dawn ran into the girl's bathroom, unable to control her emotion, she had become a slayer, like her sister, who died over three times. Dawn gulped. From now on her life will never be the same. It will be like Buffy's life, hectic, depressing and out of control. She stared at herself in the mirror and she felt a cool rush flow through her –as if someone was watching her.

Suddenly, a girl appeared out of thin air from behind her, Dawn screamed but the girl smiled and held her hand out.

"Shhh… there's no need to be afraid Dawny," the ghost whispered.

"Who… who are you?" Dawn asked, still petrified of the ghost.

"My name is Lucy Hanover, I was the slayer before your sister, Buffy Summers. I'm here to give you a message from the prophets. Listen, something bad is coming, it will be stronger than anything you and your sister have ever faced. If you and Buffy don't stop it, your world will fall to dust…"

"Crap. Buffy is sooo not going to like this. What is it? What's its name?"

"I don't know but everyone in the spectral realm's going crazy, they are really scared."

"Why? Being dead I mean, why are they afraid?"

"Because this creature is so powerful it can kill the dead… utterly destroy them. There are rumors of an army massing in the other-realm, a realm that connects to every realm in the cosmos."

"So, its time to summon the scoobies? Do our thing and kill it?"

"Basically, yes. Oh and by the way I have a message for you from your mother."

Dawn smiled, "What did she say?"

"Take care of yourself," after those words, Lucy disappeared from sight and Dawn was left alone.

Life would never be the same…