Faith
A New Beginning
A/N: Thank to all those who reviewed and I'm very sorry that I didn't update sooner. I've just been so busy over that past few months. If I get good feedback from this chapter I'll be sure to hurry it up and Update as soon as I can. This series is a thrill to write and I have so many ideas as to where this can go. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and please review to tell me what you think!
Chapter 3
Aly leaned against the wall deeply enthralled in the book she was reading. The others were scuttling around the room every two seconds grabbing another book trying to find something, anything, in their search for information on Desiree and Korl. It seemed that they were having no such luck. Aly should've abandoned this book long ago; it was just a journal about a bunch of monks. For some reason she couldn't put it down though, she had to find out what it was about.
Her interest in the journal only really started when something called the Key was mentioned. She remembered Dawn saying something about her being the Key to the Universe. Flipping the page Aly didn't even look up to see what the others were up to. It didn't matter, as long as there were three other people looking for information on Korl and Desiree she could brush up on the history of the Key.
She knew that Xander's life was on the line here, but she couldn't help it. There was something about this book. Silently she reminded herself that she would later have to ask Dawn and Faith if it were possible for a book to have some sort of spell on it to make someone want to read it.
"Aly?" she heard Dawn calling her and her trance was broken.
"Yeah?" Aly looked up from the book. She saw Dawn's sad eyes and regretted even more not putting more effort into searching.
"Find anything?" Dawn asked. Aly looked down at the book once more, she hated to put it down but she had no choice. They needed to save Xander.
"No," Aly sighed and began to shut the book but something caught her eye, a date, December 1997.
~*~*~*~*~*~
December, 1997
We have to move quickly. The Vampires are quickly invading our hide-away and we have no power to keep them away. They search for the Key and its counter-part and they cannot get it. The evil that will come to be if they ever get them is too grave to describe.
For months we have been working on a way to hide them amongst the humans but they're not ready to be sent in, not both of them. We only have enough power to insert one into an already existent human and we always planned to create a form for both. We have no choice, the Vampires will stop at nothing until they have what they search for and we can only sneak away one as it is.
We have already found the carrier for the Lock, a boy in Sunnydale, California who will be protected by the Slayer. We know this because we have watched him for months with the impending doom of the Vampire attack hanging over us. He has befriended the newest Slayer and there is another woman who shows great potential of magic.
One day the Key too will need to be protected by the Slayer, either from the Hell-Goddess Glorificus or the Vampires. Whoever survives the Vampire invasion will be working day and night to put the Key in human form, to hide her from the evil…
~*~*~*~*~*~
Aly stared at the book in utter disbelief. The answers to their question had been right in front of them all along. The Key, the Lock, the Vampires it was all right here. Dawn was watching her curiously; trying to read the Slayer's expression but Aly quickly removed any emotion from her features. "I think I found something," she muttered.
"Yeah?" Oz looked up from his own book and Seth and Faith both raised their eyebrows in inquiry.
"Yeah," Aly nodded, "This book, it's the journal of a bunch of monks, the order who protected the Key. Not just the key though, its counter-part as well."
"The Key has a counter-part?" Dawn wondered, "Like a Lock or something?"
"Exactly," Aly nodded, "The Lock. In December of '97 Vampires attacked their hiding place searching for both the Key and the Lock. The monks only had enough power to transfer the power of the Lock into an already existing Human boy even though they always planned to create the Lock themselves.
"Anyway, they did just that. They transferred the power into a boy they had been watching for months. A boy in Sunnydale who had befriended the Slayer and whose other friend showed great potential to be a witch, or whatever. Anyway, they knew they would protect him. They said that one day the Key too would need to be protected and that they would hide the key in human form with the Slayer."
"So, Xander's this Lock?" Dawn wanted to know Aly could see that her eyes were already beginning to tear up.
"He isn't exactly the Lock per-say he's just got the power of the Lock in him," Aly told her.
"Can-Can I see the book?" Dawn asked, faltering slightly.
"Sure," Aly shrugged, handing it over to Dawn. The girl took the book and ran her fingers along the spine of the leather bound book. How much did they really know about the Key? They hadn't even known there was a Lock.
"Xander..." Dawn trailed, "I-I'm gonna go for a walk."
"Dawn..." Oz tried to say something to stop her but he couldn't.
When Dawn was gone, the door being slammed behind her Faith turned to Aly. "Go after her," she advised, "Kid doesn't know the streets of Boston like you an' me."
"Got it," Aly nodded and grabbed her sweater before heading out.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Xander groaned. He didn't know how long he had been here. It could've been hours or even years. Everything since he had woken up here just blurred together. The torture, the echoing screams of torture that he wasn't sure had come from him or not. His good eye was closed now, his head bowed foreword. The she-vamp, Desiree, had left him alone a while ago. She would be back soon that he knew.
She returned sooner than he expected her to. Her long nails grazed his bare chest and Xander lifted his head a little and opened his eye. He had to admit that she was pretty, with long wavy brown hair and big brown eyes and she was a Vampire. Just the type of woman Xander would usually fall for. Her full red lips curled upwards, obviously she knew what he was thinking. "Hello boy," she licked her lips as she walked around him. "Miss me?" When she got to response from Xander she pouted, "You look so tasty. I've been waiting a long time for this. I just wish I could have one sip of all that power."
"Power?" Xander couldn't help but scoff at this, despite his pain; "Me have power? I think you got the wrong guy."
"So naïve," She shook her head, "Doesn't even know what's inside of him. All that power put to waste in you. Thankfully soon it'll be mine, as soon as we get that despicable girl."
"You'll never get her," Xander said through gritted teeth.
"We will," Desiree assured him, "Be it through one of those nimrod Vampires that got you last night or Korl and I. But we'll get her, I assure you."
"Desiree!" A loud voice boomed and Xander recognized it as the man who Desiree had just referred to as Korl.
"Aww, we'll have to play again later," Desiree shrugged and her heels clicked as she headed towards the door. Xander sighed and couldn't help but be thankful that she wasn't crazy like Drusilla. Xander shuddered as he remembered the whips from earlier, maybe Dru wouldn't be so bad after all.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Birds chirped happily as the sun beaded down on Boston. Despite the cold wind this was a beautiful day. Young lovers strolled hand in hand through the park smiling happily at each other. Kids screamed and laughed as they played in the jungle gym. Only one person in the whole park didn't seem excited about the beautiful fall day. A sullen girl with long brown hair and blue eyes sat on a bench along, staring at leather bound book, and her eyes glistened with tears.
Dawn Summers hesitated before opening the book and slowly turning the pages. The book was old and gave out a musty smell that Dawn had become accustomed to after her many research sessions back in good old Sunnydale. Thinking of her home back in Sunnydale didn't help lighten her spirits either. Nothing was going right anymore. What had been home to Dawn for seven years was now buried beneath the crater that was Sunnydale along with Anya, Spike and Tara and her mother's graves.
"Dawn..." the uncertain voice of Aly startled Dawn.
"I want to be alone," Dawn informed the Slayer.
"I know," Aly sighed, "It's just this is Boston, not Sunnydale. Things aren't like they were there."
"Don't you think I know that!" Dawn exclaimed, "Don't you think I know that I'll never see Sunnydale again, or Spike, or Anya? Xander's all I have now and he's gone too."
"At least you had a home before this," Aly retorted, "And people who cared about you. Because my home basically consisted of my drunken abusive mother, and my sister who ran away when she was fifteen and only came back for me last year. Now, the one person I knew I could count on is dead and what do I get? I get attacked by her in the cemetery and then get told that I'm a Slayer! I didn't ask for any of this crap. I didn't ask to have to baby-sit the tourist, I didn't ask to have to fight Vampires and demons. But y'know I've got to anyway.
"Life sucks, yeah I get that. But instead of moping around out here in the park you should be back at Faith's trying to find out more about where Korl and Desiree are. We know why they wanted him but we also know that he's still alive because they need you too. So suck it up because both yours and Xander's live depends on it."
Dawn blinked. She stared at Aly and absorbed everything that was said. Aly was right. "Alright," Dawn nodded, "Just give me a few minutes, to y'know recollect myself. I know my way back to the apartment from here."
"Did you here what I said?" Aly raised and eyebrow, "Desiree and Korl want you too."
"They're Vampires," Dawn reminded her, "They can't come out in the sun."
"Alright," Aly hesitated. The fifteen-year-old blonde sighed and headed back towards Faith's apartment.
Dawn took a deep breath and opened the journal again, skimming through the entries and absorbing everything she could about the Key and the Lock. Aly had been right, Xander wasn't the Lock. The Lock was just inside Xander. Xander had been born, all his memories were real, and he had lived his whole full life. It was only at fifteen that Xander had received his little "gift" from the monks. Dawn on the other had been the key, the monks had molded her into her human form, and the monks had created all her memories. In reality she was only 3.
"Uh... you're on my bench," a male voice from behind Dawn once again interrupted Dawn's reading. Frustrated, Dawn turned around to see whom the voice belonged to. The first thing she saw was a Superman comic book, she half expected to see Andrew standing there. Instead she found a cute boy with mussed brown hair and brown eyes. He wore a shirt advertising Death Cab for Cutie and had baggy jeans on.
"S-sorry," Dawn stuttered nervously, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, "Didn't know this was anyone's bench."
"S'okay," the boy shrugged, "There's plenty of room for both of us." Dawn nodded and slid down a little on the bench leaving some room for the stranger to sit. "I'm Chris."
"I'm Dawn," Dawn introduced a small smile playing on her lips, despite what she had been thinking of seconds earlier.
"Whatcha reading Dawn?" Chris wanted to know.
"Just some old book," Dawn shrugged, shutting the book, "Something a friend lent me."
"Yeah I'm reading this," Chris showed her the comic that she already knew he was reading.
"That's supposed to be a good one," Dawn interjected. She couldn't help it, after living with Andrew for as long as she did, and even Xander, she had picked up on a few things about comic books.
"You read comics?" Chris wondered, surprised.
"No, it's just these guys that used to live with me and my sister used to," Dawn shrugged, "One of them was the big comic book geek. Could hardly get through a sentence without mentioning something from a comic, or Star Trek."
"Boyfriend?" Chris wondered.
"OH no," Dawn shook her head, "Just friends of my sister."
"OK," Chris nodded and couldn't help but notice that he seemed relieved by this, "How old is your sister?"
"Twenty-one," Dawn replied, "We lived in Sunnydale for a while before moving to Cleveland."
"Oh, tourist?" Chris looked dejected again.
"Kind of," Dawn nodded, "I'm living with an old friend right now. She lives in Boston and I decided to come stay with her cause my sister's moving to England."
"I lived in California for a while," Chris told her, "in LA. My dad got transferred to Boston last year. My mom didn't want to leave so she stayed behind with my sisters. I didn't mind the change."
"I lived in LA for a while too," Dawn admitted, "Until I was ten."
"How old are you now?" Chris wanted to know.
"Seventeen," Dawn replied.
"Me too," Chris grinned. Dawn glanced at her watch and sighed.
"I got to go," she told him, "But it was nice meeting you Chris."
"Can I get your number?" Chris asked. Dawn looked him over one more time and realized how audacious he must be being now asking her out.
"Better if you give me yours," Dawn told him, "I don't exactly know my new number." Dawn stopped herself from mentioning her perished cell phone back in Sunnydale. Chris nodded and rummaged through his pockets for a paper and something to write with.
A minute later Dawn was heading back to the apartment with a small smile and Chris' phone number tucked away in her pocket. She didn't know much about him except that they shared something in common, they both tended to babble when they were nervous. Dawn hadn't realized how much she had talked until she was well on her way to Faith's.
Aly was outside waiting for Dawn when she got to the apartment. The Slayer was leaning against the wall beside the entrance door fiddling with a cigarette. Dawn frowned slightly and approached her. "You going to smoke that?"
"Huh?" Aly looked up.
"The cigarette," Dawn nodded at the cigarette in Aly's hand.
"OH, no," Aly shook her head, "I quit."
"Think you can get Faith to quit too?" Dawn wondered.
"I wouldn't dare try," Aly told her, "What took you so long?"
"I met this guy," Dawn shrugged.
"A guy?" Aly gave Dawn a questioning look,
"Yeah," Dawn nodded and opened the entrance door, holding it open for Aly.
"Ok, one minute you're moping because your life sucks," Aly caught up to Dawn on the stairs, "And the next your picking up guys in the park."
"I was sitting on his bench," Dawn explained, "And he we talked."
"Did you give him your number?" Aly questioned.
"No," Dawn shook her head; "I got his." They reached the apartment door and they opened it and entered the apartment, but Aly wasn't about to let the conversation go despite the fact that there were now others around.
"Are you going to call him?" she wanted to know.
"Call who?" Faith wondered from her spot on the floor.
"This guy she met in the park," Aly blurted, making her way over to the books.
"What's the progress?" Dawn wondered.
"Nothing yet," Seth mentioned from the floor, "Did the journal say anything else?"
"Not as far as I can tell," Dawn replied, "But if they were after Xan and me wouldn't they have come to Sunnydale?"
"It's strange," Oz agreed.
"No one else is going to acknowledge the guy in the park thing?" Aly wondered.
"Maybe they figured that eventually you'd come to them," Faith offered.
"We could use me as bait," Dawn suggested, "To lure them out and torture one of the vamps into telling us the hide-out."
"Not a good idea," Aly shook her head, giving up, "I mean those type of things often turn out bad. I've seen the movies."
"It worked with the Bringers," Dawn pointed to Faith, "We didn't learn all that much but it still worked."
"I don't know..." The Slayer looked around, uncertain, "Aly is right, those type of things don't turn out good and I can't fight whatever Vamps they send with them and watch to make sure you're alright at the same time. If we lose track of Desiree and Korl when they take you we might never be able to find you."
"Unless I'm the one who keeps watch," Oz interjected, "I mean, that way you still have all the strength you need to fight whatever Vamps there are and still have an eye on Dawn."
"And if they don't have any other Vamps then you can all follow," Dawn pointed out, "It works out."
"I'll think about it," Faith relented, "In the meantime keep searching for anything on where these Vamps might be hiding out."
"What about the church?" Aly piped in, "The one where they attacked the monks?"
"I think I know where that is," Seth mentioned, shaking his blonde hair out of his eyes, "There's this abandoned monastery near the manor I live in. Could very well be that the Vamps are hanging out there."
Oz nodded in agreement, "If we go along with this whole 'bait' thing we should split in two groups. One stationed with Dawn and the other by the monestary in case that really is their hideout."
Faith contemplated this a moment, trying to decide if this was the best way to do things. She hated leaving bait, especially if it was going to be Dawn. The last thing she needed was someone to be hurt and the way Dawn was planning it to go this definitely meant that she could get hurt. "No," she shook her head, "I think we should do what we did with the Bringers. Take a Vamp and force him to tell us the hide-out."
"Fine," Dawn allowed. It was better than nothing at least. This way at least she knew she was doing her part in getting Xander back. After all, it was he fault all of this was happening. She was the Key; it was her they were after. No, she reminded herself; they're after both Xander and me. Still, she couldn't help but feel guilty about this whole thing.
Once all the minor details were settled with the plan Dawn went back to reading the Journal while Faith, Seth and Oz continued to search through the books for as much information on Desiree and Korl as they could find. Aly, on the other hand, had ventured off to the bathroom. The door was shut and locked and none of the other knew what the new Slayer was doing in there it didn't really matter though because as long as Xander was still captured nothing else really mattered.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Aly stood staring at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. She had untied her blonde hair so it fell over her shoulder. It was hard to believe how much had changed in her life over the past two days, and yet she didn't look any different. Staring back at her was still the same fifteen-year-old girl who had had a bad home life for as long as she could remember. Any day now she would be turning sixteen and even then, she would still look the same.
Promptly she opened a drawer and found a pair of scissors. Slowly she cut off her long locks. Now, her hair was shorter, and layered. In front her hair fell just above her eyes and it got only a little longer, slowly so that it wasn't too drastic, and the back of her head the hair was in the middle of her neck. She looked different now, felt different. Her face seemed prettier, older, more sophisticated. Things were going to be different for her from now on. She could feel it. Just like she could feel the power of the Slayer flowing through her veins now that she was more aware of it. It felt good.
Slowly, she opened up the bathroom door taking a peak out into the room. Everyone was sitting around in mass depression and concentration. Already it seemed that Seth and Oz were becoming a part of the "little" group they had assembled over night. She recalled talking with Xander and Dawn earlier at the cult. They had told her about how it had been for them back in Sunnydale, before the whole thing with the First. How they had been one large group. The Scoobies, they fought along side the Slayer, Buffy, and they were her friends and family. Xander even explained how he and Willow, a witch who was also Xander's best and oldest friend, had been fighting with Buffy since they were sixteen.
Maybe Dawn, Xander, Faith, Oz, and Seth would become her family like the others Xander had told her about had become Buffy's. The family she had never had and always wanted. Already there seemed to be something forming, Dawn, Xander, Faith and Oz already knew each other well enough and she was sure Seth and herself would be able to fit in.
Thinking about her conversation with Xander and Dawn the night before just went on to remind Aly what had happened after. The Vampires storming into the club, the fight, and Xander being dragged away by them. They had nearly lost Dawn too. Aly liked the guy well enough, and it would be a shame to lose him. After all, they were just starting to get to know each other. Aly's gaze fell upon Dawn then. The girl was only two years older than she was but like Aly herself, Dawn's experiences made her seem a lot older although, it seemed, other babied her too much. Aly sensed a connection between Xander and Dawn, something stronger than just friendship. Maybe it was the apparent magical connection between the two of them.
Then again, what did she know? She was still only learning about all of this magic and supernatural garbage anyway. "Where do we stand now?" Aly asked, stepping out of the bathroom and into plain view.
Dawn broke out of her trance reading the Journal long enough to glance at Aly. Her mouth dropped open. "You hair..." she pointed the journal in Aly's direction as the rest of the gang looked up to see what was up.
"Looks good," Seth grinned, nodding his approvement. Already Aly liked this guy. Oz nodded quietly in agreement and Faith said nothing at all for a moment just watching her with a neutral expression.
"Faith?" Aly raised an eyebrow. She wanted Faith's approvement. It was odd because she never cared what other people thought of her, but for some reason she cared what Faith thought. It was almost like Faith had become a sort of mother or sister to Aly since she had taken her into her apartment that night after the run-in with the Vampires in the cemetery.
"Guess you needed a change kid," Faith commented, "At least you didn't go and do something stupid to get it. You look good, older."
"Thanks, I guess," Aly shrugged, joining Dawn on the floor, peaking over her shoulder to see what was happening in the journal at that moment.
"So, you ready to help us research a bit?" Dawn asked quietly. She didn't sound upset that Aly hadn't been helping, it was just a question. Aly nodded and grabbed a book out of the box and sat back to read it, flipping the pages until she found something that was about Vampires.
A knock at the door resonated through the apartment and Faith groaned, getting up and headed towards the door. "What now?" she muttered as she swung open the door to reveal a boy, around seventeen standing there with a nervous expression on his face. "Who're you?" Faith wondered.
"Chris Taylor," the boy replied and at this name Dawn dropped the journal and leaned over a bit to see the boy's face. Aly frowned at Dawn's strange behavior and stood up to get a clear view of the door.
"Right, and what is it you want?" Faith asked, bored of him already.
"I'm looking for a Dawn Summers and Xander Harris," he explained, "I got news that they should be staying in this building with the Slayer, Faith."
"What do you want with them?" Faith raised an eyebrow; she was on guard now. With all that was going on anyone who wanted anything to do with Dawn and Xander were enemies.
"My Uncle was one of the monks that guarded the Key and the Lock," Chris mentioned, he was nervous and that was very evident, "Before he died he taught me a lot and I'm supposed to help them come to terms with their powers." Dawn stood up then, not getting a good view of the person at the door, even if she peered around the back of the couch.
"It's you!" she exclaimed, finally seeing Chris' face.
"You're Dawn Summers?" Chris looked bewildered just then as he started at Dawn, "I-I didn't think...I mean, I thought it was just a coincidence that your name was Dawn and that you used to live in Sunnydale..."
"You know him?" Faith asked Dawn, slightly amused at this point. This guy couldn't be much of a threat, that much she had determined. Plus, there were two slayers and a Hunter, she still hadn't figured out what that means, to take him down if he tried anything.
"I met him in park," Dawn explained, "What do you know about the Key and the Lock?"
"A lot," Chris told her, "Where's Xander Harris?"
"Kidnapped," Dawn looked down, sadly, "By Vampires last night."
"Shit," Chris muttered, "Desiree and Korl already got to him?"
"Apparently," Seth mentioned from the couch, "From what Aly says the Journal says."
"That's what that old book Dawn had was," Chris mused, "I thought it looked familiar..."
"What can you tell us about them?" Oz wanted to know Faith smiled at Oz thanking him for asking the question she was sure no one else thought of in the heat of the moment.
"That if they get their hands on Dawn we're doomed," Chris sighed, "What they can do with the power of the Lock and the Key no one wants to know. There's a reason that Xander and Dawn carry the powers. I'm supposed to teach them how to use them..."
"Where can we find them?" Aly asked, "To get Xander back?"
"No one knows for certain," Chris replied, "But they'll eventually go to the monestary to perform the ritual they need to get the power from Dawn and Xander. It's the only place they can do it."
"What powers?" Dawn spoke again for the first time it what seemed like forever, "You said that Xander and I needed to learn how to use our powers."
"It's a long story," Chris said, looking directly into her eyes, "One that I'd rather explain to both of you together. But the two of you have extraordinary powers, ones that you need to learn how to use and control."
Just then, before could say anything more Faith's cell phone began to ring wildly. The room fell into complete silence as Faith reached over and grabbed it off the table. "Faith," she said into it as she answered and then, a second later she handed the phone to Dawn.
"Hello?" Dawn said, uncertainly.
"Dawnie..." it was Angel.
"Angel?" Dawn's smiled a little, "How'd you know I was in Boston?"
"I got some information on your situation from the Firm," Angel explained, "I was surprised when I found out that you were in Boston, almost didn't believe what I was seeing…"
"What did you see Angel?" Dawn asked. Something sounded off about Angel's tone and Dawn didn't know what to think about it.
"You and Xander dead."
