Chapter 18.

Buffy and Dawn sat sipping coffee in the late afternoon sun. The various cuts, scrapes and bruises each had walked away from the previous nights' fight with were barely visible; thanks to Buffy's Slayer healing and Adanar's touch. Dawn had only faded bruising and three barely noticeable white lines where the scars had marred her cheek but, at Adanar's insistence her still painful arm cradled in a sling. Dawn dreaded raising the subject she needed to discuss with Buffy; she loved her sister and had missed her terribly but had decided that her path lay here in L.A. and with 'Angel Investigations'. Now she had to break the news to Buffy and hope for understanding, if not acceptance.

Taking a deep breath she began,
"Uh, Buffy, there's something we need to talk about. It's just that me and Adanar have been talking about the future and, well, we think we'd be a lot more use here than in Italy or England or wherever. But only because you've got the Slayers and the Watchers and Willow and Xander to help you while 'Angel Investigations' needs to regroup. You won't be all hurt or anything if I spend a couple of months with you and then come back, will you?"

She searched her sister's face anxiously for disappointment or pain. Buffy's smile faded as she digested Dawn's words. It didn't exactly come as a surprise; Dawn and Adanar both seemed to be so settled here and at ease with Angel, Spike and Gunn. Her sister was an adult and, as hard as it was for her to accept, the young woman who had fought beside her the night before wasn't in need of protection from the violence of the world. If anything, Dawn had probably fought as often as she herself had, and survived the worst that evil had thrown her way.

Buffy sighed before telling her, wanting to reassure her,
"I half expected you'd want to stay here. It's okay Dawnie. Really. Sure, I'd love us to live together but you're all grown up now. A lot faster than I would have liked, but .. I'm just happy you're here, you know? Where I can come see you or you can come visit me and not away in some other dimension where I can't reach you at all! And they do need you here, they've lost too many people and they're hurting."

Feeling relieved Dawn promised,
"We can talk almost every day over the Net. Heck, we can rig up video cams and it'll be even better than phoning or emails! And we can visit lots; we're loaded now, remember?"

Dawn still felt the need to explain,
"Besides; I don't think I could be as effective if I had to follow the rules Slayers fight by. I mean, you guys don't have the leeway 'A. I.' can afford, do you? I'm not talking doing anything even the remotest bit evil, but more like taking on cases that aren't in the scope of what
you do. Does that make sense?"

Buffy nodded, smiling slightly,
"Yeah. It's kind of like me cutting loose from the Watcher's Council and their ways of doing things. Sometimes there has to be room for flexibility; for making the 'on the ground' decisions. Like working with, and for, demons that aren't necessarily evil. And it won't be so hard for Adanar to live in L.A., will it? There are humans out there who look weirder than he does and never get a second look. But you are going to Rome with me for a little while?"

Dawn laughed,
"You bet! I have to meet this immortal boyfriend of yours and make sure he's good enough for my sister! And I've just got to know why the vamps are so bent out of shape over him. Thanks, Buff; for understanding. It's weird; all I wanted to do was come home and be with you and now I'm going to be half a world away."

"At least it's the same world though. And it's not that big really. We should get moving soon, if we're going to meet the others back at your place. Giles is anxious to discuss what to do with that ego sword. But we've got time for another coffee first. But first; Dawn, I've been wondering. Are you going to be okay? When it comes to guys? After everything you've been through, I wondered. You're bound to meet someone one day and .. you know."

Dawn sat in silence for a moment before answering carefully,
"Yeah, I think so, eventually. Just .. maybe .. not for a while, you know? And, given my particular genetic inheritance, I can't promise they'll be, like, totally human! Can fancying hot vamps be a heredity issue? Like .. Oww! Cut that out! What'd I say?"

She sat rubbing her ear and grinning at a stern faced Buffy. The blond couldn't keep the mock disapproving expression up and broke down to share a giggle with her sister as they gathered their things together and stood to leave.

They were the last to arrive. Dawn dumped her backpack on the couch and greeted everyone breezily,
"Buffy's fault we're late. Shethought she saw Johnny Depp and chased this poor guy for miles! It's almost impossible to take her out anywhere remotely public without ending up in some embarrassing scene. Pull my ear again Buffy and I'll tug so much hair out you're gonna be totally bald!"

Giles sighed, removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Dawn sounded very concerned as she asked sweetly,
"Are you still getting those headaches Giles? You should go for allergy tests; maybe there's something in the air that sets them off?"

Spike chortled,
"Only thing poor old Rupes is allergic to is being neck deep in smart mouthed females! All those Slayers, witches and now Niblet's back; I reckon 'e should be up for the Shanshu deal too. Don't know 'ow 'e does it really."

Giles finished polishing his glasses, returned them to his face and tried to head off a bout of witticisms by saying sternly,
"I thought we were here to discuss the sword! May we see it, please Dawn?"

Dawn fetched it from her room and set it down on the dining room table. The blade had snapped off two thirds of its length, distorting one of the runes etched into the grey metal. The shattered Berdea crystal set into the pommel was loose enough for Dawn to prise out of its mounting with her fingernails. Although it no longer glowed darkly, they could still sense a sentient being was attached to it. Giles studied it before giving Dawn a nod to begin with what the blade had communicated to her.

"Okay. The sword was forged almost fifteen hundred years ago for the Samarians. 'The Order of Paladins of Asten', to be precise. The being whose ego inhabits it now was its first owner, whose name translates as 'The One Who Protects the Innocent Towards Morning' or Cernagaleda for short. Anyway, Strega wasn't able to dominate it until he tricked it into believing that he was going to have a Berdea crystal storing healing magic set into it and the magician who cast the 'soul taker' spell was far too strong for the sword to fend off."

Dawn stopped briefly to gaze at the sword sadly.
"Poor thing; a spell that evil left it tortured until it broke itself. It tried to regain control for decades but Strega became more and more evil and grew much stronger and kept it down. But it resisted every time he used it and for the past twenty years he barely used it because he couldn't trust it not to find a way to destroy him. Last night he wasn't on top of his game and it finally got the chance to escape him. Now it just wants to redeem itself."

Gunn asked, confused,
"So now we've got a sword with a soul? Man, the world just gets weirder and then some! If it's got a soul does that mean we can't destroy it?"

Willow looked at Giles and said quietly,
"We shouldn't destroy it. It was never meant to be evil and didn't become evil in its self. It's not up to us to decide it should or shouldn't have a chance to redeem itself."

Giles glanced about the table and saw that Adanar, Angel, Spike and Dawn agreed with Willow. Buffy looked a little concerned, but her concern was for Dawn rather than the sword.

"Dawnie, the sword chose you last night; if it is reforged and you use it how do you know it won't dominate you?"

"It can't because it isn't really strong enough."

Dawn sounded convinced butexplained her reasons when she saw the doubt on Giles and Buffy's faces.
"The sword killed Strega and released those trapped souls, not me. Without the enchanted crystal it is just not that powerful. At least, not powerful enough to endanger me or anyone with a strong will. All it would do is what it was meant to do; warn its user of approaching danger, anticipate a user's move during a fight and provide a little extra speed, strength and endurance. Not much, say a ten percent difference. The healing crystal in the hilt wouldn't be a bad idea though, especially with all the fighting we do."

"I take it you wish to have the sword reforged and use it yourself? Dawn I realise that you have had to learn to fight, and under the most horrific of circumstances, but now you're back shouldn't you concentrate on completing your education and returning to a safer environment?"

Dawn stared at Giles for a moment, dumbfounded, before breaking into a laugh,
"Did you just listen to yourself Giles? Can you guarantee a safer environment for anyone, let alone the Slayer's sister who also happens to be some mystical doorknob? Get real! I might not have a 'Calling' but I am a fully trained gladiator with an extensive working knowledge of demons and their languages. And you want me to go back to school and have Buffy and whoever doing baby sitting or guard duty on me? The education I have every intention of doing but the rest? Uh uh, nada, no way, forget it!"

Buffy spoke up to agree with her sister,
"Giles, Dawn and Adanar are hoping to work for 'Angel Investigations', after she has a few weeks in Rome with me, of course. As for the sword; it seems to me that it's got her name written all over it! It chose her! Are you really going to argue against that?"

Outnumbered and out argued, Giles conceded the sword would be left in Dawn's custody but with the proviso that she should use it cautiously and that Angel, Spike and Adanar should notify him immediately should they feel it was beginning to dominate Dawn. It would be reforged and fitted with a Berdea crystal enchanted to heal. And at Spike's suggestion, and with the sword's agreement, another rune would be engraved on the blade; one that would prevent it being handled by anyone with an evil intent.

Dawn held the sword hilt lovingly and smiled happily,
"Cernageleda wants to thank you guys. He's promising to save at least as many lives as the innocent ones Strega took. Not just the souls that Strega stole. So where do we find a good blacksmith?"