Chapter 34:

Gaby watched Dani from the other side of the room. Dani was going through a trunk full of old pictures of her family, when she was younger. Gaby watched her eyes glaze over. "You haven't been meditating." Gaby stated as she sat down next to her niece. " I don't want to loose this feeling of being complete, Gaby. I haven't felt like this in so long." Dani whispered as she came across a picture of William holding a new born Danielle. "Your father is your weakness." Gaby concluded, almost as though for some reason, the realization had surprised her. "What did you think it was?" Dani asked her sarcastically. "Your family." Gaby whispered. Dani shook her head. " No. I mean, yeah, it would hurt like hell if I lost one of them. But I think I would cease living if I lost dad. I would just be a shell of his daughter but that would be it. She said as a tear fell down her face.

Gaby turned to her niece so that she was looking her in the face. "What are you doing Dani?" Gaby's voice was filled with fear. " I'm saying goodbye Aunt Gaby. Look me up in any ancient text. Only my life will stop this war." Gaby shook her head. " But the Key is the only thing that can stop the First." Gaby tried to rationalize with her niece. But Dani just smiled a sad smile. " And the only way he'll get close enough, for the prophesized battle to take place, is if I'm already dead. Because, he is not getting my mother."

Gaby was pacing the kitchen while the others looked on. She slammed her hands on the table. " She's right. So that means we have to find something everyone else, throughout history, missed" She said determinedly. "And if we can't?" Buffy voiced what they were all thinking. Gaby closed her eyes and let a single tear fall down her face. "Then we have to train her the best we can and send her in for a suicide mission." Gaby opened her eyes as what she said settled in with everyone. " So find something!" And with that Gaby walked out of the house and left the group in silence. None of them wanted to believe that either Dani or Dawn could end up dieing in this war.

Danielle sat cross legged on the basement floor, surrounded by incense. It was the first time she had meditated in almost a month. Well, at least meditation like this. Gaby watched from the stairs as Dani floated about a half of a foot off of the floor. It had been a week and the group had been able to find nothing that would change the forth coming events. So she had made Dani do the strongest form of meditation known to vampires, well actually it was a myth not many of them knew about, but for the Order of Aurelius, they all knew of this meditation. Through it you faced your strongest fears, what you couldn't control and the worst things you had ever seen. It gave you a reason to fight, a reason to live for those around you. She just hoped that Danielle's mind was still strong enough to handle everything she had seen throughout her life. Because beneath that happy 15 year old persona there was a jaded warrior who had seen far to many horrid things for her years.

The horrible images of past battles past through her mind. The battles themselves, the innocent casualties caught in the crossfire. The children screaming as they sat by their parents, trying to wake them up as they lay on the ground injured. As all the images played through her mind, the feeling of helplessness grew within her. She couldn't help all of these people, she couldn't save them. But she could stop the reoccurrence of these kind of things. Her power and strength grew as her need to help grew. She had been afraid to fight, afraid of loosing those who were close to her.

She opened her eyes and looked at Gaby. Still floating in mid-air, with her now viscous amber eyes. "It's time to fight.." She could no longer hold on to the feeling of what she could loose if she went to war. To many others had lost more than she had, and they were still willing to fight by her side. It was time she made her own sacrifices for those her mother swore to protect. She was the only one who could.

Her power smothered the incense as she practically walked on the air as she came to the ground. Gaby moved out of her way as she walked by. Gaby could feel her power just seamlessly radiating off of her. Danielle wasn't someone you wanted to cross when she was at full strength.

Dani walked into her room and straight to her closet and flung both of her doors open. It was time to do what she was meant to do and what she had to do. She winced a little, her sparing was apparently more than she could handle, but there was no time to dwell on that now. She pulled off her training clothes and pulled on her black leather pants. She then roughly, pulled her hair into a tight ponytail. Then a black sports bra, and a black, sports, tank top. She grabbed her silver, cross, necklace off of her dresser and saw Buffy in the mirror when she looked up. "You don't have to do thins, Dani!" Buffy said as she sat down on the edge of her nieces bed. Dani finished clipping her necklace and pulled a sword sheath over her shoulder so that it was resting on her back. " If I don't, who will?" Dani slipped on her black, high-healed, leather boots. She slammed on her heal and watched a blade slip out of the front of her sole, and then slid back in a moment later. "Your 15 Danielle!" "And I'm stronger than the rest of you. Besides none of you have seen what I have. You Don't know what it would take to drive you to keep fighting when your hurt in bottle. The things I've seen is what keeps you fighting. She said as she pulled on her wrist daggers, like the ones Angel use. She watched as each blade slid out and then slid back in a moment later. "Let us help you Danielle!" Buffy tried desperately. Dani saw tears in her aunts eyes and sighed. "Buffy, you of all people should know, better than anyone, what my life is like. You're a Slayer, even if you wanted to quit you couldn't, because you aren't ignorant about what actually goes on around you. Just like I can't not fight after I've seen all the destruction this war has caused." She pulled on her black leather duster, the one that was so similar to Spike's. Buffy just kept watching her niece as she placed a magnificent sword in the holster on hr back. Dani walked up to her window and stopped. "Don't worry I won't be alone." Buffy breathed in deeply, and spoke with a shaky voice. "Rule one: Don't die." Dani nodded and hopped on her windowsill. "That's one rule I can't guarantee that I won't break." And with that she jumped the three stories out her window and walked onto the night. Buffy closed her eyes and fell backwards on her nieces bed.

London Present:

Dawn sat up in bed, breathing heavily. Spike sat up and looked at his wife. Dawn looked around their room, she couldn't get her senses to straighten out. All she could sense was her daughter. "Love, what's wrong?" He asked his wife in concern. Dawn looked at her husband with fear in her eyes. "Dani."