Chapter 1
Oh no. This was so not good. How could this have happened? Had she really messed up the time-line so bad that her own sister no longer even recognized her? Dawn was really starting to freak out now, and that was something she couldn't afford. She had to stay calm, cool, and able to think clearly. Her own sister didn't know who she was!
Calm, cool, and able to think clearly.
None of them recognized her!
Calm, cool, and able to think clearly.
What had gone wrong? How come they didn't know her?
Calm, cool, and able to think clearly.
"So, who the fuck are you really?"
That was Faith. Sitting there on the couch, next to Xander. Looking as if she belonged here. In her house. Well, hers and Buffy's actually, but still... Faith. It was obvious that she was different in this world as the last thing she'd heard about her Faith was that the rogue Slayer was still in jail. Her Faith? What if this was her Faith now? What if she couldn't fix what had gone wrong? No! She had to stay positive. She could do this. And there were things that were still the same. Faith still cursed, and Willow was holding the hand of a girl.
That it happened to be a girl who had died half a year earlier in her own world wasn't all that important of course. Nope. Not important. Oh god, she was really starting to freak out here, wasn't she? Wait a minute, if they didn't know who she was how come she still remembered the real world? And why hadn't the monks done their make-the-Key-human thing here? And how had this happened anyway? Shouldn't the others from the real world be here as well? Or had they appeared somewhere else? Maybe they would show up any moment now!
Turning to look at the door, Dawn wished for all she was worth that the door would open and show her sister and friends. She was even willing to see Spike right now. Okay, maybe not him. That wound was still a bit too fresh for her liking. How dare he do that? And why had Buffy kept that secret for all this time?
"I ask again, who the fuck are you?" Faith repeated her earlier question.
"Angel," that was Xander! Her love! She'd almost forgotten about him. What did he say? Oh, Angel! Was he here as well? As Xander was staring in her direction, she turned around to look, but couldn't see the souled vampire.
"Where?"
"You," Xander explained in a slightly dreamy voice. "You are my angel."
Oh. "Yeah, I'm from the moons of Iego."
"Ew, you do realize that was the worst of the whole bunch, don't you?"
Damn, some things obviously hadn't changed. Hold on a freaking minute here. Faith knew details about movies? And not just any movies either. "You've actually seen Star Wars?"
"X dragged me to it when that one was released," Faith shrugged. "And after that experience he forced me to watch the other three in an attempt to prove that they weren't all like that."
That wasn't fair! He was supposed to have gone with her. Okay, so maybe she hadn't existed at the time. It might even be true that in the real world she hadn't gone with him as that took place before the monks started messing around with her, but that didn't mean Faith was allowed to replace her!
"I don't care about movies," Buffy then spoke up. "I just want to know who you are, where you come from, and why you believe that you're allowed to be in this house."
"Buffy!" Xander said in a scandalized voice. "This is the girl I've been telling you about."
"The one you didn't know anything about? The one who according to herself has messed up the world-line, or whatever you want to call it? Someone who probably knows better than any of us what happened that night?"
"Oh, Willow's memory spell hasn't dissolved yet?" Dawn asked.
"M-memory spell? I would never do something like that! Youbelievemedon'tyouTara? I'dneverdothatIswearthatisthethruthandmaytheGoddesstakemypowersifI'mlying." Okay, Willow babble still existed as well. It was good to have something familiar around.
"I know honey, you'd never do anything like that."
Right. And Tara could know, after all she had been Willow's first victim. No. She shouldn't think about that. The two of seemed as close as they'd been before Willow's slip, and it was possible that it had never happened in this world. Maybe Willow hadn't come that close to the dark side of the force this time around? No, she should stop with the Star Wars metaphors. Just because he'd gone with Faith didn't mean she should keep on thinking about it.
"Oh, I didn't mean you. I meant the rea-, eh my Willow."
"You were gonna say the real Willow," Faith noted. "What? We're not real to you? Because trust me, X was pretty positive last night, and this morning, that I'm real."
No! It was even worse than she'd imagined! Faith was dating Xander! How could he do that to her? That sister-killing, Xander-stealing, bitch. "I was his first."
"Yeah, because of the time-travel thing. Tell me, who was his first in the, ah, 'real' world," Faith asked with a smirk, probably expecting to hear that it had been someone who wasn't named Dawn.
Which unfortunately was the case, but Dawn knew a bit more about that situation than Faith would wish for. "It was you. He saved you from a demon, you slept with him, kicked him out of bed, and tried to kill him shortly after."
Faith blanched at that, and turned a shocked expression at Xander. "Kill him? I'd never do that."
"Yeah well, I keep hearing that you wouldn't do this, and wouldn't do that. Trust me, you did. Right now you're in jail for murder."
"No," Faith shook her head in denial. "I don't believe you. You're only making that up. Unless you've got any proof, I don't want to hear shit like that."
Once again it was Buffy who had enough and spoke up. "Right, you come here, start accusing my friends of things we've never done, but we still don't know who you are. Fess up, or suffer the consequences."
"Buffy..."
"No. I gave you your choices. Speak up, or I'll throw you out on the street."
"But it's dark! There are vampires!"
"That won't be a problem if you tell me what I want to know, will it?"
With a sigh of frustration, Dawn took a chair from the table and sat down on it so that she could rest her arms on the backrest. An action that wasn't appreciated, and it was Willow who voiced the complaint. "Hey, I didn't hear Buffy say that you could sit down."
"I'm tired. I was busy the entire night, and I want to sit down while I'm being interrogated. Not that you're actually going to believe me or anything."
"Well, if it's an interrogation you want, you can have it. Xander? Do your soldier bit."
"I think I'll stay out of this Buff. I don't think she did anything wrong, and only made a mistake somewhere in getting back to where she belonged."
"And she screwed his brains out."
"And she- Hey! That's not nice Faith."
"Oh, but you like me when I'm not nice, don't you bad boy?" As the Slayer crawled all over Xander, who responded far too eagerly, Dawn had to look away or lose her lunch. How could he be dating her of all people? Even Anya was better than this.
"Yes mistress," Xander replied. An answer that Dawn found far too scary to even contemplate. Although... the idea of Xander being tied up, and at her mercy wasn't exactly one she minded. Licking her suddenly dry lips, she did her best to focus on the here and now. Where here and now was sitting in a chair, in the wrong time-line, being interrogated by her own sister. And where she shouldn't be thinking about a naked Xander, covered only by a few straps of leather, willing to obey her every command...
"Hey!"
"What?" she shook herself from that fantasy.
"I asked you a question."
"You did?" When did that happen?
"What's your last name, Dawn," Buffy demanded while the others all looked at her with inquisitive looks. Except for Faith, who smirked at her and looked like the cat that ate the canary. She'd never really liked that expression, and she was going to show Faith that it wasn't any better to pick on Dawn than on Tweety.
After this question at least. Because this one was kinda hard to explain. "You won't believe me."
"Try me."
Okay. One last deep sigh, and she'd give the answer. Maybe another sigh, and a swallow, and another moment of hesitation. "Are you going to answer the question anytime today, or should I open the door for B?"
That did it, and she bit out the answer. "Summers. My name is Dawn Summers."
Shocked silence greeted that answer and the confusion could easily be read of all the faces around her. Buffy even went so far that she sat down for the first time since Dawn had entered the room. Unfortunately, it was the wrong person who spoke up first. "Damn B, you never told us you have a sister."
"Bu-," Buffy started before clearing her head with a vigorous shake. "She can't be my sister, Faith. Perhaps she's some distant relative I've never heard of, or she just happens to have the same name, or she could be lying."
"Faith was right," Dawn admitted with pain in her heart. This time not only because her competitor for Xander's love had been right, but mostly because her sister, her own sister, was trying to explain the situation in such a way that they weren't directly related.
"That's impossible," Willow spoke up. "You've only traveled back in time six years, right? And you're older than that. I think you're lying."
So, Willow didn't believe her either. "Okay, I say that if she doesn't tell the truth any time soon we'll throw her out." And Faith obviously didn't believe her either. Not that that was a surprise.
"I'm not lying." And she wasn't going to cry either. Crying wouldn't help anything, and it would only show a weakness she couldn't afford right now. While surrounded by her own family and friends. God, she had really messed this up, hadn't she?
"Right. I mean, it makes sense and all. After all, little sisters regularly show up while they're already half-grown. That kind of thing happens everyday. It's almost as common as, let me think. Oh yeah, me becoming a nun," Faith again. What did she have against her? Okay, there was the whole thing with Xander who was still staring at her with something close to a love-struck expression. Which was nice. Very nice actually. No, more than that, it was wonderful. Of course, Faith was practically sitting in his lap at the moment, and clearly marking her territory, but Dawn didn't care about any of that right now.
She just wanted things to go back to the way they were. Back to where her friends and sister actually knew who she was. Her eyes were pricking, and she closed them for a moment to prevent tears from falling. She wanted things back to the way they were supposed to be. Not this weird version that didn't make any sense to her.
"Aww, the little girl is crying," Faith mocked, an action that wasn't even appreciated by the others. Was she so unsure that she needed to trample Dawn into the ground completely? No matter what the reason behind it was though, it did have an effect on Dawn. Maybe not the one that Faith had expected, but Faith didn't know that she had survived the deaths of her mother and sister, been the target of a murderous goddess, and had been threatened by far more dangerous beings than a nice Faith.
Even if the Faith in question wasn't being all that nice at the moment.
"I can deal. I know that this is hard to believe, heck I even said so when I started, but I am telling the truth. It's just a bit more complicated than you know."
"Dazzle us with your story then," Buffy commanded. Well, she might not be general Buffy here, but she could still act like it.
"I'm not-" Dawn stopped as she considered again what she was going to tell them. Could she trust these people with this knowledge?
Hold on, why was she doubting that? This was her own sister she was thinking about. Her sister and their friends. And Faith. But Faith was good here, and not doing anything more evil than stealing Xander.
"You're not what?"
Right. Take two. "I'm not entirely human."
"Not entirely human, how?" Willow asked, now sounding more curious than angry.
Faith was an entirely different matter though. "Damn X, I knew that you dating someone normal was too much, but I had expected that she'd at least been human. That makes what? Three out of three?"
"Cordy was completely human!"
"Really? I always thought she was a harpy in disguise," Faith mused with what even Dawn recognized as a teasing grin. The two of them really were a couple, weren't they? They even had the whole lovingly teasing stuff down pat.
"You know better than that," Xander said while starting to tickle Faith, who was far more susceptible to it than Dawn had expected.
"Eh, guys?" Buffy interrupted the love-fest. "Aside from the fact that I really have no wish to see this turn into one of your bedroom sessions, you do know that we have a potentially dangerous visitor here?"
"Hey! I'm not dangerous! And when did you start using words like potentially anyway? That's more like Gilesspeak, or even Willowspeak."
"You know Giles?"
"To quote Cordelia. Well duh!"
"And Cordelia as well," Tara spoke up for the first time. "Her aura is a lot like yours, Buffy. She has suffered a lot of pain, but I think she's telling the truth about being your sister."
"Pain as in pain, or pain as in, ehm, pain?" Buffy asked in a way that reminded Dawn of her own sister. Well, the version of her sister she was used to dealing with. How did you talk about people from a different time-line?
"Both, she has suffered emotional pain, and physical as well."
"Alright. So, she might be telling the truth about being my sister. What's with the whole not really human thing then?"
Yes, Dawn wanted to hear this as well. Her Tara had never recognized her as anything but human, but maybe this one was better at reading auras. She'd had more time to practice at least.
"I don't know. I can't see anything about her that tells me she isn't completely human."
"Well, that leaves only one person who can tell us that. Why don't you go on then, sister."
The venomous way Buffy said the word sister made Dawn flinch, but she continued her story nonetheless. "Once upon a time there was an energy called the Key that could be used to open the gateways between different dimensions. One day this Key was captured, or something, by some monks. I think they called themselves the Order of Dagon, but I'm not sure. Anyway, there was this hell-goddess who had been exiled to Earth and knew that the only way back was by using the Key.
"In an attempt to save the Key, and prevent the destruction of humanity that would happen if it was used, they sent it to the one place they thought it would be safe. They sent it to the Slayer, or one of them at least. But because they couldn't be sure that the Slayer would protect the Key, they turned it into the one thing that the Slayer would protect above all others. They created a young girl, a sister for the Slayer, and gave everybody around her false memories."
"And you're this Key," Willow asked after a short silence had fallen.
"Yes."
"So, did it work? Were you kept safe from the goddess?"
"No, in the end Glory found me, and-"
"Glory? As in Ben and Glory? The thing you wrote on that note?" Xander interrupted.
Huh? Oh yeah, the note thing. The whole damn reason for her being in this situation in the first place. "Yes. Glory had an alter-ego, but if you saw the change you couldn't remember it. Only Spike could once he'd seen it."
"Spike? The vampire? But you wanted me to stake him!"
"You did? And yes, I wanted you to," Dawn quickly confirmed. "He did something that I can't forgive, and I'm glad you staked him before he could. He tried to betray us several times, although we were too smart for him."
"If he betrayed you like that, why did you keep him around? I take it this happened after he was neutered, right?" Buffy wanted to know.
"You wanted it. First because he gave you information, then because he helped you, and then because..." No, better not go there. No matter how much she'd had her own silly crush on the vampire, the thought of him and Buffy was still... yuck! She shivered at the thought.
"Because?" Buffy asked for further information.
"It doesn't matter. Be happy it never happened here."
"Sure, we'll come back it later though. Why would I have left a soulless creature live?" The last part was obviously not meant for Dawn's ears, but Buffy hadn't whispered as softly as she should have.
"Let's go back to the part where you claim to be some kind of super-energy, capable of destroying the world," Faith steered the conversation back to her earlier story. "'Cause I have my doubts about that whole thing."
"I'm telling the truth!"
"Sure you are, kid, but that doesn't mean I believe you. Blondie?"
"She's telling the truth," Tara confirmed what Dawn already knew. But, Blondie? What kind of nick-name was that? It didn't sound very Faith-ish.
"Huh, imagine that. The kid is telling the truth."
"Yeah, and you can cut the kid stuff out. Ask Xander, I wasn't very kid-like five hours ago. Ehm, five hours my time. I think. What is the date anyway?"
Before Faith had a chance to comment on the Xander part, Tara answered Dawn's question. "The twelfth of February."
"Right. And the year?"
"2003."
"And Willow's spell still hasn't worn off? Wow, that was a pretty damn good job then."
"Could we not call it 'Willow's spell'? I wouldn't mess with anyone's memories like that, and I'd really appreciate it if you didn't constantly say I did."
Uhm, but she had. "It's the most accurate name, you know."
"How about 'other Willow's spell' then? That'd be something I can live with."
"How about 'real Willow's spell'," Dawn shot back.
That shut her up. Not that Dawn felt any pleasure from doing that, she liked Willow after all, but she was starting to get a headache from having to explain all this stuff. Unfortunately, she needed them to set things right.
"Cut that out, Dawn," Buffy commanded in an eerie reminder that despite all the differences, this was still her own sister. The sister she loved more than anyone else alive. With the possible exception of Xander.
"Yes Buffy," the response was as automatic as ever, and with the same meaning, although Buffy didn't know that. Hey, that could actually be interesting here. This Buffy didn't know that she'd only follow one of those commands if Buffy was around to enforce it. In all other cases she would simply disregard it. Not that it would be very useful or anything as this Buffy didn't trust her. Not that Buffy believed her or anything, but...
Wow, Dawn blinked as she considered her own thoughts. This was kinda weird. She really had to find a good way to keep the different Buffys, Willows, and future husbands separate in her mind. Faith and Tara weren't that big of a problem, but the others were people she'd spoken to only hours ago. When they still knew her.
"Good. Now, why don't you tell us a bit more about this whole Glory thing. You said she was some kind of goddess? How did the other usses defeat her?"
Oh great. Well, nothing to it. "It all started when you, I mean the other you, found one of the monks tied up in a warehouse." As she continued on with the whole sorry tale, Dawn felt as if they were starting to believe that she was telling the truth. Which was very much of the good.
There were some shocked expressions during the story, and an occasional glance in Xander's direction, but on the whole they took it pretty much in stride. Had they managed to save her mother's life? Her tumor had been one of the things she'd made sure to include on the note, but she hadn't seen her mother yet. And she had usually been at home around this time. Dawn desperately wanted to know, but fearing the answer she refrained from asking.
"I died," Buffy said in shock once Dawn had reached the end of her story.
"You saved the world."
"But you weren't surprised to see me, why?"
"You were resurrected," Dawn admitted.
"Like they wanted to do with the Master?"
Shaking her head in denial, Dawn tried to explain a bit more of what she understood about it. "No, it was a bit different. Willow, the other Willow, did some kind of spell because you'd died of magical means."
"Magical means? I fell off a tower, that sounds more like an overdose of gravity to me."
"I don't know, alright? I don't know exactly what Willow did, or why you could be called back, but mom couldn't." Squashing the need to cry once again, Dawn hoped that they would at least use this opening to start about her mother, but that hope was in vain.
By then Buffy had enough of it. "Okay, let's skip the ghoulish talk then. Let's get back to the important stuff. We now know who you are and what you are, but I still don't have a clue about where you come from."
"Or why you traveled through time," Willow added.
"That's what I meant."
"I know, but I wanted to make it clearer."
As all faces once again turned to her, Dawn wondered how she could explain this. She tried remaining quiet for a while, but for once the others didn't try to fill up the silence. Damn, she wouldn't even have minded it if Faith had tried to claim Xander again. The silence endured however, and in the end she saw no other way than to actually tell the story. "Alright. After the First had killed most of the potentials."
"Who's the First? And why would he kill the potentials? How could he do that anyway? Aren't they protected by the Council?"
"You haven't encountered the First Evil?" Dawn asked Willow surprised.
Willow only shook her head at that, before turning to the others who confirmed it. "Never even heard of it."
"Ehm, okay. The First Evil is like this super-evil, immortal, untouchable, unkillable, thing who can look like anyone who has ever died. It uses Bringers to carry out its commands, but I think it also has some champions or something."
"Untouchable, as in the movie, or as in you can't touch him?"
Movie? Whatever. "As in you can't touch him."
"Kinda like me when Ethan did his thing during Halloween?"
Ehm, what had Willow gone as again? Buffy had been the noblewoman, which had been great for jokes, and Xander had been the cool soldier guy... Oh, a ghost. "Yeah, kinda like that. Except that he doesn't look like himself."
"But it couldn't touch anything?" Faith asked.
"No."
"Then what was so bad about it? Those Bringers?"
"And the way it could control people."
"If you say so," Buffy asked, although the doubt in her voice was clearly audible. Not surprising as the First didn't sound nearly as evil when you had never fought it.
"Anyway," Dawn started again. "A couple of days ago, or rather what was a couple of days ago before everything happened, we found out that we could use some kind of amulet to close the Hellmouth. The only problem was that it wasn't anymore where it was supposed to be. But we did know when it had been there." Taking a deep breath she then told them how it all began.
….…
"What use is that thing if we don't know where it is?" Buffy raged in disappointment after she and Spike had returned empty-handed from the crypt.
"Are you sure that you looked in the right place," Xander asked.
"Yes, I'm sure. There aren't that many tombs left in Sunnydale from which we haven't taken one thing or another. And besides, I looked where Clem said it would be." Buffy really was pretty pissed, and Dawn decided that silence might be the best course of action for the moment.
"I take it then, that you saw no signs of it at all?" Giles asked. He obviously didn't mind invoking Buffy's wrath. Well, he wasn't her little sister, now was he? Okay, so she usually didn't really mind either, but Buffy was still a bit angry about what she'd said yesterday. Which she still thought was pretty unfair.
"No. No sign at all," Buffy said while sinking into a chair. "If it was there it's been gone for years. Are you sure we even need this thing? Isn't there some other way we can do the same thing? Willow, can't you do it?"
Willow shook her head in denial. "No, the medallion is made for closing the Hellmouth, and if I tried without it we might risk opening it even further. I'd need the amulet as a focus, and the magic is too dark as well. I'm not sure if I could handle that right now."
Right. So, even if Willow would manage to close the Hellmouth, it might mean a return of Darth Willow, the black-eyed superwitch. How about no? Wasn't there a saying concerning a disease, a cure, and which one was worse? Well, in Dawn's opinion this obviously fit the bill.
"Okay, I think we'll skip that part then. Where could it be then?"
"We could always ask around. I'm sure that if we hit them hard enough the local demons should be able to point us in the right direction," Spike offered.
Yeah right. Violence was gonna work in this case. This time Dawn had to restrain the urge to roll her eyes. That was always the solution for Buffy and Spike. Okay, so it usually worked, but that wasn't the point here. There were better ways to find things out, and they usually gave more reliable information as well.
"I think that doing so would merely inform the First what we're looking for, and allow it a chance to stop us before we can carry it out."
"So, that's out too," Buffy sighed. "Which means we're back to searching, but where? Isn't it for sale somewhere? Then we could simply pay for it and be done."
"Oh no," Anya spoke up, briefly paying attention now that it concerned money. "I already asked around, but none of my suppliers have even heard of it. Are you sure that it even exists?"
"Yes, I'm sure. Clem said it did, and Giles found it in one of his books, didn't he?"
"Well, yes," Anya conceded, "but that could be misdirection from the First, couldn't it? I mean, if it really wanted to do this, it easily could. It's not like it hasn't had the time to do so."
By this time Dawn couldn't keep quiet anymore, and repeated what she'd said the day before. "Why would it matter to the First anyway? Isn't he a far bigger bad than any we've seen before? Just because all the others wanted to open the Hellmouth, doesn't mean he wants to do that too."
"Dawn! We've been over this already. The First wants to destroy the Slayers, and then open the Hellmouth. If it can't do the second thing there is no need to kill us and he could go home. If he still wants to do that we at least only need to pay attention to the First, and not the Hellmouth as well. We'd win either way."
"If you could find it."
"Of course we'll find it. It's just not where we thought it would be."
"Well, I still think it's a trap. What's next? Some kind of ancient super weapon that only Slayers can use? Yeah, and the First will cut it out from the rocks for us as well."
"That would be pretty cool," Buffy smiled.
She still didn't get it, did she? "Right, and where would that weapon come from? Hello? Nobody who lived here more than 500 years ago even used metal. Which means that the weapon would be wood or bone. Even if it hadn't rotted away that would only be any be good against vampires, but not against demons."
"It might be made of some magical stuff, and even if it wasn't it would at least work against the Turok-Han."
"That's not the point! How do we know that the First isn't just messing with us here? Maybe instead of closing the Hellmouth it opens it. In the best case it's a distraction like Anya said."
"Don't worry about it, little bit. We know what we're doing. The bloody First doesn't stand a chance against us."
Dawn felt like screaming at that. They weren't even listening to her! Okay, the weapon thing was kinda ridiculous, and she had no idea how she'd come up with it, but the idea was there. The First was so much older than them, and would live forever. It wasn't like all the other people they'd faced. Someone who was that old and powerful would be patient, and willing to wait another twenty, fifty, or even hundreds of years to get what it wanted.
"She could be right though," Xander offered, immediately earning Dawn's eternal gratitude.
"Now you think I can't recognize a trap either?" Buffy asked him.
"You know it's not like that," Dawn heard her future husband say, "but there could be some truth in what she says as well. We still don't really know what the First's plan is."
"I told you that we do. It wants to kill me, and the potentials." That last part was said while she waved her hand in the direction of said girls.
"And Faith."
"Probably, if he hasn't already got her working for him."
"Buffy!" Giles interrupted.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. She's on the whole redemption kick, and Angel says she's being good now. I believe that. Anyway as we do know the First's plan, we should try to stop it from happening."
Okay, Dawn admitted that she was more than willing to stop the First from killing her sister, but that seemed such a limited plan for such a great evil. What was so bad about destroying the Slayer-line? Aside from the obvious of course.
….…
"So, you were like the great person who just happened to know everything that was wrong? The supergirl who knows everything about everything? Not that you can't tell an interesting story or anything, because you're not doing too bad for a kid, but it kinda looks like you're trying to show off. Everybody except you was stupid, oh and X wasn't too bad either as he was allowed to agree with you."
Glaring at Faith, Dawn tried to explain. "Look, it was different than here. I'm not saying I was all that great myself, but mistakes had been made before. Not all of the potentials di-" No, she cut herself off. While she might not have agreed with every decision her sister had made, she also didn't want to tell these other versions of her sister and friends—could this get any more confusing?—about that. There was no reason for them to know everything, and it would only make them want to help her less.
"All I'm saying," she tried again, "is that some things were different back then, there, whatever. It's like vamp-Willow."
"Vamp-Willow?" Buffy asked.
Oh god, they'd missed that too. A quick look at Willow showed someone who was doing her best not to hyperventilate, and Dawn knew that if she let this go on she'd have to explain that sorry situation as well. Hadn't these people encountered anything bad? "That's something that happened on my world, but it's not important right now."
"I think it is," Tara spoke up while trying to calm down her girlfriend. "You can't just say things like that and not explain them to us."
"But-" Dawn started, but never finished as Buffy interrupted.
"She's right."
Great. Looking around, Dawn noticed that everybody present had a look of expectation on their face, and agreed that she should explain that comment. "Oh, alright. When Cordelia walked in on Willow and Xander swapping spit she got angry. A couple of days later a vengeance demon named Anyanka allowed her to make a wish. I don't have a clue what it was about, but not too long after Anyanka asked Willow to help her get back her power center, but instead they got a vampire version of Willow. She was staked, and everybody lived happily ever after. The End."
"Why would I help a demon?" Willow wanted to know.
"You didn't know she was a demon, and she lied when she asked you for help in a spell." No need to explain the whole situation with Anya to them. That would only complicate things even more. "Now, can I continue with the story, or are you going to interrupt again?"
"Depends, will you be super-Dawn again, or are you going to tell a more realistic version?" Faith asked.
Rolling her eyes at that comment, Dawn didn't even bother to answer. "Alright, where was I?"
….…
"If it can really close the Hellmouth we need that amulet. The only problem we have in that regard is that we don't know where it is," Buffy explained the situation once again.
"Do we have any ideas where it could be?"
"No, not really. Anybody could have gotten it since it was last seen."
"But it was in that crypt?"
"According to Clem, yes."
Xander spoke up next. "And that was about six years ago."
"Yes," Buffy sighed.
"Could the mayor have gotten it?" Dawn was the next to ask. That was after all a good possibility. He had been very powerful, and wouldn't have wanted anyone to interfere with his Ascension.
"Yes, but so could any of the other baddies we've fought. Which pretty much sucks."
"But why would they want it? The mayor at least could use it. Deadboy didn't have it, or we would have known about it, ADAM wasn't exactly the type for that kind of stuff, Glory wouldn't care, and neither did the Trio. Right Andrew?"
"We didn't have it. If we had it would have been pretty sweet though. A powerful amulet like that would have been pretty useful, and there are a lot of things we could have done with it."
Dawn spoke up again in an attempt to prove that Xander was right. "That's right, and if anyone else had taken it we would have known about it. I don't think anyone would actually keep quiet about it."
"Really? And here I was wondering how something that powerful could have stayed hidden in some crypt for all these years. If they could keep quiet about it for so long why would they stop now?"
"Because they're not the same people?"
"How do you know?" Willow pointed out. "Maybe they just stored it there for a while and then came back for it."
"As if you believe that yourself," Dawn scoffed.
"That's not the point is it? We simply don't know what happened to the amulet. For all we know it's kept in a vault at Wolfram & Hart. And just in case you'll propose that we break into their vault, that is the closest thing to impossible." Willow said.
Settling back on the couch, Dawn stifled the words that Willow had predicted so accurately and simply pouted.
"Okay, so we don't know where it is now, but we do know where it was then. Too bad we can't travel back in time," Xander sighed.
"Yeah," Buffy agreed with her own sigh.
….…
"At least this part was slightly better. While you were still obviously the one without whom everybody would've been lost there wasn't quite as much focus on your own greatness, and even a small slip. So, are you gonna tell us anytime soon how you're the one who came up with the idea to travel in time?" Faith asked.
"I didn't come up with it," Dawn told her a bit reluctantly. So what if she spiced up the story a bit? It didn't hurt anyone, did it? "We spent a couple of days looking for the amulet before Willow came across a possible way to travel through time in a book."
"I did?" Willow asked in surprise.
"Hell Red, who else could do something like that? I kinda figured it would be you."
"But why do you keep asking Dawn if she's going to tell us that it was her?"
Okay, so Willow was still as smart as she'd been in the real world, but could also be just as obtuse at times. Although in this case it was probably more a case of being innocent. "She's scared. She thinks that I'll take Xander from her. I must admit that's pretty new: an insecure Faith."
"I'm not insecure," Faith immediately responded. "Besides, X has a real woman now. He doesn't need a little girl like you."
"Like I said: insecure," Dawn said with a slightly mocking smile. Not that she was actually as confident as she tried to pretend. Far from it even. She could feel her heart beating wildly in her throat and wanted nothing more than to run away from this confrontation. This was Faith she was talking to, and the memories of what the Slayer had done back in the real world were far too clear in her mind.
"Insecure huh?" The smile that suddenly appeared on Faith's face was far from reassuring, and made Dawn wonder if Faith was finally going to snap. Surely Buffy would help if Faith tried to hurt her? Buffy was a hero after all, she wouldn't allow something like that.
Physically hurting her wasn't what Faith had in mind though. Instead she straddled Xander's legs and, taking his head in her hands, she pressed her lips to his. While any details were obscured from sight, it was obvious from the sounds that they were both enjoying it.
To Dawn it felt like she was watching a train-wreck, or maybe a car accident. Something that you really didn't want to see, but simply couldn't turn away from because it was too fascinating in all its horror. It wasn't long before the hands of the two started to wander as well. Faith was the first, and as Dawn watched the Slayer slip one of her hands underneath Xander's sweater, and the other reach down between them, she couldn't help but remember how it had felt when she'd done that herself.
….…
"I thought you were supposed to take me home? Isn't that what your friends said?"
"Considering they also put a spell on you to ensure that by tomorrow you can't remember what happened tonight, do you really care what they think?"
Xander shrugged at that. "Well, it makes sense. They didn't remember what had happened, and as they are us that means we can't remember. You know, the whole Prime Directive thing."
"I never liked Star Trek, so I don't care about that."
"Well sure, it wasn't as good as Babylon 5, but-"
She silenced him by pressing him against the wall. "Let's not talk about that, shall we? I really don't care about science fiction series right now, and there are far more interesting things to do."
Xander was so surprised by this sudden action that he didn't even struggle. "What are you-"
This time she silenced him with a kiss. Grabbing his head, she yanked it down—gently and lovingly of course—and pressed her lips against his to finally find out what that felt like.
It was heaven.
There was no other possible description for it. All her dreams came true at that one single moment in time, and even while she was lost in her own passion Dawn felt that Xander was starting to respond.
Finally, after several long, yet far too short, minutes Dawn realized that the lack of air indicated that it would probably be a good idea to take a breather. She didn't want to though, and when she finally let go she spent a long time catching her breath. Well long as in a long time that she was unable to continue. Still panting, she spoke to the boy she'd long ago decided would be the father of her children. "Wasn't that much better than talking about science fiction?"
"Yeah," Xander said in a slightly dazed voice. "That was-"
"We're made for each other. You may not recognize it just yet, but we will end up together."
"But the other me-"
Placing a finger on his mouth—something he responded to by kissing it—she silenced him again. "The other you has to wait until I'm legal. Until that time he keeps himself occupied with Anya. They aren't together by the way. They broke up some time ago." There was no need to confuse the boy with more details than that. And as it was basically the truth, at least the way she saw it, she hadn't lied to him either.
"They looked close though," Xander noted.
"They are, but so were all the others. Do you know how lucky you are by the way?"
Xander looked confused at that. "What do you mean, lucky?"
"You're a minor yourself. That means there's nothing illegal about what we can do. And even if there was, I wouldn't be here tomorrow so there's nothing wrong about it."
His eyes widened at the realization of what she meant. "You mean?"
"Oh yes," she smiled. "Tonight, all our dreams are going to come true."
"But-"
"No buts," Dawn stopped his protest before it formed. "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I have no intention of wasting it."
"Won't the others leave soon?"
"They can't leave without me."
"What do you mean?" Xander asked.
Once again Dawn kissed him. This time letting her hand slip underneath his shirt, and trailing it over his back. There was no way that he would stop her from doing this. She'd been dreaming about something like this for years, and now that she had the chance to actually do it nothing was going to stop her. Nothing.
Pressing her body against his, she clearly felt his reaction to her. She had no idea how much of this he'd remember in the future. Perhaps he'd think it was only a dream, after all he'd never talked about it, but if that was how he would remember it she'd make sure it was the best dream he'd ever have.
This time when they separated, he raised a point that probably seemed pretty important to him. "I don't even know your name."
"Does it matter?" she asked, before once again making a play for his delicious lips.
Curling her leg around his, Dawn did her best to meld with Xander, and she couldn't stop a grin from forming on her lips when his hands started to return the favor she'd been bestowing on him all along. They trailed along her back, and everywhere they touched she could feel her skin react. It was pretty hot here, wasn't it?
Not nearly hot enough though, and moving her own hands to his chest she waited for him to do the same. He did. Letting out a loud moan, Dawn made no attempt to hide the pleasure she felt as Xander's inexperienced hand cupped her breast.
He reacted to that sound by stopping his actions, and she was forced to order him to continue. This was going to be her night. Well, and Xander's night as well ,even if he wasn't going to remember it for quite some years. But once he did, she would convince him that they had to continue where they'd left off.
Thinking about stopping, why was he no longer kneading her breast? Or returning her kisses her for that matter? Stepping back she was about to ask for an explanation when she noticed him looking behind her. Not a vampire! Please, don't let it be a vampire! With great reluctance, Dawn turned around and was relieved when she noted that it wasn't a vampire who'd walked in on them.
Not that Kennedy and Rhona were much better right now, but they could at the very least be intimidated. "Go away you two, we're busy here."
"Everybody is looking for you. Buffy and the others want to go home."
"Well, go look somewhere else. I'm not done here yet, and won't be for several hours." Turning to Xander, she then asked a question that had the desired result of making him blush. "You can last that long, can't you?"
"Wha- I-I. Ehm, Sure, I think." Ah, wasn't that cute? Too think she could make Xander blush like a little girl because of talk about sex. Of course, the only reason she could even say something like that was because of Anya's influence. When you regularly were around someone who could, and constantly did, tell you exactly how many orgasms she'd had on any particular day there wasn't much that could faze you.
Too bad that the Xander from her time had lost that cute touch. On the other hand, that Xander did have the years of experience that Anya had given him. That thought made even her blush as she considered the possibilities. She had to convince Willow that she should lift the memory spells from them all, and then she and Xander could go to some nice, quiet, out of the way, hotel where they wouldn't leave their room for a week.
Was it bad to be thinking about the other Xander while seducing this one? Nah, they were the same person after all. The only difference would be experience, and if she practiced a lot tonight she wouldn't be totally inexperienced either once they got together for real.
"So Anya was right," Rhona said.
"What?"
"Well, she said that the only reason you wanted to take Xander home alone was so that you two could have sex."
That didn't quite sound like Anya. "She said that?"
"Well no," Kennedy spoke up. "What she actually said was something like that you were going to get a lot of orgasms, but that she was alright with it because this happened before she'd started dating Xander. She did add that if you'd do it while the two of them were dating that she'd make sure you'd regret it for the rest of your short life."
"Oh, okay." Like that mattered. They had gone back in time to several years before Anya showed up, and she had no intention of living through everything that had happened again. So, it was time for Xander again. "Now go."
The potentials shook their heads though, and it was Rhona who explained. "We can't lie to Buffy, she'd be really pissed off about that."
Okay, this could be a problem. But for every problem there was a solution. "Kennedy, if you let me do what I want, and tell Buffy that the two of you didn't see me, I'll help you with Willow. I'll be back within a couple of hours, and we'll be able to go home."
It wasn't long before Kennedy's decision was made, and she started dragging a more reluctant Rhona away from the scene. With a large, and hopefully not too predatory, grin on her face, Dawn turned back to Xander who looked at her in an expression close to surprise. "Willow?"
"Oh, she's gay now."
"Really?" As his eyes started to glaze due to the fact that he'd just heard that one of his best friends probably did things on a regular basis that were very much part of his best dreams, Dawn quickly put a stop to it.
"Don't you dare fantasize about that! You're dealing with me now."
"Oh yeah, right. Of course." Xander blinked, before he suddenly thought of another question. "Have you and Willow ever eh..."
"I don't do women, I'm a strictly one-Xander girl."
"Oh, that's a sh- good. That's good. Yes, very good. I mean, I wouldn't want to have any fantasies about you and Willow, Buffy, or even Cordelia. That would be so wrong. Oh, and so would it be with Miss Calendar, or- I'll shut up now."
Despite the fact that it was probably normal for a guy to think like that, Dawn wasn't happy at all. He should be thinking about her, and her alone. The thing with mentioning Buffy she could just about forgive because he didn't know they were sisters—not that she was entirely sure that wouldn't have fueled his fantasies even more—but he had been thinking about other girls while he was with her.
Well, there was only one solution for that. Stepping closer to him again, she did something she'd never expected she'd ever do—at least not in public. With one hand she grabbed his hair and pulled his head closer to her own, while slipping her other hand in the front of his jeans, and whispered in his ear. "The motel is two blocks from here. Do you want to be thinking about fantasies that will never happen, or would you prefer to find out what the real thing feels like?"
….…
"Faith! Xander! Don't you dare do that here! This is not your bedroom, and you'd better keep your hands where they belong before I cut them off!" Buffy's shout made Dawn once again aware of her current situation, and blinking for a moment she realized that Faith and Xander hadn't stopped what they'd been doing. Not that they seemed to have progressed very far, but that was very much alright with her.
Xander was hers, and nobody else was allowed to have him now that she'd come to claim him. Okay, technically she hadn't come to claim this one, but that didn't matter. He belonged to her. There was no way that she'd surrender the father of her future children to Faith, no matter how different she might be.
Her decision made, Dawn gathered her courage, got up from her chair, and walked over to the couch where Faith and Xander were doing their thing. As her guards were focused on them, nobody noticed her until she reached the couch. Which was when the protests started. "Hey! What do you think you're doing!"
That one had been Buffy; she hadn't even heard what Willow said, but it didn't matter. She had reached her goal. As the two lovebirds were still fully dressed they obviously weren't as far gone as her sister believed. Still, she agreed with Buffy that they should stop.
So, she made them stop.
"My turn," Dawn said while pushing Faith to the side. A move that was only possible due to the precarious position the Slayer had been in. Faith fell to the side, rolled of the couch, and was on her feet before Dawn had actually done anything more than lower herself a little in an attempt to take over Faith's former position. After all, now the time had come for Xander to be ravaged the way he was meant to ravaged: by her.
A sharp pain, and pressure, at the back of her head ensured that she didn't resist the way her head was pulled back though. "I don't think so kid. He's mine. Now go back to your chair like the little girl you are, and you can tell us some more about why you're here."
"But-"
"I don't know what you thought you could achieve with this little stunt, but it failed." Well, now that she thought about it, she wasn't exactly sure what she wanted to achieve either. Kissing Xander was of course a good thing, but she had obviously picked the wrong time to try it. Still, Dawn was pretty sure that, if Faith hadn't interrupted, Xander would be halfway through to being hers.
"But-"
"If you're going to sit and talk pretty I might possibly forgive you for this stunt. Most likely this will happen on the same day that hell freezes over, or pigs fly, but there is a chance."
"But-" This was humiliating! Faith was directing her around by simply holding her hair in a grip that hurt like hell if she tried anything other than following Faith's precise instructions. For a moment she considered resisting this treatment, but luckily she came back to the real world before she tried that. Resist a Slayer, yeah right. And even if she'd managed to defeat Faith—a one in a billion chance—she would still have to face a second Slayer and a pair of witches before she reached Xander again.
Why couldn't this be simple?
"Sit," Faith directed her once they'd reached her chair.
"But-"
Faith only held up a single finger in warning, but the intention was obvious. She wasn't allowed to protest: all she should do was answer questions. "Sit and talk pretty. Nothing else, or you'll have to be spanked."
Spanked! Xander... Oh, wouldn't that be fun? Faith must have realized why she suddenly became so quiet, and ruined the mood completely. "By your sister."
"Ew, that's gross."
"Yes Faith, that is gross," Buffy agreed.
"What is gross?" a voice suddenly came from the hallway. A voice that Dawn didn't recognize at all. A male voice. That didn't sound like Giles, or even Wood. Who was this?
When the man finally came out of the hallway, Dawn ignored him completely as her focus was on the woman with him. The woman without whom she would never have existed. Technically that might not be entirely correct, but to her that's what it felt like. Could this be real?
"Hello, who are you?"
She ignored the man as he asked the question. Just like she ignored Faith, who might or might not be still trying to get her back in the chair. She stood on trembling legs, hoping beyond hope that she wouldn't hear certain words coming from the blond woman.
The words came though, and once again Dawn felt like her world collapsed. The tears that she had kept inside the entire time—hidden by the mask of sex-crazed girl—started to flow at the same time that she fell back on the chair. "Who I am?"
"Are you alright, dear?" She hadn't thought it was possible, but the sincere concern hurt even more than the question had.
"I'm fine, mom," Dawn tried to smile through her tears. "I just wish my own family remembered who I am."
Post-fic comments:
I forgot to mention this in the previous chapter, but after this one there are three more chapters that will be posted once a week, on Sunday.
Marie Nomad: Thank you for your comments. I hope this chapter showed you the reactions you hoped for. And if not, theres more to come :-)
Darklight: Thank you.
Vandrvekn: Thanks, I hope you enjoyed this part as well.