A/N: Sorry about the long wait guys! Life stuff and school work got in the way. Thanks to Matt for betaing.
Thanks to the reviewers:
Freezyboncoolipants: I'm glad you like the story and thanks for reviewing :)
Jazzy: 'School Hard?' defiantly! Gotta have lots of Spike in here! Thanks for reviewing :)
Pigeon overlord: I hope you like this chapter as well. Thanks for reviewing :)
Wiccan2004girl: I can most defiantly do 'Passion', I've added it to my list. Thanks for reviewing :)
Pigeonofdoom: Sorry about the wait, I won't do it again...forgive me?
CHAPTER 5: PROPHECY GIRL
"What 'cha doing?" Dawn bounded into her older sisters room.
Buffy quickly wiped her eyes. "Nothing."
"Were you crying?!" Dawn asked incredulously.
"No, no, I'm fine. Promise." Buffy offered her sister a weak smile and the younger girl returned it doubtfully.
"Is that your birthday party?" Dawn asked, gesturing to the folder on Buffy's bed.
"Yeah. Things were so much easier then." Buffy said smiling fondly and turning the page again.
"Before you became the slayer?"
"Yes." Buffy traced a finger over the next picture. It was of her, not long after the last picture had been taken. But in this picture, she had a bluish purple bruise blossoming on her cheek. She had tried covering it with her hair, but it was still visible. Dawn noticed that although Buffy was smiling, she didn't look as happy as in the last pictures- she looked tired and older by more than a few weeks or so.
"Do you mind being the slayer?" Dawn asked tentatively.
Buffy paused. She had a feeling that Dawn wanted an honest answer and she had to think about that. "When it first happened, I wished so hard to not be the slayer. When I came here, I still didn't want it. But then it got better when I had someone to watch my back."
"So you don't mind it?"
"I didn't say that."
Buffy turned the page again and the girls looked at the rest pictures in silence.
x?x
"Hey Buffy, love the dress; is Willow okay?" Dawn asked, entering her sister's room for the second time that evening. "Are you slaying?"
Buffy stopped packing her bag with the supplies that she would need and turned to her sister. "She's a bit freaked out, but she'll be fine. Dawn...there's something that I've got to tell you, and I hate it, but I have to tell you okay?"
Dawn nodded, fear and confusion in her eyes.
"I am going slaying. There's this...thing and I'm the only one who can stop it, but the thing is, I mean- God, this is so hard!" Buffy paused; should she tell her or not. "I might die tonight, Dawnie."
Dawn shook her head in disbelief. "No! No, you can't!"
"You know what I do; you know there's a chance that it might happen some day." Buffy said quite harshly; she was the one on death row, not Dawn, not Giles, not Willow, her.
"Don't go, please Buffy. Stay here, you don't have to fight it." Dawn begged.
"I'm the only one who can stop it Dawn, you know I have to go, it's my destiny." Buffy gave a hollow laugh. "This is the work I have to do. But I'll be okay, I've lived in this world and that's the hardest thing I'll ever have to do." Buffy took a deep breath. "If something does happen, I need you to take care of Mom for me."
"Buffy, no, don't do this!"
"Could you just listen to me please?" Tears were springing to the young slayer's eyes. She didn't want to die. "I want you to look after Mom; I want you to look after each other, because family is what matters. And I know we've had our fair share of fights, more than our fair share;" the tears were falling freely now, as were Dawn's; "but I want you to know that I love you and I'll always love you, no matter what."
Dawn launched herself into her sister's arms and hugged her tightly- this could be the last chance that she'd get.
"I just want you to be prepared, because I might die tonight." Buffy squeezed her sister once more and kissed her forehead. The slayer released Dawn and picked up her weapons bag. She cast a final look about her bedroom and at her sister sitting on her bed staring at her before leaving.
Dawn sat dumbly for a moment after Buffy had left. She heard her yell out to their Mom that she was going out to the dance and saw her running down the street through the window.
The ten-year-old leapt to her feet and dashed down the stairs, pausing quickly to get herself in order. "Mom, is it okay if I go to Emma's house for a bit?"
Joyce seemed to be considering it, but Dawn knew she'd say yes- Emma only lived next door and as far as she was concerned Sunnydale was a nice quiet town. "Well okay, but don't be late home!"
Dawn grabbed her coat and flew out the door. She ran all the way to Sunnydale high, not stopping until she reached the library.
"Buffy!" The young girl panted. Without slayer speed and stamina it had taken a lot out of her to get to the school and it was a miracle that she hadn't been attacked by a vampire or one of the other nasties that went bump in the night.
The occupants of the room all looked at each other and then at the exhausted girl in the doorway. No-one wanted to speak, to be the one who told her that Buffy had gone off to her death all alone.
"She's gone Dawn." Willow said gently.
"No! She can't have gone! Why did you let her go?" She demanded of Giles.
"As the soon to be purple area of my jaw will tell you, I did not let her go." The librarian replied irritably.
"Well, how can we help her?" Willow asked.
"Uh, I'm sorry to bring this up, but we also have an apocalypse to worry about?" Ms. Calendar pointed out.
"Do you mind?" "How come she's in the club?" Xander and Willow protested.
"Hey! Once the Master gets free, the Hellmouth opens, the demons come to party and everybody dies, including me." The computer science teacher said.
Xander threw up his hands. "Uh, uh, I don't care. I'm sorry, I don't. Right now I gotta help Buffy."
"We don't even know where she's gone." Giles reasoned.
"No. But I can find out." Xander said before leaving the library despite Willow's protests.
Dawn looked around, why weren't they doing anything? They had to do something!
Willow appeared to be having the same thoughts, so she asked the question that no-one had the answer to: "Now what?"
x?x
Giles struggled out from the stacks with an armful of books. "The Master is as old as any vampire on record. There's no telling how powerful he'll be if he reaches the surface."
"Okay, here's my question: the Hellmouth opens. Where? If he's underground, and it's right where he is, where's it gonna open?" Jenny Calendar asked.
"Good point. Uh, well, look, you have a look through the Black Chronicles. . ."
She took the book offered. "Okay."
"Uh, Willow? Willow?"
"Huh?" Willow shook herself out of her worrying for her two closest friends.
Giles sat down at the table. "Could you look through the local histories, please? Check for any common denominators, uh, locations of incidences and such."
"Right, okay." Willow nodded, glad to have something to do.
"What about me?" Dawn asked.
Giles seemed surprised when the young girl spoke, he'd totally forgotten about her. "Ah, Dawn, well you could help Willow look at local history."
Dawn nodded and sat down next to Willow. The four scrutinized their various texts, looking for anything that might help.
Giles put his book down. "Well, let's think about this, then. The vampires have been gathering, they know he's coming, they will be his army."
"Do you think they'll gather at the Hellmouth?" Ms. Calendar asked.
"Well, the last time the Master tried to rise was the Harvest. He sent a bunch of vampires to get him fresh blood." Willow said entering the conversation.
Jenny Calendar nodded, following her train of thought through. "Well, where did that go down?"
"The Bronze." Giles said.
Willow gasped. "The Prom!"
"We have to warn them." Dawn exclaimed.
"Dawn, whatever you do, don't leave the library." Giles ordered hoping to every god he had ever heard of that Dawn was a little bit more obedient than her older sister.
Giles grabbed his jacket, but Ms. Calendar stopped him. "No! We'll go. You have to concentrate on demon killing. My car's in the lot."
Giles nodded in agreement. "Stay close together, and for goodness' sake, be careful!"
"We will." Willow assured him before leaving them in the library.
x?x
The duo still researching in the library were interrupted by a loud crash from down the halls.
"What the..?"
Giles got up from the table as Ms. Calendar, Willow and Cordelia ran into the library and slammed the doors shut. "What's happening?"
"Guess!" Ms. Calendar said as a vampire punched through the window in the door and started grabbing at them.
Willow grabbed a sign and started hitting the vampire with it as Giles and Dawn dragged a bookshelf in front of the double doors.
"Why are they coming here?" Dawn shouted above the din, her voice full of fear. Buffy wasn't here to protect her this time.
Everyone looked to Giles for an answer, but he didn't have one. In all the commotion no-one saw a large green tentacle worming its way through the cracks in the floor.
The group piled more things in front of the door when Dawn screamed.
Giles turned to see what had scared the young girl. "They're coming in through the stacks!"
Ms. Calendar, Cordelia and Willow moved to push back the vampires and secure the stacks, while Giles did the same in his office leaving Dawn at the doors. Another vampire punched through the doors and grabbed the young girl, lifting her off her feet. "Somebody help me!"
Dawn hit the hand, with little effect and then bit down on it. The vampire howled and drew his hand back. "See how you like it!"
"This won't keep them out for long." Willow said, then she screamed bringing Giles out of his office. He was just in time to see a large, three headed and tentacled demon burst through the floor.
Giles grabbed an axe moved forward to fight the beast. Willow and Ms. Calendar also picked up weapons, but both were thrown back.
Dawn and Cordelia backed up against the wall, what were they going to do now?
The fight didn't last long. Just before Giles got himself killed, the sky light smashed open and a body fell down onto a wooden spike, making the vampire that had fallen dust and sending the demon snake thing back to hell.
x?x
Dawn and Cordelia pulled at the objects blocking the door while Willow and Giles checked themselves over for injuries.
"Buffy!" Dawn hugged her sister tightly. "You're alive!"
Buffy returned the hug. "Was there ever any doubt?" She quipped, but it lacked some of the usual care free nature that there could usually be heard in her voice.
Giles picked himself off the floor and looked cautiously towards the open door. "The vampires?"
Cordelia looked into the empty corridor. "Gone."
"The master?" Buffy asked fearfully.
"Dead. The hellmouth is closed." Giles said with relief. "Buffy? Buffy?"
"Oh, sorry. It's been a really weird day." Buffy said with a smile.
"Yeah! Buffy died and everything!" Xander laughed nervously; they had been so close to losing her.
Willow smiled at her friends. "Wow. Harsh."
"I should have known that wouldn't stop you." Giles said affectionately.
Buffy looked up at her watcher fondly, and then down at the girl still clinging onto her. "Err, Dawn?
Dawn let go of her sister and gave her a teary smile. "Sorry."
"It's okay."
"Well, what do we do now?" Ms. Calendar said after a pause.
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd like to get out of this place. I don't like the library very much anymore." Giles cast a look at the crumbling walls and the crack in the floor.
"Hey! I hear there's a dance at the Bronze tonight. Could be fun." Xander suggested.
Cordelia perked up at that idea. "Yeah!"
"Buffy?"
"Sure! We saved the world. I say we party!" The slayer looked down at her slightly damp dress. "I mean, I got all pretty."
"And what about him?" Ms. Calendar gestured at the bones still on the table.
Buffy looked at the skeleton of the Master that had so nearly beat her. "He's not going anywhere. Loser." She shook herself out of her thoughts and turned to Dawn. "Shouldn't you be at home?"
The young girls eyes widened in realization. "Oh no! Mom's gonna kill me!"
"How did you get here?" Buffy asked sharply; the silence gave her Dawn's answer. "Please don't tell me you came by yourself?! Dawn! You know how dangerous that is!"
"What was I supposed to do?" Dawn retorted angrily. "Wait around for someone to call and tell us you were dead?"
Buffy shrank back like she'd been shot at her sister's harsh tone. "Sorry." She mumbled.
"No, I'm sorry." Dawn's anger disappeared when she saw the hurt look on her sisters face. "Mom's gonna freak- she told me not to be back late."
"If it will make a difference, I can drive you home." Giles offered.
"Yes, thank you." Dawn smiled broadly at the librarian.
"You can meet us at the dance."
Giles nodded. "I'm not dancing though." He replied to the newest member of 'the gang'
"We'll see." Jenny Calendar said smugly.
Dawn waited while Giles got his car keys from the ruins of his office, watching her sister and her friends leave the library. She smiled at their bantering and saw Angel hang back with he sister. Tutor? Yeah, right.
"By the way, I really like your dress." Angel said softly.
Buffy rolled her eyes, but couldn't keep a pleased smile off her face. "Yeah, yeah. Big hit with everyone."
Giles came out of his office with his keys. "Are you ready Dawn?"
"Yup; ready and waiting." She replied cheerfully as they left the library.
The Hellmouth was closed; the Master was dead; the prophecy had been fulfilled. Maybe now everyone could get some peace.
Or then again, maybe not.
x?x?x?x x?x?x?x x?x?x?x
x?x?x?x x?x?x?x x?x?x?x
Season One: Complete! Now on to season two!?! I'll probably end up doing about 10 chapters for future seasons because they're twice the size, unless I get lots of episode requests (hint, hint).
Next up: 'When She Was Bad.' After That: 'School Hard'
What do you want to see after that? Let me know in a review.