Chapter Twenty Two – What's in a Key?

Dawn raced up to give her sister a hug.

"It's great to see you Buffy," she then gave big hugs to Xander and Faith. "And you guys."

"It's good to see you too," Buffy said. The group started making their way through the London Headquarters. "Sorry it took so long to get everybody here. Things got active in Cleveland and we couldn't afford to have both Faith and I away at the same time. And then there was that little side trip I ended up making to Arizona."

"How did that go?" Dawn asked.

"She said yes," Buffy said. "I'm going to need to borrow Willow for a week or so to get everything set up in Cleveland if that's alright."

"Not a problem," Dawn said. "We're kind of in a holding pattern on our plans right now until MI5 locates this Black guy. Sir Ian likes the idea of two simultaneous strikes. If we do it right, it should seriously disrupt whatever plans Riddle has."

"Good," Buffy replied.

"I haven't had much of a chance to review the reports you've been sending D," Faith said. "But from the little I've read, the Wizarding world seems bizarre. It sounds like everything they do is magical. Right down to the sports they play."

"You would pick up on the," Dawn paused in thought, "Quidditch thing first."

"A sport played on broomsticks," Faith said. "Everyone flying around the air. Sounds like fun. The scoring seems a little odd. The only two people that matter are the two chasing after the snip."

"Snitch."

"Right. I'd love to see a game."

"Actually so would I," Xander added.

"We'll have to see what we can arrange after we get past the current situation," Dawn said. She led them into the conference room where Willow and Giles were waiting for them. Another round of greetings and hugs were exchanged. They all sat down at the table.

"B told me everything that really went down with Glory after I got back to Cleveland," Faith said. She looked at Dawn. "I still can't believe it. I mean, I remember so much. That Christmas I spent with you and Joyce. You got so excited about the snow. You ran out and made snow angels," Faith shook her head.

"I really don't like thinking about it," Dawn said. "So much that makes me happy. Memories of mom, playing with Buffy while I grew up, they never really happened."

"That doesn't matter," Buffy said. "You're my sister. Whatever you were before, you're one of us now."

"I know," Dawn said. "It's just that Gray's little pronouncement really got me thinking about things I prefer to avoid."

"Ok, Gray's the guy you needed to lift the spell on Lady Aydin," Xander said. "What does he know about you?"

"In order to lift the spell, Gray and I transported all of us into the Astral plane," Willow said. "I didn't really think about what that might mean for Dawn. The Astral plane responded to her presence. Gray noticed. He also received a message from the Powers that Dawn's power would be needed."

"What do you mean responded?" Buffy asked.

"I can't really explain it," Dawn said. "I know this is going to sound weird, but it almost felt like I was home. The energy around me just flowed through me. It started to change like I was adding to it," Dawn paused trying to think. "That's not right, but I just can't find the words. It's like when you and Faith try to describe something your Slayer senses pick up to rest of us. There's just no point of reference for anybody doesn't feel the same things you do."

"Can this Gray guy be trusted?" Xander asked.

"Yes," Willow said. "He's the senior mystic in Britain. Everything we've learned about him says he's an honorable man. He won't reveal any secrets. Besides, he and I have developed a good working relationship."

"Just how much does he know?" Buffy asked

"Not much beyond my having a hidden power," Dawn said. "He doesn't know what the source of it is."

Buffy started thinking. "So do we have any idea what the Key is needed for?"

"Not a clue," Dawn said. "The first time I walked into Buckland's I got a tingle. I talked about it with Willow. We both assumed it was just because I have a higher sensitivity to magic. We've never been really certain if that was because I'm the Key or some part of the Slayer essence I got because I was created from you. I guess we can now assume it's because I'm the Key."

"What do we know about the Key?" Faith asked.

"Very little I'm afraid," Giles replied. "Quentin classified everything related to Glory. What little the Council knew was destroyed with the archives and the few people who were involved in researching Glory and the Key were killed by the First."

"What about the other people in Research?" Buffy asked.

"Quentin kept Research out the loop on Glory," Dawn said. "They knew something big was going down. Most of the senior Council members were pulling a lot of records. But all anybody in the department knows about what really happened is what we told them. You died destroying the Key and closing the portal."

"Could we quietly backtrack their research?" Xander asked. "You could probably figure out what files they pulled."

"I've been doing a little of that over the past couple of weeks," Dawn replied. "But it's slow going. A lot of the stuff they pulled had nothing to do with the Key, just the concept of mystical keys in general. I'm guessing anything that might have been even moderately relevant went into the restricted archives."

"We've spent a lot of the last five years trying to rebuild those archives," Willow said. "But we don't have an index of what was stored in them and so much of what was there was one of kind."

"So basically we're at square one," Xander said.

"So where do we go from here?" Buffy asked. "It's looks like Dawn's joined the Destiny club. So how do we figure out what that Destiny is?"

"What about those Monks that had the Key first or the Knight guys that chased after you?" Faith asked.

"The Order of Dagon and the Knights of Byzantium were both destroyed by Glory," Giles said.

"Can we be sure?" Faith asked.

"Despite their claims to Buffy the Knights never numbered in the thousands," Giles said. "Most of their numbers had already been slaughtered by Glory before she ever got to Sunnydale. The old Council confirmed that much after I returned to England. The few surviving members were all in on that last assault. As for the Order of Dagon, they only had one principle base of operations and that was attacked and destroyed by Glory. From what I and the Council members could learn the only member of the Order to survive is the one Buffy found."

"What do we know about their histories?" Faith asked.

Giles paused. "Again very little. The Order of Dagon was created sometime early in the first Millennium. The Order was supposedly disbanded in the eighth century because of their Heretical believes and practices in forbidden magic. Many of their members were from so-called pagan faiths. They continued on without the blessings of the Church."

He continued, "As to the Knights of Byzantium. Their formation dates to the Crusades and they were originally a Crusading order like the Templar Knights. The Knights were excommunicated during the Inquisition for being 'too zealous' in their pursuit of the unfaithful."

"Wait," Willow said. "They were considered 'too zealous' during the Inquisition? Given that Zealots were running the Inquisition they must have been really bad."

"Bad is putting it mildly," Giles replied. "They targeted priests and Bishops. Any who did not meet their standards of piety were flayed alive. Anyone who disagreed with them was killed in even more gruesome manners."

"Nice folks," Buffy said. "Hard to believe but it actually seems like they mellowed over time."

"Yes, quite," Giles said. "It was after they were excommunicated that the Knights began actively seeking out demons and other dark creatures. It was probably during this period that they learned about the Order of Dagon and the Key. What the relationship between the two was, we can only guess. The Council did send teams to search the ruins of both the Order's and the Knight's known bases. Whatever they may have found...."

"Let me guess," Xander said. "Anything they found went boom."

"Most likely," Giles said. "I suppose we could have our people go out and do a more thorough search. But that would mean telling them what we are looking for. How many people in the Council do we tell that the Key still exists?"

"Gray was pretty clear that we should keep things quiet until we learn more," Willow said.

"I trust our people," Buffy said. "But we're spread thin now. We've already got a lot of Slayers working on this situation in the Wizarding world. I don't want to send even more people off on what could be wild goose chases. I want to have a least a reasonable chance of finding something before we pull any more teams off their current assignments."

"Research is also stretched pretty thin," Dawn noted. "With all the activity in Indonesia and the recent flare-ups in Cleveland we've been spending a lot of our time supporting the field offices. The people I'd trust most with a job like this I need where they are."

"We could go outside the Council," Willow said. "We could have Gray do the research."

"I don't know," Buffy said.

"I trust him Buffy," Willow said. "And quite honestly his contacts and resources are probably better than ours. We're still trying to make up ground from the old Council's reticence about working with anybody else."

"Tell me about it," Xander said. "How many times in the past couple of years have we needed to pull you in for magic support. A lot of people still don't feel comfortable working with us on anything less than an apocalypse."

"Too many times," Willow said. "But we just don't have enough trained people to provide magical support to all the teams."

"It's your life Dawn," Buffy said. "How do you want to do this?"

Dawn sat and thought for a few seconds. "I trust Gray. When I was in the Astral I sort of felt everybody else's essence for a second or so. Don't ask me how. But I know we can trust him."

Buffy nodded. "Then we'll go out there and talk to him together."

"Buffy," Willow said. "Threatening powerful mages is not very diplomatic."

"I'm not going to threaten him," Buffy said. "Not that much anyway. But I want to meet him myself before we tell him anything."

"Have you guys tried going back into the Astral plane?" Faith asked. "From what you've described, it sounds like you get a good vibe there D."

"I want to know more about what might happen before I try something like that again," Dawn replied. "Willow and I have been doing some meditation techniques to help me focus my mind and get in better touch with my body and spirit. I have felt something ever since I went into the Astral. Something buried beneath the surface."

"So we'll head out tomorrow to meet with Gray," Buffy said. "We'll need to spend the rest of the afternoon meeting with Slayers who've had dreams about the Wizarding world. That is the reason we said we were coming."

"If you two are going on a field trip," Xander said. "Then I'm coming with you. I want to meet this guy myself. And I'll be sure to pack a shovel."

"Xander," Dawn said. "The guys like a hundred. I'm not asking him out on a date. And like Willow said. Threatening powerful mages is not good karma."

"I take care of my girls," Xander said. "Besides if we're going to tell him something like this, we may have to make him an honorary Scooby. I am the only one qualified to preside over the Snoopy dance."

Giles starting shaking his head, "I will never get that image out of my head. Xander one does not ask a man of Gray's stature to do the 'Snoopy' dance."

"I spend my days hanging out with super powered women Giles," Xander replied. "You'd be surprised how persuasive I've become. Besides, I got Faith to do it."

"And we agreed to never discuss it again," Faith said.

"I still have the video," Xander shot back.

"There is a very fine line between blackmail and annoying me enough to make me rip your arms off," Faith smiled.

"I was just pointing out my powers of persuasion," Xander said. "Consider the matter closed."

Buffy smiled. Faith's initiation had been a fun night. "Ok, we have a plan. The three of us will go and talk with Gray tomorrow. No shovels. We'll tell everybody we're going out there to discuss the Wizard situation. Faith, you work with Faye on getting the new team up to speed. We're scheduled to head back to Cleveland in three days. Willow, I'm going to need you to come back with us. Alex agreed to the deal."

"Goody," Willow said. "Looks like I get to practice my skills at making government records go poof."

"Alright then," Buffy said. "Let's call Faye and Eric and bring the three of us up the speed on the Wizarding world."