Chapter Forty Four – Choices We Make
"Are you okay Dawn," Buffy asked.
"Peachy-keen," Dawn answered. She kept her attention focused on the road.
"And that's why you haven't said five words to me since the drive started," Buffy noted. "Dawnie, it's alright. Tell me what's bothering you."
Dawn paused trying to figure out what to say. "I guess I've spent so long trying not to think about any of this that I just assumed I would never have to. I mean after Glory the Key thing never came up again."
Buffy nodded head, "I guess we all just kind of went into denial. Besides you were such an effective obnoxious teenager we all forgot you were the Key."
"I was not obnoxious," Dawn retorted.
Buffy shot her sister a look. "Really. And how would you describe your behavior?"
"Moderately rebellious."
"You're kidding."
"Given everything that went down, I think I behaved quite well," Dawn said.
Buffy shook her head. "Then what's really bothering you."
"I don't like thinking about what it means about everything that happened before Glory," Dawn said. "I don't like being reminded that none of it was real. I don't know how much of me is me and how much is something the Monks programmed into me."
"You're you Dawn," Buffy said forcefully. "Even if what happened before didn't really happen. Everything you've done since then has been your choice. All the things you've accomplished have been your accomplishments. You've built your own life Dawn."
"And what if I have to give that up?" Dawn said in almost a whisper.
"I won't let that happen," Buffy said.
"Destiny doesn't always give us choices Buffy," Dawn replied. "You know that better than anyone."
"Then destiny can screw itself," Buffy said.
"What if I wasn't meant to always be Dawn Summers," Dawn said. "The Monks sent me to you for protection from Glory. We took care of Glory. Mission accomplished. Now its off to something else."
"I don't believe that," Buffy said.
"And what makes you say that?" Dawn asked.
"Because I won't accept anything else," Buffy replied. "We need you. Not the Key. You. It wasn't the Key that helped rebuild the Watchers Council. It was Dawn Summers. It wasn't the Key that took control of Guardian Research. It was you. I won't let anything take away what you've built."
Dawn looked over at Buffy and smiled. She could see the Slayer coming to the fore. But it was more than that. It was her sister. If destiny had plans for the Key then destiny was in for a serious fight.
---
"Ms Summers, Ms Summers," Linton greeted the two at the door of Oakwood estate. "Sir John is waiting in the library. If you will accompany me."
"Thank you Linton," Dawn said. She and Buffy followed Linton to library where they were greeted by Sir John Graham.
Sir John rose from his chair and nodded at the sisters. "Buffy, Dawn, it is good to see you both again. Please have a seat. Linton has prepared some tea and snacks. Would you like anything else?"
"Thank you Gray," Dawn said. "Tea will be fine for me."
"Just water for me," Buffy said. "Despite Giles' best efforts I've never been able to develop a taste for tea."
Sir John smiled at the comment. "Linton, could you bring a pitcher of water for Buffy and then see that we are not disturbed."
"Of course sir," Linton responded in his usual professional manner. "I shall return momentarily."
"Thank you Linton," Sir John said and then turned his attention back the Summers sisters. "Ladies, if you will take a seat we can get started."
Buffy and Dawn sat in chairs opposite Sir John.
"You said you had some suppositions to share about the Key," Dawn started.
"Yes," Sir John replied. "Researching the Key has proven to be far more difficult than I thought possible. It seems the Order of Dagon was even more circumspect than other such esoteric groups. It does not help that Glorificus seems to have destroyed most the groups that had even limited dealings with them."
"Just how much damage did she do?" Buffy asked. "We know she was active for about five or six years before she appeared in Sunnydale."
"That is correct," Sir John said. "It was known that a powerful demonic entity was searching for a lost talisman. Some even knew she sought for something called the Key. The difficulty is that she killed anyone or anything that that she came across or was foolish enough to get in her way. I believe that is how she first encountered the Knights of Byzantium."
"What do you mean?" Dawn said. "I always assumed she targeted the Order from the beginning."
"This is where I am forced to make suppositions," Sir John said. "I believe, based on very limited information I was able to obtain, which I will make available to you, that the Knights of Byzantium had an agreement with the Order of Dagon to serve as a last line of defense. When Glorificus began to search for the Key the Knights learned of her quest and attacked. They may have inadvertently led her to the Order."
"How?" Buffy asked.
"I have not been able to find any reference indicating that Order of Dagon possessed the Key," Sir John answered. "The last reference I could find linked to the Key is dated in the first century BC. As to Knights, by attacking Glorificus they revealed themselves to have knowledge of Key. Glorificus shifted her attention from random attacks that had little chance of finding the Key to a full assault on the Knights. That led her to Order of Dagon. Fortunately the Order was able to hide the Key from her before she destroyed them."
"They made me," Dawn said.
"That is the other set of suppositions I wish to share," Sir John said. "I don't think the Order created you."
"What!?!" both Buffy and Dawn said simultaneously.
"We know the Order of Dagon created me as Buffy's sister so she would protect me from Glory," Dawn said.
"I misspoke," Sir John said. "The Order sent the Key to be protected by the Slayer. But I don't think they chose the form."
"Again what?" Buffy said.
"Consider Buffy," Sir John began. "You are the Slayer. You are duty bound to protect the world. Why send the Key in the form a vulnerable teenage girl? Once you knew of the Key's importance you would have done everything in your power to protect it. Yes?"
"Of course," Buffy said. "But making the Key my sister was a sort of guarantee that I would give it my all."
"You are a Slayer Buffy," Sir John noted. "You would always, give it your all, so to speak." Sir John paused again. "Consider this. The ritual Glorificus used. It was a blood ritual was it not?"
"Yes it was," Dawn said.
"Why would a ritual apparently constructed long before Dawn Summers came into being, written while the Key was supposedly still just energy, be a blood ritual. Energy does not bleed."
Dawn began to nod. "They would have to have known the Key could be placed in a human."
"Precisely," Sir John said. "May I show you something?"
"Sure," Dawn said.
Sir John rose from his chair and crossed to other side of the library. He picked up a small wooden box. He carried the box back to sisters and set it down on the coffee table in front of Dawn.
"Please open this," he said motioning to Dawn.
Dawn nodded and opened the box. Inside were was an ancient scroll. Dawn carefully removed it from the box and set it out on the table. She slowly undid the string binding the scroll and then cautiously unrolled the parchment. It was delicate. The writing was faint and the paper badly stained.
"Where did you get this?" Dawn asked.
"Through an old contact in Cairo," Sir John answered. "In my studies I learned the Order of Dagon's roots extend much further than the then their association with the Catholic Church. They allowed themselves to be absorbed by the Church in the third or fourth century as a defensive measure. That way they had some protection following the collapse of the Roman Empire."
"I'm into the history lesson and all," Buffy said. "But what's up with the scroll here?"
"It was done in the first century BC by the group that eventually became the Order of Dagon," Sir John explained. "It is a copy of an even older work that has been lost. I believe the original may have been written in the early days of civilization. Perhaps as many as six thousand years ago."
Dawn was staring at the writing. "The top section was written by the person who did the copying. It's in a really weirded out version of Greek. I'm translating on the fly but he is calling what's written below 'The Word of the Key.' The rest is in a language I don't recognize." Dawn looked at symbols that followed the introduction. "There looks to be a couple of sentences here. Some kind of hieroglyphics but organized like an alphabet. Never seen anything like it before."
"That corresponds with my own analysis," Sir John said. "You'll note the syntax in the introduction."
"Yea," Dawn said studying the scroll. "The phrasing would indicate that the Key itself spoke the original words that are recorded."
"Which implies that the Key itself is alive," Sir John said. "Alive and capable of independent thought. I will concede, Dawn, I am guessing. But if the Key is alive and capable of its own actions than it is very possible that the Key chose the form it took."
"It chose to be Dawn?" Buffy said.
"Possibly," Sir John said. "There is one other thing to consider. As I said before, making the Key a person seems an odd choice. In addition I searched for spells that could be used to create a human being. Spells that could at least duplicate what Order seems to have done."
"Willow tried the same thing once," Dawn said. "She couldn't find one. She couldn't figure out how the Monks created full human being. It is one thing to create something that looks human and animate it to do simple things and even that takes an enormous amount of power. To create a human being and give it life, Willow couldn't find anything that could do that."
"That's because it is not simple," Sir John said. "One does not just whip up a person from scratch. Magic requires a price. My research indicated that only way the Order could have created life was to start with life."
Dawn nodded again. "Energy can't be created or destroyed, only transformed. In magic, life is energy. The Monks couldn't create it, only transform it."
"You understand," Sir John nodded. "And such a spell could not have been performed and maintained for as long as it has been without the consent and the participation of the Key in its own transformation."
"I'm still not sure I get it," Buffy said. "I get that the Key may have been alive before it was placed in Dawn."
"The Key was not placed in Dawn," Sir John cut in. "You have been operating under the assumption that the Order created Dawn as a vessel and placed the Key inside that vessel. What we are saying is that Dawn is the Key. You cannot separate the two."
Buffy nodded. "Ok, I think I get it now," Buffy looked over at Dawn. "I like the idea that you may have picked your own form."
"Still doesn't explain why," Dawn said. "I don't have any memory of being the Key. How does this help us learn more?"
"And that is the final thing we need to discuss," Sir John grew more serious. "I have for most part exhausted all my sources when it comes to learning more about the Key itself. The scroll is the only significant find I have made. You are of course welcome to take it with you. I have not been able to translate it, but your talents are superior to mine in that area."
"Thank you Gray," Dawn said. "You mentioned on the phone about another route to learn more."
"I know a group of Adepts based in Scotland," Sir John said. "They are part of Hunting Lodge. The Hunt Master, Adam Sinclair, and one of his associates, Peregrine Lovat, have talents that may be capable of helping you learn more about yourself. But it would require bringing them here and telling them about the Key."
"Do you trust them?" Dawn asked.
"Without reservation," Sir John answered quickly. "Sir Adam is an honorable man and has become a close friend over the past few years. I have known his mother since the War. Mr. Lovat has grown into a capable Adept with unique talents. I'm certain both of them are in the Council's files. Sophia is quite familiar with the work both of them have done. I can have MI5 turn over its files on both of them to you. Feel free to do your own checks on them before you make any decisions."
Dawn leaned back in her chair. She had always thought of the Key as something separate from Dawn Summers. But now, the idea that the Key may have chosen to become Dawn Summers, she wasn't certain what to think of that. The Key wanted to be human, wanted to be her. The Monks didn't just make her. She may have chosen to be herself.
"I need some time to digest all of this," Dawn said.
"Of course. The decision on how to proceed is yours Dawn," Sir John said.