I am so completely sorry for the long wait. I have been caught up on schoolwork. It also took me a while to write this because I was experiencing a bit of writer's block. Again thank you so much for being patient. And guys, if you have any suggestions or Ideas of things you want to see happen in this story, Don't be afraid to message me and tell me, or leave a review and tell me. *dimpled smiley face* Also, I will be adding things to the original storyline for reasons. I don't own BtVs, AtS, they belong to Joss Whedon. I only own MY characters. And my computer. And a Twinkie...for now...


The Goddess

"Momma! Look, I did it!" A young girl says. The girl looks about 12 years old. She has golden blonde hair and a smile on her face that could light up the entire block. Her blue eyes shone with happiness, her power lying just below the surface. Her soul pure and innocent, yet her aura tarnished by the hatred of others. In front of her, floating exactly 5 inches away from her face, is a number 2 pencil.

"Oh, baby girl, that's wonderful! Your power is developing very quickly!" A melodic voice stated with pride and a hint of worry.

Unfortunately for her, her daughter heard the worry in her voice. The young girl's smile diminished and she furrowed her brow. "Is that bad? Was Donny right? Is it because I'm evil?" The pre-teen's eyes started welling at the possibility that she could actually be a demon. The pencil that was peaceful is now spinning out of control.

"No! Tara, calm down, look at me." Jessica Maclay said gently, holding her daughter's face in her hands.

"You are not evil and you are not a demon. You are one of the most pure souls to grace the Goddess' green earth. Your brother and your father don't understand where our power comes from. That leads to fear, and your father doesn't like to be afraid. That is the reason why he does what he does. He is the evil one, not you or me or Nana. Don't let what him and your brother say get to you, baby doll. Understand?" She says as she wipes the tears from Tara's face.

"Good! Now let's try this again, this time without the helicopter pencil, hmm?" Jessica says with a slight chuckle.


The Slayer

A young Buffy Summers walks out of Hemery High in Los Angeles, with three other popular girls.

"See you later Buffy!" Said one of the three girls as they walked away.

"Later! Call me!" Buffy shouted after them.

As Buffy sat down on the steps in front the school waiting for her mother to pick her up, an elderly man dresses in tweed approached her.

"Buffy Summers?" The man asked.

"Yeah, who are you?"

"Never mind that. I'm here to inform you of your destiny. You have been chosen to fight them." The man said looking around nervously.

"My destiny? Chosen? What? Fight who?" Buffy asked, the look of annoyance and confusion clear on her face.

"The vampires, and the forces of darkness." The man said impatiently. "Look, just meet me at the cemetery 20 minutes from your house, and everything will be explained."

Just as Buffy was about to ask how he knew that there was a cemetery close to her house, she heard a car honk and her name being called. She turned around to see her mother in the car waiting for her. She turned back around, and the man was gone. Shrugging her shoulders, she grabbed her bag and hopped in her mother's car.

"Buffy, who was that man you were talking to?" Joyce asked.

Deciding not to tell her mom about the crazy ass dude, she lied. Something she would be doing a lot more in the future after this night.

"Just a teacher, telling me about the after school, uh, tutor sessions. No big deal really." Buffy smiles at her mother. Joyce nodded her head and started driving. As she turned the corner, Buffy caught a glimpse of a long leather coat and dark brooding eyes.


The Key

Dawn and Spike sat on the floor of the Magic Box surrounded by Watchers diaries.

"They had to make sure the slayer would protect it with her life, so they sent the Key to here in the form of a sister. I reckon that would be you, Nibblet."

Emotions raced through Dawn like a tidal wave. Realization, Anger, Sadness, Disbelief. The forefront at the moment was anger. She was created. Not normally either. She wasn't real! She was an instrument of destruction and death. Just below the anger, she felt a pressure. Like a balloon about to pop. Unbeknownst to Spike, or herself for that matter, her greyish-blue eyes flashed a brilliant green for a spilt second and electricity crackled between her fingertips momentarily. Spike took the hint that Dawn was upset and started putting the diaries away. As she got home, she crept downstairs and overheard Buffy talking to Willow and Tara. She ignored them and walked into the kitchen. If I'm not real, then this won't hurt. Dawn picked up the large kitchen knife sitting on the counter and sliced a thin line horizontally on her forearm.

Nothing.

She touched her arm. She felt the wet stickiness of the blood, yet felt no pain. Her body moved in autopilot into the living room. She faintly heard Tara gasp and her mom - no, Buffy's mom- rush towards her and ask if she was alright. Dawn kept her eyes on Buffy.

"This is blood, right? I'm real. I'm not just some Key. It doesn't hurt. Why doesn't is hurt. Am I real? Am I anything?" Dawn asked through clenched teeth, on the verge of tears.


The Split Vessel

Trees. That was all she saw. At one point, there was a stream and probably a cave or two. But, mostly, there were trees. Walking through the forest, she looked for a way out. Seeing nothing but a more trees, Alexandria sat down on a rock and sighed. Not even remembering how she got here, she stared at the rapidly darkening sky. This place seems so familiar. Why?

Before she could ponder on that thought any longer, she heard a deep growl behind her. She slowly turned around expecting to see a wolf or a bear. Instead, she came face to face with… herself. Only it wasn't herself. It was her with a few major differences. She had fangs protruding from her mouth. More similar to a wolf's than a vampire. The most noticeable was the dog-like tail on her backside and husky ears instead of human ones. A feral smile was on the half-breed's face. Before Alexandria had time to think, her animalistic clone tackled her to the ground. She looked into her counterparts eyes and saw nothing but anger and pain. It reminded her of a brewing Storm. The sight almost made cry. Storm raised a clawed hand and slashed at Alexandria's neck. Alexandria tried to scream, but the sound came out as a gurgled cry. She felt someone shaking her over and over, only worsening the pain.

"Alex, wake up. Come on. Alexandria!"

Alexandria shot up, only to have her forehead connect with another's. As she came to her senses, she recognized the face of her older brother, Liono, holding his forehead and staring down at her.

"What happened?"

"You started screaming, then head-butted me, that's what happened!" Liono said, pissed. "Get dressed, the orphanage is switching people to different homes again."

As the door shut, Alexandria looked around at the bland walls of the orphanage.

Another day in paradise.