There was a sword dulled and sullied by the dark, rich blood. Her widened eyes couldn't seem to stray from it- her blood, the blood of her sister. The blue eyes so similar to her own looked back at her. They whispered to her the secret that she finally understood and the underlying message to live. The blue hues floated away from her further and further into the bright, blinding white light until all that there was left was the blinding white light.

"BUFFY!"

The blonde woman jerked up in her bed, her lithe body trembling slightly. The warmth and sense of stability and strength the muscular arms that wrapped around her body and the rough hands that gently petted her hair and arms, lowered the trembling of her body to mere shivers. The tears that threatened to fall actually fell with the certainty that no matter how many times the tears fell those arms and hands would always be there.

"Dawn?" A rough, yet melodic voice inquired.

"I-I'm fine," she finally managed to say her cracking voice indicating that she was threatening to break out into tears. "I-I just had that dream again. I'm fine." More confidence sounded out.

"Do you know what might have triggered it?"

Eyes glared down at the bed, as hands clenched the sheets and the only answer was the shake of shoulder length blonde hair in the negative. Soft lips gently caressed her temple and she fell into a more peaceful sleep.

"Be safe Dawn… live. We'll meet again for sure…"

---------------

"Paige, No." Her voice and eyes spoke of finality. "Chris will not have wiccaning or anything to do with magic. Leo and I made the decision to bind his powers for a reason and I would have thought that you of all people would be able to understand that."

"I do, Piper. I understand that you are scared of Chris getting hurt or killed because of magic. But Chris is a strong boy."

"Magic killed him." Her eyes flared angrily, "If we keep him away from it he will never be killed by it again."

"He is powerless against demons!"

"He can just orb away. He still has his whitelighter powers. He will be safe. Happy and normal."

"Mommy! Mommy!" A shout from the other room came. Piper followed the voice up the stairs.

"He'll never be normal. Without his magic he'll be miserable because he will be missing a part of himself." Paige murmured softly after her as she orbed out of the manor.

"I failed."

Phoebe smiled sadly at her younger sister. "You know what we have to do, right?"

Paige bit her bottom lip and looked down at twiddling hands. She nodded.

"It'll be okay. We're doing this for Chris. We just want what's best for Chris. If he's ever going to survive against demons and our life we have to do this."

"I know. I just wish we didn't have to go behind Piper and Leo's back. I wish they understood just how much danger they are putting Chris through."

"Can you get the spell and the potions necessary without them knowing by this weekend? I have a deadline that I need to complete before we do this."

"Yeah. Will you have time to create the other spell? And how are we going to get Piper and Leo away from Chris? You know that never leave Chris unattended."

"We'll find a way.."

-------------

"Madison and David's, Harmony speaking. How may I help you?" came the annoying bubbly blonde's voice.

"I need to speak to Willow, please."

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, I don't Harmony. However, I imagine that if the red-headed witch learned that you turned a phone call from Dawn Summers away she wouldn't be too happy with you."

A scowl formed on the blonde vampire's face. "Why didn't you just state your name? Please hold while I transfer the call."

As Dawn listened to the classical music of Beethoven from the phone she wondered if she was doing the right thing. Was calling and talking to Willow for the first time in almost a decade to talk about some dream about Buffy really worth it?

It took only a minute or two before there was a: "Willow speaking, how may I help you?"

"Uh- It's me, Dawn."

"Dawn?"

"So, how have you been Willow?"

"Busy," was the blunt reply, "Are you okay, Dawn?"

"I'm fine."

"We haven't spoken in nearly ten years Dawn and I know with the way we left things off that you wouldn't be calling unless you needed me to answer or help you with something. I and you, yourself, know that I would do anything to help you as best as I can. So why are you calling Dawn?"

"What? I couldn't just be calling to catch up on old times with you?" Dawn asked bitterly.

"No, you and I both know that you have no interest and avoid any and everything to do with old times that had anything to do with her."

Dawn gritted her teeth to keep from snapping something she would regret back. There was a long pause as Dawn calmed herself enough to dejectedly tell Willow about her recurring and changing dreams over the past few months.

As she blurted out her worries about these dreams and what they mean for her future, her worries that they might actually be a vision, a power that she ambivalently gained over years of steadfastly practicing her wiccan powers, she felt as though she had reverted back to that insecure little fourteen year old that always ran to the smart little red-headed witch with all her problems.

---------

She was floating. Floating in the brilliant whiteness. It was warm and comfortable and loving. Was this the afterlife? Was this heaven? It didn't matter either way. She never wanted to leave. What was the afterlife? Hadn't she always been here? No. She remembered darkness and pain.

Something was coming. Something cold, and dark. She didn't want to go, she didn't. She screamed in terror as she was pulled by the darkness out of the brilliant whiteness and into a much darker colder world.