Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING BUT THE PLOT THAT IS SPIRALLING OUT OF CONTROL! I also don't own "Turn up the Music" from Lemonade Mouth

A/N: I am sick. Very, very sick. I planned on two chapter updates today, one Sunday and one Saturday, but Saturday after an exhausting skating lesson I came home, hacked up my lungs for a while, and then slept until about dinner. After eating I spent the rest of the night completely loopy from peppermint oreos (yes, they do make those now) and laughing at YouTube video with my sister.

Enough of my boring life; how are YOU guys? I really do want to know, because half the time I'm the one ranting on and on and on about why I don't write that much or what's going on in my life… you know, besides the fanfiction I write.

Two questions before I start the actual story:

Does anyone like the movie Lemonade Mouth? I watched it thinking it would be crappy because it's a Disney movie and lately they only produce stuff for money, but I liked it. Yes, it was cheesy. Yes, it was predictable…. But the music was really good.

If I started a YouTube channel and did music videos and sketches and stuff like meekakitty and Nanalew, would you watch it? Be honest, now, because I'm not exactly photogenic or funny… unless I'm loopy on lack of sleep and oreos.

On to the story! (I know, right now you're screaming "THANK GOD!" at your computer screens. My rant is done.)

Updated A/N: I wrote that AN above on Tuesday…. Then gave up writing. I'm writing this on Friday, December 16, 2011 and hopefully I'll post it then to. You have crossxavier to thank for my second attempt at getting this up, because he sent me the sweetest, most insightful review ever and it made me want to post this next chapter even though I'm still sick and busy (Going to see "Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows" later! So excited!). I really appreciated that review, and to reply to it:

I'm glad you like the slower development of Echo's character, because it's going to span at least two season, but I'll make it more complex during BtVS season 6. That's kind of why I started writing this; I got fed up with all the oneshots where Buffy goes to the Dollhouse to hire Echo for romantic n9ghts because she loves Faith or something like that. The rest just didn't make sense, or were one chapter and then abandoned. I may leave this for months at a time, but I'll never completely desert it.

"So she's the Key…" Giles said, sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Of course she is… it makes sense, really. It's why she's been bothering you so much more than usual."

Echo was on the stairs, listening. She didn't know what was going on, but she didn't think it sounded good. Dawn was the "Key". Maybe that was why she was so green and brilliant sometimes, when Echo could barely make out the memories in her head. The word that Buffy used was "crazy" but Echo thought it was something else. She heard soft steps behind her.

"Dawn?"

Dawn started guiltily. "Oh… hey. I was—"

"Coming to eavesdrop?"

"Yeah." Danw slid down the stairs, coming to rest next to Echo. "So, you're back? I didn't heart anyone come back… are you okay?"

"I guess…" Echo could hear Jack's cries in her head, faint but very real. "Then tried to make me forget gain, but I didn't. You're Dawn. You like me."

"You're nice, that's why I like you." Said Dawn, patting Echo's arm. "Any news I should know about?"

Echo shrugged. No way was she telling Dawn about being the Key. "Just some crazy, killing-spree big bad with fake-looking hair."

"Ah. The usual." Dawn said, yawning. "Should we go down there and see what's happening, or should we quietly sneak back up to bed and hope that Buffy doesn't hear us?"

Someone cleared their throat, making Echo and Dawn jump. "Too late for that."

"Buffy! I… I heard talking and wondered if you guys were back." Dawn hedged quickly, turning red. "Really, I didn't hear anything, and I was just talking to Echo."

Buffy sighed. "I believe you Dawnie, just go back to bed without waking Mom, okay?"

"Okay." Dawn giggled, allowing Echo to hug her before she trailed back upstairs. Buffy waited until her door shut to drag Echo from the stairs.

"What did she hear?"

"Nothing." Echo found herself being less intimidated by Buffy. After the last few days, Buffy wasn't threatening anymore. "I heard about the Key and this new big bad you fought, but I didn't tell Dawn. Just the big bad part, not that it's after her."

Buffy looked her up and down suspiciously. "Okay… but you can't tell her. She would freak out, it would scare her too badly. I don't need to go chasing after her when she gets scared, not again. I also need you to help me fight this person, even if you can't always…" she looked unsure how to phrase it. "…er… even if ou can get a little crazy or homicidal."

"I understand." Said Echo. And she did, she really did. "I see things all the time… like how Dawn glows."

"You mentioned that a while ago." Buffy said. "You said she was green?"

Giles asked, "Green?"

"Yes." Said Echo. "She's all green and sparkly, but only when I get really confused."

"Confused… what do you mean?" Giles said, leaning forward, hands pressed to his legs instead of his forehead.

Echo pursed her lips for a minute. "Mostly…. Mostly when I get mixed up and confused about who I am. That's when I can see her like that. Her… her body is there, but it's translucent and swirling and beautiful. It's dangerous too, I can feel it."

"Just perfect." Buffy moaned. "Well, there's nothing we can do now. Maybe we can just have the gang research this new big bad tomorrow, but not mention Dawn?"

"Of course." Giles said, standing and gathering his various books.

"I'll just go to bed." Echo said, slipping away quietly while Buffy worked out a few last details with Giles. She crept up the stairs, stopping by Dawn's room to peer in at the peacefully sleeping teen. She has no idea what's going on… so helpless….

Echo felt like she should go tell Dawn, prepare her for what was inevitable. Of course, there was the main part of her that didn't want to tell her because of Buffy and because she was too innocent to have to go through something like that.

Echo finally turned away, deciding that if anything she would die to protect Dawn.

O.o.O.o.O.

The next day she instead found herself helping carry Buffy's college things out to the waiting car. Buffy had decided to move back home for a while to take care of her Mom and to make sure Dawn was safe. It seemed like a good idea, but Echo could also remember moving the stuff into this room a few weeks earlier.

"You have a lot of CDs." Echo observed, shifting the box of plastic discs. Buffy shrugged. "You like music."

"I'm a fan." She laughed, then grimaced and let the box she was holding slip onto the bed.

"You okay?" asked Riley.

"Oh… yeah. Nothing like getting your ass kicked to make it hurt." She said. "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll get whoever or whatever that person was soon enough."

Willow, who had been distractedly shoving things into a box, handed it to Tara. "Hey, can you take this to the car?"

"Sure, sweetie." Tara took the box, hefting it awkwardly on one hip. "This is heavy… how many weapons do you keep here anyway?"

Buffy said, "If you knew you'd probably have a heart attack."

"Ah." She walked out, smiling a greeting at Dawn, who was coming back from the car.

"Guys, are you all coming to Tara's party tonight?" Willow asked. Echo remembered the mention of Tara's birthday several days ago. "I know we've been busy between this new big bad and whatever is after Echo, but it would mean a lot to her. It's at the Bronze."

Buffy looked skeptical, but nodded. "Oh, yeah… of course. I'll be there, that's for sure."

"I will too." Riley said. That was just an automatic response, Echo knew. Wherever Buffy went, so did Riley.

"Me too, and so is Anya." said Xander. "I just have to explain to her that traditionally the birthday guy or girl is the one that receives presents, not her."

"I wouldn't miss it." Giles assured her.

Echo said, "Of course I'll go." She would have gone even if Buffy wasn't going. Tara was one of the few people that didn't think she was crazy.

Tara walked back in at that moment, making every look away quickly, pretending to be busy with something. Willow dropped her box on the floor, spilling more CDs and pretty blouses on the floor. "Tara! Hi, I was just, um, going to the car… uh… to drop this off and we were just talking about stuff so do you want to come with me?"

"Sure." Tara had to know what was going on, but she didn't say anything. Instead she grinned shyly and winked at Echo as she left with Willow, mouthing "Will you be at the party?"

Echo nodded. She wouldn't miss it for the world.

O.o.O.o.O.

"What should I get her?" Echo asked, sprawled out on Dawn's bed. "I don't know much about birthdays… there's one memory, I think it's from Taffy… there was a cake and a little boy that shoved her face into the cake."

"Oh." Dawn cringed. "Ouch."

Echo shrugged. "Nah… she—I mean I—beat him to a body pulp."

"Oh." Dawn twirled around the room, arms stretched out to make her scarf ripple in the air like water. Echo thought she looked like a bird with her thin frame. "Hey, how does this look?

The dress itself was cerulean blue and just as gorgeous as all the toners. Honestly, Echo didn't think there was a way for Dawn not to look pretty. It seemed to be a Scooby thing. "You look great, just like the other ones."

"Are you lying to make me choose one?" Dawn asked, giving another twirl, but slower to showcase the dress rather than the scarf. "Did Buffy put you up to this?"

"No and no. I think that you look great in all of them and that whatever you pick will be fine." Said Echo. "Besides, it's not like this is prom. Prom is some sort of dance, right?" she had overheard some teens in the grocery store talking about prom in high, trilling voices, discussing dresses and dates. Echo had a feeling that there hadn't been a lot of proms in her past, but they sounded complicated.

"No." Dawn admitted. "I think of it as practice for prom, if I get asked. Like that will ever happen…"

"Of course you will!" Echo was horrified that Dawn would even think she wouldn't be asked. "You're so nice, and you don't put people down… there's got to be someone that will ask you."

"I'm weird." Dawn explained. Her fingers toyed with the lacy edging of the scarf. "I'm out for all sorts of unknown reasons—demon kidnappings, mostly, because that does happen sometimes—I get injured and can't explain why, my sister was wanted for a murder several years ago… the list goes on. I've heard people say, 'Strange things happen at the Summers' house'."

Echo laughed. "But they do."

"I know, I just wish it wasn't so obvious."

Echo wished she could say something believable that would make Dawn feel better, but she had the vaguest feeling that anything she said would sound old and stuffy. "I guess it can suck sometimes."

Dawn said, "Yeah, it really can."

"But you've seen all sorts of things other people haven't. You get to know what goes bump in the night. That's got to be something, right?"

"Yeah." Dawn said, sighing. She dropped the scarf and stepped into the bathroom with another dress. "But it's bad, because I know all the bad things that kill my friends…"

"You know what you do when things get bad, right?" Echo asked. A song had popped into her head, one that she had heard Dawn singing.

"What?"

"Turn up the music."

A giggle, a pause, and then singing. "Take a look around, who would have thought we'd all be here? So let's mess around 'cause the future is unclear. We got nothing better to do, we're just trying to get through. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Yeah…"

Echo grinned. She wasn't that old after all… "Let the music groove you, let the melody move you, feel the beat and just let go. Get the rhythm into your soul, let the music take you anywhere it wants to. When we're stuck and can't get free, no matter what, we'll still be singing come on, come on, turn up the music! It's all we got, we're gonna use it. Come on, come on, turn up the music… yeah…"

Dawn burst from the bathroom, laughing and singing and dancing. "Come on, come on, turn up the music! It's all we go, we're gonna use it. Come on, come on, turn up the music!" her dress was a soft, muted moss green, complementing her eyes. Echo liked it better than all the other ones.

"That one!" she declared, pointing. "I like that dress."

Dawn stopped mid-ballet leap and mid-chorus, toppling to the floor. "Huh?"

"That dress, it's perfect." Echo said. "And you're a good singer."

Dawn blushed. "Thanks. You are to, you know… I never heard Faith sing, so I never knew if she was good."

Echo could remember singing before. "I don't think it's me."

"Someone else, then?"

"Yeah… Jenny. Or maybe it was Jill, or Jordan… I can't really remember. I just know there was a song that I sang over and over. I think it was somewhere big and I was backup."

"Cool! You were famous?" Dawn asked, glazed fangirl eyes setting in. She adopted a pose of ultimate concentration, staring at Echo.

"No, I was there for protection or something." Echo said. There was shooting, and fire, and a screaming girl tied by a rope hanging from a catwalk.

"Oh." Dawn unglued herself from Echo and walked to the mirror. "Makeup?"

"No, you like fine. Shouldn't you get dressed in something more comfortable? We won't be going for a while. Isn't there a Scooby meeting or something?"

Dawn nodded, dashing into the bathroom with pants and a shirt. "Yeah, I forgot."

"Then hurry up!" Echo threw a pillow at the door. "Don't want to miss another meeting about the tings that make you different."

"It would just be devastating to miss that." Dawn teased. "Stop throwing things."

O.o.O.o.O.

At the Magic Box Echo kept getting the feeling that something was horribly wrong. She kept thinking there were footsteps when there weren't, and hovered near Dawn, driving the girl insane.

"Seriously, what's wrong?" Dawn asked for the hundredth time. "If there's nothing wrong you can go research or something, it might be helpful."

"Nothing." Replied Echo tersely. She was sure she had heard something that time…

And suddenly people were screaming and batting their hands at invisible attackers. Dawn shrieked and started flailing her arms to her left until Echo smashed into the invisible assailant and shoved him/her/it away.

"Are you okay?" Echo asked as she forced Dawn under a table.

Dawn nodded. She was panting. "Yeah. Where's Buffy?"

Buffy came crashing through the training room's door and started kicking at one of the invisible attacker. "She's right there."

Echo wanted to help, but the familiar terror from her capture by Spike was coursing through her veins again, and her head was blurring. Dawn asked, "Are you okay?"

"Uh-uh, I feel kind of sick." Echo said. "I'll be fine… it happens sometimes when I get scared."

"You're scared?"

"Hello, invisible people!"

One of the said invisible people smashed at the desk's top, and Echo kicked out blindly. She hit something, heard a grunt, and flailed her legs around until she thought she could hear receding steps, Then again, with all the screeching and banging it was hard to hear anything.

Tara was yelling something now, it sounded like she could see what ever it was attacking everyone. Echo was too scared to leave until she saw the feet of a demon materialize about twelve feet away from the desk.

"What is that?" Dawn asked. Her nose wrinkled. "It's ugly."

The demon heard her and seemed to take offence, charging at them. Echo pulled what fragments of courage she had left and charged at the thing, knees wobbly. She had the feeling she looked very, very drunk. Then it was blurry and there was white spots everywhere and she passed out.

It was pure white, blazing white. Clean, like the Dollhouse. Maybe it was the Dollhouse.

Echo turned. All around her she could see little strings, looping around her waist and then spanning across the great white. They were stunning beautiful, as though woven from life itself.

Oh. She realized. They are.

Each one went far enough until it could expand into a molten ball, projecting separate lives on each one. There was only one that caught her attention.

It was the thickest and by far the brightest. She could feel heat radiating from it and saw that the thread penetrated her chest where here heart was. It led out to the biggest molten ball, on which Faith was racing across a graveyard, after something. Bu8ffy seemed to be behind her.

It didn't make much sense or have sound. Echo stared for the longest time, letting the heat in her chest lull her into a blissful sleep…

"Echo?"

"Dawnie?" Was Dawn in the white world too? Echo opened her eyes to the Magic Box ceiling and Dawn's face. "What happened?"

"Well… you charged at the demon but passed out before you reached him, Tara's evil parents tried to take her because they said she had demon in her but she doesn't because Spike hit her and it hurt him, and then her parents left because we threatened to beat them up. Oh, then I came back here to make sure you weren't dead."

"I appreciate that." She sat up and carefully stretched out her arms and legs. "I seem to be unharmed as well as not dead."

"That's always a good sign." Dawn said. "You think you'll be fine for the party?"

"Always." She couldn't remember the dream—it was slipping away, like all her dreams did—but she had a feeling that Faith could always party.

O.o.O.o.O.

The party was great. Echo had never seen Tara smile as much as she did that night, and everyone was dancing, laughing, drinking… it felt like home.

That is, until Echo saw the strange man walk in and introduce himself to someone as Paul. When he asked for "Faith" her heart nearly stopped. She knew him.

He had kept her from running away from the Dollhouse.

A/N: DA DA DA! That can't be good, can it? And yes, this was not spellchecked.