Disclaimer : Nothing's mine (sadly)

I don't know what's more amazing, the reviews or the fact that 101 are tracking this story... After that, are they reading? It's another story. Or it could be depressing... so many people and so few who take two seconds to let a nice word for the author.

I decided to see that as an amazing thing! So thank you thank you thank you for all of you who took time to review. ^_^

Now, I let you with this chapter. Take a deep breath in guys, you'll need it for the coming chapters!

Enjoy !

Chapter Twenty Two

A Direct Path to Hell

Three days after her arrival, Dawn wasn't fairing any better at Torchwood. Everyone was polite — but very cold. They talked to her when they had too, but that was it. The entire thing depressed her a bit. Her only comfort was that Buffy glared at them for it, clearly not happy with their behaviour.

Dawn had finally met the last woman on the team: Gwen Cooper Williams. And it didn't go very well. The brunette was frank and had simply said that someone who could betray her own blood wasn't someone she wanted to work with, and even less talk to. Since then she had barely glanced at her.

So after three days, Dawn had a great urge to jump on the next plane home and go cry on Derek's shoulder.

Buffy looked at her sister, who was apparently lost in her own little world. She was a bit angry with her co-workers.

Ianto appeared in front of her, "We're waiting for you."

Every night, she would train them, teaching them all the basics. Simple movements to survive an encounter with a stronger opponent. Key things to remember, like not getting too angry, waiting for the other to come and using his own momentum against them. And especially to use their environment—teaching them to use everything they could reach as a weapon. She nodded and the man disappeared.

Dawn never came. She had never been invited. So she spent most of her time bent over papers, files, books and photos. She kept her distance from everyone. The Blonde couldn't remember her ever appearing so calm and mature. Buffy stood up and walked over to her.

Her younger sister looked up at her with sad eyes and Buffy felt a little guilty. She hated that feeling. She had tried to talk to her team-mates about their behaviour towards Dawn. But they were just so damn stubborn! It didn't help and they still barely talked to her and Buffy hadn't made a single move to help her sister. It was time to correct that.

"I could use some help with the training."

Dawn's eyes rounded in surprised, "Really?"

"They're overconfident. They think they understand everything. You can prove them wrong."

"Me? How?"

"You're used to fighting stronger opponents. You know what has to be done to survive. You're really good with fighting."

She wasn't lying. Even if Buffy had been reluctant to let Dawn fight, after the Glory mess, she had let her. They had discovered that being made from her gave Dawn a little help in some areas. Like fighting. She was fully aware of her inferiority and had started quickly to use her brain to make up for that handicap. After years of practise—and kidnappings—she was really good. Still being alive was pretty solid proof of that.

"I don't think they'll appreciate me being there," said the brunette.

The Slayer sighed.

"Listen Dawn, I'm sorry for the way they're treating you."

"You shouldn't be. They really care about you."

"And I care about them."

"So, that's good."

"Are you coming?"

"If you're sure you want me."

After a pause, the Blonde said, "Yes, I'm sure."

They smiled at each other before going downstairs. During the trip, Buffy explained to her sister what she wanted her to do. The rest of the team was waiting, doing the warm up exercises she had shown them. If some of them made a face when they saw Dawn, they didn't say anything. They got the impression from Buffy's look that if they did, the training would be much worse than usual. And being killed by one of their own wasn't what they were looking for. They wouldn't say it out loud but they were a little afraid of the tiny woman.

Both Summers stood in the middle of the room. The Slayer searched for her first victim and smiled sweetly at Owen.

"Come on Rude Guy, you first."

He scowled but stepped forward. What he didn't expect was for Buffy to walk away, leaving him alone with her annoying little sister.

"What the Bloody..."

He didn't have time to finish. A foot caught him below the ribs, knocking the air from his lungs. He folded in half, his arms instinctively coming up to cover his midsection. Something that his doctor mind identified as an elbow hit the back of his neck hard and he fell to the floor. Little stars danced through his vision. It all took maybe three seconds and he was left the sudden urge to puke. A tiny hand helped him into a sitting position.

He glared at Buffy who just shrugged. "Swearing first will get you killed one day."

"It's just training!"

"People can try to kill you any time," replied Dawn.

Buffy nodded. "Listen to her, she knows what she's talking about."

Gwen glared at Dawn, "But it's only training. Warning him they were about to start would have been nice."

The Key crossed her arms on her chest and sent her best death glare, "What do you think? That the bad guy is going to wait until you're ready before coming at you?" She turned towards her sister: "How are they still alive if this is their way of thinking?"

Buffy shook her head sadly. "Sometimes, I wonder..."

Jack stopped Gwen from responding. He had stayed quiet and just watched. He studied the younger woman with all seriousness. After all, she had nearly knocked out his doctor. Okay, she caught him by surprise but her movements were precise. She didn't hesitate one second. She was the Slayer's little sister, that would mean something, right?

"Is there something you want to tell us by doing this?" he asked her.

She stared at him with her big blue expressive eyes and he didn't like what he saw. A mix of seriousness and... fear? She nodded, "If you're childish enough to argue about something as small as that, you're not going to survive what's coming."

Buffy looked at her sister and didn't like her expression.

"Dawnie, what do you mean?"

"I meant what I said. These big baddies of yours, they're really bad. And really smart. I'm sure they will be among the biggest threat you have ever faced. After the First of course. So throwing a tantrum because I didn't warn him about the start of the session leaves me wondering if they're ready for the big fight. You too. Because if you're not, we're doomed."

The Slayer didn't like what she was hearing. "Dawn...?"

The brunette sighed, "Maybe it would be best if we're all sitting around a table upstairs."

They all looked to Jack for his answer. Such good soldiers they were. He nodded and they made their way upstairs. Before anyone else could, Tosh helped Owen to his feet and kept him from falling during the short journey. Buffy watched them with a bit of remorse. She had been trying to keep her distance from the doctor but she hadn't succeeded. They had slept together several times more. It was bad but oh so good at the same time. She shook her head. It wasn't a good time to be thinking off all that.

Five minutes later, they were sitting around the big table in the meeting room. Ianto was at work making some coffee and the rest waited for him. As always, he worked quickly and efficiently, soon distributing his divine beverage. He handed one to Dawn who smiled at him pleasantly. Jack looked at the Key. "We're all yours."

She took a deep breath, "First, do you all know what a Hellmouth is?"

They nodded and the Captain replied, "Buffy explained it to us. It's some sort of mystical hot spot; attracting all kinds of demons and that real bad things happen around them."

Dawn nodded and added, "It's also a place where the fabric between our world and the Hells is really thin. That's why the magic is always so powerful. And why demons find it so attractive. They try to free Hellish armies on Earth. And it's the best spot to do that."

Gwen held her hand up. The Key stopped and looked at her. The ex-cop asked, "I don't understand why we're talking about Hellmouths."

"There's a theory about the creation of a Hellmouth. Some people have tried to understand them for a long time and say that they appear in places where dark magic has been performed in high proportion; where lots of blood and tears have been shed; and where deaths have been numerous, brutal and unnatural."

"If that's the case, there should be thousands of Hellmouths all around the world," Owen interrupted.

Dawn glared at him, "Maybe if you would be so kind as to stop interrupting me, I could finish and you would understand."

She waited a couple of seconds before going on, "The problem with what I'm describing is that after a death, the life force would just dissolve into thin air with only a vague reminder lingering. So for a Hellmouth to be created, it would take a lot of deaths. It would take centuries."

"But that's just a theory?" Buffy asked.

"Yep. Sunnydale's Hellmouth was created centuries ago. At first, it was really small. Over the years, it got bigger. Then the Mayor came to town and fed it over the century he was there, giving it what it needed to eventually become the Hellmouth we knew."

The Slayer frowned, "Stop me if I'm wrong: a lot of violent deaths plus a lot of dark magic over a long period of time gave birth to a teeny tiny baby Hellmouth. And then the more it was fed, the more it grew and the more active it became?"

"Exactly. Look at Sunnydale, it took maybe a millennia to become such an active Hellmouth. It existed when the first occidental men set foot on the continent. When we closed it, Cleveland became the biggest one."

Suddenly, Buffy stopped listening as the others began asking questions about how a Hellmouth worked. All the pieces of the puzzle clicked together and she was finally able to see the big picture. It couldn't be... She felt the familiar buzz of the Rift behind her.

"Life forces..." she whispered.

"What?"

She shook her head and looked at her sister, "They selected happy families and killed them, one by one, beginning with the children. Killed them in front of their parents. They created pain, sadness, desperation: pure hopelessness. Then they collected all the life forces, full of those dark feelings. Those lives, so violent ended, snatched with an awful bit of dark magic. They gathered it so they'd be able to free it later, all at once, to create a Hellmouth."

Owen laughed, perhaps a little desperately. "They can't do that. Dawn just said it takes years to create one."

"Because normally life forces dissipate," answered Buffy. "But not here. Because they're keeping them. They take the purest souls they can find and pervert them in their deaths."

Jack understood where she was going, "If they release it all at once, it would be like they made every sacrifice at the same time. They're creating a magical bomb."

Dawn nodded. "Yes. And it's going to be huge if they set it off because there won't just be human life forces in there, but demons and aliens too. Look at our planet. There are three worlds existing together: ours—the human one; the ancient world with all the demons; and finally, the alien world."

"They've killed species from the three worlds represented on Earth," the Slayer said.

Her vision came back full force, "To create a Hellmouth, humans and demons would have been enough. But they chose to do it in Cardiff. They want to use the Rift. That's why they killed Weevils too, so they could have a link to the Rift."

"How would killing Weevils create a link to the Rift?" asked Gwen.

"Because Weevils came through it," Jack explained. "They're covered in Rift energy from their trips through it, so when whoever or whatever killed them and collected their life forces, they collected some Rift energy too."

"It's a way to link all of it together," Dawn added. "So their Hellmouth is going to take energy from the Rift, maybe even meld with it. At least, that's what they want."

"I think they want to jump directly to the gate to Hell part. No detours; they're going right to the Apocalypse bit. And what better place to do it than Cardiff with its unending Rift energy?" Buffy asked.

Owen was frowning hard, trying to grasp what was being explained to everyone, but his mind didn't seem to want to fathom it. He crossed his arms. "Okay, say that this explanation—as crazy and unbelievable as it is—is the right one: why now? The Rift has been here forever! Why now?"

They looked at Buffy expectantly. The Slayer shrugged, "Because they never thought of it before? Or maybe they have, and if we look in the Council's records we'll find evidence that it's been tried before. I don't know. Jack, you keep saying that this is when everything is going to change. Maybe this is part of it. Or maybe these guys felt that something was going on and that they could use it to their advantage. I have no idea. I mean, this whole thing is insane! But I've heard and seen crazier things and this is only speculation."

The Torchwood team was having a hard time believing the two Summers. After all, they were talking about apocalypses and Hellmouths. Invasions and aliens, they could understand. But the end of the world? Magic? Hell on Earth? That was way beyond their field of expertise. Dawn looked at Buffy.

"Whoever is planning this has thought about it for a while. It's the project of a lifetime Buffy! These guys don't understand it. And you and me… I can do magic but not on this scale. It's too big. We need the big guns here and you know it."

Her sister was pleading. They watched the two girls stare at each other. Buffy was frowning and very sombre looking. She didn't look pleased.

"What are you implying?" Ianto finally asked.

Dawn looked at them. "I'm saying that you know nothing about magic. Buffy can't perform it and I'm just a novice witch. We need an expert. So we need the biggest gun we have right now because we won't get a second chance."

Buffy made it clear for everyone, "She's saying that we need Willow."

¤ ¤ tbc ¤ ¤