The Summers Residence.
As Buffy stared into the mirror in her room, she leaned with her palms pressed down against the surface of her dresser and imagined the life she and Dawn had in the future. A possible future. One where she and the Scoobies battled the First Evil, a future where Willow activated all the Slayers on Earth- leading to the appearance of Twilight. A future where Willow became a dark shell of herself and nearly destroyed the world after being taken over by grief. A future where it was Xander who saved the world by getting through to his oldest friend.
And it began with Buffy's death, and then her resurrection. Buffy's palms remained flat on the dresser as she stared at herself in the mirror, and then glanced at the closed door behind which was Dawn… the older Dawn, down the stairs and in the living room alone. Buffy then looked back at the mirror.
She told Dawn, after everyone had left for their homes to absorb everything they learned, that she was going to change into something new and, "then you and me are going to the mall. I want to know everything not demon related, I want to know everything about your life."
After Dawn nodded her head, Willow and Tara said that they were heading back to their dorm room. The both of them had been staying with Buffy and the younger Dawn during the Glory incident because of the fact that there was safety in numbers. Because of that, some of Tara and Willow's clothes were in Joyce's old room while they rest were in their room in the U.C Sunnydale Campus. Before everyone left though, Buffy asked why it was that Dawn was still alive.
"I mean she changed the future, right?" asked Buffy staring at Willow.
Willow explained that it was possible Dawn's intervention may not have necessarily changed the future, at least their future. She further explained that Dawn's intervention may have simply created a branch in the timeline instead of necessarily changing their future. "Technically you did change the future," said Willow as she turned to Dawn while Anya rubbed her chin thoughtfully standing next to Xander, "you changed this future, Dawnie. But I think your future, the one you came from, still exists on it's own timeline. That may not have changed."
"You mean like that… oh… wait…" Xander snapped his fingers together while rubbing the back of his neck deep in thought. His eyes were shifting between Dawn and the floor as he tried to remember the comic book he recently read that had a similar situation. "Oh… oh… oh," Xander excitedly said as he looked up at Dawn and quickened the snapping of his fingers, "Days of Future Past!"
"Huh?" asked Tara while Willow looked on confused at Xander. As did Buffy and the older Dawn. Xander looked at each women looking back at him quizzically before he shook his head and excitedly waved his hands about.
"Come on, the comic book? I just got the graphic novel?" he exclaimed while Giles fixed his glasses. The Watcher was about to say that comic books didn't necessarily apply to real world situations. However, before Giles could say anything, Xander explained the story for the net few minutes, with Anya and Buffy telling him to move on when he began going too deep into certain parts of the story. "Anyway, in the end, Kitty's consciousness is sent back to the future after she helps prevent the assassination. But, guess what, the future didn't change. Her future didn't change."
"Again, that is just a work of fiction," Giles pointed out as he placed his hands on his waist.
"Even so," Buffy said turning back to her sister, "Dawn, this Dawn, is safe and sound. And she's alive."
"If that's true, then Twilight could come here," Dawn furrowed her eyebrows at Buffy and then at the others, "I mean this is another timeline where what could have happened in my future, won't happen. But even then that means Twilight could very well come to this timeline. To this past?"
"We have to remember that Twilight was only able to break into Dawn's future because of the change in the Slayer line," Giles explained. He was still in disbelief about what he had just heard, especially about Twilight and the aftermath of its appearance while he continued, "without that opening, Twilight will not be able to come here. At least that is the hope."
"Willow had the spell memorised," Dawn explained as she turned from Buffy to Tara, to Giles, and the others before turning to Willow. She gazed at her while explaining, "you destroyed the scroll it was written on after memorising the spell, Willow. You didn't want anyone else to know the spell. You told me that the doorway to the past will seal shut after I leave."
"Then we have nothing to worry about," Xander said.
"As long as every Slayer in the world isn't activated," Anya added.
"Of course, Dawn being here could also mean that the future could still happen," Willow said with a shrug, "or that the future will take time to be erased, and…"
"Which means I could still be erased?" asked Dawn as Buffy turned and stared at Willow, and then at Dawn.
"No," Buffy shook her head at Dawn before turning to Willow, the very person the blonde Slayer considered the smartest in the room. She stared at Willow, hoping for her to say 'no' as well.
"We haven't had anyone use a spell to time travel before, Buffy." Willow explained waving her arms, "this is temporal mechanics at work here and…" Willow then looked at the older Dawn, and then back at Buffy with a sigh, along with a rub of the back of her own neck, "and I'll have to do some research on this."
"Especially since this really isn't a movie or anything," Anya pointed out turning to Xander with a frown on her face, "or a comic book."
"Let's say that the future takes time to change," Dawn waved her arms staring at Willow, "and when it does, would I still be here?"
"If you're from our future? From this timeline's future?" Willow whispered while shaking her head, "then no. You'll vanish. At least in theory."
"And everything I want to do? Spend time with you and Tara? With Buffy?" a worried Dawn asked as she stared at Willow.
"We'll remember you," Willow said, "but you'll be erased. Give it a few hours, and…. And…"
"And we'll go out," Buffy said as she placed her arm over Dawn's shoulders. Dawn turned her head and smiled at Buffy while placing her arm across Buffy's back and placing a hand on the Slayer's side. Dawn then tilted her head until it was resting on the side of Buffy's head.
Willow nodded her head before repeating that if the future was being erased slowly, then they would know in a few hours. If the temporal wave wiped the future, it'll travel back in time and take Dawn away as well. If not, if Dawn still remined in Sunnydale by nightfall, then this was a divergent timeline split from the original. Either way, Buffy reiterated to Dawn that they were going to the mall. Tara and Willow said that they didn't have classes that day and so were going to head back to the dorm, and shower before offering to accompany both Dawn and Buffy to the mall.
Dawn and Buffy nodded their heads before Anya and Xander said that they would love to join them, but they had to work at the construction site and the Magic Box respectively. Giles too was unable to join them, although he did tell Dawn that he would like to talk to her more at the Magic Box about what else she knew about the future.
And Dawn nodded her head.
It would be an hour later, after everyone left and Buffy getting ready in her room after she showered, Dawn was standing over the weapons chest Buffy kept in the living room. She reached down and brushed her fingers on the wooden cover before crouching down to open it. Dawn stared at the various weapons in the chest while, at the same time, keeping an ear out for Buffy's door opening. She already made a mental list of her first target few targets; Amy, Warren, Jonathan, and Andrew. Dawn's heart raced as she leaned over and stared at the weapons inside; crossbows, crosses, swords, stakes, and daggers.
Dawn eyed one of the daggers before she hurriedly, but quietly, closed the cover again. And then she closed the latch upon hearing the door to Buffy's room opening.
"Dawn?" yelled Buffy as Dawn walked over to the bottom of the stairs and watched as her sister walked down towards her, "you ready?"
"Yea," Dawn replied as she kept her eyes on her sister. The former Key forgot how young her sister used to be, especially since the battle against Twilight aged her considerably. Now here was Buffy, in her mid-twenties and full of life. Dawn stared at Buffy as the latter held her hand and asked if she wanted to talk. Dawn nodded her head and said, "you didn't die, Buff. If I vanish. If I stop existing, then my younger self has you to look after her."
"You won't vanish," Buffy said as she placed a hand on Dawn's cheek.
And Dawn, for her part, leaned her head into the hand and closed her eye. Buffy stared at her sister, and tried to imagine everything that she had been through. Yes, Dawn described what happened in great detail, but Buffy knew it was completely different than actually experiencing it. There were so many questions going through her mind as Buffy put her arm around Dawn's shoulder while they walked out the front door. Buffy, once they were out on the porch, then turned and locked the door while wondering how Dawn lost her eye. Buffy wanted to know if that person still existed in the past, and she wanted to hurt him or her.
She wanted to hurt whoever it was badly. Very, very badly.
Tara and Willow's Room, Stevenson Hall, fifteen minutes after Buffy and Dawn left the Summers house.
Willow and Tara walked out of the shower, opening the door to their room as steam rose out into the dimly lit room. The both of them were covered in towels as they walked hand in hand towards the closet. Opening the door in silence, they took out their clothes and placed them on the bed behind them before closing the closet doors. Tara and Willow glanced at each other, the former giving the latter a gentle smile as they put on their underwear before reaching for their pants.
What Dawn told them about the future terrified them to no end; especially Willow. Willow couldn't imagine Tara dying, much less she herself killing someone for Tara's death. Her body shook after they got into their room following the revelation, as did Tara when she realised that it would be a year later that she was supposed to die.
It was Willow who was the first to break down as she hugged Tara an hour ago. The redhead told Tara that she didn't want to lose her, and that she was sorry for having killed someone. "I… I swear it was out of anger, and…"
"You didn't do it, sweetie," Tara replied whispering into Willow's ear while tears gathered in her eyes and Willow cried. Her heart was racing while imagining Willow becoming a being who had the potential to end the world out of anger. Tara closed her eyes as she hugged Willow, her hand running through Willow's red hair and whispered, "I'm here. Baby, I'm right here with you. The future's changed, honey."
"We don't know that," Willow whispered as she pulled back, wiped the tears flowing down her cheeks, and stared at Tara, "Tara, I don't know what I'll do if you die, and… and what if I become like the me from Dawn's future if you do die and…" Tara stopped Willow's rambling after leaning in to kiss her passionately on the lips. The both of them held each other tight and continued to kiss before parting, both of them panting, a minute later.
"You won't become like her," Tara whispered leaning forward before their foreheads touched while their hands roved around each other. "But Will, what we do? Helping Buffy, going up against the darkness? You know that one of us, or the both of us could eventually die."
"I know," whispered Willow as she looked away at the carpeted floor, and then back at Tara once again. "But losing you and Buffy and Xander and Giles and… and even Anya, I…"
"If it happens," Tara said with a cracked voice, imagining Willow dying in her arms, "then… then I hope we die together."
Willow then closed her eyes and took in a deep breath while Tara continued to talk, "but that's a big 'what if'." Willow opened her eyes and gazed at Tara who continued, "if Giles can get the Devon coven to help you, then I'll go with you; if you'll have me, that is."
"Of course, d'uh," Willow replied as she placed a hand on the back of Tara's neck, "I want you there with me, baby."
It was then that the both of them kissed once again. A few minutes later, the both of them started to peel each others clothes off before Tara gently pushed Willow down onto the bed. It would be several minutes later that the two of them, panting heavily, rushed off into the shower where they spent the remainder of the time... enjoying each other's company under a stream of warm water.
Back to the present day, Tara put on a shirt before asking, "I wonder if Dawn has a boyfriend she hasn't told us about."
"That's the big question you want to ask?" asked Willow arching an eyebrow at her girlfriend before putting on a pastel shirt, "really?"
"Oh?" asked Tara as she took a step towards Willow and wrapped her arms around the latter's back. She pulled Willow close while the redhead wrapped her arms around Tara and smile, "what do you wanna ask her?"
"Dawn said I did something that made you leave me," Willow whispered as she looked into Tara's eyes, "there's a part of me that wants to know what it was and… and another part that's terrified t know. Terrified to known what I could have done that was so bad you have to leave me."
AS Tara stared into Willow's emerald coloured eyes, it was a question that had been in the back of Tara's mind as well. She wanted to know what happened to cause her to leave Willow, but at the same time she didn't want to know. Tara mentally told herself that the future was changing, and that what happened in Dawn's future may not happen in this particular present. But Tara also knew that Willow was susceptible to jumping into the deep end of magic without thinking, 'maybe it was some spell she did that made me leave her?'
"We'll ask her together," Tara whispered as Willow nodded her head. But there was something in the back of both of their minds telling them it wasn't an answer they were going to like.
"I need to know so that I don't do it in our present," Willow whispered. And Tara nodded her head in support.
It was just then that there was a knock on their door. Tara and Willow looked at their wall clock and then back at each other. "Who is it?" asked Tara after she leaned in and kiss Willow on her lips, and then turned towards the door.
"It me," Buffy said from the other side of the door, "me and Dawn."
"Hey, you guys ready to go?" Buffy said after Tara opened the door and then stepped aside while telling Buffy and Dawn to get into the room.
"We're ready to go," Willow said as she strode over and stood next to Tara. Dawn looked around the room, and smiled before looking back at Tara and Willow.
"It's just like I remember," Dawn said with a gentle smile on her face just as she heard a squeak from behind Willow and Tara, next to the bed behind them. Dawn looked over Willow's shoulder before walking around her towards the white coloured cage with a running wheel and a bottle of water with a spout that travelled into the cage. And in the contraption was a grey furry rat which was up on its hind legs and staring at Dawn who had her jaws locked, and rage in her eyes.
Tara sensed the anger coming off of Dawn as she and Willow walked over and stood next to the older woman. Buffy walked up to Dawn and looked at the cage, and then at Dawn, "well, that's Amy. Is she… you know… alive after Twilight appeared?"
"No," Dawn said as she turned to Buffy, "she died." Dawn then looked back at the rat and thought to herself, 'I'm coming for you soon, Amy.' Dawn turned back to her sister with a shrug of her shoulders and then turned to Willow and Tara, "should we, you know, get going?"
"Ye.. yeah," Willow said nodding her head while Tara asked Dawn, as she sensed her anger growing, if everything was alright.
"Amy was in love with the person that killed Tara," Dawn said as Buffy turned her head towards Amy with narrowed eyes and, in the meantime, Willow and Tara looked at each other in stunned silence before turning back to Dawn. "After Willow killed him, Amy resurrected him and…. Yeah. Anyway, he nearly killed Willow in revenge. But Buffy stopped him."
"We should still change her back into a human," Tara said after taking a deep breath, "she doesn't deserve to be…"
"She deserves everything she gets," Dawn said as she turned her head and stared at Amy, and then back at Willow and Buffy, "trust me."
"She can still change, Dawnie," Buffy pointed out.
"Maybe, maybe not," Dawn said looking at her sister. She knew in the back of her mind that Buffy wouldn't help her with what needed to be done. Dawn and Amy weren't friends, not the way that Willow and Buffy were friends with her. 'The both of them would want to make sure she becomes human.' Dawn crouched down as she memorized the rat's colour while it looked up at Dawn, 'and Tara's not going to go along with what I want to do. Now, all I need to do is get access to a computer, find a place that has exotic pets, and then find a rat that looks just like Amy.'
Dawn then stood back up and turned, "so, the mall?"
"Yep," Buffy said as she placed her arm around Dawn's shoulder and walked towards the door past Willow and Tara. The two witches looked at each other for a few seconds, before following behind Buffy and Dawn out the door. Tara couldn't help but feel unease at the anger that had been coming off of Dawn when she was staring down Amy. As she closed the door behind her while Willow rushed up to Dawn and held her hand, Tara couldn't help but wonder what Dawn was thinking, 'and do I even want to know.'
TBC.