Angel Investigations, now.
"Angel!" Cordelia's pained voice screamed out as she pressed a hand against the side of her head while her other hand grasped the top edge of the front desk at the Hyperion Hotel, the latest headquarters for Angel Investigations. She was heading for Angel's office to meet with Gunn, Wesley, and Fred… their newest addition… when a sudden vision provided by the Powers that Be hit her. She felt the back of her skull burning as she stumbled forward and screamed out in pain. The sensation of pain reached the left side of her head as a worried Angel rushed out of the back office and towards the brunette who had tears coming out of her eyes.
Behind Angel, Gunn and the others rushed out to find him helping a pained Cordelia towards the sofa in the hotel lobby. Once she was sat down, Angel stepped back to let her catch her breath while the others stood next to him. Fred crouched down next to Cordelia and held her hand before looking back towards Angel. She could see the worry etched on his face before she turned back towards Cordelia once again.
Ever since returning to Earth from Pylea, Fred had been just starting to get used to her old life. She admired and had a crush on her saviour in Pylea, Angel, and then met with Gunn and Wesley… both of whom were attracted to her, and then she met Cordelia. At that time, Cordelia was made queen in Pylea… but they all escaped back to Earth after a revolt by humans on that world. It would be later, after their return, that Fred was told about Cordelia's visions and the pain they brought her.
And this looked to be much worse as Fred watched Cordelia's face twist in pain while trying to stifle a scream.
"Cordy?" Angel whispered kneeling down after taking a step forward and placing a hand on the side of her tear stained left cheek, "I'm sorry to ask you this when… when you're in so much pain. But…" Angel took a deep breath before asking, "what do you see?"
"Dar… Darla," Cordelia said to the surprise of everyone there, except for Fred who asked about the aforementioned Darla.
"Someone I don't want to see… someone I thought left LA," Angel answered recalling the threat he made to the vampire after their night of sex before he found himself having regained his confidence to help others help themselves, "I told her to never come back to the city. I heard she left with…"
"I… I see blood," Cordelia whispered as she opened her eyes and stared into Angles, "Darla burning and turning to ash… and… Angel…" Cordelia's eyes were wide open in shock, something that worried the Vampire, "she… she's pregnant."
"What?" Angel gasped in disbelief while Gunn looked on in worry. He then looked to Wesley who seemed to be deep in thought, his face too etched with worry. Gunn looked away and towards Fred who was confused. She too knew that Vampires couldn't have children. There was no way for that to happen. Angel turned his head towards the people around him, and saw the disbelief on their faces before turning back to Cordelia, "Cordy, that is not possible. Vampires cannot have children."
"You did say that Darla seduced you, Angel," Gunn said, but before anyone could continue, what Cordy said next chilled them to the bone.
"A… a dagger… a dagger… I.. I… Dawn? Dawn is holding a dagger," Cordelia stated with her eyes narrowed as if she was looking at something far-away, "one.. one eye. She has one eye, she looks like Dawn, and…"
"Who's Dawn?" Fred asked as Angel snapped his head towards a surprised Wesley.
"Dawn's only fourteen," Wesley said, his mind unable to connect what Cordelia was telling them with the girl he knew when he was Buffy's watcher.
"And there's no way that Buffy would send her here, at least not without telling me," Angel said looking back at Cordelia, and then back to the confused looks on Fred and Gunn. He then explained, "Dawn is Buffy's sister." He then saw the look of confusion on Fred's face when she asked about Buffy. It was Gunn who responded that Buffy was Angel's ex-girlfriend. And Angel swore he saw a glint of happiness in Fred's eyes when Gunn mentioned that Angel and Buffy were no longer together. Thinking nothing of it, Angel turned back towards Cordelia who was now panting as she grasped his shoulders.
The pain seemed to be lifting from her head as she nodded before whispering, "that hurt… more than usual I mean… like the Powers were angry or something."
"Cordy," Angel said as he held her right hand, "are you sure about what you saw?"
"I saw Darla, Angel," Cordelia said, "she was burning, and… and I saw Dawn…" Cordelia then took a deep breath, "she had one eye, the other one had a patch with a scar and… and she was older. I mean yeah, she should be older now but… but the one I saw is much older than she should be. Like she's in her late-twenties or early thirties. And she was holding a dagger."
"Do you know where they are?" Angel asked.
"Yeah, about fifteen minutes from here, I have the address," Cordelia said. Angel looked to Wesley, who nodded his head before running towards the front desk. Angel turned back to Cordelia who was staring back at him, "I saw… I saw such anger. After Dawn killed…"
"Cordy," Gunn said, "this… whoever this was can't be the Slayer's sister. It has to be someone else. I mean this girl has to be like fourteen? So how can a fourteen-year-old…"
"It's Dawn," Cordelia said shaking her head while Wesley rushed back with a pen and paper, handing them over to Angel, "she's older, but it's Dawn. I know it is… and.. and after she's done with Darla…"
"What else did you see?" Angel asked.
"You and me," Cordelia said staring at Angel, "she's coming after us. She kills us and.. and then…"
"Then?" Angel asked, with a serious look on his face, "Cordelia?"
"Darkness," Cordelia said softly as she recalled a darkness that covered the world, "I saw darkness taking over the world."
"Give me the address," Angel said handing Cordelia the pen and paper. He then turned to Gunn, telling him that the both of them were going to the address while Wesley was going to call Buffy and get to the bottom to what was going on with Dawn.
The Magic Box.
The younger Dawn was studying while Anya was stocking the shelves and checking prices of the various Knick-knacks on the shelves. She had some math homework that needed to be completed, and as she sighed while going down to the next problem, her mind went back to her older self and what she was doing in Los Angeles.
'Maybe the guy I meet in the future is hot as hell now?' Dawn thought to herself while staring at the math problem, her eyes scanned the numbers and letters on the same algebraic equation for the past six minutes, 'man… I wanna see him.' Dawn then sighed, put her pen down, and leaned back on the chair and placed her hands behind her head, her fingers interlocked with each other as she looked up at Giles who was writing something down in the very diary that Dawn and Spike once sneaked in to search.
The very same diary where Giles had written down about Dawn being the Key.
"What'cha doin?" Dawn gleefully asked as she leaned forward, placing her arms on the table. She glanced at Anya looking back at her, and then at Giles, before going back to what she was doing earlier- checking the prices against a master list in her hand, "what'cha writing?" Dawn asked as she got up and hopped over to the counter as Giles frowned at the young girl and closed the book.
"I'm just putting down my thoughts about your older self," Giles said, putting the diary back into the not-so-secret compartment under the counter.
"And?" Dawn asked with an eyebrow arched upwards, and a grin on her face. She thought that he Watcher was going to say that her older self was, in Dawn's own words, very 'cool'. But what Giles said was something different.
"She's been through a lot," Giles said as he placed his hands on the glass countertop, "she has seen and done things that I cannot imagine." He could see that Dawn was about to say something, but before she did, Giles explained, "years of war. Dawn… it changes people," Giles focused on the girl in front of him, trying not to see her as the woman who arrived from the future, "Buffy and I never wanted any of this for you. None of us did."
"But she's already been through hell," Anya said from where she was standing before she looked back and walked towards the table in the middle of the shop, "and she did what she had to do."
"I was getting to that, Anya," Giles said.
"I…."
Before Giles could continue, the phone to his left started to ring. Giles signalled to Dawn that they would finish their conversation at another time before he reached out for the wireless phone and connected the call.
"Magic Box, we meet all your magical needs," Giles said as Dawn rolled her eyes at the slogan.
"Mr. Giles, this is Wesley Wyndham-Price."
"Ah, Wesley," Giles said straightening up while Dawn raised her eyebrows in surprise at hearing the name of Buffy's former Watcher- more like the temporary Watcher, "how is Los Angeles?"
"That's why I'm calling," Wesley said as he watched the doors to the hotel close after Gunn and Angel, his jacket over his head, rushed out to the car, "Mr. Giles, as you are aware, Cordelia receives visions from the Powers That Be."
"Of course," Giles said, his voice showing concern. He heard from Angel that Cordelia receives visions, but those vision come with debilitating pain for the former Scooby. He had been trying to find out ways for her human psychology to take on the visions with little to no side-effects, but so far there was nothing he could find, "is Cordelia alright?"
At hearing Cordelia's name, Dawn silently mouthed if she was alright too.
Giles nodded his head while Wesley, back in LA, then asked, "Mr. Giles, I know this is going to be a strange question, but is Dawn in Sunnydale with you?"
"I'm staring at her right now," Giles said looking at Dawn. It was then he realized that no one bothered to let Angel and the others know about the older Dawn. 'Well, we didn't have a reason to tell them until, and unless, there was a need for them to know. And the older Dawn was saying she was going there to meet a friend she knew in the future. Maybe Angel and his team met her, and she's there in the Hyperion Hotel with them.' Giles then rubbed the back of his head before asking Wesley why it was that he needed to know.
"I see," Wesley said in surprise, looking over at Cordelia who was just as surprised when he continued, "she's right there with you." It was then that Giles asked why he needed to know about Dawn's whereabouts. "Mr. Giles, Cordelia just received a vision of someone who looked like an older Dawn with, as ridiculous as it sounds, she wears an…"
"Eye patch?" Giles said looking at the younger Dawn.
"Yes," Wesley said surprised, "Mr. Giles? How do you…."
"What was the vision about?" Giles interrupted as Dawn furrowed her eyebrows and Anya walked over to the counter upon hearing the worry in Giles' voice. Giles was thinking that Cordelia had seen the older Dawn getting into an accident, but he never expected what Wesley told him next.
"This woman killed a pregnant Darla, and then she killed Angel and Cordelia," Wesley said as Cordelia stood up from the couch and walked over to the front desk where Wesley was speaking on the phone.
"Wait, Darla? As in…." Giles shook his head. While the return of Darla was worrisome, especially when she was supposed to have been killed by Buffy and Angel years ago, Giles wanted to bring the conversation back to the older Dawn. His mind raced about why Dawn would kill Darla, and why she would even want to kill Angel and Cordelia, "Wesley, are you certain? About Dawn, I mean?"
"Yes," was the reply from Wesley, who continued, "Mr. Giles, what is…"
"Listen to me very carefully," Giles said with a frown wondering what the older Dawn was doing, and why she really needed to go to Los Angeles, "there's something you need to know."
As Wesley listened to the story Giles was telling him, his eyes went wider and wider in surprise. His mouth hung open while Cordelia stared at him when he whispered, "are you certain? Are you absolutely certain? Twilight? She's from the future? A future…" Cordelia was confused as she stared at Wesley who placed his free hand over his mouth, "dear Lord."
"What is it?" Cordelia asked, "what do you mean by the future? And Twilight? What's Twilight?"
"I… of course, I… I'll contact Angel and Gunn, they went to…." Wesley was stunned while his mind tried to process the new information, "she.. she's an older Dawn from the future? Are you certain?"
"What?" Cordelia asked, her disbelief showing on her face.
"I…. I understand…" Wesley said shaking his head after Giles answered his questions, "I'll contact Gunn and Angel. I'll have them bring her in to the Hyperion before she can do anything bad… I hope."
"I'll contact Buffy and the others," Giles said, "we'll leave for Los Angeles in about an hour. Do you know where she is?"
"We… we do," Wesley said, his expression mirroring his shock.
Giles was stunned, to say the least. He knew that Cordelia's visions were scarily accurate, and that the Powers would send her visions to prevent incidents that had the possibility to cause apocalypse level events. He heard from Angel of some of the disasters that were prevented through the use of her visions.
'Darla… Darla the vampire has returned, and she's pregnant? With who's child? And why is she and the child important?' Giles was ignoring Anya and Dawn's calls from across the counter as he thought, 'Dawn, why did Cordelia see you kill Darla? Why do you want to kill Angel and Cordelia? What do they have to do with the future you come from?' And then he had a terrible thought, 'what else have you done? What about Andrew and Jonathan? Have they really done what you said or… or… Damn it, Dawn.'
Giles then looked up after Anya gently shoved his shoulder, "Dawn, Anya."
"Giles?" Dawn asked, slight fear in her voice, "what's going on?"
"Dawn.. I… I mean the older Dawn…" Giles shook his head while mumbling to himself. He then looked up at the younger Dawn and ordered, "call Buffy." Giles then took a deep breath, "Call Buffy, Willow, Tara…. Everyone. We're leaving for LA."
"But…" Dawn said before being interrupted.
"We're going to LA," Giles said once again, "get ready."
Outside an apartment complex, several minutes out of LA.
Dawn stopped the Jeep in front of a dilapidated six storey apartment complex a few minutes away from a sign that welcomed travellers to LA. This was the closest place where she discovered one of her targets, Darla. And on the drive over from the parking complex, she was thinking back to her last day with Willow. They were in the tent, a soundproof shield surrounding them, and Willow had asked her a question she never expected.
"Marry me?" Willow had asked. Dawn remembered her reaction of surprise lasting for a few seconds before she had a smile on her face. A smile reflected on Willow as she rolled Dawn onto her back and lay on top of her.
"Yes, I want to marry you, Willow," Dawn remembered answering as she leaned back on the drivers seat and closed her eye. It was their last day together and Dawn wanted the two of them to have memories of happiness, something that was missing from their world. Dawn loved Willow, and the feeling was mutual; there was no question, and they were exceedingly happy with each other. But with the end of their time together coming soon, Willow and Dawn wanted one final moment of happiness.
No rings were shared. No other words were spoken. Willow pushed Dawn's hands over her head, her fingers interlaced between Dawn's fingers and leaned down to passionately kiss the brunette on her lips. Before long, the two of them celebrated their union in privacy before falling asleep… one holding the other tight. Until the last battle, Willow and Dawn were happy… truly happy. It was just the two of them as they slept, the world around them had vanished. And they were truly happy
And then, it was all over. Dawn had a mission. And as she stepped into the portal that would take her back through time, Dawn knew that one part of her mission was complete. She was stepping into the past… but she watched her lover, wife, and best friend die before she stepped through to the past and saved her younger self and her sister.
Dawn sighed as she opened her eye, while her two hands remained on the steering wheel, and a tear streamed down her cheek from her good eye. Taking her hands off the wheel, she grabbed the ignition key with one hand while the other hand wiped the tears away. She then opened the door, grabbed the dagger from the passenger seat, got out and stepped onto the curb while she put the sheathed dagger behind her, between her jeans and the small of her back while the blouse she was wearing covered the hilt. Closing the door to the driver's side, Dawn looked around and saw the streets were not as busy with only a few cars driving by, and four other cars parked on both sides of the street.
The one-eyed woman then looked at the entrance to the building in front of her while casting a small spell that would misguide anyone, including Tara, if they searched for her using a location spell. Dawn wasn't aware if Buffy called Angel to explain what was happening, but Dawn couldn't take the chance; if they wanted to search for her using a spell, they would get a different location
'Even if Buffy did call Angel, how will she explain who I am?' Dawn thought to herself as she walked up the stairs to the apartment entrance. She then whispered a spell that disabled the lock on the door and walked right into the building, 'that doesn't matter now'. Dawn reached the stairs and looked up the first flight of stairs, 'the location spell told me she's on the fifth floor, two floors to the right from the stairs.' Dawn started walking up the stairs while thinking, 'she should be pregnant now. Connor should be eight months along now.'
Dawn told herself there was no other choice, that Connor would herald the coming of Jasmine to Earth. She and Willow always suspected that her coming was one of the reasons why the First was able to come on strong in this realm, Jasmine's birth caused cracks in the thin layer of 'skin' that shielded this reality and dimension from others, 'it was Buffy's resurrection that was the main reason the First was able to manifest, but it was Jasmine's birth that cause the First to accelerate its plans against the Slayers and Potentials.'
'Connor's death is a way to…' Dawn stopped thinking as she walked, her expression now grim, 'I'm killing a child for something he… he hasn't done.' Reaching the floor where Darla's apartment was located, Dawn stopped and gripped the bannister tight until her knuckles were as white as a sheet, 'I have to do this.' Dawn rubbed the side of her head with her free hand, 'I have to do this. I can't take a risk… not with the future. Not with Buffy's life, not with…' Dawn thought of the redhead, 'not with Willow's life'. She brought the hand that was rubbing the side of her head and placed it in front of her, she looked at her ring finger, and recalled Willow's face… the Willow that she once knew, 'we agreed this needed to be done, Willow. I know I have to do this… I know it.' Dawn then walked towards Darla's room while reaching back under her blouse, grabbing the handle of the dagger, and then drawing it out of its sheath.
Upon reaching the door, Dawn took in a deep breath and put on a mask of resolve. She reached out, rolled her left hand into a fist while she tightened her hold on the handle of the dagger with her right hand. Dawn knocked hard on the door. She was ready to stab the dagger into Darla's abdomen, and then she was going to slit Darla's throat before she reminded herself, 'she's a vampire… she's a vampire again. Stabbing her won't work. It will kill the child, but not her.'
"Hold on!" a female voice yelled from the other side of the door, bringing Dawn out of her own thoughts.
'I can't take the risk,' Dawn thought upon hearing footsteps coming towards the door from inside the apartment. She still gripped her dagger tight, 'I have to use that spell… I can't the risk of stabbing her, and the baby still surviving.' Dawn looked on as the door opened, and her eyes was greeted by a confused, and very pregnant Darla.
"Yes?" Darla asked, furrowing her eyebrows as if trying to remember the one-eyed face looking back at her.
"What I do now," Dawn said looking into her confused eyes, "I do for the future, for all humanity."
"Who…"
"Ignis," Dawn said before she stumbled back and hit the wall while blood started to drip from her nose. She knew that using the spell was too soon after using it on Warren, but there was no other choice. She watched, while panting, as Darla vamped up. She was going to dash out towards Dawn, but before she could, she grabbed her abdomen. And she screamed out in anguish as she hunched forward and looked down at her extended belly. She morphed back to her human face as tears streamed down while she screamed. Dawn saw Darla go down to her knees before the former stumbled away from the door and towards the stairs.
Dawn hear the screams get louder as she reached the stairs. She felt her strength waning as she started to go down one step at a time. Dawn could already smell the burning stench of flesh coming down the stairs as several doors on the fourth floor opened and heads looked out into the hallway. One of the tenants yelled at the screams coming from the fifth floor, telling the person screaming to "shut the hell up".
And Dawn continued down the stairs, 'for the future. This is for the future. Everything I do, I do to ensure the hell I came from never comes to be.' Dawn then rushed out of the entrance, down the stairs, and to the Jeep. She got in, not wanting to be around when the stench got so bad that when someone had to go up to the fifth floor to check on the stench that wafted though the entire building; and all they would found was blackened ash on the floor. Dawn then turned the ignition, and drove away while still catching her breath. As she turned into a corner, she never saw the heavily tinted car that screeched to a stop in front of Darla's apartment building.
She never saw Gunn and Angel rush into the building. Instead, she parked the Jeep several blocks down and tuned off the ignition. She leaned back on her seat and closed her eye as tears streamed down her face. Dawn started to sob as she recalled the Connor she knew back in her old life- he was smart, he was brave, and although he was a pain towards Angel and the Scoobies in the beginning, he was a staunch ally in the battle against Twilight after the living dimension took over his father.
And now, Connor was dead by Dawn's own hand.
Dawn knew it needed to be done. But she still couldn't help but sob as she recalled Darla's pained expression. It was Connors birth that would set the events for Jasmine's coming, and it would be her coming that would shatter the veil between dimensions and realities leading to the First taking more control. That's what Dawn kept on repeating to herself.
But preventing that event meant Dawn had to sacrifice the good man she had once known.
As Dawn sobbed loudly with her arm over her eyes, her heart ached. And she knew this wasn't the end.
The Higher Plains.
Meanwhile, in the higher plains, a Power yelled out in rage. Her herald was dead… the once who was supposed to be her progenitor was dead. The man destined to be her human 'father' was dead. All that remained was her conduit. The Power known as Jasmine looked out towards Cordelia, her conduit- the vision she sent the blonde was sent too late. And now, Cordelia was in danger.
'She has to be willing to ascend,' Jasmine thought to herself as she hid away from the other Powers, 'I will send her another vision of her death. Perhaps she and her friends can prevent it long enough for me to find another progenitor.' She glared at Cordelia, 'and when I am born on Earth, they will know true peace. Even the First will not stop me.'
Sunnydale, at that same time.
It would be fifteen minutes later that the older Dawn would leave for the Hyperion Hotel to face Cordelia, all while Angel and Gunn were about to rush back to the hotel after giving statements to the officers who were called to the grisly scene on the fifth floor. In the meantime, while Giles readied himself on how to explain to the Scoobies about what was relayed to him by Wesley, a tear ripped open at a park, followed by a jet-black eyed redhead walking out and stepping on the hard grass covered ground.
The portal closed behind her while her eyes switched to the familiar green she was known for. Willow looked around, and sneered at the life present all around her. She could feel the magic of the Earth brushing against the bare skin on her arms and against her cheek, it was as if it was welcoming her. It was uncorrupted magic… and Willow hated it. She couldn't wait for her master to return to this dimension and corrupt everything around her.
But for now, she would make use of what she had.
At that exact time, the Wolf, the Ram, and the Hart felt a tremble in the dimensional plains; the witches at the Devon Coven looked at each other in worry before rushing to find a way to figure out why such powerful darkness appeared out of nowhere; and the young Willow and Tara dropped their pens at the same time – even though they were in different classes. The two Sunnydale witches could feel a sense of dread wash over them before they quickly rushed out of their respective classes and to the Magic Box. All over the world, everything magical felt the coming of the older Willow who was infused with a small part of Twilight. Even the Watcher's Council had called an emergency meeting when its seers screamed out that the end of all things had come.
Back in Sunnydale, the older Willow closed her eyes and sensed out the people she was searching for. She smiled as she sensed the location of the Scoobies, and the older version of Dawn- the latter would be dealt with after she completed the rest of her mission. She searched out anything that had a trace of the Wolf, Ram, and the Hart; she targeted the Silent Partners, she then targeted the Watcher's Council, the Devon Coven, and any others that may be a threat to Twilight.
Except for the Scoobies. Twilight wanted to play with them, and with the older Dawn.
The older Willow then held out her arms in front of her as red and black electrical charges arced between them. She smiled evilly as a deep red ball formed between her arms while gusts of wind started to pick up- the trees around her were now violently swaying about while the wind tore out the leaves from the trees. Willow spread her arms out to her sides, making the ball of dark magic- the magic infused into her by Twilight, and made it triple the size before she raised it high into the air.
With her eyes remaining shut, Willow spoke in an unknown tongue. The ball pulsed for a second before it broke apart into multiple shards and shot out in different directions.
'The Master's enemies are no more,' Willow thought as she watched the shards shoot out in multiple direction, 'all impediments to his rise will be destroyed now.' Willow then looked towards the south, 'and now, to retrieve the Scythe, and open the doorway to my master by activating the powers of all the Slayers.'
A grin formed on Willow's face as she stepped forward and a breach opened in front of her. Stepping through, she found herself teleported outside a small mission in Gilroy.
'This is the end of all things.'
TBC.