Magic Box, Sunnydale, a little more than three hours later; 1700 hours.
The first place Dawn drove the Summers Jeep as it screeched to a stop was the Magic Box. She rushed out of the vehicle and, just outside the shattered front window, stood in stunned silence at the disaster zone in the store. She then slowly spun around to take in the nightmare around her as some people were running around terrified about the world ending while others were starting to clean up the mess around them. There were debris – from large chunks of tombstones to decomposed heads and large pieces of body parts and bone – all over the place around the street, in the Espresso Pump, in several other shops that were also slightly damaged. She saw that many cars were damaged as well which many having their window smashed inwards. Dawn turned around with her lips pressed together, and then walked towards the Magic Box's shattered front window before stepping into the store.
Her shoes pressed down on the shards of glass, as well as the patches of dirt that still had charred remains of grass and small pieces of rocks, as she cautiously walked towards the table near the entrance. 'Where is everyone? There's still a lot of people cleaning up out there… hell, I was surprised that there wasn't a huge exodus of people leaving the city like what was happening in LA.'
"Buffy!" Dawn yelled out into the darkened shop, her voice echoing around the empty store as she spun around searching for any sign of life. The noticed that the shelves behind the counter were mostly empty. She walked to the counter and leaned over to see smashed bottles and other objects on the floor. Dawn then stepped back and turned towards the stairs… three of the steps were broken as if someone or something had smashed through them.
'What happened there?' Dawn thought to herself. She knew something heavy must have smashed through the wooden stair leading up to the second floor, but there was nothing heavy where the broken pieces of the steps lay on the floor.
The entire store was eerily silent. Dawn looked up at the second-floor landing where the more dangerous magic books were kept. She narrowed her eyes at seeing empty spaces that were once filled with books.
'Where are they?' Dawn thought to herself before she walked towards the rear door that led to the training room, "Buffy! Willow?! Tara! Giles!" She opened the door to find the training room empty before she stepped back and closed the door once again. Her fingers were wrapped around the door knob as she closed her eyes and thought back to what happened when Twilight first made himself known after seeping into the Earth dimension. It was something that the older Dawn could not forget; especially since there was wonton destruction all over the world.
'And whatever caused the red shards to strike LA… well… has stopped,' Dawn thought to herself as she turned around and looked around at her surroundings. 'Did Buffy and the others go home?' she wondered to herself as she strode forwards and past the smashed stairs with a sense of purpose, 'they must be at home.' She stepped out onto the pavement through the shattered front window while wondering how Twilight could have made it through a breach that was sealed by Willow. It was something that was supposed to be impossible.
'Especially since Willow died, he couldn't have been able to open it... even if he was all-powerful,' Dawn thought to herself as she opened the driver side door and then slipped onto the seat. She closed the door and then leaned back on the seat as she placed her hands on the steering wheel. She then started the engine while wondering, 'so did someone bring Twilight here? If so, then how? The only way we know of is by activating all the Slayers.'
Shaking her head, Dawn then wondered, 'okay, maybe home is not such a good idea. I know Twilight is here… but I don't know why he hasn't continued to attack the world. But for now, finding Buffy is the main deal; where could they have gone?' Dawn knew that it would be relatively easy for Twilight to find them, given that he was an entire living dimension, 'so Willow and Tara could be using a spell to hide themselves? That could be why many of the darker magic books on the second floor were missing.' Dawn hoped whatever spell Tara and Willow used would not block a simple location spell, 'here goes.' Initiating the spell, Dawn's hopeful expression fell when the spell couldn't find them.
Frowning, Dawn deactivated the spell and then sat on the seat silently as she thought through her options. Biting her lower lip, deep in thought, she knew that there were two other places that the Scoobies would go in order to regroup and think tactics; the Summers home or to the Bronze.
'Those are the places that I know we'd go to,' Dawn thought to herself as she remembered her version of the Scoobies, 'but that would be too obvious now, wouldn't it?' She closed her eyes and thought of less obvious spaces for the Scoobies to hide if Twilight was already manifesting here and now. 'but Twilight will still be able to find them… find us and… wait a minute, why hasn't he been able to find me?'
Dawn repeated to herself that the world should be burning right now; that demons from Twilight's dimension should be coming down on the Earth through portals. But all that happened so far, the only thing that remained similar to her own future, were the red shards that destroyed large parts of LA and many of the major cities around the world.
'I heard on the radio…' thought Dawn as she stared at the car radio on the central console, 'that LA wasn't the only place hit. Beijing, London, Moscow, the Cotswolds, and so many others. I heard reports of looting by both humans and 'strange looking people'; I'm guessing that last bit could be about demons. But there's nothing about hordes of demons coming through portals like in my future. So…'
Shaking her head, Dawn could tell that there was something different going on. She knew in her gut that Twilight was responsible for what was happening, but at the same time she also knew that there was something different.
'Twilight managed to begin influencing Angel after all the Slayers were activated,' Dawn thought to herself, 'so… so how could Twilight's red shards appear now… in the present day… when the other Slayers haven't been activated?' It was a troubling thought to Dawn as she opened her eyes and pressed her lips together, 'again, lets assume that somehow Twilight managed the impossible and opened the breach to come to the past… then where are the demonic hordes?'
Dawn knew that Buffy, although she longed to have more Slayers who she could relate to, would never activate the entire Slayer army… not after discovering what would happen if she did so. No, there was no way that she would activate the Slayers… Buffy would rather die than allow such a hell to take place on Earth. So, Dawn's thoughts went to the Scythe; Andrew once told her about the mission in Gillroy where he and Spike had discovered the hidden room where it was supposed to be hidden. However, the First beat them to it and had it moved to the vinery.
'The Scythe would be useful now, and…' before she could finish her thoughts of driving up to the mission to grab the Scythe and hand it over to Buffy, Dawn noticed a bright orange ball of light zipping down the pavement before it stopped in front of the shattered front window of the Magic Box. Dawn stared at it while leaning forward with a quizzical expression on her face, her hands still on the steering wheel, before leaning back suddenly as the ball of light zipped into the vehicle through the windscreen.
"What the…?" Dawn whispered as the ball of light floated over the console before she heard a gentle hum from it. It then started to float up and down, and then sideways in a pattern whilst leaving a trail behind it. A smile formed on Dawn's face as the trails formed letters – and then words – in mid-air.
"Crawford Street mansion," Dawn read out the words before the bright ball of light hummed one last time and faded away. The words formed by the trail of the ball of light faded away a few seconds later before Dawn shifted into reserve. She looked back at the rear window and then pressed down on the accelerator. With a growl, the Jeep reversed before screeching to a stop when Dawn slammed on the brakes. The vehicle stopped before she changed gears and then pressed down on the accelerator passing past several people who were trying to go about their day.
A smile formed on Dawns face as she thought to herself that the Mansion was the next best place to hide, 'Twilight could have destroyed this world already, and if he hasn't yet… then that means there's a limit to what he can do for now.' She figured that the Scoobies didn't want to be gathered at a place that would be familiar to anyone… and the Crawford Street mansion was the last place anyone would search for Buffy and the gang.
As she drove away, Dawn felt in in her gut that Twilight… or perhaps a part of Twilight that managed to make it through the breach to the past… was just gathering power to launch a full-blown attack. She could feel that the worst part of it was coming; and she had no idea how to stop it other than to destroy the Seed of Wonder.
'Let's hope it doesn't come to that,' the older Dawn though to herself as she made a left turn.
The truth was that Dawn wasn't sure of anything other than the attack earlier that day was instigated by Twilight. Now that she knew the Scoobies were in a place that this small piece of Twilight could not find easily, Dawn came up with a new idea. Right now, her first instinct was to get to the Mission in Gilroy; she needed to hand the Scythe over to her sister for safe-keeping and to protect them all.
'We'll need it against the demons that are coming. We'll need to keep it safe."
Crawford Street Mansion, at that same time.
Buffy didn't want to believe it… she kept on telling herself for the past three or so hours as she sat in silence that it simply wasn't possible. She had her forehead resting on her two hands with her elbows on her knees. She wanted to be alone to process what she had been told when they first arrived at the Crawford Street mansion - the last place anyone; even a possessed Willow, would search for them.
At least that is what the Scoobies hoped.
It helped that the Scythe was hiding them from the eyes of everyone; apparently even from the highest of highest beings. That still didn't calm Buffy's mind after hearing what Giles had told her about Cordelia having a vision where the older Dawn murdered Darla and a baby. Buffy didn't want to believe it at all. She denied it… she denied the very fact that her baby sister would be so heartless as to commit murder… to murder a child.
"I would never kill a baby, Buffy," the younger Dawn had said hours earlier after they reached the mansion, an hour after they took stock of the magic books that were with them together with the cache of weapons from the Summers house and Giles' apartment. She was told the truth after telling Willow and Tara to cast a spell that would inform the older Dawn, and only the older Dawn, of their location.
As she sat in the large stone walled living room staring at the fire in the hearth, Buffy recalled that Dawn too was stunned upon hearing about the details of the vision that was relayed to Giles through Wesley. Dawn's face was ashen. Just as the faces of the other Scoobies when they were seated and talking around the patio table hours earlier.
Buffy stared at the fire, still in disbelief, as she recalled what Tara said hours ago.
Crawford Street Mansion, a few hours ago.
Tara had been telling Buffy her suspicions of the older Dawn having done something to Amy the rat, "but there is no proof, Buffy. I just sensed her anger and hate… no anger isn't what I felt. It was rage… pure rage."
"Tara," Willow interrupted as she placed her hand gently on Tara's arm, "she would never…"
"What?" Buffy whispered, her voice soft as she stared at the table in front of her, "Tara, what are you trying to tell me?" Buffy knew what Tara was trying to tell her… it was pretty obvious… but Buffy didn't want to believe it. She didn't want to believe that her baby sister was capable of murder. Buffy was staring at the top of the patio table when she felt the younger Dawn placing her hand on her shoulder since they were seated side by side.
Tara then continued to speak while Buffy felt a knot forming in the pit of her stomach.
"She was raging at Amy," Tara said as Willow closed her eyes and took a deep breath before turning her head to look towards Buffy. The latter listened as Tara said that she only had the feelings of rage from Dawn to offer as evidence that the older Dawn did not like Amy, "but it's just a suspicion. However, I can't think of any other reason why Amy would have just died so suddenly other than something was done to her."
"She was a rat," Xander then said with his eyes on Buffy and then at Tara, "I mean she literally was a rat. I mean, unless you ladies took her to a vet to get checked out, her death could just have been natural. I mean, she could have just died… I mean people just die all of a sudden so why can't a rat just suddenly die?"
"I took her to a vet, Xander," Willow looked up, "three weeks ago and she was fine."
"Then it could have just been a natural death," Giles offered while Anya nodded her head. It was then that they heard the younger Dawn take a deep breath. And what she said next surprised them.
"She hurt you," the younger Dawn said as she looked towards Willow, "Dawn… I mean the other, older me said that Amy hurt you. Tortured you." Dawn stared at Willow and whispered before looking away, "I would have come back and hurt Amy if I could."
"That doesn't make it right," Willow explained turning her head towards Dawn, "Dawnie, Amy hasn't done those things, and we don't know if she would have done them again if…"
It was then that Buffy interjected by whispering, "Dawn said that Amy was already corrupted by some guy called Rack." She looked up at Willow, her eyes then moving towards Tara and then to each of the other Scoobies before she stared back down at the table-top, "when you guys called to say that Amy died, Dawn was angry… angry that we felt sorry for Amy… but… but even then, I can't believe that she would go this far…" Buffy shiok her head before saying, "I won't believe it."
Giles then sighed before leaning forward and saying, "war changes people, Buffy." Buffy turned towards her Watcher with a surprised look as he continued, "none of us could imagine what Dawn went through in the future. The coming of Twilight was prophesized as the end of the world. Fighting through that…" Giles' voice trailed off as he shook his head before taking off his glasses, "I can't imagine." He rubbed the bridge of his nose while placing his glasses on the table before continuing, "If I were in her place, I would try and kill Amy and anyone who was responsible for harming my family. I would kill anyone…" Giles widened his eyes as he came to a realization, something that the others noticed as he continued after a few seconds, "who was responsible for Twilight making his presence known in the future."
"Okay… okay…" Willow said shaking her head as she came to what she hoped was the same realization as well while Xander and the others frowned, "Jonathan and Andrew were boring… I mean they didn't do anything that was evil when we were watching them. So, if the older Dawn was so angry at them, then why didn't she hurt them? I mean they were still in town… I mean technically we saw them driving out of town on our way here… but you get my point. They were still alive… so why not kill them?"
"We'll have to ask her," Giles said before he looked away from Buffy and towards the table, "we'll have to ask her about Andrew and Jonathan… and then we'll have to ask about her Willow. We'll have to ask about Amy and… and anything else that happened to her."
"She's in there somewhere," Tara said before looking at the younger Willow, "the Willow from Dawn's time period, I felt her… just like I feel you when we're apart. I can feel her warmth, her goodness, and… and her fear."
"We'll help reach her again," Buffy said as she reached out with both hands and gently grasped Willow and Tara's hands, "all of us, we'll get her back."
At the same time, Giles was staring at the table with a faraway look in his eyes. He recalled the older Willow begging Buffy to kill her… begging Giles to kill her as well. While the others were talking about the next steps to take, Giles wondered if he had done the right thing by holding back; by not giving the older Willow the killing blow she desired. As a Watcher, he knew the responsibility to keep everyone safe from harm was paramount, no matter what the cost. And he failed… he should have acted. Even if he would be hated by his family.
'Willow is the herald… she will do everything she can to bring Twilight into this dimension,' Giles thought to himself as the Older Willow's voice rang in his ears. 'She wanted to be killed… and if I had acted… if I had killed her…' Giles glanced at Buffy who was shaking her head when Xander asked what they should do about the older Dawn. He looked away and towards the younger Dawn, 'Buffy, Dawn, and Xander may never have forgiven me. Neither would have Anya, Tara, and Willow.' He then looked back at the table, 'but the world would have been safe. We had a chance to stop Twilight and we held… I held back my hands because of how much I care about Willow. How much I care about the others here. Have I… have we just hastened the coming of Twilight? Has my inaction sealed the destruction of this world?'
Giles leaned back on his seat as thoughts of what could happen next swam around in his mind. They needed intelligence from the older Dawn; nothing else mattered for now. They just needed to survive what was coming next.
The Summers Home.
It was only a few minutes ago that Angel, knowing where a second key for the front door was hidden, crouched down towards the 'Welcome' mat and then lifted its edge. Even though he covered his head and most of his body with his leather coat, smoke still emitted from his body being under the sun as he picked up the key and then opened the door.
He rushed in first, then followed by Faith and Gunn before the latter closed the door behind him.
"Buffy!" Angel yelled out as he put his coat back around his shoulders while looking up the stairs before he turned his head towers the living room.
"B!" Faith yelled out before telling Angel that she'll check the second floor.
"Don't bother," Anger whispered as he sniffed the air while reaching out to grab Faith's shoulder just as her foot landed on the first step, "the place is empty."
Angel turned towards the living room while Faith walked into the dining room as she said, "I'm starving… I'm gonna get something to eat," and then she turned towards the kitchen. While Faith, who was followed by Gunn, opened the door to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of orange juice, some bread, butter, and some cold cuts; Angel was opening the wooden chest at the far end of the living room. Opening it, Angel expected to find a stash of weapons… but it was empty. He knew that Buffy would always keep a stash of weapons in the chest… and so the chest being empty worried him greatly.
Closing what would have been the weapons chest, Angel exclaimed, "the weapons are gone!" As he turned to his left, Angel caught sight of one of the many pictures on the mantle; one was of Dawn, Buffy, and their mother lying on a beach. He reached for that framed picture and stared at the three women. He mourned Joyce's passing with Buffy the day the former was buried… he hated leaving Sunnydale again and leaving Buffy to handle the fall-out, but he had his own problems back in L.A that needed his expertise. His eyes then shifted from Buffy and Joyce to Dawn.
'There's a future version of her somewhere in LA,' Angel thought to himself as a deep-seated anger began to rise. He remembered the pile of ash close to the doorway inside Darla's apartment… the ash was still smoking, and next to it were burnt and charred – nearly unrecognizable if not for Angel's sense of smell- remains of a flesh and blood foetus. Angel could recall screaming out in anguish and rage at seeing the remains before he looked away, closed his eyes, and then slammed his fist into the wall close to the left doorframe.
Even now, as he stared at the picture in his hand, he could feel tears welling up at the thought that his child… a human child… was murdered for no reason by someone described to him as a future version of Dawn. He recalled Wesley, on his cell phone, telling him about the coming of Twilight in the future… about how the older Dawn had come back to prevent that timeline from occurring.
At least that was the story relayed to Wesley by Giles. But even so, Angel couldn't think of any reason why anyone would do something like killing his child. As Angel put the picture frame back on the mantle, he mentally told himself that he would get answers from the older Dawn. It was just as the metal framed picture was placed in the mantle with a 'tap' that Angel heard two sets of footsteps walking towards the living room from the kitchen.
"Oh God I'm so hungry," Faith mumbled as she entered the dining room alongside Gunn, the both of them carrying triple decker sandwiches. Faith took another bite into her sandwich as they entered the foyer and stopped before saying, "any idea where B and the other Scoobies could be?"
"How about this Dawn person?" Gunn asked before taking another bite of his sandwich as Angel turned towards them. Gunn then offered to make Angel a sandwich, to which Angel shook his head before saying that they needed to think about where the Scoobies would go at a time of crisis.
While Angel started to think about some of the more obvious hiding places, Faith shook her head before stepping forward.
"So, let me get this straight," the dark haired Slayer said before she took another bite of the sandwich in her hand before mumbling with her mouth full, "there is a Dawn from the future here?"
"For the who knows how many times," Gunn said with an exasperated tone as he turned towards Faith, "yes… yes there is a future version of Buffy's sister here… in the present!"
"Just wanted to be sure, ya know," Faith smirked glancing at Gunn before turning her head towards Angel, "but this Twilight thing that Wes told you about is the bigger baddie."
"Twilight infected Dawn's future," Angel said as he pushed away the sight of his burned and charred baby to a corner of his thoughts, "and I'm guessing that… that Darla and my…"
"Angel."
"My son," Angel pushed through Gunn's interruption before pausing for a second. He looked away from Faith and Gunn before he continued speaking with a heavy heart, "was innocent. I need to know why he had to die." Angel turned his head towards Faith and Gunn before saying, "we need to find Buffy and the others."
Faith and Gunn nodded their heads before they headed to the front door. After Faith opened the door, Gunn dashed out towards Angel's car with the blackened-out windows. She saw him open the driver side door before rushing around the car towards the passenger side. Faith then turned her head towards Angel who was staring back at her in quiet anger, "Angel, the Dawn I knew was always nice to me… well, she changed after I held her and Joyce hostage during my 'I'm gonna kill Buffy' phase… but she doesn't strike me as…"
"Something much have changed in the future with Twilight's incursion," Angel said in a whisper, his voice laced with anger, "the older, future version of Dawn not the one we know… she's a stranger."
"Still… if you have faith in me, then…"
"You never killed a child," Angel growled walking towards Faith as he wrapped his overcoat around his body, with parts of it covering his head. "I want answers." Angel shook his head as the anger n his face faded, "And then… then I don't know."
Faith nodded her head before motioning her arm towards the door, "let's go find B and the others."
"We'll check the Magic Box, the UC Sunnydale Campus, Giles' place, and then… then we keep on looking if we can't find them."
"Too bad none of the phones work," Faith said before she watched Angel rushed past her and into the car, "We could have just told them to wait up for us." Faith closed the front door behind her and then walked down the stairs to the walkway that led to the pavement. She had memories of this place… the Summers House… both good and bad; and she slightly shuddered at the bad memories. Reaching the end of the walkway, she then placed her hand on the door handle to the rear driver side seat. Before she opened the door, she turned around and stared at the house.
Suddenly she was looking at a lawn covered in snow. It was years ago when snow suddenly started falling from the sky. And by the time the cold, white powder covered the front lawn of the house, Faith laughed while laying down on the grass making snow angels before Dawn joined her. The memory faded as she turned away from the house with a look of pained regret on her face.
'It could have been so different,' Faith thought to herself before she opened the door and got into the car. Once the door was closed shut, Angel pressed on the accelerator and zoomed away from the Summers house.
Crawford Street Mansion, now.
Buffy was still sitting on the couch, staring at the fire in the hearth in what passed for the living room; and still her mind continued to be on the Older Dawn. She was still wondering about what Tara had said about her suspicions in regards to the older Dawn. At the same time, she thought of what Giles was saying that they had to focus on Twilight and how to combat it.
'Giles was right, Twilight is our focus now… we can deal with anything that Dawn did after we're done,' Buffy thought as she turned her head towards the footsteps that were rushing towards one of the doors that led to the rather large dining room where Giles, Willow, and the others were going through the books retrieved from the Magic Box. She stood up as Willow rushed into the room.
"Dawn got our message," Willow said as Buffy breathed a sigh of relief.
"Where did she get the message?"
"The Magic Box."
"She's on the way here then?"
"She's heading the other way," Willow said with a look of confusion while scratching the back of her head. Buffy pulled back her head and narrowed her eyes in confusion. Willow picked up on that reaction and shook her head before saying, "Tara and I have no idea where she's going. We'll send her another message."
"Tell her we need her here and…" Buffy glanced at the Scythe next to where she was sitting on the couch before looking back at Willow, "and ask her what she knows about this Scythe."
TBC.