“Just say it.”
Dawn’s high, young voice was trembling and fearful, as she stared at the Watcher through wide, tearful eyes. “Just tell me what – what’s happened to me. Why I could – what I *am*.”
“You’re *human*, Dawn.”
Giles answered her gently, honestly, his expression softening with compassion for the confused, frightened girl, who at the moment looked so lost, so vulnerable and innocent. He realized very suddenly that regardless of her origins, she felt like his very own, every bit as much as Buffy did – and he would do everything in his power to keep any further harm from coming to her…physically *or* emotionally.
“You’re human – and you are real – and you do, without a doubt, belong with this family,” the Watcher continued softly, but emphatically, holding the teenager’s gaze and willing her to see the truth of his words.
Because whatever else Dawn Summers was – he knew that she was without a doubt all of the things he had just said that she was.
To his relief, she *did* visibly relax a bit, but her eyes were troubled as she waited anxiously for his further explanation.
“My associate informed me of some recent developments that the Council has just become aware of – regarding the threat of an impending apocalypse – and – and some specific information as to who – I mean, how…er, that is…”
“Spit it out, Giles,” Buffy snapped, though it was clear in her eyes that her sharp tone was more due to fear than actual irritation with the man. “Apocalypse – big whoop. Happens all the time around here. What does it have to do with *Dawn*?”
Four intent pairs of eyes were focused on the Watcher, waiting urgently for him to go on – one with fear and apprehension, and the other three with a clear determination to protect the youngest member of their very unique little family.
Giles took a deep breath, steeling himself before continuing in a quiet, even voice. “Word has reached the Council of a – a creature, who seeks to – well, in short – it seeks to tear down the dimensional walls between this and all other dimensions. If this being is successful – it would effectively – end reality as we know it. All of the dimensions would bleed into one another, until all would eventually be swallowed up in chaos…”
“End of the World Special, take five hundred and two,” Buffy muttered sarcastically, rolling her eyes and looking away in disgust and anger.
“Why?” Spike asked, frowning thoughtfully. “I mean – what’s this bugger get out of it?”
When the others all gave him rather strange looks, he became a bit defensive, taking a step back and looking at them all as he protested, “*What*? Just ‘cause a thing’s a demon, doesn’t mean it hasn’t got a *purpose* -- some reason for what it’s doing. Not all demons are all about the bloody random destruction, you know!”
Willow finally ventured to speak up, after wisely keeping silence since Buffy’s attention had been diverted from her and her mistakes. “Oh, right!” she muttered doubtfully, apparently grateful to have something else to focus the Slayer’s disapproval on, “and in our experience, we’ve come across *so* many demons that are deeply thoughtful, introspective individuals. No, mostly, they *are* about the random destruction, I’m thinking…”
“Actually, that’s not really true,” Anya interjected matter-of-factly, her voice calm, though her eyes were still sad and moist with her recent tears. “Most actually *do* have some kind of purpose to the things they do – even if that purpose is as simple as, say, ‘See the nummy human – eat the nummy human,’ or of course vengeance…”
She shrugged, suddenly self-conscious as she realized how she had just served to remind the Slayer of her own history, as she finished quietly, “I’m just saying…”
“There’s always a reason,” Spike concluded for her, nodding grimly.
“Always?” Buffy echoed questioningly, deep emerald eyes suddenly fastened on his intently – as her mind flew back in time a couple of years, back to the time when Angelus had attempted to end the world…and she found herself wondering what could possibly have motivated him to such destruction.
*Was loving me really all that terrible?* she wondered with a pang of remembered hurt and insecurity.
But the sudden wave of warmth that enveloped her from her mate’s emotions, the love and reassurance she felt through her connection with Spike, reminded her of another factor in that years-old equation – the blonde vampire who had gone out of his way, risked his own safety, to help her prevent the destruction of the world – all because he had *liked* this world, had not wanted to see it ended.
At least – that was the only reason he had given her at the time.
“Always,” he affirmed softly, his expression revealing that he had a fairly good idea of what she was thinking about at the moment – and the momentarily shy glance away from her before he met her eyes again let her know that she was not far off in her speculative musings.
A sort of awe came over her with the realization, confirmed by Spike’s thoughts – even way back then, there had already been something between them – he had felt something for her, even if he had not quite recognized it yet.
“Yes, well – I can see how that sort of information would be very useful,” Joyce inserted, and the slightly nervous, uncomfortable tremor in her voice broke the hypnotic connection that had been slowly building between the Slayer and her mate, as they both looked self-consciously away from each other, suddenly very much aware of the intensity of the moment that had been developing.
“Even if it’s a very simple motive,” Joyce went on, looking around the room at the others for confirmation of her words, “it’s got to be good to know what’s driving our enemy – right? That can only be a good thing.”
“Quite right,” Giles agreed. “And in this case, this creature – known only as ‘the Beast’ to the Council thus far – it seems that its primary motivation is – well – to return to its own dimension. It’s somehow been trapped here – banished, in fact – and simply wants – well – to go home.”
“Yeah – and sod the rest of us, yeah?” Spike muttered, shaking his head with a sneer. “Tear the rest of the bloody universe to bits – just so long as the bleedin’ wanker gets home…”
“But – I don’t understand,” Buffy frowned with confusion, looking to Giles again for explanation. “If opening the dimensions will destroy *all* the dimensions – what good does it do this thing to do that, anyway?”
“Its natural realm was an unspeakably horrible hell dimension, over which it was ruler – so I would assume that whatever changes are made to its dimension by the opening of the portal and the merging of the dimensions could only be improvements,” Giles mused, a note of ironic amusement in his voice, that nevertheless left the apprehension in his eyes untouched.
“Whereas *our* dimension, on the other hand,” Spike added thoughtfully, “wouldn’t be nearly as bloody likely to withstand the changes.”
“Not at all,” Giles agreed, shaking his head grimly. “Whereas powerful creatures such as the Beast might be able to survive the changes with little trouble – it is almost certain that if all known dimensions, and then some, were to merge – human life would not be long in reaching extinction.”
There was a moment of heavy silence as they all took in the sobering impact of those words.
“Okay – so we stop it. Avert the apocalypse – again,” Buffy stated in a steely voice that all of them recognized as her Slayer-voice. “But that still doesn’t answer the original question…”
“What’s all this got to do with the Nibblet?” Spike frowned, the dark look in his eyes making it clear that Dawn’s safety was his greatest concern at the moment.
The trapped, uncomfortable expression on the Watcher’s face made Buffy feel more than a little sick, with the realization that whatever her sister’s connection with the impending apocalypse, it was not something that would be the least bit good for her – or at all easy for her family to hear.
“It seems,” Giles went on quietly, his eyes focused downward, not quite meeting anyone else’s gaze, “that in order to open the portal necessary to return to its world – the beast needs something known as the Key. The Council has no knowledge at this point of how it is to be used – what the Beast would need to do to open the portal, *exactly*…but the Key is absolutely vital to the Beast’s plan.”
Buffy was finding Giles’ behavior more than a little confuising – and frustrating. Every time she thought he was ready to get to Dawn’s part in the whole affair, he’d go back into the whole “Beast and Key” business. A part of her wanted to interrupt and just demand that he get back onto the very important topic of her little sister – but in all honesty, the rest of her was bordering on terrified to hear what he would have to say on that subject…so she simply went with the subject he had brought up instead.
“Does it have this – key? Right now?” she asked, frowning in concern as she allowed herself to consider what he was saying. As worried as she was for Dawn, if this impending apocalypse was already too far progressed to be stopped, they might have bigger problems to worry about at the moment.
“No,” Giles assured her firmly, a strange look on his face. “The Key is – in a safe place. As it turns out, the group of monks who were protecting the Key have changed its form – to better hide it – they made it into – well – they made it…”
“*What*, Giles?” Buffy pressed him, her voice trembling uneasily.
“*Human,*” Giles finally blurted out, still not looking at her. “They made it human – and they sent her to someone they knew would protect her…”
*Her*?” Buffy echoed weakly, her mind already comprehending what Giles was getting at, but refusing to accept it just at the moment.
It was simply too much to comprehend.
But Dawn was already comprehending what he was saying. She stared at the Watcher for a long, silent moment, her eyes wide and stricken with fear, before she whispered, “It’s me. I’m the Key – aren’t I?”
“Dawnie, don’t be silly!” Joyce objected shakily, but her eyes were wide with alarm. “You’re my *daughter*. You’ve always been my daughter! You’re certainly not some – some key, that’s just been recently made human! It’s impossible! Isn’t it, Mr. Giles?” The tone of her voice made it clear that she was looking for confirmation of her hopes – but the expression on the Watcher’s face told her even before he spoke that she was not going to find it with him.
“Joyce – I’m afraid – well – Dawn is right. She is the Key,” he admitted finally, softly, looking immediately to Buffy with apprehension to gauge her reaction to the disturbing revelation he had just made.
“But – how is that possible?” she asked, her voice barely over a whisper as she instinctively moved closer to her little sister, in an unconsciously protective manner. “Dawn grew up in this house, with me. I remember when she was *born*…”
“You only think you do, Buffy,” Giles gently corrected her. “It’s a part of the protection of the key – that we all remember Dawn as if she has been here all along, when in reality, she’s only been…”
His words suddenly broke off, as if he had just realized that he was probably about to say too much – too much for the teenage girl and her family to accept at the moment.
But it was too late – it was already said.
“Been here – how long?” Dawn finished for him, adding her tremulous question onto the end. When he refused to meet her eyes, did not answer her, the girl took a step toward him, her voice trembling with confusion, fear, and an underlying sense of rage, as she repeated almost defiantly, “How -- *long*?”
There was a moment’s silence before Giles replied with resignation, aware that he was not going to get out of this situation without revealing the whole of what he knew about the girl’s origins.
“Two months.”
“Two *months*?” Joyce echoed incredulously, shaking her head in disbelief. “No – that can’t be. It’s just not possible…”
“You must remember, your memories have been altered, Joyce,” Giles reminded her quietly, ,his voice low and patient as he added, “All of our memories have been altered in order to fit Dawn’s existence into our worlds…”
“So – you lied to me,” Dawn suddenly blurted out, flatly, glaring coldly at the stunned older man through the tears that streaked her face. Her voice was hard, yet trembling and vulnerable as she clarified, “When you said that I belonged here – when you said I was human – you lied. I’m not – am I?”
“No!” the Watcher objected, horrified, an urgency in his voice that was clearly more about the protection of the child’s obviously vulnerable feelings than it was about his own honor and honesty. “No, Dawn – you must understand – you *are* human – and you *do* belong here – you are every bit as much a part of this family…”
“But she’s more than that,” Buffy interrupted suddenly, as realization struck her, her eyes widening as she went on softly, “Isn’t she? She’s – she’s a part of *me* -- right?”
“Buffy?” Dawn spoke her sister’s name as a question, her voice uncertain as she looked hopefully up at her. Being a part of her sister – while not quite as good as being just who and what she had always believed herself to be – was certainly better than being nothing more than a figment of all of their imaginations.
Giles was staring at the Slayer in amazement and disbelief. “How on earth could you possibly have known…”
“The Slayer knew. She kept getting all confused,” Buffy began to explain, speaking slowly as she figured it out as she went along. “She was basically in competition with me the whole time – wanting to claim Spike for her own, even though I was the one with the valid claim – and she kept saying that *Dawn* was trying to take him from her…that Dawn – wasn’t – wasn’t…”
“Real,” Dawn finished for her in a whisper. “She said I wasn’t real.”
“She was wrong,” Buffy told her firmly, turning for a moment to meet her eyes. “There was just – no way of understanding it, really – she just sensed that we were – the same, somehow.”
“And that’s why Dawnie could make the Slayer stop,” Joyce realized, looking at her youngest with a sort of awe in her eyes. “Because Buffy, on her own, wasn’t strong enough to beat the Slayer. But Buffy combined with Dawn…”
“Was like – super-concentrated Buffy,” the Slayer shrugged slightly as she managed to find a way to put even this fantastic situation into her own terms. “Me times one and a half, to her one – right, Giles?”
“In a manner of speaking – yes,” the Watcher nodded, still seeming a bit surprised that he was not required to explain all of this to them.
“So – even though these monks made the Key into Dawn – they made her – from me,” Buffy concluded thoughtfully, before turning to fully face her sister as she added earnestly, “So you *are* a part of this family, Dawn – no matter what else you are – what *more* you are – you belong to us – to *me* -- we’re closer than any sisters ever could be…”
Dawn would not quite meet her eyes, her own focused on the floor as she tried to process what was being said around her, about her.
“See, Dawnie?” Joyce said with a cheer that was a bit overboard, given the circumstances. “It’s not so bad, after all?”
“Isn’t it?” Dawn looked up at her dubiously, fresh tears welling in her eyes. “I’m – I’m some kind of freak – you can say what you want, but I’m *not* human – not completely – and now this – this weird beast thing wants to find me and – and do what, exactly?” The last bit was directed at Giles, a desperate fear in her eyes.
“Well, that point is not exactly clear at the moment,” the Watcher replied nervously, and though he could not quite meet her eyes, it was clear to those who knew him that he was telling the truth, and genuinely did not know the answer to her question.
“Worse things than being other than human, Bit,” Spike pointed out quietly, reaching out a cool, gentle hand in a comforting touch.
But Dawn pulled quickly away. “You guys all talk like this is nothing!” she exclaimed, her voice trembling as she moved away from her little family toward the stairs, keeping her back to them. “Like it’s no big deal that I’m suddenly not who or what I thought I was, and some big nasty thing that wants to end the world wants to use me to do it! How can you say there are worse things? This is like – the end of the world! No – it’s like for me there never *was* a world!”
“Dawn, Honey – calm down,” Joyce said gently, moving to go after her.
But Dawn jerked away from her, shaking her head and backing toward the stairs. “Don’t touch me!” she cried through her tears. “Just leave me alone – I just need to – just leave me alone!”
And without another word, she fled up the stairs to her room, where the sound of the slamming door reverberated back down them into the silence that fell over the group.
After a moment, Buffy raised her solemn, downcast eyes to meet her mate’s calm, serious gaze – and found herself infinitely reassured by the closeness she felt with him, both physically and emotionally, now that they were bound so deeply by the claim that joined them.
And for just an instant – the fear, the apprehension for her sister’s safety, the confusion and uncertainty about what was to come in the coming months, seemed to melt away in the warmth of knowing that whatever it was that they would face – they would not be facing it alone.
With a shared sense of resignation and acceptance, mingled hope and fear, the eyes of the Slayer and her vampire mate met, as a single thought passed through both their minds at once, and they prepared themselves for this next great battle.
*Well – here we go again!*
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