Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon, Marti Noxon, Mutant Enemy, Twentieth Century Fox Productions, UPN, Kuzui Enterprises, and Sandollar Television. The Books of Amber by Roger Zelazny belong to him. Any copyright infringements were not intended. This story was written for entertainment and not for profit.

Spoilers and Timing: Most of this story takes place during the Buffy ep. "There's No Place Like Home" with spoilers for that as well as spoilers for all of the Amber books.

Author's Note #1: It's my hope to gradually reconstruct Season 5 step-by-step so that the last episode will have many, many more changes to it than the first episode (which will have none and therefore does not need to be made into a novelization).

Author's Note #2: If any of the characters seem out-of-character, keep in mind that this is an alternate reality. Buffy, in particular, may act differently around Dawn, but that is only because, by the time of "There's No Place Like Home", Buffy has had a lifetime to get used to the fact that her sister can take care of herself. Just think of the way Buffy was treating Dawn in season seven - in other words, much less protective and more inclined to allow Dawn to join in the Scooby meetings and fights. The same goes for Dawn. Although she's still a fourteen-year-old (I can't believe I just said that, considering that she's my age and when I first saw S5 I thought she was the most immature 14-year-old I'd ever seen), she's not going to cower in the face of danger because she knows she can take pretty much everyone.

Summary: Roger Zelazny's Books of Amber/Buffy x-over. In a Shadow alternate to the televised version of the Buffyverse, Dawn isn't just the Key, nor is she the daughter of Joyce and Hank Summers. She's still Joyce's daughter but her father was a completely different man, one who passed his legacy down to Dawn along with the rest of his offspring…

*****

The date was late December 1985, and the location was Los Angeles in one of the infinite Shadow versions of Earth.

It had been only a few months since Joyce and Hank Summers had filed for and been legally divorced. It still hurt to think about it. Four-year-old Buffy Summers, their pride and joy, was still mad at both of them for it. No matter how much her daughter wanted them to get back together again, however, Joyce knew it just couldn't be. She and Hank had loved each other once, but that love had diminished to the point of never returning to full-force ever again. In time, Joyce knew her daughter would see that.

Ironically enough, she met another man while shopping for gifts for Buffy's fifth birthday. She'd been about to enter the toy store in the mall when she ran into him, literally. Later, upon reflection, she would wonder where the man had come from. One moment, there had been no one near her for yards. The next moment, she'd crashed into him, even though she'd had her eyes fixed on the space directly in front of her and would have easily noticed him walking toward her.

Needless to say, she fell, dropping her purse also.

For a moment, Joyce just stared up in startled surprise at the stranger. The man, looking just as startled, stared back.

He smiled and extended his hand. "Forgive me, madam. I hope I did not hurt you."

She blinked at his outdated way of speaking but accepted his offered hand. He pulled her to her feet before bending down and retrieving her purse.

"Thank you," she said, smiling warmly at him. "I'm sorry. I didn't see you there."

"It's quite all right. I should have been paying more attention," he responded. He held out his hand again. "I'm Oliver Amberson."

She shook his hand. "Joyce Summers."

Oliver brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it. She couldn't help giggling.

He motioned toward the toy store, which he had stopped her from entering. "Were you going to buy some toys? I hope I'm not intruding."

"Oh, no, not at all. My daughter's fifth birthday is coming up."

"Ah." He nodded. "Children are always difficult to please, are they not?"

"Oh, you have children?"

He nodded, amused. "Yes, several. Might I offer some advice? I find that young girls tend to enjoy playing dress-up, either on themselves or on their dolls." He smiled. "Of course, you would know your daughter best."

She smiled. "Actually, you're not far from the mark. Buffy's got her eye on the ice-skating Barbie."

She glanced into the store. She debated with herself for a moment before making a decision. "Listen, I shouldn't be very long. Would you like to go for a cup of coffee after I'm done? There's a coffee shop in another branch of the mall."

He smiled widely. "I'd be honored, Ms. Summers."

"Please, call me Joyce."

They went on several dates over the next few weeks. Buffy didn't much care for him because he wasn't Hank. Joyce hoped she would warm up to him, while at the same time she was worried that Oliver wouldn't stick around long enough to find out. She hoped he would. Oliver, meanwhile, didn't seem to mind Buffy's dislike of him. He explained that he was used to it. After his first wife had died and he'd gotten re-married, his two oldest children had hated him for it. Joyce was never sure exactly how many sons and daughters Oliver had, but she was certain it was a lot.

It was after their fifth date that they slept together for the first time. Buffy was spending the night at her grandparents'. They dated a few times after that before Oliver left town, never to be seen again. Joyce missed him sometimes, but she didn't hold it against him. They'd had a great time together, but neither had expected it to last for long, despite Joyce's hopes that it would.

Not long after the night they spent together, Joyce took a pregnancy test. Both of them had forgotten to use protection so there was a slight chance that she was pregnant. It came up negative.

Fourteen years later in a monastery in the Czech Republic, a group of three monks changed the results of that test when they shaped the Key into the form of the current Slayer's sister. Dawn Summers was born into the world on September 24th, 1986, at precisely 7:30 AM.

Whether or not any of the monks had known that Dawn's father would therefore actually be Oberon, King of Amber, remained uncertain to this day.

It soon became apparent, though, in the altered memories of Joyce's experiences from the year of 1986, that her newborn daughter Dawn was not a normal girl. For one, she was very, very strong. Joyce first realized this when she witnessed Dawn easily lifting her own baby crib to retrieve a dropped toy. That was when baby Dawn was only nine months old; she hadn't even learned to walk yet.

Other skills became more and more noticeable over time. Dawn healed five times faster than normal, and she could easily do more physical labor than other children before she needed a nap. Joyce still remembered Dawn's toddler days with a shudder and a groan; she ended up being the one to take naps in the afternoon instead of the other way around.

Buffy, of course, had been jealous of Dawn's condition, but she still loved Dawn like an older sister and knew how to keep a secret. Years later, a short time before the three of them moved to Sunnydale, California, Buffy was called as a Slayer and then all three Summers discovered that Dawn wasn't the only one with superpowers in the world.

When Dawn turned an acceptable age, and Joyce finally relented to giving official permission to Dawn to patrol with and sometimes without Buffy and her friends, Dawn proved to be a valuable asset to the Scooby Gang. Dawn was one of few people or things who was stronger, healed faster, and could last longer than her sister the Slayer in a fight, and the two often spared together under Giles' careful scrutiny.

Over the years, they'd tried often to track down Oliver Amberson with no success. It was like he'd disappeared from the face of the Earth, and given that they knew that alternate realities and dimensions existed, it was very possible that he had. There were some days when Dawn wondered if she was half-demon, and others when she thought dreamily that she was really descended from some Superman-like guy, which would be cool. Endless searching through Giles' numerous books never lead to a likeable answer, though, so all she could do was wonder.

Meanwhile, at one end of the universe, King Oberon, in an attempt to restore order and continue existence as everyone knew it, repaired the Pattern. The Pattern was the Sign of Order, which had been damaged by one of his sons, Brand. The attempt to restore it, although successful, killed him in the process. After an intense battle near the Courts of Chaos at the opposite end of the universe, Random, another of Oberon’s sons, took the throne in Amber. The battle had claimed many people on both sides, among them Brand and Dierdre, another sibling.

The first few years of Random’s reign were not the easiest by far. New relatives kept coming out of the woodwork. Swayvil, King of Chaos, died of old age, and the eternal war between Chaos and Order reached new heights, to name only a few highlights. No one, not even Oberon, knew about Dawn, though it wouldn’t have surprised anyone if she suddenly showed up. Oberon had tended to get around during his lifetime.

On the Shadow Earth that was Dawn’s home, Dawn and everyone else continued to wonder where her father had come from. They likely would have kept wondering for well into the future if not for the events of late 2000 and early 2001. More than one secret of Dawn’s heritage would come out that year, and when they did, Glory would wish she’d stayed well away from the Hellmouth when the Royal Family of Amber came calling.

*****

"Oops," Dawn said, looking chagrined.

Buffy glared at her from across the kitchen isle. Here she was, trying to cook a nice breakfast for their mom, and Dawn had come along and shattered the glass vase holding the flowers Buffy had planned to give to Mom.

"You’re cleaning that up," she told her younger sister before turning back to the stove.

Dawn busily grabbed the paper towers and mopped up the water and flowers. As she did, Joyce appeared in the doorway. She smiled when she saw them. "Oh! Check out the ‘Pamper Mom’ platter." She turned to Dawn, who stood up. "You two do all this?"

"Oh, Buffy helped."

Buffy stared at her sister. "I didn't 'help'."

"I’m sure you did," Joyce said absently as she sat down. "So, neither of you is pregnant, failing or under indictment?" They looked at her. "Just checking."

Buffy said, "We knew you were feeling less-than-great so..."

Joyce rolled her eyes. "Yeah, the headaches they said would go away came back and brought some friends along with."

"Well, what did the doctor say?"

"Oh, take four of some-pills a day and come back for tests."

"So they don't know what's wrong?" Buffy questioned, sounding disbelieving.

"Not yet."

"Well, that's unacceptable. I think we should get a second opinion."

Joyce smiled. "Well, we need a first opinion first, honey."

"Okay." Buffy threw her apron down on the counter. "We'll go right now."

"Buffy, I know you're concerned, okay? But don't be. I'm still the mom. Which means I get to worry about you two, which is a good thing because you're a Vampire Slayer." She turned to Dawn and pulled her into her lap. "And you...in addition to being the other vampire slayer in the house, you are my little punkin' belly!"

"Mom! That's like my kid name," Dawn protested while not even trying to break away.

"So I can't be Retro?" Joyce asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Did you ever have any names for me?" Buffy asked, a little hopefully.

"No... I think you were always just Buffy," Joyce answered with a smile.

"I got some names for ya..." Dawn volunteered, looking very gleeful at getting a chance to say them.

Buffy turned away, a little disappointed. Dawn and their mother had always gotten along better than she did with Joyce. Sometimes, like now, she wished it wasn't like that. Even though Dawn was stronger physically than even Buffy was, Buffy was older and had to act like the emotionally strong one. Over the years, it had placed a boundary between her and her mom that Dawn could still cross.

"What are you doing hanging around here? Isn't this Giles' big day?" Joyce asked Buffy.

Startled, Buffy said, "Oh! Bigger than big. It's his grand opening." She winced as she realized she was babbling, which she only did when she felt insecure. Get it together, girl, she told herself. Mom doesn't need that right now.

"So go," Joyce said, dismissing them with a wave of her hand. "Bring me back a... I don't know... a flying broomstick or something."

"Those never really work," Dawn informed her.

Joyce rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She pulled away from Dawn and pushed the taller girl off her lap. "You girls get out of here, go help Mr. Giles. Enjoy yourselves."

Buffy nodded, giving in for now. "Okay, we're gonna go. We'll be back later," she assured Joyce.

Dawn stood up. The two girls headed for the door. "What time is your doctor's appointment?" Buffy asked Joyce.

Joyce just gave her an exasperated look that clearly said, 'Stop worrying and just go already.'

Buffy put her hands up in a peace offering. "I just want to know... take it easy. I want you to relax all day, keep your feet up, plenty of Oprah."

Dawn added helpfully, "Plus, you can check my rain forest report and you know there's like eighty bazillion old board games-"

Buffy rolled her eyes before grabbing her sister's arm. Sure surprise on Dawn's part allowed Buffy to drag her out of the room and toward the front door. They called 'bye' on their way out.

"Bye, kids!" Joyce called after them.

*****

Giles glanced at the clock for the umpteenth time that morning. He was feeling rather put out. Here he was, the latest of a long line of proprietors of one of the downtown magic shops, and not a single person had stopped by. Of course, it had only been a few hours, but really. Where were the hard-core demon summoners that woke up at the wee hours in the morning to begin their ritual sacrifices? Where were the local practitioners of the arts? Even some ignorant citizen who thought that owning a crystal ball would make them black arts masters would be good right about then.

His spirits lifted slightly when he heard the bell chime as the door to the Magic Box opened. It was Dawn. Even the knowledge that she wasn't a customer didn't deter his rising spirits. She was, after all, the first person to show up since he opened the shop.

"Oh, hello, Dawn," he greeted her. He noticed that she was slightly out of breath and smiled slightly. She must have run to the shop, which meant Buffy would join them soon.

She smiled at him. "Hey, Giles." She looked around, taking it all in. Tables and counters and shelves were covered with magical paraphernalia, books, and spell ingredients. Her eyes widened. Being Buffy's former Watcher and all, she'd known the selection would be a good and various one, but she'd never been in a magic shop with so much stuff before. Most of the magic shops in Sunnydale were tiny ones; compared to them, the Magic Box was a superstore. "Whoa. This place is just so…wow."

Dawn's gaze swept over the floor and passed over Giles, only to snap back to the Watcher and settle into a stare. Her eyes widened even further until they were half out of their sockets. Her jaw dropped.

Giles stood there with a small, hopeful smile on his face. Dawn just kept staring.

"Interesting outfit," she finally said. It was the most diplomatic comment she could come up with.

His shoulders slumped a little and he glanced down. "Yes, well, it had seemed like a good idea at the time."

Rupert Giles, former Watcher and High School Librarian and new owner and manager of the Magic Box, wore a purple robe and a pointed purple wizard's hat over his normal clothes. He looked distinctly un-Giles-ish.

Dawn gave him a doubtful look. He sighed. Resigned, he took the robe and hat off and placed them behind the counter.

The bell rang again as Buffy stepped through the door. It was Giles' turn to stare as he fought down a smile. Just as he'd suspected; the Summers girls had raced there, again.

The Slayer looked a little disheveled, and although she wasn't bent over panting, she was breathing hard. She glared at Dawn. "I'll beat you one of these days. You'll see."

Dawn smirked. "You just keep telling yourself that."

Buffy gave her another look before glancing around at the shelves, taking it all in.

Dawn turned back to Giles. "So, when's it open? You know, for customers?"

"Since nine this morning, actually," Giles said, feeling the depression set in again. "Still, not to worry. No, I've got feelings about this place; magick's a small niche market, but…well, think about it. Sunnydale, monsters, supply and demand - they'll be lining up around the block in no time."

Dawn nodded absently; her attention was mainly on the display table next to the door. Buffy also nodded encouragingly. "Yeah," said Buffy. "You'll be making money hand over fist." She made a face and placed a hand over her own fist. "Which I guess is a good thing."

Concerned, Giles asked her, "You all right? You both seem a little distracted."

Buffy gave him a small smile as she walked down the steps and over to him. Dawn followed her. Buffy answered, "It's just, our mom's still sick and we have no idea what the deal is."

"The doctors will find out. Right?" Dawn said, turning to her sister.

Buffy nodded. "Yeah." Truth be told, though, she wondered that herself. "Yeah," she repeated, now a touch sarcastically. "We have a highly trained medical staff working 'round the clock…to tell us diddly."

He gave them a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry. Still, you know, time and patience... both great comforts-"

The door chime interrupted them. Willow Rosenburg entered, followed closely by Riley Finn. Willow looked excited as she looked around at the store.

"Giles! Where's your hat and cloak?" she asked.

Dawn turned to Willow and waved the two of them over. She pointed within the glass display counter. "Willow! You've got to see this. They have the coolest talismens...mans... talisguys. I-"

"Hey," Riley said, smiling as he walked up to his girlfriend. Buffy smiled back and presented her cheek for a kiss. "How's you mom?" he asked quietly.

"Fine." She shrugged. "For now." She shifted uncomfortably. She really didn't want to talk about it anymore. Besides, there was still the matter of the object she'd brought in her bag. Glancing over at Willow and Dawn, she saw them waving their hands and talking excitedly. Buffy decided it would be a good idea to interrupt them before they got completely absorbed in magic-babble land. "Actually, I have a little Scooby-centric deal to deal with first," she said loud enough for everyone to hear.

She took a glowing crystal ball from her bag and showed it to the others. She'd found it the night before while on solitary patrol in the warehouse district of Sunnydale. One minute, she'd staked this wannabe-master vampire, and the next a security guard was asking her to leave the property. He gave her the sphere before she left, thinking that it was hers and she'd dropped it.

"I put this before the group. What the hell is it?" she asked them.

Giles studied it in his intense Watcher-way. "It appears to be paranormal in origin."

Willow glanced at it skeptically. "How can you tell?"

Giles struggled while he tried to think up an intelligent answer. "Well…it's so shiny."

Buffy turned to her sister and held the ball out to her. "You getting any vibes from it?" Sometimes, magic acted wonky whenever Dawn was around. It didn't happen often, but it was worth checking.

Dawn frowned at it. She reached a hand out to take it, only to gasp and yank her hand back.

"What is it?" Riley asked her.

"I don't know," Dawn answered. "It felt…warm. Magical, too."

"Well, there you go, paranormal in origin." Giles said. He looked pleased with himself.

Everyone looked at him for a moment before turning back to Dawn. Dawn reached out to take the sphere and Buffy pulled it away.

"If you break this-" Buffy warned.

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, Buffy. I can hold back my strength. Besides, you do it all the time, and you don't hear me going around saying things like 'don't touch' or 'be careful.'" She took the ball from Buffy and held it up in front of her face. "Yep, definitely getting a vibe here." It also felt familiar, somehow, even though she could have sworn she'd never seen it before.

She shrugged. "It's a round green magic thing." She handed it to Giles.

"Green?" Willow repeated, looking confused.

Dawn frowned at her. "Yeah. It's glowing green. Isn't it?"

"We're seeing a whitish-yellow color," Riley answered.

"It appears green to you?" Giles asked, brow burrowed in thought.

Dawn nodded.

"Hmm. Well, I suppose this means we'll need to hit the books," he said. He looked rather happy at the prospect.

"I say there may be more where that came from. We should go back out again tonight," Riley said.

Dawn nodded. "Definitely."

Buffy couldn't help but agree.

*****

Merlin sat in his study, deep in thought. He'd been the King of Chaos for a few years now, and he'd been very busy during that time. He understood now why his school friend, Luke aka Rinaldo, complained about having the Kashfa throne. There was always something to do, and Merlin didn't have a whole lot of time for personal things anymore.

He wondered how his uncle Random was holding up. Although technically both of them fought for opposite teams nowadays, Amber and Chaos were on better terms now than they'd been for centuries. Neither he nor Random wanted hostilities to rise between their two kingdoms, and that was fine by Merlin. Still, it had been a while since he'd last seen Random or any of his other Amberite relatives.

A circular ring of light filtered down through the window. Merlin watched as it settled itself on the table. "Hello, Ghost."

"Hi, Dad," the ring of light answered. It represented Ghostwheel, a sentient machine off in Shadow whose power equaled, or perhaps dwarfed, the power of the Pattern and the Logrus. Although Ghostwheel was a construct, Merlin had been the one to design and construct him not long before he was crowned. It was the reason why Ghost had called him 'Dad'.

Merlin was one of a select few who had walked both the Pattern and the Logrus. Only those with the blood of Amber could walk the Pattern, and only those with the blood of the Courts of Chaos could walk the Logrus. Merlin had both. His father was Corwin, son of Oberon, and his mother was Dara, princess of Chaos.

"How are things?" Merlin asked. "I haven't seen you for awhile."

"I've been busy," Ghost replied. "I've been testing several of my functions, adding some more. I wanted to tell you about the results of that scan you asked me to do a while back. Remember? You asked me to try to see if there are any more descendants of Oberon out there."

Merlin nodded. He remembered all right. After the whole mess with Dalt, Coral, and Luke preceding his coronation, Merlin had decided that it would be a good idea to see if there were any more relatives waiting to come out of the woodwork. "What did you find?"

"A number of your Amberite relatives are scattered throughout the Order end of Shadow, although Fiona has made a number of trips to your brother Mandor's place here in the Courts."

"That doesn't surprise me. What else?"

"It looks like you were right," Ghostwheel said. "I've found one new relative so far. She's on Earth, but in a different Shadow than the one you like so much."

"Really? What's her name?"

"Dawn Summers. Daughter of Joyce Summers. One older sibling, a Buffy Summers, daughter of Joyce and Hank Summers. Currently enrolled at Sunnydale Middle School, Sunnydale, California."

"So who's Dawn's father?"

"The father is listed as an Oliver Amberson. As far as I can tell, it's Oberon."

This was certainly worthy of his attention. Dawn was yet another aunt to add to a growing number of them, and it would be too dangerous to ignore her. There was nothing Merlin could do for her, though, except tell Random. He automatically reached for his Trumps, their means of communicating between relatives, only to stop himself. The Trumps wouldn't work at this distance, when the time differential between Chaos and Amber was so great and varying.

"I need you to take a message to Random," he told Ghostwheel.

*****

The two Summers girls entered the house. Dawn could hear the TV blaring in the living room, which meant Mom was in there, resting as prescribed by Dr. Buffy.

She couldn’t help thinking about the green-glowing ball her sister had found on patrol. Sometimes, she got vibes around magical areas or objects. It didn’t happen often, though, but when it did it usually led her one step closer to finding out more about herself and her father.

Buffy was lucky in that respect. She got to spend time with her own father. She knew him. Dawn didn’t even know what her father looked like. All she had to go on was her mother’s description and what Buffy could remember of him. Nearly everyday, in-between the constant woes of school and having an annoying older sister who was constantly being a pain, Dawn wondered why she was stronger than even Buffy, or why she could run faster than her. Their healing powers were pretty much equal, although Dawn’s was just a tad bit faster. She’d performed spells on herself to see if she was a demon but all of them came up negative. However, when she did spells to see if she was a human, the results were mixed, meaning she was only half-human. The only option left, as far as she could see, was that she was half alien, and she hadn’t found a spell to check for that yet. She didn't think there were any.

Giles and the others knew about one or two of the spells she’d done, but not all of them. Dawn just couldn’t not look for answers. She wondered what the significance was behind that ball appearing green to her. First chance she got, she planned to hit the books.

"Mom?" Buffy called, ducking her head into the living room.

A moan interrupted Dawn’s thoughts and the two of them hurried into the living room. They found Joyce lying on the couch, eyes fluttering.

"Mom!" Buffy repeated, this time alarmed.

"What’s wrong?" Dawn asked, worried. She hated seeing her mother like this. Joyce Summers had always been the one to take care of them; it shouldn’t have had to be the other way around, ever.

Joyce struggled to sit up. "It's just my head," she said, trying to sound assuring.

"I'm taking you to the doctor," Buffy said, resolutely.

The Slayer reached for the bottle, but Dawn grabbed it first. "I’m faster."

Buffy frowned but nodded.

Dawn gave her mom one more glance before turning and rushing out the door. She broke into a run and reached the hospital in less than two minutes. She kept running and was panting a little by the time she reached the pharmaceutical desk on the ground floor.

"I need a refill for Joyce Summers," she told the technician behind the counter. She held out the bottle and took out her credit card. The credit card was there solely for emergencies; in other words, whenever Dawn got hurt on patrol and needed bandaging up at the hospital. She was glad that she had faithfully not overcharged it on clothes now.

She waited impatiently for the guy to refill the bottle. She wanted to get back home as soon as possible. After what seemed like forever, he finally handed the filled bottle to her and she turned to go.

Three orderlies were wheeling a guy on a gurney down the hall. One of the orderlies, Ben, was looking at her. "Hey! It’s Dawn, isn’t it?"

"Oh, hey, Ben," she said, smiling a little. He was a great guy, not to mention cute. He’d been there when her Mom had a fainting spell not that long ago.

The patient on the gurney suddenly sprang up, startling her.

"I don’t belong here. I have important instructions. Fascists!"

Ben hastily pushed the struggling man back down while the other two orderlies tried to restrain him. "Now you're hurting the nice orderly who's here to help you," Ben told him as the man continued to struggle. Ben turned to one of the nurses. "I need nine cc's of Phenobarbital in this guy now-"

Without thought, Dawn took a step forward and slammed the guy back against the gurney, easily holding him there with only one hand.

Ben stared at her. "…or not." He turned back to his comrades. "Now, let’s strap him. For your own good, I promise," he told the glaring patient.

As the man was strapped down, Ben studied Dawn. "You know, not to be rampantly sexist in the workplace, but you've got some serious muscles for a girl."

Caught, Dawn got a deer-in-headlights look. "Oh, I, uh, I mean I-"

Ben nodded. "Radioactive spider bite."

Dawn laughed nervously. "Right. That’s me. Dawn Summers by day, red spandex wearer by night. But, um, not really."

"Green light…lots of green light…" the patient half-whispered.

"What?" Dawn looked sharply down at him, startled. She was instantly reminded of the green-glowing orb and wondered if he knew something.

Then again, maybe not. He had a half-gone look in his eyes, and he was pointing directly at her. "Beautiful green light…"

"What do you mean?" Dawn asked, leaning over him. She had to be sure. Coincidences never occurred in Sunnydale.

Her words seemed to snap him out of it. He grabbed onto her free arm, the one that held the bottle, and she was surprised at how strong his grip was.

He stared at the bottle. "Doesn’t even help. Doesn't make a damn bit of difference!"

Dawn felt goose bumps form on her skin. "What?"

He continued, "They're coming at you. Don't think you're above it, missy. They come through the family! They get to your family!"

"My family? What do you mean?" Dawn asked, frantic now.

"Let's get him to Exam One. Now would be nice," Ben told the orderlies.

They began to wheel the gurney down the hall. "I'm real sorry about that," Ben called after her, apologetic.

Dawn stared after them and then at the pills. She turned and broke into a run, heading home. Something was wrong, and if that guy could be taken seriously, then whatever was happening to Mom was something magical. If that was true, then whoever was behind it was going to pay.

*****

"What did he look like?" Buffy asked Dawn.

"Brown hair, eyes, really manic expression," replied Dawn. The two of them were running as fast as Buffy could go across town to the Magic Box. After making sure that their mother would be all right, Dawn had told Buffy about the encounter in the hospital with the crazy guy on the gurney. The two of them had decided to go to the Magic Box where they could ask the expert, Giles, what it could mean and what they should do next.

"So he was crazy?"

"I don’t know," Dawn said. "Not everything he said made sense, but it seemed like he was telling the truth."

"Did he have on a security guard uniform? Gray pants and shirt?"

Dawn thought for a moment. "Yeah, he did. His shirt had some company name on it, um…Germane Security, I think."

"That sounds like the security guard that I ran into on patrol last night."

"When you found that orb-thing?" Dawn questioned.

Buffy nodded. "Right. He wasn’t crazy then, though."

"Well, something happened to him." She hesitated before continuing, "Buffy, there was something else. When he looked at me, he-he said I looked all greenish and lighty."

"Huh?" Even Buffy couldn't understand that one.

"He said he saw a green light instead of me."

Buffy frowned as they turned onto the downtown street where the Magic Box was located. "We'll have to ask Giles about that, too. I don't know what that could mean."

They ran into the Magic Box and over to the counter. Anya stood in front of it while Giles stood behind it. Willow sat in the corner behind the counter, researching the orb.

"Giles, we have an idea what's making our Mom sick," Buffy told him without bothering with preliminaries. This was too important to waste time.

"Have you spoken with her doctors?" Giles asked, misunderstanding her.

Dawn and Buffy shook their heads. The Slayer replied, "They won't find anything. What's hurting her- it's supernatural."

Dawn picked up the orb that lay on the counter next to Willow and held it up. "The night watchman who found this thing? He went crazy, like, overnight," said Dawn.

Willow, Giles, and Anya took one glance down at the thing before hastily backing away from it.

Buffy shook her head. "It won't hurt us. I had it on me all night. But this guy, he saw things...he said things." She turned to Dawn for confirmation. Dawn nodded.

"Such as?" Giles prompted.

Dawn swallowed. "They'll come at me through my family. That's what he told me."

"Who will?" Willow asked.

"We don't know," Dawn said, worried. "But whatever touched this guy, it had to have been supernatural. He knew someone or something is hurting Mom and they're doing it to get to me or Buffy."

Giles thought over it for a moment. "It's possible, but still, the ramblings of a madman aren't much to go on."

"Yeah, but it's a start," Buffy insisted. "We need to find out who's making our mom sick and how."

"Then what?" Willow asked.

Dawn and Buffy exchanged a look. Buffy answered, "Then we hunt them...find them...and kill them."

Dawn nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me."

*****

Buffy paced back and forth across the Magic Shop, avoiding the customers that were forced to walk around her. She'd been researching a few moments ago, only to stand back up and pace in an attempt to expel some energy before she returned to the research. Willow remained sitting in the corner behind the counter, away from the bustle of everything around her, while Dawn sat at the table. Both were pouring over books, hoping to find some clue of what could be hurting Joyce.

Xander, who had entered the store moments before, now approached Buffy. "Hey, Buff." He glanced around at the people moving around before leaning in closely. "Did you ever think in a million years you'd miss the high school library?"

Instead of answering, Buffy said, "Someone put a spell on my mom. Something to make it seem like she's sick."

Xander's eyebrow went up. "That's a new kind of nasty. Any suspects?"

She sighed, frustrated. "Well, I've got the list narrowed down to just under infinity."

Xander winced. "Don’t worry, Buffster. We'll find him. Then you and Dawn will slay it and your mom will be just fine."

Buffy gave him a distracted smile at the attempt to cheer her up. They went over to the counter. "Any luck?" she asked Willow.

Willow shook her head and gave her an apologetic look.

Anya placed an hourglass on the counter and some wrapping paper. She began to wrap the hourglass. "You know, Buffy, there used to be this French sorcerer back in the 16th I-don't-know-what named…"

Giles glanced up from whatever he was doing, interested. "Cloutier?" he suggested.

Anya nodded and smiled, remembering. "So cute in his little knickers."

Buffy and Willow both gave her looks. Dawn, seeing them all talking, left the book on the table and came over.

The ex-demon continued, "He had this one spell demons just hated called 'tirer la couture'."

Buffy tried to remember what that with difficulty. She'd never been good at French. "Rotate many foodstuffs?" she guessed.

"Pull the curtain back," corrected Dawn.

Buffy frowned at her. "Show off."

Anya continued, "A spell to see spells...well, a trance to see spells, actually, but you get the idea. Try that."

"What do you mean 'see' spells?" the Slayer asked.

"Yeah. I know spells sometimes like all glowy and purple and stuff, but you don't need a spell to see that," added Dawn.

"Well, all spells leave a trace signature," Giles replied. "It's usually not perceptible to the human eye, although there are sometimes exceptions in your case, Dawn."

"'Cause I'm half-human and all."

Giles nodded. "In this case, it could be the image of a hand choking your mother."

"Or a cloud of mist around her," Anya imputed.

"Or maybe the shape of the demon that's performing the spell?" Willow asked.

"Possible, yes," Giles agreed.

Dawn and Buffy exchanged a look, nodding. Buffy said, "Okay, so Dawn and I will do what the French guy did, and then we'll know what's affecting our mom."

"I don't know, Buffy," Willow said, looking uncertain. "Trances?"

Giles said, "Yes, Buffy, the Sorcerer Cloutier was legendary. His skills at achieving higher states of consciousness were-"

"Better than mine?" Buffy interrupted. She turned to her sister. "I knew he was gonna say that." She turned back to Giles. "But I've been practicing concentration skills. I know I'm close."

"Are you ready?"

"It's our mom," Dawn answered. "We'll be ready."

Buffy turned to Anya. "What do we need?"

*****

Dawn dumped the spell ingredients on the carpet of Buffy's room. The ingredients consisted of a bag of incense, a jar of sand or sand-like powder that made her tingle because of traces of magical signatures left on it from previous spells, and a number of talisguys of varying materials.

"So what do we do first?" she asked Buffy.

Buffy handed her the incense. "Light this. I'll spread the sandy stuff in a circle."

Dawn handed back the bag. "No way. Your circles always look like squares." She grabbed the jar of sand and, before Buffy could do more than utter a sound of protest, began pouring out the sand.

"Fine," Buffy muttered. She poured the incense out in a bowl and used a match to light it.

The spell was ready in less than a minute. Dawn screwed the lid back on the jar and took a step back, looking at her sister. Buffy took a deep breath before stepping into the circle. She sat cross-legged on the floor.

"You sure you can do this?" Dawn asked her, a little nervous.

Buffy nodded. "I'm sure." She looked up at Dawn. "I need to concentrate now, so…"

Dawn nodded. "Right." She headed for the door. "Good luck."

"Thanks," Buffy said, smiling a little

She left, closing the door on her way. Buffy took another deep breath and closed her eyes, willing herself to relax and let the spell work its magic.

When she opened her eyes again, the light shining through her window had disappeared. Hours had passed and she hadn't noticed, yet she found she didn't mind. Buffy felt like she'd surfaced from a deep sleep and was caught in the state between sleeping and waking.

She got to her feet and looked around. Everything in her room was the way it was the last time she'd seen it, but she felt like she was seeing it out of new eyes. Three-dimensional objects appeared to be flat. Colors seemed dimmer and less distinct. Browns, grays and whites dominated the spectrum like a faded black and white movie, with a few deep reds scattered throughout.

She stepped out of the sand circle and walked to the door. She stepped into the hallway and looked around. Reality was distorted there as well. She walked steadily down the hall and then down the stairs to the first floor foyer, taking everything in as she went. Sounds, too, were distorted; she couldn't hear the stairs squeak as she descended them.

A muffled voice called to her. Buffy's brow creased as it became more distinct. "Buffy?"

She turned. Her mother had approached her and was now standing in front of the door. Joyce was pulling on her coat.

"Mom?" Buffy asked, slightly puzzled. "Are you going out?"

Joyce smiled and shrugged. "Well, either modern medicine's working or I just took the world's best placebo. Either way, I'm going out for a couple of hours."

Buffy's gaze drifted over her mother, but she saw nothing out of the ordinary. She looked more carefully, letting her gaze drift over her mother's face, hair, neck, and clothes, looking for some trace of the spell that was making her mother sick. She couldn't see anything.

"Nothing..." she mumbled, confused.

Joyce paused. "Hmm?"

"There's nothing," Buffy continued, still talking to herself. She checked the space to the left of her mother, then let her gaze drift to the right. There. Something small was blinking in and out of sight, as if trying to get Buffy's attention. Buffy focused on it and found herself staring.

A framed photograph hung on the wall near Joyce's head. In it, Buffy, Joyce and Dawn were kneeling in front of a bush, smiling for the picture-taker. Everything in the picture was fine except…Dawn. Buffy stared as Dawn's picture faded out before fading back in again. One moment, there was nothing but the bush; the next, Dawn's smiling face was back, only to disappear all over again.

Alarm overran Buffy's spell-induced calm. Her confusion deepened. She couldn't understand it. She had a bad feeling that there was more to it than just the one photo.

Joyce was worried now. "Are you sure you're feeling okay? You seem a little out of it. Hey... Buffy?"

Buffy turned her attention back to her mom. She shook her head, trying to clear it. "Yeah, I'm fine," she assured Joyce with a smile. "Long day is all. You go, have a good time."

Joyce smiled. Her eyes softened. "You're so grown up," she said, pride and regret filling the simple statement. She opened the front door and left.

Buffy turned toward the living room and walked over to the table next to the couch. She picked up another photo of the three Summers women and studied it. It was a picture of her, Joyce and Dawn lying on Buffy's bed. Dawn's image also faded in and out in this photo. One minute, Buffy stared at hers and her mom's smiling faces, and in the next Dawn's grin had joined theirs.

Buffy set the photo down and turned toward the stairs. She walked up them slowly, staring at the door she saw at the top. She wasn't sure what she'd find in Dawn's room, but she was sure she wouldn't like it.

She swung the door inwards and entered the room cautiously. Her eyes bulged as she took in the shifting setting. One minute, Dawn's furniture and other things took up the space, but in the next minute, cardboard boxes and crates and boxes appeared. Dawn's things shifted in and out of reality as if her things weren't there at all.

Someone called her name but it sounded as if she spoke through water. "Buffy? Buffy."

Buffy turned around. There was Dawn, standing with arms crossed just before the door. The Slayer's jaw dropped. Dawn was fading in and out, in and out, just like everything else related to her. She went from being solid to see through to invisible and back again.

Dawn looked anxious. "Did the spell work? What did you find?"

Buffy's eyes hardened. There was only one conclusion she could come to. She glared. "You're not my sister."

*****

Dawn's brow furrowed. She shook her head. "What are you-"

Buffy lunged forward and grabbed Dawn's arms, pinning them to their sides. She knew whoever was posing as her sister could break out of her hold in a second, but the point was to intimidate, not to hurt.

Dawn was spooked. "What are you doing?"

"What are you?" Buffy demanded.

Her sister glared back. She had no idea what was going on, but she wasn't about to let Buffy manhandle her. "Let go of me, you freak. Now."

Buffy ignored the threat. "You want to hurt me? Then you deal with me."

She shook her head. "You're crazy!" She shook Buffy's hands off, stepped back and settling into a fighting stance. Buffy did the same, tensing. Dawn tried to read her sister's face, but it was completely devoid of emotion. Dawn shook her head. "Buffy, what is this? What's going on? Is this because of the spell?"

Dawn blocked a punch and ducked a roundhouse kick. Buffy grabbed her shoulders and punched her stomach, then slammed Dawn against the wall with enough force to crack the plaster. Dawn stared into hardened eyes. "Stay away from my mother," Buffy warned. She grabbed Dawn's arms, swung and tossed Dawn into the closest doors. The younger girl cried out as the doors snapped off their hinges, shattering into splinters on their way to the ground.

Dawn landed on the pile of splitters and winced as their sharp ends wedged themselves into her skin. She felt so afraid and confused. Normally, she would have held her own against Buffy, but there was nothing normal about this situation. She was pretty sure she was in shock "Why won't you talk to me?" she pleaded. "Why are you doing this? Something's attacking Mom, don't you remember? It's making Mom sick. We need to find out what. If the spell didn't work, we need to find something that does."

The phone rang, cutting through the silence. "That's probably Giles. He may have something."

Dawn waited, desperate. She didn't want to hurt Buffy, although she wasn't sure if she could; when Buffy got that way, nothing stopped her.

Buffy's eyes flickered from her to the door. Finally, she turned and walked out of the room. Dawn heard her hurry down the stairs and pick up the phone in the living room.

Dawn struggled to remove herself from the pile and only succeeded after a few minutes. By the time she made it downstairs, Buffy was hanging up the phone.

"That was Giles, wasn't it?" she asked.

Buffy's tense back tensed even more before the Slayer turned to face her. Dawn tried not to let it show how much it hurt.

"What did he say?"

Instead of answering, Buffy walked passed her and grabbed her coat. "I'm going out. I'll be back in an hour."

"Where are you going?"

Buffy ignored this question also. "I'll be back before Mom gets back." Her warning was clear.

She opened the door and slammed it behind her.

Dawn hurried back upstairs to her room. She stepped over the wreckage and pulled a chest out from underneath her bed. She had a feeling she knew where Buffy was going, and she planned to be there whether Buffy liked it or not. Something was wrong she wanted to know what.

She pulled a belt with makeshift sheaths out of the chest and buckled it on. She slid a short sword into the sheath on her left and stakes into two others on the right. She'd take an alternate route to the warehouse district. She didn't know which warehouse to go to, but she couldn't risk following Buffy. Her only option was to do a process of elimination. It wouldn't take long. Most of the warehouses were used and owned by a number of companies. She'd only need to check the small amount of them that were empty.

She left the house through the backyard, scaled the fence into the neighbor's yard and took off down the sidewalk.

*****

She checked out three warehouses before she finally found what looked like the right one. A paved, fenced-in area surrounded the warehouse on all sides. The chain on the gate was broken, which had to mean that Buffy was inside.

Dawn entered the building and ran down the corridors. It wasn't long before she heard the sounds of what had to be an intense fight from somewhere on the second floor. She took the stairs three at a time and ran down the corridor. She turned a corner and almost stopped short. The wall at the end of the hall had been completely blasted to bits. A huge hole remained, surrounded by bits of plywood and ventilation. Just beyond the hole was a twisted piece of metal that had once been a door.

She heard a crash and hurried through the hole.

A beat-up man dressed in a brown robe sat tied to a chair across the room. The body of a security guard lay half-concealed behind a column near the far wall. Buffy was fighting a woman with curly-blonde hair who wore a red dress and high heels. There was a huge indention in the left-hand wall, and half of another column had been punched through, all victims of one painful fight.

Buffy didn't look so good. The woman in red kept laying more and more punches into her. Buffy tried her best to block and duck, but even as Dawn watched, the demon water grabbed Buffy by the neck and easily lifted the Slayer off her feet.

"Buffy!" Dawn charged. She collided with the dress-wearing woman as the demon-woman turned. The impact caused her to stagger and drop Buffy. Buffy fell to her knees, coughing and gasping.

Dawn hastily got to her feet and pulled out the sword. She got into a fighting position.

The woman glared at her, clearly annoyed. "Who the hell are you?"

"Stay away from her," Dawn answered.

A look of sudden understanding crossed her face. "Oh, are you two together?" She pointed from Dawn to Buffy. "That is so cute!" Then she charged.

Dawn swung the sword with as much force as she could. The woman blocked it with her arm. The blade broke into hundreds of shards with an ear-piercing creak, and pieces of metal flew everywhere.

Dawn turned her face away to avoid getting shrapnel in her eyes and didn’t see Glory aim a kick at her stomach. The next thing she knew, Dawn was sailing through the air, only to crash against the wall and fall down in a heap on the ground.

Everything in her ached. Nevertheless, Dawn struggled to stand.

Hands grabbed her arms. The grip was very strong. She looked up into the woman's face. "You know what, I really don't appreciate any of this. I mean, here I am trying to get a good day's work in when you and your super-powered girlfriend come in uninvited. Doesn't that seem rude to you?"

Dawn's answer was to head butt her. The woman's head soared back. Dawn got her arms free and punched her.

The woman stumbled back. A hand went up to her cheek. "Hey, that actually hurt," she commented, sounding surprised. She straightened. She looked furious. "You little bitch!"

When she got close enough, Dawn let loose with a kick. The woman caught her leg, but before she could tug on it, Dawn swung her other leg up and kicked her on the same side that she'd punched the demon-woman. Dawn spun, pulling her left leg free before she touched the ground again.

The woman looked furious. Faster than Dawn could follow, she grabbed Dawn's arms, spun, and hurled her across the room. Dawn collided with the wall next to the dead guard.

"Dawn!" Buffy cried, all thoughts of her sister not being her sister gone from her mind. She ran over and helped Dawn get to her feet. "We need to get that monk and get out of here," she said.

Dawn nodded. "I'm okay."

They two of them ran over to the guard and started untying him. Then they draped his arms over their shoulders and headed for the window, the only exit in sight.

"Hey! Hands off my holy man!" The woman shouted from across the room.

They crashed through it, turning in the air so that their backs hit the ground. The wind knocked out of Dawn from the impact. She sucked in a gulp of air and helped Buffy get the monk to his feet.

The monk cried out in pain when he tried to stand. Dawn looked him over. Bruises and cuts covered his face, and his robe was torn in several places. It wasn't from the fall; Buffy had shielded him from the worst of that.

"I cannot…please," he said between gasps. He had an accent.

"No. We have to keep going," Buffy said. "Dawn, can you carry him?"

"I think so," Dawn said, although she wasn't sure if she was strong enough after the beating she'd received.

She bent down to place her arm under his knees. The monk shook his head and she paused. "My journey's done, I think," he said once his breathing was back under control.

"Don't get metaphory on me," Buffy told him. "We're going." She tried to help him again to his feet, but he stopped her.

"You have to...the Key," he told her. "You must protect the Key."

Buffy nodded. "Fine. We can protect the Key together, okay, just far, far from here."

"Many more die if you don't keep it safe."

"How? What is it?" Dawn asked him.

The monk looked at her. For a moment, she wondered if he had heard her. Then he said, "The Key is energy. It's a portal. It opens the door..."

"The Dagon Sphere?" Buffy asked. Dawn looked at her. "It was the ball I found," Buffy explained.

"No," the monk answered. "For centuries it had no form at all. My brethren, its only keepers. Then the abomination found us. We had to hide the Key, gave it form, molded it flesh...made it human and sent it to you."

"Sent it as who?" Dawn asked. Her sister looked shocked. "Buffy?"

Buffy's gaze turned to her. "It's you…"

Dawn stared back. "What are you talking about?" Then she remembered the trance spell Buffy had performed and how she'd acted earlier. "Oh, God…"

The monk looked straight at Dawn. "You are the Key."

Dawn shook her head even as more memories of the week's events flashed through her mind. The Dagon Sphere had appeared green to her, and the crazy security guard had looked at her and seen green light instead of a half-human girl…

"We knew the Slayer would protect," he said.

"My memories... my mom's?" Buffy asked, still in shock.

"We built them."

"And mine," Dawn said. She wasn't real. She shook her head violently. "No. No. You're lying!"

He coughed uncontrollably.

"What am I?" Dawn asked, near to hysterics.

"Human...now human."

"Then if I'm human now, how come I'm stronger and faster than everyone?" she demanded, defiantly. Anything to prove that he was wrong.

"We used…DNA from the mother of the Slayer and the man she slept with fifteen years ago. We did not know who he was."

Dawn stared blankly at him, not really listening as he looked back at Buffy again.

"Please…your must protect. She is an innocent in this…" He looked away from both of them and let out a breath. He was dead.

Dawn and Buffy stared at him for several long seconds. Dawn stood and took off, leaving Buffy kneeling beside the dead monk, staring at nothing.

THE END