New Beginnings

By PSUBrat

Portals & Keys

"Bloody hell!" The man shouted, as he tripped over the suitcases he had in front of his door. "Who moved the bed? And why am I seeing bright white lights in my room?" Right after they had entered the room, there was a flash of light, and then nothing...

Garrick laughed heartily as he helped his friend to his feet. "No one moved the soddin' bed mate, you just can't hold your liquor."

"As for the light," Geoff added, "you're probably seeing stars from tripping over your bags."

"I am not. And I can hold my liquor I'll have you know. I can drink any demon or human under the table."

"Right," Garrick said as he helped his friend onto his bed.

"I can you know," the man slurred as his head hit the pillow.

Geoffrey and Garrick exchanged looks as their friend immediately passed out.

Garrick sighed as he turned to walk out of the room. Suddenly his eyes caught something shinny lying on the floor. Bending over to pick it up he saw that it was a necklace, a woman's necklace. "Fancy that," he almost whispered as Geoffrey walked over to him.

"What did you find, Gar?"

He started laughing as he handed the necklace to his friend. "Bloke's been getting lucky and holding out on us."

Geoffrey eyed the necklace. "Who in blazes is Dawn?"

"I'm not sure; but I don't think our friend here is going to tell us anytime soon." They both looked over at the snoring man and smiled. Geoffrey set the necklace down on the desk and the two friends left the room.

***

Both Summers girls stared at each other without speaking. Did they really just see a portal in the middle of their kitchen? Buffy picked up the ice cream container that she had dropped to the floor moments before and made her way over to the sink. She stood with her back to Dawn and looked out the window. What just happened? Why did a portal appear here? Slowly she turned around to face her sister. By that time Dawn had snapped out of her trance-like state and moved to the stool at the island.

"Buffy?" Dawn asked her eyes wide with wonder. "Do you think I did that?"

"What?" Buffy demanded with a frown.

"It was a portal. I'm a key. Maybe I did that."

"Dawn, you're not a key anymore. There's no way…"

"Buffy we have no idea what I'm capable of anymore."

Just then the phone rang. Buffy walked over to answer it as Dawn placed the book she had taken on the counter. "Hello?"

"Buffy, thank goodness I caught you there."

"Giles? Isn't it like bedtime for you or something over there?"

"Not quite. Buffy. The reason I'm calling, it's very important."

"Take a deep breath Giles and just say it."

"Buffy, you need to watch Dawn."

Buffy looked at her sister who was now engrossed in the book in front of her. "And why's that Giles?"

"We just translated some more of the text. It states that 'The Key, will at its bidding, open doors that have been dormant for a millennia.'"

"Giles can ya un-vague that for me?"

"In short, Dawn is going to be able to open portals to other places as you and I would open or close our front doors."

"Uhm, Giles?"

"Yes?"

"I think she just did that."

"What? Are you quite sure? Tell me everything!"

Buffy proceeded to explain what had just happened in the Summers' kitchen. Answering all of Giles' questions as best she could.

"Buffy," Dawn asked from the stool, "Ask Giles if he's related to a…"

"Huh," Buffy asked questioningly.

"Never mind. Here, give me the phone," Dawn said as she took it out of her sister's hands. "Giles, it's Dawn. Are you related to a William Giles?"

***

In Los Angeles, the man known as Heinrich Joseph Nest walked out onto the balcony of the apartment they had rented for him. He looked out over the city of Angels and grinned madly. It felt good to be back from the dead. At first he had been confused but then his memories had slowly returned. Now he knew who he had been and who he was going to be again. True, the pesky soul almost made him feel terrible for his past indiscretions but he was stronger than that.

They had told him about how they had brought Darla back in the same manner and how her soul had driven her insane. The memory of his once favorite minion brought a smile to his face. Then he growled in anger as he thought of her giving birth to Angelus's son, staking herself to save the child. If Angelus weren't already dead, he would have killed him, himself. How fitting that Angelus' own son had sent him to his demise. So much like his mother.

He looked back out over the city sparkling in the sunlight. For now he was human and could walk among them. But soon, very soon, he would be his true self. He had a score to settle in Sunnydale and he was looking forward to it. He closed his eyes and thought back to his last night on earth. A simple girl had killed him. But not this time. This time, he would have the upper hand.

***

Half a world away, Giles sat heavily into his armchair. "Excuse me," he asked as his blood suddenly started to run cold. "I don't think I heard you correctly."

"I asked if you knew a William Giles," Dawn said giddily. "I went through the portal and…"

"You did what?" Giles demanded standing up from his chair. Buffy had omitted that little tidbit of information.

"I went through the portal," she said hesitantly.

"Dawn you could have been killed. What if the portal had closed? If this happens again you must not go through! Do you understand me?"

"Yes," she said lowering her voice.

"Good. Now. Tell me the rest."

Through the phone he could hear her take a deep breath. He had scared her for now, enough so that she wouldn't repeat her mistake again. "Okay," she continued, "I went through the portal into this room. It looked like a dorm room. Like at a college or something. It all felt real."

"It was real. Please continue." He needed to know how she had come up with that name.

"I was kinda checking things out and I found this book. But, oh! First, I saw this picture of Buffy on the desk."

Again Giles sat down in his armchair with a thud. "Are you quite certain it was Buffy?"

"Yeah. It was a picture that I think I took last spring before she…you know."

"Right. Tell me about this book." He took his glasses off and began to clean them.

"The book is called 'A Watcher's Guide to Slaying' and on the inside it has the name William Giles. I figured maybe he was related to you or something since it was a Watcher's book."

Giles leaned forward in his chair. He rested his elbows on his knees with one hand holding the receiver and the other pinching the bridge of his nose. This was bad. Very, very bad.

"Giles," Dawn said her voice increasing in volume. "Giles are you still there?"

"Yes. I'm still here Dawn. Sorry. I was just reading something."

"So do you know him?" She persisted.

The girl was just as stubborn as her sister. "He's my nephew." The lie came to him easily. He'd had many years of practice.

"Oh cool Giles. I didn't think you had any family. I mean you never talk about anyone…"

"Dawn, I need to go. Please give Buffy my best and tell her I'll call her when we get into town. Goodbye." He hung up the phone quickly and grabbed his jacket. He was out the door before the teenager had even hung up the phone on her end.

***

"Geez," Dawn said hanging up the phone. "Rude much."

"What happened?" Buffy asked walking back into the room.

"This William Giles is his nephew."

"Huh," Buffy said perplexed. "He never mentioned having any relatives."

"Yeah," Dawn said shrugging her shoulders, "That's what I was saying when he said he had to go. Something about he'll call you when he gets to town."

While the two girls proceeded to page through the book, they heard a knocking at the door. Dawn got up to go answer it.

"Hey Xander," Dawn greeted, "What's up?"

"What's up she asks. How about is everything okay?" He walked into the foyer and saw Buffy in the kitchen. "Hey Buff," he called to her.

"Oh. Yeah. We're fine," Dawn said, nodding her head and smiling, "I got a wicked new power!"

Buffy joined the two standing by the front door. "Calm down key girl," she stated as she looked at a baffled Xander.

"Is this a good power or a I-need-to-be-careful-not-to-get-too-close kind of power?"

Dawn giggled. "It's a really cool power. I can open portals!"

Xander shook his head and looked at Buffy. "And just where do these portals go?"

"Giles said they can go anywhere," the girl said excitedly. "This is so gonna save time walking to school."

"Whoa, back up," Buffy demanded. "There will be no using of this power until we understand it better. Got it? Besides. We don't even know how you did it in the first place."

Dawn's shoulders slumped in defeat. She knew Buffy was right but this was her power. She should be able to use whenever she wanted, not just when it suited her sister. "Fine."

Xander looked at the girl and tried to smooth things over. "Hey Dawnster, when you get a handle on that thing, you and I can go to Hawaii. You know how I hate to fly," he added with a grin as he winked at Buffy.

"Seriously?" Dawn questioned.

"Yep. But for now it's back to the Magic Box for us. You coming back Buffy?"

"Nah. I'm just gonna stay here and veg for a while. I'm not feeling that great."

Her sister glared at her as she followed Xander out the door. "Remember what I said Buffy. Stop denying it."

"Whatever Dawn," she said closing the door behind them. This was just too much to deal with for one day.

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