Chapter 10

A New Day in Italy

A/N: Chapter ten of the series. There's been a delay in the updates caused by the ever present threat of a thing called my day job. There has been no feedback and I don't know if there's anyone out there reading this, but I'll keep posting as fast as I can.

Disclaimer: All belongs to Joss Whedon and the parties involved in airing the shows regarding the characters. Original characters are mine.

Feedback: If there is anyone reading, sure.

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Rome, Italy

December 2017

Dawn Katherine Summers couldn't complain about life.

For the past five years, she had managed to create a life of her own, away from all the dangers and heartaches inherent to life in late Sunnydale, California. She had a great job, good friends who liked her for who she was, a cool boyfriend and earned more than enough money to live a luxurious life.

Now a thirty year old woman, Dawn still felt uncomfortable when confronted with questions regarding her life pre-Italy. Questions about her family and life in the USA were quickly ignored and she changed the subject almost immediately after it was brought up. She merely smiled and described her past as 'complicated.'

Truth to be told, complicated didn't even begin to describe how she really felt about it; she coped with it and tried to live a new life. She had asked everyone behind to leave her alone and let her grow up on her own.

Being one of the members of the core group that reinstated the Council of Watchers back in London, Dawn had learnt quite a few languages, both human and demon. She'd trained with slayers and watchers alike, gaining abilities impressive enough for a young woman and helping her land her job as an archeologist.

Growing to become a beautiful woman, every male coworker referred to her as a mixture between Marie Curie, Lara Croft and Indiana Jones. She smiled every time she heard such remark, proud of herself, knowing she had the brains, the body and the skills.

'Mom would have been so proud.' She often thought, every time she discovered something new or every time she escaped unharmed from unknown dangers.

However, a single phone call was about to take that away from her.

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Dawn was quietly working on her office, going through numerous papers and countless photographs when her telephone beeped. She quickly picked up and muttered something when the operator paged the call.

"Dawn Summers here." She said.

"Dawn Katherine Summers?" The voice over the line called. Dawn cringed upon hearing her middle name.

"Uh, yeah, who is this?"

"Connor." The voice answered. A million thoughts crossed Dawn's mind, but there was a sign of alarm bleeping in her head. No one in Rome knew her middle name.

"What can I do for you, Connor?" She sweetly asked, hoping against hope it wasn't the Connor she once knew.

"You don't recognize my voice, do you?" Dawn sighed, and all hopes disappeared.

"Yeah, Connor, I recognized you."

"Not too happy to hear from me, I guess." He recognized.

"Nah, 's not like that." She replied. "It's just been one hell of a week. You calling can only mean there's bad news, right?"

Dawn had hoped he'd merely called to say 'hi', but the silence stretched long and she realized she was right on the spot.

"Afraid so." Connor answered. "There's been some recent developments and I need you here. In London."

"Is there a badly dressed ho running around looking for a locksmith?" Dawn asked.

"Huh?"

"Nevermind." Dawn rubbed her eyes. "What is it?"

"I don't feel comfortable talking about it on the phone." Connor said. "Hasn't Buffy called you?"

"I asked her not to inform me of your extra curricular activities." Dawn replied. "Unless it meant the end of the world, of course."

"Oh. Well, it could be the end of the world." He said. "I need to see you as soon as possible."

Dawn sighed, knowing she couldn't escape her past any longer.

"Right. I can be there this weekend and..."

"Not good." Connor interrupted. "Need to see you right now."

"Sorry?" She replied, staring at the phone as if it was alive. "Look, Connor, I can't just leave my job and..."

"I know." He interrupted again. "Can't worry about that, though..."

"Hey!" It was Dawn's turn to interrupt. "I left London because of shit like this! You can't control everyone else's life...!"

She was cut short when she heard a whispered 'sorry' and the line went dead. She stared once more at the phone and then around. She realized she'd left the door to her office open and many pairs of eyes were fixed on her. She offered them a sweet smile and graciously stood up.

"Ex boyfriend." She lied. "Doesn't understand the meaning of no." She slowly closed the door as the whispered voices began to gossip about their boss' love life. Dawn turned around and was about to sit down when a soft light began to surround her. Having learnt a bit of magic on her life, she recognized a teleport spell when she saw one. Not knowing where it could lead her, she sought the nearest object to be used as a weapon, finding only a letter opener.

Gripping it tightly, she closed her eyes as the light grew brighter and a sense of disembodiment and weightlessness filled her.

When she opened her eyes, she found herself alone in a darkened room, standing in the middle of a badly drawn pentagram on the floor, with lit candles on every corner of the figure.

She rubbed her eyes and strained to recognize her whereabouts.

A door opened to her left. Light filled the room and she stared at a man she thought she'd never see again.

"Welcome home, Dawn." Wesley said.

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"What is this?" Dawn asked, as the surprise slowly faded and anger gained ground.

"A spell." Wesley replied. "Thought you would recognize one."

"Obvious much?" Dawn replied, crossing her arms. Wesley shrugged and blew off the candles.

"Was asked to bring you here." Wesley said, staring into Dawn's eyes. "Talk to Connor."

"Right. In the middle of the day, I must say." Dawn said. "In front of everyone there!"

Wesley walked close to her, keeping eye contact.

"They'll probably be dead this time next year." He said. "So I don't really care."

Dawn felt her jaw hit the floor as the man standing next to her turned around and left the room. She placed the letter opener at her jeans' waistband, thinking she might need it later, and walked out of the room she'd appeared into. She closed the door and found herself at the Council's sixth floor, right outside of a closet. She walked and soon found herself face to face with Connor.

"Connor." She hissed. "Couldn't you have warned me?"

"I said there was no time." He replied.

She was on the edge of a hysterical fit, but she was no teenager anymore.

"Right. Talk to me, then."

Connor scratched his head. He looked around and his eyes fixed into his father's office.

"This way." He motioned for her to go ahead and soon they were sitting inside Angel's office, staring at each other.

"Ok, what has all of this got to do with me?" She asked.

"You really haven't kept touch with your sister." Connor sighed. "A couple weeks ago, higher beings appeared and warned us about an upcoming battle."

"Typical." Dawn said. "Must be Tuesday."

"Not so." Connor continued. "Their warning was cryptic, but they all agreed on the seriousness of the situation."

"As bad as usual?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." Connor leaned back on his seat. "Y'know, each time there's a warning they refer to it as an Apocalypse, capital 'A'."

"That gag is so tired."

"Seems like it." Connor smiled. "Anyways, I wasn't all that worried until I was the one to receive cryptic news."

"Ohh, interesting."

"There seem to be two sides to this battle." Connor explained. "One army battling for the Powers That Be and another one fighting for the Senior Partners."
"Still not clear where I come in."

"I was warned that our army isn't all that serious about the fight, so I was asked to be prepared. I was to gather a group to help in this fight. It seems you are an integral part of this group."

Dawn chuckled.

"I don't want to be part of any war." She said. "Not anymore."

"I know." He said. "But looks like Annie plays an important part in this conflict."

"What?" She exclaimed, looking at Connor. "You can't be serious. Who gave you the info?"

"My mother."

"Who, Darla?" Dawn asked. Connor nodded.

"I'll need your help." He said. "We may be in this alone. I was asked to train Annie. Your help will be appreciated."

"What about Wesley?"

"He'll help us as well." Connor replied. "He's on his way now to the US to find a missing slayer. You might have seen the news a few days ago, when Kennedy's pack was caught on film fighting a Fyarl demon."

"That was Kennedy's pack?" Dawn asked, incredulous. "Stupid."

"Her pack was immediately shipped back here, but she's nowhere to be found." Connor continued. "She's now a liability, so Wesley was asked to bring her back."

"Let's hope nothing actually happens." Dawn said, standing up. "I'm gonna help you on this, but I don't like how you got me. I don't believe I'm saying this, but you'd better show me war, 'cause otherwise? I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Connor chuckled.

"Let's hope then you get to kick my ass."