And yet, when a still-sleeping Andrew moved closer to her, his erection poking into her, she couldn't fight the small moan that escaped her or the wetness that seeped from her. She'd told him before that she didn't think she could ever get enough of him, and that still felt like nothing but the absolute truth.
Dawn knew the moment Andrew was awake. He pulled her closer and nuzzled against her shoulder. "Good morning, baby," he said sleepily against her skin.
"Good morning," she replied as she pressed herself back into him. "We're…we're out of condoms," she reminded him.
"I know." Andrew nipped at her ear. "It's why we decided to finally go to sleep."
Dawn giggled. "Yup. But now I'm awake and I want you again."
Andrew's arm snaked around her body, his hand dipping into her curls. Dawn moaned as he began to rub her, and she reached behind her to cup the back of his head, holding him close to her. "You're not too tender are you?" Andrew asked as he kept his ministrations gentle.
"A little, but this is okay," Dawn said. "Just…not hard, all right?"
She felt him nod against her and his other hand crept up to massage her breasts. "How's this?"
"Perfect," Dawn replied. Her eyes slid closed as she let out another sensual moan. "Keep doing that."
Andrew slowly coaxed her body higher and higher until she stiffened in his embrace and came with a small cry. It wasn't as intense as the orgasms he'd given her the day before, but it was enough for Dawn then, just the right amount of pleasure for her tired body. She purred with satisfaction as Andrew turned her in his arms and kissed her slowly, as if he were tasting her.
"I think it's your turn now," Dawn said as they pulled apart.
Andrew's eyebrow arched. "Oh yeah? What did you have in mind?"
With a wicked grin, Dawn slid down his body.
*** *** ***
Dawn had decided to stay behind while Andrew made a trip to the store. For one thing, her legs ached so much she wasn't sure she could even make it as far as the front door. She was even sorer now than she'd been the day before, feeling as if she were suffering the after effects of the longest workout of her life.
That thought made her giggle. In a way, she supposed that was what it had been. And wouldn't that be a nice exercise regimen…
She curled up in the bed and clutched Andrew's pillow, breathing in the scent he'd left behind. Just the thought of him could bring a smile to her face, and she couldn't help but feel giddy.
With her lips still curved upwards, Dawn let herself drift off to sleep, deciding she might as well take a nap while she waited for him to come back.
*** *** ***
The wind that whipped past her sounded like screams and the ground beneath her feet black with ash. Lava flowed all around her, yet Dawn felt a chill deep inside.
She knew this place…
"Of course you do. You began here."
Dawn glanced around wildly in search for the speaker of the words she'd just heard, but saw no one. "Who said that?" she called.
The voice laughed. "You can't see me like that. You'd have to look inside."
"Inside where?" Dawn replied. "Where are you?"
"Buried, buried deep inside. But true power can never be contained."
A chill ran up Dawn's spine. "Why do you keep doing this to me, making me have these dreams? Stop it!"
"They are not dreams. The world you walk in is the dream. I am not flesh."
"I am!" Dawn felt tears running down her cheeks, and she took a deep breath. "Please. I don't want to be here. I want to be there—with the people I love."
"I do not know love."
"I do! I'm human and you're…" Dawn gasped, things finally falling into place. "You're inside of me."
"Trapped."
"Not trapped! Please, you don't have to do this… We're one now." Her next statement came out as a whisper. "I am the Key."
"No, you are a child. I am the Key. You fight to keep me contained. You will not use the power I can give you."
"I don't know how!" Dawn cried. "What is it you need me to do? Show me."
"Do you truly wish to know? Do you truly wish to be what I can let you be?"
Dawn's eyes closed again and she took a deep breath, feeling a sort of peace wash over her as she did. "Yes."
"Then it shall be done."
When Dawn opened her eyes again, the world around her melted away and left her surrounded by nothing but light. She raised her arm to shield her face, and saw a bright burst of green energy coming towards her. It slammed into her, filling every fibre of her being and she screamed, her body feeling as if it were on fire. The light surrounded her until it grew faint again, slipping into her.
"Now we are truly one…"
"Dawn! Dawn!"
Dawn's eyes flew open and she saw Andrew sitting in front of her, his hands tight around her shoulders as he gently shook her. She gasped, then burst into tears and fell against him.
Andrew held her tightly, trying his best to soothe her. Finally, she pulled back, her red-rimmed eyes wide and frightened. "I can feel it, Andrew. Really feel it. It's there…it's…"
"What are you talking about?" Andrew asked, concern etched on his face. "What happened?"
"The…the Key," Dawn said. "It…it's there. I've never…" She pulled away from him and got to her feet, the aching that had been in her muscles gone now. "I need…I need some air," she told him as she began to search for her clothes, then dressed frantically.
Andrew watched her with confusion. "Dawnie…"
Dawn heard the concern in his voice and turned to face him. "It's…it's not you. I just…we'll talk later, okay?
"Yeah, okay."
Dawn could see the hurt on his face and knew that he had to be taking this as a sign of her rejecting him. She couldn't blame him for that—she'd probably be thinking the same thing in his place. She went back over to the bed and sat beside him. "I love you," she told him as she took his hands in hers. "And this really isn't about us, okay. I just need to think for a bit. There's…I don't know how to explain it, but I need some fresh air, all right?"
Andrew gave her hands a gentle squeeze. "Of course. Anything you need."
"Good." Dawn gave him a quick kiss before she stood, letting his hands drop as she did. "I love you."
"I love you, too," Andrew told her as he watched her leave the room, her words of comfort doing very little to shake his feeling that something was not at all right.
*** *** ***
Dawn walked the streets of Rome, her hands shoved in her pockets. For years now, she'd known that she was made from something called the Key and that the Key itself was some sort of ancient power. But it had been an abstract sort of thought, far from a tangible idea, even when, from on top of Glory's tower, she'd seen what the Key was capable of.
In the blink of an eye, all that had changed. She was completely aware of the Key now, could feel its power thrumming inside of her.
No, not its power. Her power. She had power. Real, strong, ancient power. She'd fallen asleep a seventeen year old girl and awoken something else entirely.
And she was terrified.
Dawn had witnessed firsthand what power could do to a person. She would never forget what Willow had looked like when she'd given into the darker side of it, never forget her pale, vein-covered face and dark, limp hair. And what Dawn felt inside of her now she knew went beyond even what Willow could touch. It was a power almost as old as time itself. It was pure, undiluted energy.
Glory had told her the Key was evil. Was it? Did the strength Dawn could feel coursing through her now come from someplace dark, someplace evil?
She closed her eyes for a moment and saw the world from her last dream again.
You began here…
She knew that she'd been given a glimpse of where the Key had been forged, the hell where it had first come into being. Could something that came from a place such as that be anything but evil?
Tears formed in her eyes, but Dawn roughly pushed them away. She couldn't change things. She knew now why she'd been having those dreams. The Key had grown tired of being buried, grown tired of being ignored. It had been asking her to open herself to it, to allow herself to wield the true power she carried. And now, she had done just that.
But what did it really mean? It wasn't like she'd been handed the "How to Be a Mystical Key" handbook. She knew the power was there—she could feel it. Beyond that, however, she didn't have a clue. What did having this power mean? What could she do with it?
And most importantly, how much would it change her?
A strange gust of wind blew past her, and with it, she heard a voice, whisper to her.
A key can open a door or lock it forever…
Dawn sucked in a breath, a tremor passing through her body. She stopped walking and stepped back out of the way before she closed her eyes and reached out with something deep inside of her. Lights and colors danced before her eyes and suddenly she could feel everything around her. She felt the life of the city. She'd known it was ancient, that so much had walked this ground before her, but now she could touch it all, touch the layers upon layers of life, of experience, connected together to form this spot, this piece of the universe.
Joy, sorrow, love and hate, it all mixed together, hung heavy in places no one could see anymore. But she could. She could see it all, could almost reach out and touch it. Time and space were laid bare before her, there for her to explore…for her to bend…
Her eyes flew back open, and Dawn gasped and slammed shut the connection that had formed between her and the world around her. She didn't feel ready for this. It was too much, more than she could even begin to handle. It was too much, and the part of her that was still just Dawn Summers was too young.
She remembered once lamenting that there was nothing "special" about her, but now she realized how foolish she'd been to believe that, to think that she had somehow become someone "normal" after starting out her existence as something like the Key.
Dawn leaned against the wall behind her, tears stinging her eyes again. She knew, deep in her soul, that "normal" would never be a luxury she'd be afforded again. She'd accepted what the Key had offered her, and despite the fact that she hadn't been sure what she was agreeing to—and still wasn't, really—she'd known that her decision would alter her existence completely. And it had. It had made her into something else.
Dawn frowned. No, that wasn't right. It hadn't made her something else. It had made her what she already was—she just didn't know what that meant.
She didn't know who she was…
But then again, she'd never really known that. Since the day she'd begun her life as Dawn, she'd questioned who she was, where she belonged. She'd eventually come to write it off as part of youth, part of being a teenager. No one knew who they were yet, right? This was the point in life when you were supposed to be finding that out, doing all that searching for your place in the big picture.
Now she knew it had been more. She was the Key. And she had no idea what that meant.
With a heavy sigh, Dawn began to walk again.
*** *** ***