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Dawn tugged one more time on the metal chain around her wrists. They bound her to a column in what appeared to be the middle of an arena. She didn’t understand why she had always been the Damsel in distress. Just a few weeks ago, she took a few self defence lessons. Making sure the moment she arrived at Stanford and kept from going out too often at night.
“The one time… one time!” She yelled pulling on the chain. “The one time I decided to have fun!” She pulled once more on the chain seeing if there was any give or take, but it looked like whoever had her decided to get a more modern brand of metal. Throwing her head back, she looked around the arena. She could see a slight reflection on what appeared to be a glass enclosure. “Is there anyone there?” She called once more, eyeing the trees and moss. It seemed like a weird set up for an arena, almost like it was a zoo enclosure for a forest animal. Dawn leaned against the column awaiting whatever monster had kidnapped her this time.
What seemed like hours had passed before she heard any movement, three figures came closer to the glass enclosure, one in cuffs, the other in a well dressed suit and a woman in a dress. From the distance she noticed they had their gazes directly on her.
“Hey!” She yelled walking as far as she could go. “You made a big mistake taking me.” The woman merely smiled, mouthing something. Dawn realized she couldn’t hear through the glass. Leaning down to the boy in handcuffs, she whispered something in his ear earning a hard glare from the boy. “Hey! What’s going on? Do you know who my sister is?” The Male leaned forward towards the glass.
“We know who you are, Dawn Summers. We know who your sister is, but she won’t be able to save you in time for what we have planned. Sit tight, we have a show to perform later.” His voice echoed through the chamber. With that, they dragged the boy away while Dawn pulled once more again. The heels that she wore sunk deeper into the earthy ground and she regretted not staying in bed like she knew she should have.
“Come to the party, it will be fun. You can’t stay in bed on a friday night.” She mocked it in a high pitch voice. She slid down the column closing her eyes. After the collapse of Sunnydale and leaving her sister in England, she thought she had been through with the kidnappings and the demons, at least for the time being. This had been happening so many times in her life, Dawn found herself unable to cry anymore, it just seemed like back to the old normal routines.
Dawn had been startled awake by a voice booming over the loudspeakers. She never even realized she fell asleep.
“My friends, do we have a show for you tonight!” Standing up Dawn looked around to see many faces looking in, the majority of them vampires, while a few other monsters were present. Moving closer to the column she held tightly to the chains a new shot of fear sweeping through her. “As you can see, our newest prize doesn’t seem like much other than a good morsel. That’s where you would be wrong my friends, she is none other than, the original Slayer’s sister.” A course of cheers and boos came over the speakers. “As we can all remember, sadly our last champion and her prize had been won, by your reigning champ, Edwin Black Heart!” More cheers followed.
“What kind of name is Edwin?” Dawn muttered to herself.
“Since our loss of our champion, we needed to find a new one...My friends, it took a little finding but we think we found the perfect champion with his perfect prize. You might have even heard of him...Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Destroyer!” Suddenly a door opened on one side of the glass counter, and the boy from earlier had been pushed in brandishing a sword and the same clothes from earlier. He eyed the arena and the cheers around him, while he walked slowly over to Dawn, his sword at the ready. His eyes were intense and his gaze felt like it bore through her, hair shaggy and brown while his eyes seemed almost green in the light.
“What’s going on? I saw you earlier...my name is Dawn. I’m 20, and-” Taking a few steps he seemed to be right in front of her quicker than a human should have been able to move, a hand landing over her mouth to silence her. Once he felt she would be quiet, he gripped the sword tightly with his one, while moving the other to wrap around her waist, pulling her closer to him and off the column. She felt a small breeze blow right by her head, an arrow landing right where she had stood, embedded in the rock. His eyes glanced behind him, as a vampire jumped down from one of the balconies. The glass closing shut behind once more, locking them inside.
“Well, you're much smarter than the last one.” The vampire cocked a grin. Raising his hands in the air, cheers were heard throughout.
“How far can you move?” His voice was deeper than she thought with his almost girlish looks.
“Not far with the chain.” Dawn replied, gripping his shirt in her hands. Grabbing the chain, he pulled tightly, ripping it off the wall freeing her from her locked position.
“Whatever you do, stay behind me.”
“Right, not going to argue there.” Dawn slipped her heels off, holding the pointy ends at the ready.
“Are you ready to die? Destroyer?” Edwin mocked, while she watched the boy straighten his back, tossing the sword into his other hand and a smile forming on his lips. Edwin shot his crossbow once more, with him quickly catching it in his other hand. With that, he jumped on one of the rocks, bringing his sword up and swinging down at the vampire. He moved out of the way just in time, only to fall victim to a kick from him. Edwin blocked the sword with the crossbow, knocking it out of his hands, before hitting the boy in the chest. He fell backwards towards Dawn.
“Can I have one of those?” He nodded to her heel, which she gave freely. With a single snap, he broke it in half, and held it lightly in his hand. “Not that sharp, but it will do.” He muttered. Taking a few more long leaps, he gave a few good punches to the vampire, before getting an opening and dusting him right there. A hush fell over the audience followed shortly by a mix of boos and cheers. Suddenly the room went quiet and the speakers were cut off, keeping them out of the loop. Dawn walked over slowly to the destroyer, he still had the heel in his hand.
“Umm...Destroyer-”
“Connor.”
“What?”
“My name is Connor.” He threw down the heel, and small particles of vampire dust fluttered away at the impact.
“Connor, do you know what’s going on?”
“Not entirely.”
“Do you know how to get out of here?” Connor glanced at Dawn shaking his head.
“I was hoping you would.” Connor heard something open turning his head to see a few vampires armed with what appeared to be guns aiming at them. He took a step back, reaching his one hand out while Dawn took a step forward. Suddenly she gasped, him turning around to see a dart sticking out of her neck. He caught her before she fell, while feeling the same pinch of his own, the world going black for both of them.
Dawn awoke to the feeling of a buzzing under her. Connor laid in the same cage and blankets on blankets were piled up, the air cold and frigid. It looked like they were in the back of a metal unit. From the sound, it seemed like they were on either a train or the back of a truck.
“Connor…” She whispered, pulling on his arm. Connor slowly opened his eyes, yet he seemed more groggy and out of it. The man sitting in the chair stood up with the dart gun, hitting him once more. “Stop it!” Dawn yelled, pulling Connor towards her. The boy was out once more. He aimed the barrel at her, only to have someone stop him. The woman she saw early walked over.
“What do you want with us?”
“To keep being our show monkeys.” She amused grabbing the dart gun from the man. “You see we found the perfect way to take care of the slayer problem that has been on the rise and make money doing it. Having a slayer fight a champion in each city we go to, with the reward of not only killing a slayer but also getting to eat something they care about. If they lose, then we get the profits from the fight and most of the winnings. You would be surprised at how little people bet on slayers.”
“My sister will find me.”
“Buffy? Isn’t she off running around London trying to find more slayers? More people like her. She probably hasn’t even realized you're missing yet.”
“Only women can be slayers, Connor-”
“Is the product of two vampires. He has the agility of one and on top of that we get our vengeance against his father. One day he won’t be as quick as he thinks he is. Besides all that his reputation as the destroyer is bringing in more paying customers. More money for us.” Aiming the gun the vampire smirked at her before pulling the trigger. “Get them ready for the plane. We’ll be onto the next show in less than 20 hours. Keep them sedated as much as possible before the fight.” Dawn felt the drug pull her back into slumber.
Next thing Dawn found herself chained to another column in a different setting. There were no trees and it looked like a grassy plane. Her dress had been changed to white cotton one and she wasn’t wearing any shoes. This time, the chain had been wrapped around her ankle, and woven through a hole at the base of the column. Connor had already been brought in, he leaned against the rock, his head down while a sword lay next to him.
“Connor.” Dawn walked over, stopping just a few feet away. She leaned on her knees, reaching out for his leg. “Connor!” She called once more, his eyes opening wide and looking into hers. He gazed around at the arena, and the grassy plain.
“How did…” he held his hand up to his head, no doubt a headache forming. “Dawn are you okay?” She nodded, kicking her feet beside her. Connor looked down and saw his own clothes had changed to more of a black and grey form fitting fighting outfit.
“You were waking up on the train but they put you back to sleep.” He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the little prickles of small bumps where the darts hit.
“So they keep us knocked out, only to fight in the arena. Wonder what’s going to get us first, starving or over medication.” Connor stood up going to see where her chain was located. “Yeah, I think you’re stuck to the column this time.” He knelt down beside her, pulling tightly on the chain only to have more of it unravel from the ground.
“My guess is if you break it now, they’ll just put more on.” Dawn picked up a piece of grass pulling at it.
“You have something you want to tell me?” Connor made eye contact with her, nodding to the piece of blade in her hand, shredded up.
“I woke up on the train, and one of them said something. We’re meant to put on a show, they get rid of slayers this way, and make money. Except slayers are only women, meaning you can’t be one.”
“I’m not a slayer.”
“She said you were the son of two vampires and this was vengeance against your father.”
“Which father?” Connor joked to himself, picking up his own blade, he twirled it in his pointer and thumb into a small ball. “Anything else.”
“Basically at each city there will be a fight and we either win or die.” Connor rolled his eyes before leaning back in the grass.
“Any chance the slayer brigade will come and save you?” Dawn leaned back against the column, fighting the urge not to cry. She had a fight with Buffy before going out. With being knocked out, she doesn’t even know how long it had been.
“What about your dad?”
“Well, my one is dead, the other doesn’t have any communication with me, and the third doesn’t have any power to get me out of this.”
“You have three dads? No fair, I can barely get one.” Connor sat up, leaning on his elbows staring at her. His eyes were so intense, she didn’t know how to react to them. She felt her cheeks grow warm with each passing second, a small tug at the corner of his lips indicated he noticed.
“How did you get caught?” He saved her from the silence.
“Going out on a Friday night to some party. I don’t know, my roommate dragged me to this frat house and I...I wasn’t feeling it, so I went to walk home. Next thing I know, I’m chained to a column. You?”
“One of those damn darts, I was heading back to my dorm. Next thing I know, I’m chained and they're telling me if I don’t fight, you’re going to die and blah blah blah as per usual, I need to protect the innocent and all that jazz.” Dawn giggled a little, earning a different kind of look from him. “What?”
“Is that a Chicago reference?”
“Why, don’t think I’m smart enough to know musicals?”
“No...just didn’t expect to hear it coming from a boy who can take down a vampire twice his body weight.” She held out her hand towards him, he eyed it. “I’m Dawn Summers.” Taking it slowly, he shook it.
“Connor Reilly.” He held it tightly. “Also I’m 21, sort of.”
“Sort of?”
“Long story.” Dawn let go of his hand, placing her chin in her palm.
“I think we got time.”
Dawn rolled over finding herself snuggling into Connor’s chest on the bed. They had just gotten out of their 23rd fight alive, in another place. It had taken several negotiations after their 8th fight to allow them to not be drugged unless they moved to and from the Arena. Now allowed to stay in a hotel room instead of a cage, they freely roam around a room, with the phones missing and windows locked at all times. Their usual guards standing by just outside the door and in the adjoining rooms.
Connor wrapped his arms around her enjoying her heart beat against his own. Sliding his leg between hers, he pulled her closer to his body, enjoying making her heart speed up by a couple beats or two. Both Connor and Dawn seemed to work well as a pair in the arena and outside of it. More than once Dawn somehow led him to victory either by distracting or the one time throwing a rock at the right spot. She had more knowledge of some of the monsters they fought and told him how to defeat the one who claimed he was invincible. While outside, they either enjoy the silence that came, or endless conversations about their lives and things they liked. Some occasions the kissing that would follow either circumstances.
“Connor.” She whispered so quietly that if it weren’t for his enhanced hearing he wouldn’t have heard her, mumbling up against his chest. He ran his hand down her back, focusing his hearing to see if anyone was around or near. From the snoring he heard outside, their guard wouldn’t awake unless they were too loud. Giving a light two taps, she pulled tighter to him, meddling her body against his. “I know where we are.” Connor titled his head, kissing her forehead. “If you get us out, I know where to go.” Tilting her head up, he kissed her lightly, smiling.
“Let’s go.” He whispered. Quietly they both got up from the bed, Dawn slipping on her pair of tennis shoes and one of his long sleeve shirts he had been allowed. Her white dress had a few tears in it, but nothing major. Connor walked over to the door, listening closely. They usually had one or two guards at night, mainly they believed their drug would keep them knocked out while they would go feeding. Dawn nodded to the window, seeing that they were only two floors up.
“Trust me.” Connor whispered, wrapping her arms around his shoulder. “And hold on.” Carefully unlocking the window, he pushed the window out, glancing to see if anyone had noticed. Waiting one more second to see if the guard had woken up, he lifted them up on the edge, taking the final step and jumping. He braced their landing, bending his knees, knowing full well if he had been human, they would have snapped at the pressure of jumping two floors. Dawn jumped off his back, both racing towards the parking lot and towards the nearest car. Dawn began hotwiring the moment he got the door open. He saw a couple of men making their way out of the hotel to see what had been going on.
“Anytime Dawn.” Connor urged her. One pointing in their direction.
“I’m working on it.” With a final start, the engine came to life and Dawn took off, hitting one of the vampires. Getting on the main road, Dawn sped through and didn’t let up until they were three towns away. Connor began to rummage through the car trying to find a phone or anything.
“Where are we?” He finally thought to ask.
“Northern Scotland, about 5 hours away from Edinburgh. Giles took me where we were a couple of times to teach me how to look for magic. There's several hidden covens in the area.”
“Hate magic.”
“Well, you're about to meet a lot of them. There’s a safe house not too far out of the city, it’s protected by spells that keep demons out.” Connor looked at her.
“And the half demon is going to be fine?”
“Well, you have a soul right? My sisters’ exes can come in. Their vampires with souls. You should be fine.”
“Should be?”
“What do you want, I’m making this up as I go. You’re normally the one saving the day!” Dawn pushed his arm, with Connor catching her hand and holding it. Threading their fingers together, Dawn held tightly, focusing on getting them to a safe house.
“So where did Miss goody-two-shoes Dawn learn how to hotwire a car?” He kissed the back of her hand.
“Spike.” She shrugged her shoulders feeling another blush rising.
Dawn pulled up the driveway that led to a mansion out in the middle of nowhere. Connor noticed someone darting away from the window only to open the door looking shocked at seeing them, armed with a crossbow.
“Giles?” Dawn called from the other side of the car. She ran into the older man's arms, crying into his shoulder. Connor got out of the car, earning a look from him.
“What is going on? Where have you been?” The British man pushed Down away at arm's length. “Did you run off with this boy? This is what you’ve been doing while we have been worried sick!” Dawn shook her head, while Connor had been at Dawn's side faster than Giles could question, wrapping her in his arms.
“We haven’t eaten in a couple of days.” Connor’s intense gaze filtered to the man.
“Dawn... I didn’t mean to imply-.”
“I want to talk to Buffy.” Dawn squared her shoulders back, cutting off whatever he had been about to say. She wiped away her tears with the back of her hand.
“Yes...yes...of course…” Dawn walked past Giles pulling Connor in with her straight for the landline in the hallway.
“Giles who was...Connor?” Faith looked shocked at the seeing him standing there hand laced together with Dawns.
“Faith?”
“Do you know him?” Giles
“He’s Angel’s son, the one who's been missing.”
“Buffy?” Dawn said into the receiver, hearing her sister gasp.
“Dawn! Dawn, where are you?” Her sister’s voice rose.
“What are you doing here? Why did you skip out of Stanford?” Faith began questioning Connor.
“I didn’t skip out.” Connor defended himself.
“I’m in Scotland at the safe house. Giles is here with Faith.” Dawn explained to her sister.
“Then where have you two been?” Giles asked, looking between the two.
“We were kidnapped by the underground fighting ring. You know the one that keeps moving.” Connor replied,
“I’m safe now, just tired and hungry. Is Angel with you?” Dawn pulled on Connor's hand.
“What? why?” Faith asked Connor. “Why would they want Dawn? You I get, but Dawn isn’t a slayer.”
“Can you please put him on the phone.” Dawn asked her sister.
“Dawn?” Angel’s voice came through. Holding the phone up to Connor’s ear, he heard Angel’s voice. “Dawn is everything alright?”
“Dad?” Connor felt tears spring to his eyes hearing his father’s voice. Even with all the trauma and bad blood, after fighting for so long, it felt nice to hear one of his dads again.
“Connor? Oh god Connor. Why are you there?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Faith, is there anything to eat?” Dawn asked, slipping her hand out of Connors only to have him grab her elbow. “I’m just going to get us food.” Connor let go of her, continuing to talk on the phone.
“What's going on between you and the miracle boy over there?” Faith asked as she led her into the kitchen.
“Also a long story.”
Buffy arrived within 48 hours, Angel with her. Coming into the house, she found Dawn cuddled up on the sofa with Connor both sleeping soundly. She went to go wake them but Angel stopped her. Walking over, he placed a gentle hand on his son’s shoulder only to catch his other hand pointing a butter knife a few inches from his head. Buffy had seen eyes wild like that before, it normally had been at the other end of something sharp.
“Angel?” Dawn snuggled deeper into his arm at the sound of his voice. The boy glanced behind his eyes finding Buffy's, who looked disapproving at the situation she saw. Walking over, she pushed her sister’s shoulder, tired of seeing her sister laced together with a boy she didn’t know.
“Dawn, wake up.” Dawn’s eyes shot open, tears immediately clouding her vision. Jumping into her sister, she cried, hugging her closer. “It’s okay Dawn, I’m here.” She whispered trying to calm her sister down.
After a few moments of a reunion, Dawn took a seat next to Connor, a little closer than Buffy wanted her sister to be sitting next to a boy. Faith and Giles joined them, all sitting around the room.
“Explain.” Buffy crossed her arms staring at the two.
“I went to this party, my roommate said it would be lame to waste a Friday, and I had been real careful up until that point, really. I focused on school and everything-”
“Was there drinking at this party?”
“Buffy.” Giles reminded her.
“What?”
“It’s a college party B, I’m sure there was some alcohol.”
“I didn’t have any, honest...okay maybe a cup, but then I left. On my way back to the dorm, I got hit by something and next thing I knew I was chained in this arena thing.”
“You’re explained, but how did you get caught?” Buffy nodded towards Connor.
“Going home from the library. I had a paper due by midnight.”
“What were you really doing Connor?” His father asked.
“Fighting vampires. Spike told me about Potential Slayers going missing, so I thought I would give it a shot in helping to see if I could find any information.”
“So Dawn woke up in an Arena-” Giles began, trying to get the story straight.
“They brought me to the Arena, after hitting me with a dart. When I woke up, I was in chains. Two vampires that go by Elliot and Michelle, explained about the fighting a little. If I wanted to save the innocent, I had to fight the champion. They make money on people who bet against us, they also make money if we lose.” Connor tried to remember the very beginning.
“If we lose, they just find a new slayer and someone they want to protect. That’s the game. A champion from each city can challenge the slayer and walk away with not only being a Slayer killer, but also taking away the prize of the one the Slayer loves the most. Though for our case, it was probably just killing two birds with one stone. Connor, who had been snooping around their business, and I, the original Slayers sister, would be a prize worth fighting for.” Dawn finished for him.
“Every time we won they would move to a different location. For the first eight games they would knock us out, until we sort of convinced them we weren’t going to run away.”
“The more fights we the one the more freedom we got, like a hotel room and proper food.” Dawn remembered the first proper meal had been from MacDonalds, the fries had never tasted so good before.
“How many fights?” Buffy looked at her sister, tears coming to her eyes.
“Twenty-three…We set the longest record at Seven fights.” Dawn felt a tear fall. Connor intertwined their fingers, running his thumb over the back of her hand.
“They’ve been operating for over a year. They held us for...how long have we been missing?” Connor asked, looking at his dad.
“Close to three and half months.” Angel shook his head. “I talked with the Rileys and they told the school you had a family emergency and wouldn’t be back until next semester. You should give them a call too.” Connor nodded, standing up from the couch and heading towards the phone. “We did the same for you too Dawn.”
“It’s late, you should go up to bed and get some sleep.” Buffy reasoned, feeling the pull of jet lag on her.
“I can’t sleep without Connor.” Dawn whispered.
“They’ve been glued at the hip since they got here. Only breaking way to use the bathroom.” Faith elbowed Angel, smiling. “Like father, like son.”
“Not funny Faith.” Buffy turned her glare towards the other slayer before returning to look at her sister. “You were lucky Giles was here.”
“I knew how to break the trespasser spell if I needed to. I did help set it up. Willow also taught me.” Connor returned looking a little red eyed.
“Go, get some sleep, we’ll talk about dealing with this arena guys tomorrow.” Buffy indicated towards the stairs. Angel held out his hand to Connor clearing his throat, who sighed handing him the Butter knife.
“When did you grab that?” Dawn whispered to him as they walked up the stairs.
“They are going to have serious separation anxiety.” Buffy slid back into her chair, happy just to have her sister safe under the same roof again.
Connor stood at the doorway holding Dawn’s hands, his back towards Faith, Angel, and Buffy waiting by the car.
“I still don’t see why I can’t go with you.” Dawn laced her fingers with his.
“You know exactly why. We’ll be back before the sun comes up. Promise.” He kissed her forehead before taking off towards the car.
“Once this is done, we are going to have a serious talk about you and my sister.” Buffy pointed a finger at Connor before getting into the driver's side.
“Cool it B, they're just two confused teenagers.”
“We are both in our twenties.”
“Technically both of you aren’t even preteens yet.” Angel mentioned, handing his son a blade. “Don’t stab me with it.”
“I make no promises.” Connor joked, only earning a glare from his father. “Kidding.”
“No killing the vampire with a soul tonight.” Buffy put the car into drive, heading to the next arena a source told them about.
Dawn paced back and forth in the living room waiting for them to return. Giles sat watching for as long as he could before slamming a book down.
“Dawn, I think maybe you should watch some television or something.”
“I can’t just sit here being oh hunky dorey while they are probably out there dying.”
“You have two of the most skilled slayers, one of the oldest vampires, and the boy who has been fighting for months in the same arenas they are going to. I’m sure they are fine.” Giles tried to reason with her.
“You don’t know! Buffy could be lying in a pool of blood, or Angel could be dust. Or Connor could be hanging off something, he does that a lot.”
“I don’t even make the list?” Faith asked, startling her from behind. The group all there, with Connor covered in some scratches and blood. Dawn ran into him, wrapping his arms around her tightly.
“Haven’t seen me in months and she runs to him.” Buffy rolled her eyes.
“What are we going to do with them?” Angel asked, watching his son look at Dawn like she was the world. “There's no separating them now.”
“Technically they both attend Stanford.” Giles pointed out. Connor leaned down, kissing Dawn deeply.
“Fine, but she stays at the dorms, not negotiating that at least sophomore or junior year.” Dawn leaned into the kiss, while Buffy grabbed a book, throwing it at them. Connor caught it, breaking the two apart. “Gross. Not in front of us. Did you hear me?”
“She lives in the dorms until Sophomore or Junior year.” He repeated back to her.
“Good...No sleepovers.”
“Buffy, they aren’t teenagers anymore.” Angel tried to defend them.
“Didn’t you two do worse when you were a teenager?” Faith asked, cocking her head to the side.
“Gross.” Dawn kept her arms locked around Connor. “You too. You need a shower.”
“Want to join?” Connor raised his eyebrows at her.
“Nope-” Angel began
“Not happening here.” Buffy felt her mother’s ghost was going to come back and haunt her.
“Okay, I’m going to go vomit.” Faith turned to go find some food in the kitchen.
“Dear god, I need something stronger.” Giles looked at the tea wishing it was brandy.