Crown and Key
By Sandra and William Johnson
Chapter Seven
“Okay, so let me get this straight.” Xander began. “You were standing in the kitchen making popcorn when this rainbow lady with the voice starts telling you you’re in grave danger.” Dawn nodded. “Well, except for the disembodied voice factor and psychedelic light show, this doesn’t sound like anything too out of the ordinary. I mean, considering we live directly off the exit for the Highway to the Danger Zone.”
Dawn snapped her fingers. “That’s it! That’s the song I couldn’t get out of my head!” she looked up at Willow, and stopped. “Sorry, I’m off track. Teenage thing. It keeps happening you know. I start talking about one thing and then I get sidetracked and start babbling about everything and anything that pops into my head and…”she trailed off. “I’m doing it again, aren’t I?”
“Yeah, a little.” Xander replied. “Did she mention anything else?”
Dawn nodded. “Yeah! She said something about a stone of power needing to be restored to a sword.” She looked around frantically. “As far as I know we don’t have any swords. I mean, there’s a rocket launcher, some stakes, knives, a big axe, several crossbows, and other assorted pointy objects, but—“
Willow put a comforting hand on Dawn’s shoulder. “Easy Dawnny. Breathe. It’s okay, I don’t think there are any swords here either, so I guess we’ll have to wait for it to find its way to Sunnydale. Sooner or later, everything does, you know.” Dawn laughed dryly, still slightly unnerved from her experience.
Adam watched the conversation from outside the window. “Well, it sure sounds like the girl has been speaking with The Sorceress. I guess she has the key then. Now, if Adora would only…” he stopped his conversation with himself as he saw his sister sneaking up on the front of the house. Adam slipped from his hiding spot and went to his sister, “Hey sis, what are you…”
Kendra’s hand thrust out and hit Adam with all her unnatural strength. The Prince of Eternia flew through the air and slammed into a large oak tree outside the Summer’s home. His head hit the tree, leaving a dent in its trunk, and he slumped to the ground, unconscious.
Kendra stepped up to the front door and her foot slammed into it, shattering it to splinters. She entered and smiled as she noticed the stunned Willow and Xander, “Xander Harris, Willow Rosenberg” she said as her eyes lit with recognition. “Well, I see we meet again. It has been quite some time.”
Forget the peons and get the crown. A raspy voice in Kendra’s head whispered. She shook her head, trying to clear her mind from anything but her own thoughts. Someone else was there though, controlling her body and forcing her into actions she didn’t want to take. These people were her friends, sort of. As the Slayer, she had been trained to protect the innocent, not harm them.
You WILL get the crown! The voice commanded. Kendra felt the limbs of her borrowed body beginning to move, not of her own accord. Her mind went numb, and suddenly, Adora’s blue eyes glazed over with a fierce determination. She slowly advanced on Xander.
“OK, I don’t know who you are you Wrestlemania reject, but, around here, people don’t go just kicking in doors. Especially when I have to fix those same doors!” Xander quipped.
Dawn merely stared, “Adora..” she murmured. Willow turned her head to look at Dawn in surprise.
As Willow turned her head, Kendra grabbed a nearby lamp and hurled it at her. The lamp hit the redhead and she fell to the ground
“OK, now you’ve ticked me off!” Xander shouted as he leaped over the couch and swung a fist at Kendra.
“You’re cute when you’re mad” Kendra quipped as she grabbed his fist and squeezed. Xander fell to his knees in pain and soon was on the ground as Kendra’s knee impacted with his nose.
Meanwhile, Dawn chose the better part of valor, running into the kitchen and quickly dialing her sister. “C’mon, pick up Buffy”
“Busy slaying!” Buffy’s voice came from the phone, followed by the sound of rapid gunfire.
“Buffy, quick! Get home! There’s someone…”
The phone was suddenly torn from Dawn’s hand, and from the wall as well, as Kendra grabbed it from her. “So, who are you anyhow? I don’t seem to have a memory of you.” Kendra asked, curiosity overcoming her need to complete her mission.
Dawn saw her opportunity to stall for time, “I’m Dawn. Dawn Summers. And, my sister Buffy will be here soon, along with Lady Croft. I don’t think I’d want to be here when they show up if I were you, the wooden stakes and flying bullets could be hazardous to your health..”
“Impossible. The Slayer has no sister.”
“How would you know? Who are you?”
“I am Kendra, the Vampire Slayer.”
Dawn’s eyes went wide, “Kendra? The one Drusilla…”
Dawn’s statement was cut off as Kendra’s hand flashed out in anger, flinging the teenager across the room, her head slamming into the refrigerator door.
As Dawn slumped to the floor, Kendra’s eyes suddenly fell on the crown, still sitting on the kitchen table where Lara had placed it earlier that day.
Outside, Adam slowly came to his feet, “Something is seriously wrong with Adora. I think this is more a job for He-Man.” Reaching behind his back, he pulled his sword from it’s scabbard and thrust it into the night sky. Holding it aloft he shouted “By the Power of Greyskull” Thunder clapped, lightning flashed and struck the sword. As the electricity traveled down the sword and into the arm of the man holding it, an image of Castle Greyskull formed behind him. Overcome with the energy flowing through him, Adam transformed into He-Man. Pulling the sword into his line of visage as the lightning coruscated even brighter, he shouted into the night “I have the POWER!!” With a charge, He-Man tore into the house.
And the confused and recently ensouled Spike stared in disbelief from behind what he had come to think of as his tree. “Bugger me, this place just keeps getting worse and worse.” He looked at the front of his tree, and saw the dent. Falling to his knees, he sobbed for a moment, triggering a rush of memories of things he had done and regretted. With a scream of anguish, Spike fled into the darkness.
Kendra stepped over the now unconscious Dawn and reached for the crown just as He-Man burst through the kitchen door, “OK Miss,” his voice echoed as he spoke, “I don’t think you want to be grabbing things that don’t belong to you.”
Kendra turned, and for a moment, she thought she recognized the barely dressed and VERY muscular man before her. However, her instincts quickly took over and she spun with a kick at the man. He-Man easily blocked the kick, “Now, that’s not very nice.”
Forget about the muscle man and get the crown. We will deal with him later. The voice in Kendra’s head commanded. She grabbed the chair closest to herself and threw it at He-Man. As he easily dodged the flying object, He-Man scooped up the unconscious Dawn and took her out of the kitchen, away from the line of fire.
While He-Man was distracted, Kendra grabbed the crown. She dropped it immediately, as if she had been scorched, and magic flowed from the crown into Adora’s body. Suddenly, her mind cleared and she surveyed the wrecked kitchen.
“I don’t have to do this!” She shouted into the night. Moving briskly, Kendra headed towards the back door.
YES YOU DO!!! GET THE CROWN!!!!
Kendra jerked spasmodically as the glaze snapped back over her eyes. Mechanically, she picked up the Coke soaked dishtowel Dawn had left on the counter and used it to retrieve the crown. Fleeing through the back door, she turned and looked behind her as He-Man re-entered the kitchen.
“I’m sorry.” She whispered, tears welling in her eyes as the body that carried the souls of a dead slayer and the Princess of Eternia ran into the night, against the will of both heroines inside it.
He-Man stepped out the door to chase his sister into the night, but stopped as a whispery voice was heard. “Let her go for now He-Man. You must make sure the others are not injured and protect The Key. Adora and the enslaved Spirit will be all right.”
Obeying the Sorceress, He-Man reentered the living room and leaned over Willow’s unconscious body. He placed a hand under her neck and pressed two fingers against her throat, checking for a pulse. Outside, the howl of a lone wolf was heard,
“No, Stop!! He’s not the one who hurt her!” a higher pitched male voice cried from the other side of the broken door. Turning to face the newest intruder, He-Man found himself knocked to the floor for the second time that night by what appeared to be a very large, and very hungry wolf. They grappled and rolled on the floor, He-Man’s strength matched by the wolf’s ferocity. Through sheer luck, He-Man was able to get a grip on the wolf’s jaws, barely keeping them from his vulnerable throat. ”Next time…I’m going to make sure… I bring…Battle Cat with me!”
Willow groaned, her hands going to the lump on the side of her head. “Owww.” She moaned, then saw the rolling melee on the floor.
“Ardente!” She shouted, pointing a finger at the two forms. A stream of pink smoke swirled around them and both beings fell into a deep and dreamless sleep. Only then did Willow notice that the being He-Man was fighting was a wolf; one that was rapidly changing back into a familiar form. Scarcely believing her eyes, Willow walked slowly to the now naked young man lying atop the barely covered muscle man. Her fingers reached out and gently rolled him off into her lap.
“Oz…” she whispered, emotion surging through her veins like magic. Scooping him into her arms, Willow half carried, half dragged the sleeping Oz out of the living room and into the hall, covering him with a blanket and cradling his head in her lap.
Noting the witch’s distraction, the smaller and quieter young man dressed in black, who had been hiding in the broken door slipped into the house and headed straight for Dawn’s motionless form.
“Please be okay.” He whispered. “The last thing I need is for the Slayer to think I killed her sister.” With a gentle shake, he coaxed Dawn into an awakened state.
“Are you okay?” he asked, looking frantically over his shoulder. Dawn nodded, hoping her head would clear before the night was over. Her eyes focused and flared with recognition.
“Jonathan?!” She whispered as he backed away. He turned quickly, placed a finger over his lips and whispered “Shh.” With that, Jonathan Levinson, wanted criminal, fled the Summers home and into the night.
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