Pink And Green Go Good Together

Disclaimer: I own NONE of the crossovers I shall use in this fic! NONE AT ALL!

Author's Note: I couldn't resist this. Sorry.

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Thyme, hand-picked herself, not bought at some 'Health Food' store that claimed to be chemical-free. She'd learned her lesson with the spider-banishing spell. UGH!

Chalk, white. Or at least, it had been white, right up until the time when she added the blood. She shuddered, she hated blood, and seeing it mix into the white mixture and turn it all pink and gross had been… Bad thought train, she was getting woozy, what was next on the checklist? Oh yeah:

Rosemary-and-Blessed-Earth medallion, a homing beacon of sorts blessed by some of the most powerful white magics she knew. And considering the resources she had at her fingertips, that made for a lot of white magic!

Dawn sat back on her heels and smiled in satisfaction. It had taken almost a year and a half of whining, blackmail, and sheer irrefutable logic to get her to this point.

She was about to create her first portal. A self-contained interdimensional nexus of travel controlled by her and not the Hell-Bitch.

Flipping her waist-length braid over her shoulder, Dawn double-checked her ingredients. Again.

Was she nervous? Absolutely. She felt no qualms about admitting it either, at least, admitting it to herself! If Buffy caught the slightest whiff of fear or apprehension the oldest Slayer was liable to find more excuses to postpone this long-overdue claiming of magical heritage.

After the First, Dawn smiled a little, it felt like her life had started 'after the First.' It was the Scooby's personal benchmark, their 'B.C.' in the history of them. Everything about the group could be divided neatly into two time-frames: before and after the destruction of the Sunnydale Hellmouth.

Dawn had been able to go to a nice, relatively normal school until college, then it had been off to Rome with Buffy for an accelerated program. The Slayers were being gathered up right and left, the number staying at around an even thousand right now. Most weren't activated until they hit puberty, making what was already a hellish transition even more, well, HELL-ish.

Xander took Africa, Willow and Kennedy South America, Buffy was happy in Europe, and Giles (surprisingly enough) had been quite content to set up shop in China for the Asian HQ. Faith and Robin split control of the Cleveland Hellmouth and the North American school with Angel and Illyria, the only survivors of the Las Angeles massacre.

In all that time Dawn had felt her Key-ness bubbling up within her, something she needed to use… Ignoring it became a steadily more difficult task until it felt like she was holding her breath all the time, waiting to pass out and face the consequences.

Working with Willow she had come up with a spell that would safely tap into her abilities. Her blood brought the barriers down, but she didn't need an open wound, bloody-flavored chalk for a spell-circle should be enough.

Dawn took a deep breath, then another, ignoring the almost palpable anxiety Buffy was putting out from beyond the door. Willow had insisted that Dawn be alone for this, for which the Key was profoundly grateful: performance anxiety and magic did not mix well.

The incantation was simple and to the point, Dawn adored it for it's simplicity even more so now, when she felt nerves tightening their hold on her gut and trickling in the form of sweat down between her shoulder blades.

Leaning down she drew the circle of blood-chalk, starting with the north and going the entire 360 degrees without leaving her kneeling position in the center. The thyme went before her, in the circle's north, the rosemary-pendant was draped securely about her neck, the weight comforting against her breastbone.

"Ianua est Propinquus," she murmured.

The circle began to glow, pink light shining upwards and making a small cage of light around her. Energy began to flicker between Dawn and the wall, a green-and-pink maelstrom that brightened more and more until she had to squint against the glare.

She felt the connection between the two forces, the grounding of the chalk and the chaos of the Key. She felt the connection stretch… but it held.

A new source of light began to grow, and Dawn frowned, before looking at the circle of wood beneath her with dismay.

The floor flared brilliantly, white-green-pink, until with a sudden flash of supernova-like brilliance, Dawn disappeared…

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Author's Note: My Latin is off an online translator, I apologize for any mis-spellings, etc.