XANDER: Dawn!

WILLOW: Dawn, are you OK?

DAWN: Maybe y-you did it wrong? Was it a-ambiguous in any way? Did you maybe say potential sailors? 'Cause I-I do like the water.

WILLOW: I did it right.

XANDER: Wow, she?you're a potential. You could be the next Slayer.

DAWN: Whoa.

ANYA: Wow, it's like one second you were this klutzy teenager with fake memories and a history of kleptomania, and then?then suddenly you're a hero, a hero with a much abbreviated lifespan.

XANDER: This is huge. We have to think about this.

DAWN: I-I can't think about this. It doesn't fit in my head.

WILLOW: A slayer. Makes sense, I guess. Remember that thing about they share the same blood or whatever?

ANYA: (shrugs) Yeah, I never got that.

DAWN: She has to die. I mean, if I was ever the slayer, it would mean she died.

ANYA: Well, it's a lot like being the Pope in that way, except you don't have to be some old Catholic.

WILLOW: I've got to call Buffy. She's gonna be so excited.

XANDER: No, we can't. She didn't bring a cell phone.

DAWN: Well, sure, 'cause all the important people are with her.

XANDER: You are important now.

DAWN: Wh-wha-what happens now?

ANYA: Well, you could start by maybe sitting still for a sec.

DAWN: I-I cant. I-I need to know what happens to my life.

WILLOW: Well, I guess Buffy trains you.

DAWN: Right, I train with the potentials?other potentials. Learn to do the stuff they're learning.

ANYA: Right, we also have to protect you from the, uh, eyeless guys, the ones with the sharp, sharp knives.

DAWN: Bringers.

WILLOW: It's OK, we'll protect you.

DAWN:What if they saw the spell?

XANDER: Saw the spell? Dawn, they can't see flashcards. Big ones.

DAWN: We did a big orange powerful spell. What if they sensed it? What if they're on their way?

ANDREW: (enters the room) Are we gonna replace the microwave? 'Cause I was thinking some Orville Redenbacher with fresh butter flavor? What's going on?

ANYA: Dawn's gonna be a slayer.

ANDREW: Holy crap! Excuse me. Plucked from an ordinary life, handed a destiny?

XANDER: Say Skywalker, and I smack ya.

ANDREW: Does Buffy know?

XANDER: She didn't take her phone.

ANDREW: Incommunicado.

WILLOW: Well, we'll tell her soon as she gets back.

DAWN: Let's not.

WILLOW: What? Dawn, she has to know.

DAWN: I-I know, just not right away. Guys, when mom appeared to me, she said?

WILLOW: Dawnie...

DAWN: No, please. She said something about Buffy, and I'm thinking... I'm just not so sure Buffy will be happy for me.

WILLOW: Of course she will.

DAWN: Will she? I mean, I'm not even sure I'm happy for me. Everything's different for me now.

ANYA: That's because you're a part of something larger. Like being swallowed. By something larger.

DAWN: This-this is too much for my head again. I can't. I?I need to be?

(Dawn flees)

XANDER: Nice job with the "getting swallowed" analogy.

ANYA: Well, it is a mixed bag, you know. If she gets to be the slayer, then her life is short and brutal. And if she doesn't, then it smells of unfulfilled potential. My swallowed analogy looks pretty sweet right now, doesn't it?

WILLOW: It's not like that. It's like, she's part of this huge power. I know what that feels like. It feels wonderful.

ANDREW: Yes, Willow so captured it. It's like?well, it's almost like this metaphor for womanhood, isn't it? The sort of flowering that happens when a girl realizes that she's part of a fertile heritage stretching back to Eve, and?

XANDER: (cringing) I'll pay you to talk about Star Wars again.

ANYA: This isn't about womany power. This is about the fact that Dawn just might have bought herself an early death.

WILLOW: We don't know that.

XANDER: Right, all we know is that everything just changed.

WILLOW: Someone should go find Buffy. I still think she needs to know.

XANDER: Hey, Will, what if she doesn't like it?

WILLOW: Are you worried about what Dawn said? About the ghost? Xander, we don't even know if that really was Joyce. And we don't know what she meant about Buffy.

XANDER: I'm not talking about that. I mean, what do you think Buffy's going to do with this information? Jump up and down? Teach Dawn the secret handshake? She know what this means.

ANYA: Short, brutal life. Sharp, sharp knives. I covered this.

XANDER: Right. You think Buffy really wants that for Dawn? And besides, Dawn doesn't want us telling her yet.

WILLOW: Dawn's freaking out. Her input?not worth that much right now.

ANYA: She's a child. Of course she can't handle this.

XANDER: Hey, something out there says she can handle this and a hell of a lot more. Something out there chose her.

DAWN: (to herself) I'm chosen.

WILLOW: Sure, she can handle it. Is that why she's hiding out in her room right now?

XANDER: She's just getting used to it. Let it happen. She doesn't have to rush.

ANYA: He's right. We shouldn't rush her. Rushing's only gonna get her killed.

• potential slayers

written by: Rebecca Kirshner; Transcribed by: CariCranberry. edited by me.. Full transcript at:
http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/season7/transcripts/134_tran.php