A Year or So
By Niu
It's winter and there's a chill in the air but Dawn doesn't notice. She sits on the edge of the fountain and splashes in the water whilst Buffy and Willow and Xander laugh and joke about...something.
She can see Cordelia and a girl she doesn't know. Cordelia looks mad and the other girl looks madder. She wonders who she is.
*
It's spring and Buffy is curled up on her bed crying. Dawn sits with her and strokes her hair for what seems like forever. Then her mother comes in and sends Dawn away. Buffy hugs their mom, her mom, and cries.
She doesn't understand why Buffy is so upset, she knew Angel was just pretending. She knew Angel didn't really want to be with Faith. Dawn doesn't understand why people get so upset about things that aren't real.
*
It's summer and things are quiet now that the Mayor is gone. Dawn wishes she could have been there but Buffy said she was too young. Dawn only wanted to see Buffy graduate.
She wonders what they'll do with the school now, wonders where she'll be going in the fall.
*
It's fall and Buffy doesn't live at home anymore. Sometimes she visits but only when she wants something. She never comes to see Dawn and Dawn sometimes feels like she's invisible.
She doesn't understand why Buffy gets everything. She's been reading about Slayers and she doesn't even understand how Buffy is still alive.
She thinks that Buffy must be good at what she does. She thinks that Buffy might be the best ever. Dawn feels proud of her sister and when her mother cries, she wraps her arms around her - their roles reversed - and tells her that Buffy will be OK. Buffy is always OK.
Dawn thinks that one day she'd like to be like Buffy. She thinks she'd like to have friends and kill demons.
Buffy dies little over a year later.
Dawn thinks she should be dead.