Disclaimer: Dawn doesn't belong to me, and neither do any of the Buffy; the Vampire Slayer characters.

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Summary: 300-word fic Dawn-centric fic that takes place just after Dawn learns she's the key.

Rating: PG

Real?

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As Dawn pushed the bathroom door open, the hall pass she had been clutching fell to the tiled floor with a clatter that echoed throughout the empty bathroom. Without picking it up, she ran into the toilet stall and locked the ugly metal door.

She leaned against it as she cried, the whole stall shaking as she sobbed.

She wasn't real.

The monks had made her; she was nothing more than a tool. If they made her, why couldn't they unmake her? Would Buffy wake up tomorrow and not remember her sister? Would Janice forget about her best friend since kindergarten by the end of today?

Taking out the Swiss Army Knife that was attached to her keys, Dawn carved her name into the stall. Right below 'Charlotte loves Alex' were the letters D A W N. Dawn.

She'd make it a little harder for them.

Dawn. She traced the markings with her finger. Dawn.

Would she even bleed? Or would she just leak green energy?

Calmly, she brought the knife to her wrist and made a shallow cut.

Please let it be blood, she prayed to whoever was listening. Please be blood.

A drop spilled out of her wrist, red and thick, and fell to the blue tiled floor.

She cut deeper.

It hurt, but the blood was flowing, and it was real blood, Dawn blood.

And it kept dripping, and it would keep flowing because her heart was pumping it, just like they'd been taught, and she had something inside of her just like everybody else.

One drop stained her new skirt.

The tears came faster, salt water mixing with the beautiful red that was alive and so real. Her cut bled less, but her tears kept falling, harder and harder.

She wondered if she'd ever cried before.

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