Title: Between Rest and Sleep - Prologue

Disclaimer: Dawn and the characters surrounding Buffy the Vampire Slayer do not belong to me. They belong to the mind of Joss Whedon. The vampire Edric is my character, though, as is many of the supporting characters of this story. If there is any confusion about what belongs to whom, email me and I'll clarify.:) But I'm not making any dough so please don't try to take my bread!

Rating: PG-13 (angst)

Spoilers: BtVS through Season 5. AtS through Season 2.

Author's Notes: The timeline on this story forks into difference after season five of Buffy. That is the last of the canon stuff. But some notes so everyone knows where I am in this: Buffy died at the end of Season five and never came back. Willow did not resurrect the Slayer and another wasn't chosen until Faith died. Faith is dead as well, although how may come out in the story. As far as if Spike will get a soul or Angel a son, I don't know. The focus of the story is really on Dawn and doesn't take place in either Sunnydale or LA.

Also, it is circa 2008 (I'm going off the assumption Buffy and gang graduated class of '99 then 2001 was the end of Season 5 when Dawn was 15- if I have the math wrong, let me know.;)). Dawn is about twenty-two years old now. So she's of age for nookie and everything else.;) Her personality is very different from how we know her to be, and why will eventually come out in story, but just so I don't get emails, I do know that her personality is quite non-canon.

This story will most likely be full of angst and darkness. I'm trying to capture the romantic despair of vampires as well as bring something different to the Dawn character.

Please email me if you want to put this or any of my stories on your website. I never say no, but I like knowing which sites are supporting my writing. Thanks!

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[~2001~ Morning after Buffy's sacrifice.]

The sun rose. Although it was what Buffy had killed herself to cause, it was still a shock when it actually did rise. Everyone was so lost in their own grief that she wasn't noticed for a while and that was fine with her. She sat on the steps of the scaffolding and held the small gashes on her body. It hurt, but the pain was something. It was feeling. It was something that filled the emptiness inside her; the emptiness caused by Buffy's death. She wiped the tears away from her eyes and knew that those would be the last tears she shed borne of true emotion. To cry, one needed to feel, and she felt only one thing: loneliness.

She was alone now. Truly alone. Even as she looked at Xander, Giles, Anya, Willow, Tara, and Spike as he slinked out of the sunlight but still trying to keep Buffy's body within sight, she couldn't feel like she was really apart of them. They were never really her family. They were Buffy's family. They were her support group and her source of inspiration. Dawn felt like merely a tag-a-long; the little sister that no one really wanted around but everyone put up with because of whose sister she was. Was.

Dawn had a family once. Once it was Buffy and her mother. And though Dawn had memories of Hank Summers, she knew that in actuality, she'd never met the man. No matter what her mind told her, she didn't think of him as family. Just the two special women who had done everything they could to protect her. And they were dead.

That night was particularly dark. It was the first night she could remember that didn't have Buffy in it. The clouds rolled in the sky, covering the sparse stars that sometimes shown through. Fat raindrops feel, drowning Dawn's world. There were soft knocks on the door every so often, but if she stayed quiet, they usually stopped. They were worried about her but she didn't truly understand why. Buffy had done it. Buffy had saved her. Something inside her made her believe that nothing could happen to her now.

"They should be worrying about themselves," Dawn whispered to herself. She shook her head and walked away from the window to her radio. She thoughtfully picked up a CD. Rob Zombie. The music was ferocious and full of anger but most importantly, loud. Dawn placed it in the player and turned the volume up. A moment latter strong beats and notes pounded into the atmosphere around her, making it impossible for her to be heard above it. She locked her bedroom door and turned to face the fairly cluttered room.

It wasn't really a decision that she made as much as an instinct she felt. People who got close to her died. She could only remember her mom and her sister, but there were others. The monks that protected her before she became human and was forced onto her family died protecting her as well. She was sure that it wasn't an isolated incident, regardless of what she could or could not remember. And with the deaths of her recent protectors, it didn't look like much of a coincidence. She grabbed a duffle bag from her closet and placed it on her bed and started packing it.

She knew that if she stayed, Giles and the others would do their very best to protect her. And she also knew, just as surely, they would die. Buffy was the Slayer. Giles was a watcher without a slayer and the owner of a retail magic shop. Xander was a construction worker. Willow was a witch, and no doubt powerful, but she wasn't a slayer. Tara knew magic, but not much, and Anya used to be a demon, but now she was as worthless as the others. Spike could probably protect her for a while, but not long. A flash of a memory made her pause as she stuffed things into her bag. Doc coming closer to her and Spike trying to protect her, only to get a knife in the back and a toss down what must have been twenty stories. He was lucky he could still walk. She resumed packing.

When she had everything she wanted from her room she put the bag under her bed and made sure the covers hid it. She crept to her door and put her ear to it, trying to block out the blaring music in her room. She could hear no one. Quietly and slowly, she pulled her door open and peeked out. Seeing the hallway clear, she quickly darted out of her room and into Buffy's, closing the door behind her.

She didn't bother with lights. Instead she went to the chest Buffy kept some of her weapons in. When she opened it, she found it mostly bare. Buffy had probably taken the big things with her to fight Glory, Dawn surmised. Well that suited her fine. She was here for the smaller things anyway. Quickly, remembering to be quiet, Dawn withdrew a few stakes and the knife she knew Buffy had used to maintain their point. She took two bottles of holy water, making sure the bottles were plastic and not glass. At the bottom of the small pile of weapons, something silver glinted. Curiously, Dawn moved a smaller box aside and looked at the dagger.

It looked almost ceremonial. Dawn didn't remember Buffy ever using this, but she felt drawn to it anyway. The sheath of the dagger looked like strands of gold and silver being twisted together to a dull point. The handle of the dagger curved downwards, making it ideal for throwing and giving meager protection to the hand that held the gold hilt. Dawn added the dagger to her mini arsenal.

Standing, she laid the items on Buffy's bed and went to her closet, opening it softly. She grabbed Buffy's thigh length black leather jacket. It was warm and came with leather gloves in the pockets. She grabbed a black cotton scarf and packed all of the weapons into it in case she got caught in the hallway.

As she turned to leave, Dawn spotted the large cross necklace Angel had given to her when they first met. Not pausing to think on it now, she took it and opened the door. Willow was knocking on her door, and Dawn could hear the music still blaring on the other side of the door. Dawn closed the door a little, only peeking out from it as best she could.

"Any luck?" she heard Giles ask.

"No. She won't answer the door," Willow answered sadly.

"Well, either she's being the quintessential teenager and wants to be alone, or she can't hear you with all of that noise."

"Or both," Willow agreed. They both stared at the door and Dawn wished they would just go downstairs.

"What is she going to do?" Willow asked softly.

Giles put his arm around the redhead, leading her towards the stairs. "Dawn's a strong girl. She'll be fine. And we'll all help. We'll pick up where Buffy left off."

"And come to Buffy's fate as well," Dawn whispered to herself while the two descended the stairs. She waited for a few moments before she ducked back into her room, the music nearly slamming her back out into the hallway again when she came in.

Quickly, Dawn threw the stuff on the bed and stripped off her shirt, grabbing a t-shirt and a sweater to put on. She made her clothes dark, so she wouldn't be seen. She slipped her feet into heavy shoes with thick rubber soles. Her black pants were fine, so she didn't change them. She pulled all her long hair into a ponytail and slipped the scarf and leather jacket on. She put the dagger in her bag for now, but put the switchblade used for sharpening stakes in her back pocket and a stake in her jacket pocket. She used the scarf as a hood over her hair and closed the duffle bag, going to her window. She tossed the duffle bag out the door first and waited. When she didn't hear anyone pounding on her door she figured they didn't or couldn't see it. Next she climbed out, slide down the roof little by little until she was at the edge. Grabbing the edge she tried to remember what she remembered in gymnastics and swung down, still holding onto the gutter until her body snapped full length, and then she dropped, so as not to put too much pressure on the gutter itself and cause a noise. She remembered to keep her knees bent and she easily rolled next to her bag. Slinging the bag over her head so that it lay across her back, she took off.

Change was inevitable. She saw that now. Her world was about to change. Everything she ever knew was about to change. And she knew that if she didn't change with her life, she wouldn't have one.