Dawn sat in the classroom, listening to the teacher mutter on about the equations that were so important to their learning process. She quickly scribbled down her notes so that they were legible enough for her to read, however, since they were math, she was still unable to understand them.
Dawn looked to the door of the classroom, noticing a girl standing there, waving to her. She looked around the room, but nobody else seemed to notice her. The girl waved for Dawn to go with her, somewhere. Dawn raised her hand.
"Yes? Ms. Summers?" the teacher asked.
"May I go to the washroom? Please?" Dawn asked politely; the teacher nodded and turned back to the chalkboard. Dawn rushed out of the room, the girl was now slightly down the hallway.
"Hi, Dawn! Long time no see, eh?" she asked.
"Cassie?" Dawn was surprised. "But you're..."
"Dead? Yeah. I wish you people would stop getting so hung up on that, I mean, we ARE on the Hellmouth and all." Cassie laughed. "So, how've you been?"
"Uhm... pretty good... I guess..." Dawn began, "...are you...?"
"In heaven? I'm not really sure. I think I'm more in... what would you call it? Limbo, I guess? I dunno... it's just weird. Like I'm cursed to wander the world for eternity." Cassie chuckled. "It's kind of like I never left at all... except I have less friends over to the house..."
"That's... understandable..." Dawn began.
"You're pretty freaked out about this, aren't you? I'm sorry! I should just leave you alone... I mean, you've got to get back to class and all..." Cassie started.
"No! Wait... uhm... you're... I mean, you WERE my friend, and..." Dawn started.
"Yeah. You don't have too many friends, do you Dawnie?" Cassie asked. Dawn stared, startled.
"...what?" Dawn asked. Cassie smiled.
"Well, I just mean... I've been watching you, and you... you don't really seem to... to keep friends for very long..." Cassie stopped smiling, "I'm sorry... I shouldn't have... I mean, I don't even have ANY friends at the moment, so..."
"But you're DEAD..." Dawn repeated.
"Yup. It's still true. No matter how many time you say it, it will never stop being true, that's for sure." Cassie laughed.
"You seem... pretty upbeat for someone who's dead..." Dawn told her. Cassie nodded.
"I just try to look at the bright side of life... or... of the afterlife. I guess that's what mine is right now, right? The afterlife? I mean, you know a lot about this kind of stuff, right?" Cassie asked.
"Have... have you been watching my friends aswell?" Dawn asked in confusion.
"...yeah. I know everything. I know about the vampires, the demons, the slayers, the potentials... the first evil." Cassie started.
"So... are you here to warn me of something?" Dawn asked quietly, looking around to make sure that nobody was near.
"Kinda... I... we... those who are dead. We're able to... see the future of the people... no... that's not completely right. Uh... we're able to see the paths that an individual is going to take. And I've seen your path." Cassie informed her.
"So... should I be worried?" Dawn asked, laughing to herself.
"You should be petrified." Dawn stood in shock.
"Wh... why? What's going to happen?" Dawn asked in fright.
"You aren't your sister, Dawn. You have to be careful."
"I am careful! Cassie... what's going to happen?"
"Dawn... choose your allies and your enemies carefully. Those who you think you can trust, you can't; those you think will protect you, won't. You're in deep trouble and it's not going to get any better until it gets infinately worse. You're going to want to die, and you will; very slowly. It will be the most painful and horrific experience of your life." Cassie explained.
"No... isn't there a way to change that?" Dawn asked, tears welling up in her eyes. "Isn't there some way that I can get... get passed all of the pain? All of the death? Is there no way to defeat evil?"
"Evil cannot be destroyed, Dawn. I thought you would know that by now." Cassie told her. "You're not going to see it coming, but when it does, watch out." Cassie slowly disappeared.
"Cassie! Wait!" Dawn exclaimed.
"I only have so much time..." Cassie mumbled as she faded away. Dawn's expression had changed dramatically through the course of the conversation. Now she was worried about her life and future, wondering if she really even had to go back to math class. She turned, only to be met with the figure of her mother.
"M... mom?" Dawn asked, the tears welling back into her eyes and rolling down her cheeks. Joyce nodded. "Mommy?"
"Hello, Dawn." Joyce smiled.
"Mom... I..."
"Dawn. I need to speak to you. Everything that Cassie told you. It's completely true. Remember when I said that Buffy won't choose you? She won't. Watch out for Buffy. Although you may not believe it right now, she will be your biggest enemy. If Buffy had the chance to go back to the night she died, and throw you off the tower in her place... she would."
"What?" Dawn asked, scared.
"Buffy doesn't love you, Dawn. None of them do." Joyce smiled.
"You're not my mother." Dawn said; Joyce's smile faded.
"Why do I always go too far? I keep trying to get people to kill themselves, but I always just go THAT much farther, and..." Joyce continued.
"Shut up!" Dawn screamed. "That night... with the demon... was that YOU... or was that my mother?" Joyce smiled, laughing a little.
"Oh, Dawn. If I told you that, it wouldn't be a funny little game anymore. If might've been ME, meaning you shouldn't listen to the advice in any manner. It also could have been your mother. Meaning you should listen to absolutely everything that she has to say. It's your decision as to who you listen to, but..."
"Was it you?" Joyce smiled.
"Bye, Dawnie. Love ya." Joyce vanished, leaving Dawn alone in the hallway to contemplate her thoughts.

"Slow day, is it?" a man wandered into Buffy's counselling cubicle.
"Well, you know how it is. Some days you'll get a bunch of stressed nerds, three teen pregnancies, a boy wanting to commit suicide and a girl who thinks she might be the devil, whereas other days you get nobody." Buffy replied. "So how may I help you, mister..." Buffy looked at the man, sitting in shock. "Merrick."
"Glad you recognise me, my dear!" Merrick smiled gleefully.
"A girl doesn't easily forget her first watcher." Buffy sat back. "Is this a dream?"
"Quite possibly." Merrick replied. "It's your head not mine."
"That's true." Buffy replied.
"Plus, I'm dead... so it most likely IS a dream." He leaned forward, placing one hand on the desk, and laughed.
"That doesn't really prove anything, I mean... I've been dead a few times myself..." Buffy began.
"I wouldn't have let that happen to you. Not even ONCE." Merrick told her. Buffy smiled. "You were the BEST slayer I ever trained. Smart... witty..."
"Keen fashion sense..." the two of them smiled. Merrick sat back in his chair.
"You gave up so much for your calling... a calling you didn't even WANT..."
"I gave up TOO much... it wasn't fair what you made me do. I lost my friends... I lost my boyfriend... my family split up..." Buffy continued.
"Because in the end: the slayer is always alone." Merrick told her. "I always told you that, and in the upcoming battle, it will prove more true than ever. Buffy, I need you to listen like you've never listened to me before."
"That'll be easy, because I never did." Buffy replied. Merrick smiled.
"True enough. Evil cannot be destroyed. That is key."
"So, what? I should just... give up? Let my sister die? Let my friends die? Let the world get sucked into Hell? Give up my own life? Again?" Buffy stood angrily. "I'm tired of people trying to tell me what to do. I'm tired of recieving orders that force me into the horrible decisions that I really can't make."
"It's what the slayer is. Your power is rooted in darkness, and therefore, to survive in battle, you must embrace your darkness." Merrick told her.
"No. I have no darkness. There will be NO embracing of darkness, either! I will do things my way from now on. Not your way, not Giles's way, not anybody's! I am the slayer! The chosen one! The one girl who can fight the vampires. I can fight the darkness. It's my job." Buffy explained.
"When I told you that, you never believed me." Merrick told her, crossing one leg over the other.
"That's because I thought you were a random crazy hobo." Buffy replied. "And anyway, you don't say it as well as I do." the two of them smiled at each other. "Is there anything else I can do for you? Anything else that you're here for?"
"It's your dream, Buffy..." Merrick began.
"Is it? Doesn't smell like a dream. Doesn't feel like a dream. I could walk into Principal Wood's office, stab him, and that wouldn't SEEM like a dream. Would it?" Buffy asked.
"I dare you to find out." Merrick smiled; Buffy stepped out of her cubicle. She turned back around to see Merrick gone, Angel in his place.
"Angel." Buffy started. He smiled.
"The one and only." he replied.
"I'd believe that more if you were the first evil. Trying to get into my head for some reason that I'm currently unaware of." Buffy told him. "What is it that you want?"
"I just want to talk. I want to learn your secrets. I want to share my own secrets."
"You want to share secrets? Alright. How can I destroy you?" Buffy asked happily.
"Very funny. Evil cannot be destroyed, it cannot be contained. I am evil and evil is everywhere. Wherever evil is I am. If there's a little boy taking a little girl's doll, I'm there. If there's a man robbing a store, I'm there. If there's..."
"I GET IT! What's wrong with you? Do you feel the need to explain just how evil you are every single time you come into contact with another being? It isn't a hard concept to grasp, okay? You're evil! WE GET IT!" Buffy screamed. Principal Wood stepped out of his office, giving her a strange look. "Uh... sorry, Robin... just... just practicing for when another student needs me." Buffy smiled as Wood returned to his office.
"Come on, lover... don't you just wanna..." Angel began.
"No. You are not Angel and I would appreciate you not insulting my intelligence by pretending you are." Buffy exclaimed. Angel laughed.
"Sweetheart, I AM Angel. Maybe not physically, but I'm the evil within him." Angel transformed into Warren, then to Glory, "I'm the evil in everybody, baby." Glory turned into ADAM, then the Mayor, "I have more power than you can even imagine." He transformed into Spike, Drusilla and the Master. He smiled. "I am the first..." he transformed into Lothos, the vampire who killed his watcher. "See? I can be a Hell-God... or a mere mortal... or Lothos!"
"You may LOOK like them. But you don't have their power. You're a pathetic excuse for a villain." Buffy sat behind her desk once more, watching as Lothos transformed into herself.
"I am the evil in YOU." Buffy sat in shock, hearing this said to herself, from herself. "Don't underestimate me slayer. You're going down, and there's no chance of you winning." The First Evil disappeared, leaving Buffy truly alone.
"Don't be so sure."