Author: Kristen
Series: Balancing Acts 2/?
Chapter Title: Paying the Price
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Website: Scribblings
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Buffy. Does anyone else find disclaimers depressing?
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: Set after Season 6 for Buffy
Summary: Dawn works off the price of Anya's reversal of her wish for D'Hoffryn.



AN: This isn't Dawn's full punishment yet. In the previous fic Buffy mentioned that Dawn would have to work off Anya's reversal and that would be separate from Buffy's punishment. Yeah, some might say I'm being a little hard on Dawn by doing that but I don't think so. Dawn's gotta learn caution and I have to say it's going to be fun teaching her. grin This also isn't a crossover chapter either. It's more of an interlude before we can get back to that.



Paying the Price

D'Hoffryn surveyed Dawn from his throne in glee. "I've gotta say, Dawn," he began as he stroked his chin. "Your wish has been one of the best things to happen to me in a long time. "I've needed a personal assistant for eons!"

Dawn rolled her eyes. D'Hoffryn had been going on like this for hours. All day she'd had to listen to how you could never depend upon anyone evil being a good assistant and that the nature of his work required someone who wouldn't mind being around evil. It was a terrible catch-22 and he'd suffered from it for centuries. On and on. If Dawn heard one more story about the way D'Hoffryn had suffered from the lack she thought she'd scream.

She'd bet this was the real reason he couldn't keep an assistant.

Anyone who listened to him talk for more than two minutes probably killed themselves or him in an attempt to make it stop.

"And then Merle left in the 15th century to the side of good. Good, I tell you. And then to rub salt in the wound he said I drove him to it. The insult! Can you imagine the nerve?"

Dawn pretended to nod sympathetically while she inwardly agreed that D'Hoffryn could drive anyone to do anything crazy. Even turn a vengeance demon good.

"Blaming someone of my magnificence of such a hateful thing. The wishes I performed, the vengeance I've handed out…"

Dawn tuned him out, making sympathetic noises when he seemed to pause for them as she went over his filing system. It looked like it hadn't been updated in ages. She pulled a scroll out of a chest and peered at it closely wondering what material it was made of.

Was that-?

EW!

Dawn hastily dropped the scroll, which she now realized was made of human skin, and scrubbed her hand upon her jeans. Oh, gross! Yuck! Disgusting! Now she had the germs all over her jeans. She stared in horror at her hand that had just touched That Thing.

How could they use it? What had they done with the rest of that person? Nausea rose in her stomach as she imagined a few possibilities. She didn't even want to know how they had gotten it off of a person and prepared it for use in writing. Some things just didn't bear thinking about. A shudder went down her spine and she felt very sorry for whoever had been the unfortunate victim.

Dawn thanked the gods she had hung around Willow long enough to pick up a cleansing spell and she quickly recited it. Twice, in fact. She didn't want any reminders, she only wished she could use a cleansing spell on her brain.

She used a pen to unroll the scroll and determine what information it held.

As payment for Anya's undoing of her wish, Dawn was going through all of D'Hoffryn's files, updating them, and adding the information into the computer system D'Hoffryn had finally gotten. It was a massive job and one he hadn't been able to get anyone to finish because of the sheer size of the project.

Hence, D'Hoffryn's current diatribe on the lack of good help that was still going strong. He hadn't even noticed Dawn's upset and was still prattling on.

Dawn stared in dismay at the box that alarmingly held more than one scroll of the same material as the first she'd pulled out.

She was going to need a pair of gloves because there was no way she was touching those. Once was bad enough.

Dawn set the box aside to work on later when she had some gloves and reached for the next.

It was going to be a long day.



End Paying the Price

Up Next, Dawn finds out what her punishment is from Buffy. Feedback is appreciated!