Title: Confessions of a Teenage Watcher

Author: Episkopos Reverend Alixtii O'Krull V, TRL of the Church of St. Jesu the Heretic, Discordian

Timeline: Somewhere around "The Girl in Question." Spoilers for "Chosen."

Rating: PG

Summary: Dawn Summers is an American attending an Italian high school in Rome. Beatrice DeCosta is her Italian classmate. Their rôles as Watcher and Slayer will send them into a world of high intrigue as the Council tries to assert its control over the guardianship of the Cleveland Hellmouth.

Archive/Distribution: Just tell me about it.

Reviews/Feedback: It's what makes this entire system work, nyet? Means of exchange and all that.

A/N: This chapter draws on a lot of continuity from my "The Academy," a fic set in Cleveland paralleling Buffy season 7. And the part about Drusilla and Christmas refers to the events in my "Windows of My Soul." Not that you need to have read any of those to understand any of this.

Disclaimer: All original Buffy and Angel characters belong to Mutant Enemy, not me.

Dawn and Beatrice make their way across the St. Clare's campus. "Look at those uniforms," Beatrice says, looking at a group of girls walking by.

Dawn shrugs. "Your typical Catholic schoolgirl outfit. A little slutty, maybe, but nothing that weird."

"But look at those blazers." Indeed, the red blazers the girls wore was the most noticeable aspect of the uniforms. "You'd be able to spot them a mile away."

"I think that's the point," Dawn said.

"What do you mean?"

"Look at them. Everyone of them is wearing a cross around her neck."

"So? It's a Catholic school."

"But everybody? There's not a Jew, a pagan, an atheist in sight? I find that hard to believe."

"So?"

"So that means the Jews, the pagans, and the atheists are wearing crosses too. Why? Because there are more important things to worry about on a Hellmouth than civil liberties."

Beatrice looks at her Watcher, understanding finally dawning. "You mean they all know."

Dawn nods. "And the red blazers are a huge 'don't bite me' sign, signifying they are not easy meals, that they know what's up and can protect themselves. It's like the little security system stickers people put on their houses: vamps see the blazers, and move on."

"Is this what school was like in Sunnydale?"

Dawn snorts. "Are you kidding me? In Sunnydale we had this whole denial-and-rationalization-reflex-thing going on. Until the last days of Sunnydale High—the first one, that is. You know the story?"

Beatrice nods. "Your sister and her colleagues enlisted the entire graduating class to present a unified front against the ascending Mayor. I do read the required history texts you assign me, Dawn."

"Buffy never did. But the point is, this makes more sense. The whole denial thing only got people killed in Sunnydale. Everyone was left looking out for themselves, especially those who had the most ability to protect others: the Wiccans. Did you know that our mom—"

"—spearheaded an effort to eliminate the occult from SHS? She was under the influence of a demon. I'm not your sister. I do my homework."

Dawn smiled. "Okay, I get it. Not Buffy. Model student. Like Kendra." Dawn sees Beatrice's look and hastily emends, "Except for being killed by Drusilla a year after being called. Because we're training you better than that. The new school Giles method of Watching, instead of the old Quentin Travers method. If Roger Wyndham-Pryce would stop being so much of a figlio di puttana. And besides, we don't even know where Drusilla is. We haven't heard any word of her since Christmas."

"Um, Dawn?"

"Sorry. It's just, this makes so much more sense. They should have given us red blazers in Sunnydale."

"By themselves, they'd only be snack food advertising. What you want is for society to accept the fact that vamps exist and mobilize to solve the problem. Which I have to say, I don't see happening."

Dawn sighed, agreeing. "Me neither. But a girl can dream, right? And work to make the dream a reality. I am High Council."

"I'm not sure what even the High Council can do to solve this problem."

And that's the problem. When it comes to the things that count, Dawn still has no power whatsoever.