Decernere, Part Three: Dawn
Author: Batdz Angel (0/)
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any of its characters. They are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. This is just a way to honor them. And the song belongs to Yellowcard.
Rating: PG-13
Pairings: Spuffy. Mentions of Tara/Willow, Anya/Xander, Spike/Dru, Dru/Angel, and Angel/Buffy.
Summary: After Spike's death at the hands of Glory, Buffy, Angel, and their friends find themselves learning about vampires and slayers. And the reason an insane vampiress chose a quiet, shy poet for her Childe.
Season: Alternate Season Five ending/Season Six.
Author's Note: For some reason, Drusilla started talking when I was writing a completely different story. So, here's the result of a moment that was supposed to be a fluffy Spuffy ficlet but wound up being something else entirely.
She brushes her hair back into a half-ponytail and adjust her blouse. Pauses as she realizes that she is actually wearing black for a funeral and she is going to a funeral for the one being she believed would always be there...
Spike is gone.
Her best friend, her rock, her very own vampire body guard is gone.
She can remember how blue his eyes were the day he died, how he had kissed her brow with relief, said her name. Set his duster on her shoulders and she had wanted to bury herself into her arms because she knew that with him and Buffy protecting her, nothing would ever harm her...
She had watched Buffy break Ben's neck and hadn't felt grief, only relief that Glory was really dead, even though she had known that the others wouldn't understand. She had let Buffy lead her home, bandage her up, and had cried in her sister's arms as her heart ached at the realization that Spike was gone...
"Dawn?"
Tara's query startles her and she turns, dropping her brush onto her dresser. She nods her head slightly and says, "Is Buffy ready?"
"She's waiting for you downstairs," the quiet Wiccan replies and she nods, brushing past her to meet her sister. She pauses at the foot of the stairs, hears the quiet murmur of voices and frowns as Giles walks into view. Anger and hurt fill her but she merely walks past him to Buffy's side. She cannot forgive him, especially when she realizes that he would have preferred her to die and not the world.
They both leave, Giles and the others following, and Dawn wants to scream at them to stop pretending. They didn't love Spike, didn't even like him and they can't possibly understand what it felt like when he said her sister's name before disappearing into nothing...
They bury him beside her mother and she can see Xander bite his tongue but merely closes her eyes as she stands before Spike's grave and presses a kiss to her hand, and then puts it on the headstone. She stands, looks at Buffy, sees the grief on her sister's face, and says, "I'll wait for you at home."
Buffy smiles up at her gratefully and Dawn turns, head high as she stalks past the Scoobies. Xander, Anya, and Tara follow her but she walks without stopping even as she hears Xander's complaints to the other two women. As they reach her home, she turns to face them and says, "You don't need to stay. I can be alone for a little while."
"Buffy wouldn't want for us to leave you alone," Xander says gruffly and Dawn feels tears well up in her eyes as anger fills her.
"Let me make myself clearer," she says letting a little coldness filter her voice. "I don't want you here Xander. You didn't want to be at Spike's burial and I don't want you in my house. And if Buffy has a problem with it, I'll explain it to her later. But I'm tired, my best friend is dead, and you're being a jackass." Turning, she walks away from Xander's hurt face and into her house.
Going directly up to her sister's room, she goes to the closet and pulls out the leather duster. Curling up with it on Buffy's bed, she lets the tears come, hot and fast. And when Buffy finds her fast asleep later, the Slayer merely presses a gentle kiss to her forehead, then curls up beside her. Two hearts, two sisters in mourning for a being who had done more for them than anyone ever tried.
End Part Three