TW; mention of self harm

Glory was a God.

That was something no one wanted to hear, and to be honest it was something that they never thought of as a possibility. Glory was one of the 3 Gods that ruled over the deadliest demon dimensions that were forever trying to merge itself with the human world. The God absorbs the essence that contains the human mind, leaving the person insane.

Giles, Buffy and Eris finally told the rest of the group that Dawn was the key. They were shocked but it didn't change their feelings of her, they still cared for Dawn greatly and agreed to keep her safe. However despite promising that nothing changed, the relationship between them and the poor girl had become quite awkward. They no longer treated Dawn like they used to. They made weird comments without meaning to and tried their best to keep her at arms length, none of which set well with Dawn.

Despite all the chaos and worry about Glory, the group wanted to focus more on celebrating Buffy's birthday by having a small party with just the Scooby gang. It would put everyone's mind at ease but the youngest Summer's girl was becoming incredibly suspicious, and frustrated by their continued behaviour towards. She felt like no one wanted her around and treated her differently without a reason, at least not one she could think of. She didn't understand why everyone was being so rude and awkward, so she snuck out to steal from the Magic Shop hoping maybe that would give her some relief. What she found instead was truly terrible, she was the key, the thing that Glory wants to use to destroy the world. She wasn't human, she wasn't supposed to be alive, she was a thing, a bright, glowing orb of energy.

When she returned home, she had slit her wrists, and presented it to her friends and family as proof of her inhumanity. It was her behaviour that made everyone realise that they couldn't keep it a secret, not if they wanted to keep Dawn safe and more importantly, sane. It was hard to explain it to her, and with every word she felt less and less alive. She felt like they were forced to love her, that it was their duty to care for her and nothing else. She couldn't handle it, and instead of understanding and asking for support, she had become full of rage and hate.

With the revelation of her fake life, the sweet brunette had lost it, her mind completely cracked. She destroyed everything that had memories and feelings attached to it. It wasn't real, so why did she need to keep it. She felt so lost and so alone, so she left her family, thinking it was better to be alone than surrounded by people who didn't really care for her.

When it was discovered that Dawn had left, the gang sprang into action and went out to find out before Glory could. Eris had gone with Spike to look for Dawn at the local park, "I don't know where she would go."

"Wouldn't she go where it makes her comfortable?"

Eris shook her head in response to Spike's question, "no, the last thing she would want to do is go somewhere that makes her remember she's not human," she ran a hand through her hair, sighing in frustration.

"She'll be fine. Let's meet up with the others and search somewhere else."

They all met up at the cemetery, all repeating the same thing. No go on finding Dawn, and they were running out of time. Glory could find her at any moment, and could either realise she is the key or kill her to punish Buffy, neither outcome was favourable.

"Anything could have happened to her, not just Glory," Buffy said in panic to the group, there were too many terrors that roam the shadows.

Eris frowned, that ever-present anxiety that she sported as of late began gnawing at her mind, making her think of horrible things that could happen to Dawn, "where else could we go? We're almost out of places."

"I'm not sure, we better check the hospital to be safe," the group nodded at the idea and hurried after the Slayer.

Glory was there, standing right over Dawn. And once again, the Slayer and God got into a fight, well more like they tried to fight, Glory was a God after all, "time to start the dying," Glory pointed a crowbar at Dawn, ready to take her head off with one strong swing, "start with the welp."

"Dawn!" just as the crowbar went flying so did Buffy, and instead of the brunette being pierced by the weapon the Slayer jumped in front and grabbed it before it could pierce her chest.

"Buffy!" Eris slid down to the ground beside her cousin and made sure she hadn't been stabbed by it, thankfully she wasn't.

"Nice catch, is that the best you crap-gnats can muster? Cause I gotta tell you, so not impressed," Glory walked forward slowly, threateningly, the promise of a gruesome death was in every step she took, "Hey!" she shouted when Tara and Willow threw a handful of silver powder over her form, "Look what you did to my dress, you little-"

"Discede" with a clap of her hands, Willow made the God disappear in a poof of white clouds.

"What did you do to her?" Buffy asked as she clutched Dawn to her.

"Teleportation spell," Willow said breathlessly, a trickle of blood ran down her nose, "it's tricky, still working out the kinks."

"Where'd you send her?"

"Don't know, that's one of the kinks."

Once Eris had made sure Buffy was ok and that the crowbar didn't cause any damage, she raced over to help Spike up, making sure to check the back of his head for any injury he could have sustained after Glory threw him hard against a wall, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, heads all scrambled but I'll be fine. Thought the skank wouldn't be so tough, colour me surprised."

"What do you expect, she's a God," she dusted off his leather jacket so all the glass would fall to the ground.

"She's tiny for a God, thought she'd be bigger, scarier."

"Well that scary lady is gone for now, so we can go back to being all smiles," Buffy come over with Dawn beside her, both looking healthy and safe.

With immense relief, Eris quickly pulled Dawn into her arms to hug her tightly, "Never scare me like that, please Dawnie I was so scared."

"I'm sorry."

"I love you so much Dawn, my love for you isn't fabricated, its genuine," she leant back and stroked Dawns soft hair, both to give her little cousin comfort and to remind her that she was real.

"You mean it?"

"Of course I do, in here," Eris motioned to where heart lay and placed a hand over her chest, "my heart cannot be forced to love someone, it's my heart that's gonna protect you, it's gonna make sure that Glory never uses you or hurts you," Dawn sniffled and returned Eris hug, feeling immense joy in her heart.

She wasn't fake, she was real, she was alive, and she was loved.