Chapter Text
Buffy is crying.
Dawn hears through the wall of the house. This house, that she’s supposed to call home now. A home without her dad. He’d promised to call, but they’ve been in Sunnydale for three weeks now, and Dawn hasn’t heard her father’s voice in as long.
It’s Buffy’s fault. Dawn knows this, it’s a fact that hangs in the house, in the new wrinkles around their mother’s eyes. Dawn has screeched it at her sister enough times by now. Including tonight, ranting about how Buffy had taken away her life, her father, her school and friends, a never ending list. Buffy hadn’t yelled back, but crumpled into herself and gone up to her room. Her mother had sighed, tired, and they’d finished eating in silence.
It's long past Dawn’s usual bedtime. But she listens to the faint sobs Buffy is letting out, because somehow she’d forgotten her big sister was human. She will keep forgetting, all her life.
Dawn gets up, pads across the hall and lies down next to her sister. She’s almost as tall as Buffy now. They used to joke and banter about it.
“I’m sorry, Dawn. I’m so sorry.”
It is Buffy’s fault they moved. Dawn knows this; it’s a fact. She toys around with the idea in her mind, of whether or not it matters all that much.
“It’s okay.” She wraps an arm around Buffy, who whimpers in pain, in surprise. “Tell me about your new friends. It’s not all bad, Buffy.”
Buffy spins tales of a shy redhead, a witty guy, and a caring, snarky librarian. She spins tales of what will, one day, become family to Dawn.