Been Here Before

[deird_lj]

A 3-drabble ficlet, for still_grrr.

I was thinking about people who have multiple realities, and wondering how old Dawn technically is...

Been Here Before

The first time Dawn saw the world almost end, she thought it looked pretty.

We shouldn’t blame her for that. After all, the world was barely a year old, so she didn’t understand what an ending would mean.
And it was exciting, in a way. Destruction, screaming, fire in the sky, oceans surging – it made patterns she’d never seen before, and she watched it and thought it pretty.

All of a sudden, though, she noticed the pain… and she didn’t like endings anymore.
She stretched out and stopped it – she never really understood how.

But then, understanding wasn’t her purpose.

* * *

The first time Dawn saw the world almost end, she didn’t know it would.

All she saw was that the bedroom was empty, which meant that Buffy had climbed out the window (again), was going to be grounded (again), and would probably get kicked out of school (again).
She shrugged, and took the opportunity to try on several of Buffy’s outfits, read through her diary, and borrow some of her cds. After all, chances like this didn’t come along every day.

But she didn’t tell Mom that Buffy was sneaking out again. Sisters had to look out for each other.

* * *

The first time Dawn saw the world almost end, it was all her fault.

The sky ripped to shreds, and she watched, horrified, as everything collapsed in on itself.
It was her problem, her mess, her destructive power, and she wanted to stop it, but Buffy wouldn’t let her.
So she let her sister take the fall, and made herself stand aside and watch it happen. Made herself do nothing.

Then came the next day.

As the weeks turned to months it got harder to forget, but Dawn gritted her teeth and kept right on living.
After all, she’d promised.

Comments

[timeofchange.livejournal.com]

Your work just keeps getting more and more powerful. This is excellent.

[deird1]

Thank you.

[dreamincolor.livejournal.com]

Your facination with alternate realities is definitely starting to rub off on me, and you do it so well.

Your drabbles always pack such a punch, great work hon.

[deird1]

Thanks!

(and you're back! *big hug*)

[dreamincolor.livejournal.com]

(-huggle squish-)

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

See, now that's what I'm talking about. Excellent work. Even as a primordial force, Dawn's in character. :-) And it all ties together beautifully. *sniff* I miss Dawn Summers.

[deird1]

Thanks!
I miss her too...

I've written another Dawn piece, by the way. My second fic ever (from way back in January this year...): Glowy Green Things. It's a post-series (not comics) fic.

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

I'm a little puzzled about what the first one relates to. The impact 4.5 billion years ago in which the moon was formed seems the only event that would fit the stated time-scale even vaguely ('the world was barely a year old') but there wouldn't have been any screaming as there is unlikely to have been even unicellular life then. The closest to a world-ending event since then was P-T; but that was 251 million years ago and in no sense could Earth be said to have been 'barely a year old'.

[deird1]

I don't know that I was thinking of a particular event, so much. And given that the ancient Buffyverse world is home to a few billion Old Ones, it could be almost anything...

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

These were all good, but I enjoyed the second one's snap shot of both Buffy and Dawn best. You painted a vivid picture of Dawn taking advantage, oblivious that Buffy is off saving the world. Her smug knowledge that Buffy's screwing up (again) falls right in line with what Joyce would think. The fact that this memory is a plant makes it even more entertaining.

[deird1]

Thanks!

I had fun with that middle one...

[lavastar.livejournal.com]

O.o

Alternate realities are yummy but very sad. In the good way, natch.

[deird1]

Thanks.

*loves alternate realities*