The Wish

The Wish - Rewritten

Summary: Putting Dawn into The Wish.

"Sunnydale? That sounds promising." Buffy placed her hands on her hips as she stood up from her chair.

"Mr. Giles insists this is an emergency. All I am asking is that you go down there for a few days; help him sort his problems. The town is supposedly infested with vampires." her watcher was close to begging now.

"So? Not really my problem. Besides, I’ve got more important things to deal with here."she glanced at her sister pointedly.

Dawn shrunk down into her chair, wishing at that moment she could be invisible. She had heard enough of the slayer’s lore to know that they were destined to go where ever they need to destroy the forces of evil - not be held back by their little sister.

Mr. Jennings turned to Dawn; a pained look etched on his face. "Dawn could stay here, I could look after her." he suggested quietly.

"No."

"I’m just saying, I would make sure nothing happened to her -"

"And I’m just saying no way in hell am I going to go anywhere without her." she crossed her arms, signaling her decision was final. "Besides, she’d probably end up protecting your sorry ass."

Dawn couldn’t help but grin. Buffy had taught her the basics of fighting, so the last remark was probably true. Her sister usually got along with her watcher fairly well, but when Dawn was brought into the equation, Buffy no longer cared for authority.

"Fine. We’ll go." without another word, she walked out of the room, and Dawn followed. Behind them, her watcher sighed heavily.

By the next morning, the two had snuck into the cargo hold of an airplane, and several hours later they were in Sunnydale, California. During the plane ride, neither of them spoke much. But then, they never did. Buffy felt responsible to protect Dawn, but they weren’t friends; Buffy never had friends. Dawn was fairly certain that if their mother hadn’t been killed by a demon, and as a dying wish asked Buffy to look after her little sister, her sister would have never let her tag along. Buffy still sported a scar above her lip from that demon, and looking at it was a constant reminder of how she had failed to save her mother. That scar constantly reminded her of her promise.

The two hitched a ride into the heart of Sunnydale. There were not on the side of the road long before they heard screaming.

"Nice town." Buffy grumbled as she ran at full speed towards the shrieks. Dawn did her best to follow, but by the time she had caught up, the fight was over. Buffy had already killed the vampires that had been terrorizing the people and she now stood over a disgruntled man.

"Buffy Summers?" he asked.

"That’s right. Wanna tell me what I’m doing here?"

The man pushed himself up to his feet; a smile now on his face. "Oh thank you, I knew you would come. I knew you wouldn’t let us perish. My name is Rupert Giles, and I called your watcher, and you came, thank you."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Save it gramps. Now, am I going to kill things, or are we just going to stay here and chit chat all day?"

"Oh, uh, right, well, why don’t we go to my home. I have some books that could aid us in destroying the vampires as well as this Anyanka." he finally noticed Dawn standing behind the slayer. "Oh, um, hello miss, can I help you?"

"She’s not a victim, she’s my sister." Buffy stated, but didn’t make any move to introduce them. She motioned for him to lead the way, and then followed him back to his car, with Dawn trailing behind.

It was later, after they had gone to Mr. Giles’ house and then set off for the vampire club, that Buffy finally spoke to her.

She handed her a crossbow. "Here. You know the rules, don’t get to close to any that are in there, but shoot anything that isn’t me or you. Got it?"

Dawn nodded, her finger ready on the trigger. Of course she knew the rules, she had been following them since their mother had died. She tucked some stray hairs that had fallen out of her braid away from her face, and prepared for battle.

Battle didn’t come though. When they entered the building, it was empty, with only dead victims occupying the residence. Dawn glanced down at a corpse on the pool table as she walked by, and never thought twice about it. That had been one of the first things Buffy had taught her. The dead couldn’t be saved, so don’t waste time crying over them. She couldn’t be as hard as Buffy, but she couldn’t have emotions either. Not now, not when her life depended on keeping a level head.

Buffy glanced down at some stairs. "I’m gonna check down there, you stay up here and watch my back."

Dawn nodded slowly. "What if you need help down there."

Buffy was already walking down the stairs. "I won’t."

Dawn paced around, the smell of blood and rotting flesh making her nauseous. She prayed that Buffy would be back soon, and they could leave this place. When her sister did emerge from the basement though, she wasn’t alone.

The rather handsome man smiled slightly when he saw her. "Dawnie!"

Dawn’s eyes widened as she frantically turned to Buffy. "How does he know my name?"

Her sister rolled her eyes. "It’s this thing he does." she immediately switched her attention to the man. "Now, are you going to take us to this Master guy, or do I have to kill you?"

He nodded. "The, uh, first one." he led them out of the club, and Dawn breathed a sigh of relief. As the three walked in silence, she quickened her pace slightly to walk next to the man.

"My name’s Angel." he offered, but received no reply. "It’s just, I know it must be hard that I know your name and you didn’t know mine." still no answer. "You know, it’s a funny story, I was living off rats in New York, when -"

"I am not keeping you alive to chat up my sister." Buffy interrupted. "Now, take us to his factory, or this," she whipped out a stake. "Gets friendly with your heart. Got it?"

Angel nodded, and Dawn could sense the pain in his eyes.. Minutes later, they were approaching a large building off to the side of the road.

"This is it." he announced. He was about to ask what their plan of attack was, when Buffy walked straight for the front door. Subtlety had never been her strong point.

Vampires around her were cheering, and she tried desperately to block them out. Her eyes drifted over to a metal table before her. In her twelve years on this earth, she had seen a lot of things that had disturbed her. She always tried to keep that inside; wouldn’t let it get to her. But walking through the crowds of vampires, seeing a dead girl on the machine with needles protruding from her body, she couldn’t help but gasp. One tiny moment that she allowed herself to feel something, to see who this girl might have been, and what she was now. Then she remembered her place, remembered the jaded woman beside her and shook the thought from her head. She was dead and she couldn’t be saved, simple as that.

Buffy reached down and took the crossbow from Dawn’s hands, aiming it at the ugliest vampire she had ever seen. Without a beat, he pulled another vampire in front of him, and the arrow never penetrated his heart. She aimed randomly at another vampire, but the crossbow was knocked from her hands. Dawn scrambled down to pick it up, and ran towards a corner by the podium.

She ducked down, unsure of who she should kill first. The entire room was now chaotic, with both humans and vampires dying left and right. And then she saw her opportunity. The main vamp, the ugly one, still stood on the podium, but now he was unguarded. He wasn’t even looking in her direction. If she shot now she could kill their master, and maybe receive some sort of affection from her sister. Aim for the heart, pull the trigger, don’t even think twice about it. Taking a breath, she raised her weapon into the air, and shot.

The arrow hit him just below his rib cage. At first he seemed startled, and then he began to chuckle. He looked down in Dawn’s direction, and before she could blink, he jumped down and grabbed her by the neck. He smacked the crossbow out of her arms.

"Tsk tsk, Nice try girlie, but you missed your target. Tell me, do you want to live forever? Or should I just snap your neck right now?"

Dawn was staring death in the eye, and for the first time in a long time, she felt fear. "Please, don’t." She begged. Then, by some miracle, Buffy turned towards them.

"Dawn!" she shouted.

More laughter from the Master. "My my, are you connected to the slayer? I should have seen it, that drive, that ambition, that..." he reached behind her and flipped her braid. "Cute little ponytail. You know what you need though? Matching scars." he brought his nail down over her lip, and licked the blood from his finger. He stood back and admired the red line on her face that still dripped blood.

Dawn cried out. "Buffy!" she prayed her sister could save her, but now a vampire was distracting her sister. She looked back with terror at the Master. "Please, don’t hurt me."

"Oh, now don’t be like that. I promise this won’t hurt a bit." he ran his hand down her tear-stained cheek, and swiftly snapped her neck. "Well not for me anyways."

Buffy pushed the vampire out of her way and saw her sister’s body crumple to the floor. She ran towards the Master, punching him squarely in the jaw. Before he could hit back, she raised her foot and kicked him in the gut.

He groaned, but was still laughing. "I’m sorry, did you like that one?" he grabbed her sister’s braid and yanked her head up. "What’s the matter slayer, you’re the one who didn’t save her in time."

Her sister’s eyes, open but lifeless, bore into hers, and for a moment she was paralyzed with grief. Her only purpose in life, the only thing she had been expected to do right, and she had failed. She had failed to save Joyce, and now Dawn. As she looked at the dead girl, she realized that nothing mattered anymore. And in that moment, the Master grabbed her neck and spun her around.

"I wonder if you’ll look as cute dead as she does." he whispered into her ear, as he gave her the same brutal destruction her sister had received just moments earlier. She crumpled to the floor, her body falling down beside Dawn’s. She never went anywhere without her little sis, and now they lay dead together. The Master cocked his head, noting what a pity it was that these girls couldn't notice the irony. And then that world faded to white, and Dawn Summers was just a girl, sitting in her classroom, oblivious to what may have become of her, had she and her sister never come to Sunnydale.