minim_calibreDawn's looking at the reliefs on the side of the Arch of Titus from a particuarly cloudy day, near evening, and there Ethan is.
And it's like people who've been scarred and beaten and loved by Sunnydale have homing beacons on them, because Dawn's eyes sharpen and she takes a step back from his slow, wicked smile that she was never supposed to see crouching behind a door on Giles's face one evening when he got particularly morose.
Ethan steps forward and they both feel like its something out of a cliche, "Do you want to play little girl," or "Want some candy?" except she not a little girl any more and being in a city as old as her emerald-tinged soul has her being a little more introspective than she's ever been before.
Ethan's eyes get sort of flinty and she sits on a nearby bench; she wants to pull some water from the fountain a few feet away, but it's not everyday you run into a fellow refugee and it's a little too cold to get her hands wet anyway.
She listens as he starts talking, rambling about the sky and the past and his history and how suprised he was that the Summers girls were still alive--she was the one who bought the fairy costume that year, wasn't she, he remembers how she begged her mother for the one with the wings.
Dawn things he must enjoy the flush that comes to her cheeks, remembering that, but before she can respond he's going on again about the ruins and Roman temples. She wants to roll her eyes because it's not like she hasn't been reading about Roman history from the moment she stepped into the city, but something in her likes hearing someone speak English who isn't a tourist.
Ethan's voice goes soft, trails off a bit. They sit on the bench and watch the sun dip low, past the Colosseum, and Dawn will never get tired of this view.
She doesn't know why he's here, suprised that she could even identify him or remember who he was, distinctly remembers Buffy's worry-tinged warnings about staying away from people she didn't know, people she got a bad vibe from, and even though she gets both from him she remembers his name, remembers forgetting hours of her life that Halloween and seeing Giles shuttered down for weeks afterwards, when he came round to pick up or drop Buffy off.
When she finally stands, it's as though she feels something sliding off her, and she takes a step back just to reinforce the feeling. She looks out on the busy street, at the nearby metro stop, and the quiet ruins behind her, and thinks how nice it is to have someone there who will truly appreciate a city that will never fade away. When she walks away, she knows she will see him again; but she doesn't look back at the figure on the bench.
words © SA. characters, show, and people not mine. no infringement is intended.