Your picks for everything fannish

I wasn't much of a Dawn fan when I watched the show and I don't think I'm alone in that, either. However, that changed when I started reading fanfiction. Dawn's one of those characters that has highly benefited from some serious character exploration by fic writers because we can take her out of the context of simply being Buffy's sister or the catalyst of conflict for Season 5, and really delve into who she is as a person. Each of these fics take one aspect of her and run with it to full affect.

1. The Down Below by Devil Piglet
Spike & Dawn, R, S7 post "Lessons"
Summary: Spike and Dawn have some unfinished business.

Review: Devil Piglet was one of the finest early Buffyverse writers we had and I miss her work dearly. While perhaps best known for her Spuffy, DP also created a number of fics that featured Dawn and I think this is one of her best. The show only gave us a glimpse of the animosity that Dawn felt for Spike after the events of "Seeing Red," but this fics takes those feelings of betrayal, hurt and vengeance to the next logical level. When did Dawn become so scary? I'd say just about the time this fic was first posted. A lovely, dark read with a beautiful conclusion. 
 

And the poor girl certainly has had a lot to lose in her young life. These ficlets and shots all revolve around that central, reoccuring theme that Dawn must constantly adapt to and cope with. The stories range in scope from Buffy running away after S2 and her death in S6, to the deaths of Joyce, Tara and Justin. One thing all these works have in common? Some really, really superb Dawn characterization.

1. The Flowers You Gave Me byhands_of_blue
Dawn, Spike, PG, the summers between S2/S3 and S5/S6
Summary: It’s a special kind of day when it rains in Sunnydale.

Review: What I enjoyed so much about this fic is the slow evolution of Dawn's understanding of disappearance and death, first viewed from a child's eyes and then as a teenager. This fic touches on that inalienable truth of how perception changes with time and that patterns and cycles regularly arise. It's also a beautiful, tight piece that brings all the imagery back together by the end, sinching the story up neatly.