All characters from the Dune Universe are property of the Frank Herbert Estate. All characters from the Buffyverse are Property of Joss Whedon. Everything else belongs to me.

Is your religion real when it costs you nothing and carries no risk? Is your religion real when you fatten upon it? Is your religion real when you commit atrocities in its name? Whence comes your downward degeneration from the original revelation?

Paul Atreides

She waited nervously behind the stage. It was time for morning services for the Church of Universal Light. Even though she despised the basis of their beliefs, she worked to support and rebuild them. Months ago she had played a part in the bombing of the main church building in the Arrakis capital city. The guild of assassins had gone too far. A biological weapon had been released killing hundreds of thousands. Because of that, civil war had come Arrakis. The space station, the "Leit-Kynes" had been blown from the sky. An ungodly number of people had died. There was blood on her hands and she was here to do penance for her sins.

Lucillia Corrino eyed the crowd that filtered into the ancient one room building. The temple had been here for hundreds of years. There was desert sand covering the floor and dust in the air. There were three sets of columns on each side of the room. Engraved on each column, in inch high golden letters, was the complete Atreides family history that covered every major event from the Butlerian Jihad to the rise of Paul Muad'dib to the ascension and death of Leto II the God emperor of Dune. No where were the slayers or their assault on Tailos Three mentioned. Lucillia wondered what other events were edited out of the official history of the world.

The first speaker, a freman niab, who still believed that the fremen were still relevant was preparing to open worship services. Lucillia had seen this part a thousand times before. The niab would whip the crowd into frenzy with desert songs and obscure prophecies. As the crowd reached a fevered peak, he would make vague and vulgar proclamations. Today, the Fish Speakers would be the target of his outrage. She knew there were plenty of legitimate grievances against the Fish Speakers since they had declared planetary marshal law under "Her Graceful Measure." Thousands of people had disappeared in the middle of the night and were never heard from again. No one knew but the slayers that the planet killer "Her Graceful Measure" was being controlled by vampires. There was a huge amount of anger and unfocused rage on Arrakis.

"O you who know what we suffer here, do not forget us in your prayers" The niab's voice bellowed across the room.

"Find us Shai-Hulud, we are the lost" the crowd rejoined.

Lucillia heard the pattern of call and response. The rhythm of it was hypnotic. Her Bene Gesserit training knew that by this hypnotic pattern the subconscious mind could be excited into a transcendent state. She admired the artistry of it all. Her spice driven memories knew the important role rhythm , from heartbeats to breathing, to patterns of growing and dying, played in the well being of the Human race.

She was so lost in the rhythm she almost didn't notice the niab slump at the podium. She played back her memories of the last few seconds. She had not heard or seen a weapon fire. She prayed everyday that there would be no further violence against the church. She observed the niab with Bene Gesserit eyes. She knew. He was having a heart attack. Lucillia rushed to the stage and caught him before he hit the ground.

She had no time to think.

Bracing his back, Lucillia placed the palm of her hand over his heart and used her slayer strength to force the heart to beat. She placed her lips on his and blew her breath into his lungs. But that was not enough. His body was dying and she had to find a way to stop that. Lucillia secreted a small drop of spittle which contained the residue of the spice secreted from the God-Worm. She and the other slayers on Arrakis had begun to take the Destroyer amplified spice to the point where their bodies were saturated with it.

The effects were immediate.

The niab sat up wide eyed and clear headed. He looked at Lucillia realizing what she was and what just happened.

"Sayyadina" The old niab said. "You bring the water of life?" His eyes were teary, red rimmed and full of hope.

In Chakobsa, Sayyadina meant "Friend of God." It was a term used by fremen of old to describe wise women trained in spiritual traditions. They would take the spice and "pass within" to convert poisonous spice into the water of life. The old man began to cry.

"Sayyadina, you have returned!" He said. His voice grew louder. The old niab was growing stronger. His voice rang out without the help of amplification.

"I was at the gates of death and the Sayyadina came for me." The niab said as he grabbed Lucillia by the shoulders. She could have easily pushed him off but was too deeply in shock at what was happening.

"This is a powerful sign, a miracle! God is with us!" He yelled. The crowd reveled in the revelation as they crowded around Lucillia. Hands gently touched her robe. Lucillia struggled to deny them. Her voice was lost was the crowd overwhelmed her.

Surayya watched the Earth dwindle on the view screens. She and Illyria had made it back to the "Sietch Tabr." Below decks, surrounded by an honor guard, lay the mummified remains of Buffy Summers. Illyria was convinced that the Destroyer could bring her back to life. In fact she had insisted that the Destroyer had this ability even though it had never been demonstrated to any of the Slayers.

"What made Buffy so sure the Destroyer could resurrect her?" Surayya asked of Illyria on their way back to the ship.

"I believe you slayers have dreams that show the future." Illyria said.

Surayya agreed.

"The worm is the source of your visions now." Illyria said.

Surayya remembered what he was told by Sineya while deep in the spice trance.

I am the source of you now." Sineya said. "From this moment on your dreams will come from me."

"Why would the Destroyer call Buffy here?" Surayya asked herself. "The Destroyer could have easily pulled Buffy through time because of the powers given to Sineya by Spike." The more she thought about Buffy being here like this the less it made sense. Surayya was trained by Leto as a mentat as well as being trained in the ways of the Bene Gesserit.

"This Buffy was not pulled through time." Surayya thought. She lived out her entire life on ancient Earth and then died of old age in bed surrounded by all of her fat grandchildren. This Buffy has no reason to return to the past. She had already lived out her entire life there. This Buffy would never be going back to Sunnydale. She had fulfilled her mission as a slayer."

Thinking of slayers reminded Surayya of vampires. Surayya thought about how vampires were made. A disembodied sprit would enter a corpse and then reanimate it. The Destroyer was capable placing his sprit into living Humans to create slayers. What would happen if the Destroyer placed his sprit in a corpse?

Surayya stopped dead in her tracks. She had figured it out. She knew what the Destroyer was planning.

Illyria stopped for a moment and looked at Surayya. She knew enough about humans to recognize that expression. Surayya had just figured out something important about this version of Buffy

Illyria smiled cynically as she loaded the Buffy corpse on to the shuttle.