Chapter 9.

Rembrandt awoke to a pounding headache. He kept his face still and slit his eyes. He'd been sliding for over two years now and this wasn't the first time someone had knocked him out. He just needed to figure out a few things, like where he was, who was with him and if the timer was nearby. Oh, and he needed a way out.

The room was dark, but there was some movement nearby, shadows mostly. From this angle he couldn't see much of anything. There was some whispering nearby, but not close enough for him to make out what was being said or who was saying it.

Oh well, no point in lying here forever if he couldn't see or hear anything. He sat up abruptly, making no pretence of the fact he'd been awake for a while.

"Remmy?"

It was Quinn's voice, muttering to him out of the darkness and he was heartened by it. If he had to be captured at least he wasn't alone and there was no one better than Quinn to be a prisoner with. If anyone could figure out a way out of here, it would be Quinn.

"Yeah, it's me Q-Ball. Where are we?"

"We don't know. All any of us remember is demons attacking the library, the same ones we saw back on Buffy's world. Somehow they knocked us all out and then brought us here."

"We? Who else is here?" Rembrandt knew they weren't alone, he'd heard voices earlier and could still see something moving in the dim light.

"Mr Giles and Willow. For some reason they left Daniel and Larry behind. I'm just glad Wade and Buffy were off talking to Amanda and the Professor left on some errand. He has the timer."

That was some small comfort. As long as they got out of here on time they should have no trouble sliding when the window arrived.

Light spilled into the room from a door he hadn't seen before and Rembrandt squinted into it. A woman stood in the doorway, a woman in a red dress and high heels, dressed for a night on the town. She was stunning, with curls spilling over her bare shoulders and a cute pout on her lips.

"This is them?" she asked. Her disdainful tone was enough to convince Rembrandt that in this case beauty was only skin deep.

"Yes, Fabulous One," the voice was coming from someone on the other side of the door. Rembrandt couldn't see the speaker, but whoever it was sounded servile, worshipful. "The tall one, the English man, the red haired woman and the black skinned man, just as my alternate self said. We could not bring you the blonde as she was not present."

The woman scowled. "And you checked them for the device?"

"They do not have it, my Goddess."



Rembrandt sucked in a horrified breath. Goddess? Did that mean they were Glory's prisoners? And the way the simpering voice had described them... they'd been specifically looking for the sliders, only they seemed unaware that they'd only gotten two, thinking that Willow and Giles were Wade and the Professor.

"Useless! You're so useless, minion. What use are they without the device? The girl must have it." The woman, Glory, ran a hand through her hair, glaring at them all the while. "Still, I suppose I can at least eat their brains."

A thrill of horror clutched at Rembrandt. Buffy had told them the woman literally fed off her victims' sanity. He did not want to end up some vegetable stuck on a world not his own for the rest of his life. Especially not this world.

"Mistress, most wonderful Lady, they could still be useful as bait for the girl. She will bring the timer in exchange for their lives."

Yeah and once Buffy got here she could kick ass and they could all go home.

"Ya know, that might actually be a workable plan. Good work minion! Now I won't have to kill you for your earlier incompetence."

"Oh thank you, thank you. Let all hear of the mercifulness of the Great Glorificus."

"Yeah, yeah. Shut up already. Toss my key in and lock the door. Might as well keep all the prisoners in one room. It's so much more convenient."

A flurry of movement and something hit the floor, then the woman was gone and so was the light.

"Hello?" it was a young girl's voice, not afraid, but definitely nervous. Glory had mentioned the key so Rembrandt suspected that this was Buffy's sister Dawn.

"Hi," he said, trying to project all the warmth he could into his voice. "My name's Rembrandt. I'm a friend of your sister's."

"Really? She never mentioned you," the girl said suspiciously.

"Do you know where we are?" Willow asked, a tremor in her voice.

"No, Willow, I told you that already," Dawn said impatiently. "But it's OK. Now you're really here you can blast the door or something."

"I'm afraid that's impossible," Giles said. "It wasn't this Willow that you spoke to, but an alternate version of her, rather, the one you knew from your own world."

"Giles? Oh my God! I thought you were still in England. How did they get you? Did you see Glory? How can she be alive again? And what do you mean 'my own world?' And alternate version? Did she do a spell that went whacky? Like that time Xander got split in two?" The questions poured out so quickly that Rembrandt was having a hard time following. He sighed, resigning himself to explaining sliding for the third time on this world.

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Buffy paced. It felt like she'd been treading this path for hours. Maybe she had been. It had been light when they'd returned here and found half of their friends gone, school had just ended, but now it was dark and had been for some time.

Angel had arrived right after sunset and he'd immediately tried to comfort her. Buffy had smiled at him sadly and told him it was Jenny and Oz that needed that comfort the most, after all, it was their significant others that had been taken.

Jenny was a wreck, sobbing until she'd fallen asleep in Wade's arms. Oz sat staring into space, barely blinking. He refused to look at anyone. Buffy allowed them this time to come to grips with the situation, although she couldn't help but be pleased that Wade was dealing with it much more stoically. But then she was almost as used to this sort of thing as Buffy was if even half of the sliders stories could be believed. The Hellmouth here was so much quieter than the one she remembered and the ones that guarded it much less experienced in battle and loss.

She sighed. In some ways it really was better here, at least in this town. Maybe the situation worldwide was dire, but right here all Buffy could see was the people who were alive that she herself had seen killed. Like Oz and Jenny; both long dead on her world, but here they thrived. Oz had never been touched with lycanthropy and so he and Willow had been happy together. Angel had never sacrificed himself for a world that didn't care. How many other dead friends lived on here? Tara? Anya? Spike? What about Jesse, the friend of Willow and Xander who'd been turned right back when she first moved to this forsaken town?

Xander. He hadn't made it here. The thought alone made her heart clench. A world without Xander was so wrong. She needed him so much. How could she have never told him how much she appreciated him? He was always there with a joke or a hug depending on the situation, and she was ashamed to admit she'd taken him for granted many times over the years. Now he wasn't here and she realised how much she needed him. She so wanted to tell him how important he was to her.

Well, that was a goal then. She was going to find a way home and tell Xander in no uncertain terms just how much she valued his friendship. Right after she rescued Dawn.

Arturo and Larry were talking quietly. Buffy had been relieved when he'd come pacing into the library shortly before nightfall, telling them he'd been off to get some equipment. They'd also been relieved to discover he had the timer, having taken it from Quinn earlier that day. From the description she'd gotten of the demons from Larry and Oz it sounded like Quinn and the others had been taken by Glory's minions. The last thing they needed was for Glory to get her hands on the timer.

Amanda had gone home to talk to her parents right after the attack. Maybe she'd had second thoughts, not that Buffy could blame her. She'd promised to drop by the next day and give them the verdict. They'd been trying to think of alternatives should she decide not to go along with it, but Amanda had been the only Sunnydale resident to be Called and Buffy wasn't familiar enough with any of the girls from nearby towns to identify them. It looked like they might have to reveal all to the Council.

The phone rang, but Buffy ignored it. They had only three days to locate a potential, activate her and from there every Potential on the planet, rescue Dawn and the others and leave this world forever. Meanwhile Arturo was working on a way to use Dawn's blood to control the slide, though Buffy suspected he wouldn't have much luck with that without Willow's help.

Willow had quite the task ahead of her as well. Not only did she need to research spells to help bring them home, activate a single potential and stop the Slayers deteriorating any further, but she was also spying on Glory for them. Hopefully she'd be checking in soon.

"Buffy, I've got Mrs Collins on the phone, Amanda's mom," Wade called. "She wants to set up a meeting with someone to discuss what we told Amanda earlier."

Buffy nodded. Maybe they hadn't lost Amanda after all.

"Tell her I'll be right over."

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"This is... Wow. I can't believe it. We're on an actual parallel world," Dawn said breathlessly. It's like something out of a comic book. I can't wait to tell Xander. Or Andrew. They'll be so jealous."

Quinn squirmed uncomfortably, glad that the young girl couldn't see him. "Dawn, you need to understand something. We might not be able to get you home." He felt responsible for all of this. After all, if he had never invented sliding none of them would be here right now.

There was a long silence and Quinn held his breath waiting for the inevitable explosion.

"But Buffy's here, right? She came through with you guys?" Dawn's voice shook slightly with unshed tears.

"Yeah, she did," Rembrandt said gently. He was far better at the comforting thing than Quinn was.

"Then it's OK. As long as she's here it'll be alright."

That simple statement caught at Quinn's heart. Dawn and Buffy were family, just like Wade, Rembrandt and the Professor were to him. He'd often felt that the only thing holding him together was their friendship, that without them he might as well give up.

"We need to find a way out of here," he said thickly.

"It'll be alright," Dawn said again, so softly Quinn wasn't sure if she was trying to assure them or herself. "Buffy will come for me – for us. She's never let me down and she never will. She's a hero; it's what she does."

Quinn was glad he didn't have to wonder what it felt like to feel such devotion. He felt that way about the other sliders all the time. No matter what crazy situations they got themselves into, they could always count on each other.

Leaving Rembrandt to talk to Dawn, Quinn began feeling his way around the room. He knew that Wade and the Professor would be coming for them – and Buffy as well – but that didn't mean he was going to just sit here and wait for them.

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Two hours later Buffy led the Collins family into Sunnydale High's library.

Mr and Mrs Collins had been surprised that Buffy had come to them after dark and had berated her for her recklessness until Buffy had explained the urgency of the situation and told them that she had never been in any danger anyway. It had taken a long time to go over Slayers, sliding and exactly what they wanted from Amanda. She'd told them everything, including a much edited story of her own experiences as a Slayer. While she didn't want to hold anything back, wanting them to make an informed decision, she was also worried about frightening them off and they needed Amanda, the world needed her.

Although a decision had not yet been made the small family had decided that it wouldn't hurt to let Buffy train Amanda in the meantime, would in fact keep her safer in the future even if they decided not to agree, but Amanda's parents had wanted to watch.

Buffy tried to imagine what would have happened if the Watcher's Council had approached her mother about the Slayer thing. Joyce would not have gone along with it, even as far as the Collins had, probably going so far as to throw the Watchers out of her home to protect her daughter. Things were different here; everything was so dark and seemingly hopeless. People were afraid to leave their homes, to talk to strangers, they even left packages of blood for the vampires to appease them. It was a small miracle the Collins' had allowed Buffy into their home, let her talk to them, or maybe the Collins' were smart enough to know this was right. This world was calling out for a saviour and Buffy was telling them their daughter was going to fulfil that role. She suddenly remembered Kendra, whose parents had given her to the Council at a young age because they believed so strongly in the Slayer, strongly enough to sacrifice their daughter, to never see her again.

Buffy blinked back the tears that threatened to well up. Would the Collins' decision to listen to her lead to their own daughter's sacrifice? Would Amanda become a Slayer, only to die young and innocent? As soon as the demons realised the Slayer line had been restarted they would come for her, and then her successor after her and so on. Was this the right thing to do?

But the world needed to be saved and only a Slayer could do that. Buffy knew what it felt like to be the only thing standing between the darkness and the light and although she wouldn't wish it on anyone she also knew how important it was that someone was there to do it because this world was the result of having no Slayer, a world where the demons weren't afraid.

So yes, not only was this necessary, it was also the right thing to do. She was giving Amanda the tools to save the world. It may not be pretty and it definitely wasn't fun, but there was no denying that it was right.

She directed Mr and Mrs Collins to sit off to one side as she walked Amanda through some stances. Amanda was a keen student and tried to convince Buffy to show her how to use some of the more advanced weapons, but Buffy held her back, insisting that she wasn't ready yet. Amanda may prove gifted, but that was no reason to rush her training. There was plenty of time yet and Giles could continue after she'd gone, if they managed to rescue him that is.

Buffy almost started when she realised she'd finally made a decision. She wasn't going to stay here, not even for Angel. Dawn wouldn't want to stay, she was sure of that. Buffy wanted to go home too.

Willow arrived at some point and was immediately involved in a discussion with Wade, but Buffy ignored them for now knowing that Willow would interrupt if she had anything urgent to report.



She corrected Amanda's position, nudging her shoulder back an inch and gazed thoughtfully at the younger girl.

"Why does it matter where my shoulder is?" Amanda demanded petulantly.

"It gives you better balance," Buffy explained patiently remembering some of the lectures she'd delivered to newbie Slayers. "It'll also allow you to twist out of the way more easily should you need to. Every part of your body is important in a fight. Any part of you can be used as a weapon, if you know how to use it. That's what I'm going to teach you over the next few days. I'm not going to show you many moves and weapons, Giles can do that when I'm gone, what I'm going to teach you, is to think."

Amanda pouted. "That's boring."

"You think so?" Buffy snapped. She hadn't really lost her patience, but a year of teaching girls who thought they knew better than she did had taught her a few tricks. "A sword is a powerful weapon, but it's useless if you don't know how to use it. The same can be said of your brain. Power doesn't come from knives and crossbows, it comes from inside of you. You may well become the most powerful weapon on this earth and if you can't control yourself someone else will. Hell, there's a whole society of people who'd be only too happy to tell you what to do and what to think. You will not let them. You, Amanda, will be in charge of you. When I'm finished with you, you will stop thinking like a schoolgirl and start thinking like a general. You will walk into a room and know what to do should an attack occur, where the escape routes are, who needs protection and where the best places to make a stand are. When you meet someone you will be thinking about the best way to take them down quickly and with as little risk as possible to yourself and those around you. But most importantly I will teach you how to put it all away at the end of the night and go home and be normal, because trust me, that's the part they always leave out."

"But..." Amanda was eyeing her nervously. "I thought I would be learning how to fight."

"You will be, but not yet," Buffy spoke more gently now. "I know this sounds scary and I'm sorry about that, but it's important. You are important. I know what Watchers can be like and they'll forget you're a person with thoughts and feelings. All they'll see is the Slayer, someone they can send to their death. Giles is one of the good guys, he looked out for me and I know he'll do the same for you, but the rest of them – not so good. They will take advantage of you if you let them. That's why you need to think for yourself, because you can't blindly trust that they have your best interests at heart. On my world they had this test; they basically took away a Slayer's power and locked her in a house with a vampire. If she killed it great, they had a Slayer who was marginally better qualified that she was before. If not, well she was dead and they would get a brand new Slayer to play with. They won't care about you, you'll just be a commodity to them and they won't hesitate to throw your life away in this little war they are fighting, because there will always be another girl with the Potential to take your place."

Amanda swallowed hard. "This is more complicated than I thought."

Buffy chuckled humourlessly. "Fighting's the easy part; a little training and your instincts will tell you everything else you need to know. What's hard is the part between the fights, when you're not so sure who the good guys are anymore. You've got to look out for you, because you might be the only one who is."

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When Willow had appeared in the centre of the library Wade had pulled her aside and told her the latest developments. It turned out she already knew. On her way to them she had stopped to check on Dawn, apparently they were all together, being held by Glory. Willow had tried to find out where they were, but they had all been unconscious when they were brought in. Things were getting desperate now, they only had three more days until the slide so Willow was going to try a locator spell. It was apparently quite difficult to cast spells in an astral form, but Willow seemed confident she could do it so Wade didn't question her.

"See, 'cos I'm not from this world and I'm only partially here the chances are that I'll locate someone's double from where my physical body is, not here, or it could happen in any of the worlds between, but then there's Dawn. Right now she only exists here on this world, she has no doubles anywhere, so as long as I make her the focus of the spell it should find her and the others." Willow grinned sheepishly. "At least, that's what I think. I've kinda been focusing on the other spells so I've not had time to research how this one will work while I'm projecting my image. We'll just have to try and hope it works."

All her life Wade had dreamed of magic and now here she was, sitting with a real witch and about to see an actual spell, she couldn't believe her luck. Except she kept remembering what Buffy had told Amanda this afternoon and now she wasn't so sure magic was what she had imagined it to be.

"Willow," she said uncertainly and waited for the other girl to look up. "What's it like, being a witch?"

Willow continued to smile, but something about her wide-eyed gaze seemed haunted. "Sometimes it seems so powerful, so good and you feel like nothing can stop you. When I first started I was so full of big ideas. I was going to change the world and I was going to make a difference. Of course, it wasn't that easy. You don't just say the magic words and wait for the magic to happen. This kind of power in the hands of amateurs is dangerous. Things go wrong, people get hurt."

Wade remembered the love spell she and Rembrandt had tried back on the Druid world. That had gone spectacularly wrong. Instead of the woman in question falling for Rembrandt he had fallen for Wade.

"It turns out everything has a balance," Willow went on. "And a price. Especially the darker stuff. I don't know if Buffy told you, but I got addicted to the magics. I was completely out of control. I killed a person and then I tried to end the world, but Xander stopped me. He was the only one who could reach me at all at that point, Buffy couldn't have, I was too far gone, but Xander managed to touch the part of me that was still human, that still cared and I let it all go for him."

It was hard to imagine Willow out of control, she was such a sweet girl, almost shy at times, but incredibly open. "Buffy mentioned something about power coming with a price," Wade said tentatively. "I guess that got me thinking and I wondered what you thought."

The two young women turned to watch Buffy and Amanda talking under the watchful eyes of Mr and Mrs Collins. "She's giving Amanda one of her famous speeches," Willow said softly. "She sometimes runs these seminars for the newbie Slayers and she talks to them about their role in the world. People think a Slayer is just a warrior, but they're so much more than that. With their powers anyone could pick up a stake and kill vampires, it's Buffy who teaches them how to really be a Slayer. They hang on her every word, just like Amanda is now, because she's Buffy Summers, she's saved the world more times than I can count and no one will ever know, or thank her. She's a real hero.

"Buffy's had to pay a higher price than anyone I know for her power and unlike me she didn't seek that power out. You know, they call Slayers the Chosen Ones because someone else makes that decision they don't choose it for themselves. I imagine Buffy tried to talk Amanda out of it despite how desperate this world is. It's not a fun job, Wade, I don't know what you imagined, but it's hard and painful and yes, there's a price. For me it was losing control, for Buffy it was everything she ever wanted, her innocence, her love, her life."

Wade gasped. She'd heard something about Buffy having to kill Angel to save the world and she imagined it was hard to stay innocent when you spent so much time fighting monsters, but her life?

"Not just once either," Willow continued. "She died when she was sixteen, knew it would happen, but she went anyway. It was the most incredibly brave thing you could imagine. Actually that's one of the reasons I cast my first spell; I wanted to be brave like Buffy and I knew the spell - to return Angel's soul – was dangerous, that I could die, but I knew Buffy would do it for me and I had to do it for her and for Angel. Then she died again the first time we faced Glory. She jumped into the portal between worlds and closed it, but it killed her. I brought her back that time, with magic, the spell that started me on my own downward spiral.

"I thought I was so clever," Willow's voice was tinged with bitterness. "So powerful that I'd done something no one else could hope to. But I was wrong. Like Giles said, it wasn't that no one else could, so much that no one else would. By bringing her back I made it possible for the First to try and take over. I guess I got what I wanted, right? I changed the world, only not for the better. Because of me the world was nearly over run by the Turok Han."

"You did change the world for the better, Will, so much more than you ever thought possible," Buffy was standing over them, gazing softly at her best friend. "It's because of you that we managed to defeat the First and not die down in the Hellmouth. You're the one that activated all the Slayers. We didn't just save the world that day, we changed it and we've made everyone's lives so much better."

Willow's smile was somewhat watery and Wade knew she was close to tears. "Now we have to do the same here," she said firmly. "I'm just about to do a locator spell for Dawn, then I think I'm ready to make Amanda a Slayer."

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A/N: Nothing much to say except I'm sorry for yet another wait. I've got to admit the only reason I updated today was that I got a very encouraging review on another site where I post this story and I wanted to thank that reviewer with a chapter.

Thanks for the reviews and hopefully I won't take so long next time.

Next time: The Summit.

Nat.