I'm sorry for not updating sooner. Time isn't always on my side in the army, and I like my sleep.

Chapter 14: …And nothing but the truth

"The Master shall rise and the Slayer shall die." Yup, that's pretty much the gist of it, but it didn't say anything about the Slayer staying dead. This thought was running through Shana's mind as she waited for sundown so Angel could come. Buffy had managed to corner Shana after the Spring Fling, though Shana had been successful in avoiding the subject of who, what and how since the nightmare world had run rampant.

Currently they were at the school library. Ms. Calendar had been inducted into the Scooby Gang for her help with the last apocalypse. Shana had insisted that Angel be there, so she wouldn't have to repeat herself too many times. Buffy had wanted the full story before she went away to stay with her father in L.A. for the summer. Shana had said to be ready for an all-niter, so the teens had done a round robin saying they were studying for finals, which started the next day.

"You'd think the undead would have a sense of punctuality," Xander commented, taking an elbow in the ribs from Willow, who looked pointedly towards Buffy, who was currently staring off into space.

Shana rolled her eyes, readjusting her bra, still feeling uncomfortable being back in her 16 year-old body, most likely because she remembered where she was the last time she was 16. "Angel's just trying to get payback anyway he can, isn't that right?" She said, not bothering to turn around, knowing he had come in through the stacks.

Xander jumped out of his chair at the vampire's sudden appearance, Willow squeaked, and Buffy was jarred back into reality. Giles, who had been behind the counter, snapped his head up so quickly, it cracked audibly. Ms. Calendar started, stumping her head into the banister behind her. They all looked at Shana with surprise, except for Angel, who was used to not being able to sneak up on the girl.

"Ok, now that Brood Boy's here," Shana quipped, receiving a glare from Angel, who she gave back a sweetly innocent smile, "we can start.

Who am I? That's a good question. The answer is: I don't know?"

"What do you mean, you don't know?" Giles asked snippily.

"The less interruption, the quicker we can all go home. Try to save your questions for the end." The group nodded. "Like I was saying, I don't know who I am. My name was drilled out of my head long ago. My memories of people and places remains intact, but names elude me.

For as long as I can remember, I lived between two houses. My parents were never together in one house. If they were, I don't remember. I had friends in both places, which was easy, because I lived right around the corner from my dad. My siblings were separated by time, space and genetics."

Giles looked as if he wanted to interrupt but Shana cut him off. "I'll explain.None of my siblings are my full siblings, and there are at least seven years between all of us. Plus there's the fact we all lived in different states." Shana sighed. "I'm gonna speed through the rest of it. I watched my home burn down, moved 11 times in three years, my father got custody of me, and I ended up at my grandmother's for a little while. Shortly after my 13th birthday, I come home from school shortly before there's an explosion behind the house. It was my dad's RV. I found out later that somehow, my dad, grandma, and one sister were in there. The cause was deemed a gas explosion. I didn't and still don't believe it. I was put into foster care, and I spent the next 18 months getting shuttled to and from foster homes."

"Sorry to interrupt," Ms. Calendar apologized, "but why didn't you go live with your mother?"

"Because no one could find her. After she lost custody of me, she pretty much disappeared off the face of the Earth. Essentially she abandoned me. I spent years going between missing her and hating her." Shana rubbed her temples, and then continued. "Anyway, while in foster care, I'd run away 6 times. They always caught me and brought me back. 7th time I ran, someone else got to me first.

It was shortly after midnight. I had just left the latest hell that was my newest foster home when I feel a pinch in my neck. It was a tranquilizer dart. Next thing I know, there are people standing over me with a bright light above them. I'm not going to go into details, but they were part of a covert government project on a mission to create the perfect soldier. With technology rapidly developing, they needed guinea pigs. Who better than runaway teens, since our bodies are already going through radical changes, what's a few more?

My senses became enhanced, my strength grew tenfold, I could race a car and win, my memory became photographic, my need for sleep shrank, and I could jump at least 15 ft. in the air. We were trained, and brainwashed to follow orders, without question, to our deaths. We were isolated from the outside world, and taught to trust no one but each other. We'd long ago forgotten ourselves, everything we had and were, we couldn't remember our time, our life, before the Fortress, as we called it. Memories before seemed like dreams. Some didn't want to remember, so they went to Psy Ops to become 'good soldiers.'

When I was 23, I started organizing my comrades, all of them, for the take down of the Fortress, and our release. It took 2 years to finalize everything. But we finally destroyed it, releasing everyone in the facility. It was covered up and made to look like a terrorist group attacked an Airborne Ranger training base. They didn't try to recapture us, they weren't afraid of us going public, since it's a slightly insane story. No, they targeted us for extermination. But we killed enough operatives for them to get the message to leave us alone.

We had our freedom, but we were cut off from the world still. That was the price of our freedom."

Shana finished her story and hopped off the table, ready to hurry away into the night. But Giles managed to catch what it was she didn't wasn't to say.

"But how is it you know what is going to happen in the future? How do you know of Slayers and the Watcher's Council?" He asked.

Shana sighed and turned around, silently berating herself for not being quick enough. Of course you weren't quick enough, a voice sneered within her head, you wanted to get caught, wanted to tell them the whole truth, even the truth about them.

Shana walked back to the table and perched upon it. "Fine, I guess I have no choice but to tell you?"

She waited for everyone to cluster themselves closer to her in order to hear everything.

Shana drew in a breath and began the most amazing part of her story.