Title: From Here to Serenity
Author: Bastard Snow
Rating: PG-13

Summary: Buffy's fall through Glory's portal took her somewhere nobody had ever imagined. Now, it's up to Willow and Xander to get her back.

Disclaimer: I don't own either of these.

Author's Notes: Much, much thanks to Drake, without whom this story would not exist. Also, obviously, thanks to Joss Whedon for coming up with two universes that have nothing to do with each other. Makes it a challenge to make them have everything to do with each other.

Feedback: Yes, please!

A few hours later, the original shuttle returned to the station, and Mal and Zoë were there to greet it, still dressed in vacuum suits. Xander had started the air scrubbers, but there was a lot of air, and a lot to scrub out of it. It would probably be a week or more before anyone could walk around the station without breathing gear. They stepped into the shuttle and picked up the camera Jayne had placed, which was seemingly undisturbed.

They brought it out of the shuttle and took it back up to Serenity, and the whole crew watched together as they fast forwarded through the most boring video any of them had ever seen.

"Damn," Mal said. "That was my last bastion of hope."

"Sorry, Captain," Zoë said. "Just got out done on this one."

"I still hate it."

"We know you do, sir," she said.

"And she's still your ship, and you can choose to do, or not, as you please," Book said. "Ain't no man can take that right from you, nor none of us here who'd try."

"I know. And if it was just these two who'd go, I'd leave it at that," he said, nodding his head at Xander and Willow. "But when Jayne and Simon are on the same side… well, there's just no fighting that. I don't like the plan. I think it's simplistic, and like as not to end up with us dead, but it's as good a one as we've got, and it'll have to do. How much time do we have until this shuttle departs?"

"About an hour," Wash said.

Mal nodded. "Well, no time like the present. Everyone gather up what you'll need and let's get going. Red, you said you can get my people down there?"

Willow nodded. "Once everyone's ready, I can create a bubble of breathable air through the station that will lead to the shuttle area," she said. "Those still on Serenity might get a little light headed, but it should be fine once we're all down there."

Mal nodded and looked at Xander. "And you're all packed?"

"Will and I both are," he said. "I'll be ready to load the supplies as soon as I get those on the shuttle."

"Okay then," Mal said. "Let's get to it."

Mal sat at the helm of the shuttle, familiarizing himself with the controls and making absolutely sure he knew what was where.

"We're all aboard, sir," Zoë said, climbing into the co-pilot's seat. "Timer says five minutes to departure. Everyone's all strapped in."

"And Willow's got our air locked up?"

"She has," Zoë said. "Doesn't even seem to be straining."

"You know, if I didn't see this stuff with my own eyes…"

"Absolutely, sir," Zoë said. "But… we have."

Mal nodded, and the two of them sat in silence as he continued looking over the controls. "Simple enough," he said. "Just making sure I know what's what."

A short time later they heard the door to the shuttle clamp shut, and a light on the console lit up to show that it had a seal against the vacuum. A moment later, the shuttle was moving.

Mal picked up the radio that was sitting in his lap. "Wash, we appear to be en route," he said.

"You are definitely on the move. We'll stay here until you change course, and then we're off," Wash said.

"Make sure you and Kaylee take care of my ship," Mal said. "And don't let her and the doctor boss you around, or spend too much of their time doing naughty things. You're in charge, you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Wash said. "And good hunting."

Mal nodded and handed the radio to Zoë, who took it into the back in the hopes of getting some privacy. Mal watched intently at the various actions that showed on the board as the shuttle maneuvered itself down towards Earth. Everything met up with his expectations.

A couple of minutes later, Zoë re-entered the cockpit and placed the radio on the floor between them, and they rode in silence. Almost half an hour later, the shuttle entered the atmosphere and it was time to see if they could move.

"Everybody strap in," Mal yelled into the back. He took a deep breath and muttered, "Here goes everything." Mal depressed the button marked 'Auto-pilot disengage' and the shuttle shuddered, slightly, and then was under his control. He grabbed the controls and shifted their course to the east.

When he'd gotten the shuttle fully under control, he took the time to look out the windows.

"Wow," he said, looking over the vast plains of North America. "That… sure is a sight."

"Captain," Zoë said. "Something about this place feels…"

"Right," Mal said. Zoë nodded. "This is the home of our ancestors. Where they lived for millennia, where we evolved. We ourselves may have gotten used to various gravities and atmospheres, and livin' on ships. This planet is what we're designed for."

"It's beautiful," Zoë said.

Mal nodded, and they both stared out at the rapidly moving land beneath them, barely visible both because of their altitude and the fact that they were flying pretty much in the middle of the night..

"Well, then," Mal said. "What say we save it?"

Mal kept the shuttle hovering over what looked like it had once been a fairly large city. "There are two places you can go in Baltimore." Mal and Zoë looked over their shoulders and saw Xander standing behind them. At their questioning looks, he said, "We stopped moving, so I came to see what was up."

Mal nodded. "You were saying?"

Xander smiled. "It's an old saying. There are two places you can end up in Baltimore. The Inner Harbor or the graveyard."

"Rough town?"

"So I heard," he said. "Never actually got to this side of the country."

"Any ideas on where we should put down?"

"Look near the harbor," Xander said. "There should be a large brick warehouse with a vaguely diamond-shaped grassy field next to it."

Mal adjusted the ships facing and flew around a little so they could see the city. He pointed to a specific section. "That it?"

"I think so," Xander said.

"Best strap yourself in, then," Mal said. "I never was very good at landing."

Mal headed for the field and despite using his gentlest touch managed to slam the shuttle down on the field hard enough to hear some metal groan. He killed the external lights and sat back.

"We're here," Zoë said.

Mal nodded. "Get everyone up. We wanna get moving as fast as we can."

They parceled out the weapons among them. Jayne kept his guns and grenades and various other scary looking weapons. Mal kept his pistol, but strapped one of the many rifles they'd found on the station to his back, as did Zoë. Xander strapped on his sword, hung what looked like a hatchet from his belt, put on a holster and put his pistol – one that was fairly different than any Mal had seen – in it. Then he grabbed another of the rifles and carried it in his hands.

Book and Inara outfitted themselves almost entirely from the cache of weapons from the station. Book had also borrowed a long sword from Xander, and had that lashed at his waist.

River was a different case. Xander had offered her the pick of his weapons, of which he had a disturbingly large array. She picked through them, holding them, testing them, weighing them, until she came upon two that she liked. One was a double-headed axe that looked mean as anything, and the other was a small dagger that looked as fine as any weapon he'd ever seen.

And then she'd looked over the weapons again, looked at Xander and held out her hand. Without comment or question, he reached into a bag and produced a small wooden stake. River nodded and slipped it into her waist band. That was all the weaponry she wanted.

Willow had no weapons to speak of, or at least none that Mal could see, but Xander and Book assured him that she was not without her defenses. He took another look at her. She had a sort of serene sense about her, and he would swear she was still glowing, even brighter than before.

"Okay," Mal said. "There's eight of us. We pair off in two's and stick together, no matter what. If your partner disappears, you better be gone, too. Jayne, you're with Inara. Zoë, you and River, Willow and Book, and Xander, you're with me. We're going to have to do some searching around. From the spell Willow did earlier, we know their friend is somewhere to the west of us, or at least was two hours ago. We also know that this city is dangerous. So watch out for each other."

"Captain," Willow said, her voice light and airy. "Can I suggest we open the door?"

"Why?"

"I think it will make our search a whole lot easier."

Mal frowned, but reached over to the door and pressed a button. The door rose slowly, and they could smell a breeze blowing in off of the bay. When the door opened, Mal looked out on the untended field they had landed in.

"I don't get it," he said, turning back to Willow. "How is this supposed to –"

"Don't move!" someone from outside the shuttle yelled. Mal glanced back out the shuttle door and saw half a dozen young men with guns trained on the door.

"You knew about this?" he asked Willow.

"Trust me," she said. "This is for the best. Just do as they say."

"This plan is gettin' worse all the time," Mal muttered. He raised his hands and turned to the people in the field. "We uh… we come in peace?"

They had all been stripped of their weapons, and all the weapons in the shuttle had been confiscated. They offered no resistance to their 'captors,' though Jayne especially was not happy to have other people touching his guns.

And now they were being driven in what had to be the most ancient school bus ever to wherever it was their hosts wanted them to go. They weren't tied up or handcuffed, but it was obvious that they were not free to do as they pleased.

"So how many times have you had to rebuild this thing?" Xander asked one of the young men, patting the side of the bus. The kid stayed silent. "A lot, I bet. Probably gets crappy mileage, too, it's so big. You guys still using fossil fuels? Or did you switch to nuclear or something? Hey, can you take us by Babe Ruth's home? I've always wanted to see that."

"You already missed it," one of the others said. "It was back near the stadium."

"Oh, damn," Xander said. "Well, I'll just have to go back and see it again sometime."

"It won't work," the young man said.

"Why, did they tear it down?"

"Not that. You won't make friends by speaking to us like you're not a threat. We're not stupid, and we've been attacked too many times to fall for it."

"So tell me," Xander said. "You guys got a new leader recently, right? Some girl about yea high?" He held out his hand to approximate Buffy's height. "Blonde? Cute? Kicks ass like it's her job? Which, you know, it is?"

There was no response.

"So we're back to this again," he said. "Good."

"Xander," Willow said. "They're doing their jobs. We'll be fine."

Xander shrugged. "You say so."

They allowed themselves to be led to a large warehouse-like building. After a brief moment of conversation among their captors, they were split into four separate rooms. Xander was placed in a room with River, and they were left there, alone.

"Do you want me to break these cuffs?" River asked.

"No," Xander said. "Willow said we'll be fine. So let them do their thing, and we'll get out of this."

River looked at the door and her breath shortened slightly. "The Queen," she said. She turned to Xander and smiled. "The ants will be marching home soon."

Xander nodded. "Soon enough, anyway."

Mal looked to his left. "Hey, Shepherd. You think you can get out of those cuffs?"

"Seems unlikely," Book said. "I haven't picked cuffs in thirty-five years, and even then I needed something to do it with. I'm afraid I lack tools."

They heard some commotion outside the door, the sound of a woman yelling. Something was slammed on something else, the woman yelled again, and a moment later the door to their room was ripped open. A short, young, blonde woman stepped into the room and glared at them. Despite her size, or rather lack of it, Mal was immediately aware that this girl could tear him apart.

"Evenin'," he said, smiling.

She smiled sweetly, not convincing him for one second that she was planning to be nice. She pulled the axe River had chosen from behind her back and lay it on the table.

"You landed in Camden Yards," she said. "In a type of ship we've never seen. Where did you get it?"

Mal looked as far to the sky as he could. "Up there."

"Up where?" she asked.

"In space. You are aware there's a whole big universe out there?"

"Moreso than most," she said. "What of it?"

"Well, that's where we come from," Mal said. "Though that specific shuttle we got from borrowed from a space station orbiting this planet above a city I'm told is called Denver."

She narrowed her eyes. "Denver?"

"So I'm told."

"By who?"

"One of my crew," he said.

She stepped back and looked at Book. "Why are you staring at me?"

"You're her," he said, his voice reverent.

"Who?" she asked.

"The Chosen One. Buffy Summers."

She moved so fast that Mal saw only a blur, and an instant later Book was slammed up against a wall, held up by his neck by this slip of a girl.

"Where did you hear that name?" she growled.

Book choked, sputtering with her hand around his throat.

"One of the others," Mal said. "Told us."

She dropped Book and he slumped to the floor. "Who?" she asked.

"He's a young man," Mal said. "About six feet tall. Dark hair. Deep eyes. You'd like him." He managed to hold back a smirk.

She held up the axe, gripping it in her hand with a familiarity that told him it probably belonged to her. "And where did you get this?"

"Same guy," he said. "Don't know which room they put him in, but you might ask your goons."

She glared at him and left the room, taking her axe with her.

"Nice girl," Mal said, turning to look at the Shepherd. "I can see why they like her. You all right?"

Book nodded and leaned back against the wall. "You didn't tell her who we're with."

Mal shrugged. "She wouldn't believe me anyway. Better she sees for herself. Bet she screams and pees herself, she's so happy."

They waited. Book raised an eyebrow. They waited some more.

"Any minute now," Mal said. He tapped his foot. Book coughed.

They waited.

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End Chapter 16