Spike found a door. The door apparently angered him. By the time Buffy and the rest of the Slayers had reached him the door was misshapen from Spike battering and clawing at it. He was still hurling himself at it when Buffy yelled at him to stop. He glared at her, his face twisted into the demon's face.

"Spike! Stop it." Buffy ordered. He glared at her but obeyed.

"Will can you get it open?" Buffy.

"I..maybe."

Buffy sighed and ran a hand along its battered seams. It was possible that along with several of the other slayers they could force it open. She studied her little band for a moment and then nodded at them. Without being told the girls each positioned themselves around the door and began to pull. With a shrieking grinding wail the door slowly heaved and gave way. The slayers managed to pull it free of it's frame…and its hinges.

Spike darted through in an instant. Buffy clenched her jaw and followed. Willow hung back still shaken by her part in losing Xander and Methos. Kennedy hovered near her concerned.

"Will?"

"Help Buffy." She said softly. Kennedy frowned and took Willow's arm.

"You couldn't know-"

"It doesn't matter Kennedy, Xander could be trapped or…or dead and I…it's my fault."

They heard a scream far off. It echoed through the doorway. The slayers took off at a fast trot. Exhausted, hungry, and battered but efficient and well trained. Buffy spared the energy to be proud of them for a moment. The hall beyond the door was identical to the one they'd just left, albeit shorter. At the end they could see an open doorway filled with sunlight. The scream had been Spike.

Running on the blood of an immortal he had rushed into the light heedless of his vulnerability. The searing rays had brought him up short and driven him back into the hall. He was huddled just beyond the light whimpering and hissing moronically.

"Great." Buffy sighed. She carefully approached Spike. He was badly burned, his eyes rolling in pain and rage as she approached. His face was a morass of charred skin and exposed meat.

"Good thing I haven't eaten in days." Kim muttered. Kennedy shot her an annoyed glare.

Buffy knelt in front of Spike and murmured to him. He calmed down slowly. His flesh knit back together until he was kneeling in front of Buffy panting and human in appearance.

"Okay, we need to wait until sunset-"

"Buffy, uhm, I don't think we should go through-"

Buffy looked up at Willow and tried to keep her cool.

"I…I don't think that's our world. I …I think it's his." She didn't need to say that the 'he' in question was Methos.

"We can't go back Willow we need-"

"Food, water, information, sleep, weapons-" Spike muttered.

"Not helping." Buffy said gently. Spike shuddered and twitched and turned away from Buffy. Great a vamp in withdrawals.

"Look, we can't go anywhere until nightfall anyway. Everyone grab some floor and hit the sack. We'll take turns on watch." Buffy ordered. She really, really, really wanted to be back in Cleveland fighting some slimy disgusting sewer demons right now. She took first watch, and second, and third.

She watched Spike. He was asleep. She watched his jaws flex and arms twitch as he dreamed. Was he dreaming of killing her predecessor? Robin's mother? Was he dreaming of the girl in China? Maybe he was dreaming of –

He whimpered in his sleep and raised a hand as though to defend himself. She made soothing noises and ran the back of her fingers along his chiseled jaw. He was certainly an attractive man…being. She hated him and cared for him. Almost in equal measure, he had tried to rape her, loved her even when he had no soul…

She pulled her hand away from him and forced herself to watch the sunlit doorway. Hours had passed and the sun hadn't changed. Beyond the door a vast sandscape stretched to the horizon. Spike couldn't travel out there, not without dying in agony. Even if that hellish sun ever set it would rise again and he would still burn, even under blankets he would roast, slowly.

She felt sick to her stomach.

"Willow?" She asked quietly.

Willow slipped away from Kennedy and gingerly stepped through the prone bodies of the slayers and sat next to Buffy. The girls clasped hands, their mutual worry and friendship overcoming bad feelings for a moment.

"Can…can you do anything to help Spike?"

"With the sun?" Willow whispered. Buffy nodded.

"I don't know, I can try, I'm not sure if magic will work there, or how."

"Oh Will, what are we going to do?" Buffy sighed.

"What we always do, win." Willow said quietly.

Eventually the sun did set. The moon rose and the group set out. A few hours of sleep had worked wonders. Not everyone was happy to be on the other side of the door but they all realized that without food and water their days were numbered either way. Spike ranged ahead like a restless wolf. Buffy encouraged him to look for shelter whenever possible. None of them knew how long the night would last or what they would do to keep Spike alive once the sun rose.

"Willow-"

"I'm trying Buffy." Willow said plaintively. She was working on a seeking spell she had perfected years before back in their world. If she could get it to work here she should be able to use it to find water and Xander. But this world was…wrong…there was nothing, no gaia, no magic.

"Spike…what are we going to do?"

"Send him back-"

"No." Spike interrupted. He ahead of them blocking their path.

"Spike-"

"Shut up, this here ain't our world, so why should the sun burn me?" He demanded.

"But it did-"

"No, I was burned in our world. I never crossed into this world's sun, the light crossed the doorway." He said calmly.

"Spike if you're wrong."

"I die in burning agony." Part of her felt a fierce glee at that thought. The picture of his ravaged face returned to her.

"Buffy, I think he's right." Willow suggested tentatively.

"There's no magic here." She pointed out.

"But it's the demon that burns-"Buffy argued.

"I don't feel it." Spike said softly.

"The hunger, the hate, the empty greed, it's all gone." His voice was different. Smoother, gentler, almost timid. She studied him in the strong moonlight. His features were…kinder. The arrogance and cruelty, the ferocity had faded. His eyes were clear, the omnipresent sneer was gone a shy smile in it's place.

"William?" Buffy asked stunned.

"I suppose so." He admitted.

It was like staring at a ghost, or a portrait of a faded aristocrat. This man…he was dead, had been for centuries until Spike had inadvertently earned his soul back. She had seen glimpses of William like seeing a stray cat fleeing through an abandoned lot, a flash of tail here, a paw there. But, she had never really seen William, until now.

"Spike?" She asked.

"He's here…in some part." He admitted.

"What does this mean?" Kim asked.

"I'm not sure." Buffy admitted. Would they still have Slayer strength, stamina, and healing?

"Kim lift…Spike up." She wasn't sure what to call him anymore.

Kim grabbed Spike's lapels and hauled. He stayed put. The girls began to murmur, Kim tried again, then each of the slayers in turn and finally Buffy. They couldn't lift him.

"This…is bad." Kennedy whispered.