This is my disclaimer. Witness me disclaiming. I do not anything in this story. It all belongs to Joss, Mutant Enemy, and all the other high muckey-mucks. There are not even any original characters.
Part Five
It was three weeks later, the day before the full moon. Giles was carrying some items into the cellar when he heard a noise.
"Angel, is that you?"
Angel stepped out of the shadows. "Just got here. Where's everyone else?"
"Cordelia and Xander went to pick up Amy. Buffy is walking over with Oz and Willow. She thought they could use the company. Oz is in bad shape. I have most of the materials here. Amy's bringing her own chalice though. She said it had to be a certain one to work."
"Well, she's the witch, so I'll take her word for it."
At that moment, Buffy, Oz and Willow entered. Buffy looked ready for action, as always. Oz on the other hand, looked like he had been repeatedly sick on the way over. His face was pale to the point of death, and the normal Ozzy glint of mischief in his eyes was gone, replaced by a kind of desperation. Willow had her arm around him, and was helping him walk, more to keep him pointing in the right direction than because of any lack of strength on his part. Buffy helped Willow get him settled into a chair, where he promptly put his head down into his hands, clutching at his short hair. Then, she went over to Giles and Angel. "Is everything ready?"
"We're just waiting for Amy, Cordelia and Xander," Angel said. "How is he?"
Buffy looked back at Oz. Willow was talking to him in a low voice, getting no response. "Not good. But he seems to be in control. I only had to threaten to knock him out and carry him here twice." At Giles's concerned look, she once again had to say "Joke, Giles. Oh, did you bring the tranquilizer gun? We're going to need something to bring Oz down since we can't chain him up like normal."
"Yes, it's on that chair, under my jacket." At that exact moment, the missing members of the party arrived. "Oh, Amy, good, you're here. Are you ready?"
"Yes. Willow and I are going to make the cut together, so it'll be done at exactly the same time. Other than that, I've studied the spell, and it looks fairly straightforward. The only tricky part will be getting out of the cage before it becomes unsafe." Amy was her usual radiantly blond self. She actually rarely practiced witchcraft anymore, since the fiasco with Xander's love spell, choosing only to use her talent when it was needed by others, and she was secure that the spell would work. Luckily, being of the supernatural kind herself, she hadn't even blinked when Giles had approached her to do a ritual to bind together a werewolf and a vampire, one of whom was a friend of hers from high school. But then, Sunnydale was that kind of town.
On seeing Amy come in, Willow had left Oz's side and come over to the group. She heard Amy's last comment. "You have about 2 minutes to get out, no more."
"In that case, I'm going to set up outside the cage for the actual casting. I don't want to screw this up because I was rushed."
"Okay then, let's do it." The group moved as a well oiled machine, rapidly setting up a small table with a richly brocaded tablecloth, three knives, a silver chalice, a book and several small bowls of colored powders. Oz stayed where he was, watching the activity, only averting his eyes when the knives came out. Giles had warned him that the knives had special silver blades, and he knew from a previous experience with a fancy silver letter opener pointing up in a pencil cup that those silver blades were going to make a wound that would sting and throb like hell for days afterwards. Then he saw Buffy loading the tranquilizer gun, and felt very ill again. Willow saw him watching the preparations, and excused herself to attend to him.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like I should run for the hills." Oz smiled weakly. "But I'm keeping it under control so far. How about you?"
"Oh, nervous, of course. But I think this is the right thing, Oz."
"The fact that it's the only thing makes me have to agree with you."
Willow put her arms around him and kissed him, momentarily distracting him from his inner conflict. "It'll be okay, Oz. I won't let him do anything bad to you."
"You don't have a whole lot of control over him, remember?"
"On the contrary." Willow's eyes had the dancing glint of a secret about to be shared. "I have exceptional control over him. That's my spell holding his soul in place, remember? It gives me some powers I don't think even he is aware of. You'll be safe."
Oz slowly grinned, and kissed her. "You are an extraordinary woman. Remind me to thank you in the morning."
"Promises, promises." The both giggled, and would have continued smooching, but Giles interrupted them.
"Oz, Willow. We're about ready here. Do you want to get started?"
"No," said Oz. All heads in the room spun to look at him. "But I will. Let's do this before I change my mind."
They assembled around the table. Buffy stood off to the side, tranquilizer gun ready. Willow stood next to Oz, holding a knife to his wrist. The kiss of the silver against his skin started to burn almost immediately. Amy similarly held a knife to Angel's wrist. Xander stood ready to shove Oz into the cage, and Cordelia stood next to the cage door, ready to slam it shut. Giles assisted Amy.
Amy stood silent for a moment, then started. As she called each direction, she turned to face it, and the air became alive. "Spirits of the North, land of wind, I call. Spirits of the East, land of earth, I call. Spirits of the West, land of fire, I call. Spirits of the South, land of water, I call. To the four directions I call. To this building, your abode, I call you. To this room, your temple, I call you. To this table, your altar, I call you. To this body, your vessel, I call you. Spirits of the four directions I call to my bidding."
"Spirits, I ask you to join these two, who are of two kinds but one spirit, whose strength together is greater than their strength apart, who are both of the dark, who are both of the hunt. With this chalice, I command their joining. With the proper chants and herbs, I command their joining. With my own blood, I command their joining. Accept my command, spirits, and bend to the task of the joining. Now, as the sun sets, and their blood is strong, begin the joining." Oz cried out in pain, both from the beginning of his transformation and from the slice of the knife as Willow and Amy slashed the knives across his and Angel's wrists. Blood poured into the chalice. Amy quickly put down the bloody knife and took the clean one from Giles. "In my blood, and with my blood, begin the joining. In this sacred time, between day and night, begin the joining. In this sacred place, made holy with blood, begin the joining. Begin the joining." She sliced the knife against her own wrist, adding her blood to the blood already in the chalice. Giles immediately handed her a bandage, which she pressed over the cut, at the same time telling Xander "Okay, I'm done with him. Lock him up." Xander quickly maneuvered Oz, who was in too much pain from the silver knife and the change to care, into the cage and Cordelia slammed the door shut. Amy continued the spell, carefully adding a pinch of powder from each little bowl. "Spirits of the four directions, make this blood one blood With deadly nightshade, I command it. With wolfsbane, I command it. With rowan, I command it. With night-blooming jasmine, I command it. With all the powers that are mine, I command it." The air around Amy, which by now vibrated and cracked with electricity, suddenly swirled up with a golden fire, diving into the chalice. The blood turned black, then red again. "Spirits of the four directions, you are released from my service. Return to your worlds. From this body, which is your vessel, depart. From this table, which is your altar, depart. From this room which is your temple, depart. From this building, which is your abode, depart. Spirits, depart." The storming vortex of energy that had accumulated flew away, and the air lost its charged feeling. Everyone is quiet for a moment, then Xander spoke.
"Well, can I just say, Amy, you've gotten much better at that." At that moment, a furious growling and snarling came from the cage, and Oz, who had been momentarily forgotten, and who had completed his changed unnoticed, started slamming repeatedly into the door. Without the chains, he was able to get much more force, and the door immediately began to bend out. "Um, Buff, now would be a good time to give our good friend Oz here his sleeping pills."
"Right, I'm on it," said Buffy, shouldering the rifle. "Angel, get his attention for a minute." Angel dropped his human face, and growled at Oz, showing his teeth. Oz got very low to the ground and growled back, then yelped and dropped like a sack as Buffy hit him in the rear with the tranquilizer dart. Willow curled up next to the cage, threading her fingers through the mesh to stroke Oz's fur.
"Oh, Oz. How long will the tranquilizer last?"
"On a normal animal, about 8 hours," said Giles.
"Enough time to get us through sunrise."
"Should be, yes."
"I'll stay with him."
"We all will, Willow. He's our friend too," said Xander.
"Yeah. Besides, he's kind of cute all curled up like that. A big improvement over the way he looked when he wrecked Daddy's car," volunteered Cordelia. Xander just looked at her in amusement.
"I'm sure he'd appreciate the sentiment, Cordy. So, did anyone bring a deck of cards?"
The next morning, just before dawn, Willow carefully opened the cage door and crept in. Angel, who was the only other one present, nodded to her silently, watching as she curled up with her arms around the still sleeping Oz. As the sun rose, he slowly changed back.
"Good morning sweetness. How are you feeling?" Willow asked, kissing his forehead.
"About par for the course." Oz sat up, and then started when he saw the bent cage door. "Jesus! Did I do that?"
"You're very strong, and without the chains... Well, Buffy had to get you with the dart gun again."
"Well, that explains the headache. Do you have my clothes handy?"
"Right here. Do you feel any different?"
"No, can't say as I do. Just sore, like always. Where is everyone else?"
Angel, seeing that Oz was at least partially dressed, stepped out of the shadows. "Xander and Cordelia went to bring back some breakfast. Willow said you'd be hungry. Giles, Buffy and Amy brought all the witch stuff and the chalice upstairs to lock it in the library."
"Did Amy say the spell worked?"
"Well, she seemed very pleased. We won't know for sure until tonight," Angel answered.
"Right, tonight. Dang, this scar hurts!" Oz said, indicating a thin faded scar along his wrist.
"Wow," said Willow, eyes widening. "That's where I cut you last night for the ritual. Giles said it might have already healed this morning, but I didn't think it would look so completely old. What's wrong?" This last was because Oz had suddenly started eagerly sniffing the air.
"Breakfast is here. I can smell it. Egg McMuffins with sausage, Hash Browns, coffee."
Willow and Angel just looked at each other, perplexed. Their confusion cleared up when Cordelia and Xander entered, arguing.
"Look, he came out of nowhere," Cordelia was saying.
"Cordelia," Xander rebuked, "he had the green. You're lucky you weren't arrested. How did you ever get your license, anyway?"
"Hey, at least I have a license. You, moocher, just get me to drive you everywhere."
Xander grinned to the others. "Yeah, well, that's because I believe in getting what I can out of her. Morning Oz. We brought you some breakfast. You like McDonalds, right?"
"Doesn't really matter as long as it's food. Bring it on," said Oz hungrily.
Giles entered just at that moment. "Whether that's food or not is entirely a matter of debate. Good morning Oz. Are you alright?"
"Fine. I have to go soon though. I have a 9 o'clock music history class."
"And the rest of us have school soon," said Buffy. "At least we don't have to worry about how we're going to get there. Will you be okay going home on your own, Oz?"
"Sure. The sun's up, so I'm safe from the fanged element. And I feel fine. The terror is even gone. What time should we meet up again tonight?"
"Sunset's around 7, so let's say 6.15. Amy, will you be needing anything else tonight?" Giles asked turning to Amy.
"No, I have everything I need here already. Tomorrow, we need a blood ribbon, but I have one at home in my mother's stuff."
"So we're all set then. I'll see you all tonight." Oz had returned to his normal cheery, laconic self and his mood was catching.
"Hold on, I'll walk out with you." Willow and Oz said goodbye to the others, then walked out onto the bright sidewalk. It was still very early in the morning, and no one was in sight. "Tell me the truth, are you really okay?"
"Sure. Really, truly."
"So what was the sniff-fest?"
"Oh, that." Oz paused trying to figure out the best way to explain what was happening to him to Willow. "Um, remember a few weeks again, when Giles wanted to talk to me by myself?"
"Yeah, you said it was nothing. That he'd gotten worked up for no reason. Why, was it a bad thing?"
"Well, yes and no. There was no evidence it would happen to me, so I didn't want to bring it up, but now I know it is happening. It seems the longer I live with the curse, the more the two parts of me will start to blend. Eventually, I'll have all the wolf's senses and strength but look like a human most of the time, and have a human memory of what happens when I'm the wolf." Oz himself was growing more accustomed to the idea, but Willow took some time to digest it.
"Well, then that's a good thing, right? How is it a bad thing?"
"I'm not sure yet. But so far it's all been one bad thing, so I'm inclined not to take this at face value just yet."
"Okay, but you'd tell me if it was a problem, right?"
"Of course. You're my girl, Wills. I rely on you."
"Oh, good. I like being relied on." They smiled at each other, then kissed tenderly. "See you after school?"
"Count on it."
That night, everyone was once again gathered in the basement. The table had been set up the same way, except minus the little bowls of powder and with the addition of two small goblets. Everyone was at their previous posts. Oz looked much better tonight. Amy started the incantation.
"Spirits of the four directions, return to me on this second night. Bless this blood that is one blood, and make it your tool for the joining. With this blood, shall two come together. With this blood shall all darkness come together. With this blood the hunters come together. With this blood, the coming together will begin." She poured the blood into the two smaller goblets. "Now as their time approaches, let the joining begin." Angel and Oz each picked up a goblet and paused, waiting for an internal signal only they can feel. At the invisible cue, both drank the contents down quickly, Oz just swallowing his before collapsing in pain. "Quick, get him into the cage!" Buffy and Xander got him in just in time, as he started thrashing and contorting. Angel had similarly collapsed, and was huddled on the floor, shaking.
Buffy saw him and ran to his side. "Angel! What's wrong?"
"He hurts so much. The bones are reshaping, the muscles twisting, the skin burning. I can feel it like it was my own body."
Amy hurriedly ran through the last few lines of the spell. "Spirits depart. Do you think he'll be okay?"
Angel stood, gaze turned inward. "It's over now. Now he just feels strong. And, trapped. Is that tranq ready?"
"Ready," said Buffy, shouldering the gun.
"Shoot him now. He's getting ready to break through the door." Buffy spun and fired just as Oz was gathering himself up for a leap. He went down with a whimper. Angel also collapsed heavily. "Wow."
Buffy sat down next to him. "I don't get it. If he's supposed to be submissive to you, why are you feeling what he's feeling and thinking?"
"I don't know. Probably because the spell isn't sealed yet. But he's smart. He knew exactly where that door was weakest from last night, and how hard he needed to hit it to get out."
"Well, Oz is smart," said Willow, quick to defend her boyfriend.
Angel looked at her steadily. "That animal has no awareness of itself as Oz. Oz might as well be completely gone from the planet as be present but in that form. It only is aware of itself as a hunter. Nothing else matters to it." Willow tried to look away from the truth in his eyes, but Angel forced her to accept it without speaking a word.
Cordelia went to the cage and kneeled down. "Poor Oz."
"Poor Oz indeed. Well, he's calm now. Let's all try and get some rest. Tomorrow is another day." Giles was as always the voice of reason.
The next morning, Oz awoke with a vicious headache he recognized immediately as the aftereffects of the tranquilizer gun, and a hunger he couldn't recognize. It was deeper than anything he'd ever felt before. There was also a general lassitude, and he felt the incredible need to go to bed for the day.
He heard Xander's familiar voice. "Hey, rise and shine sleeping beauty. We brought your favorite. Kibble."
"Not funny, Xander." Willow appeared at his side with his clothes. "How are you?"
"I have another tranquilizer dart headache. I feel different, though. I feel weak; drained."
"That's me you feel. I feel weak because the sun is up. And I feel your headache from the tranquilizer. Amy and Giles are pretty sure we'll be mostly out of each other's heads after the spell is sealed." Angel came out of the shadows and went over to the cage.
"Good," said Oz. "Are you always this hungry or is that me?"
Angel looked away. "No, that's me. I try to feed as rarely as possible. It keeps the demon under control."
"I didn't know that," said Buffy.
"Neither did I," added Giles, looking up.
"Let's just drop it, shall we?" Angel got testy. "I think Oz needs to go to bed."
"I am really sleepy," Oz agreed. "Can you take me home, Cordelia?"
"Sure. We have to leave right now if I'm going to be back here in time for first period. Bring your breakfast with you, but don't you dare get egg on Daddy's upholstery."
"Okay. Willow, will you come by after school?"
"Of course. I'll help you up to the car." She put his arm over her shoulder. Xander got the other arm and they started to walk toward the stairs. Oz leaned his head into Willow's hair, sniffing her.
"Boy you smell good. What is that smell? I'm going to call it Willow, just for you."
"Okay, keep it moving. We can go into our many smells later." Xander probably shouldn't have said anything, because when he spoke, Oz sniffed him.
"You smell like sweat and Cordelia's perfume. And," he paused, taking another sniff, "nonoxynol-9." Cordelia got very stiff. Buffy and Amy started coughing violently. Giles carefully took off his glasses and polished them. Xander looked over at Willow, who was trying hard not to smile.
"Okay, haha, joke's on me. Let's step lively, wolfman. Time for your beauty rest."
As promised, Willow showed up at Oz's apartment right after school. She let herself in with the keys Oz had given her, calling to him as she came in. She found him in the bedroom, sitting on the bed, with all the blinds pulled and the lights off. "Hi. Why are you sitting here in the dark?"
Oz smiled grimly. "Because the sunlight was hurting me. I think it's actually Angel, but I decided to spare myself the grief. How was school?"
"Fine." Willow sat next to him on the bed. "Oz, when this is over.."
"...which it will never be...."
"I don't mean in general, just this part. When this is over, what do you want to do?"
Oz shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. Finish this semester. Play a few gigs. I don't really have any long term plans. Why?"
"Well, because I'm starting college in the fall, and I was wondering, how would you feel about, well, living together?"
"Willow! You would want to do that?" Oz was flabbergasted. And Oz didn't flabbergast easily.
"If it was with you. I just feel like we've been through so much together. I want to go the next step."
"What do your parents think?"
"They don't know. I though I'd ask you first. They won't like it though."
"And they don't even know the whole truth." Oz regarded Willow for a moment, turning the idea over in his mind. "Well, it's worth thinking about. Let's let it stew for a while, see how we feel this summer. Are you hungry?" Willow nodded. "Let's grab some foodage then. Angel still hasn't eaten, and I'm starved."
That evening, the group once again gathered in the school basement. This time, the table wasn't needed. Amy, Oz and Angel were in the cage with the door open; the rest were outside. As before, Buffy was holding the tranquilizer gun.
Amy started. "Spirits of the four directions, I call you this last time to seal this spell. With blood was it started. With blood let it be sealed. With blood, the hunters become one. With blood is darkness joined to darkness. With blood, two become one. With blood, the sealing is complete." Angel and Oz clasped hands, and Amy wrapped a ribbon loosely around their hands, then floated her hands over theirs. "With my own body, which is your vessel, I do seal this spell." She dropped her hands, closing them over those of Oz and Angel. The ribbon glowed, just as Oz doubled over and his change began. "Spirits depart from this place, with my thanks." Amy left the cage and closed the door. Angel kept hold of Oz's hand as he collapsed onto the floor in pain. Angel was also grimacing, and Buffy came towards the cage, concerned.
"Angel, are you alright?" Angel turned to her, and she started back. He was not wearing his human face.
"We're fine. Just wait," he spat out.
Willow turned to Amy. "Are they going to be alright? What's happening?"
"Angel has to hold on until Oz is completely changed for the spell to be sealed. But until it is sealed, he's still feeling Oz's pain. They'll be fine in a minute, and then we can make sure all this worked the way it was supposed to."
They all waited until Oz was fully transformed. Angel let go of his hand, which was now a paw, and his human face returned.
"Open the door," he ordered.
"What? Is that a good idea?" asked Giles.
"Open the door," Angel repeated, more forcefully. "He won't do anything I don't want him to, right, Oz?" Oz whimpered and pawed at the air. "Now, open the door."
"Well then. Buffy?" Buffy held up the tranquilizer gun and nodded readiness. Giles opened the door. Angel and Oz came out, moving in an eerie tandem. Willow came toward Oz.
"Can I touch him?"
"Sure. I've already given him a compulsion not to hunt humans. You're perfectly safe. Actually, he's trying to figure out why you smell familiar to him."
"Wait, how do you know that? How does he know that?" Cordelia still hadn't quite caught up with the general effects of the spell.
"It's the same as last night, but safer somehow. I can feel what he feels, but it's not as if I were the one feeling it. If he could communicate directly, he'd probably tell you the same thing about me."
"But he's going to be okay, right? I mean, now that the spell is done." Willow was tentatively reaching toward Oz, who was smelling her arm intently. Buffy had gotten very tense, finger already half pushing the trigger.
"Oh, yes. I tell you though, I understand now why having a werewolf bonded is such a goal for so many vampires. It feels, well, like an extension of your own strength." Angel was unable to keep a slight tone of rapture out of his voice.
"Great," Xander said. "Just what we need. A stronger dead boy."
"How many times have I told you not to call me that?" Angel snapped. Oz left off his intent sniffing of a baffled Willow to growl menacingly at Xander, who took an involuntary step back. "Calm down Oz. He's not worth the trouble. Let's go hunting."
"What? No! you can't take him out there. He might get hurt. How will you keep him safe?" Willow was now furious, and was preparing to exercise her secret control over Angel when he took her hand to explain.
"Relax. Go to his apartment; I'll bring him back before day break. I can compel him to not hunt people, but he still needs to hunt. And he hasn't since the first time he changed. That's a lot of pent up energy that needs to be worked off. You did the right thing by keeping him locked up down here all this time, but now you need to let him go, to do what he has to do. Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to him."
"You promise," Willow said, still not sure if she trusted Angel to keep Oz safe, and to keep others safe from Oz.
"Cross my heart and hope to, well. You know."
"Well, okay then. But half an hour before dawn, not a moment later," Willow relented.
"I'll go with you Angel," Buffy jumped in. "I want to see this control you have over him in action."
"Do you think you can keep up?" Angel asked, smiling.
"If I couldn't, I wouldn't be the Slayer. C'mon, let's go."
"We'll clean up down here," Giles said.
"That's us, the clean up crew. We get all the really desirable jobs. We're just that lucky." Xander had recovered from his scare, and was his usual sarcastic self. Cordelia looked at him.
"You'd rather spend the night chasing through the woods after a pent up werewolf?"
"Well, when you put it that way. Where's the mop?"
The next morning, Oz lay curled up on the floor of the bedroom of his apartment. Willow was sitting next to him, his head in her lap. The sun started to peek up over the horizon, and he changed back and slowly sat up.
"Wow. What am I doing here?"
"Buffy and Angel brought you back. How do you feel?"
Oz paused to consider the question. The truth was, he felt better than he had in a long time. Since the morning he'd woken up in the woods actually, the first time he'd realized something more serious than sleep walking might be going on. "I feel good. I feel strong, like something's been released. I'm not even hungry. Or thirsty. What happened?"
"The spell worked. You totally obeyed Angel the whole night. Buffy said he even was able to stop you when you went after some one's pet Chihuahua that had been left out for the night. And you completely dismissed over any human scent you came across."
"Oh." Oz considered her words. "We were hunting? Why would he want to do that?"
"He said you had to; that keeping you locked up the way we have been was eventually going to cause you more harm than good. He said no matter what we did, you were still a hunter and we had to respect that. You said you feel good though, so I think he was right."
"Yeah, I feel great. Really alive and energized. Really strong. And really, really.... Do you have to be anywhere right away?"
"No, it's Saturday, no school. Why?"
"Because," said Oz, picking her up easily and depositing her on the bed, "I need you for a while. If it's okay with you of course."
"Oh, Oz." Willow held up her arms. "I'm always here for you."
"Glad to hear it," he said, jumping into bed and kissing her.
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