I don't own these characters so please don't sue! You should know who does by now.
---
Oz caught sight of a familiar blonde head ahead of him in the hallway, and the jumble of ideas that had been floating in the back of his mind in a vague bundle of half-thoughts and softly whispered concepts had suddenly coalesced into a single, clear thought.
He broke into a run, dodging around annoyed students, and pushing stubborn ones out of the way. He barely noticed the strength he did this with. Since Jordy bit him his strength had gradually increased until, although it was nowhere near as great as that of Buffy’s, or his werewolf form, it was still above-average. As a consequence, he left a trail of startled Sunnydale High pupils either moaning in pain at the force of his shoves or staring after the slight boy who pushed quarterbacks out of his way without a backward glance.
He had eyes only for the Slayer and as she turned into the quad he increased his pace. As a result he reached her just as she sat down on a bench and he dropped down beside her, breathing a little heavily.
'Hey, Oz,' she greeted, showing no surprise at his sudden arrival. Instead she turned away and directed her gaze to the many students passing her by, watching each group with barely a glimmer of interest, as if they meant nothing to her. Oz realised. A little sobered by this depressing thought, Oz took a moment more to recollect his thoughts.
'Buffy,' he said, waiting for her to turn to him before continuing.
'I have this... plan. I’ve been sort of turning it over in my head for a while now, and I guess you’re the best person to come to. I need your help. Y’see, when I first turned into the werewolf, I had no idea what was happening. I only realised it was me when I thought about Jordy, and the rest of my family, and...' he trailed off and grinned at her amused glance.
'Yeah. They were actually surprised it took so long. My whole family... actually usually just the men, have turned into werewolves around puberty. I guess I was a late developer, or I wasn’t gonna change at all, but Jordy’s bite set it off, or... anyway, this isn’t the point. What is, is that the past few full moons I’ve been able to... retain awareness. The transformation isn’t complete, or whatever. Anyway, I can think and feel, and... possibly be in control while I’m a werewolf. Not like before, when I couldn’t even remember anything.'
He glanced at her, and saw no confusion in her eyes. She understood what he meant. He breathed a mental sigh of relief, he hadn’t expected it to be this easy to explain. He’d expected confusion, or incredulity, or even downright disbelief. Telling her he could ... exist at the *same* time as the werewolf. Most people would have laughed, even if they believed in stuff like vampires and werewolves. But then again, Buffy wasn’t most people.
'Basically, I want to learn to take control, so that I can prevent the werewolf rampaging through the streets of Sunnydale if it ever escapes...'
She smiled at him. 'You mean, so that I don’t have to tranq. you like Willow did?'
'No. So that I don’t hurt anyone. But the thing is, at some point I’m gonna have to test it. And I need... *would like*' he corrected, 'you there too keep things under control. ‘Cause if I can’t do it, if I lose out, I want you to...' He looked away.
'I understand. You want me to stop you. By whatever means necessary.'
'Yeah.' He was grateful she seemed to have accepted it so calmly. He’d just asked her to put herself and the town she was supposed to protect at risk. And to face the possibility of killing him.
'It’s about choosing what is most important, isn’t it, Oz? And to you, Willow’s safety is higher than anything. I’ll do it. She means a lot to me, too.'
'What about anyone else I could endanger if it got loose?'
She stood up, and spoke with her back to him.
'I know what the werewolf feels, Oz. I can... empathise with it. It’s affected by you, and your emotions. The stronger your emotions are, the stronger it is affected by them. And it doesn’t take a psychologist to see that your love for Willow is the most powerful of your emotions. All the werewolf would get is ‘Willow’ thoughts. And it’d go for her. First,' she added, as an afterthought.
'Full moon is in four days. Could you meet me in the library tonight? I figure we ought to get some research in, figure out if there’s anything about this sort of thing that could help us.'
'Why not ask Giles for help in that area? Or Willow?'
'Giles would ask why I wanted to know that stuff, and when I told him... he wouldn’t go for it.'
She faced him again. 'He’d say something like ‘That is a terribly irresponsible decision in this current situation. You never know, uh, what c-could happen. Really, Oz, how i-imature of you,’' Buffy said, imitating Giles reprimanding tone and stutter to perfection.
Oz grinned. 'Yep. That’s about it.'
'And Willow?'
'I don’t want her to know, she’d wanna be there. You can handle yourself. You can... make the right decision. She’d get all emotional. She’s like that. I guess anyone would be in that situation. She’d rather sacrifice herself than kill me. You aren’t in that sort of position, you can make an unbiased decision. Besides, I don’t want her to know in case it doesn’t work, and she gets her hopes up for nothing. If it does work, I want it to be a surprise.'
Buffy scrutinised him for a moment, then nodded. 'I’ll meet you at eight. I’ll make sure Giles is gone by then. He kind of likes to hang around there, since... well, y’know.' Oz nodded understandingly. 'Hey, while we’re working on your problems, could we give mine a going over?'
'You fell in love with a vampire you were supposed to kill, who you then slept with, and made him lose his soul, which you feel *extreme* guilt about. He turned out to be not a very nice guy with no soul, and he’s gone homicidal on you, threatening everyone you care about. He killed one of them, which you also feel guilty about, and sent your Watcher, who’s supposed to be helping you through this, into a deep depression. You can’t confide in anyone, again ‘cause of the guilt, and you don’t know whether to kill your ex or not. You sneak out every night to kill vampires, your school principal is intent on expelling you, one of your best friends has a yen for you that is causing problems with his girlfriend, and he probably won’t ever stop loving you, and your mom thinks you’re a problem child and doesn’t know how to deal with you. Oh, and you’ve just been asked to help a werewolf out. Did I miss anything?'
'Uh, you were pretty thorough, actually. I think you missed the string of failed love-interests, but you got in Snyder, so you get points for that. On the negative side, you didn’t actually help me solve any of them.'
'Hey, a girl who kills things that aren’t supposed to exist for a living doesn’t solve her psychological, emotional, spiritual and miscellaneous problems in one pop-psychology lesson.'
'Y’know, I think you lost the kick of the original there. ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ has a nice ring to it, ‘cause of it’s snappiness. Yours was a little too long. Work on your paraphrasing, okay?' Buffy smiled slightly.
'Sure. That, and my pop-psychology. I’m gonna need a lot of it to help you out. You sure you don’t have some sort of homework I could do in return, instead?'
'It’s okay. No payment necessary.' She smiled warmly at him, one of her first real smiles in days.
'What’s so funny?' he asked her.
'It’s just that that’s the most I’ve ever heard you say in one go. You’re awfully talkative all of a sudden.'
'It’s all this Giles-like behaviour. Hanging around Tweed-Guy seems to be rubbing off on me,' Oz told her with a grin. 'I’ll see you tonight.'
Cordelia watched as the two blondes walked away from each other. She decided to keep an eye on the pair, just in case. They looked awfully friendly...
* * *
'Giles? You in here?' Buffy took a few cautious steps into the library, alert and ready. 'Giles?'
She cast a quick glance around, then quietly approached his office. He wasn’t in there, or in the cage either. Starting to get slightly worried, she climbed the steps to the stacks noiselessly. She slipped effortlessly into full-Slayer mode, silently stalking the rows of dusty books. Suddenly, a voice startled her.
'He’s gone.'
Oz emerged from the shadows, carrying several dusty books precariously in his arms. 'He had a teacher’s meeting, and he went home afterwards, with a little gentle persuasion.'
'Oh, good. Find anything useful?'
'I don’t know.'
Buffy took some of the books Oz was struggling with and followed him to the table. She glanced at some of the titles. '‘Lycanthropy, a hunter’s guide to the finest kill you’ll ever make.’ ‘101 ways to skin a werewolf.’ ‘So you have a werewolf infestation?’ Werewolves aren’t well liked.'
'I noticed,' Oz said dryly.
Buffy picked up ‘Lycanthropy in the family’ and scanned the first page. '‘Remember, it’s not your husband anymore. It’s a ferocious bloodthirsty beast that wants to rip your throat out. You’re doing this for his own good, and he’d thank you if he could,’' she read. 'Isn’t there anything pro-werewolves? Or at least ambivalent?'
'I don’t think so. Trying to find a cure in all these anti-werewolf books is gonna be hard.'
Sighing, the pair sat down and began to read. An hour later, Buffy looked up.
'Oz, I don’t think we’ll ever find a cure,' she told him softly. 'But I did find this. It’s written by a Watcher, and it’s not even a proper diary.' She read the passage out loud.
'‘Although there have, as yet, been no recorded cases of a cure for lycanthropy, I believe I must record this for those in my position in the future. It is certain that, while Slaying involves an necessity to choose the safety of the many over the love of one, in some cases the rules must be bent a little. Cassandra, my third and last Slayer, much to my chagrin, fell in love with one Jeremiah Thornton, a youth I believed was behind the recent murders bearing all the hallmarks of a werewolf. In short, I was positive Jeremiah was struck by that most horrifying of diseases - Lycanthropy.
‘I tried my best to dissuade her in her suit, but she refused to believe me. And so I took the only course of action open to me. I determined to kill the creature, lest it struck her down in her weakness for the boy. I equipped myself with the necessary precautions - an abundance of silver, a chunk of meat with which to lay my trap, and some stout rope. Then upon the night of the full moon’-'
Buffy broke off reading, to glance up at Oz.
'He probably didn’t know about the three day thing then,' she explained, before continuing.
'‘I laid my trap, and settled down to wait. Not a moment had passed before I heard a terrific commotion. Rushing to investigate, a terrible sight befell my eyes - Cassandra set upon by the beast. I immediately attacked, but the creature paid me no heed until I pierced its leg with a silver dagger. It turned its terrible attentions to me, and I was barely able to entreat Cassandra to leave me before I felt its jaws on my wrist. It snapped my left hand easily, and I knew then to give up hope. For, surely if I did not die, I would be overcome by the wolf instead, and was not that a fate worse than death?
‘As I felt consciousness leave me, I was aware that the werewolf had paused in its deadly strike on my neck. My eyes then witnessed a sight I dare not believe true - the creature was looking at Cassandra as if it were listening. I caught only a few words of her speech, one of which I believe was ‘sacrifice’, another ’love’. She offered it her wrist, and the creature bit her. Then it collapsed, the deadly silver doing its job. I swear, as the last breath expelled from its lungs, its eyes were turned to me and the humanity was clearly visible in them. I believe at the last moment, Cassandra’s blood saved Jeremiah from the beast. Who knows what would have happened if he had lived. I believe he would become, if not cured, then at least able to control his animalistic nature, until that point impossible. So this is the key - Slayer’s blood may save a werewolf.
‘Cassandra, when last I saw her, was fine, showing no signs of lycanthropy despite the bite. She died from a broken heart, but not before giving me the same gift she gave Jeremiah - freedom from the beast. Unfortunately, my freedom carries a heavier price, her blood did not cure me, and I have asked her to end my unholy existence. I am writing these last words in a cave far from any signs of civilisation or life. Cassandra came with me, weeping as I entreated her to bind me fast. I will not live much longer with no food, but I could not ask the poor girl to do more, she is in pain enough over the death of Jeremiah. I have faith that one day this account will be found, and Cassandra’s bravery and sacrifice will be known to all who know of the Slayers. As she left me, I could see in her eyes that she would not live much longer than I, and her love for the beast would be the cause of her death.’'
Buffy stopped reading. 'It ends there,' she explained. 'There are no more pages.' She looked at Oz. 'Well?'
'I don’t know, it sounds awfully risky for you.'
Buffy could sense the hope beneath his cautious words. 'Oz,' she said, standing up and walking over to kneel beside him. He stared down into her eyes, and she said slowly, 'I’m willing to take that risk, for your sake.' Almost absentmindedly she added, 'And for Willow’s.'
Oz smiled at her. 'Thank you Buffy. This is the most generous thing anyone’s ever done for me.'
Buffy shifted her gaze, troubled. 'That’s what being part of the Scooby Gang is all about,' she replied evasively. Oz didn’t notice her discomfort.
'Maybe we should talk to Giles,' he said, a little worried.
'Maybe we shouldn’t,' Buffy countered. 'He’ll forbid me to do it. Remember, the safety of all the people that would be at risk if I died doing it - which won’t happen - is more important than helping you.' Her anger at Giles’ adherence to the rules was obvious in her troubled eyes.
'It's not his fault he’s like that, Buffy. He’s been brought up his whole life to believe that your safety is the highest priority. It’s his most deeply held belief that the Slayer comes first.'
Buffy sighed, and rolled her eyes. 'What is it with older guys, you always have to use wisdom,' she complained jokingly.
|
|
|
|
Rave
Barbie Girl (Becca)
biscuit07
Filmtheory (Jim)
Malice (Jess)
MebbtheScribe (MichaelB)
Reset (Allie)
Shay (Marrisa)
somnambulist29 (Shea)
Stephanie Loss
Wendyness (Wendy)
Questions?Contact Us
|
|
All stories on this site have been archived with the authors' consent. Do not copy these stories for your own uses without the express consent of the author themselves. Buffy the Vampire Slayer TM and Angel TM are © UPN, WB, Fox and its related entities. All photos on the site are © UPN, Fox, Warner Bros, and/or their respective owners. No profits are being made by use of these images.
Powered with the assitance of eFiction.
|
|
|
