Title: Beloved Author: Tiffany Adams Summary: Scott returns from Sunnydale, seeking Willy's help. Rating: Mild "R" Pairings: Willy/Scott, Scott/Willow Spoilers: season 2 of the web series, my fanfics "Demon" and "Spector." Disclaimer: The characters of Willy, Bucky, Deadeye, Jenny, Bruiser, and Blinky belong to Neal Adams and co. The characters of Lucas Macarthur, Fritz Warner, and Kadaf Warner belong to DJ Clawson. Just try to sue me. I have no $$. The lawyer fee will be more than the settlement. Author's Notes: This is the third of three stories detailing the Willy/Scott relationship. It has been deemed it inappropriate material for the web series for a number of reasons. First, it is not in script format. Second, since the main characters are Willy and Scott and most of the action takes place in San Francisco with the toad wars being peripherial to the story, it does not qualify as a "Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars" story. Third, while it does not contain any entirely explicit material, it does deal with themes (mainly homosexuality and bisexuality) that are not appropriate for all audiences. The first two stories in the series have not been written, so I will describe them here. Scott Osbourne is loosely a werewolf character named "Oz" from "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer." The first story takes place sometime after this, when Willy goes missing for a week and Scott, knowing about the aniverse, activates the accelerator and finds the Righteous abandoned, only to be arrested by Jonathan Weissman for tresspassing. It turns out the Righteous crew has been MIA, having left their ship behinds to do some secret mission. Scott accompanies the crew of The Screaming Mimi to find them. The second story is more earth-oriented. Scott, it turns out, left Sunnydale because Willow (a friend of Buffy) cheated on him with Xander. Willow, Xander, Buffy, and Giles travel to San Francisco to stop a cult from opening a Hellmouth (it's what it sounds like), and Willow seduces Scott ("Oz" to the Slayer crew) and they sleep together. Willy finds out and feels betrayed, but does the nice thing and saves them all when they get captured by the cult. He brings along the Righteous crew to help him, since Jenny is a witch and can close a hellmouth. They save the day, and though Scott and the Slayer gang is appreciative, Scott wants to try to make it right with Willow and returns to Sunnydale with the slayer gangs. Willy is crushed, and outed, but no one really wants to bother him about it. There is one other story that has been written and comes before this one - it is called "Demon" and deals with a weekend fling between Willy and Lucas MacArthur. Enjoy! ________________________________ Prologue Willy DuWitt was in a bad mood. He's spent the school day avoiding his lab partner, who was angry at him for nodding off in Advanced Placement biology. He'd been up late the night before fixing a busted console that was essential to the Righteous's weapons' system, and a lab class was not easy on three hours' sleep. Laura was also a key to his social situation, and having her chew him out and then give him the cold shoulder had left him more isolated than usual. The truth of the matter was he had been rather withdrawn and lonely for the last three months. He had yet to begin another relationship since Scott left for Sunnydale, but in Scott he had lost not just his boyfriend, but his best friend and sympathetic ear. He was now back to being the only person on the earth who knew about the aniverse. He had no one to share his excitement over a new piece of technology, or tell of his adventures in liberating an enslaved planet. And talking to his friends in the aniverse wasn't the same; Scott had that removed, innocent calmness when he listened to Willy's stories. And then there was Lucas MacArthur. Their one-night stand in Tennesee had created more problems than it had solved - Lucas was a good companion, if erratic, but he hated all of Willy's friends and keeping their relationship secret was no easy task. That and the priest tended to creep him out now and then. Willy ahd said no to a sustained relationship rather quickly. Willy pulled off his shirt as he lamented and began to sift through a pile of shirts spilling out of his closet when he heard the doorbell. He cursed and threw on a T-shirt as he stumbled down the stairs. He was late for work. He opened the front door, looking through the screen door, "Can I help you?" From the front steps, Scott Osbourne looked up at him. ******************************* Chapter 1 "Come in ... just, come in. Christ --" Willy looked him over as Scott entered. "You look terrible." It was true. Scott was paler, much more than Willy remembered. His hair, dyed black, was uncombed and missing small patches. As he curled up on the couch, his body was visibly shaking, and what flesh was exposed was bruised and a sickly yellow. Seeing him obviously in some sort of pain made all of the verbal attacks Willy had gone over again and again in his mind, should his unfaithful boyfriend choose to show his face in 'frisco again, dissipate. Yes, seeing Scott did reopen old wounds, but it not seem like the appropriate time to deal with them. Scott had some sort of problem; something so dire he had to run to the most inappropriate person. Willy stepped back. He could deal with this. He just needed to take deep breathes and - "What's wrong? What are you doing here?" Scott didn't answer; he put his knees to his chin and wrapped his arms tightly around them, swaying slightly. "Can you speak?" Scott shook his head furiously. Willy sighed, and sat down in the chair across from him. He didn't want to have to do this ... "Can you open your mind to me?" His ex shrugged, but seemed to indicate he woundn't mind Willy probing him. Willy sat cross-legged on the floor, taking the spellgem out of his pocket and holding it to his forehead, "This won't hurt. Just relax - " Willy closed his eyes, drawing air around him and the path from his mind to Scott's. He imagined it as a door, that he had only to open by turning a knob, as Jenny had taught him - He steadied his breathing, and imagined putting his hand on the door, and turning the knob - BAM -- ! A flurry of activity came towards Willy, like a swarm of bats, knocking him back and tearing at his flesh with their tiny claws. His concentration broken, the door in front of him disappeared, and he opened his eyes. He was lying on the floor, dazed. Scott was hovering over him, silently worried. "The hell - ?" Willy prompt himself up by his elbows. Scott stared. "I think there's something wrong with you." Scott gave him a look that said, 'No shit.' Willy sighed, picking himself up. He couldn't deal with this. "I'm gonna make a phone call. Stay here." Scott curled up on the floor, and Willy disappeared into the kitchen. Picking up the phone, he hit speed dial. "Circle of Light, your one-stop shop for all new age accessories," came his mother's voice. "Hey Mom," leaned against the wall, watching Scott through the doorway. "Willy? What's up?" "It's Scott. He's here." Willy paced nervously. "Something's wrong with him." "What do you mean?" Susan DuWitt's voice was full of concern. "Well, he just showed up at my door, and he looks horrible, and he won't speak to me." He lowered his voice, even though he was sure Scott wasn't listening. "He needs help. I can't do this, Mom. I can't handle this alone." There was a brief pause, but she returned, her voice soft. "Okay, I'll be there." ******************************** Twenty minutes later, Susan had arrived, and Willy's life became infinitely easier. Scott wouldn't talk, but he would submit to a medical inspection, and Willy was unwilling to make physical contact with his ex. They both gasped as Scott removed his shirt. His chest was covered in bruises, but his back was the item of interest. Carved into the skin were symbols that looked vaguely like runes. Susan ran her fingers across them, and Scott flinched. "What are they?" Willy asked, peering over her shoulder. "I don't know. Honey, could you get my runic dictionary? I think it should be under the celtic art books in the basement." An hour and three reference books later, they had yet to identify the first symbol. "I think it's b - no wait, a boat. No, that can't be right." Willy straightened his glasses as he poured over the books. "Why would someone carve the symbol for a boat into his back?" "I hate to say this, Willy, but this is a little out of my league," his mother admitted. "Do any of your Wiccan friends use runes in their spells?" Willy asked. "There's obviously some spell on him." "No, they're not into runes. It's mainly a Norse thing. Besides, none of the witches I know would ever use a spell to harm someone. But I can call around. What about the girl at work?" "Jenny?" Willy was amazed he hadn't thought of it before! Jenny was a Master Artificer - she had to know *something* useful. "I'm gonna go talk to her. Can you watch him?" "Sure, honey," Susan pecked him on the cheek. "Good luck." Willy hurried upstairs, wondering if Jenny could help him. He knew there was a mysterious amount of compatability between Aldeberan and human magic, but he wasn't sure how deep it went, or if it would help him. Putting his worries aside, he activated the accelerator and stepped through his door. Immediately he felt weightless - literally. As he passed through the dimensional barrier, he instantly floated into engineering. Taking a minute to get his bearings, he opened the hatch to main bay. "Oh, Willy. Good," Bucky was in the main bay, with Deadeye. Both were hanging onto the handles on the walls. "Our anti-gravity machine is busted." "Obviously," Willy tried not to show his annoyance; he had other things to deal with right now. "Where's Jenny?" "Recalibrating her sensors in piloting." His hare captain seemed to notice the look of concern on Willy's face. "Something wrong?" "I can't really talk about it," Willy grabbed onto the hatch above him and swung it open, leaving them to wonder as he flew up into piloting, shutting the door behind him. "Willy," Jenny said, in an overly-calm voice, without looking up. She was obviously just coming out of a trance and had sensed his presence. Willy flew himself into Bucky's captains' chair beside her. "Hey. I need your help." "With the anti-gravity device? Why?" Her mind was still fogged. "No, with Scott." This seemed to wake her out of her stupor; Jenny shook herself together. "Did you say Scott?" "Yeah, as in Scott Osboure, Mr. I'll-Dump-You-and-Try-To-Make-It-Right-With-My-Wannabe-Witch-Ex-Girfri end," Willy answered quickly, but the sound of malice that escaped was quickly shifted to a more worried tone. "He's back in town. I think he came back for help." "With what?" Jenny looked a little hesitant; Willy had always been more forward with her about his relationship with Scott than he had been with anyone else on the crew and she knew it, but she wasn't sure where he was going with this. "I think he's under some kind of spell. An evil spell. He looks really sick, and he's got runes carved into his back." "Runes?" Jenny tapped on her ear, fumbling with her translator. Clearly she didn't recognize the word. "Runes. They're magical symbols from earth that have power in them. People draw them on things to cast spells. Does Aldeberan have anything like that?" Jenny was quiet, thinking for a moment, before speaking. "I think I recall something like that, before there was the shift to spellgems a few hundred years ago - but it was a long time ago that I heard that. The libraries on Aldeberan would have information. What did Scott say?" "Scott can't seem to say anything. There's nothing physically wrong with his mouth, but he can't speak for some reason." "Did you try to probe him?" "It was painful." "On him or you?" "I don't know about him. But when I tried to, I couldn't get in. I was pushed away. And he was letting me try, too." Willy's voice was now full of concern. "He needs my help, or he wouldn't have come to me. Something bad happened to him in Sunnydale, and I can't get to the bottom of it without this spell lifted." "We'll have to go to Aldeberan." Jenny began to take command. "I'll break it to the captain." For that Willy was grateful. *********************************** An hour later, Willy and Jenny had themselves surrounded by piles of books dealing with any topic they could think of that would help. Jenny, being a Master Artificer, had access to everything, and Willy was technically her student. Still, his knowledge of Aldeberan written language was spotty, and he moved at a considerably slower pace through the ancient texts than Jenny. Regardless of his handicap, he poured over the books and scrolls furiously, and it worried Jenny as she occasionally glanced at him from her own work. Willy was still not good at not broadcasting his emotions, and it was obvious that the very mention of his former boyfriend still pained him, yet he had not turned Scott away, and worked diligently to try to help him. Since Scott left abruptly for Sunnydale, Willy had taken two days of leave to center himself, and then had returned to work almost as if nothing had happened. He threw himself into his various projects, and the Righteous had benefited from his newfound intelllectual drive, but just about every crew member knew he was just trying to get his mind off of the obvious emotional wounds he carried. Though he had always kept his relationship with Scott private previous to the events with the Hellmouth cult, he had confided in Jenny, and she knew Scott had been an emotional buttress for Willy during his depression. Losing Scott meant he couldn't afford to have anything emotionally bad happen to him in the aniverse, and everyone seemed to understand this and give him his space. He didn't talk about Scott, or his loneliness, or his sexuality, or really anything that happened in the universe, to any of them. Jenny had betted that he would either crack or find someone new; now it things were coming to a head for outside reasons. "Heavy thinkin', Sis?" The irate voice of her brother interrupted Jenny's thoughts, and she saw him enter the library. "Hey Tommy," Willy said nuetrally, not looking up from his book. "What're you lookin' at?" Since Jenny obviously was still on bad terms with her brother, Tommy decided to look over Willy's text. "Submission spells? You must be way more advanced in your training than you've told me, kid." Jenny chimed in, "Willy's friend is under some sort of spell. We need to figure out what it is and break it." "Friend? Like, hyoo-mon friend?" Tommy said the word with some difficulty. "He's not entirely human, so it's more complicated," Willy explained. "He's a werewolf." "What's a werewolf?" "A magical creature," Jenny said. "We think someone has a binding spell on him because he can't talk and he has things carved into him. We really need to pinpoint the spell before we try to lift it." "Binding spells were my area of expertise when I was mom's apprentence," Tommy offered, and they both looked up. Jenny was skeptical. "Why would *you* want to know about binding spells?" "Because the last thing I need is good ol' Cassie firing one at me and binding me into submission." Tommy said to Willy specifically. "It's very popular to do to rebellious males." "Could you perform an unbinding spell?" Willy asked eagerly. Tommy rubbed his cheek. "Usually a binding spell should only be lifted by the caster." "But Scott wouldn't have come to me if the caster was willing to free him," Willy pointed out. "Then we'll have to try anyway." Tommy explained, "I can do the spell, but he might not respond to me." "What do you mean?" "Well, we're trying to break a complicated spell someone cast on Scott to create a bond between the two of them. Scott is used to being attached to the caster. When we lift the spell, no matter how much he wants to be free, part of him is going to resist. For the spell to work, at some point he'll have to overcome this subconscious resistence and finish breaking the spell himself. For this, he'll probably need someone he knows, someone he feels close to, egging him on. Preferably a mate." Jenny broke in, speaking to Willy, "Did you two ever -- ?" "No," Willy answered quickly, his face flushing. Tommy's eyes widened, realizing for the first time Scott's special meaning to Willy. "He's your boyfriend?" "My *ex*- boyfriend," Willy answered, with some pain in his voice. "It's not significant," he added, as his way of saying, 'I don't want to discuss it.' "Unfortunately, it *is* significant," Tommy pressed, but carefully. "If Scott still sees you as a source of familiarity and comfort, he'll respond to you and be able to help break the spell." Willy said nothing for a few moments, and Jenny regretted not shutting Tommy up. No matter how polite or helpful Willy was willing to be to Scott, he clearly only wanted to do so from a distance. What Tommy has discussing was too much commitment, and Willy was still burned. "I'll do what I can," Willy said, rather abruptly, shocking the two siblings. "Damn, kid, you're noble," Tommy said with his usual lack of tact, but he was obviously able to sense Willy's pain as well as Jenny. "Let's do it." *********************************** Chapter 2 After Willy had pushed his mother back to the store, Jenny and Tommy came across the dimensional portal and began to clear away the furniture in the living room. Scott huddled in the corner, since no one had told him what was going to happen so he wouldn't have the subconscious desire to run away. "Scott," Willy approached him carefully, wearing his spellgem on his forehead. "We're going to help you, but you have to trust us. Can you do that?" Scott nodded, but it was very hesitant, and he began to shake. "Get him in the circle," Tommy said as he completed pouring a strange powder on the carpet in a circular shape. At the mention of the word 'circle' Scott seemed to snap to attention, and bolted for the door. Willy was waiting for him, though, and proceeded to hoist the much smaller teen over his shoulder and toss him into the circle. "Okay, he can't leave it until the spell is complete, so he should be fine." Tommy explained, as Scott attempted to violate the barrier, only to find an invisible wall keeping him within the three-foot radius of the circle. Tommy and Jenny dropped down into meditation stances around the circle, and Willy followed suit. "Now, we can only lead you in. You have to lead Scott out." "I'm there," Willy said, and closed his eyes. The two Aldeberan's spellgems began to glitter, and the world faded from them. Willy felt the familiar feeling of nothingness, like they were all on another plane of existence. When he opened his eyes, he was not looking at his room, but an empty black slate. He was walking on nothing, but he was standing on solid ground all the same. It was unnerving the first time he had achieved this state, but with two years of Aldeberan training under his belt, it was nothing unusual. Jenny and Tommy appeared beside him. "Where are we going?" Tommy pointed, and a door appeared about fifteen feet in front of them. It was an ordinary door, much like Willy's when it appeared in the aniverse, but there were runes carved into it, and it was covered in a sort of shimmering barbed wire. "Now, the tricky part. We're going to blast through that barrier, and you're going in," Tommy explained, firing up his spellgems. "You're not coming with me?" Willy sounded a little nervous; this kind of invasion as someone's being was a little above him. "He doesn't know us. He would reject us," Jenny explained, it her calm-but-serious manner. "We don't know how long we can keep the barrier down, so when the door is open, run." Willy nodded, and swallowed, even though there was no earth. He stood back a bit, giving the Aldeberans room to power their spellgems for a few seconds before they began to hurl steady blasts of energy at the door. The door shuttered and creaked under the weight of the magic, and the barbed wire began to dissipate. "Now! Go!" It was all Willy needed. Bracing himself, he swung the door open. He found some resistence, a sort of burning sensation on his skin, but it was only minimal, and he clenched his teeth until he heard the door shut behind him. On the other side, he suddenly felt very alone. The sounds of Jenny and Tommy were gone, and the door was silent. It was an eiree calm, pierced only occasionally by a wolf howling in the distance. "Will?" He spun around. Where the door had previously stood was the diminuitive Scott "Oz" Osbourne. He wasn't covered in bruisers or scars from what Willy could see, but he seemed smaller and still frightened. "What are you doing?" Scott seemed a little worried and confused. "It's dangerous here." "I came to help you." "You could get bitten." Scott was referring to his werewolfism, which was contagious through bites and scratches. Willy was about to ask what exactly he meant, because Scott had never attacked him and always locked himself up on full moons, when a giant wolf appeared a foot in front of Scott. It was a separate entity on the surface, but he moved with the same shrunken eyes of his human side. Willy stepped back, and tried to remember the spell Jenny had taught him to calm agitated creatures. Powering his spellgem, he held out his hand inches from the wolf's snout and sent a small, gentle blast to the wolf, who whimpered and sat obediently. Willy gave him a pat on the head. Scott looked impressed, "No one's ever done that before." "Did Willow ever try it?" The human side of Scott groaned in some sort of pain at the mention of his girlfriend. He covered his face with his hands and retreated a few feet. "What is it? Did Willow do this to you?" Willy held out a hand a few feet from Scott, but made no move towards him. Scott moaned again. "Did - what?" Willy shook his head. "What do you remember? Why are you here?" "Where?" Scott looked truly confused. "In San Francisco." "I'm in San Francisco?" Scott's memory was obviously a mess; it was probably a side effect of the spell that would correct itself in time. Willy sighed, "Scott, someone's been hurting you." Scott looked pained, and then said, "Yeah." "Do you know who?" The wolf murmured a growl, not at Willy. Scott took another step back, bent over. "Hurts to think about it. Don't want to." "Then we won't do this now," Willy said, approaching him slowly. "But I need you to do something." "What?" "Come with me." Willy wasn't sure exactly how he was supposed to lead Scott out of the trap his own mind was in, but first he knew he needed Scott to agree to it. "Don't want to," was the answer Willy was expecting; it was the answer Tommy had prepped him for. "Scott, I want to help you. I want to stop your pain. But you have to come with me." "Why would you want to do that?" Scott said, bemused. "You hate me." Willy took a step back. This was not something he had been prepared for. "No, I don't." "Yes, you do. I can see it in your eyes," Scott continued, remarkably calmly. "You're hurting. Because of me." Willy braced himself to speak calmly. "I'm angry at you for leaving me, yes. It still hurts me, yes. But I don't *hate* you. And that doesn't mean I won't help you." Scott's mouth had a crook of a smile, "That's what I love about you. You're so friggin' noble." "Can we not discuss this *now*?" Willy was growing impatient; he wasn't sure how long it was safe to be here. "We need to go." There was hesitation on Scott's face again. Before he could say anything, Willy cut in, "I know, you don't want to go. But you have to fight it. We need to leave." The shorter human looked unsure, and then said rather quietly, "Okay." It was the magic words. All at once the images of Scott and the wolf faded, and the door reappeared. Willy had a sudden urge to go through it, and he swung it open. His vision faded, and he found himself in darkness, not even seeing himself. Where was he? "Willy, wake up." It was Jenny's voice, and it was very distant. "It's dark," he replied. "Open your eyes." Feeling dumb, he opened his eyes a slit, only to be assailed by the sunlight filtering into the living room through the blinds. Tommy and Jenny were hovering over him. "I think you did it, kid," Tommy said, with his usual jolly optimism. Willy sat up to find Scott curled up on the fetal position in the circle, sleeping peacefully. "Let's just break the circle and he should be fine." Tommy began brushing the powdered circle away. The noise called Scott to stir, and he rolled onto his back and opened his eyes lazily. "Where am I?" "You're in San Francisco." Willy said carefully, sitting next to him. "Do you remember how you got here?" "No. Sort of. No," Scott rubbed his forehead with his palms. "It's all a blur. Wait, it's coming back ... no, it's not." He suddenly looked pained. "Yes, it is." "There's no rush. Just let it come," said Tommy, causing Scott to look around a little better. "Who the hell is that?" "Tommy," Willy explained. "He's an Aldeberan who has some expertise with binding spells. And you remember Jenny." "Yeah, I do." Scott sat up, groaning in pain. "Damn, I'm soar." He looked a little confused. "What am I doing in 'Frisco? Did all of that shit happen with Willow and the Hellmouth cult?" "Yes," Willy added, his voice a little more angry. "You've been in Sunnydale for the last three months, I believe." "Oh, G-d damnit ..." Scott shook his head. "So what am I doing back here? Did we make up?" "No, we didn't," Willy said somewhat firmly. Scott clearly had no recollection of their conversation during the spell. "Can we?" Scott said, rather suddenly. "'Cause, like, I am sorry as *shit* - " Willy narrowed his eyes. "We're not discussing this now. Try to remember why you came back here." Tommy offered, "Someone cast a binding spell on you." Scott didn't speak, in obvious pain as the memories began to drift back, for several moments. "Willow." "We figured. Why?" "I don't remember." Scott squinted. "Yes, I do. It was about a month after I got back to Sunnydale. I don't think Willow really believed I was fully committed to our relationship, so she was all like, 'Hey, let's do this love spell. It'll bring us together.' I didn't think it was a cool idea, but every time I said no it just confirmed her fears." "You have a rather evil girlfriend," Tommy remarked. "She's not evil," Scott defended. "She just messed around with a lot of spells she shouldn't have been messing around with. It was apparently really bad when I first left Sunnydale for 'Frisco. Buffy said she was casting spells left and right just to try to bring me back." "Love spells are forbidden in Aldeberan magic," Jenny stated, "for reasons very similar." "Yeah, there's a rule that's never broken," Tommy said sarcastically." "Oh, hush." Jenny said to Scott politely, "So what happened?" "Once I was under the spell, I just got more attached to her. I was addicted. She did - " Scott stopped in mid-sentence and bent over, trying to collect himself. "I don't want to talk about it." "You don't have to," Willy said softly. Scott took a moment to gather his thoughts again, then continued. "I couldn't tell anyone what was happening - because of the spell, and because everyone would have just asked Willow and taken her side. I think I came here ... because it was far away, and because I knew you wouldn't call Willow if you found me. I didn't know if you or Jenny could break the spell and I didn't care - I just had to get out. I knew I would be intruding - I'm sorry - I - " He began to sob, and Willy hesitantly put his hand on his shoulder, but remained at a distance. "Well, the good news is, the spell seems to be fully broken," said Tommy. "The bad news is this 'Willow' will probably come looking for you." "Will she be able to track him in some fashion? Because of the spell?" Willy asked for Scott, who was not currently up to talking. "No, but if she's good enough at magic to perform a binding spell on a magical creature, she's good enough to perform a tracking spell." Tommy snapped his fingers, "Unless he's in another dimension." "I have an apartment on Genus," Jenny offered, surprising everyone. "I don't use it often. He could stay there until this dies down." she signaled to Willy. He nodded, allowing Scott to cry on his shoulder. ******************************* Chapter 3 Willy shifted nervously in his seat on the public transport vehicle, glancing over to the brown bear sitting next to him in a business suit who was reading a paper in standard aniversian print. The headline was something about the new construction on the U.A.C. headquarters, but he wasn't really interested. He hadn't spoke with Scott since he checked in with him before leaving the aniverse the night before. The Righteous was docked on Genus, and Jenny had apparently said something to the crew in very vague terms as to why Scott was staying at her place for a little while. Recognizing that Willy was exhausted from the ritual, she promptly sent him home and to bed. He had contacted her in the morning to see that Scott was still okay, and she said she was staying at Bucky's place but he hadn't called her, so he was probably okay. Willy had put it out of his mind and gone to school, avoiding supportive questioning from his mother on the way. He felt lost, maybe more than Scott. He knew he was doing the right thing, but he wasn't sure where to go from there. Scott had mentioned in passing that he was interested in restarting their relationship, and that he needed someone to be close to, but Willy was noncommittal and refused to discuss it while his ex was still so distraught. The hum of the hovering vehicle coming to a halt brought him out of his thoughts, and he got off the aniversian bus and walked the two blocks to Jenny's apartment. Like the rest of the crew's apartments on Genus, the Security Council footed the bill, and Jenny had a tendency to rent it out during times when she would be on Aldeberan or on a mission for extended period, so she was used to having guests. It was a spartan apartment, with a vid-screen and several pictures of Aldeberan scenery. Bracing himself, he knocked on the door. It slid open with a 'whoosh' and Scott appeared, wearing an S.P.A.C.E. shirt and a towel around his wet hair. He looked worlds better; the further away from the spell he got, the more of the young, vibrant man Willy remembered returned. "Hey, Will." Scott smiled, giving his hair a rub before tossing the towel on the desk. "Come in." Willy entered the apartment, and Scott slumped onto the sofa. Willy hesitated, then joined him. "You look good. You're feeling okay?" "Yeah, much better. Thanks, man," Scott looked appreciative. "Yeah, well, it was the right thing to do." There was an uncomfortable moment of silence between them; Willy looked at his shoes. "Listen ..." Scott said, after some hesitation. "I'm sorry about what happened three months ago." "I know you are," Willy said blandly. "No, I mean not just cheating on you. Leaving. For Sunnydale. It was a mistake." "Well, *duh*" he sounded annoyed. "She cast an evil binding spell on you." Scott shook his head gently. "No, I mean going back to Willow at all. It was a mistake. I knew that before she cast the spell." He sighed. "I think she knew I felt that way. Maybe it was why she cast the spell." "Scott, I don't want to discuss this." Willy was firm. "Will - " "*No*. I don't want to be your rebound guy." Scott's eyes widened; he didn't seem to have considered that aspect of it. "You never have been, and never will be, my rebound guy." "Prove it." Willy didn't sound convinced. It was the werewolf's turn to get angry, "You think I came back here looking to start a relationship again? I came to you because I was in pain, and because I knew that no matter how much you hated my guts, you will wouldn't turn me away because you're a good person, and you just have no idea how few of those there are." Willy said nothing for a long time, for what seemed like ages to Scott, before speaking again. "I'll make you a deal." "Shoot." "Remember, when I first met you, how were just friends, before you introduced that whole relationship aspect?" Willy looked up at him. "I'll be your friend, like we were originally, until this Willow thing blows over and it's safe for you to return to the universe. And then, if you're still interested, we'll go from there. Okay?" Scott looked satisfied. "Okay. Shake?" They shook on it, relief washing over both of them at their physical contact. Scott grinned. "Now can you show me how the hell this TV works?" He gestured to the vid-com. "Because all I can seem to get it budget analysis." *************************************** Chapter 4 An hour later, Willy returned to the universe to heat up his dinner, considerably more relaxed than when he had left. His mother and father were working late in the store, and he was alone again, but he felt less lonely than he had in months. He'd nearly forgotten how much fun Scott was to be around, just as a friend, and how much of a stress relief it was for him to have someone to confide in yet again. He threw the leftover macaroni in the microwave and was about to get out some juice when he heard a knock at the front door. "Mom? Dad? That you?" His parents had a tendency to forget their keys, so it didn't surprise him, and he didn't rush to the door. There was another knock, then an audible slam that was enough to make him drop his grass on the foor, shattering it. "Shit. Now what the hell is - " He stepped into the front hallway, only to find the front door torn entirely off its hinges, and a menacing figure in the doorway, surrounded by a glowing aura of power. It was Willow Rosenberg. ******************************************* Scott was napping lightly when he felt a sudden overwhelming sense of dread, followed by a flash of pain that was enough to take him out of of his sleep. It was a distant, unfamiliar pain, and it was gone before he could make sense of it. Sitting up on the couch, he threw of the blanket and rubbed his face, trying to collect himself. It hadn't been *his* pain, but someone else's, as if it was sent - Willy. He bolted to the door. He now knew only that Will had sent him the flash of memory, and that it had meant to be a desperate message. Will was in some sort of trouble, and he had sent a message to Scott. He had to get back to the universe. Jenny had left instructions on how to get back to the Righteous. It was docked near the headquarters of the Security Council, where Scott had been in his previous adventure in the aniverse. All he had to do was take the 33 bus - It suddenly occurred to him, as he saw the hovering buses pass by on the street, that he had no idea which buss was the 33, because he could not read aniversian print. He stopped one of the buses and hopped on. "Is this the bus that goes to the Security Council headquarters?" The driver, a four-armed duck, looked bemused. "What's a bus?" "Does this ... thing that I'm on - go to the Security Council headquarters?" Scott demanded. "Uh, yeah. One simolean." Scott pulled out some purple beads that Will had given him and shoved them in the driver's hand. "Just tell me when we get there." The driver snorted, but shut the doors and the bus moved. Scott sat down between a pig in a business suit and a lizard wearing brown robes. The "bus" moved for a few minutes before coming to a stop in front of a familiar building. Scott pulled out a security pass and clipped it onto his shirt, and proceeded to make his way through the mess of U.A.C. buildings until he found where the Righteous was docked. "Oh, Scott. Hey," Bucky O'Hare was there, not in uniform, but wearing one of those strange yellow belts with all the freaky knobs. He had a very campy-looking blaster plugged into it. The hare seemed a little unsure of how to deal with Scott, but he wasn't impolite. "What's up?" "It's Will. He's in trouble." Scott rattled off, and Bucky immediately when into "serious" mode. "I don't know how, but I know it." "Oh, yes. Telepathic things," Bucky said, with some familiarity, tapping on his head. "Aldeberans. You know. All kinds of freaky stuff." "Let's go to the universe." Bucky led him into the ship, where Deadeye and Bruiser were playing cards, and Blinky was dusting. He tapped on the hatch in the ceiling, and Jenny climbed down, and he briefed them quickly on why Scott needed to go to the universe. They all of course demanded to come, and Scott was impressed. They were obviously very dedicated to Will. Bucky activated the photon accelerator, and Willy's door appeared. Scott bounded through, followed by the Righteous crew. But has he made his way down the stairs of the DuWitt house, his werewolf senses began to pick up a very distinct smell from the hallway, and he stopped and gagged. Bucky and the others sniffed the air, and the hare captain said, "Blood." Scott looked confused, then remembered that they were all animals, and had more powerful senses of smell than normal humans. "Will's blood," Scott said furiously. The scent was making him crazy; it was everywhere. They continued into the hallways and living room, only to find the place a mess. Chairs were overturned, and the wall unit had collapsed entirely, covering the living room carpet in a blanket of broken glass. Blood covered the carpets and the walls. "There's another scent in here," Jenny sniffed, pacing the room. "It's Willow's," Scott recognized. The very mention of his old girlfriend brought him physical pain, but he pushed it back - he had no time for this now. "She must have figured out where I went. I don't know why she attacked Will, though. Maybe rage." "Certainly looks like it," Bucky observed, then continued in a methodical military voice. "He probably refused to tell her where you were. Willy's a soldier; he doesn't offer top secret information, even under torture." At the word 'torture' Scott, groaned, his mind reeling. He hadn't wanted this to happen. He was supposed to confront Willow, not Will. Will had nothing to do with this. Jenny offered, "We can track him, if he still has his spellgem. I can - " She was interrupted when the a figure appeared on the front steps. Since the both the screen door and the front door were entirely pulled from their hinges, the petite blond figure was able to enter without obstruction. It was Buffy Summers, the Slayer. In tow were Xander, the man Willow had cheated with on Scott a year previous, and Giles, Buffy's middle-aged British Watcher. "Oz," Buffy was furious, calling him by his Sunnydale name. She grabbed him with her Slayer superstrength and hurled him up against the wall. "Where the *hell* have you been - Scott cried out in pain; his back was still injured, and began to bleed through his shirt. She was about to continue when she heard an unfamiliar noise --the firing up of maser blasters, and turned sideways to notice six pointed at her. "Don't move or we'll blast," Bucky said in a commanding tone. "Oh, G-d, it's the space care bears," said Xander, keeping his distance from the Righteous crew. "Look, chill. This has nothing to do with you guys." "This has everything to do with us," Bucky answered. "Where's Willy?" "How should we know?" Buffy answered, putting Scott back on the floor, but not allowing him to move. "We're here to find Oz. Willow's a mess." "To put it mildly," Scott added. "Where's Willow?" Jenny demanded, her spellgems glittering in anger. "We think she has Willy." Xander threw up his hands. "This is confusing. Damnit Oz, what is it with you and people who's names start with Will?" Scott gave Xander a look, and Buffy stepped back. Giles fully stepped into the room, noticing what the rest of the Slayer crew had not - "What's all this blood doing here?" "It's Will's," Scott said desperately. "We think Willow attacked him. Her scent's here." "That's ridiculous," Buffy defended her friend. "This is Willow Rosenberg we're talking about. You know, good guy?" Scott threw a hesitant glance at Jenny, which Buffy noticed. Jenny spoke, "There's something you don't understand about Willow. Dangerous magic has corrupted her. She's performing dark magic on people." Buffy looked ready to smack the cat. "That's a lie!" "It's true," came Scott, shruken and quiet. "She cast a spell on me. A binding spell. I had to do what she said." "Why didn't you tell us?" Giles asked. The werewolf looked ready to break down again. "It was the spell - I couldn't tell you. I couldn't tell anyone." He stood there a second, then pulled off his T-shirt, showing off his back. The runes carved across his shoulderblades were open and bleeding, thanks to Buffy's abuse. "Good G-d," Giles said, approaching Scott. He ran the tips of his fingers very gently across the back, and the werewolf flinched. Giles adjusted his glasses. "There are dark runes." "What do they say?" "It's part of a love spell. A very dangerous love spell," Giles explained. "The target person of this spell - in this case, Oz - would be under the complete control of the caster. To disobey would cause incredible pain." "We lifted the spell." Jenny stated. "Scott couldn't speak until he came out of it, but the runes were enough to indicate what it was." "This is insane," Buffy responded. "Willow would never do this." Scott put his shirt back on, and said nothing. Giles came to his defense, "Magic can be very corrupting. It's probably not Willow - it could be a demon that took control of her. Damnit, I should have kept a better watch on her spells." "Too late for that now," Jenny was furious at these humans for their obvious lack of care in dealing with magic. "We have to find Willy and Willow. He's obviously lost a lot of blood and needs medical attention, wherever he is." "Why would Willow go for him? Why not Oz?" Buffy asked. "Willow knows locator spells." "Locator spells only work within the dimension that they're cast," Jenny explained. "Scott has been hiding in the aniverse. It's another dimension. So the spell wouldn't have worked, and Willy was the only one who would know where Scott was, so she probably took him somewhere. If she could perform a binding spell on him, he would have to obey her and tell her where Scott is." "Well, we're not lettin' 'er do that ta our pal Willy," Bruiser said firmly. "I can track Willy if he still has his spellgem," Jenny explained. "Let's just hope he has it." ****************************************** When Willy awoke, he found his cheek pressed against something warm and sticky. Opening his eyes, he found himself on cold concrete, but it was warm with a red substance. Yes, it was definitely his blood. Memories began coming back. Despite his formal magical training, he was unprepared for Willow's attack. She had stormed in, demanding to know where Scott was. Willy had played dumb, saying he hadn't seen him in months, and acted still very upset over the whole mess with Scott leaving for Sunnydale (which was still partially true). Willow hadn't bought it for whatever reasons she had, and then the attack had come. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before. In his training under Jenny, he had been attacked by quark demons, robots, and other Aldeberans. All of the attacks had always been calculated and well-disciplined. But Willow's magic was wild, chaotic, and disorienting. In many ways it made her a more dangerous enemy than even Cassie, who despite her intentions, was a well-trained and well-controlled Master Artificer. She proceeded to hurl him around the room with unnatural strength, her eyes glowing. He had withstood three tosses before passing out. And now he was awake, and had no idea where he was. His glasses had been destroyed in her initial attack and were long-gone, so he only had about two feet of vision. Sitting up, he found he was bound with cords, and in some sort of a circle, probably drawn with chalk on the ground. He leaned forward, attempting to crawl out of the circle. Not surprisingly, he was met with a wall of fire that sprung up from the circle and knocked him back into it. He cried out and slid back into a kneeling position. Willow didn't seem to notice. He couldn't see her, but he could hear her chanting to herself in the background, probably several feet away. Either she didn't know he was awake or she didn't care. Pulling himself into a crosslegged position with some difficulty and pain, he tried to concentrate - he needed a good burst of energy to break the barrier. The spellgem, in his pocket, was unreachable. Trying to ignore his aching body, he steadied his breathing and closed his eyes, trying to imagine the barrier as a concrete object he could blast - He was only able to produce a small blast, but it merely bounced off the barrier and hit him back. He cried out again and collapsed. Willow appeared as a blob in front of him; he was only able to recognize her by her fiery red hair, "Your magic is weak." "I told you," Willy said, his voice sounding far away and tinny, "I don't know where Scott is. And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you." Willow made some kind of gesture, and he felt another wave of pain. "I can remedy that." He had to pull himself together. He was losing blood fast, barely holding onto consciousness. "You can't go binding everyone you see to you." Willow's voice changed; it became sweet and innocent, "I'm just doing this for my relationship with Oz." "It's not a relationship if one of the members is in it against their will." "Shut up!" She became furious again. "You don't know anything about love. You ... you corrupted him!" It was very weird; Willow kept switching between demon and innocent schoolgirl. Willy wished he could see her face. "You fag!" Willy's dropping eyelids flew open in rage. The last thing he needed was Scott's demonic girlfriend accusing him of seducing the man who taught him everything he knew about his sexuality. He tried to stand, to confront her, but his knees fell out from under him, and he collapsed onto the concrete with a thud. He wished he was stronger, so he could give Willow a taste of her own medicine, but he wasn't. "Who's been teaching you magic? Don't you know anything about conserving energy?" Willow chided as his vision began to grow more clouded. He needed to stay awake, needed to try and resist ... ******************************** With Jenny leading, the two respective gangs had piled into Scott's large van and begun to travel the roads of San Francisco. She remained in a sort of trance state, her spellgems glowing, and occasionally she would say "left here" or "no, no this is the wrong way. Turn around." It took some time before they were able to eventually wind up in a deserted park. Scott parked, and stepped out of the van. He bent down to the ground and sniffed at the grass. "They're here." He said. "I can follow the scent." Jenny let her spellgems take a break as they followed Scott's nose silently through the park. He was able to lead them into a small clearing, where a concrete stage meant for concerts was currently in use. Willow had all of her ritual objects out, including a ceremonial dagger. She had drawn two circles in chalk on the ground, and was standing in one, while Willy was collapsed in the other, lying in a pool of his own blood. Buffy indicated that she was going to distract Willow, and approached her as if nothing was going on, "Hey, Willow. What's going on?" Willow, who had been chanting, snapped out of it and responded in a completely normal voice, "Oh, hey Buffy. Have you seen Oz?" "No. What are you doing?" Buffy tried to keep her vision off of the Righteous crew as they rushed to the circle, only to be repelled by the fire barrier that popped up. "Blinky, scan him," Bucky whispered, and Blinky ran a scanner light across Willy's still form. "Minor abrasions, severe bleeding. Major organs 100% functional." Blinky said. "Jen, can you break this?" Bucky pointed to the circle that kept them from Willy. "No, the caster or Willy has to break it. If we can distract Willow, Willy might be able to get out, but he has to be conscious to do it." Scott knelt to the ground, tapping his palms furiously on the pavement about a foot from Willy's head. "Come on, Will. Wake up. Time to get up now." Willy groaned and opened one eye a slit. Scott continued in a soothing voice, "Good. We need you to get up now." Willy blinked, but made no move to get up. "Oz!" Willow's voice came across - she had spotted Oz and the Righteous crew despite Buffy and Xander's attempts to stop her. It all worked through her mind very quickly, and she backed away from Buffy. "This is a trick!" "Willow," Buffy said firmly. "We're here to help you." "This is an intervention," Xander offered. "You have an addiction. To magic. Really, *really* evil magic. But we're going to help you." "Get away from me!" Willow cried out, and shouted something in another language. Giles seemed to recognize it, "Oz! Don't listen!" But it was too late. Scott screamed in pain and bent over, clutching his stomach. His bones began to spread out and fur began to grow across his body. A half-growl, half "get away from me!" was all he could manage before he wolfed out fully, and bounded to attack the nearest victim, it being Blinky. Blinky was a mess of wires before Bruiser could pull the wolf off of him. Buffy turned to Giles. "Let me guess. Spell to turn a werewolf." "Exactly." Giles pushed his glasses further up on his nose. With the wolf being handled by the Righteous crew, Buffy turned back to Willow, who still stood in her circle of protection. "Willow, you have to stop this." Willow's voice became soft. "I'm doing this for Oz. For our relationship." "Willow, I think it would be safe to say that you've sufficiently ruined any possible relationship with Oz. Now, please make this stop." "She's right, Willow," Xander stood behind Buffy. "You know, nearly killing his ex is really not much of a turn-on." Willow looked crushed. "I thought you guys would support me in this." "No, you really crossed the line with the whole 'evil magic' thing," Xander said. "We really can't support that." "Your relationship with Oz is over," Buffy said firmly. "Turn him back and he'll say it himself." Willow muttered something, and Scott howled and began to morph back into his human form. Only when he was sufficiently human would Bruiser release him, and he nearly collapsed, exhausted from the Change. Bruiser and Giles had to practically carry him over to Willow. "Willow, stop this," he said softly. "I just wanted to make it right between us," Willow pleaded desparately. "I mean, after the whole cheating with Xander thing. I wanted you to be trust me. Because you came back to Sunnydale, but I knew your mind was elsewhere." She looked ready to cry. "The spell was just to strengthen our relationship. I didn't mean to hurt you." "Great Mother, this is ridiculous," Bucky said with great impatience. "Will someone just take her down?" Buffy shushed him, and urged Willow and Oz to continue. "Willow, spells are *not* the way to strengthen our relationship. Thanks to spells, we have *no* relationship," Scott said firmly. The red-haired witch gave him her best puppy-dog eyes. "Do you hate me?" "No," Scott replied carefully. "In fact, I forgive you for the whole spell thing. But I don't want to pursue anything else with you. I want to say good-bye." "You're - breaking up with me?" her lower lip trembled. "Yeah." he thought to himself. "Now step outside and we'll say our good-byes properly." There was a tense moment, and Willow took small steps forward. As she exited the circle, the Jenny reached into Willy's circle, only to discover the barrier had disappeared. The Righteous crew huddled around their fallen crewmate as Bruiser carefully lifted him. Meanwhile, no one had moved to attack Willow. She approached Scott, who embraced her. They hugged for a long time, Willow sobbing onto his shoulder, and Scott fighting back tears. No one thought it was appropriate to disturb them. ********************************* When Willy came back to conscious, the first thing he did was moan. It felt like his body was on fire. In the haze that was his vision, he heard a British voice say, "Morphine's on the way." He had no idea how much time passed before he felt worlds better, and someone put glasses on his face. "It's me, Rupert Giles," said the Watcher, somewhat uncomfortably. He was sitting on Willy's bed in a sterile hospital room. "Your friends would uh, be here but uhm ... well, you know. We didn't know how the hospital would react." Willy nodded slowly; he felt drugged. He said nothing, waiting for Giles to fill him in. "Oh, uhm, the doctors said you have some bad cuts that were causing you to bleed so badly, but nothing's seriously injured. They gave you some blood and called your parents, who I believe are on the way. Do they know about the uh - " "Space job. No," Willy's speech was slurred. "They know about Scott and Willow and the whole witchcraft deal though." "Well, good, because that's what we told them. Leaving out some details, of course." Giles straightened his glasses. "Do they know about you and Scott -- ?" "Yeah, they're cool about that." "That's very nice. Anyway, Buffy and Xander are, uh, watching Willow. I've called some watcher friends who are quite experienced with this sort of thing - you know, young people getting in over their heads with magic - and we're going to send her to the Watcher compound in England, probably. For rehabilitation. She should be fine." Giles explained, "It's my fault, really. For not keeping a more careful watch over her magic." "And Scott?" There was some hesitation in the older man's voice, "He wants to see you, very badly. But he wasn't sure if he should." "What do you mean?" "Well, he was uhm, worried you'd be mad at him. For what happened to you. You know." Giles looked uncomfortable. "Send him in." Giles sort of gave a very foppish half-smile and left, leaving Willy alone in his room. He looked over himself - he was covered in bandages and soar. "You look terrible," Scott said, mimicing Willy's original words two days previous. The werewolf smiled tiredly and sat down on the bed, where Giles had been sitting. "How're you feeling?" "I could get used to this morphine stuff," Willy said, not untruthfully. "How are you?" "Healing. You know. The doctor gave me sort of a weird look when he was inspecting my back and said I'd have scars, but I could give a shit." Scott said softly. "I'm really glad you're okay." Willy sort of nodded, and let a moment pass before changing the subject. "So what's next?" "What do you mean?" "Where are you going? Back to Sunnydale? England with Willow? What's going on?" Scott gave him a look, "You really think I would leave you after all the shit we just went through together?" Willy smiled, but remained restrained. "So it's over. With Willow. No 'making it right.'" "There's a phrase I never want to hear again," Scott chuckled. "Remember that thing you said? In Jenny's apartment?" "What thing?" Willy honestly didn't remember; his brain was fuzzy. "You said once this thing with Willow blew over you would consider ... you know, giving me another chance." His hand fell on Willy's IV. "And you are so *not* my rebound guy." Willy didn't say anything for a minute, and looked contemplative. It was enough to make Scott shift nervously. "All I know," Willy said, with his slurred speech, "is I have been *so* fucking lonely the last three months." Scott laughed, and leaned forward to kiss Willy on the forehead. "I could kill you, keeping me in suspense like that." "Yeah, well, I just wanted to see you squirm," Willy grinned and let Scott rest his head on his chest, stroking the dyed hair. ****************************************** Epilogue The porch of Scott's Aunt Maureen's voice was quiet and peaceful in the bright afternoon soon. Willow felt like an intruder there, carrying her emotional baggage and angst. Her hair was cropped short and she had lost weight, but she was not entirely unhealthy. Nervously she rang the doorbell. There were sounds to someone moving down wooden stairs quickly, and the door swung open. Scott "Oz" Osbourne, with his newly-dyed blue hair, appeared from the inside. The smile from his face faded. "Hey." "Hey." They stood there, Scott apparently having no desire to speak and Willow not ready to say her piece. While they waited, Willy came crashing down the stairs, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend from behind and kissing the diminuitive werewolf on the head. He noticed Willow and seemed surprised, but not overwhelmingly alarmed. "How was England?" Willow swallowed, and said quietly. "Fine. Rainy." She scratched her head nervously. "I came to apologize." "For the spell?" Scott spoke. "Fine. Okay. I forgive you. Is this part of some kind of twelve-step program?" "Be nice," Willy said, chuckling. "And I'm sorry. To Willy." "Apology accepted," Willy said without blinking. It wasn't a patronizing tone. Willow opened her mouth to say something else, something she had come to say, but it didn't seem appropriate. "And that's it, I guess. So I'll see you." She turned, swallowing her emotions, and began to walk away. Scott and Willy watched her go, then exchanged glances, shrugged and went back inside. Finis.