Fic: The Wolf Within (6/?)

[Erin <erin@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

TITLE: The Wolf Within
AUTHOR: Erin (erin@xxxxxxxxxxx)
SPOILERS: None, really.
RATING: PG-13 at worst, because of some violence. It is a
Buffy/Willow fic, so if that bothers you, or it's illegal to even
think of a Slayer and a Witch getting it on, then just don't read it.
Or move.
DISCLAIMER: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters belong to Joss
Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and Fox. I'm just borrowing them for a bit.
I'll put them back when I'm done, no worse for wear (but maybe a
little happier). Most of the werewolf stuff is copyright White Wolf,
such as Garou, Crinos, Child of Gaia, Glass Walker, etc.
ARCHIVE: Currently, none. Just ask, I'd love to say yes.
FEEDBACK: Constructive comments are encouraged.
SUMMARY: (Buffy/Willow) Willow discovers that there is more to her
than meets the eye, and it could tear her life apart.

Part the Sixth

Buffy and Chris got in the Range Rover, and pulled away from Giles'
house. After a few minutes of silence, the Slayer was compelled to
ask about something that had been on her mind most of the evening.

"So, you mentioned that Willow is one of your kind...a Glass Walker?"

Chris nodded. "The Rosenbergs are Glass Walker kinfolk. They moved
from Los Angeles to Sunnydale about twenty years ago."

Buffy bit her lip. "So...what does it mean to be a Glass Walker?"

"Most Garou aren't progressive, in fact, they're regular Luddites.
They want to go back to the way things used to be, before cities,
before technology... Hell, before indoor plumbing." The young man
repressed a shudder. "Glass Walkers are different. We believe it's
our responsibility to protect the cities, that the cities are as much
a part of Gaia as the forests. To that end, we have embraced the
technology of humans, in an attempt to use every tool available to
combat the Wyrm." He sat up a little straighter, pride in his
bearing. "I myself am very accomplished in regards to using
computers, as are most of our tribe."

Buffy nodded absently. "Willow is real good with computers... She's
always showing me stuff that she did that I don't quite get." She
paused, gathering courage. "Will she have to leave Sunnydale?" That
was it, the thing that she had been afraid to speak of since the young
Garou had mentioned taking Willow to Los Angeles. She always knew one
day that Willow's ambitions might take her away from Sunnydale, away
from Buffy; but now that the day might be upon them, she felt a
coldness in the pit of her stomach.

Chris caught the odd note in Buffy's voice, and gave her a speculative
look. "Depends. The Sept Leader might ask her to come to LA... Then
again, he might decide, on someone's recommendation, that Willow be
kept here as a Glass Walker representative. Then she would only have
to visit LA for tribal meetings and emergencies."

Buffy's eyes widened. Barely able to contain her excitement, she
said, "And who would make this recommendation?"

Chris grinned across at the Slayer. "Maybe me."

* * *

The two of them entered Buffy's dorm room cautiously. They had
decided not to take any chances, and that they weren't going to stay
in the room any longer than necessary. After making sure the room was
secure, Buffy started packing enough clothes for her and Willow for
the next few days. Chris, with Buffy's help, was packing some of
Willow's personal effects, such as her witchcraft tools. Buffy
thought about bringing Willow's computer, but Chris snorted
derisively.

"An iMac?" He said, incredulously. "Why did she buy an iMac?"

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "I think her parents bought it for her."

"That may be fine for writing papers, or sending email to Jeff
Goldblum, but she'll need a PC to get real work done." Chris grinned
in delight, thinking of the type of machine Willow should have. "The
Sept will pay for it..." He whipped out a charge card. "I have a
Corporate AMEX."

Buffy laughed at that. She had to admit that these friendly people,
so full of life and humor, had little in common with the werewolves
she had always read about. If she hadn't run up against the Black
Spirals, she thought, she would have suspected that the negative
werewolf stereotype was some massive propaganda campaign.

Soon they had most of Willow's and Buffy's stuff packed and loaded in
the Range Rover. Chris had suggested that they leave enough of their
belongings lying in plain sight so that the room still looked
lived-in, and Buffy agreed with him. It didn't take long for them to
return to Giles' house, and set up a nice, cozy living space for
Willow to use while she recuperated.

Buffy collapsed on the couch, and looked at Nichole and Giles. "So,
you two been keeping each other company?"

Giles smiled. "Well, yes, actually. Nichole has been filling me in
on some wonderful aspects of werewolf lore and culture."

Chris shot Nichole a stern look. "Nice going, Nichole, what about the
Veil?"

Nichole sniffed. "These two know what the consequences to Willow
would be if our secrets got out. They make good allies. And besides,
Kernel," she continued, fixing him with the same stern look, "tell me
that you didn't blab some of _your_ secrets to Buffy."

Chris blushed, and mumbled that he was going to get something to
drink. He went to Giles' fridge and pulled out a soda.

Buffy fixed them both with a questioning glance. "Why do you keep
calling him Colonel? Is he some kind of army guy?"

Nichole shook her head. "Every Garou, when he or she becomes a full
member of a tribe, gets a special name."

"That's right," Chris nodded. "Mine is Kernel Overload. Kernel, as
in part of a computer Operating System. It was given to me because of
my hacking expertise." There was the proud look again.

Nichole grinned. "Yeah, but some people took to calling him Kernel
Panic."

"Insubordinate pups," Chris growled. "Wouldn't know a computer if it
came up and bit them on the tail. And you're one to talk,
Dances-With-Wolves."

Nichole's eyes narrowed. "That's 'Walks-With-Gaia', you wag!"

"Yeah, whatever."

Buffy rolled her eyes at the exchange. "As much as I'd love to sit
through the newest episode of 'Dysfunctional Werewolves on Parade', I
think it's time we all called it a night."

Everyone agreed, seeing as how it was well after midnight. Nichole
said, "I'll be by in the morning to check on Willow. I'm sure Chris
will want to start her Glass Walker orientation as soon as she's
recovered enough to listen to him drone on and on..." At Chris's
glare, she just smiled back, winningly.

"Ok, don't worry about Willow," Buffy said, determination lighting up
her eyes. "I won't let anything happen to her. Not anything."

Chris and Nichole left. Once the door shut, Buffy looked over at
Giles, and said, "You know, if I didn't know better, I'd say those two
were in love."

Outside, Chris opened the car door for Nichole, and remarked, "You
know, if I didn't know better, I'd say Buffy and Willow were in love."

The Child of Gaia just smiled.

* * *

Willow awoke with a start in an unfamiliar room. At least, it seems
unfamiliar, she thought, even though she recognized several of the
things in it as belonging to her. She sat up, wincing at the pain in
her side. Placing a hand over her bandages, the events of last night
came flooding back to her. She and Buffy had an argument, and then
there was a fight, and Buffy was laying on the ground...

"Buffy!"

The Slayer heard Willow shout her name, and she vaulted over the
furniture and was in the room in a flash.

"Are you ok, Will, what's wrong?" Buffy said, rushing to her friend's
side.

Willow placed a trembling hand against her forehead. "Yeah, I'm fine
I guess, I'm better now that I know you're ok." She smiled up at her
friend, relief evident in her gaze.

"Yeah, of course I'm ok, Will," Her friend's concern deeply touched
Buffy, and before she knew what she was doing she had reached out a
hand to brush Willow's hair back from her face. It was a completely
unconscious gesture, and one so gentle that it was hard to believe
that same hand had strangled a werewolf to death the night before.

Willow looked at the bandages covering Buffy's forearms, and gasped.
"What...are you ok? How did you get hurt?" Panic rose in her voice.

"Shh, it's ok, Will..." Buffy said, calming her friend. "I got a few
cuts, but they're almost healed now. You know me, and my Super Slayer
Healing." She smiled at her friend, reassuringly. Truth was, the
gashes that marked her forearms _were_ almost healed up, but Buffy
kept the bandages on until she could remove the stitches. She didn't
want Willow to see just how much effort had gone into closing up the
deep lacerations.

"Buffy, what happened? Who attacked us?" Willow looked lost and
confused. Not surprising, Buffy thought. Even she wasn't sure what
to think, and she had gotten the whole story on Black Spiral Dancers
from Chris.

"Well, my friend," Buffy began, "the whole thing is kinda involved..."

* * *

Chris and Nichole walked up to Giles' house. Several hours of sleep
had done them a world of good, and they exchanged only mild barbs and
insults on their ride over. They knocked on the door, and after a few
moments, Buffy answered.

"Come in," she said. "You don't know how nice it is to have friends
who actually knock. Granted, some of our friends would combust in
daylight if they waited for us to answer the door... Can I get you
anything?"

Nichole shook her head. "Is Willow up? I'd like to go check on her."

"Yep," Buffy nodded. "She's up, and I've already given her the
lowdown on the creeps who attacked us last night. Told her that we
would be hiding out here for the next few days."

Nichole went back to check on Willow, and Buffy noticed that Chris's
eyes followed her as she left. "She's pretty cool," Buffy said,
casually. "Isn't she?"

"She sure is," Chris answered, quietly. Remembering where he was, he
added in a louder voice, "For a Child of Gaia, I mean." He waved it
off.

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with the Children of Gaia? I
mean, Nichole seems nice enough, and is really interested in helping
people..."

Chris shrugged. "They're just a bit out of touch. They think that
the Wyrm can just be 'healed' away, and as long as everyone just holds
hands and thinks warm, fuzzy thoughts, everything will be fine." He
scoffed. "It's just a bunch of tree-hugging, hippie crap anyway."
Chris sniffed the air speculatively. "Is that coffee?"

Buffy sighed, and poured him a cup. "Well, if it weren't for
healers," Buffy pressed, "the warriors wouldn't have much of a chance
to fight."

"Yeah, I guess so," Chris replied, sipping his coffee. "I suppose the
Children of Gaia have their place, just like we do."

Aha, a minor victory, Buffy thought. Out loud, she said, "Could it be
that every werewolf tribe has their place, in the grand scheme, I
mean?"

"Some, maybe," Chris reluctantly admitted. "But not all."

Oh, well, good enough, Buffy thought, and the two lapsed into a
companionable silence.

After almost a half an hour, Nichole emerged from the back room. At
Buffy's intent look, she said, "Willow is healing nicely. Tonight,
before she sleeps, I'll come back and ask the spirits to heal her
again. That should leave her almost fully recovered. I also told her
about you," she said, poking Chris in the shoulder, "and I told her to
expect some lessons from you. Try not to scare the girl."

Chris protested. "I wouldn't!"

"Yeah, whatever," Nichole answered with a smile. Turning serious
again, she said, "Willow is very vulnerable when it comes to fighting,
though. She hasn't been taught how to fight in her human state, much
less werewolf. She was lucky to have you around, Buffy, or else just
one Black Spiral would have killed her." Buffy nodded, worried.
Nichole continued. "I think that someone should start training Willow
how to fight."

Chris nodded, as if he saw this coming. "Of course I can--" He fell
silent when he felt Nichole's elbow dig into his ribs.

"I think Buffy should do it," Nichole said, quickly.

Buffy looked shocked. "Me? I don't know anything about fighting as a
werewolf," she said, protesting mildly.

"That's true," Nichole agreed. "But from what I hear you are an
expert in armed and unarmed combat. Plus, you can train with Willow
as much as she needs it. Chris and I have other duties to perform,
duties to our Septs. Of all of us, you are the one most dedicated to
your friend."

Buffy nodded, unable to deny the truth of the Gaian's words. "When
will she be well enough to start?"

Nichole thought for a moment. "Probably tomorrow, if she takes it
easy, and I'm able to heal her tonight. Definitely by the day after.
Chris will also undoubtedly want some of her time to teach her about
Glass Walker philosophy, you know, selling your soul for money,
prostrating yourself before technology, that kind of thing." She
giggled at Chris's glare.

"Never too early to start getting her to sell her soul," Chris said,
and with one last glare in Nichole's direction, went into the back
room to see Willow.

Buffy shook her head. "You really like needling him, don't you?"

"Yep," Nichole said, smiling. "It's just that Glass Walkers tend to
take themselves pretty seriously. If they just learned to lighten up
and ditch all that technology that just weights down their souls,
they'd realize how important the healing work that the Children of
Gaia do really is."

Buffy sighed. Here we go again. "You know, if it wasn't for
technology, you'd probably lose a big advantage in holding the power
of the Wyrm in check, and then where would the healers be..."

END Part 6


--
"I question the stability of a company whose future depends on
Microsoft programs being intelligent. I don't question the idea
that Office Assistants are the most advanced Microsoft technology."
-- Joel Ray "Piquan" Holveck
*email: erin@xxxxxxxxxxx