Fic: The Wolf Within (17/?)

[Erin <erin@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Part 17, the journey continues. :) Hope you guys like it.

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, I believe my stories are being archived at the
following places:
Kim's Corner - 
http://www.fortunecity.com/village/villageplace/93/
Bill's Page -
http://members.spree.com/entertainment/kerrison29/default.htm
Gary's BtVS Fanfiction -
http://psycho.simplenet.com/fanfiction/index.mv?index+buf
Please let me know if I've left someone out, or if one of the URLs is
in error. Anyone who isn't listed here who wants to archive my
stories is welcome to, just let me know so I can add you to the list.
Thanks.
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 Seventeenth

Willow sat cross-legged on the dusty floor of the cabin, the deerskin
robes she wore heavy against her skin.  

Artur made her change out of her normal clothing, because he said that
such trappings of the Pattern Weaver might anger Bear, and no one
wanted to take any more chances with that than necessary. She
breathed deeply, and felt the hot smoke of smouldering sage in her
nostrils.

"We are here to witness the purification of this young cub. A sister
of the Garou, we ask for the peace and protection of Bear, and the
wisdom of the Great Mother on her behalf." The Gurahl anointed her
forehead with spring water, his large hand proving surprisingly
gentle.

Buffy sat to the side, watching the proceedings nervously. She knew
that Willow needed to complete this quest, for her own reasons if no
one else's. But it didn't mean that Buffy stopped worrying about her.
She was going someplace alone, without Buffy there to protect her, and
the Slayer didn't like it one bit.

Artur bent and placed an amulet around Willow's neck. "I grant you
the blessing and protection of the Brothers and Sisters of Bear," he
said solemnly. "May your journey prove fruitful, and your actions
honor your people and the Great Mother." Picking up Willow's small
mirror, he pressed it into her hand.

Willow rose, and with one last look at the Slayer, gazed into the
mirror. Taking a small step forward, she vanished.

"So it begins," Artur said, quietly.

* * *

Oz padded through the silent forest, sniffing the air anxiously. He
and Onaalth had covered the blood-stained clearing that they were
forced to flee the night before; it was nearly impossible to pick up
the scent of the creature that had attacked them. It was as if it
were part of the earth itself.

So they had expanded their search in ever-widening circles. Onaalth
had dared to challenge Oz, saying that they should abandon the search
to travel back to the Caern; Oz had ripped in to the smaller,
jackal-headed werewolf, both literally and figuratively. He was here
for one reason: Willow; and there was no way he was going to let that
betraying bitch elude him again.

So close! They had been so close to taking her in the clearing. The
Slayer had been ripped to pieces, and Willow was _theirs_. She was so
close to being forced to walk the Spiral, and then she would be his
forever.

The Spiral... Oz remembered it only in brief, nightmare flashes of
repressed memory. He remembered the gauntlet he was forced to walk,
as the other Spirals in the Caern took their turns slashing him with
claw and fang, or branding him with hot Balefire. The pain ate into
his soul until it touched something deep inside him, and finally
unleashed the Rage which he had held down and kept hidden for so long.
He snarled with the memory of it; his faddishly jaded, carefully
indifferent persona shattered in an instant. He raged against
everything: against the Spirals who caused him pain, against his
family for never understanding, against Veruca for stripping away his
comfortable preconceptions, and most of all against Willow.

Willow.  

Willow who insisted on loving him, even when he so obviously didn't
deserve it.

Willow who wanted to kill him, slide a silver blade into his gut,
spilling his blood and entrails on the floor.

He walked the Spiral, and it brought him face-to-face with all his
failures, all his disappointments, everything he lost. Except Willow.
The Wyrm told him that he could have her again; make her like he was,
bring her to the Caern, and she would be his forever. His to play
with, his to control.

All he had to do was find her.

* * *

Willow looked around at the forest glade, awash in nature spirits.
Unlike the forest areas closer to civilization, this place was
inhabited by spirits who exuded vitality and health. Water spirits,
untouched by toxin, played merrily in the natural spring. Tree
spirits, free from smog and blight, whispered long-forgotten secrets
to each other.

She started walking, for no better reason than that she felt she
should.

"Hey, watch where you're going!"

Willow jerked back in surprise, looking down at her feet. A small
rabbit sat there, eating some ripe berries. He looked at her with
what she thought was a very pissed-off expression. Not that she'd
ever seen a pissed-off rabbit before to compare.

"I'm sorry," she said, feeling a little odd at talking to a rabbit.
"I wasn't watching where I was going."

"That's for sure," he said, only slightly mollified. "Why are you
stomping around here, anyway? Are you intentionally trying to crush
cute little animals?"

Willow thought that the attitude this rabbit was pulling made him a
lot less than 'cute'. "I'm just looking for Bear. I won't bother you
any more." She turned, and started walking away.

"Bear, huh? Never liked the guy. Always throwing his weight around.
What're you looking for him for?" Rabbit began hopping next to her,
trying to keep up with her long legs.

Willow, annoyed, looked down at the tiny rabbit. "I was told that he
could help me, teach me a gift."

The rabbit made a rude noise that Willow didn't think was possible
considering the shape of rabbit lips. "Bear? You've got to be
joking."

"Why not?" Willow stopped and folded her arms across her chest. "I
heard that Bear has a lot of gifts he can teach."

"Well, sure, if he wanted to. But he won't teach 'em to you. He'll
just kill you."

Willow blinked. "He'll...why...I mean..."

Rabbit looked at her critically. "You're Garou, right? Yeah, he won't
teach you, he'll just kill you. Best to turn back now."

"But, I can't!" Willow put a hand up to her forehead, trying to still
the beginnings of a raging headache. "I mean, I need to talk to him!"

Rabbit cocked an eyebrow. "It's really that important, huh? Hmm, well
maybe there is something you can do. Bear is a huge glutton, I mean,
he doesn't think about much _except_ eating. If you can lure him in
with food, he'll generally listen until the food runs out. Then he'll
eat you, unless you've convinced him otherwise."

"He'll eat _me_?"

"Well, yeah. You're the other, _other_ white meat."

"Ok..." Aside from the fact that this was all coming from a rabbit,
Willow couldn't find anything wrong with his logic. "So what does
Bear like to eat? Like, nuts and berries and stuff?"

Another rude noise. "Hell no. Fish, preferably salmon," Rabbit
advised.

"How do I catch salmon?"

"How do bears do it?"

* * *

Oz turned his head back and forth, trying to narrow down that elusive
scent. They had been searching for what felt like hours, and now he
thought he had it. There. Just a faint trace left on a few leaves,
but it was there. Willow.

He called out to his packmate, an ear-splitting howl of obsession and
triumph.

* * *

Buffy heard the hair-raising howl, faint but still recognizable. It
was a mad sound, and the pure desperation that filled it made her
shiver.

"Prepare yourself," Artur said, head cocked to one side. "They come."

Buffy walked over to her backpack, and drew her silver blade.

* * *

"Just like a bear," Willow mumbled, standing knee-deep in an ice-cold,
rushing river. She was able to find it with a little more help from
Rabbit. He turned out to be not so bad after all; she guessed they
just got off on, or under, the wrong foot.

The silvery fish darted around past her ankles; she was convinced that
they were taunting her and her inexperience. The few times she was
able to grab one, they slid right out of her grasp. She was cold,
wet, tired, frustrated, and just about ready to give up.

"Come on!" She yelled, after missing another catch. "Can't you guys
cooperate just _once_?"

"Why should we?"

Willow jumped back from the voice she heard at her feet, nearly
slipping and plunging herself into the icy river. "Wha...?"

The voice came from a large salmon, darting back and forth under the
water. "I mean it, what's in it for us? You're just going to eat us,
right?"

"Um, well..." Willow said, thinking furiously. "You'd...get to see
what life on land is like!" She finished, triumphantly.

"Oh, goody. Then I can choke to death. Sign me up."

What is it with these sarcastic animals? Willow wondered. It was
really starting to tick her off. These guys were a lot pissier than
their Disney counterparts. "Look, you guys are supposed to get eaten.
Isn't it some Circle of Life thing?"

"That doesn't mean I have to make it easy." The salmon darted off
through the water.

Willow sank down on the bank, dropping her head into her hands. This
whole world, everything in it was very weird and very disappointing.
She was really starting to hate it.

"Now, that's pretty sad."

Now what? Willow looked up to see a hawk perched on a nearby tree,
regarding her solemnly. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yeah, you can stop feeling sorry for yourself. You're a predator,
for Gaia's sake! Act like one."

"I don't know how!" Willow cried, frustrated. "I've been human my
entire life, and now all of a sudden I have to deal with all _this_!"
She waved her arm around, indicating the surrounding forest.

"You want to know how to deal with all this? By killing, that's how."
The hawk regarded her calmly. "That's how things work around here.
Something tries to kill you, you kill it. Something looks like food
to you, you kill it. It's that simple. Some things have to die so
that others can live. It can't be done nicely, it can't be done
politely, it just has to be done, period."

Willow fell silent. She looked at the fish, darting around, each one
full of life. She thought of Oz, his mind consumed by madness.

She was a predator. She was a Garou.  

She was a human.  

She leapt up, startling the hawk, and ran off into the forest.

* * *

Oz tracked the faint scent to a small cabin, hidden in a forest glade.
The ground burned when he walked on it, it was so full of the spirit
of Gaia, the Jealous Mother. He ignored the pain and smell of burning
flesh. Each step brought him closer to her.

He reached the front door, and shifting into Crinos, nearly ripped the
door off its hinges in his haste. Inside, he saw a large man who
fairly _reeked_ of nature, and he saw...the Slayer. She stood near
the front door, silver blade bared to the firelight.

"Where is she?" He snarled, taking a fearless step toward the armed
Slayer.

"You're too late, Oz, she's not here."

Not here... Oz looked around, noticing that even though her scent was
present, Willow was nowhere to be found. That could only mean...

"The Umbra," Oz laughed triumphantly. "The Umbra!" He ran outside
again, followed closely by the smaller Spiral. Buffy cast a puzzled
glance over at Artur, and ran after them.

She ran around the side of the cabin just in time to see them reach
the small stream and use its reflective surface to slip into the
Spirit World.

Buffy ran back inside the cabin. "They're going after Willow, we have
to follow them!"

Artur looked at Buffy sadly. "I cannot. I cannot travel into the
Spirit World at will, as can the Garou. It is not a gift that the
Great Mother has given us."

Buffy clenched her jaw. "You can't, but I can." She ran outside,
heading for the stream.

* * *

Willow jogged through the forest, yelling as she ran. "Bear!" She
screamed. "Show yourself! Bear!"

An ear-splitting roar brought her to a stumbling halt. Standing
before her on his hind legs, massive front paws tipped with huge claws
waving threateningly in front of her, was Bear. "You dare to call
me!" He roared. "Daughter and Sister to murderers! I should crush
you!"

Willow had had enough. Shifting into Crinos, her nine-foot form still
only half as tall as Bear, she yelled, "Listen to me! I never killed
anyone, and I never wanted to, either! But _you're_ not making
anything any easier by continuing this, this _vendetta_! I don't know
if you've looked around the world lately, but no one could give a
flying fig about who killed who thousands of years ago! All I want is
to get past it, and get on to fighting the Wyrm. Now, can you
understand that, or do I have to say it more slowly this time?"

Bear dropped to all fours, seemingly taken aback by her boldness. He
glared at her, but didn't attack. He didn't say anything, either, so
Willow continued. "Now, I need your help to save a good person, but
I'm not going to beg for it. People tried to give me some advice on
how to deal with you, from begging to bribing, but I figure either
you're going to help me or you're not. If you do, I appreciate it,
and you can be sure I'll do whatever I can to honor you. If you
don't, well..." Willow shrugged. "I'll live, but a good person will
be lost to the Wyrm, and I don't want that to happen. I don't think
you do, either."

"I don't think anyone has dared to speak to me that way," Bear
growled.

"Yeah, well, there's a first time for everything, isn't there?" Willow
shifted back into human form, truly dwarfed by the great Bear now.
She still didn't appear to be afraid. "I've never had to deal with
animal spirits before. I've lived like a human for nineteen years,
and that's a heck of a long time, you know? My only experience with
animals was at the zoo, or Discovery channel documentaries. And you
know, things aren't nearly as calm and polite as they seem to be on
TV." She exhaled, brushing her hair from her eyes. "I'm a Glass
Walker. Now, I'm not real sure what that means, but I'm pretty sure
it means that I was never supposed to go without indoor plumbing. To
be honest, I know I'm not cut out for this whole nature thing, as
beautiful as it is. As much as I want to protect it, and fight the
Wyrm, it's never going to be the place for me.

"All I want to do is help my friend, and save him from the Wyrm."

Bear stared at her for a long moment. Finally, he said, "What do you
need to know?"

END Part 17
-- 
Faith: "Ready to cut loose?"
Buffy: "Try me."
Faith: "Okay then. Give us a kiss."
----------
"So Willow's not driving stick anymore. Who would've thought?"
-- Faith
*email: erin@xxxxxxxxxxx