Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Buffy Season Seven AU)

[Altoz]

Hammerfell Park: August 2002:

"One of them heading your way, Willow..." Doug called as he dispatched a snarling vampire while Buffy kicked, spun and pirouetted above them
Willow Rosenberg had a line of stakes in position and aimed one at the fleeing creature. She tossed one to Tara:
"One of them is behind you, sweetie!"
Tara turned and staked a female vampire who had thought he'd crept up on her.
Buffy had crash-tackled a fourth vampire and plunged the stake down into its heart:
"What is it with them tonight? Busy, busy, busy!"
"I think they're tryin' to distract us from something-" Doug got no further, as a vampire ex-football player tried to piledrive him, only to collide with Doug's foot and then inadvertantly on to a sharp branch, leaving him to combust. Willow's row of stacked and floating stakes disposed of another three lurking vampires, who had tried to ambush a school nature assignment earlier that evening and who paid for it.
Buffy finally had time to rest: "Phew, this has been some evening. Doug, how's the infra-red working?"
"No more anomalous traces, Buffy. Looks like we can call it a night."
"Hey, that stacked foating stake spell was quite something, Willow. Can you give me the list of ingredients later so I can 'cast something similar?" Doug asked, picking up his carrybag and slinging it over his shoulder.

TO BE CONTINUED

 

[Altoz]

PART TWO:

Outside the Bronze, that evening, the four of them were intent on simple rest and relaxation, but hardly had they entered the street where the city's premier nightclub was situated than Willow and Tara started: "Whoa. Perhaps we should go the other way."
"Wonder what he's doing back here?" Buffy mused, as Doug raised an eyebrow:
"Who's 'he' and does he qualify as a threat?"
"Far from it, Doug. He's actually an old ally and old flame of Willow. His name is Daniel Osbourne, better known to all of us as Oz. Short, red haired and transforms into a werewolf every full moon. He voluntarily locked himself up so the Ozwolf side of him wouldn't get out and cause havoc, and he was involved with Willow for a few years before she met Tara and came out. He killed a less inhibited female werewolf, Verruca, who had tried to kill Willow and left town to try and control the wolfside. After he returned and found Willow had moved on, he went back to Tibet."
"Oh yeah. Hey, I met one of his lyco community back in Westbury. Could that be why he's here? To get support for his werewolf sanctuary? Or convince the rest of Sunnydale's werewolf population to relocate?"
Buffy shook her head: "Shortly before everything crashed and burnt earlier this year, I got some bad news. The Tibetan lyco community was targeted and killed by a Chinese supremacist Taoist terrorist group, Lotus Zero. Apparently, they had contacts with renegade elements of the Peoples Liberation Army. Beijing proper wasn't at all happy and it's apparently hunting down every last one of the Lotus Zero terrorists but Oz lost his Tibetan girlfriend Bayaarma in the carnage."
Doug raised an eyebrow: "I don't get chaotic, conflicted signals from inside there, though. Or any residual thoughts of you, Willow."
Willow was grief-stricken: "Oh no. Oh, poor Oz. Buffy, I've changed my mind. I need to see him and say how sorry I am, even if Tara is my soulmate now."
"Okay, I'll be on hand if anyone bad does happen. Let's go inside. We need to unwind."

As they entered, Buffy spotted Oz and the rest of his old band, Dingoes Ate My Baby. Doug gasped:
'Sweet Gaia! Hey, you didn't tell me it was that Oz! I used to listen to Dingoes all the time on Vic University student radio when I lived in Wellington. Oh man! And that's got to be Devon MacLeish and Sam Knight on drums."
Oz caught sight of Willow and Tara, broke into a wide grin and waved. When the band finished their final number, he headed toward their table. Willow and Oz embraced:
"Hey, you."
"Hey, other you. Oz, I was so sorry to hear about what happened in Tibet."
"I've...almost come to terms with it. And don't worry, I'm more in control of myself these days. I never got a chance to apologise properly to you about what happened the last time I was in Sunnydale, Tara. It's okay. I know you're with Willow now, you're good for her and I accept that. And reciprocal sorries for what happened to Xander. Big goofy guy he was, he had guts to spare and he was your best friend. And Giles."
Doug was uncharacteristically speechless: "Oh. This is Doug Mercer. He's the new Watcher in these parts and a rainbow Kiwi."
"Is that a Shihad t-shirt?"
"Oh shit- you mean you know Kiwi alternative music? The Dunedin sound an' all that?"
"Do Conchords fly?"
"So are you guys back together? I used to listen to you blokes all the time when I still lived in Wellington on student radio there."
"For the next few months. Yeah, we got quite a few royalties from New Zealand back when we were together in the late nineties."
"It's probably your name. Kiwis love anyone who pokes the borax into Aussies as you may have noticed."
"So are you back for good?" Buffy asked.
"Probably. So, what happened between Tibet and here? Well, it involved a Sioux werewolf mastery spell."
"I've heard of those. Wasn't it devised by Jacqueline Silverwolf, a winkte shaman?" Tara inquired.
"Ah, good. I thought one of you wiccans might be familiar with it. Yeah, Jacqueline's transgender, so it stands to reason that she has some particular insights that involve transformation and adjustment to it." Oz nodded.
"So Ms Silverwolf did the 'casting and you're in full control?" Doug joined in.
"Absolutely. It meant I had to come to terms with a few things about my life. Moving on, making changes, being where I was meant to be. And who I was meant to be." The conversation continued for a couple of hours, before Buffy, Willow and Tara had to leave so that they wouldn't sleep in and miss their bus and lift to UC Sunnydale the next morning.
On the way home, Willow looked back wistfully: "I wish there was something I could do, Tara. I wish things had worked out in Tibet for him and that he hadn't been widowed when those terrorist bastards destroyed his home."
"That's what puzzles me, honey. From what I've read about the mastery spell online, it involves visualising his heart's desire. Which isn't you these days. I got that from his whole demeanour and presentation. I don't get any bad vibes from him at all."
"Ah well, he seems to be getting on quite well with the Dougster. Kindred spirits, yada yada."

At eleven o'clock, the bar shut. Doug prepared to walk back to his flat, and was about to say goodbye to Oz after several hours spent enthusiastically talking to Oz about the merits of their favourite bands when he noticed something about the smaller redheaded man's walking. To his alarm, he noticed that Oz was uncertainly and erratically weaving his way toward a pothole. He rushed over and caught him. Oz looked up blearily:
"Mmmm. Feels good. Hey, I'm totally smashed, man."
"Tell you what, what if I drive the van back to Devon's place and drop you back home?"
"You're a good buddy, Doug Mercer. Sorry. I was nervous about meeting up with Willow and Tara. And hey, don't worry. It is over with Willow. I'm okay with lesbians and gay guys. Noticed the rainbow ring necklace. Interesting. So, is there a Mr Other Doug?"
Doug grinned: "Not for want of wishing. Unfortunately, while there are gay paranormal guys here, they're into one night stands and this city's close enough to San Fran to draw the more settled layers of community life northward. As for the daytime crowd, they'd probably run a kay or so if I had to resort to the Craft in front of them."
"Try being a lovelorn werewolf."
"Hey, lycanthropes are good folks. At least most of you try to keep things under control and restrain yourself from hurting people. And when it comes to the minority that don't, I'm big and ugly looking enough to hold my own."
"I definitely wouldn't call you ugly, Doug. Hey, is that a Communards CD in your carrybag?"
"Yeah, I went through Rupert's old music collection after he passed away. Some definite oldies but goodies there."
"Mdraouuuu?" A somewhat deteriorated looking cat mewed, drowsily, from the back of the van:
"Ah. Meet Patches, my rusty offsider. Reanimated by a Nigerian zombie mask several years ago, but when the other reanimated folks went back beyond this mortal coil, the cat here refused to go back with them. I think it's some sort of feline bloody-minded contrarian thing he's got going. We bonded."
"Pleased to meet you, Patches. I'm taking your human mate here home for the evening."

Five minutes later, Doug drew up outside Devon's flat and said: "Well, that's it for this evening."
"So you haven't said anything about yourself for most of the evening, apart from your excellent and extremely comprehensive grasp of modern music?"
Doug sighed: "What can I say? I'm a bloody boring booted and suited accountant during daytime, and before that I was a homeless gay street kid and rent boy. Seriously toxic and dysfunctional home background, pisshead dad and mum on valium. I'm damaged goods. I work all day and at night I take to the streets and woods with the slayer helping her protect the civilians from... Oz?"
Oz leant over until he was face to face with Doug: "I don't think you're damaged at all, Doug. Or boring. Shit man, you're beautiful. Inside and out." And with that, Oz reached over and took Doug's face in his hands, and kissed him deeply. Startled, Doug wondered if Oz knew what he was doing, but then realised that there was real passion and need behind the prolonged kiss as he returned the ardour.
At length, he left the van, but not before Oz had kissed him a second time: "Surprised?"
"Yeah. Uh, can we talk about this tomorrow?" Doug said, as he started to walk back to his apartment;
"And Doug?"
"Oz?"
"That isn't all I want to do."
"You're not really drunk at all, are you?"
"Only with you, loverman. Only with you."

TO BE CONTINUED

 

[Altoz]

PART THREE:
Amy Madison had stayed undercover for the last few months, nursing her grief and regret over losing Warren Meers and using her newly accrued and adept darkmage status to mask her presence from Buffy Summers and her associates. However. she'd vowed that Buffy Summers and her offsiders would pay for what they'd done, even if she had partly been manipulating Warren and Andrew to step in when Jonathan Levinson saw the way things were moving and decided to bail out. The slayer had killed two people and was allowed to get away with it because she was The Slayer. And then another proposition had come to her, from an unexpected source, which explained that one of the new faces in Sunnydale had managed to pre-emptively dispose of one of its strategic assets and would she therefore consent to replace him?
Amy welcomed the opportunity.

HAMMERFELL PARK:

That evening, there was a definite spring in Doug's step and Willow was smiling. Buffy raised an eyebrow:
"Well, you two are happy about something. It's good to see people enjoying slayage for a change."
Tara cleared her throat: "I'm not sure we should be. I'm picking up some seriously bad darkmagick in the area."
"I think we're about to find out where all the darkmagick from Warren and Andrew went. Willow, ward the town. Tara, does your labyrinth spell work on non-humans?:
"It's non-species specific, yes."
"Okay, be ready to 'cast when I give the word. Doug, with me, we play defence. Tara, do you have any kind of bead on what the spell actually is."

Abruptly, there was a roar as an impossibly large, scaly object reared its head from the forest and began to slither through the trees.
"What the hell is that?"
"Well, that answers your question, Buffy. It's a serpens demon, suggesting that our darkmage has a grasp of some powerful capabilities and ancient magical texts. Serpens were quite common 'casts in ancient Middle Eastern societies and India. That one looks like Aapep, the ancjient Egyptian reptile demon god who continually assailed Amun-Ra."
Willow telepathed:
[I recognised the imprint too. It's Amy Madison. I'd know her magickal persona anywhere.]
[Doug, protextive spells. From Amun-Ra's priesthood] Tara sent a stream of telepathic messages to the wiccan warrior as he noted:
"They seem to be vulnerable at the back of their heads, Buffy. I'll try and distract it while you get on its head and steer it back to the Hellmouth."
Abruptly, a furry blurred form bolted across the clearing and snarled at the intruder:
"Ozwolf?"
"Thanks, Danny, That makes our job much easier." Doug called, as he prepared to cast the Serpens containment spellls and provide additional distraction so that the Serpens would turn back toward the Hellmouth.
"'Danny?'" Buffy said, curious at the newfound intimacy between the wiccan and werewolf as she prepared to hurdle the creature and jump atop the back of its head.
Suddenly, the creature focused attention on Doug and with a lash of its tail, smashed him against his tree. Buffy took advantage of the distraction and made her play/.
The Serpens twisted and turned, trying to remove the nuisance of the slayer from its back, but by now, Buffy was roped into it and could begin to control it. She held fast and began to direct it toward the Hellmouth, jumping from it before it fell headlong into the pit with a despairing cry.

TO BE CONTINUED

 

[Altoz]

PART FOUR
As Tara knelt by him with a healing spell, Buffy helped Doug to his feet:
"Nicely done, Buffy."
"Are you okay, Doug?"
"I'll live. Ouch." Doug winced as Tara peeled off the top of his t-shirt and applied some unguent to his bruised shoulder:
"Thanks for the help, Doug, but you've got work tomorrow morning and it's patrol night again tomorrow. Where's Willow?"
In response to her question, angry yelps and white flashes of light marked where Amy Madison was now under pursuit from a determined Willow Rosenberg and Ozwolf both. The darkmage scowled as she traded eldritch energies and called: "This isn't over, any of you! Not by any means!"
"She's definitely gotten powered up. So that's where Warren and Andrew's darkmage energies got directed to. The question is, how much of a threat is she?"
"She didn't have Willow's power and Doug's field experience before. She must have been the beneficiary of those darkmage texts Warren and Andrew drained from the Magic Box earlier this year. Ah. They're back."
"Can you stand, Doug?"
"Yeah. It's my shoulder that's bruised, and I've got a rapid healing factor. I'll be okay by morning."
"I'll drive you home" Willow offered.

Several minutes later, Doug extracted himself from the front seat of Willow's car, as Tara handed him a vial:
"A little something to accelerate the healing and give you an easy night's sleep."
"Cheers, Tara. I'm buggered, and not in a good way, either." Doug unlocked his door and padded wearily toward his bedroom. As Tara was about to close the door, Ozwolf headed into the area, his eyes filled with puzzlement, suspense and heartache. He whined, which was an unfamiliar sound to both Willow and Tara and put his head in Tara's lap: "He'll be okay, Oz. He just needs a good night's sleep. Do you want to watch over him?"
There was a low whine from Ozwolf, and Tara let him into the house before she closed it:
"I've never seen him like that before. So in case anyone was wondering, Oz is in full control of his wolfside and he knows what he wants."
"And who. I'm so happy for both of them, baby. Poor Oz, though. That was definitely love just a few moments ago, but his partner's been wounded. Wonder what'll happen tomorrow morning when Oz switches back after the moon goes down?"

Six hours later, the sun rose on Sunnydale. At the foot of Doug's bed and near his goddess altar, Ozwolf slept. As the sun shone on him, the wolfside ebbed and Oz' body reconfigured into a naked redhaired white skinned man in his mid-twenties. Doug stirred as Oz got up and stretched himself, blinking awake.
"Hey...Danny?"
"Doug, loverman? We need to talk.:"
"Okay. So you've changed-" Doug broke off as it dawned on him that Oz was naked:
"Oh, sweet Gaia..."
"Changed my body back to human, yes. Incidentally, you have me at a disadvantage."
"Not from where I'm laying. How so?"
"You may have noticed I'm naked."
"Oh believe me, Danny, that is so definitely not a disadvantage in your case. Naked suits you. Hey, you're a hairy little bugger. Er...okay. Major correction. Parts of you are certainly not little, by any measure of the word... I take it you are interested?"
"Well, in that case, nudity loves company. Mind if I remove your impediment?"
"Be my guest."
"There. Much better." Oz moved forward and took Doug in his arms...

Several hours later, the two men lay alongside one another:
"That was so totally hot."
"Douglas Mercer, loverman, will you be my lycanthropically wedded mate?"
"I'll have to think about that. I've thought about it. Hell, yeah. Hey, what is it? Tears of happiness?"
"So many scars on your back..."
"Ah, yeah, I've been in my share of the wars. Incidentally, about that scar in your side. Nasty. Silver? It looks like argentotox."
"It is. I haven't told quite the whole story about my Mastery spell. I found Jacqueline Silverwolf by accident, in Nevada. She was under darkmage attack, from a white supremacist darkmage creep, who called himself Skaro."
"Bastard. You could've died."
"Fortunately, her niece Naomi is a gifted healer. No, he was after Sioux sacred artifacts entrusted to Jacqueline as a winkte. And to answer the unspoken question raised by Tara a few hours ago, I did see my heat's desire in the associated vision. It turned out to be a tall, muscular, grey-eyed Kiwi dude with comprehensive musical knowledge and who's so dedicated to protecting his friends that he keeps neglecting his own needs. You."
"Hey, my pheromones have altered slightly."
"I've marked you as my mate so no other gay lyco will try it on with you. It also protects you among other werewolves by making you the recognised partner of a pack leader ie me."
"Danny, can we consummate our relationship?"
"I thought we already had?"
"Repeatedly? Oh. I see you've ...risen.. to the challenge..."

And with that double entendre, we shall draw discreet curtain over the werewolf and his wiccan...

THE END