BTVS Tornado of Souls 2/8 - B/F W/Oz W/T - PG13

[Dana Hunter <carrkjar@xxxxxxxxx>]

Tornado of Souls
Part 2

Author: Frau Hunter Ash
Copyright © 2002 by Hunter Ash. All Rights Reserved.
Email: carrkjar@xxxxxxxxx Feedback welcome!!
Homepage Addy: http://www.hunterash.com/

Disclaimers: The characters and show all belong to
Joss Whedon, Fox, Mutant Enemy, Kuzui, and God only
knows who else. The storyline, however, is the sole
property of the author. This story cannot be sold or
used for profit in any way. Copies of this story may
be made for private use only and must include all
disclaimers and copyright notices.

F/F romance: the story assumes a loving and sexual
relationship between people of the same gender and may
even include 3 at the same time <G>. If this offends
or is illegal for you, then please leave. Come back
when you are older, have an open mind, moved, or
changed your laws.

Spoilers: Up to Season Three  to Faith, Hope and
Trick.

Summary: Faith and Willow are puzzling over Buffy's
secretive behavior while doing bookcage duty with
werewolf Oz. Willow then receives surprise visitors
with shocking news and possible answers.

Rating: PG-13

Author's Note: pairings: B/A (past tense) X/An W/O

* * *

Willow was still frowning when she spotted Faith
waiting for her under a tree outside the school. She
saw the binder the brunette Slayer had taken from
Buffy's room and Willow was scolding herself silly for
even looking at Buffy's private book collection, let
alone taking the binder.

Faith laughed as the red-head moved closer. Willow
was so easy to read, she thought. She knew that the
binder was causing the student a moral crisis and
decided not to tease Willow about it, even though it
would be so easy, Faith thought to herself.

"Yeah, yeah," Willow muttered at Faiths laughter. "I
want to take the binder back without opening it."

"Okay," Faith shrugged and Willow looked surprised.
"I already looked though."

Willow's eyes widened and she looked like she might
drop the binder. Faith patted the grass under the
tree and Willow sat down reluctantly with her bag
lunch and nodded absently as Faith handed her a soda.
She stared at the binder intently.

"Well?" she finally asked.

"Well what?" Faith teased, pretending not know what
Willow was talking about.

"You know damned well what," Willow snapped.

"Wow, a curse word," Faith teased. "Must be driving
you crazy."

Willow snarled and opened her soda, setting the binder
aside.

"Any answers why Buffy's so withdrawn?" Willow asked.

"I'm not sure, there's a bunch of doodles and some of
them have labels to them," Faith said calmly. "Also
some notes on Celtic stuff she's been reading, like
she's trying to learn certain time periods of Celtic
history."

"I wonder why?"

"Me too," Faith admitted. "You look more Irish than
she does."

"Jewish here," Willow muttered absently, not bothering
to tell Faith she could very well have started out
Irish or Scottish. Willow had no idea who her
original parents were. The only thing she knew was
the love and attention from Sheila and Ira Rosenberg
from the first month of her life.

Well, love and attention until she was about 10, she
corrected herself mentally. Then they seemed to lose
interest in their "beloved" gift from the Lord.
Willow hadn't seen a lot of them in the years between
except at high holidays.

"Hey!" Faith protested and Willow blushed, realizing
she had been lost in her own thoughts.

"I asked if Summers was a Celtic name," Faith
repeated.

Willow frowned. "More like an English name though it
could be Welsh, I think."

"Welsh? That's Celtic, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is. Part of the Q-Celtic languages," Willow
said absently.

"Q-Celtic lingo?" Faith asked.

"There's two different types of active Celtic
dialects, P-Celtic and Q-Celtic," Willow explained.
"Irish and Scottish are P-Celtic, Welsh and Manx are
Q-Celtic."

"How the hell do you know that?" Faith grinned. "Did
you swallow the Internet one night in your sleep?"

Willow laughed, accepting the teasing.

"We did a research thing on our families in the 8th
grade," Willow explained. "I helped Xander do the
Harris research."

"So why is Buffy so interested in the Celts?" Faith
pondered.

"I don't know," Willow frowned. "What kind of
doodles?"

"I don't know, like that magic writing stuff my
Watcher used to show me in books sometimes," Faith
commented, reaching out to open the binder.

Willow glanced over the glyphs with obvious interests.

"Not runes, Ogham, or Theban," Willow muttered.

"Theban, Ogham?" Faith questioned.

"Writings witches sometimes use in their Books of
Shadows," Willow explained.

"You really are exploring this stuff, aren't you?"
Faith questioned without a teasing tone.

"Others include Passing the River, Angelic, Malachim,
Pictish and witch glyphs," Willow continued. "These
kinda look like some witch glyphs or gang symbols."

"Buffy didn't go and join a gang," Faith complained.

"No, I don't think so either," Willow grinned. "She
won't even do cheerleading anymore."

"What's all this stuff, anyway?" Faith asked, pointing
at some of the symbols. "Cold, alpha, friend, help?"

"I can understand Buffy having this one, vampire,"
Willow pointed.

"What's these words: Uktena, Wendingo, Ahroun, Fenris,
and Umbra?"

"Fenris is with Odin and Norse mythology, I think,"
Willow looked at the notes Faith had made and was
impressed. The brunette Slayer had taken some very
detailed notes about the glyphs and Celtic research
she had found in the binder. "Wendingo is a chaotic
Earth spirit that possesses someone, turns them into a
cannibal monster. I don't know the others."

"Wendingo?" Faith repeated.

"Ran across it in some of the research on demons,"
Willow grinned.

"Cheerful stuff," Faith commented. "Speaking of
demons stuff, how was furry duty last night?"

Willow smiled ruefully. "Trying," she complained.
"Something had the wolf upset last night and I
couldn't nap. Thought I'd curl up for awhile after
school before tonight's shift."

"Want me to drop by after patrolling, I can watch for
a while while you nap on Giles' sofa," Faith offered.

"I could use it," Willow admitted with a cough.

"Okay, so Buffy is acting strange, drawing strange
doodles or a secret writing you don't recognize and
went and got a tatt," Faith commented.

"Yeah and I haven't found what that symbol is either,
although I do know the knot work is Celtic," Willow
added.

"Did she see Braveheart too many times?" Faith
complained with a frown of frustration.

"I don't think so," Willow said slowly. "I'm going to
look up those words on the internet tonight. Maybe
scan the designs so I can look them up too."

"Well, do it tonight, I'll put the binder back before
she gets back in the morning," Faith said.

"Let's get back into school," Willow suggested.

Just what I always wanted to do, Faith mumbled.

* * *

The second night seemed to go by much faster than the
previous one once Faith arrived from her nightly
patrol. Willow and Faith had compared notes until
Willow was falling asleep in her chair. Faith had
laughed gently and nudged her, encouraging the
red-head to sleep for awhile in Giles' office.

Faith glanced over at the library cage when the
werewolf growled but basically ignored the creature's
displeasure at being locked up as she glanced over
Willow's notes. The Slayer sighed and shook her head
as she took the opportunity to actually catch up on
some homework assignments and then took a second look
at Willow's research into Buffy's notes.

"Uketena; A tourist site in North Carolina of the
Cherokee nation?" Faith pondered. "Okay, a Cherokee
word but doesn't tell me what the hell it is. Indians
and Celts. Next, Ahroun; websites mentioning this talk
about Gaia, the Earth Mother and the Tribes. What
tribes? More Indians? Warriors, tribes, garou? What
the heck?"

Faith hated being frustrated and she hated research
even more than Buffy did.

"Umbra; okay, what do we have here?" Faith muttered as
the werewolf paced restlessly in his cage. "Furniture
by Umbra? Somehow I don't think Buffy is planning on
become a cabinet maker. Freshmeat.com? Okay, the
words sound like Indian except for Fenris, which is
Norse for the great monster wolf in mythology."

Faith threw her pen across the room and slammed her
feet onto the table, leaning back into her chair.

Somehow she felt like they weren't any closer to
solving the mystery surrounding Buffy. There were now
extra pieces to the puzzle but no solution yet and
Faith hated puzzles.

Faith looked over towards the office, wondering if she
was making the right choice in reaching out to Willow.
The red-head had more power than she knew and Faith
hated it when someone had more control over anything
than she did, especially when it concerned her.

Faith knew that if she pushed too hard, Willow could
shut down her friendship with Buffy and that was
becoming very, very important to the brunette Slayer.

* * *

Willow yawned and smiled at the sight of Oz pulling on
a t-shirt behind the blanketed book cage. He looked
adorable when first waking up, she thought but then
frowned. Once again Willow was confusing herself.
She thought Oz was the cutest, the sweetest, coolest
and gave her kinda warm fuzzies but definitely not
red-hot fuzzies.

Faith had already left, when the moon first went down,
to change clothes and return the binder to Buffy's
shelves. The blonde Slayer wasn't due back until the
next morning but Willow didn't want to take any
chances of Buffy discovering their betrayal of her
privacy. The would-be witch was having enough
troubles living with herself without Buffy finding
out, Willow was tempted to just tell her friend but
was scared of losing Buffys friendship.

Oz smiled and waited patiently as Willow unlocked the
cage. He turned and helped her unhook the blanket
that afforded him some privacy after he would change
from werewolf to human again. A naked human.

"You off to breakfast?" Willow asked as Oz wrapped his
arms around her, nuzzling her neck lightly.

"Yeah, you?"

"I'm going to clean up from my research stuff last
night and then crash for a couple more hours on the
sofa," Willow said wearily. "It's not the same
without Buffy dropping in for cage duty. I'm tired."

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "You're also a little
warm."

"Stop, remember," Willow said in a slightly irritated
voice. "No more apologizing, it's not your fault and I
don't mind watching over the wolf. I just need a
couple more hours. I think I've got a cold."

"Okay, I'm going to grab something to eat and take a
shower in the gym," Oz said easily, grabbing his
knapsack from outside the cage. "I'll buy you chicken
soup at lunch."

Willow was shoving her notebook and laptop into her
backpack when the library door opened. The student
looked up with a frown. No one should be on campus
that early except over-enthusiastic teachers, sleeping
werewolves and their keepers, she thought. Giles
wasn't even due in for another two hours.

Willow knew that werewolves would either be curled up
asleep in human form or going for coffee and breakfast
and vampires would be somewhere dark for the day.
That didn't mean there wasn't danger in Sunnydale
during the day, however. Some demons could come out
in the daytime and then there was the old fashioned
human danger.

The red-haired witch went behind the check-out counter
and rested her hand on the tranquilizer gun under the
counter, fighting back a cough.

Willow frowned at the three men that entered the
library. All were wearing tweed, glasses and looked
very much like the librarian. They also kept their
hands in sight as they spotted Willow.

"Miss Rosenberg?" the first one in the door
questioned. He looked older than the other two but
Willow couldn't really figure an age for him.
Probably somewhere around 40 to 50 with an average
build, thinning gray hair with non-descript brown
eyes. He somewhat reminded her of Rex Harrison from
My Fair Lady.

"Yes?" she answered slowly, not taking her hand off
the weapon and hoping her voice wasn't squeaking as
bad as she thought it was.

The other two looked younger, maybe mid 20s or early
30s and they all looked uncomfortable.

"I'm Colin Aimsley, these are Timothy Ryan and Damian
Krammer, we're Watchers," the older one said calmly.
"May we have a moment of your time?"

"Giles isn't supposed to arrive for another couple of
hours," Willow informed them. "I was&I forgot some&I
forgot my books last night, I mean yesterday."

Colin smiled patiently and nodded slightly at Timothy.

The young man looked at Willow with a neutral
expression that she found very disconcerting.

"You were here last night watching over your werewolf
boyfriend," he said firmly. "The Slayer Faith dropped
in and took over for part of the night and left this
morning at sunrise. Daniel Oswald left just a few
minutes ago."

"Okay," she said softly, not taking her hand off the
weapon.

"We know quite a bit about your 'Scooby Gang,' Miss
Rosenberg," Colin smiled gently. "Ever since that
disaster of Angeleus, we've taken a closer interest in
your small group and how beneficial it's been in
aiding the Slayer."

"I thought the Watcher Council didn't like us being
involved," Willow said with a frown.

"Yes, that has been the opinion in the past," Damian
Krammer agreed and Aimsley pointed to chairs and
tables and Willow nodded, following the men. "Given
that all of your group was invaluable in destroying
Angeleus and you are the reason the Slayer returned to
her duties, we've revaluated that stance."

"Okay, so why are you looking for me and not Giles?"
Willow asked, wishing she had a few more hours of
sleep before dealing with the strangers.

"Well, we have an urgent situation and we think that
Mr. Giles may not be the right person to handle this,"
Aimsley said slowly.

"That doesn't make sense," Willow muttered. "Giles is
the Watcher, Buffy and Faith are the Slayers, I'm just
the research type and you guys are a lot better at it
than I am."

"You are the spirit of the group, the untouched purity
that we need," Ryan said almost reverently and
something about it made Willow begin blushing.

"Don't tell me you need a&a&vir&or something!" she
protested.

Aimsley smiled. "No, that isn't why we need you,
although that does show us your devotion to the moral
strength we need."

"How do you know Oz and I haven't&.haven't like&"
Willow snapped. She had taken enough teasing from
Cordelia and Faith about her sex life, or lack of it,
she didn't need strangers pointing it out.

"Because, even though you're beginning a dangerous
flirtation with magic," Aimsley said calmly. "We know
that you're devoted to your religion and morals. We
need that strength and we don't think Mr. Giles can
pull it off."

Willow frowned. "Why and what?" she demanded.

"We need you to kill a werewolf," Aimsley said simply.

* * *

Faith noticed the library doors slightly ajar and felt
her Slayer senses kicking in. She knew Willow was
planning on sleeping for a little longer after Oz woke
up and the doors should be locked.

Either someone was in the library with Willow or the
red-head had gotten careless and left the door open.
Faith didn't think Willow was careless, not when it
came to the library.

She pulled out her trusty stake, not sensing a vampire
or demon but not wanting to take any chances either.
Faith frowned when she heard voices among Willow's and
stopped to listen.

* * *

"Kill a werewolf?" Willow knew her voice was
definitely squeaking now. "No, Oz is a good werewolf.
Well, not a good werewolf but we keep him locked up,
he's never hurt anybody."

"No, not Daniel Oswald," Aimsley said slowly. "This
will be even more difficult for you."

"What?" Willow whispered.

Ryan laid his briefcase on the table and opened it.
Willow frowned at the folder he passed across the
table to her. Every instinct in the world was
screaming to shove it back at him and run. Something
wasn't right, this was bad stuff coming her way, she
yelled at herself.

"Apparently during the period when Angeleus was
running amok, he came into the library and released
Daniel Oswald," Aimsley said as Willow started to open
the file.

"No, Oz never escaped!" Willow protested, her hand
hesitating. "Someone was always with him!"

"The one with him was bitten," Krammer continued.
"It's natural for a victim to hide the bite from
friends and family. Angeleus returned Oz to his cage
and the victim never said a word to anyone."

"Not Xander, he helps watch Oz," Willow muttered, her
mind whirling too fast to think. The young student
was almost dizzy and she shook her head. "No, none of
us."

"Someone was gone for months and even now is gone on a
full moon," Aimsley pointed out.

"No," Willow whispered. "No, you're wrong! Buffy's a
Slayer, not a werewolf!"

"I'm sorry, Willow," Aimsley said softly, opening the
folder.

Willow blinked rapidly as she looked at the top
picture of Buffy leaving her house with a backpack
over her shoulder and a determined look on her face.
The next picture was Buffy at a graveyard, during the
day. Willow looked up.

"We suspected something was wrong and have been
following her since her return from wherever she was,"
Ryan explained. "It's much like watching an
intelligence operative who went missing for a period
of time."

"When?" Willow demanded.

"Sunday, late afternoon," Krammer answered as Willow
turned the photos to see Buffy turning a key in the
lock of a crypt and the next one entering.

"The next set was taken last night after we entered
the crypt during the day and installed hidden micro
cameras," Ryan explained.

Willow wasn't even aware that she was whimpering as
she turned the photos, watching Buffy approach a cell
inside a lower crypt. A cell complete with bars, a
door and a combination push button lock that a
werewolf couldn't work.

There were so many pictures Willow could almost see
the action without any breaks.

Buffy sat the backpack down outside the cell and
pulled a milk crate over from the wall and pulled
several items out of the backpack and sat them out. A
thermos, a paperbag of something, a couple of books,
and a notebook.

Buffy looked at her watch and sat down to apparently
wait for something, picking up one of the books and
resumed reading it from about half way through.

A bit later the Slayer looked concerned and set her
book aside, glancing at her watch. Buffy moved to the
cell door and opened it easily and looked at it for a
moment before moving inside. Willow slammed the
folder shut when the pictures showed Buffy pulling her
t-shirt over her head and reaching for the buttons on
her jeans.

"No, this isn't real," she muttered.

Aimsley gently removed Willow's hand and opened the
folder again.

Willow wanted to run but felt frozen into place.

The photos showed Buffy kneeling naked on the stone
floor as a wave of pain hit her. Willow saw the
Slayer grabbing at the boar's tusk around her neck as
Buffy's head was thrown back in a scream. The
red-haired student shoved the pictures away from her,
recognizing the lengthening ears, blonde hair becoming
fur, and bones breaking and reforming into something
other than human.

Willow tried to bite back a sob as she stumbled from
her chair and dashed for the door.

Faith pressed up against the wall just outside as
Willow slammed out the doors and bounded off a set of
lockers, sobbing. The brunette Slayer listened at the
door.

"Do we go after her?" Ryan asked the other two.

"No, right now she's curled up on a bathroom floor,
either crying her eyes out or throwing up," Aimsley
said calmly.

"She won't do it," Krammer said in a flat voice.

"Yes she will," Aimsley countered. "She is the
strongest one of the group. Willow Rosenberg will
become a Hunter, gentlemen, and her first kill will be
a Slayer werewolf and then her boyfriend."

"She's too soft," Krammer protested as Faith frowned.


"That's why you're merely a Hunter and I'm a
recruiter," Aimsley said and Faith could hear the
smirk in his voice. "I've done the research and the
studies. Willow Rosenberg is the one that kept the
group slaying every night while Summers was gone. Her
sense of duty is probably just as strong as the
Slayer's."

"You know her psych profile reveals she leans towards
perversion," Krammer countered.

"Willow might discover she's gay or bisexual, so
what?" Ryan demanded. "It's not like I care who
anyone sleeps with if they're good Hunters."

"We were given the divine task of ridding the world of
monsters and evil from the pit of Hell itself!"
Krammer snapped. "Having perverts and sinners as
Hunters goes against that very Divine mandate!"

"Krammer!" Aimsley snapped. "The girl hasn't even had
sex with her boyfriend! We can't condemn her for what
she MIGHT do in the future!"

"I don't see why we don't take Summers out ourselves,"
Krammer complained. "We're Hunters."

"We're also Watchers," Ryan countered. "It gives us an
excellent opportunity to follow behind the Slayer once
one is killed and turn the Hunters loose on whatever
the Slayer has left."

"Besides, one of the prophets had a vision about the
girl," Aimsley announced and Faith frowned. "She
could be useful to us as a Hunter."

"Why? She's intelligent, yes, but useful?" Krammer
demanded.

"Willow Rosenberg has a talent for magic that hasn't
been seen in centuries among the Hunters," Aimsley
said smugly. "Why don't Mages become Hunters?"

"Because the bastards are only in it for themselves,"
Krammer grumbled. "They have no morals."

"Exactly, imagine taking a Mage before they discover
their talent and training them as Hunters," Aimsley
said. "A Mage with the ethics and morals of a
Hunter."

"Excellent!" Ryan agreed with that vision and Faith
growled.

"Why not just use the other Slayer as well?" Krammer
asked. "I don't like sending an untrained girl who
isn't even 18 into a den with a werewolf!"

"Especially a Slayer turned werewolf?" Aimsley added.

"Yes!" Krammer snapped.

"Faith's psych tests show she's almost as amoral as a
vampire," Aimsley explained and Faith felt her face
blushing with rage. "She's also proven herself
totally self-centered and a coward. When her Watcher
was killed, she ran and kept running until she got
here and dragged Summers and the others into her fight
with the vampire. First sign of major trouble and
she'd leave a partner behind. Faith could never aspire
to martyrdom."

Faith felt her breathing quicken and her head roaring.
She debated whether to rush in and crack every single
skull open in the library or to run away.

The brunette Slayer knew they were right. She had
fled; she had been a coward.

"What do we do about Rosenberg?" Ryan was asking when
Faith listened again.

"Right now she's exhausted and in an emotional
crisis," Aimsley said slowly. "My predictions are
that she'll turn inside herself for awhile, probably
several days before reaching back out to us. If she
sees evidence that we're correct, then we've got her."

"What if she asks Summers?" Krammer asked.

"What could Summers say?" Aimsley countered. "Willow
won't. She'll avoid Summers for a few days, then watch
her carefully. It may take a full month but Willow
will be ours and she'll become one of our finest
Hunters."

"If the other Slayer or others get in the way?" Ryan
asked.

"Then we take care of them," Aimsley said harshly.
"The secondary plan still holds. Elimination of the
threat from the Slayer werewolf and disbanding of the
Sunnydale group."

Faith glanced up at noise in the hallway and ducked
behind the end of some lockers as Willow came back
into sight, heading for the library, 'resolve face'
firmly in place.

* * *

Willow slammed the door open and glared at the three
Watchers. Aimsley didn't seem surprised to see her.

"No, no way!" she protested. "Even&even if&even if
she's a werewolf, she's taking care of it!"

Ryan reached into his briefcase and pulled out another
folder.

"I'm afraid there's more," Aimsley said, pointing to
the rest of the pictures in the first folder.

Willow glared. "Just tell me and stop playing mind
games!"

"Alright," Aimsley said calmly. "The werewolf Ms.
Summers becomes has found a way out of the crypt, one
of those damned connecting tunnels to the sewers
demons love about Sunnydale."

"No, not happening," Willow muttered.

"We anticipate the others will be rushing in here very
soon once they see the morning news and learn that
three homeless people were killed last night," Krammer
said. "It was rather brutal and no doubt to anyone
who knows Sunnydale that it was a werewolf."

"They'll be inquiring whether Daniel Oswald escaped
last night," Ryan added. "All of us here know he
didn't."

"It could have been another werewolf! We ran into one
the other night and it wasn't even a full moon!"
Willow protested.

"We have pictures," Krammer said flatly. "IT was
followed. That's another reason we need your help,
this werewolf is extremely smart and returned to the
cell before changing back. Ms. Summers may not even
be aware she escaped and killed."

"Werewolves are very instinctive creatures," Aimsley
continued. "Even when in human form. It's amazing
that you've done so well with the werewolf Oswald.
Even if we explained all of this and showed Mr. Giles
the evidence, we think he'd let something slip or even
try to protect Ms. Summers. She'd sense his reluctance
and the werewolf would force a confrontation."

"Why me? Why not Faith, she's the Slayer!" Willow
cried, tears beginning to flow down her cheeks. "Why
make me your Judas?"

"Interesting choice of words for a Jew," Krammer
smirked.

Willow blushed with anger. "Hey, well read here!
Answer the question! Why not Faith?"

"She's not strong enough mentally or emotionally,"
Aimsley said calmly.

"But you think I am?" Willow squeaked. "Buffy's my
best friend! My&she was my only friend except Xander!"

"Then be a friend," Aimsley said gently. "There's no
way anyone could control a Slayer werewolf and three
people are already dead. We don't know how many she
killed when she ran away. What do you think she'll
feel like when she discovers she's a killer? A monster
that she usually hunts."

Willow spun on her heels and ran out of the library
again. Faith heard and saw the school coming to life
and moved down the hallway, wanting some privacy for
her own thoughts.

* * *

Willow had no idea how long she ran or even where she
was going until she dropped, leaning against a tree
out of breath. The student looked around and realized
she was across the street from one of the graveyards.


She wondered why she had come here and squeaked when
she spotted a familiar figure working their way
through the headstones. Willow ducked behind the tree
and watched as Buffy trotted across the grass,
backpack over her shoulders.

Joyce Summers pulled up next to the cemetery gates and
leaned over to unlock the passenger door.

"Mom, you're late!" Buffy yelled as she raced around
the front of the car. "I won't have time for
breakfast if I'm going to hang out at the gallery with
you today!"

"Sorry, I got hung up on a business call," Joyce
answered. "I brought donuts though and milk."

"Thanks, Mom," Willow heard Buffy say as she closed
the door and the car started off towards the school.

Willow allowed herself to slide down the tree in
shock, finally able to cough aloud.

"Oh God, please, please don't do this," she whimpered,
wrapping her arms around herself as sobs racked her
body. "Not Buffy, please not Buffy."

Willow ignored the few people passing by on the
sidewalk and wasn't surprised when they ignored her.
It was common in Sunnydale. Any sign of distress was
usually overlooked.

"Okay, Mrs. Summers knew Buffy was leaving for three
days and cleared it with Snyder," Willow muttered,
pulling out her notebook and taking notes. "She
reminded Buffy about leaving but picked her up at the
graveyard. That means Mrs. Summers knew where Buffy's
been for the last three nights and helped set it up.
Buffy's Mom knows Buffy's a werewolf."

Willow wanted to curl up in a tight ball and make the
world go away.

"I wonder if Buffy's looking for a cure among the
Celts or Indians?" Willow pondered, wondering about
the strange symbols in Buffy's notebook. "Okay, Buffy
knows she's a werewolf and is fighting it."

That didn't help with the problem of at least three
dead people.

Willow didn't know what to do or where to go. She
always turned to Buffy during times like this.

* * *

Faith slammed the baseball bat she had swiped from the
sports equipment room against a bleacher support. The
brunette Slayer had climbed under the bleachers and
began swinging the bat as she raged in anger.

Not only was Buffy a raging werewolf but the Watchers
still didn't consider Faith good enough! They went to
Willow! Not her, not the one trained to fight
werewolves and vampires! Not the Slayer trained to
ignore feelings, pain and friendship when it came to
the supernatural! Faith screamed and whacked the bat
against the wooden structure.

Faith frowned when the bat shattered, cutting her palm
open. The Slayer threw the mangled bat aside and
watched the blood as it pooled in her palm.

This not only explained why Buffy had been so
withdrawn but it also meant a lot of future heartbreak
for the two women Faith cared about. The brunette
Slayer already knew she wanted to be close to Buffy,
it was an extremely rare thing for two Slayers to be
able to work together. No one could know what she had
been through except Buffy. Faith also was beginning
to like Willow and wanted to deepen that potential
friendship.

Faith had no idea how Willow was going to cope with
the early morning revelations. Not only did Willow
have a boyfriend that she worried about but now her
best friend was also a werewolf and a killer.

Faith growled as she walked towards the main building
of the school, her hand dripping blood.

To make everything worse, the goddamn Watchers wanted
Willow to kill her best friend. To try and kill a
Slayer turned werewolf.

That was more than any 17 year old should live
through, Faith decided. That was even worse than
seeing your Watcher, your only friend and mentor
ripped apart by a vampire.

Faith ignored the curious glances from several
students as she entered the library, holding part of
her jacket wrapped around her bleeding hand.

Just as she had expected, Giles was talking with the
three strangers in his office.

"Uh, Giles?" Faith called out, catching the
librarian's attention. He looked irritated at the
interruption until she half held up her hand,
indicating she was injured.

"Excuse me, gentlemen," she heard him say as he opened
the door and went behind the counter, grabbing the
first aid kit. "What happened?" he demanded as she
unwrapped her jacket from around the wound.

"I was training and the bat I was using shattered,"
Faith said calmly.

"Good God, Faith!" Giles exclaimed as he looked at the
hand closely. Faith growled as the three Watchers
walked out of Giles' office. "There's splinters all
through your palm! I'm afraid that a simple bandage
won't do this time."

"I figured, kinda hurts," Faith admitted, trying to
keep her tough-girl appearance intact in front of the
Watchers she already hated.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to take her to the
hospital, gentlemen," Giles announced, placing a gauze
pad in the Slayer's palm and wrapping it with more
gauze.

"With her Slayer healing abilities, is that
necessary?"

"Excuse?" Faith snapped. "Who are they? Rude much?"

"Oh, sorry, Faith," Giles said absently as he picked
up the telephone. "These are Watchers sent over from
England to meet you and Buffy. They're here to do some
regular tests: physical strength, reaction time,
things like that."

"Goody," Faith muttered. "You know me, I'm Faith."

"Yes, I'm Aimsley, that's Ryan and Krammer," the older
one said.

"Yes, Principal Snyder please," Giles muttered into
the phone. "He's out? Well, please inform him that a
student came into the library with an injury. I'm
bringing her over to the nurse now but I do believe
that she's going to require medical attention. Yes,
thank you."

Giles turned to his brunette Slayer. "Is Mrs. Summers
at home or the gallery today, do you think?"

"I don't know, why? Why don't you drive me?" Faith
asked.

"We have to keep up appearances, Faith," Giles said.
"Rules of High school, I take you to the nurse and the
nurse calls Joyce to come and drive you to the
hospital or calls the paramedics. That keeps
Principal Snyder off our backs and everything by the
rules."

"I hate rules," Faith muttered as she held her hand.

"We know," Krammer muttered and the Slayer narrowed
her eyes.

"Tell me, Tweed guy, do those tests include Buffy's
and my incredible hearing?" she growled and was
pleased when the Watcher blushed.

"I'll be back shortly, gentlemen," Giles said quickly,
sensing the tension between his rebel slayer and the
Watchers. "Come along, Faith."

Once outside in the hall Giles turned to Faith with a
frown.

"What was that all about?" he demanded. "You were
treating them like demons or vampires."

"Sometimes bad guys aren't always supernatural, Giles
baby," Faith growled. "I got a bad vibe from them.
Slayer senses going crazy."

Giles continued to frown. "Well, the tests are
unscheduled and I had no word they were coming."

"Do some checking on them, please," Faith asked softly
and Giles blinked in surprise. Faith didn't ask for
anything, she merely took.

"Yes, of course," Giles nodded. "Is there something
going on I should know about? Like why you were
swinging a baseball around at 8:30 in the morning hard
enough to break it into splinters?"

"Later, Giles," Faith muttered as they approached the
nurse's office.




=====
The Viking Bard/Skald "Nothing is ever forgotten"
www.hunterash.com

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