FF: IT: Chapter Fifteen

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Title: IT 
Chapter: Fifteen/? 
Rating: R 
Spoilers: Up to and including the last season shown. 
Beta Reader: Scotty Welles 

Summary: Alt-Buffy/IT verse and crossover. What if Willow was the
seventh member 
of the choosen group instead of Ben. 

Disclaimer: Nope, don't belong to me. 

<><><><><><><> 
Winter of 1995 
<><><><><><><> 

Buffy smiled happily at Xander and sat down next to him. The last few
days had been hard, but well worth it. Her mother had practically
dragged poor Willow to the doctor, then she'd spent the rest of the
time fixing large meals and playing mother to her friend. 

Giles had been acting the same, but the day after Willow had moved in
he'd presented her with papers giving him legal guardianship over
herself. The look of joy on the red-haired girl's face had sent jolts
of some emotion through her heart. 

"So how's our favorite hacker doing?" Xander asked in greeting.

"Great, but she keeps having these nightmares." 

"Isn't that normal, especially after what she's been through?" 

"Yeah, but these are different. She keeps yelling out for this guys. 
Bill, Eddie, and...Stan." Buffy sighed. "I don't even think she knows
she has them." 

"Are you sure they're nightmares and not...you know..." 

"I know the difference, Xand." Buffy glanced up happily as Willow
entered the library, wearing a genuine smile. "And what has you so
happy?" 

Willow hopped onto the seat next to her. "I just feel so alive and
free and so..." She waved her hands, searching for adequate words.

"Beep beep, Red," said a voice from the past, behind her.

Willow's eyes widened as she spun around and squealed. "OZ!" 

The shorter boy fell back slightly when she launched herself into his
arms, squeezing him to her. "Oxygen...becoming...an issue." 

She let go and clapped. "Ohmygod, what did you do to your hair?! 
Where are your glasses? Hey, I love the duds...!" He blushed as she
took in the green-died, spiked hair and half-goth, half-grunge look. 
She reached over and pinched his left ear where it was pierced, gently
rubbing at the black hoop on his upper ear. "I like it!" 

"I decided it was time for a change." He spoke quietly, keeping his
emotions neutral. 

She smiled sadly in understanding and hugged him again. "Why didn't
you tell me you were coming?" 

"I wanted to surprise you." He looked at her with his half grin. "We
just moved here." 

"Really?!" She danced around happily. "That's great! I'll get to
show you the bronze, and....well, the bronze, and it'll be great. 
We'll hang out, and go to the movies and..." 

"Aren't you going to introduce your boyfriend?" Xander asked in a stiff
voice. 

Oz snorted loudly at him. "BOYfriend? The last time I checked, Red
was into the female variety. Which reminds me, when am I going to meet
this girlfriend of yours? You know the witch? Amy? Is that her
name?" 

Willow slapped her hand over her eyes and groaned. "Thank you, trash
mouth." 

"Whoa, wait just one darn minute!" Xander broke in. "I know my Willow
and she is NOT gay. She is extremely, totally, fully, heterosexual. 
Yessiree, if she was gay she would've told me, cause we're best
friends, and that's what best friends do. They tell each other
everything. Right, Will...?" 

His smirk began to fade as she stared down at her feet like a lost
little girl. 

"Will? Y-y-you're not. Are you?" 

Buffy frowned slightly in concern and hurt. "Willow?" she asked more
gently. 

"Yeah, I am. Gay, that is," she whispered. "I've been dating Amy for
three years now." 

"Oh, Will... Why didn't you tell us?" Buffy scolded softly. 

"My mother said that it's a sin to be..." She sniffed slightly. "...I
didn't want her to find out that I was still...that I was..." 

Buffy closed the distance between them and hugged her tightly. "It
doesn't matter, none of it matters anymore. You're free now, so no
more secrets, okay?" 

Willow nodded into her shoulder, feeling lighter now that her friends
didn't seem to care. 

"Yeah, no more secrets, huh?" Xander said as he joined the hug. 

Behind them, Oz cleared his throat. "Uh, Will, can I talk to you for a
second?" 

Willow stiffened as she recognized that tone. She backed out of her
friends' arms and stared at him. "Oz? What's wrong?" 

He meet her eyes solemnly. "I think it would be best if we talked
alone." 

"Now, wait just a second. Anything you need to say to Willow, you can
say to us? Right, Will?" Xander said possessively as he scowled at the
teenage boy trying to steal 'his' Willow. 

Willow ignored him. "Giles, can we use your office?" 

Giles looked up guiltily from were he sat, pretending to read a book
while he was listening to them. "If you must." 

Willow herded her old friend inside and shut the door, locking it for
good measure. She was more than aware of how possessive Xander could
be, and just how much trouble he'd go to, to make sure the offending
person knew it. "Oz, what's wrong?" 

"The summer after you left, I was bitten by my cousin Jordy." Oz paced
in front of her. "The thing is...that he's a werewolf." 

"Which means now you are, too." Willow slumped back, laughing dully. 
"If ol' Pennywise was still around, he'd be having one hell of laugh."

"Jordy was 25 at the time." 

Willow's head snapped up. "You think that he was...?" 

"The look in his eyes when he did it were exactly like It's." 

Willow stood up and frowned at the ceiling in thought. "We killed that
bitch, I felt her die, we saw her die." She spun around and leaned
against the desk, chewing on her bottom lip thoughtfully. "You know
how I told you that Buffy's a Slayer and Giles is her watcher?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, he once talked about there being all these hellmouths across the
world, and one of them was in Derry. However, according to him, it was
closed in the late eighteen hundreds. Now suppose one for second that
It reopened it..."

"Whoa, whoa." Oz held up his hands. "Pronoun trouble," he said in a
perfect Daffy Duck impression.

She sighed. "That Pennywise reopened the Derry hellmouth," she
resumed, "then after we killed It, the hellmouth was still influencing
the town." 

"So all we really did was stop the direct influence It had, and the
killings, but because of the hellmouth, its vibes were still infecting
the adults," Oz finished with a sigh. "Then does that mean It's also
infecting Sunnydale?" 

"Maybe. We can't really know, even if we asked Giles..." They both
shook their heads, knowing that what happened that summer was a secret
that had to be kept, even from close new friends. "We do need to tell
them about your...uh...condition, though." 

"I know," Oz whispered as he moved into her arms. 

"Come on, trash mouth, let's get this over with." 

<><><><><><><> 

"Let me get this straight," Xander growled as he stood, glaring at them
across the table. "You two know each other from the summer you spent
in Derry, and you two are close friends that have kept in touch. But
you..." he cursed as he pointed to Oz, scowling pointedly were they
held hands. "Are now living here, where you can see MY best friend
whenever you want." 

Oz smirked slightly and nodded. "That about covers it." 

"And to top it all off," Xander added, "you're a flea-infested, rabid
mongrel..." 

"Yeah, and I'm a werewolf, too," Oz said with a straight face.

Xander blinked at the joke, realizing he'd walked right into it. "Oh,
now Dog Boy is trying to make a funny, is he?" he asked darkly. 

"Trying is the key word here," Willow giggled. 

Oz raised his eyebrow at her. "Your face and my ass, witch." 

"And what's with all the witch stuff, anyway?" Xander asked crossing
his arms. 

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, I'm a witch," Willow said, avoiding the
sharp look in Giles eyes as he spun to look at her. 

"Whoa, what do you mean 'witch'? As in magic, and spells, and turning
people into toads?" 

"You could put it that way, yeah." Willow nodded. 

Buffy smiled tentatively. "So...'are you a good witch or a bad
witch'?"

Oz smirked seductively, rolling his voice through his throat. "Oh, is
she one bad-assed wiccan." 

"Quiet!" Giles stalked over and glared down at her over his glasses. 
"Just how long have you been practicing, young lady?" 

Willow ducked her head and whispered, "Around a year..." 

"How 'around'?" 

"Closer to three years..." 

"Just how 'close'?" 

"Sevenyears," She mumbled quickly. 

"I see. And just how powerful are you?" he asked darkly. 

"Pretty powerful." 

Giles sighed patiently. "How much is 'pretty powerful'?" 

She exchanged a look with Oz. "What, you mean on, like, a scale of one
to ten?"

"Willow..."

"Powerfulenoughtocastmostspellslevitatelargeobjectsandsomeesp." 

"Oh my, why on earth didn't you tell me this before?" 

Willow pouted up at him. "Because I know how much you disapprove of us
using magic." 

"Fine, but from now on..." 

"No more secrets," she finished. 

"Good, then I shall arrange for you to take lessons and..." 

"I already am." 

Giles smiled proudly. "Oh, so you're practicing responsibly. With
whom, may I ask?" 

"Amy," Willow returned. "Her mother's this really powerful witch, and
Amy has been learning since she was a baby." 

Giles frowned thoughtfully, making a mental note to look into this
woman's credentials. If all was well, he saw no reason why Willow
shouldn't continue her wiccan studies, but he wanted to make sure
first. "Very well, but I'm going to keep an eye on you. Just in
case." 

Buffy lifted her head from where she'd been leaning against the library
counter. "Willow, I know he's your friend," she said softly, "but
under the circumstances, are you sure you can trust him?" 

Willow's eyes darkened dangerously, looking harshly at the three. "I
swear on my soul. He is to be trusted, even with my life." 

A jealous look was exchanged between Xander and Buffy, but finally her
blonde friend nodded. "In that case, welcome to the Scoobies, Oz." 

<><><><><><><> 







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Every sixteen hours I revert to a liqiud.

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- DS9: The Forsaken.

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