Of Magic and Lies

Summary: Oz is having trouble controlling his wolf side after Buffy's death. He leaves Sunnydale in search of help before he hurts anyone. What he uncovers is something he never expected. How do you cope when everything you thought you knew…is a lie?

Timeline: AU from season 4 on. The Veruca thing never happened, Oz never left, and Tara never happened.

Pairings: Buffy/Oz

….

Oz shivered, despite the warm Tibetan summer air. He could never seem to get warm lately. He'd been in Tibet for 3 weeks and was no closer to getting his wolf under control. It didn't even take a full moon to bring the wolf out of him anymore. Granted he didn't fully transform like he did on his normal 3 nights of the month, but the beast within was right under the surface. Had been ever since May…ever since she died.

Maybe seeing someone that both the man and the wolf had respected, seen as a leader, an alpha, die the way she had, had done something to the wolf. Maybe this was the wolf's way of mourning?

He watched Mara walk around her tent with hooded eyes. He hoped whatever she had planned would work. He felt horrible. First his wolf had started acting up, then his body had begun to fail him as well. He felt like he had been hit by a truck while having the flu. He'd started feeling sick a week after he arrived, and it had only gotten worse. Mara was the Tibetan wolf pack's resident healer and 'Earth Mother'. From what he understood, Earth Mother was basically a witch, but she only used Earth based magics.

Mara turned, looking at the young wolf sitting on the floor, her eye filled with sympathy.

"Here." She handed him a warm mug of herbal tea. "Special herbs to promote wolfy healing."

"Thanks."

She sat in front of him, cross-legged and began lighting incense. "I'm going to start by reading your aura. A lot of the time, what ails us can be detected there first."

Oz just shrugged, willing to try almost anything. He closed his eyes and slowly sipped his tea as Mara began to chant.

"Keep your eyes closed. You'll be more centered."

Oz nodded, complying.

Mara frowned and stood, circling Oz, examining what she saw more closely.

"I've never seen an aura this cloudy… What happened to you?" Mara asked softly.

"What do you mean?"

She didn't answer, moving her hands as if she was pulling back layers, delving deeper. Her eyes widened.

"You never told me you had a mate. Did she die?" Mara asked, shock coloring her voice.

Oz almost opened his eyes. "Willow's not…I mean, we've been together a long time but…we-we never took that step. She's not my mate. And no, she didn't die. My-My friend did."

Mara frowned. Why would he lie about…No. She could clearly see he was being truthful with her. But she could also clearly see a mating bond. It was plain as day, as if it was a brand on his soul. A severed mating bond.

When wolves mated, especially werewolves, they mated for life. The only way to break it, once the bond was formed, was for one of them to die. But Oz had said it was his friend that died, not his lover.

Something wasn't right. Mara closed her eyes and placed her hands on Oz's shoulders, searching his energies with her mind.

Magic. His energies, his aura, everything stank of magic. Dark magic. Layers and layers of it coated him like tar.

She let go and sat in front of him again. "It's no wonder you and your wolf are out of balance. Werewolves don't so well under spells."

Oz did open his eyes this time. "Spells?"

"Heavy ones at that. Heavy and dark. Someone's been using black magic on you." Mara said, her brows wrinkled in concern.

Oz looked down. "Yeah. There is one. There were these monks. They were trying to hide something called The Key. It's basically energy but… if it got in the wrong hands, it had the power to destroy the world. My friend…she was the Vampire Slayer. The monks hid the key in her kid sister. They did a spell to change everyone's memories, so no one would know what she really was. But…it never caused me any problems before."

Mara nodded, still looking at his aura. "Yes, I believe I see the evidence of that spell…but that one is pure. It's clean."

Oz frowned. "So, there's more?'

Mara nodded, her face grim. "Much more." She took his hand, her eyes sad. "There's something else."

He looked at her, something in her face making his chest tighten.

"If I'm correct, Oz…I think you're dying."

Oz let the words echo in his head, waiting for the shock, the fear, the…something that people were supposed to feel when they were told their time was up. Nothing came.

Mara was silent, watching his face. He didn't look upset, not that she would know what that looked like on him. He wasn't known for being very expressive.

"Oh." Was all he said when he finally spoke.

"I-it could be the black magic clouding things but… I'm certain I see a severed mating bond. But you said you've never…"

"I haven't."

Mara nodded. "I'll need to lift the spells. Then we'll see what we find."

Oz hesitated. "The one done by the monks…if you remove it, it won't hurt the girl, right?"

Mara smiled at him. Even now, faced with his own death, he was concerned for others. How could anyone like that have so much blackness in his aura? It couldn't have come from within. "No." She assured him. "No one will even know it was done."

Oz nodded and closed his eyes again. He was so tired.

"I'll need some help. I'm going to get Joanne."

Oz didn't respond, and she left.

Oz was quiet, but his mind was a mess. Because hey, dying. Not a great thing. Second, black magic? From the sounds of it, a lot of black magic. Sure, he'd lived on a Hellmouth his entire life but… was that really it? And he knew it couldn't be because he was a werewolf. Mara was too. She'd know the difference. And yeah, Willow practiced magic, but not that often… and certainly nothing dark. Right?

Oz mentally shook the thought away. His girlfriend wasn't exactly the fuzzy sweater wearing, pencil floater she had been in high school, but she was still the sweetest girl he'd ever known. The magic she'd used to help fight glory hadn't been all sun shine and rainbows, but it wasn't black. His Willow would never mess with anything that dark. She didn't even say bad words.

He smiled a bit at the thought of Willow, but his heart was braking. She'd been so sad when he'd told her he had to come here. Now he may not be returning. She'd just lost her best friend, what would she do if she lost him too?

He was pulled from his thoughts as Mara returned with Joanne.

"I've filled Joanne in on what's going on." Mara said. She pulled out a mat and some pillows. "Lie here. Get comfy."

Oz did as she asked, setting down into the pillows, his sore muscles protesting every movement.

Joanne began gathering what they needed. "We're going to put you in a trance. As we remove the spells, you'll begin to see the truth of whatever has been altered, in your mind. Like a dream. This may take a while. We have to be careful when removing the spells. Since you don't know who them did, we wouldn't want to alert the caster."

"Sounds good." Was all he said, ever the man of few words.

The two women knelt next to him and began the chant. The smell of burning sage stung Oz's nose and he felt like he was floating. As the spells fell away, his mind was transported back to Sunnydale…