Author: Emilie
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, IMPO Oz owns himself. The song "The Devil went down to Georgia" is owned by the Charlie Daniels band. They own the lyrics and basically the body of the story, I do not.
Distribution: http://www.emiliekitten.com
For Shannon, she told me to download the song. And everyone who watched me do the stupid dance to the song that inspired this story. And of course, for Sam because its been a while since I dedicated anything to ya and you RP a awesome Giles.
~*~
Oz was in Georgia. The hot sun was on his van, he wanted to melt into
the hot seat beneath him as his tank top seemed to plaster itself to his
skin. He drew his sunglasses off of his face and pulled his arm across
his forehead, removing the sweat and moisture from the air. As soon as
he replaced his glasses he knew that it hadn't done any good as more sweat
dripped into his eyes. Why couldn't he have chosen Alaska? It was the middle
of July and Georgia was like the ultimate pressure cooker.
He turned on the radio and a country song came on. He wasn't very surprised.
~The devil went down to Georgia he was looking for a soul to steal. . . ~
Oz clicked off the radio and sighed, pulling into a convenience store to get some chips and a cold drink. He walked into the place and went right to the fridges in the back, getting a large bottle of cold water. He grabbed a bag of cheetos on a second thought and headed toward the front desk where a girl was sitting in front of a small white fan staring out the window.
She was wearing a small short cut tank top and shorts that were too high for most girls to wear. Oz was afraid if she stood up he'd see a little more then was gentlemanly. She smiled at him and stood up, Oz directed his eyes toward a pack of gum on the counter and added it to his small pile.
"That'll be all?" The girl asked, a southern accent flirting around her voice.
"Yes." The girl smiled, it was a pleasant enough act.
"$4.50 please, sir."
Oz dropped a five down on the counter and the girl took it, making sure
to brush his hand.
She handed him his change and he nodded his head in thanks and headed
back to the van. He opened up his Pepsi and took a drink of it, then ran
the cool bottle across his forehead, trying to get some of the cold into
his skin. Trying to soak it up into his pours, damn it was hot.
He dropped his bag of chips into the passenger side next to him and started up the van, pulling away from the store he got back on the highway. He didn't know where he was going to stay tonight, maybe he could find a river or something to crash by.
He continued driving along the road, trees that seemed to be sweating off heat stood next to pavement and Oz wanted nothing more then a cool shower or swim. Suddenly, like a oasis in the distance he noticed a sign.
"Georgian River, Next Exit." Oz smiled happily and turning off at the exit and heading for the river, praying to god it wasn't full of little screaming kids. To his surprise, the bank of the greenish river was completely empty.
"Huh." He mumbled, glancing around. It must have been three hundred degrees today and no one was there, maybe all the locals were used to the heat. Oz shrugged and shed his clothing, leaving on his boxers. He slipped into the water which seemed warm, he was almost displeased but as he got deeper the water became cooler. He wondered if there were piranha's or something, maybe that's why no one was here. There were no signs posted anywhere, so he figured it was okay.
He lounged in the coolness of the water for a few minutes, just letting
it soak into his skin which still felt hot and sticky when not submersed,
he noticed a large rock sitting under what appeared to be a weeping willow
tree, he snorted at the irony and moved to the rock.
He touched it hesitantly and was surprised to find it cool, he climbed
onto it and lay there in the shade. His eyes drifting shut, he knew he
was going to fall asleep in the warm shadows. His premonition came true
a few moments later.
~*~
Oz was startled awake a few hours later when he felt a light tap on
his shoulder. He sat up quickly and glanced around, finally spotting a
man sitting on the rock next to him. Fully dressed in leather and looking
quit comfortable, his skin seemed slightly sun burnt with a light red glow
that was almost unnatural.
The guy smiled a dashing smile at Oz and extended his hand. "Hello. I'm. . . Lou."
Oz glanced at the hand for a few moments and then took it, bad vibes going through his being. "Hey. Oz." The man nodded. "Arint you um, hot?" Oz asked feeling uncomfortable and odd in only his boxers which seemed to be content to plaster themselves to his legs and. . . other parts.
"No. I'm actually quite cool, once you get used to hell. . . or Georgia, which ever you prefer to call this place, its quite easy to dress as you like." The man said with a smile.
Oz wasn't quite buying that but he nodded his head slightly anyway. "How did you get out here without getting all wet?"
The man raise his eyebrow, "quite the inquisitive one arint you?"
"Its a habit."
The mans face stayed calm but Oz could almost smell the annoyance radiating
off of him.
Annoyance and something else. . .
"Well, you see I actually appeared here because I willed myself to. Your from out of this damn state and won't be missed." Oz raised his eyebrow, alarm flashed through him and he started thinking about his ways off the rock.
"Your a killer." Oz stated it clearly, still not moving waiting for his moment.
"Actually I take souls, in fair game." This made Oz paused.
"Are you a demon?" He'd thought he had left demons back in Sunnydale
with the Slayer. . .
"My dear boy," the man chuckled. "I am the king of demos. Lou is short
for something. . .
"Lucifer." Oz almost smiled at the mans cunning, of course he was saying he was the Father of lies. . .
"I need your soul. I'm planning to give you a fair game for it, of course." Oz thought about this for a second.
"If your the father of lies then why would you play fairly?" The man laughed outright, not a unpleasant sound. If you were to meet this man on the street he would be quite charming, as specially if you happened to be female.
"I will play fairly, do not worry. I cannot take a soul if I haven't played the game right." It occurred to Oz that he could still be lying, but why, if he was the Devil, hadn't he just taken Oz's soul while he was sleeping? The only explanation was he couldn't.
"And if I don't play your game." The devils eyes flashed fire, literally.
"Then you die anyway, I just don't get your soul. Oh and. . . I'll be visiting your. . . friend.
The one named for this tree." Red panic burst into Oz's brain, Willow.
Keeping his face calm Oz asked another question. "If I win the game?"
"You are no longer a lycanthrope and I will fix your love life problems."
Oz took in a short breath, "meaning?"
"If you are not a lycanthrope then it never happened. You never met Veruca, she says hello by the way, you never left and. . . Willow never met Tara."
"How do you know all of this?" The devil sighed.
"I thought you were stoic?" Then he plunged on. "I know everything, I am one of the entities that can monitor every life form on earth, if I want to. I believe you know the other." The Devil pointed up, rolling his eyes dramatically.
Oz opened his mouth to ask another question but the man stopped him. "The game is a race. From heaven to hell, and back." Oz's eyebrows knitted, not understanding. "You will go through your own heaven, your own personal hell, and if you can make it back within the given time then you will win."
Oz blinked. "Its a race against time."
The Devil smiled, "Yes. Exactly."
"If you win. . . "
"I get your soul. No chance of having another life, going to heaven, nada. Your in hell for all eternity." Oz shuddered, the deal was pretty fair. Without Willow it was like his soul was missing. . . if he refused the Devil could hurt her.
"I'll do it." Satan grinned, his pearly white teeth showing as he extended his hand.
"Done." They shook and Oz passed out.
~*~End 1~*~
Oz was standing on a long gray platform. Everything around him seemed black but the gray steel below his feet seemed to glow giving him light. Suddenly there was a flash and Veruca was standing before him, looking drawn and hard.
"Oz." He blinked, he hadn't expected this.
"Your about to start on what's probably going to be the hardest journey of your life, death, and so on." She smiled, tilting her head. "You will be fighting for your soul, but don't worry, hell isn't so bad." She took a deep breath and blew her lips, little wisps of smoke came from her mouth and surrounded him.
His vision clouded and then suddenly he was in lying on a laboratory floor. Blood was all around him, he could taste it in his mouth, smell it all over his body. Beside him lay the cold body of Veruca, shifted back into her human form, her blue eyes staring vacantly at the ceiling and her neck torn open. Willow was standing over him, blood splattered all over him. He sat up.
"Willow?"
Her eyes hardened as she shifted her eyes from the cold corpse of Veruca to him. "You killed her."
"I. . . " He couldn't speak. The coldness in her eyes made him want to back away. "I wanted to protect you."
"Protect me." She snorted, glaring at him. "You tried to eat me Oz!
If Buffy hadn't come in and shot you I would be *dog* meat right now."
Her words stung him as he crawled to his feet, he reached for her. His
fingers closed around her arm and she yanked herself away, he noticed all
the dried blood on his hands. Too much blood. . .
"I didn't mean to. . . Willow. She was going to kill you. . . I couldn't
let her. . ."
"What would you care if she killed me! I hate you, Oz. You cheated on me! You slept with *her* and then fixed the problem by ripping her throat out! I never want to see you. . .again." Oz blinked slowly, the memories of the lazy river bank and the man coming and challenging him flooded his mind. He stared at Willow for a moment and then turned away from her, this wasn't Willow. Wasn't his Willow. She continued talking, saying everything possible to try and get him to look at her but he had made up his mind.
Her voice faded and then a cackle sounded through the room and Oz found himself in a shower stall, luke-warm water sluicing over his naked body. His red-brown hair was plastered to his forehead and his mind seemed to fragment and then come back together and he looked around in confusion. He was in the shower at his parents house, the water was comfortable but seemed to be growing warmer he could see shadowy figures beyond the slightly marred glass of the stall.
A flash of red and then brown, and a whispered name. "Xander." There was a rustle of clothing and then bare skin flashed before the stall and Xander and Willow were dancing, kissing and groping just within Oz's line of sight. He could feel anger boiling up in his mind and a blackness that was the wolf edging from his mind. He didn't notice that the bathroom was beginning to become steamy and the water going from warm to hot.
There was a moan, and Oz snarled. His mind was blanking, he couldn't think of anything except what was happening just a few feet from his person. The water was becoming uncomfortably hot as the voices became clear.
"Xander. . . " a quick intake of breath. "We have to tell Oz. . . "
There was a groan, "forget Oz Willow."
"Mm. . . " Was her only reply and then the words fizzled out into animal
grunts of passion.
The water was scalding Oz's skin and he turned, there were no faucets.
He realized that he wasn't controlling the water, Xander and Willow were.
He scrabbled at the bare wall, trying to find something to turn off the
water that seemed to come from everywhere so he couldn't avoid it.
His mind began to connect the pieces, he was in his hell. Xander and Willow having sex. . . his deepest fears. He was going to be boiled alive. Their moans seemed to fill the air as the water beat down on his already red skin, the steam began to choke him and he fell to the smoothness of the linoleum at the bottom of the shower. Curling in on himself. Boils began to rise on his skin, Xander and Willow seemed to be moving closer and closer to climax.
Oz began to scream as they cried out each others names and the heat
hit above boiling. He was suffocating on the steam and moisture invading
his lungs, his eyes watered uncontrollably partially from the pain of the
heat and partially in his emotional pain. He could feel his mind starting
to fade as he died, and he cried out Willow's name and let himself be thrown
into a abyss of blackness.
~*~
His body slammed into the cement, the burns still painful. He screamed
as his skin seemed to rip away from his body, cooked flesh melding with
little pebbles and stones. He began to whimper low in his throat, his voice
failing him as he tried desperately to force his cooked eyelids open. He
shouldn't be alive right now, he should be dead. That was all he could
think, and then it hit him. He was in hell, he could never die.
He felt someone come over him, felt their presence. Then he was doused
with freezing cold water, he let out a choked scream as his skin knitted
itself back to his body and healed. It hurt just as much as receiving the
horrible burns had hurt. He heard the voices all over him, talking and
his brain frantically tried to make sense of what they were saying.
Someone kicked him squarely in the ribs and he rolled over, opening
his eyes to stare up at the man standing over him. "Have you ever tasted
blood on your lips?" The man asked, his foul mouth coming back into a sneer.
"Yes." Was Oz's raspy reply, he was still trying to get used to breathing again.
"Good. Then you'll enjoy this." He stepped aside, standing in a large cage was Willow, Buffy, Xander, and Giles. Naked. Buffy was yelling and screaming at the people standing over the cage watching them. Willow and Xander were huddled together, making Oz growl low in his throat still remembering what had caused him to boil. Giles was standing beside Buffy trying to get her to calm down.
There was a whining noise as a door opened somewhere, Willow let out a ear piercing scream and Xander yanked her behind him as four huge werewolves entered the cage. Snarling and baring their teeth at the prey. Buffy ran forward, attacking one with her bare hands she was quickly taken down by another on her back and her stomach was ripped open. Another was attacking Giles, and still another circling Xander and Willow. Oz began to run but the large man grabbed him, roughly making Oz stiffen in pain.
"The only way your going in there is in your true skin." The man practically purred into his ear. The acrid smell of blood assaulted Oz's nose and he wrinkled his nose in distaste. Willow was screaming uncontrollably as the wolf that had been circling she and Xander suddenly pounced on him, bringing him down to the ground and tearing out his throat. She was backed up against the wall watching her friends being torn apart, Oz began to run again tearing himself from the iron grip of the man.
As he ran he didn't notice that his skin was growing fur and his nails lengthening, didn't notice as he quickly made the transition from running on two legs to four. He was in the center of the death cage, the wolves all watching him with curious gazes as he moved forward toward Willow. He could smell her fear, and Xander on her. His minded melded together with the wolfs, food, prey, mate. They all came together into a rage Oz had never felt. Willow cringed back.
"Oz?" Her voice was small through the sobs. The other wolves were growling through the carnage. With a howl of rage Oz launched himself at her, letting the wolf take over. As he felt her warm blood spout from her throat into his mouth he was shocked back into his human self. She lay beneath him, beautiful and covered in her own crimson fluid. Staring at him with shocked eyes.
Oz blinked once, and then was pressing his hand to the gaping wounded trying to stop the bleeding. "Willow. . . " She shuddered and arched her back and then her breath left her body, Xander's name whispering through her lungs.
His tears mingled with her blood, as he clenched his teeth. He heard the wolves around him howl and then it was over. He was being sucked back into the mists. Veruca was standing before him looking like a beautiful angel of death, or a demoness.
She was laughing. "Ahhh, two out of three. Poor poor Ozzy, killed your love in the end."
Oz sat there, staring as his now clean hands, tears still rolling down his cheeks. "Two out of three?" He whispered finally. Shocked beyond belief.
"Yes, you went up against three of your darkest fears. You beat two out of three of them. . . I guess true love *doesn't* win out in the end." She twirled and then her startling blue eyes met his. "Did it feel good when you tore out the little cheating bitches throat?"
Oz let out a moan of pain at the memory and was on his feet in a instant,
launching himself at her hands forward to grab her throat and snap her
neck. She was gone when he reached where she'd been and he stumbled. Her
laughter appeared from behind him and he turned.
"Now for the real tests. Heaven." Oz felt like he had been slapped
and suddenly, he was in bed with Willow snuggled against him.
~*~End 2~*~
Oz let out a little groan, Willow's huge green eyes popped open. "Oz?
Are you okay?" She sat up, instantly going into girlfriend mode.
"I'm fine." He said.
Willow blinked. "I never thought you'd wake up. . . we had a pretty. . . fun night last night." A gentle blush rise from her skin where her teddy bear night shirt dipped, rising to her cheeks.
"Huh." He mumbled, sitting up. He was in boxers and his room at the dingoes house. "What time is it?"
"Almost noon." Words echoed through his head. Its a race against time.
"I have to go." Willow looked slightly hurt.
"Go? Where? Oz, this is our day? Remember? Anniversary!" Oz stared at her.
"I have to. . . get out of here." Tears were rising in her eyes.
"Don't leave Oz. Why would you want to leave me? Don't you love me?" Deja vu. Oz thought to himself, trying not to be pulled in as Willow grabbed him, hugging him close. Her scent almost drove him wild.
"You know I love you Willow. I just need to go." He untangled himself from her, gently as possible. Grabbing the first pair of pants and t-shirt he could find he pulled them on.
"You can't go, Oz. . . wait. . . "
He opened the door. Trying not to shake with emotion, he was leaving her again. He could taste her tears, this wasn't Willow. She would understand, she would. . . but she hadn't understood. She'd cried and begged him silently when he'd left after Veruca.
Time was clicking away. He remembered something. . . he had little time.
He needed to pass the tests. . . he had to. . .
The room shifted into a small living room area. There were photos on
the wall, pictures of him and Willow. . . she in a white gown. . . him
in a tuxedo. . . surrounded by their best friends. . . pictures of little
children with red hair and green eyes. . .
"Daddy!" There was a squeal and Oz turned to intercept a flying bundle of girl. "Daddy! Jacob was being mean to me!" The girl clung to his neck and stared up at him with Willow's eyes.
A little boy stood in the doorway, his hands in his small pockets. He looked slightly guilty. "I was not." It was a simple statement, his voice remained even. He looked like a mini-Oz with his hair spiked.
"I. . . " As Oz opened his mouth to speak his breath fled his lungs
as a very beautiful, very pregnant Willow walked into the room. She looked
radiant.
"I thought I told you two to go wash up for dinner?" Her voice was
stern but her face was smiling at the sight of Oz holding their clinging
daughter.
"Autumn, your getting Daddies shirt dirty." The little girl made a *humpf* sound and wriggled in Oz's arms. He set her down and she was off like a pistol, sticking her tongue out at her brother on her way out of the room.
"I don't know how we're going to deal with another one." Willow said smiling and placing a hand over her bulging stomach. She moved toward him and hugged him, Oz was trying to make his mouth work.
"I. . ."
"You seem tongue tied." Willow said, staring at him. Her face was beautiful.
"I have to go out." Oz finally said. He had to leave. . . he had to get somewhere. . . the time was running out.
The clock behind him began to toll and he started, Willow was giving him a odd look. "But its almost dinner time Oz. . . "
"I have to." He moved past her, she grabbed his arm.
"Whats wrong? Did something happen?" Her face was full of worry and in her eyes were unshed tears, her pregnancy making her hyper sensitive.
"I just have to go." He leaned forward and kissed her. Wondering if he could ever leave this place, if he had the choice. . . she pulled away from him.
"Alright." Her face was full of pain and hurt. He wanted to stick a knife into his own stomach for putting that look there.
"I'll be back." *I hope* He added silently. He squeezed her hands and headed for what he knew as the front door, he hoped he didn't see his children again. He didn't think he'd be able to leave. . . if he had to look at their faces.
He reached for the doorknob and pulled. It opened but not into a street or garage but into a club. He walked in, trying to keep the surreal ness of the situation at bay. He knew he had to get somewhere, but not like this. He needed to get out of this . . . dream sequence. He had to pass the tests. . . for. . . something. . . some goal.
People surrounded him, everyone he had ever known seemed to be there. Buffy, Xander, and Giles waved from a table they were sitting at. Willow was off to the side of the stage, starring at him and grinning. He walked up to her and then Devon was there.
"Oz! Man! Get your guitar, we're on in five minutes."
Oz stared at him dumbly. This was just like the waking up sequence. . . just like the house sequence. . . with his children and Willow. . . it all clicked. He was in heaven, his idea of heaven. He had to get out. . . he had to break the spell. If not the devil would get his soul.
He turned and walked away from Devon, Willow. . . his friends. His life. He walked straight back the way he came and through the door. Into his perfect house, with his perfect life. He kept walking, ignoring the children's calls and Willow's stares. He walked back into his dingoes room, where Willow was still crying and asking him if he loved her. He turned to her.
"Not enough. I don't love you enough." And the room dissolved into the mists. Someone was behind him and clapping.
"Bravo. Well done wolfie." Veruca stood there, looking slutty in a black dress. Her hair splayed around her face annoyingly with too much makeup. She looked like her old self. There was a man next to her.
"You passed."
Oz was shaking, Heaven had been more of a hell then hell itself. It had been too much of a toil on him trying to reject all of the things he wanted. "I did."
"But you failed one test."
Oz stared at him. "One out of six isn't bad."
"No. Just means you get to choose which way your girl dies." Oz blinked.
"That wasn't ever laid out."
"Who do you think your talking to, Boy?" Willow appeared next to him. Her eyes were closed and she was in the nude, there were cuts all over her white skin and she looked half dead. Oz began to growl low in his throat.
"Now, she is a witch. . . so lets keep this traditional." The devil flicked his hand, a noose appeared in it. Beside him a pile of wood with a large piece of wood in the middle, and beside that was a torture device that had too many uses to list.
"Fire, Hanging, or torture? Of course I could throw her in a river and see if she floats first. . . " Oz bit into his lip to keep from screaming at the man. He knew he was trapped.
"Take me instead of her."
"That's not the deal. I take away your lycanthropy, you get everything you ever wanted."
"I don't get Willow."
"Ah well, but you'll never have met Veruca, because you'll have left Sunnydale after High school. . . Willow will never have met Tara. . . its hard to meet a new love interest when your dead, y'know. "
Oz lunged and hit smoke. He took a few steps off balance and ended up in Veruca's arms. She smelled of dead flesh and blood. He tried not to gag. "Just because I'm not dead. . .doesn't mean I won't remember hell. I'll come and get you." She whispered in his ear before pushing him away from her. He turned and watched as the Devil gently placed the noose around Willow's neck.
He lovingly patted her on the head and suddenly she was dressed in a 17th century pilgrim outfit, he hands tied behind her back. Her eyes were open and she was staring at him terrified. "Oz. . . " Tears began to roll down her cheeks.
Oz sighed, and dropped his head. "I give up." The Devil turned to him, his eyebrow raised.
"You give up?"
"Yes."
The wood below Willow gave way. Her neck snapped against the rope and her legs thrashed for a moment before going still. Oz didn't cringe.
"Not a tear for your loved one?"
"No." The devil was starring at him, Oz knew he was confusing him.
"Why not?"
"Because that's not Willow."
The devil began to laugh. "Of course it is. Here, touch her." The rope was gone and Willow's dead body flew at Oz, dragging him to the ground. He stood up.
"You can't touch her."
"The hell I can't!" The devil roared.
"If you could, you'd have done it already. If you wanted my soul, you
would have taken it. I don't care if you fix all my problems, it would
be tainted anyway. I'm leaving."
Oz walked into the mist. It faded back into the Georgian river. He
sat up with a start, lying on a rock. There was sweat all over him and
he noticed his normally pale skin was a rosy burnt color. It was beginning
to sting as he came back to full consciousness
"Huh."
~*~
The van rolled back into Sunnydale. It had been nearly two weeks since
Oz had had his 'dream' at the river. He pulled up outside of Giles' apartment.
He walked up to the door, everyone was inside. He could smell them. He
had a sense of deja vu remembering the last time he'd come home.
He walked into the room. Everyone turned around to stare at him. Willow
was there, fine. She was looking at him in shock. "Just checking." He said
and turned around, walked out the door and headed for his van.
~*~End~*~