TITLE: 'The Nature of the Beast' Part 2/?
AUTHOR: Cherry
RATING: PG-13
PAIRING: B/F
SUMMARY: Spike tries to help.
ARCHIVE: http://www.thekeep.org/~cherry/
SPOILERS: S6 'Wrecked'
FEEDBACK: Yes, please.
PREVIOUSLY: Faith has returned, just in time to be caught in a miscast
spell, along with the entire Scooby gang.
** From Part One **
He stared down at both of the cats as they halted only a
body-length away, almost certainly within a distance to pounce. The eyes
on the lioness caught him, drawing him in. They were familiar in an
unusual way, some element about them seemed almost like... The feeling
came together with a sudden rush.
"Buffy?"
** End Part One **
Spike held up his hands, and took a slow step back. "That is you,
isn't it?" If he had one to hold, his breath would have been during the
pause before the lioness nodded her head once. She seemed content to
stand there for the moment, and not rip his throat out, so he checked out
the rest of the room.
The black panther next to Buffy stood nearly motionless, just the
tip of her tail twitching. Had Spike been more of an expert on animal
body language, he might have panicked at that point. The brown bear was
still sitting there, and as their gazes met, it waved hello with one paw.
Perched on the bear's head was a small weasel-like creature, possibly a
ferret. On the couch was a small monkey, who was gently petting a
trembling rabbit. And lastly, there was a red fox crouched down on the
floor next to a rat. Spike mentally counted the Scoobies, coming up with
two extra.
There was clothing everywhere, most of it looking rather feminine,
and some of it ripped, like it had burst open from within. Which it
likely had, come to think of it. One worrisome pile had a blue sling on
top, which could only have been Dawn's. There did seem to be enough piles
to account for all eight, if he assumed the sleeve barely visible under
the bear indicated a full set of clothing.
"Right. Spell went wrong, I'm guessing? Which one of you is
Red?" A tickle of memory struck him, and he looked down at the fox, which
was emphatically shaking her head. "Alright, I'm not accusing. So if you
didn't do it, who did?" Spike had to hold back a laugh as most of the
gang pointed a paw at the rat.
Hold on, a rat. Didn't Red have a pet rat that she said was a
witch? What the hell was her name... "That the witch you've been taking
care of, the one who turned herself into a rat a few years back?" Willow
nodded. "And now she's gone and done it the rest of you." Willow nodded
again.
Spike grinned. "I suppose it's up to me to get you all restored
to normal, then. But before I do, at least tell me who's who. Which one
of you is Dawn?" The ferret on top of the bear's head started chittering,
standing up on her hind legs before unbalancing and rolling down the
bear's back. He laughed. "Very cute, pet. Tara?" The bear waved just
as it had before. "I should have known. Anya?" The monkey made a soft
'eek', and pointed a finger at the rabbit. Spike grimaced, "My
sympathies. That would make Xander the monkey, yes?" Xander proceeded to
howl at him while Spike snickered.
Which still left one question. "So, who's the other cat?"
*****
Xander looked down at the rabbit in his lap. Anya had finally
calmed down and fallen asleep. Or possibly just passed out. Regardless,
he gently moved her to the couch and hopped onto the floor, making his way
over to the phone. He ignored the ridiculous game of sign language and
twenty questions the others were playing with Spike, and climbed up onto
the desk. Having somewhat normal hands was quite useful, even if it was a
little strange to have feet that worked like hands also.
He hesitated before picking up the phone. The only real choices
were Giles and Angel, and he wasn't sure he could remember the new number
for Giles. Asking Buffy would be a little bit tricky right now. That
left Angel, and it would have to be Spike to talk to him. Worst case,
Angel thinks Spike is up to something and comes to Sunnydale. Wait, worst
case is Angel tells him to go away and refuses to help. He pondered for a
moment more, then dialed.
//"Angel Investigations, we help the hopeless."//
"Oook!" There was a long pause.
//"Xander, is that you?"//
Xander stared at the phone and then howled at Cordelia. He swore
he could hear laughter a moment later.
*****
Cordelia managed to contain herself a moment later. "Put Spike on
the phone, okay? We already know what happened." There was a muffled
British sounding exclamation, and then there was a new voice on the other
side.
//"Hallo? Who's this? Xander you twit, who did you call?"//
"Hi Spike, it's Cordelia. Wesley is on his way to help." She
gave him a minute to absorb this.
//"Just the watcher? No brooding poof? And how the bloody hell
did you know, anyhow?"//
"It's a vision thing. No Angel, just Wesley. He suggested
meeting at the magic shop directly, so that's where he's headed."
//"Right. This vision, did it tell you who the big black cat
is?"//
Cordelia paused to carefully search her memory of the vision,
unaware that she was floating a inch above her seat. "I don't recall
seeing one at all."
*****
Spike glared down at the subject of the conversation. She was
grinning up at him, her tail idly swishing back and forth as her foreclaws
slowly tapped on the floor. "She doesn't seem to like me very much."
//"Which makes her stand out how?"//
Spike growled out, "I'll meet the pansy at the shop," then banged
the phone down. "All of you listen up. We're going to the magic shop to
meet the weasel-" He was cut off by a loud protest from Dawn. "Sorry,
little bit. Wesley, that is. He'll get you all back to normal."
Herding cats would have been easier. Herding a feline slayer was
impossible, and the other one was just as much a problem. He'd gotten all
the rest of them into Xander's car, the little ones and Tara, that is.
But when he tried to get Buffy to jump in, she refused. The big black one
was just as reluctant, made worse when the little vixen started snarling
at her. After the strangest argument he'd ever had, he got the two to
promise to wait here so he could make a second trip.
Naturally, after getting the first bunch settled in, he returned
to find them both gone.
*****
Spike let himself into the shop, glaring into the corners for
them. He saw the watcher sitting at the table surrounded by books and
animals, all of them staring at him. "They here yet?"
"Buffy? No, she hasn't showed up. Did you lose her?"
"Bint ran off with the other one. Left before I got back. Been
looking around town for them for at least an hour."
Wesley looked thoughtful at that. "I suppose we'll simply have to
trust that she can take care of herself. In the meantime, have a seat and
a book. This will go faster the more of us working on it. Most of them
can't turn the pages."
Spike flopped into a seat, the way only a grumpy vampire can. He
pulled the next book from the stack, and started reading about
transformation spells involving animals, possession spells involving
animals, and much more than he wanted to know about spells to invoke
animal spirits. "Hang on, why didn't the rest of your crew show up to
help?"
Wesley was slow in responding. "Because the vision only showed
me, plus you, sitting in the shop surrounded by various animals. No one
else. And also that it was important to arrive as quickly as possible."
Spike grumbled to himself. Once a stuffy watcher, always a stuffy
watcher. Too bad Giles wasn't here.
*****
Faith had been careful to keep her distance from the others,
standing on the far side of Buffy. When the vampire had finally driven
off with the rest of the gang, she'd laid down to watch Buffy pace back
and forth in the living room. In all honesty, she didn't mind being a cat
very much. Why not enjoy it while she could?
It was this thought that led her to hop up, and rumble for Buffy's
attention. She gestured at the door with her head. Buffy tilted her
head, then shook it. Probably wanted to wait for the vampire. What was
it with her and the undead, anyhow? Faith paced over, then traced out a
heart on the floor, stabbing at it when she was finished. She looked up
at Buffy. The lioness was still staring at the floor. When she finally
looked up to meet Faith's look, Buffy simply nodded once, agreeing to go
patrol.
*****
"Oh dear."
Spike looked up, waiting for the ex-watcher to continue. A minute
passed. Spike cleared his throat noisily. No response. "Did you find
something or not?"
"What? Oh, er... yes, but it's not good. If, as Tara has
indicated, the witch was trying to cast a spell to turn herself into a
rat, the most likely result of the spell expanding should have been to
make eight rats. Since it did not, each of them affected the spell's
result."
"Which means what?"
"In some manner, the animals they have become may reflect their
inner nature. Or what they fear about their nature in Anya's case.
Regardless, reversing the spell will be problematic. It's not simply an
externally forced shape, it's one they chose on subconscious level."
"Bugger."
*****
Among lions, it was well known that the female of the species did
the hunting. Had Buffy been asked, she would have agreed that a lioness
typified her feelings about herself, a female pressed into hunting for the
good of her tribe.
The five younglings were three before they even realized anything
was wrong. The only warning was the sound of bodies exploding into dust.
One of the remaining three turned in time to catch a glimpse of fangs and
green eyes before his throat was ripped out. The other saw his friend go
down even as something closed around his throat. He was able to make a
pathetic sound of protest before he too was simply ashes. Which left just
one.
She was the eldest, a vampire made nearly five years ago in a city
far from here. The hellmouth had called her here, and just this night,
her four newest minions had risen. Her only four minions. The slayer,
damn her, was destroying them as fast as she could make new ones. And now
cats? That was the last thought she had time for.
Buffy stumbled as she sneezed out the remains of the last vampire,
mewling in irritation as she swiped at the dust on her face. A gentle
touch on her face brought her eyes open again, and she stood perfectly
still as her sister slayer licked her face clean. After a moment, she
responded in kind, cleaning the dark fur. There was a tiny voice that was
asking her exactly what she was doing, but the much louder one shouted it
down, claiming it was a perfectly natural thing to do, and wasn't it nice
to have a clean face?
When they had finished the ritual cleaning, Buffy rubbed her face
against Faith, then turned and headed for the next part of her hunt,
trusting the dark cat to follow along behind.
*****
Wesley put the book down at last. "I have good news as well as
bad news. The good news is that unlike the spell she was trying to cast,
this one can be reversed somewhat easily."
"And the bad?"
He paused to polish his glasses, delaying out of a hope that
something would occur to him that could make it all alright. He replaced
them on his face, and sighed. "Since the new forms were chosen by them,
they will each have to chose to return to being human."
Spike frowned. "I don't see how that's bad."
"Perhaps Buffy chose to go out because she has no desire to return
to being human."
-- End Part Two
$Revision: 1.7 $
$Date: 2002/01/31 04:31:05 $
AUTHOR: Cherry
RATING: PG-13
PAIRING: B/F
SUMMARY: Spike tries to help.
ARCHIVE: http://www.thekeep.org/~cherry/
SPOILERS: S6 'Wrecked'
FEEDBACK: Yes, please.
PREVIOUSLY: Faith has returned, just in time to be caught in a miscast
spell, along with the entire Scooby gang.
** From Part One **
He stared down at both of the cats as they halted only a
body-length away, almost certainly within a distance to pounce. The eyes
on the lioness caught him, drawing him in. They were familiar in an
unusual way, some element about them seemed almost like... The feeling
came together with a sudden rush.
"Buffy?"
** End Part One **
Spike held up his hands, and took a slow step back. "That is you,
isn't it?" If he had one to hold, his breath would have been during the
pause before the lioness nodded her head once. She seemed content to
stand there for the moment, and not rip his throat out, so he checked out
the rest of the room.
The black panther next to Buffy stood nearly motionless, just the
tip of her tail twitching. Had Spike been more of an expert on animal
body language, he might have panicked at that point. The brown bear was
still sitting there, and as their gazes met, it waved hello with one paw.
Perched on the bear's head was a small weasel-like creature, possibly a
ferret. On the couch was a small monkey, who was gently petting a
trembling rabbit. And lastly, there was a red fox crouched down on the
floor next to a rat. Spike mentally counted the Scoobies, coming up with
two extra.
There was clothing everywhere, most of it looking rather feminine,
and some of it ripped, like it had burst open from within. Which it
likely had, come to think of it. One worrisome pile had a blue sling on
top, which could only have been Dawn's. There did seem to be enough piles
to account for all eight, if he assumed the sleeve barely visible under
the bear indicated a full set of clothing.
"Right. Spell went wrong, I'm guessing? Which one of you is
Red?" A tickle of memory struck him, and he looked down at the fox, which
was emphatically shaking her head. "Alright, I'm not accusing. So if you
didn't do it, who did?" Spike had to hold back a laugh as most of the
gang pointed a paw at the rat.
Hold on, a rat. Didn't Red have a pet rat that she said was a
witch? What the hell was her name... "That the witch you've been taking
care of, the one who turned herself into a rat a few years back?" Willow
nodded. "And now she's gone and done it the rest of you." Willow nodded
again.
Spike grinned. "I suppose it's up to me to get you all restored
to normal, then. But before I do, at least tell me who's who. Which one
of you is Dawn?" The ferret on top of the bear's head started chittering,
standing up on her hind legs before unbalancing and rolling down the
bear's back. He laughed. "Very cute, pet. Tara?" The bear waved just
as it had before. "I should have known. Anya?" The monkey made a soft
'eek', and pointed a finger at the rabbit. Spike grimaced, "My
sympathies. That would make Xander the monkey, yes?" Xander proceeded to
howl at him while Spike snickered.
Which still left one question. "So, who's the other cat?"
*****
Xander looked down at the rabbit in his lap. Anya had finally
calmed down and fallen asleep. Or possibly just passed out. Regardless,
he gently moved her to the couch and hopped onto the floor, making his way
over to the phone. He ignored the ridiculous game of sign language and
twenty questions the others were playing with Spike, and climbed up onto
the desk. Having somewhat normal hands was quite useful, even if it was a
little strange to have feet that worked like hands also.
He hesitated before picking up the phone. The only real choices
were Giles and Angel, and he wasn't sure he could remember the new number
for Giles. Asking Buffy would be a little bit tricky right now. That
left Angel, and it would have to be Spike to talk to him. Worst case,
Angel thinks Spike is up to something and comes to Sunnydale. Wait, worst
case is Angel tells him to go away and refuses to help. He pondered for a
moment more, then dialed.
//"Angel Investigations, we help the hopeless."//
"Oook!" There was a long pause.
//"Xander, is that you?"//
Xander stared at the phone and then howled at Cordelia. He swore
he could hear laughter a moment later.
*****
Cordelia managed to contain herself a moment later. "Put Spike on
the phone, okay? We already know what happened." There was a muffled
British sounding exclamation, and then there was a new voice on the other
side.
//"Hallo? Who's this? Xander you twit, who did you call?"//
"Hi Spike, it's Cordelia. Wesley is on his way to help." She
gave him a minute to absorb this.
//"Just the watcher? No brooding poof? And how the bloody hell
did you know, anyhow?"//
"It's a vision thing. No Angel, just Wesley. He suggested
meeting at the magic shop directly, so that's where he's headed."
//"Right. This vision, did it tell you who the big black cat
is?"//
Cordelia paused to carefully search her memory of the vision,
unaware that she was floating a inch above her seat. "I don't recall
seeing one at all."
*****
Spike glared down at the subject of the conversation. She was
grinning up at him, her tail idly swishing back and forth as her foreclaws
slowly tapped on the floor. "She doesn't seem to like me very much."
//"Which makes her stand out how?"//
Spike growled out, "I'll meet the pansy at the shop," then banged
the phone down. "All of you listen up. We're going to the magic shop to
meet the weasel-" He was cut off by a loud protest from Dawn. "Sorry,
little bit. Wesley, that is. He'll get you all back to normal."
Herding cats would have been easier. Herding a feline slayer was
impossible, and the other one was just as much a problem. He'd gotten all
the rest of them into Xander's car, the little ones and Tara, that is.
But when he tried to get Buffy to jump in, she refused. The big black one
was just as reluctant, made worse when the little vixen started snarling
at her. After the strangest argument he'd ever had, he got the two to
promise to wait here so he could make a second trip.
Naturally, after getting the first bunch settled in, he returned
to find them both gone.
*****
Spike let himself into the shop, glaring into the corners for
them. He saw the watcher sitting at the table surrounded by books and
animals, all of them staring at him. "They here yet?"
"Buffy? No, she hasn't showed up. Did you lose her?"
"Bint ran off with the other one. Left before I got back. Been
looking around town for them for at least an hour."
Wesley looked thoughtful at that. "I suppose we'll simply have to
trust that she can take care of herself. In the meantime, have a seat and
a book. This will go faster the more of us working on it. Most of them
can't turn the pages."
Spike flopped into a seat, the way only a grumpy vampire can. He
pulled the next book from the stack, and started reading about
transformation spells involving animals, possession spells involving
animals, and much more than he wanted to know about spells to invoke
animal spirits. "Hang on, why didn't the rest of your crew show up to
help?"
Wesley was slow in responding. "Because the vision only showed
me, plus you, sitting in the shop surrounded by various animals. No one
else. And also that it was important to arrive as quickly as possible."
Spike grumbled to himself. Once a stuffy watcher, always a stuffy
watcher. Too bad Giles wasn't here.
*****
Faith had been careful to keep her distance from the others,
standing on the far side of Buffy. When the vampire had finally driven
off with the rest of the gang, she'd laid down to watch Buffy pace back
and forth in the living room. In all honesty, she didn't mind being a cat
very much. Why not enjoy it while she could?
It was this thought that led her to hop up, and rumble for Buffy's
attention. She gestured at the door with her head. Buffy tilted her
head, then shook it. Probably wanted to wait for the vampire. What was
it with her and the undead, anyhow? Faith paced over, then traced out a
heart on the floor, stabbing at it when she was finished. She looked up
at Buffy. The lioness was still staring at the floor. When she finally
looked up to meet Faith's look, Buffy simply nodded once, agreeing to go
patrol.
*****
"Oh dear."
Spike looked up, waiting for the ex-watcher to continue. A minute
passed. Spike cleared his throat noisily. No response. "Did you find
something or not?"
"What? Oh, er... yes, but it's not good. If, as Tara has
indicated, the witch was trying to cast a spell to turn herself into a
rat, the most likely result of the spell expanding should have been to
make eight rats. Since it did not, each of them affected the spell's
result."
"Which means what?"
"In some manner, the animals they have become may reflect their
inner nature. Or what they fear about their nature in Anya's case.
Regardless, reversing the spell will be problematic. It's not simply an
externally forced shape, it's one they chose on subconscious level."
"Bugger."
*****
Among lions, it was well known that the female of the species did
the hunting. Had Buffy been asked, she would have agreed that a lioness
typified her feelings about herself, a female pressed into hunting for the
good of her tribe.
The five younglings were three before they even realized anything
was wrong. The only warning was the sound of bodies exploding into dust.
One of the remaining three turned in time to catch a glimpse of fangs and
green eyes before his throat was ripped out. The other saw his friend go
down even as something closed around his throat. He was able to make a
pathetic sound of protest before he too was simply ashes. Which left just
one.
She was the eldest, a vampire made nearly five years ago in a city
far from here. The hellmouth had called her here, and just this night,
her four newest minions had risen. Her only four minions. The slayer,
damn her, was destroying them as fast as she could make new ones. And now
cats? That was the last thought she had time for.
Buffy stumbled as she sneezed out the remains of the last vampire,
mewling in irritation as she swiped at the dust on her face. A gentle
touch on her face brought her eyes open again, and she stood perfectly
still as her sister slayer licked her face clean. After a moment, she
responded in kind, cleaning the dark fur. There was a tiny voice that was
asking her exactly what she was doing, but the much louder one shouted it
down, claiming it was a perfectly natural thing to do, and wasn't it nice
to have a clean face?
When they had finished the ritual cleaning, Buffy rubbed her face
against Faith, then turned and headed for the next part of her hunt,
trusting the dark cat to follow along behind.
*****
Wesley put the book down at last. "I have good news as well as
bad news. The good news is that unlike the spell she was trying to cast,
this one can be reversed somewhat easily."
"And the bad?"
He paused to polish his glasses, delaying out of a hope that
something would occur to him that could make it all alright. He replaced
them on his face, and sighed. "Since the new forms were chosen by them,
they will each have to chose to return to being human."
Spike frowned. "I don't see how that's bad."
"Perhaps Buffy chose to go out because she has no desire to return
to being human."
-- End Part Two
$Revision: 1.7 $
$Date: 2002/01/31 04:31:05 $