Willow sat by Oz's cage, it was a full moon tonight and Willow always like to be with him whenever she could "He was sounding the deeps of his nature and the parts of his nature that were deeper than he, going back into the wombs of time. The rabbit could not..."
Suddenly werewolf Oz leaps up against the cage door and rattles it at her as she startles and steps back "Okay. Uh, maybe we should try a less stimulating passage" She flips through the pages of the book while Oz growls at her and settles back down in the cage.
Xander walks into the library, carrying a thermos and a couple of magazines, looking very tired "Private Harris reporting for Oz watch" Willow looks up from the book "Xander! Oh, good".
Xander yawns as he walks up to her and takes the book out of her hands "Oh! 'Call of the Wild.' Aren't we reading the Cliff Notes to this for English?" Willow rolls her eyes at him "Some of us are".
She takes back the book "Anyway, it'll help you stay awake. It's good and... and very wolfy" she looks at Oz "Seems to soothe the savage beast" She takes Xander's arm and leads him away from the cage toward the table.
Willow talks to Xander quietly "Except for the parts about..." she stops and begins to whispers "rabbits" Oz hears that, and jumps against the cage, banging it loudly as Xander and Willow both jump and look back at him.
Xander snags the book "Rabbits?" he asks confused as he looks it over before Willow takes the book back and puts it on the table "It... seems to make him a little overexcited. Okay. Now, he's had his 2:00 feeding, and, uh, after sunrise, if he forgets where his clothes are, they're on top of the file cabinet in his cage".
Willow indicates to the towels on the cage "I put those towels up for privacy" Xander nods with a smirk "Uh, no worries. I can handle the Oz Full Monty" his face drops at his own words "I mean, not 'handle' handle, like 'hands to flesh' handle".
Willow looks at the cage with lots of nervous gesturing "Well, it's not for you. It's for me, 'cause I'm still getting used to half a Monty" Xander shrugs with a nod "Oh. Good" before he realizes "Half? You and Oz? Which half?".
Willow looks a Xander with a big smile "Wouldn't you like to know? Anyway, he's more manageable tonight and on the third night. Tomorrow night, the total full moon, that's when he's a real wolfer".
She reaches across the table "But in case there's trouble... there won't be, but if..." She holds up the dart rifle and Xander takes it from her with his right hand while still holding his things with his left, and slips his index finger into the trigger guard.
"Sleepytime. Gotcha" He holds the stock of the weapon against his shoulder "Thanks again for doing this. I wouldn't have asked, but I have this test" Willow rambles "No big. You can count on me. I got my coffee, magazines" Xander tells her as he looks at his things.
"Figured I'd read, maybe" he points with the gun "run the stairs over there a little bit. I'm good" Willow isn't thrilled with the way he's handling the rifle, and takes it out of his hand, giving him a nervous smile.
She sets it down on the table, gives him a little wave goodbye and starts out. On the way past the cage she gives werewolf Oz a little wave, too "Bye" Oz raises his head and growls as he watches her go.
Xander picks the book up from the table, inspects the cover and looks up at Oz when he decides to make himself more comfortable, he climbs onto the table, sets the book down at one end and lies on his stomach, using the book as a pillow.
He smiles as he settles himself for a relaxing nap, in the cage Oz lets out a loud growl as Xander's eyes slowly close.
Willow, Oz, Buffy and I climb the outside stairs from the quad up to the balcony, I hadn't really spoken to my sister since telling her about my torture at the hands of her ex-beau but she hasn't pushed it either.
"I don't think that's true, that every guy is in it only for the chase" Willow commented as Buffy frowns "I know. It is an awful generalization" we stop at the top of the balcony.
"Hey Buffy!" we all look along the balcony to see Scott approaching at a quick pace "That's what I stopped you for, basically. Hey" Buffy smiles widely at the attention "Okay, Hey" Scott's friends Debbie and Pete approach us too.
Oz notices them and holds up his hand in greeting "How do, Debbie?" the blonde girl smiles at Oz "Hi, Oz. Hey, you're not doing jazz band this year?" she asks holding onto Pete's arm "Oh, can't take the pressure. It's not the music that's hard, it's the marching".
Buffy looks confused "We have a marching jazz band?" she looks at Scott inquisitively "Yeah, but, you know, since the best jazz is improvisational, we'd be going off in all directions, banging into floats... Scary" Oz answers as we all laughed "mhm and they all do it in little snazzy costumes" I grinned sarcastically.
Willow smiles at everyone "He's just being Oz" Oz looks at Willow with a wide smile " and Nikki's, well...Nikki " I look at the bouquet in Debbie's arms "What's with the flowers" Debbie glances at me in shock, I wasn't exactly known for friendliness.
"Pete brought them for me" She smiled up at Pete who in turn smiles at me "Yeah. Well, I-I'm sure your boyfriend does that kind of stuff for you, too" I just look at him seriously "I'm allergic".
Pete goes quiet at my deadpan answers as Scott turns to Buffy "Oh well, we're not up to flowers or are we? Up to flowers? Did I miss flowers?" Buffy smiles at him reassuringly "No. We're pre-posy. Definitely" Scott looks relieved.
"What time is it?" Buffy asks as she grabs Scott's watch "Oh, I have to go see Mr. Platt today" she says out loud "Platt? The school counselor?" Debbie questions as Buffy looks sheepish "I get to convince him that I'm Little Miss Stable so I can stay in school".
Buffy looks in my direction and frowns "How have you never had to go see Mr. Platt" I blink at my sister "I don't get caught" I see Debbie's eyes widen "Platt creeps me out. I would totally quit going, but I'm flunking senior bio, and my teacher says I have success issues" she giggles to herself.
"Senior bio? I kinda aced that final" Oz told us in his monotone voice as Willow pokes him in the side gently "And how did you do that? Oh, right. You showed up" Oz takes Willow's jibes good-naturedly.
Oz looks over to Debbie "If you want my notes, they're yours" Debbie smiles in relief "Thanks! That'd be great!" The bell rings and I turn walking away without saying goodbye, I wasn't one for fake friends.
Walking into the library a panicked Giles and Xander looked up quickly but relaxed when they saw it was just me until Willow and Oz walked in not long after "Right. It's good to see you. Um, no need to panic" Giles said as he gave us a stiff smile.
"Just a thought, poker, not your game" Oz jokes as I point to him "He's not wrong," I say sitting on the check out counter "What's the deal, Giles?" Willow asks sounding worried as Giles starts to pace"
"Now, uh, bear in mind, uh, most likely, there, there, there is no deal" he stops and looks at Xander "but um, if, if, if there was a deal, then it, um, would concern murder... last night. A male student was, was found i-i-in the woods".
"Which student?" I questioned, Buffy and Faith patrolled last night how had they not sensed anything "Jeff Orkin" I frowned I didn't know any Jeff "Jeff? He was..." Oz started as he glanced over at Xander who looks down at the floor guiltily "I knew him".
"I'm afraid he was, he was, um, terribly mauled. Now, uh, much as I hate to think it, i-i-it could be the handiwork of, of..." Giles began and my eyes widened in realization as I looked over at Oz who seemed to understand too "Me".
Willow looks at Oz very concerned "Wolf you, not you, you" Xander looks at Oz troubled "But it's not. Not wolf you, not you, you. The room was secured, the gate was locked" he said as he heads into the cage "and the window unbreakable, and..." he looks up at the window "open!".
He points up at it as he comes back out of the cage as Willow gasps "Oh, God" I put my hand on her shoulder as Giles and Oz both go over to check the window, too "Not to freak. I rested my eyes now and then. That's all" Xander stutters as I jump down from the counter, Willow gives him a betrayed look.
Giles looks down at the floor "How long... exactly did you... rest your eyes for?" Giles questions as he glares at Xander, Oz just stares into space, turning the implications over in his mind.
"A little now, uh, a little then. But I never heard Oz leave, and he was here in the morning when I, um..." he stops in search for words "when I..." he stops again putting his hands in his pockets.
"WOKE UP!" Giles spat angrily "You could put it that way if you want to, Mr. Technical" Xander replies as we all stand quietly, Oz walks over to Willow, looking at her sadly "Oh, God" She takes Oz's hand to comfort him.
Oz looks at Giles imploringly as Cordelia walks into the room asking us what happened "Xander happened" I said glaring over at him as he started to explain what happened, sitting down on the stairs I watched as everyone followed suit except Giles who started to pace.
Not long after Buffy comes in and finds us all looking gloomy as she sets her bag on the table "I'm afraid to ask" she mumbles crossing her arms "Oz ate someone last night" Cordelia announces as Willow glares at her "He did not!"
Xander glances at Cordelia annoyed "Oz does not eat people, it's more werewolf play" Buffy looks at Giles inquiringly "You know, I bat you around a little bit, like a cat toy. I have harmless, wolf fun. Is it Oz's fault that you know, side effect, people get cut to ribbons, and maybe then he'll take a little nibble and...".
Willow gives Xander a hurt look as Oz lowers his head "I'm not helping, am I?" Xander asks as Giles shakes his head "No. Oz may have got out of his cage last night" we all stopped to think about that "Or maybe there's another werewolf roaming the woods" Oz piped up sounding hopeful.
"Perhaps. Perhaps it's something else entirely" Giles says out loud thoughtfully "It's okay. We'll work together, and we'll figure this out" Buffy chimes in trying to pep us up "Yes. Um...Buffy. Uh, you, uh, you patrol the woods, Nikki your usual patrol and uh, the others, um, check out the morgue".
I pout and turn to Giles "What! why can't I go to the morgue?" I argue as the others look at me weirdly and I turn to glare at them "so not fair".
Willow looks up hopeful "Right! We can see if it's a werewolf kill or not" her face drops as she glances at Oz next to her "But what about Oz?" Giles nods thinking "Um... Well, I have some research materials at home I need to look up. Uh... W-w-we could ask Faith to watch over him".
Oz looks up at Giles "What, you're having a Slayer watch me? Oh, good, we're not overreacting" He gets up to leave, not willing to listen to any more of this but Willow dashes up after him.
She reaches out and touches him on the shoulder, he stops and turns to face her "Okay. Uh, you know that thing where you bail in the middle of an upsetting conversation? I have to do that. It's kinda dramatic, I know, but... sometimes, it's a necessary guy thing"
Willow nods quickly "And I want you to... do the guy thing, but..." She glances and gestures at the clock on the wall and sighs, I look up at it as do the others, 5:34pm it's almost sunset.
Oz looks back at Will and lets out a heavy sigh, he looks over at the cage, and reluctantly walks into it slamming the door behind him wordlessly as Willow follows him looking confused "Oz?"
Oz is unwilling to look at her "Get away from the cage" I look at the others concerned by his attitude "What?" Willow asks in a hurt voice " It's gonna happen soon" Oz says still not looking at her.
Willow still won't go "Get away from me" Oz finalizes as he turns his back to her, I frown as Willow looks hurt and confused by his behavior "Come on" I order as everyone gets up to do their respective task "let's give Oz some space".
Willow's flashlight shines into a room where several bodies are lying on gurneys, she flashes her light on the closed body drawers along a wall until she finds the one she wants and opens it.
Pulling out the draw Willow lifts the plastic sheet away from Jeff Orkin's face as she sets her metal Scooby-Doo lunch box on his chest and opens it. Behind her, Xander approaches slowly as she pulls out a plastic bag and a pair of tweezers.
When Xander reaches her he takes one look at the body and nearly vomits "Oh, God" He bends over, holding his mouth, trying to hold it back. Willow just hands him the flashlight rolling her eyes "Here. Hold this".
He doesn't hold it very steadily, and Willow tries to adjust his arm as she would a desk lamp, she takes Jeff's hand and tries to get a look at his fingers when suddenly Xander spins around and shines the flashlight into Cordelia's face as they both let out a shriek.
Willow just reaches for Xander's hand again and pulls it around to shine the light where she needs it "We're doing crime here. You don't sneak up during crime" Xander chided Cordelia as he finally gives Willow his attention again and holds the light steady.
"God, have a..." Cordelia stops and gets a look at Jeff's mauled body "Okay!" she covers her face "Scarred for life! Oh, God!" Willow just calmly goes about getting some samples from under Jeff's fingernails.
"Willow, how can you stand it?" Cordelia questions remembering how Nikki wanted to come to the morgue too "Yeah, Will. I mean, this guy is pretty barf-worthy. Can't we be elsewhere? Like, you know, is Oz cleared or what, huh?" Xander asks as he tries not to look at Jeff's body.
Willow finished with Jeff's hand and puts it back under the plastic, she moves the flashlight in Xander's hand around and inspects the rest of the body "I'm not sure. I mean, there are a lot of incised wounds, but they could be from anything".
"Anything with big, sharp teeth and vicious..." Xander interrupts Cordelia's unhelpful words "Do you wanna go back to the car and wait?" Willow starts to pick at Jeff's chest with the tweezers.
Cordelia stares at Xander taken aback "No. God. I'm just saying..." Willow placed the hairs in the bag "Almost done. Lemme just get a few stray hairs from the body. They could be from the attacker".
Cordelia holds her nose against the stench "Great. So we got everything we need?" Xander questions as Willow steps back from the body "Yep. That's it" She drops the tweezers and faints falling back into Xander who quickly gets an arm under her as she goes down, and they all sink to the floor.
"Okay. Uh... little too much excitement for the Wilster here" Xander comments as he steadies Willow's head against his chest "Doesn't look good for Oz, does it?" Xander ponders as Cordelia shakes her head "It really doesn't" they look up at Jeff "This guy was ripped apart by a big wild animal".
Walking into the library with Giles the next morning I smirked seeing Oz laying on the floor of the cage naked "well he looks peaceful" I whisper as Giles unlocks the door and pulls it slightly open, he just give me a look as we both walk further in the library.
Looking up I frown as I see Buffy in the stacks curled up and asleep in a chair with a book on her lap and a drawer from the card catalog next to her on a step stool. Other books are lying on the floor around her like she had been looking through them for something specific.
I watch as Giles quietly takes the steps to the upper level and reaches down for one of the books. As he does so Buffy stirs from her slumber and looks up at him "Hey" she whispers quietly "Hmm. Hello" he replies as he sips his coffee.
Buffy's eyes open in alarm as she sees the two of us "Oh. Boy" she stands up quickly "Faith and her nutty books" Giles looks at the books "Exploring Demon Dimensions and Mystery of Acathla".
The familiar pounding of my heart started again hearing those titles "Yeah! And she still listens to heavy metal" Buffy jokes as she walks toward the stairs "Freaky deaky" Giles and I look at each other before he looks back at my sister "Buffy...".
Realizing that she was caught in her ridiculous lie she leans against the railing and looks at the two of us "What if... I told you that... I had a dream about Angel... and, um... it brought up some questions?".
I frowned at the thought, both of us were having dreams of the same man but I can guarantee they were severely different "I'd say it was to be expected. Must have been some dream. I didn't think you knew what a card index was for" Giles sips his coffee.
"I dreamt that he came back" Buffy confides as she sits down on the steps and I nearly throw up at her words as Giles comes down to sit with her "Of course. After Jenny was killed, I had dreams that she was s-still alive, that I saved her".
"This was vivid. Really vivid. Three-dimensional, Sensurround, the hills are alive..." Buffy stops when she realizes her use of Jenny's metaphor, Giles takes off his glasses and considers for a moment "Do you believe it was a prophecy?"
My eyes widen considerably and Buffy looks at me "No. I-I don't know. I..." she inhales deeply and looks back to our Watcher "I guess it just... it made me wonder" I frowned at Buffy "Would you want it to be real?" I questioned my sister as she just looked at me.
Giles looks away in thought as Buffy gives him another question "Is there a chance even? Could it happen?" Giles sighed but he didn't face Buffy "Well, there's no record of anyone returning from a demon dimension once the... gate was closed. I-I-I can't imagine how it could happen or-or why".
"Let's just pretend for a second that... Angel somehow found his way back to Sunnydale. What would he be like?" Crossing my arms I looked at my twin suspiciously "I really can't say. From what is known about that dimension, i-it would suggest a world of... brutal torment. And time moves quite differently there, so..."
Buffy cut Giles off "I remember. So he would've been down there for hundreds of years" she questioned sounding sad "Yes" Giles answered as he looks up at her "Of torture" she checked as Giles nodded "Good" I spoke but Buffy didn't acknowledge my hiss.
"It would take someone of extraordinary... will and character to survive that and, uh, retain any semblance of self. Most likely, he'd be, be a monster" Giles informs her "A lost cause" Buffy whispers her tone hopeless.
"Maybe. Maybe not. In my experience, there are... two types of monster. The first, uh, can be redeemed, or more importantly, wants to be redeemed" Giles told Buffy as she gulped "And the second type?".
"The second is void of humanity, cannot respond to reason... or love" Giles finished as Buffy let out a breath "Why do you even care B?" I questioned her as she turned to me looking guilty.
"Angelus liked what he did, he should be in hell for what he did to me.. to us" I told her as Giles held my arm "the longer the torture the better, he doesn't deserve redemption or forgiveness" I shout at her taking my arm back and storming past a tired doughnut wielding Willow.
Buffy walks into the mansion and goes through the heavy drapes hanging across the side entrance. Angel crouches against the wall, whimpering as Buffy stops at the wall opposite him and looks at him suffering.
She couldn't help but feel a pang of pain seeing him like that, even after all the bad and truly evil things he had done she hated to see Angel like this.
Slowly she comes toward him, Angel just remains hunched over in his crouch, not
looking up or giving any indication that he knows she's there "Angel?" she quietly calls out but he doesn't seem to hear her.
"Do you understand me?" she calls out again but she still gets nothing from him, not even a squeak. She goes even closer, the tattoo on his back beckons to her. Slowly she reaches out and touches him lightly on the shoulder.
He suddenly and very violently lashes out at her and roars and she instantly takes several steps backward away from him as he goes back to his pathetic whimpering. Buffy looks at him, terribly hurt, and rushes from the mansion remembering her sister's hurtful words about him earlier.
Angel growls deeply at her and above him, the mantel bracket begins to loosen as dust falls from the stone as he pulls against the chain manically.
Sitting in the library with Giles, Willow, Buffy, and Faith I watch as Giles paces as we all talk about the brutal murder of Mr. Platt, Buffy found him dead in his office completely mauled during her mandatory session with him.
"This creature is especially brutal. I believe the phrase coined by the coroner when describing Mr. Platt was 'pureed'. But he did confirm that Platt was killed shortly before Buffy found him" Giles informed us as we all listened.
"Which means that he was killed during the day" Faith deducts as we fist bump at her words just as Willow screams out and raises her fist elated "Yes!" We all give her a look.
"Sorry. I got..." she lowers her hand stuttering "I've just been... it's horrible, horrible" she finishes as she swallows deeply "It's okay, Will. We're all glad Oz is off the hook" Buffy tells the redhead with a smile.
"Indeed" Giles checks his watch confused "Shouldn't he be here by now? The sun sets at 5:30" Willow looks at us concerned but I just shrug "he'll be here, it's Oz" I tell her comfortingly as she nods.
"Our task now is to determine what sort of killer we are dealing with. Clearly, we're looking for a depraved, sadistic animal" Giles says aloud as Oz walks in and raises his hand "Present".
Willow smiles jumps up and goes over to him, pushing Giles aside in her eagerness to reach him "Hey, I may be a cold-blooded jelly doughnut, but my timing is impeccable" Oz says as I grin at him.
Willow grabs him with both hands smiling "But you aren't! I-i-it's-it's a kill-in-the-day monster! A hundred percent for sure" Oz smiles very relievedly "Okay" Willow puts her arm around him and faces the group along with him smiling also.
"Uh, I wish we had time to celebrate properly. However, we have two victims: Jeff Orkin and, uh, now Platt. Uh, maybe there's something they had in common" Giles asks us as everyone thinks.
"Missing internal organs," I say as Faith points at me in agreement with a tongue click "Besides that" Giles gestures to me "Debbie" Oz mutters as we look at him "Well, victim number one, Jeff. He was in jazz band with us. They used to horse around".
"They were screwing?" everyone gives Faith a look as I grinned at her thought train "I don't think so, but he hid her music comp book once" Oz informs us "And we know that Debbie knew Platt. I mean, she was seeing him and way vocal about not having love for the guy" Buffy adds as we begin to piece it together.
"Add this and stir. I just saw Debbie a minute ago sporting a nasty black eye" Oz tells us looking suspicious "Okay, so pretend Debbie wanted Platt dead. Maybe he fought back" Willow says sounding unsure.
Buffy shakes her head "No. Platt was dead in an instant. He didn't even drop his cigarette. Now, what if boyfriend Pete's the one doling out the punishment?" I frown at Buffy's words "I knew I didn't like those two" Buffy rolled her eyes at me "Yes your hatred of people is impeccable".
"Impeccable, totally right every time... but hey whose counting" I smirk at her as Giles speaks up "We should find them both immediately" He and Buffy grab their coats "Well, Debbie was in the quad a minute ago" Oz explains as we're all up and moving.
"All right. We'll split up. Um, Faith, you and I team. Willow, stick with Nikki and Buffy" Willow gives Oz a saddened look and follows the others out when he realized and sighs "And I'll... go lock myself in the cage".
Walking to the girl's locker room I was flanked by Buffy and Willow, pushing open the door I walk in to see Debbie is trying to hide her black eye with makeup, she gives us a look but just keeps on applying makeup.
"It's tricky, covering a fresh shiner like that. You know what works?" I say standing behind her "What?" she questions putting away her makeup "Don't get hit" I jeer as Buffy moves me out of the way.
"What's going on, Debbie? I'll bet the farm you know" Buffy asks trying the nice routine "You're wrong. I don't know anything" Debbie lies shaking her head "Normally, I'd say, you wanna play 'I have a secret'? Fine. But people are dying here" Buffy tells her as she looks between the 3 of us.
"It... it's not his fault. I mean, he's not himself when he gets like this" Debbie cries out "You mean Pete" Buffy deduces as Debbie looks upset "It's me. I make him crazy. He-he just does what he does because he loves me too much".
"But weren't Mr. Platt and Jeff murdered by an animal?" Willow questions as I smirk at the mousey blonde "Pete's not like other guys, is he, Debbie?" Debbie realizes we know more than they are letting on "I-I've gotta go".
She grabs her purse and starts to leave but Buffy takes her by the arm and stops her "You have to talk to us" Debbie shakes her head "We can't help you until you do" Buffy tells her as Debbie frowns at us "I didn't ask for your help!".
"Well, when are you going to? I mean, if Pete kills you, it'll pretty much be too late" Willow argues as Buffy looks at Debbie desperately "Debbie, we're running out of time".
"B just let me handle her" I groan to my sister as Debbie looks at me nervously knowing the meaning behind my words "Where can we find him?" Buffy questions as Debbie shakes "I-I don't know".
I let out a loud groan and look at the floor leaning against a locker "You're lying" Buffy barked at Debbie "What if I am? What are you gonna do about it?" I look up with a smirk at Debbie's words as Willow eyes me nervously.
"Wrong question" Willow gulps as she and Buffy move out of the way, Debbie looks confused until I step up to her with a wicked grin "Don't hurt her" Buffy warns me as I roll my eyes.
Reaching out and getting a grip on Debbie's arm like a striking viper I pull on her arm as she fights against me, pushing her up against the sink in front of the mirror I grab the back of her neck and forced her to look in the mirror.
"Look at yourself. Why are you protecting him? Anybody who really loved you couldn't do this to you" I hiss in her ear as she lets out a sob, feeling Buffy tug on my arm I step away.
Debbie turns around to face us "Would they take him someplace?" she whimpers as Buffy shrugs "Probably" Debbie shakes her head sobbing "I could never do that to him" Willow sighs "I'm his everything".
I look at her disgusted "Great. So what, you two live out your Grimm fairy tale? Two people are dead" Debbie just shakes her head and says nothing as Buffy folds her arms next to the girl "Who's gonna be next?".
Debbie sat on the bench and pulled her legs up, hugging herself and looking off into space, chanting repeatedly "He does love me. He does love me" I frowned at the blonde girl as she chanted with no chance of stopping.
Buffy sighed "This is useless. We have to go, we have to find Pete" Buffy tells me as I nod in agreement "He does love me" I roll my eyes as Willow tries to get Debbie to stand up and go with her "Come on"
Debbie resists Willow "He does love me" I looked at Debbie who seemed to have a blank look in her eyes, "I think I broke her" I mumbled to Buffy listening to Debbie's annoying chants behind me.
Buffy stops at the door looking back at us "I think she was broken before this" she whispered, "Do you think I could slap her out of it?" Buffy gave me a look as Debbie's chants stop suddenly "God you really do put the fear into people, Nik".
Hear a scream of agony we all started to run down the hall towards the library as Giles and Faith come running also from another hall "What was that?" Giles called to us as we all barge through the door together.
My eyes widen seeing Oz as a werewolf fighting what I was assuming is Pete, his face looks so weird and distorted, Oz has his jaw clamped hard on Pete's arm, and Pete repeatedly punches him in the gut.
"Get the dart gun!" Giles shouts out aloud as Buffy reaches behind the counter and grabs the dart rifle "Got it!" She cocks it and takes aim past Giles but Debbie shoves Buffy aside to protect her murderous boyfriend "Pete, watch out!"
The gun goes off, and the dart hits Giles in the hip "Ow!" Giles cried out, Pete finally manages to flip Oz over onto the floor and get free of his jaws. Looking over to Buffy I notice her shock that she shot Giles "Oh! Sorry!"
I grab Debbie's arms and hold her in front of me just in case she tries anything else, glancing over at Giles I see him nod drunkenly "Oh, right. Bloody priceless" The drug takes effect quickly, and Giles staggers and falls to the floor, pushing a table into Oz as he tries to get away.
Oz runs through the door to behind the counter, leaps over it and runs out of the library. Buffy tries to take aim but can't get a clear shot she tosses the rifle to Faith "You get the wolf!" Faith nods quickly "Got it!" She runs out of the library with Willow close behind looking more worried about Oz by the second.
Suddenly I felt myself being hit and I look up to see Debbie dropping what seemed like the biggest and hardest book she could have found and run up the stairs to escape out through the stacks "Bitch!" I exclaim rubbing my face where she hit feeling dizzy.
Leaning against the cage I watch as Buffy delivers a roundhouse kick to Pete's head, he stumbles up the stairs and onto the upper-level floor as Buffy pursues him as he gets to his feet.
She punches him with a right followed by a left making him stagger over to the side of a bookcase, grabs it and shoves it over onto her. It lands on top of her with a loud thud, dumping its contents all around her.
Getting to my feet I suddenly hear a roar and groan as Pete knocks me back down before running out of the library "Well this is just my lucky day" I mumble sarcastically as Buffy and I get back to our feet again.
Running out of the library we look down the two hallways and decide to split up "God I hope I find him" I tell Buffy menacingly thinking about the fight as I run off in pursuit of monster Pete.
Rounding the corner I let out a shout as I'm leaped on, pushing Oz's face away from mine I watched as he bared his teeth at me "Don't make me neuter you Oz!" I shout struggling with the heavy werewolf.
"Faith!" I shriek as I try to keep myself away from Oz's teeth, one bite from him and I'm howling at the moon, seeing Faith and Willow round the corner I sigh with relief "shoot him".
Faith picks up the rifle just as Oz jumps up and swings at her sending her into the wall "Faith" Willow calls as Oz turns back to me just as I'm about to get up "Don't even think about it!" I warn as he jumps back on me.
Seeing Willow stood by the wall hyperventilating I knew I needed her to help me "Where's the gun?" I ask her gently as she continues to panic "WHERE'S THE GUN?!" I scream making her jump and get behind Oz yanking his tail "Get off her!".
She starts to run down the hall as Oz releases me and starts to run after her "Get the gun! Get the gun!" she calls over her shoulder desperate as I scramble to my feet with the rifle Faith dropped.
"Hurry!" Willow pleaded as I lifted up the rifle and took aim "Time for Bye Bye's" I mumble pulling the trigger and hitting Oz in the butt. He yelps and whimpers for a moment turning his head to me and then falls unconscious.
With the help of Faith and Willow, we got Oz back in the cage and I fix the cage door as much as I can "So did you get Pete?" Faith asked as I sat down holding the ice pack that Giles keeps in his office on my eye were Debbie hit me.
"No, I found a snarling werewolf who tried to tear out my throat" I joked as Willow frowned at me "Buffy must have found him by now" I put a hand to my throbbing head "God knows where Debbie got to".
Buffy crawls out through the window onto a roof. She steps to the edge, looks down and jumps. She looks around, and behind her through another window notices a lamp swinging from the ceiling.
She rushes over to the door and forces it open, everything inside seems quiet, she looks around and soon finds Debbie lying on the floor behind a rack "Oh, God" She bends down to check her pulse, nothing, she's gone.
Pete grunts and grabs Buffy from behind, he throws her against some crates, and she hits the floor, dazed. Pete smiles as he comes for her, he grabs Buffy by the arm and backhand punches her.
"All the same!" He growls as he punches again "You're all the same!" He backhand punches her a third time, and she falls from his grip. As he advances on her, she push kicks him off and away from her into a stack of crates.
Behind her, the door opens, and she looks back to see Angel standing there in his game face, he roars deeply and attacks Pete. He swings his chains at him and gets Pete in the face, he swings the chains the other way and gets Pete in the face again.
Pete lunges at Angel and bends him backward over a crate with his hands around Angel's throat. Buffy stands up and steps back, watching them fight. Pete pulls Angel up from the crate and throws him to the floor, he turns his attention back on Buffy and starts to advance on her.
Behind him Angel gets up and comes at him, wrapping the chains around his neck, he lifts Pete over his back and slams him down on the floor. Pulling at the chain Angel starts choking Pete, Buffy winces when she sees as Angel gives Pete's neck a twist and breaks it.
He lets go, and Pete falls dead to the floor as Angel looks down at his kill, and begins to calm down. Pete has changed back to his normal state. Angel breathes heavily as he looks up and over at Buffy.
They just stare at each other for a moment while Angel catches his breath, he slowly starts to go to her and changes to his human face. He stops in front of her as she looks up at him, not knowing what to expect.
After a long and intense look, he finally speaks "Buffy?" He falls to his knees and holds her tightly, Buffy is surprised by this turn of events and isn't sure what to do. Angel just keeps holding her even tighter and starts to sob into her jacket "Buffy..."
She finally seems to accept that he's back and sheds a few tears. Her head and heart are too heavy with thoughts and emotions for her to speak but for now, she was just going to come to terms that the man she loved and the man who tortured her friends and family was back.
Walking along the colonnade with the other I let out a yawn from my long night of watching Oz and making sure he didn't escape again or break out of the poorly fixed cage door.
Willow and Oz hold hands as do Xander and Cordelia "It's all over school, what happened with Debbie and Pete. Except for the Pete-was-a-monster part" I frowned thinking back to when I threatened Debbie and now she was dead.
"Yeah. A freshman told me that Pete had eight iced cafe' mochas and just lost it" Oz mentioned as I chuckled thinking about all the different theories that had come up "That's better than the estrogen theory. I heard he took all of his mother's birth control pills".
"He didn't?" Cordelia asked looking shocked before turning to Xander "Pete was a monster?" Xander nods "Where have I been?" Cordelia sighs looking confused "In your special place, Cor, which is why I adore you" Cordy smiles at Xander then frowns "So, what's the true story? What happened?".
"Well, we got a hold of, uh, Pete's lab books and stuff, and Mr. Science was doing a Jekyll/Hyde deal. He was afraid Debbie was gonna leave him, so he mixed this potion to become super mas macho" Willow explained to her.
"The only thing was, after a while, he didn't need the potion to turn into a bad guy. He did it just fine on his own" Buffy added as Cordy sighed "So it was like a real killing. He wasn't under the influence of anything?".
"Just himself" I confirmed frowning at the thought "Uh... I'll see you guys later" I watched as Buffy made her way over to Scott "Great. Now I'm gonna be stuck with serious thoughts all day" Cordelia complained as she walked away with Xander following.
Willow and Oz stay by me to see how it goes between Buffy and Scott "I'm glad she's moved on" Willow smiled as I shrug "I'm just glad she doesn't have Angel on the brain anymore".
"Talking about Angel, how are you doing?" Willow asks looking at me concerned as Oz looks in my direction "I'm fine" I tell them as they look at each other dubiously before turning back to me "Nikki..." Willow started but I cut her off "I don't know what you want from me Will but I will be fine" frowning to myself I sighed heavily "I have to be".