AUTHOR'S NOTE Sorry for the delay! I write all of these stories longhand in spiral-bound notebooks and sometimes there's a delay in the typing process.

DISCLAIMER I own no one and nothing.

Christmas season descended upon the mansion the day after Thanksgiving. Oz tried to find his festive spirit, but the full moon drew ever nearer and the Professor still hadn't come up with a plan to restrain him. Oz watched the inhabitants of the mansion in wonder as they bustled around with unlimited energy. By the Monday after Thanksgiving, every banister was wrapped in evergreen boughs and a large tree stood magnificently in the living room.

It was also on Monday that Xavier finally approached Oz. "Hello, Oz," he said.

"Hey."

"Would you follow me, please?"

"Sure." Oz followed him to an elevator that took them down into the depths of the mansion. When the doors opened, Oz was met with a stark white corridor that looked nothing like the cozy building above. "Where are we?"

"We are in the mansion's lower levels," Xavier replied as he wheeled down the hall. "This is where the more…serious activities take place. What you may not know, Oz, is that Scott, Storm, and Jean are a sort of police force among our kind. They strive to protect humanity from other mutants. Not all of them share our vision of peace among all."

"I see."

The Professor stopped before a very solid-looking door and placed his palm on a pad in the wall. It glowed blue for a moment and a tinny mechanical voice said, "Welcome, Professor," as the door slid open. "Step inside, please," he said. Oz complied and his eyes widened when he saw the room before him.

The ceiling stretched higher than Oz thought it should. Various equipment and training machines stood against the walls and one end was lined with thick tinted windows. "What is it?" Oz asked quietly.

"This is the Danger Room. You will not be able to get out when I secure these doors. Not even Scott's optic blasts can break through them. And I assure you that you cannot break anything." Xavier pointed to a corner. "We have set up screens for you as a dressing room before and after your transformation."

"Wow," Oz said, a little embarrassed. "Thanks."

"Do you mind if we videotape you once you have changed?" the Professor asked. "You may then view the tapes if you wish. It may help you learn more about it."

Oz shrugged. "Why not?"

Xavier smiled. "Excellent. If my calculations are correct, the full moon is on this coming Thursday."

Oz nodded. "Except werewolves change three nights a month. I'll need to be locked up Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday nights."

"Very well." The Professor smiled. "We didn't waste any time, did we?"

Oz said, "I guess not."

Xavier turned around and Oz followed. The door to the Danger Room slid shut behind them. They reboarded the elevator and returned to the mansion's main levels. "I shall meet you here at the elevator Wednesday evening," Xavier said as Oz turned to leave.

"Yeah." Oz quickly turned and ran up the stairs.

Scott was waiting in Professor Xavier's office when he returned. "What did he say?" he demanded.

"He believes that the Danger Room can contain him. He has also agreed to be recorded." The Professor opened a desk drawer and removed a videotape. "I believe that he needs to see what he becomes in order to control it."

Scott silently watched his mentor through rose-tinted glasses. "Keeping him here over the full moon is dangerous," he finally said coldly.

Professor Xavier looked intently at his old student. He had the eerie ability to always look Scott in the eye, regardless of his protective lenses. "Scott, Oz will not be able to harm anyone in the Danger Room."

Scott blinked, surprised, though he knew the Professor couldn't see that. "Professor, I didn't mean – "

But the old mutant held up a hand. "I know what you meant, Scott. Oz needs to know what is inside him. Once we show him that the thing inside him is not impossible to control. It is not our job to cure him and Oz knows that." He smiled sadly. "Oz will soon be leaving us. I just hope we can help him before he does."

Oz paced back and forth across his small bedroom. He kept glaring at the keys to his van on the nightstand. He could drive upstate – find a deserted part of the woods by Wednesday night and hopefully not hurt anyone when he changed. Sighing in frustration, he tossed that idea. He knew that he couldn't take that risk.

Again, Willow's voice rang in his memory. "But before this, when you were regular, Oz, you had feelings for her, didn't you?"

"Before this, when you were regular, Oz?"

"When you were regular, Oz?"

"When you were regular?"

Oz picked up his pillow and threw it across the room in a very rare burst of emotion. He wasn't regular. He wasn't ever regular! The wolf was always a part of him and he would never be anything but a werewolf.

Sighing, he sank down onto the bed. He could never go back to Sunnydale. Not until he knew just what he was dealing with. That only left one option and that was trusting in the mutants to contain him.

Oz left his room and wandered through the mansion. Piotr was able to direct him to a phone and tears gathered in Oz's eyes as he dialed. It was the hardest call he'd had to make.

A familiar voice picked up on the third ring. "Hello?"

"Hey Devin."

"Oz! Man! What's going on, dude? Where'd you go? You just disappeared on us. Dingoes is really hurting without you, man."

Oz took a deep breath to keep his voice steady. "Yeah, sorry about that. I've got a lot of issues I need to work out."

There was silence of the other end of the line. "Whatever you need to do, man."

"Look, Devin, I really need you to do something for me."

"Shoot."

This was going to hurt Willow more than anything. "I need you to go box up all my stuff and send it to me."

Devin's voice suddenly got soft. "You really aren't coming back."

It was all Oz could do to keep talking. He managed to give Devin the address and say goodbye. And then it was done. He'd left Sunnydale for good.