"These are not fit offerings," the voice said. "Though one may be very tasty. I need virginal flesh to live." Everyone shuddered and the mist formed into a demon, who had small horns and light tan skin, about the same color as the light brown M&M. "Why have you given me these unworthy offerings, sorcerer? Do you wish my displeasure?"

"No, I wish you to have them and another," he said, motioning another cloaked figure out. "She is for you, and she has consented freely so she may save her friend's lives." The figure walked into the circle. "You may have her, as long as you take the dark one."

The demon considered the person he could see that the others could not. "She is to my liking."

Oz got it first. "Willow," he whispered. "Willow! No!" Xander held him back, but he struggled to get to her.

"I will bring her back in a few days," the demon said smugly. "Unharmed for the most part." He looked at the sorcerer. "You should tell them next time." Everyone and everything in the circle disappeared, Oz falling to his knees in the dirt.

Giles walked over, looking down at his student. "Oz, she came to me and he can't keep her because she went willingly." Oz stared coldly up at him. "That's why she didn't tell you."

Di swallowed. "I had no idea, Rupert. Not that it was this."

"Willow," Rupert corrected gently. "But I am leaving. Until Willow comes back in twelve days time. Can you handle them?"

"Yes," she agreed, hugging Buffy as she walked into her side. "But you have a hell of an explanation to give."

"Ask Buffy," he said, walking away, putting back up his hood as he walked.

Buffy cleared her throat. "He found a prophecy, he and Will did, saying Angelus was going to open a portal to Hell and bring everyone out." She looked up at Di then down at Oz. "I had no idea, I'm so sorry." She moved closer to the hurting man. "I'm sorry, Oz, if I had known, I would have stopped her." He batted away her hand, letting Xander help him up. "So, so sorry."

"Save it," Oz said quietly. "I'm not dealing until she comes back." He looked at Xander, handing over his keys. "Home? Please?"

"Sure," Xander said, trying to soothe the hurting man. He looked at Di and simply nodded. He had understood what had driven his friend. He walked Oz out of the clearing, heading back to the van.

Buffy looked at Di. "If I had known, I would have told you."

"Me too," Di said, wrapping an arm around her student's neck. "Come on, we need to go get things ready to deal with Willow when she comes back. There's no way she's coming out normal." They headed off to her car, heading to Giles' apartment.

*****

Oz laid silently on his bed, staring at his ceiling. "Why'd she do it," he asked finally.

"To save us all." Xander sat down next to his friend's head. "Think about it, if you could sacrifice one thing to save everyone from going to Hell, would you?" Oz shook his head. "No?"

"Not at this moment." He looked at his friend. "I'm not that good."

"I am," Xander admitted quietly. "If I had known what she had planned, I would have taken her place." He looked into his friend's eyes. "She's yours, man, I'm not going to take her place."

"Nothing's certain."

"Yeah, it is. You still love her, no matter what the demon does to her."

"She'll never be mine," Oz told him, rubbing a finger along Xander's bottom lip. "We'll deal. I'll hurt, you'll worry, and Di will deal."

"Giles?"

"Not going there."

"Okay, we'll figure it out as a group after Willow's back." He accepted the body rolling into his, comforting him with gentle kisses to his face as he cried and strong arms holding him through it.

*****

Di looked down at her charge, closing her eyes against the pain rolling off the young woman. "I'm sorry," she whispered, covering her with an afghan she had found. She headed up to the bedroom, answering the phone as she walked into the room. "Andre?" she asked, surprised. She smiled weakly, laying down on the bed. "No, Giles did something rotten." She briefly sniffled. "No, really bad, Andre. Like allowing a girl to offer herself to save humanity." She nodded. "I know, but she's part of the group I'm working with. And she didn't tell them. And I didn't know." She put her head down, letting that soft, silken voice soothe her as it had for the last few years.

*****

Buffy walked up the stairs a few hours later, holding her arms tightly around her for warmth. She found Di curled up in a little ball on the bed, phone still against her ear. She picked up the phone, checking before hanging it up, and covered her Watcher before going back down stairs. She sat on the couch, staring at the books and artifacts around her, not seeing any of it as she contemplated her friend's sacrifice. "How could she?" she asked finally, the anger winning.

"She thought it was the only way," Di said, sitting down beside her. "We're just going to have to be strong for Oz." She rubbed down a smooth, cool arm. "You need to sleep. School tomorrow is going to be very long and hard."

"I'm not going," Buffy decided. "I'm going to go see my mom and hug her really tightly and not let her go be a serious person." She looked at the older woman. "So why didn't she tell us?"

"Because she knew you would have stopped her. Same as she knew about the time limit and I'm sure Giles didn't suggest it." Buffy shook her head, going back to staring at the wall. "He wouldn't, Buffy, I've known him for years and Rupert Giles would never let someone sacrifice themselves this way unless there was a very good reason and he couldn't find another way."

"Then he should have looked harder," she said, sniffling. "He just let her go." She leaned into the comforting body, soaking up the waves of emotion Di was sending at her. "You're one of those ‘make you feel good' people, aren't you?" she asked, looking up.

"Yup, most empaths are." Di brushed through the blonde hair on the younger woman's head, combing it in what she hoped was a soothing way. "Sleep," she said finally, after about an hour. "You'll still need it, even if you skip."

"Will he ever come back?"

"Not unless the demon sends him back, no. He won't be able to. The only possible way would be to get a more powerful demon to take him and sponsor him." She had meant to drop the kiss on top of the younger woman's head, but Buffy had looked up at just the wrong, or the right depending on how you looked at it, moment. Both of them pulled back but there wasn't any shock involved. "Willow?" Di asked.

"Yeah, for the last few weeks." Buffy closed her eyes, savoring the feelings for a second, then got up and headed for the door. "I'm going home."

"Stay, you're too distracted to go fight," Di offered, patting the couch. "I'm going back to bed." Buffy nodded, walking back to the couch and laying down, head where the older woman had been sitting to capture her warmth.

Di shook her head, walking slowly back up the stairs to try and sleep again.

*****

It was the day before Willow was supposed to come back when the first knock came at the door. Buffy looked around those gathered in Giles' apartment before getting up to answer it. "Willow," she breathed when she saw who was on the other side, in the same cloak she had left in.

"Don't invite her in," Di said, getting up and walking over. "Let's see how much damage he did first."

"I'm fine," Willow said as she walked across the threshold without invitation. She pulled back her hood, showing off her newly white hair, which was longer. "Perfectly fine. He couldn't hurt me because I offered myself." She headed for the livingroom, tugging Oz up and into the kitchen with her. "I hurt you," she stated. "And I'm sorry, but it was necessary." He shook his head. "Yeah, it was. There was no way to stop this otherwise. We all would have died."

"Willow, I can't accept that," he said, looking her over. "And I don't know that I will." He looked her over again. "You're really okay?"

"Fine," she said, holding out her arms. Then remembering to take off her cloak, she turned around in front of him so he could examine her, showing off the waist-length white hair braided with a little strand of sparkly jems. "He wasn't that mean to me once I told him why. Of course he did demony things to Angel, but I just mostly watched." He nodded so she leaned closer. "Oz, they're *huge*!"

"I kinda thought that," Oz said, almost reaching out to touch her but pulling his hand back at the last second. "I...can't." He headed back for his safety, who was trying hard not to watch or listen to their conversation. "Home?" he asked. Di and Xander both nodded, the younger man hopping up. "Thanks. Later." They walked out together, Xander taking the keys automatically and hopping up onto the seat he had covered with a pillow ten days earlier. "Really, thanks," Oz said again, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

"Hey, I need it too," Xander said, starting the van. "She okay?"

"Smelled and looked it." Oz turned his head to look at him. "You?"

"Me? I've been fine. I didn't lose my girlfriend to the spawn of Hell." He pulled out into the street, heading for the older teen's house. "She and I always work it out."

"Help us?"

"Sure?" He saw Oz's nod from the corner of his eyes. "Then, yeah, I will help you two become friends." As they stopped at a sign, Xander leaned over to gently kiss his friend's cheek. "Whatever you need, Oz, that's me right now."

"Home," Oz said, patting his face. "Cuddle later." He closed his eyes, letting himself be soothed by the music Xander put on for him.

*****

They were laying in his bed much later that night when Oz shuddered. "So bad of her," he whispered. Xander woke up at the sound of his voice, pulling his head up to look at him, propping it on his arm when he saw this was going to be a long one. "I mean, she runs into the arms of a demon to stop Angelus when all we had to do was follow him home one night and stake him that day."

"Wasn't bright," Xander agreed quietly.

"No, it was foolproof and genius but it was dumber than wood." He rolled to face his friend, hugging him tightly. "I just can't understand."

"And never will," Xander told him. "Willow can be like that sometimes."

"Women can be like that sometimes."

"Wouldn't know," Xander admitted. He looked down, rubbing through the red hair. "You didn't dye it recently," he whispered. "We should do that. You look like the anti-Oz."

Oz snorted. "Thanks."

"You do. Almost as strange as Will...ow does with white hair."

"Was peculiar." Oz looked up, raising one eyebrow. "Want to help me pick a color?"

"Mourning red?"

"Could." Oz put his head back down, sniffing at the relaxed body under his. "I can't be with her," he said into the muscles he was resting against.

"Whomever you want," Xander whispered, hand from the red hair to the older teen's back to rub the tensing muscles there. "I'll stand by your decision unless it's a bad person."

"You?"

"You want to tell everyone about us?"

"Don't know. Not ashamed," he said quickly, "just not sure if the world needs to know."

"Won't make a difference to me, Oz. I can't get any more picked on than I am and being openly with you might actually make some of it stop." He smiled weakly at the shocked look he got. "Not been listening to the gossip recently?" Oz shook his head. "There was always the rumor I was gay, but now I'm doing the Biology snake, or really letting him do me." His smile got weaker. "We would just validate them and they would have to quit saying crap."

"I'd make them," Oz offered.

"I know. You're always protective."

"And possessive."

"And sometimes furry," Xander added with a real smile. "But you keep trying to grab me then too." He felt the weak tickle so went on, trying to raise the older teen's spirits. "You do. You lunge out at me and try to grab my hair or my waist and pull me back to you." The tickle got stronger. "You do. And sometimes your tongue hangs out too. Just a big puppy wanting to play."

Oz shook his head, laying back down against the wiggling chest as he really tickled the younger man. "Insane," he told him.

"Maybe, but I like you too. Even if you would drool into my ear as the wolf."

"Can't, wouldn't want to hurt you."

"And you won't. I'll take over wolf duty for a while, by myself, and we'll deal. See where this takes us."

"And if it takes us both getting kicked out?" Oz asked.

"Hey, I can get a job, you have one sometimes, or at least I assume being in a band means earning money on occasion." Oz nodded. "So, we'll find somewhere cheap and live. Pretend to be roomies if you want."

"Can't hide. Not good at it." Oz looked up, seeing the understanding. "I can't keep important things like that hidden for very long."

"All I ask for is some warning."

"Okay."

Someone pounded on the door. "Oz! Do you have someone in there?"

Xander scooted back, sitting up while Oz got up to answer the door. "Yeah, we're talking." He opened it enough to show the younger man. "Anything else?"

"Where's your girlfriend?" the woman, whom Xander assumed was Oz's mother, asked. She looked over the dark haired man on the bed. "Though he is nice looking."

"We were just talking about her," Xander said. "About plans and stuff for upcoming birthdays." He slid off the bed, walking over to smile at her. "Xander Harris."

"Oh, I know you. Heard your mother. I won't do anything then, my son isn't gay and you wouldn't like me." She turned and walked away before she could see her son choke on his next breath.

Xander closed the door, looking at his friend. "Told ya so," he said simply, opening his arms to give him a hug.

Oz shook his head, taking the small comfort offered.

*****

Di looked at the woman sitting in front of her. "Well, you're certainly more powerful," she said, putting the candles she had used away. "But I think you're going to need a mediator with the group. Giles too possibly."

"Xander will. We've been friends forever." Willow stood up, brushing her braid back over her shoulder. "So, now what? Buffy's gone home, you've seen I'm safe and sane."

"If you need to talk about what happened, I'm here," Di offered, standing up. She let the younger woman out of the apartment, sealing the door from intrusion before going back up to the bedroom. She had the feeling this was far from over and she needed her rest in case she was right.

Part 8