Fic: Istanbul (Willow/Oz, FRC)

[bookishwench]

Author: Meltha
Rating: FRC
Feedback: Yes, thank you. Melpomenethalia@aol.com
Spoilers: Through BtVS and an eensy bit of the season 8
Distribution: The Blackberry Patch and Fanfiction.net. If you’re interested, please let me know.
Summary: Five years after Sunnydale, Willow sees a familiar face.
Author’s Note: Written for krazylokoguy who won the Oscar fic betting pool and requested fics with Oz.
Disclaimer: All characters are owned by Mutant Enemy (Joss Whedon), a wonderfully creative company whose characters I have borrowed for a completely profit-free flight of fancy. Kindly do not sue me, please, as I am terrified of you. Thank you.

Istanbul

Five years had passed since Willow had helped Buffy make every Potential a Slayer, and the world had changed more than a little bit. Well, Willow thought, maybe not the big world, but her own world had gone through a pretty huge shake up since Sunnydale sank into the ground. Willow’s magic was under control now, though there were still times she worried if she was especially cranky. It’s just possible chocolate may have saved the earth a time or two since then. She was something of a den mother now, leading the girls who had originally been too young to leave home when they were first activated. About four dozen young Slayers looked up to her, learning basic magic that might be useful to them in their calling, things like simple tracking spells or mystical medical training to stop bleeding wounds in the field… or glamours to cover pimples. They liked her, and she liked them. It was nice.

It was also lonely.

Kennedy had left, and Willow understood why. Willow had taken to hovering—not literally, figuratively. There were moments when she was too frightened of losing her as she’d lost Tara, and when her girlfriend was going out into a war zone every night, one that was still claiming a lot of lives, especially when Kennedy had a tendency to rush into the thick of things even when it wasn’t wise or even possible, there had been big, stinky arguments. Kennedy had wound up calling her a mother hen, and Willow had, well, technically she’d called her a little crazy, but really, what else could she call it when the other girl had dropped headfirst into a thirty foot pit full of vampires, alone, without a stake, without any back-up, mainly because she was bored.

“Quit underestimating me!” she had snapped. “I survived, didn’t I?”

“This time, yeah,” Willow sighed. “What about next time or the time after that?”

Their relationship had devolved from there and crumbled into bits. Kennedy was still at the training facility in Scotland, and Willow had taken over Xander’s job of collecting girls for a few weeks to give him a much-needed vacation. That’s how she found herself in Turkey, having just explained to a pair of worried, frightened parents that the reason their little girl was literally leaping tall buildings in a single bound was that she’d been called to a life of constant war and very possibly early death. Of course, Willow hadn’t put it quite that way, but that’s what they always heard.

She’d given them some private time to discuss things and was now walking through the bazaars, trying to block out the sadness that sometimes haunted her at times like this. Instead, she concentrated on losing herself in the swirl of colors and music, the murmur of languages she didn’t understand becoming a tempo her steps matched. The scents of spices and dyes filled the old-fashioned marketplace, and for a moment, she felt she was actually Willow again instead of the second in command of an army of young girls who might die any second. She’d forgotten what it felt like just to be herself, and she found she’d rather missed her.

And it was then she saw something brightly colored out of the corner of her eye. Moment of relaxation or not, she was still a trained observer, and she’d gotten to the point where she could sense when something unusual or potentially threatening was in the area. Her instincts were telling her that there was something partially demonic nearby, and at first she thought the brightly colored tuft that was bobbing in and out of sight on the other side of a rug loom was some kind of macaw. Then it turned a corner, and her heart stopped.

“Oz?” she said quietly, staring, then realized that it really was him and yelled, “Hey, Oz!”

He swung his head towards her, startled, and then smiled, coming towards her at a half-run.

“Hey,” he said, giving her a hug. “Long time, no see.”

“Nope,” Willow said, feeling just a little uncomfortable. “So… you’re in Istanbul?”

“Yeah,” he said, “pretty much am. And, hey, we’ve got something in common, because as it turns out, so are you.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “So, what’re you doing?”

“Stuff,” he said vaguely. “I was still doing some research on the wolf; heard there was some good mojo going down in Izmir.”

“Oh, did that work out for you?” she asked hopefully.

“Not bad,” he said with a shrug. “I only have a problem one day a month now instead of three.”

“Well, hey, that’s actually pretty great,” she said, smiling. “I mean, that’s almost a 67% reduction in wolfiness.”

“It’s cool,” he agreed, looking around. “So, um, there’s a coffee bar on the next street. It’s pretty good if you don’t mind the hookah smoke. Want to grab a cup, maybe catch up more?”

Willow smiled, and the feeling of being Willow instead of just a tactical commander rooted itself a little deeper.

“I’d like that,” she said, finding her arm tucked under his. Then she began to laugh… no, actually giggle.

“What’s so funny?” he asked as they threaded their way through the crowd.

“Nothing,” she said, “it’s just, remember when I said I wouldn’t be surprised to see you again someday?”

“Yes, which, really, what with the whole being-in-Istanbul thing was pretty psychic of you. Kinda impressive,” he said.

“Yeah, except I got one little thing backwards,” she said, reaching up to ruffle his blue hair.

Comments

[krazylokoguy.livejournal.com]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. This was insanely beautiful.

I'm going to use the paragraph where you have Willow walking through the bazaars as reference. Before that paragraph I was absolute GIDDY about the Willow/Kennedy falling out. I should be above that, but no, no I am not.

Then the bazaar paragraph hit and let me tell you I read that paragraph like three times. It was so amazingly sensory and beautiful and WILLOW-y.

And then... holy crap my heart started racing. And then... the reunion. And then I was CRYING. And then... sigh.

Meltha, thank YOU again. 'Twas wonderful.

[bookishwench.livejournal.com]

Hee! Aw, I'm really glad you enjoyed it. :)

[deird1]

Ohh...

This was nice. I loved the fact that you had to mention that Willow's hovering was figurative. And calculating wolfiness as a percentile.

Lovely idea.

[bookishwench.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I actually wound up adding in the figuratively thing while I was proofreading when I realized that with her it really could be literal. :)

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

This is incredibly sweet.

[bookishwench.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[gwynevere1.livejournal.com]

“Hey,” he said, giving her a hug. “Long time, no see.”
I love so much that this is Oz's entire reaction to seeing Willow again in an entirely unexpected place, after not seeing her for years.

[bookishwench.livejournal.com]

Old Oz was always the king of understatement. :)

[bookishwench.livejournal.com]

Kennedy was not my cup of tea either.

There are still rumors floating around that Oz was going to be a semi-regular in Angel season 6, which would have been neat.

[sonneta.livejournal.com]

Oooh! I like it. Nice descriptions, and good voices on the characters.

[bookishwench.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Oz is always a little tough for me to get.