Fic: One Soul 4/4

[macx-larabee.livejournal.com]

TITLE: One Soul, part 4
sequel to Two Worlds
AUTHOR: Macx
RATING: NC-17
PAIRING: Henry/Will
SPOILERS: 1.7 and onward, quotes are all from ‘Edward’
DISCLAIMER: None of the characters belong to me, sadly. They are owned by people with a lot more money
Author’s Voice of Warning (aka Author’s Standard Note):
English is not my first language; it’s German. I've been writing for fandom for fifteen years in that language, longer in my native language. Any mistakes you find in here, collect them and you might win a prize The spell-checker said everything's okay, but you know how trustworthy those thingies are....
FEEDBACK: Loved




“Covering this up, Henry, is only gonna make it worse. I can help you.”


Will looked at the creature towering over him. There was no mistaking the wolf. No human features, just the wolf. Long snout, sharp teeth, pointed ears. Canine eyes regarded him as the lycan sniffed and snarled softly. It was bipedal. At least it was standing on its hind legs, but from the general build it was most likely running on all fours for speed.

“Henry,” he said softly.

It got him a growl and the wolf’s ears twitched. It seemed to sniff the air and the yellow eyes narrowed slightly.

“Henry?”

Another growl and the lycan prowled closer, circling Will, who stood perfectly still and let Henry scent him. As naked as the wolf was in its abnormal form, it was also covered in dense, dark brown fur.

“Henry, do you understand me?” he tried again.

The wolf rumbled, ears twitching again, looking indecisive. Will wasn’t a dog guy, but he didn’t think the wolf was showing signs of aggression. It was careful, keeping its distance, but it wasn’t about to jump him.

Going down on all fours, still large enough that its head easily reached above Will’s hips, the lycan circled him once more, then closed in and the dry nose touched Will’s skin. He almost stopped breathing.

The wolf snuffled softly.

There was a sound coming from outside the secured room and the wolf snarled, rising to its full height and towering once more. So close to the creature, Will saw powerful muscles move underneath the deceptively soft fur.

“Henry, it’s okay. You’re safe here.”

The snarling intensified and claws flexed.

The sound didn’t come again and whatever it had been, Will didn’t really care. Right now he was trying to find his partner in the depths of the creature, tried to calm him down enough to work with him.

“Henry, it’s okay. Everything’s fine. You’re safe here. We’re safe,” Will continued softly, voice calm and level, very sure and easy.

The wolf prowled over to the door and sniffed, then started to explore the safe room. It appeared a little tense and when it pushed against the door, which wouldn’t budge, it growled again.

“We’re locked in. For safety. Just you and me. There’s no one here to hurt you.”

Another push. This time the wolf sounded more annoyed. Teeth bared, it studied Will, then snarled demandingly.

“We agreed on this, remember? A secure room? Henry, take control. Understand me. Don’t let yourself be guided by instinct alone. You’re not trapped. You’re fine. If you want to get out, change back to human form.”

The growl deepened and the lycan stalked toward him, blunt claws clicking on the concrete floor.
“Henry,” Will implied. “Take control.”

The next sound was almost a bellow, a demand to be set free.

“I can’t release you in this form.”

Hackles rose and the long teeth were rather impressive. Will refused to back down, to let his fear show, but the wolf smelled it anyway. Its ears were now flat on its head and if Will hadn’t known who this abnormal was, he might have hit the panic button. As it was, he faced down the irate creature, hands balled into fists, determined to see this through.

“You won’t get out of here by hurting me,” he whispered sharply. “And I know you won’t hurt me. You’re in there and you can control this. Take control, Henry.”

The wolf pushed against him, the head colliding hard with one hip, but Will caught himself.

“Henry!”

The growl was menacing.

“Henry, listen to me!”

“Will, we need to stop this!”

The new voice had the lycan rise on its hind legs, roaring a challenge to the unseen one.

“No!” Will cried. “Helen, no!” He held up his hands, shaking his head. “Not yet!”

Powerful hands pushed him against the wall and he found himself eye-to-eye with something inhuman and feral, and he reacted in a way no sane person would have done – he buried his fingers in the thick neck fur.

“Henry,” he whispered imploringly, feeling the blunt nails dig into his shoulders. “Henry, you can control this. You can. You already did. You won’t harm me. Or any of us. Maybe a tight space wasn’t such a good idea, but you’re not a prisoner. You can get out any time you want – when you have control.”

Hot breath touched his skin and he felt the nose nuzzle against his neck, scenting him.

“Henry…”

A growl followed his plea.

“You’re not a mindless beast.”

The whine was softer now, more docile. The fingers digging into his clothes loosened their grip and the wolf stepped back, just far enough for Will to be able to look at him more fully.

One clawed hand reached out and touched the human’s neck, close to where the bite scar was.

“You know I would never hurt you,” Will said softly, feeling something inside of him shiver at the touch. It wasn’t fear. It was something else.

The ears turned forward and the menacing snarl was gone. He reached out and ran a caress over the short fur of the head.

“It’s okay. Take control, change back.”

The yellow eyes flickered, turned darker, greener, and the whole lycan form seemed to blur. There was a groan coming from Henry and his whole form twisted in a reversal of what Will had witnessed before. The snout retreated, the ears shrank, and the fur disappeared. Shedding not only fur but also muscle mass, the creature before Will turned back into the slender, human shape of Henry Foss.

Wide green eyes met calm blue ones, then Henry gave a whimper of horror. He stepped back, but Will caught him, curling strong fingers around a naked forearm.

“Henry,” he said, smiling. “You took control.”

“C-control,” Henry echoed, sounding terrified of what had nearly happened.

His eyes roamed over the other man’s body, trying to find injuries. Will just pulled him closer.

“Yes. You didn’t hurt me.”

“I… I…”

“Do you remember?”

“I never do,” he managed.

“But the wolf remembers me.”

Henry swallowed hard. He was completely naked, staring at Will like a frightened child. The psychiatrist pulled him even closer.

“You didn’t hurt me. I told you. You can control this. We just need a bigger room next time.”

“Uh?”

“You’re a bit claustrophobic as a wolf.” Will grinned.

“I… am?”

“Yep.”

Henry frowned.

“Might also be the primal side wanting freedom. You have something against locked doors.”

“Uh-huh.”

“But this proved you have control. Easily startled, but in control. You can do this, Henry. We can do this,” Will told him, smiling reassuringly.

“We can?” he echoed weakly.

“Yes. We can.”

Henry was still shaking and he looked like just the wrong noise would make him bolt. Will framed his face and kissed him, slow and reassuring.

“Not very professional, Dr. Zimmerman,” Henry whispered, voice wobbly, lips twisting into the mockery of his usual bright smile.

“I’m flexible. I adjust my treatment methods to my patients’ conditions.”

Henry breathed a little laugh again. “Good adjustment.”

“Thought as much. How about we get you some clothes and leave this place?”

“Really good idea,” Henry agreed whole-heartedly.

* * *

Henry watched his mate sleep. Will lay on his back, one arm flung out over the other side of the bed, head tilted toward Henry’s pillow. It showed the bite mark on his neck, the scar that had remained. It had been such a shallow bite, it should have healed completely, but the mark had remained. The wolf part of Henry approved; the human side was freaked out.

Sitting on his office chair, staring at the blond he now shared a life with, Henry felt memories tease him. Memories of the locked safe room, of Will close by. He remembered the scent of his mate, reassuring him that all was well with him. He remembered feeling locked in and the anger rise at the fact. And he remembered the startling voice of someone else, triggering a rise of aggression. He had been ready to kill… whatever threatened Will.

Wrapping his arms protectively around him, Henry shivered.

Protect.

It was foremost on his mind. Protect his mate, then his pack.

Part of him thought it had been the alpha’s voice, but it had come so suddenly, into this enclosed, trapping environment, he had reacted out of pure instinct.

A whimper rose in his throat.

His teeth clenched, his lower jaw one big cramp as he tried to suppress the moan that wanted to rise.

He was a monster.

He was a feral creature.

Will’s trust was warming, but he was still… dangerous.

Getting up, he slid from the room, padding barefooted through the massive guts of the Sanctuary. It was dark outside, barely three a.m. and aside from the night prowlers, no one was around. In the end he was in his lab, sitting with his computers, surrounded by cold, hard steel, wires and diodes and chips and nothing that lived and breathed and could be mauled to death by an angry werewolf.



It was where Helen found him, asleep over his desk, neck cramping, drool on the papers underneath. She touched him gently, running a cress over his spiky, unruly hair and along his neck.

“Henry,” she said softly.

He started awake, blinking, eyes bleary.

“Henry,” she repeated.

“Whu-what? Dr. Magnus? Oh hey…” Henry sat back, scrubbing a hand over his face.

“You should go to bed, Henry.”

“I… wanted to work on some files… gadgets… things…” He gestured weakly. “Y’know.”

Her smile was warm. “You did well today, Henry.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“You changed because you wanted to.”

“I nearly attacked Will!” he snapped, pushing out of his chair and past her.

“You didn’t attack anyone.”

Henry hit the wall with his fist. “I can’t remember…”

Her hand was on his shoulder, squeezing gently. “In time, you will. You can train, Henry. You can take control. Of the curse and of the gift.”

He swallowed hard. “Helen…”

She brushed her hand over his unshaven cheek. “You have come so far, Henry. You have accepted so much about yourself already. This is just another step. You said you wanted to see what you can contribute with your abilities. It’s never easy to learn something, be it to walk, to talk or to control a metamorphic change. There will be pain, but there is also the reward. You gained Will because you accepted that already, haven’t you?”

“Yes,” he whispered.

Will. His Will. His mate. Will had already trusted him, believed in him.

“But this isn’t about sex, Doc,” Henry argued weakly.

She smiled, eyes sparkling. “No, it isn’t. It’s about searching your soul and finding that missing part. Not a mate, but that part of yourself that links the wolf with the man. Your kind is able to live in both forms. I took you from your people and you never learned to make that one important connection.”

“We’re not the most peaceful of people,” Henry reminded her. “We’re vicious.”

“So are humans.”

“Helen…”

She smiled more. “Henry?”

He sighed in defeat. “There’s no easy way out, hm?”

She shook her head. “There never is.”

“Was afraid of that.” He slumped a little.

“Trust us. Trust Will. You came so far already, Henry. You can do this.”

He sighed softly.

“I hope so. For all of us, I hope so.”

* * *

While everything inside Henry fought against more ‘sessions’, there was no saying no to reason. Especially when this reason came from Will. Zimmerman wouldn’t force him into anything, he knew that, but the voice and the expression helped. Will made pretty convincing arguments, too.

So they continued. In a bigger room with re-enforced see-through windows, Will kept talking him through the transformations. Henry never remembered details, but he had flashes triggered by smell or sound or a touch. He tried hard to at least get a general idea what he had been doing while in wolf form, but it never happened.

“Give it time,” Will told him over and over.

Lycans didn’t black out in ‘wolf mode’. Only Henry did because he had denied himself this freedom for so long. He was really more like two people, both connected, but one not acknowledging the other, and the wolf didn’t know how to bridge the gap to its human side.



Will himself was dealing with seeing his lover change into a werewolf better than he had expected himself. Maybe it was because he had seen so much stuff already, so many strange forms and shapes, so many disgusting creations, that it turned the wolf into something normal.

Well, normal for the Sanctuary.

And he found Henry not the least bit monstrous. He was large and muscular and powerful, but Will had no real fear of him. He was impressed and he was cautious and he was respectful. Henry allowed to touch him, he allowed nearness, and while he was usually tense and alert and ready to attack what might threaten them, he had yet to even bruise Will.

It was a big step.

Leaving the safe room was out of the question. The wolf would be easily startled and one aggressive move could trigger a rather bad reaction.

What didn’t work was memory recall. Will had tried it with several very visible, sometimes rather impressively smelly objects in the safe room. The wolf was interested, but Henry could barely remember that there had been something there.

“This is only the beginning,” Will told him as they sat in one of the many huge rooms. A fire was crackling, Bigfoot had left them sandwiches and then retreated, and no one was disturbing their post-session talk. “You can’t expect to go from zero to a million within a week.”

Henry stared at the ceiling, his sandwich untouched. “Can’t I? Those damned proteins didn’t take long to make my life miserable again.”

Will smiled briefly. “How do you know? The chemical process in the human body doesn’t go into overdrive from one second to another.”

He grimaced. “This body? No bets, Will. No bets.”

“Your change was because of me, Henry. You said so yourself. And it took a while. From the stuffy nose of your supposed Nubbins allergy, to the fever, and then saving my sorry ass from the snake creature.”

He turned his head and looked at the man sitting across from where he was lounging, keeping his professional distance.

“This isn’t a new ability, Will. This is what I was born with. I should be able to adjust, now that the wolf is free.”

“Bridging the gap you created between both your sides will take time.”

Henry groaned and sat up. “I hate this! I hate these stupid abilities! How can I be of use like that if I can’t even remember if there was a chair or smelly underwear in that room!”

“You will.”

“Well, I’d skip the underwear if possible,” he muttered.

Will smiled. He smiled back, still feeling more than just a little tense. He flexed his fingers, trying to remember what they looked like when he was the wolf and failing.

At least Will was safe from him. That was all that counted.

“Henry?”

He looked up and gave his mate another smile, this one wavering a little.

“It’ll be okay,” Will repeated what he had said so often before.

And a tiny part of Henry allowed him to hope.


fin


Thank you for your patience. Real life interrupted the writing process with this one ;)