Fic: One Soul 3/?

[macx-larabee.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the delay. My job took me away from my home computer. Here's the next part. Hope it makes up for the wait. :)



TITLE: One Soul, part 3
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





Henry didn’t sleep in their room that night. He spent the entire time down in the Shoe, watching the monitors, watching the Abnormals that had sought refuge here. His mind was filled with confusion, with pain, and he wanted nothing more than to get this over with. But if he hurt Will…

There was a soft, inquiring grunt and he looked up, eyes burning from staring at the computer screens all the time. Bigfoot was looking at him with an expression Henry knew only too well.

“Don’t say a word,” he muttered.

It got him a cuff to the head.

“Ow! What?! Can’t a man sulk in peace?”

“Not when it concerns more than just the man. Why do you still fight what’s inside you?” Bigfoot asked.

“I’m not. In case you haven’t heard, me and Will got mated.”

Another grunt. “That’s not what I’m talking about, Henry, and you know it.”

He was silent, refusing to be baited.

“Your curse and your gift are one,” his oldest friend continued. “They are neither good, nor bad, but what you make of them. You took the first step in acknowledging your need.”

“Yeah. Okay, so I was an idiot and all. How could I have known Will was bisexual and thought I was a good catch, huh?” He painted a smile on his face. “Handsome guys never fall for geeks.”

The brow ridges lowered and Bigfoot snorted. “You could have seen the obvious if you had opened your eyes.”

Another piece of bait. Henry doggedly ignored it.

“Finding your mate gave you a little freedom, but you still cage yourself.”

“Which is better for all involved! I don’t want your blood on my hands!”

“You are more in control of yourself than you believe, Henry.”

“Gift and all, I know.”

The grunt was filled with annoyance. “Mocking yourself will only help you for now. Facing yourself will require courage.”

“So I’m a coward?”

It got him no answer and the pale blue eyes regarded him knowingly.

“Oh great! Just great!” Henry pretended to sulk, but it wasn’t working. His mind was racing now.

“Each of us here has powers. Each of us had to learn to accept what we are, face what we can do, and confront ourselves in how the others see us. We all fear to be outcasts. We all want acceptance.”

Henry scrubbed a trembling hand over his unshaven features. He had done some stupid stuff to get Will to accept him, even though they had already been mated. Even though Will had told him he had found him, Henry, attractive right from the start. Will had been drawn to the human and he had accepted the lycan that came with it.

“I’m scared,” he finally whispered.

A huge hand cupped his face, forced him to look into the humanoid face surrounded by long, shaggy hair. Bigfoot grunted softly.

“You are part of this family, this pack. No matter what.”

The strong fingers squeezed him gently, driving the point home.

“And Will wants you, no matter what. Your gift reacted to his wanting you. You wouldn’t have forced him into this if he hadn’t been interested.”

Henry nodded mutely.

“Then accept what he can give you.”

“Control.”

Another grunt.

Bigfoot removed his hand and straightened, looking down at the man he had known ever since Henry had come to the Sanctuary as a child.

“Control,” he agreed.

And then he walked out of the computer lab, leaving Henry alone with his thoughts.

* * *

“I can’t control myself!”
“Not as of yet, no.”



The next days Henry had little time to think about releasing the wolf. Magnus had discovered something roaming around the sewer system and it was growing more and more confident, actually coming out into the open. So she started a hunt for the elusive creature that possessed chameleon abilities and the intelligence of a normal human. It evaded its captors and nearly took out two police officers when they cornered it.

It all climaxed in a vicious fight that left them all bruised and wounded. Magnus featured a black eye and a split lip, Ashley had scratches all over one leg, and Will had suffered a sonic blow that had knocked him out.

All in a day’s work, sure, but Henry hadn’t really enjoyed watching a limping Ashley drag in his mate. He was in control enough not to run over and ask stupid questions. Instead the human took charge, relieved Ashley of her burden and guided Will to one of the medical beds. Blue eyes, glazed over from pain and a probable concussion, fixed on him.

“Henry,” Will managed, sounding relieved.

“Got yourself beaten up again,” Henry sighed with mock drama. “Can’t let you out to play with the grown-ups.”

Henry knew enough from Magnus’ call as they were coming home to know that this was the soft version of how things could have ended. There were enough dead already and the creature had been killed, too.

Will groaned and curled up on the medical bed, a picture of misery. Henry squeezed one slender shoulder in sympathy, then glanced over to where Helen was already checking her daughter’s condition.

“I’m fine, Mom. Really. Just scratches.”

He smiled a little and grabbed the first aid kit, handing it over to Magnus. Ashley would insist she was fine with a gaping hole in her chest and her head under one arm.

Henry checked on his mate, found some minor bruises, a cut to the forearm, and that Will had a major headache.

“Sonic blow,” Ashley commented. “Took the full brunt.”

“Forgot to duck?” Henry teased softly.

“Go to hell,” Will muttered.

“Aw, I love you too.”

Ashley was grinning, then winced as her mother dabbed iodine onto her scratches. Will grabbed Henry’s wrist, curling rather strong fingers around it, and groaned in pain again. His eyes were squeezed shut and his breath came in short little pants.

“Headache,” Henry mused, not even asking.

“Killer,” was the hissed reply, then Will moaned.

There was nothing he could do to help, aside from being there, so he was. Just there. Waiting for Will’s turn to be treated, waiting until his mate was released from the infirmary, if he was, and then sit with him in their room – or down here.

As it was, Magnus determined that Will needed watching and that he had to stay here for the night. Henry just grabbed his laptop and settled down for the night next to the injured man. Will was already asleep, but he had to be woken every hour, just in case. He could do that. No problem at all.

* * *

“Look, I can't account for myself when I'm that thing. And what if I hurt one of you? I can't let that happen.“



It took Will three days to fully recover, longer where the cuts were concerned. Henry tried not to worry too much. He didn’t want to be some kind of obsessive animal, prowling around its weaker mate, wanting to protect, but he found himself tensing and snapping now and then, especially at Bigfoot. The Big Guy had just brought lunch and he had snarled at him because Will was in bed, asleep, and vulnerable. The ice blue eyes had regarded him calmly, then Bigfoot had placed the food onto the table and left them alone once more.

Henry had gone to apologize an hour later, feeling like an ass. Bigfoot had simply regarded him with the same calm he usually displayed.

“You need to learn,” he had only said.

Henry had felt like he had been slapped onto the wrists and sent to bed without food.

He had to learn. He had to control the temper that was the wolf, the instinct that wanted to threaten whoever might be a danger to Will… and he had to work out how to handle pressure and stress. Will hurt and out of commission was such a stress factor.

He might hurt someone. Maybe not Magnus or Ashley or the Big Guy, but what about the other Sanctuary residents? What if they just looked at Will wrong? What if the wolf started to feel threatened by Sophie’s empathic powers? Or by Edward’s soul-deep look into Henry Foss?

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he whispered, looking at the sleeping form of his lover.

But he did. By refusing to work with Will. By censoring his own abilities. By allowing this fear to fester.

He had a measurement of control in form of Will Zimmerman. He could do this if he trusted him, if he believed that the wolf wouldn’t harm its mate.

Can I trust it? Myself?

He did so in the throes of passion. The wolf had never harmed Will in those moment where control was equally not present.

* * *

“…whatever I do, I’m gonna wind up different.”


Another week after the encounter with the now dead creature, Henry finally came to a decision. He had looked over every unoccupied high security cell, had finally chosen one, and he had gone to Magnus.

“Are you sure?” she had asked what Henry couldn’t really, truthfully answer with a ‘yes’.

But he had said yes anyway.

“I am. Will’s right. I need to work on this. With him. I just… I want someone on the outside, ready to tranq me should I lose it. Please?”

Helen looked at him with those ancient, compassionate eyes. “I will help you, Henry.”

“Thanks.” He dredged up a smile. “Been procrastinating long enough.”

“Henry.”

“I know, I know. Shelving it. Ignoring my nature. Denying who I am. I know, Doc, I know.” He pushed his hands into his pockets, hunching his shoulders. “And no one’s pushing me, least of all Will. He should, though. He’s the psychologist. Well, psychiatrist. Whatever. He knows the medical bla-bla for all of this.”

“He can tell private from professional, Henry. Will wouldn’t push as long as you aren’t harming yourself.”

He laughed brokenly. “I’m already past that. I’m probably a good case file for a book.”

“I allowed you to live this way, in denial,” Magnus told him. “I’m to blame for your pain, too.”

“I’m not in pain! I hate what I am, but I’m not in pain! Why couldn’t I have been normal? Why did I have to be born an animal?” The hands were out of the pockets now, gesturing wildly.

“Henry…” She rose and approached him like one would a skittish colt. “You were born normal. You are lycan. It’s not a disease or a tumor that can be cut out.”

“I know what it’s like to be human,” he said softly, voice breaking. “And I’m so terrified to lose that, Helen. I don’t want to be that monster. I want to be me!”

She caught his hands, folding her own around them. “By accepting your abnormal side, the human will only grow. There are so many Abnormals out there, some intelligent, some primal, but all those we got to know that can shift between two different physical stages have never lost their humanity. And those not appearing human in our limited perception are far more than that sometimes.”

Henry glared at her. “I know that! I grew up with the knowledge of the abnormal! I’ve seen it all, the good, the bad an the ugly!”

And the beauty.

But Henry Foss wasn’t beautiful, and the wolf was hideous.

“Don’t you think I know all of that?” he went on, tearing his hands out of her grasp. “If I had always looked like some hairy rug, sure! But I’m this!” He gestured at himself, encompassing his human looks. “I’m human, Helen! I want to be human! I already made compromises on the wolf’s part and now… it always needs more!”

“You need more,” she corrected him softly.

“I…” he faltered, eyes filling. “I couldn’t bear to lose Will because of this. I know he’s my mate and he will stay with me, but I will lose part of him when he looks at the thing and sees… the animal.”

“He loves you, Henry.”

“Love isn’t the all-powerful answer to everything!” he cried. “Maybe I could never physically hurt him, but he would know… he would see… in all detail… and it would kill me…”

And then she was there, gathering him into her arms, holding the younger man close and letting him cry. Henry clung to her like he hadn’t ever since he had been a child, woken from nightmares he didn’t understand, dreams of blood and screams and death.

Helen stroked over his head and he buried closer, needing the comfort from someone other than Will.

“I’ll be there for you. Both of you,” she whispered her promise.



Helen had expected the breakdown sooner or later. Henry had taken a lot in the past weeks, starting with his sudden change, then to finding out just why he had done that, and finally accepting that Will Zimmerman was more than just a team mate and possible infatuation. She was happy for those two, even if part of her watched the whole development with a critical and apprehensive eye. She trusted in Will not to hurt Henry, and vice versa, but working relationships and intimacy should be kept separate.

So far, things had worked out well.

That Will would want to help Henry gain control of his abilities had only been expected, too. It was why she had hired him. He was good in what he did, people trusted him, and he worked well with the Abnormals at the Sanctuary. She was proud of how he had developed and how much he had given them as a team and as a friend.

Henry was quieting down, stepping back with a faint flush of embarrassment. She smiled softly. Henry wasn’t a small child any more, nor was he a teenager who had just found out how terrible a power he harbored. He was a grown man, young for his own kind, and he was new in a relationship that meant the world to him.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“There is nothing to apologize for, Henry,” she told him calmly. “You know my offer. You know what is possible.”

He nodded, evading her eyes.

“Henry?”

He briefly dared to glance at her.

“Trust Will.”

“I do, doc. With my life.”

“Then trust him with the wolf. I’ll be there. Nothing will happen.”

Another nod, then he stepped even further away gesturing vaguely. “I better…. Y’know. Work. System check. The whole shebang.” He shrugged, clearly uncomfortable now with the raw emotions in the air. “I…I’ll let you know… when…” Another gesture.

“Thank you, Henry.”

And then he was gone, almost fleeing.

Helen sighed softly. Henry had a long road still ahead of him and consciously letting his lycan side come out without duress or danger was only a small, first step.

A soft grunt had her turn and look at one of her oldest friends.

“He’s still torn,” Bigfoot remarked.

“It’s not easy for him,” Helen agreed. “I made a mistake and I know that now. I let him deny his heritage. If I had taught him about his abilities, a lot might have been avoided.”

Bigfoot gave a few soft grunts. “You wouldn’t have been able to get through to him. Not after that first transformation. Fear is a very strong emotion.”

She knew that, but she also knew that maybe, just maybe, there would have been a chance years earlier. Now it was up to Will and she wondered if he was truly up to the task.

Love was one thing. But reality liked to hit you between the eyes in a completely different way.

“They will be fine,” Bigfoot said.

“I hope so. I really hope so.”



tbc...