The Wind Beyond the Walls of the Mind: Chapter 19 - Infrared Burst in Block E375 - concluded
by Gaius Petronius
The Wind Beyond the Walls of the Mind

Chapter 19 - concluded

Infrared Burst in Block E375
by Gaius Petronius

DISCLAIMER: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all the characters that appear on the show are the exclusive property of Joss Whedon, the WB, Fox and Mutant Enemy, Inc. This story can be read on its own or as a sequel to H. P. Lovecraft's "The Haunter of the Dark" from which the Ancient Ones, the Shining Trapezohedron and the character of Robert Blake are derived.

The Wind Beyond the Walls of the Mind is set roughly in mid-season four shortly following the death of Doyle but before the creation of Adam and the death of Maggie Walsh.

Content Note: This part is rated PG-13 for raunchy language.

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"Buffy!" Angel shouted as he dashed past Giles to Buffy's side. In an instant, Kate followed him and, as the two reached Buffy, Kate dropped to one knee and drew her service revolver. She aimed it directly at Faith. Angel swung his arm out, pushing aside the weapon.

"NO!" he shouted to Kate as he shoved her hand holding the gun down towards the pavement, "You'll only kill Faith! It won't hurt that thing at all!"

"That one is weaker," the Ancient One hissed to MacDuffie indicating Buffy.

Xander backed up and hovered at the Guardian's side.

"We're not winning at this table, are we," Xander cracked fearfully to MacDuffie.

"I've held better hands before," he answered in quiet desperation, "You and Anya get back to the shop and prepare to fire up your 'defense perimeter.'"

"Right!" Xander's eyes lit up.

"But you have to wait until it comes out of Faith's body," MacDuffie whispered urgently before Xander could take off, "While it is still in her, it is subject to the laws of this universe. Light will not effect it. Only when it assumes its true manifestation does it gain all the powers . . . and weaknesses . . . of the alternate universe from which it came. You must wait until it is free of her body! I'll try to draw it out. Go!"

"Got it!" Xander grinned as he turned and ran back to the Scooby Gang. When he reached the pavement in front of the shop, he grabbed Anya by the shoulder and dragged her along with him inside.

"What are you doing?!" she snapped, "You wanna have sex NOW?!"

Ignoring her complaint, Xander scrambled in through the front door with Anya in tow. The shop was dark and both stumbled over chairs and banged into counters.

"Quick! Plug in the 220 cord!" Xander shouted.

Immediately, Anya followed one particularly fat stretch of cable to the back wall by the storage room. The bizarre illumination from the Shining Trapezohedron leaked through cracks in the door. As she rammed the cable into the socket, she looked up fearfully, color from a spectrum of another universe bathing her face.

"You got juice!" she called out over her shoulder.

She quickly rejoined Xander who stood poised over the power switch and stared out the front window at the confrontation between MacDuffie and Nyarlethotep.

Still partly stunned, Buffy sat up at the curb where she had landed and shook the butterflies out of her head. Powerless to intervene, she, Angel and Kate watched MacDuffie step slowly and forcefully towards Faith.

"What the hell is he doing?" Buffy exclaimed.

MacDuffie halted a few feet in front of the Faith. Her face was now completely submerged beneath the image of Nyarlethotep's burning eye.

"You will not have the Shining Trapezohedron!"

"Stand aside, Guardian!" Nyarlethotep commanded, "The Ancient Ones will claim what is theirs!"

"Not in that manifestation you won't!" the Guardian announced sarcastically.

For a moment there was silence as if Nyarlethotep were confused by MacDuffie's pronouncement.

"The body you inhabit limits you to the laws of this universe," he continued, "And in that form, you will not get by me!"

"You take me for a fool!" the Ancient One growled.

In the darkness at the base of the massive wall, Faith leaned against the cold stones as she listened intently to the exchange between MacDuffie and Nyarlethotep. The wind which moments before was only a gentle breeze, now had picked up force and whipped around Faith tossing her black hair wildly across her face.

"You Bastard!" she seethed with anger at Nyarlethotep, "You fucking bastard! You get outta my goddamn body!"

Faith raised her hands in front of her and placed them against the massive stone wall. This time, instead of being thwarted by the gray blocks, her hands passed through as if the wall had no substance. Realizing what was happening, Faith grinned with malicious glee.

"Look out, SUCKA!" she snarled.

At the same time, in the square before the shop, MacDuffie raised his sword which now emitted a glowing golden light.

"You will not take the Crystal in that form," he announced again, "And you will not get by me!"

"You would have me abandon this Slayer's body so that your followers may reclaim it?!" the flaming entity controlling Faith's body scoffed.

"As long as you hold that body you have no powers here," MacDuffie argued logically, "But if you manifest your true form, you could easily reduce me to a pile of charred ash!"

"And at the same time expose the Ancient Ones before the Void opens?!" Nyarlethotep screamed back, "That's what you want Guardian! This one is the strongest among you. I have sufficient strength in this Slayer's body to seize the Crystal. Do you think the Ancient Ones are so stupid as to . . ."

Suddenly, as in Faith's room in the Convalescent Hospital, Faith's head twisted backwards as if she had been grabbed from behind by the throat and hair. Nyarlethotep roared in anger. Faith's body writhed and turned in a furious struggle with her unseen attacker. In a moment, the three lobed burning eye detached from her face and, as a cloud of red mist, floated away from Faith and coalesced into a form a dozen yards behind her. A sudden wind whipped down the street snatching up pieces of trash and small chunks of debris, hurling them in all directions.

Faith, freed of the image of Nyarlethotep, dropped to her knees on the pavement.

"And stay the fuck out!" she muttered before she passed out and toppled over in the street. Buffy leaped to her feet, pushed Angel aside and broke into a run towards the crippled Slayer.

"Faith! FAITH!" she cried over and over.

Blocks away in the Command Center of the Initiative, technicians and camouflaged Initiative Soldiers rushed back and forth. Seated before a bank of monitors, Hunter watched one screen with wide eyed intensity.

"Agent Riley! Sir!" he suddenly called out.

Riley stepped out of the crowd of Initiative soldiers and joined Hunter by the screen.

"Whatcha ya got, Hunter?"

"It's an infrared burst, Sir! Biggest yet! Right off the scale!"

"Where?" Riley asked bending over the screen with Hunter.

"Here! Block E375," Hunter pointed to a point on the monitor. He quickly cross referenced the location on a second readout.

"Pretty empty part of town," he said puzzled as he ran his finger down the list on the neighboring screen, "Looks like a second hand camera store and some kinda weird herb or magic shop."

Riley, his brow furrowed with worry, stared intently at the screen.

"That's the place Willow hangs out . . ." he whispered to himself.

"Sir?" Hunter looked up in surprise.

Swaying back and forth in the rising wind before the Scooby Gang, the form of Nyarlethotep surged upwards, materializing into a nightmare entity over thirty feet high. The spawn from the Void before time and space spread its monstrous webbed wings. Its fingered claws stretched and flexed as if experiencing true motion for the first time in years. The three lobed burning eye swirled rhythmically on the end of its long snake like neck.

"You wanted it this way, Guardian!" it roared against the wind, "The Trapezohedron is Ours!"

As Buffy reached Faith's side and dropped down beside her, the eye of Nyarlethotep released an enormous globule of flaming plasma surging in her direction. Buffy spread her body across Faith's in a futile attempt to protect the fallen Slayer.

At the same instant, MacDuffie leaped between the oncoming fiery missile and the two Slayers. He raised his sword, now glowing furiously with a shield like aura, in front of him so that the blade faced flat edge outwards. The blazing globule of molten plasma struck the golden light of the sword and scattered into smaller balls of liquid fire that splattered in all directions. Several started blazes where they landed. Others soared into the sky like a nightmare display of fireworks. Staggered, the Guardian dropped to his knees. The golden light surrounding the sword faltered.

Across town, Spike and Willow were still seated side by side on the couch in front of the VCR. Suddenly, Willow's eyes widened with alarm, and she sat bolt upright.

"I gotta get the hell outta here!" she yelled.

"Hey! I didn't lay a fang on you!" Spike complained in disappointment.

"Screw you!" Willow snapped as she ran for the door.

"You're supposed to stay and keep an eye on me! I'm rotten, you know!" Spike whined after her, "I could break into Giles' liquor cubby and drink up all his precious scotch. . . . or light the flat on fire!"

"Knock yerself out!" Willow yelled over her shoulder as she slammed the door shut and ran off into the night.

Inside the Curiosity Shop, the red blaze of light from the fireball illuminated the walls and ceiling as well as Xander and Anya standing by the window. Xander, his face bathed in horror, cried out.

"BUFFY!"

With all his weight, Xander plunged both hands, palms first, down on the power switches controlling the banks of lighting. There was a sharp popping sound from the wiring and a snapping flash of electricity from the control panel.

In the street, the entire bank of floodlights and spots lining the front of the shop suddenly burst alive with a blaze of illumination that lit up the square brighter than the brilliant California noon day sun. Giles, Cordelia, Angel and Kate winced and covered their faces from the piercing brilliance. Buffy spread her body across Faith as if she were shielding her from the flood of light. All around them, the wind whirled and thundered, swaying the electrical equipment back and forth in its stands.

Up the street, beyond the kneeling form of MacDuffie, the surge of light illuminated Nyarlethotep from top to bottom. The Ancient One extended its neck skyward and a scream rang out from the three lobed eye that shook the ground and caused several of the Scooby Gang to stagger.

As the wall of light bathed the Ancient One, the red glow surrounding it dimmed sharply. The physical appearance of its skin began to transform as shreds dropped away from its body and whole portions of its flesh vaporized into swirling clouds of crimson mist. In a few seconds, the light reduced the form of Nyarlethotep to an incoherent foaming cloud of fragments and particles.

Then the same wind, which had been blowing in all directions, suddenly concentrated its force against the monstrous disintegrating form of Nyarlethotep. Like an invisible hand, it struck the Ancient One head on and scattered the crimson red cloud into nothingness as if it were a retreating bank of fog over the ocean, melting away before the morning sun.

In the Initiative Command Center, Hunter, who was still studying the monitor, suddenly sat back in surprise. Riley sensed Hunter's confusion.

"What is it?" he asked.

"It's gone, sir!" Hunter replied, completely confused by the jumble of altered readings rolling across the monitor.

"What do you mean?"

"The infrared power surge," Hunter said scratching his head, "It was here a second ago, and now it's just . . . gone!"

Just as quickly, the wind itself in the square vanished and all was suddenly still. Buffy slowly looked up from her position over the prostrate body of Faith. MacDuffie, still on his knees, tottered and planted the point of the sword in the pavement before him leaning on it for support. Up and down the street, small fires burned where splattered fragments of the blazing globule landed. In the distance, the first wail of approaching fire trucks echoed faintly among the scorched buildings. The wall of flood lights snapped off leaving the street shrouded in night once more.

Giles, Cordelia, Kate and Angel, still in shock and rubbing their eyes, all stood motionless where they were. Suddenly, Xander burst running from out of the shop towards Buffy and Faith.

"Buffy! Buffy!" he cried out, and he knew there were tears running down his face but he didn't care what anyone thought.

"Hey! Wait up!" Anya called out as she bounded off the sidewalk after him.

Xander skidded to his knees in the middle of the square beside Buffy and Faith.

"Buffy! Are you all right?!" he stammered out of breath.

"Yeah," she said quietly as the blaze from the flames all around them cast flickering shadows across their faces and down the pavement.

At first, Buffy didn't look at Xander. Her gaze was fixed on Faith who stared back up at her with the light of recognition in her blood red eyes. At the same time, Anya reached the three in the middle of the street and stood directly behind the kneeling Xander.

"Faith? . . ." Buffy whispered, "Can you hear me?"

". . . hey . . . 'B' . . ." Faith murmured, but Buffy could tell she was fading fast.

Faith turned her gaze to Xander.

". . . thanks for the backup . . . lover boy . . ."

Suddenly Faith's body trembled. Her red eyes glassed over, and it was clear she no longer recognized the faces staring down at her. Her consciousness had slipped away once more, leaving only the shell of a Slayer's body lying by Buffy and Xander's side. Her chest barely moved with short shallow breaths.

"Lover boy?" Anya bitched, "She called you 'lover boy!?' Xander I want to know right now what . . ."

"Shut the fuck up . . ." Xander snarled, cutting her off. Anya gasped.

At the same time, Buffy reached down and smoothed Faith's long black hair back off her forehead.

Somewhere in the black Aether of the Void, Faith, her eyes closed, lay silently on her back at the foot of the once more impenetrable wall. She hardly breathed but on her face slowly appeared the faintest hint of a smile. A wisp of a breeze barely stirred several stands of her black hair on her forehead.

In the square, MacDuffie suddenly loomed up from behind Faith, Buffy, Xander and Anya. Buffy, her face not concealing her despair, looked up at him for some reassuring sign, but his eyes clearly said he had none to give.

At the curbside, Kate scrambled to her feet and wiped her brow in relief.

"Holy shit!" she exclaimed, "I'm glad that's over!"

Angel only stared at the pavement and didn't answer.

"What? . . ." she asked, now sensing something was very wrong, "What is it, Angel!? This is over? ANGEL?!"

Still Angel didn't reply. Giles and Cordelia suddenly appeared at Kate and Angel's side. Giles spoke quietly.

"Lt. Lockley," he said ominously, "This was only a skirmish."

"Wait a minute . . . are you telling me . . . ?"

Kate didn't finish the sentence as the impact of Giles' words sank in.

Giles spoke quietly as he stared out into the street at the group around Faith.

"It'll be back tomorrow night . . .with the planetary conjunction . . . leading the rest of the Ancient Ones."

"But we can beat it, can't we Giles?" Cordelia asked, her voice quivering, "I mean, we did tonight."

"Just barely . . . " he answered staring out into the street towards Faith, "And the cost may have been too dear."

In the center of the street, Xander, his face mirroring Buffy's despair, looked up at MacDuffie.

"We can't just leave her here!" he suddenly cried out and his face was wet again.

"Of course not," the old Guardian answered quietly, "I'll bring her inside."

"No!" Buffy shouted protectively.

MacDuffie and Xander stared at her in surprise. Buffy looked back down at Faith and gazed on the comatose Slayer's now peaceful features.

"I will . . ." she said quietly but firmly.

In a second, Buffy slipped one arm under Faith's shoulders and the other under her waist. Even though Faith was larger, Buffy swept her up in her arms as if she were the gentlest of burdens.

She then turned and slowly bore the fallen Slayer, whose arms and legs dangled down limply, towards the sidewalk and the front door of the shop. Xander and MacDuffie quickly dropped in place along side her. Understanding what was happening, Angel, Giles, Cordelia and Kate rapidly crossed out into the street to join them. Not to be left behind, Anya reluctantly took up the rear.

As the group with Buffy at its head wound across the pavement, the scattered fires burned, crackled and cast the whole scene in a unearthly flickering glow. Clouds of smoke swept around Buffy as she bore Faith in the strangely illuminated night and small tongues of flame burst up every now and then as if they were witnesses, indeed participants in a pagan funeral procession for a fallen hero in another time.

Then, in a moment more, the entire group disappeared into the shop as the wail of the fire truck sirens, like the circling moan of banshees just beyond the edge of vision, grew louder with each passing second.

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