The Wind Beyond the Walls of the Mind
Chapter 17
"On the edge of the end of the world."
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 a little raunchy language.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Darkness and a building mist overhung the cemetery and all the stones like a great stifling blanket. Angel with Kate Lockley directly at his side, stood by the entrance to a large crypt. Nearby, Cordelia leaned against a tall dark stone. She eyed the monuments around her as if she were revisiting a particularly unpleasant past moment in her life.
All three stood unmoving before the crypt whose hidden passageways led to the underground Chamber once inhabited by The Master, Buffy's first and most powerful nemesis upon her arrival in Sunnydale. Once fearsome looking, the massive mausoleum now was abandoned and looted. Trash and broken fragments of stone lay scattered about the entrance and marble steps. The iron door itself swung loosely on its creaking hinges as if no one any longer feared the crypt's resident enough to shut the door.
Absent mindedly, Angel swung the door back and forth in his hand. The gate emitted a piercing, creaking noise from its rusted hinges that seemed to shout out in the darkness of the night, "Here we are!"
"Angel . . .," Cordelia said with a touch of irritation in her voice.
"Yeah?" he asked looking back over his shoulder.
"That's really annoying!"
"Oh, sorry." Angel let go of the door but continued to stare at the damaged structure. He tried to conjure up the images in his head of that fateful night three years earlier when Buffy had died and he couldn't save her.
"Hey, Angel, what gives?" Kate sensed the depths to which the vampire was now plunging. Angel ignored her.
"This is the entrance to the Master's lair," Cordelia explained softly as she stepped up behind the LAPD detective. Slowly Cordelia studied the wreckage strewn about the crypt. She kicked at a small fragment of stone at her feet, sending it clinking down the marble entrance stairs.
". . . or it was anyway," she muttered with raised eyebrows as she realized how much her fear of the place was now largely a thing of the past.
"This is where Buffy . . . was killed?" Kate asked, keeping her eyes on Angel.
"Yeah . . ." he finally answered, "I couldn't save her, either. No matter how much I loved her, the dead can't breathe life into the living . . . only death."
"Then how . . .?" but Kate stopped in mid sentence. Angel was silent.
"It was Xander," Cordelia finally answered the unfinished question, "He and Angel pulled her out of the water, and Xander gave Buffy CPR."
"Xander gave her back her life . . . something I never could," Angel said, hanging his head.
Kate stepped around in front of Angel. Her tall full figure topped with a head of slightly disheveled blond hair blocked Angel's view of the crypt.
"Hey" she said softly almost in his face.
Angel didn't reply.
"Let's get outta here," she said firmly.
Angel was still silent.
"We're not getting squat done reminiscing over high school fun times!" Kate continued more insistently, "This isn't helping Buffy or anybody. Class reunions really suck that way."
"She's right, you know," Cordelia agreed. Being gone for just those few months since graduation had changed everything. She knew they wouldn't find anything that would make a difference to them today in this place. "There's nothing here, Angel," she said firmly, "It's ancient history. Giles said Buffy's fine."
Angel didn't move or respond. Suddenly Kate sighed with exasperation and threw up her hands in disgust.
"How do you put up with this shit?" she announced to Cordelia at the same time trying to shame Angel into answering back.
"Get used to it, honey," Cordelia grinned half heartedly back at Kate.
* * * * * * *
Giles sat at the little table in his apartment's kitchen alcove. He studied intently the small copy of Lecritis that MacDuffie gave him. Flopped on the sofa in the living room, Spike was still riveted to the television and the muffled dialogue coming from the screen.
Giles quietly read over and over a single sentence from the ancient chronicle.
"Her soul, freed from the Ancient Ones, passed on to Paradise Beyond the River, . . . and her body died." Giles shook his head and in frustrated fury slammed his fist down on the table.
"Damn!" he shouted and suddenly realized he was wiping away the moisture running down his cheek with the sleeve of his shirt.
"'Ay, Watcher! You mind?" Spike called out.
"Shut up, Spike," Giles snarled back. Spike decided not to answer since the tone in Gile's voice carried a threat that the vampire had only heard once before and didn't care to hear again. Spike grumbled as he tried to pick up the story line of the soap opera on the television.
Suddenly the front door slammed open. A surly and severely hung over Willow stormed in, marched across the apartment, and paraded up to Giles.
"Oh, hello," Giles responded sarcastically, not particularly caring if he offended anyone or not, "I suppose knocking has become a rather silly and antiquated custom."
"Giles! What was that all about, getting me drunk in the shop!?" Willow growled back, fully prepared to rise to the occasion.
Spike looked up from the television.
"What!? You old farts got Red snockered!?"
"Shut up, Clorox hair!" Willow snarled at Spike, "I got one hell of a hangover headache, and I don't want any of your crap!"
"Ooo, touchy, touchy," Spike grinned as he relished the tension and ill temper that seemed to smother everything and everybody in the apartment.
"Willow, . . . what is it?" Giles replied, barely able to sustain his patience, "Buffy's in serious trouble and I'm very busy here."
"Giles! What were you two up to!?"
"Nothing, really," Giles lied, unable to look Willow in the face. He stared at the tiles on the kitchen floor as he answered, "At least . . . nothing I was aware of at the time."
Willow swallowed heavily and finally spoke again.
"Is Mr. MacDuffie going to die, too?" she whispered, her voice trembling, ". . . along with Buffy?"
"I don't know . . ." Giles couldn't face her, "But he sees things we can't . . . and I'm afraid . . ."
Giles wasn't able to finish the sentence. Willow stood for a moment in silent shock. She shook her head and began whimpering.
". . . no . . . no . . . we have to save them . . ."
Giles looked up and the tears starting to form in her eyes tore at his heart. He thought to himself how much they all were going to lose even if they somehow prevailed. Giles reached out and wrapped Willow in his arms.
" . . . please, Giles . . . " she wept.
"Sshh, Willow, sshh . . ." Giles whispered as he understood he now had another daughter to care for. He gently and reassuringly stroked her long red hair.
"Sshh, Willow, sshh . . ."
* * * * * * * * *
Lining the sidewalk in front of the New Age Curiosity Shop was a massive bank of spotlights and floods. Xander, having just completed pointing the lights out into the street, stepped back off the pavement to admire his handiwork.
"Man, what a light show this is gonna be!" he announced, "I really did want to try this out on Spike first, but, hey, whatever . . ."
"Are you ready to test 'em yet?" Anya shouted from in the shop where she was waiting out of sight by the control panel.
"Let 'er rip, babe!"
There was a loud electrical snap from inside the shop as Anya threw the power switch. A sudden blaze of light seared through the night. Illumination burst from the floods and spotlights, all of it directly into Xander's face. The surprise and brilliance not only blinded him, but sent him reeling backwards off his feet.
"Aaaaahhh! GEEZ! ANYA, TURN IT OFF!" he howled as he rolled out onto the pavement.
The lights suddenly snapped out and darkness returned to the quiet street. Realizing he was now in the middle of the street, Xander crawled over to the sidewalk and sat on the cracked concrete curbing, all the while rubbing his face and eyes with his hands. Anya, excited at the success of the test, skipped merrily out of the shop, joined Xander and plunked herself down beside him.
"Wow! Works pretty good, huh!" she announced confidently.
"Uh . . . yeah," Xander answered still blinded and rubbing his eyes.
"Great! That job's done. Now we can have sex!"
Xander looked up at Anya. As the vision of her slowly returned to his eyes, he grinned, and shook his head in amazement. He leaned towards her, and the two instantly fell into each other's arms, their faces locked in a passionate round of kissing. Their arms wrapped tightly around each other as they began groping. For a moment, it appeared as if they are going to roll over on the sidewalk and make love right there in front of the shop. Suddenly, Xander pulled back.
"Anya . . ."
"What is it now? You said it was hard to stop."
"I got one more thing to do before I'm all yours," Xander said.
"What?" Anya pouted.
"I gotta go tell Buffy what we got set up here," he said as gently as he could, "If she's gonna lure it in front of the light, she's gotta know about the plan."
"And this is more important than sex?" Anya asked sarcastically.
"Although I understand your thinking . . ." Xander said as he spread his arms around Anya's shoulders and drew her in tightly against him, "Believe me I understand it! . . . Anya, if the world comes to an end tomorrow night . . . well, . . . there'll be no more sex."
"Ooo!" Anya answered, crinkling her nose at the same time, "That's bad. You better find Buffy."
"I thought you'd understand," he said, unwrapping himself from her embrace as they both stood up, "I think she's with Faith over at the Convalescent Hospital. I'll meet you back at Giles'."
For a moment, both stared at each other and didn't move. Finally Anya broke the silence.
"Well, go on!" she announced. "The sooner you get back, the sooner we can have sex."
"Right!" Xander exclaimed.
He jumped into the cab of the truck and pulled out into the street. As he drove away, the van veered erratically around the corner and disappeared with a screeching of tires. Standing alone where he left her, Anya grinned to herself.
* * * * * * *
The door from Faith's room out into the convalescent hospital hallway was shut, and Faith's room was bathed in almost total darkness. The curtains were drawn back from the window and the tall panes rolled out so that the night air spilled in. A hospital gown lay scattered on the floor.
Faith, now fully dressed in her leather pants and jacket, stood motionless before the window. With her back to the room, she stared unmoving out into the night. Her eyes, like beacons, almost glowed with a deep blood red, but her face was frozen in an expressionless mask. Beyond the window, the darkness began to take on a faint crimson tinge.
Suddenly Faith's face contorted as if she were struggling with some kind of inner convulsion, her mind wrestling against an incredibly powerful force.
". . . damn you! . . . DAMN YOU! . . ." she snarled as she writhed.
Suddenly, as if she no longer had the will or strength to resist, Faith let her head droop forward. For a moment she was motionless. Then slowly, almost imperceptibly, the appearance of her face changed. The distinct features of her jaw, her rounded cheekbones, her long brown hair, all softened and then blurred out of focus. In their place as she looked back up appeared the vaguest hints of a deep red color and, as if seen down endless vistas of an unknown universe, the image of an eye, divided into three lobes and searing with flames, merged in the place of her face.
She spoke again, but it was now not with her own voice. The sound was deep, hollow and echoed as if it were crossing a vast distance.
"There now . . . you see? . . . that's so much better."
* * * * * * *
Buffy, her fists raised in a full defensive posture, patrolled among the graves and overhanging bushes and plantings of the Sunnydale Cemetery. She glared back and forth nervously, searching for some sign of the undead and, in particular, any hint that she was being watched by the Ancient Ones. She slipped stealthily from stone to stone but found nothing out of the ordinary. The cemetery was unusually quiet. A sky full of stars floated peacefully overhead.
She stopped still and lowered her fists. Puzzled, she put her hands on her hips, shook her head and muttered to herself.
"This is just plain weird."
Suddenly, from out of the bushes only yards away, burst a small demon. It was hairy, with extended arms, small horns and a long hooked nose and running wildly. Buffy swung about to mount a defense, but before she could even launch a kick or hand thrust, the demon swept by her at breakneck speed and vanished from the clearing. For just an instant, she caught a glimpse of its eyes as it cast a petrified glance back over its shoulder before disappearing into the night.
"What the . . . That little cutie was scared . . . running for its life . . ." Buffy said outloud to herself.
Buffy almost followed the demon but changed her mind as instead she eyed the path from which it came.
"But what was it running from?" Her mind raced.
Slowly, Buffy followed the path, retracing the demon's flight. In a moment, she pushed her way around a heavy hedge and out into a clearing below a gentle rise that led up to the cavernous north entrance of the Initiative Headquarters. There, silhouetted against the night sky at the cavern entrance stood Riley and Hunter. Both stared out into the night but were unaware they were being watched.
Buffy's heart surged. She wanted to jump out of the concealing bushes and run to Riley, but suddenly their voices made her hold back. Buffy strained her ears to hear the conversation.
"Should I begin preparations for the next release, sir?" Hunter quietly asked Riley.
"Yes," he answered with no emotion.
"One hour, sir?"
"One hour," Riley nodded.
"I think it understood you, sir," Hunter said after a few moments of silence.
Riley stared off into the dark void of the sky. He wondered absent mindedly which of the stars was the one from which the Ancient Ones would launch their assault.
"I don't know," Riley replied shaking his head, "Maybe. Hunter?"
"Yes, sir?"
Riley paused.
"You're not to report for duty tomorrow morning."
"What? Sir?" Hunter's voice rose just a shade in surprise.
"You heard me," Riley answered firmly, "I don't want to see you in the compound after tonight. Get a hold of that girlfriend of yours, what's her name? Sandy? You two get out of Sunnydale as fast as you can. Don't stop. Just keep going. Is that understood?"
Hunter straightened up at attention before he replied.
"Permission to speak freely, sir," he said.
"Oh, crap, here it comes," Riley sighed, knowing the technician was going to give him grief, "Yeah, what is it?"
"Bull shit . . . sir," Hunter answered with a big smirk.
Riley looked at Hunter. Not moving from the spot, the younger Initiative technician still grinned at him. There was a long pause. Finally, Riley gave Hunter an appreciative nod.
"Dismissed, . . . soldier."
"Thank you, sir."
Hunter turned and re-entered the cavern which served as the north entrance to the Initiative Headquarters.
Alone, Riley continued to stare out into the darkness. "What am I doing?" he thought, struggling with the self doubt that had lingered ever since Buffy told him the nature of the danger they were all facing. "I'm leading the entire Initiative into a complete disaster . . . and for what?"
Riley scanned the darkness all around him one more time as if the answer, the solution that would bring them all back from the edge was somehow lurking just beyond the field of his vision.
Suddenly his eyes fell on Buffy standing at the edge of the clearing. They stared at one another unspeaking for a few moments. Finally he whispered to her, his voice almost pleading.
". . . Buffy . . ."
Buffy walked the few yards up to the entrance to the Initiative Headquarters. She stood unspeaking before Riley for a moment and slowly wrapped her arms around him. Their bodies pressed together firmly as they both held each other tightly on the gentle rise as if it were a precipice looming over a crater of doom.
"Don't let go," Buffy whispered into Riley's shoulder, "Please. . . hold me. Tomorrow there won't be any time."
"Let's just imagine this moment . . . is really forever," Riley answered as he ran his hands through her long honey blonde hair, "Then whatever comes, won't matter . . . 'cause we have forever."
"You've got to get away," Buffy said suddenly looking him directly in the face.
Riley shook his head.
"I can't. I've had Maggie Walsh removed from command. I'm in charge now. I have to protect the Initiative."
"Then order the place evacuated!" Buffy cried out desperately, "Get everybody out of here! You can't stop It!"
"I know," Riley answered with a finality that struck Buffy as surely as if a stake had been plunged into her heart, "But we will slow It down . . . so you can."
"Riley . . . ?"
Buffy didn't finish her sentence. Instead she suddenly pressed her lips passionately against his, drinking in his love for her as if it could somehow instill her with a new strength to face the end of everything she held dear. She relished their surging emotions as Riley ran his hands through her hair and down the small of her back.
"Don't stop," her mind pleaded silently over and over. Together they held each other on the hillside, each dreaming a silent prayer that Time, at this end moment, would somehow grant them one last mercy and slow down. Finally, Riley pulled his face a few inches away from hers.
"Forever . . . I never realized forever was so incredible."
Buffy buried her face in Riley's shoulder once more. She struggled against her overpowering emotions, fought back and desperately battled to hold the line against the superior force of her own making. At the same time, she knew all along her brave final stand would be futile as she felt the single tear escape her eye, run down her cheek and, in an instant, disappear into the cloth of Riley's uniform.
"Now I know what Giles meant," she murmured to herself after a few moments, "What they must've felt . . . Petronius and Cassandra . . . on the edge of the end of the world."
"What did you say?" Riley asked softly.
"Nothing," she said despairing as she broke off her embrace and wiped away the wetness on her cheek with her sleeve, "It's nothing. I gotta go."
"Me, too," he answered slowly.
Buffy stepped back from Riley and quickly walked down off the rise. As she did, Riley called after her.
"I'll be by your side tomorrow!" his voice rang out, "We all will!"
"I know," she whispered back, "I love you."
"I love you, too," he answered almost silently.
Buffy smiled sadly, turned and disappeared into the bushes on the edge of the cemetery. Riley watched the darkness for a few moments where she had vanished. Then he took his hand which only minutes before he had run through Buffy's soft blond hair, stroked it against the side of his face and sighed. He straightened up, turned away from the deepening night and walked out of view back into the north entrance of the Initiative Headquarters.
All around in anticipation of what was yet to come, the black night under the star lit sky rested quietly, unmoving, frozen in a moment in time on the empty hillside.
* * * * * * * *
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