The Wind Beyond the Walls of the Mind
Chapter 22 - concluded
The Summoning
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.
* * * * * * *
Faith, still lying on the ground at the base of the wall, stared up into the endless darkness above her. Only a few yards away, like a predator circling in on its prey, the image of Mayor Wilkins paced back and forth. The three lobed burning eye of Nyarlethotep floated where his face should have been. He slipped in nearer, almost snake like, as if he were looking for an opening through which to lash out and strike.
"You come near me and I'll throw your ass out again!" Faith snarled through gritted teeth.
The image of the Mayor suddenly paused in mid stride and stared off into the darkness. It suddenly spoke with the deep, echoing disembodied voice of Nyarlethotep.
"Ahh! That's where the old bastard hid it! . . . " the image of Wilkins hissed, "Well, no rush. It'll be dark shortly."
Suddenly, the form of the Mayor vanished, leaving Faith alone in the emptiness at the base of the massive gray stone wall. Exhausted, she didn't move from where she lay, but her ears perked. From somewhere beyond the wall issued a faint, deep rumble of thunder.
At the same time, Giles was still hunched over his books at the kitchen alcove table. On the couch in front of the television, Spike fiddled with the remote as he channel surfed. Suddenly the apartment gently trembled with the sound of thunder. It was barely audible but loud enough for Giles to stop reading and look up from his books. Then, slowly, as if mesmerized, he rose from the kitchen table and walked towards the door.
"Gilesy old boy, if you're heading out, pick me up a pack of smokes," Spike sang out from the couch.
Giles didn't answer. He left by the front door, letting it slam unceremoniously behind him.
On the UC Sunnydale campus, most classes were done for the day and only a few students wandered back and forth between the campus buildings. Buffy and Riley, asleep in each others arms, were still sitting together on the bench in the Quadrangle. Suddenly, Buffy's eyes popped open as the same quiet shuddering of thunder awakened her. Quickly, she tried to slip gently out of Riley's embrace without waking him, but he stirred.
"Hey, what's up?" he yawned.
"I gotta go," Buffy announced as she stood up.
"What is it?"
"It's almost time."
Buffy quickly bent over and kissed Riley passionately, her lips searching desperately for what she felt would be the last taste of the love they shared. As she pulled back she whispered by the side of his face.
". . . I love you . . . forever."
Suddenly she turned and dashed away across the Quadrangle before Riley could even stand up. Puzzled for a moment, he watched her disappear, then glanced at his watch.
"Son of a bitch!" he exclaimed, jumping to his feet and running off in the opposite direction.
In Tara's dorm room, Willow busily assembled small bottles of ingredients for her spells. As she stuffed several hand written pages of instructions in her pocket, she heard the same ominous rumble of thunder. Her eyes widened. She turned away from the desk where all the candles sat, quickly blew them out and hurried out the door.
Angel didn't have time to think. Somewhere in the sewers beneath the streets of Sunnydale, he was caught in mid-battle with a half dozen vampires. He struggled with the large volume tucked under his arm that kept threatening to pop out and land in the puddling sewage at his feet.
He was barely able to keep the attacking horde at bay as each one leaped in at him from different directions. Suddenly, the same thunder echoed through the subterranean tunnels, although here below ground, the rumble was more a shaking of the earth.
The vampires suddenly broke off their attack. Eyes wide with fear, they quickly scrambled away all in one direction. Even the few rats infesting the tunnel, scurried off, their squeaks of terror disappearing into the dark. One vampire, dazed with confusion, in its flight for safety, passed by too close to Angel. He nonchalantly snatched it by the collar, lifted it up and pitched it against a concrete reinforcing bar protruding out of the sewer tunnel wall.
The vampire exploded into dust. Angel looked around him. Without thinking, he broke into a run down the tunnel in the opposite direction from the flight of his attackers.
In the New Age Curiosity Shop, Cordelia now stood by Faith's side. Still unconscious, Faith lay motionless on the cot. At the other end of the shop, Xander and Anya fumbled with the wires on the control panel for the floodlights. As Xander struggled to hook up his new "acquisition" to the equipment, Cordelia walked across the room to watch their efforts.
Surveying it all, MacDuffie leaned against the side of the doorway. The last rays of the setting sun cast his long shadow across the now chaotic shop. The rumble of thunder, louder here, made a few of the bottles on the shelves rattle. Both Cordelia and Xander suddenly looked up as if the sudden sound from the sky was a subliminal summons.
In the darkness surrounding Faith, the thunder shook the loudest and longest. She sat up, her blood red eyes wide, and looked around her. Quickly she reached out, feeling the massive wall by her side for a way through. She found none, the dark gray stones holding back her efforts.
Back at the New Age Curiosity Shop, Anson MacDuffie limped inside. Cordelia and Xander stared up at him. Not realizing what was about to occur, Anya yanked at Xander's arm.
"Hey, we're not finished here! What's up?"
"We gotta go," Xander answered her in a voice that was almost dream like.
Anya stirred as if she were about to stand but Xander restrained her.
"No . . . just me and Cordy," he said softly.
Anya's eyes blazed as if she were about to throw a deadly temper tantrum. Xander leaned forward and kissed her passionately. He spread his arms around her, pulling her soft body against his muscled chest. For a moment, the two were wrapped in each others arms. Cordelia, disgusted at the display, put her hands on her hips and muttered to the empty air behind her.
"Hhhmm! Xander, we don't have time for mouth massage lessons!"
Xander slowly pulled away from Anya. Before he turned to leave, he quickly put his lips up against her ear and whispered to her. Anya's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. Xander then stepped back beside Cordelia.
"Later, okay?" he said, grinning at his ex-demon.
". . . yeah . . . later . . ." Anya beamed.
Suddenly, Cordelia stopped in mid step. A guilty look on her face, she stared back at the far corner of the shop near the motionless form of Faith. Before she could move, an invisible hand brushed her cheek and swept her long brown hair out of her eyes. Slowly, she leaned her head forward, closed her eyes and felt a soft cool wind brush against her cheeks and settle gently on her lips. Cordelia took a deep breath as she drank in the passion and gentle sorrow she felt lingering before her.
Finally she opened her eyes once more and spoke quietly to the melancholy emptiness hovering at her side.
"I know . . . but that still doesn't make it any easier," she said sadly.
There was a moment of silence.
". . . goodbye, Dennis . . ." she said quickly and ran over to join Xander who was almost out the door.
"What was that all about?" Xander asked as they both stepped onto the sidewalk.
"I was just thinking . . ." Cordelia answered softly, "How some things end for no reason. Just because they have to end."
Xander was respectfully silent. He hoped his former girlfriend would momentarily pop back as her usual predictable, strong willed self.
"What did you just tell Anya?" Cordelia suddenly snapped, and Xander breathed a sigh of relief.
"None of your business!" he answered settling right into the swing of the conversation as if no time had passed since junior year at Sunnydale High.
"You might as well spill it. I'll find out anyway."
"Oh and how's that, Miss Private Investigator?" Xander grinned.
"From Willow," Cordelia answered confidently.
"But I haven't even told her yet!"
"But you will!"
Xander rolled his eyes. Yup, he thought, the babe was back. Everything was going to be all right now.
The shades of dusk spread across the buildings outside the shop as the two former high school sweethearts broke into a run up the street together. Quickly, Xander pulled ahead.
"Hey! Wait up!" Cordelia shouted.
"Come on! Pick it up, pom-pom brain! My truck's on the next street!" he replied over his shoulder.
"If you ditch me, you're dead meat, horn dog!"
Yes, even on the edge of the end of the world, Xander felt certain everything was going to be all right as he and Cordelia disappeared running around the corner on the deserted streets.
* * * * * * * * * *
All of Sunnydale was visible from the top of the northwestern hillside. Always favored for teenage parking, the unnamed summit was only referred to as "the hill" or "the overlook" but everyone in Sunnydale understood what was meant.
From its looming vantage point, the hillside was the perfect location for viewing the docks with their freighters all neatly tied up miles away. In the distance they looked like toys floating on the horizon. Directly below the exposed boulders and dusty scrub growth of the summit, all of Sunnydale stretched out with the first flickering of the street lamps breaking the now advancing darkness.
As dusk thickened, the clouds in the sky begin to swirl, their color shifting from fluffy white to an inky gray and finally a lurid crimson as if the sunset of some alien solar system were now descending upon the southern California town. The thunder rumbled once more. A bolt of lightning dropped on the outskirts and, after a moment, the siren of an emergency vehicle wailed faintly but distinctly up the hillside.
Giles followed a path leading to the summit of the hill. He reached the peak and stopped, gazing out at the view spread out before him. In a moment, as if appearing out of nowhere, he was joined by Buffy. They said nothing but only stared at the ominously building turbulence in the sky.
A few moments later, Willow ascended the path as well to stand beside them. In a few more minutes she was followed by Angel. Cordelia and Xander, both panting and out of breath, finally arrived as well. The entire original Scooby Gang, now together for what each feared would be one last time, all gazed out over Sunnydale.
The churning in the clouds built with each passing moment. In the distance, the ocean in the harbor rose and ebbed fiercely, causing the ships to lurch and strain at their moorings. Darkness descended quickly and the rumble of thunder grew in intensity and frequency. Bewildered, Cordelia looked back and forth between Giles and Buffy.
"Giles? Buffy? Why are we all here? I just felt something calling me."
"Me, too," Willow added.
"We must have been summoned," Giles said as he stared out at what appeared to the opening of the veritable gates of hell in the sky, "By what, I'm not sure, but I felt the same thing."
The swirling of the clouds overhead expanded steadily. A deep blood red hovered above the horizon where the sun disappeared only moments ago. Willow pointed at the rapidly intensifying red color.
"There. That's where it'll come from," she said flatly.
All the Scoobies stared where Willow indicated, and Giles nodded his head.
"So," Buffy finally said, "This is what they saw."
"Yes, . . ." Giles nodded, quoting from the Alexandrian Chronicle, "on the edge of the end of the world."
A breeze blew up the hillside from behind the Scooby Gang.
"We have been summoned . . ." Giles announced almost as if he were in a trance, "Because it's time."
He looked down at Buffy, and she returned his stern gaze.
"I'm ready, Giles," she said firmly, "Whatever may come, I'm ready."
Willow stepped forward to Buffy's side. Angel and Xander did the same.
"So are we," the young Wiccan announced.
"Me, too," Xander answered with her.
"I guess I'm in," Cordelia answered, resigned to the fact that, in spite of her constant protests, she was and always would be a member of this gang weirdos.
But Buffy would have none of their heroics now.
"Guys, I want you to get outta here," she ordered them.
"No, Buffy!" Willow answered sharply, "We've been through this dozens of times. It's an all or nothing deal!"
"But this is different."
". . . How? . . ." Angel confronted Buffy coolly.
Buffy stopped. For a moment, she and Angel stared at each other. It seemed like in those few seconds, all their feelings, past and present, boiled beneath the surface as if they were matching the turbulence now churning in the sky over their heads.
"But Angel, . . ." Buffy stumbled for the right words, "Everything is different now!"
"No . . . it's not. . . ." he said gently, "If you go up against this thing alone, where are we going to run? Where are we going to hide? And what'll be left when it's all over? You know you have almost no chance by yourself."
"He's right, Buffy," Willow joined in, "It's like it's been since you first came to Sunnydale. When we work together, we can defeat anything."
"But, guys . . ." Buffy protested but Cordelia suddenly cut her off.
"Buffy . . ." the ex-cheerleader announced commanding attention.
Cordelia paused for emphasis. Like magic, the Gang waited for her to finish her sentence.
"We're staying!" she announced, "The Bitch has spoken, so shut up."
Overwhelmed by the strength and loyalty surrounding her, Buffy surrendered and grinned in spite of herself.
"How do you put up with her?" she said sarcastically to Angel who only shrugged in reply.
A sudden clap of thunder shook the ground and made everyone jump. The red glow in the sky surged down toward the horizon drawing a sweep of clouds with it. The clouds began to take on form, coalescing into a winged shape with a long neck.
"We'd better get back to the shop," Giles said nervously while the others could see the fear now bathing his face.
Suddenly Willow froze.
". . . Tara . . ." she murmured in horror.
Quickly she spun in the direction of UC Sunnydale. A red swirling cloud of mist, like a crooked hand with long twisted nails, poured down out of the sky towards the campus.
"Tara!" Willow cried out.
In the basement rare book storage room, Tara was still hunched over the Res Profana, her attention riveted to the symbols on the page. She muttered to herself as she struggled to commit the sounds of the incantation to memory. Unseen by her, a red glow emanated from up the staircase. Then, silently, a crimson mist, like a poison laden vapor, poured with an almost liquid viscosity down the last stairs into view and across the floor of the rare book room towards her.
At the same time, the roar of thunder shattered the stillness of the Void where Faith sat against the massive wall. She leaped to her feet and began beating on the stones with both fists.
"Buffy! Giles! Get me outta here!" she screamed, "It's coming!"
Still lying unconscious on the cot in the New Age Curiosity Shop, Faith's body thrashed while the skin of her face twitched and contorted. MacDuffie quickly knelt by her side and placed his hand across her forehead.
"Easy! Easy, Lassie!" he whispered intensely, "Your time is coming! Conserve your strength!"
In the darkness all around her, Faith heard the Guardian's words and recognized him immediately.
"It's you! The old guy from the street!" she called out to the gray stones confronting her, "What the hell do I do!?"
"Be patient!" he answered across the Void, "You will know . . . when the moment arrives . . . then strike with all the power you have. That way, you will catch Nyarlethotep unawares!"
"All right. I got it!" she grinned back.
On the hillside over Sunnydale, Willow broke from the group and ran back down through the dry brush with Giles calling out after her.
"Willow! Come back!" he shouted as he turned to Buffy and Xander, "We have to stop her! The battle has begun!"
Willow disappeared into the undergrowth in the direction of the college campus.
"Buff, you and the others get back to the shop!" Xander said quickly, "I'll try to catch up with her!"
"But Xander . . ." Buffy yelled as she reached out to try and stop him.
"No, Buffy!" he said firmly as he brushed her hand off his shoulder, "You get your ass back to the shop! You're the only one that's gonna be able to seal this thing up for good. If I don't make it back in time, Anya can run the lights!"
"I don't like this!" Buffy said.
"Tough shit!" Xander snapped back.
There was a pause as the two friends glared at each other. Suddenly, Buffy wrapped her arms around Xander and hugged him. She put her cheek right up against his and kissed him softly on the side of his face. The embrace only lasted a moment. Buffy then stepped back from Xander.
"Nothing personal, okay?" she said flippantly.
"Right!" he grinned back, "You know you loved it!"
No one moved for a moment. Then Xander turned and dashed down the hillside through the brush following Willow. Buffy looked at the rest of the Scooby Gang.
"Okay! Let's move it!" she announced, her voice now sounding like Riley's.
She and the others ran back down the path and in a few moments were out of sight. Overhead, the roar of the thunder built with each passing second and the sky glowed a deep rich crimson.
* * * * * * * * *
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