Hells Bells it was cold. I know people say that all the time, especially in Chicago (if you don't like the weather, wait a minute) and aside from that it was raining, but that isnt the kind of cold I meant. I meant a deeper kind of cold, a spiritual cold, and it was really making me nervous. Now, as a certified white council wizard (or basically), I know im supposed to be all world weary and completely fine with all kinds of metaphysical spook, but something about this place was just not right.

I looked around the yard surrounding the harmless looking lakehouse, the building itself seemed to be a bit unsettling but not in any definable way that would mark it as a bad place, the thing that really got me was the yard.

I don't know if you've ever been lost in the woods, like the really deep forest, but theres a darkness there, a wildness that comes from being away from civilization, where man shows kindness to his fellow man. A darkness that comes from being in the heart of the wild, where the pretense of humanity is shrugged off like a cloak and the monster inside of us can come out to play.

Despite the lights of the city coming over the lake, something about this yard seemed…cramped. I could feel the wild of the uncivilized world encroaching on the place, squeezing in around me, the shadows were thicker at the edges of the yard, the overgrown plantlife more menacing as it invaded the edges of the space. Black Magic had been done here, and this had become a very bad place.

I glanced uneasily around the place, taking a minute to collect my fraying nerves and reorder my thoughts, I had come out here under the impression I was looking for a cheating husband having a midlife crises, maybe someone who did a little dabbling if the amulet Monica had given me was anything to go on. This was not dabbling. This was…I didn't know what this was, but it was very not good.

I took a breath, centered myself and opened my Sight. A wizards Sight, the third eye through which we can perceive the magic in the world is a very dangerous thing, and not just to our enemies. The human soul is made up of experiences, your identity comes from your environment, from the people you've loved, and lost, and never had to start.

When you open your Sight you don't just see the world, you experience it. You live the emotions, the darkness and horror, but you live the light too, and sometimes that's even worse. What you See in your Sight changes you, makes a permanent impression on the fabric of your soul, you stare into the fabric of the world, and the world never blinks first.

So after gathering myself and steeling my mind best as I could, I opened my third eye, my Private Eye, and took a look at what made this place so terrible, and had to bite down on my tongue to keep from screaming. I tasted blood as I stared in horror at what was happening on the metaphysical plane. This spell had been dark and horrible, that's true, but it didn't really matter, the spell I was seeing, the same one that had ripped the heart from Tommy Tomm and Jennifer Stanton was an after-thought.

Something had hit that twisted sickening abomination, something huge and powerful and beautiful, and the spell had twisted it into something…awful. And I could see that whatever the thing was that hit it, the power that came through, something else had ridden it in, a human being, someone good and pure and strong, and this horrible spell had torn him to shreds like a rocket-powered chunk of Swiss through the world's most disturbing cheese grater.

I started walking, following the psychic wreckage towards the place the power would've spit him out, and after about five minutes of braving the terrifying shadows of those awful woods with all three eyes thrown wide, I came to a clearing in the woods, where I found the kid. It was strange really, I've never entered a soulgaze with my sight open before, I had been so wrapped up in looking for traces of what was happening that I'd totally missed where his eyes flickering open, and of course, as my luck would have it, I ended up looking right into those bright blue windows.

The first thing I noticed was the power, there was lightning racing through his veins and behind his eyes, and it was obvious that as he rode the lightning, the lightning rode him too. That he was chosen by it, marked by it. I Saw speed, and joy and reckless abandon, and I Saw responsibility, I Saw the choices, that he had seen bad in the world and decided to use that power for good, to help those around him, and to give his life to trying to make things just a little better than he'd found them.

I Saw love, the kind that changes your everything, the kind so strong that if the sun went out, thinking of that person would be enough to stave off the eternal winter in your world for the rest of time, and I Saw friendship, and sacrifice, and pain and resolve. And finally I Saw death, and a grinning acceptance that even though he thought he'd never see the people he loved again it was worth it, because they would be safe, and it would be because of him.

I felt the tears gather in my eyes and stream down my face and I slammed my Sight shut, unable to bear Seeing any more, and having already Seen more than enough to know I had to help this broken kid. Who loved so much he thought he'd die, and who would probably wish he had. I realized after a moment that that had been detailed as hell for a Seeing, and realized I had met those emerald eyes without noticing in my daze, and they were widened back at me with shock and awe.

I reached my hand down and held it out to the kid, offering him a hand up, and he took it, because after seeing my soul, I guess he figured he could trust me, though God only knows what he saw. I grinned at him through the tears "Nice to meet you, I'm Harry Dresden, and I'm guessing you could use some help."

A sharp slice of white teeth split the dark under that mop of blazing red hair and that ridiculous yellow mask. "Oh man, you have no idea, and nice to meet you, I'm Wally, Wally West." His grip was strong as he let me pull him up, and he swayed dangerously on his feet. I could still see echoes of the horror I'd borne witness to behind his eyes, now safe from the danger of baring our souls, but still terrifying to gaze at all the same.

With some patience and a lot of elbow grease I'd managed to get Wally into the beetle and to my apartment, he'd since woken up and was now inhaling every edible thing in my entire home (a couple cans of soup and a box of cracker jacks, which I had really been looking forward to) and healing from his physical wounds even before my eyes. I didn't open my sight again but I suspected the psychic affects of his trip through the cosmic food processor would take a bit longer to fade.

Apparently giving the old adage about the stomach being the fastest way to the heart was true, or the kid had seen something in the soulgaze that made him trust me because he wasn't paying any attention to my staring as he exterminated every bit of food in my place, at least not until he ran out and looked at me with pleading eyes "Sooo….Harry was it? I'm Wally, well you already knew that but it never hurts to be polite, sorry about all your food but I'm still pretty beat and I could use some more fuel don't suppose you know of any good places that deliver? Or if not deliver anything good at all I can pick it up I excel at food runs they're my spec-"

I widened my eyes and cut him off "Hells Bells kid slow down, I can barely understand you!" He sounded like a VCR on fast forward, and it took me a second to process everything he'd said. I couldn't help but smile as I responded to him, something about the run on sentences and the fast talking and how trusting he was made him seem like a cross between a kid brother and a new puppy "Now, yes there's a pizza place near here, Pizza Spress should still be open, no need to use up any of your energy going to get it, I ordered it while you were still out and it should be here any minute, from the way you were healing I figured you would probably pack it away so I got four pies, but now I'm thinking I maybe lowballed it."

Wally's eyes lit up with glee at the thought of pizza (I don't know how things worked in his world but Chicago pizza was pretty famous here so he had a treat coming) I had assumed, because it had to come from somewhere, that his enhanced healing came from a fast metabolism and I was apparently right, most of the things I know of that heal that fast eat their weight in food, but if his appetite so far was anything to go by I was going to have to put the kid to work while he stayed here or he was going to eat me out of house and home…literally.

He must've seen the worry on my face because he grinned at me "Cool…thanks for the grub Harry" his voice was at a more normal pace this time "Sorry about talking so fast, I can get excited sometimes, and yeah good call on the healing, because of my speed I heal really quick but I also burn a ton of calories, looks like the snack compartments on my suit are empty what with the looming end of the world I didn't have time to refill them."

My eyes widened a bit, I knew the kid was a hero and the spell he came through was pretty crazy looking but to know he'd saved his entire world when he sacrificed himself was pretty heavy, it made me glad I'd decided to help. I know people use end of the world as a euphemism a lot, but somehow Wally's statement didn't strike me as hyperbole. The world had obviously given the kid a bum rap and if he was telling the truth he deserved a helping hand. I sighed to myself, who better to play tour guide than your friendly neighborhood wizard.

The pizza arrived after thirty minutes, and I managed to snatch a few pieces of Pizza Spress' famous meat lovers deep dish with only minimal danger of losing my fingers to the garbage disposal that was Wallys mouth. I smiled and shook my head as he disposed of three and three quarter large pizzas in under five minutes. I cleared my throat, fighting not to laugh at the deer in headlights look that came over his face when he he mumbled around a mouth full of food "Did you wansh shome of dis?"

I rolled my eyes and somehow managed to choke down my laughter "I managed to rescue a few pieces from the maw of the beast, besides you need it more than I do. No what I wanted to talk about was how things are going to go while you're here. I assume you want to go home as soon as possible." Wally gave a serious nod. "Well I don't know if I can help with that, but even if I can it will take months of research, and that's best case. In the meantime you don't exist here, which means you need an identity."

I heaved a sigh of disgust "Sadly whatever low level criminal flunky I approach about those papers I have a pretty distinct feeling it will end up getting back to the local big man on campus. He recently approached me about a job, and this would be a perfect way to get me on board. Since I was investigating anyway as long as I don't take money from him, I think something like this might not screw me over too bad. I might as well go straight to the source and get you better papers anyway." Wally continued to watch me warily as he scarfed down pizza, not liking the way this sounded anymore than I did. "So kid, finish up your food and get some sleep. Tomorrow I'm taking you to see Johnny Marcone."

Ok folks, this is a new one, but a story I've been working on for quite some time. I'd like to thank Dragonhulk for his input on this one, and I'd like to thank my good friend Nimbus Llewelyn for all his help with working the kinks out of this and planning things out. I know I don't always update too fast but remember that consistent reviews make it much easier to motivate myself to write, shameless as that may be. Anyway hope you enjoy this story, assuming it does well I have very big plans for it.