DISCLAIMER: Highlander belongs to DP. No money is being exchanged.

--------------- Here I am at the Wheel of History contest try-outs with MacLeod. I am done for now, so we begin to walk out of the building together. “I can’t believe you did that,” he told me as we stepped out into the sun. “Look, MacLeod, the guy gave me a ticket. It was a selfless act in the interest of historical accuracy.” We finally reach the bottom of the steps and head toward the car. “Oh yeah, an oversized ego would have nothing to do with it.” The fans outside the building are all reaching around trying to touch me. Gotta love it. He seems jealous. That’s it, I’m getting all of the women. “I think they love me.” “They’d love a hammerhead shark if you had a nice smile.” I try to ignore him as I continue to give my fans attention. I turn to look at the young man, I love this. “They want me back next week. What do you think?” “One word.” Yes, “Okay.” I rub my hands together. He wants to test my knowledge, well it’s time to let him know just what five thousand years of wisdom really means. “Animal, four legs, carry heavy weights.” Easy, “Donkey.” He smiles, “No, no, no, no. Try three letters.” MacLeod walks off. “Three letters, that would be. . .” Ass. Wait a minute. Okay so he got me. I head over to where he was. As I round the corner he adds, “Someone could’ve recognized you.” Me? “Nah, I don’t think so. Besides I didn’t go through the final.” “Yeah, because you lost.” Does he sound smug? “Tom Jones didn’t popularize the twist.” Oh so bring up my weakness, “So I’m a little weak on pup culture.” If I could slap that look off of his face I would. “Well who the hell is Chubby Checker in the grand scheme of things anyway. I mean, I know, I know how tall Nero was, I know Caesar’s favorite food,” Not salad that’s for sure. “I know that Helen of Troy didn’t have that great of face and they only launched a hundred ships not a thousand. I. . .” “Blah, blah, blah, blah.” No respect for your elders. “Fine.” Oh great someone is here. “You expecting anyone?” Please say yes. “Maybe it’s one of your fan club.” Great. “Okay, there’s another way back.” I start to turn. “It’s a bit longer but I prefer the view.” Why didn’t I bring my sword? “Yeah, send me a postcard.” “You’re not coming?” “No, I’d like to know who’s around.” Damn boyscout. I turn to face him, “Listen, I may not know who Chubby Checker is, but I know when it’s time to disappear.” Listen to reason for once. “Yeah.” “Good Luck.” Alright it’s your funeral. If he wants to stay and die who am I to argue? I am a survivor and I’m out of here. ---------------------------------------------------- OUTSIDE METHOS’ HOME I wonder how MacLeod fared. Who was there? Well I have my own work to do. Time to get to the car and find out what happened. It’ll be the only way I’ll get any work done. Wait a minute, maybe, I don’t have to go to his mess he calls a home after all. “MacLeod? Is that you?” Why isn’t he answering? Pain. Oh god, I’ve been stabbed. It’s over. Show yourself, I wanted to scream. “Greetings Brother.” Oh gods no, it can’t be. “Kronos?!” Breath, please. My world is going dark, I’m dying. “I’ve missed you, too.” ---------------------------------------------------- ABANDONED POWER STATION Breathe, my chest is killing me. He’s here, how’d he find me? Where is he? Never mind that where the hell am I? “It’s been a long time. How you feeling?” Feeling? I feel like I’ve been killed. Cough, breath, do something. “Like I left my heart in San Francisco,” I choke out. He’s standing over me like a vulture awaiting it’s prey. Unfortunately, I’m the prey. He laughs. “I didn’t know you had a heart.” You know nothing about me anymore, *Brother*. “Does it hurt?” I finally begin to move my legs. Well at least he didn’t tie me down. Been there done that. “What do you think?” Yes, it hurts. It hurts like hell. I hate dying. “Since you asked,” he kneels down besides me and pushes me down as I try to get up. I hate him. “I think you’re not used to pain, brother. What’s happened? You’ve got soft?” “I just passed through my angry adolescence a little quicker than you, Kronos.” I spit out. “For a long time I thought you were dead.” That was the point, Kronos. “I didn’t bother looking for you.” He moves his hand so that I can start to get up. Finally, my back hurts from this hard surface. “Ha. Then I heard rumors.” Damn. “Methos, the world’s oldest man. You slipped up there, old friend.” Finally I get up fully, he leans in a little. “You got sloppy.” I look at him, don’t I know it. “Well, when none of us perfect.” “I shouldn’t be surprised you’re still alive.” I swing my legs over the ledge I was lying on. Finally the blood can begin to flow. “You’re always the one I counted on. You weren’t the strongest or the toughest, but you were the survivor.” That I was. “It’s what you do best.” He leans in closer as if to drive the knife back into me. “Or did.” What does he mean? Kronos has always been able to send fear into the deepest part of my soul. It hasn’t changed in two thousand years. “So you’ve come to kill me?” He sits down beside me and laughs, god I remember that laugh. “It’s what I do best.” Don’t I know it. He stands, is he getting his sword? Is this it? “But you do have a choice.” Relief, “Well I’m all for choices.” “Well you can either lose your head. . .” that option doesn’t sound too pleasing. What’s my other choice? “Or you can join me.” What a choice, lose my head or my soul. “Since you put it that way.” I can always find my soul again, I can’t get another head. “Welcome back, brother.” He throws the chain he had down and stares at me. What have I done? ---------------------------------------------------- CHARLIE DESALVO’S GYM Great, Kronos is back and I agreed to join him. I have to see MacLeod, tell him something. I head directly toward the gym. He’s here, good. Maybe I can get his help. “Methos.” He walks out of his office and directly toward me. He’s alive, thank-you. “I was worried about you, MacLeod. Glad you made it.” “Yeah, me too.” He sounds distracted about something. “Ah, something,” What do I say? “Unexpected has come up.” That’s an understatement. “Yeah, tell me about it. Listen have you ever heard of an Immortal named Kronos?” What? Oh no, “Kronos?” I am able to keep the fear out of my voice, how I will never know. “Yeah.” I take a deep breath. It’s now or never. The elevator is coming down, and I feel another. As I see the gate open up all of my hopes of getting MacLeod’s help disappears. “You!” Cassandra, what is she doing here? It’s been forever. MacLeod and I exchange looks. “Who’s this?” Good play dumb. “Draw your sword.” She has her sword out. I think that is the first time I’ve ever seen that. I’m dead. “MacLeod who is she?” The gym system behind me. I have to get as far away as I can from this woman. “Cassandra, what are you doing?” He doesn’t know. She didn’t tell him, great, I’m definitely dead now. “Stay out of this, MacLeod.” He looks at me with a confused look. It’s worse than I thought. “You don’t know me.” I’ll continue to play dumb, for as long as it takes. If I can keep this up I may just be able to get out of here in one piece. Of course MacLeod is going to take her side, it’s what he does best. MacLeod is holding her back, she has the look of Death in her eyes, forgive the pun. “Do you think I could ever forget you?” She begins to tell her tale to us, like I don’t know it already. ---------------------------------------------------- FLASHBACK BRONZE AGE (HORSEMEN CAMP) It is a warm day. Today was a great day, granted the village was small but it was worth it. I have another wench to train. That should keep me busy in between raids. I reach for the bundle on my horse, pick it up and slam it to the ground. I can hear the air escape her lungs. I flip her out of the rug and stand. “Surprise you’re not dead.” Reaching for my mask that is always there, while on raids, I pull it off. “You’re kind is hard to kill.” I reach out my hand to let her up off of the ground. As she reaches for it, she stands and goes for my knife that is located on my belt. Quickly I reach for her and pull her close to me, trapping her arms so that they can not move. “You’ll have to try harder than that,” I say into her ear, as I reach for the knife and yank it out of her weak grasp. She must’ve never held a knife before. Good, that is to my advantage. I let her out of my grasp. She turns around and looks at me. “Where are they? Hizak, my people, take me to them.” I look at her, she is unbelievable. “You want to see them?” I sheath my knife back into place. “Yes.” I glance down then to the side. I point directly toward the location of where they are at. So it’s a funeral pyre, she can’t honestly think that we let them live. “There they are.” She looks like she is ready to get sick on me. “You killed them? All of them?” “Including you,” I inform her as I reach for the hole in her dress. What a treat this is. She has no idea what she is and if we have anything to say about it she wont. She looks at the tear in her chest in disbelief. “The wound it’s gone.” Her head shakes in awe. She finally looks up at me. I love the look of fear in her eyes. The power over this young woman is incredible. “I should be dead.” Truth time, “You live because I wish it. And you stay alive,” I have to make my point clear, so I move closer to her. “As long as you please me.” I stroke her hair out of her face. She reaches across and slaps my hand off of her. Big mistake. I slap her so hard that she falls to the ground. A solid show of force and power on my part. She will learn. “That did not please me.” Bending down I begin to stroke her leg. She has such soft skin, I look directly into her eyes so that he understands. “I am Methos. You live to serve me. Never forget that.” Suddenly I hear Silas and Caspian fighting, granted it’s nothing new, but we have to prove a point to this new wench. “You’re a thieving bastard, Caspian. You always were.” Silas yelled. I look over to where the disturbance is and slap this wench’s leg, telling her to stay put. Standing I head over there to stop whatever it is that is going on. “It’s mine. It belongs to me” “It belongs to whoever can take it.” Caspian yelled to Silas. I hate that man, Caspian. The two men are fighting over a piece of blanket. Figures. “I saw it first.” The two are face to face now. I’ll wait until one of them makes a move. “I fought as well as you. I killed more people.” “Women and children don’t count.” You go Silas. I couldn’t agree more. Caspian pulls out his sword. “I can kill you just as well.” That’s it, he made his move. “Lay it down, Caspian.” I yell as loud as I can. He looks at me, does he not think I could kill him. “Why should I?” I know that he doesn’t like me for I am Kronos’ right hand man, but he should know better than to even try to take me on. I guess it’s time to remind him. I come up behind him, grab his sword with my arm as mine comes up to his neck. “Because if you do not I will kill you.” I say into his ear. “Trust me if I have to lose one it will be you.” He knows it too. He knows that I don’t like him but he continues to try and push me. Big mistake. “Kronos.” Silas sees Kronos first. How could I let him sneak up on me like that. “Problems?” “Not anymore.” I withdraw my sword from Caspian’s neck and notice that the wench is trying to get away. I begin to walk toward her as I hear the end of that discussion. “Will there’s one way to make sure. Lift it. We share everything.” I don’t know what happened but I can only guess. I have more important things to do. I pull her off of the steed and wrapped my arms around her. I pulled out my knife, to prove a point. “You died once today. Did you enjoy that? Well learn this lesson well, I will kill you as many times as it takes to tame you.” With that I stab her, killing her quickly. ---------------------------------------------------- CHARLIE DESALVO’S GYM How could I forget that. Like I could really ever forget what I did. “This is crazy. It wasn’t me, MacLeod.” Try and make him understand that’s all I can do. But with her here it will be impossible. He looks at me in disbelief. “Do something.” I beg. God, I’ve resorted to begging. “This is between you and me, Methos.” She has her sword ready to strike. I wonder how good she is. I try and avoid her but jumping back a forth. MacLeod grabs her, “Get out of here. Go, Now!” You don’t have to tell me twice. I run as quickly as I can out of there. I hear the echoes as I run. “Let go of me.” “Now!” I can only guess what she’s telling him now. I guess the friendship is over. The Boy Scout will be on the prowl, I just know it. Let’s just hope that he knows that I’m not like that anymore. Let’s hope that he doesn’t do ‘the right thing’ and take my head. One can only hope that he’ll hear me out. ---------------------------------------------------- ABANDONED POWER STATION I walk up the stairs of the Power Station, I can feel him there. He’s standing there over me, well on a ledge. I step toward the open area in front of him, “So you’re back.” He bellows as he walks down the stairs. “What do you think I’d do? Run and hide? Go somewhere you couldn’t find me?” I’ve done it before Kronos, but granted at the time you thought I was dead. Maybe. . . . “No. You’re too smart for that. You know that I’d track you down, no matter how long it took, and then I’d kill you.” He is walking toward me. When I make sure he is close enough I smile, “It’s nice to feel wanted.” “Not want,” Why can’t I look at him. He steps away and walks toward a ledge. “Need.” Great, I look at him, can I got through with my plan? “A dozen times I tried to take up the old ways,” I nod, I believe he did. He loved the feel of it. “but I failed. The others I rode with were trash, scum.” Why do I believe that? “I had no one to plan my raids.” Here it comes, the Methos the planner speech. “No one who understood the true use of terror.” Hands in pockets. Come on, you’re a planner, a thinker, think of something. “You were one of a kind, Methos. As we all were.” He begins to walk away from me, still looking for some kind of reaction from me. “There was never a band like us. Never in all history.” He’s loving this. I walk toward him, it’s time. “You took a risk letting me out of your sight earlier on today.” My sword is ready. I have to do this, before I get pulled back into his little game. He’s looking at something on the table, but I move closer to him. “A lot of time’s past since we rode together. I had to be sure of you.” What is he thinking. I swing. Damn he’s smarter than I remember. He grabs my arm and moves it away. I feel his blade next to my throat. “And now I am.” I let my sword go and step away from him. Can’t he see? What does he want? “Don’t you understand?” I try to explain. “I’m not like that anymore. I. . .I’ve changed.” Please understand. If we meant anything to each other than understand I can’t do that again. “No. You pretended to. Maybe, you even convinced yourself you had.” Is it true? No it can’t be. “But inside you’re still there, Methos, you’re like me.” NO!!! I’m not like that, am I? “Not anymore.” I try to convince him. Or am I trying to convince myself. “No? Tell me you haven’t missed it?” He asks with a hint of evil that made him famous. “The killing?” How could I miss the killing? I’ve changed... I’ve changed. “The freedom, the Power. Riding out of the sun knowing that you’re the most terrifying thing that they’ve ever seen.” I can feel it. I hear the sounds of the horses, the clashing of the swords, I can see the death, the fear. “Knowing that their weapons and their gods are useless against you. That you’re the last thing that they’ll ever see. That’s what you were meant to be, Methos.” Why is it so hard to breath? I can feel it, but I don’t want to. “Don’t fight it, feel it. I’m going to do you a favor. You know Cassandra’s here?” I closed my eyes wondering just what he is going to come up with. What is this favor? “We didn’t exactly exchange gifts.” “And you know that she’ll kill you if she gets a chance.” True, how true. She already tried once today. “You never could bring yourself to take her head, could you?” No of course not, I loved her, or at least I thought I did. “So I’m going to do it for you.” What? “And in return?” Kronos smiled at me, knowing just what he wanted. “You kill Duncan MacLeod.” NO!! I can’t. Don’t ask me to do that. “But he's my friend. He's nothing to you. Why?” How can he ask me to choose between the two of them. Kronos represented my past, and MacLeod my future. Why? “Why? Because he's your friend! Because you still have to prove yourself!” Prove myself? How can he say that after all I’ve done for him? “Because YOU OWE ME!” Oh great now he has to bring that one up. It was a long time ago, Kronos. Don’t make me do it. “Now swear. Swear you will kill MacLeod!” I look over at Kronos, as he slices open his hand. I grab a hold of the knife and also slice my hand open. Before it can heal, we grab each other’s hand and hold it. “I swear,” I answer back to him. Better me to do it than Kronos. Maybe I can get out of doing it for real. Maybe I can make Kronos believe that I did kill, MacLeod. That way he will leave him alone. Maybe. . . ---------------------------------------------------- OUTSIDE METHOS’ APARTMENT I have to get out of here before MacLeod comes. Knowing Cassandra she told him everything, and knowing the Boyscout he will do whatever needs to be done to ‘protect her honor’. Even if it means killing me, friendship be damned. And here I thought that I could trust him, so what if I didn’t tell him about this, but there are things in everyone’s life that they would rather forget. I place my things into the back of my jeep, when I feel him. Damn, I didn’t move fast enough. I look over to him. “Going somewhere?” He asks me as he walks toward me. He looks like he could kill me. Frankly, I don’t blame him. I don’t want to deal with this right now. “You shouldn’t be here.” I’m trying to ignore him so that I can get out of here. Ignore the problem it will go away. Yeah, right, like it worked with Kronos. “What are you running away from?” It’s what I do best, MacLeod, haven’t you figured that out yet. I haven’t lived this long by being stupid. “The question or the answer?” “There is no answer, MacLeod. Let it be.” I throw the last of my bags into the jeep. “Is what she said true?” Why would I tell the truth, I told Joe once. Anyway, MacLeod, what do you know about truth? I close up the back of the jeep, shaking my head, “I’m outta here.” “No, you’re not.” I begin to walk to the front of the jeep to make my escape, but MacLeod gets in my way and pushes me. “You’re not out of here. Is what she said true?” Should I tell him? He deserves that much. I let out a sigh, how am I going to let him know who I used to be. “The times were different, MacLeod. I was different, the whole bloody world was different. Okay?” Are you understanding any of this? “Did you kill all those people?” You’re not listening to me. Why did I even try? “Yes, is that what you want to hear? Killing was all I knew. Is that what you want to hear?” “It’s enough.” He’s trying to walk away. You’ll never take my side on this, so why should I try to make it easy on you, MacLeod. I grab a hold of his shoulders and shove him to the jeep. “NO! It’s not enough!” I remove my hands from his shoulders and look deep in his eyes. You will know, MacLeod, and let’s see if your boyscout attitude can survive. How dare you doubt me, and go against me? Evidently our friendship didn’t mean a damn thing to you. “I killed. But I didn’t just kill fifty, I didn’t kill a hundred. I killed a thousand. I killed TEN THOUSAND!” I begin to use my arms to try and convey the extent of what we were. Will he even bother to ask why I did it? I doubt it, it is doesn’t fit in his little perfect world then he’ll never understand. He doesn’t care enough as to why, just that I did it. I mean it’s not like he didn’t do the same damn thing himself, at one point and time. “And I was good at it. And it wasn’t for vengeance, it wasn’t for greed, it was because I liked it.” I laughed in his face. If he only knew why I liked it. “Cassandra was nothing, her village was nothing. Do you know who I was? I was death!” I laugh, the most evilest laugh I can do. Duncan grabbed a hold of me by my shoulders and threw me against the jeep. Well at least I got a response out of him. “Death, death on a horse.” I laughed at him. “When mothers warned their children that the monster would get them, that monster was me.” I point to myself so that he knew that I was someone that people feared. “I was the nightmare that kept them awake at night. Is that what you want to hear?” Calm, I have to be calm. “The answer is yes. Oh yes.” Duncan looked at me. Was that disappointment in his eyes? “We’re through.” All I can do is nod at him. Don’t you even want to know why? It was all I thought I could do. Please understand. ---------------------------------------------------- ABANDONED POWER STATION As I enter the Power Station, I hear Kronos. Who is he fighting? I see her come down the ladder. She senses me, so I knock her out cold with the hilt of my sword. I can hear Kronos, “You Witch, you’re dead. Come out now and I’ll make it quick. If you don’t you’ll be begging me to kill you.” I hear this as I carry her out of the building. I know that MacLeod is there, but I have a plan and for this to work I need to get rid of Cassandra and stop the fight between MacLeod and Kronos. Can’t say I do anything without a plan. I carry Cassandra to a bridge. She is awake, but not for long, if I have anything to say about it. “You should’ve killed me when you had the chance.” Well maybe I should’ve, but let’s see if you can swim. I threw her into the water below. Her scarf catches on my arm, can’t have her get cold, so I throw that down to her. Now it’s time for the next phase of my plan. Stop the fight between MacLeod and Kronos. When I get there, I see my supplies there. The battle is going on, so I grab one of the bottles and light the cloth at the end of it, and send it sailing toward the ground below. Flames erupt. I continue to send more bottles down and with a little added ‘flammable liquid’ the flames will engulf them. I hear Kronos yell to MacLeod, “I can wait!” ---------------------------------------------------- AT THE WATERFRONT It worked, now if only I can convince Kronos to do what I want him to do. As I relax here against the railing, Kronos has he sword against my throat. Not that I’m pleased, mind you, that he is awfully close to cutting off my head, but once he hears me out, he won’t do it. “Why did you stop the fight? You saved MacLeod.” “It could’ve gone either way. I couldn’t take the chance.” I say very calmly. Falling for it aren’t you, brother? “You afraid of me losing, or him? Have I been wrong about you? Hhmm?” I look down at the sword next to my neck, then back into his eyes. “Maybe I should kill you right now to make absolutely sure.” Set bait, “If you do that, then you’ll never have the Four Horsemen.” I look away hoping to make him believe that I don’t care what he does. “What are you saying?” Line.... “Silas and Caspian are alive.” “You’re lying.” “I can take you to them.” Sinker. Kronos looks really pleased. “Then you live.” He pulls his sword away from my neck. Got you Kronos, the plan is in motion. “The Four Horsemen ride again.” Kronos walks away, and I begin to wonder if maybe this is the right thing to do. No, I can’t think about that. It will work. Come hell or high water, it will work. Next: Revelations 6:8