Date: Thu, 20 Apr 1995 21:37:00 +0200 Reply-To: Marina Bailey Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Marina Bailey Organization: CDS OnLine BBS, Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA Subject: Until Only One Remains (1/2) UNTIL ONLY ONE REMAINS By Marina Bailey from the story idea by David Lanier Duncan MacLeod brought his sword down and severed his opponent's head with a perfect stroke. He waited for the Quickening, and when it hit, everything seemed to explode at once. It didn't matter that Duncan and his opponent had fought in an empty movie theatre in the middle of the night - glass shattered, foam in chairs was ripped out and scattered everywhere, the chairs themselves were ripped from the floor and flung into the air, as Duncan received one of his most powerful Quickenings yet. He didn't even realise that he was screaming until it had died down, allowing him to collapse in the aisle, a ruined theatre around him. Finally able to move after about ten minutes, Duncan pushed himself to a sitting position and looked around at the remains of the theatre. Then he grabbed his sword and got the hell out of there. Duncan returned to the dojo, still shocked at the enormity of the Quickening, knowing he should have expected it. He knew how few Immortals were left, and each one that died released a Quickening containing the knowledge and strength of every other Immortal in the chain up till then. Duncan felt almost... invincible, now. He knew he was much stronger, and in the event of being injured, would heal faster. And reanimate faster. He could probably do a lot of things faster, now. Including swordfight. Somewhere, inside, he knew that someone in this chain had killed Methos. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he did. Knowledge and strength were only theoretical when passed on, but he felt a very, very old knowledge inside, and he knew who it came from. And he could also feel Richie's in there somewhere. But then, that much he had known, since the man he'd killed just an hour before had been the Immortal to whom Richie had lost his head. That was one loss Duncan had found it hard to adjust to; he took it almost as hard as he had when Darius had died. Harder, in some ways, for Richie had been his pupil. But at least Richie would live on in him... in memory as well as through the Quickening. As Duncan walked into the darkened dojo, Joe Dawson stepped from the shadows. "MacLeod." "What are you doing here this late, Joe?" "I have to talk to you." "I killed him," Duncan said. "I cut the head off the guy who killed Richie." "I know," replied his friend, "and that's what I need to talk to you about." They went up to the loft. Duncan still felt a pang of pain when Richie wasn't there eating his food as usual. Richie would never be there again. But his knowledge would live on. Dawson got right to the point. "MacLeod, do you know how many Immortals there were left in the world at 3 a.m. tonight?" "No. How many?" "Three. You know how many there are now?" Duncan had been pouring coffee; he dropped the entire coffee pot on the floor. "I killed Stewart at 3." "3:05, to be exact. Which means, MacLeod, there are only two Immortals left. You, and..." He didn't continue. When Joe didn't say anything more, Duncan knew it was not good news. "Wait a minute, Joe. Are you absolutely sure?" "No. But every single Immortal that we knew of - every single one, bar two - has died." "You don't think... there might be one or two that you don't know about?" Dawson shook his head. "One of our people was watching Arkin; remember him?" "Yeah. He spent his entire life looking for and killing other Immortals." "Arkin killed five Immortals we were watching, and one we didn't know about. Then he was beheaded." Joe did not say who had beheaded him, and Duncan lost patience. "Why are you avoiding his name? Is it that bad?" "It's worse." "What do you mean, worse? Kallas was bad, Grayson was bad. The Kurgan was the worst, and Connor killed him..." Something dawned on Duncan. "No..." he said, almost to himself. "Tell me it isn't who I think it is, Joseph." "It is. Connor MacLeod." "Connor and I are the only two Immortals left?" "Yeah." "Oh, my g-d." Duncan went over to the couch and sank down onto it. He stared up at the ceiling. "I can't kill Connor." "Mac, there can be only one." "That's what it comes down to, I know. But Connor... he's my clansman. He's my friend. He was my teacher. I can't..." Dawson sat down as well. "You're not going to let him kill you, I hope." "I might." "MacLeod..." Duncan got up again, began pacing. "Connor taught me everything I needed to know about being Immortal. The Game. The rules. He even taught me how to fight. He told me who to learn from. I'd be dead now if it wasn't for him." "So, you figure you owe him one." "I owe him my life, Dawson." Connor MacLeod did not have a direct line on how many Immortals were left, but he felt drawn back to Washington State. At first he tried to ignore the pull, but eventually he couldn't. And when he gave in, he realised why the pull was so strong, and why he hadn't met any other Immortals in the four countries he'd travelled across in the previous three weeks. There were only two left, and he was being drawn to the other one. So he gave in and took a flight straight to Washington itself. Duncan had been feeling the pull, too. He had felt pulled towards... the destination seemed to change. Duncan, however, was better at ignoring things. He ignored the pull, knowing that Connor would eventually show up. And what was he going to say to him when he did? Duncan was at Joe's when Connor finally did show up. He felt the buzz, looked up, and there was his clansman, his chin almost on the floor. As he got up to embrace Connor, Duncan saw him mouth the very same words: "Oh, my g-d." Duncan approached him slowly. "Connor." "Duncan." Connor seemed to be in shock. "Are we the only two Immortals left?" "Yeah." "I can't believe this." Duncan gripped his clansman by the arms. "Connor... it's good to see you." At that, the older MacLeod snapped out of it and hugged the younger one. "Duncan!" Joe Dawson had been standing behind the bar, watching. Duncan turned to him. "Uh... Joe Dawson, meet Connor MacLeod." They shook hands. "I've heard a lot about you," said Joe. "It isn't true - he lies," smiled Connor, indicating Duncan, and they all laughed. "So, can I get you a drink?" "Yeah, that'd be nice." But before Connor could continue, Duncan interrupted. "Joe's a Watcher. They watch Immortals. I'll bet he knows what you'll have." Joe said nothing, merely hummed for a moment while he fixed the drinks. Connor took a sip of his and smiled. "A Watcher, huh? For the last few months there have been rumours, but I wasn't sure I believed them. So, you also keep track of what we drink?" "We keep track of everything," said Joe. "Well, you get points for serving me Glenmorangie on the rocks." They fell silent; Duncan and Connor looking at each other over their drinks. Neither one wanted to bring up the topic of the Prize. "I was sorry to hear about Tessa," Connor said, breaking the tension. "Yeah, I got your fax. Thanks." "And the boy? Where is he?" "That's right," said Duncan, looking at Joe. "We kept Richie a secret. Few people knew about him." "So, he did become Immortal?" "Oh, yeah. And a great friend. He was killed two months ago." Duncan looked down. "I miss him." "Yeah." Then the two MacLeods looked each other in the eye. "You can have my head," said Duncan finally. "I don't want it," responded Connor. "Well, I don't want yours!" "I don't think you two have any choice," put in Joe. "There can be only one." "Well, we just change the rules!" said Connor. But even as he said it, he knew it would not work. The two of them could go off by themselves and try to live normal lives, but they'd live *forever*, and they'd feel that pull for the rest of their lives. They'd feel drawn to each other, to fight. Connor looked at Duncan. "We have to fight, don't we?" Duncan nodded. "We can't change the rules now, when we've lived with them for four hundred years." "Four hundred and seventy-seven," said Connor, but there was no smile in his voice. "You can still have my head." "No." Connor stood up. "If we do this, we do it properly. We go home. We go back to the Highlands and we do it there. And we fight, until only one remains." "I'm not going to fight you, Connor." "I don't want to fight you, either, but we both know there isn't any alternative." Duncan nodded, and Connor turned to leave. "I'll book a flight out tomorrow." "All right." When Connor had left, Duncan looked at Dawson with a cold sadness in his eyes. "I don't think I can kill him, Joe." "I doubt he thinks he can kill you, either." "What are we going to do?" "Go to Scotland. Take it from there." Duncan nodded, getting up slowly. He knew Joe would also be booking the first flight to Scotland. And probably calling whatever Watcher it was who lived there. "See you, Joe." Duncan went home and started packing. He didn't take many clothes, since he didn't expect to be staying a long time... or coming back. He hadn't been back to the Highlands for... well, a very long time. Duncan had never returned there after his decision to leave, travel and learn from the people Connor had told him about. He knew Connor had gone back, though. And yet Connor seemed less Scottish than he did. He wondered what it would be like, the two of them, back in the Highlands... trying to kill each other. Duncan wished Richie were with him, to be his sounding board. Dawson saw things from a Watcher's perspective; Richie had only ever seen things as Duncan's friend. Richie would probably... no, scratch that... *would* have advised him to go to Scotland and do what had to be done. He could almost imagine Richie saying, "You know there can be only one, Mac." And because of that, Richie was gone. Being Immortal had actually made Richie's life shorter, not longer, and Duncan was sorry about that. But at least he had had a chance to become the person he had always wanted to be. He had been successful... and when Duncan thought about it, he knew that for all his friends, Immortality had made them successful. Fitz had been... well, a successful womanizer, but that was Fitz. Darius had influenced many people, mortal and Immortal, to try to make the world a better place. Amanda... she had been successful at whatever she'd tried... aside from counterfeiting, that is. Duncan had never tried to find out who had killed Amanda. He didn't want to know, because he knew that, had he known, he would have hunted the person down and killed them. And, despite her death, Duncan had never wanted to admit to himself that he had loved her. So he hadn't asked Joe, and Joe hadn't volunteered the information. When he was ready, Duncan called Joe. "I've left everything to you," he said. The first thing out of Joe's mouth was, "What am I gonna do with a dojo, MacLeod?" Duncan had smiled, then. "Sell it. Turn it into a bigger bar. I don't know." Joe could hear the smile in Duncan's voice, but he had to be serious. "Isn't there someone else you want to leave it to... assuming you die, which I'm not sure will happen?" "No." MacLeod swallowed hard. "I would have left... Richie would have inherited everything. But Richie isn't here, and you're my friend." Dawson had reluctantly agreed. Now Duncan could get on that plane for his appointment with his clansman... and with destiny. Duncan picked up his bag, and turned a last time to look at the loft. A lot of things had happened here. Him and Amanda together in that bed... Anne yelling, "Duncan!" when he had nightmares. Standing there holding the Spanish rapier: "Live with it, make it part of you..." The smile that had crossed Richie's face... "I can't kill you, I can't!" during the episode with Garrick... Dawson lamenting the fact that Watchers and Immortals could not be friends, but finally deciding to ignore that rule. And Tessa... she had never been here. That hurt him more than any of the other thoughts. They were all gone. With the exception of Joe and Connor, everyone whom he had loved was gone. And soon there would be only Joe and... Duncan pulled down the elevator gate, got out at the bottom, exited the dojo and locked it. Then he drove the T-bird to the airport, where Connor would be waiting for him. He found Connor waiting at Customs. "Been waiting long?" "Nah. I just got here. We're waiting to see if they'll let my sword through. You'd better do the same." So Duncan gave them the same story Connor had: they were both antique dealers flying to Europe on business, and these swords were personal, *antique* items, that just could not be checked with the rest of the luggage. Duncan had always shipped a great deal of stuff at once, and his sword had always gone along like that. But he hadn't even brought a bag large enough to keep the sword in. And by the looks of it, neither had his clansman. The man at the Customs desk looked extremely harassed. "Sirs, you *have* to check them with your baggage. You cannot take them on the plane." "Do you know how much a Japanese katana is worth?" asked Duncan. The man's face showed he knew it was a lot. Connor replied. "Anything from a few thousand dollars to hundreds of thousands. These two are worth more than $200,000 each. If you lose them, we'll sue you for their full value." He looked at Duncan, who was trying not to smile. Finally the man called the airline. Sounding chastened, he put the phone down. "They say it would be a bit hard to hijack a plane with a sword. But you must keep them in their transport tubes." "Of course." Duncan kept a straight face. "Of course." Connor was determined to keep *his* face even straighter. Feeling a little more cheerful - it wasn't often that they got to practice their 'act' on people, especially unsuspecting airline officials - the two highlanders got on the plane. - Marina. \\ "I don't care about their different thoughts; ||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> // // different thoughts are good for me." || R I C H I E >> \\ \\ - Tanita Tikaram; Twist in my Sobriety ||>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> // //======tmar@cds.Alt.ZA=======Marina Bailey======|| \\ \\=============Chief Flag Waver and Defender of Richie==============// ... Don't marry your nephew's fiancee, he won't like it. --- Blue Wave/RA v2.12 [NR] =========================================================================