There be Only One, Chapter 1
(Immortals Katniss Everdeen and Clove Honor cross paths over the centuries as the Game and their own journeys take them. From opponents they grow to be friends and finally lovers. Femslash. Katniss/Clove.)
("From the Dawn of Time we came, moving silently down through the centuries. Living many secret lives. Struggling to reach the Time of the Gathering, when the few who remain will battle to the last. No one has ever known we were among you...until now." Sean Connery "Highlander" the movie.)
(This story is set in the world of the Movies/TV series "Highlander". I don't consider it a crossover even though some characters from "Highlander" will appear. The story is centered around Katniss and Clove. For those not familiar "Highlander" supposes that Immortals are among us. They stop aging the first time they are killed. The only way they can be killed for good is to be beheaded. If this is done by another Immortal that one gains the loser's power. They can sense when another Immortal is nearby. Over all is "The Game"; the rules that they live and fight by until in the end "there can be only one" (sounds familiar doesn't it?))
(Here we are, born to be kings)
(New York City, Present Day)
"You would think for what I pay for parking here by the month I would just be able to whip right into my space," Katniss Everdeen mumbled under her breath. Then she grinned. Well maybe all New Yorkers were supposed to drive compact SUV's and stuff like that. Most of the vehicles around her DID look puny compared to her Crew Cab F-250 4 wheel drive Pickup Truck. "You can take girl out of the country but not the country out of the girl," she reminded herself. She cut the engine and the rumbling diesel fell silent.
It was getting time to at least think about moving on anyway. She had been here for over twenty five years now and some of the comments about her seeming lack of aging were beginning to get a little pointed. Well it had happened before and doubtlessly would happen again. But it was getting harder and harder to assume a new identity as the world grew smaller. Once it was simply a matter of moving a hundred miles. Now it took documents on top of more documents all of which had to be obtained at an increasingly steep cost.
Well that was the price for being Immortal. One of them anyway; along with outliving everyone around her and everyone she had ever loved.
"God, get a hold of yourself Katniss," she scolded herself. She was a long way from the barefoot Irish farm girl she had once been. She could afford those documents and pretty much anything else she wanted, having carefully invested her money over the years. And besides, an impish grin crossed her face as she thought of a certain brown haired girl whom she had just heard from the week before. Clove was also thinking about moving and it had taken no more than the slightest hint before the pair of them had been on the phone discussing where they might live next.
Clove had voted for South America; Argentina perhaps or Brazil while Katniss was still holding out for Paris, at least for ten years or so. Well they would work it out. They always did.
Katniss frowned for a moment. It had been ten, no fifteen years at least, since she had seen Clove. How had they let so much time go by apart? Of course time was one thing they had plenty of. Besides, when you've been together for a few hundred years it makes sense to take a break from each other every now and then. She was really amazed at how Gina and Robert de Valicourt had managed to stay married, and together, for three hundred years. She deeply loved Clove but sometimes the tough English Immortal girl was more than a handful.
Well all this wool gathering wasn't getting the bills paid. Katniss climbed down from her truck, reaching back in to grab her briefcase. Owner and one of two employees of a respected financial planning and advisement company she had visited three old clients and one new one today and now needed to finish up the paperwork. Especially for the new people, a sweet couple of the verge of retirement who needed investment help. Katniss looked forward to making sure that couple had worry free golden years. She was as good at that as she had been at poaching deer centuries ago.
She closed the truck door and locked it with the remote. And then it hit her, the sudden unexplainable sensation that let her know another Immortal was nearby.
Friend or foe? That was always the question. And it might be someone she had never met before, someone she was just bumping into by accident. It could be an old friend. She knew one day the time of "The Gathering" would catch up to them and there could no longer be friends, only a single victor. But not yet. She hoped. So maybe a friend or someone who might become one. Not she shied away from a fight when it was presented to her but she preferred to have a little warning. A silk blouse, short skirt with matching suit jacket, sheer pantyhose and three inch heels were NOT her preferred costume for a fight. She debated jumping back in the truck and taking off. But if it was indeed someone hunting her than it was best to go ahead and get things over with. Much better than being in a position where she only felt the other Immortal when his or her sword was arching towards her neck.
She unlocked the truck again but opened the back seat door instead of the driver's one. Keeping an eye on the area around her she groped for the hidden sheath; giving a sigh of relief as her fingers curled over the familiar hilt of her sword. It slid out silently. She held it by her side and waited for the unknown person to make the next move.
That move sounded as leather scraped against the concrete floor and then broke into the thud of running footsteps. Katniss sprang away from her truck, her sword coming up to guard as a dark figure launched itself at her, a length of shinning steel streaking for her head.
"Clang!" The swords crossed deafeningly. Katniss staggered slightly. The other was stronger than her. Also she could see the attacker was wearing boots, a much better choice for combat than her heels. With that the slender Irish Immortal kicked the three hundred dollar shoes off and met the next swing in her stocking feet.
The other's sword was heavier than her saber and he, Katniss was certain the attacker was male, was using both hands, giving extra power to his blows. She fought on the defensive at first, getting a feel for his swordplay. He most likely wasn't a stranger; she had encountered his fighting style before. That was a good thing for when he tried to rush her and force her back into a corner she was able to slip sideways and remain where she could use her greater agility. She also more than matched his strength with her speed and used that to begin to take the offensive. Soon she was launching the majority of attacks and he was starting to fall back. His retreat took him out of the shadows and into the harsh light of the garage's fluorescent tubes.
"Well Marvel," she spared a breath to acknowledge her old foe, "it's been a while."
"And now it's the last time," he returned although without the usual cocksureness she had come to expect from him. She grinned. He knew he didn't have the upper hand in this fight. She feinted and when his point momentarily dropped her blade changed course. Using both hands herself she aimed a vicious cut at his neck. Had he not stepped on something the fight may have been over. As it was he slipped, staggered and fell to one knee. The keen edge of the saber flew over him, taking a lock of hair but nothing more. Off balance herself Katniss stumbled. Marvel took the opportunity to regain his feet and then he was gone.
For an instant Katniss debated chasing him. Sooner or later this would have to come to an end. Generally she was a live-and-let-live person but Marvel and the group he belonged to were always after her and Clove as well. Clove even more than her, after all, there's no one you hate quite like a former ally. Of course taking her head would make them happy too; after all, it was because Clove had fallen in love with her that caused the English Immortal girl to turn against Marvel, Cato, Glimmer and the occasional other Immortals they formed an alliance with. But the footsteps were fading and although centuries ago being barefoot was the norm for her she had worn shoes too long now to go chasing through this concrete canyon in nothing but her ripped up pantyhose.
Speaking of shoes, she thought, she returned her saber to its hiding place and began to look for her heels. She found the first one and then the other. The second one apparently was what Marvel had slipped on. She shot a furious glare in the direction he had disappeared in. Now she was really angry. The heel was broken off and the leather was scraped. Three hundred dollars down the drain. Then she threw back her head and laughed.
For many, many years the idea of three hundred pieces of money, even English pence, would have been a sum so vast she couldn't have even grasped the idea. Now she spent it on shoes without a thought. Still grinning she tossed the ruined shoes into the back floorboards. She looked around. Not that she expected to see anyone, Marvel would have scouted the parking garage before launching his attack but it never hurt to check for oneself. Satisfied she wiggled her skirt up and yanked down her pantyhose. They followed her heels into the truck. She picked up her briefcase, locked the truck again and walked to the elevator.
Her secretary and friend Sally lifted an eyebrow when Katniss strolled into the office barefoot and with her expensive suit rumpled but other than that she made no comment. Katniss checked the clock on the desk and returned the eyebrow gesture.
"What are you still doing here?"
"Working?" Sally returned innocently.
"With what I pay you that should be twenty four seven," Katniss sniffed. In reality she not only paid Sally a good salary but the other girl received a share of the profits. But their mutual teasing was part of their friendship. "Still," she pretended to narrow her eyes, "you need to go home and snuggle with that handsome husband of yours. Anything I brought back now can wait till tomorrow."
Sally gathered her things up. "I will do that and enjoy it but then you'll probably be here until midnight on that stuff that 'can wait till tomorrow'. When are YOU going to find someone nice to settle down with?"
Her friend was well aware of Katniss's preference in partners. She had seen her friend and boss out with some very attractive women over the years they had worked together. But it was rare that she saw the same one twice. Interestingly Katniss had never brought a date with her when she accepted one of the often extended invitations to visit Sally and her husband Jim. She said she just liked to bask in how the two of them felt about each other and the idea of a fourth person just didn't seem to fit. They pair weren't sure what she meant by that but accepted it.
They were very fond of Katniss even though they acknowledged that in many ways they knew very little about her. She didn't seem to have any family. In fact she didn't seem to have any history much beyond the brokerage house she and Sally had been working at until Katniss had struck out on her own and made Sally a staggering offer that she couldn't refuse.
About the only other things that they knew was that Katniss was wealthy, so much so that they sometimes wondered why she worked. She enjoyed herself but also contributed to many causes. And sometime, every now and then, she slipped into an Irish accent just for a little bit.
But she was their friend and friends don't pry.
"Okay, I'll see you in the morning then."
"Goodnight Sally."
Katniss smiled as her friend left. Sally and Jim were so sweet and worked so hard at respecting her privacy. Friends like that were rare. She sighed. She hated to leave them but she had left mortal friends many times before. She smiled and dug into her briefcase and spread out the papers in it; papers that included certified copies of the legal transfer of ownership of the company from her to them. It was her going-away gift.
She had already decided on moving on she reminded herself. Marvel's appearance only set her decision in stone.
The dark haired woman picked up the phone. She punched in an overseas number she had recently memorized.
"Hey, it's me. No I DON'T know what time it is in Singapore. Did I interrupt anything important?" She smiled. "Well thank you, you're on the top of my important list too." Her face turned serious. "Marvel's here. Yes we had a little set-to in the parking garage a little while ago. No I'm fine. But where there's one there's the others and I'm not Duncan MacLeod and capable of handling a half-dozen others at one time."
"Speaking of Duncan he's in Paris right now I believe. We could stop by and visit him. Seriously. Please? Paris at least and we can discuss Duncan later. I WAS only thinking of saying hello. He's a good friend. Oh my God Clove it was one time a hundred years ago and all three of us were carried away. He's not that kind of guy."
"Okay I have to make reservations and finish things here. Yes I have been planning this for a while."
She paused and listened, making a few notes.
"Got it. And Clove? I love you."
Katniss was smiling happily a she hung up the phone after Clove's reply. Then she dug into the paperwork. It was the wee hours of the morning before she finished but she was satisfied she had everything set up for Sally and Jim and for all the clients. She scribbled a note to Sally and placed it on the other woman's desk.
Maybe she should have waited until she could say her goodbyes in person. But there had been so many of those over the centuries. And they didn't get any easier. Not since the very first ones.
She cast one final look around the office and switched off the lights as she left. She didn't look back.
(To be continued)
(By the way, chapter titles are taken from Queen's "Princes of the universe", the main theme song for the first movie and the TV series. Gina and Robert de Valicourt are from episode 4x20 "Till Death". And I was so busy concentrating and review TV episodes I really, genuinely forgot the original MOVIE opened with a fight in a parking garage. *Sigh* The onset of old age is obviously upon me.)