The Eternal Struggle
By Genna12001 (Laura Pease)

WARNINGS: Some Language and Main Characters Death

CATEGORY: Mystery

SPOILERS: Archangel, maybe a few small spoilers for other Eps.

TIME FRAME: Set twenty-three years after Archangel. Season 5.

SUMMARY: Saxton is just your everyday girl until she starts having mysterious dreams about a death of someone she never knew. On a search to discover the truth she bumps in to someone else out of her dream and then things start to get interesting.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own them never have and never will, although I wouldn't mind owning Peter Wingfield.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Feedback is always welcome. Any criticism you have or ways to improve the story will be greatly appreciated.


Chapter One

The phantoms of Kronos, Horton and Richie circled the confused an angry Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod provoking him just as Ahriman wanted. Setting things in motion for something he believed would result in the Highlander's distraction enough for him to defeat MacLeod without many problems.

MacLeod was swinging his sword erratically trying to rid himself of the demon Ahriman that only he could see up until Richie saw Horton kidnapping another phantom, Joe. The blade of his sword connected with that of Kronos's and Richie's swords sending sparks flying from the connected blades.

There was something deep inside Richie telling him there was something truly wrong. There was something more here than just what he was seeing and hearing, something that was just out of his view. It felt like something was clouding his vision, blocking him from seeing the truth.

The deadly feeling that he had was making him think that whatever that something was, he was going to find out after it was too late to do anything about it.

MacLeod was becoming confused and he didn't know what to do. He could feel the blood pumping through his veins as well as the extra adrenaline. Why was this happening?

Suddenly Kronos and Horton were gone, leaving behind only Richie, looking just as confused as Mac. Without giving Ahriman the chance to manipulate him again MacLeod attacked, forcing Richie back a few paces while MacLeod raised his sword high above his head then in one swift motion he brought it down severing Richie's head from his body.

Saxton sat bolt upright in her bed as the sweat literally pooled off her body soaking the bedding. The light of the moon reflected off her glistering skin giving her a ghostly look. It was now three weeks since turning twenty-three and three weeks since the dreams had first started.

She had no idea why she was having them, but every time she did it was getting more and more intense. Things that had been missing from the first dream were revealed in the countless other dreams that followed over time; she couldn't shake the feeling that they were more than just dreams and that scared her.

She'd talked to her friend Romona about the dreams and she'd suggested Saxton write a kind of dream diary in hopes that would stop them from taking over her friend's nights, but so far it hadn't worked.

Pushing the now soaked blankets off of her, Saxton moved over to her desk switching her laptop on, knowing she wasn't going to get much more sleep that night.
Moving back to the bed she grabbed an old sweatshirt, which was about three sizes too big for her, and quickly pulled it over her head welcoming the comfort she always found when she wore it. Feeling safe within the softness of the sweatshirt she thought about her past, something that almost felt like a dream to her.

Other than having spent her whole life in the care of a family that was kind enough to look after her while she was growing up Saxton hadn't really known what it was like to be part of a family. Yes, the Thomson's were kind enough, but she had always felt like an outsider, she never seemed to be comforted by their presence no matter how they tried to be there for her, she could always tell that they felt like it was something they had to do rather then wanted to do.

They proved to her that she wasn't really wanted the day she turned eighteen and was asked to leave them. They'd told her they had been burdened enough and they were ready to live their lives without having to worry about her.

So as soon as she managed to get a job that paid enough money Saxton moved out of the Thomson's house and moved into the small two-bedroom flat which she now shared with another friend, Samantha.

She sat back down at the computer desk, and she noticed the computer had fully booted up. Flicking throughout the folders, she came across the document she was looking for. She double-clicked on the document titled, 'Racetrack', scrolled down to the end of the document, and started to write out what she saw in that night's dream.

When she finished writing down what she had seen, Saxton closed down the document after saving the changes made to it. Clicking on the web browser she decided to go see if there was anyone online to talk to that could help take her mind off the dream.

Realising it would be a good idea to get some coffee she left the bedroom and walked towards the kitchen without bothering to turn on any lights.

After flipping the switch to the kettle she quickly got the ingredients for coffee into a cup. Once the kettle finished boiling she poured the water into the cup, grateful for the smell of her drink, which was starting to wake her up.

"Don't tell me you couldn't sleep again!" the sleepy voice of Samantha sounded from behind her almost making Saxton jump.

"Sorry did I wake you up again?"

"No. I wasn't sleeping that well myself. You want to talk about it?" Samantha recognized the tired and frustrated look on her friend's face and couldn't help but be concerned for her state of mind.

"It's nothing really, just that dream again!"

"Have you been writing them down like Rommy told you to do?"

"Yeah but it doesn't seem to be working. There's something strange about it though. It's more like I'm remembering something that happened. The more I have the same dream the more details come back to me." Saxton handed a coffee over to Samantha, then took a seat at the little kitchen table with her own coffee in hand.

"What exactly are these dreams about? You've told us it was about someone attacking you, but it wasn't you really," Samantha's face creased as she tried to remember what Saxton had told her about the dream before.

"From what I can tell I'm in some kind of racetrack. I think it's in France or somewhere like that as there's signs with writing on it and from what I remember about high school French, it looks like French. It's dark and there are noises of what sounds like metal against metal. Then there are the voices that don't make any sense so I walk towards them. When the dreams started it was just one voice sounded Scottish but not at the same time. There were other accents mixed in with it as well. As the dreams continued, that voice was joined by others, others that were harder to make out. From what I could make out, though, they sounded like they were goading on the first voice. I enter into an opened up area and see a tall handsome looking guy swinging a sword about."

"A sword?" Samantha couldn't help but interrupt at Saxton's last words.

"Yeah… Anyway he was swinging it about at nothing, until tonight that is. Tonight I saw some other people. There was a guy in his mid forty's wearing a raincoat, a guy that looked like he was in a outfit straight from the dark ages and a hair style to match, not to mention the black marking on his face. He carried a sword too; it was a mean looking one as well. Then there was me, well not me but the body I was seeing all this through it was like looking into a mirror or something, he was a dead ringer for me, well the guy's body I was seeing all this through. You know what I mean?"

"Any idea whose eyes you were seeing it through?"

"There are two names that keep popping into my head but I can't be a hundred percent I've got them the correct way round. There is the name Duncan MacLeod, I'm guessing that's the guy with the Scottish accent and a Ricky, Ricky Ryan I'm guessing that's who I'm meant to be, who I'm seeing this all it through."

"Duncan MacLeod and Ricky Ryan? What happens next in the dream?" Samantha asked, wanting to get as much information from Saxton as possible.

"The other me and the other strange men just disappear leaving me and this MacLeod, but when I say disappear, I mean – puff! - gone in the blink of an eye. Then the guy I think is Mac sees me and must think I'm one of the one's that have just disappeared. I move back a few paces but don't do anything about it to defend myself. I knew I could have, as I was carrying a sword as well, but I didn't. The last thing I remember is the sword coming down toward my neck. I think he chopped my head off!"

"You were carrying a sword as well? Why didn't you use it to defend yourself?"

"I don't know. All I remember is this feeling of someone holding my hands at my side."

Samantha sat silent for a few minutes not believing what she was hearing. How could Saxton know about MacLeod? From the description of the man she had talked about Samantha was certain Saxton was talking about Duncan MacLeod. When Saxton referred to him as Mac, though, she was absolutely positive she was talking about her teacher.

"I'm thinking about making these dreams into a story, Sam. The dream diary doesn't seem to be working, so I think I'll try another approach and try my hand at writing them like a story. The only thing is I would have to go over to France to do a bit of research. I'd like to find out if the people I've been dreaming about are real people or just figments of my imagination as well."

"Where in France would you go though?"

"Paris!"

"Why Paris?"

"I don't know. It just popped into my head when you asked where in France. It's as good a place to start as anywhere I guess."

"Guess so." Samantha was getting more and more concerned: not only had her friend spoken the name of her teacher, she was actually going to go to the same place he was just then. "How are you going to manage with the language? Last time I knew, you couldn't speak French."

Saxton shrugged her shoulders, not really sure how to get around that problem at the moment. "Buy a phrase book! Either that or get you or Rommy to come with me."

"How soon you planning on going?"

"You know I don't need to give much notice for holidays at work so I think I'll go check online see if there are any cheep flights for sometime this week. May as well do it straight away before I give myself a chance to change my mind."

"With me basically the boss of the shop I can take time off whenever I want, but I would have to get things ready for me to have time off. You could fly over on the next available flight and I could meet you in a week's time. How does that sound?"

"You would really do that?"

"Hell yeah! I would do anything to get some time off work; only thing though is I would only be able to take a maximum of two weeks off. Any longer than that and you would be on your own again."

"That's great Sam, I'll go look online now for the flights. I'll order the tickets for you as well."

"Ok then."

Saxton practically jumped out of her seat when Samantha remembered something. "Oh Sax!"

"Yeah Sam?"

"There's this great blues bar you should check out while you're over there. I've heard it the best bar in the whole of France and they speak English, so you wouldn't have a problem with the understanding them."

"Great I'll try that as soon as I get there" Saxton smiled then almost ran to her room while Samantha just shook her head and smiled at her friend's behaviour.

Once Saxton's bedroom door was closed Samantha picked up the cordless phone, which was already lying on the table in front of her and dialled a number she knew by heart.

Knowing it would be a reasonable hour in Paris she wasn't worried about waking MacLeod up. The phone rang for a few minutes before Macleod's voice answered.

"Hey Mac… how's it going over there?"

"Sammy is that you?"

"Yeah, long time no talk isn't it?"

"Yeah, I guess you can call a hundred years a long time. What's wrong?"

"Nothing much. I've got a friend coming over and I'd like you to keep an eye on her, but Mac there's more."

"Why do I get the feeling I'm not going to like this? Ok then, who is it? How long have they been in the game? And what am I keeping an eye on them for or from?"

"Sax isn't immortal. She's my flatmate, she's thinking about writing a book and is going over to Paris to do some research."

"That doesn't sound too bad. Why do you need me to keep an eye on her for?"

"The reason she decided to write a book in the first place is because she'd been having some weird dreams."

"So?"

"So I'm almost positive these dreams involve you."

"Me?"

"Yeah, she's been having them now for the past three weeks since she turned twenty-three. I finally got her to tell me what the dreams are about a moment ago. A few things jumped out at me, one of them been your name."

"What other things?"

"She mentioned a racetrack she believes to be in France, swords, at least three of them, one in your hands, one in a guy's hands wearing something that looked like it was from the dark ages, and another in hers, well his. You see she's seeing all these dreams through the eyes of a man she believes is called Ricky Ryan."

"Richie?"

"What?"

"It's Richie not Ricky."

"You know him?"

"I did, he's dead. He died in an old racetrack in Paris." MacLeod's voice shock slightly as he tried to conceal.

"Mac?" Samantha asked in concern noticing the tone of MacLeod's voice.

"Its ok Sam, send her over I'll keep an eye on her. I want to find out how she found out about this. There are only two other people that know about what happened to Richie and where it happened and they would never tell anyone what they know."

"Ok thanks Mac. Just one more thing before I go, who was he?"

"Not over the phone Sam. I'll tell you everything the next time I see you."

"Well that's going to be in a week. I'll be coming over but I have to get a few things sorted out before hand."

"Ok then I'll see you then."