Disclaimer: I don't own Highlander, just like I don't own the Doctor, or Harry Potter. Happy, you vultures?
Ch. 2:
"I don't want a drink." Cassandra said, surging to her feet.
Duncan had brought her back to her loft and was currently trying to get some answers out of her.
"Then you won't mind if I have one." He replied. "It's not every day I almost take my friend's head by mistake. Or she takes mine."
"It was an accident." Cassandra insisted.
"Oh, I'm glad to hear it." He replied sarcastically.
"I was this close, Duncan." She told him. "This close, and he got away. But not again. Not ever again."
"Why don't you tell me about it." He said.
"We're wasting time." She said, walking past him.
As she passed though, he reached up and grabbed her arm, stopping her.
"Then waste it." He told her.
"I can't!" she replied. "He's getting away! I shouldn't even be here!"
"This is exactly where you should be!" Duncan shot back. "You're in no shape to fight anybody, Cassandra!"
"I'll take the chance." She replied.
"Then you'll lose." He told her.
He sighed as she continued to pace.
"Cassandra, I know Koren." He told her, sitting down. "I know how dangerous he is."
"Koren?" Cassandra scoffed.
"Yes." Duncan replied. "Melvin Koren. The man you're after, I know him."
"You don't know him at all." Cassandra said, her voice breaking. "Long before he called himself Koren, he went by another name. Kronos. And he was one of the Four Horsemen."
"The what?" Duncan asked. "He can't be. All though I don't know why I'm surprised considering I'm going to be the best man to a man marrying an Egyptian Goddess."
"What?" Cassandra asked, confused.
"Never mind." Duncan said. "It's not possible he was one of the Horsemen. They were a myth."
"Ha." Cassandra replied.
"If the Horsemen were alive, they existed ages ago, maybe thousands of years." He told her, standing up. "They can't exist anymore."
"I'd give my life to believe that." She said, sitting down on his coffee table. "But it's not true. One lives. I can still see them. They're monsters. They rode across the world we knew and brought terror and death. Where they were, life ceased. They were without mercy. They were without fear."
A man made his way through the desert, looking for firewood. As he came over a dune, he spotted four horsemen ridding towards him. As they came closer and he realized who they were, he quickly began to run away.
…
In a nearby village of nomads, Cassandra worked to heal a hurt man.
I lived with a tribe of nomads. A healer named Hijad found me as a baby and raised me as his own. I wasn't Immortal yet, but Hijad sensed special powers within me.
"The pain will leave you soon." Cassandra told the man as she bandaged his arm. "But do not use the arm until I tell you."
As the man got up, Hijad stopped him, taking his arm in his hands. He quietly whispered some words over the man's wound and let him go.
"Did I make the medicine badly?" she asked when the man had left.
"You made it perfectly." Hijad told her.
…
As they talked, the man continued to run.
…
"Why did you make magic over him?" Cassandra asked.
"There is more to healing than herbs." He replied, taking her hand. "You will learn. And one day, you will pass my simple skills. Then, you will be the healer."
"But you will always be here." Cassandra insisted, shaking her head.
"Not always." Hijad replied.
He smiled softly and pushed her hair from her face.
…
The man continued to run, dropping the wood as the horsemen gained on him. One drew his sword and, without slowing down, brutally cut the man down.
…
Hijad stood outside his tent, watching, as the Four Horsemen rode over the dune. As they paused at the crest, they drew their swords.
"No!" Hijad yelled as they galloped towards the camp.
"What are they?" Cassandra cried, running to his side.
"The Horsemen." He replied, fear in his voice.
The tribe ran, screaming, as the Horsemen fell on them, cutting down everyone in their path. The rider in white stopped suddenly and looked across the camp to another dune. Cassandra turned to see what could make this man stop his killing and saw a woman wrapped in dark robes atop the dune. Her hood was pulled back and her long, black hair flowed down her back. She nodded to the rider before turning and riding off as quick as she could. Cassandra wanted to call out to her, make her stop, but she was already too far away. Instead, she moved closer to Hijad as the leader approached them
"You know what we are." He said, his voice muffled by his helmet.
"We have nothing you want!" Hijad insisted.
The man removed his helmet and Cassandra got her first look at the man beneath it. He had dark hair and a long scar over his right eye. The left side of his face and the bottom half of the right were covered in black markings.
"Then you die." Kronos told him.
"No." Cassandra cried. "No, wait!"
Kronos drew his sword and she stepped in front of Hijad. Kronos didn't hesitated to stab her in the gut. Hijad caught her, lowering her to the ground.
The last thing Cassandra saw before it faded to black was the rider in white cutting down Hijad.
In their wake, the only thing left was destruction.
"They took what they wanted." Cassandra told Duncan, tears falling down her cheeks as she looked out at the rain. "Left nothing. Hijad, my people…everything I knew and loved was destroyed. It was the end of the world. The end of my world."
"I never knew." Duncan said softly.
"I tried to forget what happened." She told him. "Years turned into centuries, then more centuries. I thought I'd succeeded, and then…and then I learned Kronos was alive."
"Melvin Koren." Duncan said, moving to stand behind her.
He gently touched her shoulder and she turned to face him.
"Whatever he wants to call himself, he's Kronos." She replied. "He'll always be Kronos."
Duncan gently wiped away her tears, brushing her hair back.
"All the…hate." She said, the words coming with difficulty. "All the pain I tried to leave behind. It never leaves, does it?"
"Sometimes." He told her. "For awhile."
He kissed her forehead softly and then her lips before pulling her into a hug.
"You're kidding me right?" Joe demanded. "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse? Like in the bible?"
"No, like in the Kentucky Derby!" Duncan replied.
He and Cassandra stood in Joe's bar, trying to get information out of the Watcher.
"Hey great!" he said sarcastically. "Well, phone my bookie, Mac. Who're we betting on – War, Famine, Pestilence…"
"Death." Cassandra interrupted.
"You're serious." Joe asked.
"Dead serious." Duncan replied.
"Because we didn't have enough problems with the Egyptian Goddess." Joe muttered.
"Who is this goddess you keep talking about?" Cassandra demanded.
"Never mind." Both men said at the same time.
"Throughout history, there have been mounted raiders." Joe continued quickly. "I mean, local stories, they turn into legends. Legends turn into myths! The Four Horsemen? They're symbols of doom!"
"A symbol didn't put my tribe to the sword." Cassandra told him, turning away.
Duncan sighed and stopped her.
"Joe, look." He said. "The Horsemen were Immortals. One of them was called Kronos."
"Kronos?" Joe repeated. "Sounds like something out of the Dark Ages."
"Bronze, actually." Cassandra corrected. "I know, I was there."
Joe stared at her before staring at Duncan, who just shrugged. Joe turned back to Cassandra and sighed.
"So what do you want me to do?" he asked.
"Find Kronos." Cassandra replied.
"How?" Joe demanded. "I mean, even if this is for real, I never heard of this guy before."
"Yeah." Duncan replied. "But you have heard of Melvin Koren."
"Yeah." Joe agreed, confused.
Duncan just stared at him and Joe sighed.
"Yeah." He murmured. "I'll see what I can find out."
Methos and Sekhmet strode out of their apartment building, Methos' arm around Sekhmet's neck.
"Ah, crap." Sekhmet said, pausing. "I left my purse upstairs."
"Do you need it?" Methos asked as she backed up towards the door.
"I'm just going to pretend you didn't say that." She said, grinning at him. "I'll just be a minute."
"Alright." He sighed, waving a hand at her. "I'll wait in the car."
She ran back inside and he sighed again.
"Women and their purses." He muttered, shaking his head.
As he approached his car door, he felt the approach of another Immortal.
"That was quick." He said, turning around.
Before he could react, a knife appeared in his chest, making him stagger backwards. Kronos stepped out of the shadows and up to him.
"Greetings, brother." He said, grasping the other man by the front of his shirt.
"Kronos?" Methos gasped.
"I missed you, too." Kronos said as Methos died.
He quickly picked Methos up and dragged him away.
"Alright, I'm good to go." Sekhmet called as she approached the car.
She froze when she was it was empty and glanced down, seeing the blood on the ground.
"Methos?" she whispered.
A/N: So, what did you guys think? Let me know, please! I need the reviews! They fuel me. They are my only source of protein!
Abbey
