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And here we go with the big climax, have fun with it.
Chapter 3- Clash of Immortals
Buffy was in the training room, punching and kicking the bag, taking out her frustration on it due to the fact that the Kurgan had been pretty much unaffected by her blows. Slightly staggered, but he had shrugged them off, and now she was angry.
Of course there were a lot of things making her angry, like the fact that she had been ripped out of Heaven.
She then heard footsteps and turned to see Connor at the doorway, looking at her.
"Hi", Buffy said.
"Hi", Connor greeted back, then walked forwards, stretching. "You look like you could use a fight."
"Read my mind", Buffy smirked.
"Want to spar?" Connor asked her, taking out a beautiful ancient sword, and Buffy eyed it, impressed.
"Nice sword", she said with a smile.
"My mentor's", Connor shrugged as Buffy walked to the weapons cabinet and took out one of her own.
"Let's do this", Buffy said.
"It's been quite some time since I last met a Slayer. Feels like a hundred years ago."
With that, Buffy attacked as Connor stepped forward and blocked with his sword, and then leaned backwards to avoid another swing from Buffy before side-stepping to avoid one more.
He then tried to strike but she blocked in time as they struggled before backing off.
Buffy struck forwards as Connor side-stepped to dodge and she tried to spin kick which he ducked to avoid before striking with his sword as Buffy blocked again, and then she tried to strike back but Connor blocked this time.
Buffy narrowed her eyes and tried to attack again but Connor jumped back before blocking two of her strikes, and then parried a third before pushing her back, and then easily dodged two more of her swings too.
She was getting unfocused at this point and Connor could tell. "You are angry, Buffy, and you are letting it affect your focus in battle."
Buffy stopped as Connor turned around, pacing a little. "But I know there must be a reason for this anger."
Now that set Buffy off as she tried to strike Connor on the back, but he disappeared from front of her, and next moment, Buffy felt his sword on her neck with the Immortal on her side.
"Crude, and rather unsporting, Slayer. Your attack was no better than a child's."
He then swung his sword and it struck Buffy's, disarming her and sending the sword flying off, getting stuck in the wall, as she turned to look at him, awed by his skills.
"Tell me, why so angry?" Connor asked, his powers being able to help him sense exactly how she felt, and he could also sense the feelings of those around her.
"Well, won't be too hard for you to believe", Buffy finally decided to vent it all out to someone who could never even die. "I died about one year ago, and my friends, they brought me back to life."
"Right, and?" Connor asked her.
"I was in Heaven!" Buffy snapped, the pain in her eyes clear. "I was at peace, and they brought me back to life, now the world, the world, it feels like Hell to me."
"But tell me this, do your friends and sister not need you?" Connor asked her. "They may have pulled you out, but does it mean you should be angry at them forever?"
Buffy tried to say something, but no words came out, as she realized she had been angry at them all for too long indeed.
And at first she hadn't even let them know why, and then she didn't let them make it up to her in anyway either, she just dropped everything to sleep with Spike instead, and at one point she had even tried to murder her sister and friends over a hallucination.
"Take it from someone who is Immortal, I did die the first time", Connor reminded her. "And then I woke up, instead of being happy to see me, my village accused me of witchcraft. Even my lover and cousin, they were going to kill me."
Buffy was horrified on hearing that as Connor continued. "But my other cousin chieftain Angus mercifully banished me instead. Unlike me, the people you care about were happy to see you alive, they wanted you back, I was unwanted."
Connor walked to a corner and told her. "You have a second chance. Don't waste it stewing in anger, do something better with it."
His words seemed to get through to the resurrected Slayer at last as she started contemplating everything she had done.
Giles was reading a book, trying to think of a way to help with the Kurgan when Tara called out to him. "Giles!"
"Yes", Giles looked up at her.
"Willow's problem with magic, you are partly responsible for it", Tara told him, giving him a look, and Giles was shocked.
Willow looked up at Tara in surprise and started. "Tara-"
"No, this must be acknowledged", Tara told her girlfriend and turned back to Giles.
"What do you mean?" Giles asked her.
"You knew Willow was having problems with magic, you were there when she wiped out her memories, and you left!" Tara accused Giles, sounding angry, and that was rare. "If you had stayed and tried to help, she could have been helped earlier."
"You know, Tara is right", Xander agreed, stepping up next to her. "You were so busy thinking about Buffy's overreliance on you that you didn't stop and think for a second that we needed you too!"
"Yeah, you don't seem to have the time of the day for any one of us", Dawn had to agree as she looked at Giles with folded arms.
"Guess you don't care that much about the rest of us then", Anya said, and under their combined verbal assault, Giles had no defence for himself, because they were right.
He had been a good mentor to Buffy, but he had never been a good mentor to the rest of them.
"Plus, you were Ripper, right? That makes you more qualified than any of us to deal with Willow's magic problem, so don't say you couldn't have helped", Xander added, and Giles sighed.
"You are right", Giles admitted, taking them aback at his resigned tone. "All of you are right." He turned to look at Willow apologetically. "I failed you, Willow. I always have failed you from the beginning. I never really did do much to help you with magic besides tell you once that you are opening a door you cannot close."
And considering Willow, Xander and Buffy were all still immature teenagers back then, it wasn't like Willow was really going to listen to one warning, so that was a subpar effort from him at best.
"I am sorry", Giles said to Willow. "I am sorry." Deep down, he resolved not to fail the others again. Not Buffy, and not the rest.
"Guess its just best to start it off from a new page", Willow told him, and he nodded.
"I'd like that", Giles agreed.
"Don't leave again", Tara requested Giles.
"I won't", he assured her.
Buffy and Connor came back out during that time and Dawn asked him a question. "Are you Immortals ever safe from crazy, evil Immortals who want to take your head or something?"
"We do have rules", Connor told the group. "The most sacred one being that no combat is allowed on Holy Ground."
"Like a church?" Tara inquired.
"Like a church", Connor confirmed.
"There were two Immortals who once fought in the Temple of Apollo, and then Mount Vesuvius erupted", Giles said to them all, horrifying them, before adding. "It is just speculation-"
"But the point stands, all Immortals follow the rules, even the Kurgan follows them", Connor informed the Scoobies.
"I don't want to be Immortal", Tara finally confessed, looking between Willow and Connor. Grasping Willow's hand, she continued passionately. "I want to be with Willow, have children, see them grow, and grow old with Willow."
Because of the miracle of Tara's survival and then the threat of the Kurgan, the Scoobies hadn't stopped to think about this little detail.
Tara would now outlive all of them, including her soulmate Willow. They would all be in graves while she would continue to look eternally young.
Willow grasped Tara's hand, putting her head on her shoulder as Dawn hugged her from behind.
"I know how you feel", Connor assured her. "I had a wife, my great love, Heather." His face looked pained. "She grew old, and I watched her die of it."
"How do you live with it?" Tara asked, trying to control her tears.
"In her name", Connor said, and then revealed. "But there is a way."
"What?" Buffy immediately asked.
"I will tell you, but first we must deal with the Kurgan", Connor pointed out to the group. It was time to make a plan.
An hour later
Connor and the Scoobies stood together at the shop when Connor and Tara both sensed a pricking at the base of their necks.
"He is here", Tara informed the rest of them.
"You all need to go", Connor then said, turning to all of them.
Willow started. "But we have magi-"
"It will only slow him down", Connor pointed out. "This is my fight, go!"
They immediately started making away as Tara held Connor's hand. "Be careful."
Connor gave a nod and then Tara left with Willow.
The Kurgan saw the Magic Box and feeling his target was within, kicked the door open, walking inside, looking around at the empty store with a grin.
"Highlander", he turned around to see Connor at the broken doorway. Connor drew his sword, ready to battle, as lightning cracked in the sky.
Kurgan then charged with a roar as Connor jumped back, outside of the shop's vicinity, sword still held out.
Kurgan charged again as Connor charged too, and their swords clashed, electricity sparking off their blades while lightning danced in the sky.
From a corner, the Scoobies, other than Tara, Willow and Dawn, who had been sent further away due to Kurgan being after Tara, watched, awed by the spectacle.
"That's a real life lightsaber fight if I've ever seen one", Xander quipped.
"Tell me about it", Buffy agreed.
Connor and Kurgan clashed blades thrice before Connor sliced Kurgan's throat, making him choke and gasp as blood poured out of his mouth.
Kurgan charged again but Connor blocked and kicked him back, then spinning his blade, tried to strike again as Kurgan blocked, the electricity sparking off again, and Connor was pushed back.
Connor beckoned Kurgan to come closer. "What? Afraid that an ant can cause elephant pain?"
Enraged, the Kurgan charged with his sword and swung but Connor ducked and rolled away while the sword hit a wall, and it shattered and crumbled, sending that whole building falling to the ground.
Willow, Tara and Dawn were together, and the former two could sense the energy from the clash, but all three had seen the building falling to the ground.
"Was it them?" Dawn asked, Willow hugging her.
"It was them", Tara nodded grimly.
"I don't think I've ever seen anything like this", Willow said.
This was a clash of proportions so epic Sunnydale had never seen before.
Connor jumped back as Kurgan charged with a roar, and the blades clashed again as lightning danced in the sky.
"You cannot kill me, Connor, I am strongest, I will do to you what I did to Ramirez", Kurgan taunted as he pushed Connor into another wall.
"I learnt some stuff", Connor shrugged as he kneed Kurgan's gut, winding him, and pushed him off before running again, and Kurgan came after him.
Connor stopped as Kurgan laughed, and struck again, with Connor blocking 3 times and ducking the 4th time as another wall crumbled, and the building fell.
"Well, damn!" Xander said, eyes wide in horror.
"That's the power of an Immortal", Giles told him.
"Great power", Buffy muttered.
"Yeah, I want it", Anya quipped. "And the Prize."
Connor ran back, Kurgan following him, and then they clashed blades again before Connor tried to strike but Kurgan dodged and a pole was hit, falling down with all its wires, the electricity sparkling and crackling from it.
Connor blocked 3 more strikes from Kurgan, then kneed his gut and decked his face, before Kurgan punched him and sent him back too.
Connor got up and ran off again, getting near the doors of something. It was night time, and Kurgan was too focused on getting the Highlander that he didn't see what it was.
Kurgan charged again with a laugh as Connor weaved away to avoid and got behind him, and they clashed blades again, the electricity crackling on the sword tips while lightning crackled in the sky.
Then, twisting and spinning his sword, Connor managed to disarm the Kurgan, and before he could react, Connor kicked him hard, sending him through the doors which opened.
Kurgan got up and looked around in horror to see it was a church he had been kicked inside. He started running out but Giles appeared next to Connor and aiming his hand, chanted as the church doors sealed themselves shut magically.
This was the plan all along, get the Kurgan onto Holy Ground where he even he would not be able to defy the rules, and keep him there for the time being.
"How long do we have?" Connor inquired.
"An hour, maybe half more if we're lucky", Giles confessed.
"Then let's make good use of the time", Connor said as both of them ran off quickly, the Kurgan's maniacal laughter from inside the church audible to them all.
A while later, Connor and Tara walked to a hill together as the former asked. "Are you sure about your decision, Tara?"
"I am", Tara said firmly with a nod. "I love Willow, I don't want to be separated from her."
Connor sighed. "I wish I could have done the same as you, but alas, my path leads me to The Gathering."
"Good luck with that, Connor", Tara assured him as the two Immortals shared a smile.
Then they arrived at the hill, where the other Scoobies were waiting, and taking out his sword, Connor stuck it in a rock, grasping the hilt, and gestured to Tara. "Come on."
"Yeah", Tara nodded as she grasped the hilt alongside Connor, and both of them stayed in that position.
Raising her hands, Willow then chanted as magic glowed from her.
"Quam gratiam dederit, transeat illi. Dimittat illam Immortalitas, una dies arescat et senis."
Lightning cracked in the sky as both Connor and Tara shook, and then lightning struck them both, though it wasn't fatal to either of them, and then a great power surged out of Tara before seeping into Connor, who shook once more, closing his eyes, looking empowered, as Tara staggered a little.
Tara then let the hilt go as Connor took the sword out and turned to them all. "With this spell, Tara's Quickening has now passed onto me."
Tara tried to feel it, and yes, while she still felt a bit connected to Connor, the pricking on the back of her neck was gone.
"Thank you, Connor, for all that you did", Tara said with a grateful smile, giving him a hug which he returned.
"Yeah, we'll never forget", Willow agreed as she hugged him next.
"Thank you for your advice", Buffy held out her hand, and he shook it.
"Thank you", Giles held out his hand too.
"My pleasure", Connor smirked, shaking his hand as well, and waved to Dawn, Xander and Anya.
"If you ever need the help of an Immortal once more, do not hesitate to ask", Connor assured as he turned around and walked off, waving once more. "Farewell, for now."
"Bye", Dawn called out as all waved to him.
"Man, he's something, I mean, enduring all that for 5 centuries?" Xander asked. "Whoa!"
No one could disagree, all of them had come to admire Connor in the short time they had known him.
"He can, but I can't", Tara said, turning to Willow with a smile as they stroked each other's faces and shared a loving kiss, before parting, looking at each other with smiles.
"Immortality is not for me, I want to have a normal life with you, a happy one", Tara declared to Willow. "I choose you."
And that's this story ended.
Now since Tara's Quickening has passed onto Connor, Kurgan has no reason to come after her, and so he shall leave as well.
The non-violent Quickenings that are done by grasping sword hilts was shown in the animated Highlander series, which was aimed for kids and takes place in a different Universe.
But since this is a shared verse, and Buffyverse has some powerful magic, creative liberties can be taken here.
So now Tara is mortal and can have a happy life with Willow, with no crazy Immortal coming after her.
Thanks a lot to Brainstorm Sorcerer for this idea and his help with it once more too, it is very appreciated.
And like I said before, a short sequel will come too, covering Buffy Season 7 and Angel Season 5.
Anyway, thanks a lot to everyone for the reviews, favorites, follows, kudos, etc. and all the support, see you all next time with some other story or update.