Title: The Final Pair.
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: None
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy, Highlander, the Ender's series by Orson Scott Card or any other story or show that appears here. I would buy them but I am broke.
Summary: In a universe where there are no Slayers, people still fight the Demons, and they have something in common. A look at the final surviving pair of these warriors and their lives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For millennia, since the birth of humanity, they have existed in a world hidden from the majority of humanity. They are the Immortals. Most Immortals believed solely in 'The Game'. A deadly competition of mortal combat with ancient weapons. Despite their name, the Immortals were never completely immortal, if killed they would return to life as if they had never died, and they healed very quickly, however, if you separated their head from their shoulders they would die, passing all their knowledge to the Immortal that killed them. In the end the credo of The Game, 'there can be only one' was proved to be false. There are two and they have no intention of ever taking the head of the other to claim 'the prize' the mythical reward for the winner of The Game. This final pair were the last Immortals, ever; they had made sure that no other Immortal would ever be 'born', by ensuring that there would never be any pre-Immortals delivered into their universe. An immortal was 'born' when a pre-Immortal was killed violently and all pre-Immortals are foundlings, not born but found or adopted, as Immortals themselves are unable to bear children.
The final two Immortals had experienced almost everything in the entire human sphere of experience. Not only did they have all the knowledge that they had accumulated during their very long lives, even by Immortal standards, which spanned almost seven million years, but also all the knowledge of all the Immortal that had ever existed. They had experienced things that no other Immortal could imagine. They had seen man leave Earth, settle and make business in the asteroid belt, send exploration craft out into the universe. The had witnessed the horrors of interstellar war, both when the Formics, also known as the 'Buggers', both as an insult and a reference to their insect-like appearance, had attacked in what became know as the First and Second Invasions and when humanity had retaliated and the International Fleet defeated the Formic Fleets under the direction of Ender Wiggin, the eleven year old military genius. They had seen humanity spread throughout the universe almost like a plague and then, after a thousand or so years, collapse in upon itself until only pockets of life remained scattered among the vastness of the universe and technologies and the means of interstellar travel lost and the pockets became isolated to evolve on their own.
They watched as civilisation on Earth crumbled, only to be slowly rebuilt over thousands of years, until once again mankind left the Earth to travel the stars, using different technologies this time, meeting up with the decedents of the isolated colonies that had evolved differently from those who remained on Earth, eventually forming the Federation of Planets, and exploring the universe and following 'the prime directive'. Eventually the Federation collapsed and again, humanity lost technology and society till it again rose, next as 'the Systems Commonwealth' only to fall and raise again as the Federation, boasting peace with federal service, a military system of volunteers based around the Fleet and the Mobile Infantry, an armoured infantry force. This hundred of thousand year cycle continued until humanity fell so completely that it would never recover. After almost seven and a quarter million years, humanity was on its death bed and the two final Immortal watched, knowing their time also had almost come. The two immortals sat on a cliff overlooking the ocean, the hundred or so remaining humans had set up a village a few kilometres to the south, and in thirty or so years the village will be deserted and humanity will have died out. Unconcerned about the fate of the village, the pair just stared out over the water that flow over most of the surface of the planet that they love, had never abandoned and had sworn to protect. They knew that race they had sworn to protect was about to die, but it did not matter, they could not have stoped this, in fact their purpose had been fulfilled many, many lifetimes ago and now they simply awaited their end, as was promised. The small blond woman with her emerald green eyes looked at the tall brown haired man sitting next to her, with his soulful brown eyes. They had been through a lot together but the under-riding reason that they had never tried to take each other's head was seven million year old friendship and love. The blond snuggled into the man shoulder, closing her eyes, which looked much more mature than her body, and enjoyed the feeling of being near her man. The man put his arm around her and also closed his too mature eyes.
"What you thinking, Buffy?" the man asked after a few minutes.
"Not much, Xander. I was just thinking of fallen comrades. Mostly Willow and Giles." Buffy responded.
Xander nodded his head slowly. Even after several million years, it was still hard to think of Willow and Giles. Those painful memories, however, lead to other memories that were happier. Like the day he had met Buffy, the love of his very long life. As the sun slowly set over the water the two Immortals sat in the grass and wildflowers of the cliff top, lost in their memories.
TBC
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: None
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy, Highlander, the Ender's series by Orson Scott Card or any other story or show that appears here. I would buy them but I am broke.
Summary: In a universe where there are no Slayers, people still fight the Demons, and they have something in common. A look at the final surviving pair of these warriors and their lives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For millennia, since the birth of humanity, they have existed in a world hidden from the majority of humanity. They are the Immortals. Most Immortals believed solely in 'The Game'. A deadly competition of mortal combat with ancient weapons. Despite their name, the Immortals were never completely immortal, if killed they would return to life as if they had never died, and they healed very quickly, however, if you separated their head from their shoulders they would die, passing all their knowledge to the Immortal that killed them. In the end the credo of The Game, 'there can be only one' was proved to be false. There are two and they have no intention of ever taking the head of the other to claim 'the prize' the mythical reward for the winner of The Game. This final pair were the last Immortals, ever; they had made sure that no other Immortal would ever be 'born', by ensuring that there would never be any pre-Immortals delivered into their universe. An immortal was 'born' when a pre-Immortal was killed violently and all pre-Immortals are foundlings, not born but found or adopted, as Immortals themselves are unable to bear children.
The final two Immortals had experienced almost everything in the entire human sphere of experience. Not only did they have all the knowledge that they had accumulated during their very long lives, even by Immortal standards, which spanned almost seven million years, but also all the knowledge of all the Immortal that had ever existed. They had experienced things that no other Immortal could imagine. They had seen man leave Earth, settle and make business in the asteroid belt, send exploration craft out into the universe. The had witnessed the horrors of interstellar war, both when the Formics, also known as the 'Buggers', both as an insult and a reference to their insect-like appearance, had attacked in what became know as the First and Second Invasions and when humanity had retaliated and the International Fleet defeated the Formic Fleets under the direction of Ender Wiggin, the eleven year old military genius. They had seen humanity spread throughout the universe almost like a plague and then, after a thousand or so years, collapse in upon itself until only pockets of life remained scattered among the vastness of the universe and technologies and the means of interstellar travel lost and the pockets became isolated to evolve on their own.
They watched as civilisation on Earth crumbled, only to be slowly rebuilt over thousands of years, until once again mankind left the Earth to travel the stars, using different technologies this time, meeting up with the decedents of the isolated colonies that had evolved differently from those who remained on Earth, eventually forming the Federation of Planets, and exploring the universe and following 'the prime directive'. Eventually the Federation collapsed and again, humanity lost technology and society till it again rose, next as 'the Systems Commonwealth' only to fall and raise again as the Federation, boasting peace with federal service, a military system of volunteers based around the Fleet and the Mobile Infantry, an armoured infantry force. This hundred of thousand year cycle continued until humanity fell so completely that it would never recover. After almost seven and a quarter million years, humanity was on its death bed and the two final Immortal watched, knowing their time also had almost come. The two immortals sat on a cliff overlooking the ocean, the hundred or so remaining humans had set up a village a few kilometres to the south, and in thirty or so years the village will be deserted and humanity will have died out. Unconcerned about the fate of the village, the pair just stared out over the water that flow over most of the surface of the planet that they love, had never abandoned and had sworn to protect. They knew that race they had sworn to protect was about to die, but it did not matter, they could not have stoped this, in fact their purpose had been fulfilled many, many lifetimes ago and now they simply awaited their end, as was promised. The small blond woman with her emerald green eyes looked at the tall brown haired man sitting next to her, with his soulful brown eyes. They had been through a lot together but the under-riding reason that they had never tried to take each other's head was seven million year old friendship and love. The blond snuggled into the man shoulder, closing her eyes, which looked much more mature than her body, and enjoyed the feeling of being near her man. The man put his arm around her and also closed his too mature eyes.
"What you thinking, Buffy?" the man asked after a few minutes.
"Not much, Xander. I was just thinking of fallen comrades. Mostly Willow and Giles." Buffy responded.
Xander nodded his head slowly. Even after several million years, it was still hard to think of Willow and Giles. Those painful memories, however, lead to other memories that were happier. Like the day he had met Buffy, the love of his very long life. As the sun slowly set over the water the two Immortals sat in the grass and wildflowers of the cliff top, lost in their memories.
TBC