Later that afternoon, Crystal had stolen Richie away from Duncan and the two of them were walking around the town talking amongst themselves, or rather Crystal was giving Richie an earful of the opinions she had built up over the years.

"You know, Richie, I don't know why so many people let themselves get so bent out of shape over things that don't even matter," she said, "Like that…teacher of yours, about every other word that comes out of anybody's mouth and he gets that look like he's smelling a bad fish."

"I know," Richie replied, "Try putting up with it for five years."

"Oh I could never do that," Crystal told him, "I would've killed him long ago." She laughed and added, "He's a very excitable person, isn't he?"

"You have no idea," Richie said.

"And yet I get the impression he's not surprised by much," Crystal said, "Would love for once to get a genuinely shocked reaction from the likes of him, for the most part he strikes me as a very stone faced person…gargoyle, wonder he doesn't turn to stone when the sun's out."

"You don't like Mac, do you?" Richie asked.

"No I don't," she replied, "And why should I? He killed my brother, why should I like him? You know, he doesn't even acknowledge that he killed Kronos, since I met him he has not had one word to say about that matter, why? What, does he think I'm going to challenge him if he tells me?"

"You mean you aren't?" Richie asked.

"Certainly not," she said, "I don't challenge people, I simply take what I want, if I wanted him dead he'd be dead long before now. Oh no," she said, "If I were going to kill him, I'd make him suffer first."

"Good luck with that," Richie said, "He's a quick healer."

"That's not what I mean, Richie," Crystal said, "Don't you know anything about psychological warfare?"

Richie shook his head, "No."

"Hmmm," she remarked, "I suppose that's another thing I'll have to teach you about…you know, Richie, you've got a lot of stuff to learn."

"I know," he said, "I just hope I live long enough to learn it all."

"Well it's like I said, forget anything MacLeod taught you that has to do with what's right or fair or just or honorable…all out the window, what you need to do is get a good model handgun and keep it with you at all times…somebody tries for your head, you shoot them and decapitate them when they're down. Very simple."

"Yeah but Crystal, I don't like killing people," Richie said.

"Well you're young, you'll learn," she told him, "Trust me, after the first few years, it doesn't bother you so much, especially when your first priority is keeping your head."

"Somehow I have an idea that kind of thinking comes with your age," Richie said.

"Maybe so," Crystal said, "We certainly did live in barbaric times, but things haven't changed so much, it's only the details." They came to a bench and sat down and noting the lack of people nearby, Crystal added, "You know, Richie, in 1930 they did this movie about World War I, and at the time it was considered one of the most violent, most disturbing movies ever made. And we went to see it, and everyone else in the room apparently had had a very sheltered life because the movie got too intense for them…Kronos and I got booted out of the place for laughing at it. Everybody around us is gasping and moaning and crying, they're seeing these young boys get blown to bits, we're seeing these guys playing German soldiers and they don't even have German accents for crying out loud! And to us, who had lived through thousands of wars and battles and seen violence and gore that even today would never get past the censors, to us it was just a funny ordeal. It all just goes back to if you live as long as we do, you see just about everything and very little can surprise you, and a lot of stuff never measures up to your standards."

"Well let me ask you a question, do you think I'll live as long as you guys have?" Richie asked.

"Do you want to stay alive?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Yeah? Can you see yourself disregarding the rules that you have been taught and doing what's necessary to survive?"

"I think so," Richie answered.

"Then you'll do fine," Crystal told him, "Just steer clear of MacLeod."

"Why do you keep saying that?" Richie asked.

"Because he killed my brother, you think he won't try the same thing with you?" Crystal asked, "Let me guess, when he was training you he told you 'this is what we do, Immortals fight to the death, there can be only one'…well what do you think is going through his mind? He knows by those rules only one can be left standing, and do you think he's going to get on his knees and let you make that fatal swing?" Crystal shook her head, "No, he'll kill you first so he can be the last one standing, he thinks he's entitled to it, that he's so much greater than all the people he's killed over the years."

"What about Methos, you don't think he'd do the same thing?" Richie asked.

Crystal shook her head, "Methos doesn't play the game, that's the difference, we never bought into that crap, sounds too much like somebody's idea of propaganda, you divide the Immortals and conquer them by making them kill each other off in the name of their survival until there are too few left to resist."

Richie considered it and said, "It does make sense."

"That's the idea," Crystal told him, "You can't just train your body to know a series of movements, you've got to use this too," she poked him in the side of his head, "You have to actually think, and to do that you can't spend every minute thinking about being the last one left."

"So what's the answer?" Richie asked.

"Well, naturally you don't let yourself be a sitting target, you do have to know how to survive but that shouldn't be your sole focus in life, you have to live too otherwise what's the point?"

"Like you did?"

"Well, I've had a long life and very few regrets," Crystal said, "I've always done what I wanted and what I saw fit, and I haven't fared too badly for it."

"Yeah, well can I ask you a question?" Richie asked, "What was Kronos like? I mean what was he really like?"

"Serious stuff, eh?" Crystal asked, "Well that's kind of hard to answer, nobody is ever just one thing, he was a lot of things. Let's see…well first of all he was a hothead, there's no denying that…he was pigheaded, irritable, excruciating, annoying to no end…"

"Nice guy," Richie dryly remarked.

"Well you had to know him," she told him, "He had his good qualities too…he was scrutinizing but he was never judgmental."

"How does that work?" Richie asked.

"I don't know but he managed somehow," Crystal said, "He was a…one of a kind, whether that's a good or bad thing though, I haven't decided yet." And as she thought about it, her mind went back to a time just a few years ago when Kronos had suddenly reappeared in her life once again.

It was a warm day in June in a small town in California that time not only forgot but had tried to swallow up. At the time Crystal thought it was good security, what Immortal in his right mind would ever cross through the place? She got an answer when Kronos tracked her down a few days later at the house she was currently staying in; and from there, he had decided to stay with her for a while.

The town was a quiet residence that never had much going on other than the trains coming through every few days; and they had figured for once things would get a little boring for them. But they had been wrong. A headhunter that neither was familiar with had also crossed through and found them; originally he had planned to take Kronos' head first, for some reason he had a thing against killing women. But Crystal had other plans and she stabbed Kronos to keep him out of commission for the duration of the fight and went on in his place. Kronos only lost a few minutes in the time it took him to recover, but it was long enough; by the time he caught up with his sister, she and the hunter were down by the railroad tracks. He was coming down the hill to them just as the fight was ending and she took the man's head, and the quickening was one of such strength and power that neither knew of any comparison for it.

When the fireworks died down, Kronos ran down beside Crystal and found her sprawled on the ground in a crumbled heap. The asphalt of the street was hot against her skin but she didn't notice. Kronos didn't know what had happened in the fight or if this was the result of the quickening, but Crystal was covered in blood: her hair was standing up in dark red spikes and the blood was already congealing, the brown of her leather jacket was no longer visible as the red now covered the entire thing, and there was also a mask of blood around her eyes like a red raccoon. Her body was limp and she could hardly move and she couldn't talk, she could only get out small grunts and groans like an animal. Kronos picked her near lifeless body up in his arms and carried her back to the house, which was about a mile away; now he was especially grateful that she had picked a back road town to live in where there weren't any other houses between the tracks and her place.

Once he got her back to the house, Kronos carried her into the bathroom and laid her in the bathtub and started undressing her. First he pulled off her boots and socks, then he went around to the other side and lifted her arms up over her head and got her jacket off and then her shirt, she never wore a bra, she couldn't see any point in it given her build, then he got her out of her jeans and underwear and turned on the taps. Crystal didn't respond to the first spurt of cold water and only let out a small, weak groan as it got hot; she was still too weak from the quickening to move, so Kronos had to turn her over in the tub to clean her, he quickly set to work to wash the blood off of her. He didn't know if the blood was hers, or if it belonged to the man she killed, but he couldn't get it off of her fast enough. After he scrubbed her face clean and got her hair washed, she let out a small groan of contentment as she laid back in the water and waited for him to get done.

It seemed that Kronos was trying to make sure there wasn't a drop of blood remaining on her; he practically scrubbed every inch of her body three times until it was immaculate. During it all, she never said anything, never made any sound or movement of protest and just let him, and it was that pacifism that told just how weak she was; in all the time he knew her she always refused help from everyone, always insisting she could do everything by herself because she'd been doing it that way for 5,000 years, and she especially never relied on anyone to bathe her, though she'd never had any objections to anyone watching.

Finally, he drained the tub and lifted her out of it, wrapped a towel around her and carried her into the bedroom and laid her down on it and pulled the covers out from under her to draw up on her. By now, Crystal appeared to be asleep, but he didn't know if it was that or if she had just finally submitted to unconsciousness due to her weakened state. He remained hovered over her like a vulture on a perch and watched her sleep for a moment; she seemed to be out of pain now, and he was thankful for that, he brought his head down by hers and kissed her on the forehead. The next thing he knew, two tired eyes were looking up at him.

"Feeling better now?" he asked her.

Crystal still wasn't able to talk, she only nodded her head.

"Good," he told her, "Now go back to sleep."

Her eyes closed before he finished speaking, and when she woke up again, it was pitch dark and the lights were on in the house. She was able to sit up and for the most part able to speak again, though it was becoming more of a challenge every time after taking a head.

"What's going on?" she asked Kronos who was sitting on the foot of the bed, "What time is it?"

"It's after 9 o' clock," he answered, "You've been out for six hours."

Crystal tried to get up but fell back against the pillows instead. Kronos grabbed her by the arm and pulled her up again and helped her to her feet, it was then that she realized she was still wrapped up in the towel. She staggered over to the closet and took out another set of clothes to wear; Kronos tried to help her get dressed but she refused, insisting she could manage by herself.

"This takes me back," he said as he backed away to the other side of the room.

Crystal seemed to know what he meant. "With Methos?"

Kronos pressed his back against the wall and slowly sank to the ground, "That was horrible, when he had no idea who any of us were, even himself. Do you think he remembers those days?"

Crystal looked down at the clothes in her hands and replied, "I don't know. I would hope not."

He watched her as she got dressed and stood before the full length mirror on the closet door; Kronos got up and walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, "Have you heard from him lately?"

"Yes," she said as she pushed away from him.

"Where is he?"

She turned on her heel and glared at him through one eye.

"Relax," he said, "I have no intention of going looking for him."

"Be nice if I could believe that," she told him as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

Neither said another word to the other for the rest of the night. They looked at one another and came to terms with the mess their lives were currently in. Despite not exchanging any words, he came over to her and they clung to one another like a couple of frightened children; they stayed that way for the rest of the night, they lay beside one another in bed, neither really slept, but each could hear the nerve wracking beats of each other's hearts pounding in their chests.

When they awoke the next morning, the sun was already coming in the window so bright that it looked like the sky had exploded.

"I think we're getting too old for this," Crystal said as she shielded her eyes with her hands.

"You ready to consider the alternative?" he asked.

"No," she replied, and it surprised him how weak she sounded as she answered. She sat up in the bed and looked over at him and added, "But this whole thing sucks. The older we get, the worse it gets, except for you." She grabbed the covers and tried burying herself under them again as she said, "You're so weird, it's like you still enjoy it."

"If any of us was truly meant to be the last one standing at the end of this whole mess, it was Kronos," Crystal told Richie. Sometime during their conversation they'd found an unoccupied bench and made themselves at home on it. Richie stayed quiet as Crystal explained, "He was the only one who had it in him to endure it all. MacLeod killed him and took away the only chance there ever was of somebody worthy winning the Prize if there ever was one."

Richie looked at her confusedly and asked, "You think he deserved it more than Methos?"

She looked a bit surprised and said, "He keeps telling everyone he's just a guy, why doesn't anyone believe him?"

"I don't know," Richie said, "I guess…you live to be 5,000 years old…"

"Richie," Crystal told him, "I am 5,000 years old, Kronos was 5,000 years old…we may be rare but that doesn't make us special."

"How many?" Richie asked, "How many are there who are as old as you?"

"I don't know," she said, "A few years ago I think Methos, Kronos, their two brothers Silas and Caspian, and myself, were the only ones left, but I just don't know. Though I don't see that it matters much anyway…"

Both of their attentions were drawn to the new buzz that had arrived in their vicinity. They looked and saw it was Methos walking down the sidewalk; he seemed mildly surprised to see them.

"What're you doing here?" Crystal asked.

"I wanted to have a word with you," he said, "In private."

She followed him into the alley behind the street and he said to her, "First of all, I wanted to apologize for the way I acted the other morning."

"And?" Crystal asked.

"I think it would do you some good to find out exactly what there is between you and Richie," he told her.

Crystal started laughing, "Come on, Methos, he's just a baby."

"That's perfect, they're easier to train," he told her in an amused tone, "Look, I know you like him, I know he likes you, and I'm going to stay out of your way tonight so whatever happens can proceed without interruption."

"Where're you going to go?" she asked, "Back to your apartment?"

"Remember MacLeod's friend Amanda?" Methos asked.

"Yeah."

"Well she's getting a bit fed up with our 'friend' the highlander as well, she's invited me over for the night."

Crystal whistled approvingly in response.

"Very funny," he told her, "Believe me when I say spending the night with you would be more interesting."

She smiled and said in reply, "Okay, so we'll see what happens, but I'm not holding my breath."

Richie wasn't aware where he was but he did have the presence of mind to figure out that he was in a bed, the question was whose? He got his answer when he heard a familiar voice say sarcastically, "You're supposed to get turned on, stupid, not pass out."

He opened his eyes and found that yes, he was back in Crystal's bed, and he saw that she was right beside him in the big bed for two. His head was still swimming and it took him a couple of tries to form the words to ask her, "What happened?"

"It is official," Crystal told him, "As a seducer, I clearly failed somewhere," and she laughed, unnerving him. "Relax," she told him as she pushed the covers back, "As far as my memory serves from tonight, we didn't do anything, though it's certainly not for lack of trying."

Richie managed to sit up in the bed and he looked around at the room, trying to get his eyes readjusted to the light, and he found the alarm clock and saw that it was going on 3 in the morning.

"What happened?" he asked again.

"I think my brother and his friends need to get a life," Crystal told him, "Methos passed the word along to Amanda that you were going to be my guest for the night, so she gave him a bottle to pass along back to me, which I was supposed to pour into your dinner tonight to get the mood right," she laughed and said, "All it did was put you to sleep, I think the old whore's starting to lose her touch."

Richie blinked several times and took a few seconds to process what she said and he told her, "You shouldn't talk about Amanda that way."

"Oh I know it, but she plays the card so well," Crystal told him, "Though I gotta say, if this is what she has to resort to to get that idiot MacLeod to sleep with her…" she didn't finish her thought.

"I think you underestimate Amanda," Richie told her.

Crystal laughed and said, "She's just a woman, Richie, she's not that hard to resist."

"I guess that would depend on who you ask," he replied.

"Yes, and they'd all have to be of the feeble minded category," Crystal remarked, "I'll guarantee you, my brother would never sleep with that woman, even he's got standards."

"Which one?" Richie asked as he settled back down and pulled the covers up.

"Which one what?" Crystal asked.

"You said your brother, which one?" Richie asked with a yawn.

"Either of them," she answered, "Believe me she's not either of their types."

Richie hummed agreement as he tried to go back to sleep and he tiredly murmured, "I'll believe you," and rolled onto his side.

"You know something, Richie?" Crystal said as she propped her head up on one hand and looked down at him, "As a lover, you fail miserably…but I like having you around."

"Oh yeah?" Richie sleepily asked, "Why's that?"

"Because you're young and only partially corrupted by that fool MacLeod, you're not jaded and set in your ways yet, you're still young enough I can corrupt the other half to my own liking."

Richie was all but asleep but he laughed when he felt Crystal tackle him and pull the covers up on them both.

Methos turned over and looked at the clock on the nightstand and saw the time. From the other side of the bed, Amanda shifted and tiredly grumbled, "Why are you still up, Methos?"

"No reason," he replied as he lay his head back against the pillows, "Just wondering what Richie and my sister are doing right now."

"Hmm," Amada groggily remarked, "Why don't you call them up and ask them? Better yet, we could go over there and cheer them on."

Methos chuckled and said, "I doubt that there'd be anything going on to warrant that."

"Oh, why?" Amanda asked as she forced herself awake.

"Maybe I'm wrong, and for once I wish I would be," Methos told her, "But I don't think Crystal has ever had much luck finding a lover. You know when we were together, Kronos killed that really fast, he ever caught anybody even looking at her, he was ready to kill them."

"And after Kronos?" Amanda asked, knowing she wasn't going to be getting any sleep until Methos got this off his chest.

"Well, there's a few hundred years unaccounted for in between so I really couldn't say, but after that, she spent so much time making sure he and I didn't cross paths that I doubted it left her much room for a personal life, seeing as how one of us was always dropping in on her at a bad time," Methos explained.

Amanda yawned and said, "Well maybe with Kronos gone now, it'll be a blessing in disguise and she'll be able to move on with her own life, maybe now she can get a life."

"I hope so," Methos replied as he looked up at the ceiling, "It isn't right for her…over the centuries both Kronos and I had a wide variety of women to pick from, but Crystal…I don't think she's ever had anyone outside of the two of us."

"And now that Kronos is dead it's got to be hitting her hard," Amanda thought out loud.

"You have no idea," Methos told her.

"Well maybe it's just me, Methos, but I don't get it," Amanda said, "How could she let her entire life revolve around just the two of you?"

"Easy, we were the only people she could ever trust," Methos answered, "And 5,000 years ago it was a simpler concept to grasp, there weren't as many people to pick from back then…but I worry about her now."

"She's very lucky to have you for a brother," Amanda commented, "But I don't think you need to worry about her, she seems well adjusted to me."

Crystal lay in the dark staring up to the ceiling. Alongside her, with one arm wrapped around him, Richie lay on his side completely oblivious to anything going on around him. He'd fallen asleep a short while ago and was so deep in now it was obvious he was going to stay there until morning. Crystal just didn't have it in her tonight to break in the kid. Instead she had bigger things on her mind. As she lay in bed staring up at the complete blackness that covered the whole room, only one thought crossed through her mind: she was going to kill MacLeod. She was going to make him pay for what he did to Kronos, and she knew just how she was going to carry it out.