FIC: The Ash Chronicles Book Two: The Methos Story (4/?)

["Julie Burnham" <kerothyn@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sorry for the no update yesterday. I was really really busy. Here's an
update and I'll try to get more out later today.

All disclaimers apply. Melissa Good owns the rights to Tropical Storm, and
I make reference to another tv show.
---


Half an hour later, after searching all throughout the compound, she still
hadn't found Joe Dawson. She went back inside and decided to take a look
around the house. She found no sign of him upstairs or on the main floor.
The door to the basement beckoned to her, and she opened it. Music floated
up to her ears as she snuck down the stairs. At the bottom, she saw Dawson
sitting at the piano in Ash's recording studio, playing a single song over
and over again. Willow recognized the song and couldn't help but sing
along. "Into this night I wander/ It's morning that I dread/ Another day of
knowing of the path I fear to tread/ Into the sea of waking dreams I follow
without pride/ Cause nothing stands between us here/ And I won't be denied."

Dawson turned around to see a really strange creature behind him. Its head
looked vaguely hawk-like, but the rest of its body appeared to be human.
'Or maybe that half-human/half-lizard slave girl on Lexx.' He couldn't stop
himself from yelping, though. He hadn't expected anyone to look for him
down here.

Willow took off her mask. "It's me, Dawson."

He put a hand to his chest and breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't sneak up
on me, child."

Willow smiled. "Are you armed?" He shook his head no. She turned over her
arms and pushed the bracelets up. "Wrist sheathes." She pulled a sword out
from behind her back, beneath her dress. "Sword." She leaned down to her
books and picked something out of both of them. "Sais." From just inside
her skirt she pulled out two more weapons. "Daggers." She put them all
back. "You're the one who shouldn't sneak up on me. And Ash is way more
armed than I am. She's gotta be. Except for the sais, my stuff's just for
ceremony, although it's all useable and deadly." She turned around and
started to go back up the stairs, then turned her head. "Are you coming?
The ceremony's gonna start soon."

"I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Okay," Willow said, then went back upstairs to ceremonially body paint Ash
with the blue frosting. She twirled around in the kitchen to pick up the
bowl, then went into Ash's bedroom to find her sister naked and asleep on
her bed. 'Well,' Willow conceded to herself, 'she can't really be asleep.
I walked in. And knowing her senses, she knows I'm here.' She dipped a
finger in the frosting and began creating ancient and symbolic symbols
across Ash's body.

Ash stretched at the contact, arching her back. "Took you long enough,
Will," she said, her eyes closed.

"I had to find Dawson. He was downstairs playing Sarah McLachlan on your
piano." Ash winced. "Possession, piano version."

"Eek," Ash commented, as Willow finished the body painting.

"All done."

Ash opened her eyes, then scrunched up her nose at Willow, who was
taste-testing the frosting. "Yummy?"

"Nutritious and delicious," Willow replied.

"Imp."

"Slut," Willow contested, laughing.

"Okay, true. Touché'." Ash got up and offered her arm to her queen. "It
is my honor, my liege, to escort you to the field."

Willow smiled and took her sister's arm. When they got to the kitchen,
Methos was just getting into the house as well, and Dawson was climbing the
last step up from the basement.

"Hey Dawson," Ash said, crooking a finger at him. "C'mere a minute." She
led him into her room and shut the door behind him. She opened a trunk and
rooted through it for a moment before picking something out of the mess and
handing it to Joe. "Here. This should fit."

He looked at the outfit she handed him and then looked back at Ash. "You
want me to wear this?" he asked Ash. His eyebrows rose as she nodded.

"You can't go like that. This is the only outfit that'll work and fits you.
If you need help putting it on, just yell. I've got to help Methos." She
turned and walked back out as Joe's jaw hit the floor.

Ash grabbed Methos's arm and the bowl of frosting and dragged him upstairs.

Willow went outside and readied the horses, then went out to build the pyre
that would turn Carolyn's body to dust. She rode out with a horse to the
clearing they'd done pyres in before and began building. She rode back
inside just in time to see Methos and Dawson come out into the kitchen in
costume. Dawson gaped when he saw what Methos was, or rather wasn't,
wearing to the funeral of his beloved.

Methos chuckled at Dawson's reaction. "It's an ancient tradition. Trust
me." He smiled, but Willow could see the slowly fading tear tracks on the
old man's cheek. She couldn't help but go over and hug him. "What was that
for?"

"You looked like you could use one," she answered, then whispered something
in his ear. A tear rolled down his cheek and he hugged his old friend.

"Let's do this," Ash said, and Methos led Dawson to the refrigeration unit
where they were keeping Carolyn's body. They carried her out to the stable,
then hitched a litter to carry her out to the field.

They rode a few yards out to where Willow had built the structure. All four
lifted her up, and Methos took out a flint rock to catch the wood on fire.
He stayed close to the now-burning pyre while Ash and Willow moved back and
began chanting. Ash started dancing around the pyre as she had done
thousands to times before. Methos started singing the counterpoint to the
women's chanting. They remained like that until the sun started to set and
Carolyn was now nothing but the same dust Ash had turned vampires into long
before.

They all rode off to the house as darkness began to fall.

Back in the house, Methos collapsed onto his bed as the door closed almost
all the way. His tears soaked into the black comforter that was already
disheveled from earlier. He murmured into his sheets. "Why did you have to
take Carolyn away from me?"

A voice answered him from the doorway. "She's in a better place, Methos.
And she knew that you loved her. Know that, my friend."

He looked up to see Willow standing in front of him. "I never got a chance
to say goodbye to her."

"You said goodbye today."

"But I never got to say it to her."

"They say the dead can hear the thoughts of the living. I think she heard
you loud and clear." She sat down on the bed beside him and kissed his
forehead. "Sleep now." She whispered an incantation and he fell asleep.
She walked back out of the door.

Ash was downstairs sitting on her couch when Willow entered the living room.
"We need food. I'm going to Eagle. Wanna come?"

"Sure." She grabbed her purse. "Dawson, we're leaving," she called out.
She didn't hear him respond, so they left.

Methos woke again shortly after the sisters left and found a stack of
videotapes by the TV and VCR in his room. He put the first one in and hit
play. There was nothing unusual in the first few tapes he watched, but
tapes starting just before he got back from Paris had a person he hadn't
seen in the picture before. He looked like a doctor, and Methos couldn't
tell that he wasn't one, but he didn't remember seeing that man when he was
with Carolyn. He scanned the other tapes and the tape from right before
Carolyn died had the same man. As he walked out just as Carolyn was going
to code, he took out a cell phone. Before he blended into the shadows, the
camera showed a small tattoo on his inner left wrist. A Watcher. The man
who had killed his Carolyn was a Watcher. The implications were
catastrophic. "DAWSON!" Methos yelled at the top of his lungs. "DAWSON,
GET UP HERE!"

Dawson came in the room. "What is it, Old Man?"

"Do you know this man?" he asked, pointing to the stilled picture of the man
with a Watcher tattoo.

Dawson thought a minute. "I don't recognize him." He noticed the tattoo
and went pale. "I can check the Chronicles."

Methos shook his head. "Do you mind if Willow looks through it instead?
She might be able to spot something else." Methos looked solemn.

"You trust the kid more than me?"

"I trust her to be impartial. You're a Watcher, too close if this guy
really is one as well."

"I guess I never should have expected you to trust me. We've only known
each other a few years. I only introduced you to Carolyn. No, you don't
owe me trust, or anything."

"Exactly, Dawson. I don't owe you anything. I don't owe anybody anything.
Nobody owes me anything. Well, Ash owes me twenty dinars from a bet she
lost after Mount Vessuvius erupted, but other than that.... Favors don't
keep you from being killed. I do what I do for my own reasons. Others do
what they do for their own reasons. Don't you get it, Dawson?" Methos
shook his head and thought to himself, 'Mortals....' He brushed past Dawson
and went to look for the redhead with the gift of a picture-perfect memory
and an incredible aptitude for machinery. He found her watching Tropical
Storm with Ash and popping Gobstoppers like they were Pac-Men. "Willow, do
you have a minute?"

She turned to Ash. "This is taping, right?" Ash nodded. "Sure. Whaddaya
need, Methos?"

"I think I have a suspect. How are you with computer networks?"

Willow laughed. "Oz and I were the best in Sunnydale. Silicon Valley was
watching both of us closely. I can probably hack most anything." She stood
up and grabbed one last Gobstopper before following Methos back upstairs.

In his room, Dawson's laptop was set up with the Chronicle network up.
"That's whom I need you to find," he said, showing her the paused frame of
the security tape with the man's tattoo evident.

Willow gasped. "It was a Watcher?"

Methos nodded. "We think so, yes."

Willow got right to work, scanning through photos of all the Watchers to try
to find a match. Methos wondered at how fast the images were flickering by.
Then, suddenly, she stopped. "There. Unless I'm mistaken, that's him."
Methos stared in amazement as Willow showed him the match.

"Extraordinary." The biography didn't show much information about him, just
his name and who he was supposed to be watching.

"Do you know Cassandra?" Willow asked.

"Yes. It was... in between yous, back when I was still with the Horsemen.
She belonged to one of the tribes. I showed her what it was to be an
Immortal. She showed up again a while back to try to take my head. Duncan
McLeod stopped her, without breaking the rules." He grinned at the mention
of the rules, as did Willow. "She still hasn't forgiven me."

"She sent her Watcher to do her dirty work?"

"I didn't know she had one, but it seems fitting. She's posing as a younger
immortal. She probably got on her Watcher's case for poor performance,
bribed him into doing this for her."

"Do you know where they might be now?"

"No clue. Can you find a way to track them?"

"But of course." Willow smiled. She searched through several credit card
companies' databases for his name, then hit jackpot. "Got you, bastard."
She hacked further and found his latest transactions - ATM withdrawals,
plane tickets, meals. "Stupid, stupid Watcher. At least get multiple plane
tickets. This is too easy." She turned to face Methos. "Looks like
they're in Greece. They're staying at the Athenian Grand Hilton." She
looked puzzled a moment. "Whatever happened to those family-owned places,
like Cyrene's Inn?"

"Her daughter wouldn't take over the business. You remember her, wouldn't
settle down until she and her bard were both ripe with arthritis? The fates
and Aphrodite must have smiled on those two."

"They deserved it after everything they went through. They kept dying on
each other. You'd think they were Immortals... or at least Slayers."

"Definitely soulmates. I was lovin' the hot girl-on-girl action."

"And you didn't even have to go to an island." She looked thoughtful for a
second. "Wanna see some more, and meet the ex-girlfriend of the last guy
Ash screwed?"

Methos's face lighted up. "Yes please."

"Down boy. And I think Ash told you about the ex-boyfriend of my girlfriend
- his name's Angel. Vamp with a soul? He's the tall, dark and brooding in
LA."

"Angel got a date?"

"He lost his soul over Buffy. There was a 'one moment of perfect happiness'
clause in the soul restoration. And let me just say, being with Buffy is
more than one minute of perfect happiness." Willow blushed. "You wanna
meet her?"

"Sure."

Willow picked up the phone and dialed. "Hi Buffy, it's me. You wanna come
visit Greece with me for a few days? We have to track down a bad guy, and I
miss you. Ask Giles, too. I want him in on this. Call me back and I'll
send you tickets to where I am now. The number should be on caller ID."
She hung up and sat back. Ash came upstairs since the show was over and
looked over Willow's shoulder, not making a sound. "Hey babe," Willow said.

"Have you figured out the puzzle yet?"

"Do you remember Cassandra?" Ash nodded. "It was her Watcher. She was
trying--"

"You think she was trying to get back at Methos by killing Carolyn? Cassie
wouldn't do that. I'm telling you, she might be insane with rage at Methos,
but she wouldn't stoop that low. Killing mortals is a no-no to her. But if
you say her Watcher did it, that much I'll believe. Find another motive,"
Ash protested.

"You wanna come to Greece with us?"

"Sure. It'll bring back memories."

"I think Buffy and Giles might be coming. I know Giles doesn't have
anything better to do, and I puppy-voiced Buff. So she'd better come."

"You miss her," Ash said, noticing that look in Will's eyes.

Willow nodded. "Yeah. I can't stand to be away from her for long. I'm the
same way with you. I know, I know, I'm being sappy and you're used to not
being around me all the time." She looked down. "You probably don't even
want me around anymore - too much of something and all that."

Ash looked angry. "You know that's not true. Methos can tell you I'm not
me when you're not here. And if I could ever get too much of you, do you
think you ever would have been reincarnated at all, much less this many
times? You are my sister and I love you. I always will. No matter what
happens. I always want you around. I die inside when you die, but I know
you'll always come back. But what if next time you don't? I don't think I
could deal with that." She gathered her sister up in her arms and held her
close. "I'm not even sure if I can manage the next time you die on me.
Seven thousand years of it's about my limit. But I'm never gonna get tired
of you." She kissed the top of Willow's head. Willow sighed and closed her
eyes for a moment. When she opened them, she noticed Methos was gone.

The phone rang. "Why is it we can never have a moment's peace here?" Willow
asked. The phone rang again. She answered. "Hello?"

"Hey Will," Buffy said.

"Buffy!" Willow sounded excited and Ash untangled her arms from her sister.
"How've you been?" she asked.

"Missing you. No big bad evil to thwart. Where are you anyway?"

"In Pennsylvania. Something came up with the family. Sorry I couldn't tell
you before." Willow mulled a minute. "No evils, huh?"

"Not even any vamps. It's like demon vacation."

"So you've got nothing major going?"

"Nope. You still want me to come?"

Willow smiled. "Of course."

*

More later. Anyone getting sick of this yet?

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