FIC: The Ash Chronicles Book Two: The Methos Story (5/5)

["Julie Burnham" <kerothyn@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Here's the rest. Mandatory shout-out to the BWG at UIS.

----

Methos turned to look at the area around him. The forest was full of cedar
trees. And now, another was growing. Life comes from death, that much
Methos was certain. And in the violence of being born, something must die.
Too many died for these trees. Carolyn, Jacinta, Willow several times
over.... Some were people Methos never met. He fell backwards into the
piles of leaves, arms outstretched. "I forfeit the game," he called out.
"If there's any immortal that can hear me, you can kill me. I'm Methos!"

All around him, hidden by trees, men with swords stood, each waiting for his
chance, and each falling shortly after the last as a petite woman
soundlessly cut off their heads one by one.

Methos heard thunder in the distance, but his eyes stayed closed. He had
seen that the weather was overcast. He didn't need to check to see if a
storm was brewing. He just wanted it all to end.

Ash slugged her way out of the dense ring of trees and fell onto Methos's
body as the Quickening began. They both jerked when the first bolt hit Ash
and then traveled to Methos. His eyes blew open as pleasure tore through
his body, then closed again upon seeing Ash's familiar figure on his,
protecting him.

When it was all over, Ash rolled over onto another pile of leaves, leaving
Methos breathless, gasping for air. Ash smirked. "I get that kind of
reaction a lot."

"I'm sure you do," he replied. His eyes opened again as he could feel
someone hovering over him, waiting for him to react.

"The day after you give the supposed greatest love of your life her funeral,
you're getting hot and sweaty with an older woman?"

Willow came up behind him, and he turned to face her. In one hand, she held
an apple and a short sword. With the other, she held up three fingers.
"Read between the lines, Dawson. Ash doesn't fuck her friends. She saves
them." She cut a slice of the apple with her sword and handed it to Ash,
who gobbled it hungrily. "How many?" she asked.

"Two, three dozen. I think. You can count up the bodies later."

Willow's cloak billowed around her as she checked the perimeter and counted
up the heads. "Looks like about twenty seven." She cut a slice of apple
for herself, then watched as Ash snatched it from her.

"Thanks," the tired woman said. Willow looked at her with her patented
Resolve Face (TM). "You know I'm immune to that."

"So? What's your point?"

"That was my point." Willow looked frustrated and stalked off back to the
house. "What?" Ash asked.

"You stole her food. And she had a knife in her hand. Be glad she didn't
use it to take out somebody," Methos explained.

"Would she really do that?" Dawson asked.

"Quite possibly. And you're the best target. Be happy she didn't. The
last time Ash got her really mad, she killed off her father. Granted, he
was an abusive jerk--"

"And I wanted to do it myself!" Ash complained. "Stupid lines...." She
stood up and tried to follow her sister, but she could barely walk. After a
few steps, she fell down again. "Okay, I guess I'm staying here, then."

"What did you expect after that?" Methos asked. "We just got Quickened by
twenty seven immortals. That was... wow," he commented.

"Yeah. Wow. Only twenty seven that could hear your death wish?" She
rolled over and smacked him upside the head. "That was pretty stupid,
little boy."

Dawson, sensing the good parts of the show were probably over, followed
Willow back to the house. He was just sneaking up behind her when her short
sword shot out of her cloak and sliced up part of his arm. "I knew it was
you," she said, turning to face him. "That was a warning. Don't sneak up
on me ever again. Next time it won't be a warning."

His hand was at the bleeding portion of his arm. "You're not even in the
game. Why are you so protective of yourself?"

"You're not in the game either, Dawson. You just watch how it's played.
You're like someone watching 'Survivor.' And I'm protective of my head so
that Ash doesn't go berserk and kill everyone in sight. And she's got good
vision. She doesn't let her friends get hurt if she can help it. Even if
you weren't sneaking up on me to kill me, you could have been. My body
knows this." She opened the door and went through, closing it before Dawson
could enter. Up in her room, she stripped and fell onto her bed. She was
asleep almost immediately.

Outside, Ash was crawling to her plane. She pulled herself up by her arms,
still exhausted from the massive Quickening of which Methos had only felt
the aftershocks. Once in the plane, she quickly and as quietly as possible
took off. She broke plates all over Ohio, though, when she broke the sound
barrier. An hour later, she landed on the football field at UC Sunnydale.
Five minutes after that, she found herself knocking on the door of Stevenson
214. Buffy opened the door to find her best friend's sister in a very
rigidly set mode of operation. "If you're going to come, come now," was all
that the older woman said.

Buffy grabbed a bag from her bed and followed without comment. Her Watcher,
however, was harder to convince when they reached his apartment. In the
end, Ash had to drag him out the door while he protested. It wasn't his
fault, she knew. She could smell the alcohol on his breath as they took off
back to Pennsylvania.

Ash landed in her own backyard with nary a bump. Giles was cleaning his
glasses when they disembarked. Buffy walked directly into the house and
went up the stairs to find Willow. She opened her door and saw her lying on
her bed completely naked, not even covered by a sheet. The breath caught in
Buffy's throat and she walked over to the bed and laid down next to her
love. Willow curled her body around the newcomer's and Buffy found she
falling into the same dreamland that was holding the redhead hostage.

When Willow awoke the next morning, the first thing she was aware of was
that there was someone else in the bed with her. She opened one eye the
slightest bit and gathered that it was Buffy. "May I touch you?" the blonde
asked her.

Willow smiled as they kissed, then Buffy watched as she fell prostrate on
the bed beside her. Her arms and legs were both spread out as if to say,
"Do what you will to me. I give myself to you." The blonde began by
running her hands down Willow's sides as she had dreamed of doing a hundred
times before. Immediately a pool of wetness began forming between Willow's
legs.

Outside her door, Ash was awakened when her sister cried out in climax for
the first time as Willow Rosenberg.

The two new lovers were brought out of their reverie as they heard several
loud thuds hitting one of the walls of Willow's room. It seemed to be
coming from Methos's room, but Willow really couldn't be sure, and really,
she wasn't paying that much attention anyway.

Back outside the door, Methos tripped over Ash's newly awakened body, and he
landed next to her. "Can't those two get a room?"

"They're in one," she told him.

"Oh. Well, do they have to be so noisy about it?"

"It's their first time together. Give 'em a break." Ash could feel herself
start to lose a bit of her control as she rolled over and tumbled down the
stairs. She crawled into the living room where Giles was attempting to
sleep on the couch. She kissed him to wake him and started stripping him,
leaving a trail of tweed that led into her bedroom.

Dawson knocked on the door about an hour later and was astonished to find an
older man naked next to the really young-looking immortal Ash. Willow and
Buffy were right behind him. It was a study in contrasts to see their two
reactions, for while Willow simply smirked as her sister added yet another
notch to her bedpost, Buffy grimaced at her Watcher seeing some action.
"Ewww!" was all that she could coherently say before her lover swatted her
lightly with her hand.

Dawson closed the door as Ash slowly opened her eyes. Five minutes later,
she opened the door and kissed Dawson chastely on the cheek while Giles
continued to sleep. Dawson looked down. "I'm sorry," he murmured, and
enveloped his old friend in hug.

Willow and Buffy inclined their heads to each other and "Awwww"-ed in unison
on the couch in the kitchen before the redhead pronounced, "This situation
calls for a toast. Dear, should I Bless everyone?" Ash nodded. "Okay, I
know prescriptions for everyone except Buffy," she kissed her cheek, "and
Dawson. We're letting Giles sleep, right?" Ash nodded again. Buffy looked
a bit puzzled at her "prescription" for getting "Blessed." Willow
explained, "Traditionally, we toast noteworthy situations with Irish Coffee,
which are also called God's Blessings. Your prescription is however you
want your Irish Coffee made. Ash takes hers heavy with the Bushmill's. I
take mine with just the coffee and whipped cream. After we're done
drinking, someone makes a toast and then throws his or her glass at the
fireplace. Anyone who agrees with the toast is welcome to join in the
throwing." Willow started the Blessings as Dawson mulled over his
prescription. She had a feeling she knew what Buffy's would be; after the
Cave Slayer incident, she was avoiding alcohol like, well, the plague
actually. And Willow had a comparison. Dawson was a mystery to her. When
nothing was forthcoming from the Immortal Watcher, she just decided to not
Bless him. It was his loss. She drank deeply from her glass, then walked
to the center of the kitchen, just in front of the fireplace. "To old
friends who've just met. And to all those who weren't so lucky." Glass hit
the fireplace like a grenade attack. Buffy stepped up behind her and laid a
hand on her shoulder as a tear ran down Willow's cheek. Ash followed her
lead and put a hand on Willow's other shoulder as she collapsed into the
arms of half of the people she loved most. "My two best girls... the ones I
can always count on," she whispered. "Don't ever leave me." Methos was at
her side quickly and he almost missed the visual exchange by Willow's "two
best girls." They both seemed to say that they were tolerating each other
only for Willow. He had to smile at that. Dawson looked over at the group
hug and knew he shouldn't disturb them.

A voice came from behind them. "Did I miss anything?" Giles asked, tying
the robe's sash around his waist. He was surprised to find that the only
replies consisted of Dawson's laughter and Ash's glare. "What?" he asked.

"Anybody up for a game of poker?" Ash asked. "We're waiting for another
shipment of fuel, or we'd be leaving now."

Methos glanced to the upper left, then smirked. "Sure. I'm in." He and
Ash sat down around a table, then both gestured to the two Watchers to sit
down and ante up. Having a combined total of twelve thousand years of
immortality glaring at them might have given them a bit of encouragement to
comply. He took a deck of worn cards out of a drawer, then started
shuffling. "Five card stud, joker's wild, and the sky's the limit."

Shortly after that, the two Watchers both folded. Willow and Buffy chuckled
as they left the table pretty much simultaneously. The next hand proved to
be Ash's undoing as the older immortal folded and stood up as Methos
shuffled the cards, chanting.

"mirror mirror glowing red
who has come to take my head?
mirror mirror glowing red
who will be the next one dead?"

Ash was already starting to get annoyed, but mostly she just put up with his
almost comical interlude. He continued chanting.

"mirror mirror glowing white
who will come to me tonight?
mirror mirror glowing white
who's the next i have to fight?"

Ash gave up and started walking out the door, but she heard the first part
of his last verse.

"mirror mirror glowing blue
tell me mirror is it true?"

Ash was gone before she could hear the end of the chant. Methos put the
cards down and picked up a picture of Carolyn.

"mirror mirror glowing blue
why'd i fall in love with you?"

A tear fell down his cheek onto the picture. "I always knew you liked my
nose." He smiled.

An hour later found the entire group gathered in the living room, planning
strategy. Ash was sitting backwards on a chair across from Methos who was
on the couch. Willow was sitting in a plush chair with Buffy perched on its
arm. The two Watchers had seemingly teamed up and were both standing
against the wall. "Just as long as we're not traveling by candlelight. You
know how bad my luck is with candles," Methos was saying to Ash, who looked
innocent.

(end long hand copy in journal... need more paper)

"It wasn't her fault," Willow said. "Yeah she tipped the candle over,
but--"

"What?!" Methos exclaimed. He turned to look at Ash.

"Hey, you promised not to tell!" she complained to her sister.

"So it's true? You burned my house down and blamed someone else?"

"Well it wasn't my fault. And he was there. I got rid of him in the
process. Doesn't that count for something?"

"Not when it results in my house burning down," Methos replied. He got up
and reached for a sword off the wall by the couch. Ash immediately grabbed
another sword as they approached each other.

"Um, guys? Can we, uh, not do this now? Because there are two people here
who've never seen a Quickening, and I've got stuff upstairs I'd like to
keep. I won't have either of you kill the other if it means my laptop gets
destroyed. Or Mr. Gordo. Buffy would be quite upset. Wouldn't you?"

"So you're fine with him killing me as long as your laptop's safe?" Ash
asked.

"My laptop and Mr. Gordo," she answered.

Ash gave her sister a look, then took off running while Methos chased her
around the living room. "You seem a decent person," he was saying. "I hate
to kill you."

"You seem a decent fellow. I hate to die," Ash replied.

Methos swung his sword, barely ripping Ash's shirt. She turned around and
they fought. The choreography of their sword dance really wasn't important,
and as such, shall not be discussed in this medium. Suffice it to say, they
ended up swords crossed, each unwilling to back down, and each a pretty even
match for the other. Willow jumped up and grabbed the intersection of the
swords and pushed them down. "Okay you two. Settle down. Do I have to
send you two to your rooms for naptime?" Willow looked stern, her Resolve
Face (TM) visible. Buffy started laughing. Soon the two Watchers were
joining in.

The two immortals put their swords down, and Methos offered his arm to Ash.
She grasped it above his wrist, and he did the same with her. "Don't burn
any of my houses down again, all right?" he asked.

"Yes daddy," Ash said in a little girl voice, which caused the
just-recovering audience to once again start laughing.

Methos tried to hide his amusement. "I've never been your daddy."

"And I'm older than you. Don't you tell me what to do." Ash started to
lift her sword but Willow took it out of her hand before she could do
anything. "Hey!" she protested.

"How many times must I tell you? Not in the castle!" Willow said,
referencing a short-lived show called "Covington Cross". "Now shake hands
and make up, or I'm going to have to do something wretched."

"What, would you turn me into a newt?" Ash asked.

"You'd get better," Willow replied.

"Um, guys?" Buffy interrupted. "I think I hear someone knocking on the
door."

Indeed, there was someone at the door. Ash opened it to find a rather stout
young fellow holding a very large container that was threatening to topple
him over. Buffy looked gobsmacked. "Hi Jimmy," Ash greeted the man.

"Fuck you, Jade," was all he said.

"You've already done that!" Willow went out to get Ash's Big Book O' Names,
and sure enough, he was in there. "You can set it down in the usual place,
Jims."

"You're gonna make me go all the way to the hangar carrying this?"

"What, you wanna borrow my anti-gravity lift? I don't got one." She
pointed. "That's why I pay you the big bucks. Go. Fill the big one up.
We'll be there shortly," she told Jimmy as everyone herded upstairs to grab
their bags.

Giles looked vaguely puzzled, like always. "The weather will be somewhat
warmer in Greece, correct?" Ash nodded. "Don't you think the clothes we
have now might be a bit much?"

"Credit cards are wonderful things," Ash told him. "Stolen credit cards are
even better." Ash looked around her. "I needed some new clothes anyway."
She looked at the British Watcher who was, by now, again wearing a tweed
suit. "And I've got to get you out of that tweed!"

Willow called down from the stairs. "I thought you did that earlier."

"Willow," he warned, "be careful of I won't let you watch Buffy's sparring
sessions anymore. And I'll tell Xander Buffy's got a crush on him."

"That's not plying nice," Buffy protested. "He's incessant. Remember him
and Cordy? Or him and Anya. It was annoying just to watch him then."

"Indeed. It is a potent encouragement, is it not?"

"Quite," Willow answered.

"Can we, I don't know, go sometime before that little blue rabbit there
takes my head?" She started to walk out the door. "Anybody who is coming,
get out here now or you're staying Stateside."

Willow came bounding down the stairs, mockingly grasping Ash's arm. "Don't
leave me!"

Then Buffy came downstairs doing the same thing to Willow, throwing their
bags on the couch. "Here we are, the princesses of the Universe," she
announced, causing Ash an enormous fit of laughter.

Methos trudged downstairs, duffel bag in hand. "I'm ready whenever you
are."

"Where's Joe?" Ash asked.

"He's doing a handstand up in my room," Willow said while Buffy giggled.
"Involuntarily."

Ash buried her head in her hands. "What did you do?" Buffy started humming
the jingle to the Finesse commercial ("Witchcraft") and Will glared at her
girlfriend. "Put him down, Will," Ash told her sister as Dawson came
downstairs on his hands. Willow murmured something as he was on the next to
last step and came crashing down.

"Sorry," she said.

"You could have waited until he was all the way downstairs."

"He could've taken the elevator," Willow pointed out.

Buffy walked over to the man on the floor and started poking him. "Are you
dead?" she asked. He groaned as Methos gave him a hand up.

"Here. I'll get your bag," Willow said as a suitcase came floating down the
stairs and landing at Ash's feet.

Ash glared at her. "Fine. You can get all the bags if you're gonna be that
way." The bags began to levitate. "Are we going now?" There was a chorus
of agreement, and they set out for the hangar. Ash smiled when she saw her
friends' jaws collectively drop at the sight of her larger plane. "C'mon.
We should be all ready to go now." She inclined her head as she opened the
door.

Willow inclined hers at her sister. "Lead on, Horatio. Lead us to the end
of this madness."

"I remember a thousand Julys when we would toast on the blood of our enemies
like vampires. The madness stays with us," Ash said. Methos looked down at
the ground, unable to meet Ash's steady gaze. "What's wrong, old friend?
Hitting too close to home? Have you thought you'd have risen above that by
now?"

He barely looked up at her through the corner of his eye. "I had hoped."

"Death remains Death," she told him before boarding the craft. "We cannot
change our natures, even if there are those who dull our edges." Her gaze
caressed Willow's cheek and the younger sister leaned into the look.
Everyone dropped into the plush couches as Ash headed to the cockpit.

"Will," Methos whispered, and she was at his side. "Talk with me for a
moment?" he asked. His eyes looked like a child who'd just been punished by
his mother. Willow looked over at Buffy questioningly. Buffy nodded. Will
put her hand on Methos's shoulder and bade him continue. "I'm getting
concerned about Ash."

Willow nodded. "She's like I'm not here part of the time."

"Exactly."

"She's reminding you of yourself a few thousand years ago. That's why you
connect so well. That and you've gotten what very few people have ever
gotten - a second shot at her. She's got very few repeat customers."
Willow grew quiet and solemn. "She thinks that everything that goes wrong
around her is her fault. She won't accept that I've done stuff too. She
still thinks Pompeii was either her fault or the Powers That Be getting mad
at you two," Willow whispered so the rest of the group couldn't hear.

"It was you?" Methos looked shocked.

"I knew you couldn't be allowed to kill each other. That was about the only
magic I could use to stop you. She doesn't believe me. She doesn't want me
to be guilty."

"It doesn't help that you died then."

"I couldn't tell her in time before her guilt festered. When I tried to
tell her, she pretty much blew me off. She was already insane." Willow
looked down. "So if she's moody, ever, it's nothing you did. The girl's
got issues."

“After this long, we all have issues. The two of you seem to have more
because of how long you’ve lived.”

“Exactly,” Willow told him. “I have issues with dying. I don’t like it.
Never have. It can be painful.”

“Was it? Last time, I mean?” the old man asked. “You just sort of slipped
out of our fingers. Ash was at your bedside the entire time.” His voice
dropped to a whisper. “She was crying the entire time. I didn’t know she
had tear ducts.” He looked down. “She kept saying, over and over, that she
was sorry, that she was wrong, that she’d never do that to you again. She
wouldn’t tell me what she meant.” He wiped a tear away from Willow’s cheek.

“The fight before was more painful than actually dying last time. I said
some stupid things, she said some stupid things, she went away, and I got
sick. I-,” she stumbled over her own words. “It was kinda like I lost my
will to live. We were farther apart than ever before, physically and
emotionally. She was… is my reason d’être.” She stole a glance at Buffy.
“Don’t get me wrong. I love Buffy. But I can deal with being apart from
her for a while. In the past, she’s died, I’ve died, but it’s not quite as
urgent as Ash. With her, I couldn’t live without her. I’m not sure if
anyone could.”

“I know. She’s irreplaceable. She’s saved all of our lives more times than
I can count.”

Willow felt a jolt as she remembered a few more things that weren’t in the
initial data dump when she woke up of times near and far when she hadn’t
been able to protect herself from her enemies, when she’d been treated like
chattel, property of whomever could hold onto her, and Ash hadn’t gotten
there in time. There was always pain, each and every time one of the
bastards got his way with her. She never numbed to it; it was just a
constant pain, a pain she carried with her all her lives, and some of the
wounds were extremely old, almost as old as she herself was. “Papa,” she
whispered under her breath, half-sad, half angry to the man who had raised
her and her sister as his own children, the man who had told them stories
about where they were from.

Methos recognized what she was remembering and held her and rocked her as
tears streamed down her face in twin tracks. “Shh, shh,” Methos calmed her.
“He’s not here. No one’s going to hurt you again. No one’s going to hurt
you again. No one’s going to hurt you again.” He looked up and met Buffy’s
gaze before leading her eyes to Willow’s crumpled figure. She was at her
side quickly, making circular motions on the redhead’s back. She fell out
of Methos’s arms and into Buffy’s, in the process falling off the couch and
rolling onto the floor. “Do you want me to get Ash?” Methos asked.

Willow shook her head no. “I’m okay, really. And she’s flying. There’s
nothing she could really do anyway.” She tried to fake a smile. “See,
better already.”

Methos looked at her sternly. “Knowing your sister, there’s a bed on here
somewhere. I want you to find it and for you and Buffy to take a nap
together on the way. I think she’s what you need right now.” He kissed her
cheek. “You’ll be all right. You’ve survived this much,” he whispered.

In the cockpit, Ash turned her attention back to flying the plane. Someone
had to fly the thing, and she wasn’t going to let Methos anywhere near the
controls. He was busy anyway. Nothing she could think of was an adequate
thanks to the man she’d known for so many millennia, and she knew that she
could never give him the one thing he desired from her – her love, for while
she loved him as a friend, she would never be in love with him.

The plane touched down in a darkened field just after the sun had set upon
one of Ash’s oldest homes. They weren’t far from civilization, but they
also weren’t in the middle of a bustling metropolis. A car was waiting at
the edge of the field with its lights steadily burning. “I think someone
knew we were coming,” Methos remarked, biting the head off of a gummy bear.

“I was expecting him. He can’t really be trusted, but he’s decent,” Ash
said as the group began walking to the car. She opened the door when they
got there. “Hi Falafel,” she said scooting in. “I brought some friends.”
The others tried to squeeze into the back seats. “That’s Methos, Willow, my
sister, Buffy, Giles, and Dawson.”

“Taco?” Falafel asked. Ash stared at him. “Where to?”

“Athenian Grand Hilton. Everybody remember where we parked.”

“As long as you don’t cloak your plane, we should be okay,” Willow told her
sister. “And you are not Billy Shatner.”

“Thank goodness,” Methos replied under his breath as the car sped off.

*

The hotel wasn’t exactly tucked away in the middle of no-where. Rather, it
was situated on one of the busiest corners of the tourist district in
Athens, just overlooking some spectacular ruins of the Acropolis. Willow
walked over to Ash who was standing by the window of her suite, and the
younger girl rested a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Remember when that
place was new?”

“Ha,” Ash responded. “I can remember when it was being built.”

“Well it wasn’t built in a day, love.” She looked down. “Remember
Cecrops?” Her sister nodded. “Thanks. You didn’t have to do that, you
know.”

“You were just about to wake up. I wasn’t about to lose you then!”

“You saved him.” It was a simple declaration, but one that had never before
been spoken aloud.

“I didn’t have a choice. I had to save you. And you wouldn’t have let me
get away with anything less.”

“You wouldn’t have let yourself get away with anything less. You may fool
the others, but you cannot fool me. I haven’t known you this long to know
you so well. We’re old souls. Get over it.” She kissed Ash’s cheek and
left her sister alone again, pondering the darkened palace that had once
been her home.

Ash opened her window and whispered an argument she’d made long before. “A
soul like hers should never be allowed to leave this place. She’s a light
to all mankind.” As Ash looked down, she could see her light hurrying
across the street to the crumbling structure near the theater, illuminating
everything in her path, even the shadows. She turned her head and walked
out the door of her suite and went down to the lobby.

Down in the bar, Ash saw the familiar shape of the back of Methos’s head.
It was a fuzzy head, rather like an overgrown peach. She concentrated and
recognized the other shape as one of her old friends, Cassandra. She
watched as the other immortal woman cautiously laid a hand on Methos’s
shoulder and whispered something in his ear before she got up and left the
room with a slight glance up as she passed Ash. Ash could feel a slight
tremor of magical power emanating from the woman. “She says she had nothing
to do with it,” Methos said before turning to face his old friend and foe.
“She didn’t know anything about it until after it happened. Seems like you
were right. I hate when that happens.” He sipped his drink slowly. “She
told me where he was, though. I think she’s expecting me to do something
drastic. I’ve calmed down since the last time we spent any real time
together.” Ash raised an eyebrow at him. “But not that much.” He pushed
himself up from the bar and walked out. “She told me he was at the Theater
of Dionysis.” He put on his trench coat and walked away.

Across the street, Willow watched as Cassandra entered the old theater. “So
you’re my stalker,” she said without a glance in the redhead’s direction.
“Methos told me what you did. Why?” Her Watcher started to shake with her
sword so close to his throat.

“Will you promise not to kill me if I tell you?” he asked simply. She
nodded. “I’ve spent all my years studying you people, envying you. And the
Methos waltzed in and spent ten years as a Watcher, working on his own damn
Chronicles, and stole the only hope of immortality any of us had. Those
that knew of the crystal that is. He stole my chance for a future. I stole
the one thing he really held precious in this world. And I knew he’d blame
you.” Cassie’s sword came closer, drawing a few drops of blood. “You said
you wouldn’t kill me!” he protested.

“This isn’t killing you,” she told him.

“Can I go now?” he asked.

“No,” Methos said, walking towards them and glancing at Willow momentarily.
“You wanted to get to me. Here I am.” He held out his arms. “What’s the
matter, you can kill a sick woman but you can’t face your true enemy in
battle?” By now Cassie’s sword had lowered and Methos’s had taken its
place. The old man’s gaze was fixed firmly on the face of his very mortal
opponent.

Willow saw the Watcher slowly lift a gun out of his holster and bring it up
to level with Methos’s chest. She saw his fingers curl around the trigger
and start to squeeze. She panicked, causing a powerful surge of magical
energy to radiate from her diminutive form. She stood in awe, looking at
the scene before her eyes. Cassandra stood, still looking at her Watcher.
Methos calmly held his sword at the watcher’s throat. The Watcher’s finger
was still poised over the trigger on his gun. And the bullet hung in
mid-air scant inches away from Methos’s chest. Willow rushed over and
gingerly grasped the projectile out of the way and took the gun from
Cassandra’s Watcher. Time re-started, and the Watcher was surprised to find
that his gun was no longer in his hands. Methos shook his head at the brief
burst of knowledge Willow sent him, and his face hardened unimaginably as
Ash came close to the battle. “You killed the woman I loved more than
anything in the world. If your life is the most valuable thing to you, then
that,” he promised, “is what I shall extract from you.” He sliced, and the
dead head of Guy Dumas rolled at his feet as the now-dead body crumbled
before him like a vampire being dusted. Methos walked away followed closely
by Ash and Willow, and shortly behind them, Cassandra. His face returned to
normal. “Anyone up for a spot of tea?” He looked back at Willow. “Someone
needs to push fluids and rest of she’ll get a reaction headache for that
stunt she pulled back there.”

Ash glanced over at Willow. “What?” the redhead asked.

“What kind of crazy stunt did you pull this time?” her sister asked.

“I didn’t mean to stop time. Honest.”

“Oh, just like you said you didn’t mean to make that volcano erupt. It
wasn’t your fault, honey.”

“It wasn’t yours. I flashed. That’s all. You were in no shape to do that
kind of damage, and the Powers That Be had nothing to do with it.” A roll
of thunder echoed her sentiment. “Let’s get inside before it starts to
pour.”

“You might want to change that shirt if you’re planning on not telling
Blondie.”

Willow looked down at her stained shirt. “Let’s go.” They all started
running back to the hotel. She kept running through the lobby and into the
elevator, onto her floor and into the room she was sharing with Buffy. “Hi
honey, I’m home.” She pulled the Slayer into a big hug, hoping she wouldn’t
notice the sticky red liquid now congealing on her clothing. Buffy looked
up quizzically. “I’m fine. I was just… getting some fresh air.”

“Was it Immortal business?” Buffy asked calmly.

Willow nodded. “Methos avenged Carolyn’s murder.”

“I think I’m taking all this rather well, don’t you think?” Buffy asked.
“About your past I mean. You said before that all your life had been
leading you to me. Do you still think your whole life has been leading to
me? All your lives? I have to know.”

Willow looked away for a second before re-focusing her gaze on Buffy. “I
don’t know. You’re pretty special.”

“But I can’t compare to Ash.”

“Ash is… Ash. She’ll fuck anything willing, except her friends, me
especially. There’s no contest. You’re the one I want to be with. There’s
no question. I love you. I always have loved you and I always will love
you. Even if you don’t remember me loving you before. It has happened and
it will happen as long as I keep coming back. I’m not here solely for Ash.
I’m also here because of you. Because I love you.” Tears ran down Willow’s
cheek as Buffy slowly slid a hand under Will’s shirt and stripped her of the
offending material.
----

::Janet Jackson quote - "Is that the end?"::

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