Four stories about Methos

" You have one last chance, Brother. " The heavy hand claps on his shoulder, the cruel laughter fades away. One last chance. Surprisingly, the words have nothing to do with that voice. One last chance. The toothless mouth, the wrinkled face and the sightless eyes of the Delphian oracle. Pythia. The mad old woman, whispering mad words into his ear. The incense rising toward the ceiling, the otherworldly visions. Is he drunk or lost in reverie? The abandoned submarine base is not the most comfortable place to sleep. The filthy mattresses are sagged, but he can't resist the dreams. He has one last chance. The Angel sitting on his shoulder, bears the stamp of a hidden vice, but he is to follow him, because there will be no other chance. He'll go now. " You have a choice, Methos. " " And you have twenty-four minutes to defuse the bomb. " MacLeod so naively turns his back to him. The shot rings. No thoughts, no regrets, only a great goal ahead. Sharp metal tears the flesh, breaks the bone. The Scotsman is dead, and he can start… And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. His snow-white robes flutters behind him like wings and no one can stand up against him, neither mortal nor immortal. And his brother rides alongside him, and the other two follow behind, the worthy servants. And those who dared to rebel prostrate before them because there is no force in the world like the Four Horsemen. It all happened as it had been predestined. Waters became wormwood, and mortals died. All of them. Men, women and children. The kings of the earth, and the slaves. Immortals died too, consumed with the madness of the Gathering, started by the Four. When two of the brothers had died, the third one who imagined himself to be the first realized all too late the depth of his delusions. And looking down at the barrel of a gun aimed at him he laughed at the irony. What else could he expected from Death, but the death itself? And he died with a wolfish grin on his face. A moment later, the hand of the winner of the Game pressed the button, the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, and the world disappeared in a flash of a nuclear explosion. " Adam, oh, God, we've overslept! Wake up, you, sleepyhead, they'll be here in a minute! " Through the lowered eyelashes he sees the fuzzy silhouette of a woman. Who is he, where is he? Why does she call him Adam? Who is this woman? He can open his eyes to look, but doesn't dare. Whom will he see? " Aaadam! " she begins to shake him. " Come on, they've already called; you have ten minutes to shower. " That voice. The pain shows through the fog. The absurdity of the answer strikes him like a hammer in the head and his eyes flies open to see the impossible. The face of the woman who'd died so long ago, and whose life had been so short that her existence left nothing but a needle in his heart. But the needle so sharp that at the last moment before the end he made a wish ... " Are you crazy? Don't press me like that! Adam, what has come over you? You're hurting him, let go! " Him? Alexa's body really feels differently, too big, too soft, too round. For a few seconds he looks at her blankly and then the light dawns… " Oh, no, you're not going to sleep any longer" She's desperately trying to pull the pillow he clutched at. " Get up now or I'm not going anywhere! It's the last warning! " But how can he do it if he's spent all his strength to conceal the sobbing? A child. Even in his wildest dreams he couldn't imagine such happiness. The happiness, he's paid for with the millions of lives. But it's not his fault; he's just used his chance. The world still exists; it's here: in a silky fabric under his cheek, in the sunlight pouring from the windows, in the smile of the beloved woman, in the delicate scent of her perfume, in the narrow gold bands on their fingers. It was just a dream. Reality is here, now. The doorbell interrupts the flow of his joyful crazy thoughts. " Cover yourself at least, you, lazybones! " Alexa throws over her shoulder and goes to open the door. The fatigue in her voice makes Adam jump from the bed. He finds himself in the hallway, fully clothed in less than a second. The door swings open, laughter and loud cheers fills the hallway. The amused exclamations fall thick and fast. 'You are not ready yet? We'll get stuck in a traffic jam. Alexa, don't let your husband work so late at night, look at him; he is dead on his feet! ' And he wishes he were dead because there, standing in a narrow corridor is Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod. Smiling broadly, he never suspects looking in the eyes of his killer. Behind him, blue-eyed blonde whispers something to Alexa, a boy about five years old happily plays with the bell of Alexa's bicycle leaned against the wall making an incredible noise. And his hands still remember the warmth of the hilt, the momentary resistance of the flesh, when the blade sank into the unprotected neck of a helpless man. His only close friend in many, many years. It's too much, too much…The icy fingers squeeze his throat, suffocating him… "Adam! " He's got accustomed to this, of course, even learnt to look in MacLeod's eyes without flinching. The Scot could not understand the reason of the strange behavior of a friend he'd known all his life but seeing his apparent reluctance to explain, just waited for the clouds to clear away. In this world, they've never fought, had no major difficulties. They were pulling to each other like two magnets, the two parts of a whole. So different, so similar, they both were married to the women they loved, and they both… were fathers. Alexa had easy labor, the girl was born healthy and perfectly in time. Adam balanced on the edge of madness from the moment he took his wife to the hospital, and about a week after he brought her home with a child. MacLeod tried to calm him down not knowing about the feelings the hospital room had aroused in his friend. A year later, Tessa gave birth to a second child, a girl, as blond and blue-eyed as her mother. Both families knew no hardships, no grief and little by little Adam began to forget. It began with a strange feeling. At first it was just irritating, as a speck of dust caught in a shoe. An attentive look, a strange question, an ambiguous remark. From time to time Adam caught MacLeod looking at him with a strange expression as if he was trying to remember something unsuccessfully. At last both women, having sensed the strain, demanded explanations. But they could not explain. Against all odds, the picnic was going to be fun. Children ran and played with the dog, Duncan had given his elder son for Christmas, Alexa was setting the table, Tessa fascinated by the beauty of this place, went to the grove to make sketches. Adam and Duncan, carried away by a dispute about the latest sensational archeological discovery in Syria (Adam insisted that the city had been founded about five hundred years earlier than the scientists believed, but could not clearly explain why he was so sure), suddenly found themselves near the old ruined church. The remains of the fence marked the place once occupied by a cemetery. The bones had been removed elsewhere, and only a few broken marble tombstones peeked out from the thick grass. " I wonder", said Duncan absent-mindedly, kicking a stone, "can it still be considered a holy ground? " Adam froze, not daring to breathe or move. It cannot be. Absurd ... a coincidence? " No, I do not know, maybe. " A sudden silence, filled by the chirr of grasshoppers, weights heavily on his shoulders. All he has to do is to turn around. To make sure it was just an accidental slip of tongue. And he turns. The wide open dark eyes are staring at him with an unspeakable horror, the lips whispering the name he's hoped never to hear again. A cursed name. And as an ancient mural crumbles slowly, piece by piece, so his world falls before his eyes. A small, happy world, full of children's laughter and love, light and friendship. The ugly underside looks through the opened holes, filth and dirt and rotting corpses come out of the cracks ... For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? Then he starts yelling excuses. The very same he's exhorted his demons with, all these seven years. " I did it for us! Look, MacLeod, there is no violence, no deaths, isn't that what you always wanted? To live in peace, to have children? To bring Tess back? I gave it to us. " " And how did you do that? Asks a cold voice, by destroying billions of innocents? Children, women? " " No, it was an illusion, that world was an illusion. The reality is this − before your eyes, they are all alive here, nothing happened. " " And you think it justifies your deeds? Pain and sufferings you've caused? " " I had no other choice, I was given one last chance. To recreate the world by destroying it first. To bring back those whom I loved, and perhaps millions of others, our brothers, the victims of a bloody Game. Tell me it hasn't worth it, tell me ... " " They died in agony, Methos. You built your world on their bones. I wouldn't want to live in such a place, I did not ask to bring me back. I think that if Tess had known she would have also refused. And Alexa ... " " You won't tell them, MacLeod! Swear on your honor they will never know! " "I won't tell them, they don't deserve such a pain. And they do not deserve someone like you. Get out of here! If I ever see you again, I'll kill you without remorse, as a viper. You know me. " "But my daughter ... " " It's not your daughter, she is the daughter of Adam, my best friend. What have you done to Adam, Methos? " " I haven't ... And who are you? How do you know all this things? How do you know what happened when ... " " Once you've killed me? I don't know and I'm not going to think about it now. Get. Out. " And he left. " You have one last chance, Brother. Rise and shine. " The heavy hand claps on his shoulder, the cruel laughter fades away. The abandoned submarine base is not the most comfortable place to sleep. The filthy mattresses are sagged, but he can't resist the dreams. He has one last chance. The Angel sitting on his shoulder, bears the stamp of a hidden vice, but he turns away, refusing to go where he's already been. Where the broken headstones sink in the tall green grass. " Methos... What's about Cassandra? " " One of a thousand regrets, MacLeod. One of a thousand regrets. "