Date: Wed, 2 Apr 1997 19:36:56 -0800 (PST) X-Sender: julia@humboldt1.com To: Cynthia Hoffman From: julia@humboldt1.com (Julia Freewoman) Subject: Re: Darkness Falls Ok, folks here goes my second story. I came up with this idea awhile ago after the HL ep. "Something Wicked". This is a alternate ending to the 2 parter that starts with "Something Wicked" and ends with "Leap of Faith". In the FK universe this should be right after "Night in Question". There is a BIG HL spoiler but I don't think any real FK spoilers in this story. In the HL universe this is right after "Something Wicked" Well on with the show. Disclaimer: Neither Forever Knight or Highlander belong to me; I'm just borrowing them. 1/? Darkness Falls As she entered the Raven, her body seemed to dance to the motion of the music, but it was also tense as if anticipating something. She sat down at the bar ordered a drink, and let the music take her back to a night 3 years ago. ******* 1993, Bar in Seacover. "Are you sure that he can take care of himself?" Tessa asked. "Tess, he's 18 years old and, I think that he will do fine. Can't we just enjoy ourselves tonight?" Duncan asked smiling at her appreciatively. "Oh, what do you have in mind?" She smiled at him, even after 13 years she couldn't get enough of him. "Well," said Duncan, "we could dance to some music, order a bottle of wine and enjoy ourselves." He smiled at her it was infectious. ******** 1996. Toronto Canada, Raven "Sorry, Miss." A young man said as his hand brushed one of her breasts as he walked by. Tess felt her fangs descend at the indignity of having a stranger touch her. She simply nodded. A crash came from the door as a women ran out of the Raven. Tears came to Tessa's eyes, as she saw a young man that looked just like Richie. Richie turned around and his heart almost permanently stopped. He looked at a woman, and she looked just like..."Tessa?" he said. He looked more closely at her, and saw recognition in her eyes as well. But this is impossible! Tessa thought. Richie had been killed the night Lacroix had brought her across. "Richie?" He walked over to her, and sat down. "Tessa, what are you doing here? How are you even alive?" She took a deep breath and answered him. "I'm a vampire now, Richie. I was brought across the night that we were shot. My master Lacoix, he lives here; and with you and Duncan having moved there was no where else for me to go." She looked into his eyes and there was a hint of desperation. "Richie, where's Duncan? You're immortal, aren't you?" She asked. He looked at her, as he struggled with fear and guilt, which Tessa could plainly see in his eyes. "Tessa, he's had a dark quickening. Dawson says that we have to get to him, that we have to help him before someone else receives this quickening or dies." Richie waited a moment and then said "Yes, Tessa, I'm an immortal." "What can I do?" She asked feeling as if her world had been turned upside down. "I don't know, but if anyone can help him you can. After all this time he still is unable to go beyond you. He still loves you deeply, maybe seeing you will help." "Where is he?" "In the room that woman came from." Richie pointed to a curtained room at the end of the hall. Tessa got up and walked toward it unafraid of what might happen. Ok, this is the second part of 'Darkness Falls'. If you haven't seen the HL ep. 'Something Wicked' don't read unless you want the entire ep. ruined. This takes place right after 'Knight in Question' in FK and 'Something Wicked' in HL. I've got a challenge for you guys the first person to figure out what the pun is in the title gets a virtual something or other. Hope you are enjoying the story so far. Disclaimer: Neither HL, or FK belong to me I'm just borrowing them. Darkness Fall 2/? Tessa started to walk away form him, toward the room that Duncan wa in. Not Duncan as he usually was, but Duncan with all the bad guys controlling his every movement, his every thought. "Tessa, no! He's not who he used to be! She looked at him. Her eyes showed no fear for where she was headed or what might happen. "I have to help , Richie. If his love is as strong as you say it is. Then maybe seeing me will help him." She looked him totally convinced that what she was doing was going to help Duncan." "Tessa, before you go in there I think that you have the right, and the need to know what you're going into." said Richie. "All right," she said "I'll listen, but you listen to me! I love Duncan, and I'll risk my own life to save him." Richie nodded at Tessa, and began to tell her of the events that had transpired in the last few days. "Ok, this all started when Duncan and I went to meet his friend Chotec. 'Mac' said that he was the best, very honorable man." Richie turned to look at Tessa. She was looking at him, but so was someone else. Tessa turned around when Richie's eyes wandered past her. "Lacroix." she said upon seeing her master. "Hello my dear. You are usually out at this time. I came to meet your friend." Lacroix looked at Richie, not quite sure what to make of the young man. Lacroix stared at Richie, Richie stared at Lacroix and neither one of them blinked, and Tessa sat there stuck in the middle. "Richie Ryan." Richie said his hands clenched. He definitely did not like this guy. "Lucien Lacroix." Lacroix was becoming more and more interested in this young man. "Richie, Lacroix!" Tessa shouted you two can have a staring contest later, but there are more important things. Aren't there Richie? Like explaining to me about this 'Dark Quickening' that Duncan took." Tessa looked at both men and hoped that there curiosity for each other, and contempt, could wait a while. Lacroix looked at Tessa and said "Why are you even worried about a 'mortal'?" "Because" said Tessa "he is the man I love and his is no mortal! Not one of our kind, but immortal all the same." "Very well, my dear. You were saying young man?" Said Lacroix. "Then 'Mac' go course goes to Dawson. He basically asks Dawson what Chotec did, before he came to meet us. Apparently he took the Quickening of a real scum bag. Weird thing was that they saw the guy a while later, turned out to be Chotec wearing his jacket." Then Richie stopped for a minute, trying to think of the best way to put this without making anyone more nervous then they already are. "And, what happened next?" Asked Tessa. Darkness Falls 3/6 "Richie, what happened next?" Asked Tessa. Richie looked at Tessa for a minute then continued. "'Mac' then asked Joe if he had ever heard of a Dark Quickening. Joe thought Mac was reaching for an explanation. I stopped them and asked what a Dark Quickening is. 'Mac said that it is what happens when you take in to much evil Quickening you become evil your self, you over load. It turned out that you don't just become evil, but all the people you have ever killed." "So Duncan took Chotec's Quickening and the same thing happened to him?" "Yes" said Richie, "Tess, I'm sorry I couldn't help him." She nodded and then turned toward the room and started to walk toward it. Both men watched her go. Each wanting to run after her, to tell her this was stupid, but she had so much conviction in her walk and her face at that moment that neither did anything. Tessa walked toward the room, her heart raced and clenched at the same time. Memories came back to her. 'Duncan jumping on her tour boat. Her saying " What are you doing you could have been hurt." Duncan grinning at her and then saying " But I wanted this one." His anguish over Darius's death. His conviction that she deserved something better than him he never convinced her that she would have had a better life without him.' She walked into the room her body tense. HE was huddled in the corner, but his eyes where watch full and ..... haunted? Worse than she had ever seen before, he look defeated. "Duncan" she said cautiously. He looked at her for a moment then apporched slowly like a predator. "Tessa, how long have you been here? Did you know where I was the entire time? Was our afar just one big joke to you?" "You that's not true I love you." He kept circling her his eyes wondering around. He was so tense she could see it from her vantage point. "If you where thinking straight, you would realize that. You would also remember that you moved away I had no way of finding you." He started to run his fingers along her neck. "You betrayed me Tessa. You come back here and want to make me think that, I'm important to you. What makes you think that your important to me you're just another women another affair to be had with. His voice was no longer as it use to be it was deeper huskier. She turned to look at him. "I know that isn't you Duncan who says those words to me. Duncan I know you can here me, I know that all you here are the voices that tell you to kill, hurt, rape, me but I want to ignore them right now. Just concentrate on my voice, you can here me Duncan let me bring you back." She kept her voice level to calm, talk to the part of him that was still Duncan Macleod. "His eyes glazed over for a minute then became agiust. "Tessa, go way before I hurt you I can't control it god Tessa, I almost killed Richie. Go away I can't fight it anymore." HE pleaded and she saw in his eyes the enemy within pushing forward winning the battle. Tessa, put her arms around his trembling body. "Duncan, you can win this thing I know you can, just keep fighting don't give up." He stayed tense in her arms fighting his internal battle with the rampaging darkness that was trying to consume him. - Julia - julia@humboldt1.com Nick&NatPacker Without love, benevolence becomes egotism and matyrdom becomes spiritual pride-Martin Luther King, JR. Date: Sun, 2 Feb 1997 11:18:56 -0800 Reply-To: Julia Freewoman Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories From: Julia Freewoman Subject: XOVER: Darkness Falls (4/6) To: FKFIC-L@PSUVM.PSU.EDU Hi, guys I know that you haven't seen me in awhile. I've been kinda of busy with...well, life. I've also had a change of name. My last name is now Julia Freewoman, istead of Glover. Oh, I also got a new e-mail address, so if you sent me a message I might not have recieved it,or it could have been erase accidentally. Also I'm fine if mky stories are on the archieve as long as they under my new name. Disclaimer: Highlander and Forever Knight do not belong to me I'm just borrowing them. Darkness Falls 4/6 Tessa watched Duncan's eyes as the war waged on inside them. He was tense and seemed to be more edgy when she moved than when she stayed still. They where both sitting on the floor, in a sort of curled up position. Tessa didn't know if she was helping any, but she felt like she was. Tessa suddenly felt the world change around her, voices howled in the distance, and the air felt cold. There was no warmth in the air, none at all. Tessa opened her eyes to a world she had never seen before. It was dark and the terrain was rough; she could feel the storms above her head, and the quakes beneath her feet. Tessa began to walk slowly and evenly. Tessa walked toward a cliff she could see on the horizon. She going on instinct, trying to figure out why she was here. Her eyes wondered over the landscape, taking in all the sights, and the smells. Until she saw him, frail, looking straight at her without the courage or the strength to go on. "Duncan?" She said. Her voice seemed to echo, into the wide open space. He nodded. "What happened? How did we get here?" He looked at her for a moment, then answered, in a voice full of hopelessness and despair. " This is what happens to an immortal when they take a dark quickening. I live only here, not in the outside world. Even though I am aware of everything that goes on out there." "Duncan if I am here, that means that I can help you." She looked at him, intent on saving him. "What can we do Tess?" He looked at her, still desperate, but she did not see the hopelessness, quite as intend as before. "Well..... there has to be way to conquer this." "I can't! It will overwhelm me!" "So you hide! Is that it? Duncan, I've never seen you run from a fight, from someone who was doing an injustice to the world, and that is what you would be doing, running! You turn your back and hide from the demons inside of you!" "I don't have the strength any more Tess." "Then let me be your strength, let me help you, Duncan." He looked at her for a moment. She had always been his guiding light, even after she died. Was that what she was the goodness in him, helping him clear away the evil? Somehow she seemed real, not a manifestation. "All right. But answer me one question. How are you still alive?" She smiled a question that needed to be answered. *Let him still love, after this, she thought* "I'm a vampire Duncan," and she bared her fangs to show him. Instead of screaming, he simply brushed away a loose strand of hair, and said "Well I guess we'll be together for a long time then." She smiled at him in relief and said, "I guess we will, Duncan. I guess we will." Julia - julia@humboldt1.com Nick&NatPacker Without love, benevolence becomes egotism and matyrdom becomes spiritual pride-Martin Luther King, JR. Date: Sun, 2 Feb 1997 15:53:10 -0800 Reply-To: Julia Freewoman Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories From: Julia Freewoman Subject: XOVER: Darkness Falls (5/6) To: FKFIC-L@PSUVM.PSU.EDU Here's part 5 I sure hope that you like it. By the way if for any reason you can't find parts 1-4 contact me, and I'll send them to you. Disclaimer in parts 1-4 Darkness Falls 5/6 She turned from, him and looked around it was fascinating she almost saw, and felt all his anguish. Her hand wound upon his, and they walked toward the little bit of light that she saw. Voices, and memories came and went as they walked. Each memory seemed to be progressively worse than the one before. Duncan stopped as they neared the light. "I can't go any farther Tess! They keep get worse, and worse, and we're almost there; I don't want to see what will be next." She looked at him. "Duncan, you can no longer live in this limbo you have to make a choice, now; wallow in your anguish, and pretend that this is not happening or come with me and, face what you are afraid of. "And if I don't want to go on?" He said, knowing what the answer would be before he said it. "Then you will live the rest of your life like this empty, no meaning, and without me." She said, hoping that the prospect would knock some sense into him. He sighed and, put his arms around her. "Your right of course." They walked on passing her death. Then they came to the end, and the scene that troubled him the most. *"why must we kill?" "because it is our way. "But you do not know why? For all you know this could be someone's idea of a joke." "I will not have you being, a doubting Thomas Duncan Maclead. This is who, and what we are, and in the end there can be only one, never doubt that." Yes Connor* Tessa's eyes filled with tears. Connor was not the questioning sort, but Duncan on the other hand had never expected the game as absolute. "Why is this your worst memory Duncan?" Although in her heart she suspected the answer. He looked at her for a moment "I don't know Tess." His eyes showed grief, and something else. "Oh, no I think you do. Why, is this the worst thing that ever happened to you Duncan?" He looked at her for a moment and, then said. "Because it meant that I had to, kill friends, and lovers and, that there was no way around it! That I had to die or live forever with no one like me; it just didn't make sense." His face was slightly flushed and he looked more alive now. The Duncan she knew. "It never has. Has it Duncan? That's why you, hide or avoid the game because, you don't see it as survival but, murder." She looked at him, straight in the eye. "How can god do this! I think sometimes that the game is, nothing, but a sick joke!" Suddenly the clouds cleared, and you could see the sky. Tessa came into Duncan's arms, and cried. Julia - julia@humboldt1.com Nick&NatPacker Without love, benevolence becomes egotism and matyrdom becomes spiritual pride-Martin Luther King, JR. Date: Sun, 2 Feb 1997 15:53:14 -0800 Reply-To: Julia Freewoman Sender: Forever Knight TV show stories From: Julia Freewoman Subject: XOVER: Darkness Falls (6/6) To: FKFIC-L@PSUVM.PSU.EDU Disclaimers in parts 1-4 Darkness Falls 6/6 Tessa held on to Duncan, her eyes filling with tears of relief, and pain. Duncan's arms went around her "Sssh, Tess tell me what's wrong? Why is there still pain for you? He said in his most soothing voice. Between tears she said "How can you love me I'm a vampire, a killer." "I love you because you are, the most important person in my life, my soul. I don't care what the world thinks of vampires! I know what I think that they," he held her closer to him as he spoke, "are just like immortals with good, and bad." "You really think that?" She asked, her tears fading. "Yes I do Tess, with all my heart." He smiled at her, as he said it. She sighed and smiled at him. To both of them it seemed that those words had cleared away all the worry, and all the darkness. ***** The mental world that they had just visited disappeared, and the back room of the Raven came into view. They could hear music, and smell blood, alcohol, and cigarette smoke. "Duncan were where we?" Asked Tessa. "I don't know. Chotec would have called it the spirit plain. I guess that's as good a answer as any." Duncan smiled. "How did you know?" "Richie came looking for you." "Richie's here?" Duncan asked in a hushed voice. "Yes, and I bet he'd want to know that we are both ok. Now that we've found each other again." She smiled, as she said it. Some tears spilled out of her eyes, but they were simply tears of joy. "Let's" said Duncan as he got up, and walked out of the backroom. Richie saw them almost immediately he walked forward wary, but hopeful. "'Mac'?" He looked so unsure. "Yes, Richie, it's me." Duncan said. He saw Richie sigh in relief. "To tough to hug me. Huh tough guy?" Duncan said his voice and eyes laughing at Richie. "You're really back! How? How did you beat it?" "That Richie is a long, and interesting story. Suffice it to say we came out of the darkness, and in to the light." Tessa smiled at Duncan, as he said it. 'Never a truer statement' she thought. Julia - julia@humboldt1.com Nick&NatPacker Without love, benevolence becomes egotism and matyrdom becomes spiritual pride-Martin Luther King, JR.