Immortal Knight

Authors Notes: This is a Highlander/BTVS/Ats crossover, my knowledge of highlander is a little sketchy as they only showed a couple of seasons on terrestrial tv here in the UK, so I maybe drawing on fanon more than canon. Post chosen and mid season 5 Ats. I know some people have said that being immortal would mean that Xander’s eye would have come back, but this is my world and I’m making it so it didn’t. I think that immortals can heal any wound but I never saw one regenerate a missing body part, and I think that Caleb actually destroyed the eye, so it wouldn’t grow back.


Another Knight In LA


Cassandra looked a little worried when she saw Angel’s eyes and heard the low growl coming from the vampire, but when she followed his gaze to Xander’s tattoo; pure fury overwhelmed her. “Methos what have you done, you had no right to force this on him.”


“This isn’t the time Cassandra.”


“Like hell it isn’t; did you really think I’d stand by and let you do this? I believed you when you said you’d changed, my god, how could I have been so stupid?”


“This is nothing to do with you, or our past, Alex made his own decisions.”


Cassandra pulled up her shirt, showing her own tattoo, it was identical to Xander’s, but it had faded away until it was almost invisible to the naked eye, “I know exactly what it means to wear this mark and I won’t sit back and let you destroy Alexander the way you destroyed me.”


Methos’ voice was icily calm as he confronted Cassandra, “You chose to ask for my help, you knew that you didn’t have what it would take to give Alex the skills he’s going to need. How I choose to train him is our business not yours. The vision may have come to you, but now that I’m involved I have no intention of allowing your squeamishness to damn us all.”


“Cassandra,” Xander’s voice was gentle but firm as he interrupted them, “This was my decision. I needed to do this. You know as well as I do that Xander Harris, the Sunnydale Zeppo, wasn’t going to get the job done. I had to find a way to be stronger, Methos showed me how to do that.”


“By turning you into a slave?”


“That’s not what happened, look I know how bad this must seem to you, the life you had with him was awful in ways I could never understand. But I’m not you, I walked into this with my eyes wide open and Methos isn’t the man he was back then. You know that’s true; you’d never have asked for his help, if you didn’t trust him. You can’t let your anger over the past screw this up for us all now.”


“Alex, you don’t have to do this, you don’t need him.”


“Yes, I do.” Angel hated the weary resignation in Xander’s voice, what the fuck was going on here. The young man had talked of these people so warmly and it was hard to reconcile his earlier words with what they were hearing now.


“As much as you want to protect him Cassandra you can’t. Alex is not a slave. He is, for want of a better word, my apprentice; until such time as I choose to release him. You will not be allowed to interfere.”


Wesley couldn’t keep silent any longer, “I’m sorry, but all this is rather irrelevant. For god’s sake you’re one of the horsemen, how could anybody trust you?”


“And here I thought the client was always right. The service here at Wolfram and Hart isn’t what it used to be.”


“Well unlike the previous management we are not evil. Something that cannot be said for you.”


“For crying out loud, you mortals are always so judgemental. Yes, I was once known as death; and yes the horsemen in the bible were based on me and my brothers. However the apocalypse thing is not true, we never tried to end the world, truth be told I wouldn’t have known where to start. It was over five thousand years ago, the world has changed since then as have I.”


“No you never tried to destroy the world, you just wanted to rule it. You ravaged your way from one end of the earth to the other, killing everything in your path.”


“Cassandra, enough. When Methos told me who he really was I freaked out, remember. You were the one who convinced me not to judge him. Our relationship is not something that’s going to be up for discussion. I made my decision and I don’t have any regrets. Please let this go. In case you forgot we’re kinda on a schedule here.”


“Very well, for now; but we will be discussing this old man.”


“I’m at your disposal, just as soon as Alex no longer needs me.”


Angel had had enough, he wanted some explanations and he wanted them now, resisting the urge to simply attack the dark haired immortal who hadn’t released his grip on Xander throughout their confrontation with Cassandra, he began to speak. “One of you just tell us what’s going on, I’m not interested in your ancient grudges, just a few answers as to why Xander and Amanda were breaking into my offices.”


“Well Cassandra is our Seer, so perhaps you’d best hear it from her.” Methos tugged Xander back down onto the couch and began to rub gentle circles on the young mans back, when he raised his eyes to meet Angel’s they were full of amusement, he was well aware of how jealous the vampire felt and was revelling in taunting him with what he didn’t have.


Cassandra started to pace the length of the room, studiously ignoring the pair on the couch, Angel could smell the pain and anxiety pouring off her and knew that she was barely controlling her temper. The rage she’d felt when talking to Methos about the past was beyond anything Angel had ever felt before. Eventually she came to a halt and started to speak.


“ All Immortals are taught about the game. Since our earliest days it has been part of us, even the oldest among us live and die by its rules. Simply put, we get to live forever unless we are decapitated. When Immortals fight it must be one on one, no outside interference and no Immortal must ever shed blood on holy ground. We’ve always believed that in the end only one Immortal would remain, and that he, or she, would have all the power, skill and knowledge of every Immortal that ever lived.


They call it the prize, it’s why we kill each other, what we’ve fought for since time began; and it’s a lie. We’ve always thought that one of us would end up the most powerful being on earth, someone who’d have the ability to change everything, for good or evil, depending on who won. Some of us dedicated our lives to being the one, others to making sure that somebody worthy emerged victorious. Most Immortals try to avoid the game altogether, just live out their lives as best they can and fighting only when hunted.


Our numbers are dwindling, as far as we can tell there’s fewer than a thousand of us now; and fewer new Immortals are found each year. It means the gathering is almost upon us, once it starts we’ll all be compelled to fight; we’ll be drawn together and in the end we’ll be wiped out. And it was all for nothing, the damn prize is the proverbial poisoned chalice, if the game ever gets that far; everyone on earth is doomed.


Immortals are all foundlings, none of us have ever known our origins, it’s been speculated on throughout the centuries, but none of the theories even came close. It started at the dawn of time, when humans first began to walk the earth; when the old ones were banished from this realm. It started with Terathyne.”


“You dare speak my brother’s name.” Illyria stalked into the centre of the room, eyes flashing, resonating with power. Before Angel could do anything the Immortals were confronting her, Cassandra and Methos drew their swords and stood protectively in front of Amanda and Xander, whatever issues the two might have, forgotten in their desire to keep the younger pair safe.”


“Terathyne’s offspring, how arrogant you’ve become, if you think to threaten me. I am Illyria, the god-king, you should be on your knees before me.”


“You may once have been a god, but your powers have been muted in this form, we know enough to understand that. We will not allow you to stop us.” Cassandra’s voice was sure, but Angel and Spike could easily sense her fear.


“Illyria luv, wot the fuck are you talking about?” She turned towards Spike, her honorary pet, he was probably the only one who could get away with speaking to her so casually.


“You wish to know of the offspring? Very well. When the insects came to walk this realm, we laughed at them. They were nothing more than an annoyance, irrelevant compared to us. Terathyne was the only one who saw what could happen. He warned us, told us to eradicate you before you spread, but he wasn’t believed. So much less than us, how could insects ever be a threat?


He realised he was alone, but would not give up; he took females from amongst the insects, those who were with child. He imbued each child with a piece of his essence and, at their birth, scattered them through time. He gave them knowledge, set their purpose. When one offspring met another, they would engage in combat, the victor absorbing another piece of Terathyne’s essence. When we fell, when we were banished from our realm, he told us to be strong. That our time would come again, he alone remained; a shadow of his former self, held in suspension until it was time for him to rise.


Whilst we waited formless in the void, his offspring were becoming stronger, when only one remains, it will go to where Terathyne fell. Then he will awaken, the one will give themselves to him, his new form will be all powerful and because it was born of this realm, it will not have my limitations. It will be our new dawn, he will eradicate the usurpers and bring us back to our rightful place. You should be grateful, you were chosen to serve the gods.”


“Grateful, “ Methos sneered at the blue skinned woman, “You ask us to be grateful for being used as tools to destroy our race.”


“You are not of their race, you were created to serve Terathyne’s will, once your purpose is completed you have no reason to exist.”


“You have no rights over us, and we will not allow you to interfere with our plans.”


“You are an old man by human standards, but still a child compared to me, you speak of things you can never hope to understand. My guide has taught me that I know little of this world, but what you seem to forget is that you know little of mine.”


“Cassandra?” Methos never took his eyes from Illyria, but he felt the tiny movement, when Cassandra nodded her head. Acting as one; Methos pluged his sword deep into Illyria’s heart, whilst Cassandra began chanting. Seconds later the former god was tightly encased in a shield, unable to move or speak; the bloody wound on her chest clearly evident to everyone in the room.


Angel couldn’t believe it had happened so fast, he walked up to Illyria’s prison, but when he tried to touch her he realised that the shield was completely solid. He turned to look at Cassandra and Methos, he didn’t need to speak, the questions were written all over his face. Cassandra’s face was drawn, whatever magic she had done had obviously exhausted her; so it was Methos who began to speak.


“Your associate was telling the truth, when Cassandra saw it in her vision it almost broke her. When she told me I thought she was nuts, if it hadn’t been for the pain and determination in her eyes, I would have ignored her every word. Illyria didn’t quite have the whole story, according to the powers Terathyne might not have to wait for the gathering to be over. Once it begins a few Immortals could become very powerful, very quickly and it’s feasible that one of them might become strong enough to wake him.


If he becomes corporeal in a human body, there will be no stopping him and the human race will be eradicated in a matter of days. Our only chance is to kill him before that happens. The powers say that Alex is the only one of us who is capable of killing Terathyne, though I’m damned if any of us can figure out why. Cassandra has a lot of theories but the powers aren’t exactly sharing their information. We know where to find him, and Alex is as ready as he’s ever going to be. All we needed was a way to get into the pocket dimension he hid himself in. The pendant in your vaults is the key.


As near as we can tell, the gathering will begin in six weeks, Terathyne must be dead before then, he has many demons guarding his realm and we’re going to have to fight our way in. Then we have to get our hands on some kind of mystical sword that the powers say is kept near his body. It’s the only thing that can kill him, the drawback being that as soon as Alex touches it, Terathyne will wake up.”


“We don’t have six weeks any more, “ They all turned worried eyes on Cassandra, “The shield around Illyria is as powerful as I can make it, but it won’t hold beyond a week, after that she’ll be free and I don’t think she’s going to sit back and watch whilst we destroy her only hope.”


tbc…..