OoSooM-Chapter One

Eying the group suspiciously, Legolas gestured for them to follow him through the woods, keeping his bow drawn and ready.

Following the elf reluctantly, Buffy huddled close to Methos' side. “Everyone I knew is dead. What's the point of going back there now? Every reason I had to fight is gone.”

Hugging her tightly to his side as they walked, Methos responded, “I know, luv. This is one of the reasons I used to avoid getting too close to people.” He sighed. “After millennia of watching people I loved enslaved or killed when their civilization was conquered, I couldn't take it anymore.”

“But on the bright side, if the world ended, that means Cassandra's dead,” Buffy said, trying to lighten his mood.

Methos chuckled softly. “I never wanted Cassandra dead,” he said. “I just wanted her to stop trying to kill me.”

“Well, I hated the bitch,” Buffy said. “She attacked me for no reason the first time she saw me.”

Buffy nodded. “She seemed pretty pissed that she couldn't thrall me into putting my sword down,” she said. At the look on his face, she glared.

“What? The Master and Dracula himself both did the mind-whammy on me. Of course I trained until I learned to resist it. Kinda beats that dead feeling I'd get otherwise.”

“The Voice didn't work on you…I'm surprised she didn't take your head in a fit of infantile rage,” Methos told her.

The sensation of another Immortal being near drew Buffy out of her reverie as she patrolled, and she glanced around quickly, scanning the shadows of the cemetery for a darker shape in the darkness.

A woman with long mahogany hair stepped out from behind Spike's old crypt, her sword in hand. “Where is Methos?” she demanded coldly.

Buffy arched an eyebrow at her.“Who?” she rejoined, giving the other Immortal an innocent look.

The woman didn't seem fooled in the least. “I've seen you with him, youngling. Now, where is he?”

Deciding to drop the innocent act, Buffy shrugged. “With him, who knows? I don't even think he knows where he'll be, half the time.”

“You wouldn't speak so lightly of him if you knew who he really was,” the woman said.

“And I suppose he told you that I was a madwoman out for his head for no good reason,” Cassandra scoffed.

Buffy shook her head. “No,” she retorted. “Methos and I have no secrets. I know about the Horsemen. I know what he did to you,” she informed her. “I also know that it was three thousand years ago, and he isn't the same man he was then.”

“No, he isn't,” the Slayer told her. “I've seen real evil. I've seen things that would give you nightmares for the rest of your eternity. Methos isn't even close to being evil. If he was, he would've killed me the moment he met me. Instead, he told me what I was, and taught me what I needed to know about the Game.”

“He is using you. Once you've taken enough heads, he'll take yours,” Cassandra sniped.

Buffy smirked. “I really doubt it, considering I can put the Old Man on his ass in thirty seconds flat.”

“Oh, I know he doesn't fight fair. I was talking thirty seconds, if he shoots me,” Buffy told her. “If he doesn't pull a sneak attack, it'd be about fifteen seconds.”

Buffy shrugged. “A couple of times, actually. He stopped doing that once I proved I'd learned not to let it effect my fight.”

Shaking her head, Cassandra said, “That makes no difference. If you will not tell me where to find him, I'll gather the knowledge from your Quickening,” she said darkly.

Buffy blinked. “Y'know, I'm almost touched that you're challenging me,” she said. “But, I've got to warn you, Cassandra. I may be young, but I'm far from helpless. You won't get my head.”

Cassandra gave a derisive laugh. “No matter your fighting skills, young one, you cannot best me,” she said. The air around her seemed to get thicker, and Buffy felt a tingling pulse of energy brushing against her mind as Cassandra spoke, “Lay down your sword.”

Thankful she'd taken Giles' advice and trained herself to shield her mind, Buffy arched an eyebrow. “Not quite that easy, Cassandra,” she said, drawing the elegant katana that had been a gift from Methos' friend, Duncan MacLeod. “Wanna try door number two?”

Cassandra's eyes widened at the failure of her psychic attack. “Willing or not, I will have your head tonight, child!”

Looking bored, Buffy slipped into a defensive position, the katana held loosely, ready to defend herself. She didn't want to kill Cassandra. But, she wouldn't let her go after Methos, either.

“We don't have to do this, Cassandra. Just walk away,” Buffy told her.

Despite her greater experience, Cassandra's sword technique was pathetically outmatched by Buffy's.

Easily dodging and deflecting even the quickest of Cassandra's attacks, Buffy felt pity welling up in her for the woman who had spent three thousand years living for nothing but vengeance.

Finally, tiring of the game, Buffy stopped merely defending herself and pressed an attack, disarming the much older woman in one stroke.

Positioning her sword at Cassandra's throat, Buffy looked down at her passively. “I don't want your head, Cassandra. But, I won't let you kill Methos, either. Just walk away and you don't have to die.”

“I cannot,” Cassandra said, swallowing carefully so as not to cut herself on Buffy's katana.

“Yes, you can,” Buffy argued. “I don't want to kill you, Cassandra. Methos would never forgive me if I killed you because you couldn't let go of the past. But, I won't let you hunt him. If I have to kill you to keep him safe, then I will.”

“He destroyed my people and enslaved me!” Cassandra shouted angrily.

“Kronos did the same to him,” Buffy told her evenly. “Ever heard the phrase `if you can't beat `em, join `em'?” Buffy questioned. “He did what he had to in order to survive. And he has nightmares about the things he did when he was with the Horsemen. He saw you sneak out of Kronos' tent that night, and let you go.”

“Not about this,” Buffy told her solemnly. “Are you going to walk away?”

“Didn't think so,” Buffy sighed. “Suit yourself,” she said, then shifted her sword with a lightning-fast, fluid movement and impaled the other Immortal, watching as she slumped to the ground in a temporary death.

Using Cassandra's shirt, Buffy cleaned the blade of her katana. “Come after me or mine again, and I will finish it,” she said, knowing that the other woman couldn't hear her. Not that it mattered. Cassandra wouldn't have listened anyway

“I can't believe you bested her in a fight,” Methos said, chuckling softly.

“Why is that so surprising? I can best you in a fight,” Buffy said. “And you've had five thousand years of experience with a sword.”

“Yes, but every time you've beaten me, it's been understood that it wasn't a real fight,” Methos said. “If I felt my life was actually in danger, you'd be surprised at the difference in my technique.”

“Not at all,” Methos told her. “I just fight a lot better and harder when I think someone might actually kill me.”

Buffy smirked. “That makes two of us, then,” she said. “I still think I could kick your ass if we were fighting for real.”

Methos grinned. “Well, maybe one day we'll see,” he said. “Let's just hope that the Gathering is a long way off.”

Buffy nodded in agreement. “Centuries…Millennia, even,” she said.

Behind them, Cordelia and Angel were having their own conversation, Connor still sleeping blissfully unaware in his father's arms.

“You know more than you're telling, Cordelia,” Angel told her quietly, not wanting the others to overhear.

“Not much,” the former cheerleader said. “I was going to explain everything once we got to the village.”

“ `Delia…if you know something, tell me,” the dark haired vampire prodded.

She sighed. “Fine. We're going to be stuck here for at least fifteen years,” she informed him. “Connor is going to fight with us when we go back. Him, and someone else I couldn't quite see. Well, two others, besides you, me, Methos, Buffy and Connor.”

She looked around, seemingly enjoying the scenery. “All I know is that they're on our side. One of them is a man, well, vampire, really. But, I couldn't tell who. I think it might've been Spike.”

“He's not the way he was the last time you two met, Angel,” Cordelia told him. “For the last couple of years, he's been fighting beside Buffy. He withstood torture at the hands of Glorificus so that Dawn wouldn't be hurt. He's not who you remember.”

“If he's supposed to fight with us, why didn't you bring him here?” Angel inquired.

“Because I couldn't fake his death like I did with Buffy and Methos,” Cordelia said. “He was too-well guarded.”

Cordelia nodded. “The demons thought they were dead. But, on the off-chance that they managed to find out that they were both Immortal, I had to make sure they would think that they were both really dead,” she said. “I leveled the building, and used the portal's energy to fake their Quickenings,” she explained.

“What's a Quickening?” Angel questioned, curious in spite of himself.

“It's the lightning storm that's released when one Immortal kills another. They absorb their bested opponent's life-force, their power, some of their experience. I had to actually tap into their Quickenings to do it…I think that's why the fallout leveled Sunnydale,” Cordelia told him.

She nodded, smiling grimly. “And I only channeled a tiny portion of Methos' true Quickening. If someone had killed him for real, I think California would've been wiped off of the map.”

“He's five thousand years old, Angel,” she told him. “He was one of the original Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Death, specifically.”

“A lot can change in three thousand years, Angel,” Cordelia pointed out. “You, better than anyone, should know how much someone can change. Granted, Methos chose to leave the Horsemen. Kronos-that was the leader- hunted him for three thousand years because of it. He wanted Methos to rejoin the Horsemen, or die for betraying their twisted Brotherhood.”

“I take it that this Kronos is no longer among the ranks of the Immortals?” the vampire inquired.

“No. Methos' friend, Duncan, killed him. Methos saw to the death of the last remaining Horseman. Well, besides himself. Of course, from what I've heard, he purposefully killed every part of himself that reminded him of Death. According to the Powers, anyway,” she commented.

Cordelia laughed. “Oh, yeah. Who else could say that the fate of their world rested in the hands of a vampire, a child that shouldn't exist, two Immortals, and a Higher Being?” she quipped.

“Make that two vampires, and one something we don't know about,” Angel corrected. “Unless you're forgetting that you think Spike is involved and someone else.”

Cordelia started when Angel suddenly stopped walking, a look of complete awe on his face.

Looking around, Cordelia smiled. They'd reached the elven village, where Galadriel could be found.

Angel nodded, then smiled at the pure beauty of the place. “This is…beautiful.”

Buffy and Methos seemed equally stupefied by the sheer magnificence of the village.

“Well, this just beats all of my memories of Camelot right into the ground,” Methos groused jokingly. “Puts the kingdom to shame.”

“Let me guess, you were one of the knights of the round table?” Buffy teased him.

Methos chuckled. “No, luv. I was Arthur,” he said, then headed further into the village for sightseeing before she could come up with a response.

“Oh, he is so infuriating!” Buffy complained. “I can never tell if he's being serious or not!”

Joining Buffy as Cordelia trotted off to do some sightseeing of her own, Angel chuckled softly. “You sound happy,” he observed. “I don't think I've seen you smile like that since…”

Buffy turned and hugged him, careful not to squish the baby in his arms. “Despite all the bad times we went through, I look back on the time I was with you and smile,” she told him softly. “It was wonderful while it lasted, but you and I both know that we really weren't meant to be together forever.”

Angel tucked a tress of honey-blonde hair behind her shoulder. “Yeah. Though, from what Cordelia says, forever is a lot longer for you than we thought.”

Buffy shrugged. “You could say that…I found out a little over a year ago. Right after Spike left town,” she lied.

Buffy smiled. “Yeah…We're hoping that, what with the world ending and everything, the Gathering will be a long way off.”

Buffy sighed. “There's some arcane older-than-dirt set of rules we Immortals have to follow,” she said. “No fighting on Holy Ground, we always fight one-on-one, and the worst one: There can be only one,” she said.

Brushing her hair away from her face, Buffy gazed around at the village. “When the Gathering comes, every Immortal will fight, until there is only one of us left.”

“So, let's go find out what they eat for dinner here,” Buffy said perkily, leaving Angel to stare after her in shock.


	Middle Earth The Golden Wood Eying the group suspiciously, Legolas gestured for them to follow him through the woods, keeping his bow drawn and ready. Following the elf reluctantly, Buffy huddled close to Methos' side. “Everyone I knew is dead. What's the point of going back there now? Every reason I had to fight is gone.” Hugging her tightly to his side as they walked, Methos responded, “I know, luv. This is one of the reasons I used to avoid getting too close to people.” He sighed. “After millennia of watching people I loved enslaved or killed when their civilization was conquered, I couldn't take it anymore.” “But on the bright side, if the world ended, that means Cassandra's dead,” Buffy said, trying to lighten his mood. Methos chuckled softly. “I never wanted Cassandra dead,” he said. “I just wanted her to stop trying to kill me.” “Well, I hated the bitch,” Buffy said. “She attacked me for no reason the first time she saw me.” “You fought Cassandra?!” Methos gaped. Buffy nodded. “She seemed pretty pissed that she couldn't thrall me into putting my sword down,” she said. At the look on his face, she glared. “What? The Master and Dracula himself both did the mind-whammy on me. Of course I trained until I learned to resist it. Kinda beats that dead feeling I'd get otherwise.” “The Voice didn't work on you…I'm surprised she didn't take your head in a fit of infantile rage,” Methos told her. “It wasn't for lack of trying,” Buffy smirked. *Flashback* Sunnydale, California Six months before the End of Days The sensation of another Immortal being near drew Buffy out of her reverie as she patrolled, and she glanced around quickly, scanning the shadows of the cemetery for a darker shape in the darkness. A woman with long mahogany hair stepped out from behind Spike's old crypt, her sword in hand. “Where is Methos?” she demanded coldly. Buffy arched an eyebrow at her.“Who?” she rejoined, giving the other Immortal an innocent look. The woman didn't seem fooled in the least. “I've seen you with him, youngling. Now, where is he?” Deciding to drop the innocent act, Buffy shrugged. “With him, who knows? I don't even think he knows where he'll be, half the time.” “You wouldn't speak so lightly of him if you knew who he really was,” the woman said. “And you are?” Buffy questioned. “Cassandra,” the woman answered. Understanding dawned. “Oh. He told me about you,” Buffy said. “And I suppose he told you that I was a madwoman out for his head for no good reason,” Cassandra scoffed. Buffy shook her head. “No,” she retorted. “Methos and I have no secrets. I know about the Horsemen. I know what he did to you,” she informed her. “I also know that it was three thousand years ago, and he isn't the same man he was then.” “He is evil!” “No, he isn't,” the Slayer told her. “I've seen real evil. I've seen things that would give you nightmares for the rest of your eternity. Methos isn't even close to being evil. If he was, he would've killed me the moment he met me. Instead, he told me what I was, and taught me what I needed to know about the Game.” “He is using you. Once you've taken enough heads, he'll take yours,” Cassandra sniped. Buffy smirked. “I really doubt it, considering I can put the Old Man on his ass in thirty seconds flat.” “What makes you think he will fight you fairly?” “Oh, I know he doesn't fight fair. I was talking thirty seconds, if he shoots me,” Buffy told her. “If he doesn't pull a sneak attack, it'd be about fifteen seconds.” “He has shot you?” Cassandra was appalled. Buffy shrugged. “A couple of times, actually. He stopped doing that once I proved I'd learned not to let it effect my fight.” Shaking her head, Cassandra said, “That makes no difference. If you will not tell me where to find him, I'll gather the knowledge from your Quickening,” she said darkly. Buffy blinked. “Y'know, I'm almost touched that you're challenging me,” she said. “But, I've got to warn you, Cassandra. I may be young, but I'm far from helpless. You won't get my head.” Cassandra gave a derisive laugh. “No matter your fighting skills, young one, you cannot best me,” she said. The air around her seemed to get thicker, and Buffy felt a tingling pulse of energy brushing against her mind as Cassandra spoke, “Lay down your sword.” Thankful she'd taken Giles' advice and trained herself to shield her mind, Buffy arched an eyebrow. “Not quite that easy, Cassandra,” she said, drawing the elegant katana that had been a gift from Methos' friend, Duncan MacLeod. “Wanna try door number two?” Cassandra's eyes widened at the failure of her psychic attack. “Willing or not, I will have your head tonight, child!” Looking bored, Buffy slipped into a defensive position, the katana held loosely, ready to defend herself. She didn't want to kill Cassandra. But, she wouldn't let her go after Methos, either. “We don't have to do this, Cassandra. Just walk away,” Buffy told her. “Never!” Cassandra snarled, and leapt into action. Despite her greater experience, Cassandra's sword technique was pathetically outmatched by Buffy's. Easily dodging and deflecting even the quickest of Cassandra's attacks, Buffy felt pity welling up in her for the woman who had spent three thousand years living for nothing but vengeance. Finally, tiring of the game, Buffy stopped merely defending herself and pressed an attack, disarming the much older woman in one stroke. Positioning her sword at Cassandra's throat, Buffy looked down at her passively. “I don't want your head, Cassandra. But, I won't let you kill Methos, either. Just walk away and you don't have to die.” “I cannot,” Cassandra said, swallowing carefully so as not to cut herself on Buffy's katana. “Yes, you can,” Buffy argued. “I don't want to kill you, Cassandra. Methos would never forgive me if I killed you because you couldn't let go of the past. But, I won't let you hunt him. If I have to kill you to keep him safe, then I will.” “He destroyed my people and enslaved me!” Cassandra shouted angrily. “Kronos did the same to him,” Buffy told her evenly. “Ever heard the phrase `if you can't beat `em, join `em'?” Buffy questioned. “He did what he had to in order to survive. And he has nightmares about the things he did when he was with the Horsemen. He saw you sneak out of Kronos' tent that night, and let you go.” “You lie,” Cassandra spat. “Not about this,” Buffy told her solemnly. “Are you going to walk away?” Cassandra merely glared at her. “Didn't think so,” Buffy sighed. “Suit yourself,” she said, then shifted her sword with a lightning-fast, fluid movement and impaled the other Immortal, watching as she slumped to the ground in a temporary death. Using Cassandra's shirt, Buffy cleaned the blade of her katana. “Come after me or mine again, and I will finish it,” she said, knowing that the other woman couldn't hear her. Not that it mattered. Cassandra wouldn't have listened anyway *End Flashback* Middle Earth “I can't believe you bested her in a fight,” Methos said, chuckling softly. “Why is that so surprising? I can best you in a fight,” Buffy said. “And you've had five thousand years of experience with a sword.” “Yes, but every time you've beaten me, it's been understood that it wasn't a real fight,” Methos said. “If I felt my life was actually in danger, you'd be surprised at the difference in my technique.” “So, you're saying that you let me win?” Buffy scoffed. “Not at all,” Methos told her. “I just fight a lot better and harder when I think someone might actually kill me.” Buffy smirked. “That makes two of us, then,” she said. “I still think I could kick your ass if we were fighting for real.” Methos grinned. “Well, maybe one day we'll see,” he said. “Let's just hope that the Gathering is a long way off.” Buffy nodded in agreement. “Centuries…Millennia, even,” she said. Behind them, Cordelia and Angel were having their own conversation, Connor still sleeping blissfully unaware in his father's arms. “You know more than you're telling, Cordelia,” Angel told her quietly, not wanting the others to overhear. “Not much,” the former cheerleader said. “I was going to explain everything once we got to the village.” “ `Delia…if you know something, tell me,” the dark haired vampire prodded. She sighed. “Fine. We're going to be stuck here for at least fifteen years,” she informed him. “Connor is going to fight with us when we go back. Him, and someone else I couldn't quite see. Well, two others, besides you, me, Methos, Buffy and Connor.” She looked around, seemingly enjoying the scenery. “All I know is that they're on our side. One of them is a man, well, vampire, really. But, I couldn't tell who. I think it might've been Spike.” Angel growled. “He's not the way he was the last time you two met, Angel,” Cordelia told him. “For the last couple of years, he's been fighting beside Buffy. He withstood torture at the hands of Glorificus so that Dawn wouldn't be hurt. He's not who you remember.” “If he's supposed to fight with us, why didn't you bring him here?” Angel inquired. “Because I couldn't fake his death like I did with Buffy and Methos,” Cordelia said. “He was too-well guarded.” “Wait a minute…you faked their death?” Cordelia nodded. “The demons thought they were dead. But, on the off-chance that they managed to find out that they were both Immortal, I had to make sure they would think that they were both really dead,” she said. “I leveled the building, and used the portal's energy to fake their Quickenings,” she explained. “What's a Quickening?” Angel questioned, curious in spite of himself. “It's the lightning storm that's released when one Immortal kills another. They absorb their bested opponent's life-force, their power, some of their experience. I had to actually tap into their Quickenings to do it…I think that's why the fallout leveled Sunnydale,” Cordelia told him. “Wait a minute…leveled Sunnydale?!” She nodded, smiling grimly. “And I only channeled a tiny portion of Methos' true Quickening. If someone had killed him for real, I think California would've been wiped off of the map.” “How is that possible?” Angel demanded. “He's five thousand years old, Angel,” she told him. “He was one of the original Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Death, specifically.” “And Buffy is dating this guy?” “A lot can change in three thousand years, Angel,” Cordelia pointed out. “You, better than anyone, should know how much someone can change. Granted, Methos chose to leave the Horsemen. Kronos-that was the leader- hunted him for three thousand years because of it. He wanted Methos to rejoin the Horsemen, or die for betraying their twisted Brotherhood.” “I take it that this Kronos is no longer among the ranks of the Immortals?” the vampire inquired. “No. Methos' friend, Duncan, killed him. Methos saw to the death of the last remaining Horseman. Well, besides himself. Of course, from what I've heard, he purposefully killed every part of himself that reminded him of Death. According to the Powers, anyway,” she commented. “Christ…we've got to be the strangest group in history.” Cordelia laughed. “Oh, yeah. Who else could say that the fate of their world rested in the hands of a vampire, a child that shouldn't exist, two Immortals, and a Higher Being?” she quipped. “Make that two vampires, and one something we don't know about,” Angel corrected. “Unless you're forgetting that you think Spike is involved and someone else.” “Right. Two vampires, then,” she agreed. Cordelia started when Angel suddenly stopped walking, a look of complete awe on his face. Looking around, Cordelia smiled. They'd reached the elven village, where Galadriel could be found. “Amazing, isn't it?” she asked. Angel nodded, then smiled at the pure beauty of the place. “This is…beautiful.” Buffy and Methos seemed equally stupefied by the sheer magnificence of the village. “Well, this just beats all of my memories of Camelot right into the ground,” Methos groused jokingly. “Puts the kingdom to shame.” “Let me guess, you were one of the knights of the round table?” Buffy teased him. Methos chuckled. “No, luv. I was Arthur,” he said, then headed further into the village for sightseeing before she could come up with a response. “Oh, he is so infuriating!” Buffy complained. “I can never tell if he's being serious or not!” Joining Buffy as Cordelia trotted off to do some sightseeing of her own, Angel chuckled softly. “You sound happy,” he observed. “I don't think I've seen you smile like that since…” Buffy looked at him with a wistful smile. “Since you?” Angel gave a sheepish shrug. “Yeah.” Buffy turned and hugged him, careful not to squish the baby in his arms. “Despite all the bad times we went through, I look back on the time I was with you and smile,” she told him softly. “It was wonderful while it lasted, but you and I both know that we really weren't meant to be together forever.” Angel tucked a tress of honey-blonde hair behind her shoulder. “Yeah. Though, from what Cordelia says, forever is a lot longer for you than we thought.” Buffy shrugged. “You could say that…I found out a little over a year ago. Right after Spike left town,” she lied. “Methos seems to love you,” Angel commented. Buffy smiled. “Yeah…We're hoping that, what with the world ending and everything, the Gathering will be a long way off.” “What's the Gathering?” Buffy sighed. “There's some arcane older-than-dirt set of rules we Immortals have to follow,” she said. “No fighting on Holy Ground, we always fight one-on-one, and the worst one: There can be only one,” she said. Brushing her hair away from her face, Buffy gazed around at the village. “When the Gathering comes, every Immortal will fight, until there is only one of us left.” Angel gaped. “So, let's go find out what they eat for dinner here,” Buffy said perkily, leaving Angel to stare after her in shock.