crack_van | The Quality of Mercy by Tiranog (ADULT)

Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Pairing: Duncan/Methos
Length: long
Author on LJ: unknown
Author Website: Tiranog's Website
Why this must be read:
This was orginally part of a zine that Tiranog put out in 2002. It's the first of seven great stories, which can be found at her website. I love this story, the whole series really, but this story in particular. It takes place after Byron shows up, so Methos' past has already been made known. But this time he stands up for himself and sticks around, even with the issues with Duncan and Joe. And standing up for himself makes Duncan truely see Methos-starting a relationship that is both wonderful and heartbreaking. The series as a whole is a very long read, but it is definitely worth the time.

“You lied to me with words only once, “ MacLeod corrected. “How often did you misrepresent yourself?”

“Never. I have been nothing but a friend to you since the day we met,” Methos hotly swore, certain of that, if nothing else in his checkered past.

MacLeod had the grace to look guilty. They both knew that was the bottom line between Immortals. When you outlived nations, history had to be kept where it belonged – dead and buried. Between most of their kind, it didn’t matter who or what each other had been in the past, so long as their swords stayed sheathed and they could turn their backs on each other in the present and keep their heads.

Appearing painfully uncertain, MacLeod attempted to explain himself, “Methos, when we first met, you came across as a meek academic….”

“And so I’ve been for the past five or six hundred years. You are judging me on events that happened more than three-thousand years ago. Are you the same man you were at your true death in Scotland? The same man you were after Culloden or before you met Darius? Everybody changes, MacLeod.”

“Some more than others,” Mac still couldn’t seem to pass up the opportunity to get a jibe in.

Methos took the words at face value, storing their hurt away where he stored all the rest of his pain. “You’re right. Some men don’t change. I could still be Death. I could have spent the last three millennia marauding with Kronos and his like, but I didn’t. I stopped--”

“You got bored,” MacLeod pointed out.

“Yes, I got bored with it. I’m sorry if that offends your sensibilities, but that is the truth you so wanted to hear. I made a conscious choice to walk away from the only life I’d ever known and I paid for that choice, MacLeod. Kronos’ Quickening probably gave you some idea of the immediate consequences of that decision. If it makes you feel any better, his torments were the easiest part of the whole thing. I’ve paid for my sins, MacLeod. Believe me, I’ve paid.”

Quality of Mercy