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The Fourth Seal by zigsternenstaub (PG-13)
'Allo, 'Allo! I'll be reccing for Highlander this month and hope I can come up with some new and interesting fics for y'all.
Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Pairing: Gen
Length: 27,500
Author on LJ:![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
zigsternenstaub
Author Website: FFN Profile
Why this must be read: I'm rather pleased I get to rec this one. Like many authors,zigsternenstaub has chosen to explore Comes a Horseman and Revelations 6:8. In this au, we see a Methos only hinted at within the series. zigsternenstaub has chosen to give us a Methos who sides with his brothers and convinces them to choose a less public place to try out Kronos' virus.
Throughout the entirety of this fic, Methos continues to march to his own drum, keeping the readers and the other characters guessing as to his true motivations. And that is what is so compelling about this fic. Even as Methos acts in a manner designed to make him irredeemable, there is still a part that keeps wanting to know what his end game is - why he is acting like this. Even in the epilogue where we find out what happened to Duncan the question of how Methos expects to see this through still echoes.
As a warning there are character deaths throughout this and scenes of blood, war and death. (No pun intended.)
The darkness of the meeting room in the formerly abandoned power station in Bordeaux crowded in on Methos as he sat alone at the table, three empty chairs facing him accusingly.
This was the room in which Kronos had held his impromptu war council only an hour before, the room where Methos had presented his plan. The plan was of course meant to distract his brothers until he could contact Duncan MacLeod and warn him of the virus. But should his plan play out as expected, Kronos would never dream again; never proclaim his plans in that marvellous stentorian voice. Never again would the mad blue light in his eyes shine with such joy, never again would his fire warm and inspire Methos....
The surety of his success should have at least grimly satisfied him, but the only thing Methos could feel was a sort of wallowing melancholy, for the end result would certainly be the deaths of all three of his brothers in blood, companions of millenia. Sometimes loved, sometimes hated, always cherished.
But, Methos reminded himself, survival came above all of that. Survival came above even the bonds of brotherhood.
Survival was the reason that he had left the Horsemen to begin with. When Methos had departed camp for the very last time he had not been pleased with the necessity, but had hardened himself to the reality. The civilisations of the world, once consisting of little more than apes squatting in mud huts, had become advancing empires. People were no longer quite so willing to submit to the Horsemen's rule, no longer quite so willing to view them as gods or demons and fearfully worship them-- and fear and superstition had been the key to Horsemen's power.
Methos had all too clearly foreseen their probable end at the blades of some petty emperor's armies, angry that the peoples and villages he had claimed as his own property were being slaughtered by outsiders, by some ragged, painted barbarians on horseback. Methos had not been willing to stay for the final, pointless slaughter.
The Fourth Seal can be found here, with links to the next part at the bottom of each post. Don't forget to feed the author if you like it!
Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Pairing: Gen
Length: 27,500
Author on LJ:
zigsternenstaubAuthor Website: FFN Profile
Why this must be read: I'm rather pleased I get to rec this one. Like many authors,
zigsternenstaub has chosen to explore Comes a Horseman and Revelations 6:8. In this au, we see a Methos only hinted at within the series. zigsternenstaub has chosen to give us a Methos who sides with his brothers and convinces them to choose a less public place to try out Kronos' virus. Throughout the entirety of this fic, Methos continues to march to his own drum, keeping the readers and the other characters guessing as to his true motivations. And that is what is so compelling about this fic. Even as Methos acts in a manner designed to make him irredeemable, there is still a part that keeps wanting to know what his end game is - why he is acting like this. Even in the epilogue where we find out what happened to Duncan the question of how Methos expects to see this through still echoes.
As a warning there are character deaths throughout this and scenes of blood, war and death. (No pun intended.)
The darkness of the meeting room in the formerly abandoned power station in Bordeaux crowded in on Methos as he sat alone at the table, three empty chairs facing him accusingly.
This was the room in which Kronos had held his impromptu war council only an hour before, the room where Methos had presented his plan. The plan was of course meant to distract his brothers until he could contact Duncan MacLeod and warn him of the virus. But should his plan play out as expected, Kronos would never dream again; never proclaim his plans in that marvellous stentorian voice. Never again would the mad blue light in his eyes shine with such joy, never again would his fire warm and inspire Methos....
The surety of his success should have at least grimly satisfied him, but the only thing Methos could feel was a sort of wallowing melancholy, for the end result would certainly be the deaths of all three of his brothers in blood, companions of millenia. Sometimes loved, sometimes hated, always cherished.
But, Methos reminded himself, survival came above all of that. Survival came above even the bonds of brotherhood.
Survival was the reason that he had left the Horsemen to begin with. When Methos had departed camp for the very last time he had not been pleased with the necessity, but had hardened himself to the reality. The civilisations of the world, once consisting of little more than apes squatting in mud huts, had become advancing empires. People were no longer quite so willing to submit to the Horsemen's rule, no longer quite so willing to view them as gods or demons and fearfully worship them-- and fear and superstition had been the key to Horsemen's power.
Methos had all too clearly foreseen their probable end at the blades of some petty emperor's armies, angry that the peoples and villages he had claimed as his own property were being slaughtered by outsiders, by some ragged, painted barbarians on horseback. Methos had not been willing to stay for the final, pointless slaughter.
The Fourth Seal can be found here, with links to the next part at the bottom of each post. Don't forget to feed the author if you like it!