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crack_van2004-12-17 09:04 pm
lastrega.livejournal.com) wrote in crack_van2004-12-17 09:04 pm
Entry tags:
Any Road, by Killa (NC-17)
Fandom: HIGHLANDER
Pairing: Duncan/Methos
Author on LJ:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
killabeez
Author Website: Killa's Adventures in Melodrama
Why this must be read: Because this one asks one of the really big questions of Highlander fandom: what if Duncan MacLeod hadn't killed Richie Ryan? How would it have affected the outcome of the Ahriman arc if Duncan had known it was really Richie and not the demon? Like the butterfly effect, that one action effects everything that comes later.
It's big, dark and thoroughly well-characterised. To tell you too much of the plot would be to spoil it, but suffice to say it ties together the 'dark quickening' arc, the AAA arc, 'To Be/Not to Be' and elements of 'Endgame' with seamless logic. And yet, after the darkness we come back to Killa's characteristic sweetness and an ending that will hit you right where you live.
Duncan was silent for a long time. Fitz said nothing, just sat close beside him, their shoulders touching.
They were in Darius's church. Sunlight streamed through the small round window over the altar, and except for a few dust motes moving lazily in the circle of light it cast, they were alone.
He wanted to believe it was a lie. That Connor would never do that -- would never willingly put himself in a place like that. That there weren't still Watchers around capable of that kind of interference in the Game. That Methos and Joe hadn't really been keeping it from him all this time. All the levels and degrees of betrayal and horror made him feel sick, like he'd been a fool, naïve and trusting, and nothing was true any more. So much easier to believe it was all a trick, some kind of illusion -- except, he didn't. Since Richie had died, he'd been close enough to taste that kind of despair, hadn't he? He knew first hand how tempting oblivion could be. How much easier than risking your heart again.
He shoved his chair back and stood up, pacing angrily. "So, what? I'm supposed to see it's a trade-off? That if I didn't kill Richie, I was gonna lose Connor and Joe? Is that supposed to make some kind of karmic sense or something?"
Fitz shook his head sadly. "You still don't understand, do you? You still think this is about you. That all of this is some kind of punishment, your payment for the mistakes you've made. For all the people you couldn't save. You say you don't believe that, but in your heart, you do." He sighed. "Ah, laddie. I wish it was that simple."
A cold finger touched Duncan's heart, and he stopped. "There's more, isn't there? It doesn't end with Joe." Fitz looked at him, then, and Duncan saw there were tears on his face. "Fitz?"
"You said it yourself, dear boy. The ultimate struggle between good and evil is fought within one soul."
Any Road
Pairing: Duncan/Methos
Author on LJ:
killabeez Author Website: Killa's Adventures in Melodrama
Why this must be read: Because this one asks one of the really big questions of Highlander fandom: what if Duncan MacLeod hadn't killed Richie Ryan? How would it have affected the outcome of the Ahriman arc if Duncan had known it was really Richie and not the demon? Like the butterfly effect, that one action effects everything that comes later.
It's big, dark and thoroughly well-characterised. To tell you too much of the plot would be to spoil it, but suffice to say it ties together the 'dark quickening' arc, the AAA arc, 'To Be/Not to Be' and elements of 'Endgame' with seamless logic. And yet, after the darkness we come back to Killa's characteristic sweetness and an ending that will hit you right where you live.
Duncan was silent for a long time. Fitz said nothing, just sat close beside him, their shoulders touching.
They were in Darius's church. Sunlight streamed through the small round window over the altar, and except for a few dust motes moving lazily in the circle of light it cast, they were alone.
He wanted to believe it was a lie. That Connor would never do that -- would never willingly put himself in a place like that. That there weren't still Watchers around capable of that kind of interference in the Game. That Methos and Joe hadn't really been keeping it from him all this time. All the levels and degrees of betrayal and horror made him feel sick, like he'd been a fool, naïve and trusting, and nothing was true any more. So much easier to believe it was all a trick, some kind of illusion -- except, he didn't. Since Richie had died, he'd been close enough to taste that kind of despair, hadn't he? He knew first hand how tempting oblivion could be. How much easier than risking your heart again.
He shoved his chair back and stood up, pacing angrily. "So, what? I'm supposed to see it's a trade-off? That if I didn't kill Richie, I was gonna lose Connor and Joe? Is that supposed to make some kind of karmic sense or something?"
Fitz shook his head sadly. "You still don't understand, do you? You still think this is about you. That all of this is some kind of punishment, your payment for the mistakes you've made. For all the people you couldn't save. You say you don't believe that, but in your heart, you do." He sighed. "Ah, laddie. I wish it was that simple."
A cold finger touched Duncan's heart, and he stopped. "There's more, isn't there? It doesn't end with Joe." Fitz looked at him, then, and Duncan saw there were tears on his face. "Fitz?"
"You said it yourself, dear boy. The ultimate struggle between good and evil is fought within one soul."
Any Road
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