Potest Esse Nur Unus: Part 3
They rushed into the spare bedroom, and there was Cat sitting up in bed scared and crying. "What's going on? I thought I was dead. I..."
Anne looked at Duncan with a look like OK Mr. Know-it-all, you handle this one. "You need to get some rest," Duncan replied. "I'll explain it all in the morning."
"No, I want to know what's going on NOW!. I know I died, and now I'm here alive. Don't try to tell me I wasn't dead either, because I saw a bright light, and my mom, sister, dad, and Franz. What's going on?"
"I'll leave the two of you alone." Anne said. She had heard Duncan explain this before, many times in the past few months after she arrived in Paris. It still felt strange to her though she had seen it and lived through it. She saw Duncan die, and then one day she got a call from him saying he's alive. As a doctor, she had seen death stare her in the eyes, and only once had she seen someone be resurrected. She never thought someone she loved as much as Duncan would be that way.
When Anne left the room, Duncan started to explain. "I'm Duncan MacLeod of the clan MacLeod. I was born in 1592 in the Highlands of Scotland. I was killed in battle in 1622, but I was resurrected. There had been stories of a man during my grandfather's time that was killed in battle, but came back to life. His name was Connor MacLeod, a fellow clansman, and he took me in and taught me all I needed to know. We are immortal, and we can not die unless someone takes our head. That's what I'm afraid happened to Franz."
"He was immortal too?" she asked. "That's why I saw his headless body lying on the ground."
"What else can you tell me about that night? Do you know who he was? Did he look familiar."
"I think he was looking for me. Franz told me to hide, and I heard a man ask him where I was. I think his name was Jay or Jayden, something like that. I had never seen him before, but yet..."
"Yet what?"
"I felt like I'd met him before. But I can't think of anything. Why was he after me?"
"I don't know." Duncan said suddenly getting lost his thoughts.
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The year was 1970, in Vietnam. Duncan was in the hospital after being wounded during battle. On the day off his release, he went for a walk down to the nursery. He had seen many children die, and felt a great loss for them. Even though he had long accepted the fact he wouldn't have kids, but they always had a special place in his heart. He had seen the pediatric ward and most of the children were on the verge of death. But there was one baby who was the tiniest, but seemed the strongest.
Duncan stared at the little boy when he received the buzz. Duncan looked around and saw no one. Finally a man in his late teens through early twenties, took the boy over to the corner. Duncan could barely see what was happening, but he saw the man raise a scalpel and cut the child's head off. Duncan was shocked. He had seen many children killed in the Vietnam War, but not by a doctor. In almost his four hundred years had he seen anyone kill a new born child for his head. The man turned around and stared at Duncan. Duncan knew right then that's where the buzz came from. The man walked out of the nursery, and towards Duncan.
"I'm Duncan MacLeod of the clan MacLeod."
"So you're the great Duncan MacLeod." Jayden said "My name is Jayden Adams and I've been waiting for this day. I know an old friend of yours- Franz Von Statenhiem. He trained me as you once trained him. He often spoke of you. He's seemed forever in your debt."
"Why did you take the head from that child? He was just a baby."
"He was going to die anyway. So I just helped him out of his misery. There can be only one!" He said as he took his sword from under his coat and raised it to fight Duncan.
Duncan had no sword with him, so he grabbed an IV pole to use for his only protection. Jayden was strong, but not strong enough. Duncan knocked the sword out of his hand, and grabbed it. He raised it to take Jayden's head when he heard footsteps down the corridor. Duncan dropped the sword and took off down the opposite way. Their game was not for mortal spectators.
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Duncan remembered that Jayden always had a way of knowing when a baby was going to be immortal. No other immortal could. Not unless it was an immortal baby. It was almost impossible to sense Immortals at that young an age, but somehow, he knew. Duncan started to put the pieces together.?
"Tell me about your parents. What happened to your mother."
"She died when I was little in a car accident as well as my older sister. No one really knows what happened. They assumed it was a hit and run. That's all I've been told. My dad raised me and taught me to use a sword at an early age, so I'll always be protected and when it came time, if I needed to, protect him. I wasn't there that day he died. I was out with my friends and I came home and he had been stabbed through the heart with his own sword. That was a year ago. I wasn't there when anyone died and I've always felt maybe it was my fault. For over a year I've felt alone and on my own. Like I have no one."
"Until you're ready to be on your own, you have me and Anne. We'll take care of you. I'll train you. But their are things you need to know. The Number One Rule is to never go anywhere without a sword, because, like I said, the only way to kill is to take another immortal's head. When you do, you will get a Quickening. The power of the Quickening, will be strong or weak, depending on how many other Quickenings they have had. You're first one will drain every energy you have in your body and you will feel exhausted. The more you get them, the more you get use to them. Many of the older immortals such as Franz, Amanda, Cierdwyne, Methos, Kalas, and myself are powerful because we've been around and fought for so long. Kalas is gone, I took care of that, but people like Jayden, even though he's young, after all, he took Franz's head, so he must be strong."
"Will I be that strong?"
"In time, maybe. Until then, you will learn, and you may never need to use the sword, until it's time."
"Time? Time for what?"
"We immortals try to survive until the time of the Gathering. There the few remain will battle to the last. There can be only one, and that one will possess all the power of all immortals and the universe. Each immortal strives to be the only one. Which is hard when you become involved with one."
"Is Anne Immortal?"
"No, and she's having to deal with the fact that I am."
"How did she find out? Did you just come out and tell her?"
"Well, we were together a while before she found out. She saw me die." Duncan remembered that day as if it were yesterday.
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A few months ago, Duncan was living a happy life in America. He was with the woman he loved, he had friends that supported him and a few who would do anything to protect him, because they knew he would do the same for them. One day, Kalas, one of the oldest living immortals, trapped Duncan, in Kalas' theatre, and told Anne to meet Duncan there.
Richie Ryan who was a friend of theirs and one of Duncan's proteges tried to warn Anne not to go. They walked in just in time to see Duncan fall from the catwalk to his death below. Anne watched horror stricken as the man she loved laid there dead. She wanted to call an ambulance, but all Richie wanted to do was get Anne out of there before she saw Duncan come back to life.
Duncan was forced to leave because his death was seen. If Anne hadn't have seen it, Duncan could have stayed. But because she did see it, he left for Paris. He always fancied Paris. A couple of months later, Duncan's friend Cierdwyne and Richie convinced Duncan to let Anne know. Richie had seen how bad she felt, and he would do anything to cheer her up. She was like the sister he never had. So Duncan called Joe, his Watcher, and told him to have Anne meet at Joe's Place where the two often went after she got off work.
Anne sat at the bar talking about Duncan when Joe handed her a plane ticket to Paris. When she asked what it was for, the phone rang. Joe picked it up, looked at Anne and said "It's for you."
Anne said "Hello? Duncan?" and then she was on the plane to Paris. He explained everything to her, and she was given the choice to stay or leave. For now, she chose to stay.
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"So it was hard for her to accept at first, and I tried to make her go home. But for now we're happy together. I'd loose my head just to save her or the baby." Duncan said, and he would to. Even though the baby wasn't his, he had come to terms with the fact that he was going to be a father, and he was happy. "Something else you need to know, we can not have children. Anne's baby isn't mine, but I love it just the same."
"Do you think this Jayden is after me? Could he come for my head."
"If he does, we'll be ready. Now get some rest, we'll begin training first thing in the morning."
"Duncan," Cat said, "Thank you. Thanks for everything."
"You're welcome. Good night." he said as he stood up and walked out of the room. Anne was waiting for him on the couch."
"How's she doing?" Anne asked.
"She's handling it better than I thought. She knows everything, even about us."
"The baby, too?"
"Even the baby." Duncan said as he rubbed Anne's stomach. "Did you feel that?"
"She's a kicker and a fighter. Just like you." she said as she kissed him. "I love you Duncan MacLeod."
"I love you too."