"A Finale, Of Sorts" or "A Fanfic of Highlander: The Series" by Shaule Sachs This is a work of fiction. This work is not meant to infringe on the Highlander copyrights and other things. It is written solely for the therapeutic release of the author and enjoyment of others. Any similarities between this and real life is pure coincidence. ----------------------------------------------------------------- --- Part 3 --- Friday, Late Morning Duncan's Barge Duncan was getting a little worried. The sauce was not coming out right. Fortunately, he did not expect company until 4pm and the sauce only took a half an hour to be made. So he simply threw away the bad sauce and started over. While Duncan had been shopping he had ran into, literally, an old friend, a mortal by the name of Jean-Paul Picard. Jean-Paul was a wine maker by trade and tradition. There had been a Picard wine maker for almost three hundred years now who Duncan had met the very first time he was in France. Duncan hoped that he could introduce Richie to Jean-Paul so Jean-Paul could increase Richie's knowledge about wines and culture, areas in which Richie's education were lacking in. If Richie was to be able to move around like most Immortals had to then Richie needs some more knowledge in other cultures besides the American culture he grew up in, which Duncan was not sure if America had its own culture. If nothing else, a few moments with Jean-Paul would increase Richie's understanding of wines significantly which would help Richie to get along in a high- society setting that Richie seems to like. As the day wore on Duncan began to wonder where Richie was. He knew that there wasn't any races today and Richie had talked to him after the race was over yesterday about how he had won the race. Duncan had told him to come over for lunch and Richie had said he would. So the fact that it was almost lunch time with Duncan doing the cooking and the fact that Richie had yet to show had Duncan slightly worried. It was not like Richie to miss a meal especial one for which he didn't have to pay for. When lunch time had come and gone Richie still had not shown up yet, Duncan went from slightly worried to wondering what was keeping Richie. Duncan quickly dismissed the idea of Kalas had killed Richie since Richie was in a public place most of the time. Even Kalas would not break the Rule of keeping Immortal fighting away from public view. /So what was keeping Richie,/ thought Duncan. The idea that Richie had met a girl entered Duncan's mind with a laugh but the more he thought about the more the idea seemed likely. Duncan thought of Richie as a kid when in fact Richie was twenty-one years old. Duncan had to admit that within the last year Richie had grown up a lot. Still Duncan couldn't picture some woman interested in a kid but he had heard and seen that some older women seemed to like younger men, so it was possible. But Richie had promised he would come and Richie kept his word so long as keeping his word didn't put others in danger. So when it was close to three o'clock Duncan began to wonder if something had happen at the track. He had not heard about any news about the racing track that could account for Richie's disappearance. If there was an accident at the track, he would have heard something when he went grocery shopping. /So what was keeping him,/ thought Duncan again. When the phone rang, its ringing shattered Duncan's thought about the possible situations Richie might have been. "Hello," Duncan said into the phone. Duncan had a bad sense of deja vu come upon him as he realized he was talking to Joe. "Mac," said Joe, "Kalas went after Richie last night." "What?" said Duncan confused. "A Watcher spotted Kalas chasing someone who fitted Richie's description last night," replied Joe in a worried voice. "But," Duncan began, "but even Kalas would not attack another Immortal in public." With a fieriness that Joe had never heard before, Duncan said, "Its against the Rules. Even Kalas won't break the Rules." "Maybe," was all Joe said. Taking a deep breath that Duncan could clearly hear over the phone Joe said, "The Watcher who saw them said it was late, after when most of the people had left, and Kalas was chasing Richie in a desert part of town by the track." "I know the area," replied Duncan. He remembered dealing with one or two Immortals in the same area himself some time ago. "What else, Joe?" ask a worried Duncan. "The Watcher thought he saw a Quickening being taken, Mac," replied Joe in a pained voice. "He thought he saw a Quickening?" asked a incredible Duncan. "Don't you people tell your rookie want a Quickening looks like?" replied a sarcastic Duncan. "Yes, we do, Mac," came the patient reply for Joe. "The Watcher who spotted Kalas has been Watching his Immortal for over thirty years now," Joe said. "Then why does he only think he saw a Quickening then?" asked Duncan. "Because when the Watcher went into the alley to see who lost there wasn't a body or head there. You can't even tell there was a battle there unless you know what to look for and even then it was hard," Joe said. "What?" asked a confused Duncan, "when a Quickening is released, regardless of the strength of the Quickening, it still makes a mess." While Duncan's mind would not accept the idea that Richie was dead, the thought that Richie's Quickening would not leave a mark to show his passing did not seem possible to him. Richie may have not been an Immortal long but Duncan had thought that Richie's Quickening was strong for one so young. Duncan also thought that Mako's Quickening add to Richie's would make Richie a target for those Immortals so sought strong Quickening within young Immortals. It was one of the reasons that Duncan had trained Richie so hard. "True," replied Joe breaking into Duncan's dark thoughts. "Yet a Watcher who has both seen and heard a number of Quickening taken, heard one but cannot find the body or even evidence of the fighting that he was but moments before Watching as he crossed the street to get closer," continued Joe. "And when he got to the alley where he saw the fight there wasn't any evidence of a fight, Mac," replied a puzzled Joe. Finishing Joe said, "We don't know what happened." Duncan was not listening, "So Richie is dead?" Duncan could hear the shrug over the phone as Joe answered, "As I said, we don't know what happened. He may have gotten lucky, Mac." Duncan hoped that Richie did get lucky but he also hoped that Richie was not lucky too. He hoped Richie was lucky so that Richie was still live but he hoped not since if he was live then Kalas's Quickening was now a part of Richie and Duncan did not know if Richie could handle it. /Could I face Kalas in Richie's body?/ Duncan asked himself. To which the practical side replied, /I don't know and I hope it won't come to that./ ***** Friday, Afternoon Duncan's Barge, Paris Duncan hang up the phone after Joe had repeated everything he knew. Duncan only half believed the coincidence that Joe was coming to Paris tonight to buy some wine for the bar. Although Duncan believed that Joe did not what to go through some middle man to buy the wine and alcohol for the bar, still Joe had sounded as if this was a spur of the moment idea. Duncan could easily envision that Joe was going to send Mike to get the wine and decided to go himself when he heard the news. Duncan had sat down on the couch when he was talking on the phone and now he was simply sitting there oblivious to everything. That's how Jean-Paul found him. Jean-Paul had decided to come early to see how Duncan was doing. When he had met him in grocery store Duncan seemed to have some thing bothering him but now he seemed like the death warmer over. "What's a matter?" asked Jean-Paul. "Bad news," said Duncan. "Oh?" replied Jean-Paul. "A close friend of mine was in an accident and the doctors don't know if he'll pull through," Duncan said quickly to explain the situation. "Well, all you can do is pray and remember that we all die at some point," remark Jean-Paul. /Not all of us,/ thought Duncan sadly. === End of Part 3 ===