TSB 2

The Space Between

By AmandaDoE

Chapter Two: Prelude — Part Two

Methos was at Santorini, a place Alexa had loved. He looked around the surroundings, enjoying the familiar atmosphere.

He looked at a picture he was holding in his hands. It was of him holding Alexa while Tori was holding Richie. They were all at the cruise in this picture and it was a beautiful moment.

It was just unfortunate that he had to lose those that he had loved over the course of two and a half years. First, losing Alexa to her terminal illness, and then a year later, he lost a good friend in Tori when MacLeod took her head. Methos knew it was a mistake. Duncan fell into Ahriman's trap and Tori paid the price, saving her husband in the process.

He missed Tori, just as he missed Alexa. During the past five months, Methos had been mostly keeping to himself to try to keep to himself, coping with the death of his good friend, and trying to make sure he wasn't vulnerable a second time.

-The-Space-Between-

Europe

Amanda's head hung low as she walked down familiar streets.

She missed the only person whom she'd ever thought of as a daughter, Tori Gordon-Ryan. Yes, Duncan MacLeod, her old lover, was the one who took Tori's head, but she couldn't fully blame him for what happened. Ahriman, the demon Ming the Merciless had summoned, was the one who set the trap for MacLeod. But Duncan and Richie had destroyed Ahriman for good, and Ming was in prison, so there was no reason to go after either of them.

Instead, for the last five months, she'd been tracking dark immortals down, or taking them out if they crossed her path.

She sensed the Buzz.

"Help!" a woman shouted from nearby, "Someone, please help!"

Amanda turned and she saw a woman being cornered by a mean looking man trying to mug her. She realized the mugger was another immortal she was after.

"Hey!" Amanda called out, catching the mugger's attention, "What do you think you're doing?!"

The mugger scoffed before he tossed the woman to the ground and walked over to his opponent, drawing out his bastard sword, in turn the woman hurried away from the scene.

"You looking for a challenge, little girl?" the mugger challenged her.

"Little girl?" Amanda scoffed before she drawn out her sword, "You don't really know a thing about me, do you? Well, you're about to find out."

Amanda began her duel with the mugger, and they parried across the street and they made their way on top of a secluded building.

Eventually, Amanda gained the upper hand and gutted the mugger before she beheaded him and then moments later, took his quickening.

She squirmed after the quickening ended. "That guy wasn't much, but it's part of the game."

-The-Space-Between-

Paris

Duncan looked around his barge. Five months have passed since Ahriman had been destroyed thanks to him and Richie. They destroyed the demon responsible for Tori's death. Actually, Duncan knew he was the one who killed Tori. It was his blade that killed her.

He sensed the Buzz and turned to see Connor entering the barge.

"How are you holding?" Connor asked.

"The best I can," Duncan answered. He could tell why his cousin was here. His cousin had come to comfort him just as he did several other times for the past five months, just as Duncan had done when Connor had lost Rachel four years ago.

"I know how you feel, Duncan," Connor tried to assure him, "I remember how it felt when I lost Rachel four years ago. It is an excruciating experience."

"Not as excruciating as the fact that it was my blade that had killed Tori," Duncan interjected. Then he took a deep breath, "She's also died hating me."

"What makes you say that?" Connor asked.

"Tori partly blamed me for Steven Keane indirectly killed her daughter Jenny," Duncan explained, "She told me if I had let Methos take his head when he had the chance, Jenny would have lasted a few days longer than she had."

Connor looked down, processing what his cousin had told him.

"I'm going to visit Tori's grave," Duncan asked, "Would you want to come with me?"

"Sure," Connor answered, "I don't see why not."

The two MacLeods walked out of the barge and they walked down the streets of Paris.

"I noticed that you didn't bring your sword," Connor spoke up.

"Yeah," Duncan nodded.

"You know that's a bad idea," Connor glanced at his cousin.

Duncan looked down, remaining silent, "You know why I don't take my sword with me."

"Because of Tori?"

Duncan nodded, "It was my blade that took Tori's head. I was the one who took her head."

"But it was an accident," Connor argued, "The Defenders told me about the situation during Tori's memorial service. Ahriman was the one who caused all this, Ming as well."

Duncan remained silent as they walked towards the cemetery. He hadn't visited the grave in a couple of months, despite having visited the grave for the past months prior. He had no idea why, but he couldn't find it within himself to see her grave until now.

"Look, Duncan," Connor spoke up, pulling Duncan from his thoughts, "I understand that you feel guilty for what happened, but you can't step away from the game forever. You know that you have done that before when you lost Little Deer and her son, and that doesn't last. You'll have to pick up your sword sooner or later. We are immortal, and there is no escaping the game forever."

Duncan processed what his cousin had said as they arrived at the cemetery. They saw a hole where the grave once was.

"What's this all about?" Connor asked.

"I, uh, I haven't seen the grave in a couple of months," Duncan confessed, "I have had found it hard to visit the grave over the past couple of months for some reason."

He then called out to a nearby man, "Excuse me!"

The man walked over to the MacLeods, "May I help you, Monsieur?"

"Yes," Duncan inquired, "Do you know when the body was removed?"

"Last month, monsieur," the man answered.

"What about the paperwork?" Duncan asked.

"Yes, of course, monsieur," the man answered, "The paperwork was filled and the remains were shipped to the United States for burial last week at Orly Airport."

"Deja Vu," Duncan muttered before he asked the man, "At whose request?"

"The husband of the deceased," the man answered.

Connor and Duncan looked at each other.

-The-Space-Between-

Seacouver

Richie lifted a glass of martini and took a sip. The last few months had been hell for him. He had no idea what he was going to do with himself since Tori had died, and had lost his family in a course of several weeks. Yeah, this had happened last year, and it had been a year and five months since the tragedy, but Richie hadn't felt the same since losing his family.

To try to escape his reality, Richie had been smoking and drinking. His way of coping with the loss, mostly losing Tori. He was grateful for Angie and even Nikki and her daughter Melinda being there for him through this tough time, but he hadn't been the same person he once was, and even they knew this.

Angie walked over and stopped him, as this had been his third martini, and these were strong ones too. "I think that's quite enough to drink, Richie."

"Nonsense…Angie, come on…I…" Richie stated as he was slurring, clearly intoxicated.

"That's it," Angie picked up her friend before he could fall to the floor, "I'm taking you back home."

"No, I don't want to," Richie objected.

"You'll thank me when you aren't in jail for public intoxication," Angie insisted, "or dealing with some serious health issues in connection of your smoking and drinking."

They walked out of the bar and Angie started to drive back to her place.

"It's just hard to deal, Angie," Richie confessed, "I know it's been over a year, but Tori was everything to me. I miss her, Angie. I miss her."

"I know," Angie replied, "I know."

-The-Space-Between-

Angie watched Richie sleeping on her couch. She was going to allow him to sleep off the booze. It was only fair because he was there for her when Gary died. It had been a rough couple of months since Richie came back here to Seacouver and he hadn't been the same. She couldn't imagine what he was going through, losing his wife right after losing his daughter. It must have been a crippling thing for Richie to deal with.

Angie could tell because Richie had been drinking and smoking to try to escape the reality of the situation. Luckily, she was always there to make sure he didn't drink too much and made sure he didn't smoke too many packs, especially where Melinda was involved.

"How is he?" Nikki asked as she walked in the living room.

"Dealing with the pain," Angie answered, "The past year and a half hasn't been kind to Richie obviously."

"I can see that too," Nikki stated as she looked over at Richie's sleeping form, "ten pounds heavier, and the drinking and smoking he's been doing. I'm just glad he agreed to not act like he was around Melinda, after I asked him not to, of course."

"We'll have to give him time," Angie said, "Something he had to endure is definitely something hard to recover from."

Nikki nodded, "To an extent, I know how he must be feeling."

-The-Space-Between-

"What's the situation?" Jack asked as he entered the office.

"We spotted some portals in two different locations," Daphne answered as she typed some stuff on her laptop. "It appeared that the portal leads to the Planet Mongo."

"Mongo?" Jack glanced over in surprise.

"Exactly," Henry nodded, "It appeared to be a residual from the Portage Initiative created many years ago by the late Lawrence Gordon and the late Hans Zarkov."

"Long before Flash Gordon ever met him," Jack chimed in.

"Correct," William nodded, glancing at the computer screen, "I haven't seen anything like it in years."

Jack looked at the computer screen and he saw the portal sightings. One was in Central City, and the other was in New York City.

"It can't be good," Jack muttered.

"What does this mean?" Martha asked.

"A catastrophe," Taylor answered quickly.

"That's putting it lightly, Scott," Jack chimed in, "The way the portals have been reactivated look pretty aggressive. Not only is Earth at risk, but the planet Mongo is at risk as well."

"The question is: who is responsible for reactivating the Portage Initiative, and why?" Dorothy asked.

"That is the mystery," Jack answered.

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Author's Note:

Thus that wraps up the two-parter prelude to this story. Yeah, there is going to be a Mongo type of twist to my take on Season 6 of Highlander. I've had a lot of inspiration from the Digimon Tamers anime, the 2007 Flash Gordon series and the aforementioned Season 6. I think this is going to be an interesting take that Earth N is going to offer.

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Article

Author

Chapters

1: Prelude — Part One

Everyone reflects on the recent events while considering the future.

2: Prelude — Part Two

Angie tends to a despondent Richie. Portals to new dimensions are discovered.

3: Sins of the Father

Duncan embarks on a journey abroad. Richie confronts his trauma.

4: Diplomatic Immunity

Richie joins others in Paris.