KEANE - You live around here?
 

 
[Keane turns away from Amanda to unlock the car. He holds the door open for her to get in and is taken completely off guard when AMANDA slams the door hard into his stomach. He doubles over in pain as she pulls her sword out. KEANE struggles to draw his own sword, barely raises it in time to block Amanda's next blow. He scrambles away, on the retreat as he recovers his breath.]

KEANE - And I thought you were only interested in my body. [beat] Was it something I said?
 

 
[Keane attacks with renewed interest, driving Amanda back against the car. AMANDA attacks with grace and a series of acrobatic moves, forcing KEANE to retreat. AMANDA drives her blade toward him. She thrusts will all her strength. KEANE avoids it. It breaks. The blade drives into a brick and stone wall. Amanda retreats. She can now fight only defensively but she doesn't give up. Keane drives her back. He grabs her swordarm with his free hand, holding it away from him. Amanda tries to get a knee in his groin but he avoids the blow.]

KEANE - Not twice in one night, sweetheart.

[He leans on her, keeps her pinned. He twists the sword out of her hand and his blade goes to her neck.]
 

 
MACLEOD - And now I'm here. [ready for anything] Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod.

KEANE - I know who you are. I've hunted you for more than 200 years. [off MacLeod's look] I'm Steven Keane...
 

 
[She looks at him with eyes burning with rage and grief, her voice tight with anger.]

GRANDMOTHER - You want to help me? [re his sword] Bury the English bastards who did this. Make the dogs pay! Give me my revenge!

[MacLeod reacts, his face hardens.]
 

 
[Rosemont and Keane walk through a wooded area of the estate. They walk along the path while Michael darts in and out of the woods.]

ROSEMONT - You have great patience with children, Steven. You should have some of your own.

KEANE - It's easier for some than others.

[ON MICHAEL as he follows a twining ivy runner off the path, between the trees. The sudden sound of hoofbeats and Michael looks up to see DUNCAN MACLEOD looming above him on horseback. Haggard and bearded, his outfit stained with mud and blood, MacLeod has been on the warpath since Culloden. He has the obvious look of a desperate man. He swings off the horse as we CUT TO:]

[KEANE as he gets the BUZZ and ROSEMONT as he hears his son's SCREAM O.S.]

[Whipping his dress sword out of its scabbard, Rosemont plunges into the woods. Keane, his sword also drawn, moves with him. They come face to face with MACLEOD holding the terrified boy by the arm.]

KEANE - [re the boy] Let him go. [to Rosemont] He's here for me...
 

[NOTE: The following clips should be PROCESSED for nightmare effect -- distorted sound, stretched images. Scenes from MacLeod's early life in Scotland are mixed with scenes from his post-Culloden rage, images and sounds overlapping.]

(SCENE 41805 FROM "THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY")

[We are in the midst of a skirmish between a small knot of Scottish soldiers and their English counterparts.]

(SCENE 10606 FROM "FAMILY TREE")

[MacLeod's father comforts his dying son.]

IAN - You fought well. You fought like a MacLeod.

(SCENE 41809 FROM "THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY")

MacLeod comes upon a battle scene. A number of Scots lie dead.

(SCENE 40111 FROM "HOMELAND")

IAN - You are a Chieftain's son! You'll not walk away from this.

(SCENE 31730 FROM "TAKE BACK THE NIGHT")

MACLEOD - They slaughtered four thousand Scots. Men, women, children in their mother's arms. I don't ask you to understand.

CEIRDWYN - But I do. Only too well. [sadly] More blood does not make it better.

(SCENE 31731 FROM "TAKE BACK THE NIGHT")

[MacLeod comes across the bodies of the murdered Scot and his wife, hanging from a tree. He rides down the English Soldiers brutally, then sinks to his knees by the Scottish bodies, haunted and exhausted.]

[The old Grandmother grabs his arm.]

GRANDMOTHER - Bury the English bastards who did this.

[Of MacLeod striking down men -- soldiers like Willie and Rupert, men in civilian clothes, an unrelieved catalog of killing. Finally--]

[MacLeod grabs young Michael Dunbar.]

(SCENE 50115 FROM "PROPHECY")

[Young Duncan runs to his father.]

YOUNG DUNCAN - Father! I'm here!

[Ian grabs him and hugs him.]

[MacLeod's sword swings at Rosemont. And over it a young boy's scream--]

MICHAEL - Father!

[OVERLAPPING WITH:]

(SCENE 40131 FROM "HOMELAND")

[MacLeod calls out as he enters the hut:]

MACLEOD - Father?

[Inside, Mary MacLeod sits by her husband's body.]

MACLEOD - (CONT'D) Father...

[Rosemont's son reacts in horror--]

MICHAEL - Father!
 

 
[He doesn't answer. Not directly.]

MACLEOD - It never should have happened. [beat] I'd seen my people slaughtered. The whole world I'd known -- destroyed. [beat, with anger] I thought the answer was to kill as many English as possible. [a hard won lesson:] It was no answer.
 

 
AMANDA - You think anyone but Keane gives a damn?

[He doesn't answer, his eyes far away.]
 

 
AMANDA - Big deal. [beat] Mother Theresa probably stole a pack of gum when she was a kid. [beat] Get over it!
 

 
AMANDA - [off his empty bed] A really good dream, maybe?
 

 
METHOS - And makes all of us.
 

 
MACLEOD - Methos, what do you want?

METHOS - I want you to give yourself a break. I want you to admit you're human. [before MacLeod can answer] Not to me. To yourself.
 

 
METHOS - It's part of who you were. [beat] It doesn't change who you are now.

[There's no way MacLeod can hear this from Methos.]

MACLEOD - Are we still talking about me?
 

 
METHOS - You want to rid the world of Evil, there are better targets.
 

 
KEANE - He spent ten lifetimes caring for people. [beat] Maybe you remember him. His name was Sean Burns. [off MacLeod's reaction] You killed him.
 

 
KEANE - I stopped looking for you. [beat] I heard later that Darius found you, and you learned from him. [beat]

 
KEANE - [with barely checked tears] And then you killed him.

[MacLeod says nothing, the pain evident on his face he has no answer.]

KEANE - What? Nothing to say? You going to tell me he deserved it? That he'd done something dark and depraved to you or yours.

[The Dark MacLeod has come to Sean for help.]

MACLEOD - What about the Quickenings? If one of us had... too many?

SEAN - Could the evil overwhelm the good? I've spent years thinking about it. The truth is, I don't know.

MACLEOD - I do.

SEAN - I see. [beat] Come, we'll talk inside.

MACLEOD - And when it happens? Which one is real? The Immortal you were.... or the one you've become?

[He's going over. Face hardening. He draws his sword.]

SEAN - I could fight you, Duncan, but you're better. I know it and so do you. [beat] But you're here because you want me to help you. I can't do that without my head.

MACLEOD - That's too bad.

[MacLeod raises the blade--]

 
MACLEOD - And do you always send five men and two patrol cars out on anonymous tip?

INSPECTOR BEGUE - I like to be thorough. [off MacLeod's look]

 
MACLEOD - Dammit, Amanda, you can't do this.

[MacLeod slams the table.]

AMANDA - Look, I know you're upset now, but you'll thank me later.

 
AMANDA - --then you'll be a wanted man. Probably have to leave France.

 
AMANDA - [beat, with real fear] What if he doesn't win? What if he doesn't come back?

[As Methos awkwardly moves to comfort her--]

[MacLeod sits pensively, his thoughts with Darius.]

MACLEOD - I don't know what happens to us when we die, Darius. I don't know if maybe you're still here somewhere, listening to me. [beat] I hope you are.

[There's no response from the quiet church, but MacLeod finds the strength to continue:]

MACLEOD - I can't tell you the number of times I've wished you were here so I could talk to you. There are so many things I didn't ask you. What happened to you, Darius? Did you wake up one morning and decide you were sick of the death and the blood and the sounds of men dying?

[There's a long silence as MacLeod gathers his thoughts into words, then:]

MACLEOD - He's a good man. I don't want to kill him. [beat] All he's done is judge me. Like I've judged others. [emotional] I'm so tired of killing. I'm so tired of deciding who to kill.

[He looks up at the altar, at the cross.]

 
MACLEOD - When you are. [to Amanda] You keep out of it. [Amanda is about to object.] I mean it.

[She nods, tears welling, says nothing. Keane sees it, has a moment of sympathy.]

KEANE - [to MacLeod] On the roof. Five minutes.

[He nods to Amanda, turns and heads out. MacLeod turns to Amanda.]

MACLEOD - [without anger] This has to happen.

[She's done arguing. Knows she can't convince him. Instead, she moves into his arms, holds on tight.]

AMANDA - I know. [She steps back, meets his eyes. Forcing her voice steady:] Okay, MacLeod, you listen to me.

 
MACLEOD - No. [beat] I knew Keane was good. [to Amanda] And I know you think I wanted him to win. But it wasn't that. [thoughtful] I had to fight the best fight of my life, knowing he'd do the same.... and trust the fates to decide the winner.

 
METHOS - A bit outdated, but it has its place. [a satisfied nod]

 
MACLEOD - Something like that.

AMANDA - But you let Keane live, too. So then who's right?

MACLEOD - I never said it was simple.

METHOS - Redemption never is.

[MacLeod nods in Methos' direction.]