It was well into the night before Katherine finally dosed off, using Connor’s shoulder as a pillow with her small body draped over his. Connor, however, was wide awake. He lay there in the dark of his bedroom, gently caressing her shoulders and back as he stared out into the darkness, relishing the feel of her body entwined with his. Back in Ireland standing over what he had believed to be her grave, he had felt like a vital part of himself had died with her and now that she was with him again it was as if that missing part of his soul had been miraculously restored. For the first time in a long while he felt complete and whole again. He was tired yes, a evening in the arms of his Katherine would exhaust any man, but sleep would not come. He lay in the dark and waited for what he knew would come. As long as he had know her, Katherine had never had a night without her inner demons haunting her sleep. In the past he had usually been able to gently quieten her down without ever wakening her, allowing her to rest easier and he hoped it would be that way tonight. Her joy had been so complete and overflowing as they had renewed their loving friendship and he thought it would be a good thing if the day was capped off with a peaceful sleep in his arms.

He was just thinking what he hoped for might actually come to pass when Katherine began to stir restlessly, her small hand twitching where it lay across his hard belly. A soft whimper came from her as he held her tight and murmured softly to her in Gaelic, trying to focus his thoughts so she would pick up his support and affection for her. A low cry escaped from her lips as she started to squirm in his arms and he was beginning to feel her distress as the nightmare took over her mind. She managed to wiggle out of his arms and turned over, and curled herself up in a tight ball with her arms over her head like she was trying to protect herself from being beaten. He raised up and gently shook her shoulders, calling her name out loud and trying to wake her as she start to flail around and scream in terror. Connor grabbed her and tried to hold and comfort her as she desperately tried to fight off some unseen enemy as they both tumbled onto the floor, her screams echoing through the house and her anguish filling his head.

The room was suddenly filled with sparkling lights as his neighbor Rayden suddenly appeared out of nowhere and quickly crossed the room to them as Connor struggled to keep hold of the wild eyed and terrified girl in his arms. Rayden knelt on the floor beside them and took Katherine’s face in his hands.

"Hold her!" he commanded as she fought to get away from his touch.

"I’m trying!" Connor grunted, trying to control her wild movements by pinning her arms under his and wrapping his legs around her to hold her down. Rayden’s eyes glowed in the dark of the room as he reached into her mind. Katherine screamed in horror and violently thrashed around before suddenly going totally limp in Connor’s arms.

"Good! She has stopped fighting me now." Rayden said softly, keeping his hands on Katherine’s face as she sobbed quietly. He then shifted his intense gaze to Connor.

"Has then been going on for very long?" he asked, his voice filled with concern.

"All her life Rayden, all her life. But this is worse than I have ever seen it. I can't get her to wake up!" Connor answered, the distress in his voice self-evident. Rayden turned his gaze back to Katherine and seemed to be considering something for a moment.

"Connor, do you trust me?" He asked. Connor nodded his head, wondering what he was getting himself into. "Then come with me. I believe that between the two of us we can help her." With that he reached out with his mind and touched Connor's. The room faded into blackness and when he and Rayden were now standing in a small moonlit glen. Connor looked around in surprise noting that he was now dressed in a kilt and his sword was in his hand.

"Where are we?" he asked, feeling that he had been in this place before.

"In Katherine's dream, Connor", Rayden answered looking out into the darkness. "She will be here in just a moment"

"This is a dream? It feels so real! I can even smell the heather", Connor exclaimed. "We are back in Scotland aren't we?" Rayden nodded.

"Her memories are so vivid that her dreams seem real to her, Connor. That is why we are here, to show her they are not."

Just then they heard a disturbance in the woods surrounding and glen and as they watched, a bruised and battered young girl ran terrified into the glen with a large red headed immortal chasing her. As Connor watched in horror, the man caught up with her and his huge fist smashed into her face causing her to collapse in a heap onto the ground. He then pinned her down and started tearing her clothes off. A deep growl of outrage rose from within Connor and he charged across the glen to do battle with a man he had actually fought and defeated over 400 years ago.

The battle was intense but short-lived and felt as real as any he had actually been in. When he dealt the disabling blow that sent his opponent to his knees Connor swung the katana to finish it by taking the man's head for the 2nd time in his lifetime. But the feel of resistance of the blade going through the flesh and bone of his neck was not there. Instead the man disintegrated into a pile of glittering dust in front of him when the katana sliced across his neck. Turning around Connor saw Rayden cradling Katherine in his arms and he quickly crossed the glen to join them. Rayden's eyes glowed and her bleeding wounds and bruises healed instantly and her tore dress suddenly became whole and clean again. Katherine looked at them in confusion, not understanding why the two of them were there.

"We are here to help you Katherine", Rayden said gently. "When we are finished tonight your dreams will never have the power to hurt you again." He and Connor stood up and pulled her onto her feet.

Connor cupped her trembling chin in his hand and looked deep into her eyes. "What happened here is over. The man who hurt you and caused your first death is now nothing but dust. I took his head over 400 years ago, sweetheart." Katherine stood for a moment, her eyes glazed over in shock before nodding in understanding and relaxing in their arms.

"Good", Rayden said in approval. "Now to face the next one." The glen faded from view and the scene reformed about them. This time the three of them stood on the deck of a ship as a fierce battle raged around them. As they watched, the ships crew was quickly overcome and all the survivors and their passengers were rounded up by the pirates. One of them was a young woman trying vainly to shield several children who clung to her from seeing the carnage that lay on the deck before them. She was then roughly yanked away from them and they were sent with their parents and most of the other passengers to be held below until they were ransomed by their families. Katherine shuddered in silent horror as she watched as her younger self was stripped of her clothing and given to his crew to be used by them as a reward by the pirate captain. Rayden's eyes glowed again and the pirates suddenly collapsed into piles of dust before the three observers leaving the girl untouched in the middle of the deck..

"They are nothing but dust Katherine, they have no power to hurt you anymore", Rayden said quietly as the scene again reformed around them once again. One by one the three of them traveled upwards in time, the two men supporting Katherine both physically and mentally as she stood by and watched her younger self in each situation. What was different this time was she that she was a observer this time instead of actually reliving each event. Each time Rayden caused her assailants to collapse into nothingness, while shielding her from experiencing the remembered pain again. By the time they had worked their way up through her memories to the psychotic immortal that had sent her fleeing for her life to SIMsCity, both Connor and Katherine were pale and shaking with exhaustion and Rayden was tight lipped with anger at the continuous examples of man's inhumanity towards others of it own kind. Turning to her as she clung trembling to Connor, he gently caressed her and said "It's over Katherine. The will never bother you again." With that he reached out to take them back to the real world, but Katherine twisted out his hold and stood as if listening to something faraway.

"Don't you hear it?" she whispered, her small body shaking. Rayden placed his hand on the back of her head and *listened* too.

"A child? Is that a child crying?" He asked. When she nodded her head, he told her to take them to the one memory she had somehow managed to keep successfully locked away. Again the mists surrounding them and when they had cleared the three were somewhere else, this time is a flower filled meadow. A kind faced older man who Connor instantly knew as an immortal sat on a log watching a happy small golden haired girl child about three years old pick flowers for him. All of a sudden he stood up and told the little girl to hide behind the log and not come out until he told her to as another immortal strode up to him, sword drawn. It was the same giant red headed man who had abducted Katherine and had *killed* her at the age of 16, turning her into an immortal! Katherine's two protectors could feel her tremble violently as they watched the two fight. The little girl's friend was badly outclassed by this newcomer and was soon beaten and beheaded without mercy, his head bouncing off the log and onto the hiding girl, drenching her with his blood. The girl shrieked in fright at the grisly sight of the decapitated head that lay beside her on the ground as the quickening that overcame the victor terrified her even more. When it was over he staggered over to the child and pulled her head back by her hair, his sword at her tiny throat.

"You wouldn't even give me hardly a spark right now little one! But I will return for you later when you have a little more size to you!" With a wicked laugh he tossed her aside and the man disappeared, leaving the horrified little girl alone and screaming as she lay in the growing pool of blood from her friend's body.

Katherine pulled herself away from Connor and Rayden and ran over to take the small child in her arms. As she held the crying child, she broke down herself and started to weep, glancing up at Connor.

"Do you see now Captain? Do you see why I could not bear to go the way of the Sword?"

"Aye lass, I do." Connor said softly, his voice breaking with emotion as he enfolded the two of them into his arms and the mists started to form around them all once again.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When the mists cleared, Connor was laying on his bed again, Katherine's warm naked body curled up on top of his as it had before the night terrors had started. Rayden was sitting on the edge of the bed beside her, his hand lightly stroking her shoulder and back as she slept in peace.

"She will not have dreams like that again, my friend." he said as the sparkling light in his eyes gradually faded. With that he reached down and pulled the sheet up over them and said "But I will need to talk to her later about this and other things," He then stood up and disappeared in his usual shower of sparks leaving Connor to hold Katherine tightly to him till he too drifted off into a dreamless slumber.