Future's End
(Old West/future)

by Jilly Harris

2371 - Four Corners Headquarters

Captain Tanner walked hurriedly into the headquarters of the Magnificent Seven. The men who occupied the room looked up at the woman's entrance.

"Captain Tanner," a nearby sergeant nodded at her. Victoria Tanner nodded to him, her red-brown hair bobbed as it framed her face. She walked into the main conference room, and saw the entire team already assembled. Except for two.

"Where are they?" Vic asked as she took a seat. Lieutenant Elizabeth "Buck" Wilmington sighed heavily.

"It would appear Chris and Ezra were sent back to Four Corners. To the time of the original Seven, to protect them. But Larabee followed them," she said. Vic sighed. Captain Nicolina "Chris" Dakota-Larabee, and her twin sister, Captain Cheyenne "Ezra" Dakota-Standish had been running for their lives a lot lately. Chris's psycho ex-husband had been responsible for killing Ezra's husband, and almost killing her two years ago, and was determined to get Chris back. She had ended the marriage, and he didn't want it, and he was now out to either have her, or kill her, and kill her sister. But what does the original Seven have to do with this? she thought. Josephine Sanchez read her mind. They all had telepathic links with each other.

"Alec believes if he kills the original Seven, we won't come to be. Our group anyway," Josie said. Josephine Danielle Dunne, JD, looked up.

"How?" she asked. Vic raised an eyebrow.

"They were sent back to a time before all of the significant things that happened to the Seven to keep the teams going, happened. They were sent back to right before the Seven thought of breaking up, permanently," Natalie Jackson answered. JD closed her eyes and nodded.

"Why Chris and Ezra?" Vic asked. Before Nat could answer, Martin Travis walked in.

"Because they are your group's leader and gambler," he said. "The original Seven's leader and Gambler are Larabee's targets." Vic looked at the man, a question in her green eyes.

"But Larabee is after Nikki, and Chey. Why go after Chris and Ezra, the original ones?" Buck asked.

"Perfect targets to flush out Nikki and Chey," was all he said. The woman looked at each other, dread flooding their eyes as they thought of their friends.

1871 - Four Corners

Nicolina Larabee looked up from her hands as the coach shifted violently. Her twin sister, Cheyenne Standish met her eyes. Pale blue, to blue green. The two women, known to everyone who worked with them as Chris and Ezra for their last names and positions in the Seven, were headed to Four Corners to begin their mission. Nikki returned her attention to outside as the coach stopped in front of the Clarion newspaper, and they noticed a blonde woman exit, followed by the man they recognized as Josiah Sanchez.

Nikki exited first, and felt many pairs of eyes on her before she heard a comment.

"Oh my word!" she heard a deep voice say. She turned to see Buck Wilmington heading toward her, and saw his eyes widen a little more, and his smile also widen and she knew Chey had exited the coach.

"Two beautiful women arriving on the same day," he said grinning. Chey looked at her sister and smiled slightly, dimples showing. Nikki shook her head. She looked up and noticed the original Chris Larabee, and Ezra Standish walking towards them. Chey saw Mary Travis stiffen out of the corner of her eye. Is it for Ezra or Chris now? she thought. At some point in their history she remembered Mary Travis had been involved with Ezra, after she had been with Chris. Similar to me and Chris and Martin, she thought smiling. She looked over at Mary and smiled slightly. The other woman smiled and walked forward.

"Ladies, I am Mary Travis, welcome to town," she said. Nikki looked her over, and shuddered a little. Chey noticed it and placed a hand on her arm.

"I am Cheyenne Standish, this is my sister Nicolina Larabee. Please call us Chey and Nikki," Chey replied. Chris and Ezra looked at each other.

They are contemplating the names, Nikki sent to Chey. She nodded in response. Mary ushered the two women to the newspaper office. The seven men followed, after JD, Vin, and Nathan had joined them.

"Please sit down," Mary said smiling. Nikki, and Chey sat down. Ezra and Chris watched the two women, every once and awhile making a side long glance to one another. The names were bothering them.

"Are you two related in anyway to Mr. Standish and Mr. Larabee?" Mary asked. Nikki raised her blue-green eyes.

"No. Larabee is my married name, and my husband was of no relation to Mr. Larabee. He had no family other than myself," she said. Chris frowned slightly.

"Was?" Mary asked picking up the past tense in her vocabulary.

"My husband passed away some time ago," she lied. Chey looked around at the office. From all of her books she had read while both in training for the Seven, and in her general history course, she recognized things, and noticed some inconsistencies in history.

"And you Ms. Standish?" Ezra spoke up. Chey looked at him, blue eyes meeting green. She smiled inwardly when she saw him turn away a little under her scrutiny.

"My married name is also Standish. My husband passed away a little before Ch.. er.. Nikki's did," she said trying to avoid the slip. Chris noticed however.

"Were you going to say my name?" he asked. Chey looked uncomfortable, but Nikki said something.

"Christiana is my middle name, and sometimes people, specifically my sister, call me Chris. It's a habit," she said smiling at him. Chris didn't quite believe her, but let the matter drop. Chey looked down, and noticed something on Nikki's hand, and her eyes widened. She began to giggle.

"Chey?" Nikki asked. Chey shook her head, trying to hide her smile, but she was not very successful. She managed to control herself enough to get through telling Mary they wanted to adjourn to their rooms at the hotel, so they could go riding, a favorite past time of theirs.

"What was that about?" Nikki demanded when she and Chey had entered their room. Chey couldn't help herself, and fell on the bed in a fit of laughter, she did manage to point to Nikki's hand. Nikki looked down and groaned. On her fingernails was still the bright sky blue nail polish she had been wearing lately. She had forgotten to remove it before she and her sister had left. Nikki scowled at Chey as she continued to laugh. She grabbed her clothes and adjourned behind the dressing screen, she slowly heard her sister calm down.

"I'm sorry Nik, but I needed the laugh. I have been so tense since we left headquarters," Chey said. She sighed when she heard her sister scoff, and shed her clothes pulling on her black jeans, boots, and long sleeved white shirt. It fell to just above her belt line, barely being proper for the time period. She looked up and saw Nikki step out from behind the screen dressed the same, except her shirt was black. They looked at one another, and realized just how different in looks they really were. They had never thought about it before, but they noticed it now as they stood together.

Nikki was tall, like her sister, but she had waist length blonde, almost white, hair, and blue green eyes. Her smile was the same as her sister's but she lacked the dimples, and she looked a lot more like their mother, where Chey favored their Indian father.

Chey had waist length blue-black hair. She had ice colored blue eyes, the one trait other than her dimples she got from her mother. She and Nikki both had their father's captivating smile. The twins walked outside together, their guns, both 24th century, and 19th century, tucked in their holsters. Both girls also wore wrist sheaths that had a knife in them, and skean dhus, Irish fighting knives from their great-grandfather, tucked in each boot. As they exited the hotel, they saw the seven men across the way in front of the Sheriff's office.

Chey raised an eyebrow at the men and then looked at her sister, and the two headed for the livery, to see if they could rent two horses to go riding.

They were complete unaware of Alec Larabee, and one of his henchman watching them the entire time.

"Kill Standish, but Nikki remains alive. Continue with the plan to kill the original Standish and Larabee as well. If they die, they can't accomplish the one task those two are responsible for, and create the other teams in history. I will have Nicolina Dakota again, and without that damn team to interfere, she would not have left me," he said, his gray eyes cold.

2371

Vic tried leafing through the document again, and ended up throwing it down in frustration. Her eyes were diverted to one of the many pictures in her home she shared with the twins. It was a picture of Vic, Chris, and Ezra at their family reunion a few months ago.

Vic's mother, and the twins' mother were sisters, making the three women cousins, as well as best friends. The three had always been insperable. The only time they had been was after Chris had married her husband, and soon later, Ezra too was married. They had only begun to be back together after the Seven was started in the last year of Chris's marriage, right before Ezra's husband had been killed. In fact that event brought all seven of the women a lot closer after so much time. They had always been friends, since childhood, but almost losing Ezra when she had been badly injured when her husband was killed, brought the women closer. They soon found out, Chris's ex-husband was responisble for trying to kill his sister-in-law, and succeeding in killing his cousin, Ezra's husband.

Vic sighed again. The picture of the three women, their arms wrapped around each other, all with the same smile of their mothers, was one of the signs of how happy they all were. If only a death threat was not looming over Chris and Ezra's heads, and if they weren't back in 19th century Four Corners. Vic sighed again, and laid her head down, and promptly fell asleep.

1871

Chris watched the women as they entered the Saloon. They were both very beautiful, but something about them made him uneasy. Ezra was shuffling cards to his left, but he knew he was also aware of the two women.

"What do you think they are doing here?" Ezra finally asked, a question in his voice. Chris sighed and thought a moment.

"I don't know. But I don't think it is good, or they are bringing something with them that isn't good," he finally said.

Nikki felt Chris's eyes on her and her sister. They ordered a meal from the bartender and turned around heading for an empty table. Too close to Ezra and Chris for their liking, but they could telepathicly speak with one another while commenting on 19th century things that would not be found odd.

They are watching us so damn closely! Chey sent to Nikki.

"I know," Nikki said out loud. Chey sighed, and her blue eyes clouded over.

"What's wrong?" her sister asked.

"I miss Adam," she whispered. Nikki placed a hand over her sister's and squeezed. Chey smiled wanly at her.

"I know," she said back. Nikki mentally tried to soother her sister as she saw tears forming. Chey pulled back her hand, and left the Saloon covering her eyes. Nikki sighed.

"What's wrong with her?" Chris asked, seating himself in Chey's vacated spot.

"Make yourself comfortable Mr. Larabee," Nikki said. God he's even more handsome in person than he is in those books, Nikki thought. She mentally shook herself away from it.

"I always do Mrs. Larabee," he said smiling. Nikki raised an eyebrow at him.

"My sister is fine Mr. Larabee," she said.

"Chris. And it didn't look like it to me," he said, a faint smiling hovering on his lips. Nikki sighed.

"My sister still mourns her husband's passing. She still feels the pain," she finally said.

"What about you? Don't you mourn your husband?" he asked. Nikki scowled.

"My husband was an ass! He is dead, and I am glad he is gone!" she stated, only half telling the truth. Chris was taken aback by her tone, his eyes showing this. Nikki's own eyes softened.

"I'm sorry. My husband is a sore subject for me," she mumbled. Chris watched the woman carefully, and let the subject drop. He then began a conversation with her, trying to get information out of her, as to why she was really there. Nikki saw this and trie dto avert his attention away from the real reason as to why they were in fact there.

******

Chey wiped away her tears as she headed back to the hotel. She gasped as a hand flew around her mouth, a cloth pressed to her lips. She smelled the drug, and regretted it, and she began to drift off, hearing a very familiar voice in her ear.

"Finally," Alec Larabee said.

To Be Continued...

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