All the rocks that came falling on top of Elliot crushed every single bone in his body. He could feel the sharp sting from the abrasions, residue from the rubble. It's better than not feeling the abrasions, I suppose, Elliot thought brightly. At least I know that the nerves are working properly.

Elliot tried to call for help, but instead all that came from his voice was a faint whisper. He felt a nasty rasp in his throat that almost made him choke. Then, he felt a dull thud come from inside his head. He rubbed it with his hand to try and numb the pain, but the pain grew in his arm the more he tried to use it. He laid it down gently on top of the ruins and then he felt a disturbance at the base of his neck. Elliot panicked.

Do not be afraid.

Elliot tried to move his head in every direction to see where the voice was coming from but all he saw was more rubble. Then, a memory of Rosha flooded his mind. Elliot was inside Martouf. He looked down at his hands that were not his hands, but intertwined with a women's that was so soft and warm. His gaze drifted upwards to see a girl whom he had never seen before. She leaned into him to kiss him and he felt his body surge with electricity.

There were two moons out that night.

The experience left the poor young commander breathless. "What was that?" He rasped out loud.

You do not need to speak.

Lt. Elliot closed his eyes and thought the sentence in his mind. What was that?

The young man could feel whatever it was that wrapped itself around that base of his neck smile and Elliot could also sense its euphoria at kissing the women named Rosha. The feeling had not left him.

That was a memory. A time long since passed. He thought sadly.

How did I feel it?

I am Lantash. The symbiote that once laid in slumber inside the containment vessel. He looked up to see that the fibre-glass case once holding the revered Tok'ra had been destroyed by the falling debris. I must apologize. Lantash said humbly, It is against my kind to take a human host against their will, but I had no choice.

I don't blame you, Elliot forgave, I am in as much need of you as you are of me right now.

Indeed. But I must warn you, Elliot's attention perked up, the faster I try to heal you, the faster the memories will come. It may be overwhelming but do not be alarmed. The chemicals released in a human host as a result of nostalgia or adrenaline can also be overwhelming for the symbiote. In short, I will not be able to heal you as quickly. That could result in both our deaths.

Elliot let out a scoff. I'll try to control them, he thought, but I won't make any promises.

That is all I ask.

Elliot could feel Lantash healing him rapidly. The disturbance in his neck felt less disturbing and more natural. It was like he and the symbiote were becoming one and the same person. His arms felt less painful. The dull throb in his head had dwindled to almost nothing and the abrasions all over his body were bleeding less blood. Then the memories flooded his mind again.

Rosha and Martouf were sitting outside the Tok'ra tunnels. Martouf was interrogating her about her escape from Natu. Their voices were deep and they were speaking all in Goa'uld but Elliot could understand them both perfectly as if they had been speaking English.

"How did you escape?" Lantash yelled.

"That is none of your concern." Jolinar yelled back.

"The High Council wishes to know."

"Then the High Council will have to get used to disappointment." She retorted.

As they argued, Elliot felt a huge gaping hole in the centre of his chest that Martouf felt at the time of the incident. He gulped. Not sure really knowing where reality was at that moment. All the memories washed though his mind like a stream over a rock and he wasn't sure what to do with himself.

Breathe, Lantash instructed soothingly.

Elliot did as he was told and another memory surfaced.

This time, it was just after Jolinar had left for her final mission. It hit him hard in the pit of his stomach to be away from his mate for so long. He punched his stomach several times to try and numb the ache that he felt in his heart. Elliot couldn't help but cry. For Martouf's pain had become his own. The closest that he had ever felt in his life to that was when his girlfriend broke up with him. But even that was nothing compared with the separation Martouf felt being away from Jolinar.

It is overwhelming, Elliot mused in his head.

You are young. Lantash stated surprised, very young. While Elliot's mind processed memories that were not his own, Lantash went around digging in Elliot's memories. The things he found were endearing.

"Hold your position!" He yelled to Grogan. "Set your weapons to max stunt!"

"Those are our guys." Grogan retorted.

"Do it!"

Lantash was amazed at the sort of courage and determination that the Young Elliot seemed to possess. He had a natural inner strength. He was a good commander though sloppy and inexperienced but with time he would grow into becoming a great leader. He would do what is right no matter what the cost was, and Lantash decided that he liked his new host.

"Could you have disabled the device?" Colonel O'Neill asked forcefully.

"I supported Lt. Elliot's decision to-" Elliot had a fierce sense of pride wash over him as he heard Hayley's response. It was quickly squandered by Colonel O'Neill's rage, but still. He felt comforted that his men – or women, as the case may be – were willing to stand by him no matter what.

This Hayley, Lantash asked, She was important to you?

"Very." He whispered out loud.

Elliot felt almost all his strength return to him. He moved each and every limb carefully and deliberately to check for injury. His breathing slowly returned to normal then sped up again as another memory flashed through both his and Lantash's minds.

"Hayley is still alive. She needs help." He could feel his blood pulse through his veins with relief. "I say again, Hayley needs medical attention!" As he picked her up, he felt a rush of electricity, not unlike Martouf when he kissed Jolinar. He looked down at her in his arms and couldn't help but think of how pretty she was. She smelled like strawberries. He mentally shook himself for that one. She might be pretty, but most girls were.

You're a bit of a romantic, aren't you, Young Elliot?, Lantash teased.

No matter how tough we seem, I think, all of us are, in one way or another, Elliot thought calmly. Sometimes I did imagine what it would be like to be with Hayley. He mused, but it was always nothing more than that. A schoolboy crush, I suppose you could say. He internally laughed.

Be that as it may, Lantash began, you were good friends.

Yes, we knew each other from the Academy.

Lantash showed him a memory that he had found deep in the recess of Elliot's mind. Elliot had found Hayley walking down the hallways of the Academy in Washington enraged as usual after her little spat with Major Carter.

"Hayley! Hayley!" He called.

Hayley rolled her eyes and pivoted. She knew who was calling her out and she was in no real hurry to speak to him again. Hayley wanted to blow off steam in private without the disturbance of anyone else; even perhaps the one boy in that wretched school whose company she could withstand.

"Elliot." She muttered under her breath.

The boy ran up to her quickly, but not so much so that he was out of breath. He stood more than a foot above her off the ground and stood a little too closely for comfort. She breathed him in but he wasn't enchanting. The man in front of her was an impressive figure, but not above her scolding.

"I heard about what happened. They wanted you to walk out. Did you?" He asked smugly, already knowing the answer.

"What do you think, Elliot? She asked sarcastically. "I told you that I am the best here. And I am going to prove it."

Hayley walked away, pride undamaged, looking like she was going to eat anyone that stood in her way. Elliot smirked. "I'm going to kill Grogan for daring me to do that." He muttered.

Her sarcasm even rivals that of Colonel O'Neill, Lantash mused.

Elliot did what could have passed for shrug, I am afraid I wouldn't know. We might be from the same planet, but we live in two completely different worlds.

Really?

Elliot felt small snippets of memories tug at his mind of Colonel O'Neill. Times when he displayed his most sardonic self at the most apt of times.

"I want her back by 10!" He yelled at Marty.

"come to gloat, eh?

"it's a joke!"

In spite of their less then desirable circumstances Elliot couldn't help but laugh. It came out as more of a choke, a sound that a dying cat might make, but it was funny all the same. Then Lantash felt a tug in his own mind and Elliot could feel it.

What's wrong?, He asked.

I am sorry my friend, if Lantash could speak, Elliot would think that he spoke with an undertone of guilt laced in his throat. I have attempted to conceal a few of the more delicate and sad memories from you that I fear I can't hold back any longer. You are warned.

Elliot felt a prang of pain at the base of his neck. He saw flashes of times when Martouf and previous hosts have fled abandoned motherships that were exploding with damage that Lantash feared that he could not heal. He saw other flashes of himself and Rosha and her previous hosts when he thought that she was going to die.

"Oh, man." He breathed.

The memories were beginning to make him perspire. He knew that they were only memories, but as they came it felt like he was living inside it. Like a lucid dream.

"We must leave the Tok'ra base!" Martouf took Rosha by the hand and led her to the gate.

"We cannot leave without our friends!" Rosha yelled back.

Lantash?

Yes, my young friend?

Elliot breathed heavily. The energy that it took to form a coherent thought was draining. You take over.

Elliot's body was no longer his own. He could feel his lips move but it wasn't him moving them. In all honesty, it was a little bit strange. But he did not have time for that he needed to concentrate on blending with the Tok'ra, not on his other surroundings.

Then someone outside his body called his name. "Lt. Elliot?" It was high, feminine yet firm and steady.

Elliot's eye's glowed. "Major Carter." It said. Elliot felt his lips move, but the voice that came out was not his.

Sam looked over her shoulder and saw that the containment vessel had shattered. "Lantash." She breathed.

"I am sorry. He was dying. I had no choice."

Then suddenly, through his own eyes, while someone else was controlling them, he saw the most beautiful women he had ever seen in his life. She looked like an angel and He felt his heart flutter. This wasn't a schoolboy crush, like he felt before, or puppy love. This was real. To Elliot, it didn't make sense, he had seen her not an hour ago, and it felt like nothing more than greeting an old friend or a commanding officer. So what had changed?

Lantash.