Disclaimer: Don't own any of it, but happy to write about it!

Author's Note: I always felt like there was a lot that we didn't know about Daniel's time when he was Ascended, so I thought I'd try to fill in some of the gaps. Hope you like it!

And the Light Reveals All it Touches

Chapter 1: If at First You Know the Light is Fire...

The first thing his senses registered when he stepped through the Gate, oddly enough, was the sunshine. It felt bright and a bit closer than Earth's sun, the heat more immediate. But then, after what was probably only a few fractions of a second, his other senses adjusted from their post-Gate travel haze, his pupils narrowing to the light and his ears hearing past the momentary roar of vertigo. An outside observer probably would not have noticed any hesitation at all, he had become so adept at the bringing himself to the awareness he needed each time he travelled to a new planet. He had done it so many times, it almost seemed commonplace – almost but not quite. He didn't know if it ever would truly become normal to traverse across galaxies nearly instantaneously. The split second of disorientation, so short most times he barely recognized it, seemed an infinitesimally small price to pay for the wonders lying on the other side of the wormhole.

But this time, after the sunshine broke through the haze, and as the heat burned lightly on his cheeks, the moment of haziness passed, and the realization that there no wonders to be found on this planet crashed almost violently into him. There were fires burning and smoke billowing into the air in every direction. People were running, desperate to find a safe haven when there was none. Putrid smells wafted over to him, bringing with them the smoke from the fires, blood from the dying, and the sweat from those unfortunate enough to still be alive. Gliders roared overhead, firing seemingly randomly, and fleetingly he wondered if the pilots felt anything more for their targets than an adolescent would for the characters in a video game.

He looked around, wondering where his team was. Surely, Jack could not be far, yelling out orders and trying to get people to safety. And Sam would be contacting the SGC, calling for reinforcements if they hadn't already, giving them all the information they had on what was happening. Teal'c would be watching them, firing at gliders if they soared close enough, and doing his best to protect them from an enemy that was too far and to vast to really be in danger of his sole staff weapon. But they weren't here. As Daniel looked around, he realized he was alone with the screaming, dying, nameless people surrounding him in every direction.

He didn't know why they weren't here. He gasped suddenly, realizing he didn't know why he was here. What had he been doing, before he stepped through the Gate and into this hell? And then it hit him – the conversation with Jack in an empty Gate room, the view of the infirmary obstructed by the bandages covering his face, the naquahdriah reactor he sacrificed his life to diffuse. He was dead. But he wasn't, because he was here, watching this destruction.

"Oma!" He screamed, desperate now to understand why Ascension looked so much like death and devastation. "Oma, what the hell is this? Where are you?"

He waited for the screams to disappear, the whine of Goa'uld jets to fade, but it didn't happen. Oma either wasn't listening or didn't care to respond. Either that, or this was something else altogether. He had chosen Ascension, right? Maybe the other Ancients decided not to let Oma help him, maybe this was his punishment for trying to wiggle into a ticket to the afterlife.

Daniel walked down the steps of the Gate, towards the closest group of villagers. They did not look up, did not respond to this new stranger's presence. But then, Daniel thought, they have much bigger problems to deal with right now than me. Instead, the group of five or so continued to tend to the wounded and comfort a small child clinging to the skirt of a young woman. A man, face covered in dirt and blood, looked frantically around for a place to go. Daniel wondered if they were a family, or just survivors who found each other in the madness.

"Neatra, come, we must hide!" The man called to the young woman.

"Where, Talik? The gods will find us, wherever we go. And Cyn will not be able to keep up with us for much longer," she added desperately, gesturing to the boy grasping at her skirt, "and that does not account for Remuth and Jorel; they are hurt, Talik. There is no where to go." Neatra, the woman, reached down to the two injured men - adolescents really - and laid a hand on one of their shoulders. One had a freely bleeding wound on his thigh while the other was grasping at his side, blood oozing from between his fingers.

Daniel hesitated before walking towards the man - Talik, Daniel added - still looking for somewhere safe. Daniel had to do something, maybe he could evacuate people through the Gate. He paused, mentally recalling the Gate address for the Land of Light before continuing his approach. "Hello?" He asked, trying to raise his voice over the explosions without appearing threatening. "I can help you. We can go through the Stargate, the Chappa'i, to another planet."

Nothing. The man continued to look around, then right through him. Grabbing at the others with him, Talik seemed to come to a decision on a course of action and began to pull them towards a patch of trees behind the Gate. The child, still clinging to the woman, passed right through Daniel's leg.

"Oma!" Daniel's stomach dropped and twisted. What the hell is this? He thought, for the umpteenth time after stepping through the Gate.

Daniel walked forward into what remained of the village. There was less screaming now, the sounds of the continued barrage of bombs from the Goa'uld fighters quickly becoming deafening in the silence. And then they too faded. Almost instantaneously it was quiet, save for the popping of wood in some of the still-burning fires. Daniel found himself in the middle of the – ruins – and stopped short. There was nothing, no one except those lying motionless around the village. How had it happened so quickly? It seemed like only moments ago that it was chaos, that there was still life. Desperate and dying life, but life nonetheless.

Jackson crashed to the ground, grasping out at some overturned wheelbarrow for some semblance of stability. But none came, his hand passing through the wheel, and he tumbled down gasping as he went. Something had gone terribly wrong. He was supposed to be flying high among the angles right now…or something like that. He looked towards the patch of trees that Talik and Neatra had sought refuge in. When he realized the patch was gone, scorched from the earth, he bent over and retched. Why was he here? And worse still, who were these people? Did he really just watch a whole people be destroyed?

"Yes."

Daniel looked up from his spot by the wheelbarrow and squinted disbelievingly into the sun. "Oma? Where have you been? Wha-" And then he understood her response. Yes. He had just witnessed the death of a people. It was all real. Terrifyingly, uncomprehendingly real. He jumped to his feet in anger. "You just let this happen? Why didn't you do something?"

Oma, dressed in a blue flowing dress, and encased in the sunlight shining from behind her, smiled slightly and looked at him. "Because I cannot. You know that Daniel. And neither can you."

"Why?" The pieces began to come together, and a cold shudder of dread ran through to his bones. "You brought me here to see this. Just so I couldn't do anything? God, why? I thought the Ascended were above all this, why rub my face in what I can't do anything about?"

OoOoOoO

For her part, Oma felt she was quite patient through the rant. Did he not think she had heard it all before? Felt it before? When he stopped, his chest heaving with emotion, she held out her hand and guided him to some mostly intact steps. She sat, and Daniel, surprisingly, sat with her.

"If I had not shown this, you would have sought it out yourself, Daniel. Eventually." Then, Oma sighed. The pretense of Ascended inner-peace, hidden behind vague sayings and anecdotes seemed to disintegrate from around her in the sunlight. The fires sweltering nearby burned away at her fragile strength to keep her burden composed and sequestered deep inside her. This part was hardest for her, too. "Your journey is just beginning, Daniel. And so is theirs." Oma was sure Daniel knew who the "they" were. "Their path is different, but a path just the same."

Daniel turned to her. "Their path? These villagers? The children? Their path? Are you insane? We could help them!"

"We would only be hurting them, Daniel. Soon, you will see. Ascension is not the only way towards enlightenment. In fact, it is probably the most difficult way." Oma had said those words so many times she almost believed them herself, but she wasn't about to let Daniel in on that part, not yet. This was the price they paid for being what they were. The power to do anything, but the ability to do nothing. Not nothing, her fellow Ascended beings would protest. But she knew it felt like nothing all the same.

"So, what, we're just supposed to let people die? Let the Goa'uld destroy whole worlds?" Daniel stood, needing a way to expel even just a portion of his indignance. "What have I been doing, then, all this time? Do the Ascended condemn that, too?"

Oma knew he was talking about SG-1. Even on a different plane of existence, many Ascended knew about SG-1. Some were happy that the Goa'uld might finally see their demise. Others thought they were foolish and arrogant to think they could really do anything about them. Most had been out of touch so long they couldn't bring themselves to care. But none were angry with them, not like that. "No," she finally said, "No, they do not condemn you. You exist on their plane. When you helped people, it was part of their path – your path– but now, your paths have diverged."

"Where will they go? The…people here." Daniel felt numb, but felt too much all at the same time. He thought he heard someone moan in the distance, but he wasn't sure. Did anyone survive the attack?

Oma shrugged in a very un-Ascended like fashion. "Onwards."

"That's it?" Daniel's brow furrowed in disbelief, obviously unsatisfied.

Another shrug. "That's all I know. Their path – "

"Is different, yeah I got that." Daniel looked around, at the smoke, the decimated homes and shops, the bodies lying so unceremoniously all around. He sat back down, his energy suddenly spent.

"Why did you save me?"

The question was not what she was expecting, at least not yet. But she understood it. "I didn't," she replied simply. "I changed your path."

Daniel huffed, frustrated. "Okay, why did you change my path, then? Why me, and not these people?" He gestured vaguely outwards.

"That is a question for another time."

"What? Are you serious?"

Oma stood. "Come. There is much to do." She smiled slightly as the world faded to white around them. Yes, she thought, his journey is just beginning.

OoOoOoO

AN: I have the next two chapters just about ready, so please let me know what you think! R and R and all that good jazz… :)