Author Notes: I like to thank my beta reader Megan Andres who did a great job. This piece came to me while watching Prodigal. I really love to hear what you think about the ending.
Death Revelations
Michael felt the wind rushing around his head as he plunge through the darkness toward the ground below. It was strange how in those last moments time seem to almost stand still. He savored it, finding a strange sort of peace. After all he became nothing but a twisted monster that brought pain to everything around him. First his people and then his family. Then it spread to those unlucky enough to encounter him and now Teyla.
Teyla, he loved her, hated her, envied her, and was betrayed by her. He pushed her to this, hadn't he? Attacking first her people and then coming for her child, but he really would never have done them harm. They were a small beacon of life and hope in a world of darkness. He would have raised the infant as if it were the son he lost when he become Michael. In the depth of his heart he just wanted one person to care. To acknowledge what had been done to him was wrong.
He let out a short of laugh, had he really expected anything else. Had he expected her to reach down and help him back up. John actually might have, he would never know now. He had been helpless, just as Teyla had been only moments earlier. Now he saw she hated him as much as he hated them, but unlike him she hadn't shown mercy. She hadn't repaid his kindness.
A small part of him had clung to the hope she would, no matter how foolish or absurd the idea was. It would have changed everything he had come to believe. Ever since he been changed, he just wanted someone to save him. To stop him from becoming the monster he was, but there never had been anyone there. He was always on the run, staying one step ahead of death. Every agonizing day it ate at him. He was alone, he was hunted, he was a victim, and he was a monster. Day by day he was consumed by anger, vengeance, and hate; till there was very little left. Except his hope for her.
Vengeance had been why he targeted her people, hadn't it? It seemed the likely answer, but why target the only member of the Atlantis team to show him compassion? Was it because he could get to them, where he couldn't get to the people of Atlantis at the time? Yes, he believed this to be the truth. If vengeance was what he had been wanting so badly, why had he not killed every last human in the gate room? Changing the shield from stunner to killer blast hadn't been hard. Yet he opted for the stunner, sometime he didn't even understand himself. As the humans would say he should have put two bullets in each of their heads while they lay helpless. Doing anything else was asking for trouble. Leaving Ronon and the other personnel alive was a mistake, but he had done it anyway. In truth his rage had been why he had gone to kill Ronon and he had planned to blow up the city. Still his action of leaving people alive was bizarre. He left them poorly guarded within his perimeter, maybe on some level he hoped they would stop him.
As for Teyla, Michael had know she would be his demise. No matter how he acted, his kindness toward her was a weakness. His obsession with her and her son was dangerous. He should have killed her the moment he entered that room. No, he should have cut her baby from her body back in his facility. He had known the child could survive being removed so close to term. It would have been simpler than waiting for her to give birth. Sparing her life, as he continued to do so in a vain attempt to turn her, to make her understand him. How pitiful he had become. Still clinging to hope that those who created him would accept that he was their mistake. They wouldn't even lose sleep over his death.
Then there was his unwillingness to leave. He should have left, but he couldn't just leave. He wanted vengeance on the city even over her offer of compliance. They had taken everything from him, and he wanted to make sure they could never do their experiment on another life form. Hadn't they shown poor judgment again and again. He had given them a second chance when he betrayed his people and what had he gotten for it?
Wasn't it fair that he kill them all? As they killed his hive and countless other wraith, he was a killer and so were they. Everyone in this galaxy was a killer or a victim. His family had been victims slain by the other wraith in vengeance for his betrayal to save those miserable people. His children and his mate dead for crimes they hadn't committed. For his weakness and desire to be accepted over their safety, by the monsters who turned him into this. What a fool he had been to think his actions would ever mean anything to them. No amount of compassion or reason would sway her or them. Why had he let her see the fragment of humanity that they had set afire in him, all those years ago, still lived. Perhaps it was to prove there was something good left in him. That he hadn't become a complete monster, and she spat on it.
Even as twisted and mangled as his soul was, he wanted to have hope. The logical part of him had been right all along: he was alone. He would always be alone. Even when he couldn't escape, when he was at their mercy again, they hadn't acted with compassion. Teyla had repaid his act of mercy with vengeance. One part of him had been surprised but another had known she would do it. Still actually experiencing it and seeing her actions was different than thinking she might do it. How alike they both had become at that moment. He seen it in her eyes when she stomped on his fingers and watched him fall, he realized he had been right all along. He should never have shown compassion to anyone. He was a fool. The impact was brutal and a sharp blinding pain rushed through his body, but it quickly faded as coldness filled him. The world quickly faded away and death engulfed him.
It took a long time for Michael to realize he wasn't actually dead. As he opened his eyes, the coldness and pain slowly faded. Still he could not stop the shaking of his body. Taking a breath, he pulled himself from the cold floor.
He should have broken his mental link with the clone sooner, but he couldn't. Some how it felt wrong to leave himself to die alone. Of course the clone had no idea he was a clone or that he had been mentally monitoring the entire thing. Only after the mission had been completed would the true Michael have shown himself to the other false Michael. He hoped the clone would have succeeded but he had known just how dangerous the operation was. It was strange to see his own mistakes. He should have tied Teyla up or kept her out cold. No, better he should have taken her through the Stargate and then returned to finish his plan. After all he had complete control of the command center. Of course now that he knew what she would do to him, he realized he should have simply killed her.
The entire event was a powerful learning experience. His desire for vengeance was dangerous. He became blind at the end and let it get the better of him. He couldn't let that happen again. Then there was the last moment when everything had turned, he panicked. Michael had sensed the clone's panic on realizing it was over. Still Michael could have done more. In the hanger he could have used one of the puddle jumpers to attempt an escape. After all he outfitted himself with the ancient gene a few months ago. Use of the shields would have made him a pain in the ass to capture. He could have blasted his way out of the hanger, and then he could have attempted to escape or done some serious damage. With hind sight, he now saw many ways things could have been done better.
He believed, hoped, the Atlantians wouldn't take a second look at the clone. Not that there would be much to look at after such a fall. Still the clone had looked sickly the last time he had seen it due to mental alterations he had done. Alterations to make it easy to mentally observe what was going on without the clone knowing and to make sure he could keep control of him. Michael wasn't about to risk being hunted down and destroyed by himself. He had a little trouble with his first batch of Michaels and had learned from it. Still even with the risk, cloning himself was a good idea. As long as one Michael still lived, his plans could go on.
Moving down the hallway his mind lingered on his executioner: Teyla. He still was slightly shocked more because he didn't want to believe it was true. At least he knew now what she was capable of. His kindness to her was fatal and foolish. He couldn't have thought of a better way to drive out the last of his compassion towards her. This experience would make it easier to move on. Had she reached down and saved him it would have change everything. Perhaps he would have even given this up, knowing that there was a light in the darkness. He would have known humanity and compassion were stronger then vengeances. One gesture could speak a thousand times louder than words. She could have proven everything he believed wrong, but instead she proved he had always been right. There was no other road for him. They would kill him, the wraith would kill him, she would kill him; there was no middle ground. It was kill or be killed.
Entering his lab, he glanced up at the chamber before him. His newest creation was almost ready. Perhaps he would never be accepted by the real Teyla, but her improved hybrid self, well that was another story. After all he couldn't think of a more prefect hybrid queen, to rule at his side. Especially now that he knew she was just as capable of hate and vengeance. The End or is it?
I'd love any feedback or comments you have. As you might have noticed this is actual laying out the ground works for another story. I will probably try to finish both Dangerous Terrain and Forgotten before I start this one but hey I love to know if anyone wants to hear about this. So who want to hear more about a Teyla hybrid?