Disclaimer: Stargate belongs to MGM and SciFi, not me. I just write stories for fun.
Missing scene for "Moebius"
Dwelling
It was 11 PM, 3000 B.C. At least, that's what time Daniel Jackson assumed it was. Of course, his watch had ceased working about 3 years ago, but it sure did look like 11 PM to him. So, 11 PM, 3000 B.C., and here sat Dr. Daniel Jackson, outside his small tent in Ancient Egypt. He had tried to go to sleep at 9 PM, but he sat thinking for 2 hours and decided that the fresh air outside might help clear his mind. So much had happened recently, and it all seemed pretty overwhelming. He couldn't believe that this was happening. He actually saw his friends again, after having lost them roughly 2 years ago. But, they weren't really his friends. Try as he might to convince himself that that was the pure and simple truth, they just looked so familiar! How could he not associate those faces with the identical ones that his own friends had had. Okay, so the Jack was a little dopier (if that's even possible), the Sam was way...nerdy, and Teal'c...actually, Teal'c wasn't that much different, but he still wasn't his Teal'c.
He was so deep in thought that Daniel hadn't even heard the footsteps approaching. "Do you mind if I sit here?" said a voice so familiar to Daniel he didn't even think of looking up to see who had approached.
"Nope," Daniel replied flatly.
The alternate Jack O'Neill seated himself on the ground next to Daniel. There was a long, strained silence as Daniel tried his best not to meet his friend's--no, acquaintance's- gaze. He played with the desert sand, waiting for O'Neill to make the first remark. But, sensing he wasn't going to say anything soon, Daniel started the conversation.
"What are you doing out here, anyway?"
"I couldn't sleep. Couldn't help thinking about this friend of mine who just died. His name was Kawalsky. Did you know him...in your reality, I mean?"
Daniel swallowed hard, "Yeah. He died in our reality, too."
"Oh..." O'Neill said sadly. After a moment, he looked back up at Daniel and said, "Now, it's your turn. Why are you out here?"
Avoiding O'Neill's gaze, Daniel said quietly, "Same reason as you."
"You miss Kawalsky?" O'Neill asked, trying, obviously to get Daniel to talk about it.
"No," Daniel said. "I mean, well, yeah, I do. But that's not what's keeping me awake."
"It's your other friends, isn't it? The other 'us'."
"Yeah," Daniel said simply.
"You have to talk about it sometime, you know. It'll be easier for you. You do have to live with us for...well, as long as we live."
Gosh, why did he have to sound so much like Daniel's best friend? "No, I don't," Daniel said.
"Yes, you do."
"No, I don't."
"Yes, you do."
Daniel stopped arguing. This reminded him too much of times in his past...er, future. Whatever. He wasn't going to argue with O'Neill.
"You haven't been acting like yourself," O'Neill said.
Daniel gave him an inquisitive look, though still did not meet his eyes, "How would you know what acting like myself is?"
"I don't. I just know that it isn't this. No one avoids everyone around them. Besides, if you're anything like the Daniel from our reality, you're actually a big chatterbox."
Daniel gave a ghost of a smile at this remark, but continued his playing in the sand.
"Please tell me, Danny."
Daniel choked back a sob, but still felt a warm trickle of water flow down one of his cheeks at the sound of the distant, but oh-so-familiar nickname.
"What is there to tell?"
"Tell me about what happened. You know, to the other...us"
"They died," Daniel said emotionlessly. "They were executed."
"I know that. I need you to tell me how they were executed and what your part in it was."
Daniel looked up, this time meeting O'Neill's gaze. His brown eyes looked trustingly at Daniel. They were so familiar. Hesitantly, Daniel began, "Well, like I said, you and Teal'c didn't want to stick around in Ancient Egypt, be governed by the Goa'uld and not make a difference in any way. So, you decided that we shouldn't wait for someone else to start a rebellion, but that we should be the ones that started it in the first place. Of course, Sam discouraged it at first, but I eventually managed to talk her into it by confusing her. It was your idea for me to do that. At least my you...uh..."
"I get it," Jack said calmly.
"Right. So I told Sam that if we didn't start it, the uprising in Egypt might never happen because maybe we were the ones that started it in the first place..."
"Whoa! Wait! I told you to say that? Was your me an astrophysicist or something?"
Daniel laughed a small bit at that. "No way! You just told me to confuse her with whatever was in my knowledge. I made that up."
"Oh, okay."
"Anyway, so you guys planned an uprising. However, when we were recruiting people to join our cause, somehow word leaked out through the general public that you guys had started the uprising. Those extremely loyal to Ra found us out and took it upon themselves to capture us in the name of their god."
Daniel had to stop and take a deep breath before shakily going on, "Our punishment was to be that three of us would be killed and the fourth...one...would..."
Daniel had to stop as the lump that had been in his throat finally took over and tears spilled out through his eyes. He couldn't go on. Why? He hadn't cried like this in 2 years, why now all of a sudden? Oh, he knew why. He was reliving the story. Telling someone who looked exactly like his best friend what kind of part he played in his best friend's death. He couldn't stand it.
"It's okay, Daniel," Jack said quietly as he patted Daniel on the back, trying to comfort him. It was odd. He had just met the man four days ago. He had assisted in his plot to overthrow Ra and now the planet was safe. At least, it was safe for the next 5000 years. Yet, somehow, he felt connected to Daniel, and he knew it wasn't just because he had known his counterpart for about a week, either. No, his feelings were something more, like that of a deep friendship. He didn't know where the feeling came from or why he even had it, it just seemed to be there.
"...It's okay...I can...go on..." Daniel said in between sniffles as he struggled to regain his composure.
"Anyway...so our punishment was the three of us would be killed and the fourth one would choose the method of execution and kill them."
Jack was taken aback. No wonder the poor kid was sobbing. Not only had he lost his friends, and, apparently the only people he considered family, but he had been the one to forcibly kill them!
"We talked about it that night in the loyalists' tent. I was the first to offer myself to be killed. I mean, it's not like I hadn't done it before..." seeing the confused look on O'Neill's face, he said, "Long story. I'll tell you that one some other time."
"So, we discussed it. We all had a good reason to be the one kept alive. Jack was the military leader and was probably best qualified to figure out what went wrong with the plan and fix it. Teal'c was a Jaffa and that gave him the obvious advantage of convincing fellow Jaffa to join our cause and to intimidate others into it, as well. Sam could explain the alternate reality thing to anyone who came back. And then there was me. I could speak Ancient Egyptian. Without the element of communication, we wouldn't get anything done. Granted, we had taught that one kid to speak English, but if we were going to recruit others, I was the most qualified to do that. As you can see, we truly were a team, and each of us had a job to fill. I could revise the plans, since I had led some commands before. I could also speak with the Jaffa and get them to join our cause, and, most importantly, I was the only other one besides Sam who knew what the heck I was talking about when I said 'alternate reality'"
"So, we took a vote. I voted for Sam. Sam voted for me. Teal'c voted for me, and Jack voted for Sam. So, of course, that didn't work. So, we talked it over some more. It finally got down to: who could kill their friends. Naturally, none of us wanted to kill each other. Oh, gosh, no. But, Sam and Jack finally, that night, admitted their 'feelings' for each other (as if no one had known about them in the first place). Sam said that she could never, for the life of her (literally) kill Jack. If she didn't kill him, she would be executed with us, leaving no one here to explain anything to any alternate reality people."
Daniel closed his eyes and breathed hard. "It was the hardest thing I've ever done. I said that I could never kill you either, but that I didn't want Sam to be left alive if she was going to feel that badly for that long. I realized that the bigger torture was not to be killed, but to be left alive with no one you cared about. Thus, I volunteered myself.
"There weren't that many methods of execution to choose from. Actually, there were only two. It was either a knife or a staff weapon. Seeing as a staff weapon would probably be less painful, that was the method we chose."
Daniel looked out into the distance, as though he was looking at something, but O'Neill knew it was nothing. He continued, "I remember standing there in front of them the next morning. They were tied up in front of me on the desert sand, far away from the pyramids, as I had chosen the location as well. We couldn't let Ra see us and risk screwing up the future anymore. However, many loyalists, and even those who had agreed to join our cause gathered to watch the execution. No one else wanted to be accused of conspiring against Ra."
Daniel smiled wryly. "It was so ironic. It reminded me of what I had done 10 years earlier, on my first trip to Abydos when I was in the exact same position, but only Jack and the rest of his former team had been there before. Except, that time, I had been able to save you. I couldn't this time, at risk of messing up the future too badly. I didn't know what kind of part any of these people would eventually play in the rebellion. I might have needed all of them to pull it off," he smiled wryly. "Turns out I was right. We did need all of their help."
"I was crying. I felt so embarrassed, but I didn't care. This was the last time I would ever see my friends alive again. I decided that I should stop crying, and act strongly for them. It was so hard. Everything was blurry, but I wanted to aim correctly to spare them as much pain as possible. Then, all that was left to do was carry out the one thing that I had told myself never, no matter what, to do: I killed those that I cared about. Those that I loved.
"Teal'c had told me to kill him first, so very hastily, I shot him, Sam, and then Jack in the heart. I broke down after that. I ran to their bodies and just stared. I was sobbing like an idiot, but it didn't matter. No one cared about me anymore, anyway. I had no friends. No family. But then, as I sat there, Jack's arm reached up and touched my shoulder. I had apparently had bad aim. I looked down at him and my face was wet with tears.
He said 'Deja vu, huh?'. I smiled sadly, knowing that he knew what I was going through in reminiscing 10 years ago. But, his last words to me, and I'll never forget them, were 'By the way, I really have grown to admire you, Daniel.'
"And then, he died. That's my story, and remember it because I don't plan on reliving it again," He finished quietly.
O'Neill remained quiet for a moment, trying to process the information. Obviously the last thing O'Neill had said before he died was significant in some way to Daniel, but Jack wasn't about to ask why. It didn't sound all that heart-felt to him, but that was for another time. This story was really breaking Daniel down, and O'Neill could tell. Daniel had started to sob a few times in the course of telling his story. He couldn't even begin to fathom what Daniel had gone through. He couldn't remember ever having friends that he had considered family. Especially after Charlie, when he vowed never to get close to anyone again. Of course, he had failed. He now cared for Carter and Teal'c and even this Daniel, though how much he cared for each of them he didn't quite know. Charlie was bad enough, it was, after all, his gun, but he couldn't ever imagine being the one to pull the trigger.
"Daniel..." he began, not really knowing what to say.
Daniel turned toward him, his eyes brimmed with red and watery from suppressing cries. He said, "I know. It's okay."
O'Neill looked at him for a moment, then said, "Come here..." he pulled Daniel into a tight embrace, allowing him to sob into his shoulder. When all of Daniel's cries and sniffles had finally ceased. He said:
"You know, you don't have to be alone, Danny. Not anymore."
To this Daniel smiled sincerely for the first time in years. He said, "Thanks...Jack."
The End