Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of Stargate they are all property of MGM. So if you want them go beg the TPTB over there. Kthxbai
Author's Notes: I wrote this fic a while back, just never had to time to post it up here. Darn real life getting in the way of fandom. Argh. I started writing this fic after reading Terry Goodkind's latest "Sword of Truth" novel "Chainfire". So I blame Mr. Goodkind for this plot bunny.
Timeline:I planned this fic to be set before the end of Season 2. However, it can fit in Season 3, I think. Then again why should I care about he show's timeline when the TPTB haven't seemed to bother with the timeline for the last 10 years of SG-1?
Spoilers: Season 1 and Season 2 mostly.
Pairing: Sheppard and Weir
Chapter 1
Her heart pounded as she ran through the dense forest. She didn't know where she was, nor did she care which direction she was headed. All she knew was that John told her to run, and so she ran as fast as she could. She heard shots of a P-90 firing behind her. Without looking back, she kept running.
"Elizabeth!" a voice called out to her.
She slowed down her pace a little to give herself breath to speak.
"John? I'm right here!" she called back.
She flinched when a low hanging branch grazed her cheek. Her hand came up to touch the tender scratch and saw that it was bleeding, but now was not the time to worry about a scratch. She continued running until her path was blocked by a Wraith.
She halted and slowly took a step back. Her hand immediately unholstered her 9-mm. Holding the gun firmly with both hands, she pointed it at the Wraith.
The Wraith took another step towards her. This time Elizabeth pulled the trigger and fired everything she had into the Wraith.
For once, Elizabeth was glad that John convinced her to wear a vest and carry a weapon. She usually opted for none during diplomatic missions, but with John's persistence she conceded, at first, only to wearing the vest. However, when they reached M5G-382, John convinced her she needed to arm herself with a weapon this time.
Over the last couple of years, Elizabeth had learned to trust John in these matters. She also knew that John trusted and respected her in return. He would have never asked her to do anything she refused unless it was necessary, and carrying a weapon fell into that category.
Bang. Bang. Each shot rang out clearly in the dense forest.
Bang. Bang. Bang. Click.
As soon as her last bullet released from the gun's chamber, Elizabeth's hand fumbled over her vest pockets for her extra magazine. While concentrating on reloading her gun, Elizabeth kept an eye on her predator, who was still grinning hideously and slowly continuing his terrifying approach. She instinctively took another step back and pointed her reloaded gun back at the Wraith.
"Elizabeth!" She heard John frantically call for her as she started to shoot at the Wraith again. She only had to hold off the Wraith until John reached her with more ammunition.
Nine. Ten. Eleven...
She was nearing the end of her ammunition, but she stopped shooting when she saw the Wraith's movements staggered and it suddenly fell dead.
She let out a relieved breath, but her relief was short-lived when she heard footsteps approaching her position. She desperately searched for somewhere to hide and found a large tree trunk to hide behind. Leaning against the tree trunk, she held her gun up close to herself and waited. She hoped that it was not another Wraith.
The scheduled meeting with the people of M5G-382 had begun dreadfully wrong. When they had arrived at the village, something was amiss. The bustling friendly natives that John described were nowhere to be found. Before John could give the order to evacuate and return to the Stargate, they were suddenly attacked by the Wraith. That was when John told Elizabeth to run into the forest, where they would try to lose them.
Elizabeth held her breath as she heard the sound of crunching leaves from the nearing intruder. She could hear his every step getting closer and closer. His step slowed and stopped. She assumed he was probably observing her handy work on the Wraith. Then she heard him slowly step away from the dead Wraith's position and come closer to where she hid. She held her breath, afraid that her breathing might give her away.
With each step he came closer and closer. Elizabeth wasn't sure if she should run or confront her intruder. Before she had a chance to decide which option to take, out of the corner of her eye, she saw him. She jerked her gun out and pointed it at the intruder.
"Elizabeth!" John said with unadulterated relief and lowered his gun.
"I thought you were a..." Elizabeth said letting out a long breath as she relaxed her hands.
"Same here," John said with relief. "I heard gun shots— and— did you?" He finally gave up talking and pointed in the direction of the lifeless Wraith.
Elizabeth nodded. "Yeah, I did."
"Good job," he said impressed.
"Thanks, I had a good teacher," she smiled tiredly. "Now what?"
"We should make our way back to the Stargate." He pressed a button on his radio. "Major Lorne, this is Sheppard. What is your position? Report." The only response was static. John clicked on his radio again. "Major? Please respond, what's your status?" Static. "McKay? Teyla? Ronon? Anyone?" More static.
"Maybe there is something in the area that is disturbing the radio signals," Elizabeth suggested as she tried her radio. She too recieved only static as her reponse.
"Maybe," John said doubtfully.
"Do you have any idea where we are?" Elizabeth walked out from behind the tree back towards the direction the Wraith body laid.
"Not exactly, but I think this is the side of town the old man told us kids not to venture off to," John said prodding the Wraith with his feet.
"Old man?"
"Yeah, the Chief… old man… The person you were supposed to meet for a friendly chat today." John held his gun up and started to survey the area. "We should probably try to head back to the Stargate."
"What about the Wraith?"
"That might be a problem," he said as he started to walk forward.
"Are we—" Elizabeth stopped speaking when John held up a fist signaling for her silence.
His eyes darted around searching for the origin of the sound he heard. Suddenly he grabbed Elizabeth's hand and led her into denser vegetation to hide.
Elizabeth's heart began beating rapidly again as they hid behind a bush. Through the leaves, she saw several Wraith enter the spot she and John had just occupied. They stopped and surveyed the Wraith she had killed. She turned her head slightly to look at John. With John by her side, she felt somewhat calmer. Even though they were both far from safe, at least with John here, she felt safer than if she were alone.
John's expression was serious and tense as he watched the Wraiths movements. She watched him as he calculated what their next plan of action was as soon as the coast was clear.
One of the Wraith prodded the dead body with its stunner and looked up at its two other companions. The leader of the group hissed something and the others started to disperse.
John and Elizabeth remained in their hiding place until John was sure they had left.
"Looks like they are searching for us," he whispered to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth only nodded as she followed him out of their hiding place.
He led Elizabeth in the opposite direction the Wraith had split off to and signaled for her to follow him closely.
She followed him and kept her eyes and ears open for any unwanted surprises. She assumed that he was trying to take them back to the Stargate. But as they kept moving forward, it felt as if they were moving deeper into the unknown forest.
"John," she whispered, "do you know where we are going?"
He stopped walking and gave her a hesitant look. "Not anymore," he said with a winced.
Elizabeth sighed. "Well, I hope everyone else is all right."
"Me too," John agreed and clicked on his radio again. Once again only static responded. "I wish I knew what is causing the disturbance in the radio signals."
"Could it possibility be Wraith related?" she asked, uncertain.
"I hope not." The thought of the Wraith figuring out to how to jam their radio signals was not something John wanted to add to his list of worries.
"Is it possible that we walked into some sort of EM field?" Elizabeth suggested.
"It's possible, but only McKay would be able to figure that out for sure."
Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows as she listened to the static on her radio. "The radios were working before we got this far into the forest; maybe if we keep walking, we might get out of range of whatever it is that is disrupting the signal."
"The question is which direction will take us out of range and which will bring us closer to the source?" Elizabeth's responded to him with silence. "All right," he said looking at the trees around him. "Let's go with door number two." He pointed to his right and started in that direction.
Every five minutes or so, he would check his radio, but still he received only static.
"How far did we run?" he asked annoyed as he clicked on his radio again. Still nothing. "Maybe we should have taken door number one or three or… four instead." He muttered to himself and glanced back at Elizabeth before continuing to trudge forward.
"John?"
John turned to see Elizabeth staring at something he initially thought was a tree, but upon closer observation, he noticed it was a tall grey column covered with vines and foliage.
"What's this? A road sign?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "I don't think so." She started to pull at one of vines to reveal Ancient writings written on the column.
"Does it tell us which way the Stargate is?" he asked glancing at the writings.
"No." She leaned in closer to read the symbols. "It says something about death and burials grounds."
"Just when I thought our day couldn't get any creepier." John made a face. "Are you telling me that we wandered into a cemetery?"
"I'm not sure if this is a cemetery, but it's a possibility. According to this column, it says 'For those who seek alleviation from painful memories of a loved one, the cure lies to the North.'"
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know," she shrugged.
"Let's go north and find out," he said and they started to walk north of the column.
As they walked further north, Elizabeth observed the surrounding forestry, and noticed that the number of trees in the area was thinning. They finally emerged from the forest to an open clearing to find a wall covered with plants occupying the center of the field.
The wall was tall and a melancholic grey. The vines and plants that adorned the wall only added to its neglected state.
"Okay, first a lonely column; now a lonely wall. What's next?"
Feeling slightly braver, Elizabeth walked passed John, approached the wall, and found that they were at the corner of a building.
"I don't think this is a lonely wall, John," she said looking back at him. "It's a lonely building. Did the people here tell you about this place?"
"No, they believed these woods were haunted. Some of them said they spotted some glowing lady wandering here," he shrugged.
"Ghosts?"
"You know, after encountering the Wraith, having a run in with a ghost almost seems preferable."
"Well, we are in a cemetery," Elizabeth said and started to walk along the side of the wall. They walked about another twenty feet before they came to another corner.
"So what do you think this is? A mausoleum?" John asked as he followed Elizabeth.
"Possibly." Elizabeth turned at the corner of the building and continued walking along the building. "Look, there is a doorway." She pointed to a spot along the wall they were following.
"Doorway?" he eyed Elizabeth skeptically. "I just see a lot of leaves and vines."
"It's there. Come here," she insisted as she started pulling at the undergrowth revealing an opening.
"Okay, so we found the doorway into an ancient tomb," he said shining his flashlight into the dark entrance. "Don't you think we should come back another time?" he said, anxious to return to the Stargate to find out the status of his men.
"Maybe whatever is inside might be disrupting the radio signals," she suggested.
"Maybe, but—" Before John could even finish his sentence. Elizabeth had already climbed over the brush and into the building.
The interior of the building smelled old and dank. From the light outside, Elizabeth could see that the room had a triangular floor plan. In the center of the room, was a dim glowing orb on a black marble pedestal. When John walked in after her, the orb seemed to glow brighter.
"Mood lighting in a cemetery?" he asked.
"This thing is obviously emitting some sort of energy," she said looking closely at the pedestal.
"Be careful, Elizabeth."
"Could you please shine some light here?" she asked, motioning him to point his gun's flashlight at a spot. "This definitely isn't some fancy lighting."
"The column outside said something about alleviating painful memories. Does it explain it here?"
"The pains of memories lie within yourself and in your hands," she translated. "Not really. I think I'm more confused now than before."
"What is it with the Ancient and riddles?"
"Placing one's hands on the Lethe will extricate all memory of a loved one that pains you."
"What is this? Therapy for bad breakups? Like that movie… something Sunshine."
"Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind," Elizabeth supplied.
"Yeah, that."
"No," she continued reading. "I think it's more along the lines of easing the pain from a loved ones death."
"By 'extricating' the memory of them from your brain? That sounds a bit extreme."
"It's the Ancients, they always went for extreme," she shrugged.
John lightly tapped the top of the glowing orb with the nose of his P-90. "Do you think there is a way of turning this off? The eerie glow is creeping me out."
"When you return to the world of living, all memories of the loved one will vanish," she continued translating. "I don't know. I don't suppose there is an 'off' switch somewhere."
Elizabeth looked on the other side of the pedestal. "On this side, it says something about turning the orb until the light goes out." John looked at her as she returned his look arching her eyebrows. "Shall we try it?"
"Couldn't hurt to try, right?" he said.
Elizabeth replaced her gun into her holster, placed both of her hands on each side of the glowing sphere, and tried to turn it, but it wouldn't budge. "Could you give me a hand?"
John let go of his gun and placed his hands around the orb. The orb glowed brighter as John placed his hands on it, but it slowly dimmed and finally went dark as he easily turned it slightly.
"Did it work?"
"We'll find out," John said and clicked on his radio. "Major Lorne, this is Sheppard. What is your status?"
"Colonel? Good to hear you're still with us." Lorne's voice came through the radio.
"Yeah, well didn't want you to have all the fun."
"We've seemed to have gotten rid of most of the Wraith," Lorne reported. "Teyla and Ronon are at the village assessing the damages. The Stargate is secured at the moment, and…" he hesitated, "we don't know where Doctor Weir is, sir."
"Doctor Weir is with me," John said. He could have sworn he heard Lorne sigh a breath of relief when he said that. "I believe we are a couple klicks west of the Stargate. We found a cemetery that had some power source that was disrupting our radio signals. The source as been disabled—" John stopped talking abruptly when he saw a couple of Wraith lurking outside of the building.
"Colonel?" Major Lorne's voice crackled through the radio.
"I need some back up," he said lowering his voice. "We are surrounded by about three Wraith. There might be more lurking about the premises."
"Understood, sir. Lorne out."
John signaled for Elizabeth to stand behind him and handed her his sidearm. "Let's hope these guys have bad eyes and don't see the doorway," John said aiming his gun at the door, waiting. Just then, a Wraith appeared at the doorway blocking the only light in the room. "So much for bad eyes," he muttered and started to fire.
After shooting the Wraith at the door, John turned to Elizabeth. "Stay here. I'm going to look for the other two."
She urgently grabbed him by the arm. "John, you don't know that there are only three Wraith out there, there may be more lurking about. You said so yourself."
"I can't wait anymore. I am running out of bullets."
"Then take this back," she pushed the gun he gave her back to him. "I still have mine.
He shook his head. "You are running low on ammo too. Keep it." He pushed the gun in her hands back towards her. "I can take care of myself," he winked and rushed out the door before Elizabeth could convince him otherwise.
As soon as John stepped out of the doorway to shoot at another enemy, Elizabeth noticed that the orb was starting to glow again. Before she had time to comprehend what the orb was doing, another Wraith appeared at the door. She quickly fired her gun at the Wraith. After getting a few shots at it, the Wraith knocked the gun out of her hand, grabbed her by the shoulder and flung her against a wall..
Elizabeth heard something crack and her left arm immediately felt numb as she fell to the ground. Her right hand tried to grab for the extra gun in her holster. She pulled the gun out and pointed it at the Wraith, but her attention turned to the glowing orb in the center of the room. This time the glow did not return to its previous dim amber light. Instead, it continued to brighten until the light became so intense that it was blinding. Elizabeth shielded her eyes from the intense light, and she suddenly felt a pulse vibrate the area.
From the corner of John's eyes, he saw light coming from the doorway he just exited.
"Elizabeth!" he yelled as he started running back towards the building, ignoring the Wraith he was in the middle of killing.
The last thing he remembered was the blinding light and a sudden pulse that knocked him backwards... then blackness.