Title: Children of the Legend: Drowning

Summary: Delilah McKay knows that her best friend Ashlei has changed since she bonded to Atlantis. She also knows that Ashlei needs help getting back to normal, but she rarely sees the girl anymore. When things get rough, will Del be able to overcome her own guilt and anger or will their friendship sink into nothingness.

Rating: T

Disclaimer: If I owned Stargate Atlantis, its people, places, or plotlines, I would definitely be living on the set in Vancouver and sleeping in a hammock strung from the Stargate. Since I do not live on the set in Vancouver and I do not sleep in a hammock strung from the Stargate, it can safely be concluded that I do not own Stargate Atlantis, its people, places, or plotlines. Though nothing will ever stop me from wishing I did.

A/N: Hi people. Nimeria's back and ready to go. Yay! I finally (FINALLY) finished this awhile ago. A very long while. The time lapse between now I can credit only to frantic end of school project work, long weeks (five out of eight) spent away from a computer, and frantic beginning of school work. I make no excuses. I procrastinated and this is what it got me. Terribly sorry. I should probably explain that all my writing is done in spiral bound notebooks in blue ink, something which confuses my parents and has, on occasion, irritated Chibi because I take her blue pens to write and never give them back. Sorry Twinie. I have tried writing in other colored inks (never in pencil b/c it fades and rubs off before I get around to typing stuff) and none of it is ever as good as the stuff that's in blue ink. But you probably don't care about that do you? You're probably sitting there at your computer wondering why on Earth I'm rambling on about nothing at all and wishing I'd just get to the story. So I will. In a minute. Two things real quick. First, I did not forget to write up my thank you's. They're just at the end because it was too much to stick at the beginning. Second, as promised, I dedicate this chapter to The Widget, who has created awesome stick doodles in my history notebook

ONE MORE IMPORTANT THING: AS OF SUNDAY, THESE STORIES ARE OFFICIALLY ALTERNATE UNIVERSE STORIES. THEY PROBABLY WERE BEFORE THAT, BUT SUNDAY MAKES IT A DEFINITE. I'M SURE WE ALL KNOW WHY. I'M TELLING YOU ALL THIS BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO CREATE CONFUSION.

THANK YOU

And so now, without further ramblings I give you the prologue and first chapter of

Children of the Legend: Drowning

Prologue:

Nikki strolls calmly through the hallways of Atlantis. She is supposed to be looking for her mother, but she doesn't think the older woman will care that much if she is a little late. If she does, well, it's her own fault that she failed to set time and place for a meeting in a city where you can be intending to go one place and end up somewhere else entirely because you ran into someone.

The young woman manages to walk all the way past one of the doorways before the scene inside registers in her head. Nikki backtracks and peeps her head into the room to be sure she isn't hallucinating. Sure enough, the group of children is quietly and calmly sitting around the old woman. When she thinks about it, Nikki realizes that it isn't as surprising as she had originally thought. The children love stories, and the old woman always has them. She was about to leave when the old woman looks up at her.

"Well, are you joining us or not, dear? I can't postpone this forever you know, they'll get antsy." The old woman gestured to the children around her who are now looking at her with curiosity. She recognizes her own children among them.

"Ah. No, I'm…I can't. I'd love to really, but…" Nikki trails off.

"Nonsense. Always time for a story. Now come, sit." The woman's smile is so sweet and her offer so enticing that with a sigh, Nikki walks over and joins the many children on the floor.

"Just for a little while." The auburn haired younger woman says, though it sounds more like she's trying to convince herself than anyone else.

"Of course. Now, let us all bear with me a moment as I summarize everything that has happened up until this point. Hmm, how to begin. Ah, yes.

"The story began on a sunny day here in Atlantis. Ashlei Sheppard, daughter of General John Sheppard and Doctor Elizabeth Weir, woke up to slight technical problems with her lights. She calmed the lights and then went to wake her two friends Rayne Dex, daughter of Ronon and Teyla, and Delilah McKay, daughter of the infamous Rodney and a lovely doctor named Marissa. The three of them convinced General Sheppard to take them out to the mainland to go surfing.

"While at the beach, Colonel Marcus Lorne radioed the General to come back because Atlantis' mainframe was crashing. The group, which included both Ashlei's brothers as well as Rodney, Teyla, Ronon, and Rayne's younger brother Jet, rushed back to the city where Sheppard ordered his daughter and the other children to either return to their tower or stay in the Jumper Bay while he and the other three went to do what they could to help. Never having been the type to stay out of things, the girls sent the boys back to the tower so that they, at least, wouldn't get in trouble. Del then used her radio contact her older brother Caleb and find out what he could tell them about what was going on.

"After making contact with her father and putting forth a theory on what was happening, Ashlei stumbled into a series of secret passageways that appeared to run the entire length of the city. The three girls used the passageways to get to Del's lab where they learned more about what was happening. Ashlei suggested a course of action that was violently shot down. Despite both of her friends and even her mother arguing in her support, the General refused to allow his only daughter to sit in the Chair. As Ashlei was quick to point out, he was clear on the other side of the city and couldn't do a thing to stop her.

"In a rage, Ashlei used the secret passages to get the Chair room. She made contact with her father one last time, and in that contact he tried to convey his feelings and his reasons behind them and she tried to show him she understood. Showing a level of maturity beyond her age, she asked her father again to allow her to sit in the Chair, and this time he agreed. Ashlei sat in the chair, closed her eyes, and waited for something to happen. To her surprise, when she opened her eyes she found herself in a virtual park. Confused, she was soon greeted by an avatar of Atlantis herself.

"The avatar explained to Ashlei about the Voqui gene the girl had inherited. She explained both the reasons for the gene's development as well as how the girl had received it. Atlantis was about to explain her reason for sending the city into the distress it had been in to get Ashlei's attention when Ashlei nearly collapsed in pain. In the real world, time was passing much faster and Del was attempting to disconnect her friend from the chair. Atlantis assists Ashlei in getting a message to her father to tell Del to stop.

"Once Ashlei has mostly recovered from her ordeal, Atlantis tells her of the impending storm. The terrible storm that comes once every twenty to thirty years was again on its way toward Atlantis. Ashlei is told that they have two months to discover a way to protect themselves. Ashlei leaves the virtual world and warns the senior council. She has a heartfelt conversation with her father in which he apologizes and she understands and new freedoms are granted.

"That was where I left off. I'll pick up a good deal later than that, solely because I have nothing to tell you of the time between then and where I shall continue from. I was young myself and therefore don't remember much and unfortunately, no one was particularly interested in recording that time. Now, if you're all comfortable, I shall continue my tale of adventure and strife.

Chapter 1: Delilah

The word hectic does not even come close to describing my life right now. My life is so far beyond the non-descriptive "hectic" that it's not even funny. First there's the impending threat of the storm. Then there's the problem of analyzing the readouts from when Ashlei Sheppard bonded with the city, readouts that everyone else has since given up on caring about. But the thing that's causing the most stress right now?

Finals. I hate finals. You spend the entire school year learning all these facts only to forget it all from the stress and confusion of having so much of your score depend on one test. This leads to all night cramming sessions and less sleep than normal, which isn't much as it is. Normally, if I kept this up, Ashlei would drag me down to Jeffrey Magnin's office. Dr. Magnin is the guy who took over when Laura Cadman, now Laura Beckett, retired. Ashlei would drag me down there, tell him I have insomnia, and then leave me to his mercy. Or she would, if she was around.

I suppose I should really just be glad my brother hasn't noticed yet, which is a miracle in and of itself. I hardly ever get to see Caleb now that the teachers have stepped up the work and the classes themselves for finals. With that in mind, it's another miracle that he hasn't gotten Ashlei, his spy eyes, to snitch yet, but like I said, she's hardly around these days.

If and when Caleb ever finds out, all the stress from finals, the pressure I'm putting on myself with the readouts, and all the worry about the storm will take a backseat to his anger and consequently my dad's…and possibly Ashlei's dad's, too.

But I guess I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Del McKay. My given name is Delilah Janine McKay, but no one outside my surrogate family has ever made the mistake of calling me Delilah twice.

My father, the infamous Rodney McKay, has never been sure whether to applaud my delinquency in gaining revenge on the people who call me 'Delilah' or to be upset about it. In the end, he usually settles for some kind of happy medium (not his normal fortè) by telling people he grounded me but in reality just telling me that if I snuck out, not to get caught.

A glance at the clock next to me tells me it's about noon, almost time for lunch. I'm currently slouching on one of the fold out couches up in the lounge area of the tower. This particular couch has its back to the TV, facing more toward Caleb's room at ten o'clock. My feet are up on the coffee table and my laptop is in my lap, the screen showing one of many diagnostics I have run on the chair readouts in the month since Ashlei bonded to Atlantis. I haven't learned much beyond the fact that I shouldn't be worried that anything is seriously wrong with my friend's head, a notion I have always and will always continue to debate.

Ashlei spent the first week in the infirmary, letting Carson run a whole myriad of test on her. He probably would have kept her longer, but we kept helping her escape. Eventually, she got so sick of the infirmary that, after Carson banned us, she convinced her father to help her escape. Carson muttered something about it being a "Sheppard thing" and gave up on keeping her there.

The Daedalus left three weeks ago, one week after the bonding. It will return tomorrow, bringing with it the fourth member of Ashlei, Rayne, and my little group. She lives on Earth but every summer her parents send her to Atlantis because she likes being here and hanging out with us. Her parents want her on Earth during the school years so after her finals they let her leave and before school starts back up in August, she goes back.

A whirr-swoosh noise behinds me signals that someone else has just transported up here. Turning to look over my shoulder, I feel my face pale slightly. It's Caleb. Caleb, who is supposed to be in his one on one Genetics class right now and looks seriously pissed. This can only mean one thing. Ashlei and/or Rayne finally told him. I flip the laptop off and close it quickly. This will go easier for me if Caleb doesn't know I'm working during my one period of the day off, not counting lunch of course.

"Delilah Janine McKay!" He growls as he reaches me. I flinch slightly at the use of my full name. "What exactly are you thinking?!" He doesn't elaborate. He doesn't have to.

I know perfectly well that staying in the lab until at least midnight and getting maybe four hours of sleep before getting up again is a bad thing. I know that between school and the lack of sleep we're all already suffering because of worry about the impending storm is going to cause me to pass out from fatigue if I don't ease up. I have to pass finals and I can't do that if I'm in the infirmary. I know I am the only person who still cares about the chair readouts. I know that if I end up in the infirmary for fatigue and sleep deprived sickness, Dad will lose what little calm he has. I know that he won't be able to concentrate anymore, and I know that then we'll all really be in trouble. I know all this, and Caleb knows I know it, which is why, instead of saying all of this, he just repeats his question.

"What are you thinking, Del. What could you possibly be thinking?" He's so angry now that he's gotten quieter. His blue eyes, only a shade or two lighter than mine, are narrowed and he looks ready to do whatever it takes to make me stop working, stop stressing, stop fretting. Based on this assessment, I decide not to play coy.

"Would you believe me if I said I wasn't doing it on purpose?"

Caleb's eyebrows shoot up in disbelief and he opens his mouth to tell me off before seeming to reconsider. His face softens and his posture relaxes. He walks over and sits down next to me, sliding an arm around me and pulling me into a one-armed hug.

"Del," He whispers softly in a tone that shows he understands "everything's gonna be alright, okay?" He kisses the top of my head. "I know you're worried. We all are, but the adults have dealt with stuff like this before. They'll figure it out and everything will be fine." I pull away violently before he even finishes speaking.

"How can you say that?" I demand, angrily. "How? I have finals next week that I'm currently incapable of even making myself study for. In two weeks a storm of epic proportions is going to hit the city and they still have no idea what they're going to do to protect it. Ashlei is hearing a voice in her head that she says is the city, but how do we know, Caleb? How do we know? Ashlei has a strong enough Ancient gene to have caused all the problems we had on her own. Not," I cut him off "from the mainland perhaps but I overheard Radek telling Dad that, according to the diagnostics, the city shut down was activated on a time delay before we left that morning. She could have done the whole thing without realizing it and that would mean she's just imagining the voice. What if she has a serious mental problem and we just can't tell? What if her mind snapped when I tried to disconnect her from the chair. She was screaming, Caleb. Screaming like I have never ever heard her scream before. What if-"

"That's what this is about? You think you may have made her insane?" He ask quietly. I don't respond but he knows me well enough to take the silence as a yes. "Del, she's not insane. Carson ran test after test on her. General Sheppard has admitted to occasionally hearing a very faint noise, always indiscernible, that was voice-like at the back of his head since the day he set foot here. Even pretending, just for a minute, that she had gone insane…" he pauses for a minute "you did the right thing."

"She told me not to freak out. Made me promise, and then I did it anyway and nearly killed her! You want to know the worst part? If the General hadn't told me to stop, I wouldn't have. Even with her screaming and the failing vitals, I wouldn't have stopped." I am shaking in an effort to hold back my tears. What I had done that day was a horrid, terrible thing. Yet still I had the audacity to call myself her best friend. My brother puts his arms around me and pulls me close again.

I lose control completely and start crying unreservedly. Caleb only hugs me tighter. A month of pent up emotions of frustration, guilt, anger, and anguish have finally forced their way to the top, and I am unable to stop the flow of tears. Caleb holds me close through the entire ordeal, whispering soft reassurances. Eventually I calm down and Caleb loosens his hold on me.

"Are you alright now?" He inquires, using a soft gentle tone he only ever uses with me.

"Yeah." I sniff, rubbing frantically at my eyes to dry them. "Thanks Caleb."

"Hey," He smiles kindly "what else are big brothers for? Don't!" He adds quickly to keep me from answering with my usual sarcasm. He stands up, shaking his head and pulling me with him. "You and Dad, it's like sarcasm is all you know. Now that I have you taken care of, I have to go explain to Carson why I missed class and you need to go meet Ashlei and Rayne for lunch." He starts walking toward the transporter as I gather up my stuff. "Oh, and Del?" he calls back over his shoulder, "don't yell at them too much. They have your best interests at heart, okay?"

"Oh, I suppose." I sigh overdramatically. Caleb chuckles and shakes his head again before turning and activating the transporter. I put my laptop into my bag with my notebooks and other class stuff, grab my jacket and pull it on over my white shirt and cargo pants that are the school uniform. If one could call a white shirt and cargo pants a uniform. I slide my feet back into my tennis shoes and head for the transporter, swinging my bag over my shoulder as I go.

Halfway across the room I think the transporter doors open and grin happily when it works. One good thing about this whole Voqui-bonding deal between Ashlei and Atlantis is that all the systems and things Ashlei uses continuously work better and are more responsive. The lights are brighter, too. Previously undiscovered rooms and areas are popping up and Dad says that it's much easier to use the database and the Ancient interfaces.

On the other hand, not all of the devices and things that they find are safe and Ashlei's bond to the city is still too weak for warnings about those things. As a result, she's been spending hours in the control chair and because of the difference in time flow, she's missing classes, so she may not pass finals. Last but not least, Ashlei herself has changed. She's quieter, less adventurous. Rayne has noticed too and we agreed that it's probably because she has a basic idea what's behind every new door that gets opened.

I step into and activate the transporter, having it drop me off as close to the mess hall as I can get. When the doors slide open again, Rayne is leaning against the opposite wall, waiting for me. Ashlei is noticeable only by her absence.

"Where's Ashlei?" I'm sure I already know the answer, but I have to ask anyway. Maybe she's just gone off with her brothers or something. The look on Rayne's face denies me even that small hope.

"Where she always is, nowadays; the chair room." Seeing the look on my face, she adds quickly "She tried, Del, she really did. She was here, even. But then Dr. Summers, one of the agronomists who works with the people on the mainland, came by with questions about the function of some machines down in one of the newly discovered labs. She, Dr. Summers that is, thinks they might be for food production, but she wanted Ashlei to interface with Atlantis to find out for sure. Ashlei really really tried to say no, but Dr. Summers wasn't having it." Rayne tries desperately to placate me, but I'm so irritated and angry again that I don't care.

"Whatever. Let's go to lunch." I snap.

"Del-"

"Save it, Rayne. I've had it. Lunch." I walked away. Actually, a more accurate definition would be that I stormed away.

I realize that this sounds harsh, getting so worked up over Ashlei missing lunch, especially when she didn't want to. The thing is, I see her so rarely these days and I was looking forward to enjoying lunch with her. But fine. So be it. Ashlei is now officially on her own.

End Chapter 1

Thanks: First I'd like to thank my beloved Chibi for the use of her blue pens as well as for the first bits of beta-ing which she would do when I was too lazy to write and she needed something to do so she'd grab my notebook. Often without my realizing it until she gave it back.

Second, I'd like to thank my dearest Bann. Both for her excellent beta-ing skills, which I'm sure have more often involved her sitting there going "what the heck is she talking about" than I would like to admit, and for honestly telling me things like "if you put one more nickname in here I will be most displeased" and "this is more a you tantrum than a (fill in name) tantrum" among other things. Again, this happens more often than I'd like to admit, but my cope method is writing and sometimes I don't manage to separate my own irritations from the character's that well.

Third, I'd like to thank all of my lovely reviewers whom I cannot name at this moment because I don't have your names right in front of me, I really don't want to butcher them, and my internet connection is down so I can't look. Thank you. You know who you are. I really do enjoy getting feedback on my work, and I take constructive criticism well. I really do. I'm not going to freak out if you tell me that so-and-so's line in such-and-such chapter seemed out of character. I'm actually very glad to know that you're reading my story so closely that you can tell. So please, bring the constructive criticism if you feel it's needed. As for flames…well…if you want to waste your time reading my story just so you can find the faults and point them out to me, I'm not going to complain. Just be aware that your flame will be used to cook s'mores.

Until Next Time,

TA!!!
P.S. I've become obsessed with the British originated Doctor Who as well so if any slightly British sayings and phrases crop up that's why.

Nimeria