Title: The Price
Author: Hah
Genre: Romance/Angst
Warnings: None
Season/Spoilers: None. Only for my own little twisted reality. Oh, and a shout out to the BBB thread on Gateworld.
Summary: Melia left everything for the young Tok'ra. The cost may have been higher than she expected.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them for a bit.

AN: Okay, now it's my turn for a solo effort. I actually started this one months ago, but it was recently uncovered while waiting for Mer to finish working on Waking Dreams so she can do the next chapter of Firegate. This one is all Em's fault! ETA: Melia is the Ancient chick from the hologram in the pilot of Stargate: Atlantis. Pedroche is… well, you'll just have to wait & see (but you do know him)!

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The Price

By Hah

Melia was restless. Ancients weren't often restless, especially the Ascended. Nonetheless, instead of contemplating her enlightenment, Melia found herself desiring more and more to interact with that which she was assigned to watch. She knew what the Others would tell her: "the cosmic scale is so much greater than any one race or even a galaxy," but the thought that being enlightened really didn't do the grand cosmic scheme any good if she never shared that enlightenment gnawed at her with increasing frequency. She wondered what actually would constitute a universal crisis, and if everything else was on such a small scale why it mattered whether or not they interfered.

Most recently, she had been observing the conflict between the Tok'ra and the Goa'uld. She watched as Tok'ra operatives were captured and died bravely rather than give up their brothers and sisters. She watched symbiotes give up their lives for their hosts-as well as the sake of the race known as humans-with no recognition, for the very knowledge of their existence would make them even more vulnerable.

Finally, she could take no more. One of the system lords had captured a Tok'ra and was torturing him, reviving him in the sarcophagus and torturing him again. Day after day, over and over, she watched as he writhed in agony at the hands of the cruel system lord. After a week of watching his suffering and his courage, Melia knew she had to intervene. She saw in him the bravery she had come to recognize in his kind, but there was something else about him that drew her.

When he was returned to his cell after the latest round of interrogation, she appeared to the guards in her ascended form, and enveloped the young man and took him to the nearest planet. When she arrived, her father was waiting for her.

"Just what exactly do you think you're doing, Melia?" he demanded.

"I couldn't just let them torture him anymore, Papa," she responded, her voice pleading with him to understand.

"You know that we're not allowed to interfere, my child. Besides, what are you going to do with him once he's well again? His kind must not know of our existence."

"But he is one of the honorable warriors, Papa. He would not betray us." She knew it was a losing battle, but the argument flew from her lips just the same.

"You know the rules, my dear; you cannot have it both ways. Either you can live with us and follow the rules, or you can retake our prior physical form." He watched as she stared intently into his eyes. Obviously, she had been giving this some serious thought, and continued to do so. After a few moments, her chin came up in a stubborn fashion that reminded him a bit of her mother, and he almost smiled at the familiarity of the expression, despite the gravity of the situation.

"Well, then, I guess I'll have to take physical form. I can't let him die like this." The set of her shoulders and that all too familiar raised chin told him there was no use arguing with her. Her mind was made up, and as much has he hated to admit it, she was a grown woman.

"Alright," he said, voice husky with emotion, "we must honor your desires."

Instantaneously, the glow to which she had become accustomed over the centuries faded, and it was as if her whole body was made of lead. She felt weakened and regretted her decision for a brief moment, until she looked in the face of the man lying helpless on the ground. No, this was something that she had to do. The Others would see, one person could change things on a grand scale.