WARNINGS

Disclaimer: I don't own them; never will. Don't sue, please...
Summary: Sam warns the next generation of 'Gate travelers of the cost SG-1 paid for their discoveries. Slash, Jack/Daniel.
Rating: Pg-13.
Archive: Just let me know first.
Feedback: Yes please...

Let us talk of graves, of worms and epithets,
Of nations whole and souls in half.
Of memories in talk and song:
Of dead false gods and of prophets being wrong.
Let us recall our sorrows - more than we could bear;
Of finding only lies and grief and gods who do not care:
All this, to warn those who now retread this path,
For it does not lead to graves, worms or even an epithet.

Two men I knew, brothers, souls entwined,
More than lovers, more than any love that we could find,
Begun this journey for us, traveling near and far
In hopes of finding mystery and wonder under a different star.
Silence was their only reward, and silence, too, Teal'c and I found:
For all those who wished us well were, by then, deep under forgotten ground.
All four, searching, found ten vicious souls for each soul kind,
And ten painful memories to try and put out of sight - out of mind.

Now those splintered memories have been thrust into a rusting box
Where we bound them tight and locked a thousand locks
To keep them there, silent and still:
What price, freedom? What price, will?
For freedom, who would we kill? A lover or a friend,
Once killed, where is the line drawn? How does it end?
We are no Fifth Race. We do not have the wisdom of the Nox.
We are still infants, crying from our shocks.

And so, Teal'c and I, many years down the line,
Carry with us guilt and memories, growing sharper with time
And distance passed. But what can one person do?
We have no myths or legends now. We have no stories that are true.
There is no smiling pair with us anymore -
They left quietly, and softly closed the door.
One turned on the other, lifted their gun and drew the line:
Then it was over, and the survivor locked his eyes with mine.

Then we lost the second of the two to those gods from afar -
The second of our sweet smiling pair, lifting the gun and leaving the door ajar.
There are two ghosts here, in SCG, smiling each time we step through the 'Gate.
Smiling once more because that pair cheated fate,
Escaping that frightening existence in a shell, a forsaken haunt -
Yet still I shiver, and Teal'c turns somber eyes to me, his face forever gaunt.
Listen now, and heed my words: I have buried friends under a foreign unforgiving star...
It was not worth it. Not to lose that smiling pair for a handful of naquada.