"Ronon. Hey. Wake up!" I shook his shoulder. I know stupid thing to do. Rodney McKay waking Ronon Dex with a shoulder shake. "It's almost like poking an angry bear with a stick… and the reaction will probably be about the same." I thought.
At my prodding he sprang onto his feet well, more like scrambled then after a slight moment of hesitation with his head cocked to one side he went into a crouched position.
"Who's there? Melena?" He whispered. His eyes were blank and unresponsive but that didn't stop him from trying to look everywhere at once, sucking in shallow breaths and looking like a frightened cornered rabbit. His hands were balled into fists and rested on the ground in front of him. To any one else it might have looked like a relaxed stance especially for a warrior like Ronon but Rodney could see the muscles jump and twitch under the dark skin. He was coiled tight as a spring.
"This can't be good." Rodney thought. "The only time its good to have Ronon this tense is if there is a Wraith around to take out his frustration on."
"Okay, you can do this McKay. He's your teammate." I muttered. "Who is just slightly crazed and irrational at the moment." At my murmurs he head snapped towards me. Dreadlocks whipping around and then settling into place even as his vacant eyes fixed on my location.
"Ronon. It's me McKay….Rodney. Calm down, we need to get moving. Get to the ruins, remember? Back to Atlantis?" I took a step forward talking all the way.
"Just want to help you big guy. Get you back to Beckett to get checked out and good as new." Inching closer to his position I reached out a tentative hand to touch his shoulder.
Big mistake. I was on the ground in an instant his fist imprint on my face. He towered over me and tried to hit me again but I was already on the ground and he was aiming at where my head had been seconds before. Off balance after hitting empty air, the swing that was unobstructed caused him to fall over but didn't end his erratic movements. He started to clamber over the forest floor. Muttering as he went.
"Wraith are coming Melena, we have to go." He reached out with his hands and found the base of a tree. Curling up among the roots his hugged his arms around his chest and began to shiver rocking back and forth. His eyes were glassy but they darted around looking for invisible enemies.
"Ouch." I muttered as I reached up to touch my cheek from the prone position on the ground. I could feel the new bruise forming on top of the just fading purple abrasions I knew covered my face.
"Okay, that didn't help my already aching head… let's try this again." I said coming into a sitting position.
"Ronon, there are no Wraith, we're safe. We just have to get to the ruins then gate back to Atlantis. It's okay; it's just me. Rodney, your super genius friend that saves you and every one else from disaster at least once a week." Slowly I approached him. Crouching down as I got closer to his huddled form among the protruding roots. I repeated. "It's just me. There are no Wraith."
His shivering body turned toward me. I closed my eyes. For a moment he looked just like he had in the cell. Curled up in a corner hugging his legs to his chest, trying to make his large frame as small as possible.
"McKay?" he asked in a small voice.
I looked into his face and let out a sigh of relief at the recognition in his voice. I let my chin fall to rest on my chest. Taking a moment to answer, I thought about the past year since he had been on the team. I had come to see him as a friend. A strong, powerful friend who threatened to inflict bodily harm every other day, but he was a friend, and it hurt like hell watching him like this. It wasn't like Ronon to be so unsure of something, so dependant on someone else, so scared. He usually protected me, and now our roles had been reversed. It was my turn to protect him. And I didn't have clue as to where to start. "Breaking him out of his cell was a good start." I reminded my self.
"But now what?" I asked silently
"Come on, you know what you have to do. Get him home… he would do it for you." Nodding my head at the pep talking inner voice. I finally answered Ronon.
"Yeah. It's me. We need to get moving, it's light and we have a long way to go."
"Kay." He mumbled.
I got down beside him and maneuvered under his shoulder so that he was leaning on me. Almost his entire weight resting on my left shoulder. I winced slightly.
"Suck it up McKay. One more bruise isn't going to hurt."
"Yes it will!" I snapped back in my head.
"McKay" Ronon said softly
"What?" I muttered, putting more effort into watching the uneven forest floor than our conversation.
"What did I do?" he swallowed.
"I don't remember" I glanced at his face, it was nervous and unsure, something that I wasn't used to seeing on Ronon. I redirected my eyes to the ground.
"Nothing…just woke you up and we got started"
He didn't answer; he just got a determined look on his face and concentrated his sightless gaze in front of us. Walking in silence was horrible I decided after about an hour. Ronon didn't talk a lot anyway but usually I got the impression that he didn't talk because he was trying to ignore me. But this silence felt more like it took to much effort for him to speak.
"How are your eyes?" I questioned. His little freak out this morning had me worried.
"Fine." Came his customary answer. At my own silence he spit out.
"The same."
I sighed. It was taking longer to ware off this time. Turning my thoughts elsewhere started thinking about Ronon's behavior. How could I start to get him to act the way he used to?
"What can I do to provoke Ronon so he'll yell at me?
"Did you take watch all last night?" He asked while I was pondering my own question.
"I said that I was going to didn't I?" At my statement he raised an eyebrow. Even blind, going deaf and half out of his mind he could ooze resentment at my limited capabilities when it came to the field.
"And because he's blind, going deaf and crazy you owe him the truth McKay" my inner voice, who I refuse to call a conscience, reminded me.
I sighed.
"I think I dozed off a little while before sunrise." I admitted.
"Figures" he mumbled but when I glanced at his face there wasn't any resentment or anger, just that intense concentration that meant his was ether beating the crap out of a marine or trying not to fall over.
"Pretty sure it's the later." I snarked in my head. "Oh shut up." I whispered as we struggled on through the forest.
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Teyla and I stepped out of the gate and into a busy market place. The gate was set up on a pedestal in the middle of a bunch of tents.
" I still don't understand why these people would risk gathering in a place like this. What about a Wraith attack?"
"John, as I said back on Atlantis that has been taken into consideration. Bintoff, the organizer and owner of this market sets up on an uninhabited planet and plans this market. People can pay a small fee to sell their wares. The entire place can be packed up and moved in the span of half an hour. The market is on a different world every month so a wraith attack is unlikely. Come, the person we can get our information from is this way."
"Okay. You did say that the people here are fare and that we would be safe here right?"
"Of course John."
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"Dr. Weir, incoming traveler. Colonel Sheppard's IDC. "
"Lower the shield Chuck." Dr. Weir commanded.
She walked to the railing and stood watching the shimmering pool of azure. Half-expecting Colonel Shepherd and Teyla to walk back through defeated yet again, she blinked in surprise when they came running into the gate room out of breath.
"Raise the Shield!" She yelled as she ran down the steps onto level ground with the gate. Holding out a hand to stand down the marines that had aimed their weapons on the gate the Dr. looked on in surprise as Colonel Sheppard tapped his commlink.
"Lorne! I want your team and Conner's in the jumper bay and geared up in ten." Tapping again he called "Beckett meet me in the jumper bay with any equipment you need for a rescue mission in ten minuets. "Turning to his startled leader he said.
" I think we found them."
Weir looked to Teyla to confirm this statement. At the Athosians nod she ran back up to her office with the excited gate travelers right behind her. Silence ensued until all three were seen speaking in Dr. Weir's office. When the door hissed shut every scientist, gate technician and marine in the room hit his or her commlink to spread the news. A rescue mission for Ronon Dex and Rodney McKay was under way.
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"If there was ever a time for a rescue it would be now Sheppard." Rodney McKay muttered. He and Ronon had struggled to make it to the ruins all day yesterday and Rodney hadn't known how close they had been. Last night they had walked until it was pitch black and still they hadn't made it. He was sure that they were close but he wasn't sure how close. Turns out that they were only a few hundred yards from the ruins they had been striving for.
"Good thing that it was to dark for me to try and find fire wood last night." He thought. The flames would surly have alerted the three guards that he was starring at. Letting the branch he had been peering through fall back into its natural place he crept back towards where he and Ronon had dropped the night before. Upon reaching his friends side he whispered.
"How's your vision?" At Ronon's sightless glare that was sent his general direction, Rodney sighed and glanced around as if expecting the answer to their dilemma to pop out from behind the moss covered trees. "Right. Well… now we have a problem."
Authors Note: Okay, I know that there isn't any back-story on how all of this happened but I promise it's coming! I did try and stick to one perspective this time. (Thanks for pointing that out sj2107) and no this story isn't written yet but it will be updated frequently. And as a new author may I say that getting reviews is really rewarding so keep them coming!!!!!