Chapter Two

Daniel laid on his bed on his back with his arms held up over his head. Despite the cool night air that came in through the open window sweat glistened silver on his skin in the pallid moonlight. Locked in sleep his shallow breathing and taunt muscles betrayed the nightmarish nature of his dreams.

Hands that felt more like chains held him down on his knees. He bucked and strained against them with the ferocity of a cornered lion. He didn't know who was restraining him, he just knew he had to get away. However the harder he fought the tighter their embrace became.

Without warning a scoreless pain raced up his back causing Gabriel to cry out in his mind as well as forcing his own vocal cords into action. When the pain subsided Gabriel whimpered pitifully as though they had been doing this to them for hours. When the breathtaking jolt repeated itself Daniel suddenly understood that someone was trying to force Gabriel out.

"Gabriel..." Daniel panted. "Don't leave me..."

"Never." Gabriel replied before wailing again.

Daniel didn't know what to do, he didn't know how to fight back. When he caught sight of a flash of stainless steel his heart lurched painfully. The razor sharp scalpel had been swiped through his field of vision on purpose, to give Gabriel one last chance to leave on his own.

"No!" Daniel protested. "There's been a mistake...I...I agreed to this! Please, leave us alone!"

His cries went unheard. A strong hand pushed his head down until his chin pressed against his chest and held him there. Daniel's breath hissed across clenched teeth as they sliced into his skin. Gabriel's fear washed over him as they began to pry him away.

"Gabriel!" Daniel screamed. "Gabriel!"

"Daniel! Da..."

"No! Don't take him, please!"

It was too late, he was gone. He could feel the sudden overwhelming isolation of it. Hot blood ran down Daniel's neck and back from where they had cut Gabriel away from him. Despite the excruciating pain of the wound Daniel thrashed wildly to escape.

To keep him still someone tangled their hand in Daniel's hair and pulled his head back. Daniel gasped in the shock at the sight of Ba'al standing before him. Gabriel was desperately trying to writhe out of his vice like grip. He squealed in fury, striking at the hand that held him.

Ba'al smiled and dug his nails into Gabriel's underbelly causing him to shriek agony. Daniel tried again to free himself, but he was suddenly weak. Ba'al turned to a table that held a crystal stasis jar.

Gabriel cried out in blind panic as he caught sight of a glass prison that lay on the table. Wordlessly Ba'al forced his captive into the tiny cell. Gabriel thrashed and screamed wildly as he was imprisoned. Outside of his host the snakelike Goa'uld was no match for Ba'al's strength.

Daniel's own claustrophobia weighed on his chest as he watched Gabriel desperately trying to move within the tight confines of his new home. Head first in the jar Gabriel couldn't even turn around to right himself. His spastic motions soon died down and he lay still in defeat. Ba'al turned to Daniel and chuckled darkly.

"You will share a similar fate." Ba'al crowed.

Enraged Daniel surged forward. As he did so everything changed. No longer restrained he stumbled forward. However, he was alone, everyone was gone. Confused he stood and turned around slowly to get his bearings.

Daniel furrowed his brow at the sight of a young girl who was standing a few feet away. He guessed her age to be around five or six, but he couldn't be sure. She was dressed in the traditional Abydonian fashion. Her ivory face was framed by thick curly black hair that reminded him so much of Sha're. She looked up at him with terrified sapphire eyes.

"Father?"

"I...I don't know..."

"Help me...please."

"How?" Daniel asked desperately.

The child didn't get a chance to answer him. She cast her eyes to the floor sadly as Ba'al stepped up behind her. Daniel wanted to rush to her, to take her away from him, but he couldn't move. Ba'al touched her shoulder, she turned around obediently. He lifted her up and set her on his hip so that he could hold her up with one arm. She put her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest.

"I have a present for you." Ba'al smiled at Daniel.

Daniel curled his lip in anger and tried to step forward again. A sudden jerk at his throat hauled him back. He put his hands up and discovered a healing necklace had been locked around his neck.

Daniel panicked and reared back only to slam into a hard surface. Turning around he suddenly found himself in an empty cylindrical aquarium, like the one Gabriel had original been kept in back in the Ancient lab. He looked down as the floor suddenly turned cold. Daniel wailed in horror as he realized that water was seeping up through the floor.

He instinctively tried to back away, but he only ran into the glass again. The water was quickly filling the tank and lapped around his knees as he frantically searched for an escape. There was a grate above him that he jumped up at and laced his fingers into. A powerful shock forced him to release it and he splashed back into the icy water.

"No!" Daniel cried in terror as the water rose around his waist.

Daniel beat his palm against the unbreakable glass. When that failed he turned to trying to claw the necklace off. If he was to drown again he wanted it to be for the last time. He fought against the healing jewelry until he had to tilt his head back to breath in the rising tide.

Giving in he simply took what he feared would be his last breath as the tank finally filled. He held the precious oxygen in his lungs, but it didn't take long before his chest began to smolder with an internal fire. Adrenaline flood his system, but it only prolonged the inevitable.

Staring out through the glass Daniel could clearly see Ba'al watching him with a self satisfied smile on his face. The girl in Ba'al's arms turned to look at him as well. Tears streaked down her face and suddenly Daniel found himself more concerned for her than himself. He pressed his hand against the glass that separated them and she reached out to do the same.

The acidic burning in Daniel's lungs flared, as if angry at being ignored. With the last of his strength Daniel closed his eyes so that he wouldn't have to see the pain in the young girl's eyes that mimicked his so closely in colour.

As they had done so many times before the muscles in Daniel's back spasmed violently. He gasped involuntarily as the lancing pain arched his back. He fully expected the water to rush in and soak his lungs.

However, Daniel simply woke with a rasping gasp of cool night air as he sat bolt upright. Shaken by the nightmare he looked around his darkened bedroom. His skin was unpleasantly sticky and wet with a drenching cold sweat.

Untangling himself from the twisted sheets he tried to stand. His body ached as though he had been straining, and he realized that he probably had been. He only made it a few steps before his knees buckled and he fell to the carpeted floor.

"Gabriel?" Daniel whimpered.

"I'm here, Daniel." Gabriel answered quietly.

"I need you to help me...I need you to stop this."

"I'm sorry. I can't."

"You can't or you won't?"

" I have no control over your dreams, and if I tried to erase your memories of what happened they would just end up in your subconscious."

"That doesn't sound so bad." Daniel forced a smile.

"You'd still be left with the fear, you just wouldn't know why. And for you that would be maddening." Gabriel sighed. "I'm sorry, Daniel, you're just going to have to deal with the past."

"What if I can't?" Daniel asked seriously.

"You just need more time, it hasn't even been a full month yet. The memories will dull, the human mind is an amazing thing. You're going to be alright, I promise."

"I've made a lot of promises that I couldn't keep."

"Why don't you try just getting up and washing the sweat off?"

"I...uh...I don't supposed you could do that for me." Daniel asked hesitantly. "I'm exhausted, and in all honesty I don't think I can handle the stress of it right now."

Daniel could feel Gabriel's indecision over the request. Eventually he felt the Goa'uld tugging gently at his consciousness. Rather than fight Daniel closed his eyes and allowed Gabriel to pull him back.

Gabriel opened his eyes and sighed. He raked his hands through his soaked hair before forcing himself to his feet. Walking into the bathroom Gabriel turned on the water and allowed it to heat. Even without control Daniel's fear still quickened Gabriel's heart. He took a deep breath to calm them both.

"Gabriel?"

"Yes."

"Can you..." Daniel hesitated. "Can you see my nightmares?"

"I've chosen not to."

"Why?"

"I have my own to deal with."