Sam was just about to ask something, what she didn't know, but all of a sudden things changed in a strange morphing effect. The entire reality around her seemed to phase in and out, and suddenly, they were inside the SGC.

The concrete walls were painted with red light, the alarms were going off and the sounds of gunfire were rampant. Sam instantly went on guard, how had she gotten here? What had just happened? Her mind was going a mile a minute and going nowhere fast. Recall told her she was a few levels above the Gate Room, right around the place where her old lab used to be. "John?"

To the side, John's voice replied. "I'm here…" Sam turned to look at him and he again tried to look sincere. He was still in his black BDU's but the sleeves weren't rolled up anymore. "We're inside your head, Sam… remember? Maybe we should look around."

Sam blinked a few times then nodded as the memory surfaced. "Yeah… yeah, yeah I remember." She rubbed her face, surprised that she wasn't hurt anymore and her hair was its typical tied back ponytail instead of tightly wrapped in a bun. She wasn't wearing an Atlantis jumpsuit either anymore, now clothed in green camo BDU pants and a black undervest shirt, she found herself remembering wearing it all the time at the SGC. "Were we just…?"

John moved closer to Sam; something was very wrong here and she just couldn't put her finger on it. "Yeah. Daedalus. What was that?"

Sam thought about it for a second and then banished the thought. "Nothing… Let's go."

A little surprised at how fast she'd recovered from apparently seeing Earth being culled, Sam took the lead.

The SGC was empty, but sound still travelled well in the concrete bunker. Screams, gunfire, and a strange whirring. John stayed behind her, watching the rear. "We should find out what's going on, just in case."

Sam felt that strong urge too, but something kept bugging her. "But this is a dream isn't it? This isn't the real SGC. Why would we need…?"

"Sam!" Sam had just entered her old lab and was shocked to see John inside again. This John was in the same BDU's, except his sleeves were rolled up and the little wrist band was visible. "Don't listen to him! He's the crystal thing!"

Turning around, Sam saw that the other John that had been with her was gone. Confused was too simple a word. "What the? What is this?"

John rifled through the cabinets to the side as Sam entered obviously very befuddled. Sam saw so many of her old things here, the old Naquadah reactor she'd torn apart to find out how it worked, the wrench set she used to fix her old Indian along with Siler. Even a few odd pictures that she knew she'd brought with her to Atlantis. "You're askin' me? It's your dream!" Throwing files and books to the side, John continued to trash Sam's old lab.

Sam for that matter winced and tersely chided. "Would you quit that? You're making a mess! What're you looking for?"

"A gun or a bomb or something. This thing isn't fightin' fair and I wanna be ready."

Sam raised an eyebrow at the odd phrase. "And you're trashing my lab to find one?"

Turning to her with an exasperated face, John motioned around. "Is any of it real? It's just a dream."

Huffing, Sam moved over to where she kept her hidden weapon taped under the desk. "I invited you into my head to help, not trash the place up. And besides, what's a gun going to do against an energy based entity in a dream world?"

John heard a strange sound of something clicking open, turned, and saw Sam ready with a strange snake like device in her hand. "Whoa, what's that?"

Sam pulled out another from under the desk and tossed it to John. "It's a Zat'ni'ka'tel. Zat for short. Just hold it like…"

While she spoke, John figured the weapon out and the firing function shot up. "Nice. What's it shoot?"

"It works by using a focused beam to transmit a…"

John held a hand up and waved Sam's explanation off. "You can tell me all about it once we get outta this." He realized that Sam had just pulled one over him and gave her a quick look. "Hey, I thought you said…"

Sam snorted softly, but still there was a strong feeling of dread around this place. "I know what I said, but you're right. Even if it's pointless just having it makes me feel a little better." Sam closed her eyes and tried to banish the image of Earth being culled from her mind. "Okay, I'm guessing that the entity is trying to recreate things from my memories and subconscious. I don't think this is going to be easy, John."

"Not doin' it because I thought it would be easy." Looking back at her as he moved forward to the doorway where the alarms and flashing lights still rang through, John said. "So Earth, huh?"

Sam reached into another closet, this one with clothing and BDU's inside. She put one of the black uniforms on and nodded. "Yeah… guess it's one of those things I try not to think about."

John nodded and motioned with his head to move out into the hallway. "Least it's not McKay's head we're in. I can't imagine what he'd have."

Sam raised an eyebrow and pointed to the doorway. "Don't think we're out of the woods yet."

John turned back to the doorway, just in time to see a toaster with wings fly by as if it was meant to be there. John peered out and followed its path with his vision. It stopped at an intersection, looked both ways, then turned and flew away to the right. John stood there in the hallway for a second before turning with exaggerated slowness towards Sam.

Sam grinned sheepishly and shrugged. "First screensaver, sorry."

Rolling his eyes, John merely motioned to Sam to take the lead. Now armed and evidently dangerous, Sam led Sheppard down the corridors of the SGC. The alarms kept going off, and the area was bathed in a red glow. The sound was oddly not bothersome. "Any ideas?"

John shrugged as he watched the rear. "Not a clue."

Sam sighed and continued moving forward, now nearing an intersection that would lead them to the surface. "Guess I should have paid more attention to Friday the 13th."

Snorting, John turned his head as he thought he heard gunfire. "Nightmare on Elm Street."

"Pardon?" Sam turned curiously to John. She was still having trouble distinguishing this from the real world, and the fact that they were having such a weird conversation only added to the effect. "Elm Street?"

John nodded. "Freddy was in Nightmare, Jason was in Friday."

Shuddering, Sam turned back and took a cover position by the corner ready to peek around it. "Never was one for horror movies." Nodding to John, they both quickly took their positions and popped out around the corner. There wasn't much, but a body lay on the floor with a handgun next to him.

John maintained his watch of their flank, Sam now moving forward with her weapon drawn and ready to fire. She quickly reached the body and with her foot, rolled it over.

"Saaaam."

Startled, Sam gasped and bumped into John's back. John instantly spun around and aimed, but saw that the body on the floor wasn't dead yet. "Holy…"

"Daniel…?"

Doctor Daniel Jackson lay on the floor, his skin wrinkled and hair white. John instantly recognized it. "He's been fed on… Wraith." Daniel continued to hiss as he tried to speak, it was heart wrenching to see him struggle to lift his hand towards Sam.

Sam was shaking, she couldn't bear to see her friend like that, but at the same time, she kept on repeating to herself: Just a dream… just a dream…" John saw Sam slowly turn towards him, she was obviously disturbed by the find and her face didn't do a good job of hiding it. "It's not real… none of this is… we need to find the entity and stop this."

John nodded. Even he was disturbed by what this entity was willing to do. "Agreed… let's go…"

As they continued to move forward, Daniel's voice cried out desperately. "Sam… Sam! Help… me!"

For a long time, John had only half believed Rodney's stories about how tough Samantha Carter was. But seeing her quite literally in front of his eyes shut down her emotions and leave the vision of her former teammate, John knew Rodney had been understating it.

Neither of them said anything, both just kept moving forward into the dream-SGC. John quickly noted that despite the sounds of combat and action, there was no real damage or evidence of a fight here. He waited until they'd moved clear from the sight of dream-Daniel to speak. "Where is everyone?"

Sam understood instantly and kept her voice calm and collected. "I think it's just trying to scare us. It's taking my memories and trying to make…" She didn't finish and instead just trailed off. John understood she was concentrating too hard on not being scared to think things through easily.

John tried to reassure her with more pleasant memories. "Yeah… tell ya what, once we get outta this, we'll go for a joyride in a Jumper."

Sam stopped in her tracks and turned with a bemused look to Sheppard. Her expression was a mix of amusement and pity. "I'll settle for a good night's sleep."

It became quickly apparent to Sam that they were lost, and even worse, this wasn't the same SGC where she'd spent the last ten years working. The winding corridors led nowhere, and it'd been… Sam shook her head clear of the confusion. "How long have we been walking?"

John looked around, his neck craning around. He instinctually checked his wrist and realized he had no watch on. "Uhh…Good question."

Sam huffed and decided to keep moving. The sounds of combat had begun to die down, but that just made her more nervous. Sound was something she liked, and slowly it was all fading away. John remained silent, just backing her up. She almost wished he'd make another pithy remark.

"So if you don't like horror, what do you like?"

Sam smiled. Perhaps the subconscious link between them did more than just allow him to interact in her dream. "Well… action and sci-fi are out. Too much like my day job." John snorted, obviously he agreed. "Anything that doesn't have machines is out too. I like my fiction within this or maybe the next century."

John moved ahead and peeked around the next corner, probably their fiftieth so far. "Picky. At least you know what you like." He turned back to Sam with an expectant face. "Which is…?"

Sam snickered a little. The stories she'd heard of John were starting to come true. "Musicals, Comedy, Maybe a little romance. My life has enough of the rest." Unable to find a reply, John simply stayed silent. He took the lead now, allowing Sam to take a rest and watch the rear. He wasn't expecting her to continue. "So you like horror, huh?" John turned and gave her the same bemused look she'd given him. Sam gave him a shrug and said. "Humor me, I think it'll help right now."

John snorted softly and turned back to move forward. "Horror not so much anymore. I'm with you on comedy, but I think the last time I saw a musical it was in a high school auditorium."

Sam stifled her snort and sighed contentedly. "Lovely."

The lights suddenly went completely out. Both Air Force soldiers spun to face each other but saw nothing in the pitch black. John called out a little louder than necessary. "Carter?"

"I'm here… What's…?"

A sudden flash of light at the other end of the hallway appeared. Elevator doors where there was no elevator before. The ground rumbled and the lights above them flickered, dust falling from the cracks in the ceiling and walls.

The elevator doors opened revealing a backdraft of flame and smell of sulfur. A sickly looking man in white robes holding a staff with a crystal on top stepped out, unharmed by the firestorm around him. The random lighting created a strobe effect, and John could swear everything was going in slow motion as he moved around.

John had never seen a Prior face to face before, though he had seen the Ori followers during his stint at the SGC when the Lanteans took back control of Atlantis. Even so, he could easily tell it wasn't friendly. He raised his Zat to prepare to fire, but Sam had already begun to fire. "Shoot him, John!"

The Prior held his staff before him and as John and Sam took cover on the walls, the zat shots they fired simply spread along the Prior doing no damage whatsoever. The Prior took slow steps forward, uncaring of anything heading towards him. He used one hand to take off his hood, and then looked at both soldiers still shooting at him.

Sam could tell what was coming and screamed. "Run!"

John didn't hesitate and fired off one more shot before turning and covering Sam's tactical retreat, both firing as they backpedaled.

The Prior's face turned into an awed expression, and he extended his staff.

Both Sam and John's feet suddenly lifted off the ground, and they floated in mid-air. John instinctively tried to swim away, but it was no use. Sam kept on firing, now terrified over what she thought was about to happen. John turned to her and screamed. "It's not real, Sam! It's not real!"

The Prior moved closer to them, and hissed in a demonic voice. ""Hallowed… are… the Ori… Be purified in the flames of Origin."

Before either John or Sam could react, the flames surrounding the Ori spread out and enveloped them both.

A/n: Eek.