Okay so this came a whole week after the first chapter (who'd have thought it would take me a week to write 500 words). Take care to read the "timestamp" at the start of each chapter, it'll make reading it more understandable.

P.S. I seem to do my best writing late at night, but not my best proofreading, sorry in advance for any mistakes.

Enjoy!

Chapter 2

2 months ago…

The gate on P3C-677 whooshed into life, cutting through the silence of the planet and bringing light to it's surroundings, causing the trees to bend and the animals to flee. Through the sparkling event horizon ran an excited woman, dragging with her a disgruntled looking man by the arm, shortly followed by three additional people.

"Vala, calm down!" shouted Daniel, pulling back against Vala's hold in an attempt to slow her down.

"But Daniel, this is Callabrixa! I haven't been here since I was a child, before my mother died. It's such a magical place, with a tremendous spiral city and such interesting people, you'll love it! Plus we're just in time for their autumn harvest festival!"

"That doesn't mean you have to tear my off to get there!" Daniel exclaimed.

Colonel Cam Mitchell rolled his eyes at the interaction between the two, it was a scene that played out far too often on their missions. He scanned their surroundings, looking slightly confused.

"Well it doesn't look like there's a spiral city 'round here, Princess." Cam announced. "Looks like forest to me"

Vala stopped suddenly and looked around, causing Daniel to ram into her. She huffed at him and turned to the rest of the group.

"Well it wasn't like this before, I can tell you that. But the city's a couple of miles from the 'Gate, so maybe the forest just grew since then. Come on Daniel!" She grabbed Daniel's hand and pulled him along again, much to his displeasure. The rest of the team followed at a slightly more leisurely pace.

"Do you think she'll ever calm down?" Sam asked, turning to Mitchell.

"I doubt it. Looks like she'll be running around causing trouble even when she's 90."

"Indeed. It would seem that ValaMalDoran will always be as energetic as she has always been" Teal'c chimed in, looking onwards at the silhouette of the pair, lighted only by their flashlights and the moonlight that filtered through the trees as they disappeared into the forest.

"Besides, if she does ever calm down Daniel will get bored" Cam added jokily, making Sam giggle and Teal'c's lips twitch upwards. It was common knowledge among all at the SGC that Daniel and Vala shared a special bond, him being the only person who could put up with her, as well as being the only one she trusted fully and completely.

"So… On a scale of one to ten, how couple-y are they now? Because in my opinion they definitely went from a seven to an eight!" Sam proposed, feeling mischievous and chatty.

"Screw couple-y, they might as well be married!" Mitchell chuckled.

"Perhaps, but Vala Jackson doesn't sound right. It's too normal for her"

"I agree with ColonelCarter. The name does not convey the uniqueness that is such of ValaMalDoran" Teal'c interjected. Sam and Mitchell shared a look of smugness. Teal'c was far more prone to gabbing than people thought.

"What about Daniel Mal Doran then?" Cam suggested, almost tripping over a root in the dark of the night.

"Perfect" Sam concurred happily.

Their conspiring was interrupted by the crackle of Mitchell's radio coming to life.

"Hey Mitchell, come here" Daniel's voice came through the speaker.

"Okay, where is 'here?" Mitchell asked.

"North by northwest. We weren't that far away from you, it shouldn't take long. You need to see this."

Cam shot Sam a puzzled look and they made their in the direction Daniel said. They soon found the pair on the edge of a cliff, looking downwards.

"What did you call us fo-" Mitchell's question was cut short by the view in front of him. At the bottom of the 300-foot cliff a majestic city was spread out for what seemed like miles. There were spires that were almost as tall as the cliff itself, with a maze of streets winding in between the buildings. However, the view was tarnished by the obvious emptiness of the place. There was no light emanating from any of the buildings, no sounds of any sort. A ghost town.

Vala broke the silence that had fallen over the group.

"This city used to be home to hundreds of thousands of people. Millions, even. The hubbub of daily life meant that the city was never quiet, never dark, always thriving and buzzing with life. What could have happened to it?"

She shivered, suddenly feeling the cold of the night for the first time. Daniel automatically reached out and put his arm around her, offering her warmth as well as comfort.

"Well we won't know unless we find out, will we? Come on, let's go check it out." Mitchell ordered, turning back to find a way down to the city. One by one they all turned away, with Vala staying the longest.

The silence was even louder in person, Vala thought as they entered the city through the northern entrance, passing underneath an impressive stone archway. The whole city was cold and uninviting, a hollow shell of the city she'd visited as a child. The spires looked sharp and threatening, not elegant and majestic as she remembered. The broad streets made her feel exposed and vulnerable. She didn't like this place at all.

The wind blew stronger, making her curl into herself to protect herself from the cold. She couldn't recall it ever being this cold, not even during the winter months. Yet another puzzling thing about the planet.

Her eyes wandered the scene around her, looking for clues as to what had happened to cause such emptiness. The shops and street-market stalls were all boarded up, the living spaces looked abandoned, and even the streetlights had been powered down. It looked more and more to Vala like the city had been deliberately vacated, almost evacuated.

Sweeping the road with her eyes, she noticed something in the corner of her eye next to a disposal tube, the planet's equivalent of a trashcan-cum-office shredder. A Thing, hidden in the darkness. Unmoving, with no discernable shape, and most definitely definitely out of place.

She walked towards the lump nervously, straying away from her team, trying to make out what it was. It was only once she was a mere seven feet away that she could see arms, legs, and eventually a head, all constricted and contorting into obscene poses. She gasped but didn't stop moving forward, until her feet were only inches from a clenched hand, fingers digging into the palm so hard that dried blood could be seen on the ground underneath it.

She knelt down next to the body, wanting to get a better view of its face. It was so mangled that it was impossible to determine what gender it was, only the expression it wore: pure unfiltered agony. The skin was hanging off the bones that lay underneath, grey and decomposing. They must have died weeks ago, she thought.

Her hand reached out without her accord as if entranced, fingers poised to touch the flaked skin of the wrist in front of her, when another hand grabbed her own, startling her.

"Don't touch, you don't know what killed them." Mitchell said, pulling her hand back.

"Ye-yes, of course" Vala stuttered, coming back to her senses. "I don't know what I was doing"

"Come on, we're getting out of here." Mitchell decided, turning back towards the entrance through which they came. "This place gives me the creeps"

Vala nodded in agreement, shuffling to get up off her knees. As she put all her weight onto her right leg she experienced a muscle spasm, and fell back onto her rear, her body colliding with the one on the ground. She recoiled and quickly stood up, dusting herself off and shivering at the thought of touching the corpse. Looking around for her team she noticed them already heading back towards the archway with only Daniel hanging back, watching and waiting for her. She trotted over to him and together they hurried to rejoin the group, anxious to get out of the town that scared them so much.