CAHPETR TERHE

Look I updated! IT'S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE! Sorry about the super long wait, but thanks for all the nice reviews.


"They're not following us?" Carter asked between wheezes as she tried to catch her breath. She slowed to a walk when she realized that no one was following them, but she still was nervous. She couldn't understand why the brothers had just given up on the chase so easily.

"It appears that they have given up," Teal'c said as he scanned the forest for any signs of movement, but found none.

"I wonder why they didn't bother to chase us," Sam asked while she tugged at the collar of her shirt.

"It appears to be their way," Teal'c commented, remembering how the three brothers had let the blonde biker escape even though they nearly had him beaten. "They probably think that we are inconsequential."

"I guess that's good for us. But what are we going to do?" Carter asked. "They have Daniel, O'Neill, and all our stuff."

"These three brothers seem to be a common enemy of many groups living here; perhaps if we find the city, there will be people there willing to give us aide."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, huh?" Carter said.

"Indeed," Teal'c said, bowing his head slightly.

"So you think we should try to go to the city now?"

Teal'c nodded.

"Alright." Carter let out a tired sigh as she gently rubbed her rope burned wrists. "I hope this city is close. I'm exhausted and incredibly sore."


Daniel laid uncomfortably in his large captives arms. His leg felt like it was on fire, but he was more concerned about Jack at the moment, so far his teammate had yet to regain consciousness, although Yazoo had ceased dragging Jack and now had him awkwardly slung over his back. That was at least a slight improvement.

Daniels' eyes flickered back from his kidnappers to the scenery. The strange white trees were fascinating and at the same time, they were terrifying, a symbol that he was in a world that he didn't understand at all. Most of the worlds they visited had terrain and organisms that were strikingly similar to those on earth. However, this place was clearly an exception. He could imagine Dr. Lechmann, the head botanist, having a field day with these trees. This really seemed to be a magical world.

Then, a much stranger sight came into Daniel's view. There were two dozen or so children standing around a small lake. They appeared scared and ill. Behind them was an old truck, that seemed to stand out like a sore thumb amidst the white trees. Many of the children were wrapped in bandages that were stained with some black substance. However, other than that they looked normal. They didn't have the strange pale hair the brothers did. They just looked like ordinary scared, sick kids. They glanced around nervously as the three brothers and their two injured captives approached the other side of the lake.

"Yazoo," Kadaj said as he approached a large metal box, "look at what brother was hiding – powers forged in the life steam." He kicked the box open revealing numerous glowing orbs of assorted colors. Daniel leaned forward slightly to get a better look since Kadaj's mini explanation, "powers forged in the life stream," meant nothing to him.

"With this materia," he said reaching for one of the orbs which was glowing faintly blue, "those powers will be ours." He rolled the orb between his leather-clad fingers and then he pressed it against his other arm. To Daniel's complete shock the orb seemed to sink through the leather and into his arm, which was now glowing a bright and eerie blue color that reminded Daniel of the blue explosion Kadaj had caused in the forest. Kadaj raised his arm, watching the glowing blue emissions with a slight satisfied smirk. His eyes seemed to glow an even deeper green before he suddenly turned and faced the kids who were watching him with a mixture of fear, awe, and confusion.

Yazoo took this opportunity to drop Jack onto the white, stony ground. Loz carefully set Daniel down next to him. Still, the movement sent a fiery pain through Daniel's leg. "Don't try anything," Loz hissed to Daniel and then he got back to his feet and moved to stand behind his smaller brother.

Jack let out a moan and Daniel turned to face him. "Jack?" He asked apprehensively.

"What? Is it morning already?" Jack grunted as his eyes flickered open. He let out a hiss of pain and pressed his hand against his ribs.

"You okay?" Daniel asked, ignoring the comment about morning, he was assuming that was just sarcasm and not actual confusion.

"Yea, yea, I'm fine," Jack said, wincing as he slowly pushed himself upright.

"You don't look fine," Daniel pointed out but Jack ignored him and looked up at the three brothers who were now facing the kids.

"Where are Sam and Teal'c?" Jack asked.

"They escaped," Daniel said, glad that he had at least some good news to give Jack.

"Oh really? That's nice," Jack said. "And what are these wacko's doing with a bunch of kids?" He said nodding at Kadaj. Even that slight movement obviously hurt and he winced and reached up to rub his neck.

"No clue."

"And how are you doing?" Jack asked, glancing at Daniel's bloodied leg.

"Oh, me? I've had worse," Daniel said, which was true. However, that thought didn't make his leg hurt any worse.

"We need one of those green orbs that the vampire had," Jack muttered, as he painfully shrugged off his jacket and then handed it to Daniel to use as a compression for the wound in his leg. Daniel glanced over at the box of material as he tied it tightly into place, biting into his lip as he tried to ignore the pain.

"That could be arranged," he whispered, hoping that those blue orbs weren't hard to operate. However, before he moved, Loz glanced back at the two captives, as if he had heard what Daniel had said. Then Kadaj began to speak.

"Mother has given me," Kadaj voice rang out of the still air, "a very special gift, a power to fight against a planet that torments humanity. She gave this gift to all her children. That's right, you and I are brethren, brothers and sisters, chosen when we inherited mother's mimetic legacy through the life stream. But, the planet doesn't approve of that at all; it's doing everything it can to hold us back. That's why it's racking our bodies with pain, and filling our hearts with doubt."

"Well, he's charismatic," Jack muttered unhappily. "Like Hitler."

What appeared to be some strange sort of smoky blue light began to emit from his lithe body. "Now, I shall heal you and we will go to mother together. We will join as a family and strike back at the planet."

"Daniel," Jack hissed nervously as he stared in shock at the sight in front of him. Nothing made sense in this world. "What's happening?"

"How should I know?"

"Do as I do," Kadaj instructed as he began to walk into the blue water, which instantly began to swirl to black around him until the whole lake became completely black. Then he bent down, cupped his hands into the water, and raised it to his mouth, taking a long drink. He raised his arms above him and then let them fall into the water with a small splash. He turned, shaking his head slightly to get his white hair, which looked blue in the strange lighting, out of his eyes.

"Well that is certainly freaky," O'Neill acknowledged. Daniel had to nod in agreement.

Kadaj let out a soft chuckle and then kids began to make their way into the lake to lap up the foul water.

"Hey, stop that!" Jack called. "Don't drink that stuff! You don't know what it is but I can tell you that stuff is not sanitary!" However, he was completely ignored.

Then, after taking a long drink of the black water, one of the kids looked straight up at the two members of SG1. Daniel and Jack both let out a gasp as they saw the boy's eyes began to change to look like the eyes of a cat.

"Hey!" Jack called out again as he turned to glare at Kadaj's back. "What the heck are you doing to those kids? Those are just little kids!"

Kadaj spun around, his green eyes burning with anger. His eyes were flooded with anger and Daniel felt as if they the boy's gaze had pierced right through him.

"Jack, not a smart move," Daniel hissed nervously as Kadaj took a step towards them, his arm was still faintly glowing with blue light.

"They are my brothers and sisters, and we are carrying out mother's will," Kadaj said firmly as he took another step forward. The water rippled around him.

"And what is your mother's will?" Daniel asked softly, trying not to upset the boy any more than he already was. But, he did want to get information out of him.

Kadaj froze for a moment, "Mother wants us to find her. When we find her we can be a family." He looked physical pained as he spoke.

"Well, you're a very loyal son then," Jack said.

Kadaj looked very startled by this comment. He glanced from Jack to his brothers and then back before speaking. "All sons should be loyal to their Mother."

"Why did they capture your mother?" Daniel asked, although he was already coming to his own conclusions. If their Mother was an indeed an alien he could easily see her being abused due to her differences. Daniel was beginning to wonder if these kids were as bad as they had first seemed. Yes, they kidnapped him, and those others, the Turks, and the kids. But they hadn't killed anyone and all they seemed to be trying to do was rescue their mother. Maybe there was a way to diplomatically solve this problem. But then again, there was the thing Vincent had mentioned about Sephiroth and destroying the world.

Daniel glanced over at Jack, who was still eyeing Kadaj strangely. Jackson wondered if he was thinking about his own son, who had died at such a young age.

"Is that all you want to do?" Daniel asked.

Kadaj nodded slightly, although his fierce green eyes never stopped glaring at them, "A reunion with Mother," he whispered.

"Maybe that really is all he wants," Daniel hissed quietly to Jack.

"And maybe his mother is like a total psycho bent on destroying the world who is locked in jail for a perfectly good reason. I'm not buying his innocent routine," O'Neill said.

"Kadaj," Yazoo said softly, obviously scared of his brother's outburst.

"What, brother?" Kadaj asked, suddenly seeming almost happy as he turned to face his brother. The switch was eerie and Jack and Daniel shared a confused glance.

"What will we do now?" Yazoo asked.

"We just have to wait," Kadaj said with a smirk. "Brother will be coming to us soon, and we can't start without the whole family."

"Except Mother won't be here," Loz said sadly.

"We'll find mother," Kadaj snapped and then he grinned again. "Shinra knows something. And I'll get it out of him."

"Did he tell you that he knew where Mother is?" Yazoo asked.

"No! He said he lost Mother!" was Kadaj's indignant reply. "But he's lying."

"Mother!" Loz sobbed.

"Don't cry, Loz," Yazoo said with a sigh.

The two captive members of SG1 just watched the scene before them with expressions of complete confusion, a little bit of pain, plain on their faces. "They're completely insane," Jack hissed to Daniel. "Completely insane."

"I think I might agree with you," Daniel said softly.

"I'm not crying," Loz said as he wiped the tears from his lashes.

"Where is the girl, Loz?" Kadaj asked tiredly as he looked around at the kids who were still standing in the lake, completely frozen as if they had lost the ability to move.

"Huh?" Loz asked.

"The girl. You said you brought a girl who wasn't sick."

"Oh, yea, she was right h-," he paused mid-word as he looked around in confusion.

"Yazoo, find the girl. The girl will ensure that Big Brother comes to us."

"Kadaj," Daniel said softly and Kadaj spun to face him. "Who is your Big Brother?" He suddenly had a sinking feeling that this "Big Brother" and Sephiroth were one and the same.

"Daniel," Jack hissed. "What happened to not pissing him off?"

Kadaj paused and then crouched down near Daniel so they were at eye level. Jack scooted himself backwards and away from Kadaj. He didn't want to be in stabbing rage when Kadaj had his next irrational spurt of anger. He glanced over at Daniel who didn't look nervous. Instead, he looked like someone trying to put together a puzzle. He stared into Kadaj's strange green eyes.

"Big Brother is the black sheep in the family," Kadaj said as if he was admitting a terrible disgrace.

"He wasn't happy to see us," Loz added sadly.

"Don't cry, Loz," Yazoo said emotionlessly.

"I'm not crying!" Loz snapped glaring at his brother.

Kadaj looked up at them and then sighed, making Daniel almost want to laugh aloud despite all the excruciating pain in his leg. For the moment, Kadaj was acting like a mother who was tired of having to keep her children from fighting. However knowing Kadaj's emotion the next second he would probably be throwing a temper tantrum and acting like a two year old.

"So, is your Big Brother, Sephiroth?" Daniel said softly, feeling that Kadaj wasn't going to give him an answer, so if he wanted one, he'd have to stop beating around the bush and be direct.

However, it quickly became evident that that was a bad move. Kadaj's eyes widened and he was suddenly up on his feet, his double bladed sword in his hand. Kadaj's reaction was so fast Daniel didn't even see him move. However, he was very aware when the double bladed sword was impaled into the stone only a centimeter away from his hand. Daniel jerked back, ignoring the pain that shot through his leg, and gaped at the mark in the rock left as Kadaj tugged the blade out. Kadaj stood there shaking slightly as he glared down at Daniel with flaming eyes. "It doesn't matter if Mother choses Sephiroth," he growled. "You'll all meet the same fate."

"Um, okay," Jack said as Kadaj took a step back, glaring at them from between his silver hair. Then he turned and stalked off.

"Great job, not making him angry," Jack said once the boy had left.

"Sorry," Daniel said gripping his leg tightly as he winced in pain.

"I guess Sephiroth is a touchy subject."

Daniel grunted in agreement as he watched Yazoo stalked off into the forest, evidentially looking for the "girl," whoever that may be.

"You really need to do something for that wound," Jack said, noticing that Daniel was still bleeding.

"I'm fine," Daniel hissed through gritted teeth.

"Yea," Jack said sarcastically. "You look like you're doing great."

"You're probably not doing too well either. You've probably at least have a concussion."

"And probably some fractured ribs," Jack admitted, gently pocking his rib cage with one hand. He winced and then shook his head. "Yea, definitely some fractured ribs. But at least I don't have a bullet wound in my leg."

"I'll be fine," Daniel said.

"You've really become quite tough," Jack said as he thought back to the dorky archeologist he had met eight years ago.

"Thanks," Daniel hissed, surprised by the compliment.

"Hey, you," Jack called and the last remaining brother, who had gone to round up the seemingly zombiefied children. They turned and looked at him curiously.

"What?" Loz asked.

"Daniel," Jack said motioning at his companion, "Is badly injured and really needs medical attention since your brother shot him," he said.

Loz stepped forward and approached them, looking slightly worried as he eyed the blood running from Daniel's leg and leaving a dark stain on his pants.

"Are you going to die?" Loz asked.

Daniel was taken aback by the unexpected question. "Well, I don't know," he said. On one hand, he wanted to Loz to know that it was serious, but on the other hand, he didn't want the man to think that it was hopeless and just kill him off.

"If he gets some medical attention he'll be fine," Jack said and then he suddenly had an idea. "In the vest that we were wearing we had some medical supplies. If you could take me to where you put our stuff, I could retrieve it and fix up Daniel."

Loz glanced nervously around them. "You made little brother angry," he said as he glanced accusingly at Daniel.

Jack resisted the urge to snapped back, "So?" Instead, he kept his mouth closed and let Daniel speak.

"I didn't mean to," Daniel said honestly.

"He has a lot of responsibility, you shouldn't be mean to him. He does so much for us and for Mother," Loz said.

"Look, we're really sorry about that," Jack said impatiently. "But can we go get the medical supplies so I can fix up Daniel."

"Yazoo thinks we should just kill you. But Kadaj thinks you could be useful," Loz said.

"Then you should probably make sure that Daniel doesn't die, or Kadaj will get mad at you," Jack said, playing on the fact that even his older brothers seemed to be afraid of Kadaj, and rightfully so.

Daniel nodded hopefully. But Loz still looked unsure.

He glanced over at the box of material. He walked over and then bent down by the box. He picked up several of the strange orbs and then put them back down before settling on a green orb. Then he walked back over to Daniel.

"Do you know what you're doing?" Daniel asked nervously as the white-haired man held the green orb over him.

"I think so," Loz said.

Daniel wasn't exactly thrilled by that response but he held still and watch Loz work. The orb glowed brightly and it's green light engulfed Daniel's injury. It was the strangest sensation ever. He'd had a lot of strange things happen to him during his life, but this would probably be one of the strangest. It felt as if his leg was being squeezed and stretched at the same time and then suddenly he felt entirely normal, as if he'd never been shot.

"Weird," he whispered as he bent his leg and there was no pain.

"You okay, Daniel?" Jack asked.

"Yea, actually I feel great," Daniel said in surprise.

"So is that thing like a sarcophagus?" Jack asked nervously, as he wondered if Daniel was going to suffer from some personality change as an after affect.

"No," Daniel said. "It felt entirely different. I can't really explain it."

Loz nodded slightly and dropped the material back into the box. "Don't run away," he said as he walked back to the help the children who were still standing in the lake.

"Okay," Jack said, of course he was already trying to plan how to escape.

"So what's the plan now?" Jack hissed as he moved closer to Daniel and lowered his voice so the white-haired brother would not be able to hear him. "Should we try to escape soon? Right now may be our best chance since there is only one of those guys around and you're healed."

"I don't know," Daniel said. "I kind of want to find out more about them. I don't think this situation is as it first appeared. They're just kids looking for their mother. I don't think that they really are as bad as we first thought."

"Daniel, your heart is interfering with your reasoning. Did you not hear what that guy in the tacky cape said? They want to resurrect some guy to destroy the world. Destroy the world, Daniel."

"Can we trust that guy?" Daniel asked.

"Well, he did rescue us. What do you want to do?" Jack asked. "Reason with them? Ask them nicely to take us back to the gate? Just please don't tell me you have Stockholm Syndrome.

"I don't have Stockholm Syndrome," Daniel said. "I just feel sorry for these kids."

"And that is crazy. These kids shot you!"

"I know that Jack. That is still very fresh in my mind," Jackson muttered.

"Okay, you can pity these freaks all you want. However, we are going to get our stuff, escape, and then find Sam and Teal'c and go back home. That's our goal on this mission: to get home. We aren't going to be helping out the locals this round, we're going to go home and get backup. Understood?"

"Yes. But how are we going to escape? You're still injured."

"I'm fine, and we're not tied up. So when the window of opportunity arrives, we're going to grab our stuff and run for the hills."

"Okay, where is our stuff?"

"That, Danny-boy is an excellent question," Jack said as he looked around. Loz, who was rounding up the other children. Yazoo was still gone, presumably still looking for the missing girl. Kadaj was still off pouting somewhere. "I think this might be our moment of opportunity," Jack whispered as he pushed himself to his feet.

Daniel nodded and stood up. "Where do we look first?"

"Let's check the cave," Jack suggested and the two hurried towards the cave as quietly and quickly as possible. "Man, they are terrible at keeping hostages, aren't they?" Jack said as they approached the mouth of the cave.

"Let's just be happy for that," Daniel said as they searched the cave. After just a few minutes it became obvious that there was nothing there besides frayed ropes and blood stains.

"Of course," Jack muttered. "Nothing could ever be that easy."

"Worth a shot," Daniel said as he bit his bottom lip and surveyed the area. "So where do you think they put the stuff?"

"I don't know."

"Great."

"Why do I have to think of everything?" Jack said as Daniel motioned for him to be quiet. Jack paused and cocked his head to the side, trying to hear whatever had made Daniel cautious. For a moment, he heard nothing, but then he picked up the sound of some sort of engine roaring in the distance, and it sounded like it was quickly getting closer. "Hmm. I wonder what that is."

"Maybe the blonde fighter came back. It does sound like those bikes they were riding," Daniel suggested. "And their bikes are all here," he motioned to the three bikes which were parked just one hundred yards or so from the cave as a light bulb went off in his head. "The bikes! I bet our stuff is still on the bikes."

"Good idea, but where did everyone go?" Jack asked as he glanced around the lake and surrounding area in front of them, which was now void of life. The sound of the engine had died out too, leaving the pale forest for a moment, eerily quiet.

"Okay, that's really weird."

"You're telling me. Let's go get off this rock. The sooner we're out of here, the better," Jack said as he walked over to bike's as he kept looking around him nervously.

He jumped as the sound of an explosion shook the ground followed by the sounds of a furry of gunshots.

"What the hell was that?" Jack snapped as his eyes scanned the area.

"I think we should probably hurry," Daniel said as he hurried to the bike and began to search through its strange compartments.

Jack walked over to the other. Wincing, he bent down to get a better look at the large bikes.

There was a click and then the side compartment of one of the first bike opened up and their vests, weapons, and supplies tumbled out. Daniel picked one of the vests up and handed it to Jack who gently touched his ribs and then shook his head. "Just give me the guns," he said.

Daniel nodded and handed him a zat which he fastened to the strap on his thigh, and a P-90, which he held onto as Daniel put on his vest and took up his own weapons.

"Ready?" Jack asked as another explosion rocked through the forest followed by some shouts.

"Yea, what way?" Daniel asked, looking around as if he thought there would be a sign posted directing them back to the gate.

"Do you have any idea which way we came?" Jack asked.

"No, we were blindfolded."

"Then I like that way," Jack said, randomly pointing in the direction he thought Carter and Teal'c had gone.

"Okay," Daniel said with a shrug and the two hurried into the forest of ghostly trees.


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