Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: Atlantis, only the main plot and my character (along with some of the worlds).

Heart of Emeralds


Emerald sat up from her bed then next morning with something bothering her, trying to make itself known to her from the back of her mind. She shook her head and got out of bed, running her hand through her red streaked brown hair. "Might as well forget about it. Probably wasn't important anyway," she thought to herself as she went to her dresser to get her clothes for the day.

Emerald went into the bathroom with her clothes and set them onto the sink counter. She went to the shower and turned the water on, adjusting the temperature until it was warm. She stepped in and started to clean her body and her hair. She finished within five minutes and got out to dry herself off and get dressed.

Emerald stepped out of her small bathroom in a tight dark grey shirt with no sleeves and covered the bottom half of her neck with a diamond cut out on her chest to reveal her cleavage and showing off her toned stomach, and a pair of tight low riding black pants. She went over to her bed and pulled on a pair of socks and then her boots, sliding them over her pants.

Emerald then grabbed the knives upon her night stand and started putting them in various places: hidden on both sides in her boots, strapped to both of her upper and lower arms, and a small sheathed one between her breasts just in case. She stood from the bed and made it before going to grab her black coat. She then grabbed her guns and fastened the belt onto her waist before getting her swords and strapping them to her back.

Emerald pulled her wet hair back into a new braid and tossled her bangs slightly so they went back to framing her face. She took the radio from her desk and put it into her inside jacket pocket before taking the ear piece and putting it onto her right ear.

Emerald left her room after making sure that she had all that she would need to go off world as those from Earth called it. She made her way to the gate room, greeting the few that she saw. She had woken early, earlier than most on Atlantis who would to take a journey to other planets.

Emerald got to the gate room and walked up to the control room to find only a few people there. She looked at them with a smile and walked over to the dialing device.

"Have you gotten permission from Mr. Woolsey to go off world?" a woman at one of the consuls asked.

Emerald nodded, "I thought Chuck would be here, he knows. I'm just returning to Cyrillt to check on my people. I haven't had the chance to as of yet," she explained.

The woman who had questioned her nodded and went back to work.

Emerald turned to the dialing consul and started to dial the address to Cyrillt. She then walked down to the gate and walked through, turning her radio on as she did.

Five hours later

John, Teyla, Rodney, and Ronon made their way into the gate room with their gear on. They were ready to check out another world, P3S745.

Teyla looked around, looking for Emerald. Not finding her she turned to the others. "Have you seen Emerald? She was not in her room when I went to get her for breakfast or when I went to get her for the mission," she told them, starting to feel worried for her new friend.

Woolsey cut them off before anyone could answer Teyla, his brows pulled together in frustration. "Your trip to P3S745 has been cancelled. You are returning to Cyrillt. Emerald went there earlier this morning and is three hours late checking in."

John frowned, "Just because she's a few hours late shouldn't cause for any alarm."

Woolsey shook his head, "She told me that she would be no longer than an hour or two. She was only going to make sure that her people were safe and that they were doing well."

They were silent for a few moments as Ronon only grew more suspicious of the woman. This only caused him to believe more in the fact that she had an alternative motive for being on Atlantis. Seeing this as a chance to finally get his friends off of his back he spoke up, "Let's go then. Don't want to waste any time."

His three friends looked at him in slight shock before nodding to Woolsey and following Ronon towards the gate. Woolsey returned to the control room where Chuck started dialing Cyrillt.

The four walked through the gate and stepped out into the cool forest of Cyrillt. They silently made their way to the village seeing no sign of Emerald on the way.

They got to the village to see the people going about their business, though stiff and with their heads lowered. They noticed that no one spoke to the other, all just nodding to one another and forcing smiles. The group frowned and went to the closest shop keeper.

"Hey, is everything alright here?" John asked the middle aged man.

The man looked at them with a forced smile. "Yes Col. Shepard, everything is fine. Nothing to worry about here," he said just a little louder than needed.

Teyla, Ronon, and Rodney noticed others glancing over at them and then at a hut closer to the center of the city.

Teyla moved over so she was standing next to John. "John, I do not think things are right here. The villagers seem to be hinting at the counslers hut," she whispered.

John nodded and smiled slightly at the shop keeper who seemed to relax slightly before returning to his work.

The four walked towards the counslers hut, glancing about as they did. They entered the hut to see all of the counslers sitting around the table. They looked up quietly, their eyes filled with fear.

"We've come looking for Emerald," John told them.

Before anyone could speak Rodney's eyes fell onto something petruding from a large basket in the back of the hut. He went over to it and lifted the blanket covering it. "John, I think we have a problem," he said looking back at the three. Ronon and Teyla guarded the door, not going to allow anyone suspicious to enter or leave the hut as John made his way over to Rodney.

Inside the basket was Emerald's two guns and her two swords. John looked to the counslers and the eldest one pointed to an animals pelt off to the side of the hut. John went over to it and lifted the pelt to find a wooden door with a latch upon it. He looked to the counslers. "Is this an entrance to the tunnels?" he asked them in a whisper.

Before any of them could even nod, muffled noises sounded from below the door. There was a muffled yell and then gun fire. John threw the hidden door open as Ronon and Teyla ran to John and Rodney. The sound of running feet and muffled yelling met their ears as they hurridley made their way down.

"Emerald!" Teyla made her way over to her fallen friend as she was the first one down.

Emerald had her hands tied behind her back and a gag in her mouth tied behind her head. She was attempting to get up from her position on the floor as the others made it into the tunnels, her shoulder darkened with blood. She continued to yell as she finally got up.

Teyla went behind Emerald and got the rope from her hands. "Emerald what is going on?" she asked as she removed the gag.

"You pitiful, cowardice, asshole! Get back here you peice of crap!" Emerald yelled the moment the gag was off of her mouth. She dashed off, running passed three confused men.

Teyla looked after her and soon followed with John, Rodney and Ronon.

"What do you think is going on?" John asked.

"A deal gone wrong," Ronon guessed. He knew he had to have been right. He just didn't know who shot Emerald thus being the person she was making a deal with and what the deal was.

The four could still hear the angered woman yelling at the person who had attacked her. After a few moments they heard a man scream and then silence.

Emerald drew her right arm over her chest and flung it forward towards the man in front of her. She watched as one of her knives flew through the air and landed in between the man's shoulder blades. She smirked in triumph and slowed to a stop right over the man. She grabbed his shaggy hair and pulled him up slightly, kneeling down with a leg on both sides of him and lowered her lips to his ear.

"You thought you would actually get away with tricking me? Using me as bait to get the Atlantians? That was the worst mistake you rougue Genii have..." Emerald was cut off by John.

"Genii? What is a Genii doing here?" he questioned, now suspicious.

Emerald hissed slightly and ignored the four behind her as she stood up, dragging the man up with her. She pulled her knife out and threw the man against the wall. "What made you think that stupid plan would work? You didn't even take into account that I might have my own plans for meeting the Atlantians, did you?" she hissed quietly as she glared at the man in front of her.

The rouge Genii opened his mouth to say something when Rodney spoke up.

"You were working with the Genii?" Rodney asked in shock.

Ronon grinned in triumph; he had been right the entire time.

Emerald growled softly and turned her eyes to the four, her emerald eyes almost glowing in the darkness of the tunnels. "Will you let me finish with this bastard?" she asked, annoyed.

The man took this opportunity to run off.

Emerald turned her head lazily and sighed. She threw the knife back at the guy, watching as it lodged itself right into his head. "Didn't even get to torture him," she mumbled to herself, almost sounding disappointed. As she started walking over to the man she heard the distinct click of someone getting their gun to fire.

"You're going to stop right there and tell us what's going on. From where we're standing, you're in league with the rouge Genii," John said with his gun pointed at her.

Emerald sighed and turned around, the same annoyed and angered look as before. She looked almost completely different than her usual innocent self. "You honestly think I would be that stupid? The rouge Genii mean nothing to me, I was just getting my payment. They hired me to take out the main systems in Atlantis, how I did it didn't matter, just as long as they could get it back up again when they took it over. I told them the job should be done in a couple of weeks and to meet me here." Emerald turned once again and went to retrieve her knife. She knelt down next to the dead man and took her knife from his head, wiping the blade off on her pants leg. She rummaged through the man's pockets as she continued her explanation. "The whole thing was just a ploy to get my money. I wasn't going to just hand Atlantis over to those idiot Genii who wouldn't be able to run anything worth of value if their lives depended on it. I just wasn't expecting this jerk to wack me over the head the the butt of his gun when I told him I wasn't doing the job. You know, the Genii have really bad aim. Tried to kill me with that shot," she explained softly as she continued her search for her money.

"Aha! Found it!" she took out a small pouch filled with her coins. She smiled brightly and stood up, putting the pouch into her jacket pocket and looking at the four with a smile.

The smile fell when she saw the angered and betrayed looks on their faces. "You didn't... You didn't actually think I'd do that did you? You know I wouldn't do that! Why would I throw away my only way to contact Daniel? You all know I love that idiot to death," she said, suddenly feeling hurt.

"You tricked us all into believing that you were an ally," Rodney started.

"But I am! I have all you would need to know about the rouge Genii. I didn't sell you all out. I was tricking them, not..."

"You could have told us," John told her.

Emerald rolled her eyes, "You all would have come up with some stupid thing saying that it was an ambush, that I was in trouble and shouldn't go alone. Going alone was the only way, and there was no reason for you all to know. I was expecting an in and out thing, no one would have known."

All was silent. Emerald turned her gaze from one person to the other, not seeing that this was going anywhere. She felt her heart clench at the thought of losing her friends and possibly a home. She sighed and turned to leave. "Then I see there's no point in me staying," she said and started to leave.

Ronon raised his gun and shot at Emerald. She fell to the ground unconcious as the stun blast hit her. "She knows too much," he explained as he walked over to the unconcious woman.


Emerald slowly started to wake up, feeling an irritated sensation in her back. She slowly sat up with a groan, her hand moving to her back as she remembered what had happened. She was walking away from who she thought were her friends and then suddenly feeling a shockwave like feeling coarsing through her body.

Ronon had stunned her.

Emerald growled and looked around. She was in her room at Atlantis. She sat on her bed confused. They had brought her back?

Emerald stood and walked over to the door, waving her hand over the consul next to it. The door beeped a couple of times, the doors not moving. She tried this a few more times until she realized she was locked in her room. She sighed and went to the window near the back of the room. She opened it and looked out, looking up, down, left, right, and finally settling on just sitting on the ledge with her feet on the side of the building as she watched the ocean.

Emerald had honestly thought that they would understand why she did what she did. She hadn't expected things to turn out the way they did. She hadn't expected to grow attached to the people, to the idea of being a part of something, to a close to permanent home, to belonging somewhere, to falling...

Emerald shook her head as she let out a sigh and looked down at the ground level of the city. If things had gone according to plan she would have just stayed in Atlantis for a little while, let Daniel know she was fine, go back and meet up with the Genii, knock him or her out, get her money, and leave. She would have continued on her way traveling the galaxy, fighting the Wraith as she went along. But her problem in that was staying in Atlantis. She had started to get to know the people and grow attached to them, to the idea of actually having friends and a place to belong.

Emerald leaned forward with her hands on either side of her. She didn't hear her room doors open.

"Emerald don't!"

Emerald jumped and lost her balance and started to fall. She yelped as someone grabbed her wrist at the last possible moment. She looked up to see Teyla, trying to pull her up. She looked down and then back up at Teyla, "You know, you could just let me fall. I think I like the idea of falling to my death than being locked up for the rest of my existence." She looked away, not bothering to make it easy for Teyla to pull her up.

"What are you talking about? We were not going to keep you locked up," she said, struggling to keep her grip on Emerald's wrist.

Emerald looked up at her through narrowed eyes. "Explain the door," she said quietly.

"That was just a precausion as we went to go tell Mr. Woolsey. He has decided that what you did was probably the best thing. He figured you had just planned to take the money and leave, never return to Atlantis. When we heard that we figured that was what any of us would have done in your situation," Teyla explained as she tried to pull the woman up.

Emerald thought about this for a moment and then let out a sigh. She found the small ledge close to her feet and secured herself there. "Let go, I'll get up myself," she told Teyla.

Teyla looked worried and then she saw that Emerald was upon a small ledge. She hesitated but released Emerald's wrist and backed away from the window.

Emerald rubbed her wrist slightly before slightly jumping up the small distance to the window and grabbed the ledge. She pulled herself up and into the room just as John was entering. He looked at Emerald as she got into the room and sinking to the floor.

"What the hell was that?" he asked.

The two women looked up at their friend before looking at each other. Emerald closed her eyes as she brought her knees up to her chest and rested her head on top of them. Teyla looked at John. "She had been sitting on the window, I came in and thought that she was going to jump out. I startled her and she fell out," Teyla explained softly.

John glared at Emerald, "Now why would you be sitting out your window?"

Emerald shook her head slightly, "I had nothing else to do. I had contemplated on climbing somewhere thinking I would rather try to escape and risk dying then being your prisoner for the rest of my time. And when I was hanging out the window with Teyla holding on, I was honestly thinking about falling to my death."

John's glare increased and he walked over to Emerald and grabbed her upper arm to drag her up. He looked into her eyes with the glare, "You jumped to conclusions. Never do that again. Use your brain, Em."

Emerald and John stood there for a few moments as they looked into each others eyes. Emerald finally nodded and looked to the ground with a small smile. "Thank you, John," she said softly.

John nodded, "Any time."

Teyla smiled at the two, "How about we go get a late lunch?"

Emerald and John looked at Teyla and both nodded.