Chapter 04 - Shocked

Vala watched with breaking heart as Daniel looked into her eyes, his whole being seeming to smile. Then he whispered goodbye. And the light in his eyes - in his beautiful blue eyes, the eyes which could convey so much emotion with such an intensity, which were watching her with so much love - that beautiful light was extinguished, leaving them empty and lifeless.

Lifeless. Dead.

She choked back a sob, and reached out with her free hand through the bars. She gently took the glasses off his face, put them in her pocket, then reached out again to close his eyes. She didn't want to see the dead look in them again.

There. Now he looked so peaceful he might have been sleeping.

She was full of conflicting emotions: full of love, for Daniel said he loved her, full of sorrow, for he was dead, full of rage for the people who killed him. But an overwhelming sense of calm surrounded her - she would die in twelve hours, too, and she would see him again.

Sitting next to the bars Vala fiddled with Daniel's glasses. Sam sat at the back wall, her knees drawn up to her chest, her head bent down. Cam sat across the room staring at the ceiling. Teal'c stood vigil in the middle of the cell, looking at the door.

"He didn't ascend. I thought he would." Sam's muffled voice spoke to her knees.

"As did I." Teal's voice came, still deepened by sorrow.

Cam and Vala had to admit they hadn't thought of that. The other two had seen it twice; they didn't. Cam hasn't even seen an ascended being. Vala saw Morgan Le Fay and she saw Adria ascend, but it just didn't occur to her. Vala's thought for a moment was that maybe they would really meet in the afterlife, if there was one.

Cam spoke. "He told us to deliver his message to General O'Neill." Nobody answered. "According to that bastard, Khatar, they're leaving us alone for twelve hours. That's how long we have to find a way out."

"So that we can fulfill Daniel Jackson's last wish." Teal'c answered at last.

"Right." Sam got up, wiping her face on her long black sleeve. Vala stood up reluctantly. If they got out, they would have to leave him here... and she wouldn't join him in twelve hours...

But Daniel wanted her to live, didn't he? He wouldn't have wanted her to follow so soon. And doing something was better than sitting.

They searched the cell and themselves for any object they could use without any luck. The smooth grey walls weren't metallic, but they were strong; even Cam's belt buckle refused to leave a scratch on them. The floor and ceiling were the same, no fissures, no cracks. Light came from a white circle on the ceiling in the middle of the area outside the bars. The bars seemed to be made from steel, and they were about two inches in diameter. Sam could easily climb them to knock at the ceiling, but it was as strong as the walls.

"Let's try lifting the bars upwards. That's how we came in, isn't it?" At Vala's question, everybody looked at her, then they complied. They tried all of the bars, even tried pulling them upwards together, but they wouldn't move.

Finally, Sam admitted "I'm guessing they are locked somehow. It could be as simple as a padlock, but they could even be sealed by some magnetic force. I doubt it's the weight; the bars are hollow. If we could disable what's holding them, I'm sure we could lift them by hand..."

"However, we possess no means of accomplishing that," concluded Teal'c.

Cam plopped down dejectedly to the floor, and resumed staring at the ceiling. Sam went back to her wall too, and Teal'c sat down on the floor cross-legged.

Vala slid down next to the bars, took Daniel's limp hand in hers, and closed her eyes.

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Nearly seven hours passed as they sat silently in the cell having exhausted all efforts to escape. In all that time Vala refused to let go of Daniel's cold hand.

Teal'c, who seemed to be kelno'reeming, suddenly spoke. "Khatar informed us that the orders to capture and kill us came from the Doci, and that would mean every Ori world received them. Therefore, SG teams or one of our allies may learn of them. If so, Stargate Command may try to contact us ahead of schedule, and when they receive no answer, they may attempt to send a rescue team. However..."

"However, a ground assault would need a lot of troops; the SGC doesn't have enough resources, and even if they did, the casualities would be great. Not to mention the fact that the villagers would most likely execute us at the first sign of an attack." Cam cut his eyes toward Daniel and quickly turned away.

"And we have no ships available; the Daedalus is in Atlantis and the Odyssey is still full of Asgard technology, they're taking it apart now. So they can't beam us out either." Sam told them looking up.

They sat in silence, staring at each other. Vala voiced their thoughts. "Then, my initial thought was right. We'll be seeing Daniel again soon."

They all knew that was the most likely outcome since there was nothing they could do about it. But they always had hope left. Goodbyes will have to wait until later.

So, for now, they just sat in silence.

Vala yelped. She jumped to her feet letting Daniel's cold hand go and backed away from the bars. The others instinctively stood up.

"What?" Cam asked the woman who was staring at the bars in shock.

"Something stung me... like a jolt of electricity."

Teal'c started to step forward to check if the bars were electrified now, but before he could reach them, there was a collective gasp from his friends.

Blue lightning started to dance over Daniel's wound, slowly closing it, healing the torn skin.

Then the electricity spread over his whole body; it looked remarkaby like a zat blast, but it didn't dissipate, and intensified to the point where part of it transferred to the steel bars his body was partly touching.

SG-1 backed into the opposite wall and flattened themselves against it; the sight both enthralled and terrified them.

The light show intensified; the bars were full of the blue lightning now. Daniel's body jerked and convulsed, then lifted into the air by the unknown energy.

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Daniel came back to life with the lightning bolts of his Quickening travelling up and down his body. He threw his head back and screamed; the part of his brain that was coherent even through the pain registered that the strength of its force had lifted him off the ground. That was very rare, and it never happened with a simple reviving, not even if it was a First Death.

But this was no First Death. This was all of his power - all the power he gained through millenia, the power which has been completely suppressed for the last eleven years - slamming into him again, escaping from the small space in his mind. It was so intense it tried to escape his body, too; if he didn't get it under control, at least temporarily, it could demolish the whole village. The energies, the Quickenings he received, his ancient memories, it was all coming to the forefront of his mind; he started reliving them all, getting lost in his own past. But he couldn't afford to let it happen; if he did, it would kill his friends along with the village. Inao - not Daniel - remembered he could control this. He had to; he must hold it back, let it happen later, when it wouldn't hurt anybody. With a tremendous effort, he strained to end the torrent of power coming to the surface. Daniel strained to remember how to do it. Calm, focus, control. That was it. It should have been impossible to stop, but he's seen too much to believe that anything was impossible. He just had to do it before it really started. And he succeeded.

His screaming abruptly stopped; he fell to the ground, most of the lightning going back to his body. Daniel rolled over to his stomach and tried to stand up, but a few sparks were still travelling over him, so all he managed was getting up on all fours and collapsing again, looking at his shocked teammates as the electricity running through him finally subsided. The last of the electrical blue sparks danced in his equally blue eyes and disappeared under the surface.

Daniel lay there, panting from the aftermath, but smiling up at their incredulous faces. He made it; they were all still here, and there were no guards in the room; they might be able to escape. He felt irrationally giddy and rejuvenated from the power surging through him, like nothing could go wrong.

Grunting, Daniel sat up with help from one of the bars, then peered at his teammates again.

"Hey guys. I'm back again." Daniel couldn't stop grinning, and they couldn't stop staring.

"Daniel...?" Vala asked tentatively, as if afraid of him.

"Yeah, it's me. I'm all right." Daniel smiled; the way he felt was asbolutely wonderful. He reached towards Vala through the bars. She slowly stepped forward, and carefully touched his hand. It was warm. She launched herself forward and hugged him as well as she could with the obstacles between them.

Cam stood open-mouthed staring as Vala embraced the obviously alive archeologist. "How?" Cam finally managed to croak out in confusion.

Sam, who at first had smiled when Vala rushed to hug Daniel, suddenly turned to him as if struck. "Did they do something to you? The Ori?"

Daniel quickly shook his head. "No, no, nothing like that. I can assure you, the Ori don't know anything about it. I know what happened, and I can explain it, but it's a long story. Right now..."

"We need to focus on our escape. It is good to have you back, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c was really, truly smiling, and no doubt would have clasped his friend's arm if he could.

Daniel beamed back at Teal'c.

"That means I have to let you go?" came a muffled voice. Daniel laughed and stood up, pulling the raven-haired woman with him. They were standing nose to nose with the bars between them, moving closer to each other, elecric blue eyes looking into steel gray ones. But before their lips could have touched each other...

"Wait." Daniel stepped back. He winced internally; he was all right for the moment, but they wouldn't be, especialy after he explained it to them. "I... I meant what I said. I love you. But what I need to tell you is big, and I... I want to give you a chance to back out after I explained it."

Vala seemed even more shocked than she was before but she reluctantly nodded, letting him go.

Suddenly Daniel didn't know what to do. The elation was gone and reality came crashing down upon him. Exhaustion washed over Daniel in waves, and suddenly the power in him became a burden, something he had to fight constantly to keep control. He was suddenly terrified of their reaction, especially Vala's. He screwed his eyes shut trying to calm himself down. Escape. Yes. That's what they had to do now. "Right... so, how long was I... out?"

"Seven hours." Sam explained, before it suddenly struck her that he knew. "Wait... you knew this would happen, didn't you? Daniel, why the hell didn't you tell us!?" Sam took a step towards him, clearly upset.

Daniel winced at her reaction. "Seven hours..." That was shorter than a usual First Death, but it was understandable that it was different this time. "I'm really sorry I put you through this, guys; but no, I wasn't sure this would happen. I knew there was a slim chance... but I had neither the strength nor the time to explain it. But I will, as soon as we get home. I promise."

They looked at him skeptically, then turned to look at each other. Sam sighed as Cam shifted on his feet uneasily then, one by one, they reluctantly nodded. They sensed his stalling but decided to humor him for now. Daniel was right; all of them knew this was not the time for discussion.

"Okay, then let's get you out of there." Daniel strode over to the panel which opened the bars and punched in the combination he'd seen Taler enter. Nothing happened.

"Okay, why didn't that work?" Cam asked. "Maybe you got it wrong; anybody else remember differently?" He looked around to see if they had any ideas.

The others shook their heads and Daniel tried again. The buttons blinked as he pushed them, but no success.

"The panel appears to be intact." Daniel thought for a moment. "Sam, is it possible that my Quickening damaged the opening mechanism?"

"Your what?" Sam asked in confusion.

Damn. He hadn't meant to use the word. "The lightning show. It transferred to the bars, didn't it?" Daniel clarified.

"Yeah, it did. You're right, it could have affected the opening mechanism..." Sam trailed off, thinking, and her face suddenly lit up with enthusiasm. "But if I'm right, and they were really locked in place by some magnetic force, it may have interrupted that too! Guys, let's try lifting the bars again."

Cam stepped forward and grabbed one of the bars, straining to pull it up. Help arrived in the form of Teal'c and the bar finally lifted a little, but not enough. The panting colonel looked at Daniel, signaling with his eyes that they could use a hand, and the three of them finally managed to lift the bar above their heads. Cam sighed, relieved, when they let it go and it stayed put. He stepped to the next bar and the others followed repeating the exercise.

Teal'c checked the opening and found that he could squeeze himself through. The others followed him. They were one step closer to freedom.

"Now what?" Vala slammed her hands on her hips and looked curiously at Daniel to see if he had anything to say now, but the archeologist just looked away. She simply couldn't imagine what was going on with him, and that scared her. Vala didn't like not knowing things.

Sam examined the panel and the door. "Well, the panel doesn't open that door, it can't even be rewired to do it. And the door has no handle, it's completely smooth metal, so I'm guessing it's magnetically sealed like the bars were. But this hasn't been affected. I'm sorry, I can't open it from the inside."

"Then we'll just have to ambush them as they enter, won't we?" They all turned to Cam eyeing him with disdain and the Colonel held up his hands. "Okay... plan B, anyone?"

"Would a smaller electric shock be enough to open this door, Sam?" Daniel knew it should be enough, but it didn't hurt to ask.

"Yes, it might, why?" Sam asked. Then she seemed to catch on. "Wait a mintue... You mean you can do it again? You can control electricity?" she asked, incredulous.

"Uh, not really..." Daniel sighed. If they wanted to get out of here, he had to give them something. "Right now, I'm kind of... invulnerable. My injuries heal themselves. That was what that blue lightning did; it's called a Quickening. So, seeing as we don't have any better plans, when I open the door, I'll be the one to go out and take out the guards. Hopefully, there will be only two of them. Then we try to get out of the village as quietly as possible. Okay?" In his nervousness he rattled this off as quickly as he could.

They stared at him again, eyes huge. Cam scratched his head, crossed his arms and said a bit sarcastically, "Wow... so, anything else we should know about? Laser eyes, flying? Adamantium claws? Or should I say 'Hi Merlin, long time no see?'"

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Look, you've seen me revive; is this so hard to believe?"

"Nooo... I suppose we have to admit we've seen equally strange things..." said Vala. "It's just that most of them had some kind of an explanation. By the way, I have your glasses; but I suppose you don't need them either, do you?" She wanted the comment to be sarcastic but her voice broke slightly when she remembered how she felt when she took them.

Daniel instinctively reached up to his nose, and indeed, his glasses didn't seem to be there. He hadn't even realized he was seeing clearly without them.

"No I don't need them, but thank you... now, are you okay with the plan?"

"We are, but... no offence, man, but how do you intend to open the door again? I thought you said that the lightnin' only heals your injuries..." Cameron drawled.

Daniel smiled, turned to the wall and punched it, hard. There was a crunch, a hiss of pain and a chorused shout of "Hey!" as he broke some of the bones in his hand. He quickly moved to the door and flattened his palm against the place where the handle would have been, all without batting an eye. The dancing lightning bolts appeared, healing his hand, but Daniel, who learned over time to control them more than most Immortals could, made them a little more intense than necessary. Though it needed more effort than he remembered... Anyway, that had to be enough for the magnetic lock.

Daniel withdrew his hand and shook it to be sure he got flexibility back and there was no residual pain. Now they only needed to give the door a little push, and they were out of the room.

"See?" he mouthed at them. Teal'c gave him a glare which clearly said "That was unwise" but refrained from saying anything.

Daniel signaled his team to hide on the two sides of the door. They flattened themsleves against the wall as he counted back from three on his fingers and pushed the door open, hard. The guard on the left was thrown to the ground by the door as Daniel dived for the one standing on the right, knocking him out with a well-aimed punch then, in one fluid motion grabbed the guard's zat and shot the other who was already starting to get up. Then he turned to zat the first guard, too, just to be safe, and that motion saved him from being zatted himself - when a third guard further down the corridor tried to shoot him. Daniel quickly crouched but before he could fire, the guard was enveloped by electricity and dropped to the ground, unconscious. He looked back over his shoulder to see Vala standing behind him, zat in her hand.

He managed not to sigh in exasperation. He should've known she would try to help him, and he felt grateful, but he was also scared - what if the guards had staff weapons, too, and she'd have been hit? Strangely, now that he coudn't get hurt he suddenly feared for the others more.

The team moved quickly, swiftly gathering the weapons as they dragged the guards into the cell and locked them in. Like always, they avoided killing as much as they could - after all, the believers of Origin were actually convinced that they were the ones doing the right thing and SG-1 was evil.

The rest of the place was not as strongly built as the cell, and it was rather small; it had a few empty rooms and corridors, but no back door. And the front door was not an option: it opened to the main square and many guards stood outside, obscuring the view.

"If we managed to acquire a staff weapon, it could effectively demolish the rear wall of the facility, providing us with an alternate exit." Teal'c suggested, remembering that the building's back wall faced an abandoned alleyway.

"Yeah, but getting one could prove a problem." Daniel pointed out. He hung his head dejectedly. They had to do something, or the others would never make it out of here alive.

"Well, do we have anything to use instead of them?" Vala looked around, as if expecting to see a grenade in any corner.

"That's it!" Sam exclaimed, stepping forward. "I think I can rig one of the zats to overload and explode. We'll have only two weapons left, but the explosion may be small enough not to be heard outside. We can sneak out of the village through the narrow alleyways."

"Let's do it, then." Cam slapped his hands together and took off in a trot back through the corridors to the back of the building with the rest of SG-1 close behind him.

Sam pried open one of the zats, took out something small, green and glowing which looked like a power source, fiddled a little with it and placed it between the bricks of the wall. She then took another zat, motioned everyone to get clear, backed off to safety and fired. The explosion was surprisingly small - Sam knew what she was doing. It wasn't loud at all but it weakened the brick wall enough for them to make a hole big enough to squeeze through.

"Okay, kids, we have two zats and three knives. Vala and Jackson, take the zats. We're better with knives than you." Everybody moved to obey Cam's order... except Daniel.

"Actually, I'm the best with knives..." Daniel sighed at the looks. "I'll tell you later. Trust me." While you still can, he thought bitterly.

So it was Cam, Daniel and Sam with knives and Teal'c and Vala with zats. The team, once outside, crept through alleyways and narrow streets, hiding in every shadow. Once they got out of the vicinity of the main square, everything was eerily quiet. They haven't seen anyone in the last few minutes.

Finally, it occured to Vala. "It must be Prostration Day! That's why no one's here; they're all on the main square!" she whispered urgently. "Or maybe they're just celebrating their enemy's 'death'..." she mused, sending a grin towards Daniel.

He smiled. They seemed to be taking it OK for now... He didn't know what their theories were, but he was sure they all had one that helped them cope for the moment. And he was also sure they were all wrong. Daniel could see their relief that he was back, though they were obviously very shaken, and they kept sending him curious glances, watching him closely. But he felt glad they seemed to trust him for now. Probably making up for the lack of trust in that horrible time when he would have needed it most... when he and Merlin let themselves to be turned into a Prior. And now he'll have to go home and tell them someting he never wanted to tell, someting that will probably convince them that they shouldn't have trusted him at all. To tell them about Immortals, about the Game...Gods, they'll never understand.

Daniel almost stopped in shock. He thought "gods". Daniel never thought or said that. Inao did, and even that was a long time ago, he gave up the habit centuries earlier. Well, he supposed, he really was Inao again - not entirely yet, but he would be once he found an abandoned place and let that all-consuming energy to fully come to the surface. But his memories were already starting to resurface, not in the usual flashbacks every Immortal had, but more subtly - in feelings and thoughts. It worried him, but he knew he wasn't back to "normal" yet.

For now, though, he had to focus on their escape.

They almost made it undetected. SG-1 was at the edge of the vilage - still almost half a mile from the Gate. There was no more cover; the only chance was to run and hope nobody spotted them. But even as they looked around to see if the way was clear, they heard shouts - their escape had been discovered. The prostration was probably over and the villagers must have realized the guards weren't at their posts. The team bolted; this would be one hell of a sprint.

Soon staff blasts started flying past them as the pursuing guards got close enough to shoot. Daniel deliberately lagged behind, constantly glancing back. If a shot came for one of his friends, he was determined to take it as it would do him no real harm. Teal'c and Vala were firing their zats backwards, hitting enough of the guards to protect the team, but a few blasts reached them anyway. In a short time, all of them got some mild burns, always ducking out of the blast's way just in time to avoid getting seriously hurt.

Nearing the Gate, Inao turned and hurled his knife at the guard whose shots managed to graze Teal'c's leg and Sam's arm. The weapon flew through the air with perfect precision and hit the man's forehead - with its handle, knocking him unconscious. Daniel sprinted the last few meters to the DHD, dived behind it and began punching in the combination for the Alpha Site upside-down, hiding behind the device as much as possible.

The others took cover behind the Gate's platform. As the Stargate roared to life, they all moved; Cam and Sam made it while the two zats provided cover fire. Vala and Teal'c moved next, firing continuously to give Daniel time to reach the Gate, then they stepped through when he was two meters away. Daniel saw a blast heading for the spot where they disappeared. He dived...

...and arrived rolling through the Gate at the Alpha Site, the staff blast passing over everyone's heads and slamming into the wall leaving a nasty scorch mark. Sam yelled, "close the Iris!" and the trinium slammed shut followed by a few thuds as the Gate shut down. Daniel got to his feet. They had made it.

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P.S.: So... you like extra long chapters, yes? I hope you do! I know it may have been confusing for those who still don't know what I'm talking about, but don't worry, explanations are next.

And don't be too afraid of this Daniel/Inao thing. Inao's not that different from Daniel. It may seem strange, but that's what he's the most afraid of: that his friends will have a hard time understanding that he's still the same person. After all, he couldn't have been acting for 11 years, could he? Don't worry, he'll still be our Daniel... mostly. (grin) You'll like Inao. Just wait for him to fully appear. It may take some time though...

Please tell me if you liked this!