Hello all! A huge huge thank you to all who commented on chapter 8 and welcomed me back. Yes, there is a chapter 8, so go back and read it if you haven't before you read this! :D It is so nice to know that some people are finding this fic after doing a re-read of the original, thank you so very much for letting me know, it is very appreciated! This is a slightly shorter chapter, but I hope you enjoy it none the less. It's time for a change in pace, and I think I might have went from first to fifth gear in one clean movement with this one! As always, your feedback/comments are very much appreciated!
Bann's house was surprisingly small. It seemed that the gentle giant did not go for the ostentatious extravagance that a lesser man in his position might do, living a simple ordinary life far removed from what his stature would normally dictate. Despite the fact that they were to have spent the night here anyway, the team felt like they were trespassing on Bann's privacy as Sanac showed them the house. The troubled Muin checked the security of the house even though he had already stationed guards outside, but given what had happened earlier, he hardly trusted even himself to guarantee the safety of these humans. As Teyla led Rodney towards a large couch in what was the living room, Sanac retreated to a shadowed part of the room and stood silently in the dark, observing and vigilant.
Rodney allowed Teyla to sit him down on the couch, where he shook uncontrollably while gibbering rubbish, both traumatized and in great shock. He would mumble for a few minutes before crying out in bursts of heightened emotion and fear that pained the others to see him suffer. Teyla tried to soothe him, but he didn't seem to be able to hear her words, in fact, he didn't seem to know that any of them were there at all as he looked straight ahead with wide horror filled eyes that rarely blinked. After fifteen minutes of this, his shaking increased and a sheen of sweat burst over his forehead. Seeing this, Ronon took off his coat and placed it over Rodney's shoulders, only to look on with fright as the colour drained quickly from the man's face before he slipped sideways onto the couch, slack jawed and vacant looking. The sight alarmed Teyla who queried whether the blood on his clothes was actually his own from an injury they did not know of. But John, having seen Rodney experience a hypoglycemic attack too many times to count, reassured her as he automatically reached into his pocket and pulled out the emergency hypo kit he carried in case of this very situation. He had almost lost McKay on a mission to an extreme sugar low, and had made sure he always carried the glucose syringe kit in case he was ever faced with it again. Kneeling beside Rodney, he opened the kit and pushed the thin needle into McKay's upper arm, slowly pressing the contents of the syringe into his bloodstream. Despite the amount of food he must have consumed at the party, John knew that Rodney had experienced something so traumatic that he had probably used up his energy just to get through it and the resultant shock must have robbed him of his last vestiges of energy, sending his blood sugar levels plummeting into his boots. When some colour came back into his cheeks, John sighed, placed a cushion beneath Rodney's head and pulled Ronon's coat over him like a blanket.
"Best let him sleep for a while." John muttered as he got to his feet, placing the spent syringe back into the hypo kit for disposal.
He sighed unhappily, biting at his lower lip as he wondered how the hell such a joyous occasion had become the horror show which they now found themselves part of. How had Rodney McKay found himself in the midst of the unexplained carnage, standing as the sole survivor of an attack from some kind of assailant that placed fear in the eyes of Bann and Sanac, the strongest people he knew?
He watched as Ronon paced the floor like a hungry animal, growing more agitated and angry the more he had to listen to the terrified whispers and mumbles that left Rodney's lips as he slept. He saw Teyla gently lift Rodney's head and placed it upon her knees as she sat down next to him, her eyes glistening with tears as she stroked his head like she would her son's when trying to sooth him from a nightmare.
He watched his team, coming apart at the seams for a reason he was not sure of as he himself became increasingly distressed at the thought of what Rodney had witnessed. He turned to look at Sanac, who appeared as if he had become a mere statue clad in armor, like a polished showpiece of protection that held no emotion or feeling towards the scene before it. The Muin neither blinked or looked at him from the darkness, continuing to stare ahead, completely unaffected by the pacing, the tears or the frightened whispers. Irritated at the cold and unmoving being, John tore off his dinner jacket and threw it on one of the couches before striding up to Sanac to stand before him.
"What is a Tanyak?" He asked, becoming even more irritated when Sanac did not reply.
The Muin appeared to ignore him, remaining silent for a long time and John was just about to shout the question when Sanac's deep voice sounded, low and bitter and filled with anger as he took a step back into the light.
"A demon be it. A creature vile. Scourge of days olden believed to been long time gone."
John stared at him, waiting on more.
"Tanyak a Muoan word be, in tongue of yours and others, it be known more as a Nenec. Planet far once off, Nenec known not to wander from own far planet. Nenec destroyed, ohhh many times long gone by Muoan fathers and mothers great long gone. Nenec extinct meant to be. Muoan fathers and mothers fought side along the mighty Atlantean leaders to make Nenec extinct. Scourge, demon, gone long memory, but here tonight."
John was sure he could detect a flicker of fear in those large dark eyes and if Sanac held fear for these creatures, John felt bloody well terrified. He had seen with is own eyes what these Nenec creatures did to many a big broad Muin assassin, and it made him sick to think of such a power being loose not just in the city, but anywhere.
"Why were your ancestors and the ancients so intent on exterminating the Nenec if they rarely left their own planet?" He asked.
"Nenec discovered planets other, held fuel more than own. Devoured planets for it. Scourge as large as Wraith be now."
"How many do you think were here tonight?"
"Single one Tanyak Nenec." Sanac replied, sending chills through John's body. One, solitary Nenec had killed all of those Muin? That statement alone stopped Ronon in his pacing.
"What do they look like, what are their strengths and weaknesses?" The Satedan growled from across the room.
"Blackest as night, with blue fire scaling, yellow eyes with slits not round black. Walk large tall on two, walk large low on four and weakness none."
"No weaknesses? Come on, surely there is a way to kill these things? You said they were nearly extinct!"
"Yes, extinct we thought told, evidently but not. Muoan fathers and mothers and mighty Atlanteans, destroyed Nenec planet homeworld, T'ny'k." Sanac finally moved his eyes to look at John, dark pits that bore into him with that fear he had seen present once more. "Took T'ny'k be to destroyed to kill Nenec. Other way never was found, annihilation way only to rid of scourge."
John looked towards Ronon who stared back with a look not often found on his face; fear. Here they were faced with a creature that no one had ever found a way to kill, not even the Ancients had found a way, other than to destroy the planet the creatures lived on. Not just that, but this creature was so strong and powerful that it had apparently been a single Nenec that had completely devastated a group of powerful, experienced Muin warriors. John's eyes fell on Rodney's sleeping form and once again he asked himself the question, why was Rodney still alive?
"Pray thanks be, that Meetur Rodney be only small. He been had kneeling behind Nalli Kalisat's body, lost probably in fight, might it been of saving his life." Sanac said as if he had read John's mind.
"We have to get back to Atlantis." John said, grabbing his jacket and pulling it on.
Sanac placed a hand on John's shoulder to stop him, bringing Ronon to John's side in an instant. No matter what Ronon might have intended, Sanac looked anything but intimidated.
"Nowhere tonight be you going Meetur John. Bann-Sagee placed you under care of me. Here safe be for night."
"But there might be information on the Atlantis database about these Nenec, and Rodney needs to be seen by our doctor!"
"When Bann-Sagee say let go you, then only I let go you." Sanac said, dropping his hand from John's shoulder as he disappeared back into the darkness. "Safe here be Meetur John, on word of mine as Muin Warrior, here safe be all you for night."
John quietly despaired as he finally took a seat to wait on Bann, hoping that he would not be gone for very long.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o
His second wakening was less confusing than his first. This time he felt as if there was more of him, what this meant he was not entirely sure, but he felt more alive, more whole than he had the last time he had woken. He found himself in a completely different place than before, the flying room had been replaced by a strange town that he was sure he recognised but did not quite know how.
He was walking upright, down a path that was lined with towering furred beasts and something about them scared him. It wasn't until he had passed by the forth beast that a memory began to surface in his confused mind that stopped him in his tracks, his keen eyes staring at the fifth creature ahead of him, recognizing the patterns of light he could see dancing in its head.
Then in a moment of clarity that struck him hard, he remembered what these beasts were and where he thought he was probably standing. He shook his head as many more memories began to flood his mind and he walked to the centre square of land and sat down, holding his head as the awful truth hit him.
These creatures, he knew them because he had seen them storm his village and had learned of them through his Kin-fa and Kin-ma. These huge beasts had been part of the force that had attacked his planet, leaving only his family and too few others that had been able to flee before his planet was completely destroyed. The longer he sat there, the more memories surfaced and soon he found himself remembering more than he wanted to.
He remembered the day his Kin-fa told him the truth of why they kept themselves hidden from others. He told him of other creatures hatred of his kind, the reason why they were hunted to almost extinction. His father had told him of the importance of hiding, and the importance of splitting up the remaining survivors. There were not many of them left, but those who remained had sworn to one day avenge the death of their entire civilization, by growing stronger throughout the galaxy before joining forces to strike a deadly blow at their murderers.
Memories were flowing fast through his mind now, and he remembered his Kin-ma and her songs of the planet they had been forced to flee, her voice singing of the great lakes of fire and the warm earth they had once lived beneath. He could almost smell the air of his home world and felt great sorrow at not being able to ever go there again.
With tears in his eyes, he remembered the day the Ring Makers had finally discovered his family's hiding place, and how they were all held captive in a terrible beam of fire. He remembered the way in which their captors had disposed of his Kin-ma and Kin-fa before his very eyes as he was walled up in the beam of blue flames that did not burn him, but contained him. He watched as his Kin were hurled into space, floating away to die a horrible death, into a cold dark grave for eternity and he vowed then that if he should survive, he would kill every last being involved in the destruction of his species. He vowed that he would find the remnants of his once huge population in hopes that they had multiplied enough to form an army to show the galaxy that they would not be thrown into oblivion by the hands of anyone.
As he sat there, he went to wipe a tear from his eye and stopped to stare at his hand, realizing it wasn't his hand at all. These were little hands, with nails instead of claws, thin white skin instead of leathery black scaled skin! He had wondered why the furred beasts looked so big, it was because he was smaller, this was not his body! It took him some time to remember the final atrocity forced upon him and when it hit him, he vomited at his side, his memory complete in all it's terrible glory.
He had been forced to stay in the beam of blue fire, crying for the loss of his family while trying to escape the blue beam that held him in place. As they moved him from one ship to another, he pleaded for his life, but no one listened to his cries. Instead, once in their magnificent city, they placed him upon a large raised square beneath some type of array, keeping him in the center while they pressed buttons on their contraptions that held no meaning for him. Then it was with a scream of terror and complete agony that he felt his body disintegrate, piece by piece from his feet upwards, feeling as if he was being ripped apart cell by bloody cell.
Then he woke up, in a flying ship, with creatures he had never seen before. But this mind he was now in was perfectly full of all kinds of information, and he found he could easily access it. So he accessed that information and pieced together what had happened to him and how he came to be in this body, and also, he discovered that he knew exactly what planet he was on now and what its inhabitants were.
"Meetur Rodney, ok are you?"
He nodded his head and got back to his feet, turning to look into the huge Muin's eyes. He watched as the warriors eyes opened wide, knowing what it was the beast was seeing before him. He knew his eyes were glowing, knew that he was growing larger by the moment and that the light within him was shining through these unfamiliar eyes. As he used his own and this "Meetur Rodney's" knowledge, he set forth a violent change in this strange body that would allow him to bring forth his own natural state and within seconds, the first Nenec seen on Muo for centuries, was as huge and fearsome as they had been reported to be and was tearing bloody shreds out of the huge Muoan before him.
As soon as the first went down, the alarm went out and soon there was at least twenty more of the filthy abominations attacking him but he pulled on his deepest strength and became what his Kin-fa had been before him, a hell-nen, feared warrior of T'ny'k. One after another a Muoan was cut to shreds as he bellowed and exacted his first revenge on the flesh of the beasts descended from those who killed his own and he felt the blue fire rage through his body, allowing him to kill more than he had thought possible. Their screams and his roars filled the air as his thirst for blood went on unabated and mighty Muin Warriors fell beneath claws and teeth and brute force.
Then, suddenly, he felt his strength fade, as if someone had simply pulled the plug on his energy and soon he was loosing the ability to keep his shape, reverting back to the body in which he had awoken. His thirst to kill was unabated and although he tried to force this stupid body to move again, he knew he was losing control and slipping back into darkness. As he faded away, he wondered if he would ever have the chance to come forth again, dearly wishing that he would.
He was Daraal S'unu't after all, Hell-nen of T'ny'k, and he would have his revenge.
It was then that Rodney blinked and looked around himself, seeing nothing but bloody slabs of flesh and fur strewn around him in dark pools of thick cooling blood. He watched as one Muin dragged his torn body closer, reaching for a hold of Rodney's leg and he was too terrified to move. He saw fleeting images pass through his mind that made him numb with terror, had he done this? It seemed as if it could had been as in the images shifting through his mind, he could see his own hands, but not his own hands ripping through soft flesh. He could not understand what his mind was showing him, was it him that did this or not? If indeed these images where real, WHY had he done this?! Why had he awoken to find his hands tearing through the stomach of a Muin? Why did he relentlessly claw at the spine of a Muin warrior as if his very life depended on it? Why was he now standing in a pile of bodies that he himself had apparently built, one of which had been a friend he had shared lunch with? Rodney felt his mind come unhinged as he tried to make sense of the images in his mind and when the dying Muin finally managed to grab hold of his leg, Rodney's brain almost shut down as he watched the fading life behind the Muin's dark eyes.
"Meetur Rodney...tell them...Nenec" He had said with his final breath and Rodney knelt beside the body of Nalli Kalisat as the big Muin's eyes closed in finality.
"Nenec...nenec...nenec..." He repeated the word over and over. Even when Sanac, Bann's trusted guard tried to make him stop, he continued to screech the word until his throat became sore and his mouth, dry.
When Sanac left to find help, Rodney found himself within a formation of Muin guards, many of whom could barely look at him, and he stood there for a long time, rooted to the spot as blood dried on his hands and clothes.
Hearing a noise he turned to see John, Teyla, Ronon, Sanac and Bann, staring at him. He could see the horror on their faces, the disgust and revulsion in their eyes and the moment he spoke John's name, Rodney McKay's mind simply shattered into a million fragments of pain and confusion.
TBC...Feed meh cookie comments!
