Ilijah had explained it all that night.

Ewan's family had been the Spiritual Channel of the village for generations, that much was true. The Spiritual Channel used to be a messenger between the Ancients in Atlantis and the other settlers.

"The reason behind it all," Ilijah continued. "Has become quite confusing over time. Who can say now how much of what we know is fact and what has become muddled through the years."

The sanctuary was a testing base for Ancients to experiment in guiding other races to Ascension or looking for a way of expanding the Ancient gene to find more to fight the Wraith. It wasn't clear.

What was clear was that the Channel was the middleman that helped the word along that Ascension was the ultimate escape from the Wraith terror. Other planets were asked for their spiritually inclined and in doing so the Ancients would get more test subjects and more information on Wraith activity across the galaxy. And then it had all stopped thousands of years ago. The village had no word and were cut off from Atlantis. The village had to fend for themselves.

But after a few years the settlers become restless and the Spiritual Channel panicked. He altered the shield exactly as Ewan has said; only those of Ancient descent could cross the shield. Everyone else was trapped inside. The Channel at the time had even gone so far as to remove the dialing device from the gate and hide it away in his cabin.

"Wait –" Kylie interrupted. "Your father can dial the gate?"

"Yes." Ilijah admitted. "Ours is the only bloodline of direct descent from the Ancients and our ancestors built the Channels cabin connected to Ancient machines. Father can dial as well as observe the Ring from home."

"But the village is so small. How have you been able to survive 10 000 years without everyone dying of inbreeding?"

"Our ancestors were cut off from Atlantis but not from the others. Over the generations other planets still sent us their Shamans, their Priestesses. Though it is true our numbers used to be much greater…"

Kylie's stomach turned and she felt dizzy.

"You said my friends were here. How could they have made it through the shield? They aren't all –"

"The shield broke very long ago."

"But then the people –"

"The root. It's the root…" Ilijah whispered. Kylie's blood ran cold and her hands flew to touch the skin of her exposed midriff. "It leaves you utterly compliant, in a constant state of euphoria, and you sleep like the dead. Ours is the only blood line immune to its effects. It was a medicine used for the violent or possessed but our ancestors began using it on the villagers out of fear once the shield was no longer an option. By then, though the danger seemed to have passed, the Channel had become obsessed with Ascending. The same is true of my father…"

"But –" Kylie's fingers curled into her flesh almost painfully in a will to make this all a lie. She knew it was selfish but she couldn't help herself. "My skin…"

"An unforeseen side effect." Replied Ilijah. "Father covered the food you were stealing in doses of the root to make it easier to convince you to stay in our village."

Kylie thought back to the night she'd been caught and recalled the compulsion to 'stop' when Ewan told her to. She was so passed upset that she felt hollow.

"Why would he want me to stay?" She spoke in barely more than a whisper.

"Those of the old worlds have either lost their traditions or been wiped out. No one comes through the Ring anymore." Kylie's stomach lurched. "At least, at first… but since you have begun sharing your practices Father is now convinced you are the key to his Ascension."

When Kylie didn't make to move or speak Ilijah pressed on.

"By the time you were given the first dose it was evident your body absorbed it differently." He continued. "You go though it faster than the others and it takes stronger doses to have any effect. I – I think it's why Father likes you so much… you're the only other that won't give him full control. You're not a tirelessly content puppet. It's also why Father has me picking the berries. He says you're unpredictable enough as it is he didn't want you finding something to question. The root makes you compliant to any demand but it doesn't make you forget."

Kylie took a deep breath and stood from her crouched stance, the position only serving as a reminder of her actions with Ewan a few hours prior.

"I must go. I can't take longer than the norm." Ilijah moved to pick up the basket of berries.

"Where are my friends being held?" Kylie spit out suddenly.

"In the cabin." He turned to leave. "It's not as it seems, I know that well enough. You can even cast doubt on the walls themselves." And like that he was gone.

Catching a glimpse of a lightening sky overhead Kylie followed his lead and snuck back into her cabin.

Kylie formed a plan in an instant, thinking that it would be best to keep it simple and straight forward. She need only go so far as to let the team out of their prison and then it was easy to get through one man. Right? It's not like he has an arsenal in there. Does he? In truth Kylie was hesitating because there was so much she was clueless about. Who knows what Ancient weapons Ewan had stashed away in there? Was it really just one man, after all? If the entire village was compliant, how far would they go to follow his every order? And what of her friends? What if they had been fed the root as well, what if she opened the door and they refused to leave?

So many things she wished she could ask Ilijah only now that was impossible. Especially since Ewan now came to join her every evening for the meal and root tea, she had no choice but to drink it. By the time she fell asleep not even a rocket ship taking off from her bed would have woken her. But Kylie drew confidence from the knowledge that if she could fight through three doses a day, drinking the one at night should be no problem. There was also the hope that knowing she was being influenced would help her fight it.

It seemed fate and time were on her side, passing only two days before Kylie found her moment. Midday, after the noon meal, one of the cows went into labour and required Ewan's full attention. She ignored the physical discomfort and nausea that came from ignoring Ewan's suggestion of tending to the garden and headed straight for his cabin, slipping inside quickly. Her feeling of something being off magnified by a hundred as soon as she set foot inside.

For such a big cabin it sure feels pretty cramped in here.

It looked like the other cabins except on a slightly grander scale. Carpets, furniture, fire place, all much more luxurious than the home of anyone else in the village. There were mirrors and tapestries all around the walls and a desk piled high with books on Ascension and Ancient technology. Ewan's room and Ilijah's room were practically bare in comparison to the rest of the cabin.

She looked everywhere, desperate for any hint of real Ancient tech but came up empty. There must have been a lever somewhere to open some sort of dungeon, where else could her friends be?

There's not even a closet to stuff them in. Unless Ilijah had been lying… But –

There was the shuffle of feet walking up to the cabin and her heart slammed to a stop, she felt like she was boiling even in the shade of the cabin. Why does it have to come to this? If Kylie were to be caught before she had opened the prison then there was absolutely no hope for her or anyone else. But what other reason could there be for her to be here? The footsteps seemed to Kylie's nerves as louder than a gunshot. Kylie held her breath and covered her ears. Don't be a fool. Don't be a fool. You need to risk really being compliant if it means getting out of here.

Compliant but barely she reminded herself. I'm already known for being 'unpredictable' so give him a good dose of unpredictable! Sneak back in later to let them out.

She grabbed the flowers out of the nearest vase and quickly tore off the petals, making a pile on the table. She pulled her skirt down so it fit more snug on her hips and fluffed up her breasts, tucking her hair over one shoulder, leaving the side of her neck facing the door exposed. She grabbed more flowers and moved slowly to make a show of taking the petals off the stems. The creak of the cabin door seemed to echo on forever. When the door swung open in it's entirety she feigned surprise and clutched a hand to her chest.

"What do you think you're doing in here?!" Ewan's voice boomed through the cramped cabin.

"Ewan! What are you doing back so soon?" She spoke lightly and attempted a jovial tone. "You ruined the surprise."

"I thought I told you –" He slammed the door behind him and marched over to her, eying the room around them cautiously, catching his reflection a time or two in the full length mirror hanging beside them with a barely contained smug expression. "What surprise, m'lady?"

"The one you just ruined." She teased. "I thought I'd have more time. I don't know about your animals here but where I come from birth takes a while."

"Nothing but a false start, Kylie." He purred her name in that delicious way he always does. "Now what surprise was so important you had to ignore my wishes, twice, and let yourself into my cabin?"

"Well, I didn't like ignoring your wishes, darling. But you're always working so hard for us all I thought you would enjoy a reprieve after the hours it takes to aid a birth. Although," She set the petals down. "I suppose since the labour was false you won't need all that… release."

"And just what, pray tell, were you planning on doing with these?" Ewan asked softly in his deep rolling voice. He joined her at the table barely a hairs breath away and picked up the petals, drawing lazy shapes with them over the skin of her breasts.

Kylie let out a sigh and held onto his waist. "Well, I was going to lay them across the bed and lay myself across the petals and be ready for you when you walked through the door. There may have been more to it but I can't think straight when you're doing that." They chuckled together warmly.

Though confusion flooded Kylie she refused to let it show on her face. Regardless of what Ilijah claimed as Ewan's motivations she had been the one to initiate a physical relationship. To Kylie's memory he had not once used the roots compliancy to obtain sex and any time she said no or asked to stop he did so respectfully. No… Ewan had seduced her another way. He had seduced her emotionally. Pushed her to the point where she was so enraptured by the man before her her body couldn't help but follow where her heart had begun to wander.

He's been so tender and the sex has been surreal. How can he be so terrible? She understood it to be the reality of the situation but still couldn't fathom how all of that could reside in one man.

She couldn't make sense of it. But still she had no qualms in using their physical intimacy as a cover for her real intension behind her presence in his cabin. Have great sex today, pull off a successful rescue mission tomorrow. Seemed reasonable to her. Afterall, if Ewan really was as cunning and manipulative as Ilijah made it seem the only way around that was going nice and steady. There could be no room for suspicion.

"All the better." Ewan breathed against her skin as he nuzzled her neck. "I far more enjoy the gifts I open myself." He pulled her into a searing kiss before turning her around and pinning her back to him, grinding himself slowly into her ass. "Don't you find the anticipation of the unveiling heightens the experience for you?" He whispered into her ears before reaching into her top and pulling it down, exposing her breasts, which peaked as the fresh air hit her nipples. She moaned as he roughly grabbed and rolled the peaks between his fingers. She tilted her head further sideways, inviting him to kiss and bite along her neck and shoulders. An invitation he accepted enthusiastically. She pressed backwards against him already in need of that sweet friction.

"Touch yourself." He commanded, as his hand moved away from her breasts and made it's way down into her skirt. She obliged happily and began kneading her breasts with both hands as he rubbed his fingers across her clit. He let out that low lustful growl of approval she always enjoyed and her eyes fluttered shut. She didn't notice that he angled them to face one of the mirrors head on. He worked her clit furiously and as he saw her growing close to climax he exclaimed, "LOOK." Ewan forced her head straight on to the mirror though her eyes were still shut. "Open your eyes, I want you to watch yourself as I make you cum." Kylie's eyes shot open without hesitation just as Ewan's fingers coaxed out a mind numbing orgasm.

"Tell me you love me." Came Ewan's breathy command.

"I love you." Came Kylie's instant reply. And she felt it instantly, the bitterness that followed the lie. They had never claimed to love each other before though they had made comments about care and trust (ha!) It was the first time Ewan had ever used complacency to really command anything from her. Definitely a first when it came to affection. Kylie felt at a loss but had to pretend nothing was amiss.

"No." He said urgently as he smoothed back her hair and cupped her face with both hands. "No, tell me you really love me." He shone with desperation and it magnified the lines adorning his face. Kylie's heart wrenched in genuine concern for the man before her, so obviously confused and lonely, having never heard a sincere incompliant word in his life. She wished she could give him that and, under different circumstances, she would have gladly. She hesitated before she spoke already feeling that uncomfortable sensation that came with going against one of his suggestions.

"I really love you." She held eye contact hoping that he would overlook her hesitation and believe her but she grew worried when a pained expression surfaced. He clenched his hands into fists, pulling her hair in the process.

"No, no, no." He muttered under his breath. "TELL ME YOU LOVE ME." He bellowed within an inch from her face.

"I love you! I do, I love you, Ewan." She begged her heart to stop racing and remember the euphoric reaction of the root that went along with the complacency. She forced the tremble from her voice and offered a small smile. "Truly."

He hit her with a punishing kiss, one with enough force that if he hadn't had a painful grip on her hair would have knocked her back in shock. He let out a pained cry as he released her and ripped her skirt off.

"Brace your hands against the mirror." She did as she was told, her heart racing. She had really felt the compulsion that time. She watched his reflection as he moved about behind her, studying her from every angle with a mad look in his eye. "Open your legs wide." Came another command. She fought the compulsion but her feet followed his orders regardless. His hands grabbed her hips and her stomach dropped. Never before had he used the roots effects for sex and his hands on her now made her want to vomit. She was so ill at the thought of what was happening she could practically feel the mirror vibrating under the palms. Kylie glanced up at his reflection to see his eyes were shut just as tight as his aching grip on her hips.

"Tell me you love me." He commanded again, still with his eyes shut tight. Pushing passed the discomfort and nausea she refused the compulsion and refused to let him do this – to either of them. Quick as she could Kylie grabbed the now empty vase sitting idly on the table beside them, whipped around, and brought it crashing down on his head.

"Oh Ewan…" she dropped the broken vase next to his unconscious body and redressed quickly, putting her skirt back on and tucking her breasts back into her shirt. She studied her reflection in the mirror quickly and found herself looking quite disheveled with hair in every direction, swollen lips, bites, and bruises. Choking back a sob she rested her forehead against the cool of the glass.

Except that the glass wasn't cool, it was warm and pulsing. Confused, she pulled back and nearly tripped over the table leg, catching the corner to keep herself from falling her hand landed on the pile of petals. She picked one up and studied it, a thought suddenly occurring to her.

The petals look sharp and yet they're soft as a feather… What was it Ilijah said? 'The cabin… it's not as it seems.'

Her head jerked back up and she placed her palms against the glass feeling the heat once more. There must be some sort of tech on the other side! Are the mirrors concealing doors? She put her ear to the glass to hear that whirring or beeping sound of tech and was greeted instead with pulsing vibrations. In no particular pattern, so it couldn't have been from a device.

Skimming the sides of the mirrors lead nowhere, there were no levers, switches, latches, or anything that might reveal any secrets. She leaned against the tapestry in the effort of looking around the room but was jabbed in the side by something protruding the wall.

Of course! You're so thick, Kylie… Like sweeping the dirt under the rug, it's so obvious.

Pulling back the tapestry was the greatest moment in months. The sight of all those flashing lights and knobs, all the technology that was so familiar and just screamed 'home at Atlantis' was finally right there in front of her.

Kylie hazard a guess and flipped one of the switches. The mirror on the furthest side of the room revealed it's contents… causing Kylie to nearly reveal her lunch. The body of the elder that had died a week or so previous was propped up in some sort of stasis pod, an incision on her forehead showing the signs that Ewan had quite literally picked her brain about something. She turned away, turning that one back off.

She flipped the next and revealed what seemed to be some kind of Ancient switch board. Perhaps the way to dial the gate? Except she didn't know much about what she was looking at, she needed to focus on freeing the team and hope Rodney was in there with them.

The third mirror revealed a doorway which, Kylie realized as she poked her head inside, was a secret office and could in no way lead her to her friends.

She hit the switch for the fourth and final mirror.

Kylie wasn't sure if she was to jump for joy or dig herself an early grave. She couldn't breathe, couldn't move, and didn't know what she was supposed to do. She brought a hand up to her throat as if it could shield her body away from prying eyes but only felt more exposed than ever.

The vibrations behind the mirror hadn't been the movements of technology. Not even close. They had been Ronon's fists as he beat his fists soundlessly against the other side of the glass.

When Ronon realized Kylie was actually holding his gaze and not staring at a reflection he turned his head and seemed to say something, never taking his eyes off her. A split second later Sheppard, Teyla, and Rodney appeared around him.

They're here. All of them. She thought weakly. Followed by… They're here. All of them.

Her stomach lurched before she could stop herself and she ran, emptying her stomach contents into the corner of the room. She was shaking with shame and fury that they had been there the whole time and had seen everything. That Ronon had been there the whole time. That Ronon had seen everything. Keeping her eyes downward she moved back to the console under the tapestry in attempts to find how to remove the force field that kept them contained in their prison.

Through some trial and error there was finally an audible whoosh of air as their confinement opened. Except in her decision to not look at them, she didn't see their warning moments before she opened the door. As she took a triumphant step back, Kylie stepped straight into the arms of Ewan.

"STAY BACK." He yelled, his voice frantic. Something sharp was jabbing Kylie in the side of the neck and she was too petrified to try and glimpse what it was. "I'll do it, I will." Ronon's body jerked forward slightly and Ewan, twitchy with desperation, sunk the needle into Kylie's neck. Kylie knew immediately what he had done and as Ewan tossed the empty syringe to the side she looked back at him cautiously.

"You've always been a difficult one, Kylie. But not even you can fight a dose this size." He noticed the teams attempt at a stealthy attacked but halted them saying, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. I have your friends here under my total control. Observe. Kylie – hop on one foot." Kylie hopped on one foot, perfectly happy to do so, until he told her to stop. He said, holding up one of the side arms he had removed from the Atlantis team and offering it to her. "Now. Shoo–"

"NO! Papa, stop this!" Ilijah dove for Kylie to remove the gun from her hand, to remove the possibility of following through any order his father might give, but Ewan blocked his path and knocked him back with all his might. Ilijah, the frail boy he was, went flying from his fathers force and slammed his head against the stone of the fire place. He landed, lifeless, in a heap on the floor.

"Stupid boy…" Ewan whispered, tears falling freely. But he had become obsessed and not even this would distract him now. Kylie stood completely oblivious to her surroundings feeling so cheerful she might start humming at any moment. All voices around her seemed distant as if spoken through a thick fog. All voices save for Ewan's. "Kylie. Shoot them. Now."

"Ewan you don't have to do this. You can stop this." Came Sheppard's voice through the fog.

"Don't kill us. I mean, uh, why? Why kill us? You obviously have the means to control us, why kill us now and not before? I'm sure we can work something out." Rodney babbled away, voice cracking with tension, confusing Kylie. Until -

"This is wrong and you know it. Think of Kylie, how will she feel after she kills her friends. We were never here to harm you. This is wrong, Ewan." Came Teyla's voice through the fog.

"Wrong? What's wrong, Teyla?" Asked Kylie as she pointed the gun at McKay. She sounded as if someone had asked a simple 'have you seen my pen?' She even offered Teyla a friendly smile as her gun wavered and pointed at Sheppard.

"Kylie. Kylie listen to me." Ronon's voice cut through the fog and brought tears to Kylie's eyes. She looked demented standing there, gun drawn, a smile on her face, and tears flowing fast from unfocused eyes.

"Ronon…" She whispered.

"NO." Came another through the fog. "Kylie, that's enough, shoot them."

She felt her finger begin to squeeze the trigger.

"Kylie." Ronon roared in urgency. "Listen to me, hear my voice, not his."

"I thought you were dead." Came another broken whisper.

"I thought… there's no time for that now. No, Kylie. Listen to me. Do not shoot. Put the gun down. We're here to take you home."

Another urgent roar, but this time more demented, more desperate, from closer to Kylie's side. "Shoot them ALL. NOW, Kylie or I'll do it myself."

Kylie felt the compulsion. She so longed to give it to that invisible string that guided her actions along. It hurt every inch of her body and soul to go against the pull, it felt like her brain was on fire. Her whole body began to shake from the effort of resisting the pull. But it'll feel so good to go with the flow her body told her. I thought they were dead. If I do this, they really will be. Voiced her rational mind.

She shook, she strained, she must have looked like a possessed porcelain doll as her perfectly calm face emitted a cry of pure agony. She pushed through the blinding pain. And her finger pulsed on the trigger.

Ewan fell to the floor, blood gushing out of the bullet hole in his throat.

And yet, though Ewan lay dying, the compulsion insisted. Kill them all he had said. And her body would not let her forget that order.

"Kylie, it's over, what are you doing?" Came McKay's panic through the ever thickening fog.

Again she shook, she strained, she pushed, and yet her hand would not release the trigger.

If they try to pry this away from me, someone surely will die…

So it was easily decided. She commanded herself, commanded her body, if you really have to shoot someone…

Another POP sounded out and Kylie collapsed on the floor.

Hey everyone! I feel like this was a really big chapter for me and I gave it my all. I debated so many different ways to go about it. I would really appreciated some feedback! Thank you so much for reading!