When Daniel awoke, he was first confused as to why he had slipped away from unconsciousness. The sudden clanging of boots from outside the cell quickly cleared that up and Daniel attempted to shake away the cobwebs from his exhausted mind. Looking down in his arms, he found Sam just as she had fallen asleep, her head resting on his chest and her arms limp. She was completely cold. Cold and unmoving. Daniel had to close his eyes again for a few seconds in order to stop the tears from welling up, and he cursed silently under his breath. Hugging the body tightly, he pressed his cheek against the top of her head and apologized in slow whispers, trying to convince himself that he could somehow bring her back to life. It was cruel that she was gone. It was unfair and wrong that she was lying dead in his arms after everything she had been through.
The guards entered the cell and marched up to Daniel, grabbing the body of Sam and roughly pulling her aside without any hesitation. He tried to hold onto her but the guards were too strong, tossing her into a pathetic heap on the ground. The thought that she was just a cold body didn't cross Daniel's mind and he reared up in anger, punching the guard in the face with a cry of hate.
"Leave her alone," he spat, attempting to break free of the three other pair of hands that clutched at him. His actions took on a ferocious violent nature as all of the pain and hate and agony crashed down onto him and he snarled as he tried to fight his way free. His friend was dead. He was probably going to follow her soon enough. Tears stung at his eyes as he caught glimpses of Sam's body tossed onto the ground, and he let out a stream of curse words as the Jaffa began to drag him out of the cell. A punch to his face and a jab to his ribs silenced the cursing archeologist, and they started their journey down the hall. It seemed colder than usual. Daniel tried to blink away the stars from his beating as they neared the familiar door to Máahes' chamber, and he felt his heart cry out at the thought of more torture. His mind briefly flashed to Sam's thigh and to the knowledge that there were three more of those creatures waiting.
"He is a false god," Daniel growled, spitting out blood onto the floor. He was pretty sure his words would do nothing to the men surrounding him. One of the guards gave him a sneer.
"Yet he crushes you like you were a small insect." There were chuckles from the other guards and Daniel attempted to break free with a quick pull by his left arm. He head-butted the guard in the face and turned to deal with the other but was once again punched in the face. Another guard took the opportunity to kick his legs out from under him and he went crashing to the ground, hitting the floor hard and bruising his arm and ribs in the process. They pulled him back up and entered into the chamber, literally tossing Daniel forward and unceremoniously onto the ground. He landed with another hard thud and lost his breath, tightening his hands into fists as he struggled to breath.
"Daniel?" The sharp voice was laced with worry, surprise, and above all: relief. Daniel blinked a couple of painful times and looked up from his position on the ground. He blinked a few more times and furrowed his eyebrows together to make sure that what he was seeing was actually true.
"Jack?" he wheezed in confusion, trying to get up. One of the Jaffa kicked him sharply in the side which caused him to crash back onto the floor.
"Hey, leave him alone," Jack barked from where he was kneeling on the floor a couple of feet away. Teal'c was in a similar position a few feet away from Jack and both of them had their eyes intently glued on Daniel's writhing figure.
"What a pleasure of you to join us Daniel," Máahes purred, waving a hand nonchalantly from where he was sitting at his throne. Four guards stood behind Teal'c and Jack, making sure that the two didn't make any sudden movement. The four guards that had carried Daniel in departed, leaving only one to stand nearby in case the archeologist found some magical reserve strength to get back up.
"You filthy bastard, what have you done with him?" Jack's eyes were alight with hatred as his gaze flickered from Daniel to the Goa'uld.
"We've just been having some fun together, haven't we Daniel?" The Goa'uld stood and slowly made his way over to Daniel, circling him once before bending down and raising the man's face so that he could stare into his eyes. "I didn't know you had friends that would come looking for you," he murmured, annoyance flickering in his eyes.
"Fuck you," Daniel spat out, his eyes glossy with unshed grief. Máahes pretended to look taken aback, slapping Daniel across the face. It stung, but Daniel only offered a slight wince in return.
"Now now Daniel," he cooed. "Is this because of Samantha?" Standing, he briskly walked back over to his throne. "It's a shame with her, isn't it?" A small smile danced on his lips and his eyes narrowed into slits, giving him the expression of a sly serpent. Jack's mouth opened but then closed again, his eyebrows scrunching together in confusion. His eyes finally found Daniel's and Daniel had to look away from his questioning gaze.
"Carter…?" Jack questioned, hope and fear lacing through his voice. Daniel made his hands into fists before looking back at his friend.
"I'm sorry Jack," he breathed, his expression taking on one of anguish. "I'm so sorry…" There was silence as both Jack and Teal'c processed this information before Máahes laughed.
"You're all so pathetic," he stated simply, picking up the pain stick that had been sitting by his throne nonchalantly. "She was so beautiful but so stubborn. And there was so much blood." Before Máahes had the chance to say anything else, Jack had uncovered the zat hidden under his shirt and shot the Goa'uld straight on, not pausing to let the guards react. Teal'c immediately turned and literally assaulted two of the Jaffa, making quick work of both of them and shooting the third with one of the fallen Jaffa's staff weapon. Daniel kicked out with his leg, catching the Jaffa standing behind him off guard and causing him to stumble. The guard fumbled with his zat but Daniel lunged at his legs, bringing the man down onto the ground. With reserve energy, Daniel managed to knock the zat out of the Jaffa's hands but was quickly overpowered by the larger man.
Strong hands suddenly lifted the guard off of Daniel and the archeologist managed to catch a brief glimpse of Teal'c's murderous face before he mashed his forehead into the face of the guard. An extra punch rendered the Jaffa unconscious and his body was dumped onto the ground. Teal'c carefully helped Daniel back onto his feet, holding his arm steady and grasping Daniel's shoulder with his other arm.
"Thanks Teal'c," Daniel said weakly, studying the man's face and thinking that he had never been happier to see the giant in his life.
"It is good to see you Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said with a slight upward turn of his lips. Daniel smiled in return, and Teal'c carefully let go of the man to collect stray weapons from the fallen Jaffa. Daniel stood by himself for a few seconds before he felt his legs give way, but Jack's arms grabbed his shoulders, steadying him. Daniel blinked and looked up at Jack's eyes, seeing the relief and pain radiating from them. Jack then roughly embraced Daniel and the embrace was returned, Daniel closing his eyes and clutching at Jack's shirt.
"Don't you ever disappear again, you hear me spacemonkey," Jack said gruffly, finally allowing himself a hint of emotion as he held onto Daniel.
"I'm sorry Jack," Daniel repeated again, softer this time. Jack withdrew from his hug and grabbed the side of Daniel's face, forcing the man to look him in the eye.
"None of this is your fault, you hear me?" Jack knew what Daniel was doing and wouldn't allow it. Daniel nodded, ducking his head. "Can you walk?" Jack asked, and the man in front of him nodded again, raising his gaze to look back into his eyes. "Well then let's go home."
"We can't leave her here," Daniel blurted out, suddenly afraid of the idea of leaving Sam's body behind. Not after everything she had gone through.
"We need you to show us the way." Daniel nodded, focusing on taking steady steps as they turned toward the door. A zat was handed to him by Teal'c and he nodded his thanks. He glanced behind him to look at Máahes' limp body, thinking of all the terrible things he wanted to do to that man. Exiting the chamber, Daniel couldn't help but feel the relief of how nice it was to walk through those doors by his own free will. He only wished that Sam was walking with him.