Author's note: Hope all of you enjoy this chapter. Winterelf, you get your wish.

-oOo-

Chapter 11: Planes of existence

Rodney stared at John's motionless form in shocked horror, stunned silence and growing panic. That was it! Nobody was going to stop him from making his way to Sheppard now! Crawling on all fours, gasping, grimacing and wincing in pain, he hurriedly made his way to John's side.

Nononononono! Please, don't be dead! Please, don't be dead! His mind cried out over and over again. As he approached closer to the limp form, he noticed the staring and unfocused eyes which worried the heck out of him. Sheppard couldn't be dead! Sheppard always made it out of dangerous situations alive, he was going to be alright, he was going to be fine, Rodney tried to convince himself.

At that last battle, just as Sheppard screamed out his shout of defiance; Rodney had seen beams of silver-blue and golden rays of light shoot out from the Colonel's body. At the same time, the Darkness that Sheppard had spoken about manifested itself for the first time for all to see. Rodney had witnessed in horror and stunned disbelief as he watched Sheppard being held tightly in the grip of the dark pulsating cloud. Even from where he was, he could sense the malice and wanton destruction radiating out from the dark imposing cloud above him. He sensed that it was killing Sheppard somehow. Yet, to his amazement, he watched in wonder as he saw the beams of light shoot out from Sheppard's body to slice into the black cloud, ultimately destroying it in an impressive yet blinding wave of explosion that literally lit up the sky just as the eclipse ended. He could not for the life of him fathom how Sheppard did what he just did, but he had been impressed by it nonetheless.

Now, as he reached the colonel's bruised and injured form, his fear and anxiety heightened to new heights. For an instance, he thought that he had arrived too late until he saw the slow rise and fall of Sheppard's chest indicating that the colonel still lived. There was a thin trail of blood leaking from the side of Sheppard's mouth, indicating that Sheppard had either bitten something inside his mouth or something had punctured his lung. Looking into the colonel's eyes, he was startled to see them flickering eerily between blue and gold. The alternating colours freaked Rodney out. He knew that it was scientifically impossible, and yet, here he was, witnessing the colour of John's eyes change even as he watched.

"Sheppard, don't you dare friggin' die here! Do you hear me, Sheppard?! You destroyed the Darkness, kicked its bad-ass butt, saved all of us, so don't be a damn idiot and kick the bucket now! Cos…, cos... Damn it!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, terrified, panicking and not knowing what to do. "Damn you, Sheppard!" he yelled, wanting to shake the man, but too afraid to do so for fear of bringing further harm to the colonel. "If you're not all right, if you don't come out of this alive, I… I'll make sure you'll have cold showers for a …" he tried to think of some substantial amount, "for a month!!!" He did not even realise how ridiculous that sounded for if John died, he wouldn't need any showers at all, period.

"Rodney…" he felt a supportive hand on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Teyla kneeling beside him. Somehow the Athosian must have regained consciousness sometime during the battle, but he had been too focused on Sheppard to notice it.

"Oh… John…" Teyla's voice radiated the shock and horror she felt when she saw Sheppard's condition. Tears glittered at the corner of her eyes as she gently pillowed his head and placed it on her lap while brushing away some unruly strands of wet dark hair from his forehead. "I am so sorry, John," she whispered softly, so soft that Rodney barely heard her words. There were tears of shame in her eyes and Rodney suspected that she recalled her frenzied battle with Sheppard when she and Ronon were under the influence of the Darkness. Rodney also realised that she was cradling her other hand close to her chest. From the misshapen way it looked, McKay suspected that it was broken. She was also trembling slightly and Rodney wondered whether she was suffering from shock.

Sheppard's eyes remained opened but Rodney knew that he saw none of them. He wondered whether the pilot knew that they were there. He lifted his hand and gripped Sheppard's forearm, trying to offer support. Don't die, Sheppard, he pleaded softly in his mind, not at all sure what to do, how to begin to help Sheppard, how to ensure that Sheppard lived. The pilot's breath was becoming more erratic now, heightening his anxiety for him. Yet, Rodney feared that there was something else wrong with the colonel, something that none of them knew how to fix. It was as if part of Sheppard wasn't there anymore; as if even as they watched, part of Sheppard was leaving them behind. He knew that it was a crazy irrational thought, but still the feeling frightened him, and from what he had seen today, he felt fearful for Sheppard.

Ronon stumbled towards them grunting slightly in pain as he bent his wounded and bleeding leg and collapsed to the ground. Rodney remembered Sheppard shooting Ronon's leg and his own poorly aimed shot, hitting the big guy in the arm. Only now did he realise how easily that he could have accidentally killed Ronon. No wonder Sheppard had been angry with him. Looking at the Satedan's forearm, he saw that it was still bleeding too. In fact, the Satedan looked paler than normal, there was perspiration glistering on his forehead. Guilt racked him: it was his idea to shoot Ronon. He wondered whether the big guy remembered it.

Ronon however did not look at him, but instead the Satedan's gaze was solely on Sheppard. The big guy studied Sheppard's still form worriedly. "How is he?" Ronon asked.

Teyla shook her head, one hand now going over Sheppard's form, woodenly examining him for injuries. "I think a few of his ribs are broken," she stated, she closed her eyes at this, as if recalling being the cause of some of those broken ribs. But then taking a large swallow, she opened her eyes and continued, "and he's side wound is bleeding badly again. His arm also appears to be broken… he's burning up; I fear that he has a dangerous fever… Someone please pass me the field medical kit, we've got to re-bandage the wound at his side."

While Rodney scrabbled to remove his bag-pack, reaching for the emergency medical kit kept inside there, Teyla leaned forward towards Sheppard and called his name. "John? Can you hear me?"

Sheppard did not respond; his starring unfocused, alternating-colour eyes did not even blink. All of them were disturbed by this. This was not good at all.

"What's wrong with his eyes?" Ronon asked.

Rodney shook his head. "I don't know, but I don't like it."

The Satedan visage went grim, as he placed a firm grip on Sheppard's shoulder, and said fiercely, "You'll be okay, Sheppard, just hold on."

Rodney didn't know whether Sheppard heard the Satedan's words, but his heart thudded in panic when he saw Sheppard close his eyes and seemed to breathe his last.

"Oh God!... Is he…?"

Teyla urgently bent down, checking for a pulse. Her focus was more alert now even though her eyes still glistered with slow flowing trail of tears. "No, Rodney. He still breathes, but barely. I fear that he has internal injuries but this goes beyond what Dr Beckett taught me."

Rodney hated this, he knew that there was a strong possibility that Sheppard could die anytime soon.

Dark, stormy Satedan eyes turned towards them. "Then we must get him back to Atlantis, Dr Beckett will fix him up," added Ronon fiercely.

"Yes, but what about the natives?" asked Rodney. "They're still blocking our way to the Stargate!"

"Rodney, Ronon…" he felt Teyla's hand on his upper arm, however, he was too focused glaring at Ronon, demanding a solution out from the Satedan, to pay any attention to her.

"Rodney, Ronon!" Teyla called louder, more insistent this time. There was something in her voice that demanded their attention now.

"What?!" he finally turned back to her in annoyance. Couldn't she see that they needed to find a solution to get Sheppard back to Atlantis?!

"Something's happening to Sheppard!" she cried.

Both men turned to see Sheppard's body flicker and fade out – almost as if he was fazing out like some weird holographic image.

"What in the freakin' world is happening here?!" Rodney gasped in shock. Something else was happening to Sheppard, and he didn't like it one damn bit!

"You're the scientist, you tell us!" Ronon growled, sounding angry and frustrated.

Rodney stared at Ronon for a second then quickly whipped out the Ancient life signs detector, while making adjustments to it. "Shit!" he uttered the words as he read what he saw there.

"What is it, Rodney?" asked Teyla worriedly.

"I… um, it looks like Sheppard's fazing out or something, his readings is quite similar to that dark entity that he was fighting with which we couldn't see."

"So, how do we stop it?" Ronon's scowl grew.

"I… I don't know! But I think Sheppard's molecule structure might be changing to something else. Hang on…" He dived back into his back-pack again, and pulled out his trusty tablet PC, which he attached to the life signs detector. He looked at the readings of the life signs detector, then back at his tablet. "Oh crap!"

"What?" Ronon asked darkly, clearly not liking what he was hearing.

Rodney looked up and spoke rapidly, blue eyes wide, feeling close to panic. "I think that the Darkness and the Lights are from another plane of existence so to speak– perhaps a parallel dimension or sorts – that's why none of us could see them, except for Sheppard, due to whatever changes that was happening to him… but worse yet, I think that the changes that's happening to Sheppard are still happening. I… I think that it's changing him to their plane of existence and if that happens, we wouldn't be able to see him or help him!"

"So how to we stop it?" demanded the Satedan.

Rodney shook his head. "I don't know, I don't know if we can stop it! But we need to get Sheppard back to Atlantis stat!" Rodney locked into the Satedan's dark gaze. Dex he saw understood the urgency of the matter.

"Er guys…" said Teyla suddenly.

"What now?" Rodney asked, looking down at her again.

"We have visitors… The natives… they're here," Teyla said, as she released her hand and pointed ahead.

Turning around, he saw that they were surrounded by the natives who had attacked them earlier.

"Crap! We're so screwed!"

-oOo-

TBC

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