Myth

Briar Elwood

Chapter XIII

Déjà Vu

Jack O'Neill woke up uneasy that morning. He lay in bed, listening for a few minutes, to see if it had been one of the kids that had woken him (Jared and Rose hadn't stopped giggling until 10:00 last night) and even peeked his head into their rooms but knew it wasn't that. He glanced at the clock on the stove to see it was only a little after 5…and he wasn't going in to work today, he needed to watch after the kids.

Then he realized what was bothering him. Yesterday, he had made a very daring move against Woolsey…and it hadn't come back to bite him. Yet, at least. But, really, the IOA was pretty quick about these things. Jack looked in to the kids' rooms again, making sure they were still asleep. He could run to the base for a few minutes, make a call and come back before they woke up, right? Yeah…

Meanwhile…

Vala had sprinted the entire way to Iarad, a desperate woman. Flying into Iarad without a thought for her safety, awakening villagers had automatically recognized her.

"It's Sally!"

"No, that's Vala Mal Doran, of SG-1!"

"What should we do?"

"Get her!"

Vala was taken off guard as two men rushed towards her, grabbing her arms. "No!! No, you don't…I'm looking for my husband! Get your hands off of me!!! Hey! Ow! Let go of me!! No, I'm looking for…oh…no…" She stopped her yelling, staring with horror at where they were leading her. A low, wide, patterned stone circle sat in the center of the plaza and in the center of the circle was a small yoke-like bench with shackles on either end. The pattern was a sort of circular maze, leading from the bench to a bucket a couple yards away from the center. Vala gulped as the men pushed her towards the bench and shackled her wrists to it.

"It's the Prior!"

"The Prior will tell us what to do!"

Vala looked up at the cries to see a Prior walking towards her, impassive face studious as ever.

"We will wait until Ettan arrives before any decisions are made," the Prior declared, seeming uncharacteristically uneasy. The villagers whispered excitedly to each other in hushed voices. This was something they never witnessed, seeing as this was a city built by the Ori.

It didn't take long for Ettan to show, a bound and angry Daniel behind him. Ettan told two muscular men to keep their eyes on Daniel before joining the Prior by the bucket. Vala stared at Daniel desperately, wondering why he didn't just use his powers to finish this. Daniel met her gaze briefly, but soon looked away, wincing.

Ettan stared her down for a few minutes, assessing her before turning to the Prior.

"Burn her."

"Whoa, hey, could we talk about this?" a voice yelled. Villagers were jostled out of the way as three more spectators arrived at the scene. Vala craned her neck around to see Cam, Teal'c and Sam behind her. "I mean, burning is a little extreme, don't you think?"

Ettan barely even acknowledged the colonel. "Those three will be next."

Automatically, six villagers grabbed them.

"Hey!" Cam yelled, struggling. His efforts were only met by more restraining hands. Meanwhile, the Prior dipped a lit torch into the bucket, lighting the liquid inside. The bucket tipped, and the flaming liquid drained into the stone channel, licking down the circular maze.

"Daniel!" Vala yelled, eyes fixed on the fire. "Daniel, I would rather not experience this again!"

Daniel winced, watching the fire travel closer and closer to the center of the circle. He closed his eyes, as if unwilling to watch.

"DANIEL!!!!!!!"

Suddenly the two men watching Daniel flew backwards and the ropes holding Daniel's arms snapped. The villagers holding Sam, Teal'c and Cameron were also thrown backwards as Vala's body burst into flame. Daniel whirled to see her body erect, screams dead.

"NO!"

Ettan smiled at Daniel. "You were too late," he said calmly, soft voice just loud enough to be heard over the fire. Daniel glared at him angrily before turning his attention back to Vala with a fixed stare. All too quickly to be natural, the flames extinguished, leaving behind a blackened figure, still shackled to the bench. Without a thought, Daniel jumped onto the stone and released Vala's wrists, cradling her body in his arms. He closed his eyes again, rubbing Vala's charred hand. Sam looked away, too unnerved to be able to see her friend in this state. Cameron winced painfully, watching and more glad than before that he hadn't been there the first time. Teal'c watched, frowning slightly, for he saw something the others did not.

Meanwhile…

"Good morning, Mr. President?" Jack greeted into the receiver. "It's General O'Neill. Yes, I was wondering if the IOA has…er, said anything to you about me or the SGC. No? Have you talked to Richard Woolsey since yesterday? No? You haven't had contact with anyone from the IOA for a couple days? Yes, sir, that would worry me as well. Of course, sir. No, sir. Thank you very much, sir." Jack hung up the red phone, frowning thoughtfully but then shrugged. Whatever was going on was not a big enough deal for him to worry about. He was playing babysitter.

Back in Iarad…

Slowly, ever so slowly, Vala's blackened skin was returning to its normal color. Her long hair was growing back and her clothes became undamaged. With a shuddering gasp, Vala's eyes flew open. Daniel held her up so he could look into her eyes.

"Hey," he said softly, smiling. Vala returned the smile shakily.

"Déjà vu," she whispered before grabbing his arms and hugging him. Daniel nestled his face into her hair.

"Sorry 'bout that. Ettan had me restrained. Took a while to get past him," he whispered. Vala simply bit back a sob and buried her face into Daniel's shoulder. Cautiously, the others approached.

"That was…unexpected," Cam said uneasily. Daniel looked up at him.

"A little help?"

Cam and Teal'c helped Daniel help Vala to her feet and she leaned on the colonel and Jaffa heavily.

"I don't remember being this exhausted last time," she commented.

"Last time the Prior who brought you back hadn't just exerted a whole bunch of energy," Daniel muttered, turning to catch a certain innkeeper's terrified gaze. "Henwies, whaddya say? Gonna take me up on my offer?"

"What offer?" Cam hissed. Henwies only stared at Daniel wildly. Daniel frowned.

"Henwies?"

At his name, the innkeeper whirled around and bustled out of sight. Daniel watched him go, surprised, before turning his attention to the crowd, also staring at him with horrified expressions. The archeologist's eyes swept over them, confused, and stopped on Ettan, whose eyes met his with a furious gleam. In the next second, the Prior stepped in front of Ettan, as if protecting him. Daniel's eyes traveled up to meet the Prior's. Then he turned heel and stormed away.

"Jackson!" Cam called, taking a step after him before realizing he was still holding Vala up. He growled lowly.

"C'mon," he muttered. "Let's get outta here."

A/N: Lalalalalalalala…I LOVE this story…hehe. ;p

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