The Adventures of SG-1
Limbo

"Mindscape"

Stargate Command

Janet had been waiting, impatiently, for her two patients to arrive. As they rolled in, she began her examinations. The infirmary was a flurry of activity, and from the doorway, Jack, Daniel, Teal'c, Jacob, Sina and Bra'tac watched as their two remaining members of SG-1 were looked at by the best damn doctor they all knew.

--

Floating in darkness. He didn't know how long had passed since he arrived, and he couldn't remember what had happened to bring him here again.

He didn't even know why he thought that he had been here before, as he didn't remember.

--

It had been hours, but Janet finally knew, sort of, what was happening. She took the file to the briefing room, where all 7 people were waiting for news. That it was 7 (or 9 if you count Selmak and Sina's host, Perez) would have shocked her had she already not been in shock from what she had learnt.

"Doctor?" General Hammond asked quietly.

"I don't know where to begin, sir..."

"How's Major Carter?"

She took a deep breath, to ease her fears and worries. It didn't help.

Regardless, she began. "Her spine has been snapped in several places. More fractures throughout. It's as though she got hit by something very very strong."

"One of the Kull warriors that boarded the cargo ship struck her with great force." Teal'c spoke. He was perhaps the only member of SG-1 able to speak. Jacob too, couldn't speak and Selmak was hesitant to take control and do so.

"And she was hit by several plasma bolts." Janet finished. "Most of the major internal damage from the weapons fire has already been healed, except for the damage to her spine. She'll have some scars front and back from it.

"The strange thing is, something is keeping her alive. The nerves in her spinal column have been snapped in several places. Including at the neck. She should be dead, but she isn't. Her heart is beating, her lungs are slowly drawing in oxygen without help, her brain activity is what I'd see with someone in a deep sleep. But she should be dead."

"Harry."

Janet looked at the source of the voice. Jacob. He looked like shit, and there were dark rings around his eyes. That he had flown the Cargo ship the 2 day journey to get them to Earth at greater speeds than the Cargo ship was normally capable had said a lot. But even she knew not to tell him to get any rest after all of that.

"Yes. I had some of Sams' equipment brought in to scan her. There is a lot of energy gathered around her internal organs. Some of it is Magic..."

"Some?" Jack asked.

"I'm not exactly trained to use her equipment, Colonel. But yes, some. I don't know what the other energy waveforms are, however. I have never seen it before."

He nodded, and it was Sina who asked, "What of Harry?"

"He's unconscious, and much of the same energy I detected in Sam is emanating from him. I would say he is giving off this energy, sending it to Sam to keep her alive. Unfortunately, the strain of this is beginning to show."

"He used most of his stolen magic before they got back to the Cargo Ship." Jack shared.

"Then he would have been using his own reserves for it." Janet spoke. "Unfortunately, he doesn't have much left. What has me concerned the most, however, is his brain activity. Areas of his brain that were not active before, is now active, while other areas that saw greater than normal activity, are way below normal. Overall, however, his total activity has dropped. I've never seen this from him before, even when he used enough magic to knock himself out."

"You think he's used up all his magic?"

"No." Janet replied. The others raised their eyebrows. "If he had, the magic he is sending to Sam would have diminished by now. But I honestly don't know where he's getting the power from. I've already scanned more magic output in the last hour, than what we've seen from him before in even his most powerful spells. If he was just drawing on his reserves, he'd have died before you got back here."

--

Floating, Harry noticed the darkness was starting to change. Clumps of grey were appearing, all around.

Slowly, over what seemed like hours, they were getting clearer. They were not clumps of grey. They were galaxies. Oddly shaped galaxies, but galaxies.

And a voice from behind spoke. "You were here before, Harry Potter."

He, spun around to face the person. He had merely thought to do so, he hadn't actually physically moved to make it so. It simply happened.

And the figure before him, a woman, he didn't recognise her. She wore stately clothes, of an odd style. It was vaguely familiar, a sensation he felt at the edge of consciousness. He felt like he should know what it meant, but he did not.

She herself looked like she was soon entering her 40s, if not already that old. Brunette, cropped somewhat shorter than most brunettes he had met over the years. And eyes that held far too much intelligence for someone of even 50, or 60, or 100 years of age.

But if mysterious figures tended to avoid questions of identity, he guessed that he should just skip it entirely.

"What do you mean, I was here before? What is this place?"

A small smile, and the reply. "You have been here many times before, Harry Potter. When Voldemort sent you to another reality. Each time you jumped to another, then to your own. And when you were pushed into a scar in your reality and that was pulled across realities."

He understood. One of those realities had taught it to him.

"The Void."

She corrected him, "The Nexus. The Reality between Realities."

He looked away, around at the many realities before him. "So what reality am I going to this time? Or am I stuck here?"

"You are not in the Nexus, Harry Potter. Your body is in the infirmary of Stargate Command, but your mind is here, with me, trying to escape. This place is a construct of your own mind, representing what you are trying to get to on your own if you fail."

"If I fail..." Harry whispered. It came back. Tartarus, the Kull Warriors that boarded the cargo ship. Sam.

"SAM!"

"She is alive, barely."

Harry turned back to the figure, and asked, "What do you mean Barely? I've got to get back! I need to.... her spine is... Take me back!"

She shook her head. "Only you can take yourself back. But be warned, Harry Potter. You are playing with forces no being in your new reality has ever had before. Samantha Carter is alive because you are using one such force. You are sustaining her life. You are sustaining her heart, and making her breath. She cannot on her own.

"But you have already used one other force. The force of death. You used your 'Killing Curse' on one of the Kull Warriors." Her voice darkened in tone. "You do not understand the doors you have opened in your mind, Harry Potter." Her tone changed, softer, gentler, but chiding. "You do not understand the doors you have opened within your power. Doors even you knew should never be opened."

Harry looked away.

Minutes, the silence stretched on.

Finally, he spoke. "There was no other way."

"Your presence ensured that."

Harry shot back around, furious. "DO NOT SAY THAT!"

She was unfazed. "I was not placing blame on you, beyond that which your presence itself brought. But you would have been at greater fault if you had not chosen to use these forces. Or chosen to go to Tartarus with Jacob Carter. Or indeed, chosen to continue to wear the kull warrior suit."

"You mean, If I took it off, things would have happened differently?"

"Perhaps they would have been better, or would have been worse. I, Cannot say."

"Won't or Can't?"

"Can't. I can only see how some changes would have worked out. One is if you had stayed behind. Only 3 Kulls would have chased Selmak, Jacob and Samantha Carter, and Teal'c. Only one would have boarded, and so would have been easier to use the rings as Bra'tac had. No one would have been injured so.

"One other which I saw to be worse, was if you went instead of Selmak and Jacob Carter.

"Just as other situations you have been in before would have been worse without your presence, indeed, many times you being there has brought about some of the better possible outcomes. It was merely a question of when one situation would work out for the worse."

"But... Sam... she's..." Harry looked away again, this time closing his eyes.

"No magic can heal a persons' spine, Harry Potter. You know this."

"No, Magic doesn't have limits! Only those you set through Control, Power and Belief!"

She sighed, and spoke forcefully, "Everything has limits, Harry Potter. Including yourself. Normally, you would have broken through them and died doing what you are currently."

He turned back, wondering what she meant.

"Right now what remains of your mind in the real world, is keeping Samantha alive. You are using magic that otherwise wouldn't be there within you.

"The reason that it is, is because using both forces of Life and Death with your power, has opened up doors within you. Within your Mind, Power and Life. You have already lost your mind to the strain. Which is why we are here. Your power however, would be gone if the door in your Life was not opened. You are using your own Life Force, Harry Potter. You are killing yourself to sustain her. And as she cannot be healed, you will both die, before either of your time.

--

It had been two days. Jack sat at the end of the two beds. It had been suggested that, due to the connection, the beds should be brought together. They had done, and quite of their own volition, almost on an instinctual level, the pair of unconscious people had actually reached out to each other. The fact that Sam's spine was snapped meant she shouldn't even be able to do that. That she should be dead. But once again, Harry had pulled the impossible. But Jack had to wonder, To what cost?

Jacob was sat, sleeping at Sam's side, while, Sina of all people, was sat next to Harry.

All Jack knew was that the two got to know each other. He didn't object – it was rare for a Tok'ra to respect any of them, and it was probably about time one aside from Selmak and Lantash held any amount of respect for the Tau'ri.

It was late, but Jack didn't really notice. Slowly, he fell asleep.

--

"How can I heal her? I refuse to accept that nothing in this universe can do it!"

He missed the flash of sorrow on the womans' face. She replied, "You must accept that it is her time to move on."

"No. IT IS NOT. I Know it."

"Even you cannot know this."

"No... I do. This place, it is a construct of my creation yes? From my memories?" He asked.

She nodded, curious.

"Now I remember it, I remember some knowledge I gained here."

She raised an eyebrow, actually curious, and not a little bit afraid at this.

"I know she will live. I know she will be healed. Because What I've seen is yet to pass."

With that, Harry focused his mind. Everything blurred, changed... and came back into sharp relief.

"This is in the Pegasus Galaxy." The woman spoke.

They were apparently in orbit of a world that was mostly water.

Harry looked at her. "There's more."

The pair suddenly found themselves rushing down to the planet... to the ocean. Something was on the surface... A dot became a blob, the blob gained shape and size, and then...

They were inside.

And she stood, stock still, staring at the older Samantha Carter that stood in front of the Stargate that rested in the tower of Atlantis.

Around her, stood 4 others.

Harry did not remember what two of them looked like yet, so their faces were blurred. Indeed, he did not exactly remember this place, so much of it, from details like the ancient writing on the floor and sideways on the balconies, were blurred. But even so, she recognised it as Atlantis.

She recognised that 3 of the 5 people that were not blurred, were older versions of Samantha Carter, Teal'c, and Harry Potter. Each appeared about 3 years older.

Suddenly, she found herself back in the Reality between Realities construct. She spun around to face Harry.

"This you gained here."

It was not a question.

"Then we have a problem, Harry Potter."

"And what is that?"

"The only people who can heal her, have a rule of Non-interference. They simply won't do it."

"And how do you know this?"

She was quiet, but then answered, "Because, I'm one of them."

"And who are they?"

"The Ascended."

"Oma?"

"No. She's blonde."

"Oh."

--

A/N: Good progress on Chapter 27. Thankfully I had an autosave done because as I investigating some things in an astronomy book (Looking for anything that would indicate the facts to be contrary to something I'm introducing) I had a power surge. Woohoo for having a surge protector too!.

That was 15 minutes ago *big frown*.

Anyway, R&R

If reviews were currency and I earned my living off of it, I'd still be poor. (wink nudge hint.) about 6-7 reviews per chapter average. And not all are by *just* 6 or 7 people. Then again I'm not exactly a consistent reviewer. hmm.

Chapter 26 on Wednesday.