Chapter 2: Not again.

John Sheppard exited the gate onto planet MB-113, it was a beautiful day and the sun was shining. The view was absolutely incredible, in the distance he could see tall mountain peaks and the wildlife on the planet was abundant. There were trees to the left of him and grasslands to the right, but he wasn't really interested in the view, Rodney had blackmailed him, so basically he was here against his will. He watched his friends come through the stargate and he had the distinct impression, that he'd done all of this before and very recently.

Shrugging his shoulders he narrowed his eyes as Rodney came through the gate, he wasn't happy with Rodney, but his friend had begged him and then offered him one of his rare comic books as a bribe, so he had very quickly acquiesced to his demands.

"McKay, where are these stupid ruins that you, so badly want me to see?" Sheppard said turning back to face him.

"If you follow the path ahead of us for about half an hour you should come to them."

"I still don't know why I'm here," Ronon grumbled, as he came up alongside of Rodney.

"You're here because you are part of my team and if I have to be here, so do you." Sheppard replied in a gruff voice.

"I suggest we get going, so that I can get back to Torren before dinner time."

"Teyla that's the best idea I've heard all day," John said as he walked off down the path in front of them.

Before he went too far he turned to the others, "does anyone else get a real sense of déjà vu about this mission?"

When they all nodded, he wondered whether they should continue on or not, but then he hadn't touched any ancient devices recently, so he couldn't blame it on that, perhaps what they were experiencing was probably just a weird team connection.

John turned back to the path in front of him and continued on. He knew that Rodney would be champing at the bit, to get his hands on any kind of ancient technology that he could and would probably expect him to test it. He would never tell Rodney, but sometimes he actually got a buzz out of activating ancient devices.

They walked on in silence for about twenty minutes until Rodney shouted out in excitement, "Hey guys, it looks a bit like Atlantis!"

"What do you expect from ancient ruins McKay; they probably used the same design on more than one planet?" Sheppard replied and he was defiantly nowhere near as excited as Rodney was.

Again Sheppard got a feeling of déjà vu and this time he felt a real sense of foreboding, as if something was about to go terribly wrong.

He shrugged his shoulders and looked at the path ahead and realised that they were getting close to the spire, as he got closer, he realised it was definitely in ruins, the glass had shattered and turned to dust a long time ago. Plants and trees had grown up around the balcony and parts of the steel railing were rusted through and what remained was twisted into unrecognisable shapes. He wondered whether he had seen something like this before, at that moment, he had a vague notion that he had.

A few minutes later they reached one of the balconies, which was at ground level, he assumed that most of the structure was buried underground for some reason.

"I'll go first," Sheppard said, with his gun raised.

Sheppard, climbed over what was left of the balcony railing and entered the eerie building, as soon as he walked in the lights came on to reveal a room not unlike Atlantis' control room. It looked like any other ancient ruins that he had visited, but he still had a strange feeling that he'd been here before.

He came to a long corridor and it stretched out in front of him and as before the lights came on the minute he entered it. There appeared to be plenty of scientific labs of to the side and for the moment all appeared safe, so he went back to his friends with the lights turning themselves off on the way out.

A few minutes later Sheppard exited the building, "it looks safe and there are some labs on the left about five hundred metres down the corridor."

Sheppard turned around and headed back into the lab with Rodney and the others quickly following. Again the lights turned on as they headed down the corridor, it was definitely due to his ancient gene and he got the distinct impression that Rodney was feeling a bit jealous.

Within minutes they entered an interesting looking ancient lab, there appeared to be devices spread all over the room and he had no idea what they might do. Perhaps one of them would hold the secrets to making ZPM's, or maybe there would be medical devices that Carson and Jennifer could use to heal the sick. Whatever the devices did he knew that McKay would be incredibly happy.

Sheppard walked around the room and a feeling on apprehension came over him, had he lived this moment before, and if he had how was that possible. Shrugging of the feeling he went back to exploring the room.

"Hey McKay is there anything that you recognise here?"

"No, but don't touch anything until I know what it does. We don't need your ancient gene blowing us all up."

"Believe it or not McKay; I wasn't planning on touching anything."

Sheppard watched, as Rodney explored the room for a bit longer until he came to a strange looking device, "hey Sheppard, what do you suppose this device does?"

Sheppard rolled his eyes as he answered, "I have no idea; you're the genius, so why don't you tell me?"

"Why don't you activate it and then we can find out?" McKay teased and John was tempted to follow through with his suggestion, but he knew that if he did, it would be against his better judgement.

"Dr McKay you know that probably is not a good idea," Teyla said and for the first time John noticed that she had entered the lab.

"She's right," Ronon agreed.

"So are you going to activate it or not!?" Rodney demanded.

John nodded at Rodney and strong sense of dread came over him, "I have a really bad feeling about this, but for some reason the device seems to be calling to me."

"So do it then!" Rodney demanded even more forcefully than last time.

"Nah I shouldn't," Sheppard said with a shake of his head.

"Come on Sheppard, we'll never know what it does if you don't." Rodney said and John saw a strange look come over his friends face.

John stepped towards the device with his hands outstretched; all the while knowing that it was the wrong thing to do.

"Colonel," Teyla warned.

"Don't do it Sheppard," Ronon implored.

Sheppard gave in to the desire that he had and touched the device. A soft blue light started to emanate from the device, followed by a gentle hum. He felt the warmth on his skin, as the device started to warm up, but all he could do was stand and stare at the beautiful lights that were radiating from it. The device almost purred at him and he never wanted it to end.

Suddenly the device exploded with a shower of sparks and he felt something hot and hard hit his face and hands, it was incredibly painful and he fell to the ground without making a sound.

"Colonel Sheppard, are you alright?" Teyla asked with concern.

Rodney repeated Teyla's question, "Are you alright Sheppard?"

"Of course, I'm not alright McKay; I just had some stupid ancient device explode in my face. He said before rushing out of the lab.

He rushed down the corridor, desperate to get away from the horrible place. The sense of foreboding that he had been feeling, became stronger as he exited the ruins.

Without looking back to see if the others were following him, he headed down the narrow path that they had followed when they had come looking for the ruins.

Eventually the pain in his face and hands became too much, so he decided to sit under a shady tree.

For the first time he realised that there was blood streaming down his face and into his mouth and he couldn't see anything out of his right eye

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a noise close by, "Sheppard," Rodney said as he approached him, "are you alright?"

"Go away Rodney," he said facing his friend, "I just want to be left alone for a while."

"Sheppard, I'm really sorry, I should have respected your wishes and never forced you to come here."

Why did he get the distinct impression that he'd had this conversation with Rodney before.

"I don't really want to talk right now McKay; my hands are burnt as is my face, so leave me alone."

"You need to go and see Jennifer or Carson right away."

John glared at him, "how many times, do I have to tell you to leave me alone McKay?!"

"I've apologised, what more do you want?"

"I want to be left alone!" John yelled, before standing up and storming off towards the gate.

He didn't even bother to look back because he really wanted to be left alone and when he got back to Atlantis he was going straight to his quarters and if Beckett or Keller wanted to treat his injuries, they could treat him there. He had no idea how he'd let Rodney talk him into this mission, but he was so angry with him right now, that he was never going to talk to him again.

He was so angry that he didn't see a glint of metal in the path and by the time he saw it, it was too late. The large animal trap snapped shut around his lower leg and the pain was so unbearable that he screamed and fell to the ground.

Teyla was at his side in no time and Rodney wasn't far behind. She was speaking soft soothing words to him, but he had no idea what she was saying, because all he could do was scream at the all-encompassing pain that was shooting up his leg and permeating his whole body.

"I'm going to the gate and I'll get them to send a jumper through with Beckett on board." Ronon told them and John saw him set off at a run, from the corner of his eye.

Teyla sat beside him and spoke to Rodney softly, "Rodney I need you to try and keep John calm while I try to stop the bleeding."

John's voice was hoarse by now, so he stopped screaming, but the pain was too much to bear, so he just writhed around on the floor, while his body continued trembling from the excruciating pain he was in.

He felt Rodney's hand in his and he felt some small comfort in that as he began to speak softly to him, "Sheppard, Ronon has gone to the gate and Teyla is trying to stop the bleeding on your leg and then she'll give you a shot morphine to try and help with the pain."

John nodded at him and he stopped thrashing about, although his whole body was still trembling.

Teyla came up on his other side and took his other hand, "John I have bandaged your leg up the best I can and now I am going to give you a shot of morphine."

John was relieved when Teyla finally gave him the morphine and the pain began to dissipate. The only problem was his whole body was beginning to feel numb by this time. Looking over at Rodney it looked as if he was talking to someone, but there was no-one else there other than Teyla and himself. It took a while for his garbled brain to realise that Rodney was talking into his earpiece. All he could do was lie and watch a one sided conversation and wonder what was going on.

"McKay here," he said tapping his earpiece.

"Are you sure you're dialling the right address?" Rodney blurted out,

"I'm on my way then, McKay out."

"Teyla I'm off to the gate, for some reason it's not working."

"Please hurry Rodney; I fear that John may not last longer."

What did Rodney mean, when he said that the gate was not working and who was Teyla talking about when she said that they may not last much longer. It was all too much for his muddled brain to handle, so he closed his eyes and hoped that the darkness would claim him soon.

He lay there on the edge on consciousness for quite a while and waited for the darkness to take him, he knew that his breathing was not good and he had lost a lot of blood, so hopefully he would be unconscious soon.

Opening his eyes one last time he looked at Teyla and whispered, "Teyla stay with me?"

"Always," she whispered in his ear.

Right before he lost consciousness, he got a sense that he had lived this moment before, but right now there was nothing he could do about it, so he let the ever encroaching darkness take him, perhaps for the last time.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

John Sheppard exited the gate onto planet MB-113, it was a beautiful day and the sun was shining. The view was absolutely incredible, in the distance he could see tall mountain peaks and the wildlife on the planet was abundant. There were trees to the left of him and grasslands to the right, but he wasn't really interested in the view, Rodney had blackmailed him, so basically he was here against his will. He watched his friends come through the stargate and he had the distinct impression, that he'd done all of this before and very recently.

Shrugging his shoulders he narrowed his eyes as Rodney came through the gate, he wasn't happy with Rodney, but his friend had begged him and then offered him one of his rare comic books as a bribe, so he had very quickly acquiesced to his demands.

"McKay, where are these stupid ruins that you so badly want me to see?" Sheppard said turning back to face him.

"If you follow the path ahead of us for about half an hour you should come to them."

"I still don't know why I'm here," Ronon grumbled, as he came up alongside of Rodney.

"You're here because you are part of my team and if I have to be here, so do you." Sheppard replied in a gruff voice.

"I suggest we get going, so that I can get back to Torren before dinner time."

"Teyla that's the best idea I've heard all day," John said as he walked off down the path in front of them.

Before he went too far he turned to the others, "does anyone else get a real sense of déjà vu about this mission?"

When they all nodded, he wondered whether they should continue on or not, but then he hadn't touched any ancient devices recently, so he couldn't blame it on that, perhaps what they were experiencing was probably just a weird team connection. But then he had to wonder if he'd lived this moment before, he may have touched a device at some point, in the past, even if he couldn't remember it.

John turned back to the path in front of him and continued on. He knew that Rodney would be champing at the bit, to get his hands on any kind of ancient technology that he could and would probably expect him to test it. He would never tell Rodney, but sometimes he actually got a buzz out of activating ancient devices.

They walked on in silence for about twenty minutes until Rodney shouted out in excitement, "Hey guys, it looks a bit like Atlantis!"

"What do you expect from ancient ruins McKay; they probably used the same design on more than one planet?" Sheppard replied and he was defiantly nowhere near as excited as Rodney was.

Again Sheppard got a feeling of déjà vu and this time he felt a real sense of foreboding, as if something was about to go terribly wrong.

"Hey guys, do you think that we should continue on?"

They all just shrugged their shoulders and he wondered if he was being paranoid, so he shrugged his shoulders and looked at the path ahead and realised that they were getting close to the spire, as he got closer, he realised it was definitely in ruins, the glass had shattered and turned to dust a long time ago. Plants and trees had grown up around the balcony and parts of the steel railing were rusted through and what remained was twisted into unrecognisable shapes. He wondered whether he had seen something like this before, at that moment, he had a vague notion that he had.

A few minutes later they reached one of the balconies, which was at ground level, he assumed that most of the structure was buried underground for some reason.

"I'll go first," Sheppard said, with his gun raised.

Sheppard, climbed over what was left of the balcony railing and entered the eerie building, as soon as he walked in the lights came on to reveal a room not unlike Atlantis' control room. It looked like any other ancient ruins that he had visited, but he still had a strange feeling that he'd been here before.

He came to a long corridor and it stretched out in front of him and as before the lights came on the minute he entered it. There appeared to be plenty of scientific labs of to the side and for the moment it all appeared safe, so he went back to his friends with the lights turning themselves off on the way out.

A few minutes later Sheppard exited the building, "it looks safe and there are some labs on the left about five hundred metres down the corridor."

Sheppard turned around and headed back into the lab with Rodney and the others quickly following. Again the lights turned on as they headed down the corridor, it was definitely due to his ancient gene and he got the distinct impression that Rodney was feeling a bit jealous.

Within minutes they entered an interesting looking ancient lab, there appeared to be devices spread all over the room and he had no idea what they may do. Perhaps one of them would hold the secrets to making ZPM's, or maybe there would be medical devices that Carson and Jennifer could use to heal the sick. Whatever the devices did he knew that McKay would be incredibly happy.

Sheppard walked around the room and a feeling on apprehension came over him, had he lived this moment before, and if he had how was that possible. Shrugging of the feeling he went back to exploring the room.

"Hey McKay is there anything that you recognise here?"

"No, but don't touch anything until I know what it does. We don't need your ancient gene blowing us all up."

"Believe it or not McKay; I wasn't planning on touching anything." Had he said that before recently he suspected that he probably had?

Sheppard watched, as Rodney explored the room for a bit longer until he came to a strange looking device, "hey Sheppard, what do you suppose this device does?"

Sheppard rolled his eyes as he answered, "I have no idea; you're the genius, so why don't you tell me?"

"Why don't you activate it and then we can find out?" McKay teased and John was tempted to follow through with his suggestion, but he knew that if he did, it would be against his better judgement.

"Dr McKay you know that probably is not a good idea," Teyla said and for the first time John noticed that she had entered the lab.

"She's right," Ronon agreed.

"So are you going to activate it or not!?" Rodney demanded.

John nodded at Rodney and a strong sense of dread came over him, "I have a really bad feeling about this, but for some reason the device seems to be calling to me."

"So do it then!" Rodney demanded even more forcefully than last time.

"Nah I shouldn't," Sheppard said with a shake of his head.

"Come on Sheppard, we'll never know what it does if you don't." Rodney said and John saw a strange look come over his friend's face.

John stepped towards the device with his hands outstretched; all the while knowing that it was the wrong thing to do.

"Colonel," Teyla warned.

"Don't do it Sheppard," Ronon implored.

Sheppard gave in to the desire that he had, and touched the device. A soft blue light started to emanate from the device, followed by a gentle hum. He felt the warmth on his skin, as the device started to warm up, but all he could do was stand and stare at the beautiful lights that were radiating from it. The device almost purred at him and he never wanted it to end.

Suddenly the device exploded with a shower of sparks and he felt something hot and hard hit his face and hands, it was incredibly painful and he fell to the ground without making a sound.

"Colonel Sheppard, are you alright?" Teyla asked with concern.

Rodney repeated Teyla's question, "Are you alright Sheppard?"

"Of course, I'm not alright McKay; I just had some stupid ancient device explode in my face and we still have no idea what it does." He said before rushing out of the lab.

He rushed down the corridor, desperate to get away from the horrible place. The sense of foreboding that he had been feeling became stronger as he exited the ruins.

Without looking back to see if the others were following him, he headed down the narrow path that they had followed when they had come looking for the ruins.

Eventually the pain in his face and hands became too much, so he decided to sit under a shady tree.

For the first time he realised that there was blood streaming down his face and into his mouth and he couldn't see anything out of his right eye

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a noise close by, "Sheppard," Rodney said as he approached him, "are you alright?"

"Go away Rodney," he said facing his friend, "I just want to be left alone for a while."

"Sheppard, I'm really sorry, I should have respected your wishes and never forced you to come here."

Why did he get the distinct impression that he'd had this conversation with Rodney before.

"I don't really want to talk right now McKay; my hands are burnt as is my face, so leave me alone."

"You need to go and see Jennifer or Carson right away."

John glared at him, "how many times, do I have to tell you to leave me alone McKay?!"

"I've apologised, what more do you want?"

"I want to be left alone!" John yelled and stormed off towards the gate.

He didn't even bother to look back because he really wanted to be left alone and when he got back to Atlantis he was going straight to his quarters and if Beckett or Keller wanted to treat his injuries, they could treat him there. He had no idea how he'd let Rodney talk him into this mission, but he was so angry with him right now that he was never going to talk to him again.

He was so angry that he didn't see a glint of metal in the path and by the time he saw it was too late. The large animal trap snapped shut around his lower leg and the pain was so unbearable that he screamed and fell to the ground.

Teyla was at his side in no time and Rodney wasn't far behind. She was speaking soft soothing words to him, but he had no idea what she was saying, because all he could do was scream at the all-encompassing pain that was shooting up his leg and permeating his whole body.

"I'm going to the gate and I'll get them to send a jumper through with Beckett on board." Ronon told them and out of the corner of his eye John saw him take off at a run.

Teyla sat beside him and spoke to Rodney softly, "Rodney I need you to try and keep John calm while I try to stop the bleeding."

John's voice was hoarse by now, so he stopped screaming, but the pain was still too much to bear, so he just writhed around on the floor, while his body continued to tremble from the excruciating pain he was in.

He felt Rodney's hand in his and he felt some small comfort in that as Rodney began to speak softly to him, "Sheppard, Ronon has gone to the gate and Teyla is trying to stop the bleeding on your leg and then she'll give you a shot morphine to try and help with the pain."

John nodded at him and he stopped thrashing about, although his whole body was still trembling.

Teyla came up on his other side and took his other hand, "John I have bandaged your leg up the best I can and now I am going to give you a shot of morphine."

John was relieved when Teyla finally gave him the morphine and the pain began to dissipate. The only problem was his whole body was beginning to feel numb by this time. Looking over at Rodney it looked as if he was talking to someone, but there was no-one else there other than Teyla and himself. It took a while for his garbled brain to realise that he was talking into his earpiece. All he could do was lay and watch a one sided conversation and wonder what was going on.

"McKay here," he said tapping his earpiece.

"Are you sure you're dialling the right address?" Rodney blurted out,

"I'm on my way then, McKay out."

"Teyla I'm off to the gate, for some reason it's not working."

"Please hurry Rodney; I fear that John may not last longer."

What did Rodney mean, when he said that the gate was not working and who was Teyla talking about when she said that they may not last much longer. It was all too much for his muddled brain to handle, so he closed his eyes and hoped that the darkness would claim him soon.

He lay there on the edge on consciousness for quite a while and waited for the darkness to take him, he knew that his breathing was not good and he had lost a lot of blood and he had the strangest feeling that he was about to die.

Opening his eyes one last time he looked at Teyla and whispered, "Teyla stay with me?"

"Always," she whispered in his ear.

He knew that there was one other thing that he had to say, so he indicated that Teyla should get close to him and then he whispered in her ear, "Please don't let this happen again.

Right before he lost consciousness, he knew that he had lived this moment before, but right now there was nothing he could do about it, so he let the ever encroaching darkness take him, perhaps for the last time.

TBC…