As I said, updates are coming faster now! I'm so happy that I have more time now. Anyway, so please enjoy chapter 16 and please review, so I know what you're thinking of the story, of this chapter, etc.
Chapter 16
It was the planet where Sha're had died. Daniel knew that much. He didn't know how he had gotten here.
A battle raged around him, jaffa and SGC personnel clashing. He didn't realize it was the same battle from his memory until he had run up the hill and pushed through the opening into the decorated royal tent of the presiding Goa'uld. He stopped in his tracks at the sight of Sha're--no, Amaunet, inside.
Out of reflex, his gun came up. It was all wrong. This time instead of a handgun he carried the larger, more powerful P-90 that he had grown accustomed to over the years, the same gun the military members of SG-1 had always carried from the start. His BDUs were black, not green. Amaunet's robes were blue, not the tan and orange he remembered.
Amaunet's eyes began to glow and her left hand lifted, adorned in the ever-present Goa'uld ribbon device.
"Don't!" Daniel shouted, holding the gun higher but afraid to shoot. He didn't want to hurt Sha're. Amaunet smirked at him; her hand drew up and back. Shoot, you idiot! Shoot Amaunet now or Sha're will die later! You just have to injure her, stop her…a frantic thought in the back of his mind pushed.
But I don't want to hurt her, the other side of his mind whimpered again. But now it was too late.
The ribbon device activated; Amaunet's hand shot forward and caught him in its beam. Daniel gasped and sank to his knees. The gun fell from his hands, clattered to the ground beside him. It was all so familiar, painfully familiar but different. The worst day of his life all over again--almost.
"Sha're…"
The all-too-familiar paralyzing, burning pain flooded his body. He was helpless, only able to stare up at his wife's face, her features twisted in an evil sneer of victory not her own.
And then there was Teal'c. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the larger man sweep into the tent, raise his staff weapon…No! Daniel wanted to shout. Teal'c, wait! Don't shoot yet! Go back outside; find a zat gun! Don't kill her! DON'T KILL HER AGAIN!
But the hand device had stolen his voice, like those dreams where one was desperately trying call for help but couldn't no matter they did. No. No, not again. I don't want to see this again. I don't want to see her die…
But the staff blast came, and took a shocked Amaunet in the chest. The ribbon device snapped off and she fell, flung backwards by the force of the blast. But this time, unlike the first, Daniel was able to gather enough strength to scream her name as she went down. This time, instead of lying helplessly beside her where he had landed himself, he pushed off the floor and rushed forward, shaking off the effects of the hand device, and knelt next to her.
The yellow-white glow in her eyes was gone. Amaunet was already dead. Sha're was dying. Trembling, Daniel stroked her hair. His wife looked up at him, love and sorrow in her eyes at once.
"I love you Dan'iel," she whispered. Her last words. Seconds later her eyes drifted shut, and Daniel's head dropped in anguish.
"I love you, too," he whispered in return. The ever-present thought that had been at the back of his mind for six years re-surfaced, plunging him into misery once again.
I couldn't save her.
The current members and future member of SG-1 had thought it late enough that they could sleep un-bothered, but apparently they had been wrong. When Daniel was shaken from his nightmare by Samantha Carter, he immediately recognized the distinct sound of jaffa boots coming their way. And was it just him, or was the sound louder than he remembered? A larger number of jaffa, perhaps? But why? There are more than two people in this cell this time, something told him.
Daniel sat up and glanced over at his younger self, who was already standing and alert, with Carter not far away. Danny shrugged at him, indicating he didn't know anything more bout what was going on, but he looked apprehensive, even nervous. Of course, Daniel knew that inside the younger Jackson was scared stiff. He remembered what that sound had done to him when he was here--his throat tightened--how it was still making him feel right now.
It was almost as bad as how the dream had affected him. He could still feel the lingering grief of Sha're's death hanging over his head again. He hadn't dreamed about it in years. Even with the recent streak of nightmares, they hadn't been about that--only about what had happened here. Daniel gulped past the lump in his throat. No. Now wasn't the time to worry about past mistakes and disasters. He refused to let his emotions control him; goodness knew he'd let them do it enough in the past.
A moment later, six jaffa rounded the corner and came into sight. Both Daniels drew in a breath when they saw that Amaunet was with them. Carter looked a bit taken aback as well, remembering the last time the Goa'uld had come into their cell. All wondered why so many jaffa had come with her, and what she planned to do with them.
This time, she didn't enter the cell, but six of the jaffa did. After the door had slid out of the way, two approached each occupant of the cell and seized their arms. Each struggled, clearly not wanting to find out the reason for the use of this strange tactic.
The two how grabbed Daniel pulled him our of the holding room and stopped beside Amaunet and the remaining jaffa. The ones who took hold of Sam tugged her to the side of the cell held her there, while the jaffa who had Danny pushed him to the center room and stopped. That was when a seventh jaffa came into view at what must have been a silent command from his queen, and the humans' silent queries were at least partially answered. This one carried what looked like a long, black metal bar, a cuffed chain, and a couple of torture sticks. It didn't help to ease their minds any.
The newcomer stepped into the cell with his load, and suddenly the younger Daniel Jackson realized that he was the center of attention of all their enemies. He didn't like it one bit. Danny started to struggle again, but the two jaffa on his arms forced him to his knees and prevented him from moving as the lone jaffa set down his load and picked up the bar and chain.
"W-what are you doing?" Carter stammered from where she stood, her own two jaffa holding her firmly in place. One of them jostled her, harshly telling her to shut up. She watched, not knowing what else to do at the moment, as the jaffa with the bar and chain took the bar and held the bar horizontally against her Daniel's back, looping his elbows over it, and then used the foot-long chain across the front of his body to cuff his hands. This left the metal bar braced firmly against Jackson's back, pinned by his bent arms, and rendered his arms immobile and useless.
Something pushed at the back of Sam's mind, telling her position was familiar, that they used this binding technique on their prisoners often. Then the jaffa picked up one of the torture sticks, and something flashed through her mind, a memory of being bound that way, on her knees, agonizing energy she'd never felt before running through her body as the business end of a torture stick dug into the back of her neck….She gasped as the image disappeared as quickly as it had come--not her memory. Jolinar's? It had to be. And it wasn't pleasant.
Carter's stomach flip-flopped when the jaffa handed the torture stick to one of the men holding her, but the one who took it made no move to use it on her. Instead, the jaffa who had handed it off in the first place moved back to Danny and picked up the other one. Amaunet watched passively from the large doorway, as if she had known that this would happen when she and her jaffa had arrived--and of course she had known. Who else would have ordered it?
The older Daniel, still being held just outside the doorway, looked a bit frightened, though he didn't say anything and she couldn't decide if the stricken look on his face said that he had known this would take place and was shaken to it repeating, or if he was worried because it hadn't happened this way the first time. All Sam knew was that the lone jaffa near the kneeling, chained Daniel looked ready to use the torture stick he was holding as he moved behind the young scientist, and that none of the humans--especially Danny himself, whose breath was visibly quickening in fear--wanted that to happen.
"Don't!" Carter finally exclaimed. That did earn her a jab from the torture stick. For a brief second or two the charged end stuck into her side, and she shouted in pain, her legs buckling out of both surprise and pain, sending her down onto the bench behind her.
"No!" both Daniels yelled simultaneously, pulling against their bonds, whether jaffa hands or metal.
The silence broken, Amaunet smiled as the jaffa with Sam roughly pulled her back to her feet. The major blinked hard and shook her head a couple of times, trying to shake it off. It took a moment to succeed, and the two Jacksons watch in concern, wanting to be sure she was alright. She nodded at them that she was, and they seemed to relax someone, though Danny was still worried about what they planned to do to him. She didn't blame him. She was worried for him too, but didn't say anything else at the moment, gulping.
Amaunet then spoke to the five jaffa inside the cell. "Continue to interrogate this one," she nodded towards Danny, "and the woman if necessary."
"Oh no you don't," Daniel said vehemently from in between the two jaffa next to her.
"Don't you dare let them hurt Sam," Danny growled from his knees.
At a glare from the Goa'uld, one of the guards restraining Daniel punched him harshly in the stomach, and the one behind Danny frowned and shoved the end of the torture stick he held into the back of Jackson's neck. Daniel grunted, and his legs went slack for a moment before he straightened again, grimacing as his younger self shouted from the energy that suddenly shot through his body. Carter gasped, though she was grateful at least that the jaffa only held the device there for a couple of seconds before pulling it away.
At the various exclamations of pain or surprise from the three humans, Amaunet smirked again. "I will be questioning our time-traveling visitor," she said shortly, and then turned on her heel and walked out of site. The two jaffa on Daniel's arms herded him after her. He tried to resist, but it only earned him another couple of punches to his midsection to urge him to keep moving. Gasping and stumbling forward, he grudgingly obeyed, but not before he cast a sympathetic glance over his shoulder at his former self and the former self of his friend. Then they disappeared, the door closed, and Sam and the younger Daniel were left with five jaffa who seemed more than ready and willing to follow Amaunet's orders. Both younger humans gulped hard.
The jaffa directly behind Daniel sneered--seriously, Sam thought, jaffa must have sneering contests--and hefted the torture stick, letting the point drift back behind Daniel's neck. Carter sucked in a breath. Jackson heard the movement as well as her reaction and paled.
Oh no…Daniel thought frantically. Sure, they had used the device on him enough the past couple of days, but usually it was only through the chains. Only the last time, just before the attack by Heru-er, and then a few seconds ago, had they put it in direction contact with his body, and it hurt quite a bit more no matter much he hadn't thought that was possible.
He could sense the business end of the torture stick coming closer and he ducked forward, desperately trying to avoid it, but with the bar and chain keeping his arms immobile in a rather uncomfortable position and the two jaffa who had grabbed him initially standing on either side of him, he couldn't escape. The guard behind him simply thrust the torture stick forward farther, and caught his skin. Burning agony flooded Daniel's body, and this time it didn't stop after a few seconds. He screamed and his back arched, bringing his upper body back up. That only served to dig the cold metal point that was relaying the energy into his body more sharply into his neck.
The torture continued, with the jaffa barely giving Jackson a chance to say anything when they stopped to ask questions because they knew he wouldn't answer anyway, and Carter watched helplessly. There was nothing she could do. They were trapped in this room with these jaffa, and even if she managed to stop them momentarily, they would only start again, and then probably on both of them. There was no way she and Daniel could take five jaffa even if she could get him freed--not without any weapons, anyway. She wanted to scream at them to stop, but it wouldn't do either of them any good; only make matters worse for them both. She knew he wouldn't want that, and so remained silent, as hard as it was.
Sam bit her lip and blinked back tears as Daniel screamed, wondering if she had ever felt so horrible.
I'm sorry, Danny. I'm so sorry.