Dark Places
Part 8 of The Asgard Sequence
Sequel to 'Heart of Flame'
By Gumnut
Sep 2003
...The world reintegrated into a set of plain grey walls.
O'Neill spun, taking in his surroundings. Thor was beside him, Janet nearby, looking shocked, Teal'c looking surprised. Daniel still unconscious. They were in a cell, one wall buzzing with a force field.
A lone Asgard stood on the other side. He was smiling.
Asgard to the rescue?
Frere chuckled. "So you really did it, Thor? Made the ultimate sacrifice for your people. I had often wondered what the life of the great Supreme Commander Thor was worth. I guess I now know."
Thor looked thunderstruck. Speechless.
Frere just smirked. "What? You thought that the pathetic Goa'uld could do this all by themselves?" He laughed, and, turning, left the room.
**********
They were back in that cell where this had all begun. Back where Thor had originally woken alone. Back where O'Neill had died beneath his finger tips.
They had not been on that moon after all.
It had all been a lie.
Thor struggled to reconcile the man who had taunted him with the man he had called friend all these millennia. Frere had always been a little difficult, a little quick to anger, a little distasteful of other races, but he had never thought he would ever be capable of anything malicious. Certainly not a conspiracy such as this, of such magnitude, of so much death, and against his own people.
A brief flash of Fekel, weak with pain, bloody lesions scarring his face, struggling for breath as even that was taken from him, and an anger began to burn away the shock, building in his gut, burning through his nerve endings.
They were back in that cell where this had all begun. Back where O'Neill had died beneath his fingertips.
And it was all happening again.
O'Neill was lying in almost the same spot, Daniel Jackson's jacket under his head. He had been forced into the prone position some hours ago as his weakening condition overcame him. His illness, without medical assistance, had begun to manifest itself in the form of lesions not unlike those that had afflicted Fekel towards the end.
He had begun to bleed.
Eyes bloodshot green, echoed suppressed pain. The man said nothing, hiding it all, while his friends fussed around him, unable to vent their anxiety.
Thor had chosen a corner to sit and had said little, either, choosing to take some time to sort things out for himself. To examine the betrayal, to find out where he had gone wrong, and how he could have possibly missed the signs.
But most importantly to work out why.
He felt eyes on him. O'Neill.
**********
Jack looked at Thor. The small alien was a huddled ball of misery in the corner. The betrayal of Frere had hit him hard, and O'Neill could only imagine what it felt like. Sure O'Neill had been betrayed before - Makepeace, for example - but to have someone you have worked with for a thousand years or more, trusted with your life, to suddenly turn around and backstab both you and your people...it would be devastating.
Sorta like misplacing one of your team, O'Neill.
He was in pain, physical pain, yes, but it was nothing compared to the heart wrenching pain of losing Sam. The worst of it was the fact that he had no idea what happened. She was just gone. They were alive and she was not. He had left her behind, something he had sworn he would never do.
Then her body had been consumed by the unforgiving fire of the death of the 'O'Neill'.
He remembered her smile as she left that room - his last sight of her - it was engraved on his memory.
Along with a hundred other faces.
And faceless thousands.
He blinked rapidly, clearing his eyes of faintly green tinged moisture.
The other three members of his team had been awkwardly fussing around him. All totally aware there was nothing they could do for him, all venting their frustration in their own unique way.
Teal'c was meditating in a corner, probably preparing himself should a chance of escape occur. Janet sat next to Jack, checking his condition so often that he swore if she checked his pulse one more time he would bite her fingers off.
Daniel.
Daniel sat on the other side of the cell staring at him. He had been sitting there doing just that since he regained consciousness, and, frankly, it was making Jack paranoid.
"What?" His voice cracked and he coughed.
"Jack?" Daniel looked concerned as O'Neill waved off another attack of Fraiser.
Jack cleared his throat. "Daniel, you've been staring at me for ages. Do I have warts on my nose? What?"
"Sorry." Daniel's eyes suddenly seemed anywhere but on O'Neill.
"Daniel, is there something wrong?"
Daniel sighed, and looked down at his feet before looked back at him. "Jack, I know you have been avoiding me lately, and I know it has something to do with your nightmares. What I want to know is, why?"
Jack looked away. "It's nothing, Daniel." Now he wished he hadn't pushed for this conversation. How do you tell your best friend that you dream every night that he is torturing you to death? Next time he would put up with the staring.
Daniel leant forward. "No, Jack, it's not nothing. You flinch every time you look at me. And, God forbid, if I actually touch you." He calmed his tone. "Jack, if it's something I've done..."
Jack coughed, his voice fading. "No...no, Daniel, it's nothing."
"C'mon, Jack."
"Daniel."
"Jack, I want to know why you are scared of me."
"I'm not scared of you!" The thought was preposterous.
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not!"
"Are."
"Not."
"Are."
"Not."
"Are."
They were interrupted by Teal'c deep voice. "It amuses me how two highly intelligent people can have an entire conversation using only one syllable each."
Jack glared at Teal'c. The man's eyes were still closed, but a very slight smile was on his lips. "Teal'c, if I could get up right now, I'd punch you right on the arm."
"You could try, O'Neill."
O'Neill tried to hide a smile and failed, his lips cracking. He looked at Daniel once again, saw the anxious defiance in his eyes, and suddenly wondered what he had been making all the fuss about. There was no way Daniel would ever set out to hurt him, so what the heck was he worried about? It was only a dream, wasn't it?
He had to say something before those blue eyes bored a hole into his head and retrieved the information themselves. "Daniel, yes, you are in my dream, but-" He lifted a hand to gesture and immediately regretted it. "Damn. Danny, don't worry about it. It is not going to bother me anymore, I promise."
"But, Jack..."
"Daniel, I said don't worry about it." He was talking too much, but he didn't care. He coughed to clear his throat. "I'll be fine."
Daniel must have seen something in Jack's eyes, because from that point on, he stopped staring.
O'Neill's eyes wavered in focus for a moment, and he had to blink to clear them again. His gaze wandered back to Thor, and realised that, perhaps, there was someone who needed to talk.
**********
O'Neill's eyes were on him again. Thor could feel it.
"Thor?" The voice was rough. "Come here, buddy." The sick man was gesturing him over.
Thor reluctantly rose, and walked over to his friend crouching down beside him. "O'Neill, I am sorry."
The pain filled eyes suddenly became confused. "For what?"
"It was an Asgard that caused all this."
The human's eyes flared. "For god's sake, Thor, you are not responsible for the actions of an entire people." He looked away for a moment before continuing. "Did you blame all humanity for the actions of a few rogue agents who stole your technology and breached your trust in us? No." He sighed. "This just proves that the word 'asshole' exists in any language."
Thor was about to reply when he was interrupted by Daniel Jackson. "Actually, Jack, in Goa'uld, the word 'a'ssh'oal' means 'pretty lady'.
O'Neill looked at Doctor Jackson and something passed between them briefly. O'Neill smiled slightly.
"My point exactly, Daniel."
They were interrupted by the cell door opening.
Frere stood staring at them, a Jaffa on either side of him.
"Oh, isn't this sweet. Old man Thor looking after his pet human."
Thor did not even look at his fellow Asgard, choosing to ignore the taunt. The traitor was not worth the effort of a reply.
O'Neill, on the other hand, had no such compunctions. He struggled to sit up, Daniel Jackson quickly moving in to assist him.
"So, Frere, kill any more Asgard lately?"
Frere leveled his gaze at O'Neill. "Not recently no, but I had heard that you had."
O'Neill's lips thinned to a bare line, his eyes flashing. "I don't know what you hoped to gain from this little charade, but let me assure you, you won't get it."
"Little do you know, human, I already have." He waved the weapon in his hand. "Now get up. Someone wants to meet you."
O'Neill, determined not to amuse his captor with a display of weakness, shoved off both Daniel and Teal'c and struggled to stand on his own. He walked slowly, deliberately, step by step, until he was directly in front of Frere, and looked down at him.
For a brief moment, Thor thought the human was going to reach out and strangle the Asgard, his arm even twitched, but he did not. He stood there standing slightly a kilter, his whole body radiating defiance.
Frere was forced to look around O'Neill to set his eyes once again on Thor. "You as well, Supreme Commander." He nudged O'Neill in the leg with his weapon.
Thor stood, still refusing to look at Frere, and walked past him without a word.
**********
The moment O'Neill walked into the room, he knew he had been there before. It was dark. It was dank. And in the distance somewhere, that water still dripped.
Drip.
Drip.
He shivered in the chill.
The walk from the cell had been agonising. Every muscle cramped, every joint ached, and his clothing rubbed against the lesions on his skin, causing them to weep fluid, green stains soaking into his shirt.
It wouldn't be much longer before his blood once again dripped in beat to the falling of the water.
At the end of the room was a large wooden cross. Shackles hung limply from it. Shards of memory crowded into his brain. Flashes of pain, of questions, of blood, and of screams. The urge to run was strong, and in the dark his heavy feet lost co-ordination suddenly and he fell to his knees.
Frere muttered something in goa'uld, and the two Jaffa grabbed O'Neill, dragging him up to the cross, and began securing him to it with the shackles.
O'Neill struggled, watching as Frere pushed Thor contemptuously into a corner. Thor caught his eye and held his first two fingers up against his throat.
Life.
Hope.
"Oi, Frere. Get your skinny ass over here!"
Frere looked up, and in that second, Thor was on him.
O'Neill let loose with everything he had left in an attempt to distract the two Jaffa until Thor could subdue Frere. Mere moments and the weapon was in Thor's possession. A flash of energy later, and Frere was on the floor unconscious. Both the Jaffa joined him seconds later, but O'Neill was already shackled to the cross.
And Thor couldn't reach.
"Thor, go, get the others." Jack's voice an urgent whisper.
"But, O'Neill-"
"GO. Now."
The Asgard looked at him, bowed his head briefly, and headed towards the door.
It opened before he got there.
A large hooded and cloaked figure glided into the room, the definition of menace..
Thor fired repeatedly to no effect, all the assaulting energy was flung back, deflected, ricocheting to hit and chip the concrete of the walls. The figure casually raised a hand and Thor was flung across the room to land in a crumpled heap.
O'Neill stifled a curse, his eyes boring through cloak and fabric.
The hood turned in his direction. The voice was deep and masculine. And familiar.
"So, Colonel O'Neill, we meet again."
In his head he had heard that same voice asking him question after question. He couldn't answer then.
Now he wouldn't.
"Hmm. Not talking, I see. Well, that will change." He moved closer. "Do you know who I am?"
"The tooth fairy?"
From within the cloak he heard a laugh. "I always did like your sense of humour, Jack."
Ice water trickled down his spine. Jack?
"I am Anubis." The guy said it like he was announcing the winner of a lottery, for god's sake.
"Anudist? With all that cloak and hood thing going on, you have a long way to go to live up to your name."
The hood moved to within inches of his nose, an unseen glare emanating controlled fury.
O'Neill looked up at him. "You know, have you ever heard of Tic Tacs?"
The dark form didn't answer, but two gloved hands reached up and pulled part of the hood aside.
Two startling blue eyes stared out from underneath the hood.
Out of Daniel's face.
His lips uttered a few words.
"Do you remember me now?"
**********
FIN
Part 8 of The Asgard Sequence
Sequel to 'Heart of Flame'
By Gumnut
Sep 2003
...The world reintegrated into a set of plain grey walls.
O'Neill spun, taking in his surroundings. Thor was beside him, Janet nearby, looking shocked, Teal'c looking surprised. Daniel still unconscious. They were in a cell, one wall buzzing with a force field.
A lone Asgard stood on the other side. He was smiling.
Asgard to the rescue?
Frere chuckled. "So you really did it, Thor? Made the ultimate sacrifice for your people. I had often wondered what the life of the great Supreme Commander Thor was worth. I guess I now know."
Thor looked thunderstruck. Speechless.
Frere just smirked. "What? You thought that the pathetic Goa'uld could do this all by themselves?" He laughed, and, turning, left the room.
**********
They were back in that cell where this had all begun. Back where Thor had originally woken alone. Back where O'Neill had died beneath his finger tips.
They had not been on that moon after all.
It had all been a lie.
Thor struggled to reconcile the man who had taunted him with the man he had called friend all these millennia. Frere had always been a little difficult, a little quick to anger, a little distasteful of other races, but he had never thought he would ever be capable of anything malicious. Certainly not a conspiracy such as this, of such magnitude, of so much death, and against his own people.
A brief flash of Fekel, weak with pain, bloody lesions scarring his face, struggling for breath as even that was taken from him, and an anger began to burn away the shock, building in his gut, burning through his nerve endings.
They were back in that cell where this had all begun. Back where O'Neill had died beneath his fingertips.
And it was all happening again.
O'Neill was lying in almost the same spot, Daniel Jackson's jacket under his head. He had been forced into the prone position some hours ago as his weakening condition overcame him. His illness, without medical assistance, had begun to manifest itself in the form of lesions not unlike those that had afflicted Fekel towards the end.
He had begun to bleed.
Eyes bloodshot green, echoed suppressed pain. The man said nothing, hiding it all, while his friends fussed around him, unable to vent their anxiety.
Thor had chosen a corner to sit and had said little, either, choosing to take some time to sort things out for himself. To examine the betrayal, to find out where he had gone wrong, and how he could have possibly missed the signs.
But most importantly to work out why.
He felt eyes on him. O'Neill.
**********
Jack looked at Thor. The small alien was a huddled ball of misery in the corner. The betrayal of Frere had hit him hard, and O'Neill could only imagine what it felt like. Sure O'Neill had been betrayed before - Makepeace, for example - but to have someone you have worked with for a thousand years or more, trusted with your life, to suddenly turn around and backstab both you and your people...it would be devastating.
Sorta like misplacing one of your team, O'Neill.
He was in pain, physical pain, yes, but it was nothing compared to the heart wrenching pain of losing Sam. The worst of it was the fact that he had no idea what happened. She was just gone. They were alive and she was not. He had left her behind, something he had sworn he would never do.
Then her body had been consumed by the unforgiving fire of the death of the 'O'Neill'.
He remembered her smile as she left that room - his last sight of her - it was engraved on his memory.
Along with a hundred other faces.
And faceless thousands.
He blinked rapidly, clearing his eyes of faintly green tinged moisture.
The other three members of his team had been awkwardly fussing around him. All totally aware there was nothing they could do for him, all venting their frustration in their own unique way.
Teal'c was meditating in a corner, probably preparing himself should a chance of escape occur. Janet sat next to Jack, checking his condition so often that he swore if she checked his pulse one more time he would bite her fingers off.
Daniel.
Daniel sat on the other side of the cell staring at him. He had been sitting there doing just that since he regained consciousness, and, frankly, it was making Jack paranoid.
"What?" His voice cracked and he coughed.
"Jack?" Daniel looked concerned as O'Neill waved off another attack of Fraiser.
Jack cleared his throat. "Daniel, you've been staring at me for ages. Do I have warts on my nose? What?"
"Sorry." Daniel's eyes suddenly seemed anywhere but on O'Neill.
"Daniel, is there something wrong?"
Daniel sighed, and looked down at his feet before looked back at him. "Jack, I know you have been avoiding me lately, and I know it has something to do with your nightmares. What I want to know is, why?"
Jack looked away. "It's nothing, Daniel." Now he wished he hadn't pushed for this conversation. How do you tell your best friend that you dream every night that he is torturing you to death? Next time he would put up with the staring.
Daniel leant forward. "No, Jack, it's not nothing. You flinch every time you look at me. And, God forbid, if I actually touch you." He calmed his tone. "Jack, if it's something I've done..."
Jack coughed, his voice fading. "No...no, Daniel, it's nothing."
"C'mon, Jack."
"Daniel."
"Jack, I want to know why you are scared of me."
"I'm not scared of you!" The thought was preposterous.
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not!"
"Are."
"Not."
"Are."
"Not."
"Are."
They were interrupted by Teal'c deep voice. "It amuses me how two highly intelligent people can have an entire conversation using only one syllable each."
Jack glared at Teal'c. The man's eyes were still closed, but a very slight smile was on his lips. "Teal'c, if I could get up right now, I'd punch you right on the arm."
"You could try, O'Neill."
O'Neill tried to hide a smile and failed, his lips cracking. He looked at Daniel once again, saw the anxious defiance in his eyes, and suddenly wondered what he had been making all the fuss about. There was no way Daniel would ever set out to hurt him, so what the heck was he worried about? It was only a dream, wasn't it?
He had to say something before those blue eyes bored a hole into his head and retrieved the information themselves. "Daniel, yes, you are in my dream, but-" He lifted a hand to gesture and immediately regretted it. "Damn. Danny, don't worry about it. It is not going to bother me anymore, I promise."
"But, Jack..."
"Daniel, I said don't worry about it." He was talking too much, but he didn't care. He coughed to clear his throat. "I'll be fine."
Daniel must have seen something in Jack's eyes, because from that point on, he stopped staring.
O'Neill's eyes wavered in focus for a moment, and he had to blink to clear them again. His gaze wandered back to Thor, and realised that, perhaps, there was someone who needed to talk.
**********
O'Neill's eyes were on him again. Thor could feel it.
"Thor?" The voice was rough. "Come here, buddy." The sick man was gesturing him over.
Thor reluctantly rose, and walked over to his friend crouching down beside him. "O'Neill, I am sorry."
The pain filled eyes suddenly became confused. "For what?"
"It was an Asgard that caused all this."
The human's eyes flared. "For god's sake, Thor, you are not responsible for the actions of an entire people." He looked away for a moment before continuing. "Did you blame all humanity for the actions of a few rogue agents who stole your technology and breached your trust in us? No." He sighed. "This just proves that the word 'asshole' exists in any language."
Thor was about to reply when he was interrupted by Daniel Jackson. "Actually, Jack, in Goa'uld, the word 'a'ssh'oal' means 'pretty lady'.
O'Neill looked at Doctor Jackson and something passed between them briefly. O'Neill smiled slightly.
"My point exactly, Daniel."
They were interrupted by the cell door opening.
Frere stood staring at them, a Jaffa on either side of him.
"Oh, isn't this sweet. Old man Thor looking after his pet human."
Thor did not even look at his fellow Asgard, choosing to ignore the taunt. The traitor was not worth the effort of a reply.
O'Neill, on the other hand, had no such compunctions. He struggled to sit up, Daniel Jackson quickly moving in to assist him.
"So, Frere, kill any more Asgard lately?"
Frere leveled his gaze at O'Neill. "Not recently no, but I had heard that you had."
O'Neill's lips thinned to a bare line, his eyes flashing. "I don't know what you hoped to gain from this little charade, but let me assure you, you won't get it."
"Little do you know, human, I already have." He waved the weapon in his hand. "Now get up. Someone wants to meet you."
O'Neill, determined not to amuse his captor with a display of weakness, shoved off both Daniel and Teal'c and struggled to stand on his own. He walked slowly, deliberately, step by step, until he was directly in front of Frere, and looked down at him.
For a brief moment, Thor thought the human was going to reach out and strangle the Asgard, his arm even twitched, but he did not. He stood there standing slightly a kilter, his whole body radiating defiance.
Frere was forced to look around O'Neill to set his eyes once again on Thor. "You as well, Supreme Commander." He nudged O'Neill in the leg with his weapon.
Thor stood, still refusing to look at Frere, and walked past him without a word.
**********
The moment O'Neill walked into the room, he knew he had been there before. It was dark. It was dank. And in the distance somewhere, that water still dripped.
Drip.
Drip.
He shivered in the chill.
The walk from the cell had been agonising. Every muscle cramped, every joint ached, and his clothing rubbed against the lesions on his skin, causing them to weep fluid, green stains soaking into his shirt.
It wouldn't be much longer before his blood once again dripped in beat to the falling of the water.
At the end of the room was a large wooden cross. Shackles hung limply from it. Shards of memory crowded into his brain. Flashes of pain, of questions, of blood, and of screams. The urge to run was strong, and in the dark his heavy feet lost co-ordination suddenly and he fell to his knees.
Frere muttered something in goa'uld, and the two Jaffa grabbed O'Neill, dragging him up to the cross, and began securing him to it with the shackles.
O'Neill struggled, watching as Frere pushed Thor contemptuously into a corner. Thor caught his eye and held his first two fingers up against his throat.
Life.
Hope.
"Oi, Frere. Get your skinny ass over here!"
Frere looked up, and in that second, Thor was on him.
O'Neill let loose with everything he had left in an attempt to distract the two Jaffa until Thor could subdue Frere. Mere moments and the weapon was in Thor's possession. A flash of energy later, and Frere was on the floor unconscious. Both the Jaffa joined him seconds later, but O'Neill was already shackled to the cross.
And Thor couldn't reach.
"Thor, go, get the others." Jack's voice an urgent whisper.
"But, O'Neill-"
"GO. Now."
The Asgard looked at him, bowed his head briefly, and headed towards the door.
It opened before he got there.
A large hooded and cloaked figure glided into the room, the definition of menace..
Thor fired repeatedly to no effect, all the assaulting energy was flung back, deflected, ricocheting to hit and chip the concrete of the walls. The figure casually raised a hand and Thor was flung across the room to land in a crumpled heap.
O'Neill stifled a curse, his eyes boring through cloak and fabric.
The hood turned in his direction. The voice was deep and masculine. And familiar.
"So, Colonel O'Neill, we meet again."
In his head he had heard that same voice asking him question after question. He couldn't answer then.
Now he wouldn't.
"Hmm. Not talking, I see. Well, that will change." He moved closer. "Do you know who I am?"
"The tooth fairy?"
From within the cloak he heard a laugh. "I always did like your sense of humour, Jack."
Ice water trickled down his spine. Jack?
"I am Anubis." The guy said it like he was announcing the winner of a lottery, for god's sake.
"Anudist? With all that cloak and hood thing going on, you have a long way to go to live up to your name."
The hood moved to within inches of his nose, an unseen glare emanating controlled fury.
O'Neill looked up at him. "You know, have you ever heard of Tic Tacs?"
The dark form didn't answer, but two gloved hands reached up and pulled part of the hood aside.
Two startling blue eyes stared out from underneath the hood.
Out of Daniel's face.
His lips uttered a few words.
"Do you remember me now?"
**********
FIN