TITLE: The Lost Ones
AUTHOR: Cyn(di)
EMAIL: custardpringle@yahoo.com
RATING: PG-13 for weird evil happenings and general suffering/pain on the parts of all concerned.
CATEGORY: supernatural, drama
SUMMARY: Daniel is having terrible nightmares. And the worst thing is, they're not only in his head . . .
SPOILERS: I'm too lazy to keep track, so let's say anything up through "Evolution Part 1."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Wow, hardly anything's happened yet and people are already praising the s**t out of this story and expecting more great things to come. It's a great feeling, but I hope this doesn't mean I do my best writing at 1 AM on a school night, which is when I finished the first chapter, because I don't think I can keep that up indefinitely. I will, however, do my absolute best to live up to your demanding expectations, because I like getting happy reviews-I have a nice big wall that needs papering . . .
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Daniel bit his lip hard, trying to keep control of himself, trying desperately to stay calm.
It wasn't easy by any means.
He was having enough difficulty dealing with the situation Oma Desala had just explained to him. It was enough of a problem simply to assimilate the concept that enormous powers had been restored to him when he barely remembered having had them in the first place, let alone what to do with them. Combined with the new revelation that he would now have to use these capabilities to defend himself against even stronger-and far more dangerous- beings, the situation was threatening to overwhelm him entirely with panic.
And panicking was definitely not an option right now. Dammit, Daniel, he told himself, get a grip. You've dealt with worse; you'll deal with this.
Then he took a deep breath and said aloud to Oma: "All right. What do we do now?"
"We go to them," she said firmly. "The Perii can hear us coming just was we can hear them, but, with luck, they may not expect us to react so quickly to their presence. We may be able to surprise them."
"You know, Oma," Daniel said pensively, "I always thought of the Ancients as such a peaceful people. It's incredibly strange hearing you talk about battle tactics. You're about the last person I would ever expect to remind me of Jack, but you kind of do right now."
Incongruously, she smiled slightly. "From what I have seen and heard of Jack O'Neill, that is a great compliment indeed. But-" Oma's face swiftly grew serious again-"you do not seem to have the same confidence in yourself. Why is that?"
Now this was more like how Daniel remembered her. "I'm not sure what I'm capable of," he admitted. "I can't remember anything about being Ascended. I mean, I know I had incredible powers, and now I've regained them, but I have no idea what to do with them."
"Do not worry; you cannot have forgotten completely," Oma assured him. "Although I suppressed the knowledge fairly strongly, it is still in your mind somewhere, and I am certain that you will be able to access it again when necessary. But we waste time-even now the Perii are mustering their forces, as my allies among the Ascended are rallying against them. We must go-and quickly."
Daniel nodded in acquiescence, and in the blink of an eye the two were somewhere else entirely. It seemed to be offworld, since they were outdoors- in a large clearing in a forest, specifically-and the night sky included two small moons rather than Earth's single large one. Looking around, Daniel thought he recognized the place, but he had no time to remember where they were, for within seconds they had been joined by what looked like about a hundred other people who had literally appeared out of nowhere, all of whose faces mirrored the grim expression on Oma Desala's face.
Problem was, though, they weren't alone.
On the opposite side of the clearing, another group of people was also appearing-or maybe not people, for as hard as Daniel strained to see, he could make out no detail or color to them at all. They were simply dark shapes- shadowy person-shaped beings, rather like Anubis himself.
Some of them, however, didn't seem to be so dark any more. They were beginning to glow somewhat, a silvery color, and the glow was spreading among them even as an opposing pure white glow was gradually growing among Daniel's companions and Daniel himself.
He was vaguely aware of a tingling sensation, but most of all he felt that in his own body-throughout the clearing, in fact-there was an enormous amount of raw energy building up. It was a little like drinking an enormous mug of extra-strong black coffee, Daniel thought wryly. Except that this felt a thousand times more so, and had a certain ominous quality that coffee lacked.
Something big was on the verge of happening.
And, a moment later, it did.
-----
By some miracle-or, Jack liked to think, the force of his own willpower-the team he was rooting for had made a memorable comeback. By the time of the next commercial break, the score was tied, and things were looking considerably up. "You see, Danny?" he observed. "The good guys will eventually triumph." Receiving no answer, he looked over to the other end of the sofa and discovered, rather belatedly, that his friend was fast asleep; had been for some time, from the looks of it.
Jack smiled. Daniel certainly deserved some rest. There was a TV in his room-he could watch the end of the game from bed. He switched off the set, got up, retrieved a folded blanket from the top of the sofa back, and gently placed it over his slumbering friend.
Daniel was tossing around somewhat and muttering to himself. Jack figured the kid was just having a strange dream-only to be expected, considering the kind of life they led. Heck, he'd had some pretty crazy dreams himself. It was nothing to worry about.
Jack started up the stairs, only briefly reconsidering his unconcern when Daniel began to thrash around violently. And a second later-and that was when Jack froze in place and began to worry after all- he started to emit a sound that O'Neill recognized only too well.
A sound even remotely like the one Daniel was making definitely should not have been coming from someone snugly asleep on a friend's couch.
A sound like that, normally-and Jack knew, having made it himself too many times-rightfully belonged in the throat of someone snugly tied down in front of an angry Goa'ould with a ribbon device.
Jack wasn't just worried now-he was frightened, seriously frightened, because the sound showed no signs of stopping any time soon.
Because Daniel was screaming, and it was a horrifying, agonized scream that just kept on going, and going, and going . . .
AUTHOR: Cyn(di)
EMAIL: custardpringle@yahoo.com
RATING: PG-13 for weird evil happenings and general suffering/pain on the parts of all concerned.
CATEGORY: supernatural, drama
SUMMARY: Daniel is having terrible nightmares. And the worst thing is, they're not only in his head . . .
SPOILERS: I'm too lazy to keep track, so let's say anything up through "Evolution Part 1."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Wow, hardly anything's happened yet and people are already praising the s**t out of this story and expecting more great things to come. It's a great feeling, but I hope this doesn't mean I do my best writing at 1 AM on a school night, which is when I finished the first chapter, because I don't think I can keep that up indefinitely. I will, however, do my absolute best to live up to your demanding expectations, because I like getting happy reviews-I have a nice big wall that needs papering . . .
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Daniel bit his lip hard, trying to keep control of himself, trying desperately to stay calm.
It wasn't easy by any means.
He was having enough difficulty dealing with the situation Oma Desala had just explained to him. It was enough of a problem simply to assimilate the concept that enormous powers had been restored to him when he barely remembered having had them in the first place, let alone what to do with them. Combined with the new revelation that he would now have to use these capabilities to defend himself against even stronger-and far more dangerous- beings, the situation was threatening to overwhelm him entirely with panic.
And panicking was definitely not an option right now. Dammit, Daniel, he told himself, get a grip. You've dealt with worse; you'll deal with this.
Then he took a deep breath and said aloud to Oma: "All right. What do we do now?"
"We go to them," she said firmly. "The Perii can hear us coming just was we can hear them, but, with luck, they may not expect us to react so quickly to their presence. We may be able to surprise them."
"You know, Oma," Daniel said pensively, "I always thought of the Ancients as such a peaceful people. It's incredibly strange hearing you talk about battle tactics. You're about the last person I would ever expect to remind me of Jack, but you kind of do right now."
Incongruously, she smiled slightly. "From what I have seen and heard of Jack O'Neill, that is a great compliment indeed. But-" Oma's face swiftly grew serious again-"you do not seem to have the same confidence in yourself. Why is that?"
Now this was more like how Daniel remembered her. "I'm not sure what I'm capable of," he admitted. "I can't remember anything about being Ascended. I mean, I know I had incredible powers, and now I've regained them, but I have no idea what to do with them."
"Do not worry; you cannot have forgotten completely," Oma assured him. "Although I suppressed the knowledge fairly strongly, it is still in your mind somewhere, and I am certain that you will be able to access it again when necessary. But we waste time-even now the Perii are mustering their forces, as my allies among the Ascended are rallying against them. We must go-and quickly."
Daniel nodded in acquiescence, and in the blink of an eye the two were somewhere else entirely. It seemed to be offworld, since they were outdoors- in a large clearing in a forest, specifically-and the night sky included two small moons rather than Earth's single large one. Looking around, Daniel thought he recognized the place, but he had no time to remember where they were, for within seconds they had been joined by what looked like about a hundred other people who had literally appeared out of nowhere, all of whose faces mirrored the grim expression on Oma Desala's face.
Problem was, though, they weren't alone.
On the opposite side of the clearing, another group of people was also appearing-or maybe not people, for as hard as Daniel strained to see, he could make out no detail or color to them at all. They were simply dark shapes- shadowy person-shaped beings, rather like Anubis himself.
Some of them, however, didn't seem to be so dark any more. They were beginning to glow somewhat, a silvery color, and the glow was spreading among them even as an opposing pure white glow was gradually growing among Daniel's companions and Daniel himself.
He was vaguely aware of a tingling sensation, but most of all he felt that in his own body-throughout the clearing, in fact-there was an enormous amount of raw energy building up. It was a little like drinking an enormous mug of extra-strong black coffee, Daniel thought wryly. Except that this felt a thousand times more so, and had a certain ominous quality that coffee lacked.
Something big was on the verge of happening.
And, a moment later, it did.
-----
By some miracle-or, Jack liked to think, the force of his own willpower-the team he was rooting for had made a memorable comeback. By the time of the next commercial break, the score was tied, and things were looking considerably up. "You see, Danny?" he observed. "The good guys will eventually triumph." Receiving no answer, he looked over to the other end of the sofa and discovered, rather belatedly, that his friend was fast asleep; had been for some time, from the looks of it.
Jack smiled. Daniel certainly deserved some rest. There was a TV in his room-he could watch the end of the game from bed. He switched off the set, got up, retrieved a folded blanket from the top of the sofa back, and gently placed it over his slumbering friend.
Daniel was tossing around somewhat and muttering to himself. Jack figured the kid was just having a strange dream-only to be expected, considering the kind of life they led. Heck, he'd had some pretty crazy dreams himself. It was nothing to worry about.
Jack started up the stairs, only briefly reconsidering his unconcern when Daniel began to thrash around violently. And a second later-and that was when Jack froze in place and began to worry after all- he started to emit a sound that O'Neill recognized only too well.
A sound even remotely like the one Daniel was making definitely should not have been coming from someone snugly asleep on a friend's couch.
A sound like that, normally-and Jack knew, having made it himself too many times-rightfully belonged in the throat of someone snugly tied down in front of an angry Goa'ould with a ribbon device.
Jack wasn't just worried now-he was frightened, seriously frightened, because the sound showed no signs of stopping any time soon.
Because Daniel was screaming, and it was a horrifying, agonized scream that just kept on going, and going, and going . . .
