Jack O'Neill was burning; he could feel every nerve ending screaming in agony as the searing heat simultaneously blazed through every cell. The white glare incinerated his eyelids as he mercifully faded to black.
Through an abyss, void of sensation, Sam Carter fell, till her back connected with something solid, a flame of torment raced through her crushed spine and she knew no more.
Daniel choked as he tried and failed to breathe through the now solid floor. Pain blossomed into a fireball in his lungs and dots danced across his consciousness, before he finally succumbed to his fate.
Teal'c stood alone, in the empty hall, his expression vacant.
He had failed them.
They had trusted him and he had failed them.
The trial was over, but it didn't matter. His friends were gone and weren't coming back.
He remembered the casual, but unwavering faith of O'Neill as he plunged into the fire. The determined trust Major Carter had shown when falling to her doom. The conviction of Daniel Jackson as he braved his fears, a true warrior.
And he, a soldier twice as long as they had lived, was left at the end of it all. A single sufferer of a self inflicted sorrow.
'Woah!' was Jack O'Neills first thought, stumbling out of the archway. 'Didn't I just…' He turned to look at the arch he'd half fallen through a minute before. No fire was visible, just a stone wall in behind the curved stone structure. 'Weird!' He thought inwardly. Dismissing his inexplicable escape for a minute, he turned his attention back to the hall, searching for the rest of his team. His heart froze at what he saw.
Teal'c was sat with his back to him, head in his hands, breathing heavily, wait…was he crying?
"Teal'c?" Jack called out cautiously, almost dreading the approaching conversation. What the hell had happened? And where were Carter and Daniel?
He watching apprehensively as the Jaffa slowly stood, and turned around, this was not good. Teal'c had tears on his face, and when THAT guy cried you knew something was wrong. He watched in bewilderment as his comrade first went ashen, and then proceeded to hug him so tightly that he couldn't breathe.
"Teal'c…Buddy…I'm glad to see you too...but your gonna have to let go of me!" Jack gasped, very relieved when the Jaffa let him go suddenly and stepped back.
"But…How can this be?" Teal'c asked with awe in his tone. "I saw your death in the flames of the archway O'Neill."
Jack frowned, "I thought I…felt it too. Where's Carter and Daniel? " He watched as Teal'c lowered his head, sorrow evident in every movement. "I regret they entered through the other doorways."
Jack nodded the vague sense of dread returning, "Well with any luck they'll be out in a minute." A thought struck him, "Hey Teal'c, your talking!"
The tall Jaffa looked shocked, "I am afraid I had a fall in remembrance in my surprise at seeing you O'Neill, that I was forbidden to speak," Teal'c sighed, "I may yet have doomed us all O'Neill."
Jack shook his head slightly, "That's a lapse in memory Teal'c, and if something was going to happen it would have happened by now '. " He reassured his friend. "What happened to you anyway?"
He listened as Teal'c explained what the weird alien chick had told him. "Well," Jack said finally, "She said as long as we remained in the room right? Well we left, and we came back." At Teal'c look, "ARE coming back." He amended. "So I'm betting the silence thing doesn't count anymore."
His comrade inclined his head gracefully, "I hope you are correct O'Neill."
A thud, "Ouch!"
Jack spun round, a wave of relief passing over him, "Carter!" His 2IC was sprawled on the floor in a rather undignified fashion, having obviously just fallen out of the second archway. At their approach, she pushed herself up to a sitting position, rubbing her head ruefully.
"Next time I bring a helmet." She muttered to herself, then he saw her turn to look at them. She froze.
"Sir?"
Jack grinned inwardly, "Carter?"
"Your alive?"
"Last time I checked, you?"
He watched as she slowly stood up, straightening her jacket, "Think so Sir. Teal'c are you okay? Where's Daniel? What-"
Jack held up a hand to stop the flow of questions. "Argh! Stop Carter!" In response to her irritated expression, "Teal'c is fine…and talking. Daniel is still down whichever arch he went through but following the pattern, he should be back soon. We don't know what happened only that this was some kind of test, which is evidently over. We think."
Carter nodded, "Right Sir." She turned to Teal'c, and softly, "Daniel went through the other arch?"
Something akin to regret clouded Teal'c eyes as he replied, "I'm afraid so Major Carter."
She sighed, "well, we both got back right? So Daniel should be back soo-"
"Now" Jack interrupted, he stared at the third arch, and watched the somewhat tousled figure of Daniel trip through.
"Ow!"
"Daniel!" Carter exclaimed, as she half-jogged over to help him up. Jack strolled casually over, trying not to grin at the disheveled appearance of the archeologist. "Danny Boy! How've you been?" He greeted him, ignoring the astonished aspect of his friend's face.
"Jack?"
"Oh boy, we are NOT going through this again!" Jack said, halting the imminent flow of questions. "Condensed version, Teal'c test, we go through doors, him not speaking. We went through doors, died, came back, no idea how, but all is happy in Oz okay?"
Carter smirked slightly much to his annoyance, exchanging an amused look with Teal'c. Daniel just looked confused.
"You'll get it eventually" Jack assured him, glaring at the rest of the team. "In the meantime, shouldn't we get the heck out of dodge?"
"That will not be possible."
Unable to believe it, pulling a painful grimace, he turned to face the alien woman. "Do you EVER actually leave?" He could almost hear Carter grin behind him.
The woman met his gaze quizzically. "We are monitoring the trials. The one called Teal'c has completed his successfully. The next to be tested will-"
"Now hold on a minute!" Jack protested angrily, his ire overcoming his caution, "My team and I are going home! No one else is going to be tested, put on trial, or whatever term you like you use! Now we have done nothing to you, but since arriving here we've been knocked out, imprisoned in a cell, and killed for goodness sake! Just how much more do you expect us to put up with?"
To his surprise and slight annoyance his speech didn't seem to impress the woman one bit. She had a face like a jaffa on guard duty. Arrogant, and unreadable.
Oh Boy.
"You will endure as much as we wish you to endure Colonel O'Neill. Your continued presence here is not optional, nor is that of your teammates. You will pass the requested trials, or you will die. If you pass you and your team might live. It is up to you."
"MIGHT live? Might? That is not good enough!" Jack ranted, losing all patience, "And another thing! Aside from some whirlpool rooms, fancy doors, and light thingamajigs I ain't seen squat from you that proves your any more superior to us than a Goa'uld! I bet your not even stronger than we are, I could knock you out with one hit if I particularly wanted to!" Jack took a breath, glaring at the alien. To his surprise, She was not looking at him, but appeared to be gazing at some point over his shoulder.
"O'Neill!"
At Teal'c's shout he turned around, eyes widening in horror.
Carter and Daniel were suspended in mid air, about 10 feet off the ground. Both were clutching their throats, gasping for air they couldn't get. Daniel struggled feebly with some invisible hand at his throat, and Carter was kicking frantically. Neither was making progress though and their faces were rapidly turning blue.
"Stop it." Jack said, keeping his voice low and calm, trying to forestall the wave of panic coming over his as half his team choked to death.
"Did you not want a demonstration of our power Colonel O'Neill?"
"You want to show me power? It's very nice, now get them the heck down from there!"
"I do not take orders from you."
The struggles of the pair were rapidly becoming convulsive, as muscle spasms began. If they didn't get down soon even those would stop. Desperately, he pleaded, "Please, they did nothing wrong. Punish me, not them."
The alien's eyes suddenly focused on him. Despite his fear, or maybe because of it, he noticed the white eyes seemed to pulsate with a vivid too-bright light, and the pupils were darker than ever.
"You will not receive another chance O'Neill."
And she let them fall.
As always, reviews are very much appreciated. Good AND bad. I really want to improve my writing. Whatcha think so far? Should I carry on or scrap this story?