Immortal Hope part 2 The darkness in your dreams

by The Schizophrenic Gatekeeper

sequel to hidden truths the learning continues and the price starts to be paid

2. Part One

Part One

I'm sure that I could never
make it through the night without you here
the fires in the sky
illuminate the demons closing in

have mercy on my soul
if I am not the last
have mercy on my soul
if I am not the last to go

as I crawl around these trails
and fight upon this widowing field
the ground below is bare and burned
at the places I have learned to trust You

have mercy on my soul
if I am not the last
have mercy on my soul
if I am not the last to go
I am not the last to go

when even silence sets my heart to racing
I will lift my eyes to you
please, Father, find me

have mercy on my soul...
have mercy on my soul
if I am not the last
have mercy on my soul
if I am not the last
have mercy on my soul
if I am not the last
have mercy on my soul
if I am not the last to go

Daniel stood out on his balcony watching as people rushed to and from work, met friends for coffee, basically living their lives the same the same way they always did, unaware of all the different things that were happening around them that they couldn't possibly imagine. He knew that a good number of the people who worked with him at the SGC watched the people around them with normal lives wondering what would happen if those people knew the things that they knew.

If they knew that somewhere deep down in the depths of Cheyenne mountain was a large stone ring that could allow a person to travel from one end of the galaxy to the other in seconds. That aliens are very real, and there was a war going on.

He never really thought about that. He had always thought about what would happen if they ever found out about the immortal world. The dangers that existed within it and all the things that had been lost over time, that he could still remember.

And now he was wondering what it was all for, why did it have to happen, why did it always come down to the battle between the 'good' element and the 'bad' element, why did he always seem to be the one paying the price?

The past week had been a test of his patience as the medical staff had entered into a fury of tests on his blood, muscle tissue, anything and everything, all of which they had seen and done before, but that they felt had to done again. Because it wasn't possible that immortals had the exact same physiology as a normal, mortal, person. Despite the fact that, that was what the tests had shown to be true.

And his friends, it was like they were different people, Jack's accusation that he had been lying to protect himself had been the last straw, his patience had run out. He was tired, he hadn't had time to recover from 'dying', or from the emotional stress born of his time in the cell.

His fingertips brushed the marks on his arm left by the 'sharks' and he sighed. Janet hadn't understood how he could have healed every other injury but not quite healed his arm, leaving a set of faded marks and discolorations. He hadn't even tried to explain, not wanting the tests to be repeated yet again just because of one idle comment on his part.

And now, now this. Lily was missing and no doubt very much in danger, which meant he would have to leave Colorado, without the SGC following, or knowing where he was going. He needed to help, needed to be able to do something useful. To protect Lily.

He wondered how the others would react to the rest of it. The stuff he hadn't told them knowing that they were still trying to recover from the idea of immortality. The fact that he had children and students, immortal friends and relations. That there was a whole world within the one that they knew, that existed due to the existence of immortality.

He didn't even know if he could ever tell them. If he could ever make them face the reality of the world they had lived in all of their lives and still knew so little about.

Turning away from the view he ran a hand through his hair suddenly feeling his age more than ever. It was time to go, pack up what he knew he would need, phone the base, claim some down-time, and head out to where he knew people were waiting.

"So, he phoned in requested some down time and then, what? Just went AWOL, you don't have any idea where he could have gone???" The young woman frowned at her desk as she spoke to the informant on the other end of the telephone line in Colorado. She had only just been assigned to the case and already the man in question had vanished. Called in for down time, something he was notorious for never doing, before disappearing from the face of the earth. Impossible. She wasn't about to make the same mistake her predecessor had. Oh no. She knew she could do better than that. And she would. She would never end up on the wrong side of a set of bars. Not in a million years. She would find him, no matter what, she would not give up. People didn't just vanish. They hid.

Jack O'Neill glanced sideways at his second in command as he turned off the road following her instructions. As far as he could tell they were headed into the middle of nowhere, but then where they were headed wasn't the important thing. The important thing was they were following Daniel.

None of it made sense. Firstly your best friend tells you he's an immortal, then a while later once you think you've dealt with it, you have an argument, and then the next day he phones in for down time, something he has never done unless ill, and goes off with so much as a buy-you-or-leave-you. It was too much, too quickly. But Danny-boy didn't seem to think that.

What he wouldn't give to have never have been told.

Daniel ran a hand through his hair tiredly as he levered himself out of his car, moving round to grab his bag from the boot before locking it and heading off down the footpath into the darkness of the forest.

He winced as a twig snapped under his feet cursing his tense nerves and his old friend's love of out of the way places. But, if anyone could help him it was her, which meant walking down dark wooded paths in an eerie silence, miles from anywhere, even in the heavily populated modern world.

He swept a cobweb out of the way, a disgusted expression touching his features, it was ok for the bard, she wasn't as tall as he was so the cobwebs didn't get in her face, so they didn't effect her, lucky.

A light smile touched his lips as he reached his destination, the small clearing with it's small, ancient hut similar to the one that she had lived in before, when this had all started for her.

A long time after it had all started for him, though it had only gotten this complicated within the past seven years. Which was just typical considering his track record.

It always came back to the same thing, mortals questioning the immortal, because they had what they wanted, and feared so much when they saw it in others, immortality the one thing that could bring out the worst in people, like war and peace, it was a curse for those who had it, but a temptation to those who didn't. But that was the way it was, he couldn't change it, he knew that now. He had learned that a long time ago, with grief, hatred and regret.

Sam sighed as she climbed out of the car, cornflower blue eyes settling on Daniel's car where it was parked in the small lay-by in the track. It seemed like such an odd place to go, out in the middle of nowhere, in an unpopulated area, especially when you didn't have camping equipment or food with you.

Glancing at the two men she realised that they were most likely thinking along similar lines. It didn't make sense, this wasn't the kind of thing that Daniel did, he didn't take time off, he didn't spend hours in his car driving out to the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason. But then that didn't matter did it, after all they didn't really know him all that well did they? For a start he wasn't a thirty-six year old archaeologist, come linguist, he was a lot older, and knew a lot more than any of them about immortality and things they couldn't even imagine. Like what the world was like before, all those years ago, when history wasn't recorded on paper, the time told of only by a few broken pots and stone circles.

She sighed shaking it off, she was thinking too much. She glanced at the path leading into the wood raising an eyebrow. Yeah, way too much thinking, not enough doing.

Daniel stepped up to the doorway, hesitating for a moment, glancing over his shoulder as the sound of a twig snapping caught his attention. Frowning he knocked before stepping back to wait, blue eyes settling for a moment on the end of the path he had come down, a light grin touched his lips as he realised what it was that he most likely heard. This could be interesting.

The door opened, pulling his attention back to the task at hand, he smiled as he met with a pale icy blue stare.

Tom paced aware of the young woman watching him from the table, her gentle gaze following his every move. He rubbed his hands together worriedly, his gaze constantly moving around the room, his frustration at his incapability to do anything clear.

"Tom, sit down, this isn't going to help." Softly accented Amelia's voice was gentle as she watched the younger man pacing, mentally laughing at the thought of how deceiving appearances really were when immortals were together in a room. Having died for the first time at twenty-nine she looked eleven years younger than Tom, since he had died at forty, older than most of them, Alastair included. It was odd how when they all let the masks fall away it clear as daylight who was the oldest and who the youngest, just by their behaviour. Where they were concerned, the older you got the calmer you got when faced with this kind of situation, a fact that could be scary when her elders were in the room, they were so calm it was frightening.

Tom's only answer to her suggestion was a single glance in her direction, nothing more, nothing less. More than she had expected considering the occasion. She allowed herself a grim smile at that thought. Only an occasion like this could bring them together so quickly.

Alastair was no doubt already out in the back of the beyond collecting his passengers, Will was on a plane headed to the nearest airport to her and Tom's location, and that was them all, they had decided that it was best to keep their group small, so as to hide their activities better, after all a large group of immortals didn't often get together, six was understandable, a little friendly get-together. If only the situation was like that.

She sighed again glancing at her appointed charge, she privately agreed with him, all this sitting doing nothing wasn't helping matters. But then it wasn't making them worse, which was a good thing. Through if the bard was right, they had something more to worry about other than a missing 'child' and the identity of her keepers, bad things come in threes. Or so she had said on many an occasion like this one involving friendly little get-togethers. Many an occasion.

The woman was clearly in her late thirties-early forties, her long black hair hung around her shoulders in stark contrast to her pale colouring, and ice blue eyes. A smile touched her slim lips as she looked her visitor over with a critical eye, eyebrows raised.

They had known one another for longer than most people could imagine, through she was over two millennia his junior. They had a deep understanding of one another, and valued their friendship more than their personal safety, it was second only to their loved ones, who's lives were worth far more to them then their own. It was a shared idea which only served to push their respect for each other up a notch. They had worked well together many a time in the past few centuries.

"I was wondering how long it would take for you to get here, come on in, we've been waiting." She backed into the passageway to allow him to move inside motioning for him close the door and then follow her lead further into the hut.

As they entered the main sitting area a delighted laugh met them as a young woman leapt to her feet and into Daniel's arms, pulling him into a warm embrace. "I have never been so relieved to see anybody in my whole life! Gods Alastair it's been too long."

Daniel smiled sadly, "It's good to see you too, I just wish it were on better circumstances."

The woman nodded, green eyes full of worry. "You know what they say, about bad things always coming in threes? I'm starting to hate the person who came up with that."

Daniel frowned at the younger woman, confused, "Gabrielle?"

The young woman winced ducking her head. "You don't know." Her voice was soft.

"We only found out an hour ago ourselves," The elder of the two women took over calmly, "Tom called, Ami's with him at present, the word is Rhys took her, which means Merritt has her now." Her voice was serious as she finished watching for his reaction.

Daniel closed his eyes, turning away from them and pushing his hands through his hair.

"Makes sense." His voice was soft and emotionless as his hands dropped back to his sides as he shook his head. "Why did this have to happen now, after everything that's happened, why now?" A sigh escaped his lips as he rubbed his face warily, lost in his own thoughts.

Teal'c stopped as he found himself in a small clearing that the path opened out into, brown eyes settling on the hut that was at in it's middle.

"O'Neill, I do believe we have discovered Daniel Jackson's destination." Jack stepped out of the trees to stand alongside Teal'c, nodding in agreement before glancing back over his shoulder at Sam.

"You could say that T, any idea who Danny's visiting Carter?" Sam shook her head eyes wide.

"No sir."

Jack took a deep breath scanning the area, "So, I guess we knock and see who's at home."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow before inclined his head in agreement, while Sam offered a tight smile.

"Whatever you say sir."

Raven crossed her arms over her chest as she stalked down the corridor to the room she knew Rhys was in. Finding her teacher's sister tied up in one of the locked rooms in the large 'deserted' factory building was the last straw this time.

The door slammed behind her making the other two men in the room, with her lover, jump. They were scared of her, and she didn't care, it didn't matter where she was, or who she loved, she would always be a Chosen, and they would always be the 'chosen' of Morrigan and her sister Ceridwen, her enemies, the people who had spent years hunting her for fun. The only thing that mattered was that her lover was one of them. One of the people who were meant to be her enemy, the people who had murdered her husband and children.

But her heart had forgotten that when she had saved him, had forgotten that she wasn't supposed to love her enemy. Just as his had done the same.

They were both stuck in an impossible situation, she couldn't kill them because that would betray his trust, and he couldn't kill any of her people, because that would betray her trust. Or at least that was what she had believed. Now she wasn't so sure.

Rhys glanced at her, examining her expression for a few moments before dismissing the two men, knowing that what would follow next was not for their ears.

"I'm sorry love. Merritt..." Raven cut off his comment with a violent hand motion, anger glowing in her brown eyes.

"Merritt? What does that, that, THING, have to do with this Rhys??? You promised me,"

She stopped turning her head away as a tear ran down her cheek, her anger abating for a few moments. "How do you expect me to trust you completely when every time, you, every time I turn my back you do something he tells you to do. When you hurt the people I care about?" She shook her head at him.

"How Rhys? Love? Don't you think I've been wishing it were that simple for the past five centuries?" Sorrowful brown eyes met his before she turned away. "They'll come for her Rhys, and I will help them."

Xena pulled the door open smiling coolly at the three startled faces in front of her. Her six foot frame filled the doorway as she examined each one in turn, thin dark eyes brows raising ever so slightly as she passed a glance over the largest of the group.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't let any one follow you next time you come out here Alastair, it scares the fish away."

A feminine snort echoed in the small corridor as Gabrielle rolled her eyes. "Everything scares the fish away. Water scares the fish away."

Xena frowned at the muttered comments, sharp blue eyes narrowing. Gabrielle held up her hands, standing on tiptoe to glance over her friend's shoulder. Her green eyes met deep brown ones as Teal'c solemnly raised an inquiring eyebrow. She exchanged a look with Xena before the two women grinned.

"I'm not sure if I should be worried about you two or afraid." Daniel brushed past Gabrielle smiling reassuringly at Jack and the others as he did so.

"Oh, be afraid, be very afraid." Gabrielle giggled shaking her head at the older woman.

Daniel frowned giving them both a funny look. "Suddenly I feel an urge to find Zack and Lucy rather than take up you two in your offer of help."

Xena sobered casting a grim look at the three mortal members of SG-1. "I can only hope that you're right to trust them with this old man, you know better than any of us what the cost would be if we fail."

She turned on her heel heading down the corridor into her kitchen, pulling Gabrielle along in her wake.

"It's complicated." Daniel sighed as he paced the confided space of Xena's living room, his gaze flitting around erratically. "Everything is so much more complicated than any of you think."

Jack scowled at his best friend, annoyed. "Yeah, well we don't know much do we??? I mean we have very little to go on Danny!!"

Gabrielle lent on the doorframe frowned as she listened, it wasn't like Alastair, he didn't seem to have a clue where to start. As long as she had known him he had been steadfast and reliable rarely stuck for words in any situation. And now here he was standing in front of her, tongue tied.

"Complicated is a, nice way to put it if you ask me." Her voice was soft as she met Daniel's gaze stepping into the room. "Could I...?"

Daniel gave her a warm smile of gratitude . "Sure, you're the bard."

Gabrielle smiled. "There are good and bad immortals. The chosen are good, the spell-casters and seekers are, bad. But that's just a basic, as much as you need to know at present kind of summary. So please, don't nit-pick." She shot Jack an impatient look as he closed his mouth, frowning. Great, another Xena. "We aren't, God what is that, oh, we aren't sterile. We can all have children." She glanced in the direction of the kitchen as a muttered comment reached her ears. "And many of us have had children, but they don't inherit our immortality. Don't ask me why, they just don't."

"And, so, therefore the point in this immortal crap 101 is????" Jack met her gaze steadily mouth set in a grim line.

She glanced at Daniel who shrugged dismissively as though it was all normal. But then for all she knew this could be normal. "Well, there's a situation," She winced at the military sounding comment before continuing. "Some of the, bad, immortals have, taken, well kidnapped, one of us."

Daniel nodded. "And it's very important that we get our fellow, good, immortal back. And as soon as is possible." He couldn't help but wonder if it sounded the same to them as it did to him. Like someone explaining something to their children who were a little too young to be told about such things. Patronizing. It sounded patronizing.

"What exactly happened?" Sam questioned voice soft. "I mean how was this, 'good', immortal taken???"

Daniel glanced at Gabrielle raising his eyebrows. Smiling tightly she took up the challenge. "She was on a night out, she was taken on the street. That's all we know."

Jack snorted. "That's it??? All you know is that she was taken on the street?? You don't know where she could be, or who of the 'bad' immortals could have take her???" He shook his head in disgust.

Daniel frowned at his friend, blue eyes emotionless. "Merritt took her. She's with him now. Serena wouldn't bother with Lily, she would have taken one of the other three. It was Merritt."

Daniel turned away walking out of the room. Gabrielle watched, green eyes sad, understanding her friend's reaction and the truth in his words. It was all just a plan to get to them. One of them in particular.

Jack and the others looked to her for an explanation but all she could think was what would happen if they didn't succeed. They had to succeed, they had to get her back. Somehow, no matter what it took.

Ami pulled the door open before Will could do anything more than merely raise his hand. She smiled warily at her old friend, as she moved to one side so that he could move past her, silently pushing the door closed after him. She starred at the wooden door in front of her nose as she took a deep breath, hand on the door handle.

"This is hard on him Will, I can't bare watching him pace."

Will frowned, brown eyes resting on her slightly bowed head. They had known each other for years, having shared a teacher and being close in age. One hundred and sixty three years older, she had always been the more mature of the pair, with a gift that involved a deep empathy for other people's pain. Their relationship had evolved into a brother/sister one, as they had grown closer over the years. In all the years he had known her he had only seen her like this three times.

"You ok Am??" His voice was soft, knowing that she didn't what anyone else to hear what was said. She turned slowly looking up to met is gaze, sorrowful blue eyes dark.

"Better than Tom is. I mean, he's lost his soul-mate - can you imagine how much that must hurt? I can't. I've never had that Will." but I wish I could have. Will heard the unspoken part of her speech and winced in sympathy.

"I'll take care of him for a bit if you want a break." He made the offer casually staring at a point above her head as he did so.

Ami laughed at her friend's behaviour, breaking the dark mood. "Sure, I've been wanting to go shopping." She smiled sweetly at him. "Want anything??"

Will glared at her for a few moments before pulling his shaving kit out of his pocket. "Got what I need thanks."

Ami snorted. "Typical."

Xena looked up from the sink as Daniel entered the room raising an eyebrow. Bright azure eyes met her's as he gave her a slight smile, shrugging in idle dismissal.

"Gabrielle gave them most of the basics, and when I say basics, I mean basics. It was like listening to a mother telling her children not to talk to strangers."

Xena frowned, a worried look gracing her features. "Danny, did you tell them??"

Daniel swallowed moving to stand beside her and stare grimly out the window. "No." His voice was a whisper, his worry and despair clear in the single word.

Xena sighed, idly resuming her task, "You have to Danny, they have to understand."

Her voice was gentle as she spoke, her empathy to his plight clear in her tone. It was hard on anyone, but it was worse for them, in their immortality they had lost a lot of things that normal people had. Like the knowledge that your children will probably out live you. They didn't have it, not even those of them with immortal children.

Calmly placing the last dish on the draining board she dried her hands before turning to face him, placing a hand on his shoulder, silently offering her support and nodding towards the door.

Jack glowered at the door while Teal'c and Sam examined the young woman who had been introduced to them as Gabrielle, another immortal, who looked, Jack noted, to be in her late twenties to early thirties.

"How do you know Daniel Jackson??" Teal'c tone was it's normal solemn self as he questioned her, a fact that didn't surprise Jack, to anyone but a select few Teal'c always sounded like that, it was rare for people to notice his slight inflections on certain words. For example, at the moment Teal'c was intrigued by what they had been told a few minutes before hand.

The sound of a woman's voice drifted through the open door, but it was too quiet for him to be able to identify anything else but the sex of the speaker, and since there were only two other people in the hut that they knew of, the speaker had to be the other, older, woman Xena.

"Through Xena." The young woman's answer was brief her attention clearly not on them as she stared at the open doorway as through she expected something to walk through and attack them. Jack snorted making her jump, before he stood to follow his friend. Daniel had a lot of explaining to do.

A small hand closed around his upper arm from behind, forcing him to turn to face the young green eyed woman.

"Give him time colonel." Her voice was gentle as she pulled him over to the sofa that the other two members of his team were occupying and pushing him down onto it's soft cushioned surface. She glanced at each of them in turn a frown tainting her soft features for a few moments before she sighed.

"Alastair," Gabrielle examined a spot on the far wall for a few moments, taking a deep careful breath. "We know each other, well, he helped me after," Her voice wavered a moment her gaze resting on a picture of her and Xena that was hung on the wall. "After she died for the first time. She, well she stayed, dead for longer than anybody. I mean, she's my," Gabrielle flattered not knowing how to continue, doubting they would honestly understand. She shook her head vaguely, "doesn't matter." She smiled lightly, shrugging in dismissal. "I've known him since, oh, Caesar, Julius, a long time."

Sam frowned at her, she had noticed that the young woman had been leading up to something but had moved away from it, but she decided that it was most likely best left alone.

"A very long time." Daniel's voice came from the doorway as he stepped into the room again. Meeting Jack's gaze, he took a deep breath. "There's something that you guys should know, about this,"

He hesitated, moving to allow Xena to enter the room and cross over to pull Gabrielle out of the way to one side, exchanging a meaningful look with the younger woman as she did so. Gabrielle nodded silently, understanding, hand gripping her best friend's harder.

Daniel glanced up at the wall behind his mortal friends, idly biting his bottom lip. "There's more to it then we said before. Lily, is, she's important." Xena groaned, gaining a heavy frown.

"I'm not good at this, 'kay??" Daniel dared her to take over from him, pinning her with a glare, before continuing. "She's important to me,"

Sam jerked upright mouth opening as Jack's eyes widened, Teal'c remaining motionless.

"You son of a bit.." Daniel cut his best friend off raising a finger in the air and narrowing his eyes.

"Not the way you're thinking. The reason she means a lot to me, is," Daniel bit his lip slightly, cocking his head on one side as he seemed to think about what he was going to say next, how to phrase it, "The reason is she's my youngest, well, no, she's my youngest IMMORTAL child." He met Jack's gaze steadily. "She's my daughter Jack."