The Prophecy

Chapter 15

When Teyla woke again, she could tell that it was night time on Atlantis before she opened her eyes. The hushed noises and the absence of voices in the infirmary were a clear indication. Opening her eyes to dimmed lights around here confirmed her assumptions.

She wasn't sure what had happened to bring her back to the infirmary. The last thing she could recall was having been in the briefing room was the rest of the team. She had been telling them about the prophecy, but sadly they had not been as open minded as she had hoped that they would be. Especially the scientists had been reluctant to believe that such as thing as prophecies existed.

It wasn't like she herself hadn't had her doubts in the beginning. When she had first heard of the stories, she had regarded them as mere stories that parents told their children. Stories that were part of her cultural heritage, but that had no meaning otherwise. She had never spent much time studying her people's culture. She was more of a practical leader than a spiritual leader. Her people needed a practical leader in a time when they were chased by the Wraith. When Halling had first shown her the prophecy and she had been forced to realize that it was indeed true, she had tried to do all she could to prevent it from happening. The pain that the prophecy foretold that John would have to suffer and the fall of Atlantis – she couldn't allow that to happen. She loved John and she would do everything to protect him, even if it meant giving up a future with him.

'The prophecy says that once that two Chosen are united in body and spirit, their common journey will commence'

When John had proposed marriage to her, she had realized that she could not accept his offer without setting to events of the prophecy in motions. Marriage would be sealing their union and she could not allow it.. Teyla didn't regret denying his proposal, but now she regretted not telling him about her true motive. He didn't deserve to believe that she had done it out of lack of love for him or out of fear of commitment.

She needed to tell him, as well as she needed to tell him of the journey that lay ahead of them, as she had been unable to prevent the prophecy from coming true. But she also needed to convince Dr. Weir and the others that they needed to return to Athos to find the Healer that would be John's only help to get better.

For a moment she felt overwhelmed by her task, but then she remembered the prophecy. It was written that they would return to the planet and encounter the Healer. Just as all the other events had come to pass no matter what actions they had taken, she could be without fear that what the word of the prophecy would come true this time as well. She wouldn't need to fear, her destiny was out of her hands now.

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John thought for a moment, then reluctantly took the woman's hand. He had not much of a choice. He was trapped on this desert plane, which he was sure was some sort of illusion. Maybe it was some sort of illusion created by his own mind, but the persistent presence of the alien woman made the possibility appear less and less likely.

If she was really offering him a glance of what was going in the real world, he might as well take her up on her offer. He had nothing to lose; there was no way he was getting out of this alone. He was still hoping that Teyla was going to come to his help, as the woman had mentioned that she was capable of doing so

"Who are you? Because you sure are not Teyla."

"You have an inquisitive mind. You are right. I am not the one whose form I have taken."

The apparition in front of him changed and instead of 'Teyla', he now saw a woman wearing a white robe. "But Teyla will join you on this journey."

He recalled his earlier conversation with the mysterious woman. But for now, he would have to trust he. He took her hand and the moment he touched her, the desert and the temple seemed to start spinning around him. At first slowly, then faster and faster, the colours merging until everything appeared sand coloured. John tried to let go of her hand, but her grip was solid and he couldn't move his hand. Seconds after the spinning had started the ground dropped away from under him and he felt like he was falling. The wind caused by the free fall was rushing, drowning out all other sounds. He could still feel the iron grip of the woman on his hand, but he couldn't move or see for that matter.

As suddenly as it had begun, the sensation of falling stopped and he felt solid ground under his feet. It took John a few seconds to recover from the experience, but when he looked around he was amazed to find himself to be standing in the infirmary of Atlantis. The woman he had met on the illusion desert was still with him, giving the only indication that this too was not real.

"Don't doubt what you are seeing. This is real, and you are really here, but not physically. I have taken you here, you cannot do that on your own."

"But you can. What are you?"

"I'm a guardian. You will never meet me when you are conscious, but you will meet me again." With those words, the woman in the white robe vanished, leaving John standing alone in the middle of the infirmary.

John was glad that she was gone. While she had not done anything to harm him or anyone on Atlantis even though she was clearly more powerful than a human, he was still very suspicious. The fact that she was able to read his thoughts with such ease was very disconcerting to him. But he pushed back his concerns and set out to explore his current environment. It looked like the infirmary at night, but he soon realized that something was wrong when he looked down at himself lying in bed, looking disturbingly ill. Pale, his hair much more chaotic then usual, he was hooked up to an I.V. and to oxygen via a nasal canula. He even looked thinner than usual, but that might be the highly unflattering gown, his ill self was wearing.

John normally wasn't the type for self-pity, but this time, he felt sorry for himself. Or rather, he felt sorry for the version of himself that was stuck in the infirmary looking distinctively bad. Hopefully Teyla wasn't too worried about him. He recalled waking up before and having felt utterly lousy, but someone had told him that Teyla was fine. If he was doing as badly as he looked, she was probably very worried, along with everyone else. As if she had been reading his thoughts, Teyla was approaching the bed of his ill self. A wave of worry flooded through John when he noticed that she herself was still wearing the burgundy scrubs that the infirmary patients got to wear. She had to be still in the infirmary herself. So much for being fine. John watched in fascination as she moved with her usual grace and pulled up a chair next to the bed of his ill self. Before sitting down, she leaned forward and kissed his other self on the forehead. Then she sat down, taking his limp hand in hers.

TBC