A/N: Before I continue – I want to suggest to everyone reading to check out my other two stories, Chains forged in fire and Immortal Destiny (both of which have been updated!)
Special thanx to Anna Bade, MissKayl, Sean, Magewind, Alfheim and manticore-gurl071134 for reviewing and making this next update possible. If you enjoy this story and don't review – you're a very bad person.
Sanity of the Insane
Chapter 3: Forgotten Pasts
General Hammond was not a happy man. His second-in-command, for no apparent reason, has disappeared. At first, Hammond had assumed that the Asguard had spirited O'Neill away again. That is, until he noticed the note on his desk from one Jack O'Neill. True to O'Neill fashion it was concise, to the point, and downright aggravating.
General, I will be unavailable for missions for the immediate future. I can't say why because that information is classified. I'll bring you back a souvenir. Sincerely, Colonel Jack O'Neill.
Unfortunatley, Hammond had yet to discover who, if anyone, had contacted Jack in the last forty-eight hours. What was most disturbing were the requests he was receiving from unidentified sources requested the transfer of Colonel Jack O'Neill to a secret black ops project codenamed Full Moon. The commander of SGC did not believe in coincidences. But even with his security clearance, he was unable to determine what type of project O'Neill was being recruited for.
Hammond had yet to report the colonel's absence to his superiors, but soon the general would have no choice. Having exhausted his own sources, the commander called the remaining members of SG1 together.
"People, I am afraid that Colonel Jack O'Neill has disappeared."
Daniel Jackson leaned forwarded in his chair with a puzzled expression on his face. "Disappeared as in an Asguardian flash of light, disappeared as in missing, or…"
"Disappeared, as in running off to God knows where, for who knows what reason," General Hammond interrupted.
The members of SG1 exchanged worried glances.
"The colonel wouldn't leave without good reason, General," Carter insisted.
"Indeed, JackO'Neill is an honourable warrior and would not dissert his post lightly," agreed Teal'c.
Hammond showed them the note.
"Well, that's Jack all right," Daniel said, "but he still must have a good reason."
The general sighed. "I agree with all of you. However, all I have is a note from Jack saying he would be gone for an indefinite period of time for an undisclosed reason. The only clues we have so far is that prior to his disappearance there was a break in the security camera feed in his office. Minutes later, the colonel phoned for a plane ticket to Los Angeles and a rental car. We've been unable to track him since. The only other clue we have is that he was working on his laptop before the camera outage, but apparently the hard drive was wiped clean."
"Sir, you can't possibly think the colonel wiped the hard drive on purpose? The only electronic devices the colonel can use expertly are his game stations," Carter said.
"Right now, I don't know what to think. But I have reason to believe this all has something to do with a black ops project known as Full Moon. I have been receiving requests for Jack's transfer for the last week. Unfortunately, I don't have high enough security access to discover exactly what Project Full Moon is."
Shocked played across the other's faces, though Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow. General Hammond had one of the highest security clearances possible. For him to not have access to information on this project…
"Sir, has there been anything you've been able to find out about this project?" questioned Carter desperately.
"Even after calling in a few high placed favours, I was only able to discover that the project was originally initiated four years ago and ran for a year before it was mysteriously decommissioned. Recently, it has been reinitiated under its original leadership – though I haven't been able to find out a name."
"What, exactly, does this have to do with Jack?" a perplexed Daniel asked.
"Apparently, Jack was involved with the project until its shut down. Now, it appears, they want him back."
*****************************
Buffy waved good-bye to the others as she headed towards Sunnydale High. She turned and caught the angry glares of the Scooby gang.
The blond slayer sighed.
She knew her friends were worried about her, and were hurt by the way she was treating them. But she couldn't tell them who her new, or rather old, friends were. The time and place where they had met was not something she cared to discuss with her best friends. It brought back memories that were as dangerous to the slayer as any demon.
However, with the new arrivals came even more slayer dreams.
Every night was marked by the arrival of similar dreams, varying in details, but always following the same theme. Wolves now accompanied her friends, whose faces she now could see clearly; but now they were not pursuing her but bowing down to her. Four other people surrounded her, but she felt protective rather than frightened as they entered the dream, though Buffy couldn't remember who they were. Although, instinctively she knew that she did know them. No matter, however, the varying details the dreams always ended the same; with Buffy staring back at a person with her face but whose eyes were wild.
But even though Buffy was remembering more from that time, she could tell by the looks in her friends' eyes that she hadn't remembered everything. And not the most important things.
The blond slayer felt she was standing at the edge of a cliff, with the Scoobies behind her and her L.A. friends in front, urging her forward. But towards what, she did not know. All she had were vague memories, and feelings.
Buffy flushed as she remembered some of those feelings, particularly the ones from last night at the Bronze.
Surrounded by her friends, she had felt free and wild. She began to run on her instincts, much like when she was slaying. Last night, she felt powerful … no, dominant … around her friends. Watching them fight for her attentions had felt right, even natural. Buffy was unnerved when she realized that her behaviour was similar to Xander's when a hyena had possessed him. But something inside of her prevented her from confiding in the Scooby gang, or Giles, or Faith.
The school day passed quickly, mainly due to the fact that Buffy managed to sleep through nearly every class. As the final bell rang, Willow and Xander met up with her as they headed towards the library. The walk was filled with Willow's chatter as she babbled nervously.
Things weren't looking up when she found not only Faith and Giles waiting for her, but also her mother. Buffy groaned and stifled the urge to turn around and simply leave. Given the looks she was receiving, the slayer guessed that that would not be the wisest response.
"So, what's with the pow-wow?" she asked, feigning cheerfulness.
Xander pulled out a chair, and Buffy was uncomfortably reminded of when the Scoobies had found out about Angel's return. Sighing, she sat down, refusing to appear guilty.
Giles polished his lenses before regarding his slayer.
"Buffy, we have all been concerned about your behaviour for the last few weeks. You have been uncommunicative, behaving rashly, and ignoring your training."
"Not to mention you've been acting like a floozy with those loser drop-outs you've been hanging out with," Xander piped in.
"Xander," Willow reprimanded, but Buffy shot to her feet and took a menacing step towards Xander. Startled, Xander took several steps back as Faith placed a restraining hand on the older slayer's arm.
"Don't ever talk about mine like that," Buffy growled before sitting back down, Faith hovering behind her as precautionary measure.
They stared at Buffy in shock. The blond slayer was also surprised by her response. Why did I call them 'mine'? Why did I even react so strongly – that was just Xander being his normal inconsiderate self.
Joyce stepped forward nervously, slightly frightened by her daughter's reaction. She was still coming to terms with her daughter being a Slayer, which is why she had allowed this behaviour to continue for so long. It was only when Mr. Giles had voiced his own concerns that she had decided to intervene.
"Buffy, we just want to understand what has happened to cause such a drastic change in your behaviour?"
"When have you ever cared about understanding my motives instead of jumping to your own conclusions?" snarled Buffy. The others immediately came to Joyce's defence – who just stared stunned at her daughter's words.
You left me there! You brought this upon yourself, mother, a voice in Buffy's mind exclaimed. For a second, the image of the Buffy-with-wild-eyes flashed through the slayer's mind.
The Scooby gang fell silent as a stranger walked into library.
"Hi, I was told I could find Buffy Summers here," he stated, his view of Buffy obscured by Faith.
"May I ask whom you are?" Giles asked, as Buffy looked around Faith to get a look at the man.
"I'm…" "Jack!"
Buffy launched from her seat and ran into the open arms of the stranger.
"It's good to see you again, short stuff."
TBC
A/N: I will name a character after anyone who can now guess what period of time Buffy is talking about!
As always, reviews = quicker updates!