Rodney was vaguely aware that more time had passed since Kolya's last visit than usual. This fact had occurred to him when he'd realized that he was actually beginning to recover from his injuries. He hadn't been left alone long enough to do that before.
Still, he wasn't about to question it. He slept away as much time as possible, trying to recover his strength and let himself heal. Of course, that also meant that he didn't have to deal with his current circumstances, which suited him just fine.
Nobody came to his cell at all, not even the guards. The ache of loneliness would settle over him whenever he would think of the way he'd isolated himself willingly all his life, pushing away the people who tried to get close to him. Now his entire world was silent and still, just the way he'd thought he'd always wanted it, except for twice a day when his food and water came. The scraping sound was starting to seem ear-splittingly loud, and that frightened him. What was this isolation doing to him?
In his dreams, though, he had as much company as he knew what to do with. All of his friends back on Atlantis came to visit him while he slept, offering him comfort and encouragement, promising that they'd come for him before Kolya's next visit. These dreams were so vivid and wonderful that he clung to them even when he was awake, believing that the things they'd told him were true. They were coming for him, and they would be here any minute now.
This belief made it all the more devastating the next time he heard those doors clanging open and saw the guards burst into his cell to take him to see Kolya.
They hadn't come in time. Oh God, they hadn't come in time.
He was kicked and slapped and jostled all the way to Kolya's lovely little room, but for some reason they didn't bother to chain him up this time. They simply threw him on the floor and slammed the door shut behind them.
For some reason, Rodney got the feeling that this was not necessarily a good thing.
The room seemed unoccupied except for him, as there was no sound and no movement other than his own breathing. He had just begun to think maybe Kolya was late or something when a form began to emerge from the shadows.
Rodney swallowed convulsively when he was finally able to see Kolya's face. He looked about as bad as Rodney felt, and had a very odd look in his black, swollen eyes. "What... why are you... looking at me like that?" he asked nervously, lifting himself up until he was sitting back on his haunches.
Kolya didn't answer. Before Rodney even had time to blink, the man swung his fist at him, sending him flying against the wall with a crack to his cheekbone.
Something was definitely different this time. Kolya had never used his fists before. He'd never started the rough treatment without speaking first, either. And that look on his face...
Rodney shuddered when he heard Kolya coming at him again. He was helpless to defend himself as Kolya grabbed him, turned him over onto his back, and drove his fist into his stomach.
His breath was knocked out of him by the first hit, but Kolya didn't seem to think once was enough. He pounded his fist into Rodney's gut again and again and again, until everything went completely black and Rodney couldn't even feel it anymore.
By the time his senses returned to him, all was still and quiet again. Rodney assumed he had been dumped back into his cell, as that was how his sessions with Kolya usually ended. He groaned as he rolled over from his side onto his back, but as soon as he'd done it, he realized it had been a mistake.
Kolya was still there. He'd been waiting for Rodney to come around so that he could continue his abuse while Rodney could feel it.
The man was insane. Not that this was news to Rodney, but it suddenly hit him as he watched Kolya limp towards him with some kind of stick in his hands. He was insane, and he was never going to let up. It was never going to be over. He was like a pit bull - once his jaws had latched onto someone, he wouldn't let go until they were dead.
Again, no words were spoken as Kolya approached. That in itself was terrifying. Rodney tried to curl up into a fetal position to ward off the impending attack, but his ribs hurt too much from the beatings he'd already taken. The best he could do was cover his head with his arms and roll back onto his side as the first blow fell.
Kolya's stick caused much more pain and damage than his fist ever could. Thankfully, one well-placed strike knocked Rodney back into the land of unconsciousness, where he remained for what felt like forever.
He awoke to the unmistakable darkness of his little cell, lying face down on the ground with his arm twisted painfully underneath him. After lying that way for a few minutes, he tried to move it out from under him, but his body screamed at him to stay still. After half a dozen failed attempts, he finally worked his arm free and lay there for the next minute or two panting with exhaustion.
This was it. He knew this was the end. Kolya had won.
Rodney didn't even open his eyes a few minutes later when he heard the familiar scraping sound indicating that it was mealtime. Mealtime - yeah, that was a joke. He would have laughed if his broken ribs weren't already pressing painfully against his internal organs.
Instead, he just let reality fade away as Elizabeth appeared at his side to cover him with a warm blanket and soothe him to sleep.
The team was starting to get a little antsy after they had scouted yet another planet with no sign of Rodney. Well, John was getting antsy. Teyla never got antsy, and Ford... well, Ford seemed mostly aggravated.
Out of the ten planets in this Confederation, John and his team had scouted four, while Bates and his team had scouted three. Seven down, three to go. If Rodney wasn't on any of the remaining three...
John didn't even allow himself to complete that thought. Rodney was on one of those planets. He had to be. There was nowhere else he could be.
"Any luck?" Elizabeth asked as she met them at the Stargate.
"Nope," John replied. "Yet another dead end. On to the next one."
Elizabeth nodded sympathetically. "Are you up to another mission right away, or do you want to wait a while?"
John met her gaze without wavering as he tried to read between the lines of what she was saying. Since their argument a few days earlier, they'd gone from avoiding each other completely to actually being able to talk without snapping at each other again. He didn't want to mess that up by jumping to conclusions about her motives behind the things she said. "I think we can handle one more," he said, knowing Teyla and Ford would wholeheartedly agree. "What's next on the list?"
Elizabeth nodded her approval. "I believe the next planet is the one called Marina," she said.
John tried as hard as he could to resist making a Marines joke, and was about to crack when Teyla spoke up.
"That Stargate is situated on a small, uninhabited island on a planet which is almost completely ocean."
"Sounds familiar," John said.
Teyla inclined her head slightly, as if to tell him that he wasn't getting the point. "The only way to the inhabited islands is by boat," she said.
"Or puddle jumper," John said, with a glance at Elizabeth for permission.
Elizabeth seemed lost in thought for a moment before she turned to Teyla and asked, "Is there anyone on this 'uninhabited' island at all? Do they have some kind of ferry system set up, or a trading post?"
"There are often traders and sailors close-by, yes," Teyla replied.
"Then I think it would be wisest for your team to go through on foot first," she said to John. "Ask around and see if anyone knows anything about Jassin Tiya or Rodney. Taking a jumper through to scan entire islands from the air would probably just turn out to be a waste of time, don't you agree?"
John felt he should argue with this on principle, but found he couldn't. It really did seem like their best option. "I agree," he said, and turned to his teammates. "Are we ready?"
Ford and Teyla nodded. "Ready when you are, Sir," Ford said.
"Good," Elizabeth said. She turned to the control room then, and called, "Dial up the address for Marina."
Peter Grodin nodded and moved to do as he was bidden.
"Good luck, Major," Elizabeth said yet again. "Bring him home."
John adjusted his baggy peasant's clothes as the Stargate came to life. "That's the plan," he said. Then he moved towards the event horizon and gestured for his team to follow him.
Within seconds, they were on Marina.
The planet definitely suited its name - John could see ocean every way he looked, with the occasional speck on the horizon that he guessed were other islands. The land they were currently standing on seemed to be no more than a mile in diameter, and the only structure he could see was a building about half a mile to his right that seemed to be attached to some kind of dock. A large boat was slowly moving away from the shore, and he could see that there were a handful of people who had probably just disembarked from it making their way towards the Stargate.
"Looks like we're just in time," John muttered in the general direction of his teammates. "Let's get down to business."