Author's Note: Thanks again for all the feedback. Your words of encouragement mean the world to me! Oh, and Quezacolt, thanks for the Scooby snacks! I'm so sorry I've taken so long to update, the last few weeks have been kind of hectic, but now things are a little calmer and I finally found the time to write. So, I really hope you all like it. And, remember, reviews are always appreciated. Thanks.

Chapter Three

Exile

----

It had been four days since their guests had first arrived in the village and her dreams were becoming more and more intense. Just the night before she had awoken sweating and in a panic over something she promptly forgot. She expected this night to be no different, or perhaps this time she would find herself screaming. In her dreams she was always listening to the same person, some disembodied voice that seemed to hover over her like a bloodthirsty mosquito. Unfortunately, unlike a mosquito, there was nothing to squash and therefore she was forced to listen to its constant rambling concerning events that she was certain had nothing to do with herself.

There was one thing, however, that the voice mentioned that caught her attention. It had said on more than one occasion that she would need to be "prepared." When she inquired just what it was she needed to be prepared for it did not answer her directly. Instead it simply informed her that she should not get used to being so "comfortable" A comment to which she responded, with no lack of sarcasm, that she was "as comfy as can be" and that losing one's memory was "a down right picnic." The voice merely laughed and continued its lecture.

So, naturally Shonna was just a little bit peeved towards this person, assuming that it was a person behind the voice, and was in no mood to continue conversing with it. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be concerned and continued as usual. That was when it mentioned once more her ultimate need to be "prepared." This time, however, it elaborated.

"You see," it said "At the present time you have people in your life that you trust, people who have been there from the beginning, but they are not your future, and they will hurt you. They will hurt you because they have to. They will know what you are, something even you know not of, and they won't be as accepting as the people in your last life."

There were so many things in that statement that confused her she had no idea where to begin her questioning.

"Beginning? Future? Hurt? What I am? Last life?" She stammered with a perplexed expression. "I don't understand."

She heard a sigh and with it her face became still more puzzled as she was unaware that disembodied voices sighed.

"Beginning: as in the moment your new life began." It explained as if to a child. "Future: as in the moments to come," it continued. "What you are: as in your unique calling, the details to which you will know when the time is right. Last life: as in the life you lived before this one. Hurt: as in what I will do to you if you don't stop interrupting me."

She closed her mouth and glared, dimly noting how difficult it was to glare at something she could not see. She still didn't understand completely what he was talking about, but she went with it none the less.

"The time for you to begin to journey the path in which you were destined to travel is almost upon you. You must be prepared."

"Yeah, you mentioned that." She replied.

"And they must know, even before you."

"Who're 'they' and what must they know?" She asked.

"'They' are the people you have called your companions for three and half years, from the time you began anew. What they must know is who you are and they will not like it. I am warning you that this is a necessary step in order to get you onto your chosen path."

"Great. Um, how exactly will this help me get on my 'chosen path?' What exactly will it do?"

"I cannot tell you. You will know. When there is only one option, you will know."

"Yeah, that's not at all vague."

"Your destiny is catching up with you. This very dream is setting into motion something that was predetermined long ago, and all you can do is make sarcastic comments, that's really mature."

"'Cause that's what I'm known for, my maturity." She shot back.

"You're going to need more than sarcasm to pull this off, slayer." He paused and then said pointedly. "Or else there is going to be blood on your stake, Summers."

And with this utterly incomprehensible statement she awoke. Not screaming, not sweating, but with a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach.

----

Four hours later she heard the sounds of people awakening and noted the sky start to change as the sun rose above the distant mountains. She had sat in bed that entire time, trying desperately to calm herself down. She saw outside something odd. A few of the villagers were looking wearily through her window. When they saw her looking at them they quickly looked away. But soon some of the more daring men of the village gave her dirty looks and pointed while talking with their companions. But before she had the chance to be concerned with their strange behavior she watched as Major Sheppard ask one of the villagers what was going on.

She couldn't hear the reply except for one word. "Evil."

She could take it no more. She gathered her courage and walked outside to find out just what was happening. As soon as she stepped out her door the entirety of her village was outside of it, all with varying degrees of anger and fear on their faces. The only people who did not have either look were the four foreigners who stood slightly outside the mass, each with and identical look of bewilderment about them.

"What's wrong?" She asked curiously, determined not to let on her anxiety.

"She's evil." On person, who was standing towards the back of the crowd, shouted angrily.

"She does not belong here!" said another.

"What? Why? What are you talking about?" Shonna asked, now completely lost. What could have happen in the course of a night that would completely change an entire village like this?

"Take her and the others to the Ring!" said one particularly large and brawny man.

"What? This doesn't make sense!" She said.

"We have been shown." That same man replied, she could not remember his name. She knew that it was something she got wrong every time she had talked to him in the past. She never even bothered to try and learn it, if truth be told. She searched for it now however, but didn't come up with much. It started with an 'N', that she was certain. Or was it an 'A'? She didn't have time to ponder this, however, as there were more important issues at hand. For instance, what they could have been shown that would turn them all against her, and how exactly had they been shown such a thing?

"Shown what?" She voiced her questions, "How?"

"Our dreams have informed us, all of us, what you truly are. You are welcome here no longer!"

Her face grew pale.

"Take them!" The man ordered.

She watched as the four foreigners were grabbed and shoved to the ground. It had taken five exceptionally muscular men, who had taken advantage of their shocked states, but soon all of them were standing once more, their hands held securely behind their backs. All weapons they had previously carried were now in the hands of the brutes and were being pointed directly at them.

The man whose name she never could remember (she decided to label him 'Brute number 1'), turned his attention back to her, as well as his weapon.

"Come out. Now!" He demanded.

She grabbed a small item off of a small table near the door and tucked it away. She then walked outside slowly, complying without full knowledge of what she was doing. She looked directly into the eyes of her new enemy.

"I always thought there was something wrong with you." He said in a low, chilling voice.

"Really?" she asked. "That's not the impression I got when I had to repeatedly turn you down." She said, remembering the many passes the large man in front of her had made at her in the past.

He slapped her across the face, but she continued to speak.

"Always were a little upset, weren't you? Too bad I can't even remember your name." She said.

She braced herself for another blow but when it didn't come she looked up to see Sheppard, Ford, Teyla, and McKay being herded in the direction of the Ring. She was then prompted with one of the large man's newly acquired weapons to follow the four.

----

After several hours, they halted. Before them stood the Great Ring from which the strangers had come. She tried to remember what they had called it. Ah, right, the Stargate. She thought about its uses and concluded that that was a more appropriate name, but that moment wasn't the best time to let her mind wander any further.

"Dial your home world or we will have no choice but to choose a world for you. Be assured, it will not be pleasant." She heard 'Brute number 1' say in a rasping voice to Major Sheppard.

Sheppard did so grudgingly and stepped back as a worm hole was established. They were being prodded towards the event horizon when suddenly Lt. Ford turned back and looked at Shonna.

"What will happen to her?" He asked the captors.

'Brute number 1', who had somehow appointed himself the leader of the captors, and probably the village, looked at her for a moment with a wicked grin on his face before turning back to the inquiring man.

"She will go to one of the more 'unpleasant' worlds I spoke of."

She closed her eyes in defeat. There would be no way of surviving this, she thought. She knew what those worlds entailed. She had heard numerous tales of planets whose atmosphere was unlivable by people such as them. This wasn't something she could walk away from, not that she had something to walk back too. Her home was gone, taken from her and she had no options left.

"Wait!" She heard Sheppard say.

She looked up and saw him holding up his hand, in indication for them not to shoot and to let him speak. A slight hope was sparked from within her. Perhaps there was an option. Perhaps there was an alternative.

"Speak" Commanded the smallest of the Brutes, 'Brute number 5.'

"Let her come with us." He said. He hadn't understood why suddenly an entire village would turn against what was the closest thing they had to a leader. But, he wanted to find out. And, she had shown no indication of deserving this kind of banishment. He hadn't known her long, that was true, but from what Teyla had told him, and from the little that he had witnessed first hand, he was willing to take the risk of taking her back with them.

The Brutes looked at each other before one finally spoke.

"What does it matter where she goes? As long as her evil no longer plagues us, I say we let them have her." He voiced his opinion cautiously, not wanting to upset 'Brute number 1'.

The leader nodded. "Very well," He grunted.

She felt herself being led, along with the others, to the Ring, the Stargate, she corrected. She watched as the four of them stepped through and now all weapons were pointed at her. She looked around the place she had for years called home. The only home she could remember. She had helped rebuild a shattered community and turned it into a close knit, peaceful society that worked together like a well oiled machine. 'There's gratitude for you', she thought bitterly as she turned around and stepped through the shimmering material. She sighed. Going with these strangers, this was her only option, what else could she do?