A/N: OK there may be hints of Teyla/Fordness in here from now on…lol can't say I'm a massive shipper for them or anything but it just happened this way...there's a reason for it later in the fic...

Chapter Two

Elizabeth reached the top of the stairs and paused, not quite sure where she was going. She silently cursed her situation, but knew there was nothing she could do but fight it out. That's what she was there for, that was why they had hired her.

To fight a war?

That wasn't why they'd hired her. They'd hired her as a diplomat, as a negotiator. She wasn't there to fight a war, she was there to make friends with the people of the Pegasus galaxy. Instead they'd managed to re-start a war long before it should have happened.

Now it was their duty to stop the war.

"Elizabeth?"

She closed her eyes briefly as she turned around to face Rodney. Opening her eyes she met the worried expression of her friend.

"Is everything…"

"It's fine," she snapped at him.

Taken aback by her hostility he paused. She instantly felt guilty, McKay was going through exactly the same thing as she was. They had both lost friends that day. She took in a deep breath and moved forward slightly.

"I'm sorry, Rodney…" she said.

"It's OK…we're all having a bad day," he said.

She smiled slightly. "Understatement of the century."

Just at that moment gunfire came from somewhere nearby. Rodney grabbed a handgun that someone had left carelessly on the ground. Elizabeth turned around, aware that the gunfire was extremely close to where they were.

"Colonel," she said into her radio. "Colonel Everett we need backup…"

Silence.

No time to worry about where he was.

"Lieutenant Ford," she spoke through the radio again.

Nothing.

"Damnit," she said, more to herself than McKay.

As she looked up at her co-worker she noticed something strange. The look of fear that had accompanied him for the past hour or so had completely melded into a look of determination, one she was used to seeing on the faces of John or Ford, but not on the face of Rodney McKay.

For a moment it scared her, but she didn't have the time for that.

"This way," McKay said, starting towards the direction the gunfire had originated from.

Elizabeth paused before following him. She wished for a moment that John was there, but she knew that was impossible.

He was gone.

God why couldn't she stop thinking about it? She closed her eyes briefly, pushing it away, knowing that there was time to deal with it later. She took off after Rodney, wishing for the first time in her life that someone had taught her to fire a weapon…

Ford opened his eyes, some kind of shockwave moving the ground beneath his feet. He blinked a couple of times. He wasn't on Atlantis, in fact he was sure he was on something built by the Wraith. He began to lever himself up when he felt a hand on his shoulder, preventing him from sitting up.

Looking over he saw the familiar face of the person kneeling next to him

"Teyla…" he said, "Where are we?"

A sad smile crossed her face for a moment, before her expression returned to anxiety. "We are aboard a Wraith hive ship, the only remaining one. We were transported here by different darts…they threw you in here about five minutes ago."

"How long have you…"

"Not much longer than you," Teyla replied. "But I have been conscious for a greater amount of time."

"Can I sit up?" he asked.

She looked at her hand placed on the top of his arm, before removing it. He sat up, now able to see over Teyla's shoulder. What he saw made his insides freeze. Three Wraith guards stood at the entrance of the cell, two with their faces covered by some kind of masks.

The third reminded Ford of Steve.

He shuddered, turning his eyes back to Teyla's. She saw the fear in his eyes.

"They have been there for some time, they are not there to take us as food, I have a feeling we are wanted for something else," Teyla informed him.

Ford didn't reply, instead he shifted his attention back to the three life-suckers standing nearby. He had only ever faced them in a situation where he had the upper hand, never before had he felt so vulnerable in their presence…

John Sheppard blinked at the bright light that met his eyes as he opened them slowly. As it slowly faded away he turned his head to the left. He knew this place, but he hadn't been there for a long time.

It was the park his grandpa had always taken him.

He sat up slowly, leaving the soft cushioning of the grass he had been lying on. He knew exactly where he was. Underneath the tree he had accompanied so many afternoons after school.

"Hi."

He looked up, a small boy, around the age of ten, was standing in front of him, smiling.

"Hi…" John replied.

"I'm Marco," the boy said.

"I'm John…"

"I know."

"Where am I?" John asked, standing up slowly.

He looked around. There was the basketball court where he'd played with his sister, the tennis courts he'd never used, the football ground he had, the playground he'dplayed on as a child.

But he couldn't be there, he distinctly remembered being in Atlantis, being in the puddlejumper, blowing himself up…

"You are here…"

"I know…but see that's not possible," John said.

"Anything is possible if you believe it to be true…"

John narrowed his eyes at the boy, turning to look at him again. "You're an ancient."

A slow smile crept over his face, a smile which John could not read into. It could have meant anything, but John took it as a 'yes' to answering his question.

John suddenly felt a shiver crawl up his spine. A thought overcoming him, one he had never considered.

"Am I dead?"

"You are between," the boy replied.

"So I'm dead…" he said, more to himself than to the boy in front of him.

The boy did not reply. Instead before him John noticed someone, a girl, running towards them. She would have been no older than eight, her dark brown hair bounced behind her as she jogged, as she got closer John could see her brown eyes, a smile in them. Her white dress, the only colour a pale green ribbon tied around her waist.

"John!" she said, stopping before him and smiling.

He realised after a moment that the small boy was gone.

"Katie…" he whispered.

"I'm glad you came back to visit John!" she said.

He felt his insides turn inside out. She couldn't be standing there. She shouldn't be standing there. Yet she was so clear. Tears felt so close. He continued to look at the small girl, the figure who was his sister.

Last time he'd seen his sister he'd been nine.

And she'd been dead.

He closed his eyes, the image of the three familiar headstones in front of him.

Katherine Joan Sheppard

Marie Katherine Taylor Sheppard

William James Sheppard

He opened his eyes and without thinking knelt down and grabbed the girl, pulling her into a hug. He felt like he was back as a nine-year-old. The feelings of being abandoned, of betrayal, of loneliness…

Suddenly he was hugging nothing, again finding himself faced by the small boy.

"You have a choice to make…" the boy said.

"What did you do with Katie?" John said, his tone not that of a man his age, but of a child who had had their favourite toy taken away from them.

"You can join her, or you can join us," he said.

John leaned back, resting on his heels, looking up at the boy. "You mean I can die or ascend…"

The boy again answered his question with a secretive grin.

"Yeah that's what I thought," John sighed.

A/N: Strange I know…but you'll see where it'll all come in later…-D!