Chapter 5: Guilt

Jonas's chosen path seemed to go on forever, constantly twisting and turning like a snake's movement. There was a cold chill wafting around him, one that made him shiver in spite of himself.

He came to the end of the trail, and was met with something solid, a wall of sorts, something barricading him off from going further. He pressed his hands against it. It felt warm under his touch.

It was useless to get through this way, and so he turned to go and was met by the sight of Mollie, blocking him.

"I thought you'd gone." Jonas replied.

"I have something to show you." The girl stated simply.

"Look there." She stated, pointing behind Jonas.

"I can't get through that way, it's . . . " His sentence trailed off as he heard a familiar voice speaking to him.

"Jonas, I know you probably can't hear me, but well, there's no harm in trying is there?" The voice was that of Colonel O'Neill and he turned to face where the voice was coming from. An image hovered in front of him, Colonel O'Neill seated next to him and speaking.

"Look, I'm sorry, I never should've told you to come when you did. It was a bad calculation on my part. If you'd decided to stay put and go against my orders, this probably wouldn't have happened."

The Colonel felt some sort of guilt for what happened? What had happened? Jonas didn't even remember.

Then suddenly, the image before him flashed, and switched to the view of a planet, with Jaffa warriors crouched in the bushes firing at him. He looked down the hill that he was on, and saw Major Carter take a hit.

From there, the image flickered again and he heard O'Neill's voice yelling at him to come on. He left his shelter and began the descent downwards. As he ran, he felt searing pain in his shoulder, then in his back. He toppled down the hill, felt something in his wrist give way with a snap, and was struck by terrible pain in his head.

He yelled out in agony, dropping to his knees in front of the flickering image and was left breathless, on the ground. The image before him changed once more to the sight of O'Neill sitting next to him, and looking at something in alarm.

"Doc! You'd better get in here!" Jack yelled, moving to get up. There was the sound of hurrying footsteps and Fraser's shout.

"What's wrong Colonel?" Were her very words, then the image vanished.

Jonas remained on the ground, looking at the spot where he'd just seen the picture, with confusion and a bit of desperation.

"What's wrong? Mollie what's happening to me out there?" Jonas asked quickly.

"Don't worry. You're fine, for the moment." Mollie replied innocently.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jonas asked.

"Doc! You'd better get in here!" O'Neill called as he saw the lines measuring Jonas's heart-rate spike rapidly, and quicken in their pace.

"What's wrong Colonel?" Fraser asked, rushing in.

"What's wrong? His heart's beating ten times as fast as it should!" Jack exclaimed.

Fraser looked at the screen and saw that O'Neill was indeed correct. She hurried to check the young man's vitals, worried that something was beginning to go wrong. As she reached his bedside, to reach for a pulse, Jonas's heartbeat stabilized, albeit it was beating quicker than it should've been.

"What were you doing sir?" Fraser wondered.

"Nothing! I was just talking to him and that monitor went all wacko. Is he okay?" Jack asked desperately.

Janet nodded. "He's fine sir. For now."