Ignatius had no idea what had driven him to take Elizabeth Weir with him. Maybe it had been because he kept hearing Commander Kolya's voice in his head, reminding him to bring Elizabeth to the Genii. It was like every time he began doubting who he was, the order of bringing Elizabeth to the Genii surfaced.
He shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind and looked around. He had brought her to an empty room in an unexplored part of the city. She was still out cold, and by now Ignatius was sure every single person in Atlantis was looking for them. He knew that they couldn't stay in that room for long.
Ignatius' worries momentarily faded as he felt tiredness sweep over his body. He sat down on the floor, facing Elizabeth, and closed his eyes. Without even realizing it, he fell asleep, where a dream was formed almost instantaneously.
Ignatius was outside in a field, the grass feeling soft under his bare feet. There was a soft breeze, almost comforting. So he walked up a hill and looked out of over the rest of the field. He could see a Stargate in the distance.
Suddenly shouts came out of nowhere as four people were seen running towards that same Stargate, a woman and three men. Ignatius ran towards them, his curiosity getting the better of him as he really wanted to see who they were. Once close enough, he realized that it was Teyla, Lt. Ford, Dr. McKay and…. himself, dressed in the standard Atlantis military clothes.
It was an awkward moment for Ignatius to see himself as the very person he had been denying to be. He kept a close watch on the group and saw the first two opening up the gate and going through. Ignatius ran closer; he wanted to be able to hear what they had to say that could help him with the mess in his head.
He now saw Lt. Ford running towards the gate but he suddenly stopped and looked back, his weapon at the ready. Ignatius saw himself running and shouting, "Go! I'll cover you." Ford stepped through the gate, and Ignatius saw himself getting really close to the DHD when a dart hit him in the back of his neck. He slowed down and seemed out of breath. Ignatius moved closer to himself.
Ignatius was now so close by, that he could reach out and touch the other man.
But Ignatius felt like he was watching a loosing battle when he saw himself struggling to get to the gate. It was so close, but so hard to reach. He looked around just in time to see a bunch of people running towards the gate. Ignatius returned his gaze towards himself. The other him was almost at the gate, crawling towards it while his hand could almost touch the blue shimmering pool, when someone came from his side and kicked him away from the gate.
The gate shut down, and Ignatius saw Commander Kolya stopping at the side of his other self. Ignatius was almost convinced that it was really himself. Kolya crouched down and smiled, "Major Sheppard! So good of you to join us."
Sheppard gave Kolya a murderous glare, "Kolya, we had a deal."
Kolya smiled, "The deal's off."
Ignatius noticed himself struggling to stay awake, "You'll soon be dead."
"I don't think so." Then Kolya took a small gun out of his vest and shot another dart into Sheppard.
Ignatius saw how his other self gave into the need for sleep and was quickly taken away by Genii soldiers. He felt so helpless, wanting to do something so badly, but he was just a mere spectator in a place that should have never existed.
-0-0-0-0-0-
The moment Elizabeth started to regain some form of consciousness she felt like all of it had just been a bad dream. Her mind expressing her fear in a nightmare, a very real nightmare which had her believing John had walked into her room, knocked her unconscious in order to drag her along as his hostage. It wasn't until the pain hit her face moments later that she began to understand it was too real to be just a dream. She started probing her face, in order to locate the source of the stinging pain. She hissed as came in contact with a particular soar spot and retracted her hand, noticing something sticky attached to her fingers. After a closer look, she identified the substance as blood, her blood. She touched her face again, gently probing around the soar spot, and found that the blood was coming from her nose.
Elizabeth stopped probing; deciding for the best not to do any more damage than there already was and looked around trying to figure out where the hell he had taken her. She almost gave a little yell when she noticed him on the other side of the room across from her, slumped against the wall seemingly asleep. Though his eyes were firmly closed Elizabeth couldn't be sure if he was really asleep.
Slowly so as not to disturb him, she got up. A twirl of dust rose as she did and therefore she figured they were deep within the city, probably in some unexplored area of Atlantis. She walked towards the door and tried to open it but as she half expected it, it was locked.
"You didn't think that I would leave it open, now did you?"
Elizabeth was momentarily startled by John. She quickly turned around to face him and noticed he was already standing. "Why are you doing this?"
"I need to make things right, I need to clear this up."
"You don't have to! Do you really think Kolya is who you think he is?" She knew she had to somehow convince him or else she was going to in a lot more trouble than she was already in.
"I don't know anything anymore. That's why I need to go back, I have to be sure."
"Sure of what? Of who you are? We can help you, can't you see that? You don't have to go back there."
Ignatius started to walk towards Elizabeth, "Oh, yes, I have to."
Elizabeth gulped visibly and desperation was setting in. She really didn't want to know what would happen if Ignatius took her to the Genii. "Why? If you don't know anymore… if you are in doubt, why go back there?"
"Because I have to get rid of you! So I can control the doubts. Every time I doubt myself, I'm kept being reminded that I should take you to him."
Elizabeth stared at Ignatius wide-eyed, recalling the moment Kolya had tried to take her to the Genii. Maybe that was what it was all about. The look on Ignatius face suddenly changed and it scared her senseless as his last words directed at her came to her mind, "I wish I could be there, when he's breaking you."
That sent a shiver down her spine and she started back away from him as far as she could possibly get. "Ignatius, there's no need for that."
Ignatius looked at Elizabeth in mild amusement. He suddenly remembered their last conversation and noticed the fear that was building in her eyes. He started to move closer, "I want everything to stop; I want to return to normal. Whatever normal is, and the only way to do that is to take you to him."
Elizabeth flinched and Ignatius saw it. He smirked and closed the distance between them even further, "Are you afraid of what he might do to you? I wasn't lying the other day, he will have you."
Elizabeth kept walking back until she felt one of the walls against her back. But Ignatius didn't stop and kept coming closer, invading more than her personal space. She tried hard to keep her look straight at him, "Don't do this!" She was pleading with him now. "How can you talk like that when you once tried to kill Kolya?"
"That won't work this time." He continued walking closer, "Why Elizabeth… are you afraid?"
She tried unsuccessfully to gather all her courage, "No..."
"I don't believe you. I can see it in your eyes." The space between them was getting smaller, until he was pressing her against the wall behind her. Somehow his leg went in between hers, placing a hand on her cheek, "Would you rather have me do it?"
Elizabeth felt herself tremble. He was so close it was frightening her to death. His words were imprinted on her, "Don't do this John, you know this is not you."
Ignatius smirked; he was only doing it for the sake of a good scare. He mused as he opened up her jacket, slowly revealing her red shirt underneath, "There is nothing left for me, I am giving you a choice. Either way you'll have to go through with it."
Elizabeth's mind was racing; she didn't want this to happen. 'Who is this monster I'm talking to?" Elizabeth decided to press on, knowing all too well she had to stall him. "You don't have to do this John! Why follow the orders of a man you once tried to kill?"
His features changed as fast as they had earlier, "That never happened!"
That had snapped something in his mind as all of a sudden Ignatius went all savage as he started to rip her jacket off. She tried with all her will to stop him, but he slapped her square in the face and threw the jacket to the other side of the room. Elizabeth tasted blood in her mouth and desperately tried to get some space between them, but he was so much stronger than her, "Come on John! You saved me from Kolya, that's why you shot him. There is no reason to do this!"
Ignatius' face filled with more anger and it seemed the more she said the angrier he got, "Another lie! Why can't you say that all you really want is to turn me!"
"No, that's not true! Search within your mind! You'll see it. I was in the gate room and Kolya was pulling me towards the gate and you..." He had enough and grabbed her throat with all his strength, effectively shutting her up. Elizabeth started struggling against him, kicking him, but as a result both of them slid down to the floor, where Ignatius remained on top of her. He pinned her down, choking the life out of her.
Ignatius tried with all his might. It was as if by killing her, everything would stop. Elizabeth started to move slower, her fight weaker. Her lips turned a lighter shade of blue while her eyes never left his. Suddenly Ignatius found himself staring at her while a sudden flood of memories crept out and swept everything away.
Like a tsunami they reached for the darkest corners of his mind, and at that moment Ignatius and John were one. Not really sure who was who; he looked down at Elizabeth and saw that he was killing her. She was barely conscious when his hands left her throat in one quick move; the same that made him stumble away from her. She gasped for a moment, only to go completely limp the next.