"The ethereal war has begun."
Cameron, Jack, Danielle, and Vala stared at Daniel in confusion before he turned back to look at them all, a very grim look on his face.
"We've gotta get back to Earth. And we're not going through that 'gate."
Sam nodded in agreement. "What do you suggest?"
Daniel shrugged. "Find a ship and fly to the closest planet with a Stargate. Not much else we can do."
Sam nodded again and Daniel took off, letting the others choose to follow. As he walked, well, limped, briskly down the hall, he could sense Vala run up beside him.
"Daniel…"
"Find a dictionary and look it up, Vala," he said. Vala frowned as she tried hard to keep up with him.
"I'll do that. Meanwhile, you look different."
Daniel stopped abruptly and glared at her. She shivered inwardly. White eyes had been bad enough, but black?
"I've looked different for several days now, Vala."
She shook her head. "No, no, different than just a moment ago."
Daniel's brow crinkled in confusion.
"Well…" Vala said. "For one, look at your staff. You know how the orb thingy was white and blue? It's now…"
"Black and blue," Daniel finished, staring at his staff.
"And your robes…" Vala continued.
"Are black, my skin has a black tint…" he looked up to Vala. "What about my hair? My face? My eyes?"
Vala nodded. "All black."
"It's kinda creepy," Cameron supplied. Daniel looked at him and the others.
"When did this happen?"
"Approximately the time there was that wave in the firewall," Teal'c replied. Daniel frowned. After a moment, he shook his head.
"No point in trying to figure it out now. We need to get home."
So with that, the seven of them went in search for a ship to take them home.
XxXxX
The next day, Daniel found himself in his room at the SGC, staring at his unfamiliar face in the mirror. He had never gotten the chance to see himself white and milky, so the black and oily was somewhat of a shock. His hair was almost jet black, his skin had a strange tint of black and his eyes looked like small pools of black oil. He shivered, feeling goose bumps crawl up his spine.
"Knock, knock," came Cameron's voice as he opened the door and walked in. Daniel turned. The colonel smiled warily at him.
"Um…hi. About what you said yesterday."
Daniel rolled his eyes. "Ever heard of a dictionary?"
"Actually I did look that up," Cameron said. "Ethereal…I'm guessing your going by the definition of angelic or heavenly?"
Daniel eyes him, impressed. "Or unearthly or celestial."
Mitchell nodded. "Yeah, well. I was going to ask if you meant an actual war between the Ori and the Ancients cuz…"
Daniel nodded. "The Ori and the Others, yes. The Others are the Ancients who ascended."
Cameron nodded. "That's what I meant. So you're saying they've decided to actually help us now?"
Daniel shook his head. "They're not helping us. The Ori have finally pushed them too hard. They're pissed and they're not going to stand by any longer. That's my guess anyway. I'm quite surprised, to tell the truth."
"Well, the Ori have invaded they're territory," Cameron pointed out.
"Yes, but they've made no move against them. They just stepped over the border. They didn't do anything to the Others personally…at least to our knowledge," Daniel added under his breath.
"But they could have?"
Daniel shrugged. "Who knows?"
The two friends stood in silence for a while, before Cameron coughed subtly.
"Uh…about your dramatic change of color…"
Daniel sighed, closing his eyes. "I don't know about that, either, Cam. Just because my name has a 'doctor' in front of it doesn't mean I know everything."
"I wasn't suggesting that," Cameron explained quickly. "But usually you have a good idea about at least possibilities of why things happen, so I figured I could check. Any ideas of where to start?"
Daniel shook his head, eyes still closed. "It happened when the Others attacked the Ori, correct?"
"If you mean the wave in the firewall, yeah," Cameron replied. Daniel shrugged.
"There you go. That's where we start."
"Unauthorized off world activation. Unauthorized off world activation."
The two locked eyes for a brief moment and sighed. Then they turned to leave for the control room.
A/N: I love reviewers and live for constructive criticism!