THE NEXT EVENT - by Kolyaaa!
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: THE EPIPHANY
A/N: Your feedback continues to give me the will to live. Even the feedback that states perplexing things. And some of you (I believe you know who you are) are perplexing indeed. To angw who asked about my glowing toes, I am told that when one is given a massage this might happen. I didn't believe it when I heard it and I hope it doesn't happen. I will keep you posted. The lizards continue to paddle me lovingly with their spatulas. It's cute, but annoying
A/N: Sorry that I'm a bit late in posting tonight. The lizards were extra paddly with their massage tools and my toes nearly glowed this time - nearly - they are still beige, hairy and glow-free.
[{O}]
The shaking stopped, and Nonor stopped with it, standing on the cliff edge, peering down at the lakeshore. She froze, eyes glued to the site where she had seen her brother disappear. She didn't breathe, didn't blink, her heart even seemed to stop beating.
"No," she whispered finally, letting out a pained breath. She fell to her knees, looking at the spot where Ronon had disappeared. He had been sucked down into a sinkhole and the rocks and dirt had filled in the space after him - buried alive. Shaking more, she looked up from the shore and out to the low valley beyond, taking in the serene, glittering lake filling much of it. And realized saw no sign of the healer either.
She was alone.
No, wait, not alone.
She turned, her eyes focusing on the still figure lying on the ground in the clearing. She could just make out his form from here through the trees—he had rolled onto his stomach. When had that happened? And...he wasn't moving. Was McKay dead? From here…he looked dead.
"No," she whispered again, body stilled once more, depression pressing down on her limbs like a heavy shroud. If McKay was dead…if they were all dead… eaten by nuttalli, killed by the alicorn... swallowed up by the ground... She swallowed, tears brimming in her eyes, and shook her head.
Was she alone?
"This isn't the way it should be," she whimpered, the seriousness of the situation finally occurring to her.
This place was the place of her dreams, her hopes, her wildest aspirations. It was the place that all warriors wished to come, to be found worthy by the creatures here, to become one with its wonders. But…
It had taken her brother from her.
The others...she didn't care much about them. She could explain what happened to them, why they had died, but...
Not Ronon. Not her brother. The brother she had wanted to see again for so long; the brother she had wanted to impress; the brother she had wanted to be proud of her and her accomplishments... The brother she had missed so desperately.
Ctesias had taken him? WHY?
Ronon Dex was always one of Sateda's greatest warriors. A hero in every sense - strong, powerful, an expert with weapons, not to mention being one of the most honest, selfless and caring people she had ever known. He took care of her after their parents had been culled, when the two of them were just children - protecting her up until the day the Wraith had taken him as well. And to find he had survived! No one survived being culled, and then to be a Runner for seven years…it just made him greater in her eyes.
If there was ever anyone who should be deemed worthy by Ctesias, it was Ronon Dex. But this place had swallowed him whole.
And the realization of it was like someone striking a match inside her soul.
It had taken her brother. Her brother! She had just gotten him BACK!
Something black and ugly simmered inside her, growing hotter and hotter with each passing moment.
"No," she hissed, physically shaking with anger now. "No!"
She got back to her feet, her eyes wild as she scanned the lake, the forest, and the clearing. She was no longer looking for something to cuddle...she was looking for something to kill.
"RONON!" she screamed, arms outspread, face tilted towards the blue sky. This terrible place had taken him from her! Ripped him from her side, so soon after she had found him again.
How she HATED it!
Suddenly, everything that had happened since they had arrived on this planet took on new meaning, the events given new clarity. She recognized the creatures for what they were—monsters—and the landscape for what it was—mud-covered and dangerous. Nothing here was as she imagined, except perhaps in her nightmares. Including…what had happened with the alicorn. She had worshipped that creature her whole life, but all she could see now was the way it had pierced that nuttalli without warning or reason. Then Jerkins. And then…
By the Ancestors, it would have killed her as well! She knew that now. She'd tried not to admit it before, but how could she avoid it now? Which means…
McKay really had saved her life.
A soft gasp emitted from her throat, and she finally turned to face the clearing again.
What was she doing? He'd saved her life! And she was letting him die!
As suddenly as she'd frozen before, she was now running, headed back to the clearing. She had to get to him! She barely spared a glance for the fallen tree that filled a chunk of the clearing, caring about nothing but getting back to the scientist.
As if to mock her, she suddenly saw a group of nuttalli emerge from the trees, bounding over to McKay, a blanket of pink, purple and teal. He showed no recognition of the danger he was in, not moving a muscle to defend himself.
No! Not him, too!
The rage filling her had gone beyond mere anger - it was so pure it felt like it was searing her from the inside out. She let out a scream of fury, the bellow echoing across the dirt-filled clearing, and for the first time since arriving on the planet, pulled the gun the Atlantian's had lent her from her holster. The nuttalli stopped at the almost inhuman sound, shifting nervously, and turning their cute little heads in her direction.
Then those cute little heads started popping off one by one as every single one of Nonor's shots hit their marks, like children popping the heads off of Dandelions.
She never let up her rebel yell, never let up firing, just kept going until every single one of those horrific little creatures was dead. A mass of pink, purple, teal and now red. They hadn't stood a chance.
Breathing hard, she studied the forest before her, gun trained to match the shifting of her eyes as she searched for danger…and more things to vent her anger on.
When she finally gave up finding other things to shoot, she backed off, lowering the weapon to check on the scientist at her feet. He was completely unconscious, the bandage on his shoulder awash with red. Hastily, she shoved the weapon back into her holster and knelt next to him, pressing a hand to his neck. Faintly, gratefully, she felt the pulse in his neck. Slow, erratic, but there.
She tore open the front of her leather bodice, reaching inside for the small jar of salve she had brought with her - what she'd held back from the seemingly wasteful antics of Doctor Beckett back on Atlantis. There wasn't much left, just a couple of fingertips, but maybe it would be enough.
Ripping off the useless bandage, she turned him over and touched the salve to the ugly, gaping wound on his shoulder, praying that it would work.
McKay groaned, his head turning. She glanced at his pain-filled face, and guilt warred with the rage, nearly overwhelming her. She had promised her brother to protect this man - to help him. She had promised to protect Doctor Beckett too. And she had failed - on all counts.
No wonder Ronon had looked so angry.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered as she put all of it on his shoulder. "So, so sorry."
Tears rained down her face now, mixing with the blood from McKay's shoulder, and she closed her eyes.
"Please be enough," she pleaded.
[{O}]
"Amazingly resilient wee things, aren't they," Beckett slurred, practically slamming into the side of the jumper as they reached it. He pressed his cheek against the cool metal, a silly grin on his face. "There y'are," he said, "pretty lady."
Ronon gave the loopy physician a concerned look as he pulled out his remote for the jumper. Hitting the button, he sighed in relief as the back hatch opened without a problem. He'd been terrified it would be too badly damaged to open. Now, he prayed it could still fly...
The ship was tilted slightly, its back end in the water, but it was at least upright. The hatch opened until it couldn't open anymore, disappearing into the cold, black water of this underground lake.
"Come on, Doc," Ronon said, grabbing Beckett by the shoulder and pulling him around and inside. Beckett let himself be pulled, taking everything in groggily.
"Cold in here," he muttered as Ronon shoved him forward. He slipped a little on the floor, his wet boots sliding back a step. "The floor's uneven. Who parked this thing?"
"No one," Ronon reminded him, closing the back hatch behind them. It came up, but protested a little, metal giving an unhealthy squeal. "It fell through a hole, remember?"
"A hole?" Beckett blinked and tottered to the side, then abruptly sat on one of the benches. He pulled at one of his boots, determined to get at the onerous sand that pooled there. "Where?"
Ronon grimaced, taking the physician by the shoulder again before he could get loose of the laces and forced him back to his feet. "Above us. And we need to fly back out of it. Get back to McKay and Nonor. Then, find the others."
"Fly...out?" Beckett blinked, letting himself be shoved forward into the cockpit, but, when he understood that Ronon meant to put him in the pilot's chair, he balked.
"No, no, no," he muttered, grabbing and bracing himself on the back of the chair. "No flying. Not me. I don't like flying."
"Beckett," Ronon stressed, pushing harder at the physician's broad back. "We don't have a choice. It's our only way out. You have to fly it. You know I can't."
"But I can't!" Beckett stressed again. "I'm terrible at it! Plus... I think I might not be totally well... I mean, there is only one of you, right?" Blue eyes blinked over his shoulder at Ronon, squinting in the low light. "Because... I'm seeing more than one, you know. There's you, and there's half of you to your right, and half of you to your left..."
Ronon bit his bottom lip. "Yeah, I know, Beckett. I know. You're hurt...pretty badly, but you have to do this. We have to get out of here."
Beckett stayed firmly rooted, shaking his head, and then obviously regretting it as he winced in pain. Finally, softly, he asked, "Can't Rodney do it? He's better n' me."
"Rodney's why you have to do it," Ronon urged. "Remember? He's dying. You have to get back up there with the jumper to help him. His shoulder...remember?"
Beckett blinked again, and he looked up, eyes looking clearly at Ronon for the first time.
"Rodney?"
"Yeah."
"I forgot... his shoulder... Oh God. I have to get back to him."
"Yes." Ronon pointed out the window. "So, can you fly it?"
Beckett turned, then stepped forward around the chair, almost falling into it when he finally sat down. Shaking, wet hands touched the console, and the jumper lit up. Forgetting about the sand that had gotten into every crease of his body, he peered out the window, perhaps realizing that he couldn't actually see anything.
In response, the HUD came up, showing the interior of the cavern in vivid 3-D. Beckett listed a little as he refocused to the HUD screen, and then gritted his teeth.
"Hang on," he muttered, "Here goes nothing..."
The jumper lifted off the ground...and immediately careened to the left, smashing into a stalagmite and breaking off the top with an ugly tearing noise. It topped over the top of the jumper, landing with a crash beside them.
Beckett gave a weak smile at Ronon, who had braced himself against the co-pilot's console at the impact.
"Whoops."
[{O}]
"We there yet?" Sheppard called. He stared at nothing but the top of the head he could see bobbing in front of him. Their eyes had adjusted to the low glow of the threads that lined the ceiling, but only enough to see vague shapes, and everything appeared in a sort of gray haze.
"Almost, tall one," Mang said from somewhere behind him. The female moleman... molewoman?... was leading Teyla.
"Above-ground creatures are always so impatient," Bebill muttered in annoyance. "We get there when we get there."
"Colonel," Teyla said softly, "I... I think I can hear water. And..."
Suddenly, a loud noise—sounding a lot like two cars crashing into each other—burst forth from somewhere up ahead. The moleman all immediately stopped.
Another crash sounded, though this one sounded a little less severe.
"What is that?" Sheppard asked.
Bebbill turned his head, his large eyes blinking up at the colonel. He looked terrified.
"That..." he said, "is a sound I have never heard before, and I have heard many things in these tunnels."
"Run away! Run away!" Dobba squealed, and, before Sheppard and Teyla knew what was happening, their companions were gone.
Another crash echoed through the hall.
Sheppard looked at Teyla, and she pulled out the green light stick from her pocket. She tossed it to Sheppard and he caught it one-handed. She pulled another...and the two jogged towards the sound.
The only thing they knew for sure is...there was a distinctive metal clamor to the crashing, which could only mean one thing...
[{O}]
Nonor frowned, looking down at Rodney's shoulder. It was healed, but not well. It looked raw still, puffy and thin, as if the salve had just done the bare minimum, but maybe…maybe it was enough? She had no idea if it had done anything for the blood loss or the other wounds - like his ribs - but it was all she could do. The salve was gone now. She put the scraped clean jar back inside her torn bodice with a sigh, then untwisted the tan coat from around his body free to better cover him with it. His heartbeat seemed stronger now, his breathing more even. He looked only like he was asleep.
Rustling from the woods had her looking up again. It grew louder, and she stood to face down the new threat, gun held in unwavering, highly skilled hands.
"I will not let you have him," she spat. "I promised my brother to take care of this man, and I will. No one and no thing will take him from me. So, whatever you are, you had better…."
She trailed off as the alicorn emerged from the trees, as beautiful as ever. Obviously, it wasn't the same one. Looking closely, she realized the markings were different, but the gleaming horn, the large eyes, the golden sheen were all the same.
And so was the sharpness of its teeth.
Nonor straightened...and bared her own.
The alicorn was about to meet its match.
TBC
A/N: If you do not leave me a review you will have bad luck. You don't want bad luck, do you?.
