NOTE: Notice their reactions when the shadow finally reveals itself. Even though something has taken over him, Sam treats him as if this were another obstacle in their relationship something created by Jack to project his own fears. So while she's telling him there's no escape from their relationship, it's really trying to escape the base. Then who's really crazy here? Sam or Jack? Or both? o.O
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PART TWENTY-FOUR: Giving In
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Morning.
The VIP rooms were too public. Cameras were everywhere. They ran like careless children to Jack's car and drove to her house. It was closest. Her room was dark the next morning, except for the dim light of a lamp by her bedside. Jack wasn't even sure if it was morning. But his eyes felt like they'd been bombarded by light.
He stumbled out of the bed, trying not to wake Sam, and left the room, fumbling for the doorknob with the incentive to go home to the base. He wasn't even sure what drove him there. He just had business to take care of.
Before he even got to the elevators of Level 1, everything went to dark as if the sun had died and he was center stage to its passing.
After that, he lost all control of his body. He screamed for help, for someone to help him but he was walking through the hallways as he did every morning. No matter how much he screamed, nothing came out.
And that's when he knew. He'd been taken over by the shadow... by Anubis.
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Sam had heard the noise of someone bumping into the bedside table but she hadn't thought much of it. She still thought herself calmly awaiting the light to bring her out of her dreams.
Dreams. They seemed dreams no longer. But just when she felt that surge of happiness come over her at the thought of waking up to Jack's sleepy smile, she found herself alone.
"Jack?" she said, yawning, but the door closed. She looked around and saw she was still at the SGC. She looked for her uniform and found parts of Jack's instead. It was too dark to bother looking for her own so she quickly threw it on. The arms were far too long but it made her smile a bit to wake up in his clothes.
And then she thought about it. Oh dear lord, is he walking around half-naked? she thought and giggled to herself.
She looked outside and his car was gone. Immediately she thought the worst: Maybe he couldn't face her in the morning… maybe he didn't care for her as she thought… maybe he had more important things to do… maybe guilt was riding him too…
At the thought, her stomach growled violently, not of hunger but of worry. She felt the need to know where he was. A presence surrounded her heart, like a fist that squeezed at ever thought of Jack. Every uneasy thought.
She felt death capture her mind again and her world turned slightly darker. "Jack…" she whispered and closed her eyes. She reached for the table by the door and fumbled on some mindless trinket.
She reached for her forehead and the lightest touch of her hand made it feel like blocks of pressure had pressed upon her brain. Her heart refused to calm, sensing her worry. She wanted to throw up but she controlled herself. Her eyes burst open and something reached for her like her entire left side was being pulled away.
She saw her arm and her home being left behind in a long trail like a blur. And before she knew it, she was standing in front of Cheyenne Mountain in the still rising morning.
The sweat on her brow turned to ice, her breath to smoke that left her throat jagged and cut. She cursed slightly at the pain then began to walk lamely towards the tunnel entrance, hugging Jack's large, green uniform jacket closer to her, feeding off the residual warmth of his last embrace.
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"Daniel?" Adrienne called playfully. She knocked on his door, knowing all too well how early it was. She hardly slept. Why should he? Now that she could no longer see her dark future, time went by so slowly. She no longer had an agenda to worry her while, her endless beehive mind working for a solution to her liking.
"Daniel!" she called again more sternly. No one answered.
She scrunched up her forehead as she did when irritated, rested her back against the door and slid down. She sighed and looked around. The color of morning was slowly riding the clouds into her little piece of sky. She saw colors again. Not the ribbons of light or terrifying images of death and overlapping destinies. She saw life and blissful ignorance. It brought a smile to her face and she sighed again, taking in the chilly breeze.
Suddenly, before she could exhale, the door opened behind her in a huge, angry pull and she fell back onto the ground. When she looked up, Daniel was looking down at her with a cross eye, squinting madly with reproach.
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" he asked through gritted teeth, looking down at the smile between his slippers.
"No, isn't that fabulous?" she said and extended a hand for him to help her up.
"Aren't you disturbingly chipper," he said, bringing her in. "What's up? Is the world ending again?"
"Oh you joke. But who really knows? Somewhere out there, there's a world ending and we're just sitting here, doing nothing!"
"We're doing more than nothing, Ree. We're sleeping. And this little side of the world is perfectly safe, from evil snakes and glowing little people with a superiority complexes at least, so in the meantime, I think I'll go join the rest of the world in doing nothing," he said from across the island in the kitchen. "Seriously Ree, what are you doing here?"
She made a face like a spoiled little brat being sent to its room, dropped down on the overstuffed sofa, and crossed her arms. "I can't sleep. I still can't get used to everything. And the Gate's disconnected so I'm stuck here with nothing to do."
He'd started to make some coffee and looked back at her. "The Gate's disconnected?"
"Well the floor's been cleared off and the controls are gone. I could start it but I doubt it would make much of a difference. I've no one to go away with."
"Oh no, don't even think about it. I'm done with the whole running off to some underwater planet to rescue your future ex-husband just to kill him again or… ugh, my head hurts just thinking about it," he said and brought her some coffee then sat across from her. As soon as he leaned back and crossed his legs, he realized he was in his blue plaid boxers and said, "I'm gonna go put on pants. Keep talking."
"Oh no please. I like you better this way. Well, I was thinking of maybe looking for my own place outside the SGC."
"What? You think they're going to let you do that? They still consider you an alien 'cause you can through the Gate," he yelled from his room.
"I know. But I can't stay in that little room anymore. It brings back way too many god-awful memories."
He came back into the living room in jeans and a dark blue t-shirt. "What about one of your parents?"
"Daniel, I'm 43 years old. I can't go live with my parents."
He raised an eyebrow. "43? You're 43?"
"Yes, yes, yes… Well give or take a few years. Depends on from when you're counting. I count from when I was actually given birth to. Sam counts from when I returned from Ascension. We don't like to think of the time in-between."
"Hmm… right. Well you could always double up here with me."
Ree looked up from her coffee and stared at him for a moment before responding as if looking to see if he was kidding. "No way in hell, sweets. Thanks for the offer though."
He smiled and looked away. He was somewhat glad she responded like so. He really couldn't imagine waking up floating in a different place every time they--
"Something's wrong," she interrupted his thoughts. "Sam's calling me. She's at the base. Can you give me ride back?"
"Wait, did you walk here?"
"It gave me something to do," she said dismissively, grabbing his keys from the counter and heading for the door.
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Sam had made it to the elevators and collapsed to the floor as soon as the doors closed. When they reopened, she found herself searching for the strength to reach the doors once more.
As soon as she got to the control room, there he was: Jack, crouched down in a corner of the trashed room.
"Jack?" she asked quietly, seeing his shivering form. The shadow lingered over him.
"Don't come closer," he said in a rough, gritty voice. "We don't wish to hurt you."
"Oh my God, Jack, what did you do?"
"It took us over. We are empty," his follow voice echoed, ignoring her. His eyes were dark. Her Jack was gone. Somewhere in there, a dimming light had finally extinguished.
She sighed and sat down beside him on the floor by the pieces of shredded metal. Dionysus' palm prints still dug into the consoles. "Nothing took you over Jack."
"None of it is as it was."
She scoffed and began to cry silently. "Why? Why is there never an end to all this? Just when it seems we're done here, when I'm done here, you bring us back."
He turned to face her with his dark, empty eyes. It wasn't Anubis, she knew. A shadow, yes, but Anubis was nothing to her. She kissed him and caressed his face then stood up and extended a hand for him to stand. He didn't take it, simply looked at her with Jack's usual confused face. She had once thought that was his only face.
"Don't bother," she said. "There's no way out of here. You're stuck."
"I see," the voice said and looked away. "Will you help us?"
Sam's silent cry turned to a gentle sob. "Let's get you to the infirmary."
"No! Help us escape!"
"You have nowhere to go! You can't go! We've been trying to escape for years. It hasn't helped."
"No!" It said and jumped up, the shadow behind him, standing face to face with her.
"Damn it, Jack," she whispered and put a hand to his head, delivering a bolt of energy that sent him flying back towards the consoles. "Don't make me do this."
"What are you?" it hissed in pain.
"Will you come with me now?"
Adrienne came running up the stairs in a blur. Daniel ran breathlessly behind him. "What's wrong?" she screamed and saw Jack. She froze and looked at Sam and her calm exterior.
"Oh damn," Daniel whispered from behind Ree.
"Mom, stand back."
"No Ree, he's fine."
"Look at his eyes, Mom! Look at him! That's not Jack!" Sam had the face of a woman too tired to move, to think, to escape her denial. She walked towards them and nearly collapsed into Daniel. "That's it. You can't handle this. Daniel, get her to the infirmary. I'll deal with him."
"You'll deal with me?" the voice asked curiously, slightly offended. Daniel took Sam away but she had pretty much buckled onto him and he was forced to carry her all the way to the infirmary, leaving Adrienne and Jack to themselves. "Aww, but we were having such a great time."
"Jack, she's right. You let it take over."
"We are not--"
"Stop it!" she yelled. "She doesn't deserve this!"
"Make us stop. Make us stop hurting her!"
She looked away and gestured for him to come to her. A hand upon his forehead and the shadow left him, floated above him as his body collapsed onto the floor. Before her, two spirits battled -- one white, one dark -- for supremacy over the body.
"Take me instead," she said wearily. "Leave him. Take me."
The shadow floated from one body to the other, trying to take over Ree but upon realizing her mind, tried to flee, clawing at thin air to escape. But she would not let it leave and it dwindled within her.
Daniel came up the stairs to the control room and upon seeing the dissipating shadow, went to Ree's aid. "What happened? Is Anubis gone?" he asked.
Ree scoffed. "That thing wasn't Anubis. It was a part of him, a spy, but not Anubis. It fed off him, imprinting itself through the sarcophagus," she said, her tone drowsy. "Damn, that means they'd already killed him a few times first."
"Is he ok now?"
"Please let him remember," she whispered to herself as they helped Jack's limp body up off the floor, his spirit already back in its home. "I'm just surprised he lasted this long. It's been months since the slave camp."
"You knew? Well, he had to save Sam, remember? Jack would never have given in if she didn't need him."
She sighed. "Daniel, I can't do this," she said as they entered the infirmary. "I want to be able to adapt but I can never… I won't do it. I've got to go back home."
"There's nothing back there, Ree!"
"Daniel, if you remembered anything from when you were Ascended, you wouldn't be saying that to me," she said, kissed him on the lips and ran off to plot who knows what involving who knows who. And somehow he felt, this would be one of the last times he'd see her.
If only he knew: she'd carry a part of him within her forever.
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To be continued in PART TWENTY-FIVE:
Try to go back to previous chapters and answer the questions at the end of each chapter. Can you? Because we near the end, only a few things remain to be answered.
--We still don't know: Who is she here to kill, besides Dionysus?
--Who will betray SG-1?
--Will the government get involved in this?
--What ever happened to the Jell-O? Wasn't someone supposed to get caught in it?
--What did Jack want to tell Sam that night he came to her house and found Daniel? Was this a critical change in the future?
--Is Pete completely gone? Yeah. I'll answer that one right here. YES!
--Is Adrienne still an Ancient? What is her true nature? Is she really a clone?
--Who was behind Janet's kidnapping? Is it the same people who make Sam create Adrienne?
-- Is Bra'tac really dead? Yeah. Sorry. I really loved him though.
--Will they ever return to the slave camp?
--What about Janet and Daniel?
--Did Adrienne ever really love Daniel?
--And finally… are Jack and Sam ever going to go on their fishing trip?
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DID YOU KNOW? The final chapter of Level 28, coming in a few days, will be called Two Mothers. Speculate on that!
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Stay tuned for the sequel, officially titled "Endless Night." Unfortunately, it will be delayed for much later than I had originally anticipated. Otherwise, I'll put the story as a continuation of this one. So, even though there's one or two chapters left… Level 28 will not end for quite some time.
READ? REVIEW!