Origin

Briar Elwood

A/N: After seeing Sunday again, we're adding a little Rodney/Katie in here.

Chapter XVIII

Blame

Before leaving the SGC, the group decided to split in two, one group to go to the city, the other to check out the power source. Jack, Sam, John, Ronon and Teyla were the group heading off to Atlantis, while Cam, Rodney, Teal'c and Q (seeing as she was the only linguist available) were going to check out the possible alternative ZPM.

After being dropped off on the mainland, Cam's group went over to the stone monument to determine their next steps. Upon seeing the inscriptions on the granite, Q became excited, while Rodney became confused.

"I can translate this!" the young woman declared.

"It used to be a lot longer," the scientist observed.

"Whoa, one at a time," Cam interrupted. "Q, you've seen this language before?"

Q nodded. "This script is one I've recently ran into a lot…it's a very unique language."

"Okay, good," Cam said cheerfully. "Now, McKay," he continued. "What do you mean, it used to be a lot longer?"

"It used to be a lot longer!" Rodney exclaimed. "It's just six lines but it used to be completely full."

Cam frowned. "What do you suppose that means?"

"I don't know!" Rodney yelled. "All I know is what I just told you!"

"Okay, okay," Cam said quickly. "Well, there's not much we can do about it now. Q, how long is this gonna take you?"

She shrugged. "I don't have any of my notes with me so it's take longer than usual seeing as it's new to me. But I'll try to work quickly."

Cam shook his head. "Don't worry about it. It's not like we have anything else to do. Rodney, you stay here with Q. Teal'c, come with me, we're gonna scout the area.

Meanwhile…

After getting into scuba gear, Jack and John's team split up to explore the underwater city. Jack and Sam took the tower, Ronon and Teyla took the main levels, and John took the lower levels. The colonel was finding things a little unnerving as he kept running into bodies he recognized…at least one giving him a sharp pang in the stomach.

"Katie…" he murmured, brushing the blonde hair out of Rodney's fiancé's face. John dreaded telling his friend of her death.

Suddenly the room shook around him. Grabbing a desk to keep him balanced, John activated his radio.

"Did you guys feel that?"

"We sure did," Sam's voice replied.

"We felt a slight vibration," Teyla answered.

"What was it?" Jack asked.

"It felt like an earthquake," Ronon suggested.

"That's not a good thing," Jack commented.

"Usually," John said bitingly.

"A bigger one could be coming," Sam interrupted. "We might want to get out before it hits."

"We'll meet at the Jumper," John decided. After receiving a confirmation from everyone, John turned from Katie's body to leave…but the earthquake Sam predicted hit a little early.

John lost his balance completely and stumbled backwards. His feet lost their footing and he fell back, hitting his head on the edge of the desk. The last thing he saw before losing consciousness was Katie's white face only a few inches away from his.

After The Earthquake Passed…

"Where's Sheppard?" Jack asked as he and Sam ran into the underwater Jumper Bay where Teyla and Ronon were waiting. Ronon shrugged.

"Don't know," he said. Jack sighed, turning to his radio.

"Sheppard, what's taking so long?"

All Jack received was a loud crackle of static. He frowned.

"Sheppard?"

Still no answer.

"Maybe he got hurt in the quake," Sam suggested.

"We should look for him," Teyla said. Jack nodded.

"Split up. Let's go. Keep in radio contact."

00

"John."

John raised his head, wincing at the sharp pain running up the back of his neck, and saw…Elizabeth? There she was, standing at the doorway, no scuba gear on even though they were still obviously underwater. After a moment, John realized he didn't have any on either.

"Am I dead?" he asked. Elizabeth smiled slightly and shook her head.

"No."

"Then how…?"

"Why didn't you try to save me?" Elizabeth interrupted sharply, her eyes squinting and harsh. John blinked, taken off guard.

"Wha-…? I did try to save you!"

"Obviously not hard enough!" she snapped. John stared at her uncomprehendingly before scrambling to his feet.

"O'Neill stopped me!" John protested desperately.

"You could've defied him!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "I thought nothing would stop you from fulfilling your stand on 'no one left behind'!"

"I-I-I…" he stuttered. Why hadn't he fought harder? Guilt overwhelmed him like a tidal wave and he staggered backwards, the water around him starting to press down on his lungs.

"It's your fault I'm dead!" Elizabeth yelled. "It's your fault!"

00

"John. John, c'mon. John, wake up."

John shook his head, trying to push that nagging, persistent voice out of his ear.

"C'mon, Sheppard," a rougher voice added. "You're running out of air."

"We gotta get you back to the mainland," the first voice agreed. John's eyes flicked open to see Teyla and Ronon bending over him.

"Where's Elizabeth?" he heard himself ask quietly. Teyla and Ronon's brows furrowed and they glanced at each other.

"Elizabeth's…dead, John," Teyla told him gently.

"Don't' you remember?" Ronon asked. John closed his eyes.

"It's your fault I'm dead! It's your fault!"

"Yeah," he mumbled. "I remember."

"Okay…" Teyla said slowly. "Well, we got to go, John. You're losing oxygen fast."

John nodded, grabbing their hands to help him up.

"O'Neill," Ronon called into his radio. "We got him. We'll meet you at the Jumper."

A/N: Poor John. Haunted by delusions of Elizabeth. Meanwhile the stone monument's being weird…makes you wonder what all is going on, doesn't it? Except me. I know what's going on, I'm just not telling you. ;p

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