Status: Complete
Pairings: N/A
Category: One Shot
Genre: Character Study, Friendship
Rating: Teen
Summary: SG1 remembers the fallen and recognizes the living.
Size: 1,011 words
Warning: Minor original character death
Notes: Any Season before 7. Series is made of one shots.
Series/Sequels: Part of the 'Soldiers from the Other Side' Series.
Chapter One: Forgotten Memorial
Jack leaned back, watching the flame dance gracefully in its braziers on either side of the Tomb of the Unknown Warriors. The lights had been turned off, casting the marble room into inky darkness, the only light given by fire. Shadows danced on the walls, the letters seeming to flicker as light turned to darkness.
The colonel looked at his watch. Three weeks. Three weeks and a couple of hours since he uttered those words that ended his friend's life and yet, gave him the chance to be reborn into a glowy octopus. Since Daniel wasn't really dead, the general had made the choice to not carve the archeologist name into the marble that adorned the walls. Instead, he had chosen to mark his passing in the creation of a new memorial that now adorned the middle of the room.
Jack stood up, moving silently to the marble stone that stood mocking him. A column of pure black marble rose upward to about chest high, an elegant white marble angel dressed in black marble robes trimmed in 24 carat gold, holding a golden torch that blazed a ruby flame. The light cast by the fire made the ruby look like a small flame of its own, burning eternally.
Teal'c had made the point to the general that Daniel had never been a soldier, but rather, a warrior of courage and wisdom. Thus the name of the memorial should fit. So instead of calling it the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, it was named Tomb of the Unknown Warrior.
"Pain in the ass." Jack mumbled, remembering the last words he uttered to Daniel. Even when his friend was dying he didn't have the courage to utter the words the young man had needed to hear. "Damn it, Daniel. If only I had the courage to tell you what you really meant to me." Jack reached out to feel the angel's wings as they arched high above the angel's head. "You were like a son to me, sometimes a younger brother, others a friend. I loved as all those things but I could never allow myself to show you how much I cared. And in that, I failed as a friend." Tears welled up in the old soldier's eyes, trickling slowly down the haggard face. "God, seeing you sitting there, defeated, I wanted to scream out. You believed that everything you did never resulted in any beneficial consequence. Boy, were you dead wrong. You changed me for the better no matter how much I fought all the way. Made me into a better man. Carter, you showed her how to balance being a soldier, a scientist, and a woman. Teal'c, you helped him understand the Tau'ri way of life." Jack chuckled, remembering how Daniel would explain something he said to the Jaffa.
"Hell, I think you even changed General Hammond and everyone on base." Jack let his hand dropped away. "Well, wherever you, remember this, Daniel. This is your home and you're family is waiting for you." Jack stared at the angel for a moment then turned away wiping at the tear tracks. As he left, he never saw the area in the corner behind the angel that was a tad bit darker than the rest of the room. As the colonel left the hall, stepping into the elevator, the shadow suddenly blazed into a white light, banishing the shadows. For a single moment, the light coalesced into the figure of a very familiar man. On his face was a bittersweet smile.
"I'll always remember. I'll never forget Jack." The man dissolved back into the figure of radiant light. It moved upward, the shadows dancing along the polished marble as the Ascended being left the silent room.