This is an alternate season 10 finale thing here, so don't read it if you haven't seen it yet!
The town was remarkably similar to Camelot, only not. The biggest difference was that the people seemed to expect to see a small group of people in strange clothing carrying unfamiliar weapons and tools.
Sam and Jack had returned with Thor to look at the missing text in the museum. It had been an understatement when Thor had told them it would've been difficult for him to remove it because it was hell to try and get the pair of them in just to look at it. In the end, it had been the High Council's soft spot towards Jack that had gotten them in long enough to take a picture of it. After putting the picture in it's place alongside the rest of the text they had been able to find a 'gate address for the planet where they would find the Sangraal.
"You are the second group in recent weeks to come in search of the Sangraal," the librarian informed them when they arrived looking for a text with directions that the villagers had told them was there.
"Really?" Mitchell asked, trying to sound interested. The librarian didn't elaborate, but showed them a document illustrating the difficulties they would face when attempting to retrieve the grail.
The Ori arrived just as they were all sitting down to an interesting looking dinner at a local pub. Can't say I missed the variety of the foods we find offworld... Jack smiled humorlessly at Sam.
I haven't had a chance to miss it yet.
Lucky.
I thought youwere just complaining!
Yeah, about the food, but you still get to go offworld every day while I'm stuck behind a desk.
True.
Their unnoticed conversation was cut short when the librarian rushed in, complaining about the burnt books. "They've burnt everything, even the map."
How the hell are we supposed to find the thing now? Jack frowned. Mitchell mirrored his thoughts:
"How are we supposed to find it now?"
"You're in luck," the old man said cryptically. "I know how to find it."
"Oh, good. Let's go then," Jack said with false cheer. Now we've got to drag the geezer along.
That's not very nice.
Well its not like he can hear me! She shot him a look but followed as they snuck out the back door.
- - - - - - -
They found one of the Ba'al's trapped by a force shield. Of course they only realized there was a force shield when they were trapped as well.
"I really hate you, you know that?" Jack made sure Ba'al knew how he felt about him before sitting down near the chest. Ba'al glared at him, but didn't say anything.
You shouldn't provoke him, he's our ticket out of here.
We know what to call the thing too though.
Yeah, but we shouldn't let him know that we do, otherwise he'll take a hostage and force us to bring him along.
Yeah, well. We outnumber him. I vote we kill him.
He'll probably end up dead along the way anyways.
I can't believe you just said that!
Hey, I never said I liked him either.
Yeah, but you were able to cooperated with him...
Cooperation for a short time to save the galaxy from Anubis isn't the same as choosing to work with someone.
"Stop distracting her, Jack, she needs to figure out how to get us out of this," Daniel said, interrupting their conversation.
"What?" Ba'al asked, looking from Sam to Jack and then to Daniel. "He didn't even say anything."
This could be entertaining...
Shh! I'm thinking.
No you're not, I can hear your thoughts, you were thinking the same thing I was!
C'mon...
Well, it could!
"Jack!" Sam burst out, he looked startled to hear her speaking to him.
Fine, fine... He held up his hands in defeat, standing to walk a few paces away. It would be funny though. Sam massaged her temples before calling to mind the text they'd hung on the wall and what they'd read in the documents the librarian had given them.
"Daniel, toss me a few advil."
"What?"
"Give me some advil," he passed the pills over and the general swallowed them dry. "She's thinking again," he said in response to Mitchell's questioning look. "And its all your fault," he told Daniel. Ba'al looke on with question in his eyes, but didn't ask knowing that he wouldn't get an answer.
"A wise old owl sat in an oak, the more he heard, the less he spoke; the less he spoke, the more he heard; why aren't we all like that wise old bird?" Sam asked, staring at Jack.
"Sounds about right," he said, handing over his hat. Sam walked over to the chest in the center of the force shield, setting her own hat inside next to Jack's.
"What?" Mitchell asked. Though he had gotten used to the pair of them quoting children's verses at each other, he was a long way off of knowing what an owl in an oak had to do with putting a couple of hats in the chest.
"Everybody needs to put something in," Sam said, knowing that if she tried explaining any further it would sound like nonsense to them. Teal'c added a ration bar without question, quickly followed by Mitchell's hat.
"Charity," Daniel said, suddenly making the connection to the document that they'd read.
"The less he spoke the more he heard," Sam said, nodding. Daniel smiled, adding something of his own to the box. Ba'al, however, burst out laughing.
I don't like him. Jack informed her again. Sam chuckled aloud.
"What'd he say?" Daniel asked, looking between the pair of them. Vala, Teal'c, and Mitchell appeared interested while the librarian and Ba'al looked completely confused. Sam just shook her head, motioning for the librarian to add something. He put his ring in. Vala put in a hair binder from one of her pigtails, pulling her hair back into a single ponytail with the binder she had left.
Teal'c had to restrain Ba'al while Mitchell patted him down to find anything that would fit in the box. He pulled a dagger off of his left boot. "Hey, that is of great sentimental value..."
"Save it," Mitchell said roughly.
"That's the dagger you killed me with!" Jack said, outraged. Sam could feel the hate rolling off him, as well as the pain from the memory. She resisted the urge to hug him, stepping closer instead. He glanced at her, knowing why she did it. Ba'al had only smiled crookedly in response to Jack's outburst.
Mitchell put the dagger in and the shield immediately fell, allowing them to continue on their journey.
- - -
"This is it," the librarian said as they came to the cave entrance at the base of the mountain. "This is as far as I dare go... I'm afraid I'm a bit too old for this sort of thing."
The man promptly turned on his heel and headed back towards the city.
Where's he gonna go? The Ori took over the city and they're looking for him.
I don't know, sir.
That's a first.
Is not.
Is too.
Is not.
Is too.
Not.
Is.
Not.
Is.
"Are you two coming?" Daniel asked over his shoulder as he walked into the cave. The pair of them were standing there glaring at each other and didn't seem to notice that the rest of the team was already inside the cave.
Not. Sam got the last word in before they followed Daniel into the darkness.
Challenge after challenge arose; first they followed the sound of a child, trying to help, only to find that it was a hologram. Fortunately, the hologram had led them to their next pathway. Eventually, they ended up standing before a wall of fire.
Oh great, a wall of fire. The General thought in monotone, causing Sam to turn a burst of laughter into a cough.
"You okay?" He asked innocently.
I hate you, she glared at him.
Then why did you sleep with me? She didn't have anything to say to that so she turned back to look at Daniel and the wall of fire.
"Faith..." he murmured, stepping closer to the fiery wall.
"Daniel!" Jack called out when he stepped even closer to the wall, Sam was closer and acted on Jack's impulse to pull their friend back. Daniel looked at her, a little confused, he had been expecting Jack.
"The last one is 'faith,'" He looked between his friends, trying to get them to understand his thought process. "We have to have faith."
Sam let go of his jacket, only to have Jack come to try and grab Daniel. She put her hand out to stop him. "Jackson!" Mitchell protested. What are you doing! Jack asked her, moving her hand away so he could try to grab Daniel.
He's right.
I don't see you trying it. Sam didn't have a response for that, and she didn't need one because Daniel had already stepped through the fire. It immediately died out.
"It was just an illusion," he told them.
Thank God. Jack thought, though none of the emotion in his thoughts came across his face. Everybody else looked absolutely relieved as well (except for Ba'al, he was pretty much indifferent).
They were now standing on a thin platform connected to an even thinner bridge that led to a wider area with a pedestal standing in the center. On the pedestal, the Sangraal was perfectly visible.
"That simple?" Mitchell asked, casually tossing a stone down into the crevice below them. They couldn't hear it land.
This isn't how it was supposed to be... was it? Jack asked, turning to look at Sam. To his surprise, she acted as though she hadn't heard, leaning closer to the edge for a better look.
"Carter?" He asked.
What?
"Carter?" He asked again. She spun around to face him.
You heard me perfectly fine. What do you want? He stared at her blankly, and she suddenly understood. You can't hear me anymore!
Unbeknownst to her, he was thinking along the same path. They both turned to Daniel with worry in their eyes. "I don't like this," Sam said.
"What? Why? We found it."
"I can't hear him anymore," she pointed at Jack.
"Me neither."
"Welcome back to the real world," Mitchell said with a smile, though there was some concern in his voice.
"What about the dragon?" Vala asked, tearing her eyes of the shiny red jewel on the pedestal to look around nervously for any signs of the fiery mediaeval beast.
"Maybe he's dead?" Jack asked hopefully, following Daniel out across the thin pathway towards the Sangraal's pedestal. The cavern chose that moment to shake violently. Jack and Daniel crouched close to the walkway, putting out their hands so they didn't fall off. The others hugged the wall, Sam's eyes never leaving Jack's back. The passageway sealed itself behind them.
"Great," Jack said, coming back to his feet and getting a look at the closed doorway. "Hey Daniel! You walked through the fire, think you can walk through the solid rocks?"
"That is highly unlikely, O'Neill," Teal'c said, following his friends out towards the glowing red stone.
Daniel reached in and tried to pick it up but his hand simply passed through it. "What!" Panic filled his eyes.
"Daniel?" Jack asked, watching his friend's continued attempt to pick up something that obviously wasn't there.
"Jack," Daniel responded, not looking up.
"What's going on?" Ba'al asked, approaching them closely followed by Sam and Vala.
They all gathered around the pedestal as Daniel tried to get hold of the hologram again and again. "Daniel," Jack said, grabbing his friend's wrist. "It's a hologram."
"You knew this was going to happen?" He looked accusingly at Jack and Sam. Jack shook her head and held her hands up for both of them while Sam contemplated. They all tried grabbing the stone themselves but nothing worked.
Sam crouched down to try and find whatever was generating the hologram in hopes of locating the actual stone. Unfortunately, she received a heady electric shock when she attempted to remove the panel. She swore loudly as Teal'c helped her to her feet.
"Can't say I'm sorry to not share that one with you," Jack commented. She scowled at him and shook her hand, which had gone numb.
"I should have put you in the same cell more often, it would have been quite entertaining," Ba'al commented. They all calmed themselves by trying to come up with the most satisfying way to disembowel the fallen system lord.
None of them got to try out the methods they came up with, however. The dragon made itself known: the chamber filled with the rush of huge wings, creating quite a wind. They all leaned forward, gripping the pedestal and each other in an attempt to keep their footing. The dragon appeared in all its wrath, huge eyes glowing red as the Sangraal itself, and oversized wings creating enough force not only to raise it's body in flight, but knock those on the dias to the ground.
"Bobby Shaftoe went to sea, silver buckles on his knee. He'll come back and marry me, pretty Bobby Shaftoe?" Sam asked, looking at Jack for confirmation.
"Bobby Shaftoe's fine and fair, combing down his auburn hair. He's my friend for evermore, pretty Bobby Shaftoe," he affirmed.
Their friends just looked at each other, hoping that whatever the pair of them were saying would help get them away from the dragon.
It was just easier for me to not put Adria in with the whole librarian thing :)
PS: I was a little confused a few chapters ago when I was talking about the timeline in one of the bold blurbs I put in: I said pre-Vala and then when I went and looked back I realized I'd written Vala in. Obviously, Vala's in this chapter too. I guess this is season 10, otherwise we wouldn't be dealing with the Sangraal thing and whatnot. Sorry!