Chapter 20: Remember the Lost

She was witness to an execution. She was one among many and she watched in horror as a man with unruly black hair and deep soulful eyes was led up onto a platform. The platform held a firing squad and he was placed right in front of him.

She struggled against the crowds trying to make her way to the platform while trying to tell someone, anyone who might listen that she as indeed alive and that there was no need to go through with the atrocity that they were about to commit.

No one heard her pleas, nor did they hear her screams. Instead they heard through the din of their own cheers the sound of the guns being fired and the horribly lifeless sound that the man made as he dropped the ground.

It was then that the crowd began to disperse and she raced towards the front of the platform where the man had fallen off and collapsed beside his body.

He was John Sheppard, and he was dead.

"No," She, Elizabeth cried as she rolled him over so that she could see his face. "You can't die, you can't die... don't die. Don't die on me..."

His face was lifeless and Elizabeth's heart felt like it had been torn out of her chest.

"No..." She sobbed, tracing the contours of John's lifeless face. "Please John you can't be dead... not when I have so much to tell you..."

Suddenly there was a pain her ankle that caused her to close her eyes. When she opened them again she convulsed and found herself back in her cell, still wearing the white gown that she had worn to the ball days before- and still tied to the floor in the deep dank cell that Kolya had put her in. And she wondered, if this was John's day to die.

oOo

"So am I getting out of here?" John asked as he saw Rodney approaching his cell.

"No."

"Well what did you find out?"

"Honestly nothing." Rodney answered honestly shaking his head.

"There must have been something." John pleaded. "Come on Rodney, you HAVE to know something, I've been in here for DAYS!"

"I know, I know." Rodney admitted throwing his hands up in defeat. "But Prime Minister Kellan had nothing to say except that Minister Jal G'dan was found dead in his room."

"So there is a murderer loose."

"If there is then they're long gone by now." Rodney countered as he leaned against the bars. "It seemed as though good old Jal had been dead for three weeks or so."

"What?!?" John exclaimed. "You call that nothing?"

"Well, nothing as in it doesn't do you any good."

"Of course it does!" John insisted. "If the Minister of Peace has been dead for three weeks then who was that Elizabeth danced with?"

"I don't know." Rodney admitted. "But whoever he was he certainly was the spitting image of the real Minister of Peace and-"

And in one brilliant moment of clarity, John remembered what had happened.

Elizabeth had screamed, John had turned around and raced into her room. There before him was Minister Jal G'dan holding her unconscious in her arms while another figure of a female in a white dress was collapsed on the ground.

John practically growled in anger. "Put her down right now."

"Oh I don't think so Colonel Sheppard." Jal answered, only his voice was wrong- and yet it seemed so familiar. Before his eyes John watched as Jal morphed into Kolya.

"You!?"

"Yes me." Kolya confirmed with a laugh before nodding slightly.

The next thing John knew was being attacked by two men. He kicked and punched and tried to knock them out. But they over powered him and soon got his arms around his back, causing him to be trapped.

"You're going to go to sleep for a little while," Kolya began with an evil laugh as another one of his men came out of the shadows holding a syringe. "And when you wake up, you will have no memory of the past few minutes and everyone will think that Elizabeth has been killed by you..."

"It was Kolya." John stated suddenly causing Rodney to look at him in surprise. "It was Kolya!"

"Kolya's dead."

"No, no he's not." John insisted. "He's alive, and he has Elizabeth."

"Again, you're wrong." Rodney argued. "Elizabeth it in the morgue, I've seen the body myself."

"No, no, no!" He argued. "Go check again, see their results."

"What good would that do?"

"Kolya said that everyone will think that I killed Elizabeth," John began, putting the pieces together. "But that's impossible since he was holding her hostage."

"What?"

"Rodney just go check it out!" John barked causing Rodney to flinch.

"Alright, alright." He agreed sceptically. "I'll go."

oOo

Rodney only did half of what he promised he would do. Instead of going to the morgue he went to the gate to check in with Carson, who told him the most extraordinary thing.

"The blood sample doesn't belong to Elizabeth."

"Are you sure Carson?" Rodney asked, back in Atlantis where he and the CMO were talking. "Are you absolutely sure?"

"I'm quite positive Rodney," Carson assured. "I compared the sample you gave me to the one I had on file for Elizabeth. They are 99.9 different."

"So what does that mean?"

"It means that the blood doesn't belong to Elizabeth and therefore she-"

"-she might not be dead." Rodney interrupted, putting the pieces together. "My god, Sheppard might have been telling the truth."

"Truth about what Rodney?" Carson asked curiously, noting that Rodney was in his 'thinking' mode.

Rodney merely mumbled a response before motioning to Chuck to dial up the gate. Before Carson could even get another word in Rodney was gone.

A/N- Hello there! Update! Things are progressing nicely in this little AU of mine and while I adored Lifeline and it is one of my top three Sparky episodes of all time it was far to painful to watch... but check out 'We Have Her' if you want to know how it should have ended. But back to this lil version of season 4. Thank you those of you who reviewed the last chapter, mainly Jenni, Wormhole, Lakewater and lemons. I hope you guys will take the time to review this chapter as well. :D And Jenni, what did you have in mind for a colaberation?