Okay, so here's chapter two...finally. Sorry it took so long, but we hope everyone likes it. The story gets better as it goes along and you'll end up meeting SG1 in...chapter three or four...we believe. Please review. We hope to get at least twenty comments by chapter four so please tell us your thoughts on the story so far. Should we continue to post more chapters or what? Disclaimer-don't own Stargate SG1...wish we did, though.
Chapter Two
Jack's eyes widened in surprise as bright blue lights burst out of the opened sliver orb. His hands flew up to his face, not completely blocking Terra from his view. Jack felt a sudden pressure, like someone squeezing the breath from his lungs. He fell to his knees, his vision fringed with black. Slowly the light began to fade. His breathing returned to normal and he glanced up to see an unfazed Terra staring blankly at the silver sphere.
He couldn't move. Jack peered up at the orb and saw tiny markings engraved in the metal. They looked familiar to him, yet he still couldn't place it. Finally it clicked.
"The Ancients," Jack whispered. "You're Ancient!"
Terra's eyes flashed purple at Jack and then fell back to the orb, still slightly glowing in her palms. With a loud metallic clang that ripped through the silence of the house, the orb snapped open. Terra reached in and gently pulled out a long black cord, attached to the bottom was a small amethyst crystal that glowed as bright as her eyes. She brought it up to her face and pulled it over her head to rest lightly on her chest.
A sudden noise from Jack seemed to snap Terra back from her trance. She dropped the orb and with a single sprint, made her way out the door. Jack was on his feet now. "Terra, wait! Come back." He began to run after her. He got to the door just in time to see her disappear into the night. "Terra," he screamed desperately.
He reached the forest and silently ducked between the wispy branches. The large trees towered over Jack's head as he continued to stumble through underbrush. Jack stopped momentarily as a flash of blonde hair caught his eye, disappearing down the slope. Reaching out his hand, he brushed aside a low branch and made his way to the cliff.
He reached the top and yelled "TERRRAAH!" his voice echoed off the trees, making him jump. His foot slipped over the edge and with one misstep, he flew into the air and landed roughly on his face. The muddy hillside started to give way and he started to tumble uncontrollable down. Pieces of dirt flung into his face, all he could see were swirling green and brown blurs. Reaching out his hands he tried to grab something to stop the falling; his attempts, although, were useless, for everything in his grasp was either dirt or air.
"Ouch! Ahh! Stoop! That hurt!" he yelled between mouthfuls of grass.
Jack finally came to a halt at the bottom of the steep hill and crashed into an unsuspecting tree resting at the bottom. He brushed off his tongue in an attempt to get the dirt and grass tastes out.
"Ugh." He clumsily stood up and took an unbalanced step sideways. Still seeing blurs, he began to jog towards what apparently looked like Terra to him. "Hi Terra!" Jack said groggily. "You have to come back with me now. Cassie probably already called your parents and they must be worried sick." He headed towards the blurry figure. "OWW!" He stupidly collided into the tree. "Hey! Why did you hit me?" Jack accused. "Don't you roll your eyes at me!" He waved his finger at the tree. "Now get over here like a good little girl." Jack pointed to a section of the mud in front of his feet and waited expectantly for Terra to return.
Terra's breathing became hard and unsteady. But she couldn't stop; she had to get far away. As she fled through the dense woods she could hear Jack catching up behind her. But his footsteps grew fainter with each passing second. She was now running on pure adrenalin. Terra was scared, tired, and just wanted to get as far way as possible. She wanted to go home and lay safe and warm in her bed, then wake up and realize this was all just a dream. Something seemed to be telling her that her home wasn't here; home wasn't where she has lived for so long. Terra had never run away before; of course she had thought about it, what teenager hadn't, but she had always chickened out. Now ever since she found the orb, all she had wanted to do was leave. Her feet began to falter; she started to slow down her pace. Stumbling along, she tripped over a hidden root and fell face down into the dirt. Pushing both hands into the ground, she lifted herself up. Terra put her hand on the closest tree to hold herself up, while her dizziness left.
"Ugh," Terra miserably said as she wiped off the patches of dirt clinging to her face.
Confused, she looked down at her wrist. Why didn't it hurt her when she pushed herself up? She slowly moved it back and forth, nothing, not even the slightest amount of pain. She knew she had always been a fast healer but never like this.
Shaking her head she muttered to herself. "Was Cassie right? Am I different then everyone else?" Her mind wandered back to what she had said, 'What are you?' "What did she mean?" Terra sighed. Maybe Cassie was just a crazy person.
She looked up suddenly, forgetting about her earlier thoughts, as she heard leaves crunching under someone's shoes in the distance. Thinking it was Jack; she kneeled down as a dark figure skulked through the shadows. Unsure, she waited on the soft, cool ground until the leaves grew quiet around her. Gazing at the lush forest above her, she sighed and lay down on her side, propping her head against the palm of her hand. As she did so, she heard the loud crackle of leave beneath her. Pausing to see if anyone heard her, she made herself comfortable.
Frowning with thought, she became frustrated, wondering where she was going to go. Her parents had always taken care of her, now what? She had no money, hardly any friends, no shelter, and to make matters worse, she barely had any clothes on either. Terra wasn't sure how long a thin paper hospital dress was going to last her, especially if it rained or worse, snowed.
"Brilliant Terra, just leave without a plan to survive," Pausing she added, "Of course your plans don't exactly work all the time anyway. So you probably would have ended up like this all the same." She silently laughed. "Maybe that concussion was worse then we thought." She said silently giggling to herself.
Terra stifled a yawn and blinked a couple of times before she leaned up against the tree. A wind blew against her loose fitting rags and her blonde hair cascaded around her shoulders. She starred up at the sky and stomped her bruised feet against the ground and sighing she whispered, "I give up!" Her body, numb from the cold, tingled with defeat. She shut her eyes and murmured, "I'll keep going in the morning." With that she drifted off into a dream filled sleep.
The soft green leaves brushed against the little girl's body as she ran through. A light brown dress flew behind her as a gust of wind rolled by. Frantically, she stopped and looked around her; they were everywhere, shadows, made to trick her into their arms. She started off again, pushing small branches from her face. She panted; her fragile legs lengthened their stride to keep up with her pace. She turned sharply to avoid a giant tree. The tree's roots seemed to stretch for miles. The girl's turn was not early enough. Suddenly, she tripped over one of the tree's gigantic roots that were sticking up from the ground, waiting for her. She took in deep breaths, her nostrils filled with the rich scents of the earth. It was intoxicating and made her world swirl around her. Panic spread throughout her like a disease, trying to keep her from going on. Her blonde hair dripped with sweat. She leaned over and pressed her hands into the ground, trying with all her strength to lift herself up.
Her amethyst eyes were now wide-open and full of fright. The young girl's hands trembled slightly. A shrill shriek escaped her small frail body. Tears began to spill down her cheeks; no matter how hard she tried to hold them back. She pushed herself up against the tree, trying, with no avail to disappear. She heard the raspy scream of the creature that had followed her, with its pale blue muscular arms swing at its side. Its legs were covered in dull black armor. It moved forward with confidence toward the cowering girl, ready for its next victim.
The creature's face was enclosed in a spiky gray mask and its long white hair flowed around his shoulders. The girl stared up at the towering figure as it descended upon her.
Terra woke up with a scream that seemed to shake the entire forest. She curled up in a fetal position at the base of the tree. Terra breathed deeply and covered her hands over her head. "Not again! Please God, not again." She hadn't had that dream since she was nine. The nightmare had haunted her dreams night after night. Her mother had to hold her when she woke up crying in the middle of the night.
"Leave me alone! What do you want with me?" she shouted into the darkness.
Cassandra leaned back on her uncomfortable chair and sighed. She lazily flipped open a folder and placed her report on Terra inside. As she glanced at the small picture of Terra she wondered what could have caused this young girl to go crazy and want to run away from the hospital.
Cassie closed her eyes and muttered under her breath, "Most people don't like hospitals, but they don't jump out of a five story building to prove it."
She wearily blinked her eyes open and slammed the green folder shut. Placing it on a stack of papers, she put down her pen and began to file through her other patient's reports. She ran her fingers through her hair, frustrated. Cassie slammed her fist on the desk and laid her head on top of it.
"Well that's one way to get your temper out." Cassandra spun around on the wheeled chair and spied the chuckling doctor standing in the doorway.
"Sorry, it's just been bugging me all night long. I don't know what would make Terra do something like she did. They still haven't been able to find her yet." Dr. Aldrich approached the frustrated intern and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"You'll figure it out."
Cassie smiled weakly up at the kind doctor; he had become a father figure to her and was always looking out for her. "I don't think so. I have no idea what was going on in her mind. How am I supposed to know what she was thinking."? She whispered.
"Have you ever thought that maybe she wasn't thinking?" Cassie raised an eyebrow at her mentor. "Maybe she wasn't thinking but acting on an old instinct that every person has."
"And what would that be?"
"Survival," he turned towards the door.
"What's that supposed to mean? She wasn't in any danger." Cassie retorted.
"And how do you know? Fear is a strange thing. It is powerful and can control you without a moments glance." Dr. Aldrich's wise eyes pierced through hers. "You know…you're going to be an excellent doctor one day; just like your mother, but you must learn to use your instinct. The brain can only do so much; it is the body and heart that make a person who they are." He paused, "go over what she said or did before she started her little episode. Go over who she was with and try to see what it's like to feel nothing but fear." He turned around again. "I'll see you on Monday. Good night. And with a wave of his hand he disappeared out the door.
Jack placed a cold, muddy hand on his forehead and sighed. The dizziness had passed and his face turned bright pink when he realized he had been talking to a tree. He turned around on his heals and trudged back up the large hill he had just tumbled down. "I must be out of my mind." Miserably he looked around him, but there was no sign of Terra. She seemed to have faded into the forest.
I'll go home and call the police, he thought as he approached the strip of road that tore through the forest. Tires screeched and the sound of drunken laughter filled the night air. A bottle shattered. About half a mile back, a large green Ford careened wildly towards Jack, like they were aiming to hit him. Another bottle was tossed from the truck's open windows. It burst into green splinters. The left over beer hissed on the raw pavement.
A slurred voice yelled nonsense from the car. Jack looked down the steep hill of jagged rocks that were now behind him. There was no way back down that would not have ended with a trip to the hospital in a body caste. Jack shifted and strained; his whole body on alert. The insane teenagers strayed their truck into the other lane, bearing down upon Jack.
He gasped, fist clenched and seeing nowhere he could run, he braced his body for impact. The horn blared and the tires screeched. The car swerved and Jack could barely make out the drivers eyes. They were filled with dark intensions, which the alcohol put into effect. The truck lurched back, just an instant short of the kill. Dirty water sprayed dup into Jack's face, making him stumble backwards.
His arms flew out and his feet slipped off the edge. Twisting his body and accepting the pain, Jack grabbed onto the closest rock. Burning pain made its way throughout his body. He bit his lip as blood dripped out of his mouth.
Dangling from the side of the cliff, Jack looked up to see the headlights of another car pass by. Using his other hand he pulled himself up. He placed his feet into the side of the cliff and slowly made his way back up.
Now back on the side of the road, Jack glanced down at his hands. They were covered in small scratches, looking like red spider webs that spread across his palms. Blood dripped down his arms and splattered on his clothes. Jack quickly stood up and sprinted across the other side of the road. Stopping he looked around at his surroundings and muttered to himself. "Okay, now where am I?"
"Jack!" Cassie stomped angrily out of the hospital. "Jacks, they're too many Jacks!" Nearly running over two doctors and their patients, she stormed to her black Honda fuming. Her face was a bright shade of pink and she looked like one of those cartoon characters, which had steam coming out of their ears. She didn't care, she was going to go to Jack's house and kill him. No, better idea, first she was going to scream at him until he was deaf, run him over with a truck, send him to the hospital with pneumonia, watch him suffer, then she was going to stick a Goa'uld in the back of his neck and laugh. Oh, and after that she was going to kill him. "Jacks, Jacks, and more Jacks; I hate the name Jack!"
Cassandra opened the door to her Honda and slid onto the leather interior. Placing her purse on the passenger seat, she started up the car. Hot air blasted onto her face and she flicked on the radio. Angrily she stepped on the gas pedal and sped out of the parking lot in an angry rush.
As she gazed out at the trees rushing by, she said to herself, "Idiot! I should have known that if Jack was involved, something crazy must be going on! For all I know aliens could be invading in the form of worms." She thought on that for a moment. "Nah, okay calm down Cassie; just get to his house and we'll sort everything out. There are not worms…"
Flying into his gravel driveway, she slammed on her brakes, causing puddles of water to spray out from under the car. Cassandra opened the door and stepped out. Her new white shoes collided with a hidden puddle beside the car. Groaning, she made her way to the front door, only to find it already open. Hesitantly, she stepped in, "Jack? Jack? JACK! IF YOU DON'T ANSWER ME RIGHT NO I'LL KILL YOU!" The entire house seemed to shake and cower at the sound of her voice. She looked around to find books, pictures, plates, and basically everything on the floor. "Ok, I knew Jack wasn't the most organized person, but this is ridiculous!"
As she stepped into the living room, she heard a soft crunch under her foot. Lifting it up, she saw a broken picture frame on the floor. She reached in and shook the broken glass off the photo. A group of people smiled up at her from the picture; their eyes twinkling with laughter and love. A soft shriek escaped her lips and she dropped the picture. It slowly floated down, swinging back and forth. The happy group looked up at her once more before falling softly on the carpet, but this time shadows took over and the group looked sad and lonely, like a dark time was coming.
She backed up against the wall and breathed deeply. She just stood there staring down at the transformed picture. She placed her hand on her heart and sighed. Her face was flushed and she continued to back into the living room. The TV seemed to be the only thing not destroyed. It was paused on a picture of a brown skinned woman in a white dress, standing in front of gravestones.
"Well it's about time!" Jack trudged up his driveway, not even noticing the parked car beside him. He walked into his house and slammed the door behind him. He looked around at the mess he had to clean up. Sighing, he made his way to the kitchen. As he grabbed a soda from the fridge, he heard footsteps coming from his living room. Jack froze. Leaning down on the ground, he picked up an unbroken glass vase and began to walk towards the living room. He got to the side of the door and yelling he jumped into the living room, raised the vase over his head, and readied himself to attack the unwanted burglar.
He stopped suddenly, surprised at what he saw. There searching his living room was none other then Cassandra Fraiser, seemingly un-startled by Jack. His face was flushed with embarrassment as he quickly placed the vase on the coffee table. Cassie turned around and glared at him and immediately he knew he was in trouble.
"Jack! Terra's missing!"
"Really, I didn't notice." He smirked sarcastically.
"If I find out you had anything to do with this, I'm going to ki…" Pausing she looked curiously at his face. "What happened to your face? And why does it look like a hurricane just blew through your house?"
Practically growling at Cassandra, Jack yelled, "Why didn't you tell me Terra had the ancient gene? Your little patient caused me so much trouble. Do you see what she did to my house? Who's gonna have to clean it up? You can't expect me too!"
"Well maybe if you would have just stayed away from her we wouldn't be in this mess. But, no! The famous Jack O'Neill has to make everyone's life harder. Can't you do anything the easy way? Wait what am I saying? Stupid question."
"It's not my fault she opened the stupid orb thingy! It destroyed my house! I am so sending her the bill for all of this!" Jack waved his hands around at his once semi-clean house.
"Wait, what ball thing?" Cassie asked
"Jack reached down, his tousled brown hair falling into his face as he picked up the still faintly glowing orb. He held it up at eye level for Cassie to admire. Her emerald eyes gazed into his brandy brown ones and she said, "We have to tell him."
Good? Bad? Who do you think Cassie's talking about? Review please!