So very sorry I am getting this to you so late but RL is continuing to be very odd with my dad's illness and though I have had time to write, I have not been around Internet to post.
Please review and all disclaimers apply.
Chapter Seventeen: Revenge or Vengeance
Daniel woke with the babies as he'd been doing all the time that Jack was gone. Since they were prone to sleepless nights during his absence, Daniel didn't get the best sleep ever but he was alert when he fed and changed each child who were still exhausted enough from everything that they fell back to sleep with hardly any encouragement from Daniel.
He looked at Jack, restlessly shifting in bed and wanted to do something, anything for the man that he loved. He walked over to the dresser and opened the top drawer where he stored his undergarments and pulled a short blade from the recesses. Walking to the door, we noticed the tiger's interested gaze as he moved closer. "Look I am not going to do anything to hurt Jack, I need you to keep him here unless he is clearly himself. Be sure, okay Taj?"
The large cat snuffled and sneezed in what seemed like agreement, he let Daniel pass him if anything. It was going to take some getting used to having a pony-tiger as a pet if Taj decided to stay with them.
It was early enough in the morning that no one was awake; there were a small contingent of maids and cooks moving about downstairs, having already started their work for the day. He knew where he was going, having been down in the dungeon/jail area once before on a random excursion that got waylaid. He found his way down to one of the back staircases and down into the dank recesses of the castle. The stairs were long but soon Daniel found his way down a corridor and went to the only cell that had anyone in it and sure enough there was Winter, his student and the woman who cursed his husband to use Jack as bait.
"Daniel, I was sure someone would come down here to pass on threats and whatever you think might work but I did not expect it to be you. More like that large dark friend or Jack himself."
"What did you do to my husband?" Daniel asked, ignoring everything she already said.
"I did what I planned for you, he has been cursed to obey me. It seemed to not latch hold as he was able to get off the island before he was completely under the thrall but now that we are very close once more, nothing is going to keep him from doing my will."
Daniel glared and drew the blade from its sheath and little the surface shimmer and dance in the firelight of the torches along the wall. Interesting enough, the flame did not eat at the wood nor did it smell of burning wood, magical flame that never varied. It was the greatest light Daniel had ever seen.
He looked up and saw the fear flash across Winter's face. "You will not use such a thing on me, I am a defenseless woman and you are a good man Daniel Jackson and I have no doubt that you would ever hurt me."
"You forced my husband to leave me and our children because that was a better option to not allowing himself to be used against us. He left and became a hunter for our people."
"Then why are you here? It has worked out for the best right?"
"You know why I am here, you called for him!" Daniel hissed, anger forcing the confrontation.
Winter grinned, showing her teeth and Daniel wished he could reach through and throttle the woman despite the fact that he didn't believe in violence.
"Stay away from my family, you call for my husband again and I will kill you for what you did to him and my son."
"Ah yes, how is little Zale?" Winter said with another horrifying grin.
Daniel gripped the hilt of the blade, his shoulders tensing in desperate need to attack. "He is going to be fine, you couldn't hurt him."
"Not this time, what if Jack has been called to do it for me. You cannot watch him all the time. You cannot break the spell."
"Can you?" Daniel asked.
"Maybe but your question should be will I, in which my answer is no."
"Daniel!" Zarkina exclaimed, come up next to him as he reached through the bars in a desperate need to catch Winter and undo the damage she had already caused and the possible attacks still to come.
"She cursed Jack, she almost killed my son! Are you going to do anything besides keep her down here where Jack could just release her when she reaches out and pulls his strings!"
Winter grinned and Daniel for the first time in his life wished for a gun so he could shoot the witch!
"Daniel!" Zarkina admonished knowingly so she must have peeked at his thoughts, as she was prone to do.
"What, I mean it. Do something, as the Queen it is your responsibility to make sure such acts as these are punished." With that, he shook off the Queen's hold and took off away from Winter before he broke into the cell just to kill her. He could feel the angry tears burning his eyes and knew Zarkina was following him. He didn't care; he didn't want to speak to her while his emotions were such a mess.
"Daniel, you must know how difficult it is for me to sentence the sister of my husband." Zarkina said as she rushed to keep up with Daniel. He continued to walk, continuing up the stairs and into the hall where Zarkina jerked him to a stop and looked into his eyes, "She will be punished, I promise you that Daniel."
"And Jack? She is calling out to him, using that curse to control him."
"What are you talking about Daniel?" Zarkina asked.
He frowned, "Winter cursed Jack, to make him a slave to her purpose. He is losing his free will. He got out of bed, heading to her this morning."
Zarkina turned away, her hand still gripping his arm but it had loosened. He could have shaken her hand off but the Queen seemed genuinely distressed about the news. He didn't know that he hadn't told her already of what happened and what led to Jack leaving so abruptly.
"She must have found the same curse that Justin used on me."
"Justin?" Daniel questioned, always curious.
"That is a long story my dear friend and I am not in the mood for sharing when Jack is indeed in trouble. I have training in breaking curses but it's not my area of expertise. Please let me speak to William and Steph about Winter and the curse. Keep an eye on Jack and we will hopefully have a quick answer for you."
"But if you have been cursed like this and you aren't now, how did you break it?" Daniel demanded, keeping up with Zarkina as she moved towards the front of the castle, heading for the throne room where William was most likely hanging out.
She paused and looked at him, "William's love and Zara's stubbornness cracked the control and gave me the chance to fight back. I am magical and as you know curses and such things affect us differently than it would someone like you or Jack."
Daniel nodded and watched her disappear into the throne room, leaving him to wander upstairs and into the apartment. Jack was pacing the living area with a fussy Zada. Zale was apparently sleeping because he was nowhere to be seen in the room.
"What were you going to do, Danny?" Jack sniped at him as soon as Daniel closed the door behind him.
"Protect our family," he returned.
"You were seeking revenge, admit it or not but don't lie to me about things I know better than you ever will!"
"Oh you know all about revenge and vengeance, the government's assassin, aren't you? You think I cannot do what must be done, to protect you and our children? You think I am incapable!"
Jack held Zada out to Daniel and he fumbled to catch his daughter before Jack decided to drop her or something. Then with his hands captured in the act of holding the fussy little girl Daniel had no other options besides being pulled into Jack's arms for a gentle hug and a kiss to his temple. Daniel felt the sudden urge to weep into his husband's chest. Jack was right; he couldn't act out on his need for revenge.
"Danny, I need you to be the one who doesn't do those things, its not that I don't think your capable of protecting us but I need you to always be the one with a conscience and that amazing heart that leads me better than I can on my own. I don't know what I would do if you became more like me. I would feel like I failed you."
Daniel wished Zada wasn't in his arms at those words; he wanted to hug Jack so bad. "Jack you could never fail me like that. You are one of the finest men I know." With that, he tucked his head into the crook of Jack's neck and kissed his throbbing pulse point which is the only reason he felt Jack tensing against him with enough time to shout at someone before Jack's arm swooped around his throat even as he spun Daniel to face away from Jack's body. Teal'c ran into the room, Sam clearly was elsewhere at the moment because she didn't follow.
"O'Neill, what are you doing to Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c demanded in his calm way.
"Teal'c, he was cursed, I think Winter is commanding him."
"Indeed," was all Teal'c said and it made Daniel roll his eyes.
"Jack, please let me put down Zada so she won't be hurt. I don't care what happens to me as long as the kids are safe."
"None of you will be safe while I am alive," a weird female-pitched voice came out of Jack's mouth. It made Daniel frown and try to move towards the couch so he could place his daughter on the soft surface but Jack's grip tightened and Daniel tried not to gag around the grip.
Just hold on Daniel, help is coming!
Daniel struggling stopped, "What?" he asked the voice.
I will fix this; please just don't let anyone get killed before I can accomplish my task.
Clearly the queen had hijacked his thoughts, she'd never done it before since he freaked about the emotional adjustments that Zara used to do to them in the beginning of their new life here. Zarkina understood his problems because of Hathor.
He just stood still, kept Zada from crying out in panic and confusion as well as trying to keep Teal'c from doing anything that might cause Winter to snap Daniel's neck or do something that would harm anyone in the room.
He had no idea Zarkina was moving through the castle back down to the jail cell where her sister by marriage was grinning at her as she rounded the corner and came into sight.
"Release Jack from this curse now, or suffer the consequences!" she barked out the order.
"What will you do sister? Kill me? Despite the trouble I have been known to cause, my brothers love me and would not want me killed by you."
"There are worse things I could do than kill you, much worse things," Akina promised darkly. Zara was watching Daniel and Jack through their mind's eye with the unknown help from Daniel who made a wonderful conduit for her powers.
William rushed up to stand next to Akina, "Listen and do as she says Winter, I can no longer protect you from this. You are hurting people that are protected allies of the Vannas nation and it is an act of terrorism."
"Jack is not a Vannas, he is barely human!" Winter sneered.
"He is protected, now let go of his mind!" Akina returned scathingly.
Akina did not want to do what she might have to but as she reached out a hand and gripped it into a clenched fist, Winter's smile fell away as she felt what Akina was doing to her body. Akina knew what it felt like to have someone magically grasp her heart and it wasn't a fun experience. Winter gasped as Akina opened her palm and started closing her fingers slowly, tightening her grip on the woman's organ.
"Let him go or we do this the hard way, you know what kind of damage I can do to your heart," Akina reached out her other hand and opened it, "Or your mind?"
Winter grabbed at the side of her head with a tiny little shout of pain. "Let go!" she screamed as she stumbled to the ground, one hand over her chest and the other grabbing at the side of her head.
"Release Jack from the curse and I will release you from the pain."
Akina could hear from Zara, the goddess rooting her Vannas on. Akina hated having to use violent actions against anyone but she couldn't deny that once Zara ruled her people with an iron fist, metaphorically and violence was something the Magis understood. Akina would always choose a different option if she had one.
"I can't release him," Winter panted, each word between panting breaths or whimpers as Akina held her grip, not loosening or tightening.
"Why not?" Akina demanded.
"I knew nothing about this curse, I just took it and cast it."
"You fool!" Akina returned and dropped her hands, releasing the hold she had on Winter's heart and mind, "You understand if you reach out for Jack one more time, I will reach inside your mind and take one of your senses maybe, I don't know enough about the power to really tell you the damage I could do to you. It would be like allowing a baby to perform healing techniques, do you understand?"
Winter nodded jerkily, "I won't reach out to him again, just stay out of my body."
Akina turned away, her shoulders drooping as soon as she was out of Winter's view. William wrapped a gentle hand over her shoulder, "You had to do it."
She nodded, "We need to speak to Erica again, poor women should just move back to the castle."
William chuckled and squeezed Akina gently, "You may have a point, at least Elle is old enough to travel and play with Taylor when she's here."
Akina nodded, Elle was Erica's daughter, she was about Taylor's age and they were fast friends upon meeting each other. They headed upstairs and walked into SG1's apartments to find Jack apparently out cold on the floor, Daniel cuddling Zada and Teal'c standing over Jack just daring the man to stand again. Taj seemed to be gone, maybe for good, or maybe the darn thing was running around the castle, Akina didn't know if she wanted to know.
"So, who knocked him out?" Akina asked gently.
Daniel looked over at her, "No one, whatever you did to Winter transferred to Jack. He hit the ground like a brick and almost took me with him. What did you do?"
Akina winced, she had never heard of such a curse where the minds of the cursed and the controlling party were so bound, "Daniel I had no way of knowing they were connected like that. I'm sorry."
With that Akina walked over to Jack, knelt next to him and allowed Zara to search Jack's body and mind. It didn't take long for the Magis to respond. His mind is unharmed, so is his heart. He was merely startled by the pain. I have found the curse, it has wrapped its tentacles around his mind, that's why she was so connected to him. I have a clear shot at the infection; shall I shock him and see what happens?
Akina wanted to groan at the words of her Magis. No Zara, we will leave this to the experts, I do not wish to be at fault for hurting Jack even more.
Party pooper, was Zara's petulant response.
Akina opened her eyes and looked at Daniel, "He is unharmed and William is going to get Erica now, lets see what she has to say about the curse. Is Zada unharmed? And yourself?"
"None of us were harmed," Daniel returned waspishly, "Except Jack!"
"I told you I had no way of knowing she'd done this to him, it is not something that happens to Vannas."
"Sometimes, just sometimes, I wish we could go home," Daniel muttered as he walked back to the bedroom with Zada in his arms and slammed the door between them.
"He is worried for O'Neill, he meant no disrespect."
Akina smiled at Teal'c for the defensive words for his friend, "I know that, thank you. I would feel the same way if it were William. Since I am going to guess Daniel has locked the bedroom door, should we moved Jack onto the couch for comfort?" Akina asked the large man. He nodded in his resolute and calm way before lifting Jack onto the couch and bowing to Akina before the Queen and king moved to leave the room.
As the door closed on the two men, Akina sighed tiredly, "I always believed I was a magnet for trouble, being Queen but those two especially make my life look perfect and trouble free."
William laughed, "Yes well from the way Samantha tells it, they are like that in any world."
Akina groaned, "Why did I take them in again?"
"Because they fascinate you and you love having people around you that don't treat you like the most powerful Vannas of our time. For some self-deprecating reason, you like the irreverence of Jack especially."
"Right, I remember now. They are also good people and don't deserve to be turned into science projects of prisoners."
"Yeah that too," William returned and they walked back downstairs, to try and salvage a normal afternoon for themselves.