Rising from the Ashes of Ascension

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: As much as I might wish, I do not own Stargate: SG1, Highlander: the Series, or any recognizable characters from either show. If I did, I wouldn't be working in the public schools system. However, any characters that are not from either show are mine and I will use and abuse them as I see fit. Everyone else will be returned eventually, for I am only borrowing for awhile, but they might end up a bit scuffed.

Warnings: Potty language, violence, and occasional sexual references (though that will never be graphic).

"The new animal took a look around and immediately went and chose a place next to the laziest, greediest beast in the stable. When the master saw this, he put a yoke on him at once and took him back to the merchant," the old man, Shamda, told the younger men as they walked from the water hole.

"We've heard this one already," one of the men complained, shivering slightly in the chilly early morning air.

Shamda looked confused for a moment. "Has it lost its meaning?"

His companion rolled his eyes. Shamda always meant well and his stories had useful messages woven in them, but sometimes he could make even the most peaceful person scream in frustration. "I mean you told it just now on the way down to the water hole."

A bright flash of light, brighter than the sun during the month of Narvesta, caught all four people's attention, and flared, catching their attention. They all turned to look and saw a naked figure lying on the ground, shivering.

They approached cautiously, unsure of just who or what they would find.

Sky-blue eyes opened, looking wildly around, fear and confusion clearly etched on his face.

One of the natives, the one who had been telling Shamda that they had already heard the story of the new animal and the lazy animal, crouched over the naked man, noting his pale skin, hair the color of sand, and eyes the color of the heavens.

"Who are you?" the native asked, curious as to why the gods would send a man, naked, to them.

"I don't know," said the man, panic in his voice.

SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1

SG-1, accompanied by SG-3 and 5, traveled to PX1-986. Adam had finally translated the tablet that Daniel had told him, and the members of SG-1, that was supposedly important to finding the lost city of Atlantis. Unfortunately, Dr. Pierson couldn't join SG-1 to scout out the planet, looking for signs that would lead them to the Ancient outpost – he was scheduled to go off world with his own team the following day so Hammond sent Dr. Elmhurst in his stead.

Currently, SG-1 was busy making nice with the natives while SG-3 and 5 were busy securing the area and checking for signs of an Ancient super weapon.

They had also discovered something priceless and lost and now they were delivering it to the three people that missed it the most.

"Colonel," Major Pierce called out, his voice carefully schooled so as to not give away his excitement and ruin the surprise. "We found something you might want to see." He had to fight to keep the smirk off his face and only partially succeeding in doing so.Pierce's team accompanied someone, forming some sort of honor guard, down the stairs happy to present the Colonel and his team with their wayward archeologist.

Jack and Sam, followed by Teal'c walked almost dazedly towards the man wrapped in voluminous blue robes.

"Daniel?" Jack called, barely believing what he was seeing before him.

"Arrom," a native supplied.

"Arrom?" Jack asked, confusion in his voice, not recognizing the word.

"It means naked one," Shamda supplied, vaguely smiling.

"That's how we found him in the forest, two moons ago," the dark haired native supplied.

"Damn, I owe Adam fifty bucks," Jack groused quietly, recalling the bet he had made with the Immortal about how Daniel would return to them.

"Seems he doesn't remember who he is," Pierce said, shifting in his stance slightly.

Sam approached Daniel hesitantly. "Daniel?" She smiled and reached out to touch her old friend, remembering how tactile he had been before, well, before the accident. "It's okay. It's me, Sam."

Daniel reached out and blocked her from touching him, startling Sam, looking at her with mistrust.

Teal'c looked at Daniel gravely, worry plainly etched across his facial features. "Do you not recognize us, Daniel Jackson?"

"I'm sorry," Daniel said and walked away.

"Not even me?" Jack called after him.

SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1

"What of DanielJackson?' Teal'c asked as SG-1, 3, and 5 was preparing to leave. They had spent enough time at the ruins and settlement and were preparing to turn the search effort over to another team.

"He's going home," Daniel said, exiting the tent.

SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1

Daniel stood with the others, watching intently as the blonde female – Sam, punched in certain areas of the small podium.

"That's a DHD," Daniel said suddenly.

"Yeees," Jack drawled, shifting his eyes over to look at his lost teammate.

"I remember that," Daniel said, smiling vaguely.

"Do you remember anything else?" Jack replied.

"Nothing yet Jim," was Daniel's response.

SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1

On the other side of the wormhole, Daniel was greeted by a man that was bald and somewhat stocky in build. Looking at him, Daniel recalled feelings of friendship, kindness, and respect.

He looked around, taking in the grey cement and metal room, the ramp that led up to the Stargate, the uniformed men and women that filled the area.

"Welcome back Dr. Jackson," the man said, looking at him quizzically. "You don't remember me."

"No. Sorry."

"Neither do I," Jack said, making a smart-ass comment and earning him a look of annoyance which caused the smile to disappear from his face momentarily.

After that Jack escorted Daniel to the infirmary for a standard post-mission check up and a quick check to make sure that this was indeed Daniel.

"Do you remember that you owe me fifty bucks?" Jack asked as the teammates lead their friend from the Gateroom.

SG1SG1SG1SG1SG1

"He's Daniel sirs," Janet announced as she walked into the room. "There's just one problem," she added as she handed him his glasses.

"That's better," Daniel said, blinking slightly, happy to have everything back in focus.

As he was sitting there on the examination bed, in an olive-drab jumpsuit, fresh from a shower to wash away the smell of living in a settlement for two months were bathing wasn't always a high priority among the natives, he looked all around him, examining the walls, the contents, the people that were clustered around trying to act like they weren't staring at him.

The place felt familiar, like he had spent a good period of time in the facility.

As he was sitting there, he felt a funny-odd, alarming, sensation run up his spine and into the base of his skull. It felt like someone was hitting him in the head repeatedly with a very large and sturdy stick.

Daniel swung around, looking for some sort of external source of his pain and discomfort. Unfortunately, he couldn't find anyone or anything that was doing something untoward to him.

"What? What's wrong?" Jack asked, noticing the panicky look on Daniel's face.

Daniel screwed up his eyes and held his head. "Something's not right," he said.

Just then Adam walked in, his eyes shifting about, searching for the source of his Immortal warning system going off. "Janet," he called out and then saw Jack standing there. "Colonel, I just got back from PF2-124 and I heard the weirdest thing," he suddenly broke off, seeing the familiar figure before him.

"Daniel," he breathed, surprised beyond anything he had experienced in the past year.

Daniel however was experiencing a tremendous amount of panic. When he looked at this new person, he got terrifying images of someone with longish hair, his face partially coated with blue paint and wearing a skull mask, riding a pale horse with a sword in one hand. He saw blood, fire, and destruction. He saw Death.

"Get back! Get away from me!" Daniel yelled in Greek, fear coursing through his body, surprising everyone with his outburst.

Adam, quickly assessing the situation raised his hands in a universal gesture that he meant no harm and slowly backed out of the room, mouthing at Jack that they needed to talk soon.

"Daniel, calm down," Janet said soothingly. "No one is going to hurt you."

"What was that?" Daniel asked, his body trembling in fear.

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a bit frustrated. "Teal'c, go find Siler and tell him to stay away." Turning to his long-lost friend, he smiled. "Danny, let's get you to your quarters."

"What was that?" Daniel insisted, doing his best to ignore visions of swords and blue lightening that were dancing through his mind.

"It's a long story and we will explain everything. But we'll do it tomorrow, I promise. Nothing is going to happen to you," Jack said, trying to calm Daniel down. "Sam, tell Teal'c that we are having the post-op meeting in your lab. Doc, you're invited too."

Daniel looked at Jack like a child looking to an adult for safety and reassurance that everything was going to fine. "Promise?"

Jack smiled tightly. "I promise. Let's go see the room we've prepared for you and tomorrow we'll sit down and talk about what you felt."

With that, Daniel jumped off the bed and followed Jack out of the infirmary.

"Has your hair always been like that?' Daniel suddenly asked.

"Like what?" Jack responded, fingering the disheveled grey mess atop his head.

"Never mind," was Daniel's response as he looked away.

A/N: Well, what do you think? Crap or not? Hit the shiny review button and let me know.

The stuff with Shamda and the planet Daniel was found on was taken from Gateworld(dot)net; I wanted to incorporate some of how season seven started into my AU. I will be mentioning stuff that occurred in the season in regards to how it fits into my world, but I won't be turning this into a rehash of season seven.

Obviously Daniel doesn't remember stuff about his past and his status as one of the oldest Immortals on the planet (yet). As far as I know I won't be going too deeply into the personality of Danil and his violent side as I did in The Immortal Spacemonkey, but it will be dealt with from time to time. Also, we might find out some more stuff about Daniel and Methos as the story progresses.

Anyway, thanks for reading my stuff and if you've left a review (hint, hint) or put me or the story on a list, a double thank you to you!

Cheers!