Disclaimer: Stargate: SG-1 and all related concepts are the property of MGM, while the character of Spike belongs to Joss Whedon and James Marsters, among other people (Also, the original idea for this story came from Jedi Buttercup's 'An Unexpected Gift', so I don't own it either, although I have put my own spin on things, and have been given his full permission to use his idea)
Feedback: I'd appreciate it, of course
The Ghost in the Team
As Spike walked through the caves with his teammates, taking care to keep an eye on his feet- he didn't know if he could 'trip' based on Sam's theories about how he was able to walk despite existing in an intangible state, but he didn't want to find out by falling through somebody in full view of Bally-boy-, he wondered a bit at the unusual combination of natural and artificial formations inside it. The stalactites on the top were relatively straightforward, but many of the accompanying stalagmites had been removed, the floor having subsequently been carved into basic man-made steps.
The group simply settled into silence as they walked further along the cave, keeping a careful eye on their surroundings for any sign of further clues about the next potential trap. Mitchell briefly noted that the stalactites and stalagmites at this point looked more like they were made of wax rather than traditional rock, but given his relatively limited knowledge of geology he was going to ignore that anomaly until he had more time to look into whether a rock that looked like that was possible; at the moment, he was more concerned with keeping an eye on Ba'al in case the Goa'uld tried anything funny.
Then the group entered a more open area of the path in the form of a decently-sized chamber with Ancient writing on the wall in front of them and two paths leading in two directions on either side of the writing, and Mitchell's priorities shifted back to the task at hand (Particularly when a casual glance backwards as Daniel moved forward to study the writing revealed that the path they'd just entered by appeared to have 'vanished'; whether it was a sliding 'door' or a solid hologram he couldn't say, but either way they definitely wouldn't be getting out that way any time soon, particularly when Spike's connection to the amulet would pretty definitely stop him going too far that way).
"Choose the way that is just and true," Daniel read from the sign before them.
"I don't suppose that literally means the 'right' way, huh?" Spike asked as he looked back at the archaeologist, hands in his pockets as he looked around himself in slight frustration and boredom; the amulet restricting him was annoying enough, but add in the fact that he genuinely didn't want to leave his new teammates down here even if he could find his way out on his own...
Why did they make it so bloody complicated to be the hero these days?
"No, it doesn't," Daniel confirmed, drawing Spike back to the original issue. "The word meaning 'just and true' in Ancient is very different from the one meaning 'right' in the directional sense of the word; we need to find some other way of figuring out what they meant by that..."
Her voice trailed off as she and Sam turned to look at the tunnel to the left, an uncertain expression on both their faces.
"What?" Spike asked, only to pause as he heard what they had doubtless picked up themselves; the sound of a crying child from somewhere further down the tunnel (He blamed that lack of observation on the acoustics and the fact that he didn't technically have ears any more; it was not because his hearing was going...).
"What the hell is a kid doing all the way out here?" Mitchell asked.
"Well, the obvious possibility is that it's a trap," Vala pointed out.
"Or it could be a test," Daniel said as he looked around at the others.
"A test of what; our stupidity?" Ba'al asked, looking over at Daniel with a sarcastic tone to his voice.
"Unless you've got any other ideas about how to get out of here, it's the best we've got," Spike said, staring briefly at Ba'al before he hurried after the rest of SG-1, Sam now leading the search for the child they'd just heard, leaving Ba'al with no other option but to follow them.
After only a few feet, the light on the end of Sam's P-90- which had been blocking Spike's night-vision from seeing anything in that direction himself; disadvantage of being something that 'evolved' to hunt at night- fell on the form of a small boy, about five years old, dressed in a green hat and shirt with a brown sleeveless 'jacket' over it that looked like the kind of thing that the villagers had been wearing earlier. Before anyone could ask the kid what he was doing there, however, the boy cried out in fright and began to run down another tunnel.
"Wait!" Sam yelled, the group slightly picking up the pace to follow the child. "We're here to help!"
Even as they ran after the child along increasingly-unstable steps- it was as though whoever had designed this place had stopped paying much attention to the fine details at this point-, Spike had to wonder what the point of this particular chase was; the Parchment of Virtues might have stated that kindness was one of the virtues that those who sought the Sangraal would need to possess, but as much as Spike hated to agree with a smug git like Ba'al, it wasn't out of the question that this was also intended to test their wisdom by giving them an obvious trap to avoid...
Then a loud clanking noise up ahead pushed all thought of which virtues this was intended to test from their minds, particularly when they rounded the corner and saw an iron portcullis in front of them, the small boy sitting on the floor behind the door crying and shaking at his predicament.
"Hang on there, kid," Mitchell said, walking over to grab the gate bars in one hand. "We'll get you out of there; just hold on..."
With that, he tightened his grip around the gate bars and pushed, swiftly being joined by Teal'c and Sam.
"Little help here!" Mitchell called, after their efforts to raise the gate had proven fruitless. Not needing any further encouragement, Daniel and Vala joined the effort, although Ba'al still stood back, looking slightly scornfully at the team.
"He's tiny," he said dismissively. "Tell him to squeeze through the bars."
"Assist us," Teal'c said, turning slightly to look at Ba'al, "or I will squeeze you through these bars."
Faced with the Jaffa's stare, Ba'al moved to join the group's efforts to move the barrier, prompting Spike to step forward and take hold of the nearest relatively open area as far away from Ba'al as possible (Anything that stopped Ba'al learning that he wasn't solid was a good thing right now; he didn't trust the guy a sodding inch)...
As soon as Spike's fingers touched the grill, it began to lift immediately, as though it had just been waiting for the right kind of signal. The boy on the other side smiled slightly at the group before he vanished in a bright glow, leaving the team looking at each other.
"How about that?" Mitchell said, with a slightly satisfied smile. "We did pick the right way."
"Yes, you were right; can we keep going now?" Ba'al asked, waving a frustrated hand at the now-open path before them.
"Good to hear you admit it, mate," Spike said, giving Ba'al a light shove in the shoulder before he continued on down the path alongside Vala, leaving Ba'al fuming as he was left to keep walking alongside Mitchell as Sam and Daniel lead the way. After a short period of walking, they came to what appeared to be a dead end, until Spike noticed a panel of what appeared to be writing in the middle of the wall.
"Hey," he said, walking over to stand beside the panel as he looked at Daniel. "This mean anything to you?"
"It's another riddle," Daniel said as he walked over, only taking a brief moment to study the writing in front of them. "I'm struck and cut, shaped and cooled, then bound by rings to release what's stored."
Whether speaking those words had triggered a signal of some sort, or they'd simply been standing in the new cave for too long, was never established, but the cave around them began to shake and rumble around them, bits of dust dropping from the roof as it continued.
"You might want to pick things up a little bit here..." Mitchell asked, glancing uncertainly at the archaeologist as the room shook.
"OK, we need to think about this," Vala said, taking a brief breath as though trying to calm herself. "What fits all those categories; something that can be cut or shaped-?"
"Key!" Mitchell yelled suddenly. "The answer is key!"
"Clavia!" Daniel yelled at the panel, the wall almost automatically vanishing as Daniel spoke, allowing the group to run through the new door, only for the rumbling to continue as they approached another panel with Ancient writing on it.
"I shake the earth with booming thunder, fell forests whole and homes complete!" Daniel yelled, urgently scanning the text. "I influence ships, topple kings, sweep down swift yet remain unseen!"
"OK, the last bit makes me think of time- bit like some riddle from The Hobbit, really-, but the first-" Spike began.
"Wind," Teal'c interrupted.
"Vantio!" Daniel said, nodding in understanding at Teal'c's deduction before they ran into another tunnel, hurrying up a flight of stairs only to discover another panel as the rumbling continued.
"Aw, for crying out loud...!" Mitchell groaned as Daniel leaned forward to study it.
" Battle-scarred in times of strife," he read uncertainly. "Resistant to... resistant to..."
"To what?" Elizabeth asked.
"I don't know; I can't quite..." Daniel began, studying the panel quizzically.
"Illness, maybe?" Spike asked uncertainly (Maybe the fact that he wasn't in danger of being crushed meant that he was able to think a bit more clearly than others, even if he didn't fancy being actually buried when the roof collapsed). "I mean, they can leave physical symptoms when it gets rough-"
"Contagia!" Daniel yelled, the panel dropping as the rumbling around them finally came to stop.
"Looks like that's done it," Mitchell said, glancing around himself with a slight smile.
"Yes, I'm definitely glad that's over with; riddles were never my strong point," Vala reflected with a slightly grim smile. "I was more comfortable with visual puzzles, like 'which of these symbols does not belong with the others', or 'reconfigure the tiles to make the hidden picture'..."
"Is it just me," Mitchell asked, looking back at the others with a slight uncertainty, "or is it getting hotter in here?"
"Now that you mention it..." Vala began, just as the group turned around a corner to find themselves in yet another decently-sized underground chamber, with a wall of fire burning at the end of the only other passageway out of the chamber, blocking their way out.
"It is a tad toasty," Vala said, taking in the sight in front of them.
"Bugger..." Spike groaned, before he sighed and shrugged as he looked over at the rest of his team. "Well, since I'm the only one who won't get heatstroke or something, I'll just nip on ahead and see if there's something close up that could be an 'off' switch of some kind; rest of you feel free to mill about back here if you want."
Without waiting for confirmation from his teammates, he walked up to the fire- without actually crossing it; as Teal'c had pointed out, these tasks had to be possible for normal people to accomplish, and he doubted whoever set this up expected somebody to burn themselves to get through- and began to study the walls around it, looking for any sign of some kind of switch or carving that they could use. Having confirmed that there was no sign of any such device, he turned around and headed back to the rest of the team, noting briefly that Mitchell and Sam had apparently headed back the other way.
"Well, if there's anything we can press up there, I can't seen it," he said with a dismissive shrug.
"Then we should head back," Ba'al suggested briefly.
"Not an option," Sam said, walking back up from the passage they'd just entered the chamber by. "The passageways had resealed behind us."
"Well," Ba'al said, looking around at the rest of the group with a condescending smile that reminded Spike of Angelus at his worst, "it would appear that I was right; we've walked into a trap."
"No... this doesn't make sense," Daniel muttered, looking at the passage before them with a sigh. "We made all the right choices to lead us to this point. I know the Sangraal lies beyond that wall of fire; we just have to find a way through..."
He paused for a moment before he began to walk slowly towards the flames, a reflective expression in his eyes.
"It's the only one left," he muttered.
"Daniel?" Sam asked, looking in confusion at the archaeologist as she and the rest of their small group began to gather around the passage entrance.
"The parchment told us that five virtues would guide us in our quest for the Sangraal," Daniel elaborated. "Prudence, kindness, charity, wisdom, and faith. We displayed prudence in finding a way out of the temporal maze, charity in escaping the forcefield trap, kindness by helping the child and finding the hidden passageway, and wisdom in solving the riddles; the only virtue left is faith."
Pausing for a moment, Daniel took a deep breath, and then walked into the fire before him, the flames dissipating around him almost as soon as he reached them, leaving him totally unharmed as he turned around to look at the others, the tunnel up ahead now open to them after the fire that had so briefly cut them off from it.
They had only walked for a few more metres before they finally arrived at what could only be their final destination; a large cavern, consisting primarily of a deep abyss with a narrow walkway stretching from the cavern entrance to a wider platform in the middle of the abyss.
The platform itself appeared relatively straightforward, but the two objects on it were definitely worth attention; the taller of the objects before them was a dolmen-like structure with a blue diamond-shaped stone pattern on it slightly above the height of the average man, Ancient writing running from the top to the bottom of the dolmen, while the glowing red form of what looked like the Sangraal rested on a lower dias.
"There it is," Ba'al said, smiling as he indicated the object before them. "We've found it; ours for the taking-"
"It's Danny's, actually," Spike interjected, glaring over at the Goa'uld.
"Pardon?" Ba'al asked, turning to glare at the vampire.
"Hey, I may not buy everything that Adria bird was saying at the gate, but if she thought Danny-boy was her best chance at getting this thing, I think it's not exactly out of the question to think that he's our best chance at getting it," Spike said, looking pointedly at Ba'al before he indicated the narrow bridge in front of them with a slightly hopeful shrug.
"Good point..." Daniel said, swallowing slightly before he stepped forward and began to walk along the narrow bridge.
As he walked onto the dias, Daniel reached out to take the glowing red form of the Sangraal, determined to claim the object they'd sought for so long and make the next step towards stopping the Ori once and for all...
Only for his hand to pass through the red orb as though it wasn't even there, the object subsequently 'flickering' in a manner that confirmed Daniel's initial suspicion; if the thing before him wasn't a hologram, he'd be very surprised.
"Well?" Sam called over to him where she and the others still stood at the passage exit.
"It's... it's a hologram," Daniel replied, looking uncertainly back at the rest of the group. "I don't-"
Whatever else he'd been about to say, Daniel stopped talking as the cave was suddenly filled with the sound of mechanisms moving, followed by dust beginning to fall from the cave wall around the entrance. Daniel only just managed to run back across the bridge to join the rest of the team when the sound of what appeared to be large wings replaced the sound of the machinery.
"What the...?" Mitchell muttered, looking over at the others apprehensively. "Why is it I'm suddenly getting the feeling that we're not done yet?"
"Possibly because our thoughts on the subject of dragons were wrong?" Vala asked, pointing at a massive form now hovering above them, resembling a massive lizard with two long wings in place of its forearms, hissing at them as it opened its mouth.
"Oh, bugger..." Spike thought as he took in the sight in front of him.
As cool as it was to actually see a dragon, he really wished it wasn't happening under these kind of circumstances...