Stargate: SG-1 / The Sentinel
Characters: Jim, Blair, Jack, Daniel
Pairings: Squint and you may see one.
Rating: PG
Notes: For the Four Elements Challenge on Stargate to Cascade.
Thanks to Sheila for the beta. Annie and Sheila, you two are to blame for parts 2-4.

Quartet
by Night Spring

1. In the Forests of the Night

The first priority of survival was shelter, the second, fire. Except, they didn't dare start a fire, lest they be discovered.

Blair huddled in on himself, shaking from cold and exhaustion. Daniel squatted next to him, his own teeth chattering uncontrollably.

"They'll find us," Daniel said.

"I know."

*

Jack stared at the blazing ruin of the Al'kesh, blinking smoke from his eyes.

Beside him, Jim stood still as statue, eyes vacant as his senses roamed god knew where. The sparks from the raging fire threw his features into untamed shadows, a primal beast of the night.

Jack shivered.

---

2. Water Rising

Of course it had to rain.

They were, at least, out of direct rainfall. But each gust of wind blew in sprays of water, and the ground grew damp and clammy.

Daniel tightened his arm around Blair, soaked in unnatural heat, and desperately wished they at least had some water.

*

The race against rain washing away tracks grew more desperate each minute, a dozen Jaffa in their way the last thing they needed.

Jack eyed the rain-swollen stream below, then the waterfall upstream. Jim slipped silently away.

The roar of water gushing down the narrow gorge vibrated throughout the valley.

---

3. Demeter

The earth refused to give up any more secrets.

Jack shook Jim out of a zone for the second time and ordered him to stop trying. Jim's eyes widened in shocked disbelief.

Jack stared him down until he folded, then kept watch as Jim settled down to much needed sleep.

*

Blue. Everything was blue. He called out, swimming against the swirling mist, chasing shadows flicking in and out among its obscuring veil. He stumbled, flailing into a ground that dissolved into molasses, thick, sticky and sickening. He reached...

Blair blinked. Wrong arm, wrong chest, wrong smell.

"Blair?"

Oh, right. Daniel.

---

4. Echo

Jim startled awake, the howl of a wolf echoing in his ears.

Jack raised a questioning eyebrow. Jim shook his head, then stopped as he heard.

*

Daniel tensed as he heard footsteps closing in. Not more than two or three, he decided, hand tightening on the one gun they'd managed to keep.

"Daniel?" Jack called.

Oh, thank god.

"Jack!" Daniel called back.

*

Blair said he could walk, but he was glared down by three blessed protectors. The stretcher Jim and Jack rigged was more like a hammock, swinging in rhythm with their steps.

Cradled in the soft swish, Blair slept.