DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognisable characters and property of Stargate SG-1 belong to MGM/UA, World Gekko Corp. and Double Secret Productions. This fan fiction was created solely for entertainment purposes and no money was made from it. Also, no copyright or trademark infringement was intended. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. Any other characters, the storyline and the actual story are the property of the author. Not to be archived without permission of the author(s).
Daniel came awake with the awareness that he was once again lying on cold stone.
'No....'
Consciousness returned in a rush as he realized he could 'feel' his friends close by. The pain, the concern, the steady presence that was at the same time a comfort and a source of guilt.
Bits of memory, not all of which was his, helped Daniel piece together recent events...
Nirrti, cold, dark thing that she was, revelling in revealing her plans for the Tau'ri who had brought about her downfall....
The pain she had inflicted on him with such lascivious pleasure, serving the dual purpose of allowing her to vent her rage as well as providing the means to draw the rest of the SG team to her....
The aborted rescue against overwhelming odds; Jack's realization that they had no chance...and no choice....
Daniel had wondered at first why Nirrti hadn't simply captured them all and gotten it over with, but soon realized the pleasure she took in the game.
When her Jaffa had informed her that the others were near, Nirrti had reintroduced Daniel to the Kray'toc insect that possessed a venom which broke down the mind's natural defences...usually leaving its victim dead...or hopelessly insane, broken under the weight of psychic overload. Daniel seemed to recall a drawn out explanation of the Kray'toc's origins, but after he had been bitten again, his mind had become so preoccupied with blocking out the alien evil that was Nirrti that he could no longer hear her.
It had been at that point that Nirrti had raked her hand, bearing the ribbon-device with its metallic fingertips, across Daniel's chest in an agonizingly languid caress that would have made him spit in her face if it hadn't been for the onslaught of sadistic pleasure which poured into his mind. Nirrti had used the pain to shatter the barriers Daniel had fought so hard to hold in place.
Daniel breathed deeply, fighting the memory. He couldn't allow himself to be drawn back down into that dark place he'd almost become lost in before.....
'If it hadn't been for Jack...'
Jack. Teal'c. Sam.
They were there with him. Daniel had almost forgotten. If he let his control slip just a little he could feel them. Jack's concern-resolve that somehow they would find a way out. Sam poured out waves of hope, certain in that courageous heart of hers that together they would find a way out. Teal'c was a steady beacon of indomitable will, overlying a deep sense of guilt for failing his friends...
'Got to work on that,'Daniel thought wryly, '...later'.
Daniel slipped his precarious control back into place, not wishing to impose his own thoughts and pain on his friends. He tried to open his eyes, to let them know that he was alright....
'Well....sort of,' came the unbidden voice of truth that Daniel so often wished would just shut up and let him remain blissfully ignorant. It never listened.
On his second attempt, Daniel succeeded, blinking blearily around the room. With vision more blurred than usual without his glasses, he could make out the forms of his friends standing several feet away from him, tied to something he couldn't quite see...
"Daniel?"
Jack's voice helped Daniel locate the older man as he tried to wipe the blood and sweat from his eyes.
"J-jack? Shouldn't be here..."
Jack forced a laugh. "Newsflash, Danny...None of us should be here."
Jack quickly outlined their theory that everything that had happened since the team's arrival on the planet had been part of an elaborate trap.
Daniel confirmed it with a nod. "I think we..."
"Ticked her off?" Jack finished the thought with his usual talent for bluntly cutting through to the heart of a matter.
Daniel tried to raise himself up, but found his left leg had been shackled to a ring embedded into the center of the stone slab. He could stand, but wouldn't be able to move more than two feet in any direction. Deciding it wasn't worth the effort, Daniel laid back down.
"Daniel?" Sam's voice, concerned. "S'okay...just tired...." Daniel tried to sound reassuring, but knew he hadn't quite pulled it off. It was taking all of his limited energy to protect his friends...from him.
Daniel could feel his control wavering, trying to pull him down into the maelstrom of pain, darkness...
"Wh..where is she?" he asked, unsure if they could even hear his strained voice.
"Nirrti has left us alone to contemplate our fate," Teal'c answered in a tone that left no doubt as to whose fate Teal'c was contemplating.
Daniel couldn't see Jack clearly, but looked straight at where he knew his friend's face was, letting Jack see his eyes. Daniel knew that Jack could always read the truth in his eyes...
The both knew why Nirrti had left them alone. She was waiting for the venom to take full effect, for the fever to rage within Daniel until he could no longer maintain any semblance of control, for him to entrap his friends in that netherworld of nightmare and memory....
Jack quietly confirmed Daniel's unspoken assessment in terse, angry voice. "Yeah."
Daniel knew that Jack understood everything; that even now Daniel was fighting a losing battle to shield them. to shield himself from their emotionally-charged distress. Daniel knew with a dreadful certainty that all too soon he would lose his battle and Nirrti would get what she wanted.
Daniel closed his eyes, gasping at the sudden onset of the headache he had been dreading; it would only get worse now...
Beyond the building pain in his head, Daniel could hear Jack's voice, tense and quiet, talking to Sam and Teal'c...something about clearing their minds.
'If only... ' Daniel thought, distantly amused at how much a certain Colonel's sarcasm appeared to be rubbing off...
Suddenly, Daniel could feel energy flowing through him. There was something about it that felt like....
Jack.
Daniel recognized the rock-hard determination, the unswerving focus that was Jack flowing into him, easing the burden...
All too swiftly it was gone, but Daniel felt uplifted by it. Stronger. Able to keep on fighting. He found he was able to open his eyes again and looked toward his friend.
"Jack? How?"
Even without the aid of his glasses, Daniel could make out the flash of Jack's self-deprecating grin.
"Practice, Danny. Practice."