Ouroboros, by Amaranth Traces

-- Chapter Twelve --

Author’s note: You’ve got this far into my story, so there’s a good chance you’ve already seen Moebius. If you have, then you know what has to happen. And for those of you who haven’t seen that episode...here’s a warning. This chapter contains major character death. Don’t hurt me. It’s canon. I had to address it.

Daniel, Jack and Katep returned to camp, both satisfied and excited. Their mission had gone extremely well. The rebels they had met with were already well-armed and well-organised. They would make powerful allies. Katep headed into his own tent, and Jack and Daniel continued through the encampment.

“Alright,” said Jack with a broad grin. “If Sam and Teal’c’s meeting went half as well as ours did, the rebellion’s going to be ready to go in no time at all!”

“We’ll know soon enough,” said Daniel, squinting up at the angle of the sun. “They shouldn’t be too much longer getting home.” He pulled aside the flap of his tent and followed Jack inside.

“I can’t wait to tell them how many troops we just added to our little army!”

“Daniel Jackson! O’Neill!” Teal’c’s voice rang loudly through the encampment.

Alarmed, Daniel and Jack went back outside. When Daniel saw his Jaffa friend running toward him, he felt his entire body go numb.

“No,” Jack said quietly.

Time slowed to a crawl. Daniel couldn’t move. All he could do was stare at Teal’c as he approached. He didn’t want to believe what he was seeing. He didn’t want to believe what Teal’c was carrying. He didn’t want to believe that the bloodstained body in his arms was Sam. He barely registered that Katep’s friend, Haji, wasn’t with Teal’c.

Suddenly, time sped up and Teal’c flew past him and into the tent.

Daniel stumbled inside after him. “What— Teal’c?” he choked out. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening.

“I’ll get the first aid kit,” said Jack, already pushing past the tent flap.

“Many Jaffa were waiting for us,” said Teal’c as he carefully laid Sam’s still body on the bed.

Daniel fell to his knees beside her. As she came to rest on the bed, she cried out in pain. She was alive. Daniel took her hand in his and pressed the back of her fingers against his lips.

“Sam?”

Her eyes opened. She blinked several times before her unfocused gaze fell on him. “Daniel,” she gasped, squeezing his hand.

“I’m right here. It’s going to be okay, Sam.” Against his will, Daniel’s eyes moved to her abdomen. He carefully pushed her singed robes away to examine her injury. “Oh God.”

He had seen a staff blast wound this bad only twice before. The first time, he had been on Apophis’s ship and the wound had been to his own chest. The second, he had been on P3X-666, and the injury had been Janet’s.

Daniel grabbed their sheets and balled them up, applying pressure to the gaping wound on Sam’s abdomen. “It’s going to be okay,” he told her again.

“No,” she whispered. “I don’t—I don’t think so.” Her breath was coming in shallow gasps.

He shook his head forcefully, tears flying from his eyes. “Yes, it will. You’ll see. You’re going to be okay.” He refused to believe otherwise.

“Our baby...” A tear trailed from the corner of her eye and over her temple before falling onto the pillow.

Unbidden, a sob escaped his throat. He shushed her. “Please, Sam. You’ll be okay.” He pulled the bundled sheets from her side and adjusted them. The fabric was already soaked with blood. Sam’s blood. His wife’s blood. Their baby’s blood.

Daniel couldn’t understand why she was bleeding so badly. The staff blast should have almost completely cauterised the wound. As he pressed the fabric back against her stomach, her body contorted, and she uttered another pained cry.

“I’m sorry, Sam. I’m sorry,” he said quickly. If he could stop the bleeding, she’d be alright.

Slowly, her body relaxed again, and she looked at him. “I’m sorry, Daniel.”

The tears now fell freely from his eyes. He grasped her hand tightly, refusing to let her give up. “No. You have to fight, Sam. Stay with me. Please don’t leave me.”

“Come on, Sam,” Jack said, suddenly appearing next to Daniel. He held up the morphine auto-injector from the first aid kit. “This will help with the pain so you can heal in peace.” He lifted her robe and pressed the morphine pen against her thigh. She didn’t even seem to feel the jab of the needle. “Daniel’s right. You have to fight. We all have to fight. Those bastards are going to pay for this.”

“No,” Sam said loudly. She hissed painfully, squeezing her eyes closed. “You can’t. You can’t—” She took several gasping breaths. “You...can’t change history. It’s not time for the rebellion yet. They’re not ready.”

“They sure as hell are. We might not have all the troops we need, but the element of surprise is on our side.”

“No!” Sam moved as if to sit up, but she fell back onto her pillow with a harsh cry. Her head lolled to one side as she started to lose consciousness.

“Sam! Sam, look at me!” Frantic, Daniel shook her shoulder. “Jack, just shut up right now.”

“O’Neill, you are upsetting Colonel Carter. You will accompany me outside,” said Teal’c from behind Daniel.

“Like hell. I’m not going anywhere. Ow!”

Daniel didn’t even turn around as Teal’c dragged Jack out of the tent. “Please, Sam. Open your eyes.”

After a terrifying moment, she complied. Daniel smiled. “There are those beautiful blues I love so much.”

Sam squeezed his hand. “Daniel, please.”

Daniel smoothed her hair off her forehead and shushed her. “Rest. Don’t talk. Keep your strength to fight this. You have to hang on. You’re going to be okay.” He smiled lovingly at her, silently begging her to listen.

“I need you—” she took a gasping breath, “—to promise me.”

“Anything, Sam. Just stay with me.” Daniel gathered her hand in his, her fingers gave a fierce squeeze.

“We went...too fast. You have to wait until the rebellion is ready. Prom—promise me you won’t change our history.” Another long wave of convulsions racked through her body. When it ended, she stared at the ceiling for a moment, her heavy, ragged breathing gradually slowing to a more normal pace. Then she looked again at Daniel, her eyes burning with an intensity that scared him. “Things have to play out the way they’re supposed to.”

Daniel sobbed, clutching helplessly at her hand. She knew she was going to die. And there wasn’t a damned thing he could do about it. He kissed her fingers, then held her hand to his chest.

“Promise me, Daniel.” Her eyes searched his in obvious desperation.

This was all his fault. If he hadn’t come up with this stupid time travel plan in the first place, none of this would have happened. “I promise,” he whispered hoarsely.

She smiled, and Daniel felt his heart break. “Thank you.” More tears fell from her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“No, Sam, please. You’re not going anywhere. Listen to my voice. Look at me. Stay here with me.”

“It’s okay,” she said softly. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Daniel shook his head again, refusing to believe that this was the end. “Sam, please. I need you.”

Her fingers tugged gently on his robes. “Kiss me.”

“Oh God, Sam,” he choked. Still holding her hand to his chest, the fingers of his other hand caressed her face, tracing the perfect curve of her cheek.

Sam smiled again. “Please?”

Daniel swallowed another sob. He leaned over and pressed his lips against hers. He kissed her long and slow, pouring every ounce of his love for her, every drop of hope for their lives together into that one act. When he pulled away, her eyes were shining with tears, her face glowing with a happy smile. He had never seen her look so beautiful.

Her fingers tightened around his hand again, and he returned the squeeze desperately, as if the action would keep her from slipping away.

“I love you, Daniel,” she whispered.

He drew a shuddering breath as he gazed at his dying wife. “I love you, Sam.”

She smiled and closed her eyes. Another tear squeezed out onto her pillow as her hand went limp in his.

Daniel stared at her for a long time. He rocked back and forth, holding her hand and smoothing her hair. His wife and unborn child, his promise for the future, were dead. Daniel felt an overwhelming surge of hopelessness and gathered her into his arms. He buried his face in her hair, breathing her scent deeply. He wouldn’t forget anything. Not the feel of her in his arms, the taste of her kisses, the tender touch of her hands.

Slowly, he regained control of himself. Daniel gently laid her body back on their bed. He leaned over her again, placing a soft kiss on her forehead. Then, with one final touch to her cheek, he pulled a blanket over her lifeless body.

Finally, he stood and took a deep breath. He stepped outside the tent, squinting in the bright sun.

Teal’c was waiting and placed a heavy hand on Daniel’s shoulder, looking at him solemnly. Daniel blindly nodded his thanks and turned to Jack. The sand near his friend’s feet was very disturbed. He had obviously been pacing. Now, he stood facing Daniel, his arms defiantly crossed over his chest and a look of sheer determination on his face.

“Jack.” Daniel’s voice came out a hoarse croak.

Jack’s expression softened, and he quickly stepped to Daniel’s side. He glanced at the tent. “Sam?” he whispered.

Dumbly, Daniel shook his head. He felt Jack’s arms wrap around him in a supportive hug. His friends led him to Jack’s tent and he sat down, feeling numb. Jack quietly seated himself next to Daniel as Teal’c began to explain what had happened.

“The rebels we were to meet do not exist. I believe they had heard there were plans to rise up against Ra and decided to lay a trap for us. A dozen Jaffa lay in wait for our arrival at the meeting place. They killed Haji. Colonel Carter and I returned fire.” Teal’c looked at Daniel gravely. “The blast she took was intended for me. I have once again failed you, Daniel Jackson.”

“No,” Daniel said softly. “No, you’ve never failed me, Teal’c.”

“Alright,” said Jack. “So, let’s rally the troops and go.”

“Jack, no. Sam’s right. It’s too much, too fast. They’re not ready.”

“It can work. They won’t be expecting an all-out attack so soon. Our forces can infiltrate Ra’s temple and force him out. We can take them by surprise and get that damned snakehead off our planet once and for all.”

“It won’t bring her back,” Daniel whispered, staring at the sand beneath his feet.

“I can’t just sit here and do nothing.”

“It’s what Sam wants.”

“She didn’t want to be dead, Daniel! We’re talking about your wife here! Your pregnant wife!”

Daniel’s head jerked up, and he glared at his friend. “You think I don’t know that? You think I didn’t just watch—” His voice failed him, and he swallowed the bile rising in the back of his throat. “I promised her, Jack. I promised her that we wouldn’t change our history.”

“So, what the hell do we do?”

Daniel turned back to the sand. “Nothing,” he whispered.

“Damn it, Daniel.”

“Jack, you can’t do anything. Things have to play out the way they’re supposed to.” When Jack didn’t respond, Daniel looked up at him again. “Please, Jack.”

Jack’s gaze moved from Daniel to Teal’c and back again. Finally, he sighed. “Fine. We’ll do it the way Sam wanted.”

Daniel squeezed his eyes closed. “Thank you.”

--

Half-waking from a fitful sleep, Daniel turned his head and reached out for his wife. But instead of Sam’s warm body, he was greeted only by the cold and empty other half of the bed.

“Daniel.”

His eyes flew open at the whispered voice, and he realised he wasn’t in his tent. He wasn’t in his bed. The events of the previous day flooded back to him in a wave of nausea. Sam was dead. The Goa’uld had taken another woman he loved from him. Daniel idly wondered if it was his love that had cursed them, or if it was just his ideas. It had been his idea to reopen the gate on Abydos. And it had been his idea to come to the past to get the ZPM. His fault, both times. Sha’re and Sam had both paid with their lives.

“Daniel?” the voice whispered again.

“Jack?”

“Think you got a whole hour there.”

Daniel stared blindly at the ceiling of Jack’s tent. “You?”

Jack was silent for a moment. “Teal’c just went out to bring back something to eat.”

Daniel just squeezed his eyes closed.

“You need to eat, Daniel,” Jack said softly. “We all do.”

Explaining to Katep and the others that they didn’t want to have Sam’s body embalmed was simple enough. They had established upon arrival that they were travelers from the East, so it was understandable that they’d have different customs and beliefs.

They decided that Sam would have preferred cremation, since it would leave no evidence of her existence in ancient Egypt. They built a pyre and placed her sheet-wrapped body atop it. As the fire grew, Daniel watched his future go up in smoke, with Jack on one side and Teal’c on the other.

“Shel mek. Shel assah,” Teal’c said. “Tak mal arik tiak.”

Daniel stood there, watching, until the last of the embers died.

The three of them agreed that stealing the Jumper during the rebellion was, once again, no longer Plan A. Instead, when the tomb was finished, they would hide the ZPM and jar. That plan would undo everything that had happened here, which was more than fine with them. And in the meantime, they’d ensure that the rebellion went as it was supposed to.

Three days after Sam’s death, Daniel went outside with Jack.

“I’m going to go to the marketplace,” Daniel said.

Jack frowned at him. “Why?”

Over the last few days, Daniel had been thinking about the women he and Jack had seen engraving the bowls the morning before Sam died. He had an idea about how to get a message to their future selves. Something that only he and Sam would see, so he wouldn’t have to worry about Jack or anyone else learning about their relationship before they were supposed to. He took a deep breath, studying his friend. “If Sam and I had mentioned our relationship on the tape, and you had seen it before we were able to talk to you about it...”

“Would it have been...uncomfortable?”

“Yeah.”

Jack released a heavy sigh. “I’d get over it.”

Daniel nodded. “What about if there was a message about it in hieroglyphs on the canopic jar that’s holding the camera?”

“Well, Daniel,” Jack said slowly. “I’ve been living in ancient Egypt for nearly a year now, and I can’t read hieroglyphs.” He looked at Daniel pointedly. “The me before we got here couldn’t read them either.”

Daniel gave his friend a faint smile. “I need some tools. That’s why I have to go to the marketplace.”

For the last three days, Jack and Teal’c hadn’t left Daniel alone for a moment. Not that he really blamed them. He knew he wasn’t quite himself, and he did take comfort in the fact that they cared about him. But Daniel really wanted to have some quiet time alone to think.

Jack shook his head. “You’re not going alone.”

“Look, I’m sorry. I just—I really just need some time to myself.”

“I guess we’ve kinda been smothering you, eh?”

“It’s not that I don’t appreciate your support. I just—”

“Yeah, I get it. But I’d feel much better if you stayed here. Baraka’s been asking me to take him down to the market. Teal’c and I will go. We’ll get your tools, and you’ll get some time alone. Deal?”

Daniel nodded. “Thanks, Jack. Just be careful.”

“Always am, Daniel.”

After Jack and Teal’c left for the market with Baraka, Daniel went to his tent. He hadn’t been inside since Sam died. He sat heavily on their bed and touched her pillow. Picking it up, he pressed it to his face and breathed deeply, trying to fill his lungs with Sam’s scent. If he closed his eyes, he could see her, hear her, feel her. He missed her. And he would fix this.

Daniel dug up the ZPM and the canopic jar from the corner of their tent. He stared at the jar. He would have to come up with something to inscribe it with that would be vague enough not to be obvious to the people who would undoubtedly see it before he did, but specific enough that his future self would take notice of it. Hugging Sam’s pillow to his chest, he held the jar in his other hand and studied it, searching his mind for the appropriate phrasing.

“Daniel!”

He started at Baraka’s voice. Were Jack, Teal’c and Baraka back already? How long had he been lost in thought? Daniel went outside to find the boy running toward him. Katep came out of his tent and approached them quickly.

“Daniel!” Baraka’s eyes were wild with fear. “I did not know what to do!”

“What happened?” Daniel looked around. “Where are Jack and Teal’c?”

“The Jaffa said that I was stealing! Jack saved me. Run home, he told me. A Jaffa chased me, but I was faster!”

Daniel looked over the desert in the direction of the nearby marketplace, dread again stirring in his heart. Without hesitation, he took off at a dead run across the sand.

“Daniel! Wait!” Katep cried from behind him.

But Daniel wouldn’t wait. He couldn’t. The last of his family was in the hands of Ra’s Jaffa. He wasn’t going to lose them too. Blinded by tears and the sun, he stumbled in the sand. Two people arrived at his side and helped him up. Daniel barely recognised one of them as Katep. As the market came into sight, Daniel could see that a crowd had gathered in the square around three armed Jaffa.

“This is the punishment for all those who dare to resist Ra’s rule,” said one of the Jaffa loudly in the local language.

Finally, through the mass of people, Daniel caught a glimpse of Jack and Teal’c kneeling in the square before the Jaffa. The staff weapons crackled to life.

“No!” Daniel shouted, struggling to push his way through the crowd to help his friends.

Energy discharges struck both Jack and Teal’c square in the back. They fell forward, smoke rising from the instantly fatal wounds.

Daniel cried out in anguish and lunged desperately through the people in front of him. Why wasn’t anyone getting out of his way? How could they just stand there?

Suddenly, a hand clamped down on his mouth, and fingers tightened around his arms, dragging him backwards.

“There is nothing you can do,” Katep’s voice hissed in his ear. He turned to the man he arrived with. “The Jaffa must not see him. Take him back with you. I will collect the bodies.”

--

For the second time in a week, Daniel found himself standing before a funeral pyre. He was too close. The flames singed his skin. But he didn’t move away.

He would fulfill his promise to Sam. He would do what Jack and Teal’c would have wanted. He would make sure the rebellion succeeded in forcing Ra to leave Earth. He wouldn’t let their deaths be meaningless.

Everyone Daniel had ever loved was dead. His parents, Sha’re, the people of Abydos, Sam, Jack, Teal’c. Slowly, the flames consumed the bodies of the last of his family.

Daniel felt a coldness growing in his heart that even the heat of the fire could not touch.

And he made no effort to fight it.

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