"Subdivide" by Surreal ******** Jack woke up slowly, the first attempt at opening his eyes met with a painful reminder of his surroundings as dirt scratched at his vision. He didn't know at first if the darkness enveloping him was his reality or a frightening product of the foreign objects possibly causing damage to his eyes so he rolled over and rubbed his equally gritty palms over his face in a feeble act of clearing his sight. Blinking wearily and feeling more disoriented by the moment, he found that he was indeed in the dark. Pitch black surrounded him at all sides, and the only sound was his own breathing reverberating in the hollow chamber he realized he was in. He could smell the dusty, stale air of an ancient, closed space, the thin cloth of his military-issue pants doing little to dull the sharp stinging of rocks digging into his knees as he knelt in the darkness. Struggling to remember how he had come to be in this place, he found all he could think of was how much he wished Daniel were here. ******* Daniel groaned softly as he woke, his instinct to roll onto his front before he even opened his eyes found him staring face down at...nothing. He raised his head stiffly, coughing as the dust clouded up from the ground from his ragged breaths and went straight to his already dry throat. He raised himself onto his knees, raising his hand to his face in an overpowering need to check for his glasses and finding that once again he had lost them at some point. Blinking the grit from his eyes the best he could, he squinted as he tried to make out even a faint outline of his surrounding but quickly found that he was indeed in a tightly closed, musty room with no apparent way out, and now answer to how he had gotten in. Pulling his knees to his chest, he hugged his legs close to his body and swallowed hard, trying to dispel the raising fear. In his solitude, he wished only for the company of his unwavering companion, knowing that even if he only had Jack, he would have all he ever needed to feel safe. ******* Struggling to his feet, Jack wandered blindly in hopes of finding answers. He began to recall the last events he could grasp onto, wandering through the ruins of an crumbling temple in search of his lover, the unstable planet threatening to send the structure tumbling down around them. He knew Daniel was deep in the building, but had lost track of where he had gotten to. 'I should have stayed with him,' he berated himself, then shook his head as he remembered it was not exactly his fault. He had told Carter to stay with him, but she too had lost track of the wandering archaeologist, finding herself thrown from the maze-like halls into the bright daylight and into the confused gaze of the Colonel and Teal'c where they were stand guard outside. He had felt the first of the light tremors, and without a second thought had ordered the other two back to the gate while he went after Daniel. Running through the corridors with his heart pounding in his ears, the last thing he remembered was seeing the faint glow of Daniel's flashlight through the door of a room before the shaking grew strong too quickly. Before he could call out a warning, he was pitched into darkness. Now, he realized he must still be in the hall, and everything behind him was cut off. Everything in front of him had come down... He realized with a sharp cry that the structure had collapsed on top of Daniel. ********* His fingers connecting abruptly with the crumbled remains of a wall, Daniel swore under his breath. Realizing he was getting nowhere like this, he went back in the direction from where he had fallen, feeling along the ground with his feet. The light metallic sound that he foot finally hit meant he had found what he was looking for...his flashlight. After a moment of swearing and struggling, he got the thing turned on and blinked against the sudden brightness. Shining it around, he could see the remains of the room around him. He gasped as he realized just how close he had come to being under those ruins. If the entire temple had come down around him, then there was no way for Jack and the others to get in to find him even if they thought he was still alive. He knew he was alone. ********* Grateful to have no witnesses, Jack allowed himself to cry silently for his loss. "...damn it, Daniel...why can't you just be *careful* for once?" he sobbed into his folded arms, his knees drawn tightly to his chest and he choked on the fresh tears at the knowledge that his lover wouldn't hear his reprimand, never again. He remembered all the times he'd woken up in the middle of the night to find his face covered with Daniel's hair, or the younger man resting his head on his shoulder and drooling. His frustration at his own inability to keep the younger man safe, he picked up a nearby rock and threw it as hard as he could in the direction of the room where Daniel had been crushed. ********* Jumping at the sharp sound from near the door, Daniel suddenly realized that it must have been the instability of the structure bringing down more rocks. He knew he had little time left; even if the room around him remained standing, he would run out of air soon enough. Sliding down the one remaining flat wall, he wrapped his body tight and thought about Jack. He let his mind drift, wishing he could feel the older man's breath against his neck, the strong arms around him protecting from the death that would claim him too soon. Daniel smiled as he recalled all the nights he had lain awake watching Jack as he slept at his side. The older man's arm slung possessively across his chest, his head resting on Daniel's shoulder and his warm, even breaths against his bare skin. Frustrated by his own helplessness and for giving up too quickly when for so many years, Jack had never given up on him. Jack had always dragged him, often kicking and screaming, from the brink of death and he wouldn't allow himself to wallow in self-pity. He stood, shining his flashlight at where the door had been and began to dig his way out with his bare hands. ********* A faint crumbling sound from nearby pulled Jack back into his current situation. He realized the walls were still unstable and he knew he had to find a way out somehow. He cursed himself, knowing that Daniel would have never given in so quickly and he owed the younger man that much. He owed it to Daniel to get himself out, knowing that for some reason he couldn't explain, the younger man had seen to it that Jack value his own life as much as he valued the lives of those around him. Remembering vaguely that Daniel had explained to him that there was another exit on the other side of the temple, Jack started digging his way out, in the direction of where his lover had last been seen. *********** Daniel stopped a moment, hearing the sounds of debris shifting on the other side of the pile separating him from his only way out. He knew it could be to his advantage, the broken pieces of the building sliding down out of the way. But he also realized it could also be more debris falling from above, making his attempt futile. Despite that, he kept digging. His only thoughts were to somehow get to Jack, the urge to see his lover again and hold him making him work with a renewed energy. *********** The scratching from the other side more intense and constant now, Jack wondered briefly if it was the sound of the walls still coming down and decided he didn't care. He just knew he had to keep going until he was physically incapable of it, and still longer after that. He coughed as the dust choked him, the sound echoing around him. ********** Daniel nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the new sound nearby, still muffled by thick layers of debris but nothing at all natural about it. He had heard a very distinct, very sharp coughing sound from the other side. Dizzy with hope, he used the flashlight to dig faster, and cleared his throat to yell. *********** "JACK!!" The older man heard a startled cry escape his own lips at the ghostly shout from the other side of the wall. He shook his head hard, not giving in to dementia so soon. "JACK--IS THAT YOU?" Stumbling back in shock, he swallowed hard. "Daniel?" ********** "JACK--CAN YOU HEAR ME??" Daniel shouted, the sounds from the other side having stopped so abruptly he was worried that he was wrong. He grinned ecstatically when he heard the stunned reply. "DANIEL!! YOU'RE ALIVE!!!" Daniel laughed, a wonderful sound that echoed as he clawed with frantic vigor at the barrier. "JACK!! Yeah--keep going, I think we're almost through..." ********** "Shit--Daniel, how the hell--" Jack started, then just shook his head. He decided to stop asking how the younger man managed to come back from the dead and instead vowed to never question the living power of his lover. Breaking through the pile finally, Jack found himself suddenly blinded by a bright light. "Oh, damn--sorry, Jack," Daniel apologized as he redirected the flashlight's beam. "What the hell are you doing down here? I thought you were outside!!" "I came back here looking for you; I thought you were dead! Daniel, you gotta stop doing that to me!!" Clawing his way to open the hole he had made, Jack slid his body through to the other side to join the younger man. Helping him to his feet, Daniel held Jack up to steady him before he finally gave in and wrapped himself around his lover with an overjoyed sob. "God, Jack...I was so scared I'd never see you again..." he choked, feeling those protective arms he had wished for earlier wrap around him and cling to him desperately. "Me, too, love," Jack replied, kissing the top of Daniel's head as he held him as close as he possibly could. "Now...how about getting us out of here?" Daniel raised his head, his eyes bright with tears and he nodded enthusiastically. "Um...I was trying to get out the way you came in..." he waved his hand toward the hole in the debris pile. "Can't do that, Danny. It's all collapsed behind me," he sighed. "You said there was another way out this way," he pointed in the other direction. "Um...I didn't see--" Daniel shined his light in the other direction, the corridor blocked. He looked closer, and found that the top nearest the ceiling was not completely cut off from the other side. "Look--there." Jack grinned as he saw their way out in the light of Daniel's flashlight. He grabbed the younger man's jacket sleeve and yanked him forward. "Come on, Dannyboy. Let's go home." *********** Surreal "The SheBeast's personal lackey and slave, Second in Command"