DISCLAIMER: All 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 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.
Somewhere far away, someone was singing. It was a good voice, but a small one. Almost like the thin, piping tones of a small child. Nice song. He knew it. Somewhere, somehow, it was familiar.
Wait. he had it.Amazing Grace. Someone was singing Amazing Grace. Someone who sounded very young, very scared, and very, very alone.
Daniel! God, those sounds are coming from Daniel! What the hell - what's wrong with him, he sounds like he is out of his mind with fear!
Jack forced his leaden eyelids open fully expecting to banish the darkness he had been formerly lost in only to discover that the world outside his head was every bit as implacably black. He blinked several times, hard, to verify for himself that he was indeed conscious and his eyes were indeed open.
Open or closed, it didn't make the slightest bit of difference. Wherever they were, it was blacker than an NID man's heart in here. He knew instantly that they were somewhere else from where they had been before he had passed out. He had spent too many years living in a reality where one's survival depended on the instant procurement and assessment of tactical and situational information not to have all the "sensors" kick in as soon as he was even marginally conscious. Not having the visuals functioning didn't hamper him in the slightest.
Every other sense that he possessed seemed to be doing more than double duty though. It was bizarre; almost as if the "net" had gone into overdrive. It just took a moment's effort to verify the fact that the only part of his body he still could move was his head. Arms and legs would not respond to his mental commands. Oh well, at least the pain seemed to have gone away for awhile. Small favors?
And yet, he could feel cold stone beneath his fingertips. Feel the same cold permeating the material of his combat pants on the back of his calves and thighs. He could even feel his butt falling asleep.
Granted I'm no medic, but when you sever your spinal cord, doesn't that pretty much finish sensation as well as movement? What's wrong with this picture?
He was still on his back. Wait, the floor was too cold - not enough insulating layers - where was his vest - nothing around his waist either no web belt, couldn't feel his knife or his holster that should be strapped to his thigh and whaddaya bet they took the damned flashlights too, well that would make sense wouldn't it. Couldn't move his arms to check and see if there was a wall within arm's reach, so he had to make a guess from the way things sounded that he was close to one. He desperately wished that he could move in order to be able to find out for sure. For some strange reason he deeply wanted to feel something behind his back other than the floor.
This room was dryer than the other one. No moisture on the stone surface that supported him. It was stone. Hewn, like the other one. Through the material of his combat jacket he could feel that his shoulders rested astride a seam where several blocks came together. The air was very dry as well, and a little stale. That meant that they were in another sealed room. Airtight too, he would wager. Yikes. Not good. He expended another precious second listening to the sound of Daniel's thin, faltering song and from the way the sound moved through the space and interacted with the barriers of wall, floor and ceiling he was able to gauge the approximate size of the room.
More bad news. He took a swipe at figuring that the room was square and couldn't be any bigger than ten by ten by ten. That didn't make for a whole lotta cubic feet of oxygen. He had probably been out for a bit. He had no way of knowing how long. So there was also no way of knowing how long they had been here, or how much longer they had.
Jack suddenly realized that his mind was clear. No disorientation, no nausea, no confusion. Best of all, no pain. He could think again. He knew that probably shouldn't be so, but it was, and he wasn't going to waste any of their precious time trying to figure it out. So far, Danny had been doing all the work. Trying to go it alone, trying to figure out how to pull both their butts out of the fire.
Well, it sounded as if his friend Danny needed a little bit of help now. Maybe his body still wasn't working, but Jack knew he still had his brain and it was time to start using it for something other than to fill the space between his ears.
Just before he had passed out he had heard something. A voice in his head, like the one out of nowhere that Daniel had tried unsuccessfully to argue with, only he had heard it speaking to him in English this time. The voice had said that they had passed another test, and were to prepare for another one. Quick Jack, a little exercise in logical deduction. Let's see what we have learned and see what that tells us.
Hey, hyperactive, longhaired archeologists weren't the only ones who could put two and two together and get four!
The fact that they were in a completely different location (granted still another one, like the last two that seemed to have no apparent exits) would lend one to conclude that each test took place in a different venue. You got out of jail free by passing the test. Therefore, all was not lost. There was a way out of this deathtrap. He just had to figure out what it was that Daniel had to do so they could pass 'Go' and to hell with the two hundred dollars.
But before he could do THAT, he had to find a way to help Daniel pull himself together, and he had to do it fast. For when the air ran out, so did any chance they would have of getting out of here.
Huh! Maybe the kid was ahead of him. Though the ravening terror that was gripping him was still much in evidence in his voice, the song was trailing away to be replaced by what almost sounded like a mantra.
"ComebackDannycomebackDannyJackneedsyouJackneedsyouJackneedsyouJackneedsyou."
Dumbfounded, Jack listened to the sound of Daniel's voice as it droned on in the complete, utter blackness. He continued his focussed chant, the words getting louder and stronger, more confident and less scared with each passing second.
Geez Louise, he's going to do it. All by himself, the kid is actually gonna DO it! Damn. Danny, what the HELL are you made of?"
**he will do it faster if he knows that you are with him**
Whaaa? What the hell was THAT? Forget it, doesn't matter. Whatever it was, it was right. Time for him to help Daniel.
"Danny? You okay? Where are you, buddy? Can hear you over there, but can't see you."
Instantly the droning mantra ceased. There was a gasp, a few faint shuffling sounds, and then a voice came out of the blackness, so small and rampant with such naked terror that it frightened him.
"J-ack. I can't see.either. Sorry. not doing so good.."
"I can hear that Danny," Jack tried to keep his voice low and soothing. "I'm a little scared of the dark, Danny. Don't like being alone. Why don't you come over here and keep me company?"
There was a long silence; more scuffling, heavy breathing and then what sounded like someone trying to muffle sobs in his jacket.
"Danny? Please come over here."
"Idon'tthinkso."
"I can't come over there, Danny. You have to come to me. Please Danny. I really need you to help me."
Out of the darkness came an eerie wailing sound. He'd heard something like it before, when he was a kid out on his uncle's farm. Messing around in the woods, he had watched his dog chase down a young rabbit. Just before the dog killed it, it had screamed, making a sound not unlike the one he was hearing now. Coming out of Daniel. That sound had chilled him to the bone then. It was scaring him to death now.
Jack opened his mouth to beg him to come to his side once more, and then closed it again, the words unuttered. Recognizing he was in way over his head, he faltered.
Geez, he's just this shy of completely losing it. Want to help him, but don't want to push him over the edge. What the hell do I do? What if I say the wrong thing? Christ, Danny, what do I do?
**you know what to do. don't think, just speak the truth**
There it was again what the hell IS it cram it I haven't got time for this have to help daniel.
"Danny? You've got to come over here, now."
The terrible wailing had died down, but the sound of Daniel's terrified breathing was still awful in the void that contained and separated them.
"You don't understand!" His voice sounded both angry and apologetic and as if it was issuing from the throat of a child. A very small, very frightened child...
" I want to come! I do! I reallyreallydobutI can't! I can't move! If I move, the rocks will start falling down again."
Well, that was a clue, but he knew he didn't have time to follow it up now. Somehow he knew he just had minutes to get to Daniel. It was literally now - or never.
Suddenly he knew what to say. Didn't know how he was going to say it, but he knew what he had to do.
This is probably the scummiest thing I have ever done. Daniel I am so, so sorry
"Danny!" Cringing, Jack made his voice sound as scolding as possible.
"Danny! You PROMISED!"
His word flew across the room, impacting upon the unseen man on the other side, drawing blood in the form of an anguished sob. Hardly daring to breathe, Jack strained every sense, listening intently, trying through force of will to divine what the darkness denied him direct knowledge of.
One sob, and then there was silence. Complete, utter silence, even more terrifying than the darkness and all the terrible sounds that formerly had issued forth from it. Jack could hear nothing but the sound of his own heart pounding, his blood surging though his veins.
Oh god, Danny, whatever it is that you have that gets you through hell and back all by yourself please have enough of it left to get through this..
"You're right," Daniel's voice sounded so suddenly, so unexpectedly, that it was all that Jack could do to suppress the resulting urge to emit a startled yell.
"A promise is a promise. Don't move. I'm coming over."
For once in his life Jack completely annihilated the inevitable flip comment that sprang immediately to his lips as a rebuttal to Daniel's instruction.
Daniel's progress across the small floor was by no means swift, but it was steady. Still, it seemed to Jack to be an eternity before Daniel bumped up against him in the darkness and then grabbed a convulsive handful of the first bit of Jack that his hand came into contact with. Which turned out to be the left shoulder of his jacket. His hand still tightly clenched around the fabric of his jacket, Daniel tumbled over to lie in an inert pile at Jack's side.
No sound, no movement, just breathing. Jack strained, desperately, ordering his recalcitrant limbs to obey his will.
Nothing happened. Nothing moved.
Damn! Lot of good I am lying here like so much dead meat. Can't even reach over, pat the kid on the head and tell him he did a damned good job.
Suddenly Daniel started laughing. Not a frightening, hysterical laugh but a genuine, warm ironic Daniel-laugh. It was only a very short burst, but compared to the sort of sounds that he had been formerly making, it sounded so damned normal, so damned - DANIEL, that Jack wanted to weep from sheer relief.
Daniel's hand tightened on his handful of Jack's jacket, and then he released his grip, opened his hand and laid the open palm gently on Jack's shoulder. He did not move or speak for several moments, simply described a small circle on Jack's shoulder with his hand.
At last, he began to speak. As he did so he began to steal slowly, imperatively closer, until he was lying full beside him on the cold stone, as close as he could come without actually touching him except for that one hand that was now beginning to move ever so slightly, stroking his arm with the lightest of touches.
"I was four again, Jack," Daniel's quiet, now eerily calm, almost dreamy voice came from a place very close to Jack's left ear. "I was back in the pit again. Was playing on a site my parents brought me to in Peru. Ran away from my mother and went into the caves where they had told me not to go. Fell down a hole and then pulled half of the cave on top of me trying to climb out again. It was really, really dark, just like this. They told me I was down there, in the dark, for almost three days before they found me. You'd think that after something like that I'd have trouble with small places, but it wasn't that at all. It was the dark. I really don't like the dark, Jack. Don't like it at all."
"It's okay, Daniel," Jack tried to talk around the lump in his throat and found it sounded easier than it actually was. "Not too crazy about it myself. Really glad you're here."
"Really?" There was such naked hope in the sound of that single word that Jack felt something in his own atrophied cardiac area shudder in sympathy and recognition. The hand that had been stroking his arm suddenly tightened ever so slightly upon him then released its grip. But he didn't take it away. Jack was glad of that. He didn't know why, but as a result of Daniel's touch, something was happening inside him.
"Daniel, you ought to know this about me by now. I never say ANYTHING I don't mean."
Neither man spoke for many long minutes. Daniel's words kept running through his head, Daniel's hand upon his arm started to tingle, a strange warmth began to spring from it, entering into him, seeping through the fabric of Jack's jacket, through his combat shirt, through skin, bone, muscle sinew, deep within his chest.
I really don't like the dark. That is what he said. Well, he was not the only one. The dark that most terrified Daniel was external, but there was another kind of dark, a dark that lurked within. A dark that hid things too terrible to look at, too terrible to be faced, owned or acknowledged.
Daniel wasn't the only one who was afraid of the dark..
No! I can't do this won't do this it's too dark, too terrible won't look can't make me. Daniel if you are my friend then don't make me go there.STOP!
Abruptly Daniel withdrew his hand from his arm and jerked away from his side. Startled by the sudden unexpected movement of the man beside him, Jack jolted back to full awareness, surprised to discover that he had actually been falling asleep. There was something else, something he seemed to be running away from, but the faint memories vanished as quickly as he tried to retrieve them.
Unseen in the dark beside him, Daniel vigorously shook his head as if by so doing he could completely clear it of everything that he did not need in order to get back to the task at hand.
"Really good, Daniel," Jack heard him mutter to himself. "I can't believe I've been such a idiot. I'm sorry, Jack, I don't even know how long we've been here. Don't have a clue what we are supposed to be doing here. This can't be a very big room judging from the short time it takes the echoes to travel and from the way the air smells and feels it's got to be airtight as well."
Well, he was an archaeologist, Jack thought to himself wryly. The man has probably spent half his life in some hole in the ground you shouldn't be so surprised that he can work it out for himself as well.
"So you have figured out we're in trouble too, " Jack replied. "Good, that's a relief. Spares me having to figure out a way of telling you."
"Really, good, Daniel," the archaeologist berated himself. "Really mature. Here we are stuck in a death trap and what do I do - waste our precious time whining about being scared of the dark. Sorry I let you down Jack."
"Whoa Danny," Jack hurried replied, alarmed by the self-loathing in the other man's voice. "Hold the phone just a minute. You just did something really amazing back there. Don't sell yourself short. That was the bravest thing that I have ever seen. You did good. You did fine. Don't think that I think you haven't been doin' your job, because I know you have. Now, belay that crap, get back over here and let's figure out what we should do next before the clock runs out. Okay?"
"'Kay!" Jack heaved a sigh of relief (that only twanged a bit) as he heard Daniel scuttle back over the stones toward him and then felt him settle at his side. Even though it was still completely, utterly dark all around them for just a second Jack could have sworn he saw Daniel sitting cross-legged beside him, one knee gently abutting the side of his left arm.
He had barely found his place there when Jack felt one of his Daniel's hands drop to his shoulder. It was just - there, as if it had been drawn into contact with him via some mysterious force that was compelling it to be there. Daniel seemed unaware of what had happened and Jack said nothing, feeling strangely - better - for the slight contact.
"Okay Daniel," Jack made his voice sound as strong and optimistic as possible. "I know that things don't look pretty good at the moment, but between the two of us we ought to be able to come up with more than a couple of brain cells to rub together. What did that guy say - One enters the Trial of the Mind? Maybe we have to think our way out of this place."
"What? " Daniel's voice was a stunned rush of sound. "What? What? How - how did you know that? I didn't tell you that!"
Jack couldn't resist the impulse to play with his friend's head, just a little. "I'm a Colonel in the United State Air Force, Daniel. Don't you know that makes me pretty damned near omniscient? Part of the job description,"
"Oh yeah? Well, we'll just see about that."
Kid wasn't going for it. He could see that he was going to have a hell of a time staying one step ahead of this little puppy. Ah well, let the games begin.
"Oh Jack..."
Then he went and spat/gargled one of those sentences at him.
"What did I just say?"
"Uh, Attention K-Mart Shoppers?"
Daniel burst out into gales of pure laughter, a sound that went straight into Jack's chest and swirled around inside him, getting bigger and bigger, making him feel suddenly happy, giddy, warm and strangely invincible. He didn't care how bad it looked, what did it matter what happened now? How could anything that ever happened to him from now on be better than this moment?
Daniel was still laughing, the hand that had been on his shoulder now stroking his head in an absent, but deeply tender fashion.
"Ah Jack, Jack, Jack," he gasped, barely able to draw a breath he was laughing so hard. "You are - amazing. I can't believe - Oh DAMN! What the HELL am I doing? Oh Jack, I'm really sorry -"
Jack was never to know what a happy Daniel had been about to say because he abruptly started viciously cursing himself and then snatched his hand away from Jack's head as if he had suddenly discovered that the offending appendage was on fire. Jack had no idea what had just happened, but Daniel was not long bringing him up to speed.
"Oh God! I can't believe I was doing that! I must be losing my mind. I'm sorry Jack; I don't know what came over me. I know how much you dislike being touched. I didn't mean."
That's right. He had almost forgotten. Though he wasn't sure how he could have. Sara used to ride his ass about it often enough. Saying he had "intimacy issues". 'Issues.' Hah! He hated the sound of that word. It was such a 'chick' word. All that 'touchy-feely' crap.
He didn't have any 'Issues'. Women had 'Issues'. He was - fine. He just didn't like anyone getting to close.
It was just - smarter to maintain that five-foot circle of personal space people-free. Safer too.
Yeah, but not much fun, huh Jack? Answer me a question, smart guy. Is the reason why you have so much dark inside because there is nothing else in there with it to fill up the empty space?
And if that is true, well whose fault is that?*
But there was someone else there, in the dark that was outside. He wasn't alone. There was someone else here with him in the dark who had just confronted, contended with and conquered the biggest, honkin' bad thing anyone should ever have to face, and he had done it for his sake. Someone was here with him who was trying harder to help him, heal him and save him than anyone had ever tried in their life, no matter what the doing of any of it demanded of him.
Someone else was here.
Someone who needed him to do the same thing for him.
Jack suddenly knew what he had to do. What had to happen in order for them to pass the test.
It was the hardest thing that had ever been asked of him.
But for Danny's sake, it was nothing to ask of him at all.