Keeper played with the glass in front of him. His eyes were fixed on the table as were the eyes of the rest of the circle. One of them seemed to be too eager to talk, even Shado appeared to be avoiding the exercise. She of them all wasn’t looking at the table like it held the secret of life. She had leaned her chair back against the wall and was currently staring holes in the ceiling. Her fingers played idly with her hair and she was chewing her lip. Jack waited for a couple of heart beats then spoke.
“I take it this is something that you all don’t really want to talk about.” His words prompted a snort from somewhere down the table. He looked in time to see Faln thump her fist against the edge of the table.
“Not something we don’t want to talk about. More like something we prefer to ignore.” She said. The tone of her voice was one that he couldn’t identify. He quirked an eyebrow hoping to spark another explanation but she waved her hand in Shado’s direction.
“There are times when ignorance is bliss. And this is one of them.” Shado whispered. She continued to look at the ceiling as she spoke. “It started, oh, I don’t know, about sixteen, seventeen years or so ago. Kinda hard to remember exactly. Brit had the first dream, woke all of us up screaming. Remember?”
“How could I forget? I still have it and it still wakes me up.” Brit’s voice was full of remembered horror. “Bits and pieces really. Not a complete dream. Just flashes of people dying, a city in flames, screams and then the laughter.”
“Running until I couldn’t breathe. The sound of ‘them’ getting closer and closer, knowing that there was nowhere for me to hide. Knowing that when they caught me…” Faln’s voice trailed into silence. She shook herself to regain control. “I ran through what used to be a city. Hiding in blasted buildings, using the dead to blur my trail. Then I couldn’t run any more and they came. Thousands of them. All I could do was wait for them to find me.”
“I think the hardest part was knowing that we failed. No matter what we did, no matter how many we killed, we had failed.” It was Mage’s turn. “It hurt. It still hurts.” Her grip on Gem’s hand was crushing his fingers but he didn’t speak. “I knew when they took me what was going to happen, and it didn’t matter. All I could think was that we had failed.”
“Pain. So intense it crushes me. Struggling to pull myself over the concrete in my way. Feeling every death as it rips out a piece of my soul. My fingers bleeding, the look of fresh blood staining the rubble. The smell of them as they finally come for me. The look on his face when he comes through the line around me. His joy as he finally takes that last piece of my soul, the one that I tried so long to hide from him. Knowing that I have betrayed my sacred charge… and that they will win, no matter what I do.” Shado was silent for a moment.
“Dreams right? That’s what you said.” Daniel’s voice was troubled.
Shado snorted. “Dreams, right.”
“No Daniel, they weren’t dreams. Not these. Portents, omens call them whatever you want, but they aren’t dreams.” Faln indicated herself, Brit, Mage and Shado. “We haven’t had a simple dream in more years than I care to count.”
“That *deny* thing you were doing in the infirmary?” Jack asked.
“Yeah. Most of the time when things are in flux, changing, if I deny it hard enough and push just right, I can make it go the way I want it to.” Shado set her chair down with a thump.
“But not this time.” Carter spoke up. Shado shook her head.
“No, not this time.”
“And what does that mean exactly?” Daniel laid his hand on Faln’s.
“That means that this is inevitable. We can’t escape or change what we have seen.” She said in answer to his question. She gave his hand a quick squeeze.
“Bullshit.” Keeper’s voice was loud. “You know me and my opinion of inevitability. That’s bullshit.”
“Keeper.” Shado’s voice was full of warning which he chose to ignore.
“Look, we know what you have seen, how can you be so certain that what Tiamat showed you was for the here and now? She has been notoriously devious in the past. Why would she all of a sudden play by the rules?”
“That’s right, Shado.” Gem jumped on Keeper’s suggestion.
She sighed heavily. “Because of a few things that you haven’t been told. Things that I didn’t think you all needed to know. That way I would know when shit was going to hit the fan.”
‘Oh that’s great, Shado, keep secrets from us now. That’s just so fucking typical of….” Keeper’s rant was silenced by the glass of ice water that Mage dumped on his head.
“Just shut up, Keeper. For once just shut up and listen.” Mage hissed.
“You want to know how I know that this is it, Keeper? You really want to know?” Shado pointed her finger at Jack, then Daniel, Teal’c and Sam. “Because in every single one of my visions, THEY have been with us. Until yesterday, I didn’t know who they were, but I have seen them before. Every single time. And every single time, I have watched them die along with all of you. Watched as HIS demons ripped them apart laughing. Innocents caught in a war that wasn’t theirs, but ours. Mine. My responsibility and I failed to keep them safe. Failed to keep you safe.” She stood suddenly and threw her napkin on the table. Muttering about needing some air, she was out of the room before anyone could stop her.
“Shit.” Was all that Keeper could say. “Is it just my imagination or is Shado’s temper getting worse the older she gets?”
“Keeper you can be a total dick sometimes.” Mage growled.
“I aim to please.” He retorted oblivious to the looks he was garnering. “Someone needs to call her to account.”
“I don’t recall that being in your job description, you ass.” Faln hissed. He just shrugged.
“You know, Keeper, one of these days she’s going to lose control and make you really regret pushing her.”
Any other remarks were silenced by the return of Shado. She sat slowly in her seat by Jack, avoiding the eyes that were on her.
“Sorry about that. Now where were we?” She picked up her fork and speared a vegetable off her plate. She chewed it slowly and thoughtfully. “Oh, yeah, I was explaining final conflict. It is just what it sounds like. The last battle between them and us. One that we have been preparing for since we finally figured out what we were going to do with our new talents and ourselves.”
Jack wisely decided that whatever the tensions were between Shado and Keeper, it would be best left to them. “Any idea when this final conflict is supposed to occur? And how exactly do we fit in?”
“It will be soon, since we have all been brought together now. If it were going to happen later, I don’t think we would be here now.” She shrugged. “I don’t know how you all fit, but I will. Give me a bit of time, and I’ll figure it out.”
“I’m not sure I like that idea.” Jack said cautiously. “From what you have told us, this is a serious threat to my team…” She laid her hand on his and he coul,d feel the tingle of power pass through the contact.
“Jack, trust me on this. I won’t let anything happen.” She whispered for his ears alone. The promise in her eyes calmed him in a way that words didn’t. He couldn’t help but believe her. He nodded his assent. They held the gaze for a long moment, then Shado broke away, turning to the rest.
“Ok, so who’s up for a night of sub-cultural clubbing?”
Jack managed to get his team alone while the confusion of the check was taken care of, Shado arguing with Nami about the lack of charge, then arguing with the others about something.
“Colonel, I’m not so sure about ….” Carter began, her eyes troubled. This was something more than they had expected. She was beginning to think that despite their desperate need, they might actually be better off without the Circle. An opinion that Daniel shared.
“Look, I know this is serious Twilight Zone here,” Jack whispered quickly. He should have had a bad feeling about this, but he didn’t. Something had calmed his spidey sense for the first time since they had arrived on the mountain. “Something tells me to trust them. I can’t explain it, but there it is.” He watched the interaction at the cash register. “Let’s just get through this evening, then we’ll discuss it and come up with a plan from there.”
Both Daniel and Carter shared a look that spoke of their unease. Teal’c, impassive as ever, just gave a slight nod to show he understood. Jack snorted, like *he* understood, all he had was a feeling that he couldn’t explain. But there it was, telling him that this was more important than just kicking goa’uld ass. They *had* to be involved. He watched Shado as she walked through the restaurant door, still arguing slightly with Gem. She turned and smiled at him. Yep, definitely need to be involved here he thought as he followed.