Rec Category: Daniel Jackson
Pairing: none
Category: Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, gen, drama, angst, episode-related, time travel
Warnings: canon character death
Author on LJ:
dsudisAuthor's Website:
Fiction by Dira SudisLink to Story:
With the Dying Why This Must Be Read: One last rec in the Daniel Jackson category, because I've actually reached the maximum limit and you'll all be glad to be rid of me. :)
Time to choose a single S8 fic, and since my absolute favorite Moebius-fix has
already been recced in this category (and in other categories, too!), I chose this not-very-happy-ending story instead. Beautiful in its bleakness, With the Dying is a glimpse at Daniel in ancient Egypt, facing loneliness all over again.
Dira plunges right into the successful rebellion against Ra, when Ra flees the planet and leaves the Stargate behind. Victory, yes - but the implications for Teal'c, whose life is now measured by the lifespan of his current symbiote, quickly come into the forefront. Daniel has already done this once with "his" Teal'c, and now he's going to have to do it again.
It's a common theme in Moebius fics (at least, the ones I've read) that our Daniel finds it easy to "connect" with alt-Teal'c; after all, the Teal'cs' backgrounds and personalities are nearly identical, with the added fillip that this Teal'c hasn't abducted and subsequently killed his wife. Here, too, we see Daniel and alt-Teal'c forging an unspoken bond - only this bond includes the understanding that Teal'c is going to have to die.
This short, powerful fic is about both Teal'c and Daniel, facing the emptiness of the future and accepting the price of freedom. Only it's Daniel that's left behind - again - because even if alt-Sam and alt-Jack are still around, they're involved with their own budding relationship, and they won't understand Daniel's grief. Victory or not, Daniel's time in Egypt simply can't have a completely happy ending, and this story is wincingly good.
Daniel was a little bit drunk when Teal'c suddenly appeared at his side in full ceremonial dress. Daniel covered his eyes with one hand, as though he could prevent himself from seeing what he'd been watching for, but when he looked again, Teal'c was still standing there calmly, like he had all the time in the world.
He didn't, of course; he only had until his symbiote matured. A few years, at most, if he'd been lucky with the timing. Perhaps less. With Ra and his servants all gone, there was no further source of symbiotes to keep Teal'c alive. The nearest source of tretonin was five thousand years into an uncertain future, and the jumper that had brought this Teal'c here was scattered in fragments across half a mile of dunes. Teal'c opened his hand toward the empty sand beyond the village, and Daniel nodded and turned to walk beside him into the dunes.
"This drug, tretonin," Teal'c said, as the sounds of celebration faded behind them.
Daniel pressed his lips together, biting back apologies and excuses. "We only carried a little with us. The supply we brought lasted only a short time, and then Teal'c--" he hesitated, but Teal'c nodded, dismissing the possibility of referent confusion. "He had to take a symbiote again. Jack and I stole it for him."
Teal'c raised an eyebrow at that, and it made Daniel's stomach shake. He was half transported back to the time when earning even that much expression from Teal'c had been an accomplishment and half missing his friend--the one who laughed at and with him and said what he thought--with a force that he couldn't control. He regretted drinking anything at all now, no matter how good Sam looked, how good Jack looked, how their eyes slid away from him like he was just another stranger, locking on each other. "A brave feat," Teal'c said.
Daniel nodded, looking away across the sand. "He was my friend," Daniel said steadily. "I would have done anything for him. He would have done as much for me."
From the corner of his eye, he saw Teal'c's shallow nod. "I only wished to know," Teal'c said, turning to stand beside Daniel, looking out at the desert with him, "whether my--other self ever spoke of what it was like, to use the drug tretonin. I cannot imagine how it would be, to have a warrior's strength without a warrior's burden."
Daniel nodded. "He hated it at first; it was different, less effective." Teal'c nodded, as though he'd been certain there must be a tradeoff. "But he was free, and all the Jaffa were free after him, because of it."
Teal'c nodded again but didn't move.