Stargate SG1: Heir to the Ennead (4/5)

[brihana25]

All disclaimers, notes, warnings and summary are in the Master post: Heir to the Ennead



Chapter Seven

"We do not have much time," Ma'at said as she stood up from the step and walked across the room. "Already she has put her plan in motion, and Daniel and your colonel are in serious danger."

"Wait a minute." Sam pushed herself to her feet and chased after her. "I thought you said she wouldn't kill them."

"She will not hurt or kill them irretrievably or permanently," Ma'at said. She turned back to face Sam slowly. "But she will not rest until she has her son at her side again."

"That is impossible," Teal'c said from the step he still sat on. "Anubis is dead."

"We know," Martouf said with a nod. "But Nephthys doesn't. And she will do everything in her power to convince Daniel that he is Anubis. She won't stop until he admits that he is."

"He won't," Sam insisted. "He'll never say that."

Martouf stood and crossed the room toward her. "You know how simple it is to weaken a human mind enough to convince it of anything, Samantha. Thanks to Ma'at's relationship with Nephthys, we know her full plans. Believe me when I say that by the end, Daniel will be falling at her feet to confess that he is her son."

"No," she said. "Not Daniel. It'll never work."

"But it will work," Martouf returned with a sad smile. "She has the technology that she needs to do it. She has Nishta..."

"Won't work," she said again. "Daniel's immune to Nishta. We all are."

"She has a liquid form of the same control drug that Hathor had access too..."

Sam shook her head with a smile. "That won't work either, because he's immune to that, too. Hathor said that."

"And she has a sarcophagus."

Sam closed her eyes to hold back the tears that had sprung into them.

Daniel was pacing around the room nervously, and Jack didn't really blame him. It had to be damn scary to find out that an insane Goa'uld thought you were its kid. And when that same Goa'uld told you that it was going to have your best friend cut your heart out of your chest while you were still alive...

"Hey," Jack said, though he didn't think he really needed to. "You know I'm not gonna do it, right?"

Daniel didn't even look at him, just kept pacing around the room.

"Daniel?" Jack pushed himself up from the step he'd been sitting on and walked toward him. "You do trust me not to cut your heart out, don't you?"

Daniel looked up at him that time, but still didn't answer, and Jack was really starting to worry.

"Do you trust me at all?"

Daniel was obviously no longer content with just not looking at him, because he purposely looked away.

Jack felt his stomach sink into his shoes. "Daniel, come on!" he begged. He stepped around in front of him, stopping his pacing and forcing him to look at him. "We had that whole thing the other day, you said we were good..."

"Better," Daniel croaked out. He cleared his throat and tried again. "I said we were better."

"But we had that whole talk, and I told you that I haven't lost any..." And suddenly Jack understood. He closed his eyes and dropped his hands to his sides.

"This isn't about me at all, is it?" Jack asked as he slowly opened his eyes. Again, Daniel didn't answer him; he just turned his head and looked away. That told Jack all he needed to know. "This isn't about you thinking I don't trust you."

"Jack...," Daniel began, but he still wouldn't look directly at him. He was staring off into space, into the corner, at nothing.

"It's a simple enough question, Daniel. I've asked you before and you've never had any trouble answering me. But this time, you're going out of your way to avoid it."

"I just... you know I can't..."

"You won't lie to me," Jack said. "So the fact that you're not answering me says that you'd be lying if you said yes."

"Please, don't do this," Daniel begged.

"You don't trust me any more," Jack said, surprised by how easily the words came out. He shook his head at the strangeness of it all. "You really don't."

Daniel leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. "It's not that I don't want to, Jack."

"I know," Jack answered. A memory sprang into his mind, something Daniel had said that day in the temple. He'd only said it once, and he'd buried it under his rant about not being crazy. Jack had protested it, but had admitted to himself that Daniel was right. He should have known that it was more important to Daniel than he was letting on, because it had been one of the foremost thoughts in Jack's mind for two weeks. He knew what it was that was really bothering Daniel now; he knew for certain why Daniel didn't trust him any more.

"I didn't listen to you."

Daniel didn't speak, but wrapped his arms tightly around himself, and Jack knew that he was right.

"I should have."

"But you didn't." The words were whispered so quietly that Jack almost missed them. The pain in Daniel's voice was real, the feeling of betrayal almost palpable.

Jack shook his head. "No, I didn't. But it's not that I didn't want to, Daniel. And it's not that I didn't try."

"I know that."

"I didn't know what else to do."

"I know that, too."

"Yes, you do!" Jack said in frustration. "So what the hell is the...?"

"I was right."

"I know you were."

"I just... God, Jack, I..."

"You think I'm going to kill you?" He couldn't believe he was even having to ask the question, couldn't believe things had gotten this bad and hadn't gotten better at all, and he'd convinced himself that everything was fine again. "You honestly don't trust me enough not to?"

Daniel licked and bit his lips, and Jack could see how much trouble he was having answering the question.

"Just say it, Daniel," he said. "It's not like it's gonna make things any worse. If it's what you're feeling then just... just say it."

"I trusted you to not hurt me before," Daniel finally said. "And it didn't end well."

Jack closed his eyes and shook his head. "I didn't hurt you," he insisted. "I know the orderlies did and I saw the bruises, and I know I didn't stop them at the time, but I'll tell you what." He ducked his head to catch Daniel's eye. "We get back to Earth, I'm gonna find them, and I'm gonna kick their asses for you, okay? Maybe I'll even let Carter and Teal'c get in on it. But those bruises you had on your arms? Nothing compared to what we'll give them. Okay?"

"No, Jack," Daniel said desperately. "It's not okay. Because that's not the point. And beating up a couple of musclebound orderlies isn't going to fix anything."

"Then tell me what to do, Daniel," Jack insisted. "Tell me how to fix this, because we have to. And we have to do it now. We don't have a choice about it anymore."

Daniel looked up at him questioningly.

"I'm not really sure how this whole thing's going to play out," Jack said, "But I think it's a pretty safe bet that it's going to get bad. And if you don't even trust me to not kill you when some batshit crazy Goa'uld puts a knife in my hand...?"

Daniel turned away and walked back toward the doors the Jaffa had gone out through, and Jack sat back down on the step.

"I don't want to pressure you or anything." And it was actually true, because he'd have given anything to not be having the conversation at all. "But if you don't trust me, we're never going to get out of this."

He pressed his elbows against his knees, then leaned his head forward and scrubbed at his hair nervously. He looked up at Daniel again, saw the slump of his shoulders and absolutely defeated way he was standing, and pushed himself back to his feet. He was across the room and standing in front of Daniel again in seconds, then he grabbed Daniel's arms and squeezed them hard enough that Daniel cringed.

"I don't care what she does to me, Daniel," he said. "I will not hurt you. Do you hear me?"

There were tears in Daniel's eyes again, and just like before, Jack was the one who'd put them there.

"She won't make me do that," he swore. "She can't. I'd die first. I swear."

It was true, every single word. He could feel the truth of it coursing through his veins, growing stronger with every beat of his heart.

So why the hell couldn't Daniel believe it?

"She'll use Colonel O'Neill against him."

Martouf handed Sam and Teal'c the robes he'd pulled out of the small storage room in the village house, then reached back in and grabbed another for himself.

"The topical form of the mind control drug is stronger than anything Hathor ever used," he said. "He'll be absolutely powerless to stop her, and he'll not only believe whatever she tells him, but he'll act on any order she gives him."

"But why not just use that on Daniel?" Sam asked. She and Teal'c turned and followed Martouf back down the corridor to the main room. "Why go to all the trouble of... of cutting..."

"Why go to the trouble of brainwashing O'Neill to remove Daniel Jackson's heart before placing him in the sarcophagus when she could simply brainwash Daniel Jackson to believe he is Anubis?"

Sam gave Teal'c a small grateful smile.

"Fear," Martouf answered. "Betrayal of trust. The memory of the pain. The terror. She doesn't want him to only say that he is Anubis, she wants him to believe it. She wants to completely destroy everything that makes him Daniel Jackson and replace it with Anubis."

"So how do we stop it?" Sam asked. She looked from where Ma'at was carefully applying the heavy make-up that was so common in paintings of Egyptian gods to where Martouf was pulling his robe on. "There's four of us. Teal'c saw five Jaffa leave the arena earlier, we know Saq'ar is part of it which means that it's more likely more than those five involved, plus Niuserre. What exactly are we going to do?"

Ma'at stood and walked toward them, the controlled and regal way she carried herself making her look even more like the goddess she was pretending to be.

"There is an antidote for the drug she will use on your colonel," she said. "And because she will follow the legends so closely, we can be assured that she will dip her hands in water and bless O'Neill with her touch before the sacrifice begins. We need only put that antidote in the water, and she will free him from her control herself."

"And after that?" Teal'c asked. He'd slipped into his own robe and was making a few minor adjustments to it. "Will we have additional assistance? Are there more Tok'ra on the way?"

Martouf shook his head. "I was in the area to make contact with Ma'at. When I sent the message back to the Tok'ra High Council, I was denied assistance and told to handle the situation on my own."

Sam let her head fall forward. "Of course you were," she said dejectedly.

"We may face stiff resistance," Martouf admitted. "But the Jaffa know Ma'at as a figure of almost equal importance to Nephthys herself. They might be inclined to lay down their weapons if she orders them to do so."

"And if they don't?" Sam asked. She tied the gold belt Martouf had handed her around her waist.

"Then we kill them," Ma'at said simply.

"No," said a voice from the door. Four heads swiveled in surprise to see Dashu standing across the room from them.

"I have another idea."

Jack didn't know how long they'd been sitting in silence before the Jaffa came for them again, but he did know that it wasn't long enough to make him too weak to fight back. He jumped to his feet when he heard them outside the door, placed himself between the door and Daniel, and prepared himself to go out swinging.

Until the door opened, and Saq'ar was standing in it.

"Saq'ar!" Daniel cried in relief.

"Oh, thank God," Jack said at the same time. "You're smuggling us out of here, right? Carter and Teal'c outside? How long do we...?"

The words trailed off when another dozen Jaffa streamed into the room from behind him.

"What's going on?" Daniel asked. "Saq'ar what are you doing?"

"I am serving my goddess," he answered. Jack noticed immediately that he didn't sound the least bit happy about that fact, but at that moment in time, he really didn't care to give the man the benefit of the doubt. "As I have been preparing to do for my entire life."

"You son of a bitch!" Jack shouted as the Jaffa surrounded them.

"Saq'ar, how could you?" Daniel demanded. "After everything, how?"

Five of the Jaffa grabbed Daniel and pulled him toward the corridor.

"No!" Jack cried out. "Daniel!"

"Jack!"

"Saq'ar, stop this!" Jack begged. "Please!" The other seven dragged Jack toward the door Nephthys and Niuserre had used. Saq'ar hadn't moved since he'd stepped into the room, and didn't look like he would be moving any time soon. "God damn you, we trusted you!"

The irony of that last statement wasn't lost on Jack.

The door behind the dais slammed shut after Jack and the Jaffa with him went through it, so he didn't see Saq'ar's ultimate reaction. The Jaffa lowered his head and closed his eyes, shook his head and wiped the tears from his cheeks, then turned and walked into the corridor, pulling the door shut behind him.

Daniel had always hated people touching him without his permission.

His recent stay in Mental Health had made him hate it even more, and he was really starting to get sick of people forcing him to do things against his will. In the hour since he and Jack had been dragged from the throne room, Daniel had been stripped, bathed, dressed, then held down while servants put make-up on his face. His glasses had long-since disappeared, which meant he couldn't see anything other than vague outlines and floating shapes, and he knew that he was going to be sporting more than a few bruises on his arms.

'If I live long enough to care,' he thought as he stared at his own reflection in the mirror angrily.

He'd seen a thousand different versions of the outfit he was wearing over the years, and though they always looked somehow appropriate on the blocky, choppy people in the paintings, they looked ridiculous on him. He was wearing a white skirt that wrapped around him and stopped just above his knees, and nothing else. He had sandals on his feet, gold bands wrapped tightly around his upper arms, and heavy black lines of kohl around his eyes.

With the exception of blond hair that should have been black and fairly pale skin that should have been dark, he looked every bit the part that Nephthys was forcing him to play. She'd dressed him up as an Egyptian prince and then left him to stew about it.

He had no idea what had happened to Jack, but after what Nephthys had said she was going to make him do, and after what Jack had sworn would happen first, he didn't think he could handle actually knowing.

Saq'ar wasn't with the Jaffa when they returned for him, but Daniel didn't care. He didn't actually care if he ever set eyes on the man again.

'That's what trust gets you,' a voice in his head told him. 'That's why it's worthless to give. Everyone betrays you eventually, anyway.'

He sighed deeply when the Jaffa grabbed his arms and moved him toward the door, and he didn't even really fight them. He was too tired, too frustrated, too hopeless. Fighting them wasn't going to work anyway, so why bother trying?

He changed his mind when they took him back to the throne room, and he saw the cross that had been constructed in the middle of the floor.

"No," he protested, pulling against his arms even as they moved him toward it. He kicked his feet, threw his head back in an attempt to hit someone with it, stomped his feet down on theirs, but none of it did any good. "No, no, no. Stop! Don't!"

They forced him to his knees in front of the cross without effort, then pushed him back against it. Two Jaffa held his wrists in place against the crossbeam while two more wrapped and knotted heavy rope around them, and two more secured his ankles to the support that ran from the middle back of the cross to the floor.

The Jaffa walked away again only moments later, leaving Daniel to pull and struggle against bindings that he already knew wouldn't give way. With one last futile yank, he let his head fall forward and forced himself to concentrate on breathing. Freaking out like that wasn't doing him any favors, and he knew it. This was happening, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. The best he could hope for was that he'd still be himself after whatever was about to happen was done happening.

He heard the door open again, but he couldn't be bothered to lift his head and see who it was. There were only three people in Nephthys' little play who weren't already present and accounted for - two of them he wanted to kill and the other was going to be forced to kill him.

"Sekhem em-Pet."

He shook his head at Nephthys summons. He wasn't going to look at her, wasn't even going to acknowledge her. He'd be damned if he'd play into her delusional fantasies, and ignoring her couldn't be that hard, could it?

He found out just how hard she could make it when she grabbed his jaw in her hand and jerked his head up.

"You will respond when your mother speaks, my child."

"I'm not Anubis."

Nephthys smiled at him fondly, an expression that disturbed him greatly.

"You have not yet come to realize who you are, and I understand this," she said. "But soon, very soon, you will. And you and I, together, will return to Earth to rule the Ennead as we were always intended to do."

She let go of his jaw and stepped away, and all he did was close his eyes and shake his head.

"I'm not Anubis," he whispered.

"Finish the preparations," Nephthys said. "My priest and I will go and prepare ourselves as well. The sacrifice will begin upon our return."

"As you wish, my Queen."

Daniel's eyes shot open. It wasn't the words that bothered him nearly as much as it was the voice, and the face that went with it.

"Jack..."

Chapter Eight

"God, Jack, no. Oh, please, no."

Jack smiled at him almost exactly as Nephthys had before she'd left, and Daniel's heart fell into his stomach.

"There's not much longer," Jack said. "And there is much to do. I can keep you company as I work if you wish, young prince." He turned and walked toward the throne.

"Please don't leave me now, Jack," Daniel pleaded. "I can't do this without you."

Jack's steps faltered and slowed to a stop. He turned back to face Daniel, his expression one of confusion. Daniel thought he saw, for the briefest of heartbeats, a flash of life beneath the brown eyes that he knew so well, and he pressed harder.

"You've got to remember, Jack. Remember Sam, and Teal'c. They're out there somewhere, alone. We've got to find them."

Jack's head tilted slightly to the side, a gesture that was so familiar yet seemed so alien.

"You're not Apuat. God, Jack, we're not Goa'uld. We hate the Goa'uld! We fight them!"

Jack's eyes held Daniel's gaze steadily, and Daniel felt the hope rising in his chest. "You are in there, aren't you? I don't know what she's done to make you think you're Apuat, but you're not. Let me go, Jack. Untie me and whatever it is, whatever she's done, we'll find a way to fix it. Just cut me loose, and we'll…"

Daniel's pleas faded out when he realized the moment was gone. Jack's eyes had glazed over again; the confusion had been replaced by certainty. A small smile played at the corners of his mouth.

"Your mother warned me how strongly your corruption grips you, but fear not, young prince. Your mind shall soon be your own again."

"Oh, God, Jack, please," Daniel begged, pulling against the ropes that bound his wrists tightly to the wooden frame. "Wake up, please. Don't do this."

The smile snaked across Jack's features; Daniel had never known that such a benevolent expression could be so evil. "I understand your fear, my prince, but it is unnecessary. Soon you will remember the truth. Soon you will be grateful to me for what I now do." He reached for something on the floor near the throne, and when he straightened back up he held a dagger in his hand.

Daniel pulled harder against the restraints, ignoring the blood that he felt beginning to flow freely from his wrists.

"Come on, Jack! You know who we are. You're not Apuat; you are Colonel Jack O'Neill of the United States Air Force. And I'm not Anubis. I'm Daniel Jackson, and I'm an archaeologist. And you're not my caretaker or my guardian or my protector - you're my friend."

"I held you in my arms at your birth," Jack said, his voice both nostalgic and wistful, the way he sometimes sounded when he spoke about Charlie. "I soothed your cries when your father poisoned you as a child. When your mother realized that you must be hidden away to protect you from him, I was chosen to stay with you, to raise you as my own, as your mother would have done, to one day claim your place with the Ennead." Jack lowered his eyes to the floor and bowed his head. "It is my failure to protect you that brings you to this place now. Had I not allowed your father to poison your mind…"

The words coming out of Jack's mouth could not possibly be his. Jack didn't know enough about Egyptian mythology to talk about any of this. The voice, so like Jack's, but so different - so calm and reassuring but so cold and detached. The speech pattern, so formal and old-fashioned and unlike Jack. So much like a Goa'uld…

Daniel's breath hitched in his throat and his eyes widened in fear, not for himself, but for Jack. He didn't want to believe it, fought against it with everything that was in him, but there was no other explanation that he could think of for why Jack was suddenly standing in front of him with an 8-inch dagger in his hand, preparing to carve his heart out.

"Oh, Jack," he whispered, closing his eyes to hold back the tears he felt welling behind them. He'd been so blind, so consumed with his own fear, that he hadn't seen what was right before him. He'd begged Jack - not Apuat, but Jack - to wake up, to spare him, to save him, but he knew now that this was no nightmare. This was a true and real hell, and his begging had served only to make Jack's own personal purgatory a hundred times more difficult to endure.

"Your pain shall be great, young prince," Jack's voice warned softly, "but the reward that awaits you upon your awakening on the other side is glorious. You are the heir to the Throne of Osiris. Your uncle's legacy is yours but for the asking."

Daniel's thoughts swirled in his mind, and the conclusion he reached was the only one that made any logical sense. Nephthys had obviously realized that no amount of pain, torture or force would convince them to take their places on the stage in her elaborate play, so she'd made other arrangements. She could not brainwash them into believing they were who she wanted them to be, so she had taken the decision away from them.

Jack's body, he fully believed, was host to a symbiote named Apuat.

Daniel's eyes darted around the room in sudden panic, searching for a solution that he knew wouldn't present itself, but he froze when they fell on the large golden object behind the throne, the damned device that still haunted his dreams. It hadn't been there before, because he'd have noticed it. But it was certainly there now.

Almost immediately, his body was filled with a longing he'd not felt in over a year, a weakness that he'd almost convinced himself he'd conquered. "No," he muttered to himself, closing his eyes again.

Jack noticed that Daniel was beginning to tremble against the cross, and he looked back over his shoulder. Another smile, one that Daniel didn't see, tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Why do you fight against the promise of eternal life, my prince? The power over life and death, your rebirth, your salvation?"

"My damnation," Daniel whispered as a single tear escaped his tightly closed eyelids to make its way down his cheek.

Jack stepped forward slowly, carefully. Daniel felt his heart pounding a rapid rhythm that threatened to explode from his chest and his breath coming in short gasps as his fear for himself and his fear for Jack threatened to overwhelm him. He kept pulling against the ropes at his wrists, keeping his face from showing the relief he felt inside when he felt his left arm begin to slip loose. He had to get free if he were going to get Jack out of this. He had to escape if either of them were to survive.

Jack's left hand reached out, and Daniel forced himself not to flinch away. Somewhere inside, somewhere behind those brown eyes, Daniel imagined Jack, trapped in his own mind, fighting a battle he could not hope to win. Daniel knew that his pleading had caused enough pain and no matter how much it hurt him to do so, he would not allow himself to fear Jack's touch now. He straightened his back as far as the ropes around his wrists and ankles would allow and breathed deeply, but he could not stop the fresh tear that slipped from his eye.

He felt the palm of Jack's hand against his cheek, the rough skin so warm against his own, and his mind was drawn back in time, to a Goa'uld mothership in orbit around Earth, when that hand against his face was the only thing that kept him sane, his only tether to the world he'd thought he was leaving behind. It was a feeling that should have brought him comfort, but in his heart he knew that this hand wasn't Jack's, and this touch wasn't comforting.

The thumb that wiped his tears away was almost too much for Daniel to bear, and he leaned into the hand, willing it to be Jack again.

"You need not fear, my prince. I am here to protect you, as I always have."

"Oh, God, Jack. I'm so sorry."

There was no reply, but Daniel knew that something had changed. The hand against his face seemed stronger somehow, less paternal but more concerned.

"Daniel?"

Daniel's eyes opened and his head shot up at the sound of his name in what was, unmistakably, Jack's voice.

"Jack!" he said quickly. "Hold on, Jack. Keep fighting! I've almost got my hand free. I'll get you out of here, I swear."

Daniel saw the clouds returning to cover the brown eyes, and he increased his struggles to free his left wrist. The blood was running freely down his arm, and then suddenly the ropes fell away, and he was free.

"I've got it, Jack! Just stay with me. Let me get…"

Daniel started to reach across to his right arm, real hope surging through him for the first time in hours. He had just convinced himself that escape was within their grasp when the hand that had been pressed against his face pulled away and caught his wrist.

"Do you trust me?"

The question was asked so softly that Daniel wasn't certain he'd heard it. He looked into Jack's eyes, hoping against hope that his friend would be looking back at him, with that same look of determination in his eyes that he'd worn only hours before.

"What?"

A small grin, slightly raised eyebrows, and a minute increase of the pressure on his wrist were followed by an equally hushed, "Do you trust me?"

Daniel opened his mouth to answer, knowing that the answer was yes. Jack had asked him before, and he'd been too upset to answer, too wrapped up in his own pain and fear, too busy battling his own monsters. Of course the answer was yes; it always had been.

So why couldn't he make himself say it out loud?

He closed his mouth, licked his lips, and shook his head, unable to speak.

Jack's grin softened into a knowing smile, and Daniel knew, too. He knew that whoever this was, it wasn't Jack anymore.

"You trusted me once."

Daniel couldn't bring himself to speak, couldn't trust himself to talk. It wore Jack's face, it spoke with Jack's voice, but it was not Jack.

"You will trust me again, my prince," Jack said. "When you most need to, you will trust me again."

Slowly, carefully, almost gently, Jack pressed Daniel's arm back against the cross again.

"No," Daniel choked out, letting his head fall forward and closing his eyes. "Please, no."

"Things will be the way they were before," Jack said. He slipped the dagger into the belt at his waist as he grabbed the rope and began wrapping it back around the wrist that Daniel had fought so hard to free. "You will know who I am, you will trust me, and you will know that I have done only what I needed to do to protect you."

Daniel shook his head silently and pressed his eyes more tightly closed.

Jack finished securing Daniel's wrist, much more tightly than before, and tied it off with a strong knot before moving over to make certain that his right wrist hadn't worked loose. He tightened it as well - Daniel could feel the ropes digging into his skin without him pulling against them - and then took one step back.

Daniel felt Jack's hand on his lowered head, gently smoothing his hair. "Your mother will be arriving soon," Jack said. "I must make the preparations."

One more tear escaped from between Daniel's eyelashes, sliding down his face before falling, ignored and forgotten, to the floor.

Nephthys wasn't gone long, and when she returned, she wasn't alone.

"My son!" she said excitedly. "Look who I bring to you. The Court of Osiris, assembled again to witness your ascension to the thrown our lord promised you all those many years ago. I could not have envisioned a more spectacular return for you than this."

Five more people entered the room, lead by a woman with long, straight black hair and the multi-layered robes of Egyptian royalty. The other four wore hooded robes that covered their heads, and Daniel squinted at them in confusion. He had no way of knowing who they were, or even who they were supposed to be, because none of them spoke.

Several more Jaffa entered, and then finally Saq'ar, who simply stood next to the door as though standing guard to make sure no one could go in or out without his permission.

They walked past the throne slowly, lined up along the edge of the dais and stood, simply watching. Nephthys walked to her throne, followed closely by Niuserre. When she reached it, she gestured for Jack to walk toward her.

"Come, my friend, Apuat," she said. "Receive the blessing of your goddess."

Daniel turned away, unable to watch the stranger with Jack's face responding to orders from any Goa'uld. He thought he saw one more person enter the room and stand to the back of the dais, in the shadows, but without his glasses, he couldn't be sure if he was really seeing it or not.

"For what you do today, you will be rewarded richly and blessed throughout your life, by your Lady Nephthys and your Lord, the blessed and beloved Anubis."

Daniel shook his head, closed his eyes, and leaned back against the cross when Nephthys put her hands on Jack's face in benediction.

"Open your eyes, our child," Nephthys commanded. "See your brother, he who raised you from a child, as he raises you to your throne."

He couldn't say that he wasn't scared because, in truth, he was terrified. Jack was walking toward him again, the dagger clutched in his hand. Nephthys was sitting on her throne grinning gleefully, with Niuserre standing just behind her shoulder. And now, they had this bizarre audience, more players for their stage, assuming the roles of the Court of Osiris, sans Osiris. The entire Ennead stood across the room from him, prepared to watch him die, to sanction his sacrifice in the hopes that he would return to life as Anubis.

Except he wouldn't; he couldn't. Jack would kill him, then put him in the sarcophagus, and when we woke up, he would still be Daniel Jackson, because that's who he was. The only thing that would change would be that he would know what it felt like to have his beating heart cut from his chest while he was still alive. He wondered if he would remember exactly what it felt like, if he would spend the rest of his life reliving the agony of his death over and over again. He wondered what Nephthys would try next, what fresh torture she had in mind to regain the son she claimed to love so much. He wondered how many times he'd go into the sarcophagus. How many times would it take until he was willing to become Anubis and forget that Daniel Jackson had ever existed?

The last thought made him pause and he glanced across at the sarcophagus.

All Nephthys really had to do to break him was put him in that sarcophagus. If he went in enough times, uninjured, he'd forget everything he was and become whatever she wanted him to be, just to be able to go back in again. He knew that about himself; Jack knew that, too.

So why hadn't Apuat seen fit to tell her?

There was only one answer that made any sense to Daniel, and as he watched Jack cross the final few feet between them, that answer brought him a small measure of comfort. Apuat hadn't told her that because there was no Apuat. There was no Goa'uld in Jack - if there were, he'd have told Nephthys about Daniel's addiction and exploited his weakness. So if there was no Goa'uld, then that meant that Jack was still... Jack. That didn't explain the dagger in his hand, or the fact that he'd bowed to Nephthys and called her his queen, or the strange way he'd talked to Daniel when they were alone, but Daniel was willing to give Jack the benefit of the doubt.

He had to.

Jack stopped directly in front of him and raised the dagger above his head. Daniel watched him wrap both hands around the handle, preparing himself to deliver a blow that would break Daniel's breastbone and slice deep into his chest. But it had to be part of a plan, didn't it? Jack always had a plan.

'If you don't trust me, we're never going to get out of this.'

Daniel nodded his head at the memory and forced himself to draw a quivering breath. He lifted his chin, looked Jack straight in the eye, and smiled.

"I trust you, Jack."

Then, unwilling to face the possibility that he was completely wrong and terrified that he might discover that Jack's plan involved actually slicing his heart out, Daniel leaned his head back against the cross and closed his eyes.

"I trust you," he repeated, his voice barely above a whisper.

For an impossibly long second, nothing happened. Daniel's heart hammered in his chest and he swallowed the fear that rose in his throat.

"Well, it's about damned time," Jack whispered back.

Daniel opened his eyes, almost not believing what he'd heard, but he knew it was real. If there were any doubt left, the wink Jack gave him removed it all.

"Apuat, why do you hesitate?" Nephthys demanded. "The Ennead await the return of their lord. Proceed with the sacrifice this instant!"

"I'm getting a little sick of her bossing me around," Jack muttered. "What do you say we get the hell outta here?"

Fighting to keep the overwhelming relief he felt from showing on his face, Daniel leaned his head back against the cross as though preparing himself for death. Taking advantage of the fact that Nephthys couldn't see his face from where she sat, Daniel spoke to Jack in whispered tones. "You okay?"

Jack smirked and huffed in disbelief. "You did not just ask me that. Who's tied to the cross here, buddy?"

"Jack..."

"I'm fine, Daniel," Jack answered quickly. "But I have got to get you the hell outta here." He stepped closer to Daniel, putting himself more in Nephthys line of sight, and held the dagger higher above his head.

"What are you doing?" Daniel asked nervously.

"Stalling for time," Jack said. "Don't really have a plan yet."

Daniel's eyes widened.

"Hey, I've been me again for about thirty seconds. I'm good, but I'm not that good. Give me a minute." He took a deep breath and lowered the knife, holding it in front of him and pretending to focus on it. "How many Jaffa?"

Daniel glanced around the room quickly without lifting his head. "Looks like twelve."

"And the others? Court of Osiris people?"

"Five. Maybe six. Not really sure."

"Priest makes seven, and the crazy lady makes eight, so... the odds are ten to one, you're already bleeding, and you're wearing a skirt." Jack closed his eyes and raised his arms, and the knife, above his head once more.

"You're not dressed much better than I am," Daniel pointed out. He was taking comfort in the familiar pattern of banter, giving Jack the time he needed to come up with a plan to get them out of this. "You just got longer robes and a strap to hold them up."

"Yeah, well, at least I'm not wearing make-up," Jack shot back.

"Apuat!" Nephthys' voice was shriller than usual. She was obviously loosing patience with her servant.

"In a second!" Jack called out. His eyes shot open and he looked at Daniel in panic as he remember the part he was supposed to be playing. "My queen!" he added hurriedly.

Daniel caught a hint of movement from the corner of his eye, and he locked eyes with Jack. "Someone's coming."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Jack muttered. His eyes widened as a thought occurred to him. "It's not Saq'ar, is it?"

"No."

"Good. Because that would be awkward."

Daniel blinked and tried to focus his eyes. "I think it's Niuserre."

"Oh, even better." Jack shook his head quickly. "Okay, we've got one chance, but we've gotta move fast, and we need to let him get close enough before we do it. If I cut one wrist loose, can you get the rest of the way free?"

Daniel nodded quickly.

"Okay. Get ready." Jack planted his feet shoulder width apart and bent his knees slightly, lifting the dagger high above his head one last time. "Whatever you do, Daniel, don't move." Jack looked at Daniel's face for confirmation, and Daniel gave it to him by taking a deep breath, relaxing as much as he could, and smiling. Jack smiled back at him.

The priest was closer now, almost close enough for Jack to touch. 'Just a little more,' Daniel thought. 'A little closer.' Niuserre took one last step, and Daniel turned his head to look Jack directly in the eye.

"Now."

In one smooth motion, Jack flipped the dagger around in his hand so that the blade was facing out, thrust his arm forward and then swung it back, spinning with it as he did. The forward motion sliced cleanly through three of the four loops of rope around Daniel's left wrist. The backswing and spin brought his body to within inches of Niuserre's, and buried the blade of the dagger deep in the exposed flesh of the priest's neck.

Niuserre went down.

Nephthys shrieked.

All hell broke loose.

Jack saw the Jaffa rushing toward him, and held the knife up in front of him.

"Jack!" Daniel cried out in a panic.

Jack turned quickly and saw immediately what the problem was. Daniel was pale and tugging frantically at his left wrist, which was still attached to the crossbeam with one strand of rope. Jack's slice through the bindings had loosened them, but each loop had been knotted individually. And he hadn't cut through them all.

Daniel was still tied to the cross.

"Damn it!" Jack yelled as he rushed forward.

He saw the so-called Court of Osiris moving then, out of the corner of his eye, and he stopped for a fraction of a second when he saw what they were doing. The robes they'd worn, which had covered their faces, were being thrown off, and Jack couldn't help the shout of relief.

"Yes!"

"What?" Daniel asked, though he didn't look up. He was still pulling his arm against the ropes, struggling to free himself.

"Cavalry's here!" Jack declared. He stepped up to Daniel's left side and grabbed the stubborn loop of rope in his hand. "Hold still."

Daniel stopped fighting and looked around for the cavalry Jack had mentioned. It didn't take him long to find them.

"Sam! Teal'c!" A beat. "Martouf?"

Jack had to suppress a smile. He'd thought the exact same thing.

None of them acknowledged Daniel's shout, but Jack hadn't really expected them to. They were a little busy, fighting off the dozen or so Jaffa that were trying their damndest to kill him and Daniel.

"No!" Nephthys screamed. "Our child! They are stealing our child!"

"God, I wish she'd shut up!" Jack shouted as he sliced through the last piece of rope on Daniel's wrist. He gripped Daniel's shoulder briefly as he walked in front of him, intending to cut his other arm loose, too.

"Jack, look out!"

"Betrayer!"

Something slammed into Jack's back with enough force to slam him face-first into the stone floor, briefly dazing him. He flipped to his back and brought the knife up to defend himself.

Nephthys was standing above him, staring down at him with wild eyes full of fury.

And she had a dagger of her own.

Part Five