AU, Week 2: The Dark Side of the Moon
Title: The Dark Side of the Moon
Author: lavvyan
Genre: Alternate Universe
Prompt dark side of the moon
Word Count: ~2,500
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Summary: In which Teyla Emmagan climbs a ladder to the moon to save a friend.
Notes: Women aren't actually allowed to set foot on Mount Athos, but since this is an AU, I took the liberty of ignoring that. Many thanks to neevebrody for her beta-reading services.
The moon is a wondrous place.
It governs the tide and is made of cheese. It's covered in bunnies and causes insomnia. There's a man living up there. And when the moon is full, one side doesn't get any light at all.
That's when the magical things happen.
~~~
Teyla Emmagan lived in the forests of Mount Athos, in a big tent that had once been the pride of her people before they had been lost to a terrible foe. The tent was green and brown on the outside to blend in with the forest, but the inside was bright and colourful, finely-woven shawls embracing artful stitches and carefully crafted furniture made of a wood so dark its polished surface looked almost black. It was a homey place, but far too big for a single person.
Teyla had learned to live with the empty spaces.
Still, while she might have been alone, she wasn't lonely. Her friends were the birds and she spoke with the wind, and the trees rustled their secrets to her wherever she went. Every once in a while, a hunter would visit her on his way deeper into the forest, where he hunted things that had no name.
"Hey, Teyla," he would say when he entered her tent, "learn how to cook yet?"
And Teyla would say, "If you ever settle down, Ronon, perhaps you could teach me."
But Ronon never stayed for long, and he always ate whatever she prepared, repaying her generosity with tales from his travels.
One night, however, his visit long overdue, Ronon came upon Teyla's tent and didn't step inside. Instead, he fell to his knees beside the eastern wall, not even strong enough to stand.
"Ronon! What has happened?" Teyla asked, but although his lips framed the words, there came no sound, and even though Teyla could find no wounds on his body, it was clear to her that somewhere, somehow, her friend was bleeding.
The healer she called only shook his head.
"He was touched by a wraith," he said, and Teyla sucked in a breath, for this was a death sentence. To be touched by a wraith meant to have one's life force stolen, little by little, until nothing was left but an empty husk. "I'm sorry, luv, but there's naught I can do."
Teyla closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again.
"How much time does he have left?"
"Three days," the healer told her, and left to tend to those who could still benefit from his service.
Three days. Teyla looked down at where Ronon lay on her pallet, the only human friend left to her. Ronon stared back at her, eyes dark in a face that was pale from the steady draining away of his life force.
"Kill me now," he whispered. "Don't let me die like this."
Teyla knelt down beside him and took his face between her hands. "You are not going to die, Ronon. I will find a way, but you mist fight this for as long as you can. Promise me."
"Teyla-"
"Promise me, Ronon."
He held her gaze for a moment and then nodded. Teyla let out a breath and bowed to rest her forehead against his, as was the way of her people. Then she left the tent to ask the wind for guidance.
"Go to the moon," the wind said, her voice but a gentle breeze. "On the dark side, in the crater named Daedalus, a field of Ancient flowers grows. They alone have the power to save your friend."
Teyla looked up at the sky, where dawn was starting to fade out the stars one by one. The moon hovered near the horizon, a pale disc, almost full.
"How can I get to the moon?" Teyla asked. It looked so very far away, impossible to reach in a mere three days.
The wind brushed her cheeks like a smile.
"On the very top of Mount Athos, there is a ladder. Climb it, and do not look down. You will reach the moon faster than you think."
"Thank you, my friend," Teyla said, and she went to pack a small bag of supplies, don her long travelling coat, and bid farewell to Ronon.
"The healer will come by each day," she told him. "I will find a way to break the wraith's hold on you, I promise."
"I know," Ronon said simply, and although his smile was weak, it lightened Teyla's heart as she set out on her journey.
On the first day, Teyla sought her way through the trees and up the progressively steeper hangs of Mount Athos. She reached the snow's edge by sunset and set up camp, knowing better than to challenge the ice by night. A small fire kept her company through the cold night, and the wind told her stories of the open sea.
The next day, Teyla had made it a good way further up the mountainside, when luck suddenly left her. Winter still held a tight grip on this part of the land, but spring ever progressed upwards, and the thawing snow fields were far from stable. The avalanche that caught her cost her the bag of supplies, but more importantly, it cost her time. By the time night approached, she was still a ways from the top of the mountain, but a pigeon had brought her bread and the wind muttered encouragements, so Teyla climbed on, as carefully as she could. Still, night had fallen when she finally reached the mountaintop and saw the ladder.
It was a simple thing, the wood smooth but uneven, cool under her fingers as she climbed. She didn't look down. Above her, the full moon kept growing bigger and brighter the further up she got. The air grew warmer, and took on a slightly sour smell.
And then, suddenly, Teyla found that instead of looking up, she was looking down. Moments later, her feet touched the soft surface of the moon. She looked up the ladder and above her the Earth slowly turned, shining brightly like a precious pearl.
It was the most beautiful sight Teyla had ever seen. Alas, she had no time to linger. No time for rest, either, although it had been almost a day since last she'd slept. Ronon's life depended on her, and two days had passed already.
She had to hurry.
"Please, tell me, where can I find the crater called Daedalus?" she asked, but none of the bunnies playing on the soft, barren ground seemed to understand her. The wind had remained on Earth. For the first time she could remember, Teyla was truly alone.
Disheartened, she set out towards the light's edge that seemed closest to her, hoping that once she had reached the dark side of the moon, she might find a clue that would point her towards her goal.
The ground grew steadily harder beneath her feet as she walked on, until, as she passed over the light's edge, she was walking on solid rock. Darkness stretched out before her, and the Earth was no longer visible in the sky, so she pulled out the lighter that was a relict of her people's distant past. Working without flint or stone, it managed only a tiny flame, but that was enough to see the ground before her. She was tired, hungry, but determined to walk on until she had found what she was looking for.
A voice startled her out of her reverie.
"Hey! Some help?"
Teyla squinted, and in the dimness of her lighter saw the bare outlines of a strange creature, man-like but with a skin of silver and a featureless, mirrored sphere where its head should be. As she stepped closer, she could see that one of its feet was stuck inside a small crater.
"Hold still," she said, and with some careful twisting and turning of its ankle, managed to get the creature's foot free. She smiled in relief as the creature promised to lead her to the crater called Daedalus as a sign of its gratitude.
"Thank you," she said, so giddy she almost laughed when the creature gallantly offered her its arm.
They walked across the moon together, careful to watch their footing. Teyla learned that the creature's name was John, and that its people had come to explore the moon a long time ago, and that it had been left behind. That he had been left behind, because Teyla slowly realised that this was a man, however odd he looked. In turn, she told him about the loss of her people, and Ronon, and how she had come to search for the Ancient flowers.
She didn't know how much time had passed before they reached the edge of a huge crater.
"Daedalus," John said, and added, his voice strangely proud, "and Atlantis."
Teyla held her breath. There was a city down there, glass and metal and beauty and full of lights, its spires reaching toward the stars.
"How beautiful," she whispered, and John nodded his big round head.
"You'll need to go down there," he told her, letting out what sounded like a snort. "The Great Dr. McKay will throw a fit if you pick his flowers without asking first."
"Will you not come?" Teyla asked.
"Nah." John rubbed his silvery hand over the back of his head. It squeaked a little. "Every now and then, a spaceman just needs some space."
Teyla nodded. Although she did not quite understand his words, she understood the sentiment behind them. So she went on alone, following a narrow path down along the walls of the crater until she had reached its bottom. The path led on, straight towards the illuminated city John had called Atlantis, and Teyla's heart jumped as she jogged past field upon field of flowers, glowing as white as the stars above them. They were bordered by a high fence that was covered in signs, reading "Caution - Electricity!" and "Do Not Step On The Flowers!" and "Really, Really Dangerous, Don't Touch - McKay".
Another creature was waiting for her as she approached the city, but this time Teyla was quick to realise that this, too, was a man. He was clad in a bright orange suit and wearing a helmet over his head, but she could see his face through the transparent screen.
"I can't believe you're running around without even remotely adequate protective gear," were his first words to her. "Do the words space pollution mean nothing to you? Pollen? Dangerously low levels of oxygen?"
"Are you the Great Dr. McKay?" Teyla asked. She did not mean to be impolite, but time was running out.
The man sniffed and raised his chin. "Well, yes. Yes, I am. And let me just say that it's nice to get some recognition for a change." He glared darkly towards the crater's edge.
"I have come to ask for some of your flowers," Teyla said.
"Is that so?" Dr. McKay tilted his head and looked her up and down. "And what exactly are you offering for trade?"
Teyla ended up offering her lighter, which Dr. McKay accepted with some intrigue. He gave her three of his flowers in return, and she thanked him profusely.
"What do you need them for, anyway?" he wanted to know, and she told him. About the wraith prowling the darker parts of Mount Athos's forests, and Ronon, and how she had three days to save him.
"Well, I suppose you should hurry," Dr. McKay said with a shrug. "This is what, your second day? And it's morning down there already."
Teyla's heart seemed to stop in her chest, leaving her with a hollow feeling even as she started to run, her feet pounding a steady rhythm that rang in her ears as one simple word.
Ronon.
How long had she been walking across the moon? A few hours? Longer? Was this the morning of the third day, or the fourth time the sun was rising over Mount Athos, indifferently counting down the last hours of Ronon's life? Could it be she was already too late?
The Great Dr. McKay called after her, but Teyla paid him no heed. She ran, out of the crater and towards the light, across the softer surface, scattering the bunnies, until she reached the ladder. She climbed up and then suddenly down, as fast as she could, and skittered down the mountainside with no regard for her own safety. She ran through the forest as night stretched out its dark fingers through the treetops, praying to the Ancestors that the healer had been wrong in his estimate, that Ronon's strength had been enough to grant him a few more hours, enough time so that Teyla would get to him and share the flowers' magic.
Dawn was breaking when she reached her tent, panting as she burst inside… and stumbled to a halt.
Ronon blinked at her from where he sat up on the pallet. She stared in breathless wonderment at the two strangers sitting beside him who got to their feet and introduced themselves as John and Rodney.
"John," she said slowly, and then, "Rodney?"
"Yes, well," the one called Rodney cleared his throat. "'The Great Dr. McKay' does sound a tad pompous, don't you think?"
John grinned at him and bumped his shoulder. They looked so ordinary, John with his black clothing and lanky frame and messy hair, and Rodney with his sturdier build and lopsided mouth. She could have met them anywhere and not spared them a second glance.
"But… how?" Teyla asked. She had been so certain she was too late, that Ronon had been lost to the greed of a wraith. To find him here, now, healthy and grinning at her, seemed nothing short of a miracle.
"I'm a spaceman," John said. "I have a spaceship."
"I have a spaceship," Rodney corrected waspishly, and seeing John's smirk, Teyla wondered if his being left behind on the moon hadn't been voluntary.
"Teyla," Ronon said softly, and she looked at him, healthy and whole. "Sit down before you fall over."
He made room for her and she sat, and it seemed like no time at all had passed before she fell asleep. She slept for over a day, and when she woke, John and Rodney were getting ready to leave.
"Stay," she said impulsively, her gratitude too huge for her to do anything else, and they stared at her and then at each other. She and Ronon watched in bemusement as a great discussion broke out between the two - "Forest fires! Falling trees!" "Relax, McKay" - but eventually, both men agreed to stay.
"For a while, at least," Rodney said, "I'm not entirely convinced this tent is hygienic. How old did you say it was? And the idiot over there is probably just waiting to get his foot stuck in a foxhole or something."
John only smirked and offered Teyla and Ronon an extended stay on Atlantis in return. They agreed, and before she knew it, Teyla found that her tent wasn't too big at all anymore, all the empty spaces filled with friendship and laugher.
She bowed her head in gratitude, and smiled at the wind as it sang a soft counterpoint to her friends' stories.
Author: lavvyan
Genre: Alternate Universe
Prompt dark side of the moon
Word Count: ~2,500
Rating: G
Warnings: None
Summary: In which Teyla Emmagan climbs a ladder to the moon to save a friend.
Notes: Women aren't actually allowed to set foot on Mount Athos, but since this is an AU, I took the liberty of ignoring that. Many thanks to neevebrody for her beta-reading services.
The moon is a wondrous place.
It governs the tide and is made of cheese. It's covered in bunnies and causes insomnia. There's a man living up there. And when the moon is full, one side doesn't get any light at all.
That's when the magical things happen.
~~~
Teyla Emmagan lived in the forests of Mount Athos, in a big tent that had once been the pride of her people before they had been lost to a terrible foe. The tent was green and brown on the outside to blend in with the forest, but the inside was bright and colourful, finely-woven shawls embracing artful stitches and carefully crafted furniture made of a wood so dark its polished surface looked almost black. It was a homey place, but far too big for a single person.
Teyla had learned to live with the empty spaces.
Still, while she might have been alone, she wasn't lonely. Her friends were the birds and she spoke with the wind, and the trees rustled their secrets to her wherever she went. Every once in a while, a hunter would visit her on his way deeper into the forest, where he hunted things that had no name.
"Hey, Teyla," he would say when he entered her tent, "learn how to cook yet?"
And Teyla would say, "If you ever settle down, Ronon, perhaps you could teach me."
But Ronon never stayed for long, and he always ate whatever she prepared, repaying her generosity with tales from his travels.
One night, however, his visit long overdue, Ronon came upon Teyla's tent and didn't step inside. Instead, he fell to his knees beside the eastern wall, not even strong enough to stand.
"Ronon! What has happened?" Teyla asked, but although his lips framed the words, there came no sound, and even though Teyla could find no wounds on his body, it was clear to her that somewhere, somehow, her friend was bleeding.
The healer she called only shook his head.
"He was touched by a wraith," he said, and Teyla sucked in a breath, for this was a death sentence. To be touched by a wraith meant to have one's life force stolen, little by little, until nothing was left but an empty husk. "I'm sorry, luv, but there's naught I can do."
Teyla closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again.
"How much time does he have left?"
"Three days," the healer told her, and left to tend to those who could still benefit from his service.
Three days. Teyla looked down at where Ronon lay on her pallet, the only human friend left to her. Ronon stared back at her, eyes dark in a face that was pale from the steady draining away of his life force.
"Kill me now," he whispered. "Don't let me die like this."
Teyla knelt down beside him and took his face between her hands. "You are not going to die, Ronon. I will find a way, but you mist fight this for as long as you can. Promise me."
"Teyla-"
"Promise me, Ronon."
He held her gaze for a moment and then nodded. Teyla let out a breath and bowed to rest her forehead against his, as was the way of her people. Then she left the tent to ask the wind for guidance.
"Go to the moon," the wind said, her voice but a gentle breeze. "On the dark side, in the crater named Daedalus, a field of Ancient flowers grows. They alone have the power to save your friend."
Teyla looked up at the sky, where dawn was starting to fade out the stars one by one. The moon hovered near the horizon, a pale disc, almost full.
"How can I get to the moon?" Teyla asked. It looked so very far away, impossible to reach in a mere three days.
The wind brushed her cheeks like a smile.
"On the very top of Mount Athos, there is a ladder. Climb it, and do not look down. You will reach the moon faster than you think."
"Thank you, my friend," Teyla said, and she went to pack a small bag of supplies, don her long travelling coat, and bid farewell to Ronon.
"The healer will come by each day," she told him. "I will find a way to break the wraith's hold on you, I promise."
"I know," Ronon said simply, and although his smile was weak, it lightened Teyla's heart as she set out on her journey.
On the first day, Teyla sought her way through the trees and up the progressively steeper hangs of Mount Athos. She reached the snow's edge by sunset and set up camp, knowing better than to challenge the ice by night. A small fire kept her company through the cold night, and the wind told her stories of the open sea.
The next day, Teyla had made it a good way further up the mountainside, when luck suddenly left her. Winter still held a tight grip on this part of the land, but spring ever progressed upwards, and the thawing snow fields were far from stable. The avalanche that caught her cost her the bag of supplies, but more importantly, it cost her time. By the time night approached, she was still a ways from the top of the mountain, but a pigeon had brought her bread and the wind muttered encouragements, so Teyla climbed on, as carefully as she could. Still, night had fallen when she finally reached the mountaintop and saw the ladder.
It was a simple thing, the wood smooth but uneven, cool under her fingers as she climbed. She didn't look down. Above her, the full moon kept growing bigger and brighter the further up she got. The air grew warmer, and took on a slightly sour smell.
And then, suddenly, Teyla found that instead of looking up, she was looking down. Moments later, her feet touched the soft surface of the moon. She looked up the ladder and above her the Earth slowly turned, shining brightly like a precious pearl.
It was the most beautiful sight Teyla had ever seen. Alas, she had no time to linger. No time for rest, either, although it had been almost a day since last she'd slept. Ronon's life depended on her, and two days had passed already.
She had to hurry.
"Please, tell me, where can I find the crater called Daedalus?" she asked, but none of the bunnies playing on the soft, barren ground seemed to understand her. The wind had remained on Earth. For the first time she could remember, Teyla was truly alone.
Disheartened, she set out towards the light's edge that seemed closest to her, hoping that once she had reached the dark side of the moon, she might find a clue that would point her towards her goal.
The ground grew steadily harder beneath her feet as she walked on, until, as she passed over the light's edge, she was walking on solid rock. Darkness stretched out before her, and the Earth was no longer visible in the sky, so she pulled out the lighter that was a relict of her people's distant past. Working without flint or stone, it managed only a tiny flame, but that was enough to see the ground before her. She was tired, hungry, but determined to walk on until she had found what she was looking for.
A voice startled her out of her reverie.
"Hey! Some help?"
Teyla squinted, and in the dimness of her lighter saw the bare outlines of a strange creature, man-like but with a skin of silver and a featureless, mirrored sphere where its head should be. As she stepped closer, she could see that one of its feet was stuck inside a small crater.
"Hold still," she said, and with some careful twisting and turning of its ankle, managed to get the creature's foot free. She smiled in relief as the creature promised to lead her to the crater called Daedalus as a sign of its gratitude.
"Thank you," she said, so giddy she almost laughed when the creature gallantly offered her its arm.
They walked across the moon together, careful to watch their footing. Teyla learned that the creature's name was John, and that its people had come to explore the moon a long time ago, and that it had been left behind. That he had been left behind, because Teyla slowly realised that this was a man, however odd he looked. In turn, she told him about the loss of her people, and Ronon, and how she had come to search for the Ancient flowers.
She didn't know how much time had passed before they reached the edge of a huge crater.
"Daedalus," John said, and added, his voice strangely proud, "and Atlantis."
Teyla held her breath. There was a city down there, glass and metal and beauty and full of lights, its spires reaching toward the stars.
"How beautiful," she whispered, and John nodded his big round head.
"You'll need to go down there," he told her, letting out what sounded like a snort. "The Great Dr. McKay will throw a fit if you pick his flowers without asking first."
"Will you not come?" Teyla asked.
"Nah." John rubbed his silvery hand over the back of his head. It squeaked a little. "Every now and then, a spaceman just needs some space."
Teyla nodded. Although she did not quite understand his words, she understood the sentiment behind them. So she went on alone, following a narrow path down along the walls of the crater until she had reached its bottom. The path led on, straight towards the illuminated city John had called Atlantis, and Teyla's heart jumped as she jogged past field upon field of flowers, glowing as white as the stars above them. They were bordered by a high fence that was covered in signs, reading "Caution - Electricity!" and "Do Not Step On The Flowers!" and "Really, Really Dangerous, Don't Touch - McKay".
Another creature was waiting for her as she approached the city, but this time Teyla was quick to realise that this, too, was a man. He was clad in a bright orange suit and wearing a helmet over his head, but she could see his face through the transparent screen.
"I can't believe you're running around without even remotely adequate protective gear," were his first words to her. "Do the words space pollution mean nothing to you? Pollen? Dangerously low levels of oxygen?"
"Are you the Great Dr. McKay?" Teyla asked. She did not mean to be impolite, but time was running out.
The man sniffed and raised his chin. "Well, yes. Yes, I am. And let me just say that it's nice to get some recognition for a change." He glared darkly towards the crater's edge.
"I have come to ask for some of your flowers," Teyla said.
"Is that so?" Dr. McKay tilted his head and looked her up and down. "And what exactly are you offering for trade?"
Teyla ended up offering her lighter, which Dr. McKay accepted with some intrigue. He gave her three of his flowers in return, and she thanked him profusely.
"What do you need them for, anyway?" he wanted to know, and she told him. About the wraith prowling the darker parts of Mount Athos's forests, and Ronon, and how she had three days to save him.
"Well, I suppose you should hurry," Dr. McKay said with a shrug. "This is what, your second day? And it's morning down there already."
Teyla's heart seemed to stop in her chest, leaving her with a hollow feeling even as she started to run, her feet pounding a steady rhythm that rang in her ears as one simple word.
Ronon.
How long had she been walking across the moon? A few hours? Longer? Was this the morning of the third day, or the fourth time the sun was rising over Mount Athos, indifferently counting down the last hours of Ronon's life? Could it be she was already too late?
The Great Dr. McKay called after her, but Teyla paid him no heed. She ran, out of the crater and towards the light, across the softer surface, scattering the bunnies, until she reached the ladder. She climbed up and then suddenly down, as fast as she could, and skittered down the mountainside with no regard for her own safety. She ran through the forest as night stretched out its dark fingers through the treetops, praying to the Ancestors that the healer had been wrong in his estimate, that Ronon's strength had been enough to grant him a few more hours, enough time so that Teyla would get to him and share the flowers' magic.
Dawn was breaking when she reached her tent, panting as she burst inside… and stumbled to a halt.
Ronon blinked at her from where he sat up on the pallet. She stared in breathless wonderment at the two strangers sitting beside him who got to their feet and introduced themselves as John and Rodney.
"John," she said slowly, and then, "Rodney?"
"Yes, well," the one called Rodney cleared his throat. "'The Great Dr. McKay' does sound a tad pompous, don't you think?"
John grinned at him and bumped his shoulder. They looked so ordinary, John with his black clothing and lanky frame and messy hair, and Rodney with his sturdier build and lopsided mouth. She could have met them anywhere and not spared them a second glance.
"But… how?" Teyla asked. She had been so certain she was too late, that Ronon had been lost to the greed of a wraith. To find him here, now, healthy and grinning at her, seemed nothing short of a miracle.
"I'm a spaceman," John said. "I have a spaceship."
"I have a spaceship," Rodney corrected waspishly, and seeing John's smirk, Teyla wondered if his being left behind on the moon hadn't been voluntary.
"Teyla," Ronon said softly, and she looked at him, healthy and whole. "Sit down before you fall over."
He made room for her and she sat, and it seemed like no time at all had passed before she fell asleep. She slept for over a day, and when she woke, John and Rodney were getting ready to leave.
"Stay," she said impulsively, her gratitude too huge for her to do anything else, and they stared at her and then at each other. She and Ronon watched in bemusement as a great discussion broke out between the two - "Forest fires! Falling trees!" "Relax, McKay" - but eventually, both men agreed to stay.
"For a while, at least," Rodney said, "I'm not entirely convinced this tent is hygienic. How old did you say it was? And the idiot over there is probably just waiting to get his foot stuck in a foxhole or something."
John only smirked and offered Teyla and Ronon an extended stay on Atlantis in return. They agreed, and before she knew it, Teyla found that her tent wasn't too big at all anymore, all the empty spaces filled with friendship and laugher.
She bowed her head in gratitude, and smiled at the wind as it sang a soft counterpoint to her friends' stories.