|
The Price of Knowledge
Story Notes: Rating: PG (language, angst, hurt/comfort) Type: Drama, Alternate Universe (Little Danny/Kidfic) Season/Spoilers: Takes place one month after “Full Circle” in Season 6
Chapter One Breaking the Rules
Shifu scanned the ethereal plane, watching for the Others, waiting to see if they had noticed anything out of the ordinary. A careful check revealed no evidence of them. He hoped Oma’s distraction would keep their focus for the time he needed. Long enough to do what he must. Long enough to break the rules in a more direct way than any of them had ever dared. Long enough to save Daniel. “Are you ready?” Shifu asked his co-conspirators. “Go, son of my daughter,” Kasuf replied. “We know what to do.” A chorus of Abydonian voices murmured their agreement. Shifu turned to the one for whom they risked all. Daniel gazed back at him, bright blue eyes trusting. They had given Daniel the physical body of a six year old, and the man who had once taught them all now looked small and fragile. Shifu wondered if Colonel O’Neill and his companions would be able to accept the change and understand the necessity. “Remain on the threshold with Skaara until I call for you,” Shifu instructed. Daniel nodded solemnly, and his tiny fingers tightened their grip on Skaara’s larger, sun-browned hand. Shifu drew in a deep breath, a way of gathering his courage because he didn’t actually breathe. With a single thought, he left the ethereal and placed himself into the physical realm of Colonel O’Neill’s kitchen. Unaware of Shifu’s presence, O’Neill checked his watch and gulped the last of his morning coffee. Shifu collected the scattered facets of his energy, coalesced them into a body, and made himself visible to O’Neill’s reality. His emergence was not well-timed. O’Neill choked and spat out a mouthful of coffee, spraying the counter with the dark liquid. “Who the hell--” “I am Shifu.” O’Neill’s eyes narrowed. When they had last met, Shifu had been a child, but for this conversation, he had chosen the appearance of a young man in his twenties. The adult form was better suited to impress upon O’Neill the seriousness of Daniel’s situation. Shifu had retained the orange robes of a Zen monk, and the familiar outfit brought a grudging recognition from O’Neill. “Growing up fast, aren’t you?” “Age is irrelevant.” O’Neill held up a hand. “Please. No Zen voodoo crap. Way too early in the morning.” “No Zen ‘crap,’” Shifu agreed. “What we must discuss requires your understanding, so I will speak my meaning plainly.” “Thank God. Look, is this going to take long? I’m due at the Mountain in-- Huh. Watch stopped.” O’Neill tapped his watch, glanced up at the unmoving hands of the kitchen wall clock, and then eyed Shifu suspiciously. “Your doing?” “Yes. I have moved us outside time.” O’Neill grimaced. “Let’s skip the physics crap too. Mind if we take this to the living room? I get the feeling I’m going to need to sit down for this one. You want anything to drink?” Shifu shook his head. “I’d go for a beer myself if it wasn’t so early.” O’Neill refilled his coffee cup. “I assume you’re going to stick me back in time right where—er, when you took me out.” “That is my intention, yes.” “Definitely too early for beer then.” Shifu followed O’Neill into the living room. While O’Neill settled into a chair, Shifu redistributed his energy to provide himself with the solidity to actually connect with the sofa and not sink right through it. “So. You the new ambassador of goodwill for the glow worm club? Usually I get visits from Oma and Daniel.” “It is of Daniel I wish to speak.” “Figured as much.” O’Neill shook his head. “Higher plane of existence, and the kid still manages to get himself into trouble.” Surprise drove the pre-planned speech from Shifu’s mind. “How do you know he’s in trouble?” “Trouble always finds Daniel. Unlike death, it’s the one constant I’ve come to expect with Daniel.” O’Neill stared pensively into his coffee. “We figured something was up. We knew on Abydos he was getting tired of the whole no-interfering thing. Daniel would have stopped Anubis if he could have, and since he didn’t…” O’Neill trailed off. His lips thinned, and his face became shadowed. After a moment, he cleared his throat and continued quietly, “You tell Oma thanks. For ascending Skaara and the rest of Abydos. They didn’t deserve to die like that.” A gentle nudge from Kasuf reminded Shifu that time was not as unlimited as it appeared to O’Neill. If the Others learned they had descended Daniel, the consequences for each of them would be dire. For Daniel, the consequences would be fatal. Still, Shifu could not fling Daniel into the physical without some preparation. “Anubis will trouble your universe no more, O’Neill. He was Oma’s burden, and she is…dealing with him.” “’Bout time. What took her so long?” Shifu reminded himself that O’Neill had a right to his sarcasm, though it hurt to hear the disrespect directed toward his mentor. “Their power is equal. They will battle for eternity, and neither will win. It is a fight Oma resisted not only because she feared it, but also because she believed she could do more if she were not locked in conflict with Anubis. I cannot say which choice was correct. In the end, she has chosen to fight because of Daniel.” O’Neill smirked. “Gave her the guilt speech, didn’t he? Moral obligation, civic responsibility, and all that.” “It was not what Daniel said, but what he did. He believed so strongly that someone needed to force Anubis to a standstill, he tried to do it himself.” Daniel’s willingness to sacrifice himself for the physical realm had shocked Oma. She had neither known nor understood Daniel’s passion for other beings. Though Daniel had released many of his perceived failures and the guilt that accompanied them, he had never fully detached from the physical. He could not leave his companions. Daniel would have faced the Others’ wrath for interfering much earlier if Shifu had not taught Daniel how to circumvent their rules with less direct actions. But even Shifu had not suspected how far Daniel would go to protect a universe to which he no longer truly belonged. “It was an action Daniel was forbidden to take,” Shifu continued. “His defiance angered the Others. He was—severely punished.” Shifu had never seen an anger such as O’Neill’s, not even in the few Goa’uld memories he hadn’t managed to suppress. Goa’uld rage was loud and erratic. The anger O’Neill projected was quiet and focused. His unwavering gaze was full of dark menace. Balanced on the knife edge of that anger, Shifu held himself still. O’Neill set his coffee cup on a side table. The deliberate slowness of the action sent a chill up Shifu’s nonexistent spine. “Punished how?” Shifu distanced himself from the words he had to speak. “The Others tried to eradicate the knowledge Daniel has gained through ascension. The method is painful and unreliable. It often destroys more than intended. We—Oma, the Abydonians, and I—did what we could to shield his mind. Daniel did much himself. But he grows weaker, and it is harder for us to hide our actions from the Others. Oma and I fear if he is forced to submit to the procedure again, he will not be strong enough to keep his energy from dispersing. He will--” Shifu stopped, struck by the look of mingled pain and fury in O’Neill’s eyes. “Die,” O’Neill finished in a flat tone. “For good.” “Yes,” Shifu whispered.
Back to Little Danny Home Chapter 1, cont.>>
Disclaimer: The Stargate characters all belong to Gekko Film Company, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions, MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Showtime, Sci Fi Channel, and Stargate SG-1 Prod. Ltd. Partnership. This fanfic is not intended to infringe on any of those rights and is meant solely for the purpose of entertainment. All other characters, the story idea, and the story itself are the sole property of the author. |
