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sg1genrecs2009-06-23 05:15 pm
fignewton) wrote in sg1genrecs2009-06-23 05:15 pm
With the Dying, by Dira Sudis (PG)
Title: With the Dying
Author's LJ/DWJ:dira
Categories: ANGST, Daniel and Teal'c friendship, episode related, character study
Warnings: character death, references to AU!Jack/AU!Sam (passed by the mod, heh)
Author's Webpage/Fic list: Fiction by Dira Sudis
Link to Story: With the Dying (LJ feedback here)
Why this should be read: I have a special fondness for Moebius fic that highlights the closeness between our Daniel and AU!Teal'c. One of these, Singing Down the Moon, has already been recced here. But With the Dying is the first - and the best - that I ever read.
Here is a Daniel who has lost his team, and is faced with three people who wear their faces but do not share their life experiences. And now he has to stand sentinel over another Teal'c, who has a symbiote that will soon mature, and no access to tretonin, and who makes an inevitable decision...
And the last paragraph will break your heart.
An empty, echoing future for the sake of freedom for others. Lonely. Powerful. Good.
"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.
Author's LJ/DWJ:
diraCategories: ANGST, Daniel and Teal'c friendship, episode related, character study
Warnings: character death, references to AU!Jack/AU!Sam (passed by the mod, heh)
Author's Webpage/Fic list: Fiction by Dira Sudis
Link to Story: With the Dying (LJ feedback here)
Why this should be read: I have a special fondness for Moebius fic that highlights the closeness between our Daniel and AU!Teal'c. One of these, Singing Down the Moon, has already been recced here. But With the Dying is the first - and the best - that I ever read.
Here is a Daniel who has lost his team, and is faced with three people who wear their faces but do not share their life experiences. And now he has to stand sentinel over another Teal'c, who has a symbiote that will soon mature, and no access to tretonin, and who makes an inevitable decision...
And the last paragraph will break your heart.
An empty, echoing future for the sake of freedom for others. Lonely. Powerful. Good.
"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.