Dawn will break - by Cass and Melinda Pierson (NC-17)

[melodysparks.livejournal.com]

Show: SGA
Rec Category: Alternate Universe
Characters: Aiden Ford, Carson Beckett, Elizabeth Weir, Jack O'Neill, Jennifer Keller, John Sheppard, Major Lorne, Original Character, Radek Zelenka, Rodney McKay, Ronon Dex, Samantha Carter, Teyla Emmagan
Pairings: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard, John Sheppard/Nancy Sheppard, John Sheppard/Teer, Sam Carter/Rodney McKay, Jennifer Keller/Rodney McKay, Rodney McKay/Katie Brown, John Sheppard/OFC
Categories: Slash, HET
Warnings: Adult themes, Character death, genderswap, m-preg, pregnancy, multiple character death (major and minor), torture, angst, AU, kidfic, crossover with SG-1 graphic depictions of violence
Author on LJ: darkmoore
Author's Website: Pierson�
Link: Dawn will break

Why This Must Be Read: I just love SGA alternate Universes and this one has it in spades. When Atlantis - upon returning to the Pegasus Galaxy from Earth - breaks apart in hyperspace, only John is saved from the debris. The group of Ancients that retrieved him offer him a bargain: Either he helps them make corrections in some universes, where things have gone wrong, or they put him back where he was found. Reluctantly accepting, John embarks on a lonely journey through a multitude of universes until he finally reaches the place he could again call home. This fic is sort of SGA meets Quantum Leap as John hops from alternate universe to alternate universe




John was just about to tease Rodney about getting soft in his old age when the city started to vibrate around him in a way that wasn't natural for hyperspace travel at all. Alarm lights went off in the interface in his mind. "Rodney?" he asked, but he didn't have to wait for Rodney to speak to know it was bad, because Rodney had gone deathly pale and his eyes were wide with fear.

"Crap," was all Rodney said. John knew that they were beyond trouble. "This isn't good, not good at all," Rodney muttered, probably more to himself than to John. Uh-oh, really deep shit, then.

The city began to shake even more around John. From the readings he got through the chair, the shield was pulling back from where it was supposed to be at an alarming rate that made John feel sick to his stomach. The only thing between the city and the vacuum of space was rapidly retreating to the central tower. Every time one of his people was left behind by the shield, John felt a pinprick of pain as the lifesign faded first and then abruptly vanished. He tried to intervene, to force the shield to stay put, but the city wouldn't have any of it and he was locked out almost instantly. All he could do was look at the readings while the shield became increasingly smaller.

"Rodney, what's going on?" John demanded. But Rodney ignored John's questions. Shoulders tense, Rodney hunched over the tablet, utterly still apart from his hands that were moving over the keyboard quickly. John made to get up from the chair to join him, his mind reeling from the deaths he was experiencing so vividly through the internal sensors that it felt like he'd pulled the trigger himself. He couldn't stay sitting there, doing nothing.

"Stay the fuck where you are, John," Rodney shouted at him and John fell back into the chair at the urgency in his voice alone. Rodney never swore. He just didn't. "That chair is the safest place on Atlantis right now and you'd better–"

Metallic noises filled the air, sounding like the city was being torn apart around him; the racket drowned out the rest of Rodney's sentence. Sections of the wall started falling down in pieces around them. "Rodney!" John yelled as the wall behind Rodney crumbled like it was made of paper. Then, with the deafening sound of air rushing out and into space, the shield pulled snugly around John, separating him from Rodney and the rest of the city. He watched Rodney stumble, fight to stay on his feet. Rodney's eyes grew wide in his pale face; and with a wrenching feeling in John's heart, he saw Rodney's face contort with pain. Stunned, John was forced to helplessly look on as Rodney raised a hand to his chest, tentatively touched a spot there that was rapidly growing darker.