stargateficrec | The Butterfly Tide, by Kellifer (PG-13) (Reply)

Rec Category: AU

Pairing: Sam/Jack
Categories: AU, timefic, alternate timeline, episode related, Daniel Jackson, team, angst, drama
Warnings: canon character deaths
Author on LJ: kellifer_fic
Author's Website: link to master list of fics on her LJ profile page
Link: The Butterfly Tide

Why This Must Be Read: If nothing else, for the sheer rarity value as the only fic that includes the Sam/Jack pairing that I am likely to rec. Ever. :)

In The Butterfly Tide, Kellifer dances between three different timelines in Moebius: Daniel's struggle to keep going after witnessing the deaths of his friends in Ancient Egypt; SG-1's attempts to settle into life in Ancient Egypt, after they've stolen the ZPM and before they're caught by Ra; and "current" events in the alternate timeline, leading up the moment when AU Sam, Jack, and Daniel step into the timeship to try and find AU Teal'c. Those moments all converge in the final chapter, as we find ourselves slipping back into the actual episode.

While it's not a central part of the story, Kellifer does get Jack and Sam together. This is Sam/Jack in the only way I can possibly accept it: when they are living outside the rules and regs (and times) of the Air Force, especially when Jack makes that charming gesture to make his resignation official (or at least tries to). Really, there's a lot more teamy goodness in this story than romance, even during the Sam/Jack section.

We see Daniel's suicidal anguish and despondency and slow recovery when his friends die; we get warm snippets of life as SG-1 make the best of their situation, growing even closer together; and we get fascinating glimpses into all four the characters of the alternate timeline, seeing how their lives were shaped by tiny changes in the "real" history of canon. With deft weaving of story elements and great characterization, The Butterfly Tide is another excellent story by Kellifer that you're sure to enjoy.

Teal'c was spotted by a Jaffa patrol and taken, although it took twelve men to finally bring him down and only because by then he was barely alive. The twelve year old boy and fifteen year old girl he'd been with, helping them to fix their shelter, had been tortured for only a short time before admitting that there were three other strangers that had accompanied him.

The Jaffa now knew to look for an older man, a woman with hair the colour of the sun and a younger man who could speak like a native but had the blue eyes of a demon.

A few hours later, Sam had been at the oasis gathering water. Out of the corner of her eye she watched the six Jaffa close by with mounting tension. Furthest from her mind was that they were there for her. She was worried instead that they might have thought to take one of the women she was with. When she leant over to retrieve one of the pots of water, her dog tags had slipped free from her robes. All too late, as the Jaffa descended on her with a cry, did she realise that she had been the target.

They yanked her hood from her head, exposing her blonde hair to the light of day. She was beaten ruthlessly as the other women she had been with scattered with terrified cries.

Jack would have been harder to spot, if he hadn't been cresting the hill just as Sam was taken down. He had hurtled towards the Jaffa, pulling his P-90 free from his robes. A tiny, rational part of his mind had advised him to stay hidden so he could rescue her later, but that part had been drowned out by his horror at watching an armoured foot connect solidly with the small of Sam's back, tossing her like a rag doll.

If it hadn't been for the twelve additional Jaffa lying in wait, Jack might have had a chance.

Daniel had watched as a sobbing woman tore into the encampment, heading for Katep.

Katep had looked up at Daniel and he had risen, dread washing over him.

A Jaffa patrol had been only a few minutes behind the woman but Daniel had been dragged to an underground bunker, hidden away with the children and the youngest of the women. He huddled in the dark, his face burning in shame and sorrow, knowing that his friends would be tortured for hours on end to disclose his whereabouts and also knowing that they never would.

The public executions, only three days later, had been a last ditch effort to flush him out. It had nearly worked. Daniel had been held forcibly down, screaming and thrashing, as one after the other his friends met their fate. Later, when the Jaffa had questioned them, the villagers had told of how the blue-eyed man had wandered into the desert, driven mad with grief.

They left out the part where he was brought back.