stargateficrec | Mnemophobia by Tripoli (PG-13 by reccer)

Rec Category: Gen
Pairing: none
Category: Daniel Jackson, Jack O'Neill, Sam Carter, Teal'c, AU, Skaara, angst, drama, character study, episode related, original character
Warning: none
Author on LJ

tripoli8
Author's Website: appears to be currently down
Link: Mnemophobia

Why This Must Be Read:
There are a number of stories in SG-1 fandom which postulate different possible ways Daniel could have descended after season six, and I think this is one of the best. A freak accident leaves Jack, Sam and Teal'c temporarily stranded on a planet. In town that night, while seeking refuge from a storm and medical treatment for Sam, they come across a man who claims to be called "Arjun" but looks impossibly familiar.

Tripoli creates an intricate, detailed world and involved backstory about the Ascended Ancients and their interaction with mortals as the team desperately tries to convince Arjun that he is actually their long-lost teammate. The clash of personalities, tide of hidden memory, and careful revelations are so well done and so realized that by the end you almost aren't sure if you want Daniel to return. It's a long story, but well worth the read, and it's Friday, so you have a weekend coming up anyway.

Arjun carefully propped the foreigner up against the alley wall, wincing at how fast the gas had dropped him. He’d gotten the gas grenade full in the face, and he’d be out for a couple of hours at least. Arjun turned to Lux as she stepped out of the building’s back door. “I was handling that, you know.”

Lux spread her hands, a tin ball still pinned between the first two fingers of one of them. “All I know is what the boss tells me.”

“Uh huh.” Of course Vada would call Lux the minute there was trouble; she was probably halfway to Vayaraj before he’d made his so well-thought-out exit from the temple. You really are a bonehead, Arjun. He wiped some of the water out of his eyes absently, as Lux toed the box the foreigner had spoken into.

“What do I do with him?” she asked.

His brows lifted. He almost said, Armed foreigners chased me out of a homeless shelter, this is kind of a first for me, but thought better of it.

He acted like he knew me. From before.

He knelt beside the foreigner, studying his slack face for anything that might spark some recognition, but there was nothing.

Of course there isn’t, he told himself. That’s because he’s either lying or crazy, and you’ve never seen him before in your life. Still, he had to stifle an unexpected stab of disappointment that the man’s appearance hadn’t triggered something, somehow.

He said my name was Daniel. Arjun stood straight. He said it like we were friends.

Lux frowned at him, returning the gas balls to her pouch. “Should I come back later?”

“No, that’s all right,” he sighed. “This guy’s friends are going to be looking for him, and I want to talk to him first. Do you think Vada’s got an empty room I could use?”

Her brows lifted. “I’ve got a big bed. Boy-girl-boy?”

“Maybe next time,” he told her, and lifted the foreigner up by one shoulder. “Come on, let’s—” Arjun looked up, realizing suddenly that he could hear himself. “How about that?” he said softly, brushing some hair off his forehead. “It’s stopped raining.”