jennickels: (sg1: gate_jack)
jennickels ([personal profile] jennickels) wrote2011-07-24 07:05 pm

Stargate SG-1 fic: To Carry On

Yay, got some writing done.

To Carry On
by jennickels (aka Jen Connelly)
Stargate SG-1
Jack/Sam
503 words
rating: PG-13
WARNINGS: death of major character


Jack loses the most important member of his team but he has to find the strength to carry on for his friends, for Earth... for her. Inspired by this Harry Potter quote: "We must try not to sink beneath our anguish, Harry, but battle on."

don't own... wish I did, but I don't. No infringement intended.


"Come on, Jack!" Daniel yanks on his arm trying to drag him from the battlefield. Around them trees burst into flames as Jaffa take potshots at their location. They can't see SG-1 but they know they were there. And one of them had got lucky.

Jack's eyes slide to the prone body next to him. Body. The word tears a hole in his chest. Right where his heart used to reside.

"JACK!"

A shower of sparks erupts just feet from Daniel's head, stone and mortar crashing down around them. He ducks down, wiping the grime from his tear-streaked face.

"O'Neill, we must leave this place." Teal'c squats down next to them as another blast gets terrifyingly close to their position. He frowns at Jack, apparently dissatisfied with the way he's handling the loss of one of their own.

Jack squeezes his eyes shut and tries not to see her broken body lying in the dirt, a pool of blood radiating out. The bile rises quickly and he's on his hands and knees emptying the contents of his stomach. Daniel jumps back but seconds later his hands are on Jack's shoulder—gentle but insistent he move.

"Jack," he nearly whispers right in his ear, "we have to go." Daniel's putting on a brave face but Jack can hear the anguish in his voice.

"We can't leave her," he mumbles back. "No one gets left behind."

Daniel's hands still.

"This position will be overrun any moment, O'Neill. We must leave."

Jack tenses. I'd rather die myself than lose Carter. The words race through his mind. "I'll stay," he murmurs.

"What? No, Jack, we have to get out of here."

Jack shakes his head. "Can't." The words stop in his throat and he thinks he might wretch again.

"What purpose will it serve if you also do not survive this attack?"

"Jack, SG-3 is pinned down on the other ridge. We have to go help them."

"We must continue to fight." Teal'c rises. Daniel follows.

"Sam wouldn't want you to die. Not like this. She would want you to fight."

Jack looks over at her again. The motionlessness rattles his nerves but he knows that they're right. He's not sure how he'll keep going but, glancing up at the rest of his team, he knows he has to—for them, for Earth... for her. Finally he moves, the initial agony subsiding. Daniel gathers their weapons and Jack leans over Carter. She still smells like her shampoo and the base laundry detergent. He leans his face into her hair, taking a deep breath—he doesn't want to ever forget that scent.

Slowly he winds his fingers around the chain on her neck and with a whispered apology yanks her dog tags free. A single glance back as they retreat around the crumbling building is the last time he ever sees her. But he goes on. Because he has to. Because there's still a war to fight. Carter would want it that way, he thinks.
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[identity profile] thothmes.livejournal.com 2011-08-02 03:08 am (UTC)(link)
Nothing like a death fic to make it so quiet that you can hear the crickets chirp, huh?

Yes, this is the situation we all hope never happens, because we all know that Jack will handle it badly, even if he is trying to carry on for her. It will creep out slowly, but inevitably, and scour him bare.

It would have been better if it were the other way around. She would have always expected him to go first, if for the age difference, if nothing else, and would be better prepared.

Still, this piece was beautiful, and I can vividly see how it would have played.

I suspect that Jack gets into a little bit of administrative trouble because he'll show Fraiser and Hammond the tags, he just won't hand them over, no way, no how.

On a completely different subject, I hope your [livejournal.com profile] sg1ficathon entry went well, and was duly beta'd and posted. I got mine in under the wire, despite a bit of last minute drama with a corrupted file. I really should have known better than to take that on in July, the only month I workd outside the home, but when I got involved, I hoped that it was going to be due in August, and then I liked the prompt so much, I couldn't resist. The end result was not as tight and interlocked as I had hoped for but Muse had a bad case of the wanders. Maybe my Whirlwind's ADHD is catching?

[identity profile] jennickels.livejournal.com 2011-08-02 03:59 am (UTC)(link)
I actually got a few reviews on ff.net. One of them was begging me to "fix" it because she couldn't deal with Sam dying. She even contacted me on twitter begging again and I saw a tweet from her earlier telling me she has an idea to bring Sam back.

Some people just can't deal with deathfic.

I did it from Jack's POV because that was the first thing that popped into my head. I agree there would be issues with Jack handing over those tags.

I submitted my friendathon story but it's not done. Hopefully in the next couple days. I was close to finishing it last night but couldn't think of a title so I could submit it, lol. Spent almost an hour doing that and then I was too tired to finish writing. Tried to work on it today at the beach but the baby had other ideas.