Title: Shackled

Author: Angel Leviathan

Spoilers: Anything, everything.

Season: Late Season 1

Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis, characters, concept, etc, aren't mine.

She stared out at the ocean, the folds of her peplos swaying around her feet, her arms folded and eyes glazed over. She imagined she must know how Ariadne felt, if there had ever truly been an Ariadne, abandoned on that island. She too had known what she was getting herself into and she too had been left to fend for herself. Amarante curled a stray lock of her dark hair back behind her ear and sighed, wishing she could have fallen out of love with him sooner. She had known he would leave. He had told her so and still she had insisted on seeing him. It wasn't even as if she could slip back into society. Now he was gone, she was damaged goods. No man would want to marry her now. She would live out the rest of her days in her parent's house, the sole unmarried daughter. Amarante had seen how the women of his society had behaved, as equals to the males, if not more. Then again, she'd also seen an Egyptian woman and the scorn she received from society for the rights her own people gave her. Gods forbid she should step out of place herself. There was nothing left for her now. She might as well kill herself in a loud and dramatic manner, like one of the women in the plays her brother had told her about. But, she supposed, that would only bring more shame upon her family than she already had. Amarante silently seethed; it wasn't as if she were young girl, she was a grown woman, able to make her own decisions, yet society declared she couldn't. Her dark eyes fell shut as she prepared to leave the beach and walk home. Only seconds later, her eyes flew back open as she felt arms wrap around her shoulders and a head rest against hers.

"Thought I'd find you here."

Amarante whirled round, stunned to find herself staring into the eyes of her lover. "…You…"

"I decided to stay." Nikomedes half smiled, somewhat pleased he'd shocked her.

"…But that means…"

"They've left without me. All of them, revelling in their ability to surpass-" He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. They've gone, I'm here. They won't be back. They've gone to a better place. 'Ascended' you might say…"

"To be with the gods?" she questioned.

"They are the gods…" he thought. "Or so they think."

Amarante frowned. "Nik…you stayed behind…for me?"

"For you." He nodded.

"But…" she looked away, "…I will never be a member of decent society. I might as well be a slave to my parents. I'll never be able to leave their house, I'll grow old and-"

"Come with me." Nikomedes held her tightly against him.

"Go with you? Where? Being a foreigner is as bad as being a slave!" She looked up at him. "…I love you…but…our worlds won't mix…we will always be different, never belong…"

"We will belong," he insisted, "Away from this place."

"Away from here?"

"Far away from here."

"I have heard of many countries…across the water…but even they will not accept two Athenians in their societies…"

"Further than you can imagine." He smiled, eyes dancing. "A city long abandoned, from where we could go anywhere we wanted…"

"Anywhere?" Amarante echoed. "Anywhere, where nobody could bother us?"

"My home."

She blinked. "…You said you had lived with the gods…" visions of joint suicide ran through her mind.

Nikomedes ran a hand through his raven hair and sighed, holding his right palm out. A glowing ball of energy appeared in its centre. He smirked and flicked it toward her. "Does that make me a god?"

She caught it, frowning. She'd seen him pull the same stunt before and at first had been impressed. That was before she had learnt he could be more human than anybody she had ever known. "…No…" She held it up as it fizzled out.

"It's a shame you don't treat your women as we do…" he said softly, kissing her forehead. "…You could have been one of our brightest…"

"Amarante raised an eyebrow. "I could have been one of the most flattered."

"We go, tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow."

A month later they had travelled to another galaxy, only to meet their end. He by his own choice, she by the hand of 'superior' beings.

"We found another recording."

"Another recording?" Elizabeth looked up from her laptop to see John Sheppard standing at the door to her office.

"Of the Ancients." He paused. "Well, they found another recording."

"They?"

"McKay and Zelenka. Another early morning search of the city." He sounded rather disgusted that anybody should be up before noon.

She shook her head. "I should have known it wasn't you." She glanced at the pocket watch on her desk with a smile. "Eleven in the morning and you'd already found something? You'd stumbled out of your quarters without a given mission before-"

"Alright, alright." John stopped her, grinning. "You win. But you gotta come see this. It's got a couple of hints to where McKay thinks there might be ZPM's."

"Hints?" She stood. "Or just wishful thinking?"

"Well, you know the Ancients and their love of secrecy and riddles…"

"What've we got?" Elizabeth questioned, blinking as her eyes adjusted to a dimly lit room.

"Ancient recording device," McKay answered.

"We know that." John's voice carried as he entered the room, having been ambling behind. "What's on it?

"The woman talks about the Stargate, their escape to Earth, where they may have left some ZPM's nearby in-case recovering Atlantis was ever an option…"

"Let's take a look," Weir requested.

Moments later, a dark-haired woman appeared on the platform in the centre of the room, elevated so she appeared to be looking down on them. Elizabeth didn't think much of that. It was minutes into the 'speech' that the figure began that she noticed that John hadn't moved, spoken or even made any quiet snide comments.

"…John…?" she whispered.

He was staring, wide-eyed. "…I know her…"

"Yes, Major, you know one of the Ancient race, thousands of years-" McKay began.

"Hey, I'm not kidding, I've seen her before…"

"The other recording?" Elizabeth proposed. She looked him up and down before her attention was drawn back to the image. The form of another person flickered into view by the Ancient's feet. It took her several seconds to realize that the female figure, though kneeling, was evidently dead. Elizabeth took in a gasp of air, sickened. …But she couldn't tear her eyes away.

"I know her too…" John uttered.

She couldn't hear him. As she stared at the fallen woman, distant voices rang louder and louder in her mind; screams and laughter; desperate sobbing and cries of pain. She knew the figure. More than knew her. Elizabeth couldn't breathe. Knees buckling beneath her, she managed to choke out a strangled single note as she collapsed heavily to the floor in a faint.

"Elizabeth!" John caught her as she fell and gently lowered her to the ground.

"What happened?" McKay demanded.

"I don't know."

She stirred in his arms, mumbling something before her eyes opened to slits. Elizabeth smiled up at John, delighted, as if she were seeing someone else entirely. "…Nik…you made it back…let's go to Atlantis…let's go today…"