Young Writers Society

The two exchanged a look and silently weighed the options.

It was impossible to tell what table the man had come from - at least, that was what he had originally thought. But then his companion gave a subtle nod in the direction of a table to the back, and he found himself grateful for the fact that he hadn't ended up here alone.

"They look like one of the cowboys from O'Neill's westerns, Daniel Jackson," his companion softly said. He was inclined to agree. This man and the two men waiting for him (rather suspiciously) at a back table looked like they could have come from one of Jack's favorite westerns.

"Oh, hi," someone suddenly said from behind the mysterious man.

Daniel let out a quiet groan.

She was back.

Her hair was now thrown up in a bun - a surprising twist - and she was dressed in clothing that was more akin to the clothes of this world. (Though it still was noticeably mainly black and sexual.) Her arms were laden with bags of clothing, which she quickly shoved into both Daniel and his companion's arms.

"There you go," she said. "One set of clothing for each of you, as promised." She turned her attention to the man, raised an eyebrow and promptly used the tavern's counter as a place to rest her elbow. "Have we met before-"

"Vala?" an unfamiliar voice suddenly said; it belonged go one of the men back at the stranger's table. He had stood up the moment he noticed her.

Daniel groaned. Of course she was going to get them into trouble again!

"Vala?" the other man said, hopping to his feet as well. Daniel stared at him. It couldn't be, could it-

"Cameron?" he incredulously asked.

"Daniel?" Cameron said, joining the growing group up by the tavern's bar, the other man lingering behind him with a nervous expression on his face. He spun around and stared at the man towering behind Daniel. "Teal'c?"

Teal'c confirmed the assumption with a simple nod of his head.

James flipped around to see the looks of recognition on Cameron's and Maahes's faces. He'd recognized Vala the moment she'd addressed him, but he didn't know the others. But by association with her, he had to assume they were all friends or part of Cam's crew. He backed away towards Maahes a little awkwardly and cleared his throat. It seemed the others recognized Cam but not Maahes, but that was to be expected. Maahes wouldn't be able to so freely change his guise to convince them he was their friend in the middle of town, in the middle of a tavern.

"You know them?" he asked quietly to Maahes.

"Y-Yeah," he said, staring at the group that he was currently standing on the very edges of. Of course he knew them - they were SG-1. They were his team. While Cameron was far from expected, the arrival of the remaining three members definitely threw him off more. He kept his voice low, not wanting to draw the attention of his friends or the other people in the tavern. "Daniel is Dr. Daniel Jackson - he's an archeologist, and the resident expert on Alteran language and history. Teal'c is one of the Jaffa. His people were enslaved by the Goa'uld for thousands of years, and he just helped them win their freedom."

He looked over at James. "They're the rest of my team."

But what was he supposed to do about that now? Cameron and Vala both knew the truth about him, but Daniel and Teal'c thought he was just some stranger. And he couldn't exactly explain he was himself standing up in the front of the tavern. Vala looked like she wanted to help explain - and Cameron, too - but they had simultaneously come to the same conclusion he had. They all looked around at each other.

"You haven't found Leo?" Daniel said to Cameron, scanning the tavern for the person that was, awkwardly enough, standing less than five feet away from him.

Cameron snuck a glance in Maahes's direction. "I have," he said. "It's just a bit of a long story."

"We can tell you the story later," James added, starting to walk in the direction of their table, hoping everyone would follow. He looked to Maahes, hoping he would stay close. With the arrival of all of Maahes's friends, he was very quickly feeling like the odd one out, despite being on Nye.

With the arrival of the rest of his team, Maahes was very quickly feeling like the odd one out, despite being surrounded by a group of people he had been through countless harrowing circumstances with. To make things worse, Vala hadn't really noticed him yet, and she was one of the few people who fully understood the truth about him. Cameron was just barely scratching the surface.

Maahes stuck close to James.

When the group sat down at the table several moments later, he made sure to sit in one of the seats beside James. Cameron took the other - whether it was because he was worried that James would feel uncomfortable sitting next to a stranger, or because he was worried about the fact that James was on a wanted poster, Maahes couldn't tell.

Which left the seat next to him.

His nonexistent heart skipped a beat when Vala sat down beside him.

He wanted to say something to her, but feared doing so would only make the conversation about who he was all the more awkward. He grabbed a menu off of the table and hid his face behind it instead, hoping that no one saw just how red it had become when he remembered the conversation he had with Cameron and James.

Daniel and Teal'c looked around for a moment, then removed their hoods.

"So where is Leonardo Cartwright?" Teal'c asked. This question was directed towards Cameron, who, when Maahes peeked over the menu he was holding, looked increasingly uncomfortable.

"And how are you involved?" Daniel questioned; this was meant for James. "You said that you knew Adrion when we were asking about him."

Maahes dropped his menu in surprise at the name. He looked wildly around the table at the two members of his team. How had they known that name-? That had been the name he used with Annie. He had never once used it around someone from the SGC, even when he went out to search for her. So then how was that-

He turned and stared at Vala.

Who was now staring at him.

There was no doubt that she had realized it was him. Quickly grabbing the menu from off of the table again, he raised it as high as he could and hid his beet red face behind it. "Hi, V-Vala," he managed to get out. Come on! He had crushes on people before, and he was never this bad around her! The only reason he was getting flustered was because of that conversation with Cameron and James.

She pushed the menu back.

"Hi..." A pause, a moment of hesitation. She must have told Daniel and Teal'c some of the truth - otherwise they wouldn't have known about the difference between Leonardo Cartwright and Adrion. But she couldn't have told them all of it, because she was struggling with picking out what name to call him right now. "...Leo."

Daniel and Teal'c turned away from Cameron and James and stared at him.

James had absolutely no idea how to manage the situation, but all he could hope was that no one was loud or drew attention to the fact that Maahes looked different than either of his Leo or Adrion guises. That, and it sounded like the others didn't have the full story. They only knew about Leo and Adrion, but they hadn't mentioned Maahes. So for the sake of simplicity, when they could address the confusion later, and not in a public space, he decided to stick with calling Maahes Leo instead, since that was what Vala opted for.

"Leo and I are friends, and I am also acquainted with Vala. It's a long story that I don't want to tell here," he said, emphasizing here with a look around the tavern. "But I'm sure we can later. It'd be helpful for you to know that I am native to this place," he continued, keeping it vague on the rare occasion of someone eavesdropping. "So I know the way around. I can help you, as I had planned to do for Cam and Leo. I also see that Vala found some clothes for you all... I'd suggest you change into them, whenever possible."

Though they were in the tavern for only a short period of time, the experience felt like it lasted an eternity. He had to keep remembering that he was Leo here and not Maahes, and he could tell the three that knew the truth about him were struggling to keep using the right name. By the time they had left, Maahes had decided that it was one of the more awkward experiences of his 20,000 year long life.

Once they were out of the tavern, the group made their way back to the trees that Cameron, Maahes and James had all hidden in prior to entering the town. They stood there awkwardly for a moment, no one quite sure where to begin.

"So," Cameron hesitantly said.

"So," Daniel repeated, just as uncomfortably.

James kept from rolling his eyes, and instead cleared his throat.

"Leo is my friend. I know him better at Maahes. He found himself here on Nye long ago, much like yourselves, and I helped him get back to his home."

Maahes looked over at James, eyes wide and skin pale. He started to shake his head in denial of what had just been said, but the damage had been done. Teal'c was going for his staff weapon, and Daniel was reaching for a gun. He wanted to cry at how horribly this was going.

"You're the Scarlet Lord," Daniel said. The barrel of his gun was directed at Maahes now. He tried his best to hide a gulp. "It makes sense now - the timing of when you joined Stargate Command lines up with when we stopped hearing about him."

"Did you know?" Teal'c asked Vala, looking her over with a calm expression on his face. There was just a hint of hurt in his voice - betrayal never did feel good. And, of course, the tip of the very dangerous staff weapon was currently pointed right at Maahes's chest.

"Yes," Vala said.

Daniel turned his gun on her.

"But it's not what you think!" Vala hurriedly protested. Maahes instinctively took a step in front of her, Teal'c's staff weapon following him as he did so. She tried to sneak past him, but he was too stubborn and prevented her from doing so. "You don't know the whole story-"

"He's a Goa'uld, Vala!" Daniel shouted back. "I knew we shouldn't have trusted you."

"You try stealing a ship one time, and suddenly everyone thinks the worst of you."

"You threw everyone off the ship and tied me up afterwards to make sure I couldn't get them back!"

She gave a hesitant shrug from behind Maahes. "It was a difficult time in my life?"

Daniel groaned.

"Daniel, put the gun down," Cameron suddenly said, his voice quiet. "And, Teal'c, please put your staff weapon down."

Both gave one last wary glance at Maahes before doing as ordered. Maahes breathed out a sigh of relief, and went to hug Vala out of habit - only to remember what Cameron and James had said a short time earlier.

"We need to talk," Cameron said. Vala nodded in agreement, and went to join the conversation - leaving Maahes alone with James.

Maahes turned to his friend. "Could we, uh, talk for a minute?" he hesitantly asked. "I know-I know it seems like I don't have the best team, but they really are good people. It's just that..." He took a deep breath and let it back again very slowly. "For awhile, I pretended to be a Goa'uld. Since I already had my history with Ra, it wasn't that hard. I just said that I had been trapped on Earth for thousands of years, and only just managed to escape. And I can replicate what a Goa'uld looks and sounds like, so it wasn't that hard."

Another deep breath. He tried to ignore the sounds of Vala and Cameron trying to explain things to the rest of his team.

"But I couldn't use a fake name," he said. His voice caught in his throat. "I-I had to use the name Maahes. It's the only one that could have possibly worked..." He looked behind him at the rest of SG-1. "So anytime someone from my universe hears my real name, they think of The Scarlet Lord - it was one of my titles during my time with Ra, so I tried to use it as much as possible..."

James's heart sank with each following reaction following his mention of Maahes's name. Immediately, he felt foolish for forgetting Cam's first reaction at learning who Maahes was out of the context of the full truth, and he wished he could disappear into the forest. But he knew Maahes likely wished to do the same, even more so.

When Maahes pulled him aside, his heart sank even lower. He didn't think it could, but somehow it did, and he found himself looking to the ground. He of all people should've been able to understand: sometimes names carried more weight than you wished to grant them, and sometimes the mention of it would only invite violence. And Maahes had had even less choice in his situation.

Apologetically, with eyes shamefully downcast, he whispered his reply.

"I'm sorry. I should've known. I'll be more careful with it from now on."

"It's okay," Maahes reassured him, his tone gentle. "You couldn't have possibly known. It's not...It's not something that I ever really talked about with you. You knew that I was hunting down Kek, but I never really explained how I was doing it..."

He stared down at the ground like James was, trying to figure out what the next best thing to say was. He knew it was a sudden change in topic, but he still needed answers for earlier. James was on a wanted poster. He had known that for a long time, but why had he never thought to ask him about it? "James?" he questioned. "Why exactly are you wanted?"

James nodded repeatedly as Maahes tried to assure him of his former ignorance making the use of Maahes's real name excusable. The following silence was a relief after running into the rest of Cam's quick-growing crew, but when Maahes asked the question, James instinctively found himself thrown into a state of paranoia.

He slowly scanned the area and listened for anyone else who could've been in the area eavesdropping. He also sent a quick look at Cam and the others. None of them knew either.

"Treason," he said quickly, under his breath, before stepping back a few steps and turning to the side, away from the others, wary that they might overhear. "I used to be in the royal guard. I was close with the king."

"Oh," Maahes said.

He noticing how James was deliberately trying to avoid SG-1 from overhearing the conversation, and he wished he could have convinced James to trust them as much as he did. They were good, kind people. They'd understand. Teal'c especially would. But he wasn't going to share that with them was James was clearly wary of someone other than him learning the reason why.

"I'm guessing the king wasn't a good person," Maahes said. He hesitated, not quite sure where to go next. "I guess we're more similar than I thought, then," he commented, giving him a small smile. "I was one of Ra's most trusted subordinates, right up until the moment that a rebel group summoned me and got me to help with their rebellion."

Maahes looked over his shoulder at Teal'c, then back at James. "Teal'c's been in a similar situation, too," he hesitantly added. "Remember how Cameron asked me if you were my first prime? First primes are the the most trusted members of a Goa'uld's slaves and soldiers. They all have special marks to show their allegiance and position."

He pointed up at his own forehead.

"Teal'c was a god named Apophis's first prime, years ago," Maahes quietly informed him. "He rebelled against him when SG-1 got caught."

James sent a glance back at the members of SG-1 as Maahes explained their pasts. It sounded like many of them had sacrificed their lives to put corrupts leaders out of power and to save the lives of others. He knew Maahes had done so, among many other acts of heroism he knew Maahes was too humble to mention.

He did not doubt the risks and all that they were required to give up to get where they were at. But he didn't know how to explain the nuances of his situation. On Nye, loyalty was valued above integrity. He didn't know if it was ever different, but after the calamity, humanity's main goal was to draw together their collective strength to keep the peace and survive. After the passing decades, they were finally starting to get on their feet. Anything that threatened their peace of life was quickly snuffed out. There were few in number who were willing to give their lives for the sake of change because nobody wanted change. They wanted stability. So people grew complacent, compromising morals for the sake of preferring a quiet life, if they didn't turn to crime in the lawless lands.

There was a reason those who threatened the peace were forced to retreat to the Outlands.

That, and his small act of rebellion was fruitless. It was a pebble thrown at a stone wall. All he ended up doing was sabotaging his life because in a moment of panic, he failed to think smart. If he had lied better, or done anything different and better, he could've remained in the ranks of the royal guard and made a change from the inside. But now he was stuck on the outside, so far estranged from the land he sought to change in his futile efforts and unable to return without getting caught and silenced as a candle snuffed out.

He was as useless on the outside as he would be captured. There were no resistance efforts, and no one willing to join his cause - a cause that even he had trouble defining. That, and even if there were people to join him, he was not ready to lead a rebellion like Teal'c. Or whatever the others had done.

Whatever passion he had for justice was stilled into dormancy under the pressure of constant fear for his life.

But he was too ashamed to admit that to Maahes.

"Ah," he said weakly, lowering his gaze back to the ground. "...Yes," he said quietly. "King Blackfield is a corrupt man, hidden under the guise of great charisma and false pretenses."

Though he couldn't immediately tell what the reason for the sudden change in mood was, he knew James enough to understand that something about their conversation had bothered his friend. The actions were one thing to go off of; the weak response was another.

It took a few moments, but he finally was able to figure out what had been the cause of it.

James had just been comparing how successful their attempts supposedly were to how successful his had been. And when Maahes only gave the basics of both his story and Teal'c's, it made them like they had been far more successful than James had been.

"James," he quietly said, "what Teal'c and I did didn't go the way that you're thinking. Teal'c...Teal'c was ostracized after leaving Apophis's jaffa. It took him seven years to gather support and the manpower for a rebellion, and that was because he had the SGC backing him up - and thousands of years of oppression. It doesn't really happen now, but I've heard that Teal'c was always called a traitor, and the few Goa'uld that are left love trying to harm him the most out of all the jaffa."

He took a deep breath.

"And mine didn't go that well, either," he added. His gaze dropped down to the ground. He didn't like to think about how that part of his past had turned out, but there was no point in trying to avoid it now. "The rebellion failed. Most of the people were killed, and the few that weren't were carted off to other planets. Annie's one of their descendants...my last charge from them was to see to Ra's death, but Ra ran off after the rebellion happened. That's why I was stuck on Earth for nearly ten tho-so many years."