Title: Ending
Rating: Barely even PG
Spoilers: Basically, any of Vala's story arc from s9-10, Especially Ties That Bind, Crusade, and Unending
Pairings: Vala/Daniel, Vala/Tomin, Vala/Arlos, Vala/Other
Characters: Specifically Vala, but mentions of others.
Genre: Character introspection, romance, angst, AUish
Warnings: Speculation fic, and thus arguably AU.
Summary: A lifetime of solitude leaves far too much time for reflection.



Disclaimer: If I owned Stargate, I would have dropped some of the more boring story arcs in order to fit Ark of Truth as the series finale instead of Unending. Also, Jack would have been present.

AN: This is one of the only times you'll see me writing Vala/Daniel. Anyway, this is among my first SG fics, and definitely my first shot at tackling the more serious side of Vala. I personally wouldn't expect too much.

Oh yes. Fabulously cliche title, isn't it? ;D

--

Ending

*

Her very first had been an entertainer with bright eyes and a brighter smile. He had promised the adventures that she had grown up dreaming of, and taught her how to survive outside of her quiet village. She never could cook, but with him, she didn't need to. Together with him and a band of misfits with wanderlust, they called themselves traveling entertainers. Truthfully, they were closer to gypsies than anything else.

She figured it was close enough to the adventures she'd always imagined to keep her happy for the rest of her life. But as good entertainers as they were, they were not quite as good thieves. The last she saw of him he was pushing her ahead, and insisting that the angry patrol would not follow her through the ring.

**

Her second was a villager in a town as far away from the ring as she could walk. He was simple and honest, and could not bake anything more complex than a vegetable stew, but that was alright, because he grew it instead, and she had plenty of time to practice.

His family welcomed her with open arms and no doubt. She never told him about her life before the ring, and he never asked. She accepted the second chance, and promised herself to use it to be better. Fire rained from the heavens before the ceremony was finished, and she stayed behind to ensure those she cared about got away.

She fought the influence of the creature that invaded her mind, but in the end it was her hand that inflicted the torture upon her family, and her voice that ordered the subjugation of her people. He was the leader of the rebellion that eventually overthrew her, and among the first to hurl over-sized rocks.

The last she heard, the world had been destroyed for refusing to bow to the Ori.

***

She didn't really expect a third chance after the Tok'ra freed her, and after everything she had learned, trapped inside a prison within her own mind, she knew things would never go back to the way they once were.

So she fashioned a new life, different from before, not nearly so naive as the band of entertainers who had taught her sleight of hand. Of all her adventures, she had finally reached the truth behind the stories her father told.

It was the never ending smile her father himself had taught her, that earned her place among a band of smugglers, and the favor of the leader. It was only through a friend and partner that she learned it was all a scam on her.

She did not feel a need to ask why, nor any regret in repaying the valuable lesson in survival with a broken crystal, only contempt when her friend, Kias left her to face the repercussions on her own.

****

She was past the point of looking back and wishing for things to be different. Strictly, the marriage celebrations were barely completed, by the time she stripped the sweet, rich young man of his family's supply of naquadahn treasures.

All the same, it was her fair share. The people were much too primitive to do anything with the naquadah but make jewelry, anyway. The city looked nice, reflected in the window of her cargo ship. That time it was her that imparted the lesson.

No doubt his next wife would be faithful and true, and that seemed quite a fitting trade-off, all things considered.

*****

Arlos was a much shrewder man. It took her many years to earn his trust and adoration, but she had been taught by the best the galaxy had to offer. He was different from any of the others she had met. Smart and well-spoken, neither devious nor entirely honest.

She learned a surprising amount in the time she spent there. Of course, his mother had known of Qetesh, so he really should have known all along that she wasn't going to stay. She certainly did.

******

It was a strange feeling, when she stumbled toward the ring platform, and she knew there was no getting back to the Prometheus. It was that same voice that told her when to bow out of a deal. The same that told her not to look back any longer.

Of course, she never really had listened to it, and then was no exception. But all the same, when the rings bathed her in a much colder light than she remembered, she wondered whether she should have listened to the voice more often.

When she woke up next to him, it almost seemed like a second chance all over again. He was honest, gentle, and kind. A contradiction against the horrible world around her, and the morbid monument that mocked her from the city center.

There was a part of her that believed if she made it back, she could rescue him from the world he had been born into. A part she'd learned to start listening to.

She should have known what price would come with that salvation.

*******

Vala took a slow breath, and turned her gaze to the dimly lit room, banishing the memories that lingered far too long in her mind.

She didn't much like windows. Maybe she was influenced by too many of Earth's television shows, but it was all too easy to fall into memories when you had nothing better to do than gaze outward at an empty, static image.

So she preferred to look inward, at the sleeping form lying in the stillness of the eternal night around them. This was the chance that she had wanted for so long. Here was someone who knew her. Who knew everything about her, and stayed with her anyway.

It took her thirty years to fully agree with the small voice that told her that she'd finally found the one who would stay with her forever. He said they had never married because there was no reason, no need for a ceremony to prove something that the six of them, now only five, already knew.

He believed it was really just a quirk of hers, a need to be free and unfettered--to stay with him purely out of a desire to be there, rather than any duty.

When she was perfectly honest, the truth was...she was not afraid at all to promise forever. She could not stop being afraid that the moment she finally gave in, dressed all in white, and stopped pretending that it wouldn't matter if it all ended right then...she would lose him, as well.

So she pretended, and clung to the one who had taught her the greatest lesson of all. Most of the time, as she lived the isolated life they were granted, and learned to be that person she had always truly dreamt of, she smiled and accepted that she had found someone whom she would never lose.

But she need only to look out the window to know he was already gone.


---

AN: Wow so much speculation. This is what comes from watching the entirety of seasons 9 and 10 over a very short period.

It should be noted that I have watched Ark of Truth, but for purposes of the story, I set it during Unending, and therefore nothing we learn in AoT is pertinent.

Also, I wanted to listen to a Vala-y song while writing it...but somehow ended up listening to Sam and Jack's theme instead. This may have influenced the writing a bit.