Serpent's Vow

20: Unexpected Luck

Oh no.

That was the last coherent thought she had before she shattered. That was the only word she could come up with to describe the sudden, intense pain that gripped her and ripped her apart. It felt like millions of tiny strings secured to her body suddenly tightened and pulled her apart piece by piece. Her vision blurred and her mind fumbled in its attempt to comprehend what was happening. She almost heard voices screaming, whispering, talking, crying, laughing, all muffled together in a single noise that began to fade away into the darkness that would consume her.

Then something shocked her and she was yanked back together with such force her body convulsed and she collapsed to her knees, hugging herself and gasping. Cascade tremor. She swallowed over her dry cotton mouth as her chest heaved, dragging air into her lungs. Not enough. It wasn't enough. She was panicking.

She was going to die. She should be dead. That was the worst cascade tremor she'd had since they began. She had actually felt her self splinter into innumerable pieces about to be flung across the universe. Why hadn't it? Not that she was complaining! But what had stopped it?

She should be dead.

Slowly, her mind began to grasp reality and latch onto the voices around her. Kawalsky was the first voice she recognized. Then Jack's, the familiarity of the man who wasn't her husband bringing with it the heart-stabbing pain she would learn to live with one day. Then Dr. Jackson's concerned voice filtered in sounding like it was trying to calm Kawalsky and Jack down.

But weaving intermittently through those voices was a deeper voice she had to think about before finally recognizing it. Kaiba. Why was he talking? She wasn't sure yet, her mind was still anchoring itself back to the here and now, but it almost sounded like Kaiba was talking to her.

"Breathe. Again. Again. Breathe."

She found herself obeying the low commands even as the muscles in her body spasmed violently sending shudders up and down her spine. She coughed then took a deep, unsteady breath.

Finally she slumped, leaning back into the warm hands gripping her shoulders and holding her steady. She was back. She was going to be okay. She didn't know how since she really should be dead. But she knew she would be okay now.

"Thanks," she muttered.

The hands slipped from her shoulders a second before a shadow fell over her and Kawalsky's face filled her gaze. His larger hands cupped her face and took a good look at her.

"Hey Sam," he said gently. "You okay?"

Hesitantly, she nodded. "Yeah," she whispered. "Yeah, I'm okay," she said again after swallowing, her voice stronger.

The man grimaced and pulled her into a brief, tight hug before standing and helping her get to her feet. She wobbled but caught herself.

"What did you do?" Kawalsky demanded.

"Kept her alive."

Kaiba?

"Or would you prefer I let her die before she made it here?"

Definitely "Kaiba?" she gasped, turning to the Tok'ra in surprise.

Kawalsky bared his teeth and made as if to lunge. Kaiba didn't even flinch, he just met Kawalsky's glare with a passive, bored stare.

"What are you doing here?" Samantha asked. "Thank you! But how do you... You were just-"

She turned to point to a spot behind her when she finally got a good look at the room she was in. The room was empty except for her, Jack, Kawalsky, Dr. Jackson, and Teal'c. The lone door to the room was open wide, hanging limply on its hinges, and the hallway beyond was dark and filled with twisted metal and debris from grenade damage.