Note: I would like to take a moment to say that this is not the finished product of this portion of the story. As of yet, I have not edited. I am meerly putting this out to try and bounce it off a few people and see what they think of the general idea. Anyone who likes it, or has any helpful input, please review. It would be greatly appreciated.

Also the Anubis in this story is not the same as the Anubis introduced in the actual series. He will come in later, but under different pretenses.

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate or any characters affiliated with it.

---

Death Dancer

Chapter 1

Daniel was missing.

Now that SG-1 sat down to think about it, Daniel was always missing. He had a bad tendency to disappear from right beneath their noses and then reappear moments later. It had to be a talent; that was the only thing it could be. The rock happy archeologist would work himself up into a tizzy with one discovery or another and then poof! He was gone.

But this time, it wasn't the same.

This time, Daniel had disappeared on Earth. The young man had little else to do but languish in his office, and that was all he ever did…until now.

The base had been searching for the archeologist for three days and there was neither hide nor hair of him. He had not checked out at the guard post. His car was still in the parking garage. And he had not been through or near the gate since SG-1 returned from a mission five days beforehand.

The only clue anyone had of Daniel's whereabouts was a broken ancient pendant that had been found knocked to the floor of his office. The charm was clearly Goa'uld in origin. The metal was like nothing Sam had ever seen. No tests she ran on the metal gave any indication of its age, its substance, or its purpose. For all they knew it could be anything from a lover's bauble to a highly destructive compact device that could destroy the entire planet in an instant. And there was an energy reading coming off the charm, there was no mistake about that. But once again that energy could not be classified or studied. It was as elusive as the metal, slipping through any machine's scans as if it did not exist at all.

Sam jumped as the alarm sounded, heralding in an incoming wormhole. She rushed to the control room, meeting up with Jack in her rush. They went silently to where they knew they were possibly needed and entered into the control room as the Stargate burst into life. The iris slammed closed.

"Do we have a code yet?" General Hammond enquired, leaning forward towards the glass in an unconscious act of apparent interest.

"It's the Tokr'a, sir," one of the technicians responded.

"Open the iris," Hammond ordered.

The men guarding the gate room went on alert, all weapons aimed at the shimmering pool as a human form stepped through. Sam smiled and rushed from the room.

"Dad!" she cried as she squeezed through the door, embracing him warmly.

"Hey, kiddo," Jacob Carter said with a smiled, giving her arm an affectionate squeeze.

General Hammond and Colonel O'Neill entered the room at a more sedate pace, greeting their friend and ally.

"And to what do we owe the pleasure of your company, old friend?" Hammond inquired, blue eyes alert and full of questions. Jacob always had a reason for coming. Sentimental visits were rare and far between.

"I have some news for you on a new Goa'uld…actually a very old one," Jacob replied.

"Then let's take this to the meeting room."

Minutes later Jacob, Hammond, and all of three quarters of SG-1 were sitting around the large oval table in the meeting room. Jacob was frowning as he went over all the information he was to give them in his head. Selmack offered to help, but Jacob thought it would sound better if he offered up the bad news.

"Okay listen," he began. "It has been discovered that the System Lords are sequestered into a meeting of sorts on an uninhabited planet. They are there without their Jaffa guards. The one who called the meeting is a Goa'uld we have not heard anything about for centuries. But he is one bad guy no one wants to mess with. The System Lords are there at his whim and he has been known to punish them without retribution being sought. The Goa'uld are scared of him, is an easy way of putting it."

"So the snakeheads have a boogey man?" Jack chimed in, raising his eyebrows as if in an attempt to make himself look innocent.

"It's safe to say that, yes, they do," Jacob admitted. "The High Council would like SG-1 to go to this planet and find out anything you can about this Goa'uld."

The innocent look vanished from Jack's face. "Whoa, wait a minute here. Why can't the Tokr'a do their own dirty work? Why do we have to risk our lives to find out about this big bad guy?"

Jacob closed his eyes and lowered his head, only to look back up a moment later. Selmack spoke out, her dual toned voice filling the room. "The Goa'uld Anubis is a very formidable foe. We of the Tokr'a cannot enter into his presence without him knowing we are there. He has the ability to sense the symbiotes of others at a great distance, and only those invited to his planet are allowed to stay. We had sent in one of our operatives. They were killed swiftly and sent back."

The silence the filled the room was palpable. Until Jack opened his mouth.

"So he's a big bad guy with super powers?"

Sam tried not to grin. Teal'c merely raised an eyebrow.

"But even ifwe did go, we're down one man. We can't find Daniel," Sam spoke up.

Jacob looked at her in surprise.

"What do you mean, you can't find Daniel?"

"We can't find him, Dad. He's nowhere around. We've looked. He's been missing for days."

"That is unfortunate," Selmack spoke. "But we must ask you to go now. The summit meeting will not last much longer. It had already gone on longer than any of Anubis' summits to date. They could very well be ending the proceedings at this moment."

"Very well," General Hammond replied, making his decision. "SG-1 will move out in an hour."

Jack was cursing their luck as he and his two present team members entered the enbarkment room. Where the hell was Daniel anyway? He could sit there and growl about it all he wanted, but they had a mission to attend to. Stupid snakeheads…

The Stargate burst into shimmering life and Hammond's voice came over the speaker wishing them luck. Jack decided it was time to grumble again. The general only wished them luck when he thought they were going into very dangerous situations. Damn it!

They had had a small briefing minutes ago, but it did nothing to waylay Jack's nerves. There was something about this mission that didn't bode well. The System Lords were on a planet, denied the presence of their guards, even that of their First Primes. They were allowed one human servant, and they were not allowed any weapons at all. The planet itself was also unguarded. Anubis had no Jaffa. Something in and of itself that was an irregularity. Who ever heard of a Goa'uld that didn't have his little army of incubator warriors?

Jack grumbled under his breath, his hands tightening around his P-90 as he, Sam, and Teal'c silently walked up to the gate and without a moments hesitation, passed through it.

It was dark on the world they entered, looking like dawn was quickly approaching from….whatever direction it rose in on that particular planet. They immediately fled into the safety of the trees, hiding themselves away in the darkness. Sam smiled as she noticed all the tiny white flowered on the ground.

"This place would give Daniel a fit," she commented to the others, smiling fondly at the thought of their currently missing team member. They would find him after this mission.

As they had been promised, there was no one guarding the gate. The world was completely empty. SG-1 followed the path set out through the forest until they came to the clearing at its heart…and the only structure that was supposedly on the entire planet.

In the darkness of predawn they could see the light of torches burning throughout the structure. It was like a scaled down version of a Mayan temple. But at each step/level there were large openings cut into the stone to allow light in. the design of the structure allowed for easy spying…hopefully not too easy.

SG-1 quickly scaled the building, peering in each window for clues as to what they should be looking for. About five steps up…each step seeming to be a wide as the room below it, they found something of interest. All the openings from that point up seemed to looked down on the same central chamber…a chamber filled with a circle of throne-like chairs…and a sarcophagus at the center of them all.

"This must be where they hold their summit," Sam commented. "But where are they?"

"They would be sleeping," Teal'c answered. "Anubis is most likely in the center sarcophagus. The other System Lords would be in the various rooms we have passed over."

"Well, I guess we're in for a lot of waiting then," Jack grumbled, shifting to try and find a more comfortable position from where he was lying on the hard stone of the building.

"Look at all the inscriptions on the walls, sir," Sam pointed out. "Daniel would love to get his hands on this place."

"Well maybe we'll bring ol'Danny boy back here one day…when it's not infested by snakeheads."

For all their waiting, they did get a very lovely view of the sunrise, golden rays sprawling across cloud and ground in a halo of light and shadow. And as the first rays of light began to fill the temple, as the sunlight hit the golden structure within, the sarcophagus began to open.

SG-1 watched as hand came up to rest at the lip of the device, all to aware of the ribbon device adorning that hand, and also noticing the same device on the other hand as it came up to grasp the other side of the sarc. The form slowly sat up, one hand holding in place the hood that shadowed the figures face. As the Goa'uld rose, the flowing black cloak he wore fell around his slender form, hiding all else from view. He stepped out of his sarcophagus and stretched, something that didn't seem like a very Goa'uldish action.

The only part of the man visible was the lower half of his face, which was handsome and, at the moment, adorned with a slight smile at the exhilaration of sleeping within the sarcophagus, and the pale length of the man's throat. All else was covered in darkest black cloak.

"I'm going to guess that is Anubis?" Jack asked, more than said.

"You are correct, O'Neill. Anubis is a god of Death. No one may look upon his face. This is he," Teal'c informed.

Anubis glided up to his throne, the sarcophagus shutting behind him, and slowly sat, his hands resting on the arms of his throne, displaying his two deadly hand devices.

"Come," Anubis spoke, his dual toned, metallic voice flowing through the room like water.

On cue, the System Lords began to enter the chamber, each taking one of the thrones. SG-1 recognized more than a few of them. Osiris was there in all her haughty glory, sneering at all the others in the way that only she could. Heur'ur was present, sitting grudgingly beside Apophis. Cronus, Yu, and Nirrti were all present, as well as six other System Lords that they had yet to encounter and identify.

When all others were seated, Anubis rose, his cloak falling about him. The glow of his eyes momentarily peeked out from under his hood, and then he was pacing, walking slowly behind the chairs of the System Lords. Their apprehension was palpable.

"I would hope that all of you have learned your lesson well," Anubis hissed, trailing his hand across the back of Apophis' head as he passed by. If Jack didn't know any better, he would have said that Apophis flinched at the contact.

One of the other Goa'ulds spoke out in their native language. Teal'c did not care to translate what was said, it was not important. What was important was the snarl that cross Anubis' visible mouth, and then the glow of both his ribbon devises as he took the Goa'uld's head within his hands.

"You are being defiant, Ba'al," Anubis continued to speak in English, something that was odd on its own.

Sam frowned at the interaction. "I think he's trying to annoy them by talking in one of our languages, sir," she commented. Wincing as the glow of both ribbon devices intensified before they were taken away from Ba'al's head. The System Lord looked more than a little drawn after that, maybe a little pained as well.

"Already your petty squabbling has forced me to stay here more than your permitted time. I have been lenient, but I do not appreciate the inconvenience."

"We are deeply sorry, my lord," Osiris purred, fully aware of the female body he had stolen.

"Silence," Anubis nearly yelled, then his voice fell to a chilling calm. "I do not want any of your simpering. All of you bore me. I will not tolerate your presence any longer. Go! Leave! I will have nothing else to do with you all for some time, foolish children."

The System Lords knew when to stop with this new Goa'uld. They did not try to push any points it seemed. Their lives, if they walked away with them, were a gift.

The System Lords rose with as much dignity as they could muster in the situation, and promptly left, their chosen human servants trailing after them.

Jack motioned to his team and they silently followed the Goa'ulds back to the Stargate and watched as each one departed. Then they returned back to the temple. They had a Goa'uld to confront.

They snuck silently into the temple, approaching the main room cautiously. They watched as Anubis walked towards his sarcophagus. He pushed back his hood, revealing short cropped golden brown hair and slowly let his cloak drop to the ground, pooling at his sandal clad feet. He was wearing little more than a white kilt that hung low on his waist, a golden belt keeping the thing fabric from falling from his toned body. Golden bangles wrapped around his biceps and the hand devices glinted dangerously, but he wore nothing else. His built was slender, but he did not look weak. Anubis must have been very vain when he picked his host. The face could be nothing less that beautiful.

"Turn around," Jack called out the order, hoping the Goa'uld would be as arrogant as the rest of his species.

"You petty system lords may not look upon the face of your god," Anubis growled, the disdain almost dripping from his voice.

"We're not your petty system lords," Jack growled back.

The man tensed, fingers clenching tightly around the crystals of the hand devices.

"Shit!" said a very human and very familiar voice. They all knew it well.

"Daniel?"

The young archeologist turned around slowly, grimacing at the sight of his teammates.

"Hi, Jack."

Chapter 2

Daniel bit his lip as Jack glared at him, his face scrunched up in a look of guilty consternation.

"What are you doing here, Daniel?" Jack inquired.

"Oh, you know, a little of this, a little of that," Daniel murmured, shifting uneasily under the accusing stares of his friends. There was also the fact that he was almost naked in front of them…but that didn't seem as important at the moment.

"When did this happen, Daniel?" Jack continued on, far too calm for everything to be okay.

"Oh, it's been going on for quite some time now," Daniel admitted, adverting his eyes. He bit his lip. This wasn't going to end well.

"Who are you, you filthy snake?" O'Neill suddenly yelled, his face contorting into a look of rage.

Daniel jerked back in surprise, raising one hand in defense, forgetting about the ribbon device currently attached to it. Jack immediately fired, aiming to the side, but Daniel did not realize this. He panicked, activating his personal shield as he quickly scurried around behind the sarcophagus, ducking his head.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Stop doing that!" Daniel cried in alarm. "I forgot I had it on! I forgot it was there!"

Jack stopped firing, wishing above all else that it really was his friend cowering away from him and not some Goa'uld.

Daniel cautiously peeked over the top of the sarc, blue eyes wide and pained.

"Please don't shoot at me anymore," he begged. They could hear the desperate anguish in his voice. "Please…"

"Remove the hand devices and throw them over here," Jack ordered.

Daniel quickly complied, the metal clattering across the stone floor. He then peered out at them again, rising slowly, eyes wary and guarded. His personal shield was still strapped to his wrist. That was something he was not going to give up at the moment.

"So just who are you?" Jack demanded, still holding his P-90 trained on Daniel.

"Jack, it's me," Daniel said quietly. "I know what this looks like, I do, but you have to listen to me."

"You are not Daniel," he was told coldly.

"I am," he swore. "Sam, tell me, do you sense a symbiote? I have no entry wound, you can check."

"Sir?" Carter asked for permission.

"Be careful, captain."

Sam approached Daniel slowly, eying him as one would a dangerous animal. Daniel made sure to remain still as Sam carefully reached up and brushed her fingers across the back of his neck. Then she retreated quickly.

"There is no entry wound, and I do not sense a symbiote, sir." Carter shook her head. "I do not know how that is possible."

"That's because I'm not a Goa'uld!" Daniel exclaimed.

"What, you just came out here to play dress up and dominatrix?" Jack hissed.

Daniel made a frustrated noise, clenching his fists. Eerily, the jewel in the hand devices Sam now held, glowed with Daniel's anger. They all saw it. Jack's face hardened.

"Okay, snakehead. You're coming with us," Jack spat.

Daniel clenched his teeth and ground out, "I am not a Goa'uld!"

"Then what are you doing out here?" Jack yelled back.

"Keeping those petty children in their place!" Daniel spat, eyes blazing gold in his rage. He could feel the power rushing through his blood. He shivered closing his eyes for a moment to center himself. "They need to be beaten down every once in a while, those arrogant fools," he murmured quietly, more to himself than any other.

"DanielJackson, you must not give up hope," Teal'c spoke. It only sent Daniel off again.

"Damn it, why can't you people understand?" he cried out. "There is no Goa'uld! Use the brains of your infantile race!"

Jack shook his head regretfully, his gun remained firmly targeted on his friend. "It's comments like that that make me doubt you, Danny," Jack murmured. "Is he lost you us?" He sounded so tired now, so sad.

"No, Jack, no, not lost. Never lost. Simply misplaced for a time. I just need to come back to myself. Please, I can explain this to you. I can. There is a reason for this, but the story is long. Let's go back to the base. Janet can scan me and do all her other stuff. I'll even stay in a cell for you until you believe me…if you ever believe me."

Jack sighed, running one hand through his graying hair. He glanced at the rest of his team and they silently agreed. "Okay, Danny. Let's go."

The young archeologist paused for a moment, biting his lip again.

"Can I at least grab my cloak?"

"No."

"But everyone will see me like this. It'll be embarrassing," he whined.

"You should have thought of that before you wore it," was Jack's sarcastic reply.

Daniel sighed in surrender and slowly walked towards them.

It would have been an interesting sight for anyone watching them, to see them making their way towards the gate. Sam, Jack, and Teal's surrounded Daniel as he walked, keeping him held at gunpoint. Jack was practically walking backwards.

Sam dialed the gate when they reached it and sent through their IDC. In their circular formation, they walked through the gate.

It was a surprising sight for the people in the control room. General Hammond looked on at Daniel, who had been missing, coming through the gate dressed like a pharaoh and being held at gunpoint by his own friends. This did not bode well.

Daniel walked passively down the ramp, feeling very, very naked under the scrutiny of so many eyes while he was wearing so very little.

General Hammond entered the room.

"Dr. Jackson?" the general inquired looking at the man with a questioning look.

"Hello, sir," Daniel managed to say, giving the general a tight smile. It was going to be a long day.

"What is going on here?"

"We think that Daniel has been taken by a Goa'uld, sir," Sam spoke up.

Hammond gave Daniel a piercing look.

"Is that true, son?"

"That is what they think, but that is not the case," Daniel replied quietly.

"I cannot sense a symbiote, but we have seen his eyes glow and heard his voice change, sir," Sam relayed.

"There is a lot to explain," Daniel told the general. "But not here, please. I'll go through all the tests. I'll do whatever you want. But please, promise that you will listen to my side of the story?" there was such entreaty in Daniel's voice. His eyes were begging for a chance at hope.

"If you are going to be so willing," Jack spoke up, as belligerent as always. "Then you won't mind giving us a little demonstration. Make your eyes glow."

Daniel glanced over at the colonel and sighed. When he looked back at Hammond, his eyes flared with light, quickly fading. Everyone in the room seemed to take a collective step back. The general's eyes widened.

"It's not what you think," Daniel pleaded, his face contorted into an apologetic grimace.

"General Hammond," O'Neill spoke again. "This is Anubis."

Daniel closed his eyes in defeat. That was the clincher to the whole deal. The next second, the general was ordering for him to be taken to a cell and detained. This was the end, Daniel knew. The end of his fantasy. The end of life as he knew it. His secrets would no longer be his own and all those around him…would come to hate him. It was what always happened. It would always happen. The next time Daniel spoke with anyone, it would be on the terms of enemies.