Title: Misappropriation of Lives
Author: Milena D.
Rating: T+ for now
Genre: Romance/Hurt/Comfort, etc. Daniel/Vala all the way ;)
SPOILERS: Prometheus Unbound (8x12), Insiders (10x04), can't think of any others. Jacob Carter is still around cuz I like him.

Summary: The past will always find you, especially if you have something it wants.

Author's Note: Just a prologue.

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----Prologue----
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SG-1 was not sitting down at the head table of the glorious harvest feast of the Carenites as had been on the itinerary. They weren't scarfing down the succulent meats or enjoying the robust wines of Carenit. Instead, they were being pushed down the corridors of Ba'al mothership.

The members of SG-1 had only themselves to blame. It was no secret that the flagship team of the Tau'ri was invited to the feast every year, and they had let their guard down on an allied world. Still, seeing the twenty or so Jaffa surround them with staff weapons on friendly soil had not been a pleasant surprise and they weren't exactly skipping through the halls of the mothership.

Quite frankly, the entire situation was surprising, even for their unstable lives. Ba'al had been quiet for months and they'd been suspicious sure, but they'd been enjoying the well-deserved reprieve. If their impromptu invitation to his ship was anything to go by however, Ba'al hadn't been relaxing on a luxury cruise around Netu getting evil massages and taking his mind off his plans of intergalactic domination for all those months. No, he'd been a busy little snake and now he'd called on them with his usual flare.

"So you guys have no clue why your boss wants to see us?" Cameron tried to engage the Jaffa again but was completely ignored for the umpteenth time. "Not even an inkling?"

They arrived in front of the large golden doors that typically led to the Goa'uld throne rooms. It seems their host wanted a word with them before the torture and/or imprisonment began. Ba'al's Prime Jaffa activated the crystals and the large doors sunk into either side of the frame. They were given a rough shove forward and stumbled into the center of the large hall to see their longtime nemesis smirking comfortably from his throne. The five members of SG-1 looked at each other briefly before the Jaffa pushed them unceremoniously to their knees on the hard floor before their lord.

"Ba'al." Daniel greeted with a bored tone. The false god didn't scare him anymore than the other villains of the galaxy but ever since Vala had tried to convince him that she was just playing the Tau'ri, Daniel couldn't help but want them on different planets at all times. He didn't imagine for a minute that Vala might actually be playing them, but the familiarity Ba'al displayed toward her and the reference to the activities he'd participated in with the Goa'uld that used to inhabit her body were enough to disturb him greatly.

"Ba'al, buddy, what's up? You just disappeared off the face of the…I mean, you don't call, you don't write, we were getting worried." Cam drawled and his glibness was rewarded with a solid backhand from the Jaffa pinning his shoulders down.

The false god rose from his chair and stepped down from the dais to walk along their line.

"Colonel -" he began but frowned. He hadn't taken the time to learn the man's name when he met him.

"Mitchell." Cameron scowled, slightly put-off.

"Ah yes, Col. Mitchell." he mused "In fact I have missed you Tau'ri. I've been so very bored lately, what with most of the other Goa'uld being hunted down by their own, I've had no one to play with." he lamented before brightening and moving down the line. To Col. Mitchell's left was the shol'va and his lip curled in disgust before moving on and continuing with his speech.

"But, quite luckily" he enthused, "I was recently reunited with an acquaintance I'd been missing for many years and we've been having a fantastic time catching up." he said before frowning slightly "Well, we had our differences but we've reached an understanding." He passed a glowering Col. Carter and leered at her as usual before moving on to Dr. Jackson who stared back menacingly.

"That dear friend though, has been very forlorn for quite some time. You see, another acquaintance of hers has been lost and, quite frankly, she's being insufferable about it. I've therefore taken it upon myself to reunite these two halves of one soul, if you'll permit me to wax poetic." he finished with a smirk, stopping at Vala who glared daggers at him.

Ba'al finally moved away to seat himself back in his throne and sent a guard out to fetch his guest.

"You would have us seek out this friend?" Teal'c's deep voice almost growled out.

"We're not really in the bounty hunting business anymore." Sam quipped with a glare and Ba'al just sat back in his jewel-studded chair, very comfortable with the scene.

"You, my dear Col. Carter, have absolutely nothing to do with anything. Actually, you're all just along for the ride, as it were." he said glancing to the humans and shol'va. Comprehension dawned accompanied by cold tendrils of fear snaking along their every organ and they all tried to resist turning their heads to look at the only person singled out: Vala. She, in turn, resisted the urge to look to them for reassurance and stared defiantly ahead at their captor.

The Jaffa finally returned with a woman in tow. She was stunning and the effect was only highlighted by her natural grace and confidence. She wasn't very tall but her exquisite robes hugged her curves in all the right places. Her long hair was golden and flowed freely down her back in natural waves. Her great green eyes sizzled with barely restrained passion as she walked passed them and up to Ba'al. She stopped in front of his throne and bowed her head in greeting.

"My Lord." they heard her clear voice say softly.

"My dear, your gift, as promised." he said, sweeping his hand towards his prisoners and she looked upon them, one at a time, mimicking Ba'al's actions. Her eyes stilled, just as his had, at the raven haired woman and she smiled enigmatically.

By their reactions, Vala thought she should probably know this woman but she didn't. She struggled to place the woman in her memories but she wasn't even the slightest bit familiar. The stranger approached slowly and crouched down elegantly before her with a gentle smile.

"You do not recognize me?" she asked with pitying eyes.

Vala looked from this woman to Ba'al who was still smirking and saw her teammates watching her from the corner of her eye. The naquadah in her blood was boiling as she detected the presence of a symbiote but she couldn't place it. It could be in the woman, in Ba'al, in the many Jaffa, hell it could even be coming from Sam or Teal'c. She finally looked back at the woman and shook her head sideways.

"No, I don't. Should I?" she said without her usual attitude; the oppressive weight of somber mystery suppressed her instinctive sass.

The woman's eyes were no longer kind, they were malicious. Her dark green pools shimmered with a lust for something Vala didn't understand. The others watched on, puzzled, as Ba'al's friend leaned forward and trailed a delicate finger down the side of Vala's face, studying her every feature. Vala's skin crawled with disgust and she recoiled slightly.

"Oh, don't resist me, not yet." the woman pouted. Her words struck Vala with an aching sense of déjà vu, this same cruel voice haunted her from some place deep within.

Don't resist me.

The woman noted the reaction with a gleeful leer and leaned in to press her lips against Vala's while the former thief was incapacitated with panic.

"Yes, I think you do remember me, sweet one." she whispered delightedly as she saw the colour drain out of her victim's face. Vala couldn't move, her blood froze in her veins though beads of sweat formed over every expanse of her skin.

Don't fight me, sweet one.

Watch them, sweet one.

They're dead, sweet one, and it's your fault.

"Qetesh." she whispered painfully, her eyes wide and unseeing, lost in the agonizing memories of her forgotten despair.

Daniel fought against the tightening knot of fear in his stomach and tried to reach her but the Jaffa behind him held him in place. The others began to struggle against their guards but more Jaffa had entered the room and were like a mountain, immovable despite their efforts. Qetesh backed away satisfied and Vala was left gulping for air as her lungs refused to work.

"You've aged a bit, sweet one, but that's alright, it's nothing a few cycles in a sarcophagus can't fix." she said serenely as she made her way back to Ba'al's side, leaning against his throne. "We've both missed you very much, sweet one, it will be so very good to have you again." Qetesh said with the pleasant tone of a tea party hostess but the ravenous eyes of a scorned lover.

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Let me know if you like it and don't worry, Being Found will not be neglected!