Early morning in 239/240 [NFB]

[notcalledlizzie]

Elizabeth is muttering in her sleep, obviously distressed.


i ni ce. Ne tε se bamanankan na kosεbε

"Vous ne pouvez pas voir qu'ils meurent? Vous les tuez"

Visions of starving children, being worked to death flash before her eyes. Their eyes are empty and lifeless as they look up at her, begging for her to do something. The children have been beaten, and the repatriation of just one child makes her tear up.

A man kene. Elle est malade. Elle a le paludisme

She's watching a little girl sleep fitfully in the throes of fever, whilst the foreman of the plantation stands there.

Suddenly his eyes glow, and she backs against the wall.

"Stay away from me."

He smiles, and she realizes that they're no longer in a hut in West Africa; instead, she's back on Atlantis.

"I have no need for you, Doctor Weir. Doctor Fraiser, however, will make an excellent queen," the Goa'uld says, his voice booming. "I am most confident she will be able to keep my slaves in line."

"No..."

She tries to move, but can't. She feels another presence behind her, and turns to see Charlie. A Charlie mutated by the Wraith bug. He picks her up by the throat, and she's choking.

"It's better for Atlantis this way," he says, almost sneering.


Elizabeth wakes up screaming.


[ooc: Mali's official language is French. The other language used is Bambara.

Comments

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

"Nothing we do makes a damn difference."

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"That's not true, Liz. What we do just takes time, that's all."

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

"Too much time," she sniffs.

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Maybe," Sam concedes, running hand down Liz's hair. "But we're doing the best we can."

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

"What if our best isn't good enough?"

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"Then we work until it is, and we find other people who can give their best, and we all work together."

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

"And when that's not enough?"

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"We can't do more than that, Liz. Even you."

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

"When will it be enough?" she sighs, looking into the darkness of the room.

[janet_fraiser]

"I don't know," says Janet honestly, though she hates the answer. "But we seem to be the types to keep trying until it is."

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth nods, slowly.

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

"I don't know." Sam sighs.

[janet_fraiser]

"Sam's right," says Janet. "And you're a good person. You're one of the people who's been trying to change the world. You can't do it alone."

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

"It doesn't feel like it sometimes," she sighs, curling up closer to Janet.

[janet_fraiser]

"It doesn't feel like you're a good person?" asks Janet, surprised. "Why not?"

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

"Sometimes I feel like I'm making things worse. Or that I'm ignoring something which I shouldn't."

[janet_fraiser]

"I don't see how that could be possible," says Janet. "But obviously you do. So tell me." And I'll tell you why you're wrong.

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

"After Mali, I just seemed to lose my focus. I switched away to protest against military spending. I focused my attention on the US, knowing that there were so many worse off than us. With the world like it is, the military's a futile thing to waste time on. But it didn't have children dying around me"

[janet_fraiser]

"You think you're a bad person because you can't handle children dying around you?" Janet shook her head. "It's impossible not to be affected by that."

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

"I'm a bad person because I avoided getting involved in anything that could put me in a situation like that again."

[janet_fraiser]

"No. That does not make you a bad person." Janet looked Liz in the eye. "You know your limits. You stayed within them. And you didn't let it stop you from caring about people, or trying to help them."

[notcalledlizzie.livejournal.com]

Tears started to swell in Elizabeth's eyes, and she leant forward to lean her head on Janet's shoulder. "I just always think that there must be more that I can do," she mumbles.