The Long Way Home

Chapter One Hundred and Four: Live and Let Die

They were underground, that was the first thing Hope had acknowledged since she had been thrown back into her cell. The whole facility where they were being held in was a giant cave with passageways and rooms etched into the stone. It was cold in here, there were breezes bellowing through the confines of the compound causing Hope to shiver in the cool air. Her slender fingers combed through her chestnut hair brushing it back from her exhausted features.

The trauma of the feeding had drained every single ounce of energy that Hope had. Every time she had gotten a hair's breath from dead, Drew had forced the Wraith to restore her life to her year by year. It was torture for the both of them, the only good point to it had been the fact her youth had been returned, which meant that Drew clearly still needed her for something.

Hope had lost count of the amount of times that the captive Wraith had drained the life right out of her and then brought her back again. It had been a hazy plateau of both torment and ecstasy. There was a very thin line between life and death and every time she had been yanked back had been practically euphoric. Having life stolen away year by year was complete agony but having it given back was beyond pleasurable.

They were keeping her alive, Hope had no idea why. During the heinous hours she had spent having the life sucked out of her she hadn't spilled any of the details they had requested. She would never betray other people to this tortuous fate, what she has been through had only reaffirmed that belief.

Cass was sitting beside her, her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms locked around them. She had been huddling like that since Michael had brought her to this God forsaken place. The second she'd stepped in the cell, the woman had been trying to put together an escape plan. Hope thought that was admirable, after she had been tossed back in here they had apparently moved on to Cassandra.

"I guess it would be too much to ask Drew to help us outta here." Hope muttered, her head coming to rest on the wall behind her.

Cass said nothing, she simply stared at the barred door as if expecting them to magically spring open. Hope thought the other woman may be in shock, she was responding as if she hadn't just endured hours of torture at the hands of some genetically mutated Wraith. Then again Hope guessed people dealt with things in different ways, she hadn't allowed herself to fall apart because she was so adamant about finding the other survivors of the refugee camp.

"They're gone." Cass muttered as Hope relayed her thoughts to the other woman. "Michael's already used them for his experiments and left us locked in here with that."

Her gaze shifted to the lone figure huddled in the opposite corner of their cell. The disgust in her voice was evident as was the curl of her lip. Hope understood her hate for the race, she had seen so much destruction at their hands but if Hope was honest with herself she didn't believe that the Wraith was any more in control if this situation as they were.

Todd, as she had named him was as much a prisoner in every right the same way that they were. He was being used as an inhumane instrument of torture and he was also suffering. Hope had never thought she would have compassion for a Wraith but in the time they had spent together alone in this cell they had struck up a sort of truce. They had hatched their own escape plan before Cass had been tossed in with them and no matter how much the other woman disagreed she wouldn't break her promise to the lone Wraith.

There were footsteps ringing out through the silence that had fallen between the three of them. Over the hours Hope had been dragged to and from the cell she had come to recognize the familiar sound of Drew's boots treading towards them.

"This is it Todd, get ready." Hope said quietly as she rose to her feet.

Todd shuffled forward as Cassandra slung back against the rock face of the wall in attempt to give them space in order to subdue Drew. His hateful face appeared in the corridor, his expression as dark as thunder as he drew even closer. Hope had come to fear that look, every time he came to her cell he was full of a malevolence that Hope had never seen prior to their time on Atlantis. She wondered if he had always been that way.

"Now give me the keys." Ronon's familiar rumbling voice filled the hallway as her mate stepped into view.

Hope couldn't describe the feeling that filled her up at the sight of the hulking Satedan. Her heart was soaring, she couldn't believe the contentment that filled up her tiny form. Just seeing Ronon here made her feel like everything was going to be alright, she could breath again for the first time since the culling. All that time she had spent as a victim, thinking she wouldn't be able to get through that abominable hell had paid off because when she looked at Ronon she knew he would help her survive this nightmare.

Ronon's gaze softened when he laid his eyes on her, she could see the animal prowling behind his eyes studying her intently. She could feel it taking in the damage she had taken and she refused to shirk away from it. There was no sense in hiding what had been done to her, she needed help and she wasn't too proud to ask for it. There was no shame in admitting vulnerability, not to Ronon.

"Lorne, we've got Cass and Hope. Keep searching for the others." Sheppard ordered as he stepped up beside Ronon, snatching the keys from Drew's hand with an impatience that Ronon understood and matched.

"They're dead." Cassandra told her husband as her small hands grasped the bars, her woeful blue eyes meeting his.

He expected to lose himself in that gaze, he expected to see everything in there just like he always did but instead all he could see was blue. There was no spark between them, no chemistry and when John thought about it, he chided himself for expecting it. She had been brutally tortured, the people she had been protecting had died, of course Cassandra would withdraw. He couldn't feel her when he reached for her, all there was was a crippling numbness right where her soul should be.

That scared John Sheppard more than he cared to admit. Having his wife back was paramount to him but he felt like he was looking into a barren, empty husk. For some reason she looked lifeless and dank, he had never seen this side of Cass but he was determined to help her through it no matter what the cost.

His eyes shifted to the lone Wraith fading back into the shadows, he had never seen one rattled before but it appeared that this one was unnerved by their appearance.

"His names Todd and he's a prisoner here just like us. They captured him from another Hive." Hope told them as John inserted the key into the door and unlocked it.

"Todd?" John repeated as he tore the door open.

Ronon snarled at the Wraith as he reviewed it with a cold primal rage. It had fed on his mate right before his eyes, the creature didn't deserve to live. He raised his gun and locked the diabolical creature in his sights as he flicked the switch to kill.

"Ronon." Hope uttered as she stepped in front of the Wraith with her arms spread. "You can't kill him, it wasn't his fault. They've been starving him."

"You have sympathy for him?" Ronon snapped, his jade eyes glowing with disbelief as he focused on Hope. "After what he did to you?"

"If you want to blame anybody blame Drew or Michael, they're the ones that set him on me." Hope reminded her mate. "Look I made a promise that we'd let him go and I can't break that, he was going to help us escape."

Ronon growled before he twisted his head towards Drew, his nostrils were flaring in fury as he regarded the other man with loathsome glare. He was scum and he deserved to die for what he had done to that camp.

"Chewie, let him out, we're taking Hartford back to Atlantis and we'll drop Todd off on the way." Sheppard informed he other man with an authority that left no room for questions. "Secure Hartford's hands, we'll release Todd's when we get to the outpost."

Ronon grunted in response before doing as he was told and shoving Hartford in front of him, Todd the Wraith followed suit, keeping his head bowed as he followed Hartford. Cassandra was already up front with Sheppard, the other man was leading the way with his P-90 prepared and ready for action.

Ronon cast a glance at Hope who was lingering closely by his side, he could feel her joy at being rescued radiating from her soul. He could also feel how broken she was inside, shards of her soul had been hacked out and it was taking everything in Ronon's power not to gather her up into his arms and kiss away those bruises on her pretty face. She cast him a grim smile, one that didn't quite meet her eyes. Ronon cleared his throat before turning his attention to the job at hand.

It was time to get the people he loved out of this hell hole.