Scratch, by Aces (PG-13)

Rec Category: Episode related

Pairing: none
Categories: episode related, gen, Daniel Jackson, Jack O'Neill, Jack and Daniel friendship, team, drama, angst, hurt/comfort
Warnings: violence, some disturbing mental imagery
Author on LJ: unknown
Author's Website: Aces at Heliopolis
Link: Scratch

Why This Must Be Read: This powerful post-Into the Fire fic gives us a slowly unravelling Daniel, as he tries to cope with the helplessness he felt on Hathor's planet and a subsequent mission in which the necessity of killing in self-defense takes on a new, more disturbing intimacy. His nightmares twist and warp themselves into increasingly awful mutations, until even his waking hours are haunted. How can he keep going when the price of survival feels too high?

Jack tries to be supportive, as does the rest of SG-1; but Jack himself is fighting the unbearable memory of the ultimate invasion, and it's all he can do not to give in to his own urge to "scratch" – both literally and figuratively – at the phantom scar on the back of his neck. Both Jack and Daniel need to confront some stark truths before they can finally get back to what approaches normalcy in their lives.

This isn't Daniel-as-hurting-pacifist, but Daniel-as-hurting-human being, which is infinitely more satisfying. Scratch is a gripping, well-written story that you're sure to enjoy – even as it makes you wince.

( Snippet of fic... )