Main | Bio | Icons | Writing | Links || Journal

Title: Consequences Fandom: Atlantis Characters: Sheppard, Teyla Spoilers: Rising Rating: G (or PG if you're offended by a reference to Hell) Summary: He doesn't believe in karma, just consequences. A/N: Written for 15minuteficlets. Unbeta'd. Sheppard/Teyla friendship. Somewhat inspired by this drabble (in that I'd read it just before seeing this week's word). He didn’t really believe in karma. The idea that everything you do in life returns to you. Life is more of a random set of circumstances, things that happen to you, or things you do willingly. Sure, there are consequences to everything. Cause and effect. You fire your gun, someone dies. You throw yourself in front of a speeding train, well, the consequence is pretty clear. Cause and effect, pure and simple. None of this mystical mumbo-jumbo about how if you step on a beetle you’re going to be struck by lightening. The death of a beetle will never cause a lightening storm, so in his mind, the two really aren’t related at all. He’d never really thought about it in those terms before, though. Teyla had a habit of making him think about things he usually didn’t. She’d asked him if he thought there would be repercussions from his killing of Colonel Sumner. He’d shrugged at first, disturbed more than she could know by the topic of conversation. Or maybe she did know. Maybe she did it on purpose. “I could technically be court-martialed, but I doubt it,” he responded, feigning an indifference he really didn’t feel. “They’ll know I had no choice. Especially once they see for themselves the effects of a Wraith feeding. No one would want to survive that. Just look at what Dr. Gaul did when it happened to him.” He realized he was rambling at that point, so he shut up and went on cleaning his gun. Teyla shook her head, trying to recapture his gaze. “That’s not quite what I meant, Major.” She hesitated. “I am unsure as to what your people’s beliefs are…” She left it hanging, a question. He shrugged. “You mean spiritually? It varies, from country to country, person to person. Different religions, different interpretations… To be honest, I don’t know much about the topic.” She looked at him curiously. “Surely you know what you, yourself, believe, and at the moment that is what I am interested in.” When he didn’t respond, other than to shrug uncomfortably (hoping she’d just let it drop), she pressed on. “Do you believe there will be spiritual repercussions for your actions?” And thus he was thinking about karma, and whether or not he believed in it. That really was an annoying trait of hers. He grimaced. “Look, I don’t really know what to believe, but if killing is something that’s going to get me sent to hell, well, I’m already going. One more death isn’t going to make things any worse.” The look she gave him was quiet, and the quiet spread to him as she spoke. “What you did was not evil, Major. You saved him from a great evil, and in doing so, you did a great good. Perhaps a good great enough to balance out the wrongs you say you have done.”