Fic: The Sea After a Storm (58/?)
Title: The Sea After a Storm, Chapter 58
Rating: R
Warnings: Violence
Spoilers: Season Two thru Adam (2x05)
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Disclaimer: Torchwood and all its wonderfulness belong to the Mighty Beeb and He Who Must Not Be Named. All ©'s to Catherine Tregenna for situations and dialogue borrowed from Adam. No infringement, only worship intended!
Summary: Ianto discovers who (or what) Adam really is…
Notes: Thanks for your patience! My trip to Germany to see
thraceadams was Ah-MAZ-ing! But then I got home to find out that one of my team had quit so work's been...interesting. Ugh. Thanks again to everyone who's reading and commenting! You can find all the previous chapters of The Sea After a Storm here. This is a sequel to Vizzini’s Rule and To The Pain. Thanks again and forever to my amazing beta and wonderful friend
thraceadams for all the help and support; any mistakes are mine!
The Sea After a Storm: Chapter Fifty-Eight
Previously on The Sea After a Storm: Aside from Gwen's strange case of lacunar amnesia which erased Rhys from her memory, it was a normal day at Torchwood for Jack, Adam, Gwen, Tosh, Owen and Ianto…
Ianto is still whistling when he finds his diary at his workstation. He pauses for a second, wondering why he's whistling Sing, Sing, Sing. He's not a fan of big band music and never listens to it, he's not even sure how he knows the tune or the title, for that matter. He shrugs and takes a seat on the sofa, flipping through his diary, looking for any mention of the strange box Tosh and Owen are investigating.
A few seconds later, the tune dies on his lips. He frowns and turns back to the beginning of the diary. This can't be right, he thinks. He scans a few pages and then flips forward and then back again, his eyes darting left and right as he reads the words written in stark black and white in his own hand…
18 Dec
This feels odd, not sure I'm cut out for journaling but there's too much going on in my head to sort it all out on my own and God knows I can't talk to anyone. Seeing Jamie again… thinking about Lisa… Jack… it's all too much…
20 Jan
Someone has seen Fight Club too many times. No idea what Owen was thinking getting in that cage with the weevil…
31 Jan
We almost lost Tosh and Jack today…I don't know what I'd do without them. Either of them, it hurt to even write that down. Owen is still bitching about me shooting him but it's not like I really had a choice in the end…
And on and on he skims through the events of the past months, his heart sinking as he reads - Jack's death and resurrection, his disappearance, dealing with that bastard mushroom dealer, sleeping with Brendan and agonising over his actions, Jack's reappearance - everything, everything that has happened to them all not one mention of Adam.
The lights go off in the Hub, making Ianto jump. He looks down at his diary again, thumbing frantically through the pages. Why… how… it doesn't make any sense… he was there, I remember Adam talking me through what happened with Brendan… helping Owen after Diane abandoned him… all the times he and Jack have sat in Jack's office, talking over the cases… he's been dating Tosh for a year… how…
Ianto sets the diary on the table with shaking hands. His mind is racing, trying in vain to understand what's going on. He rests his elbows on his knees, pressing his hands together to stop their trembling but it's no use. He leans back on the sofa, staring up at the base of the water feature. His mind finally centres on a single thought - I've got to tell Jack.
"What's wrong?" Adam asks.
Ianto jumps, Adam appearing on the sofa next to him as if by magic. He gets up and moves away from the other man, keeping him in his sight at all times.
"My… diary," Ianto says slowly, still unable to comprehend what's happening. He watches Adam pick up the book and open it to a random page. "You're not in it. Everyone else is."
Adam stands and advances on Ianto, who backs up with every step forward that Adam takes.
"Why would I leave you out when you've been here so long? Like I'm remembering a man who doesn't exist," Ianto says. He glances down when Adam drops his diary to see Adam's hand flickering in and out, like a television with bad reception. Ianto's gut twists. "What are you?" he whispers.
Adam stares at him for a moment and then lunges forward. He grabs Ianto by the lapels and slams him into the stone wall. "Cross me and I will fill you full of fake memories until your head is on fire, because that's how I exist."
Ianto shoves Adam off of him. "Gwen? What did you do to her?" he asks, moving slowly to his right, trying to get to his workstation and his sidearm without alerting Adam.
"Memory is a very delicate thing," Adam muses. "Feeding myself in wiped other memories out. It's a side-effect of what I have to do in order to survive," he says matter-of-factly without an ounce of regret.
"Jack has to know," Ianto states and readies himself to make a break for his desk.
But before he can move, Adam shoves him against the wall again and presses his hand to Ianto's forehead.
"Remember this!"
Pain like a bolt of lighting rips through Ianto's mind. His eyes roll back in his head and his body seizes.
Suddenly he's in an alley, a woman's hands clawing at him, his own hands around her neck, squeezing, squeezing…
"I know you didn't mean to kill her." He can hear Adam's voice but all he can't see him. All he sees is the helpless girl, struggling beneath him. "You just couldn't stop yourself. Remember this."
Another dagger of searing pain shocks Ianto's body. He can't keep his feet, sliding down the wall at his back until he sitting on the floor, gasping for breath. More images assault his senses, he can feel the bone of a girl's cheek break as he punches her savagely, can feel rain on his face, cooling his heated skin.
It takes all of his will, but he shakes off the visions. "I didn't do that," he moans.
"Oh, yes, you did," Adam assures him. The Hub fades and suddenly the rainy alleyway appears behind Adam's form. Ianto whimpers. "And she wasn't the first," Adam adds.
Adam vanishes again, leaving Ianto alone in the rain-drenched alley. A woman is running in front of him, but he doesn't hurry. He knows she's trapped. He stalks her silently, his footsteps muffled by the rain and by the woman's cries.
"Please don't hurt me," she begs, but Ianto knows that he will. He can already feel his hands wrapping around her slender throat.
He hears Adam's voice again as he reaches out to quiet the woman with a gentle finger on her lips. "Good old Ianto, loyal Ianto. Roaming the streets at night for bait." Time and space shift again and Ianto feels the power surge through him as he selects his victim and begins to follow her, his hands clenching as the anticipation mounts.
Ianto shakes his head and the vision wavers. He can see the Hub. He focuses everything he is on Torchwood, on Jack, and the Hub slowly appears around him again. "My… diary!" he manages to say, clinging to the proof of who Adam is… or isn't. Before he can do anything else, Adam is on him again, his hand on Ianto's skin, pain catapulting him back to that alley. This time Adam is with him, dragging him along like a recalcitrant child. He's holding Ianto's diary just out of his reach.
"All human record is a lie," Adam pontificates. "You twist it into what you want to believe, but we know the rot in your heart. You crave flesh."
Ianto tries to concentrate, tries to make the alley disappear again and for a second it does. He's on his back in the Hub, crawling away from Adam.
"No. Please," he hears himself beg. He's disgusted by his weakness but unable to fight back.
Adam's hands are on Ianto once more, their touch anguish to Ianto's body and soul. Ianto screams as the alley appears around them and Adam utters those dreaded words again and again. "Remember it. Remember it! Remember it!"
His mind is flooded with agony and he screams, his cry melting into the scream of the girl he has pressed against the metal door at the end of the alley. He revels in her fear, feeding off it like a vampire drinks blood, her hot, exquisite terror making him hard, making him strong.
Ianto gags and chokes on the floor of the Hub. I didn't do that, it's not me, I didn't… He screams again as Adam pierces him with a new vision of the two of them carrying a rolled up carpet. Ianto knows what's inside the carpet. He remembers ringing Adam in a panic.
"Adam, it's me. You have to help me, I've… I've done something."
And Adam, his only friend Adam, is there in a flash, helping him, soothing him. Part of him doesn't want to throw away the body, it's his work, his art, he shouldn't have to dump it like another piece of rubbish, but he knows Adam is right. They have to get rid of the evidence.
"I help you dump the bodies," Adam says. "It's me you call."
Dimly, Ianto feels Adam kiss him. He wants to vomit, to rid his body of the evil Adam has put inside him, but he can't move, can't speak. He's cradled in Adam's arms even as he's cradling the body of the woman he's just strangled.
Suddenly he's alone in the alley, nothing but the dead body behind him as testament to what he's done. He curls into a ball and sobs as the rain beats down on him.
TBC in Chapter Fifty-Nine
. This entry was originally posted at http://buttononthetop.dreamwidth.org/103433.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
Rating: R
Warnings: Violence
Spoilers: Season Two thru Adam (2x05)
Pairings: Jack/Ianto
Disclaimer: Torchwood and all its wonderfulness belong to the Mighty Beeb and He Who Must Not Be Named. All ©'s to Catherine Tregenna for situations and dialogue borrowed from Adam. No infringement, only worship intended!
Summary: Ianto discovers who (or what) Adam really is…
Notes: Thanks for your patience! My trip to Germany to see
thraceadams was Ah-MAZ-ing! But then I got home to find out that one of my team had quit so work's been...interesting. Ugh. Thanks again to everyone who's reading and commenting! You can find all the previous chapters of The Sea After a Storm here. This is a sequel to Vizzini’s Rule and To The Pain. Thanks again and forever to my amazing beta and wonderful friend
thraceadams for all the help and support; any mistakes are mine!
The Sea After a Storm: Chapter Fifty-Eight
Previously on The Sea After a Storm: Aside from Gwen's strange case of lacunar amnesia which erased Rhys from her memory, it was a normal day at Torchwood for Jack, Adam, Gwen, Tosh, Owen and Ianto…
Ianto is still whistling when he finds his diary at his workstation. He pauses for a second, wondering why he's whistling Sing, Sing, Sing. He's not a fan of big band music and never listens to it, he's not even sure how he knows the tune or the title, for that matter. He shrugs and takes a seat on the sofa, flipping through his diary, looking for any mention of the strange box Tosh and Owen are investigating.
A few seconds later, the tune dies on his lips. He frowns and turns back to the beginning of the diary. This can't be right, he thinks. He scans a few pages and then flips forward and then back again, his eyes darting left and right as he reads the words written in stark black and white in his own hand…
18 Dec
This feels odd, not sure I'm cut out for journaling but there's too much going on in my head to sort it all out on my own and God knows I can't talk to anyone. Seeing Jamie again… thinking about Lisa… Jack… it's all too much…
20 Jan
Someone has seen Fight Club too many times. No idea what Owen was thinking getting in that cage with the weevil…
31 Jan
We almost lost Tosh and Jack today…I don't know what I'd do without them. Either of them, it hurt to even write that down. Owen is still bitching about me shooting him but it's not like I really had a choice in the end…
And on and on he skims through the events of the past months, his heart sinking as he reads - Jack's death and resurrection, his disappearance, dealing with that bastard mushroom dealer, sleeping with Brendan and agonising over his actions, Jack's reappearance - everything, everything that has happened to them all not one mention of Adam.
The lights go off in the Hub, making Ianto jump. He looks down at his diary again, thumbing frantically through the pages. Why… how… it doesn't make any sense… he was there, I remember Adam talking me through what happened with Brendan… helping Owen after Diane abandoned him… all the times he and Jack have sat in Jack's office, talking over the cases… he's been dating Tosh for a year… how…
Ianto sets the diary on the table with shaking hands. His mind is racing, trying in vain to understand what's going on. He rests his elbows on his knees, pressing his hands together to stop their trembling but it's no use. He leans back on the sofa, staring up at the base of the water feature. His mind finally centres on a single thought - I've got to tell Jack.
"What's wrong?" Adam asks.
Ianto jumps, Adam appearing on the sofa next to him as if by magic. He gets up and moves away from the other man, keeping him in his sight at all times.
"My… diary," Ianto says slowly, still unable to comprehend what's happening. He watches Adam pick up the book and open it to a random page. "You're not in it. Everyone else is."
Adam stands and advances on Ianto, who backs up with every step forward that Adam takes.
"Why would I leave you out when you've been here so long? Like I'm remembering a man who doesn't exist," Ianto says. He glances down when Adam drops his diary to see Adam's hand flickering in and out, like a television with bad reception. Ianto's gut twists. "What are you?" he whispers.
Adam stares at him for a moment and then lunges forward. He grabs Ianto by the lapels and slams him into the stone wall. "Cross me and I will fill you full of fake memories until your head is on fire, because that's how I exist."
Ianto shoves Adam off of him. "Gwen? What did you do to her?" he asks, moving slowly to his right, trying to get to his workstation and his sidearm without alerting Adam.
"Memory is a very delicate thing," Adam muses. "Feeding myself in wiped other memories out. It's a side-effect of what I have to do in order to survive," he says matter-of-factly without an ounce of regret.
"Jack has to know," Ianto states and readies himself to make a break for his desk.
But before he can move, Adam shoves him against the wall again and presses his hand to Ianto's forehead.
"Remember this!"
Pain like a bolt of lighting rips through Ianto's mind. His eyes roll back in his head and his body seizes.
Suddenly he's in an alley, a woman's hands clawing at him, his own hands around her neck, squeezing, squeezing…
"I know you didn't mean to kill her." He can hear Adam's voice but all he can't see him. All he sees is the helpless girl, struggling beneath him. "You just couldn't stop yourself. Remember this."
Another dagger of searing pain shocks Ianto's body. He can't keep his feet, sliding down the wall at his back until he sitting on the floor, gasping for breath. More images assault his senses, he can feel the bone of a girl's cheek break as he punches her savagely, can feel rain on his face, cooling his heated skin.
It takes all of his will, but he shakes off the visions. "I didn't do that," he moans.
"Oh, yes, you did," Adam assures him. The Hub fades and suddenly the rainy alleyway appears behind Adam's form. Ianto whimpers. "And she wasn't the first," Adam adds.
Adam vanishes again, leaving Ianto alone in the rain-drenched alley. A woman is running in front of him, but he doesn't hurry. He knows she's trapped. He stalks her silently, his footsteps muffled by the rain and by the woman's cries.
"Please don't hurt me," she begs, but Ianto knows that he will. He can already feel his hands wrapping around her slender throat.
He hears Adam's voice again as he reaches out to quiet the woman with a gentle finger on her lips. "Good old Ianto, loyal Ianto. Roaming the streets at night for bait." Time and space shift again and Ianto feels the power surge through him as he selects his victim and begins to follow her, his hands clenching as the anticipation mounts.
Ianto shakes his head and the vision wavers. He can see the Hub. He focuses everything he is on Torchwood, on Jack, and the Hub slowly appears around him again. "My… diary!" he manages to say, clinging to the proof of who Adam is… or isn't. Before he can do anything else, Adam is on him again, his hand on Ianto's skin, pain catapulting him back to that alley. This time Adam is with him, dragging him along like a recalcitrant child. He's holding Ianto's diary just out of his reach.
"All human record is a lie," Adam pontificates. "You twist it into what you want to believe, but we know the rot in your heart. You crave flesh."
Ianto tries to concentrate, tries to make the alley disappear again and for a second it does. He's on his back in the Hub, crawling away from Adam.
"No. Please," he hears himself beg. He's disgusted by his weakness but unable to fight back.
Adam's hands are on Ianto once more, their touch anguish to Ianto's body and soul. Ianto screams as the alley appears around them and Adam utters those dreaded words again and again. "Remember it. Remember it! Remember it!"
His mind is flooded with agony and he screams, his cry melting into the scream of the girl he has pressed against the metal door at the end of the alley. He revels in her fear, feeding off it like a vampire drinks blood, her hot, exquisite terror making him hard, making him strong.
Ianto gags and chokes on the floor of the Hub. I didn't do that, it's not me, I didn't… He screams again as Adam pierces him with a new vision of the two of them carrying a rolled up carpet. Ianto knows what's inside the carpet. He remembers ringing Adam in a panic.
"Adam, it's me. You have to help me, I've… I've done something."
And Adam, his only friend Adam, is there in a flash, helping him, soothing him. Part of him doesn't want to throw away the body, it's his work, his art, he shouldn't have to dump it like another piece of rubbish, but he knows Adam is right. They have to get rid of the evidence.
"I help you dump the bodies," Adam says. "It's me you call."
Dimly, Ianto feels Adam kiss him. He wants to vomit, to rid his body of the evil Adam has put inside him, but he can't move, can't speak. He's cradled in Adam's arms even as he's cradling the body of the woman he's just strangled.
Suddenly he's alone in the alley, nothing but the dead body behind him as testament to what he's done. He curls into a ball and sobs as the rain beats down on him.
TBC in Chapter Fifty-Nine
. This entry was originally posted at http://buttononthetop.dreamwidth.org/103433.html. Please comment there using OpenID.