Fic: "Leave You" (Jack/Ianto) - 6/10
Title: Leave You
Author: Jedi Princess Clarrisani
Chapter: 6 of 10
Rating: R (M15+)
Pairing(s): Jack/Ianto
Series: Breathe Trilogy (Part One)
Summary: After losing his two best friends during an alien attack, Ianto quits Torchwood only to end up in a train wreck
Disclaimer: Still don't own. I'm not allowed to play in that sandbox.
Warnings: Very, very, angsty. And I mean that. Also, some spoilers for the season two episode "Fragments" for Owen's story.
A/N: Written for TWWC (Torchwood Australia Writing Challenge) #9. Song used for challenge is Mika's "Relax (Take it Easy)". This fic is AU to S2 as it was written during when S2 was airing.
---------
From Part Five
---------
"Who in their right mind would have sheep on the road at this hour!"
"Jack, stop it." Gwen glared at the back of his head. "I swear, sometimes you're as bad as Owen."
Owen frowned. "Hey!"
"Late in the afternoon after rush hour is a logical time to move sheep," Tosh pointed out. "And they did move them as quickly as they could."
"Look, Jack." Owen shot him a levelling glare. "Nagging, bitching and whining is not going to make the SUV go any faster. It's just going to piss us off."
"That's good coming from you," Gwen muttered.
"Oi. I heard that."
"Good. You were supposed to."
"Kids, enough." Jack glanced back over his shoulder. "Tosh, do the records say anything about how to approach these things?"
"No, there's nothing." She looked at him. "Torchwood Four never had the opportunity. The only note is that bullets make them angry."
"Great." Owen scowled. "So what? We go up and beat them to death?"
"Do that and they'll probably have sucked your life out before you can even raise your fist," Jack said.
"Now there's a cheery thought."
"But there's got to be some way to fight them." Gwen looked around the other three. "I mean, what's the point of coming all the way out here if we can't even defend ourselves."
"We'll figure it out," Jack said, shooting his team his trademark grin. "We usually do."
"Hello, Ianto?" They all glanced back, noticing for the first time that Tosh had her phone out. "Have you managed to take a good look at the creatures?" She paused for a long moment before she frowned. "And that's all you've seen?"
"Care to relay the details, Tosh?" Owen asked.
Tosh glanced at him. "Hold on, Ianto. I'm going to put you on speaker so everyone can hear. It'll say me having to explain twice." She paused as he said something, her eyes drifting toward Jack. "No, he won't say anything."
Jack frowned, turning back around to continue glaring out the windscreen as Tosh hit a button on her phone, setting it down.
"Okay, Ianto. Tell us again."
"They're definitely Zarybok," he said, the others noting at once that his accent was slightly thicker than normal. It was something that only ever happened when he was either completely exhausted, extremely angry, or in pain. In this case, all three most likely applied. "They meet all the descriptions. They're wraithlike. They seem to float in their movements, but are definitely corporal."
"If they're corporal, they can be killed," Owen said. "Pleased to hear it. We'd be in shit if we were dealing with ghosts."
"Ianto," Gwen said, leaning toward the phone. "Did you manage to find any other survivors?"
"Four. One man and three children."
Gwen looked slightly alarmed at the mentioning of children. "His children?"
"No. Two of the children were travelling home from visiting one of their parents. Step-siblings. The other's parents... didn't make it."
"Oh my god."
"Okay, that's sad and all that, but let's get back to these Zarywhatsit things." Owen navigated a turn in the road, staring out the windscreen. "We're about 15 minutes away and hoping you might have been able to see any sort of weakness. You know, eyes we could poke out and things like that."
"No eyes that I can see. Haven't been close enough." They heard him let out a long breath, Owen frowning and glancing back over his shoulder. "They seem to generate their own gravity field that allows them to levitate up to a metre off the ground. I haven't seen how they attack yet, but they move in groups and surround their victims."
Gwen frowned. "Ianto, you say they surround their victims. Is that what did they to the train?"
"Yes." They heard the pause. "I think they've still on the train. Right now they're moving around the surrounding areas looking for survivors."
"You right, mate?" Owen glanced in the rear view mirror. "Somewhere safe?"
"We're in a barn of sorts. What it looks like, anyway, from the design of it. It's better than being out in the open."
"Got any weapons."
"Does a pitchfork count?"
Owen swore. "You shouldn't have left your gun on your desk."
There was a long pause. "Noticed, did you?"
"Yeah. I did." Owen shook his head, drumming his fingers on the wheel. "Look, lie low. I've got your gun. I'll give it to you as soon as we get there."
"Guns are no use against Zarybok."
"Can't hurt, can it?"
"How old are the children?" Gwen cut in, the only one to notice the increasing tightness in Jack's jaw at the mention of Ianto leaving his things behind on the desk, Ianto's own way of saying 'I'm not coming back' obviously still running through Jack's mind.
"Youngest is six. A girl. The boy is 13, and his step sister is 16."
Owen smirked. "She hot?"
"I'm going to pretend you didn't ask that."
Jack chuckled, Tosh hiding a smile while Gwen just rolled her eyes. Gwen looked at the phone. "You're all safe for now?"
"For now," Ianto repeated. "It will only be a matter of time before we are discovered. We are still within the cloud barrier. It seems to be expanding."
They exchanged looks. "What do you mean, 'cloud barrier'?" Tosh asked.
"It's the only way that I can explain it," Ianto said. "The train was surrounded by it. It cut out the light and made it harder to see the Zarybok. I would go so far as to say that it is some kind of shield."
"Didn't that picture Torchwood Four have show something similar?" Gwen said, looking toward the others.
Owen frowned, Tosh hitting keys while Jack just nodded.
"Let me see if I understand," Tosh said, hitting keys. "The Zarybok create some sort of cloudlike shield that restricts the light and therefore makes it harder to see them, and not only that they use it so that it is harder to escape and also restricts people from seeing what's happening?"
"Basically. It prevents any interference while they do what they are doing. I believe that is why they waited until the train was out of sight of the towns before they attack. The less witnesses, the better."
"So they're clever little buggers," Owen muttered.
"It appears that way."
"Great. Just what we need."
"Ianto, I'm going to continue searching out databases," Tosh said. "I'll contact you to let you know if I find anything that will help."
"Okay, Tosh. I don't remember seeing anything, but I might have missed something."
"Somehow I doubt it."
Obviously deciding that the main conversation was over, Jack finally broke his silence. "Ianto, listen to me. Just-"
Ianto broke the connection instantly.
***
Grant chuckled as he saw the look on Ianto's face as the other man stuffed his phone back into his pocket. "Fight with the girlfriend?"
"Boyfriend," Ianto corrected. "If you can call him that."
"I thought you were talking to the people you work with," Jodie said.
"I did." Ianto shrugged it off. "I was sleeping with my boss."
"Oh, ouch. Worst thing you can do." Grant pulled a face. "Break up and everything goes to shit."
Ianto raised a brow. "Speaking from experience?"
Grant smiled and shrugged.
"Wait, a guy can't have a boyfriend," Colin said. "Guys have girlfriends."
Jodie rolled her eyes and gave a frustrated sigh, causing the two men to smile knowing this was obviously an old argument. Ianto glanced down, gently smoothing Anya's hair where the little girl had fallen asleep curled against him, still clinging to his belt. He glanced up as Colin stood, creeping toward the door.
"Colin, get back from there," Jodie hissed.
"Why? Not like they can find us."
"You don't know that."
Colin ignored her, glancing through the crap in the door. "Still dark."
Ianto glanced at his watch, taking in the time and frowning. "Sun should be almost down. It'll be pitch black out there soon."
Colin spun to face him. "Are they really aliens?"
Ianto looked at him. "Bad ones, yes."
"Cool." Colin moved back toward where the group was sitting around the small fire, the boy dropping down beside Ianto. "And you work with Torchwood."
Ianto sighed. "I did."
"Did?" Jodie frowned. "You don't anymore?"
"I quit today. Too much death." He huffed, smiling at the irony of it all as he followed the trail of smoke up toward the rafters. "Can't escape it."
"Is that why you were on the train?"
Ianto nodded. "I jumped on the first train out of Cardiff. Figured if I took a ride to the end of the line I could escape it all. Now I'm starting to think it's me."
"Can't be you," Grant said. "I used to work in London a while back. I remember that Torchwood building in Canary Wharf. It was the centre of that battle. I almost got my head blown off by these oversized pepper pots while I was out getting a coffee. That wasn't you."
Ianto shook his head, tight smile still on his lips. "Guess where I worked before I transferred to Cardiff."
There was a long silence, Grant shifting uncomfortably while Jodie averted her eyes. Colin picked up the tension in the air and began to mess around with some straw on the floor. Grant let out a long breath, stretching his legs out in front of him and wincing. Ianto had to agree with him about the pain. Since they were no longer moving the adrenaline had worn off a little, and every little hurt was beginning to burn. He fingered where he had tied the handkerchief, noting that it was now stained a deep red.
Colin let out a sharp gasp, causing them to look up.
"What is it?" Jodie asked.
"I think I heard something," Colin said, staring at the far wall. He pointed. "Out there."
"What did you hear?" Ianto asked, shifting to a more ready stance, Anya protesting as she was woken.
"It was like a scratching," Colin said. "Like our Mum's cat when it wants to get in."
Jodie looked panicked. "Is it them?"
"Don't know." Ianto frowned. "We need to find some kind of weapon to defend ourselves, for there is nothing that we can do without them."
"What good would it do anyway," Grant said, the fear beginning to show in his eyes. "They're dark. They've made the place dark. It's getting dark. We can't see them."
"Are you afraid of the dark?" They looked down at Anya, the little girl leaving Ianto's side for the first time to move over the Grant. "I'm afraid of the dark too. When I get really scared my Dad turns the light on. Mum says it chases all the monsters away."
Ianto stared at her for a long while as what she said slowly began to sink in. He looked at the door, then down toward the fire flickering between them. Had everything not already been hurting, he would have slapped himself for being so dense. "Anya, you're brilliant." He picked up a piece of straw, tossing it into the flame and grinning as he watched it burn. "There is an answer to the darkest times."
The others looked at him like he'd lost his mind.
***
To Part Seven
A/N - The line "There is an answer to the darkest times" is a line from the song "Relax" used for this challenge, as a requirement was to include a lyric. Sorry if it reads cornyish.
Author: Jedi Princess Clarrisani
Chapter: 6 of 10
Rating: R (M15+)
Pairing(s): Jack/Ianto
Series: Breathe Trilogy (Part One)
Summary: After losing his two best friends during an alien attack, Ianto quits Torchwood only to end up in a train wreck
Disclaimer: Still don't own. I'm not allowed to play in that sandbox.
Warnings: Very, very, angsty. And I mean that. Also, some spoilers for the season two episode "Fragments" for Owen's story.
A/N: Written for TWWC (Torchwood Australia Writing Challenge) #9. Song used for challenge is Mika's "Relax (Take it Easy)". This fic is AU to S2 as it was written during when S2 was airing.
---------
From Part Five
---------
"Who in their right mind would have sheep on the road at this hour!"
"Jack, stop it." Gwen glared at the back of his head. "I swear, sometimes you're as bad as Owen."
Owen frowned. "Hey!"
"Late in the afternoon after rush hour is a logical time to move sheep," Tosh pointed out. "And they did move them as quickly as they could."
"Look, Jack." Owen shot him a levelling glare. "Nagging, bitching and whining is not going to make the SUV go any faster. It's just going to piss us off."
"That's good coming from you," Gwen muttered.
"Oi. I heard that."
"Good. You were supposed to."
"Kids, enough." Jack glanced back over his shoulder. "Tosh, do the records say anything about how to approach these things?"
"No, there's nothing." She looked at him. "Torchwood Four never had the opportunity. The only note is that bullets make them angry."
"Great." Owen scowled. "So what? We go up and beat them to death?"
"Do that and they'll probably have sucked your life out before you can even raise your fist," Jack said.
"Now there's a cheery thought."
"But there's got to be some way to fight them." Gwen looked around the other three. "I mean, what's the point of coming all the way out here if we can't even defend ourselves."
"We'll figure it out," Jack said, shooting his team his trademark grin. "We usually do."
"Hello, Ianto?" They all glanced back, noticing for the first time that Tosh had her phone out. "Have you managed to take a good look at the creatures?" She paused for a long moment before she frowned. "And that's all you've seen?"
"Care to relay the details, Tosh?" Owen asked.
Tosh glanced at him. "Hold on, Ianto. I'm going to put you on speaker so everyone can hear. It'll say me having to explain twice." She paused as he said something, her eyes drifting toward Jack. "No, he won't say anything."
Jack frowned, turning back around to continue glaring out the windscreen as Tosh hit a button on her phone, setting it down.
"Okay, Ianto. Tell us again."
"They're definitely Zarybok," he said, the others noting at once that his accent was slightly thicker than normal. It was something that only ever happened when he was either completely exhausted, extremely angry, or in pain. In this case, all three most likely applied. "They meet all the descriptions. They're wraithlike. They seem to float in their movements, but are definitely corporal."
"If they're corporal, they can be killed," Owen said. "Pleased to hear it. We'd be in shit if we were dealing with ghosts."
"Ianto," Gwen said, leaning toward the phone. "Did you manage to find any other survivors?"
"Four. One man and three children."
Gwen looked slightly alarmed at the mentioning of children. "His children?"
"No. Two of the children were travelling home from visiting one of their parents. Step-siblings. The other's parents... didn't make it."
"Oh my god."
"Okay, that's sad and all that, but let's get back to these Zarywhatsit things." Owen navigated a turn in the road, staring out the windscreen. "We're about 15 minutes away and hoping you might have been able to see any sort of weakness. You know, eyes we could poke out and things like that."
"No eyes that I can see. Haven't been close enough." They heard him let out a long breath, Owen frowning and glancing back over his shoulder. "They seem to generate their own gravity field that allows them to levitate up to a metre off the ground. I haven't seen how they attack yet, but they move in groups and surround their victims."
Gwen frowned. "Ianto, you say they surround their victims. Is that what did they to the train?"
"Yes." They heard the pause. "I think they've still on the train. Right now they're moving around the surrounding areas looking for survivors."
"You right, mate?" Owen glanced in the rear view mirror. "Somewhere safe?"
"We're in a barn of sorts. What it looks like, anyway, from the design of it. It's better than being out in the open."
"Got any weapons."
"Does a pitchfork count?"
Owen swore. "You shouldn't have left your gun on your desk."
There was a long pause. "Noticed, did you?"
"Yeah. I did." Owen shook his head, drumming his fingers on the wheel. "Look, lie low. I've got your gun. I'll give it to you as soon as we get there."
"Guns are no use against Zarybok."
"Can't hurt, can it?"
"How old are the children?" Gwen cut in, the only one to notice the increasing tightness in Jack's jaw at the mention of Ianto leaving his things behind on the desk, Ianto's own way of saying 'I'm not coming back' obviously still running through Jack's mind.
"Youngest is six. A girl. The boy is 13, and his step sister is 16."
Owen smirked. "She hot?"
"I'm going to pretend you didn't ask that."
Jack chuckled, Tosh hiding a smile while Gwen just rolled her eyes. Gwen looked at the phone. "You're all safe for now?"
"For now," Ianto repeated. "It will only be a matter of time before we are discovered. We are still within the cloud barrier. It seems to be expanding."
They exchanged looks. "What do you mean, 'cloud barrier'?" Tosh asked.
"It's the only way that I can explain it," Ianto said. "The train was surrounded by it. It cut out the light and made it harder to see the Zarybok. I would go so far as to say that it is some kind of shield."
"Didn't that picture Torchwood Four have show something similar?" Gwen said, looking toward the others.
Owen frowned, Tosh hitting keys while Jack just nodded.
"Let me see if I understand," Tosh said, hitting keys. "The Zarybok create some sort of cloudlike shield that restricts the light and therefore makes it harder to see them, and not only that they use it so that it is harder to escape and also restricts people from seeing what's happening?"
"Basically. It prevents any interference while they do what they are doing. I believe that is why they waited until the train was out of sight of the towns before they attack. The less witnesses, the better."
"So they're clever little buggers," Owen muttered.
"It appears that way."
"Great. Just what we need."
"Ianto, I'm going to continue searching out databases," Tosh said. "I'll contact you to let you know if I find anything that will help."
"Okay, Tosh. I don't remember seeing anything, but I might have missed something."
"Somehow I doubt it."
Obviously deciding that the main conversation was over, Jack finally broke his silence. "Ianto, listen to me. Just-"
Ianto broke the connection instantly.
***
Grant chuckled as he saw the look on Ianto's face as the other man stuffed his phone back into his pocket. "Fight with the girlfriend?"
"Boyfriend," Ianto corrected. "If you can call him that."
"I thought you were talking to the people you work with," Jodie said.
"I did." Ianto shrugged it off. "I was sleeping with my boss."
"Oh, ouch. Worst thing you can do." Grant pulled a face. "Break up and everything goes to shit."
Ianto raised a brow. "Speaking from experience?"
Grant smiled and shrugged.
"Wait, a guy can't have a boyfriend," Colin said. "Guys have girlfriends."
Jodie rolled her eyes and gave a frustrated sigh, causing the two men to smile knowing this was obviously an old argument. Ianto glanced down, gently smoothing Anya's hair where the little girl had fallen asleep curled against him, still clinging to his belt. He glanced up as Colin stood, creeping toward the door.
"Colin, get back from there," Jodie hissed.
"Why? Not like they can find us."
"You don't know that."
Colin ignored her, glancing through the crap in the door. "Still dark."
Ianto glanced at his watch, taking in the time and frowning. "Sun should be almost down. It'll be pitch black out there soon."
Colin spun to face him. "Are they really aliens?"
Ianto looked at him. "Bad ones, yes."
"Cool." Colin moved back toward where the group was sitting around the small fire, the boy dropping down beside Ianto. "And you work with Torchwood."
Ianto sighed. "I did."
"Did?" Jodie frowned. "You don't anymore?"
"I quit today. Too much death." He huffed, smiling at the irony of it all as he followed the trail of smoke up toward the rafters. "Can't escape it."
"Is that why you were on the train?"
Ianto nodded. "I jumped on the first train out of Cardiff. Figured if I took a ride to the end of the line I could escape it all. Now I'm starting to think it's me."
"Can't be you," Grant said. "I used to work in London a while back. I remember that Torchwood building in Canary Wharf. It was the centre of that battle. I almost got my head blown off by these oversized pepper pots while I was out getting a coffee. That wasn't you."
Ianto shook his head, tight smile still on his lips. "Guess where I worked before I transferred to Cardiff."
There was a long silence, Grant shifting uncomfortably while Jodie averted her eyes. Colin picked up the tension in the air and began to mess around with some straw on the floor. Grant let out a long breath, stretching his legs out in front of him and wincing. Ianto had to agree with him about the pain. Since they were no longer moving the adrenaline had worn off a little, and every little hurt was beginning to burn. He fingered where he had tied the handkerchief, noting that it was now stained a deep red.
Colin let out a sharp gasp, causing them to look up.
"What is it?" Jodie asked.
"I think I heard something," Colin said, staring at the far wall. He pointed. "Out there."
"What did you hear?" Ianto asked, shifting to a more ready stance, Anya protesting as she was woken.
"It was like a scratching," Colin said. "Like our Mum's cat when it wants to get in."
Jodie looked panicked. "Is it them?"
"Don't know." Ianto frowned. "We need to find some kind of weapon to defend ourselves, for there is nothing that we can do without them."
"What good would it do anyway," Grant said, the fear beginning to show in his eyes. "They're dark. They've made the place dark. It's getting dark. We can't see them."
"Are you afraid of the dark?" They looked down at Anya, the little girl leaving Ianto's side for the first time to move over the Grant. "I'm afraid of the dark too. When I get really scared my Dad turns the light on. Mum says it chases all the monsters away."
Ianto stared at her for a long while as what she said slowly began to sink in. He looked at the door, then down toward the fire flickering between them. Had everything not already been hurting, he would have slapped himself for being so dense. "Anya, you're brilliant." He picked up a piece of straw, tossing it into the flame and grinning as he watched it burn. "There is an answer to the darkest times."
The others looked at him like he'd lost his mind.
***
To Part Seven
A/N - The line "There is an answer to the darkest times" is a line from the song "Relax" used for this challenge, as a requirement was to include a lyric. Sorry if it reads cornyish.