Fic: Vizzini's Rule (102/105)
Title: Vizzini's Rule, Chapter 102
Rating: R
Warnings: Language and character death (still)
Spoilers: Season One thru End of Days (1x13)
Disclaimer: Torchwood and all its wonderfulness belong to Russell T. Davies and the Mighty Beeb. Just goofin' around! All ©’s to Chris Chibnall for dialogue and situations borrowed from End of Days - no infringement, only worship intended.
Summary: In which Ianto discovers how Jack defeated Abaddon…and the price he paid…
Notes: Hope everyone had a wonderful Winter Solstice / Hanukkah / Christmas / Kwanzaa / Gurnenthar's Ascendance - take your pick. :) I’m slowly finishing this story and hope to have it completed and posted very soon! BLESS YOU ALL for reading and sticking with it, especially thru my spotty posting recently. Special thanks to thrace_adams for her general awesomeness! *hugs* and Happy New Year to ya’ll! :D
Previous Chapters
Vizzini's Rule: Chapter One Hundred and Two
Previously on Vizzini’s Rule:
Abaddon’s roar had changed to a scream. They could just make it out over the tops of the buildings, flailing and thrashing, tiny cracks of light appearing on its body like wounds. Then, with a thud that shook the ground they stood on, Abaddon fell.
Tosh, Ianto and Owen all stumbled and fell as the earth heaved beneath them. Ianto felt a tremendous pressure in his head, like all the worst hangovers of his life were happening simultaneously. He cried out and then it was gone - the pressure, the shaking, the roars of the ancient beast, it was all gone.
He shook his head and stood up, reaching down to help Tosh to her feet as well. Owen was still scrambling up when Tosh and Ianto shared one speaking look and then took off at a run.
“Hey! Where’re you going?” Owen hollered as he tried to catch up.
“Hub,” Ianto shouted succinctly without turning around.
“Comms!” Tosh added. “We need to find Jack!”
Jack, Ianto thought.
Jack.
Ianto reached the Tourist Office before Tosh. He shoved open the door and was scrambling in his desk for his spare comm when Tosh caught up. She immediately ran for his computer on the counter.
“Jack? Jack! You there?” Ianto kept trying, clicking rapidly through all the channels on his comm. Giving up on Jack, he tried for Gwen instead while Tosh succeeded in booting up his computer. “Gwen? Gwen, where are you?” He finally heard a voice echoing his call and it was definitely not Gwen. “Jack?” he asked hopefully.
“Sorry, Ianto, just me,” Owen said into his comm as he walked through the open door.
“Dammit!” Ianto shouted and punched the door frame.
“Now, let’s not make a fuss,” Owen said. “Tosh -”
“Fuck you, Owen. This is all your goddamn fault!” Ianto yelled as he advanced on the shorter man.
“Hey!” Owen yelled back. “We all did this!” Owen looked like he wanted to say more but instead he turned to Tosh who was still working at Ianto’s computer. “Tosh, you got anything?”
Tosh glanced up from her furious typing and nodded. “I have the coordinates of the SUV. It’s parked… here,” she said as she pulled up a map on the screen. “But there’s nothing there, it’s just a bit of land behind the docks.”
“An open space,” Ianto said quietly.
Owen nodded. “Yeah, that’s what he said, isn’t it?”
Tosh glanced up from the computer again. “I just need a few minutes here to get the systems up and running again so we can get into the Hub, if it’s not completely caved in that is. It looks like everything else basically reset itself out on the streets but not in here. Why don’t I see if I can get us in and you two go find Jack and Gwen.”
“Right then. Ianto, with me.”
Owen sprinted out the door, but Ianto hesitated.
“Ianto?” Tosh asked, concern evident in her voice
“I… what if… what if he’s…” Ianto couldn’t finish the sentence.
“Hey, it’ll be okay.” Tosh walked over to put her hand on his arm. “We saw Abaddon fall. It looks like the rift has closed itself completely. It’s finished.”
Ianto nodded jerkily and followed Owen, unable to shake the feeling that everything was far from over.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
The ride to the SUV was uncomfortable, mostly due Owen’s choice of conversational topics.
“Did you -” he broke off and then started again, carefully staring straight ahead. “Did you know about Jack? That he could, you know, resurrect or whatever?”
“No,” Ianto said not turning his head from his contemplation of the city out the passenger window of Owen’s little blue Honda.
“Oh. I just thought… you seem to know everything else about him.”
Ianto sighed. “No one knows everything about Jack. Not even Jack,” he added in a mutter.
“Yeah, but you know more than the rest of us, don’t you?”
“I really couldn’t say.”
Despite Ianto’s subtle attempts to squelch the subject, Owen continued. “Looks like I was right, though. Right? About you and Jack?”
Ianto sighed again and turned to face Owen. “What about me and Jack?” He was going to make Owen say it, whatever it was. There was no way he was going to blunder in with explanations or excuses.
“You know. That you’re shagging?” Owen looked at Ianto out of the corner of his eye, seeming ill at ease. “I, look, I’m sorry I shot him. I… I was just so mad! God, sorry, that sounds pathetic.”
“I’m not the one you should apologize to,” Ianto said.
“Yeah, I know,” Owen replied in a gloomy voice. “You just seemed so upset by it, I just figured there had to be something more, you know, between you two. At least I was right about him being gay. No clue about you, mate.”
“I’m not gay,” Ianto said looking out the window. “And neither is Jack for that matter.”
“Then what -”
“There’s the SUV!” Ianto shouted. He immediately forgot about Owen’s prying as he jumped out. He stumbled at bit and realized he hadn’t even waited for the car to come to a complete stop.
There was no sign of Jack or Gwen near the vehicle. He pulled open the passenger door just to be sure it was really empty and then took off on foot.
“Jack! Gwen!” he called as he ran across the rocky terrain. “Jack!”
He heard a faint noise and turned towards it, following blindly. It reminded him of… of Gwen in the vaults, crying over Rhys’s body, he thought as a chill ran up his spine. He ran up a small rise of land and saw them.
Jack was lying on the ground, his head cradled awkwardly in Gwen’s lap. She was rocking back and forth, keening over Jack’s -
Ianto swallowed hard and refused to think the word ‘body’. Jack can’t die, he told himself firmly. He came back when Owen shot him he can come back from whatever this is. He just wished he could really believe it.
He crouched by Gwen and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Gwen… Gwen, what happened?” he asked softly.
For a long moment, Gwen didn’t answer. When she finally raised her head to speak, Owen had joined them. He stood, still as a statue, looking down at Jack with a somber expression on his face.
“He told me to go. He told me to drive away but I couldn’t leave him.”
“That’s good. So you stayed with him.” Ianto tried to keep his voice calm, fighting against the urge to just shake the information out of Gwen. “What happened? How did he destroy Abaddon?”
“He - Abaddon came across the bay at Jack…” Her voice caught on a sob and Ianto ran his hand soothingly over her back until she could speak again, her words tumbling over themselves now. “Jack said something about Abaddon feeding on life and that he was a buffet, I didn’t really understand him but he made me stay back and ran over there, I mean here, right here, he stood right here and Abaddon he came across the bay and when his shadow touched Jack he screamed, he screamed and there was this light coming from him, I don’t know what it was but Jack was screaming and I was too scared to help him.” Gwen dissolved into tears, bowing her head over Jack and beginning to rock again.
“Gwen, it’s okay,” Owen said crouching down as well. When she looked up at him, he gave her a little half smile. “Jack tried to make you leave, he wouldn’t have wanted you to get hurt.”
She nodded slowly and sniffled.
“That’s right,” Owen said. “So let’s get you both back to the Hub, okay?”
“Okay,” she whispered. She tried to get up without releasing her hold on Jack.
“I’ve got him, Gwen,” Ianto said softly. “It’s okay to let go.”
“I don’t want to leave him alone,” she whispered.
Ianto nodded. “We won’t. I’ve got him. You go with Owen.”
Gwen looked at him and then nodded again. Ianto held Jack’s head and shoulders off the ground as she slid from under his body. Once she was clear, Ianto pulled Jack into his arms so his head was resting on Ianto’s chest. He gave Gwen an encouraging smile and watched as Owen led her down the hill to the vehicles.
As soon as he and Jack were alone, Ianto forced himself to look down into his lover’s face. Jack looked awful. The dark circles under his eyes that had been present since he woke up from being shot were even darker and more pronounced. There was some bruising around his mouth as well. From Gwen punching him in the face, Ianto thought as he traced the mark with his fingertip. Normally that would have healed by now… and now I know why.
“Jack,” Ianto whispered urgently. “Wake up, wake up, wake up.” He lowered his mouth to Jack’s and kissed him softly. “Come back to me, I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry, come back and let me make it up to you.”
There was no response. Jack lay in his arms, still and silent.
Sighing, Ianto got to his feet, carefully pulling Jack up with him. He bent and let Jack’s arm dangle around his neck, lifting him on his shoulders much like Jack had done with Rhys a few hours before. He swayed under Jack’s weight for a minute and then began to walk slowly to the SUV. As he walked, he kept repeating under his breath, “Come back to me, cariad, come back. Come back to me…”
TBC in Chapter One Hundred and Three
Rating: R
Warnings: Language and character death (still)
Spoilers: Season One thru End of Days (1x13)
Disclaimer: Torchwood and all its wonderfulness belong to Russell T. Davies and the Mighty Beeb. Just goofin' around! All ©’s to Chris Chibnall for dialogue and situations borrowed from End of Days - no infringement, only worship intended.
Summary: In which Ianto discovers how Jack defeated Abaddon…and the price he paid…
Notes: Hope everyone had a wonderful Winter Solstice / Hanukkah / Christmas / Kwanzaa / Gurnenthar's Ascendance - take your pick. :) I’m slowly finishing this story and hope to have it completed and posted very soon! BLESS YOU ALL for reading and sticking with it, especially thru my spotty posting recently. Special thanks to thrace_adams for her general awesomeness! *hugs* and Happy New Year to ya’ll! :D
Previous Chapters
Vizzini's Rule: Chapter One Hundred and Two
Previously on Vizzini’s Rule:
Abaddon’s roar had changed to a scream. They could just make it out over the tops of the buildings, flailing and thrashing, tiny cracks of light appearing on its body like wounds. Then, with a thud that shook the ground they stood on, Abaddon fell.
Tosh, Ianto and Owen all stumbled and fell as the earth heaved beneath them. Ianto felt a tremendous pressure in his head, like all the worst hangovers of his life were happening simultaneously. He cried out and then it was gone - the pressure, the shaking, the roars of the ancient beast, it was all gone.
He shook his head and stood up, reaching down to help Tosh to her feet as well. Owen was still scrambling up when Tosh and Ianto shared one speaking look and then took off at a run.
“Hey! Where’re you going?” Owen hollered as he tried to catch up.
“Hub,” Ianto shouted succinctly without turning around.
“Comms!” Tosh added. “We need to find Jack!”
Jack, Ianto thought.
Jack.
Ianto reached the Tourist Office before Tosh. He shoved open the door and was scrambling in his desk for his spare comm when Tosh caught up. She immediately ran for his computer on the counter.
“Jack? Jack! You there?” Ianto kept trying, clicking rapidly through all the channels on his comm. Giving up on Jack, he tried for Gwen instead while Tosh succeeded in booting up his computer. “Gwen? Gwen, where are you?” He finally heard a voice echoing his call and it was definitely not Gwen. “Jack?” he asked hopefully.
“Sorry, Ianto, just me,” Owen said into his comm as he walked through the open door.
“Dammit!” Ianto shouted and punched the door frame.
“Now, let’s not make a fuss,” Owen said. “Tosh -”
“Fuck you, Owen. This is all your goddamn fault!” Ianto yelled as he advanced on the shorter man.
“Hey!” Owen yelled back. “We all did this!” Owen looked like he wanted to say more but instead he turned to Tosh who was still working at Ianto’s computer. “Tosh, you got anything?”
Tosh glanced up from her furious typing and nodded. “I have the coordinates of the SUV. It’s parked… here,” she said as she pulled up a map on the screen. “But there’s nothing there, it’s just a bit of land behind the docks.”
“An open space,” Ianto said quietly.
Owen nodded. “Yeah, that’s what he said, isn’t it?”
Tosh glanced up from the computer again. “I just need a few minutes here to get the systems up and running again so we can get into the Hub, if it’s not completely caved in that is. It looks like everything else basically reset itself out on the streets but not in here. Why don’t I see if I can get us in and you two go find Jack and Gwen.”
“Right then. Ianto, with me.”
Owen sprinted out the door, but Ianto hesitated.
“Ianto?” Tosh asked, concern evident in her voice
“I… what if… what if he’s…” Ianto couldn’t finish the sentence.
“Hey, it’ll be okay.” Tosh walked over to put her hand on his arm. “We saw Abaddon fall. It looks like the rift has closed itself completely. It’s finished.”
Ianto nodded jerkily and followed Owen, unable to shake the feeling that everything was far from over.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
The ride to the SUV was uncomfortable, mostly due Owen’s choice of conversational topics.
“Did you -” he broke off and then started again, carefully staring straight ahead. “Did you know about Jack? That he could, you know, resurrect or whatever?”
“No,” Ianto said not turning his head from his contemplation of the city out the passenger window of Owen’s little blue Honda.
“Oh. I just thought… you seem to know everything else about him.”
Ianto sighed. “No one knows everything about Jack. Not even Jack,” he added in a mutter.
“Yeah, but you know more than the rest of us, don’t you?”
“I really couldn’t say.”
Despite Ianto’s subtle attempts to squelch the subject, Owen continued. “Looks like I was right, though. Right? About you and Jack?”
Ianto sighed again and turned to face Owen. “What about me and Jack?” He was going to make Owen say it, whatever it was. There was no way he was going to blunder in with explanations or excuses.
“You know. That you’re shagging?” Owen looked at Ianto out of the corner of his eye, seeming ill at ease. “I, look, I’m sorry I shot him. I… I was just so mad! God, sorry, that sounds pathetic.”
“I’m not the one you should apologize to,” Ianto said.
“Yeah, I know,” Owen replied in a gloomy voice. “You just seemed so upset by it, I just figured there had to be something more, you know, between you two. At least I was right about him being gay. No clue about you, mate.”
“I’m not gay,” Ianto said looking out the window. “And neither is Jack for that matter.”
“Then what -”
“There’s the SUV!” Ianto shouted. He immediately forgot about Owen’s prying as he jumped out. He stumbled at bit and realized he hadn’t even waited for the car to come to a complete stop.
There was no sign of Jack or Gwen near the vehicle. He pulled open the passenger door just to be sure it was really empty and then took off on foot.
“Jack! Gwen!” he called as he ran across the rocky terrain. “Jack!”
He heard a faint noise and turned towards it, following blindly. It reminded him of… of Gwen in the vaults, crying over Rhys’s body, he thought as a chill ran up his spine. He ran up a small rise of land and saw them.
Jack was lying on the ground, his head cradled awkwardly in Gwen’s lap. She was rocking back and forth, keening over Jack’s -
Ianto swallowed hard and refused to think the word ‘body’. Jack can’t die, he told himself firmly. He came back when Owen shot him he can come back from whatever this is. He just wished he could really believe it.
He crouched by Gwen and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Gwen… Gwen, what happened?” he asked softly.
For a long moment, Gwen didn’t answer. When she finally raised her head to speak, Owen had joined them. He stood, still as a statue, looking down at Jack with a somber expression on his face.
“He told me to go. He told me to drive away but I couldn’t leave him.”
“That’s good. So you stayed with him.” Ianto tried to keep his voice calm, fighting against the urge to just shake the information out of Gwen. “What happened? How did he destroy Abaddon?”
“He - Abaddon came across the bay at Jack…” Her voice caught on a sob and Ianto ran his hand soothingly over her back until she could speak again, her words tumbling over themselves now. “Jack said something about Abaddon feeding on life and that he was a buffet, I didn’t really understand him but he made me stay back and ran over there, I mean here, right here, he stood right here and Abaddon he came across the bay and when his shadow touched Jack he screamed, he screamed and there was this light coming from him, I don’t know what it was but Jack was screaming and I was too scared to help him.” Gwen dissolved into tears, bowing her head over Jack and beginning to rock again.
“Gwen, it’s okay,” Owen said crouching down as well. When she looked up at him, he gave her a little half smile. “Jack tried to make you leave, he wouldn’t have wanted you to get hurt.”
She nodded slowly and sniffled.
“That’s right,” Owen said. “So let’s get you both back to the Hub, okay?”
“Okay,” she whispered. She tried to get up without releasing her hold on Jack.
“I’ve got him, Gwen,” Ianto said softly. “It’s okay to let go.”
“I don’t want to leave him alone,” she whispered.
Ianto nodded. “We won’t. I’ve got him. You go with Owen.”
Gwen looked at him and then nodded again. Ianto held Jack’s head and shoulders off the ground as she slid from under his body. Once she was clear, Ianto pulled Jack into his arms so his head was resting on Ianto’s chest. He gave Gwen an encouraging smile and watched as Owen led her down the hill to the vehicles.
As soon as he and Jack were alone, Ianto forced himself to look down into his lover’s face. Jack looked awful. The dark circles under his eyes that had been present since he woke up from being shot were even darker and more pronounced. There was some bruising around his mouth as well. From Gwen punching him in the face, Ianto thought as he traced the mark with his fingertip. Normally that would have healed by now… and now I know why.
“Jack,” Ianto whispered urgently. “Wake up, wake up, wake up.” He lowered his mouth to Jack’s and kissed him softly. “Come back to me, I’m sorry, I’m so so sorry, come back and let me make it up to you.”
There was no response. Jack lay in his arms, still and silent.
Sighing, Ianto got to his feet, carefully pulling Jack up with him. He bent and let Jack’s arm dangle around his neck, lifting him on his shoulders much like Jack had done with Rhys a few hours before. He swayed under Jack’s weight for a minute and then began to walk slowly to the SUV. As he walked, he kept repeating under his breath, “Come back to me, cariad, come back. Come back to me…”
TBC in Chapter One Hundred and Three