TW fic: Children of (another) Earth. AU. 5/5
And here we are. Would you believe it, but this chapter is much longer than the others...
Day One | Day Two | Day Three | Day Four
Setting: The five days of 'Children of Earth', but in a parallel universe.
Summary: What would have happened if the 456 came to Alex's world. A re-write, not a fix-it.
Rating: 15.
Word count (this chapter): 2300 words
Characters: Lucy, Jack, Sarah Jane, Johnson, Alice, Steven, Dekker, OC (Alex).
Feedback: Would be appreciated like you wouldn't believe.
Day Five.
The sudden freedom is welcome, and yet Alice watches the two young boys chasing the football with deeply mixed emotions. The price for freedom was heavy, and she now has knowledge she’d rather not.
Johnson has become a sudden, and rather bitter, ally, but as they discuss the way their leaders have seen fit to sell out the lowest tenth of the population, their conversation is interrupted by low laughter.
Alice turns and stares incredulously at Lucy, whose laughter is combined with an exceedingly sardonic look.
“Exactly which species did you think you belonged to? Take my word - the 456 could have asked for 90% of the children, and humankind would still have handed them over.”
There is a pause, during which Alice realises that there is something profoundly wrong with Lucy Saxon.
“What happened to you?” she finally asks, and Lucy smiles coldly, her voice brittle when she replies.
“I saw the end of the world. Twice. And I know that humanity will do anything to survive. Anything at all.”
She shudders delicately, and grips her coffee cup more tightly as her eyes go distant.
“Because in the end… in the end, everyone dies. So please tell me, why fight?”
Alice can barely believe her ears, and stares down the woman across from her.
“Because if we don’t, we’re no better than them.”
Lucy just shakes her head.
“You’re as delusional as your father. How many times has he saved the world now? He should have called himself ‘Sisyfos’.”
Lucy’s words do not have the intended effect on Alice, who turns to Johnson, suddenly determined.
“This woman might be impossibly cynical, but she has a point - my father can help. He might be the only one...”
Johnson looks at her in silence, then nods, before gathering her team and setting off. A woman of action. Alice likes her efficiency, and after a wait of a few hours, Johnson returns with her quarry.
Two small boys fling themselves at him, shouting ‘Uncle Jack!’ and he looks very surprised.
“Hello soldier!” he says, lifting Steven up, and then pats the toddler’s head.
“Alex! What are you doing here?
“Mummy was scared of the aliens, and so we came here! Are you going to fight them?”
“I’ll try my best,” he answers, and Alice wonders at how much the youngster understands, as he solemnly nods. Plus, why is he calling her father ‘uncle’?
A short while later both Steven and Alex are absorbed in Scooby Doo in the corner of the main room, being quietly watched over by Lucy, whilst Jack tries to puzzle things out with Dekker. Alice and Johnson hover, watching as the experts attempt to work out a way of fighting back.
And then - impossibly - they do. Silence falls as they take on board the implications.
“Oh that child is going to fry,” Dekker says, with something that sounds almost like relish, and Alice can’t breathe as her father’s eyes fasten on the two children at the other end of the room.
Then his jaw sets and he walks down to where Lucy is standing, quietly watching the children. Alice wants to say something - anything - but can’t make a sound as she follows silently, stopping just inside hearing distance, Johnson standing behind her.
“Lucy,” Dad says quietly, not disturbing the boys. “We’ve found a way to destroy the 456. But we need Alex.”
“No,” she answers, without looking around, and her father repeats her name - this time with such anger that Alice flinches, and Lucy finally turns.
“Lucy! Listen to me. I will take him whether you agree or not. So, I can either tear him from your arms while you scream, and he gets scarred for life - or you can tell him that helping Uncle Jack is a very good idea. Enough people have died already...”
He stops then, fighting some violent emotion, and Lucy tilts her head, dismissive.
“No.“
Jack’s hands curls into fists - but he doesn’t strike, although Lucy clearly expects him to.
Alice wonders what their past holds, since they clearly know each other well. It reminds her of the arguments her parents used to have when she was young, except this time her father is the angry one.
“Ten percent of the children, Lucy. Ten percent. Although...”
Jack’s voice turns malicious, and Alice has never heard her father speak with such hatred.
“Decimate is a good word, isn’t it? I don’t know how many centuries it will take before I stop having nightmares about that day. But you? You danced. Danced on humanity’s downfall. Maybe your son can make up for some of that - in either case, he doesn’t get a choice, because he’s our only hope. Lucy - he truly is the most important child in the world today. Have some faith in him.”
They stare at each other for a long moment, then Lucy lifts her chin.
“You listen to me, Jack Harkness. If you harm so much as a single hair on my son’s head, he -”she points to Steven, “dies. Understood?“
Alice can feel her insides turn to ash, recognising her own words in Lucy’s, as her father’s eyes follows her finger, and then slowly nods.
“Understood.”
With that he turns, and Alice grabs his arm, all ethics forgotten as her sons’ life hangs in the balance.
“Dad! No! What are you-“
“Trust me. I know what I’m doing. It’s going to be OK.”
Bewildered she watches as he crouches down by the boys’ chairs, a bright smile on his face.
“Alex? Would you like to help me save the world?”
The boy looks up, sudden excitement on his little face.
“Are you going to explain?”
Jack nods solemly.
“Yes Alex. I’ll explain everything.”
The boy jumps to his feet, clearly ready for anything. Alice feels like she might throw up, and has never hated her father more than now. And yet... and yet she can’t stop him.
Steven seems a little put out.
“What about me?”
“Not today soldier. But maybe another time, OK?”
Steven nods, and Dad lifts Alex up into the crook of his arm.
“C’mere. Let me show you what we’re doing.”
With equal parts self-disgust and surprise, Alice watches as her father brings Alex round to the computer banks, and does exactly what he promised - explains everything.
Lucy follows slowly, and Alice finds that she can’t look at her. Really she should get Steven out of the room, and yet she can’t tear her eyes off her father and the child he carries.
“The aliens out in space are very nasty, Alex,” he begins. “They want lots of children, and they’re going to put them in little cages like this.”
He brings up an image that has Alice reeling. Alex studies it with a frown.
“But,” her father continues, “there was one boy they didn’t want, because he was wrong. And he grew up, and then they killed him. Like this.”
He brings up the video of Clem dying, and Alice reaches out.
“Dad, is that appropriate-“
“He’s seen worse,” her father replies tersely, and Alice wonders in earnest at what’s going on. Under what kind of circumstances has he become Alex’s ‘uncle’?
“Now see here. This is the signal they use for communicating. And this is the signal they used to kill the man. We are going to fold it, boost it, and send it back. But we need a conduit.”
“Me?” Alex asks after a second, and Jack nods. The toddler looks at the lines on the screen, following them with a chubby finger.
“Can you do it?” Jack asks, and the boys nods, pleased.
“Oh yes. My head is very clever. Where do I go?” He scans the room, then points unerringly. “Over there?”
Dad nods again, and lets the boy down. Alex crouches, ducking under the equipment tables, and happily runs along and stands on the circle in the middle, as Dad and Dekker swiftly start tapping in commands. Lucy talks to her son for a moment, but he’s obviously happy with what he’s doing.
Johnson clears her throat, addressing Jack.
“I won’t stop you. But I have to say that you are the single most callous and ruthless person I’ve ever met.”
He stops, and looks up.
“He’s not human.”
There is a moment as they try to make the information make sense, then their eyes dart to little Alex and his mother - the latter stands like a white ghost on the other side of the small platform, a discreet soldier at her side.
“But…”
“Mum is human,” he elaborates. “Dad isn’t.”
Dekker cackles. “Harold Saxon was an alien. Well, well, that certainly puts things in a different perspective…”
Jack looks up, then swallows.
“Alex… do you think you could put Igglepiggle down?”
The boy nods, and carefully puts the toy down on the floor.
“Dad - do you know that he can survive?”
He doesn’t answer at first, and she sees the unspoken fear in his eyes as he shoots her a swift glance. Then he busies himself with programming once more, voice distracted.
“He’s a Time Lord, the last child of the oldest and most mighty race in the universe. Their minds can cope with all of time and space. He can do this.”
‘But he’s only two’, Alice thinks, ‘and you can’t know that he’ll be OK’.
But what other option is there?
“Ready Alex?” Jack says, and Alex nods. Alice feels terror all the way through, wondering at what she’s a part of. Except she knows - this is Torchwood. This is what her father is, what he does, how he fights.
Then he hits enter.
Alex closes his eyes, bites his lip, and goes completely still. Yet there is a sudden sound, and Alice realises that it’s Steven screaming that unearthly scream, and rushes to his side.
It seems to take forever. She wonders how conscious Steven is, how much he understands. She can’t bear to turn around.
And then suddenly it’s over.
Steven blinks and catches her eyes, and she can breathe again. Then she turns, heart in her throat, and sees Alex look around - still alive, and smiling brightly.
“Well I’ll be…” she can hear Dekker mutter from across the room, and her father is beaming, as he checks the various measuring equipment.
“Congratulations Alex! You’ve just saved the world!”
Alex grins all over, the way only two year olds can, and bounces.
“I’m just like the Doctor, aren’t I? Oh - and the smell is gone!” he adds, and Jack raises an eyebrow.
“You could smell them?”
Alex nods, and her father shakes his head in that smug ‘What did I tell you?’ way.
But as Alex bends down to pick up his toy, he suddenly stumbles.
“Mummy… my head hurts.”
He’s holding up a hand to his forehead, and Alice’s father suddenly goes completely still.
Lucy rushes forward, and catches her son just as he looses his footing.
“Alexander!” she cries, and the anguish in her voice cuts through Alice like a knife.
“I feel… I feel all hot…” he whispers, and then Alice’s attention is abruptly changed by her father’s presence by her side, as he presses his gun into her hands.
“Alice. Listen. Take Steven and run. Don’t stop, you won’t ever be safe again. And I’m sorry - I’ll try to divert their anger, but… Alice, they have the power of gods. They’ll never forgive me.”
He grabs her, pulling her so close she feels she might break, and gives a surprised Steven a swift kiss.
“Now run!”
Johnson steps forward.
“I’ll give them a lift.”
“Thank you,” he says, but she shakes her head.
“Figure my head will roll anyway, right?”
He nods, and Alice grabs Steven’s hand. She stops at the door for one last look, and sees Lucy cradling her son - in the bright lights it almost looks as if he’s glowing. Then Johnson pulls her along, and they flee.
Six months later.
Day One | Day Two | Day Three | Day Four
Setting: The five days of 'Children of Earth', but in a parallel universe.
Summary: What would have happened if the 456 came to Alex's world. A re-write, not a fix-it.
Rating: 15.
Word count (this chapter): 2300 words
Characters: Lucy, Jack, Sarah Jane, Johnson, Alice, Steven, Dekker, OC (Alex).
Feedback: Would be appreciated like you wouldn't believe.
Day Five.
The sudden freedom is welcome, and yet Alice watches the two young boys chasing the football with deeply mixed emotions. The price for freedom was heavy, and she now has knowledge she’d rather not.
Johnson has become a sudden, and rather bitter, ally, but as they discuss the way their leaders have seen fit to sell out the lowest tenth of the population, their conversation is interrupted by low laughter.
Alice turns and stares incredulously at Lucy, whose laughter is combined with an exceedingly sardonic look.
“Exactly which species did you think you belonged to? Take my word - the 456 could have asked for 90% of the children, and humankind would still have handed them over.”
There is a pause, during which Alice realises that there is something profoundly wrong with Lucy Saxon.
“What happened to you?” she finally asks, and Lucy smiles coldly, her voice brittle when she replies.
“I saw the end of the world. Twice. And I know that humanity will do anything to survive. Anything at all.”
She shudders delicately, and grips her coffee cup more tightly as her eyes go distant.
“Because in the end… in the end, everyone dies. So please tell me, why fight?”
Alice can barely believe her ears, and stares down the woman across from her.
“Because if we don’t, we’re no better than them.”
Lucy just shakes her head.
“You’re as delusional as your father. How many times has he saved the world now? He should have called himself ‘Sisyfos’.”
Lucy’s words do not have the intended effect on Alice, who turns to Johnson, suddenly determined.
“This woman might be impossibly cynical, but she has a point - my father can help. He might be the only one...”
Johnson looks at her in silence, then nods, before gathering her team and setting off. A woman of action. Alice likes her efficiency, and after a wait of a few hours, Johnson returns with her quarry.
Two small boys fling themselves at him, shouting ‘Uncle Jack!’ and he looks very surprised.
“Hello soldier!” he says, lifting Steven up, and then pats the toddler’s head.
“Alex! What are you doing here?
“Mummy was scared of the aliens, and so we came here! Are you going to fight them?”
“I’ll try my best,” he answers, and Alice wonders at how much the youngster understands, as he solemnly nods. Plus, why is he calling her father ‘uncle’?
A short while later both Steven and Alex are absorbed in Scooby Doo in the corner of the main room, being quietly watched over by Lucy, whilst Jack tries to puzzle things out with Dekker. Alice and Johnson hover, watching as the experts attempt to work out a way of fighting back.
And then - impossibly - they do. Silence falls as they take on board the implications.
“Oh that child is going to fry,” Dekker says, with something that sounds almost like relish, and Alice can’t breathe as her father’s eyes fasten on the two children at the other end of the room.
Then his jaw sets and he walks down to where Lucy is standing, quietly watching the children. Alice wants to say something - anything - but can’t make a sound as she follows silently, stopping just inside hearing distance, Johnson standing behind her.
“Lucy,” Dad says quietly, not disturbing the boys. “We’ve found a way to destroy the 456. But we need Alex.”
“No,” she answers, without looking around, and her father repeats her name - this time with such anger that Alice flinches, and Lucy finally turns.
“Lucy! Listen to me. I will take him whether you agree or not. So, I can either tear him from your arms while you scream, and he gets scarred for life - or you can tell him that helping Uncle Jack is a very good idea. Enough people have died already...”
He stops then, fighting some violent emotion, and Lucy tilts her head, dismissive.
“No.“
Jack’s hands curls into fists - but he doesn’t strike, although Lucy clearly expects him to.
Alice wonders what their past holds, since they clearly know each other well. It reminds her of the arguments her parents used to have when she was young, except this time her father is the angry one.
“Ten percent of the children, Lucy. Ten percent. Although...”
Jack’s voice turns malicious, and Alice has never heard her father speak with such hatred.
“Decimate is a good word, isn’t it? I don’t know how many centuries it will take before I stop having nightmares about that day. But you? You danced. Danced on humanity’s downfall. Maybe your son can make up for some of that - in either case, he doesn’t get a choice, because he’s our only hope. Lucy - he truly is the most important child in the world today. Have some faith in him.”
They stare at each other for a long moment, then Lucy lifts her chin.
“You listen to me, Jack Harkness. If you harm so much as a single hair on my son’s head, he -”she points to Steven, “dies. Understood?“
Alice can feel her insides turn to ash, recognising her own words in Lucy’s, as her father’s eyes follows her finger, and then slowly nods.
“Understood.”
With that he turns, and Alice grabs his arm, all ethics forgotten as her sons’ life hangs in the balance.
“Dad! No! What are you-“
“Trust me. I know what I’m doing. It’s going to be OK.”
Bewildered she watches as he crouches down by the boys’ chairs, a bright smile on his face.
“Alex? Would you like to help me save the world?”
The boy looks up, sudden excitement on his little face.
“Are you going to explain?”
Jack nods solemly.
“Yes Alex. I’ll explain everything.”
The boy jumps to his feet, clearly ready for anything. Alice feels like she might throw up, and has never hated her father more than now. And yet... and yet she can’t stop him.
Steven seems a little put out.
“What about me?”
“Not today soldier. But maybe another time, OK?”
Steven nods, and Dad lifts Alex up into the crook of his arm.
“C’mere. Let me show you what we’re doing.”
With equal parts self-disgust and surprise, Alice watches as her father brings Alex round to the computer banks, and does exactly what he promised - explains everything.
Lucy follows slowly, and Alice finds that she can’t look at her. Really she should get Steven out of the room, and yet she can’t tear her eyes off her father and the child he carries.
“The aliens out in space are very nasty, Alex,” he begins. “They want lots of children, and they’re going to put them in little cages like this.”
He brings up an image that has Alice reeling. Alex studies it with a frown.
“But,” her father continues, “there was one boy they didn’t want, because he was wrong. And he grew up, and then they killed him. Like this.”
He brings up the video of Clem dying, and Alice reaches out.
“Dad, is that appropriate-“
“He’s seen worse,” her father replies tersely, and Alice wonders in earnest at what’s going on. Under what kind of circumstances has he become Alex’s ‘uncle’?
“Now see here. This is the signal they use for communicating. And this is the signal they used to kill the man. We are going to fold it, boost it, and send it back. But we need a conduit.”
“Me?” Alex asks after a second, and Jack nods. The toddler looks at the lines on the screen, following them with a chubby finger.
“Can you do it?” Jack asks, and the boys nods, pleased.
“Oh yes. My head is very clever. Where do I go?” He scans the room, then points unerringly. “Over there?”
Dad nods again, and lets the boy down. Alex crouches, ducking under the equipment tables, and happily runs along and stands on the circle in the middle, as Dad and Dekker swiftly start tapping in commands. Lucy talks to her son for a moment, but he’s obviously happy with what he’s doing.
Johnson clears her throat, addressing Jack.
“I won’t stop you. But I have to say that you are the single most callous and ruthless person I’ve ever met.”
He stops, and looks up.
“He’s not human.”
There is a moment as they try to make the information make sense, then their eyes dart to little Alex and his mother - the latter stands like a white ghost on the other side of the small platform, a discreet soldier at her side.
“But…”
“Mum is human,” he elaborates. “Dad isn’t.”
Dekker cackles. “Harold Saxon was an alien. Well, well, that certainly puts things in a different perspective…”
Jack looks up, then swallows.
“Alex… do you think you could put Igglepiggle down?”
The boy nods, and carefully puts the toy down on the floor.
“Dad - do you know that he can survive?”
He doesn’t answer at first, and she sees the unspoken fear in his eyes as he shoots her a swift glance. Then he busies himself with programming once more, voice distracted.
“He’s a Time Lord, the last child of the oldest and most mighty race in the universe. Their minds can cope with all of time and space. He can do this.”
‘But he’s only two’, Alice thinks, ‘and you can’t know that he’ll be OK’.
But what other option is there?
“Ready Alex?” Jack says, and Alex nods. Alice feels terror all the way through, wondering at what she’s a part of. Except she knows - this is Torchwood. This is what her father is, what he does, how he fights.
Then he hits enter.
Alex closes his eyes, bites his lip, and goes completely still. Yet there is a sudden sound, and Alice realises that it’s Steven screaming that unearthly scream, and rushes to his side.
It seems to take forever. She wonders how conscious Steven is, how much he understands. She can’t bear to turn around.
And then suddenly it’s over.
Steven blinks and catches her eyes, and she can breathe again. Then she turns, heart in her throat, and sees Alex look around - still alive, and smiling brightly.
“Well I’ll be…” she can hear Dekker mutter from across the room, and her father is beaming, as he checks the various measuring equipment.
“Congratulations Alex! You’ve just saved the world!”
Alex grins all over, the way only two year olds can, and bounces.
“I’m just like the Doctor, aren’t I? Oh - and the smell is gone!” he adds, and Jack raises an eyebrow.
“You could smell them?”
Alex nods, and her father shakes his head in that smug ‘What did I tell you?’ way.
But as Alex bends down to pick up his toy, he suddenly stumbles.
“Mummy… my head hurts.”
He’s holding up a hand to his forehead, and Alice’s father suddenly goes completely still.
Lucy rushes forward, and catches her son just as he looses his footing.
“Alexander!” she cries, and the anguish in her voice cuts through Alice like a knife.
“I feel… I feel all hot…” he whispers, and then Alice’s attention is abruptly changed by her father’s presence by her side, as he presses his gun into her hands.
“Alice. Listen. Take Steven and run. Don’t stop, you won’t ever be safe again. And I’m sorry - I’ll try to divert their anger, but… Alice, they have the power of gods. They’ll never forgive me.”
He grabs her, pulling her so close she feels she might break, and gives a surprised Steven a swift kiss.
“Now run!”
Johnson steps forward.
“I’ll give them a lift.”
“Thank you,” he says, but she shakes her head.
“Figure my head will roll anyway, right?”
He nods, and Alice grabs Steven’s hand. She stops at the door for one last look, and sees Lucy cradling her son - in the bright lights it almost looks as if he’s glowing. Then Johnson pulls her along, and they flee.
Six months later.