Torchwood/Doctor Who & Narnia - Fic - Torchwood, the Rift and the Wardrobe, PG, Jack/Ianto & others
Yes, Torchwood and Narnia. It's not entirely crack!fic, I promise ;)
Fandoms - Torchwood/Doctor Who & The Chronicles of Narnia
Title - Torchwood, the Rift and the Wardrobe
Pairings and characters - Jack/Ianto, TW3 team, Nine, Rose, the TARDIS, various talking animals
Rating - PG, for guns/language/minor angst/Jack's stories/implied boykissing
Length - approx 1900 words
Spoilers - TW - 1.3 Ghost Machine, DW - 1.11-1.13 Boom Town, Bad Wolf, Parting of the Ways, Narnia - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
Summary - Written for the crossover challenge on tw_exchange. Prompt 41, from torchwood_freak, The Chronicles of Narnia: The team stumble across a mysterious wardrobe. Owen makes a sarcastic comment that they will end up in Narnia, and they do! (All of the team please!)
Disclaimer - These people/animals belong the BBC and CS Lewis, not me.
Thanks to marag for beta-reading!
Feedback is loved and appreciated :) Enjoy!
Torchwood, the Rift and the Wardrobe
by Laura
All sorts of things fall through the Rift on a regular basis: aliens, alien technology, miscellaneous space junk.
Today’s item is a wardrobe. A 1930s, Art Deco wardrobe. Jack’s in the firing range, killing paper Weevils, when it shimmers into existence. In much the same way that a certain blue box does. Retaining his goggles and keeping an eye on the wardrobe, Jack places his gun on the table and exchanges his headset for his earpiece.
“Tosh!” he calls, picking his gun back up and training it on the wardrobe, just in case. “Bring the scanning equipment to the firing range. Something’s... appeared in here.”
***
The whole team soon arrives.
They’re all huddled around the wardrobe, looking at it. “It’s just a wardrobe, Jack,” Gwen says. Then she looks up at him, a little sceptical, maybe a little knowing. “Isn’t it?”
“It just materialised, Gwen, and this is us, so who knows?” Jack’s all matter of fact. “Tosh, can you scan it, please?”
She grabs the equipment and runs it over the wardrobe. “It does seem to just be a wardrobe, Jack. There are some strange energy signatures on it, though, not just the usual kind we get on Rift debris."
“OK. Thanks.” Jack removes the goggles and clicks his gun’s safety back on, before holstering it, watching Tosh replace the scanning device in its box.
Owen just scowls. "It's a wardrobe that’s fallen through the Rift. I hope you’re not going suggest we open it, Jack. Like you just said, this is us, and we’d probably end up in bloody Narnia. And as it’s a fictional place, that should be technically impossible."
Jack’s already decided that further investigation is in order, and just to annoy Owen, he opens the wardrobe.
It’s full of fur coats. Real fur coats.
Well, then. Something is clearly going on.
He turns back to the team, and sees that Gwen’s, Tosh’s and Ianto’s eyes have all lit up, at the contents of the wardrobe. Not Owen’s, though. He looks frightened, even moreso than when he’d been holding the ghost machine, and had “witnessed” the attack on Lizzie Lewis.
Jack watches Gwen turn to Owen and ask, “Wouldn’t you want to visit Narnia, Owen, if you could? Didn’t you wish you could go past the barriers in the National Trust places your parents took you round when you were little, and look for it in the backs of the wardrobes?”
“No I bloody didn’t, Gwen.” Owen rolls his eyes a little. Oh, a distancing, hiding tactic. Jack knows all about them.
“Why not?” Gwen asks, and they all look at their doctor. Who just stays silent.
“C’mon, Owen. Why not?” Jack repeats.
Sure enough, he eventually confesses. “Fine. I read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when I was eight, and the bloody white Witch scared the hell out of me.”
Gwen simply says, “That was the whole point, Owen. She is meant to represent the Devil, after all.”
Owen sort of glares at her. “I’m going back upstairs,” he says, stalking off, and taking the scanner with him.
Gwen, Tosh and Ianto then launch into a discussion about the books. They have all read all of them, they watched all of the BBC series, bought the BBC DVDs, saw the recent film. As they start on the allegories, Jack takes Ianto’s hand, and pulls him into the wardrobe, pushing the doors almost closed.
After all, you should never shut yourself in a wardrobe.
He gets a startled, “Sir?” in response.
“Like we said, Ianto, this is us, with our underground base, our alien tech and our pet dinosaur. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if a fictional place is accessible through a wardrobe that washed through the Rift,” Jack says. “And if it’s not there, well, we’ve just given the girls something to wonder about,” he smirks.
“We could actually give them to something wonder about, Jack.” Ianto has a smirk of his own.
At that, Jack’s smirk softens into a smile. “Later. This space is a little confined.” ‘But it’s not as though that’s ever stopped me before,’ Jack thinks. Then he notices a odd scent. “Ianto, can you smell pine trees?”
“I believe I can, sir.”
They move around to part the coats, and there it all is.
A lamp-post, a forest and a little frost, melting in the morning sun.
Narnia.
In the back of a wardrobe that just appeared through the Rift. Of course. Jack laughs.
“Well, that’s all rather strange, sir.”
“Strange is our business, our middle name, Ianto.” With exploring already in mind, Jack turns round and pushes the wardrobe doors open again. He half acknowledges the surprised looks from Gwen and Tosh. “What was that about ‘technically impossible’, Owen?” Jack says into his earpiece. “Secure the Hub, grab my coat and some torches, and get back down here. There’s something else you should see.”
***
“What?” Owen says petulantly, when he comes back to the firing range.
“Look in the wardrobe. You too, girls." Jack takes his coat from Owen and opens the doors for them. As he puts his coat on, they enter the wardrobe, and Jack then hears the surprised sighs. From all three of them.
Shortly, Gwen opens the doors and grabs him and Ianto by the hands. “Come on!” she exclaims, grinning at him like Rose used to (especially when he’d told her a really naughty story). “Let’s go and see if we can meet Aslan!”
They join the others. Everyone grabs a coat, torches are handed out, just in case, and then they’re off, wandering through the forest.
***
As they walk, Jack remembers when he first read about this place.
The TARDIS had been her usual temperamental self, and they’d been stuck on Women Wept, with its huge, frozen waves, while repairs were carried out. So the Doctor could concentrate on fixing her (it didn’t seem to be a mechanical problem, something Jack could assist with; it was more...psychological, spiritual), he and Rose had been sent out of the console room.
The pair of them had gone to the library. Rose had ended up pulling out The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.“I haven’t read this for years!” she’d said, smiling up at him. Cuddled up together on the couch, they’d read it aloud to each other.
That’s a private, much treasured memory.
Jack doesn’t really like thinking about just how long (too long) he’s been back on Earth, after the Daleks and the Games Station, but he was able to buy all the Narnia books as they were published, as first editions. He’s read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe hundreds of times.
He’s startled out of his daydreaming by Tosh saying, “Look! A beaver!”
They all glance towards one of the trees, and sure enough, there’s a beaver hiding behind it. Is it beckoning them? Looking back at him, Jack’s team silently asks him to make the choice whether or not to go over.
“We know it can’t hurt us. C’mon.” He leads the way.
“Hello!” an approximately female voice says. So, it’s Mrs Beaver, then. “We have been waiting for you, ...” She trails off.
“...Sons of Adam,” Ianto says.
“And Daughters of Eve," Gwen finishes.
“Yes, Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve.” The beaver smiles knowingly.
“Tell us, Mrs Beaver, is Aslan near, or on his way, at the moment?” Gwen then asks brightly, all police-voice, and determined to get what she came for. Jack chuckles to himself.
“Patience, Daughter of Eve, patience.” Mrs Beaver is equally amused. “You will see the King, the great lion, in time. Come, now, all of you. We will go and eat.”
***
There’s a meal consisting of fish, potatoes and bread waiting for them, back at the Beavers’ home. After they’ve eaten, Gwen asks about Aslan again.
“You have all been expected, Daughter of Eve. I’ve been asked to guide you, and you’re to meet him this afternoon,” Mr Beaver says, “at the site of the Stone Table.”
Smiles all round, at that.
“Now, Mr and Mrs Beaver, can we help you clear up?” Jack asks.
***
Around 1pm their own time, Mrs Beaver sends them on their way. With plenty of food and drinks, and a large blanket. After half an hour of walking, they all sit on the blanket and eat lunch. At 2pm, with Mr Beaver carrying the bag, they’re off again.
“Not much further,” Mr Beaver soon says.
Of course, it does prove to be very much further. It’s nearly 3.30pm before they reach the Stone Table.
***
And what a sight they’re greeted with.
Naiads and dryads. Mythical beasts; centaurs and unicorns. Earth-style birds and big cats. At the centre is Aslan, the great lion, the King of Narnia.
They all can’t help but gasp.
“Welcome, Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve,” Aslan says. “Come forward, I wish to speak with each of you in turn.”
“Gwen, you go first,” Jack tells her. “This was your idea, after all.” She beams up at him in gratitude.
Gwen walks up to the lion, and attempts to curtsey before him. They speak, but Jack can’t hear what’s said. Gwen comes back, with a huge smile. She got what she came for; she’s happy. Tosh goes up next, also trying a curtsey, followed by Ianto and then, after encouragement from Tosh, Owen. They both try a much more simple bow.
Finally, it’s Jack’s turn. He walks up and bows. There’s no introduction, Aslan just says to him, “You are not a Son of Adam, Jack.”
Accepting that of course the lion knows his name, and that, Jack ponders this. Immortal human, who doesn’t age? He then says, “No, I guess I’m not. Not entirely.”
The lion’s only reply is, “Look after them, Jack. They are valuable soldiers. Now, I must send the five of you back. Go, join hands and form a circle.”
Jack walks back to his team, the lion following him. “C’mon, guys. We need to make a circle.” He takes Gwen’s small hand in his left, and Ianto’s big one in his right. Owen’s next to Gwen, and Tosh is by Ianto.
Aslan walks around and around their little circle, breathing on one of them, each time. Before they can register what’s happening, they’re back at the lamp-post.
“What just happened, Jack?” Owen asks, as they separate.
What’s he asking about? Just that bit? Everything? Jack goes with the ‘everything.’ “We visited Narnia, a supposedly fictional place. All thanks to the Rift and a wardrobe.”
“Well, we’d better see if any time has passed,” Owen then says. There’s a tiny smile on his face.
Maybe that’s what this was all for, just making them smile.
“You can lead the way, Owen,” Jack says. They push the coats apart, hang up the ones they borrowed, and open the wardrobe doors. The clock in the firing range does of course show the same time as it did when they entered the wardrobe.
Somehow, they don’t need to re-set their watches.
***
The next day, its work apparently done, the wardrobe disappears. Jack and Owen take a break from shooting paper targets to watch it happen.
“OK?” Jack asks, when it’s gone.
“Fine,” Owen says, possibly sounding a little sad.
They nod to each other and go back to their guns, until the next piece of space junk appears.
-end-
Fandoms - Torchwood/Doctor Who & The Chronicles of Narnia
Title - Torchwood, the Rift and the Wardrobe
Pairings and characters - Jack/Ianto, TW3 team, Nine, Rose, the TARDIS, various talking animals
Rating - PG, for guns/language/minor angst/Jack's stories/implied boykissing
Length - approx 1900 words
Spoilers - TW - 1.3 Ghost Machine, DW - 1.11-1.13 Boom Town, Bad Wolf, Parting of the Ways, Narnia - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
Summary - Written for the crossover challenge on tw_exchange. Prompt 41, from torchwood_freak, The Chronicles of Narnia: The team stumble across a mysterious wardrobe. Owen makes a sarcastic comment that they will end up in Narnia, and they do! (All of the team please!)
Disclaimer - These people/animals belong the BBC and CS Lewis, not me.
Thanks to marag for beta-reading!
Feedback is loved and appreciated :) Enjoy!
Torchwood, the Rift and the Wardrobe
by Laura
All sorts of things fall through the Rift on a regular basis: aliens, alien technology, miscellaneous space junk.
Today’s item is a wardrobe. A 1930s, Art Deco wardrobe. Jack’s in the firing range, killing paper Weevils, when it shimmers into existence. In much the same way that a certain blue box does. Retaining his goggles and keeping an eye on the wardrobe, Jack places his gun on the table and exchanges his headset for his earpiece.
“Tosh!” he calls, picking his gun back up and training it on the wardrobe, just in case. “Bring the scanning equipment to the firing range. Something’s... appeared in here.”
***
The whole team soon arrives.
They’re all huddled around the wardrobe, looking at it. “It’s just a wardrobe, Jack,” Gwen says. Then she looks up at him, a little sceptical, maybe a little knowing. “Isn’t it?”
“It just materialised, Gwen, and this is us, so who knows?” Jack’s all matter of fact. “Tosh, can you scan it, please?”
She grabs the equipment and runs it over the wardrobe. “It does seem to just be a wardrobe, Jack. There are some strange energy signatures on it, though, not just the usual kind we get on Rift debris."
“OK. Thanks.” Jack removes the goggles and clicks his gun’s safety back on, before holstering it, watching Tosh replace the scanning device in its box.
Owen just scowls. "It's a wardrobe that’s fallen through the Rift. I hope you’re not going suggest we open it, Jack. Like you just said, this is us, and we’d probably end up in bloody Narnia. And as it’s a fictional place, that should be technically impossible."
Jack’s already decided that further investigation is in order, and just to annoy Owen, he opens the wardrobe.
It’s full of fur coats. Real fur coats.
Well, then. Something is clearly going on.
He turns back to the team, and sees that Gwen’s, Tosh’s and Ianto’s eyes have all lit up, at the contents of the wardrobe. Not Owen’s, though. He looks frightened, even moreso than when he’d been holding the ghost machine, and had “witnessed” the attack on Lizzie Lewis.
Jack watches Gwen turn to Owen and ask, “Wouldn’t you want to visit Narnia, Owen, if you could? Didn’t you wish you could go past the barriers in the National Trust places your parents took you round when you were little, and look for it in the backs of the wardrobes?”
“No I bloody didn’t, Gwen.” Owen rolls his eyes a little. Oh, a distancing, hiding tactic. Jack knows all about them.
“Why not?” Gwen asks, and they all look at their doctor. Who just stays silent.
“C’mon, Owen. Why not?” Jack repeats.
Sure enough, he eventually confesses. “Fine. I read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when I was eight, and the bloody white Witch scared the hell out of me.”
Gwen simply says, “That was the whole point, Owen. She is meant to represent the Devil, after all.”
Owen sort of glares at her. “I’m going back upstairs,” he says, stalking off, and taking the scanner with him.
Gwen, Tosh and Ianto then launch into a discussion about the books. They have all read all of them, they watched all of the BBC series, bought the BBC DVDs, saw the recent film. As they start on the allegories, Jack takes Ianto’s hand, and pulls him into the wardrobe, pushing the doors almost closed.
After all, you should never shut yourself in a wardrobe.
He gets a startled, “Sir?” in response.
“Like we said, Ianto, this is us, with our underground base, our alien tech and our pet dinosaur. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if a fictional place is accessible through a wardrobe that washed through the Rift,” Jack says. “And if it’s not there, well, we’ve just given the girls something to wonder about,” he smirks.
“We could actually give them to something wonder about, Jack.” Ianto has a smirk of his own.
At that, Jack’s smirk softens into a smile. “Later. This space is a little confined.” ‘But it’s not as though that’s ever stopped me before,’ Jack thinks. Then he notices a odd scent. “Ianto, can you smell pine trees?”
“I believe I can, sir.”
They move around to part the coats, and there it all is.
A lamp-post, a forest and a little frost, melting in the morning sun.
Narnia.
In the back of a wardrobe that just appeared through the Rift. Of course. Jack laughs.
“Well, that’s all rather strange, sir.”
“Strange is our business, our middle name, Ianto.” With exploring already in mind, Jack turns round and pushes the wardrobe doors open again. He half acknowledges the surprised looks from Gwen and Tosh. “What was that about ‘technically impossible’, Owen?” Jack says into his earpiece. “Secure the Hub, grab my coat and some torches, and get back down here. There’s something else you should see.”
***
“What?” Owen says petulantly, when he comes back to the firing range.
“Look in the wardrobe. You too, girls." Jack takes his coat from Owen and opens the doors for them. As he puts his coat on, they enter the wardrobe, and Jack then hears the surprised sighs. From all three of them.
Shortly, Gwen opens the doors and grabs him and Ianto by the hands. “Come on!” she exclaims, grinning at him like Rose used to (especially when he’d told her a really naughty story). “Let’s go and see if we can meet Aslan!”
They join the others. Everyone grabs a coat, torches are handed out, just in case, and then they’re off, wandering through the forest.
***
As they walk, Jack remembers when he first read about this place.
The TARDIS had been her usual temperamental self, and they’d been stuck on Women Wept, with its huge, frozen waves, while repairs were carried out. So the Doctor could concentrate on fixing her (it didn’t seem to be a mechanical problem, something Jack could assist with; it was more...psychological, spiritual), he and Rose had been sent out of the console room.
The pair of them had gone to the library. Rose had ended up pulling out The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.“I haven’t read this for years!” she’d said, smiling up at him. Cuddled up together on the couch, they’d read it aloud to each other.
That’s a private, much treasured memory.
Jack doesn’t really like thinking about just how long (too long) he’s been back on Earth, after the Daleks and the Games Station, but he was able to buy all the Narnia books as they were published, as first editions. He’s read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe hundreds of times.
He’s startled out of his daydreaming by Tosh saying, “Look! A beaver!”
They all glance towards one of the trees, and sure enough, there’s a beaver hiding behind it. Is it beckoning them? Looking back at him, Jack’s team silently asks him to make the choice whether or not to go over.
“We know it can’t hurt us. C’mon.” He leads the way.
“Hello!” an approximately female voice says. So, it’s Mrs Beaver, then. “We have been waiting for you, ...” She trails off.
“...Sons of Adam,” Ianto says.
“And Daughters of Eve," Gwen finishes.
“Yes, Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve.” The beaver smiles knowingly.
“Tell us, Mrs Beaver, is Aslan near, or on his way, at the moment?” Gwen then asks brightly, all police-voice, and determined to get what she came for. Jack chuckles to himself.
“Patience, Daughter of Eve, patience.” Mrs Beaver is equally amused. “You will see the King, the great lion, in time. Come, now, all of you. We will go and eat.”
***
There’s a meal consisting of fish, potatoes and bread waiting for them, back at the Beavers’ home. After they’ve eaten, Gwen asks about Aslan again.
“You have all been expected, Daughter of Eve. I’ve been asked to guide you, and you’re to meet him this afternoon,” Mr Beaver says, “at the site of the Stone Table.”
Smiles all round, at that.
“Now, Mr and Mrs Beaver, can we help you clear up?” Jack asks.
***
Around 1pm their own time, Mrs Beaver sends them on their way. With plenty of food and drinks, and a large blanket. After half an hour of walking, they all sit on the blanket and eat lunch. At 2pm, with Mr Beaver carrying the bag, they’re off again.
“Not much further,” Mr Beaver soon says.
Of course, it does prove to be very much further. It’s nearly 3.30pm before they reach the Stone Table.
***
And what a sight they’re greeted with.
Naiads and dryads. Mythical beasts; centaurs and unicorns. Earth-style birds and big cats. At the centre is Aslan, the great lion, the King of Narnia.
They all can’t help but gasp.
“Welcome, Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve,” Aslan says. “Come forward, I wish to speak with each of you in turn.”
“Gwen, you go first,” Jack tells her. “This was your idea, after all.” She beams up at him in gratitude.
Gwen walks up to the lion, and attempts to curtsey before him. They speak, but Jack can’t hear what’s said. Gwen comes back, with a huge smile. She got what she came for; she’s happy. Tosh goes up next, also trying a curtsey, followed by Ianto and then, after encouragement from Tosh, Owen. They both try a much more simple bow.
Finally, it’s Jack’s turn. He walks up and bows. There’s no introduction, Aslan just says to him, “You are not a Son of Adam, Jack.”
Accepting that of course the lion knows his name, and that, Jack ponders this. Immortal human, who doesn’t age? He then says, “No, I guess I’m not. Not entirely.”
The lion’s only reply is, “Look after them, Jack. They are valuable soldiers. Now, I must send the five of you back. Go, join hands and form a circle.”
Jack walks back to his team, the lion following him. “C’mon, guys. We need to make a circle.” He takes Gwen’s small hand in his left, and Ianto’s big one in his right. Owen’s next to Gwen, and Tosh is by Ianto.
Aslan walks around and around their little circle, breathing on one of them, each time. Before they can register what’s happening, they’re back at the lamp-post.
“What just happened, Jack?” Owen asks, as they separate.
What’s he asking about? Just that bit? Everything? Jack goes with the ‘everything.’ “We visited Narnia, a supposedly fictional place. All thanks to the Rift and a wardrobe.”
“Well, we’d better see if any time has passed,” Owen then says. There’s a tiny smile on his face.
Maybe that’s what this was all for, just making them smile.
“You can lead the way, Owen,” Jack says. They push the coats apart, hang up the ones they borrowed, and open the wardrobe doors. The clock in the firing range does of course show the same time as it did when they entered the wardrobe.
Somehow, they don’t need to re-set their watches.
***
The next day, its work apparently done, the wardrobe disappears. Jack and Owen take a break from shooting paper targets to watch it happen.
“OK?” Jack asks, when it’s gone.
“Fine,” Owen says, possibly sounding a little sad.
They nod to each other and go back to their guns, until the next piece of space junk appears.
-end-