Choices - Chapter 24 Part 1
Title: Choices
Chapter 24 - Wing and a Prayer
Pairing(s)/Characters: Jack/Ianto, Owen, Tosh, John, OCs
Rating: NC17 (overall)
Warnings: supernatural themes, violence, m/m pairing
A/N: And here it is - the last chapter split into two parts because I ended up adding about an extra page to what I had originally done. Not sure if I am happy with additions but it’s now done and dusted. Thanks to everyone who read and commented. Hope you enjoyed it and thanks so much for coming along for the ride. It’s been fun. J
24 - Wing and a Prayer
IANTO
o-o-o
“She’s coming,” he says, his voice strangled. Then he’s off the bed quickly cleaning himself with his discarded T-shirt before pulling on his jeans.
“Who?” I ask, pulling on and buttoning my own jeans. “Who’s coming, Jack?”
The room starts swirling, and then John is there, all human presence gone. He hovers just off the floor in his white robes, and I see Jack’s terror mirrored in his eyes.
Gray appears next to him. “She’s coming.”
And then like a wrecking ball, some unseen force hits Jack, lifting him off the ground and throwing him hard into the wall. Gray dives for him, but he’s too late. He slides into a heap on the floor.
“Jack!” My legs have me across the floor and over his crumpled form in a flash, and when I pull him into my arms, I see the steam start to rise off his skin. He’s a thousand degrees. “Jack!” I say again, shaking him. The he opens his eyes and I understand.
They’re glowing red.
“Lucifer,” he says in a voice that’s his, but not. “Who’s got the prize now?”
“No!” I hear my voice as if from a great distance as rage nearly rips me in half.
“Gwen!” John’s voice vibrates through me. “You can’t do this. You have no claim.”
“Oh, pet, but I can…am actually.” Gwen’s lips pull into a sinister grin. “I’ve got special orders from the king Himself. Anything goes. And I will have him.”
I hold Jack, and as I look into the glowing red eyes, I know the game is over. If King Lucifer wants him so much he’s willing to throw all the rules to the wind, I’m not sure even the Almighty could save him.
I can’t give up.
I look at the crucifix dangling from the chain around his neck. Gold. I yank it from his neck and raise it above him.
But Gray grabs my wrist. He glares at me and rips the crucifix out of my grasp. And he’s right. I can use it to drive Gwen out, but at what cost?
He starts to pull free of me, and I let him. But then, by instinct, I reach for his hand, holding it in a death grip. Jack is still in there, and a desperate piece of me needs to stay connected. He pulls himself to his feet, seeming taller, and turns to me.
“How quaint, Lucifer. But you two are well past the hand holding stage, don’t you think?” He grabs my face and pulls me into a harsh kiss. But it’s not Jack, it’s Gwen, and I feel tendrils of her essence start to work their way through my lips.
As I pull back, he gasps loudly and his face screws tight as a strangled ‘no’ works its way up from his depths. Jack is still in there somewhere. He just needs to be strong. “Fight her, Jack. I believe in you. Please don’t let go, now,” I plea as I hold him.
John sweeps him out of my arms and into his. He cradles him in one arm and draws a circle on his forehead with the index finger of the other as he whispers something I can’t make out.
His eyes snap open, still glowing red, and his face pulls into a grimace. “Good luck with that, John.”
As asinine as it is, I find myself jealous that John can actually do something other than stand here staring, and I have to fight the urge to rip him out of his arms. As much as I know Jack loves me, I will never be to Jack what John is to him. But what I do know is that I will have Jack in a away John never will, and I will gladly accept whatever Jack is willing to give me.
“A fighter, this one,” Jack says in a strained voice distinctly not his. “But I do like it when they struggle. Makes it so much more…delicious. And he tastes wonderful.”
“Fight her, Jack,” I say again, reaching for his hand.
His face twists with effort. “I want you out.” His voice is little more than a whisper, but it’s his. His body writhes in John’s arms. He lowers him to the bed, and I pull him into my arms again, sending him all my strength.
“That’s it, Jack,” John says. “You have the power. Use it.” The flood of hope overwhelms me. Sway. Jack has Sway. If he fights-if he wants it enough…
“You don’t want to be in here. “ His voice is stronger, and when his eyes open, there’s only a glowing ring around the irises. “You don’t…want me,” he growls.
He continues to writhe with the internal battle, his face sweating with the exertion and I continue to hold him and beg him to fight. Tears stream down my face as I watch him struggle with the demon inside him. He lets out an almost primal scream and then growls, “Get the Hell out of me, you bitch!”
And then suddenly goes still, as if one of them has given up the fight. I gaze into his eyes, panicked nearly to the point of insanity. “Jack?”
His eyes roll back for a moment, and a moan starts from deep inside him, growing in intensity. His face becomes read and his eyes bulge. There’s a flash of red energy, and he jerks then goes limp.
Breathing through the panic, I cradle him to my chest. “Jack? Can you hear me?” He finally looks up at me with clear blue eyes-still scared, but lucid.
“She’s gone,” he says with a weary smile. I take a few deep breaths to slow my hammering heart then lean down and kiss him.
When I pull back, both John and Gray are staring, John with a smirk and Gray with a scowl. I’m going to have to do something about that.
Jack sits up and leans against me comfortingly, as if I was the one to just go through a forced demon possession. “Is she gone for good this time?” he asks.
“It takes a great force to kill a demon, Jack. But if your Sway is as powerful as we all believe, then I think this time you may have succeeded.”
“And if I didn’t?”
“You did,” a voice says through the open bedroom window.
We all jerk to see the silhouette of Rhys, in his human form, balancing on the tree branch outside Jack’s room. “Rhys!”
“Ianto,” he says to me but and looks at Jack. “Your boy has a power to be reckoned with and the king is mighty pissed I can tell you. Gwen is no more. Her essence seems to have been torn apart, and what was left of it will burn for all time in the Fiery Pit.” He nods his head to Jack and then salutes Ianto. “I won’t be seeing you again, mate. At least not in this lifetime. Take care of yourself.” And with a puff of brimstone smoke he vanishes.
“Well I guess that answers it,” Jack says shivering and I hold him tighter.
“Jack, you’re shivering. You need to lay back down and rest,” I insist.
Jack smiles at me gratefully and lays back down. He closes his eyes for a moment and then looks back at me and I can feel the emotion. This has taken a great deal from Jack and I know I am to blame for some of it and it tears me up inside. But we have a chance a t something here and I am going to do everything to make him safe. I just need to convince him to forgive himself and then John can tag him.
“I almost lost you again,” I whisper, and he reaches up and pulls me close, ignoring the others in the room.
“Well, you didn’t and you’re not going to. I think I’m getting the hang of this Sway thing after all,” he says with a smirk. “Now kiss me.” And I am helpless against his wishes. Not that I needed much convincing.
I pull back reluctantly, acutely aware of the eyes burning into my back. I brush his sweaty hair off his forehead and grab his hand, needing to at least have some physical contact.
*
JACK
o-o-o
I squeeze Ianto’s hand where he sits next to me as I lie on my bed.
“You did good, you know. Your Sway is getting stronger,” he says.
I’m still shivering slightly and my voice a little shaky. “Why can I only remember a little of what happened?”
“You may only remember the parts when you were in control.”
“I feel like someone ran over me with a bus. Why didn’t it feel like this with you?”
“Well, I didn’t pick you up and hurl you into a wall, for starters,” Ianto says. He and John exchange a look, and Ianto shoots him a vindictive smile. “But I guess it’s different when you’ve invited the demon in.”
Gray drops into the desk chair and glares at Ianto.
John looks at me with a rueful smile. I shrug, not sure what to say, but then a shiver racks me again and I feel nauseous. Out of the blue my frustration and anger emerge. “I’m not going to have a life am I?” I say gruffly, trying to hold back angry tears.
Ianto pulls me close to him, but he doesn’t answer.
John stands in my doorway and just stairs at me. “Nobody knows the future, Jack. Everything that happens changes everything else. But the deal is, you’re valuable to both sides. The chance that you’ll be able to get through this untagged is pretty much none. And once you’re tagged-either way-you can be manipulated. I’m obviously not all that objective, but if someone was going to be jerking me around, I’d rather it wasn’t Hell.”
My heart is so heavy. I know what needs to happen, what I need to do, but… “How do I forgive myself for the worst thing anyone’s ever done?”