GTHW 8/10
chapter eight
The first thing Ianto heard upon waking was Rum-Tum’s voice, somewhere close by. No sirens, surprisingly enough, so Ianto felt justified in keeping his eyes closed.
“I’m telling you, there’s something goin’ on. You should have seen the Captain when he found out that Knight was missin'.”
“You think he’s sweet on Knight?”
“Ugh, don’t make me think about it. That’s just creepy.”
Suddenly, lying there wasn’t as relaxing as Ianto had thought it would be. He deliberately made a pained noise, and shuffled his feet a bit. He heard cloth rustling, and boots heading towards him.
“You awake, Knight?”
- - -
Ianto was aware that there was something he couldn't remember. Something important. He was thoroughly inspected by Ivy, after waking, until she grudgingly conceded that there was nothing wrong with him, aside from a few abrasions from exposure to the wind and sand.
The Captain was waiting outside the infirmary when Ianto was discharged. He didn't say anything, only looked Ianto up and down with wide, intent eyes. Ianto followed him back to the central section of the base, and when the Captain hesitated at the junction between the command area and the way to the barracks, Ianto cleared his throat. "Would you like to debrief me now, Captain?"
An exhale. "Yes," came the reply. "That would be best."
The next day, Ianto received a number of inquisitive looks and suggestive winks from Roadrunner and the other men in his barracks-room. He smiled lightly, refusing to give anything away, and flopped down onto his bunk with a deep sigh.
- - -
The Captain was more innocent, in some ways, than Jack. He didn't know about the Doctor, about being abandoned, knew only the pain of living while fellow soldiers died. It was a different pain from the slow stretch of years in which death stole away the days.
Except now Ianto would catch the Captain looking at him, and he'd feel the weight of that regard twofold - the future pain he represented, for both the Captain and Jack.
He still yearned to return home, still looked for signs of Jack in the Captain. But there were days, now, when the thought arose: if I have to stay in this time, and can leave this planet with the Captain, I can be content.
- - -
So much blood. It was a shocking splash of color in the repetitive palette of the desert. Uncommon, when plasma shots melted flesh and energy bolts fried the heart and nervous system.
"Varys?"
"Knight." Her hand found his, grasped him tight. He could feel the tremors running through her; her strength had already begun to fade.
A bomb had hit the skater. By luck none of them had been on board; the squad had been digging around in the Cherry Pits. It was a collection of rocks and little craters, and its position in the global wind currents meant that a lot of junk collected there.
The rocks shielded some from the explosion. Ianto was thrown into one of the larger slabs, and rolled out of the way just before a sizable chunk of the skater's metallic frame collided with the rock right where he'd been. Rum-Tum had run a roll call over the comm channel, but Ianto had caught sight of her, remembered that she'd been standing right next to the vehicle.
"It's all right," he whispered. He was vaguely aware of the others rushing over to them. Rum-Tum said something, and all of them stayed back.
"That bad, huh?" Varys said, coughing. The shrapnel had pierced her suit in several places. She fumbled with the weapon straps.
Ianto guessed what she intended before the cold butt of the antique pistol was being pressed into his hand. More words from around them, and he heard the rest of the squad retreating. Giving them privacy.
"Varys..." he said.
"Do it," she gasped. "Please. I want it to be you. You're the only one who knows how to use this thing, anyway. And make sure... make sure you burn me good."
He bowed his head. "To the ashes," he promised.
A cursory wipe to get the blood off his hand, then he checked the bullets and cocked the gun. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers. He considered asking, in this last compact, but-
"Susan," she whispered against his mouth. "I was named after my mother. Susan."
"Thank you." He had to force himself to draw back. The gun was heavy, bulky, but the craftsmanship was beautiful. It had been made to outlast the hands that held it. "I'll never forget it."
She was smiling, now. "I'll see you on the other side. My brave and noble Knight."
The sound of the gunshot seemed insignificant, in the middle of the vast desert, and after the destruction they'd just seen. But it took her last breath from her, and for days afterwards he could not hear a loud noise without hearing an echo of the shot under it.
Aberdeen and Dree had been injured in the blast, but they hobbled up to stand around the pyre as Yeeka recited the traditional rites from Varys' home planet. The ashes were already being carried away by the wind when the rescue skater arrived.
- - -
Hours later, he was lying on his side in the Captain's bed, clutching at the crisp white sheets as he was entered with inexorable slowness. He hadn't said a word since arriving back at the base, had simply headed for the Captain's office. One look at his face and the Captain had known, understood.
Ianto gasped, tried to move his hips to get more friction, but the Captain held him down. The languid pace was both torturous and exquisite, and Ianto made a choked, helpless noise each time he was filled and stroked.
A hand on his face made him realize that he was crying. The Captain gently turned his head, and kissed him, deep and sweet.
Ianto let out a sob. He'd been floating above the ground, untouchable, and now he was drowning, burning on the inside. And he let go, allowed his body to go loose and pliant. Gave up control, just for a little while, and perhaps forget everything but the Captain's solid possession.
Safe. He was safe.
- - -
Knight.
Who are you?
The Speaker called us the First People. We bore you to the Meeting Place.
I... remember. But I forget, once I'm awake.
You will remember now. We are here to thank you, for making the bargain.
Oh. You're welcome.
You desire information. As a token,
Ianto blinked. He recognized the barracks-room, his own bed in the corner. But every bed was empty, and there was somebody by the door. "And who are you?" he demanded.
"Just a casual passer-by." The stranger stepped away from where he'd been leaning against the frame. "Who happens to know who you are, Ianto Jones."
Ianto tensed, then paused. "You're another time traveler, aren't you? Bloody hell, how many of you are there?"
"Frisky. I can see why our dear Captain likes you."
"What do you want?"
The stranger scowled. "To go back to my own business, but there's this pact I have to honor, while I'm on this planet. You want to go home. Cardiff, Earth. Twenty-first century. Ringing any bells?"
"Yes." Ianto straightened up. "Can you take me there?"
"Jack won't be waiting for you," said the man gleefully. "Back in the twenty-first century."
Ianto huffed, smiling without humor. "Believe me, I have no illusions about Jack pining after me. But if you're going to do it, I fully expect to be returned to the exact place I was taken, five minutes after I left." Because no matter how he and Jack were outside of the job, Jack cared deeply about his team, and Ianto would spare him what pain he could.
"You misunderstand me." The man adjusted his hat, and the upper part of his face slid into the light, eyes unnervingly black. "Jack won't be waiting for you, in your lovely little Hub, because he is not there."
"What do you mean?" Fear prickled the back of Ianto's neck. "What have you done with him?"
"Nothing he did not choose for himself. But to answer your question, so we may give your poor nerves a rest... where is Jack? You have been with him, for six months, one millennium and many light-years after you first met him on Earth?"
"I've been-" Ianto stopped. He felt his brow scrunching up, as he arrived at the only plausible conclusion and could not quite comprehend it. "You mean, the one here? The Captain is Jack?" Well, obviously he was. "I mean, the Captain is... is my Jack?"
"Yours, yes," replied the man, looking amused and pleased for some reason. "To be more precise, he is the one who coincides with your timeline."
Damn time travelers. "But he was on the planet for two years before I showed up." Was it a miscalculation? Had he decided to arrive early and be on the spot in case Ianto needed any help after the Rift's ungentle deposit? Not to mention- "And he didn't recognize me at all."
The man nodded gravely. "Yes. His presence in this war was important. On his own personal timeline, it has been five years since the two of you watched children chase pigeons by the Bay."
That day flashed through Ianto's mind - still reasonably fresh, it hadn't been quite so long for him, and held in stasis like the rest of his memories right before the Rift took him. Softly cooing birds, startled flapping, children laughing and watching. Jack had been a warm presence beside him, so bright and content; Ianto remembered finding it hard to look away.
It wasn't exactly a private moment, but it was theirs, a small bubble of time in which Ianto felt like Jack was exclusively his. It irked him to think of this stranger, this meddler, spying on it from afar.
"He was frantic when he discovered what had happened to you," continued the man, unfazed by the scowl on Ianto's face. "Perhaps I should simply show you. You will, undoubtedly, find it easier to understand."
"You appear to have misplaced something, Captain."
Jack whirled around towards the sound of the voice. The Hub looked darker than normal, even for nighttime hours. Ianto realized he was standing near the computers, approximately halfway between Jack and the unseen figure.
Seeing the Hub again, after months of living on an alien world, brought an a sudden, thick tightening to Ianto's throat. And seeing Jack, not the Captain but his Jack...
"What have you done with him?" Not surprisingly, Jack now had his gun aimed at the man's head. His wrist strap beeped, and his eyes glanced briefly at its screen before returning to the intruder.
"Your Rift took him, Jack, like it has so many others. Did you think your people are safe from the whims of random chance, simply because they are yours?"
Jack waved the arm with the strap. "You're not human, but the Hub scanners aren't detecting you. And you're giving off energy readings I've seen only once before." Jack leaned forward, eyes dark and cold with a look that Ianto never thought to see here. "You're not really here. Tell me what you're here for, or get the fuck out of my base."
"It is correct that I am not physically present in your Hub. I note, however, that you continue to point your little weapon at me. But very well, I shall state my business. I have come to make you an offer."
Jack's eyes narrowed. "For Ianto?"
The man nodded. "He has been deposited in the future, in a far, dark place. The humans there are losing the battle against an enemy they do not understand. They do not like strangers, and he will be a civilian in a war zone."
To Ianto's surprise, an expression of pain crossed Jack's face, and he lowered his gun. "And you can bring him back? You're like - like Bilis, you can step from one time to another."
"I am not like he whom you call Bilis," said the man, and for the first time Ianto saw his usual patiently amused harden into something like anger. "He is a different creature, though we have crossed paths. And I cannot bring Ianto back to you."
"But?" Jack prompted, impatient.
"I can bring you to him."
The scene changed - in the next breath, Ianto found himself in Jack's office. Like in the main Hub, the familiarity of it took his breath away. Jack's collection of alien artifacts, the ever-present pile of paperwork, files Ianto remembered pulling just that morning from the archives.
There was something different, though. Ianto looked at his surroundings carefully, until he realized that some of the items on display around Jack were glowing. It occurred to him that this was a memory, a recreation.
Jack was sitting behind his desk, gazing somberly at the man on the other side. "So you take me to where - and when - Ianto is. But you're here to bargain, which means there's a lot more to it than that. Time to lay out your cards."
"I prefer chess," said the man, making himself comfortable on the chair. It was the first time Ianto had seen him without some form of shadow obscuring most of him, and he looked... quite unremarkable, actually. He reminded Ianto of the men his father had been friends with: middle-aged, balding, a little portly. "Of all the games invented by humans, it is the most elegant. One must understand how each piece moves, their weaknesses and strengths, and to win, they must all function together. Incidentally, you may call me Piece."
"Fine," Jack bit out, patience evidently wearing thin. "You want me to be a pawn in your game? Sure. Won't be the first time. But enough dancing around the issue. I've already figured out I won't like it, if you're taking this long, so just spit it out."
"Captain, Captain," sighed the man. "For somebody who has lived centuries, you have yet to learn to let events unfold as they will. It is not as if- ah." His expression changed, shifting from amusement to something Ianto couldn't read, and he straightened from where he'd been leaning back on the chair. "Nothing will happen to Ianto Jones while we talk. In fact, I will reveal to you now that I intend to take you to a point long before his arrival, and arrange it so that you are present when the Rift deposits him."
Jack looked suspicious at the Piece's wording, but some of the tension left him. "All right. So you'll take me to the future, I find him, and I find us a way to get back. In return, I do some dirty work for you while I'm there. Is that about it?"
"Very... succinct. In essence, yes, but there is a far larger game involved. Your role in this will be... complicated."
"When is it not?" Jack muttered, staring at one of the objects on his desk.
"And you may not have your memories."
Jack's head snapped up so quickly that Ianto expected to hear the whiplash. "What?"
"Oh, you will not lose them, not permanently. But I will block your access to them. Everything from your involvement with the Time Agency to the present day, including your travels with the one whom you call Doctor."
Including Ianto. Ianto stared at Jack's stricken expression, remembered a passing comment made during his probation period, after Lisa - lost two years once, had it taken from me and for a long time after I could barely live with myself, because there's a part of me, things I've done, that I can never know about.
Piece seemed to decide that, having begun, he might as well get the details over and done with. "It's a vicious war. The human side is in need of somebody with your particular... talents. They need a soldier, someone ruthless, a leader who can fight without fear, who can complete a mission even when everyone around him is dead. They need... a Captain."
Ianto shivered. He'd used the word himself so many times in Cardiff, because people always wanted to know about the dashing man in the military coat, but it was usually said with pride and always with fondness. Now he remembered the whispers filled with fear, the occasional looks of revulsion on hardened soldiers' faces, and thought of how a single word could be said in so different ways.
"An indestructible soldier." Jack's eyes had lost their initial glaze of instinctive terror, but he still looked haunted. Haunted, and also as if he were facing a death that might be permanent. Jack's gaze traveled all over the room, like he was trying to absorb it all. And then he paused, looking directly at Ianto.
It was an effort not to fidget, to straighten the tie that he wasn't wearing, even knowing he wasn't really there and Jack couldn't possibly see him.
Except it was almost as if Jack could. He was staring right into Ianto's eyes, like he was searching for answers.
Ianto remembered the Captain in his cold, stiff uniform, his unthinking acceptance of the fear and distaste his own men felt towards him. He shook his head, as if Jack could see him, against logic and causality, no, Jack, don't.
And then, suddenly, Jack smiled. "You think I won't do it. This is a test."
"Everything is a test, Captain; and creatures like you and I have to watch others pay for our failures. This - this is more of a question. How far will you go for Mr. Ianto Jones?"
Piece didn't say anything more, but Ianto could fill in the blanks. Ianto Jones, 26, Torchwood Three archivist and general support. No one particularly special or important, with a mark on his record for treason. Or there should have been, except he'd looked and the only sign in the records that a Cyberman had walked through the Hub at all was a very clinical account, with an oblique mention of 'insubordination'.
He wondered, sometimes, if Jack would make the same choices if he were still mortal. He was quite sure now that, yes, Jack would do the same things, because he was Jack. The hero had been in him long before deathlessness had caught up.
"Whatever it takes," said Jack, leaning back with a grim smile.
Ianto stepped forward without even thinking about it, and the Hub vanished. Seeing the narrow barracks-room around him again would have been a comfort, if not for the empty beds and improbably immaculate floor. And Piece was on his bunk.
"Your Jack has done his part. But for him, you would have landed in enemy territory, and the humans would be on the losing side. Yet, ah, there is now a complication."
Ianto narrowed his eyes at the figure poking at his trinket-box. "What's happened?"
"Memory is... fickle."
"He can't remember," Ianto whispered, realizing. "You took away his memories."
"Nothing was taken! Merely blocked. But the things he's done - the person he is now, the Captain, is real. It is not something that was forced upon him and can be removed afterwards. It is a part of him, a part of the Jack Harkness you know. You may think of it as him being... lost. He cannot find the way, because he doesn't know there is a way."
"You planned this, didn't you?" said Ianto accusingly. "There's something else, something you need us both to be here for."
"Even I cannot direct the storm between Time and the Void. But you are likely correct; there is always a bigger game." Ianto realized that the man was holding something in his hand. A chesspiece. "Consider, the name they call you here. In time, you will realize that people have a habit of creating that which they have need of."
Piece held out the chesspiece; a horse's head. The detail was meticulous, and... it had been carved out of bone. "There, I have given you the information you've been seeking. The last piece of the puzzle, one might say. I have fulfilled my obligations."
For this time. You may go.
Piece vanished, and the barracks along with him. Ianto was back in the desert, though the wind passed right through him. "Thank you."
Safe dealings, Noble One, by the Mariner's will.
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