Fic: The Oncoming Storm (Slash, AU, Janto 23/40 Act 3/6, 4/6 & 5/6)
Author: d8rkmessngr
Pairing: Jack/OMC, Jack/?, Jack/Ianto eventually, het and slash
Rating: NC-17 (betaed)
Summary: He left Jack on the game station. Abandoned. But then…he came back…different. An AU look on what happens if things happened differently. Doctor Who 'verse with Torchwood later on. Be sure to read the warnings.
Warnings: Please read each chapter's individual warnings. Some parts down the road may briefly mention non-con, abuse, and/or violence. Dark in the beginning. Please note there are some dark thoughts as my boys are broken…for now. Each chapter will be labeled for your convenience.
Author's Notes: Please note this is an AU that will cross over DW to TW season one. I'm probably spoiling my own story, but it will eventually be Janto. There's a bit of a journey first. I hope you enjoy. I'm working on this and intend to post regularly every other day. And again, I always believe in happy endings. So without further ado…
Disclaimer: RTD and BBC owns them. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Warning For This Chapter: minor Jack/Estelle references
Notes For This Chapter: Note there are parallels to TW's "Small Worlds"
Prologue + Ch , Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6, Ch 7, Ch 8, Ch 9, Ch 10, Ch 11, Ch 12, Ch 13, Ch 14, Ch 15, Ch 16, Ch 17, Ch 18. Ch 19, Ch 20, Ch 21, Ch 22, Ch 23 Acts 1/6 & 2/6
Master Fic List: here
Act III "Well, I suppose one person's good could be someone else's evil."
Three days later…
It was a relief when Gwen left him alone to venture outside. Jack stole a look, checking she was completely gone before he shook his head, bemused. Well, he did want her never-ending curiosity for Torchwood. But he’d rather she direct it to her work and not toward things as frivolous as his, or his dad's, past.
Jack sorted through the other pictures Estelle had. She was right; just pictures of the area. He looked up with a sigh. Her other photos in the lecture she had invited him to were just as uninformative, but she had presented them like the Grail itself.
With a chuckle, Jack left the folder of photographs on her table and studied the room.
He could have asked Ianto to bring up her history, her records, but Jack cringed at the idea of seeing everything that had gone on with her; everything he had missed.
There had been a time when Jack had imagined living in a house just like this one with her. Perhaps a child or two. He had foolishly vowed forever with her until he woke up one night and looked at his calendar and realized when she turned eighteen, he would be-he couldn't remember, he couldn't keep track.
He told her he was being shipped off to war. It was an easy lie in the heart of London back then. It was also easy to discard Jack Harkness and become James Harper among the many souls doomed to die in the war. Estelle made him promise to come back; come back alive. He promised her with a heart still weeping his loss, weeping for the loss of what he and Estelle could have had. They danced on the rooftop until dawn. He carried her to bed and let her sleep, his farewell was a rose pinned under his handkerchief. He never came back.
Instead, the Doctor did.
A twinge of guilt gnawed at Jack as he made a slow circuit around the room, decorated in worn yet cared for furniture. He studied the books of horticultural and local folklore. He smiled sadly. She'd always loved nature.
The photos on her mantel made his eyes burn. Jack had hoped to find modern photos of sons and daughters.
Estelle confided in him once while he bicycled them both down to the shores with her on his lap that she wanted many children. She had shrieked, her shapely legs swinging as Jack pedaled down the boardwalk so fast she had lost her hat in the breeze.
It didn't matter to her he was, in her eyes, a much older American soldier. Jack could do no wrong in her eyes even when a swoop off her feet made her lose her favorite shoe. She had kissed him, tasting faintly of the buttery popcorn they shared on the beach, and told him she wanted her boys to look like Jack. He kissed her back and told her he wanted their daughters to laugh like her. And that night, he had dreamt of dark-haired daughters on his lap as he furiously pedaled them up to an undamaged shore.
Estelle had said she wanted her house full of children and always be filled with laughter.
She was filled with laughter.
Not was, Jack thought to himself angrily. Estelle's still here, still nurturing a garden, still dreaming magical wishes and laughter. Her eyes still held life and joy when he came back to see her lecture even though Jack knew her joy must have been more for the illusion of her Jack returning. When they walked Estelle back home with her things, Estelle had looked up at him and smiled. Jack saw not an eighty-year-old woman, but a young woman who liked to pin ribbons in her hair. It didn't matter the years. Her eyes, her beautiful soul was ageless.
Jack stroked the one sepia tone picture. His dad as he told Gwen. The smile he wore looked so unfamiliar. It felt like a long time since he had smiled like that. When he first met Estelle, all he had wanted was temporary reprieve from despair; what she gave him was the hope of joy. Jack knew now it was a false hope. What could he possibly give besides bitter and unnatural forever? But she made him believe, for a short time. And for that, Jack had stayed with her until reason returned and he left. He thought it was for her own good.
There should be photos of someone else here.
Standing there in front of the mantel made his chest ache with something he learned long ago to ignore. It was pointless to want something he could never have. He gave the photos one more lingering look, grabbing the folder she promised them, before he left the room.
"…three of you ever meet? You, Jack, and his father?
Before he could push the door open to the yard, Gwen's voice reached him.
"Oh no, never." There was a soft whisper of regret in her words.
Damn it, Gwen, Jack thought. He fought the urge to run out there.
"I ran into Jack in the wood. I was so surprised. It was like seeing a ghost."
Jack grimaced. Estelle, small in her windbreaker, had looked like she was about to faint. Jack didn't recognize her, didn't realize who she was until she gasped out that he looked just like Captain Jack Harkness from sixty years ago.
"He's so like his dad. Same walk, same smile."
Like father, like son, Jack thought bitterly. He leaned against the window, his heart aching.
"I hope he's still alive. He'd be in his early nineties now."
One hundred and four actually but who's counting?
"I noticed you still have his photos up," Gwen asked. Jack gnashed his teeth.
Estelle gave a little, embarrassed laugh. "Oh, I could never bring myself to throw them away! I'd always…well, seeing them made me feel like he never left."
Jack closed his eyes.
"You two looked very happy in them," Gwen observed.
Shut up, Jack wanted to plea.
"I would like to think we were in love," Estelle sighed. "I was young and he was so full of darkness."
"Darkness?"
"From the war, I suppose. Oh, the war was still young but our boys came back old men."
"And Jack was from the war?"
Jack sucked in his breath, his chest tight.
"Yes. You don't know how good it was to see Jack's father laugh again."
If only Estelle knew how wonderful it was to laugh. Jack lowered his eyes to the floor, his hands in his pockets. She made him forget, even for just a few months, about empty game stations and hollow, silent space.
"Yet you haven't seen him since," Gwen persisted.
Jack's hands fisted in his pockets.
"You could always ask Jack about him."
"I have, but he doesn't seem to want to talk about his father."
Jack had enough. He pushed through the screen door, careful to not let it swing as he strode out. Jack ignored Gwen as he headed straight for Estelle.
"Estelle, when you next see these creatures, you call us immediately," Jack warned. "Understand?"
Estelle's years melted away when she gave him an amused, mischievous, nod. "Alright, Jack. I will."
"Night or day. It doesn't matter, just call us." Jack dipped his head and gave her a disarming smile. "And be careful. It's important to me."
"But, Jack, I have nothing to worry about." Estelle laughed; it was breezy and heartbreakingly young.
Jack looped a friendly hand around her shoulders. "Just be careful. Please." He couldn't help but pull her in closer to him and her slight body against him reminded him of first dancing in the Astoria ballroom. He impulsively kissed the top of her head and was caught off guard at the feel of aged thin hair; white instead of dark.
Estelle only laughed lightly, looking up at him with the sparkling eyes of a seventeen year old, but agreed.
Act IV: "It wasn't your dad that was in love with her all those years ago, was it?"
"We need a clean up operation on her house." Gwen sounded defeated.
Ianto closed his eyes briefly. "Estelle Cole?"
Gwen paused and Ianto already knew the answer but she replied anyway.
"We were too late."
God, Jack. "Where is he?"
Gwen knew who he was referring to. "He went back to the car."
Ianto frowned. "He did?"
Jack's channel beeped and Ianto didn't even spare time to say goodbye to Gwen.
"Jack?"
The voice was dull. "Tosh is going to make a call to 999 so they'll find the body. Owen's going to need to intercept the body from SOCO to do an autopsy. Gwen's-"
"Enough," Ianto said soberly. "Don't worry about it. I know what needs to be done."
Jack was guarded because he wasn't alone, but the lost tone was clear to Ianto. "There's something else that needs to be done. I can't think of it right now."
Ianto swallowed. He knew the feeling. "Don't worry about it," Ianto repeated. He could hear Owen urging Jack to let him drive, shuffling could be heard in the background, and Tosh reporting that the police were on their way. "Just get yourself back to the Hub," he rasped.
Act V: "She lives forever…"
Jasmine skipped as if it was her playground.
"Leave her alone," Jack spoke, not yelling but he knew they could hear him. He grabbed the child-she barely stood to his chest-and drew her close, hunching over her.
"Find another chosen one!"
They spoke in a singsong voice in unison, sounding like one. "Too late. She belongs with us." The winds that had died before began to pick up again. The tiny body he held struggled. Jack thought he heard her hiss.
Jack glared up into the trees. Gwen muttered a curse, or a prayer. It didn't matter. If she wasn't afraid of the so-called fairies before, the sheer number should scare her now. Jack edged back. Gwen automatically took a step back as well. The trees swayed angrily. The wind hissed and crackled.
"The child belongs here!" Jack declared. He flinched when a twig zipped past his eye. Jasmine squirmed.
"No!" the gaunt creatures snarled and hissed like serpents.
"She lives forever."
A cold feeling flooded his chest. Jack tightened his hold. No one deserved a fate like that. "You can't have her!"
There was a simultaneous howl at his defiance and trees bent backwards in their rage. Something flew past their vision and a car exploded. Someone screamed. Glass shattered.
"Jack! What the hell is going on there! The world's gone to shit out here!" Owen's terse voice crackled through both their comms. A tree uprooted and flew down onto someone's roof.
"Give us the child! Ours! Ours!"
Gwen grunted as winds threw her against Jack. Car alarms rang in the background. Glass continued to break.
Tosh's tight voice cut through the howling. "I'm getting erratic weather readings localizing on this area. What's going on?"
"Tosh, try to evacuate everyone in the area!" Gwen gritted out from behind. She staggered as debris flew around them.
"She's staying with us!" Jack could feel Gwen joining him to hold on to Jasmine, who writhed in their combined grasp like she was the wind itself.
"Then lots more people will die!" Jasmine stopped struggling. She smirked, her eyes glazed. She stood there and spoke with the charming arrogance of a child yet the smug tone when she referred to Estelle made Jack want to smack her.
"Come away O' human child…"
Jack crouched down and shook Jasmine until she looked at him. "Do you understand what this means? Forever?"
"Yes," Jasmine breathed, her eyes glowing too brightly to be human. "Forever means forever."
Gwen dropped down to a knee. "It means you won't see your mum again. Your friends either."
"They're my friends." Jasmine looked up at the trees.
Jack shook her again, hard enough that Gwen barked out his name. "Don't you get it?" he tried again desperately. "You'll be alone. Forever means alone!"
"She will be with us, undying one…"
Jack's head shot up. "What?"
"Forever in time…the child belongs with us…"
"I won't be alone. Not like you," Jasmine stared up at him, her eyes narrow and defiant. "Let me go."
Jack stared at her, dismayed. Already her eyes were swirling. He could hear the winds behind him screaming like banshees. Gwen clutched at him, unable to keep her balance.
Owen and Tosh's voices crackled in their comms, the winds screamed like they were possessed.
Jack's throat felt like it was filled with nails. "The child won't be harmed?"
Horrified, Gwen grabbed his shoulder. "Jack, you can't…"
Jack wrenched away. He stared at them, challenging. They knew they couldn't harm him, kill him. They hissed and spat back. "Answer me! She won't be harmed."
"We told you," they spat out sullenly, "she lives forever…"
"Jack!" Gwen darted in front of him. "We can't."
Jack looked at Jasmine. Forever. No, forever was too cruel. He curled his hands around the child's shoulders again. The creatures howled and wailed above him as if they knew.
"A dead world, is that what you want?" Jasmine threatened, her tiny fists beating in the air to wiggle free.
Jack bent down and spun her to face him. "What good is that to you? There would be no more chosen ones."
Jasmine smiled darkly and spoke with their voices. "They'll find us, back in time."
His heart sank. She was already gone. Jack pulled her closer, nose to nose.
"You can't go back on forever," Jack hissed.
The child's mouth curved smugly. "I don't want to."
Jack stared at her, oblivious to the winds, Gwen, or the shouting behind him. He cupped the young face and wondered how she would feel after a century of heartache. Jasmine stilled and watched him, waiting.
"Take her," Jack croaked.
Conclusion
Additional Notes: Many thanks to soullessminion for betaing this chapter. And trtmx for her magic trick that saved my sanity! LOL.
Pairing: Jack/OMC, Jack/?, Jack/Ianto eventually, het and slash
Rating: NC-17 (betaed)
Summary: He left Jack on the game station. Abandoned. But then…he came back…different. An AU look on what happens if things happened differently. Doctor Who 'verse with Torchwood later on. Be sure to read the warnings.
Warnings: Please read each chapter's individual warnings. Some parts down the road may briefly mention non-con, abuse, and/or violence. Dark in the beginning. Please note there are some dark thoughts as my boys are broken…for now. Each chapter will be labeled for your convenience.
Author's Notes: Please note this is an AU that will cross over DW to TW season one. I'm probably spoiling my own story, but it will eventually be Janto. There's a bit of a journey first. I hope you enjoy. I'm working on this and intend to post regularly every other day. And again, I always believe in happy endings. So without further ado…
Disclaimer: RTD and BBC owns them. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Warning For This Chapter: minor Jack/Estelle references
Notes For This Chapter: Note there are parallels to TW's "Small Worlds"
Prologue + Ch , Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6, Ch 7, Ch 8, Ch 9, Ch 10, Ch 11, Ch 12, Ch 13, Ch 14, Ch 15, Ch 16, Ch 17, Ch 18. Ch 19, Ch 20, Ch 21, Ch 22, Ch 23 Acts 1/6 & 2/6
Master Fic List: here
Act III "Well, I suppose one person's good could be someone else's evil."
Three days later…
It was a relief when Gwen left him alone to venture outside. Jack stole a look, checking she was completely gone before he shook his head, bemused. Well, he did want her never-ending curiosity for Torchwood. But he’d rather she direct it to her work and not toward things as frivolous as his, or his dad's, past.
Jack sorted through the other pictures Estelle had. She was right; just pictures of the area. He looked up with a sigh. Her other photos in the lecture she had invited him to were just as uninformative, but she had presented them like the Grail itself.
With a chuckle, Jack left the folder of photographs on her table and studied the room.
He could have asked Ianto to bring up her history, her records, but Jack cringed at the idea of seeing everything that had gone on with her; everything he had missed.
There had been a time when Jack had imagined living in a house just like this one with her. Perhaps a child or two. He had foolishly vowed forever with her until he woke up one night and looked at his calendar and realized when she turned eighteen, he would be-he couldn't remember, he couldn't keep track.
He told her he was being shipped off to war. It was an easy lie in the heart of London back then. It was also easy to discard Jack Harkness and become James Harper among the many souls doomed to die in the war. Estelle made him promise to come back; come back alive. He promised her with a heart still weeping his loss, weeping for the loss of what he and Estelle could have had. They danced on the rooftop until dawn. He carried her to bed and let her sleep, his farewell was a rose pinned under his handkerchief. He never came back.
Instead, the Doctor did.
A twinge of guilt gnawed at Jack as he made a slow circuit around the room, decorated in worn yet cared for furniture. He studied the books of horticultural and local folklore. He smiled sadly. She'd always loved nature.
The photos on her mantel made his eyes burn. Jack had hoped to find modern photos of sons and daughters.
Estelle confided in him once while he bicycled them both down to the shores with her on his lap that she wanted many children. She had shrieked, her shapely legs swinging as Jack pedaled down the boardwalk so fast she had lost her hat in the breeze.
It didn't matter to her he was, in her eyes, a much older American soldier. Jack could do no wrong in her eyes even when a swoop off her feet made her lose her favorite shoe. She had kissed him, tasting faintly of the buttery popcorn they shared on the beach, and told him she wanted her boys to look like Jack. He kissed her back and told her he wanted their daughters to laugh like her. And that night, he had dreamt of dark-haired daughters on his lap as he furiously pedaled them up to an undamaged shore.
Estelle had said she wanted her house full of children and always be filled with laughter.
She was filled with laughter.
Not was, Jack thought to himself angrily. Estelle's still here, still nurturing a garden, still dreaming magical wishes and laughter. Her eyes still held life and joy when he came back to see her lecture even though Jack knew her joy must have been more for the illusion of her Jack returning. When they walked Estelle back home with her things, Estelle had looked up at him and smiled. Jack saw not an eighty-year-old woman, but a young woman who liked to pin ribbons in her hair. It didn't matter the years. Her eyes, her beautiful soul was ageless.
Jack stroked the one sepia tone picture. His dad as he told Gwen. The smile he wore looked so unfamiliar. It felt like a long time since he had smiled like that. When he first met Estelle, all he had wanted was temporary reprieve from despair; what she gave him was the hope of joy. Jack knew now it was a false hope. What could he possibly give besides bitter and unnatural forever? But she made him believe, for a short time. And for that, Jack had stayed with her until reason returned and he left. He thought it was for her own good.
There should be photos of someone else here.
Standing there in front of the mantel made his chest ache with something he learned long ago to ignore. It was pointless to want something he could never have. He gave the photos one more lingering look, grabbing the folder she promised them, before he left the room.
"…three of you ever meet? You, Jack, and his father?
Before he could push the door open to the yard, Gwen's voice reached him.
"Oh no, never." There was a soft whisper of regret in her words.
Damn it, Gwen, Jack thought. He fought the urge to run out there.
"I ran into Jack in the wood. I was so surprised. It was like seeing a ghost."
Jack grimaced. Estelle, small in her windbreaker, had looked like she was about to faint. Jack didn't recognize her, didn't realize who she was until she gasped out that he looked just like Captain Jack Harkness from sixty years ago.
"He's so like his dad. Same walk, same smile."
Like father, like son, Jack thought bitterly. He leaned against the window, his heart aching.
"I hope he's still alive. He'd be in his early nineties now."
One hundred and four actually but who's counting?
"I noticed you still have his photos up," Gwen asked. Jack gnashed his teeth.
Estelle gave a little, embarrassed laugh. "Oh, I could never bring myself to throw them away! I'd always…well, seeing them made me feel like he never left."
Jack closed his eyes.
"You two looked very happy in them," Gwen observed.
Shut up, Jack wanted to plea.
"I would like to think we were in love," Estelle sighed. "I was young and he was so full of darkness."
"Darkness?"
"From the war, I suppose. Oh, the war was still young but our boys came back old men."
"And Jack was from the war?"
Jack sucked in his breath, his chest tight.
"Yes. You don't know how good it was to see Jack's father laugh again."
If only Estelle knew how wonderful it was to laugh. Jack lowered his eyes to the floor, his hands in his pockets. She made him forget, even for just a few months, about empty game stations and hollow, silent space.
"Yet you haven't seen him since," Gwen persisted.
Jack's hands fisted in his pockets.
"You could always ask Jack about him."
"I have, but he doesn't seem to want to talk about his father."
Jack had enough. He pushed through the screen door, careful to not let it swing as he strode out. Jack ignored Gwen as he headed straight for Estelle.
"Estelle, when you next see these creatures, you call us immediately," Jack warned. "Understand?"
Estelle's years melted away when she gave him an amused, mischievous, nod. "Alright, Jack. I will."
"Night or day. It doesn't matter, just call us." Jack dipped his head and gave her a disarming smile. "And be careful. It's important to me."
"But, Jack, I have nothing to worry about." Estelle laughed; it was breezy and heartbreakingly young.
Jack looped a friendly hand around her shoulders. "Just be careful. Please." He couldn't help but pull her in closer to him and her slight body against him reminded him of first dancing in the Astoria ballroom. He impulsively kissed the top of her head and was caught off guard at the feel of aged thin hair; white instead of dark.
Estelle only laughed lightly, looking up at him with the sparkling eyes of a seventeen year old, but agreed.
Act IV: "It wasn't your dad that was in love with her all those years ago, was it?"
"We need a clean up operation on her house." Gwen sounded defeated.
Ianto closed his eyes briefly. "Estelle Cole?"
Gwen paused and Ianto already knew the answer but she replied anyway.
"We were too late."
God, Jack. "Where is he?"
Gwen knew who he was referring to. "He went back to the car."
Ianto frowned. "He did?"
Jack's channel beeped and Ianto didn't even spare time to say goodbye to Gwen.
"Jack?"
The voice was dull. "Tosh is going to make a call to 999 so they'll find the body. Owen's going to need to intercept the body from SOCO to do an autopsy. Gwen's-"
"Enough," Ianto said soberly. "Don't worry about it. I know what needs to be done."
Jack was guarded because he wasn't alone, but the lost tone was clear to Ianto. "There's something else that needs to be done. I can't think of it right now."
Ianto swallowed. He knew the feeling. "Don't worry about it," Ianto repeated. He could hear Owen urging Jack to let him drive, shuffling could be heard in the background, and Tosh reporting that the police were on their way. "Just get yourself back to the Hub," he rasped.
Act V: "She lives forever…"
Jasmine skipped as if it was her playground.
"Leave her alone," Jack spoke, not yelling but he knew they could hear him. He grabbed the child-she barely stood to his chest-and drew her close, hunching over her.
"Find another chosen one!"
They spoke in a singsong voice in unison, sounding like one. "Too late. She belongs with us." The winds that had died before began to pick up again. The tiny body he held struggled. Jack thought he heard her hiss.
Jack glared up into the trees. Gwen muttered a curse, or a prayer. It didn't matter. If she wasn't afraid of the so-called fairies before, the sheer number should scare her now. Jack edged back. Gwen automatically took a step back as well. The trees swayed angrily. The wind hissed and crackled.
"The child belongs here!" Jack declared. He flinched when a twig zipped past his eye. Jasmine squirmed.
"No!" the gaunt creatures snarled and hissed like serpents.
"She lives forever."
A cold feeling flooded his chest. Jack tightened his hold. No one deserved a fate like that. "You can't have her!"
There was a simultaneous howl at his defiance and trees bent backwards in their rage. Something flew past their vision and a car exploded. Someone screamed. Glass shattered.
"Jack! What the hell is going on there! The world's gone to shit out here!" Owen's terse voice crackled through both their comms. A tree uprooted and flew down onto someone's roof.
"Give us the child! Ours! Ours!"
Gwen grunted as winds threw her against Jack. Car alarms rang in the background. Glass continued to break.
Tosh's tight voice cut through the howling. "I'm getting erratic weather readings localizing on this area. What's going on?"
"Tosh, try to evacuate everyone in the area!" Gwen gritted out from behind. She staggered as debris flew around them.
"She's staying with us!" Jack could feel Gwen joining him to hold on to Jasmine, who writhed in their combined grasp like she was the wind itself.
"Then lots more people will die!" Jasmine stopped struggling. She smirked, her eyes glazed. She stood there and spoke with the charming arrogance of a child yet the smug tone when she referred to Estelle made Jack want to smack her.
"Come away O' human child…"
Jack crouched down and shook Jasmine until she looked at him. "Do you understand what this means? Forever?"
"Yes," Jasmine breathed, her eyes glowing too brightly to be human. "Forever means forever."
Gwen dropped down to a knee. "It means you won't see your mum again. Your friends either."
"They're my friends." Jasmine looked up at the trees.
Jack shook her again, hard enough that Gwen barked out his name. "Don't you get it?" he tried again desperately. "You'll be alone. Forever means alone!"
"She will be with us, undying one…"
Jack's head shot up. "What?"
"Forever in time…the child belongs with us…"
"I won't be alone. Not like you," Jasmine stared up at him, her eyes narrow and defiant. "Let me go."
Jack stared at her, dismayed. Already her eyes were swirling. He could hear the winds behind him screaming like banshees. Gwen clutched at him, unable to keep her balance.
Owen and Tosh's voices crackled in their comms, the winds screamed like they were possessed.
Jack's throat felt like it was filled with nails. "The child won't be harmed?"
Horrified, Gwen grabbed his shoulder. "Jack, you can't…"
Jack wrenched away. He stared at them, challenging. They knew they couldn't harm him, kill him. They hissed and spat back. "Answer me! She won't be harmed."
"We told you," they spat out sullenly, "she lives forever…"
"Jack!" Gwen darted in front of him. "We can't."
Jack looked at Jasmine. Forever. No, forever was too cruel. He curled his hands around the child's shoulders again. The creatures howled and wailed above him as if they knew.
"A dead world, is that what you want?" Jasmine threatened, her tiny fists beating in the air to wiggle free.
Jack bent down and spun her to face him. "What good is that to you? There would be no more chosen ones."
Jasmine smiled darkly and spoke with their voices. "They'll find us, back in time."
His heart sank. She was already gone. Jack pulled her closer, nose to nose.
"You can't go back on forever," Jack hissed.
The child's mouth curved smugly. "I don't want to."
Jack stared at her, oblivious to the winds, Gwen, or the shouting behind him. He cupped the young face and wondered how she would feel after a century of heartache. Jasmine stilled and watched him, waiting.
"Take her," Jack croaked.
Conclusion
Additional Notes: Many thanks to soullessminion for betaing this chapter. And trtmx for her magic trick that saved my sanity! LOL.