Fic: The Oncoming Storm (Slash, AU, Janto 36/40 Act 5/10 1/2)
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: strong language, dark, angsty, disturbing imagery (a matter of reader's interpretation, though)
Notes For This Chapter: Note there are parallels to DW's "Utopia" and briefly mentions things from DW's "Army of Darkness" but hopefully even without seeing them, the story's fine.
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, Ch 24, Ch 25, Ch 26, Ch 27, Ch 28, Ch 29, Ch 30, Ch 31, Ch 32, Ch 33, Ch 34, Ch 35, Ch 36 Act 1/10, Ch 36 Act 2/10, Ch 36 Act 3/10, Ch 36 Act 4/10
Master Fic List: here
Chapter 36 "Utopia 2.0"
Act V 1/2: "It's good apparently."
Malcassairo
Year 100 trillion…
Someone cleared his or her throat outside his haven.
"That's not the usual response Jack gets," a voice mused dryly outside the wardrobe.
Ianto flinched. He heard a sympathetic hiss outside when he bumped his head to the back of the closet. "Who's there?" he cracked even though he knew who it was. Ianto cringed. Hastily, he wiped at his eyes with the heel of his hand.
A scoff. "Well, it isn't a hitchhiker, I assure you. One is more than enough."
Ianto flung the wardrobe doors wider and felt a little mean satisfaction when the Doctor hopped back to avoid getting struck.
"I'm not a hitchhiker!" Ianto snapped, too irritated at the interruption to care his eyes were a little red-rimmed. "I didn't want to be here!"
"Yes, you made it very clear before," the Doctor drawled. He gave Ianto that cheeky grin again. God, he wanted to box the alien, but no, no, mustn't piss off the driver, not one with a history of leaving people behind. Cardiff, Ianto decided as he glowered at the Doctor. Wait until Cardiff, then punch him again.
"How did you get in here?"
Ianto frowned at him. "The outside door was unlocked," Ianto defended himself.
The Doctor frowned back. "Unlocked?" he echoed. The Doctor looked towards the ceiling, exasperated. "And you wouldn't let me in without a key!"
The TARDIS did a cross between a purr and a trill of apology.
Baffled, Ianto leaned forward from the closet and copied the Doctor. He blinked towards the high ceiling. "The ship understands you?"
The Doctor shot him a look. "Of course. It's my ship." He sniffed delicately. "She apparently likes you though, Torchwood."
Ianto glowered. "I'm not apologizing for what I did!"
The Doctor looked disappointed at him. "No…you wouldn't, would you?" His face shuttered.
It irked Ianto that a tiny part of him did feel like apologizing. Ianto slumped back into the wardrobe. He scowled.
"That young man out there told Martha that we will be arriving at their silo in forty minutes." The Doctor tilted his head. "Aren't you going to come out of the closet?"
"Again?" Ianto muttered.
"Pardon?"
"Nothing." Ianto sniffed loudly and carefully climbed out of the wardrobe. He cradled Jack's greatcoat and slipped the hanger under it. He returned it to its honorary spot, the cap below it, his hand brushing the outerwear to smooth out the folds. His chest ached touching the greatcoat, unworn. It felt empty, depleted. He turned back towards the Doctor, Jack's wrist strap folded and sandwiched protectively between his hands.
The Doctor was holding up the yellow Post-it that must have dropped when Ianto got out of the wardrobe. The Doctor's eyes scanned the simple note over and over, his mouth pursed.
Ianto could no longer feel anger, just bone deep exhaustion. He deflated.
"He thought it was you," Ianto told him tiredly. It took too much to accuse him again. "Jack thought you came back for him."
The Doctor winced, but didn't correct Ianto this time. He just lifted up the note. When Ianto nodded, the alien folded it carefully and slipped it into his trouser pockets. The Doctor lifted his head, mouth opened to speak. Then, the Doctor paused.
"Jack left that with you?" Doctor nodded towards something in his grasp.
Ianto blinked. He looked down. His palm automatically curled around the wrist strap he was still holding onto as tight as he would a talisman. Ianto wordlessly nodded.
The Doctor extended out his palm.
Ianto hesitated, his hands curling around it tighter.
"I promise I will give it back and I won't switch it for a banana," the Doctor said lightly, his eyes twinkling.
"What?" Ianto was about to hand it over, but he jerked back. "B-banana?" he stammered. He squinted, eying the Doctor's open palm suspiciously.
"Just a small joke." The Doctor smiled.
Ianto narrowed his eyes but reluctantly handed it over. "Very small," he remarked dryly.
The Doctor's smile faded somewhat and his left eyebrow twitched. "Yes, you're quite the happy fellow, aren't you?"
Ianto clamped his mouth shut before he said anything that would pitch him out into a pit of cannibals.
The Doctor examined the wrist strap, turning it in his hands. He treated it like an artifact, cradling it, his fingers barely pressing hard enough to leave a mark. He hemmed and hawed and nodded to himself. Then, he looked up at Ianto. His face pulled a broad grin.
"In all my centuries," the Doctor murmured. He handed back the wrist strap to Ianto, who immediately folded it back into his pocket.
"He would have come back."
Ianto's head shot up. "What?"
The Doctor waved a hand towards his pocket. "The Jack Harkness I knew never would have taken it off. He even slept with it and nothing else. Gave Rose quite a start when he came into the eating area for breakfast prancing about as naked as the day he was born."
Ianto bit back a smile. That sounded like Jack. He'd never-Hold on.
"You've seen him naked?" Ianto glowered.
The Doctor nodded, oblivious as he thought back with a smile. "Took him days before he got out of that habit and it was only because the TARDIS would lock him in his room until he got dressed. The Captain used to say I did it, like his undress would ever bother me! Why on Targas, even wearing glasses would have been considered an insult and Rose wouldn't come out of her room for days while we were there and then Jack made the silly mistake of wearing his wrist strap and got arrested for-"
"Doctor," Ianto interrupted when he recognized the alien was about to go off on another topic. It seemed to happen a lot. He mentally flailed when the time traveler stopped, his face expectant. "You said he…I mean, Jack…" Ianto fumbled.
The Doctor's face softened and his eyes looked warm. "He was planning on coming back." The Doctor gestured again towards Ianto's pocket. "To you, apparently." The alien gave a smile that was not as huge as before but just as bright. "Jack was very attached to that thing. He wouldn't have left it behind."
Ianto smiled back tentatively. He slipped a hand in his pocket and stroked the supple material with his thumb. He looked around the room they stood in. Ianto turned towards the wardrobe and stared at the greatcoat. Slowly, it sank in.
"You've kept all his things."
The Doctor looked a little sad, like his father when Ianto left for London.
"I keep all my companions' rooms as they left them," the Doctor said quietly. "In case our paths cross again."
Ianto's smile faltered.
"There it is again."
Ianto's brows knitted together.
The Doctor studied Ianto with a scrutiny that made him flinch.
"You don't like the word companion," the Doctor observed. "Why?"
Ianto set his jaw. Very deliberately, he turned around and took care to straighten the coat and started to close the wardrobe.
"I said I will know."
It wasn't a threat. It wasn't a command. It was just a statement, but the knowing tone, too much like the Master, too much like the voice he knew haunted Jack. Ianto tensed and the doors shut harder than expected.
There was a sharp intake of breath. "Jack," the Doctor guessed.
Ianto kept his hands on the wardrobe and perhaps it was the only thing supporting him up. He bit his lower lip.
"Tell me." The command was razor thin.
Ianto's head hung low on his chest. He shook it. Ianto swallowed. He stared hard at his hands flexing on the closet doors.
"The Master." The Doctor was far too clever. When Ianto flinched, he heard a deep sigh. "Ah, Jack, my old friend. Oh, I'm sorry."
"They called him the…" Ianto rasped, his throat tight. "When they were in London, they called J-jack the…they called him the Doctor's c-com-"
"That's enough." The Doctor's voice was suspiciously gruff. "No need to say anything more."
Ianto nodded, his head still low. He blinked rapidly at the floor.
"He hurt Jack," Ianto whispered.
The Doctor's voice hardened. "We'll get him back."
The promise, if anything, made it harder to see. "How?" Ianto choked. "We're at the end of the universe! The end of everything and we're just sitting here…b-blogging!" Ianto thumped the closet and dropped down heavily onto the bed. He stared up wearily at the time traveler.
The Doctor offered a grim smile. "There are some ideas." The Doctor looked around his ship. "I prefer not leaving her behind in order to do it, but if there's no other way…" The Doctor sat down next to Ianto. It struck Ianto the Doctor must be far older than he told anyone. His eyes were far too worn for his face.
"So," Ianto began. He was almost afraid to ask. "You and Jack…I mean…"
"By companion," the Doctor cut in quietly, "I meant friend, a fellow traveler." He cocked his head. "Nothing more."
"Oh." Ianto stared at his clasped hands over his knees. "Oh. Right. Okay. So you and Martha-"
The Doctor shook his head slowly.
Ianto stared at his hands again. This, this was the Doctor Jack first met, this should have been the Doctor Jack reunited with.
"Why is the Master doing this to Jack?"
"Mostly likely to get to me," the Doctor sighed, "although how he knew about Jack is a mystery to me."
Ianto dropped his face into his hands. He tried not to think about what was happening-or is it happened?-to Jack.
The Doctor gave him an almost paternal pat on the back. "It will be alright."
Ianto pulled out the wrist strap. He gave the folded material a gentle squeeze.
"He'd really come back for this?" Ianto mused wistfully out loud.
"I'm certain of it." The Doctor considered him for a moment.
"You could put it on if you like."
Startled, Ianto glanced over. "It doesn't work anymore. Jack said it burnt out in 1869 when he left the space station to find you." He held tightly to the material as he watched the Doctor poke at the strap.
"Doesn't matter." The Doctor plucked the leather strap out of Ianto's grasp and briskly wrapped it around Ianto's left wrist. He clapped and beamed at Ianto.
"There you go! Better?"
Ianto lifted his wrist up. It was heavier than his watch, yet not as heavy as he would expect. And it felt warm, like Jack's hand curled around him. And it still smelled like Jack, too.
A smile shyly spread across Ianto's face. "Actually, it does." He glanced over. His smile dropped.
"No need to look so smug about it though!" Ianto huffed and levered off the bed.
"Who's smug?" the Doctor blinked innocently. "I was right though, wasn't I? Of course, I was!"
"Doctor!" Martha popped her head in. "We're almost there." She nodded behind her. "We should step out of this box. I was getting a funny look when I went in here."
"Probably wondering what three people are doing in a tiny box," Ianto muttered.
The Doctor started. He spun on his heels to stare at him.
"You've been working for Jack Harkness far too long, Torchwood." Another slap to his back that sent Ianto stumbling forward a step, the Doctor stuck his hands in his pockets and sauntered out of the room.
"What was that supposed to mean?" Ianto grumbled. He caught Martha looking at him. He offered her a tentative smile.
"Come on," Martha suggested, returning the gesture with no trace of rancor from before. "It isn't good to leave the Doctor alone. He could get in trouble walking into a room."
"Somehow, that's not very reassuring," Ianto muttered but followed Martha out. He paused, looking back at the wardrobe. Idly rubbing the strap on his wrist, Ianto chased after her.
Act V 2/2
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: strong language, dark, angsty, disturbing imagery (a matter of reader's interpretation, though)
Notes For This Chapter: Note there are parallels to DW's "Utopia" and briefly mentions things from DW's "Army of Darkness" but hopefully even without seeing them, the story's fine.
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, Ch 24, Ch 25, Ch 26, Ch 27, Ch 28, Ch 29, Ch 30, Ch 31, Ch 32, Ch 33, Ch 34, Ch 35, Ch 36 Act 1/10, Ch 36 Act 2/10, Ch 36 Act 3/10, Ch 36 Act 4/10
Master Fic List: here
Chapter 36 "Utopia 2.0"
Act V 1/2: "It's good apparently."
Malcassairo
Year 100 trillion…
Someone cleared his or her throat outside his haven.
"That's not the usual response Jack gets," a voice mused dryly outside the wardrobe.
Ianto flinched. He heard a sympathetic hiss outside when he bumped his head to the back of the closet. "Who's there?" he cracked even though he knew who it was. Ianto cringed. Hastily, he wiped at his eyes with the heel of his hand.
A scoff. "Well, it isn't a hitchhiker, I assure you. One is more than enough."
Ianto flung the wardrobe doors wider and felt a little mean satisfaction when the Doctor hopped back to avoid getting struck.
"I'm not a hitchhiker!" Ianto snapped, too irritated at the interruption to care his eyes were a little red-rimmed. "I didn't want to be here!"
"Yes, you made it very clear before," the Doctor drawled. He gave Ianto that cheeky grin again. God, he wanted to box the alien, but no, no, mustn't piss off the driver, not one with a history of leaving people behind. Cardiff, Ianto decided as he glowered at the Doctor. Wait until Cardiff, then punch him again.
"How did you get in here?"
Ianto frowned at him. "The outside door was unlocked," Ianto defended himself.
The Doctor frowned back. "Unlocked?" he echoed. The Doctor looked towards the ceiling, exasperated. "And you wouldn't let me in without a key!"
The TARDIS did a cross between a purr and a trill of apology.
Baffled, Ianto leaned forward from the closet and copied the Doctor. He blinked towards the high ceiling. "The ship understands you?"
The Doctor shot him a look. "Of course. It's my ship." He sniffed delicately. "She apparently likes you though, Torchwood."
Ianto glowered. "I'm not apologizing for what I did!"
The Doctor looked disappointed at him. "No…you wouldn't, would you?" His face shuttered.
It irked Ianto that a tiny part of him did feel like apologizing. Ianto slumped back into the wardrobe. He scowled.
"That young man out there told Martha that we will be arriving at their silo in forty minutes." The Doctor tilted his head. "Aren't you going to come out of the closet?"
"Again?" Ianto muttered.
"Pardon?"
"Nothing." Ianto sniffed loudly and carefully climbed out of the wardrobe. He cradled Jack's greatcoat and slipped the hanger under it. He returned it to its honorary spot, the cap below it, his hand brushing the outerwear to smooth out the folds. His chest ached touching the greatcoat, unworn. It felt empty, depleted. He turned back towards the Doctor, Jack's wrist strap folded and sandwiched protectively between his hands.
The Doctor was holding up the yellow Post-it that must have dropped when Ianto got out of the wardrobe. The Doctor's eyes scanned the simple note over and over, his mouth pursed.
Ianto could no longer feel anger, just bone deep exhaustion. He deflated.
"He thought it was you," Ianto told him tiredly. It took too much to accuse him again. "Jack thought you came back for him."
The Doctor winced, but didn't correct Ianto this time. He just lifted up the note. When Ianto nodded, the alien folded it carefully and slipped it into his trouser pockets. The Doctor lifted his head, mouth opened to speak. Then, the Doctor paused.
"Jack left that with you?" Doctor nodded towards something in his grasp.
Ianto blinked. He looked down. His palm automatically curled around the wrist strap he was still holding onto as tight as he would a talisman. Ianto wordlessly nodded.
The Doctor extended out his palm.
Ianto hesitated, his hands curling around it tighter.
"I promise I will give it back and I won't switch it for a banana," the Doctor said lightly, his eyes twinkling.
"What?" Ianto was about to hand it over, but he jerked back. "B-banana?" he stammered. He squinted, eying the Doctor's open palm suspiciously.
"Just a small joke." The Doctor smiled.
Ianto narrowed his eyes but reluctantly handed it over. "Very small," he remarked dryly.
The Doctor's smile faded somewhat and his left eyebrow twitched. "Yes, you're quite the happy fellow, aren't you?"
Ianto clamped his mouth shut before he said anything that would pitch him out into a pit of cannibals.
The Doctor examined the wrist strap, turning it in his hands. He treated it like an artifact, cradling it, his fingers barely pressing hard enough to leave a mark. He hemmed and hawed and nodded to himself. Then, he looked up at Ianto. His face pulled a broad grin.
"In all my centuries," the Doctor murmured. He handed back the wrist strap to Ianto, who immediately folded it back into his pocket.
"He would have come back."
Ianto's head shot up. "What?"
The Doctor waved a hand towards his pocket. "The Jack Harkness I knew never would have taken it off. He even slept with it and nothing else. Gave Rose quite a start when he came into the eating area for breakfast prancing about as naked as the day he was born."
Ianto bit back a smile. That sounded like Jack. He'd never-Hold on.
"You've seen him naked?" Ianto glowered.
The Doctor nodded, oblivious as he thought back with a smile. "Took him days before he got out of that habit and it was only because the TARDIS would lock him in his room until he got dressed. The Captain used to say I did it, like his undress would ever bother me! Why on Targas, even wearing glasses would have been considered an insult and Rose wouldn't come out of her room for days while we were there and then Jack made the silly mistake of wearing his wrist strap and got arrested for-"
"Doctor," Ianto interrupted when he recognized the alien was about to go off on another topic. It seemed to happen a lot. He mentally flailed when the time traveler stopped, his face expectant. "You said he…I mean, Jack…" Ianto fumbled.
The Doctor's face softened and his eyes looked warm. "He was planning on coming back." The Doctor gestured again towards Ianto's pocket. "To you, apparently." The alien gave a smile that was not as huge as before but just as bright. "Jack was very attached to that thing. He wouldn't have left it behind."
Ianto smiled back tentatively. He slipped a hand in his pocket and stroked the supple material with his thumb. He looked around the room they stood in. Ianto turned towards the wardrobe and stared at the greatcoat. Slowly, it sank in.
"You've kept all his things."
The Doctor looked a little sad, like his father when Ianto left for London.
"I keep all my companions' rooms as they left them," the Doctor said quietly. "In case our paths cross again."
Ianto's smile faltered.
"There it is again."
Ianto's brows knitted together.
The Doctor studied Ianto with a scrutiny that made him flinch.
"You don't like the word companion," the Doctor observed. "Why?"
Ianto set his jaw. Very deliberately, he turned around and took care to straighten the coat and started to close the wardrobe.
"I said I will know."
It wasn't a threat. It wasn't a command. It was just a statement, but the knowing tone, too much like the Master, too much like the voice he knew haunted Jack. Ianto tensed and the doors shut harder than expected.
There was a sharp intake of breath. "Jack," the Doctor guessed.
Ianto kept his hands on the wardrobe and perhaps it was the only thing supporting him up. He bit his lower lip.
"Tell me." The command was razor thin.
Ianto's head hung low on his chest. He shook it. Ianto swallowed. He stared hard at his hands flexing on the closet doors.
"The Master." The Doctor was far too clever. When Ianto flinched, he heard a deep sigh. "Ah, Jack, my old friend. Oh, I'm sorry."
"They called him the…" Ianto rasped, his throat tight. "When they were in London, they called J-jack the…they called him the Doctor's c-com-"
"That's enough." The Doctor's voice was suspiciously gruff. "No need to say anything more."
Ianto nodded, his head still low. He blinked rapidly at the floor.
"He hurt Jack," Ianto whispered.
The Doctor's voice hardened. "We'll get him back."
The promise, if anything, made it harder to see. "How?" Ianto choked. "We're at the end of the universe! The end of everything and we're just sitting here…b-blogging!" Ianto thumped the closet and dropped down heavily onto the bed. He stared up wearily at the time traveler.
The Doctor offered a grim smile. "There are some ideas." The Doctor looked around his ship. "I prefer not leaving her behind in order to do it, but if there's no other way…" The Doctor sat down next to Ianto. It struck Ianto the Doctor must be far older than he told anyone. His eyes were far too worn for his face.
"So," Ianto began. He was almost afraid to ask. "You and Jack…I mean…"
"By companion," the Doctor cut in quietly, "I meant friend, a fellow traveler." He cocked his head. "Nothing more."
"Oh." Ianto stared at his clasped hands over his knees. "Oh. Right. Okay. So you and Martha-"
The Doctor shook his head slowly.
Ianto stared at his hands again. This, this was the Doctor Jack first met, this should have been the Doctor Jack reunited with.
"Why is the Master doing this to Jack?"
"Mostly likely to get to me," the Doctor sighed, "although how he knew about Jack is a mystery to me."
Ianto dropped his face into his hands. He tried not to think about what was happening-or is it happened?-to Jack.
The Doctor gave him an almost paternal pat on the back. "It will be alright."
Ianto pulled out the wrist strap. He gave the folded material a gentle squeeze.
"He'd really come back for this?" Ianto mused wistfully out loud.
"I'm certain of it." The Doctor considered him for a moment.
"You could put it on if you like."
Startled, Ianto glanced over. "It doesn't work anymore. Jack said it burnt out in 1869 when he left the space station to find you." He held tightly to the material as he watched the Doctor poke at the strap.
"Doesn't matter." The Doctor plucked the leather strap out of Ianto's grasp and briskly wrapped it around Ianto's left wrist. He clapped and beamed at Ianto.
"There you go! Better?"
Ianto lifted his wrist up. It was heavier than his watch, yet not as heavy as he would expect. And it felt warm, like Jack's hand curled around him. And it still smelled like Jack, too.
A smile shyly spread across Ianto's face. "Actually, it does." He glanced over. His smile dropped.
"No need to look so smug about it though!" Ianto huffed and levered off the bed.
"Who's smug?" the Doctor blinked innocently. "I was right though, wasn't I? Of course, I was!"
"Doctor!" Martha popped her head in. "We're almost there." She nodded behind her. "We should step out of this box. I was getting a funny look when I went in here."
"Probably wondering what three people are doing in a tiny box," Ianto muttered.
The Doctor started. He spun on his heels to stare at him.
"You've been working for Jack Harkness far too long, Torchwood." Another slap to his back that sent Ianto stumbling forward a step, the Doctor stuck his hands in his pockets and sauntered out of the room.
"What was that supposed to mean?" Ianto grumbled. He caught Martha looking at him. He offered her a tentative smile.
"Come on," Martha suggested, returning the gesture with no trace of rancor from before. "It isn't good to leave the Doctor alone. He could get in trouble walking into a room."
"Somehow, that's not very reassuring," Ianto muttered but followed Martha out. He paused, looking back at the wardrobe. Idly rubbing the strap on his wrist, Ianto chased after her.
Act V 2/2
Additional Notes: Many thanks to soullessminion for betaing this chapter. And trtmx for her magic trick that saved my sanity! LOL.