Fic: The Oncoming Storm (Slash, AU, Janto 36/40 Act 9/10 Part 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, Ch 36 Act 5/10 1/2, Ch 36 Act 5/10 2/2, Ch 36 Act 6/10, Ch 36 Act 7/10, Ch 36 Act 8/10, Ch 36 Act 9/10 1/2
Master Fic List: here
Chapter 36 "Utopia 2.0"
Act IX 2/2
Malcassairo
Year 100 trillion…
Her name used to be Aja. When they took her in, she was still Aja but she could feel her blood thickening, changing her to something else. And when humans rescued her, they had congratulated themselves for managing to save her.
But she had already been saved. Long ago. She had nearly starved but Kind showed her before humans took her away to the silo.
As time past, it was harder and harder to sit there while all this food walked and talked around her.
Make feast.
When the klaxons blared, Aja knew feast would be leaving and Aja and Kind would be hungry again for a very long time.
No.
Aja sneered as people laughed and smiled at each other as they went to the gates to climb into the rocket.
Aja bared her pointy teeth at them. She licked her lips.
Kind would take her back if she did good. Aja stared greedily at the shining faces. Her mouth watered and she had to make a fist and thump her thigh to make herself look away. Later. Right now, Aja needed to do something.
Aja scurried away in the emptied halls, her nostrils flaring at the faint scent of blood on the floor. Aja wanted to stop and take a deeper whiff but she balled her hands into fists again and pounded on her upper thighs until the feeling past before she went through the corridors to the room she had seen under the rocket.
Yana sat there in a bit of a daze as the Doctor zipped by him, a blur of brown and wool as he dragged a thick cable out of the TARDIS.
"Extra power. She won't fly but she can still think brilliantly," the Doctor declared. He shoved piles of metal cards and microchips and oddities off the workstation with a sweep of his arm. The Doctor plugged it into the computer there. He dashed back into the TARDIS and was soon out again. It was dizzying to watch. "Little bit of a cheat, but who's counting?"
"So long she doesn't download another trojan," Ianto joked.
The Doctor stopped short by him and squinted at him. "A what?"
Ianto fidgeted. "Uh…a Trojan…that's what I assume was uploaded back in Torch-"
Understanding lit up the Doctor's eyes before Ianto could finish. "Oh, a Trojan, like the horse! Oh, that's a clever name although the horse wasn't. Blimey the thing reeked inside and we were huddled in there for days! They should have thought of more air holes in there but I suppose it would have defeated the purpose-"
Ianto stared. He wasn't sure he heard correctly. "You were there? The Trojan War? Twelve hundred, BC?"
"Face that launched a thousand ships?" The Doctor was nodding vigorously as he reached around Ianto for a tool. His fingers flew as he talked.
"Although I wouldn't say a thousand, more like…816 but I supposed saying a thousand was more impressive and more economical to write but Helen certainly wasn't worth all the fuss really. Had the worst bad breath that side of the century and one foot was a little bigger than the other…"
Ianto's mind was reeling, spinning like a renegade carousel. He wondered when he would have an opportunity to sit down and simply absorb. "You were there? Fighting the war? The Trojan War? "
The Doctor scoffed as he wrestled with the cable from the TARDIS. "Hardly, Torchwood. Is war all you can think about? I was their navigator. I had set down to refuel, lost someone I was traveling with-worse than cats, really-and I was…ahem…involuntarily recruited for their little war. Good thing too. They sailed right up to Mysia before and had gotten completely turned around. They would have ended up discovering America first if it weren't for me."
Ianto was still trying to catch up. "So…you were there?" Ianto parroted stupidly.
A thump across his back nearly unseated him.
"Yup. Trojan. Hah! Very clever indeed! Your century certainly knows how to recycle words! Torchwood, you're in charge of the retro feeds. Make sure they don't cross-can't have them cross-and keep those lines steady. Very bad if they cross especially on an empty stomach-did you see what these people were being fed? Remarkable. So crossing's bad! Alright? Good."
Ianto was never sure if he had imagined that the Doctor was here or not. The time traveler never stayed put long enough for his presence to fully register. And he wished the Doctor would stop thumping his back like he was trying to dislodge whatever he thought Ianto was choking on.
"Oh, am I glad to see that thing!" Martha declared happily when she trotted down the stairs, her arms full of more metal cards. Her face lit up at the sight of the blue box.
Chantho caught sight of the professor sitting by the computers and hurried over to where Yana was sitting. "Chan-Professor, are you all right-tho?" his assistant asked anxiously.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm fine," Yana said faintly. When Chantho still hovered, Yana shooed her off. "Just get on with it."
Ianto wiped his palms on his trousers-God, his suit was a mess now-and he tentatively approached the professor.
"You don't have to keep working, Professor," Ianto told him quietly. He stood over the professor and wondered how rude it would be to take his pulse. "We can handle it."
Yana smiled tiredly up at him. He patted Ianto's hand. "I'm alright, my good boy." Yana slapped both his knees. "These old bones just get older by the day."
Ianto offered him a wry twist of his mouth. "We all get older," Ianto commented. "It's an unfortunate fact of life."
Yana made a sad chuckle.
"I never thought I'd see the day I would see Utopia though." Yana sighed. He clasped his hands together. "I was content if I could just see the rocket fly."
"And you will," Ianto promised. He smiled kindly to the old man.
"You, uh," Ianto gestured towards the professor's hand. "I noticed you touch your ring often. It must be very important to you."
"Ah." Yana pulled his hand away from the ring as if he hadn't realized he had been touching it.
"Good luck charm?" Ianto inquired while Yana rotated his palm. He stared at his hand as if seeing it for the first time.
"A gift," Yana sighed heavily, "although sometimes, I wonder if it was more a curse."
Ianto frowned. "A curse?"
"All these thoughts," Yana muttered. His shoulders sagged. "Sometimes, I wonder why she gave it to me…" Yana massaged his head. Ianto glanced over, feeling a little helpless.
The Doctor noticed and nodded for Ianto to help Martha. The time traveler trotted over to Yana, and switched places with Ianto. He crouched by Yana, his brow lined with concern. "Professor?"
"It's just a headache, just noise in my head, Doctor," Yana sighed. He smiled at the Doctor with faint embarrassment. "Constant noise inside my head."
Ianto froze and he looked over to the pair sharply.
"Ianto?" Martha inquired. She pulled slightly away from the mainframe.
"What sort of noise?"
"The sound of drums."
"Ianto?"
Ianto stirred and blinked back at Martha. "What?" he said blankly.
"…more as though it's getting closer."
Martha considered Ianto with a little frown. "You okay?"
Ianto slowly turned back at Yana. His brow furrowed. "I'm…I'm not sure."
By Yana, the Doctor was deep in thought. He remained sitting on his heels by the professor. "When did it start?"
"I had it all my life," Yana explained wearily to the Doctor. "Every waking hour," Yana sighed.
"Uh oh. You have that look," Martha grumbled.
Ianto started and gave Martha an arched eyebrow. "Look?"
Martha batted him on the arm. "The look that says I should start running," Martha joked good-naturedly.
Ianto smiled sheepishly. "Ah. Do a lot of running, do you?"
Martha groaned. "I think all we do is running." She sobered. "You okay, though?"
"Hmm, I just…" Ianto studied Yana and his weary lined face. He shook his head. "It's probably nothing. Overthinking," he joked lightly.
"Uh oh," Martha teased. "You're not a Time Lord too, are you?"
Ianto laughed. His previous misgivings faded. "I don't have a police box hidden away if that's what you're referring to."
"Damn," Martha sighed. She looked over to the TARDIS with a fond smile. "Guess it'll be up to her then."
Ianto stared at the TARDIS. Funny, he mused, it felt more and more natural to think of it as a her.
"Still, no rest for the wicked," Yana announced as he rose to his feet. He clapped the Doctor's shoulder and the two men chuckled. Ianto smiled to himself. They were oddly alike.
"Professor, are you getting me?"
Yana hurried back to his computer monitor. "I'm here! We're ready!"
It was actually happening. Ianto was still feeling like he wasn't standing here. Trillions of years away, the distance Ianto couldn't begin to wrap his mind around. He felt very, very small. He felt more spectator than participant. Words beyond his comprehension were tossed back and forth.
"Now all you need to do is connect the couplings, then we can launch."
Ianto pressed back as the Doctor zipped by. Chantho was busying herself with the panels against the wall. There really wasn't anything left to do. And without a task, Ianto found himself at a loss, mentally floundering.
Time travel, as he knew from Jack, meant peeking into their own past, reminiscing a history they only knew in books. Yet there would have been something familiar, something to cradle against. The future, this future, had no foothold. It was too alien, too far beyond human imagination to wonder about. There was nothing familiar here to hold on to.
Ianto leaned against the TARDIS and wrapped his right hand around his wrist. It was warm but the lack of a pulse, answering squeeze made his insides churn and his heart ache. Watching everyone doing something but him, Ianto truly, truly wanted to go home.
The ship hummed underneath him. It felt reassuring and Ianto smiled sadly to himself.
"Save us, this equipment! Needs rebooting all the time!"
Ianto observed as Martha hurried over to offer her help to Yana. He felt untethered, a little useless as Martha seated herself in front of the computer. Everyone seemed to have a function but him.
"Not quite what you were expecting was it?"
Ianto found the Doctor standing by him, his coat back on. The time traveler had a knowing look on his face.
At Ianto's blank expression, the Doctor reiterated, "Time traveling."
Ianto scoffed. He turned back to see Yana waving his arms wildly in the air in a fashion that reminded him of the Doctor.
"I wasn't expecting anything at all," Ianto muttered. "I wasn't expecting to be…here." He felt a stab of guilt. "I keep having this feeling like I shouldn't be here."
"The pitfalls of time travel," the Doctor admitted. "It's never really your timeline. Paradoxes and displacements. It can be disconcerting."
Ianto fidgeted. He didn't think he could ever get acclimated to this.
"Once the rocket flies," the Doctor murmured out of the blue. "We can use their systems, reconvert their power structures to our system and reboot the TARDIS."
Ianto glanced back over to the Doctor.
The time traveler chuckled sadly at Ianto's surprised expression.
"Did you think I'd forget?" The Doctor darkened. "On the contrary, getting back to Jack has been foremost on my mind, Ianto Jones."
Ianto stirred uneasily under his stormy gaze. "Sorry," he mumbled. Ianto gave the Doctor a hesitant glance.
"Yes?" the Doctor invited.
"Your…ship…it travels through time…correct?"
Understanding dawned across the Doctor's face. "Ah."
"We could," Ianto fumbled. "Maybe go back…to…I mean…before…"
The Doctor gave him a sad quirk of his mouth. "Time's events have already set. Any tampering with events that crossed your timeline before could do irreparable damage. Changing one thing could create catastrophic ripples even I can't predict."
Dismayed, Ianto stared at him. "But…"
The Doctor shook his head. "There are rules, not even a Time Lord would impair time. We're never meant to be gods."
Ianto lowered his head. "Oh."
"We will go back to as close as we can to the time we left," the Doctor offered. "We will find him. You have my word, Ianto Jones."
Ianto stroked the wrist strap. He blinked rapidly. "I…I just…it kills me to think I left Jack behind."
The Doctor narrowed his eyes. He nodded curtly and glanced over to Yana again.
"Are you still there?"
It wasn't clear whether Yana was coming or going. He stood, about to pace, spinning around when Atillo returned. "Present and correct!"
Ianto studied the Doctor's grim expression. It was something at the tip of his tongue. It had been ever since Jack had told him on Christmas day.
"Why…" Ianto began. "Why did you?"
The Doctor wouldn't reply at first, his eyes hooded.
"I was busy," the Doctor said stiffly.
The tone warned Ianto against asking further but it slipped past him. Ianto stared at the Doctor. His limbs went rigid.
"You…you were busy?" Ianto repeated tightly. His throat squeezed. "What is that supposed to mean? Did you get bored with him one day? Have you any idea what that did to Jack? Busy? That's all you can say?"
The Doctor turned to Ianto. "No. That's all I will say," the Doctor hissed.
A chill rippled down Ianto's arms. He felt smothered under the Doctor's eyes. The TARDIS dug sharply into his back.
"Send your man inside," Yana was ordering, oblivious to what was going on behind him. "We'll keep the levels down from here."
Ianto's throat clenched tight. "He," Ianto croaked. "He waited for you…in a space station full of corpses."
Something flickered across the Doctor's eyes. He pulled back, the cold fires in his gaze dulled and Ianto found he was exhaling out a violent whoosh. He hadn't realized he was holding his breath before.
"He's inside."
Yana twisted around towards them. He flapped an arm towards Ianto. "Please keep the dials below the red."
"Of course, professor," Ianto agreed between clenched teeth. He twisted away from the Doctor. His hands shook against his sides but he moved to the station Yana requested.
The Doctor cleared his throat. "Where is that room?" the Doctor asked.
"It's underneath the rocket." Yana waved towards the monitor Martha was sitting in front of. "Fix the couplings and the Footprint can work. But the entire chamber is flooded with stet radiation."
"Stet?" the Doctor repeated. "Never heard of it."
Yana grunted. "You wouldn't want to. But it's safe enough if we can hold the radiation back from here." Yana stared at the monitor from behind Martha's shoulder.
"So if we get all the couplings fixed, the rocket will fly," the Doctor concluded.
"Best news I heard all day!" Martha cheered from her station.
"Brilliant," Ianto muttered. He didn’t look at the Doctor as he adjusted the dials little by little to keep the levels in check. Soon, Ianto told himself. Soon, the rocket will fly, they would go back and he would find Jack.
Ianto felt the unease loosen in his chest but it tightened again when the panel he was monitoring began to wail.
Aja found the metal box she'd seen them fiddling with. The meanings of the words on the box were lost to Aja. She flickered them on then off, and yanked some of the wires. The alarms rang but it wasn't enough. Aja spun around to a white machine she remembered long time before was used to make the clothes she was wearing. Aja grabbed it, about to throw it-
But a woman blocked her path. She didn't shy away when Aja bared her teeth at her. She didn't flinch when Aja motioned throwing the heavy machine at her either. Half her face was covered with rags and the bloated half Aja could see stared at Aja unblinking.
Aja paused, the heavy machine still in her hands.
"He'd wondered what had gone wrong," the cloaked woman said in the kind of voice as if she was down a deep hole. "He was sure it was to no fault of his."
Aja snarled when the woman took a step closer. Aja threw the machine at her but the woman just stepped aside from it and it struck the wall behind her.
"I can't let you stop them." The woman was still talking while her hands burrowed into her own cloak. "They must go to Utopia. That is where it all begins."
Aja didn't know what she was saying. Aja back away, hissing at the woman to stay away.
"It'll be alright," the woman said in a soft, cajoling voice. The woman's hands withdrew from the folds of her cloak. Aja tensed when she saw a hooked, crude dagger gripped firmly in misshapen hands.
"You will not die for nothing."
Aja stared at the woman and, for the first time in a long time, felt fear.
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: 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, Ch 36 Act 5/10 1/2, Ch 36 Act 5/10 2/2, Ch 36 Act 6/10, Ch 36 Act 7/10, Ch 36 Act 8/10, Ch 36 Act 9/10 1/2
Master Fic List: here
Chapter 36 "Utopia 2.0"
Act IX 2/2
Malcassairo
Year 100 trillion…
Her name used to be Aja. When they took her in, she was still Aja but she could feel her blood thickening, changing her to something else. And when humans rescued her, they had congratulated themselves for managing to save her.
But she had already been saved. Long ago. She had nearly starved but Kind showed her before humans took her away to the silo.
As time past, it was harder and harder to sit there while all this food walked and talked around her.
Make feast.
When the klaxons blared, Aja knew feast would be leaving and Aja and Kind would be hungry again for a very long time.
No.
Aja sneered as people laughed and smiled at each other as they went to the gates to climb into the rocket.
Aja bared her pointy teeth at them. She licked her lips.
Kind would take her back if she did good. Aja stared greedily at the shining faces. Her mouth watered and she had to make a fist and thump her thigh to make herself look away. Later. Right now, Aja needed to do something.
Aja scurried away in the emptied halls, her nostrils flaring at the faint scent of blood on the floor. Aja wanted to stop and take a deeper whiff but she balled her hands into fists again and pounded on her upper thighs until the feeling past before she went through the corridors to the room she had seen under the rocket.
Yana sat there in a bit of a daze as the Doctor zipped by him, a blur of brown and wool as he dragged a thick cable out of the TARDIS.
"Extra power. She won't fly but she can still think brilliantly," the Doctor declared. He shoved piles of metal cards and microchips and oddities off the workstation with a sweep of his arm. The Doctor plugged it into the computer there. He dashed back into the TARDIS and was soon out again. It was dizzying to watch. "Little bit of a cheat, but who's counting?"
"So long she doesn't download another trojan," Ianto joked.
The Doctor stopped short by him and squinted at him. "A what?"
Ianto fidgeted. "Uh…a Trojan…that's what I assume was uploaded back in Torch-"
Understanding lit up the Doctor's eyes before Ianto could finish. "Oh, a Trojan, like the horse! Oh, that's a clever name although the horse wasn't. Blimey the thing reeked inside and we were huddled in there for days! They should have thought of more air holes in there but I suppose it would have defeated the purpose-"
Ianto stared. He wasn't sure he heard correctly. "You were there? The Trojan War? Twelve hundred, BC?"
"Face that launched a thousand ships?" The Doctor was nodding vigorously as he reached around Ianto for a tool. His fingers flew as he talked.
"Although I wouldn't say a thousand, more like…816 but I supposed saying a thousand was more impressive and more economical to write but Helen certainly wasn't worth all the fuss really. Had the worst bad breath that side of the century and one foot was a little bigger than the other…"
Ianto's mind was reeling, spinning like a renegade carousel. He wondered when he would have an opportunity to sit down and simply absorb. "You were there? Fighting the war? The Trojan War? "
The Doctor scoffed as he wrestled with the cable from the TARDIS. "Hardly, Torchwood. Is war all you can think about? I was their navigator. I had set down to refuel, lost someone I was traveling with-worse than cats, really-and I was…ahem…involuntarily recruited for their little war. Good thing too. They sailed right up to Mysia before and had gotten completely turned around. They would have ended up discovering America first if it weren't for me."
Ianto was still trying to catch up. "So…you were there?" Ianto parroted stupidly.
A thump across his back nearly unseated him.
"Yup. Trojan. Hah! Very clever indeed! Your century certainly knows how to recycle words! Torchwood, you're in charge of the retro feeds. Make sure they don't cross-can't have them cross-and keep those lines steady. Very bad if they cross especially on an empty stomach-did you see what these people were being fed? Remarkable. So crossing's bad! Alright? Good."
Ianto was never sure if he had imagined that the Doctor was here or not. The time traveler never stayed put long enough for his presence to fully register. And he wished the Doctor would stop thumping his back like he was trying to dislodge whatever he thought Ianto was choking on.
"Oh, am I glad to see that thing!" Martha declared happily when she trotted down the stairs, her arms full of more metal cards. Her face lit up at the sight of the blue box.
Chantho caught sight of the professor sitting by the computers and hurried over to where Yana was sitting. "Chan-Professor, are you all right-tho?" his assistant asked anxiously.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm fine," Yana said faintly. When Chantho still hovered, Yana shooed her off. "Just get on with it."
Ianto wiped his palms on his trousers-God, his suit was a mess now-and he tentatively approached the professor.
"You don't have to keep working, Professor," Ianto told him quietly. He stood over the professor and wondered how rude it would be to take his pulse. "We can handle it."
Yana smiled tiredly up at him. He patted Ianto's hand. "I'm alright, my good boy." Yana slapped both his knees. "These old bones just get older by the day."
Ianto offered him a wry twist of his mouth. "We all get older," Ianto commented. "It's an unfortunate fact of life."
Yana made a sad chuckle.
"I never thought I'd see the day I would see Utopia though." Yana sighed. He clasped his hands together. "I was content if I could just see the rocket fly."
"And you will," Ianto promised. He smiled kindly to the old man.
"You, uh," Ianto gestured towards the professor's hand. "I noticed you touch your ring often. It must be very important to you."
"Ah." Yana pulled his hand away from the ring as if he hadn't realized he had been touching it.
"Good luck charm?" Ianto inquired while Yana rotated his palm. He stared at his hand as if seeing it for the first time.
"A gift," Yana sighed heavily, "although sometimes, I wonder if it was more a curse."
Ianto frowned. "A curse?"
"All these thoughts," Yana muttered. His shoulders sagged. "Sometimes, I wonder why she gave it to me…" Yana massaged his head. Ianto glanced over, feeling a little helpless.
The Doctor noticed and nodded for Ianto to help Martha. The time traveler trotted over to Yana, and switched places with Ianto. He crouched by Yana, his brow lined with concern. "Professor?"
"It's just a headache, just noise in my head, Doctor," Yana sighed. He smiled at the Doctor with faint embarrassment. "Constant noise inside my head."
Ianto froze and he looked over to the pair sharply.
"Ianto?" Martha inquired. She pulled slightly away from the mainframe.
"What sort of noise?"
"The sound of drums."
"Ianto?"
Ianto stirred and blinked back at Martha. "What?" he said blankly.
"…more as though it's getting closer."
Martha considered Ianto with a little frown. "You okay?"
Ianto slowly turned back at Yana. His brow furrowed. "I'm…I'm not sure."
By Yana, the Doctor was deep in thought. He remained sitting on his heels by the professor. "When did it start?"
"I had it all my life," Yana explained wearily to the Doctor. "Every waking hour," Yana sighed.
"Uh oh. You have that look," Martha grumbled.
Ianto started and gave Martha an arched eyebrow. "Look?"
Martha batted him on the arm. "The look that says I should start running," Martha joked good-naturedly.
Ianto smiled sheepishly. "Ah. Do a lot of running, do you?"
Martha groaned. "I think all we do is running." She sobered. "You okay, though?"
"Hmm, I just…" Ianto studied Yana and his weary lined face. He shook his head. "It's probably nothing. Overthinking," he joked lightly.
"Uh oh," Martha teased. "You're not a Time Lord too, are you?"
Ianto laughed. His previous misgivings faded. "I don't have a police box hidden away if that's what you're referring to."
"Damn," Martha sighed. She looked over to the TARDIS with a fond smile. "Guess it'll be up to her then."
Ianto stared at the TARDIS. Funny, he mused, it felt more and more natural to think of it as a her.
"Still, no rest for the wicked," Yana announced as he rose to his feet. He clapped the Doctor's shoulder and the two men chuckled. Ianto smiled to himself. They were oddly alike.
"Professor, are you getting me?"
Yana hurried back to his computer monitor. "I'm here! We're ready!"
It was actually happening. Ianto was still feeling like he wasn't standing here. Trillions of years away, the distance Ianto couldn't begin to wrap his mind around. He felt very, very small. He felt more spectator than participant. Words beyond his comprehension were tossed back and forth.
"Now all you need to do is connect the couplings, then we can launch."
Ianto pressed back as the Doctor zipped by. Chantho was busying herself with the panels against the wall. There really wasn't anything left to do. And without a task, Ianto found himself at a loss, mentally floundering.
Time travel, as he knew from Jack, meant peeking into their own past, reminiscing a history they only knew in books. Yet there would have been something familiar, something to cradle against. The future, this future, had no foothold. It was too alien, too far beyond human imagination to wonder about. There was nothing familiar here to hold on to.
Ianto leaned against the TARDIS and wrapped his right hand around his wrist. It was warm but the lack of a pulse, answering squeeze made his insides churn and his heart ache. Watching everyone doing something but him, Ianto truly, truly wanted to go home.
The ship hummed underneath him. It felt reassuring and Ianto smiled sadly to himself.
"Save us, this equipment! Needs rebooting all the time!"
Ianto observed as Martha hurried over to offer her help to Yana. He felt untethered, a little useless as Martha seated herself in front of the computer. Everyone seemed to have a function but him.
"Not quite what you were expecting was it?"
Ianto found the Doctor standing by him, his coat back on. The time traveler had a knowing look on his face.
At Ianto's blank expression, the Doctor reiterated, "Time traveling."
Ianto scoffed. He turned back to see Yana waving his arms wildly in the air in a fashion that reminded him of the Doctor.
"I wasn't expecting anything at all," Ianto muttered. "I wasn't expecting to be…here." He felt a stab of guilt. "I keep having this feeling like I shouldn't be here."
"The pitfalls of time travel," the Doctor admitted. "It's never really your timeline. Paradoxes and displacements. It can be disconcerting."
Ianto fidgeted. He didn't think he could ever get acclimated to this.
"Once the rocket flies," the Doctor murmured out of the blue. "We can use their systems, reconvert their power structures to our system and reboot the TARDIS."
Ianto glanced back over to the Doctor.
The time traveler chuckled sadly at Ianto's surprised expression.
"Did you think I'd forget?" The Doctor darkened. "On the contrary, getting back to Jack has been foremost on my mind, Ianto Jones."
Ianto stirred uneasily under his stormy gaze. "Sorry," he mumbled. Ianto gave the Doctor a hesitant glance.
"Yes?" the Doctor invited.
"Your…ship…it travels through time…correct?"
Understanding dawned across the Doctor's face. "Ah."
"We could," Ianto fumbled. "Maybe go back…to…I mean…before…"
The Doctor gave him a sad quirk of his mouth. "Time's events have already set. Any tampering with events that crossed your timeline before could do irreparable damage. Changing one thing could create catastrophic ripples even I can't predict."
Dismayed, Ianto stared at him. "But…"
The Doctor shook his head. "There are rules, not even a Time Lord would impair time. We're never meant to be gods."
Ianto lowered his head. "Oh."
"We will go back to as close as we can to the time we left," the Doctor offered. "We will find him. You have my word, Ianto Jones."
Ianto stroked the wrist strap. He blinked rapidly. "I…I just…it kills me to think I left Jack behind."
The Doctor narrowed his eyes. He nodded curtly and glanced over to Yana again.
"Are you still there?"
It wasn't clear whether Yana was coming or going. He stood, about to pace, spinning around when Atillo returned. "Present and correct!"
Ianto studied the Doctor's grim expression. It was something at the tip of his tongue. It had been ever since Jack had told him on Christmas day.
"Why…" Ianto began. "Why did you?"
The Doctor wouldn't reply at first, his eyes hooded.
"I was busy," the Doctor said stiffly.
The tone warned Ianto against asking further but it slipped past him. Ianto stared at the Doctor. His limbs went rigid.
"You…you were busy?" Ianto repeated tightly. His throat squeezed. "What is that supposed to mean? Did you get bored with him one day? Have you any idea what that did to Jack? Busy? That's all you can say?"
The Doctor turned to Ianto. "No. That's all I will say," the Doctor hissed.
A chill rippled down Ianto's arms. He felt smothered under the Doctor's eyes. The TARDIS dug sharply into his back.
"Send your man inside," Yana was ordering, oblivious to what was going on behind him. "We'll keep the levels down from here."
Ianto's throat clenched tight. "He," Ianto croaked. "He waited for you…in a space station full of corpses."
Something flickered across the Doctor's eyes. He pulled back, the cold fires in his gaze dulled and Ianto found he was exhaling out a violent whoosh. He hadn't realized he was holding his breath before.
"He's inside."
Yana twisted around towards them. He flapped an arm towards Ianto. "Please keep the dials below the red."
"Of course, professor," Ianto agreed between clenched teeth. He twisted away from the Doctor. His hands shook against his sides but he moved to the station Yana requested.
The Doctor cleared his throat. "Where is that room?" the Doctor asked.
"It's underneath the rocket." Yana waved towards the monitor Martha was sitting in front of. "Fix the couplings and the Footprint can work. But the entire chamber is flooded with stet radiation."
"Stet?" the Doctor repeated. "Never heard of it."
Yana grunted. "You wouldn't want to. But it's safe enough if we can hold the radiation back from here." Yana stared at the monitor from behind Martha's shoulder.
"So if we get all the couplings fixed, the rocket will fly," the Doctor concluded.
"Best news I heard all day!" Martha cheered from her station.
"Brilliant," Ianto muttered. He didn’t look at the Doctor as he adjusted the dials little by little to keep the levels in check. Soon, Ianto told himself. Soon, the rocket will fly, they would go back and he would find Jack.
Ianto felt the unease loosen in his chest but it tightened again when the panel he was monitoring began to wail.
Aja found the metal box she'd seen them fiddling with. The meanings of the words on the box were lost to Aja. She flickered them on then off, and yanked some of the wires. The alarms rang but it wasn't enough. Aja spun around to a white machine she remembered long time before was used to make the clothes she was wearing. Aja grabbed it, about to throw it-
But a woman blocked her path. She didn't shy away when Aja bared her teeth at her. She didn't flinch when Aja motioned throwing the heavy machine at her either. Half her face was covered with rags and the bloated half Aja could see stared at Aja unblinking.
Aja paused, the heavy machine still in her hands.
"He'd wondered what had gone wrong," the cloaked woman said in the kind of voice as if she was down a deep hole. "He was sure it was to no fault of his."
Aja snarled when the woman took a step closer. Aja threw the machine at her but the woman just stepped aside from it and it struck the wall behind her.
"I can't let you stop them." The woman was still talking while her hands burrowed into her own cloak. "They must go to Utopia. That is where it all begins."
Aja didn't know what she was saying. Aja back away, hissing at the woman to stay away.
"It'll be alright," the woman said in a soft, cajoling voice. The woman's hands withdrew from the folds of her cloak. Aja tensed when she saw a hooked, crude dagger gripped firmly in misshapen hands.
"You will not die for nothing."
Aja stared at the woman and, for the first time in a long time, felt fear.
Conclusion
Additional Notes: Many thanks to soullessminion for betaing this chapter. And trtmx for her magic trick that saved my sanity! LOL.