Eternus Vestrum - Phantoms Never Sleep 10/?
Title: Eternus Vestrum - Phantoms Never Sleep 10/?
Rating: I like to swear, so 15???
Characters: Jack/Ianto, Rest of the team, new group of alien nasties.
Chapters: Sequel to “Hurt Me With Nothing”
Spoilers: Set series one, post ‘’Cyberwoman”, but anything Torchwood could be hinted at.
Summary: When Ianto suddenly falls very ill, no one in the team can understand why. Who are the “Phantoms”? And why is Ianto living a life that was never his?
Disclaimer: Regrettably I own nothing, none of the characters, zip. Wish I did though. All belongs to the mighty RTD!
Author’s Notes: Taken me a while to write this super chapter, but here it is, finally! I have to give a huge thanks to all those great people sticking with this series, and of course to my beta 2nd_toshiko who manages to make my work comprehensible! And, as always, any comments you guys give me are loved and adored! Thanks :)
Chapter One: Awakening
Chapter Two: Uncommon Death
Chapter Three: I Cry Softly Into Time
Chapter Four: Ghost Of Mine
Chapter Five: Where Mortals Fear To Tread
Chapter Six: Playing With Shadows
Chapter Seven: Is This Sex Or Only Violence?
Chapter Eight: Don’t You Wish You Were Dead Like Me?
Chapter Nine: Hurt Me With Nothing
A special mention to all you great people reading this, and to my great LJ buddies, naddypants , skullgirl013 and morgia ! The support you guys give me keeps me writing!
Especially dedicated to the most amazing 2nd_toshiko , because no matter what she’s going through right now, she’s still amazing. And she knows it! :P
4 hours. 240 minutes. 14400 seconds.
“I don’t like this, Jack.” Owen shook his head, sucking on his pen thoughtfully. He looked up, eyes meeting with Tosh’s across the boardroom table. “We don’t even know this will work.”
“It’s perfectly logical.” Toshiko sighed in return, pointing back towards the screen behind her. “I can calibrate the device to emit waves on the same frequency as their telepathic field. If we make them large enough they will block out the signals and-”
“Separate the Phantoms.” Jack finished her sentence quickly, laying both hands flat onto the table. He looked out to both Gwen and Owen. “That should kill them.”
“And what if it doesn’t?” The young doctor was the first to speak again. “Then what do we do?”
“I don’t know.” The Captain ran a nervous hand through his hair. “But it’s all we have right now.”
“That’s not good enough, Jack.”
“I know!” The older man stood up, hands slamming against the wood in a single movement. “But this is our only chance. It’s all we have.”
“And I don’t think its good enough.” The medic grunted in rebuttal.
“Jack….” Ever the peacekeeper, Gwen was next to enter the fray. “It’s a big risk; we can’t afford to get this wrong. That’s what we’re worried about.”
“Gwen, if we don’t do this, then so many more people will be at risk. Ianto is at risk……”
“I know, Jack, we’re worried about him too but we-”
“But what, Gwen?!” Jack’s voice exploded above hers, echoing out into the room. “What else can I do? Leave him to die?!”
“No one’s saying that, Jack.”
“Then what are you saying?” The volume of his voice may have dropped, but it still carried the same desperation. “His body is slowly shutting down. He’s got four hours maximum. I can’t sit back and watch that.” He sat back down, burying his head deep in his hands, fingers rubbing at his sore temples. “This is it. One idea. And if we don’t try, he will die. Is that a decision you really want to make?”
Brown eyes met blue, blank faces looked back at their once strong Captain, his vulnerability more alien than anything below them in the archives. For once Jack Harkness was being his true self, not able to hide the emotions scrawled across his features. It was terrifying, watching the man writhe and grasp as everything slowly slipped from his control. It was all so wrong, so new, and if it taught any of them anything, it was that he was right.
“I’m sorry, Jack.” Gwen gulped, her large eyes reaching out to him. “I didn’t think-”
“No. You didn’t.”
“I can have the device set up in one hour tops.” Tosh broke in tentatively, clicking off the presentation behind her. “I just need to calibrate it and test the circuitry.” She gave Jack a quick nod.
“Thanks, Tosh.” The Captain took in a deep breath, the oxygen calming his mind as he slowly stood, the emotions on his features gone in seconds, the door to the real Jack Harkness closed. “In the mean time, we all have work to do. Gwen, I want Charles Street closed off. Owen, I need you to keep Ianto alive. Whatever it takes.” He gave them all a weak smile, reassurance barely shining through. “Clear?”
3 Hours. 180 minutes. 11160 seconds.
The SUV continued to rocket forward as Jack’s foot applied more pressure to the accelerator pedal. One hand keeping the wheel steady, he reached up to his ear, clicking on his comm. unit.
“Toshiko?”
“Jack, I’m here.”
“Any updates on Charles Street?”
“None whatsoever. Scans show no decreases in temperature, no telepathic field….”
“Looks like our Phantoms aren’t out to play then.” Jack chuckled darkly, eyeing the small device sitting beside him on the passenger seat. “They are in for one hell of a surprise.”
“Jack……” Tosh’s voice was unsure over the comm. “Won’t they know what you’re trying to do?” She paused, audibly tripping over her own words. “Like how they stopped us with Rebecca?”
“You’re out of their range, Tosh, they can’t read your mind.”
“I meant you.”
“Ahhh……” Jack gulped, searching for the right words in his head. “I’m shielding from them. Not everything, they are too powerful for that, but if I can shield just that one thought, it’ll buy us some time. They’ll be able to break through eventually though.”
“And you can do that? You can buy us enough time?”
“It’s what I’m counting on.”
“Jack……”
“Tosh, please….” He wasn’t sure if he was pleading more with her or himself. “Just trust me. This has to work.”
“I trust you, Jack.”
“Thank you.”
“Jack?”
“What?”
“The device…………it’s not safe. If you’re telepathic too then-”
“It will kill me just like them?” Jack tried to put on a reassuring tone, realising her concerns. “I’m well aware of that Tosh.”
“But-”
“But what? I’ve died before.”
“That’s not the point.”
“I know. But there’s no other option. I’m the only one who can do this.”
“I understand that, Jack.” Toshiko replied quickly, her voice abrupt and clipped.
“Good. I’ll report back when it’s done.”
“Just one more thing.” Her voice rushed across the comms. just as Jack reached up to disconnect them.
“What?”
“Be careful.”
“I will.” Jack nodded, clicking off the comm. and disentangling the unit from his ear. His eyes fixing to the road, Jack made the promise not only to Toshiko, but to Ianto to. He had to be careful, one false move and he’d lose him. It was his only chance.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Viridis!” Jack called out, his voice reverberating through the cold alleyway as he took a step forward. He looked round, turning his body full circle to check his back from every angle. He was still alone.
“Viridis!” He yelled out again, voice louder this time. “I know you can hear me!” He grinned, spinning round, determined to face them more confident this time. To hide.
Jack. He felt a voice reach out; stroking his thoughts in such a way that he had forgotten it was possible. He swallowed hard, focusing his mind on what it had to do. On his shielding. On Ianto…
“See, now you’ve let me know you were here.” He almost cackled, constantly moving so that they didn’t corner him. “I knew that you wouldn’t be able to resist.”
“So clever.” A soft voice echoed from behind him, still managing to wrong foot him. He spun round, only to be faced with a set of emerald eyes in front of his own. “Or, at least you think you are.”
“No, just irresistible.” His forced arrogance wearing thin, Jack took a step backwards, distancing him from Viridis. Only to feel two more pairs on eyes staring into the back of his skull.
“He’s hiding something.” Malvinus voice sounded behind him, her tones barely distinguishable from Viridis. “Part of his mind, closed off from us.”
“What are you hiding?” Azureus was next, moving round to his left slightly so that she could fix her gaze to his. “Tell us.”
“Be calm, my sisters.” Taking a step forward, Viridis stared deeply into Jack, she and the two other Phantoms surrounding him in a triangle. “He cannot hide from us forever.”
“If I was hiding then why would I come here?”
“You have…………” Viridis stroked past his mind again. “…Another motive.”
“Yes.”
“Then share.”
“Why? You can read it from my thoughts.”
“It is no fun to simply read the minds of humans.” Viridis laughed, her porcelain features cracking into that same sinister smile. “It is far better for the script to be read by its actor.”
“You’re……” Jack paused, taking in a large breath, trying to stop the pool of anger that was welling up inside of him from bursting out. “Ianto. I’m here for him. I wanted to come to you to negotiate. I want you to let him go.”
“And why would we do that?”
“Because what you’re doing is wrong, it’s evil! He doesn’t deserve to die like this. No one does. Rebecca didn’t.”
“And why else?” Azureus spoke out, her blue eyes growing in intensity.
“Because he’s my responsibility.”
“And?” Malvinus’ violet eyes were suddenly upon him. “What else?”
“Because………Because I love him.”
“Ah...” Viridis grinned, sharing a laugh between her sisters. “You admit it at last.”
“Is that what you wanted?”
“It doesn’t concern us.”
“Then why does it matter?!” Jack leant forward, infuriated eyes staring into Viridis’, looking for any consciousness, any understanding of what she was doing. He found none.
“Love makes all things more entertaining. It is the cause of everything.”
“How?”
“We love to play, so we take your lives and we bend them, twist them to entertain ourselves. Ianto Jones loved Lisa Halett, so he let us take him to her. You love him, and now you’re here to save him.” She raised a solitary eyebrow. “Now do you see? Love drives everything.”
“Except now he’s fighting back.” His own eyes burning, Jack pressed his fingernails deep into palms, holding back each wave of emotion as it flowed violently through him. “And you’re killing him.”
“He is broken.” Malvinus sneered gripping his left shoulder with one hand.
“We are merely finishing it.” Azureus added, pressing a cold hand to his other shoulder.
“There’s nothing to finish!”
“Oh there is.” Viridis smiled, resting her own icy hand onto Jack’s chest. “He belongs to us. If we cannot have him, no one else will.”
“He doesn’t belong to you!” Jack could no longer suppress the rage bubbling within him as he felt the cold hands slowly freeze his skin, the pain numbing and biting through his clothes. He shuddered, feeling the shielding in his mind begin to fail. “Why does it have to be like this?!”
“Jealousy.” Viridis grinned, green eyes burning in intensity. “It is the bed mate of Love.”
“You’re jealous?”
“We are not tainted by human emotions.”
“You’re wrong.” Jack smirked, keeping his eyes level with Viridis’. “I think you’re more like us then you realise.” He paused, filling his words with as much poison as he could. “I think you’re becoming just like us.”
“No.” Viridis remained calm, her exterior showing no recognition of his words. “We could never be like you.”
“A plot.” Malvinus interrupted suddenly, her grip on his shoulder tightening causing the Captain to jump in his skin at the sudden increase in pain. “A device. Death.”
“You plan to kill us.” Viridis’ face was blank, still no fear or emotion visible through the cold pools of her eyes. “And you kept this from us.”
It was with that cold look that Jack knew it was now or never. He had his chance and the time for thinking had long passed. He reached into his pocket for the device, seconds like hours as his fingers fumbled to press the switch. Time stopping still as he compressed the final button, looking up to watch his adversaries crumble before his eyes. But not for long………
He felt the signal crash through his own mind, his own hands reaching up to cradle his head as the pain grew and grew, agony burning in his skull, shutting out his own thoughts. Around him, the Phantoms screamed a screeching symphony, pale hands pressed against their temples, a shrill sound erupting from their mouths as they dropped to their knees all around him.
“No!” Azureus’ voice was so high pitched that it seemed to splinter through the air, shattering it, strange silver like liquid leaking from her nose, mouth and ears. “There is nothing. No one. Alone. There’s no one………”Her voice became a wail, pale body being forced closer and closer to the ground. Her body quaked, almost compressing into the tarmac, lying dormant beside him, the sticky blood like substance forming a thin pool around her.
“Sister!” Malvinus was next to cry out, her voice barely audible over the pain searing through Jack’s own cranium. She lay sprawled out on her stomach, the same substance leaking out, gushing from her mouth. Her hands lay outstretched, grasping at the air and tarmac alike, as if she was trying to claw her way forwards towards her dead sibling. Alien words tumbled from her throat as her body also began to convulse, shaking in time with the signal that was now rocketing through the air, before her body too became lifeless in one short, sharp movement.
Blood leaking from his own nose, Jack’s knees gave way beneath him, forcing him to come face to face with Viridis, the only Phantom that was still barely alive. She was howling, her face hollow and bare as the scream rushed from her mouth, piercing the world around them into smaller fragments like broken glass.
“You…….” She managed to hiss, reaching out to grab the lapels of his coat desperately, white hands gripping at the fabric intensely. “My sisters…………you murdered them……..you murdered us……”
“You gave me no choice.”
“You’re………… no better than us.” Another scream ripping through her body, Viridis struggled to maintain eye contact, her thin hands still clasped around the collar of his coat. “You and I are the same. You are just as inhuman as I…………”
“No……”
“Yes…………” She was gasping now, struggling to speak through the fluid flowing from her mouth. “You kill without thought, for you own ends.” Her strength failing, Viridis dropped to the floor completely, her face pressing against the tarmac as she spoke. “Remember that……… when I’m gone. Remember…………I live on in you…………”
There was a loud choking noise as Viridis’ body quaked on the floor, writhing like a freshly speared snake. She groaned, the noise reverberating through the ground below them as her body tensed, before dropping back down onto the floor, limp and abandoned. It was done.
Holding back a scream, Jack struggled to reach for the device, hands shaking against the strain. He slowly flicked at the switches, feeling the transmission cease suddenly around him, the flickering air particles that surrounded him becoming silent in seconds. He grunted, weak body dropping beside those of the Phantoms, a thick of stream of blood still pouring from his nose and ears. It was too late for him this time, his brain too heavily damaged by the transmission to survive much longer.
A cool wind brushed against his face, reminding Jack to savour his last minutes of life. He couldn’t be sure that he would heal this time, never before had his brain suffered like this. But right then, Jack welcomed it, wanted something to silence the voice in his head, something to kill Viridis’ final words. Something to kill her. The worst of it was, she was right. They were the same. And there was a chance that he was going to live on.
The Phantoms were gone, yet their memory was by no means dead yet……
So the Phantoms are dead, dun dun duuuuun! Another long chapter this one, and possibly the hardest chapter I’ve had to write yet, I hope you’ve enjoyed it! *hides* Anyway, as always I would love to know what you think, so if you have time, please drop us a comment! Thanks! :D
Just Being Me
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Click here for the next chapter, "With You I Am Alone Too"
Rating: I like to swear, so 15???
Characters: Jack/Ianto, Rest of the team, new group of alien nasties.
Chapters: Sequel to “Hurt Me With Nothing”
Spoilers: Set series one, post ‘’Cyberwoman”, but anything Torchwood could be hinted at.
Summary: When Ianto suddenly falls very ill, no one in the team can understand why. Who are the “Phantoms”? And why is Ianto living a life that was never his?
Disclaimer: Regrettably I own nothing, none of the characters, zip. Wish I did though. All belongs to the mighty RTD!
Author’s Notes: Taken me a while to write this super chapter, but here it is, finally! I have to give a huge thanks to all those great people sticking with this series, and of course to my beta 2nd_toshiko who manages to make my work comprehensible! And, as always, any comments you guys give me are loved and adored! Thanks :)
Chapter One: Awakening
Chapter Two: Uncommon Death
Chapter Three: I Cry Softly Into Time
Chapter Four: Ghost Of Mine
Chapter Five: Where Mortals Fear To Tread
Chapter Six: Playing With Shadows
Chapter Seven: Is This Sex Or Only Violence?
Chapter Eight: Don’t You Wish You Were Dead Like Me?
Chapter Nine: Hurt Me With Nothing
A special mention to all you great people reading this, and to my great LJ buddies, naddypants , skullgirl013 and morgia ! The support you guys give me keeps me writing!
Especially dedicated to the most amazing 2nd_toshiko , because no matter what she’s going through right now, she’s still amazing. And she knows it! :P
4 hours. 240 minutes. 14400 seconds.
“I don’t like this, Jack.” Owen shook his head, sucking on his pen thoughtfully. He looked up, eyes meeting with Tosh’s across the boardroom table. “We don’t even know this will work.”
“It’s perfectly logical.” Toshiko sighed in return, pointing back towards the screen behind her. “I can calibrate the device to emit waves on the same frequency as their telepathic field. If we make them large enough they will block out the signals and-”
“Separate the Phantoms.” Jack finished her sentence quickly, laying both hands flat onto the table. He looked out to both Gwen and Owen. “That should kill them.”
“And what if it doesn’t?” The young doctor was the first to speak again. “Then what do we do?”
“I don’t know.” The Captain ran a nervous hand through his hair. “But it’s all we have right now.”
“That’s not good enough, Jack.”
“I know!” The older man stood up, hands slamming against the wood in a single movement. “But this is our only chance. It’s all we have.”
“And I don’t think its good enough.” The medic grunted in rebuttal.
“Jack….” Ever the peacekeeper, Gwen was next to enter the fray. “It’s a big risk; we can’t afford to get this wrong. That’s what we’re worried about.”
“Gwen, if we don’t do this, then so many more people will be at risk. Ianto is at risk……”
“I know, Jack, we’re worried about him too but we-”
“But what, Gwen?!” Jack’s voice exploded above hers, echoing out into the room. “What else can I do? Leave him to die?!”
“No one’s saying that, Jack.”
“Then what are you saying?” The volume of his voice may have dropped, but it still carried the same desperation. “His body is slowly shutting down. He’s got four hours maximum. I can’t sit back and watch that.” He sat back down, burying his head deep in his hands, fingers rubbing at his sore temples. “This is it. One idea. And if we don’t try, he will die. Is that a decision you really want to make?”
Brown eyes met blue, blank faces looked back at their once strong Captain, his vulnerability more alien than anything below them in the archives. For once Jack Harkness was being his true self, not able to hide the emotions scrawled across his features. It was terrifying, watching the man writhe and grasp as everything slowly slipped from his control. It was all so wrong, so new, and if it taught any of them anything, it was that he was right.
“I’m sorry, Jack.” Gwen gulped, her large eyes reaching out to him. “I didn’t think-”
“No. You didn’t.”
“I can have the device set up in one hour tops.” Tosh broke in tentatively, clicking off the presentation behind her. “I just need to calibrate it and test the circuitry.” She gave Jack a quick nod.
“Thanks, Tosh.” The Captain took in a deep breath, the oxygen calming his mind as he slowly stood, the emotions on his features gone in seconds, the door to the real Jack Harkness closed. “In the mean time, we all have work to do. Gwen, I want Charles Street closed off. Owen, I need you to keep Ianto alive. Whatever it takes.” He gave them all a weak smile, reassurance barely shining through. “Clear?”
3 Hours. 180 minutes. 11160 seconds.
The SUV continued to rocket forward as Jack’s foot applied more pressure to the accelerator pedal. One hand keeping the wheel steady, he reached up to his ear, clicking on his comm. unit.
“Toshiko?”
“Jack, I’m here.”
“Any updates on Charles Street?”
“None whatsoever. Scans show no decreases in temperature, no telepathic field….”
“Looks like our Phantoms aren’t out to play then.” Jack chuckled darkly, eyeing the small device sitting beside him on the passenger seat. “They are in for one hell of a surprise.”
“Jack……” Tosh’s voice was unsure over the comm. “Won’t they know what you’re trying to do?” She paused, audibly tripping over her own words. “Like how they stopped us with Rebecca?”
“You’re out of their range, Tosh, they can’t read your mind.”
“I meant you.”
“Ahhh……” Jack gulped, searching for the right words in his head. “I’m shielding from them. Not everything, they are too powerful for that, but if I can shield just that one thought, it’ll buy us some time. They’ll be able to break through eventually though.”
“And you can do that? You can buy us enough time?”
“It’s what I’m counting on.”
“Jack……”
“Tosh, please….” He wasn’t sure if he was pleading more with her or himself. “Just trust me. This has to work.”
“I trust you, Jack.”
“Thank you.”
“Jack?”
“What?”
“The device…………it’s not safe. If you’re telepathic too then-”
“It will kill me just like them?” Jack tried to put on a reassuring tone, realising her concerns. “I’m well aware of that Tosh.”
“But-”
“But what? I’ve died before.”
“That’s not the point.”
“I know. But there’s no other option. I’m the only one who can do this.”
“I understand that, Jack.” Toshiko replied quickly, her voice abrupt and clipped.
“Good. I’ll report back when it’s done.”
“Just one more thing.” Her voice rushed across the comms. just as Jack reached up to disconnect them.
“What?”
“Be careful.”
“I will.” Jack nodded, clicking off the comm. and disentangling the unit from his ear. His eyes fixing to the road, Jack made the promise not only to Toshiko, but to Ianto to. He had to be careful, one false move and he’d lose him. It was his only chance.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Viridis!” Jack called out, his voice reverberating through the cold alleyway as he took a step forward. He looked round, turning his body full circle to check his back from every angle. He was still alone.
“Viridis!” He yelled out again, voice louder this time. “I know you can hear me!” He grinned, spinning round, determined to face them more confident this time. To hide.
Jack. He felt a voice reach out; stroking his thoughts in such a way that he had forgotten it was possible. He swallowed hard, focusing his mind on what it had to do. On his shielding. On Ianto…
“See, now you’ve let me know you were here.” He almost cackled, constantly moving so that they didn’t corner him. “I knew that you wouldn’t be able to resist.”
“So clever.” A soft voice echoed from behind him, still managing to wrong foot him. He spun round, only to be faced with a set of emerald eyes in front of his own. “Or, at least you think you are.”
“No, just irresistible.” His forced arrogance wearing thin, Jack took a step backwards, distancing him from Viridis. Only to feel two more pairs on eyes staring into the back of his skull.
“He’s hiding something.” Malvinus voice sounded behind him, her tones barely distinguishable from Viridis. “Part of his mind, closed off from us.”
“What are you hiding?” Azureus was next, moving round to his left slightly so that she could fix her gaze to his. “Tell us.”
“Be calm, my sisters.” Taking a step forward, Viridis stared deeply into Jack, she and the two other Phantoms surrounding him in a triangle. “He cannot hide from us forever.”
“If I was hiding then why would I come here?”
“You have…………” Viridis stroked past his mind again. “…Another motive.”
“Yes.”
“Then share.”
“Why? You can read it from my thoughts.”
“It is no fun to simply read the minds of humans.” Viridis laughed, her porcelain features cracking into that same sinister smile. “It is far better for the script to be read by its actor.”
“You’re……” Jack paused, taking in a large breath, trying to stop the pool of anger that was welling up inside of him from bursting out. “Ianto. I’m here for him. I wanted to come to you to negotiate. I want you to let him go.”
“And why would we do that?”
“Because what you’re doing is wrong, it’s evil! He doesn’t deserve to die like this. No one does. Rebecca didn’t.”
“And why else?” Azureus spoke out, her blue eyes growing in intensity.
“Because he’s my responsibility.”
“And?” Malvinus’ violet eyes were suddenly upon him. “What else?”
“Because………Because I love him.”
“Ah...” Viridis grinned, sharing a laugh between her sisters. “You admit it at last.”
“Is that what you wanted?”
“It doesn’t concern us.”
“Then why does it matter?!” Jack leant forward, infuriated eyes staring into Viridis’, looking for any consciousness, any understanding of what she was doing. He found none.
“Love makes all things more entertaining. It is the cause of everything.”
“How?”
“We love to play, so we take your lives and we bend them, twist them to entertain ourselves. Ianto Jones loved Lisa Halett, so he let us take him to her. You love him, and now you’re here to save him.” She raised a solitary eyebrow. “Now do you see? Love drives everything.”
“Except now he’s fighting back.” His own eyes burning, Jack pressed his fingernails deep into palms, holding back each wave of emotion as it flowed violently through him. “And you’re killing him.”
“He is broken.” Malvinus sneered gripping his left shoulder with one hand.
“We are merely finishing it.” Azureus added, pressing a cold hand to his other shoulder.
“There’s nothing to finish!”
“Oh there is.” Viridis smiled, resting her own icy hand onto Jack’s chest. “He belongs to us. If we cannot have him, no one else will.”
“He doesn’t belong to you!” Jack could no longer suppress the rage bubbling within him as he felt the cold hands slowly freeze his skin, the pain numbing and biting through his clothes. He shuddered, feeling the shielding in his mind begin to fail. “Why does it have to be like this?!”
“Jealousy.” Viridis grinned, green eyes burning in intensity. “It is the bed mate of Love.”
“You’re jealous?”
“We are not tainted by human emotions.”
“You’re wrong.” Jack smirked, keeping his eyes level with Viridis’. “I think you’re more like us then you realise.” He paused, filling his words with as much poison as he could. “I think you’re becoming just like us.”
“No.” Viridis remained calm, her exterior showing no recognition of his words. “We could never be like you.”
“A plot.” Malvinus interrupted suddenly, her grip on his shoulder tightening causing the Captain to jump in his skin at the sudden increase in pain. “A device. Death.”
“You plan to kill us.” Viridis’ face was blank, still no fear or emotion visible through the cold pools of her eyes. “And you kept this from us.”
It was with that cold look that Jack knew it was now or never. He had his chance and the time for thinking had long passed. He reached into his pocket for the device, seconds like hours as his fingers fumbled to press the switch. Time stopping still as he compressed the final button, looking up to watch his adversaries crumble before his eyes. But not for long………
He felt the signal crash through his own mind, his own hands reaching up to cradle his head as the pain grew and grew, agony burning in his skull, shutting out his own thoughts. Around him, the Phantoms screamed a screeching symphony, pale hands pressed against their temples, a shrill sound erupting from their mouths as they dropped to their knees all around him.
“No!” Azureus’ voice was so high pitched that it seemed to splinter through the air, shattering it, strange silver like liquid leaking from her nose, mouth and ears. “There is nothing. No one. Alone. There’s no one………”Her voice became a wail, pale body being forced closer and closer to the ground. Her body quaked, almost compressing into the tarmac, lying dormant beside him, the sticky blood like substance forming a thin pool around her.
“Sister!” Malvinus was next to cry out, her voice barely audible over the pain searing through Jack’s own cranium. She lay sprawled out on her stomach, the same substance leaking out, gushing from her mouth. Her hands lay outstretched, grasping at the air and tarmac alike, as if she was trying to claw her way forwards towards her dead sibling. Alien words tumbled from her throat as her body also began to convulse, shaking in time with the signal that was now rocketing through the air, before her body too became lifeless in one short, sharp movement.
Blood leaking from his own nose, Jack’s knees gave way beneath him, forcing him to come face to face with Viridis, the only Phantom that was still barely alive. She was howling, her face hollow and bare as the scream rushed from her mouth, piercing the world around them into smaller fragments like broken glass.
“You…….” She managed to hiss, reaching out to grab the lapels of his coat desperately, white hands gripping at the fabric intensely. “My sisters…………you murdered them……..you murdered us……”
“You gave me no choice.”
“You’re………… no better than us.” Another scream ripping through her body, Viridis struggled to maintain eye contact, her thin hands still clasped around the collar of his coat. “You and I are the same. You are just as inhuman as I…………”
“No……”
“Yes…………” She was gasping now, struggling to speak through the fluid flowing from her mouth. “You kill without thought, for you own ends.” Her strength failing, Viridis dropped to the floor completely, her face pressing against the tarmac as she spoke. “Remember that……… when I’m gone. Remember…………I live on in you…………”
There was a loud choking noise as Viridis’ body quaked on the floor, writhing like a freshly speared snake. She groaned, the noise reverberating through the ground below them as her body tensed, before dropping back down onto the floor, limp and abandoned. It was done.
Holding back a scream, Jack struggled to reach for the device, hands shaking against the strain. He slowly flicked at the switches, feeling the transmission cease suddenly around him, the flickering air particles that surrounded him becoming silent in seconds. He grunted, weak body dropping beside those of the Phantoms, a thick of stream of blood still pouring from his nose and ears. It was too late for him this time, his brain too heavily damaged by the transmission to survive much longer.
A cool wind brushed against his face, reminding Jack to savour his last minutes of life. He couldn’t be sure that he would heal this time, never before had his brain suffered like this. But right then, Jack welcomed it, wanted something to silence the voice in his head, something to kill Viridis’ final words. Something to kill her. The worst of it was, she was right. They were the same. And there was a chance that he was going to live on.
The Phantoms were gone, yet their memory was by no means dead yet……
So the Phantoms are dead, dun dun duuuuun! Another long chapter this one, and possibly the hardest chapter I’ve had to write yet, I hope you’ve enjoyed it! *hides* Anyway, as always I would love to know what you think, so if you have time, please drop us a comment! Thanks! :D
Just Being Me
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