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fandomweekly2022-11-05 02:31 pm
badly_knitted) wrote in fandomweekly2022-11-05 02:31 pm
Entry tags:
[#156] An Easy Choice (Torchwood)
Theme Prompt: #156 – Leap Of Faith
Title: An Easy Choice
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: PG
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1000
Summary: Ianto is made a scarcely believable offer, but one he has no intention of refusing.
They’d all been exhausted the night before, even Jack, who could normally go for weeks on little to no sleep. They’d tumbled onto the dirty, stained mattresses on the warehouse’s cold, hard concrete floors without even setting a guard, falling asleep almost immediately. Being on the run was physically, mentally, and emotionally draining, something Ianto felt sure he should have remembered from when he’d fled London with Lisa and her conversion unit in the back of a ‘borrowed’ Torchwood van.
Now it was dawn, the sun just coming up somewhere beyond the surrounding buildings, casting a dim, hazy light through the filthy warehouse windows. It took Ianto a few moments to orient himself, remember where he was, and why he was there. What was it that had woken him? He thought he’d heard a voice, but Jack was still asleep, an unmoving lump under the replacement greatcoat, while Gwen and Rhys were wrapped around each other a few feet away, under a threadbare blanket.
Ianto closed his eyes again, hoping to get a couple more hours’ rest, but just as he was starting to drift off, the voice came again.
‘Ianto. Come to me.’
It was clear as day, but this time he could tell it wasn’t from some unseen outside source. It was in his head.
‘Who are you?’ he thought back at it.
‘A friend.’
‘What do you want?’
‘To help. You must trust me.’
‘Why?’
‘I cannot tell you. Please, come.’
‘Come where?’
‘You will know.’
Deciding that he must be dreaming, Ianto slid off the mattress and shoved his feet into his shoes. He’d been so tired the night before that he’d taken them off without undoing the laces, which at least meant he didn’t have to fiddle and risk waking Jack. Walking as softly as he could, he went to a small side door, unfastened the bolt holding it closed, and slipped outside. Once in the alley, he looked both ways. At one end was the street, deserted at present. At the other…
‘Okay, definitely dreaming.’ Ianto knew the TARDIS from various Torchwood documents and photographs. As he approached the incongruous blue wooden police box, the door swung inwards, and he entered a control room much larger than the box’s outer dimensions would have suggested. It wasn’t unexpected, he’d read about the phenomenon, and Jack had told him about it too. Nonetheless, he was impressed.
‘Thank you,’ the voice in his head told him.
‘It’s you talking to me? I mean, Jack said you were sentient, but…’
‘It is I.’ The voice was warm, amused. ‘Jack cares deeply for you, Ianto Jones.’
‘Really? He has a funny way of showing it sometimes.’
‘Yes. He is afraid of opening his heart fully. Afraid to lose another loved one. It is difficult for him.’
‘I suppose so. Eternity is a long time.’
‘Indeed. When your time comes, he will be alone again. That… would not be good.’
‘No, it wouldn’t,’ Ianto agreed. ‘I’d stay with him, if I could.’
‘Would you truly? Would you give up mortality to be like him, knowing you would outlive everyone else you love?’
‘You could do that for me?’ Ianto could scarcely draw breath.
‘I could, if you wish it.’
‘What about the Doctor? He hates what Jack is. And didn’t you try to run away from him, to the end of time?’
‘The Doctor… does not need to know, and as for myself… Let us simply say I was mistaken. I understand better now.’
‘Yes.’ Ianto didn’t know how it could possibly work, but if there was any chance that he could stay with Jack, for all time, he’d take it, regardless of what it might cost him. ‘Whatever you have to do, do it!’
‘You are sure? Once done, it cannot be undone,’ the TARDIS cautioned.
‘I don’t care; I’m not even sure any of this is real. I hope it is, but either way, I’m not changing my mind. Sometimes in life, you just have to throw caution to the wind and take a chance, whatever the outcome might be.’
‘Then follow me.’ A light showed him the way, and Ianto followed it to a hidden room deep within the TARDIS.
Half an hour later, as the sunlight was gradually filtering into the alleyway, Ianto Jones emerged from the TARDIS, which faded out with only the faintest sound and a brief gust of wind. He didn’t look back, just re-entered the warehouse, bolting the door behind him, lay down beside Jack, and went to sleep. When he awoke, he had no memory of the strange dream, which was hardly surprising.
Later that day, Ianto Jones breathed his last on the floor of an upper room in Thames House.
Jack Harkness came back to life, one of many bodies laid out in a makeshift morgue. Beside him, the body of Ianto Jones was still and cold in death. He would never wake again, but that was alright; he’d served his purpose, and wouldn’t have survived long in any case.
“What happens now?” the real Ianto asked, sitting in an easy chair in a suite of rooms deep within the TARDIS, a suite with no outer door, shielded and hidden even from the Doctor.
‘Now we wait. There are things Jack must do; the timeline must not be appreciably changed. I have supplied a means by which the 456 may be defeated without sacrificing another life. I implanted the idea in Jack’s head while he slept; it will work. Then he will leave earth, driven by a compulsion he will not understand but will nevertheless follow. In a few months, he will be in a bar on a distant space station. I will land there, and while the Doctor is absent, you will leave. After that, it will be up to you to make contact. I will tell you exactly where Jack is; all you need do is go to him.’
Ianto smiled; immortality suited him. “I can do that.”
The End
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I'd ben racking my brain for a couple of days and was lying in bed trying to go back to sleep for a couple more hours when the idea popped up.
I finally posted the last chapter of my spook_me fic! Yay!
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Awesome news. I hope to find time to sit (or rather lay down) and read your story asap.
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Sometimes it feels great to write something longer, right?
(and actually finish it <- that is my main problem most of the time)
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I always tell myself I should go back to some older pieces, since they have nice ideas and what I have so far is not bad but when I read over them, I realize that I have no clue what could happen (usually I know how I want something to end but at one point the plot-ideas are leaving me)
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