1
Predawn.
Ianto stood on the back steps of the homestead looking out over his gardens and onto the village beyond nestled in the valley below the large castle and keep.
He had woken from a deep sleep, jolted as if in free fall and the feeling lingered as his eyes drank in the beauty of a new day birthing around him.
As on the bridge that day, he had stood and felt himself seep into everything around him, immobilizing and seeking stability as everything listed to one side and he could heard the engines screaming faintly, the ghostly echo of the ship's impending death as he remembered the stench of his wife's blood on his tunic mixing with his own.
He had tumbled from the bed and ran, as he had that day but instead of running to the bridge he ran for the children, standing in the doorway of the bedroom where Lolly slept in an explosion of pink and white organza and Logan lay in repose next to her in his crib as both children had wanted to be together or so Lolly had demanded the night before and their soft Daddy had relented and dragged the crib into her room.
Now as they lay asleep, Lolly's hand through the bars to rest on her little brother's chest he wondered if she had felt it too. The unease he had felt all that day, the fear building that evening although he didn't know why. Did she have the second sight too?
Ianto had left them to their repose and gone to his office where the vid-screen was active, alive with footage, chaos and more information that he could stomach.
So now he stood.
Waiting for it to come.
Blood has a metallic smell that sticks to the back of your throat and Ianto stood there in the semidarkness trying to dispel it from his mind, the images of the torn bodies and a baby sitting in the street screaming with fear and pain as its upper arm waved as if to shake of the agony of the lost limb.
A war zone.
Ianto knew one when he saw one.
The colours of the Quadrant torn and flapping in the breeze as the reporter stood, openly weeping as he recounted the attack on the small settlement and as he turned to let the camera pan an explosion had taken him from his feet and there on the live feed Ianto watched a man die. It had been so quick, so sudden that Ianto could only take a sharp intake of breath before the screen flickered and changed to show another settlement under attack, this time the colours of a rival quadrant clearly recognisable on the fuselage of the war ships swooping down.
Ianto closed his eyes, seeking peace.
He knew what he had seen though, his mind actively reviewing and replaying it over and over as his heart slowly sank and accepted what was going to happen next. What must happen and he knew damned well it would happen soon.
Ianto opened his eyes and saw the first sliver of light, a yellow band of gold, like the wedding ring he wore so proudly sitting in the horizon and then it grew, throwing a dim light over the darkness.
The rose bushes down at the end of the walkway became silhouettes against the light as the day crawled towards him and Ianto took a shuddering breath now as he watched the beauty of life around him unfurl.
The fist bird chirped and suddenly a cacophony of song swelled as the dawn chorus chimed, the day exploded with light and sound.
It was beautiful.
Ianto took a deep cleansing breath as he watched the colours bleed through the silhouettes, pink and white roses, then the green leaves beneath, the yellow ribbon from Lolly's hair attached to one of the bushes and Ianto smiled softly as he remembered tying that for her the morning before.
Ianto raised his face to let the first tendrils of light find him like tentacles snaking around the trees and bushes. He stepped down onto the grass and imagined a huge tentacled beast seizing his ankles and embracing him. He let his arms move, raising them out in worship as the first warmth kissed his weary bones.
The War Horse stood in the beauty of a peaceful morn.
And wept.
For war was upon them once more.
And War Horses don't lay down in battle.
Ianto's arms fell and he slumped, turning back towards the house as he heard movement and Lolly stood in the doorway looking down at him with her face showing her own distress.
"Taddy" she whispered softly, "Bad things are happening."
"Yes my love" he sobbed, biting his lip to calm himself before speaking again, "Evil is slouching towards us."
"But you will save us" she said calmly, turning to walk back inside, "That's your job."
"Yes" Ianto whispered as he turned back to see the colours explode across the sky as the second sun chased the first and the sky was aflame with the fires of rebirth.
He knew his job well.
And did not relish the return to it one little bit.
