Title: The Firebird
Author: Caz251
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairing: Jack/Ianto, Team Torchwood, past Ianto/Lisa
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Ianto Jones has always known he was different, but he had trouble figuring out what he was until certain circumstances coincide to avail him of the truth. Written for the longliveianto Halloween challenge: celebrating Ianto as an alternative human.
Spoilers: Spoilers for Torchwood Series 1 and 2 and some for Doctor Who Series 3 Ep 12 & 13
Warnings: character death and implied character death
Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood, or anything associated with it.
He had always known that he was different; ever since he was a young child he had felt it, that difference within him. He knew that his sister, while she was his sister wasn't. No matter how many times she told them that their father was a man who worked in Debenhams he knew that she was wrong, something within him told him that, her father worked in Debenhams, his didn't. There was never anything that had suggested that they had different fathers, his mother certainly hadn't said anything before she had been committed and Rhiannon's father never mentioned anything, but he knew.
There was something within him that told him, a fire in his blood that alerted him to the differences between him and every other person that he had ever encountered. Nobody ever noticed the difference between him and others, or they didn't remark on it anyway, but he knew it was there, it was impossible for him not to notice. It was just little things at first, not feeling comfortable with Rhiannon's father, especially not after their mother was taken away. Then he began to notice other things, like how he was always warm, never cold even on wet and windy days in Wales. He knew however not to mention what he saw as something special to anyone else, they didn't seem to notice it so he felt that he shouldn't draw attention to it.
It wasn't until he was working in London that he had the ability to look into what he was properly, he had looked all through his childhood; devouring books in the library, learning about everything that he could in the hopes that it would lead him to answers about himself. In London though there were more resources that were available and he spent his time in the libraries looking particularly into other species, creatures and even mythical beings in an attempt to find an answer, that was how he met them, Torchwood London.
They had cornered him in the library one day when he was sat at a table surrounded by books on the topic of mythical creatures and the myths behind them. He had heard of them of course, who could have lived in either London or Cardiff and not hear of Torchwood. Torchwood was one of those urban myths, something that everyone knew of but that no-one really had specifics of. He had a vague idea of what they did, you didn't have to be a genius to put together the little bits of information that he had come across. He wasn't completely positive of what they did, but he knew enough to know that he should try his hardest to stay off his radar. He had done well enough so far, so for them to have found him was rather worrying.
He smiled politely at the two suited men in front of him, introducing himself and feeling completely inadequate. He was just in jeans and a shirt and he felt totally underdressed when he looked at the other two men. He remembered it all like it had been just yesterday, they had invited themselves to sit down at his table and asked him about his research, wondering why he had taken particular interest in the creatures of myth. He had explained to them that he was interested in writing a series of fictional novels, but that he wanted them to be different with his own twists; and that to be different he had to have proper knowledge of what he was trying to be different from.
They seemed to accept his reasoning, but they still asked him to accompany him, as their boss wished to speak with him. It turned out that he wasn't as under the radar as he thought he had been and that he had been on Yvonne Hartmann's watch list for a while. Apparently his devotedness to his research was something that she admired and that she wished to take him on staff. He knew that there was no way that he would be able to get out of Torchwood completely intact, and that he would have to get her to make several compromises for his previous story to be credible.
Hartmann had agreed that while he would work for her as a junior researcher he was allowed to have full access to the archives relating to aliens and mythical creatures to help with his research for his stories and permission to continue his work on his books. It was agreed that he wouldn't feature anything in his books when he wrote them that would compromise Torchwood's security and that they would fast track his books to a publisher.
While he had wanted to stay completely off Torchwood's radar he couldn't say that he had come off too badly with his dealings with them. Sure he had to work for them and they would no doubt be scrutinising every move he made, but he now had access to their files. There was something in his blood that told him he was getting that little bit closer to finding out exactly what he was. He devoured the Torchwood files whenever he had the chance, making sure to have his research coincide with various plot ideas. After three months he was still having no luck in finding out what he was, but he did have enough research material to write the first one of his books. It didn't take long to write, he spent his spare time escaping into the fantasy world he was creating to give himself a break from both Torchwood and his ongoing quest to find out who he really was.
Within a few months he had the manuscript written and it had been sent to an editor, not long after that The Edfirnir Sphere was in print. Hartmann seemed pleased with him, both with his book and his work for her, the fact that the Institute got a cut of his profits probably helped. He threw himself back into his research and his work for the Institute, trying to search out what he was. He still focused mainly on mythical creatures; there was something that told him that he was of terrestrial origin. There were many different creatures that he could see that there were some characteristics that he shared with them, but nothing that sang to him.
It wasn't until the battle of Canary Wharf that he got a solid lead, by that time he had been with Torchwood for three years, released one book and had another about to be released, he was also dating a young woman from the press relations office. It had been when he was searching for her in the chaos that he was injured. He remembered it clearly, he was in a conversion unit, he felt the process start, then everything suddenly stopped and he passed out. Waking up again he was outside of the conversion unit, staring at another that held Lisa, and he himself was perfectly fine as if he had never been partially converted. It was then he realised that it was obviously a result of what he was and that he must have died and regenerated in a way, just like some other species in the universe did.
With that lead in mind he wondered if what he was could be harnessed and used to help others, especially Lisa. He had managed to get her out of the conversion unit and out of the tower before they were spotted, but he knew that he had a long way to go before he could help her in the same way he had been helped. He would need to do more research so he settled on a plan, he was going back to his homeland and he was going to get a job with Jack Harkness; a creature of myth in himself. He was positive that there would be something that he could use or access there to help Lisa, even if it was jus alien technology that could remove the cybernetic parts while he searched for answers.
Things hadn't gone exactly to plan though, everything had gone wrong before he found out what he was, it seemed that nothing would go right for him until he knew exactly what he was. Lisa had been killed by his teammates and he was alone, she had been there for him, even when she was encased in the cold metal shell that had become her prison. She was still his though, and if it had come to it he was plenty warm for the both of them. It wasn't to be though, and he had to carry on without her. His suspension was probably one of the hardest periods of his life, he didn't have Lisa to focus on anymore, and his research into what he was just didn't seem to be enough anymore, he still wanted to know, but he couldn't allow his research to drive him as he had in the past.
That had been what led to several of the worst moments in his life; the battle of canary wharf, Lisa's partial conversion and death, just to name a few. Instead he spent his suspension packing away several things of Lisa's he had unpacked to make it seem that she was just away on business or something, he didn't cry though, he couldn't; despite how people say that tears are healing he knew that tears couldn't heal this wound. He then spent the time to look over his notes for his next novel; The Edfirnir Sphere and The Teknia Lounge had been greatly accepted and the publisher still wanted to work with him despite the fall of Torchwood London. They had even agreed to keep it as quite as possible, meaning that he could use the alias of writer Ian Johnson if he ever needed to escape from Torchwood Three.
When his suspension was over he went back to work and acted as he always had, but soon found himself being brought into the team more; even if it wasn't something that he particularly enjoyed, the Brecons sprung to mind. Time passed in the manner that it always did, too slowly when he wished for speed, and too quickly when he was having fun. He had put his search for answers on hold and tried to become part of the team a bit more, in the hopes of having at least some sort of social interaction in his life. He had started to sleep with his boss by that point, something that he was still completely unsure about, especially as the man had pumped bullets into his girlfriend.
It wasn't something he really wanted to think about, and his relationship with Jack was never really defined, at least not before the other man died and revived before running off with his Doctor. The Doctor was a man that Ianto really wanted to meet, after everything that he had heard about the man while he was at Torchwood One he knew that the man was a genius, or that his ship was at least. He knew that one of them was bound to have the answers to the questions he had, and he couldn't help but feel jealous that Jack was off with the man who he needed to see the most. He realised though while Jack was away that despite him have played an instrumental part in his girlfriends death that he was still falling for him big time.
While Jack was away he had thrown himself back into his research as much as he possibly could what with now being a fully-fledged field agent. Having nothing to do with his non-working evenings once more made him itch for something to do, and he may as well go back to his ongoing project. Jack arrived back from his travels at roughly the same time as Ianto's book came out; it had taken a lot longer as he didn't have a regimented work day like he did at the tower so his writing had to be fitted in around weevil hunts and the end of the world. The Ice Queen was his way of honouring Lisa, she wasn't really an ice queen, but she was trapped in ice without a way to thaw, and he had made sure that she was forever immortalised in print.
His research was going a bit better though, he had narrowed things down to a smaller category of warm-blooded creatures with regenerative properties, but his research took a backseat once more when Jack returned as everything went mad. There was nothing good that he could say about John Hart, but his visit had made Ianto realise that while he wasn't a redhead he certainly had the temperament. Work was hectic from the time of John's visit onwards, and the time he wasn't working he was spending with Jack; either out on a date, yes Jack Harkness on a date, at the hub in Jack's bunk or at his flat.
Things had been going really well for them and Ianto had decided that learning what he was wasn't as important as being who he was, and enjoying who he was. He had left his research for the time being, not seeing it as his one constant anymore the need to know what he was; his constant in life had become Jack in a way, even though the man was definitely constant or consistent. It wasn't until he was in the nuclear power station with Owen following Toshiko's words to the letter did he wonder if he would have ever found out what he was.
As the doors shut sealing him and Owen in the room he knew that they needed to do something, if Jack were there he could have teleported them out, but he wasn't it was just him and Owen. There was nothing that they could do really, he wished that he had an escape route, but it wasn't to be, or so he had thought. He remembered a fire burning through his blood warming his skin and creating a soft but eerie glow to him, or so Owen had said. One minute he was standing next to Owen in the nuclear power plant and the next they felt as though they were consumed by fire and they were both in the hub staring at Tosh as she lay dying of a gunshot wound. They were both completely shocked and confused as to how they had gotten to the hub, but that could wait for later, first they had to help Toshiko.
Owen went straight into Doctor mode but Ianto knew that he was powerless to help in that way, he was completely unable of following Owen's orders properly, instead he attempted to keep Tosh awake and talking to him, not allowing her to slip away from them. For the first time in a long time he actually began to cry, his tears falling onto Tosh as he leaned over her, pleading with her not to leave him, she had become to him what Rhiannon was, a sister if a little closer than his own. He didn't notice as his tear fell over Toshiko's wound that it had started to heal itself. Owen pointed it out as he went to treat her, and to say that they were all baffled was an understatement.
Surprisingly it was Gwen that put it all together; they were sat in the conference room after Owen had decided that Toshiko was allowed to sit up in a seat. Jack and Gwen had joined them once they had taken care of Gray, and Owen began to tell them what had happened, first explaining their travel, at which point Toshiko added that it looked they had appeared in a flash of flames, but whether that was a result of blood loss or not she wasn't sure. He then went on to explain Toshiko's miraculous healing, something that was completely eluding him.
Gwen then piped up that he was just like Fawkes, with everyone turning to stare at her in confusion until she explained that Fawkes was a phoenix from the Harry Potter books. The rest of the team had stared at him in contemplation as he retreated into his own thoughts, adding up various instances in his life to what had happened today and looking at in with his research in mind. It fitted, it really did, he was half phoenix, now he just had to figure out how in the universe that it was possible.