AN: Well, welcome to my take on a Torchwood story, where I keep my favourite characters 'alive', Owen, Tosh and Ianto. The story is not brit-picket and un-betaed, so every mistake is my own.
Notes:
Torchwood: somewhere in second season. Owen is a dead man walking.
Dr. Who: Somewhere after series four, tenth Doctor and Jenny (found her again somewhere, going to write that story someday).
Disclaimer: If Torchwood had been mine, Jack wouldn't have to loos so many loved ones.
The, for some, familiar sound of the TARDIS materialising, sounded in the Torchwood Hub. Jenny opened the door, finding the Hub empty. She looked around, before walking out, making space for the Doctor.
"Did you get it right this time?" She looked around for an indicator of the time.
"I would think so." The Doctor closed the door to the TARDIS and looked around.
"Through it does look a bit empty."
"Who lives here?" Jenny picked up an abandoned newspaper to check the date.
"An old friend, Jack, works and lives here." The Doctor looked over her shoulder, checking the date as well.
"Should I go find him?" She handled him the newspaper, taking a look around.
"Nah, the noise should have woken him up, he'll be here in a moment." He dropped the paper again, going to the nearest monitor. The Rift Manipulator quickly got his attention, Jenny at his side, always eager to learn.
"Doctor!" The Doctor preyed his attention from the Rift Manipulator to find Jack jogging toward him, to catch him in a hug, before Jack's attention shifted to Jenny.
"Captain Jack Harkness." She looked at him, before taking his hand.
"Jenny." She answered.
"Nice to meet you Jenny..." The casual, flirting smile was in place. She smiled at him, but didn't return the flirting.
"Stop it." For once, there was a bit of an edge in his voice.
"He's just greeting, father." She released his hand again, turning her attention back to the Doctor.
"I'll let you stay in that belief." He answered, pointy ignoring a speechless Jack. Ianto saved him from further embarrasses with a tray of coffee and tea.
Through the next hour the remaining part of the Torchwood Three team came to work one by one. Toshiko was first to appear, and she was delighted to meet the Doctor and they quickly became busy discussing technology with Jenny looking over his shoulder while Jack and Ianto worked. Next in was Owen, whom after greeting the others and the Doctor went directly to the autopsy bay, after inhaling a cup of coffee. Ianto had been around with the coffee tray before Gwen finally arrived, muting something about traffic and Rhys. The morning quickly went by with chatting and a few questions about some of the alien technology they had found, but didn't know off, until Owen finally asked the question which had been hanging unasked in the air the entire morning:
"Are you here to take Jack with you again?" The Doctor looked up from the screen he had been staring at.
"No, we're here to recharge the TARDIS. And to deliverer someone..." Remembering something, he rose from his seat in a chair heading toward the Tardis.
"Forgot her in the TARDIS?" Jenny asked, but didn't get an answer before he disappeared into the box.
"Forgot who?" asked Gwen, whom was sitting nearby. Jenny turned to her, smiling.
"An angel." At the same moment the doors to the TARDIS opened, revealing The Doctor and a woman with wings so big they couldn't help scraping against the doorway, even though she ducked down quite a bit while walking through. She didn't look at either of them, but instantly turned her attention to her wings. Jenny was smirking, Owen was gapped while Toshiko and Gwen staring, Jack was stunted while Ianto as the only one managed to keep a blank face. Once in a while Jack had to wonder what that man had seen in his life; nothing seemed to surprise him anymore. Ianto quickly studied the angel in front of him. The woman was approximately 1.7 meter including the heels on her boots. Her wings were three-parted, exactly like the most birds and seemed to have base between the shoulder blades. The inner part seemed to be the shortest, only about half a meter long based on what he could see, facing downwards, the middle part went up past her head with about half a meter to spare, and the last ended in the fine feathers which lightly was touching the floor in the Hub. Her Cloth was a mix of gray, black and red, gray boots, a black skirt and a red shirt. Her wings were... was that a light blue? He wasn't entirely sure, since they seemed to shimmer in a mix of different colours. She looked at the rest of the people in the Hub now, eyes running over them all, evaluating them, judging them and finally, she smiled at them.
"Jack you old fox, I expected you to run down here and greet me. Did you find something new to fill your interest? You did, didn't you? Oh no you didn't, you really did? I never expected that to happen. Even an old fox like you can do that?" She smiled at him, while walking up the stairs talking, her wings lightly touching the stairs, caressing everything on its way, making it seem somewhat cleaner, a bit more pure. She walked to him, reaching out, laying her hands on his shoulder.
"Well congratulation old fox." She leaned in and kissed him, just a short peak on the lips. He smiled at her, but he didn't flirt for once, just grabbed her shoulders, turning around and only narrowly avoided being knocked down by her wings.
"Lily, allow me to introduce you to Ianto Jones, my partner. Ianto, this is Lily, an old friend of mine." Lily smiled at Ianto, before walking to him, giving him a quick hug before turning her attention back to Jack.
"What about the rest of your team?" She walked back to the railing, standing next to Jenny.
"This is Doctor Owen Harper, technical expert Toshiko Sato and former police officer, Gwen Cooper." Jack pointed each of them out. Owen nodded at her, Toshiko smiled and Gwen waved at her.
"Team, this is Lily, an old friend of my."
"An old flirt?" Owen smirked, looking at Ianto for a reaction, but it was futile; Ianto's expression was as blank as ever.
"No. I wouldn't understand it if he tried." She took a grab on the railing, and swung up, sitting on the railing, easily keeping her balance.
"Why?" It was Gwen asking this time, keeping a sceptical eye on Lily and Jack.
"It's a long story, long and maybe even a bit confusing; and I didn't come here for storytelling." She turned around on the railing, facing Jack again.
"I need you and your teams help, Jack."
"What happened?" All the while they were talking; the Doctor was silently sneaking toward his TARDIS. Lily didn't mind it, but she took a hold in Jenny, whom despite her military training, didn't react to it, laying a hand on her shoulder, which still was standing by her side.
"I collided with the TARDIS while travelling from Rakelion to Earth." Jack couldn't help but bust into laugher. He had met her travelling in space before, she had for habit of knocking on the door to the TARDIS, and any other spaceship with people she knew whenever she saw it, but he hadn't heard of her colliding with her before.
"I'm not sure why it could happen, through I have my suspicion." She said, eyeing the Doctor.
"I lost a feather in the collision, and it fell to Earth. I don't know when or where it happened, but I can feel it in this timeline. It's here somewhere, in Cardiff, but I can't tell exactly where." Jack went from laughing to shock in a matter of milliseconds; he briefly glared at the Doctor before returning his gaze to her.
"It's not his fault; I'm keeping him here to get his help." She released her grip in Jenny to take hold in the railing instead.
"Why do you need our help when it's just a feather?" Gwen's voice sounded below her. Lily turned around on the railing again in a swift motion. She leaned forward, her elbows in her knees, feet resting on the lower railing.
"Gwen, do you believe in magic?" Gwen answered promptly:
"No." Lily looked at Toshiko, then at Owen.
"How about the two of you, do you believe in magic?"
"No." Owen answered, hesitating. Toshiko hesitated a bit, looking down at the keyboard in front of her.
"Toshiko?" Lily pressed a bit. She looked up, light doubt clear in her face.
"The things we see at a daily basis; I've seen so much the past few years, been surprised so often, I started to doubt whether magic exists. My logic answers with a clear no, but deep inside, I only doubt it." Lily smiled at Toshiko and jumped down, gracefully landing at the floor a few meters down. She went walked to Toshiko, taking her hand but still keeping her distance, not standing to close.
"Thank you, Toshiko. Please, describe me." Toshiko was shocked and surprised at once at Lily's actions. Her hand in hers was warm and soft and somehow comforting, making her relax. She felt an inner comfort, resembling the feeling after a good, long bath in the bathtub in streaming hot water after a long day. But her head was still clear, and she answered after a few second.
"You have long, dark brown hair and green eyes, pale skin, enormous wings in a pale, red shade, darkening near your back, pale at the tips." Lily learned forward, kissing her. When they parted again, she had changed to Toshiko's surprise, but before she could say anything, Lily laid a finger on her lips, silencing her. She gave her a quick peak on the chin, before she released her, walking to Owen. As Lily released Toshiko's hand, a bit of the relaxing feeling disappeared, but she still felt at peace, calmed, relaxed.
"Tosh. I'm called Tosh by friends." She said before even thinking about it. Lily turned around, giving her a smile, before turning around again, standing in front of Owen. Tosh studied the new Lily for a second. The former long brown hair was now even longer but silver with strains of every shade of gray, from almost black to almost white, instead of brown. Her eyes were a shining silver with ring of gold around the pupil, but still warm. Her wings was silver at the base, the colour fading until it was a pure white at the tips of the wings. She watched as Lily apposed Owen.
"Owen, what do you see?" She didn't take his hand; she just stood in front of him. He didn't answer her at first, just staring back at her, so she began to study him. He was quite handsome, but something seemed wrong about him, something she hadn't seemed in ages. Realising, she didn't gasp or turned away, she smiled a slightly sad smile before reaching out, laying a hand over his heart, feeling its stillness and the cold of his body. When she touched him, he surprised took a step backwards, backing into the railing at the autopsy bay. She didn't follow him, but let her hand fall.
"Owen?" It was Jack, worried before he realised what had happened.
"You can feel her touch." It wasn't a question but a statement. He remembered the first time he had felt it, the touch a dead man shouldn't be able to feel.
"Yeah." Owen nodded, still surprised.
"You're dead." Lily said, not really surprised, but curious.
"How? When? Why are you still walking?" She took a step forward, laying a hand on his chest again. He gasped again, but she didn't let go, determined to learn more. She read the past of his body, felt him being shot, seeing his resuscitation. Removing her hand, she turned to face Jack while managing to hit Owen quite hard with her wings, making him fall to the floor. She quickly turned to face him again, Jack, who had approached them, managed to escape being hit by her wings when she turned.
"I'm sorry, but this place really isn't build for people with wings. Did you get hurt?" Taking his hand, she helped him up again much to his dislike. He couldn't get used to actually feeling his body again; the feeling was so strong after going without. Taking his silence for an answer, she turned to face Jack, careful not to hit Owen again.
"What were those gloves doing here? When did that happen?" She didn't like the idea of those gloves being in the human world, they could do far too much damage in this world.
"They should have been destroyed ages ago." She mumbled.
"We don't know. What are they? You seem to know them." She stared at ham, openly stared.
"You didn't know, and yet you used them? Do you know the damage they can do in the wrong hands? Wait, yes you do, you've seen it, and Owen is feeling the aftershock of it." She sighed she couldn't help herself. She knew humans could be reckless, and Jack could be worse than them, but she had thought this was beyond him.
"What are they?" He asked again.
"It's a tool for learning to concentrate and use your, our, energy. It's harmless in my hands, it's just old-fashioned and without limits, but otherwise harmless in the right hands. They are not meant for resurrection, it's a toy and tool." She turned to face Owen.
"Because of its reckless being used, death himself managed to enter this world again, taking the life from so many people. All that energy is now harboured in you, Owen, but because death doesn't need to feel, neither can you." She took his hands, looking at the injuries in them.
"I can't do anything about the feelings, but I can at least do something about the physical damage." She laid her hands over his, letting her fingers trace the wounds and broken bones, healing them on its path. She leaned forward, kissing him, letting him feel it again. They parted, and she looked back to his now healed hands.
"My appearance didn't chance, did it?" She asked.
"No." He studied his hands, feeling a weak tingling in them, which quickly disappeared again.
"Thought so, really can't fool the death." She smiled sadly, before walking to Gwen. She didn't bother asking her for details, just gave her a quick peak on the lips, before walking up the stairs to Ianto. She took his hands, studying them a bit before leaning in and kissing him a bit longer then necessary, much to Jack's dislike. Parting with him, she sat back on the railing.
"Why did you do that? Kiss us all." Owen asked. He hadn't mind being kissed, but he couldn't see the reason for it. Being quite for too long, the Doctor took the word before Lily could get to answer.
"Good question, interesting stuff actually. Her specie admits a force field around their individual body, strong enough to keep anything from getting near them, if they don't want it. It's quite fascinating how someone can keep themselves safe that way, emitting the strongest force field ever seen, and hiding behind the strongest shields possible. It's needed for travelling in time and space, but otherwise it couldn't be needed..." He could have rampaged on for centuries, but a glaze from Lily stopped him, getting him back on track.
"The force field keep their true form hidden, making them blend in with the species on the planets they visit. Jenny told you we had an angel aboard, so you all saw an angel, but her form, face, hair, eyes, everything, was based on what you yourself believed. When she kissed you, she revelled herself to you."
"Some just have to allow the persons to see them, some need to touch, and I have to kiss the person on the lips for it to work." Lily was starting to get a bit impatient, so she butted in.
"I really need to find my feather. There are other angels in Cardiff and some of them would do almost anything to get to it." She stood up on the railing, walking back and forth on it.
"But what was it about magic?" Lily stopped and slowly turned around on her heels, still on the railing. Through the railing was just a round metal pipe, she had no difficulties walking and standing on it. She looked down at Gwen, anything but amused.
"You didn't get it? What I do seems like magic to anyone whom doesn't understand it. Magic doesn't exist, but everything magic is about, is a trick of the eye." She sighed, turning back to Jack.
"I need your help, Jack. Can you help me? Will you help me?" She looked directly at him, waiting for an answer. He flasher her a genius smile.
"Relax, with a man like me to help, how can it possible go wrong?" Sitting down on the railing again, she answered.
"I am not going to answer that." She jumped down from the railing and walked down to Tosh and her computer.
"I need you to search for past activates, not necessary rift activates, but something that emit a tiny little bit of constant energy, which rise and fall with the energy around it." Tosh turned to her computers, typing on the computer at nearly lightning speed, Lily looking over her shoulder, waiting while the computer searched for a few minutes, before coming up with a result.
"There have been no abnormal unexplained activates since we started scanning, but there has been a constant background energy flow in the area around the hub we normally have ignore, assuming it came from an alien item in our procession. Could it be among them?" Tosh turned her head, looking at Lily, whom almost was touching her while looking over her shoulder.
"It's highly possible, and a rather comforting thought. Jack, do you know the contents of all the items in Torchwoods possession?" Jack, standing at the railing lightly chatting to Jenny, while the Doctor was looking around at the autopsy bay with Owen, looked at her.
"There are no feathers in our procession, but we have multiple other objects you could have a look at."
"That can wait." She walked to the railing down to the autopsy bay.
"Doctor, I need your help. Can the TARDIS, the dear old girl, trace it through time?" Slipping on his glasses, he thought about it for a few nanoseconds.
"Yes, but I will need to get into your telepathic field and a stronger energy force then the Rift or the TARDIS herself to do it."
"I thought the TARDIS could almost anything." Jenny leaned over the railing, looking down at the TARDIS.
"Oh yes, she can." Lily turned around and walked to the Tardis, reaching out and slowly caressed the wood.
"The problem lies in the little word; almost. Each angel's force field and energy spectrum is a tiny little bit different, it's programmed into our DNA and soul, our very being. It'll use quite a bit of energy and time for the Tardis to make an identical field and spectrum and use it to find the feather. It'll be easier for her to work as an enhancer, enhancing my own signals." She stepped into the Tardis, soon to be followed by the Doctor and Jenny.
"How do we do it?"
"There are two possibilities: I take a direct chat with the Time Vortex in the heart of the TARDIS, or your father does something extremely clever with that genius brain of his to make a telepathic and physical link between me and the TARDIS, but for that to happen, we have to wait for him to get out of the cloud he's in right now from being praised."
They had to wait half an hour before the Doctor had collected the necessarily tools and wires, time Jenny and Lily spend talking. Even though they had arrived in Cardiff together, they had not got the opportunity to talk earlier. When Lily had entered the TARDIS after their crash in the Vortex, she had scrolled the Doctor a bit, mostly just light teasing, before announcing their trip to Cardiff and walking off, complaining about rustled feathers and the need for a bath. Jenny, the ever-so-ready soldier; had been shocked when the door to the TARDIS had opened mid-flight, revelling what had looked like overgrown eagle with ruffled feathers, long hair hanging anything but graceful, entangled in wings and cloth.
Lily had been more than a little surprised when she collided with the TARDIS, and the surprise had only grown, when she had felt the presence of yet another Time Lord. She had never expected to find the Doctor with a daughter and an even so young one. It had taken a bit of questioning to understand it, but luckily Jenny didn't mind answering, she had just as many questions herself. Now they sat in the Hub, watching the Doctor working while talking. Jack had provided them with chairs, and was now off somewhere else and no one really wanted to know what he was doing.
"So, who is oldest? When did you meet? Where did you meet?" Lily couldn't help but laugh a bit.
"Relax; we have all the time in the world, one question at the time young one." Jenny pouted a bit, but nodded.
"I meet your father while he was still just a kid, only eighty years old, a teenager, and a vivid one. We met at Gallifrey, only once, he was out walking on the hillsides and so was I. He was quite surprised to see a non-Gallifreyan. We talked a bit, not much, before we went our separate ways. We met again years later at a marked on Women Wept. We've meet multiple times since then, even travelled together in short periods of time." She looked at the Doctor while he worked, trusting him in his work, but she still liked keeping an eye on him.
"How old were you back then?" She shifted her gaze to look at Jenny instead.
"You really want to know? I honestly don't remember. Oh I was old enough to have had grandchildren, great-grandchildren even, if I had been interested. I'm so much older than your father that neither of us know exactly how old."
"What were you doing at Gallifrey?" Lily thought about it for a few seconds, remembering that trip.
"Collecting some things, I think. Yes, I took a walk to collect some materials in the hillside after a meeting with someone. It's all a bit blurry right now; it's some quite old memories." Lily was glad Jenny still was so young and inexperienced in sensing mental shields and small white lies, but she was sure her father had realised something was a bit off, but he hadn't commented. Maybe he was waiting for later?
"Will you come travelling with us?" Jenny looked eagerly at Lily.
"Hmm?" Lily, whom had been inspecting the roof of the hub, turned to look at Jenny, her feathers rustling a bit, gently nudging Tosh, whom was walking by behind them.
"Please. Could you come?" Lily had to admit she was a bit thrown; she hadn't expected Jenny to want her to travel with them as well.
"Jenny, how long have you been travelling with your father?" Jenny blinked, puzzled.
"Fifty-six days."
"Fifty-six days? Sweetie, you've barely gotten to know your father then, let alone the TARDIS." She took Jennys hands in her own, feeling the soft skin of the young girl.
"Wouldn't you want to keep those for yourself for a bit longer? Take your time to get to know them. I can come travel with you at any time, there's no need to hurry; I'm no human. I'll come knocking at the door when I think the time's ready"
"But how will you know when time's ready?"
"The TARDIS will tell her." The Doctor had without their knowledge left his work in, and in front of, the TARDIS, and now stood in front of them.
"For the TRDIS to enhance Lily's signals, they will be in need of a telepathic link which can't be broken again. The link will stay and Lily will know where we are and when, and the TARDIS will be able to call for her, if she seems the need for it."
"Are you done with the work?" Lily rose from her seat, stretching like a cat in the morning.
"Yes, the rest is up to the TARDIS herself and you." The Doctor stepped aside, taking the seat next to his daughter while Lily went to the TARDIS, stopping on the threshold.
"Doctor, please shield everybody, I wouldn't want to harm anyone." She said and stepped inside, closing the door as well as she could, without harming the wires which connected the TARDIS with nothing, yet.
Just moments later, the air sang of thousands, millions, billions even, of thought waves being released and crashing against the walls and roof of the Hub, making the air quiver, the walls sing and multiple alarms go off, causing an deafening noise, which only were amplified again by the thought waves.
"What's happening?" Gwen tried to block out some of the noise by holding her hands over her ears, but equally helped it, the noise easily penetrated through her skull and into her brain.
"It's the sound of an open mind." The Doctor hasn't moved from his seat next to Jenny, easily cancelling out the thought waves around him, while keeping the majority of waves shielded away from everybody.
In a matter of seconds, the quivering and noise stopped and the air filled with a soft melody, a humming without song, slow and steady bearing thoughts of life and growth.
The door to the TARDIS opened again, revealing a flushed Lily leaning on the threshold.
"Wow." Lily sighed, slightly dazed, her white eyes shimmering silver, slightly glowing even in the light of the Hub.
"I should do that again someday. That was delicious. All that time flowing though me. She really has much to say, do you ever let her talk?" She tidied herself up a bit again while talking, constantly keeping a hand at the TARDIS for support.
"You know she's not constructed to that."
"Yeah... Too bad really, she has so much to tell." Finishing tiding, she looked at the Doctor.
"How much time passed? It felt like hours to me, but it seems like less out here." Still slightly flushed and dazed, she sat down, leaning on to the TARDIS.
"Less than a minute passed by…"
"Really? It felt like hours to me." She looked up from the floor, eyes white again. Supporting herself against the TARDIS, she rose from the floor again. Taking a deep breath, she stepped away from the TARDIS, secure on her legs again.
"You're ready?" The Doctor raised from his seat, grapping the wires on the floor.
"Oh yes, hook me up." She turned his back to him, illustrating him in which feathers to attach the wires to. When done, she turned back to the Torchwood Three team.
"Okay, now I'm going to need your help, if you're willing to?" she asked, looking around on each of them, receiving nods and small muted affirmations.
"Thanks. What's the avenged hearing of a human? I have to make the sound hear able for you guys to find it."
"A human can hear between 5-20.000 Hz." The ever knowing Ianto answered.
"Okay, going for something in the middle then." She closed her eyes, focusing her energy in her wings, causing them to glow and shiver, emitting a low key signal for the lone feather to sing. For minutes, nothing happened. Nobody could hear anything besides their own breathing.
"Lily, there's nothing." Gwen dumped down in her chair; she has expected something slightly more exciting to happen then a silent Hub, a very silent Hub actually, way to silent. There were no sound, not even the computers could be heard. Tosh was the first to react, silently walking to Lily.
"Lily?" She reached out, touching her hand to get her attention, but quickly pulled back.
"Tosh?" It was Owen, coming up from the autopsy bay.
"She cold. Her skin is cold and hard as stone." Tosh reached out again, confirming her first impression.
"Don't touch her." The Doctor stepped in, removing Toshs hand.
"She's concentrating her energy at that one feather, leaving her body unprotected." Releasing Toshs hand, he turned her attention to Lily.
"It's a diamond skin; impenetrable for any sort of sensation. As a defence, it'll absorb anything touching it, including life energy. She's leaving her body in our hands until we find her feather." Taking a good look at Lily, he turned away from her, listening for any sound, but was interrupted by Gwen.
"Then why are there no sounds?" Shooting her a sideway glance, he went back to listening.
"She's cancelling out any other constant sound; to make it's easier for us."
Jenny looked around, listening to her father while listening for any other sound. She could feel the faint tinkling of the TARDIS in the back of her mind, and when concentrating, there was another sound as well; a song, soft and calming like a lullaby in a language unknown to her, but she could feel it showing her the way, guiding her ears and eyes to a place up under the ceiling.
"Father. The song, it comes from up there." Catching her father's attention, she pointed at a ceiling. The Doctor turned to her, following her direction, listening for a sound, but finding none. He turned to Jack.
"Are there anything up there?" Jack thought about it for half a second.
"Above my office? There's only the ceiling."
"And Myfanwy and her nest." Ianto supplied.
"Would Myfanwy be the Pterodactyl flying up there?" The Doctor gestured to the Pterodactyl which just had left its cave under the ceiling with a cry, flying around the Rift Manipulator, circling over them a few times, before dropping something, a rather huge and heavy looking feather, at Lily, before returning to the cave. The feather landed on Lily with the sound of stone hitting stone, dissolving on impact, shattering in billions of atoms. Only a faint glow left behind, soon to be absorbed by the wings. With a faint sigh, Lily returned to life, quickly dislocating the wires attached to her.
"I thank you, the feather returned as well as the knowledge it contained." She flexed her wings a few times, feeling the growth of a new feather. Reaching into herself, she reread the data, searching for a specific clan-data. She found her search fruitless, disappointing and a tiny little bit frustrating.
"Right, something has to be done about that." She muted to herself. Turning to face the others, she picked a feather from her back, crushing it in her hands into a fine dust.
"I name three children of Rakekind and five friends of Rakekind, may their leaving and resting go through The Rakelion. Protect and be protected, Rakelion watch out for her own." muting in a thick accent unknown to most, she spread the dust in the air, leading it to its targets; envelop them all in a silver glow. Before anyone got the time to ask, she disappeared in a silver glow, only the faint sound of feathers sounding.