Title: It's Quite the Fortune
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who/Harry Potter
Rating: PG
Length: ~3,300
Content notes: Children of Earth Fix-It, House of the Dead Fix-It and Episode Tag, Time Lord!Ianto
Author notes: I don't own anything!
Summary: Jack had to say goodbye at the House of the Dead. There were things that he needed Ianto to hear and things that Ianto needed to hear so that they could get their future together.
Notes: Written for the fan_flashworks challenge number 142 "Fortune". This is also part of a larger universe.
. o O o .
Ianto looked after the woman that had just been with them as she disappeared.
"She's gone. Where did she go?" he asked, because he knew that she had been real and alive and not a ghost.
"It was too late to save her. She couldn't help herself," Jack answered quietly, "Syriath uses the dead against us. We can't say no to them."
Ianto's resolved steeled at hearing that. He was good at saying no to the dead. He had training.
"I can," he said firmly, "We've got to stop this!"
Just then the earth started to shake and the pub started to fall apart around them.
"The House of the Dead is falling into the Rift. No long now," Jack said and he seemed to be glad. Ianto could see it in his face. Only then did he notice that he was still holding the box that Jack had given him.
"Hey... I am still holding... What is this box exactly?" he asked, "Is it a bomb?"
"Ianto, open it," Jack said, nearly tenderly and Ianto did so carefully.
"It's... It's just pebbles and coal," the Welshman said, confused.
"Rocks from the hills, coal from the cellar and a tiny detonator. Just enough to make a lot of dust,"
Jack said as if that explained everything.
"Dust?" Ianto asked, not understanding.
"All of Wales is a giant battery of stored Rift energy. Cardiff Council thinks it's radon but something far richer is held in these stones. It's harmless unless you release it as one world falls into another," the older man said and Ianto understood, remembering. His grandfather had told him something like that about ten years ago, when he had been travelling with him for a short time.
"That's how you're going to destroy Syriath," he said quietly, knowing that it would work and that it would close the Rift permanently. There would be no going back for any of them.
Jack laughed brokenly and more than a little madly.
"The moment she reaches this world, I am going to detonate the energy stored in that package. It will wipe out Syriath and seal the Rift for ever. These stones will rise and sing," he said.
"Seal the Rift?" Ianto asked, because he was not supposed to have known that. Jack still didn't know that he was part Time Lord.
"Its time has come," Jack said, quietly and sadly. Ianto could see the other thoughts on his face. He knew that Jack would leave Earth after the Rift was closed. The man had nothing left here and Ianto would not be enough. He never was.
"Ho, Hello, hope I'm not interrupting?" a new voice suddenly said.
"Not now, Dad," Ianto replied, knowing that this could only end in disaster.
"I've only popped in for a word," the dark haired man with glasses said. He was not much older than Ianto, now that Jack studied him. If at all. The man had clearly died young. "You must be Jack. I've heard so much about you. Not from Ianto. He was always too busy."
"From Syriath? I wouldn't trust her," Jack answered.
"No," James denied, "I've heard about you from those people you've sent to the land of the dead. All the people you've killed."
"That's enough!" Ianto interrupted, knowing that this was not really his father. It was only a copy of him, made by Syriath to influence them. His father was not this bitter. While he was occasionally mad that Ianto didn't have much time for chats, he knew that Harry was the one that normally contacted the dead and that Harry, and not Ianto was the one that was the Master of Death. He was more cross when Harry hadn't called for a while.
"There're a lot of people there, can't wait so see you again, Captain," the spectre said cruelly. "But I'm here for my son."
"Really?" Ianto asked, wondering what Syriath had planned now.
"Ianto, listen to me, just this once, hey?" James said. "Consider what you hold in your hands."
"The world's last chance," Ianto replied, silently thinking 'once more' since this was not the first time he was holding something like this.
"No, no, no, you've got it all wrong," the spectre denied, "It's the key to the land of the dead. You'll seal us all away forever. D'you want that, son? If not for me, for your mum."
It was a low blow. Ianto knew how much it had hurt his mum to survive when her husband had not. He knew that this creature wanted to cripple him with this. He did. However, it did not incite the reaction in him that Syriath no doubt wanted. Not at all. Quite the opposite in fact. It only made him more determined to end this and spare his mum the heartbreak.
"Don't, I'm sorry. We can't let that creature escape," he said, his voice steel.
"Whatever the price," Jack confirmed.
"Really, Jack?" the creature asked, narrowing its eyes. "What if I told you that you can take Ianto and leave? Turn around and go."
"He won't, Dad…," Ianto said, suddenly starting to have a feeling where this was going. But it couldn't be, could it? He'd know if it was the truth, wouldn't he?
"You know what your problem is, son?" the creature asked harshly. "You always think you know best. I'm not asking you. I'm asking Jack. What do you think?"
"Turn around and walk out of here?" the man asked, his voice suddenly hopeful; more hopeful that Ianto had ever heard him. Maybe the other man did feel something for him after all.
"Jack, we can't," he said nevertheless.
"Never gave me a chance when I was living and breathing. And you won't now that I'm dead," the ghost said and Ianto, for a moment forgetting that this was not his father speaking, winced. Then he remembered.
"Dad, I'm sorry, you're not real, you're just a ghost. What should I believe a word you say?" he asked.
"I never could give you what you wanted, but I can give Jack something very special indeed," the creature, Syriath really, said. "Can't I, Jack?"
"Mr Jones," Jack said, clearly not seeing right through the spectre like Ianto was doing, but then again, Jack didn't know Ianto's dad and he sure as hell didn't know that Ianto and his brother were always talking to him. "You should be proud of your son. There's no one I'd rather have by my side when I defeat Syriath."
"Thanks, Jack," Ianto said, smiling at the other man.
"My boy's quite special to you, isn't he?" the creature tried another venue, pretending to give up. "I won't take up anymore of your precious time. She will win. Jack, you knew what you'd find if you came to the house of the dead, didn't you?"
"Yes," Jack said, defeated, "just go."
As the creature faded away, it gave one last parting shot, one that made Ianto's heart constrict painfully in his chest, because it confirmed his fears.
"I can't believe that you're going to let him die... again. Goodbye, Ianto."
Ianto swallowed heavily. He was pretty sure that he knew who was dead, but he had to be sure.
"Who's dead?" he asked. "What does he mean?"
Jack didn't even look at him when he answered, which made Ianto's heart crack and shatter. He wasn't even good enough for Jack to look at him.
"A person I knew I'd find if I came here to the last night of the House of the Dead. Ianto Jones."
"Jack?" he asked, knowing deep in his heart, but needing the confirmation. "What?"
"Ianto," Jack replied, voice full of emotion as if he didn't want to admit it. "Six months ago, you died in my arms. You're a ghost."
"No," Ianto denied. He couldn't be dead. He'd regenerated, hadn't he? Why was he not with Jack? What had Jack done to make his other self, Ianto's real self, not want to be with the immortal anymore?
"I came looking for you," Jack went on. "I couldn't resist."
"I'm dead." Or maybe he had died completely after all. Maybe he didn't have enough Time Lord in himself after all. He remembered now a conversation with his brother. About how he had to die, that his death in Thames House was a fixed point in time that this had to happen so that he could be sure that Jack was the one for him and no one else.
"You were here waiting for me when I walked in," Jack said through tears, not knowing what Ianto was thinking about. "Ianto Jones, never late."
"But, I feel real," Ianto tried to deny. It was getting harder by the minute as he remembered everything that had happened. All that Jack had said at Thames House… and all that he hadn't. "I'm not a ghost. I had porridge this morning, didn't I? Jack, I can't remember."
"I didn't think you'd be so real. I had hoped for a less," Jack said and suddenly Ianto was angry; angry at Jack for bringing him back and for making him fall in love with him when the immortal could never return those feelings.
"Thanks," he said, turning away so that Jack wouldn't see his tears.
"You don't understand," Jack continued. "I thought it would just look like you."
"It!" Ianto scoffed. He had always been 'it' for Jack. 'It' and second best. He was second best even to pizza. To pizza!
"I could've coped with that. I didn't dream it would actually be you. Syriath used my grief and she reached into time. She recreated you, Ianto, and I... oh... I can't bear to look at you," Jack continued, as if Ianto had never spoken, unknowingly ripping Ianto's heart out of his chest and trampling on it.
"I... sorry, I'm sorry, Ianto..." he went on, reaching out for the younger man, who was still turned away and whose shoulders were shaking.
"Don't touch me! Don't!" Ianto said, pulling away, knowing what he had to do. Jack could never love him.
"Ok," Jack said and with that, he made the next mistake in not going after Ianto.
"So… how did I die?" Ianto asked, because he knew that he shouldn't know this.
"It was all over so quickly," Jack replied and Ianto scoffed.
"Not an answer!" he said. "Was it your fault?"
He wanted to other man to feel some of the pain he was making him feel.
"You were one of the first victims of an alien plague. You were so brave. You died saving the world," Jack replied and Ianto noted that he had not answered his question again.
"Well, you'd think I'd remember that, but I don't." Which was a lie. He did remember but he wasn't about to tell Jack this. "Did I get a funeral?"
"I don't know. I wasn't here," Jack said and Ianto's already broken heart shattered.
"What?" he asked; by now he was more than just mad and hurt.
"I had to leave. I am sorry," Jack tried to apologize.
"You couldn't even lay me to rest in peace," Ianto said unbelieving. "You've done this to me! You drag me back just to say goodbye. This is not about closing the Rift, destroying that creature or even your bloody stones! This is not even about me! This... this is all about you, Jack."
By now Ianto just wanted Jack to leave so that he could fall back into oblivion. He wanted nothing more than that and hoped that his other self would never fall for Captain Jack Harkness again.
"Ianto, this is not how I planned it!" Jack tried to assure him.
"No? What were you hoping for? Thought I'd say you a few nice words, that I'd be grateful?" the young Time Lord asked acidly.
"I just wanted to see you one more time. That's all! It's why I came here."
"Well, that's lovely!" Ianto shot back.
"Ianto, of all the people I've lost, don't you understand, the only one I wanted to see was you!" Jack tried to salvage the situation.
"Thanks!" Ianto replied voice as cold as ice. "At least, you didn't forget me."
"How could I?" Jack asked. "I may be immortal, but I don't forget. I lose everyone, but I don't forget any of you. I work so hard to remember!"
"You make it sound like charity work," Ianto shot back, venom in his voice.
"Don't say that! Never say that!"
Ianto was rapidly losing all hope, all will to fight.
"Jack?" he said, "I didn't think the last thing I'd ever say you would be this... just go away, please, this is horrible."
"I had to see you again," Jack tried again, he knew that he had to make the younger man believe that he meant something to him. He felt that this would be the turning point. Even if this was not his Ianto, but just an afterimage, a ghost, he had to say what he felt for once or he would never forgive himself. "You have no idea what it felt like coming back to life and knowing the world was empty, because you'd gone. No matter how many times I die, I always wake up alone."
"I didn't ask to come back," Ianto whispered.
"Neither did I!" Jack replied. "You and me, Ianto Jones, together again at the end. How it should be! In a few seconds, Syriath will rise and I'll trigger this device destroying her and sealing the Rift forever."
"You're not planning on coming back, are you?" Ianto asked and that was unacceptable. He knew that time could be rewritten, but he also knew that Jack was still needed. Still had so much to do.
"No, it would be a pretty big bang," Jack confirmed.
"You can't die!" Ianto objected. He knew that Jack could be blown up and still come back from the dead.
"Next best thing, it'll turn into oblivion, lost in the space between worlds forever and come on, it's quite a way to go! Huh, I think I'd lived long enough. I've seen you once more, what else is there?"
And that last sentence. That part of a sentence really, only four words changed everything. Jack thought that there was nothing more for him now that he had seen Ianto again and that Ianto obviously hated him. In that moment, Ianto knew that he had to get the other man out of here and hope that his other self would somehow remember this once it was over.
"Well, we could just go," he said, hoping to get Jack out of the door of the pub and to safety.
"What?" Jack asked.
"My dad said we could both leave together," Ianto replied, trying to sound casual.
"Never!" Jack argued. "You're kidding, right? You mean leave here?"
"Why not try it?" Ianto asked. "The Rift, ancient evil, magic pebbles? Just for once, let someone else deal with it!"
"Can we do that?" Jack asked back, barely believing.
"I'm real, am I?" Ianto tried to pitch it to Jack.
"It'll never work!" Jack argued. "We cross that door; we will be back in the real world. What if you vanish? What would happen?"
"That's no reason for not trying!" Ianto egged Jack on. "Seems a shame you know, to get me back only to lose me again. A touch careless."
"True!" Jack acknowledged and Ianto knew that he had won. He knew that he would get Jack to leave soon. "Syriath, the last woman of a dead universe. Ah, she's not so special. But there's only one Ianto Jones."
"And there's only one Captain Jack Harkness!" And that was the point really. Right now, out there somewhere, was another version of him, the real version, but there was only one Jack.
"Screw it!" Jack exclaimed. "Worth the try! Let's leave the device here for Syriath."
"The whole place is falling into the Rift," Ianto said, trying to get Jack to get a move on.
"We'd better go now," Jack replied.
"Past the doorway, there is no coming back," Ianto said, knowing that Jack would understand his meaning too late.
"Why would I want to? I've got you back, Ianto. Let's do this, come on Ianto. Be brave!" Jack exclaimed as he stepped over the threshold.
"Always," Ianto said, staying exactly where he was. Even if he was only a copy, he was still Ianto Jones, twin to the boy who lived and one of the last Time Lords.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Ianto Jones," Jack said, hope in his voice for the first time in months. "Has it worked? Are you real again? Ianto? Ianto?"
"I'm not coming!" he answered.
"Ianto, no, come on!" Jack cried out, trying to get his lover to come with him. "There's still time."
"No Jack!" Ianto replied sadly through the tears gathering in his eyes. "You know I can't. My place is here, in the House of the Dead, with your device, saving the world!"
"Don't do this!" Jack begged.
"Sorry, Jack! So it's gonna destroy the Rift. It's quite a way to go."
"No, not like this! Don't leave me like this!" Jack was in tears by now too. He couldn't lose Ianto again and he couldn't go back in.
"I gotta go," Ianto said, smiling softly.
"Ianto, no!" Jack cried. "I never said it properly before."
"It doesn't need saying," Ianto said, because by now he knew.
"Yes, it does! Ianto Jones, I love you!" He couldn't bear to not say it again.
"And I love you too, Jack," Ianto replied.
"Right then, let's get a move on. Goodbye Jack!" he said just as the building was sucked into the Rift. He hoped that his other self had heard the last words that Jack had said to him.
Jack stood in the street, staring at the place where the pub had been. Where Ianto had been. He knew that he couldn't stay on earth any longer. This planet now held nothing more for him. Nothing at all. Ianto was gone.
Jack turned around to leave, to say good-bye to the few last friends he had, the few last people that he hadn't gotten killed yet. After a few minutes the street was empty again.
. o O o .
From the shadows of the small alley across the street from the pub, a figure stepped and turned to go as well. He had heard everything that had been said in the pub between Jack and the ghost version of Ianto Jones.
At first he had cursed his brother for sending him here. For making him listen to all these things that showed clearly that Jack didn't love him, but then, in the end, he had understood and had known that he had needed to hear those things, because in the end, Jack had said that there was nothing left for him in this world, in this universe when Ianto Jones was not in it.
And in the end Jack had said that he loved him.
Ianto Jones turned around in the other direction than the one Jack had left into and returned to his grandfather's TARDIS. He would let Jack have the time necessary to say his goodbyes. The others could not know that he was alive, at least not yet.
After that, he had an immortal captain to catch. It was quite the fortune that he had heard all of this and that he had a TARDIS at his disposal that could track his captain wherever he went.
I hope you liked it!