Summary: Jack has been wandering through space for quite some time now. Will the last planet he hopped on reserve some surprises for him? Will they be good or bad ones? JANTO CoE-fix it
Disclaimer: I do not own Torchwood, no copyright infringement intended. If you still want to sue bring Ianto back to Jack first.
Warnings: Spoilers for basically nothing even though I'll dig straight from canon. Not beta-read and English's not my native language.
A/N: I wanted to exploit some other fix-it ideas I had in mind, so I decided to write a one-shot. Needless to say this won't be a one-shot, since I decided to use the idea to 'frame' some cute JANTO moments at the beginning that, taking off after the canon, wasn't going to feature Ianto. This is because Jack without Ianto means broken/depressed Jack and CoE did me in nicely enough.
Wandering
Jack was wandering on a new planet. He had pleasantly discovered that he had no problem breathing and he liked to count it as a plus, since he had hopped there without checking preventively whether he could survive or not.
If he had died though, he would have welcomed death gladly all the same.
Recently, he had made a habit of putting himself in such dangers, since he had discovered that the thrill of not knowing what was about to happen to him once he got on a new planet was rather amusing. Ok, maybe amusing was still too much, let's say mildly interesting.
Truth was that the more he went on living, the less he enjoyed all the recent things that happened before his eyes. He felt like he was a distant spectator of the show and, even if sometimes his condition helped him to see the right solution to the chaotic disasters at hand, he wasn't able to make any personal gratification out of it. Not anymore.
Eventually, he had come to believe that if he really had to endanger himself, he could at least do it saving someone that actually enjoyed living, but still his decision didn't mean that preserving himself while he hopped around from a mission to the other was a necessity.
Just after his last trial on a submerged planet, half-way across the universe, he had heard about a little planet that had been resisting against some space invaders. It seemed so easy he actually wondered if he had enough time to lose with that, but that thought lasted just long enough to realise that, yes, he had enough bloody time. So he hopped quickly on the dried up and devastated planet he was currently wandering on, wondering what he was supposed to do now that he was here.
The sky was dark grey, thick with clouds full of rain and lights, the red earth around him was almost completely deprived of grass and he could not see water sources or houses for miles away. He hadn't even checked the coordinates carefully truth to be told, so there were also high chances that this wasn't the same planet he had meant to save. Or it could be, but he had gotten here too late.
"Oh well, starving to death it is. Hadn't happened in a while." Jack murmured to himself casually, and then he walked towards no direction in particular, willing to at least explore a bit of the desert before changing his route again.
His hopping system wasn't like the one that moved the TARDIS, it didn't always bring him where he was needed, but if he tinkered with it a bit it still gave him enough chances to keep his mind busy for a while with new adventures on new planets or, if he was lucky enough, it could bring him to instant death.
He'd been walking for several hours, when he eventually found himself in front of the entry gate of a small village. It was nothing fancy and it was mostly in ruins, but it seemed enough for the few refugees that he could see staring terrified at him.
"Hello? Captain Jack Harkness is here, thought I might lend you a hand"
A cat-like person stared back at him with narrow hesitant eyes.
"Are you one of them? You certainly look like one."
Jack sighed in relief having proof that at least there could be some sort of communication between him and the inhabitants.
"I'm just a wanderer actually. Who's them?" He asked back. Somehow, telling the cat he had done preventive researches on their planet didn't seem a good choice at the moment.
"There'sss no place here for a wandererth" Another local, this time a lizard-like one, hissed from behind the broken wall of what had presumably been something similar to a church. His yellow eyes spoke volumes of his mistrust.
"I'll go away if you want me to" Jack shrugged nonchalantly. "But I've lost everything I loved, so if I can prevent you from getting the same fate, I won't really mind. I'll go and take a nap under that burned tree trunk, wake me up if you change your minds. If you don't, I'll be gone in a minute."
In front of the shocked stares of the locals, Jack did just what he had told them, making himself comfortable as he pretended to sleep. He pretended so well that he eventually he ended up actually asleep.
It wasn't as good as dying, but if he considered what usually his dreams brought back to him, dreaming was actually close to it.
*Dreaming*
Jack and Ianto had just come out of the cinema. They had been there to see a comedy and now that the play had ended, Ianto was still laughing as he recalled some of the funniest parts. In a normal situation his lover would have joined too, but for some reason he couldn't erase the dazed happy smile that was plastered on his face.
"What is it, Jack?" Ianto asked after a while, not concerned about the way Jack was clearly not listening to him, but getting the general idea that his lover's mind was elsewhere. "You didn't like it?"
"Oh, no! I loved it, it was brilliant." Jack hastened to answer with an overly embarrassed laugh. "It's just…"
"Just?"
"Oh, c'mon, don't make me tell you! It makes me seem all sappy and idiot."
"No change there then." Ianto teased him, faking a knowingly tone of voice.
"You do not mean what you're saying!"
"Oh, c'mon. There's nothing wrong in feeling romantic…" He reassured him, closing up the space between them so that he could whisper in his ear. "Besides, on you that kind of feeling usually means that you just appear hornier and needy for a shag, don't worry."
"You're horrible!" Jack protested, pouting miserably. "It's not like that's everything I think of!"
Ianto laughed at him and then stole quick glances around himself to reassure himself that no one was around. He took a firm grip of his lover's braces and lead Jack towards himself only to stop them when their lips were just a few inches from one another's.
"But it's everything you think of when I'm with you. Isn't it? It's the same for me..."
Jack felt his blood rush both downwards and up to his cheeks, as he tried to morph the dazed smile in a more lewd one without much success. "Can you hold it against me?"
"No!" Ianto stated happily with a satisfied grin on his face as he let go of Jack braces and resumed their walk, almost a feet in front of Jack.
"Where are you planning to go, you devil?" Jack called for him, laughing but also hastening a bit his strode to even with Ianto.
Two gleaming blue orbs stared at him, as Ianto gently reclined his head just enough to look at him.
"What about my place?"
"Would never say no to such a proposal now, would I?"
"Depending on the time and the place" Ianto drawled knowingly as he tried to put more space between each other.
Jack challenged him with his eyes and then rushed forwards to grab him by his waist and have his revenge, but Ianto quickly run away laughing, as his lover kept following him until they finally reached the Welshman's apartment…
X
Jack opened his eyes and saw a very small cat-like alien, probably a child, with a cascade of blond fur falling gently over her eyes in soft waves.
"You stopped pretending to sleep a while ago." She stated worriedly.
"Well, then you know you can trust me." Jack smiled awkwardly at the kid, trying to not make his embarrassment at being caught too evident. "How come you're more worried that I stopped pretending and not that I have been pretending?"
"Because… You called a name in your sleep. Is that the one you lost?"
"Yeah, my lover. A lover extremely dear to me." Jack admitted truthfully. There was no reason to lie to the kid after all. The kitten however simply stared at him confused.
"Lover? Like a wife?"
Jack had to laugh at that. He hadn't even managed to say 'I love you' when the time was right or to make their relationship official to say the least, proposing had been completely out of his mind at the time. Besides he doubted Ianto would have ever accepted to be his 'wife'.
"Not exactly. He was my boyfriend."
The little girl stared at him uncertain, not understanding yet again the word he had used.
"Like a father?"
"Considering my age absolutely not" Jack told her shaking his head as he wondered whether the child was really too young to understand the concept or it was some kind of cultural gap. "Make it more like a brother or a son… But no, forget it, it's still different… It's less than marriage, but you love your partner all the same and you can't be related. Usually. What do you call it here?"
"Nothing" Another voice interrupted, making the little girl's eyes widen as she scurried away frightened, leaving him alone with the same cat-like alien he had talked to at the gate.
"I'm Karid and she was Astrid by the way. If you really have nothing left, you are allowed to help, otherwise is better for you to just go away."
"I happen to hate blackmails." Jack argued evenly.
"It'ss not a blackmailth" The same reptile-like creature from their previous meeting countered, hissing cryptically him. "It'ss the only way to surviveth."
"If you care for someone they see it and use it against you." Karid explained, noticing the captain's confused stare.
"Mildly telepathic, I see."
The cat-like local nodded at him before continuing his explanation.
"We have managed to organize several villages far away from each other in case of 'emergencies'. You fall in love, you change village. Reproduction… has been a problem. Add the killings to that and our population is currently less than a ten percent of what it was used to be as far as we know."
"Living hassss been a problemth! We still lack communicationsss among the settlementsss!" The other one hissed angrily at his companion.
"You two… don't get along very well." Jack considered loudly, and both aliens raised an annoyed eyebrow at him, as to say that 'don't get along' was just an understatement.
Internal divisions during an invasion. Typical.
"Different races, cultures, population etcetera… Marud's is getting the worst of it."Karid explained pointing his paw at his companion.
Marud hissed a snort at him and then focused back on Jack, who kept staring at their dynamics quite fascinated.
"Ssso? You've no oneth?"
"I've got some friends" Jack confessed. "But they're far away from here. With me I've just my former lover- He's dead. He got killed on a different planet" He hastened to add before the others could complain. "I just… hold him in my heart."
"Sorry" Karid said quickly, realizing the awkward topic they had fallen in.
"Thanks" Jack muttered loud enough to be heard as he bowed his head to stare at his feet, wondering about a good change of topic. "So… Who are you fighting?"
"They invadedth"
"From where?"
"We don't know. They've got powers though."
"What kind of powers?" Jack asked surprised. The race he had been described was supposed to be more or less evolved as the Earth, they surely had to know better than to believe in magic. Besides no powers of sorts were mentioned in the small debrief he had been offered on the submerged planet.
"It dependsss. Lightsss, wind, fire…"
"Magic? Do you really believe in magic?" He teased astonished.
"It'ssss not magic, but they are powersss nonethelesss" Marud retorted angrily, understanding Jack's sarcasm and apparently sharing his same point of view on the matter.
"No, it really is magic" Karid confirmed instead, earning a cold glare from his companion. "Some of them have something that as stupid as it seems it works just like magic. It gives powers to their army, protecting them or allowing them to fire elemental attacks."
"Oooh, you got yourself white and dark mages from RPGs! Cool" Jack chimed happily, earning confused and a bit offended stares from both locals.
"Sorry" He hastened to say. "They are games and well, Ianto liked them. Gaming was more our friend Owen's thing actually, but he was more into the kill 'em all kind of games. Tactics were more my boyfriend's thing."
"Your planet seems a peaceful one if adults have enough time to waste in games" Karid considered with a snobbish snort.
"We…" Jack searched the proper way to put it, but he wasn't sure he could find a way to justify both official and unofficial Earth status in a single sentence. "My team fought hard battles to protect our planet, so let's say that when we could we enjoyed life."
"Interesting point of view. However fighting with the same people you love makes you weak." The cat-like local considered matter-of-factly, clearly classifying Jack as a lost case.
"I can't deny that." The captain admitted guiltily. "I wasn't strong enough on my own and I trusted him with everything… That's how he ended up killed."
"Not exactly what I meant, but close."
"Stop putting salt on hisss woundss" Marud reprimanded his companion eventually and took on himself the burden to put the discussion back on its proper tracks. "Ssso, what'sss your strong pointh?"
"I can't stay dead"
"Fair enough" Karid conceded, not particularly shocked by the news.
"Taking it well, Karth?"
"Seen worse. You too." He told his companion with a hint of distaste.
"Then we're cool." Jack said, enthusiastically clapping his hands and ignoring the squabble between the other two altogether. "When do we start?"
Instead of answering, the two locals lead him in the depths of the ruined village and Jack took his time to admire the 'beauties' the planet had to offer. A stunning lizard-like woman passed by, winking seductively at him, and he followed her with his gaze interested until she turned at a corner, disappearing behind it.
"Try to not fall in love, will you?" Karid reprimanded Jack as soon as they were inside what appeared to be a private home.
The captain simply laughed at his concerns. "I discovered at my expenses that is still too early to fall in love again. I simply like watching something good when I see it."
"Just focus on the plan"
"And what's the plan?" Jack encouraged Karid, but it was Marud that once again took charge of the explanations to prevent a fight to break out between the captain and the overly snappy cat.
With his hissing way of speech, he managed to summarize the latest events quite fast.
Believing that the inhabitants of the planet were ready to surrender, the alien invaders had recently asked for a meeting. Their village and a few near ones, however, were hoping to use the meeting at their advantage to get the chance to take down of the magic-using soldiers, investing everything in some sort of suicidal attack. Jack could currently offer a good alternative to the plan being immortal though, even if there were still few concerns to take into account.
Truthfully, the captain had no qualms about getting killed, but it took him a lot of patience and good arguments to talk the others out of the very suicidal part of their planned attack. Eventually he discovered that it was enough telling them that he needed someone to escort his corpse back to the village if they didn't want to risk that the aliens discovered his trick and captured him.
The fear of earning an immortal enemy seemed to freeze their craving for death quite well.
After loads of debating that made Jack wonder if his two new friends were more than just self-appointed leaders, the three of them came to an agreement and, the day after, ended up alone in the middle of the desert.
In front of them an old man stood weakly on his thin legs, whilst hundreds of soldiers were scattered casually behind him, ready to attack at his orders to protect his safety. Almost hidden in the background, after the human wall of the army and barely visible to them, there were five people wearing robes. Three of them were dressed in black and the remaining two in white, but all of them had enormous hats that covered their faces completely.
"You're here to surrender then, good choice. I noticed you got yourself a new friend. His appearance is more normal than yours, was he the one leading you to reason?"
The two aliens glared at him deeply offended, whilst Jack walked forward angrily. "Normal? Just because they look different from you this doesn't make them less worthy!"
"Here talks the saviour, what are you? Human? Just be a good boy and make them surrender."
Jack snorted at him, crossing his arms on his chest. Being discriminate for being human was nothing new to him, but he had to admit that it had been a long time since it last happened.
"What's wrong with being human!? And who do you think you are to ask people to give up their planet?"
"They submit and I will spare their lives. That's all inferior creatures need to know. You're not an exception, human. Not even a normal looking face makes you more worthy than them."
"You destroyed their planet and then you ask them to surrender. I doubt you simply want them to give you money, so tell me: what's in for them if they accept?"
"I'll spare their lives and they can inhabit one of the deserts. Since their number decreased considerably it should be enough. We'll take the rest. We're many and we need resources."
"You're not that many! Your army's would not even be enough to take down the planet by itself, especially not with the equipment you have. I've seen enough invasions in my life, you are having the upper hand only because someone is cheating for you. Who are those people? Where do they come from?!"
"Our gods are powerful." The old man answered him, grinning at him with a cold and simply evil smirk. "That's why we chained them: to use them better and fully. That's why we need to throw away who stopped being useful and grow new resources."
"You drain their lives up!?" Jack realized astonished. "And what does it mean new resources? Who are those people!?"
"If you're not here to surrender then die!" The king snapped at him and with a quick movement of his hand he gave to his soldier the order to attack.
Unfortunately it was already too late for them. Jack, with his well known talking ability, had managed to buy the resistance enough time for the trap to work.
During the last few days the inhabitants of Karid and Marud's village, along with a few others nearby, had managed to build some catapults in their secrets hideouts, but they had never find a way to take them out in the open air. Moreover they needed time to calibrate them properly and the alien army was always watching their moves.
Now Jack had bought them the time they needed, giving them the chance take advantage of the very rare moment in which every soldier had been too busy with the negotiations to bother about surveying the mountains of an area that was meant to surrender.
As soon as the counter attack began, Karid e Marud, almost forgotten by the invaders, dashed forwards among the scattered panicked soldiers, in order to reach the five mages and get rid of them before they were ordered to support the defence. Jack protected their incursion the best he could, with his gun and some spare weapons he had brought with himself from the planets he had visited.
He had a vast collection of them at the moment, but he sadly had to consider that very few of them were intended for self defence.
As to demonstrate his point, his laser shields were soon out of battery, and he found himself without any other protection than his renowned luck. He took a moment to check on his friends and saw them ready to strike against the mages. The army around them was too scattered and unprepared to endanger them, so he sighed in relief and kept doing his best to keep the soldiers that way even without the protection of his shields and the absolute lack of any other places he could hide behind.
Some of the aliens had recovered, though, and now the shoots aimed at him were each time closer to hurting him deadly. He tried to get away from the line of their shooting, however, as a shoot of energy bypassed his heart, he could easily say that he didn't fear the upcoming death.
It was his own death: something that he would always welcome as long as he was the one welcoming him.
T.B.C.