A/N: Okay take two on posting this ficlet. I forgot to add a a/n and page break last time. Ooops. So here is V2.0. Please Review so I know if I should post other stories or not. Thanks and enjoy.
Title: Last Agonies
Words: 1311
Summary: The inner thoughts and feelings of Jack and Ianto when facing the 456. My take on COE day four.
Rating: T for character death
Disclaimer: I do not own. If I did Ianto would still be around and Jack would have finally admitted he loves him!
Jack felt panic settle in like a weight on his heart as the virus was pumped through the vents into the Thames House. A virus intended to kill everyone inside besides the 456.
"You're dying, even now. "The 456 informed the pair from behind the safety of the glass barrier. The first thing that occurred to Jack was that he needed to get Ianto away at all costs. He wouldn't let someone else he loved die, not after Tosh and Owen. Grabbing Ianto's he was prepared to bodily drag him away from the current danger.
"we've got to get you out of here." he started to pull him to the door," I can survive anything but you can't." the panic that had a hold of his heart was bleeding into his voice. Ianto gave him a small sad smile that broke jacks heart and amplified his fear. A smile like that spoke of nothing good.
"Too late. I breathed the air." Those two little phrases said so calmly, were enough to make the great Captain Jack Harkness swear his heart stopped and the blood turn to ice in his veins...
"There's got to be something. There's got to be an antidote!" he refused to accept that Ianto as going to die and that there wasn't a single thing he could do to stop it.
"You said you would fight.' the 456 finally spoke, having remained silent through out the exchange.
"Then I take it back aright? I take it all back, but not him!" desperation was thick in his words as he he releasd ianto to turn and face the 456, pleading with his out the support of jacks arms ianto collapsed, his body already weakening under the influence of the quickly turned back to him, catching the Welshman before he hit the ground.
"No! No, no, no, no, no. Ianto!" he cried holding him close. Alarms started sounding through the Thames House and red lights flashed, painting pools of bloody light against the pale walls. The doors locked, killing off any hope of escape, as those inside reached them. Jack hadn't joined the masses running towards the exit and the vague hope of safety choosing instead to stay with his lover. Ianto was cradled against his chest and he rocked him, fighting the tears glistening in his eyes. He refused to cry, even as his heart shattered, because he couldn't stand to worry Ianto anymore. And Ianto would worry about him and how he would carry on before he would worry about himself. It was one of the things he adored about his 'tea-boy'.
Ianto looked up at him fearfully, struggling to find the breath to speak. "I love you." He whispered the mask always in place finally breaking as the fear and terror broke through.
"Don't." was the only response jack could choke out. His throat was tight with repressed tears and smothered emotions. Jack hated himself in that moment, hated that he was such a coward, that he couldn't comfort his dying lover with four words that were completely true. He loved Jones, Ianto Jones but was too scared that it would hurt more if he admitted it out loud. Ianto's eyes closed and jack's heart froze in dread as he shook the man in his arms gently, begging him to stay with him.
"Ianto stay with me. Stay with me! Please! Stay with me please, please…" the Ex-Time Agent beseeched him, still holding on to the hope that Ianto would survive. That he wouldn't be left alone by the one he loved. Again. Ianto opened his eyes to sooth him, trying to focus on the ice blue orbs he had fallen for, during their first meeting. He was still putting jack before himself.
"hey,' he said weakly," it was good yeah?" the Welshman wanted, needed to hear jack say he enjoyed their time together, however short. He needed to know that it wasn't one-sided, even if jack wouldn't say he loved him. He didn't want to be just a part-time shag.
"yeah." His tone was tender as he reassured him, rocking him, trying to soothe the dying man.
"Don't forget me." Ianto sounded desperate. Suddenly terror-stricken that he would be forgotten by the only person still alive that he cared about.
"Never could." Jack swore, knowing the words were, without a doubt, true.
"A thousand years time? You won't remember me." The Welshman couldn't bring himself to believe the words were true. The 51st century man had all of time before him and he would move on eventually. Ianto would fade from his mind in time and pass out of memory.
"Yes I will. I promise. I will." And he wouldn't forget, he couldn't. After swear to himself he would fall in love again because it hurt too much, the other man had captured him heart and his attention. All of the members of Torchwood Three had never respected how much Ianto did for them and had always taken him for granted. Jack longed to go back n time and change how he had acted. He wanted to turn back the clock and do right by Ianto. Take him on more dates, ask him out earlier, and tell him he loved him. However as the light went out in the beautiful blue eyes, whose expressiveness had captivated him, it was too late. Ianto's chest still and he went limp in his captain's arms while his last breath slipped through barely parted lips.
"Ianto. Ianto don't go. Don't leave me please. Please. Don't." the words came out broken and desperate as he begged him to stay. It was hopeless and he knew it, Ianto was already gone, but the words escaped his lips anyway. As he continued to beg him to stay a familiar feeling of loss spread through out his body, bring with it familiar agony. Rage flared to life in his heart as the 456 spoke again.
"You will die. And tomorrow your people will deliver the children." The cold emotionless voice made jack want to injure them, give them a taste of the anguish he was presently in. he looked up and bared his teeth as a sign of defiance, telling them it would never happen, not so long as he had the power to stop it. But it was too late for him to do anything that night. His body was already growing heavy and it was becoming more and more difficult to breathe. Resigning himself to a death that night jack leaned down to press his lips to those of the man he loved. The lips beneath his had grown colder already and with this realization the tears flowed freely from eyes that had long ago ceased to cry. Like Juliet seeking the poison from Romeo's lips, jack sought mortality from Ianto's. He didn't want to come back to a world without Ianto, a world where he was alone once more. When he collapsed next to his Welshman and the final breath left his lungs for the time being he swore to avenge Ianto no matter what it took.
When Captain Jack Harkness gasped back into the world of the living the next moning, there was only one thought in his mind. How he was going to destroy the 456 as slowly and painfully as possible. He looked next to him, at the body that once was the man he loved and apologized for letting him die and repeated his promise not to let Ianto's memory slip from his mind. It was a Welsh poet that had put it perfectly 'Though lovers be lost love shall not.' And ack was not going to lose this one despite the fact that Ianto was gone.