2. 1.15pm – Day One
Ianto woke to darkness.
Strange when he remembered such brightness.
He shifted and cried out as his ankle bit back and he reached down his leg to find it pinned under something. With a soft groan of pain he pushed with his other foot and it gave, shifting away as his searching fingers told him it was a wooden box.
A wooden box?
He remembered one up on the shelf behind him.
Ah shit.
Ianto reached into his pocket for his keys and the small key-ring torch was soon showing him his dilemma.
The shelving had collapsed around him. The only thing that had saved him had been the open drawer above his head, catching the large shelving unit as it has tipped. Everything had spewed onto him and he was sure a few ribs had suffered with falling debris as well.
He rolled his ankle to test it and felt the flame shoot up his leg.
OK.
Not good.
Ianto reached for his Bluetooth and cursed as he found his ear bereft. He started hunting for it, knowing he was stupid to leave without it, possibly getting stuck or lost if the archives were all in this shape.
He found no sign of it on the ground around him and he was almost frantic when he remembered the drawer had been open. It seem that when the archives collapsed and he was thrown forward, he had pushed the drawer shut
Praying to gods he wasn't sure even existed anymore, he pulled the drawer open and shone the torch around.
There.
Thank the gods.
"Jack?" he croaked, startled by his own voice.
"Ianto!" Jack sounded out of breath like he had been running, "Where are you, are you hurt? Tell me where you are. Tosh get me a location for his Bluetooth."
"Um, back room in the royal drawers. Er…M to O. Where are you sir?"
"Coming for you, stay there" Jack demanded, "The place is unstable. Just stay calm"
"Sir, I appear to have hurt my ankle and don't think I could move if I wanted too. I am pinned under shelving but other than the ankle I am OK." Ianto soothed, concerned by Jack's panicked voice.
"IANTO!" Tosh's voice crackled, "Oh god. Oh god. Are you OK?"
"I'm OK" Ianto answered, "Owen may have some work for a change though."
"Just stay there!"
Ianto threw his hands up in annoyance, hadn't he just made it clear he wasn't going anywhere?
He must have dozed off because he was startled by a scraping sound and he woke with a snort.
"Sir?" he called softly, then canted his head as he heard it again.
"I'm coming Ianto" the voice was calm, soothing and definitely too far away to be heard outside of coms. Whatever was making that noise it wasn't Jack.
"Sir, I don't mean to alarm you but…the cells are secure right?" he asked softly, trying to listen for the noise again, "Only. I don't think I'm entirely alone down here."
"Fuck" Owen huffed down the line, "I'm at the cells now. Janet's still here but that juvenile male we picked up the other night is gone, the ceiling came down and he's gone up."
"Well, up and then down I guess" Ianto sighed, "I can defiantly hear claws scraping."
"You got your sidearm, right?" Gwen sounded sure of it and Ianto felt a twist in his gut.
"You were the one who put forward the vote to disarm me. Remember? Cyberman girlfriend in the basement? Threat to humanity? You also voted to Retcon me and dump me somewhere." Ianto huffed out as his fear shut down his brain filter, "Luckily I get to keep my memory like a good little servant. I'm good enough to keep this place running, just not good enough to be still allowed to arm myself."
"Oh my god" Gwen gasped, as if now just realising what no weapon for an agent meant.
"You know, I could have killed you at any time, right?" Ianto decided he may as well settle in, "Poison in the coffee, gas in the air con. It really hurt that you thought I would be stupid enough to just step up and put a gun to your head. Might have been nice right about now. Never mind."
"Ianto I…"
"It's OK Gwen. He's almost to me now." Ianto snorted, "Getting a bit pissed off with something in his way by the sound of it. Another few minutes and you will get your wish. I will pay for my sins. Gods, I deserve to. I prayed for death in that tower. Daleks and Cybermen stomping about killing each other as well as any of us they could find. Watching friends have their heads ripped off, turned to ash or converted. Death isn't so bad. Not really. Might enjoy the silence finally. All that screaming in my head gets a bit loud, you know?"
A clawed hand broke through the darkness and the shelving shifted slightly.
"Ianto I forgave you" Jack was desperately throwing himself at the debris blocking his entry to the secure archives, heaving hunks of masonry behind him as Owen helped clear, "Hang in there. I'm coming."
"It's OK Jack. I still haven't forgiven myself you see." Ianto sighed, "Oh Cariad. He's here."
"IANTO"
"I am sorry sir, please believe me. I am sorry that I hurt you" Ianto whispered as he braced himself, his hands against the shelving as he closed his eyes and turned from the slashing claws millimetres from his face, "I never wanted to. You were the only nice thing left to hold onto in the darkness. I deserved to lose you too. It hurts but I do understand your anger. Please don't hold onto it. Please. I … I meant it. Those whispered conversations in the dark. I did mean it."
"IANTO!" Jack was screaming.
"I really did care for you Sir."
Finally a claw caught his jacket and started to yank as Ianto gave in. As he started to scream with terror Jack threw himself into the barely large enough hole knowing it may collapse in on him at any moment but Ianto's words were ringing louder than his screams now were.
Jack had to save him.
Damn it all, he loved him too.