7
Ianto was transfixed, standing on the Plass as life teamed about him, the body of water in the distance more like a wink in the haze.
It was so hot.
Ianto swallowed thickly as the air itself seemed as cloying as the water from his own world and he wondered if it was possible to drown in air. People wore so many clothes, like it was cold but his own shirt was clinging to his sweaty torso as he reached for Jack's hand without thinking, "It's too hot."
"Are you kidding?" Jack asked softly, "No. It's autumn, the air is cooling."
"It's too hot, I feel sick" Ianto amended and Jack realised the poor man was wilting, pulling him back towards the stone.
"Come on, let's go back" Jack soothed, holding Ianto against him as they started to lower into the Hub and Ianto clung to him, totally uncaring that this was not his Jack, right now any Jack would do.
"What's up?" Owen called out, looking up as he watched them ascend.
"Ianto is hungry" Jack said as inspiration hit, "Might be the baby needs something sweet?"
Owen was on alert, running for the kitchen as he called out "I can check for some of the hidden chocolate that D-Boy likes to…."
Owen stopped running and stood there with open confusion, then turned to look back at Jack. Jack felt the thump in the gut as he saw the confusion on Owen's face and he knew in that moment Owen didn't know who 'D-Boy' was.
"It's OK Owen, good idea" Jack called with fake bravado, "Ianto likes to hide some in the bottom of the tea caddy. Or some ginger nuts, good for the tummy."
Owen blinked, then nodded and turned to check, the moment passing and became Owen excited again. Ianto tightened his hold on Jack as he saw the exchange, turning his face to Jack for explanation and then he heard it, Jack's internal sigh. They both stood staring at each other as the ramifications started to hit home that they were bonding.
"Jack?" Ianto whispered as he shivered, a cold finger sliding up his spine like a black of ice.
"Yeah, I think its happening. Shit, we are fracturing between spaces" Jack replied softly, trying not to show his alarm. "Oh Holdfast, my love."
They both knew that if Yan did not succeed soon it would be too late for all of them, Owen was not just forgetting Yan. Ianto was forgetting his Jack as the one holding him became more real, more tangible in the back of his mind.
The bleeding had begun.
.
.
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.
Yan spun, hearing Jack's sorrow but found himself alone in the room.
He could have sworn he had just heard his mate lamenting something. "Jack?"
"Here" Jack entered with a plate of food in each hand, "I don't know what you like but I assume the two of you are similar enough to both like ginger nuts. Good for an upset tummy too. My wife used to swear by them when she was with child you know…what the hell am I saying? I've never been married, what the hell."
"Bleeding between worlds" Yan said softly, "The two are fracturing, the time is getting late Cariad."
""Tell me what you remember of the split" Jack asked as they sat, "You know something, saw something. What was it?"
"We were trying to bring down a drug ring the Blowfish were running" Yan explained as he crunched a wonderful ginger nut biscuit, "the warehouse was full of people who shouldn't have been there and the device. The device…I remember now. Gwen on the bloody catwalk and….and…..the blonde. She was there. She was the one who activated the device."
"How, Yvonne pushed a button?" Jack asked and Yan canted his head, things more clearly remembered as the bleeding fed his powers, then he cursed softly.
"I was wrong. What I saw." Yan blinked "I saw a blonde, I saw the device, her hand slapping down as I tried to snatch it from her. Jack's hand around my tail. I saw but did not see. How could I have been so stupid. She was not setting it off. She was trying to stop it."
"Why would Yvonne try to stop the device, didn't it do what she wanted?" Jack asked.
"Captain, Yvonne was not in my world anymore. I killed her when I tore the tower apart with rage. I don't know why I did not remember that, maybe part of the device's power is to change thoughts and manipulate things, for me to forget that event all together. By the Gods of Ragnor. Shit. I remember now. It was not Yvonne there at all" Yan rose and paced now, more like Ianto in appearance than ever as the two worlds seemed to meld for a moment.
Jack fought the urge to comfort him.
This was not his Ianto.
Not his man.
Not a man at all.
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.
.
"Oi" Owen called out from below as he pulled the handful of ginger nuts from the jar, "Guess what. I just saw the weirdest fucking thing. I could have sworn Suzie was standing at her old workstation plain as day. Just for a moment, then…shit, I must be tired."
Ianto whimpered as Jack tightened his hold, Ianto's face nuzzling into his neck.
It had begun.
The ribbons were unravelling.
Ghosts were walking.
