Chapter 9
The Doctor entered the torture room, his happiness in a cloud around him. "Did you miss me?" He asked, mock concern in his tone.
A man was chained in the center of the room, the light brown of his skin and the blood painting it the only color beside the gray of the stone walls and floor and the nondescript clothing he wore. The chains were secured to the ceiling, forcing the man into a kneeling position with his arms hanging above him. A wild look was in his piercing blue eyes as he glared up at the Doctor, a dark patchy beard tracing the way down his solid jaw. The months of torture hadn't made him more pitiful as the Doctor had expected, it had actually done the opposite. He had gained spirit. He spat at the Doctor in response.
The Doctor's grin grew wider. He liked it when the slave was in a fierce mood. It made the sessions more entertaining.
"What shall we try today?" the Doctor continued his one-sided conversation. "Hot pokers again? Bring back the memories of the people you were trying to save dying because of your actions? Or something new...I did get a new set of blades recently, and I have yet to try them out..." he trailed off as if he was thoughtful.
"Rot in hell," Aaron said, so quiet the Doctor almost missed it, but not quite.
The Doctor let out a laugh that sounded a bit more like a chortle, before grabbing a spiked bat off of the wall, and coming to stand next to Aaron, facing the wall behind him. He brought the weapon up slightly, resting it in his left hand softly, before winding up slightly, and bringing it backwards across Aaron's back. A few drops of blood fell from the man's back from where the spikes had dug in, but he let out only a hiss.
"So it's one of those days. You're determined not to scream for me. Okay. It just means I'll have to try a bit harder. I hope I'm not out of practice...it's been around 7 months to the rest of the universe...how long has it been for you? A week? If you're a good boy and make this enjoyable for me, I might decide to give you some food."
Many hours later, the Doctor exited the room, and walked to the bathroom, to wash the blood off his hands. He removed the suit and showered quickly to get the rest of the blood off, as it had splattered all over him, and placed the suit in the back of his closet so the Torchwood team wouldn't see it and get suspicious. He dressed once more in a similar outfit, before returning to the room and hosing down the now shaking Aaron, washing the blood down a drain the TARDIS provided for him. He brushed his mind against the TARDIS, and she sensed his intentions and allowed the chains holding up Aaron's arms to detach from the ceiling. Without the support they had provided, his body slumped to the floor, and the shaking increased. The TARDIS sensed that he was mortally wounded, and let out a puff of smoke containing a healing agent that healed him slightly so that he was no longer in danger of dying, but was still in excruciating pain. The Doctor smiled. She knew he didn't want the man dead yet.
The Doctor pulled a chunk of bread from his pocket, and tossed it at the quivering form on the floor, before leaving the room and deadlocking the door behind him.
He strode into the control room of the TARDIS, stroking a coral strut, when a noise at the door caught his attention.
He walked over, hesitating slightly, before pushing the door open revealing Ianto.
The teaboy looked up at the Doctor, a fearful expression on his face; probably fearful of being caught.
"Well, well," the Doctor sneered at him, dropping every pretense of being kind. Ianto had seen he wasn't long ago. "What have we here?"
Ianto was frozen, but the Doctor could tell he was planning on bolting, planning to try and run.
"Leaving so soon? Why would you so that? You just got here." The Doctor grabbed his wrist in a steel grip and pulled him into the TARDIS, closing the door behind him and giving her instructions not to open for anyone but him.
"You're not good," Ianto glared at him, accusations in his eyes. "Everything Jack thinks of you is a lie."
"Very good," the Doctor growled. "You're not a complete idiot." He leaned against one of the struts, his arms crossed over his chest.
"What are you going to do with me?" Ianto asked, a slight tremor in his voice, although he was clearly doing his best not to look scared, standing awkwardly in the control room.
"Well we can't have you blabbing to Jack. Not that he'd believe you," he added offhandedly.
"He would listen to me," Ianto said defensively.
"No," the Doctor said coolly, looking into Ianto's eyes, and he knew the man saw the truth there. "Jack is too blinded by his adoration for me to see anything but what he expects; his wounded Time Lord." He stepped closer, and the teaboy took a step backwards. "You've seen it. How he has changed. How he's no longer yours. You've seen how instead of leading and controlling as he did, he's doing everything he can to please me."
"You belonged in that prison," Ianto whispered, barely able to get the words out.
"Of course I did!" the Time Lord laughed. "Even my story was ridiculous! But Jack just lapped it up, didn't he? They didn't even have me as secured as they thought. I could have walked off whenever I wanted, and the guards would have been too scared to even lift a finger. They didn't even start torturing me until I entered their minds and forced them to."
"Why then? What was this all for?" Ianto demanded.
"Although his men were all scared of me, that irritating warden wasn't. I knew he'd continue coming after me until the day he died, anything to defend the precious universe," the Doctor sneered. "He knew all about my past, about Jack and his immortality. He already had a plan in place that I found from his own gracious thoughts. If I were ever to escape, he'd get the only person who would be able to stop me."
"Jack," Ianto shoved the word out. "So you got to him first, convincing him you were the victim in all of this," he said, realization in his voice.
The Doctor altered his appearance, taking on an innocent image, widening his eyes, "I-I don't know why they would take me. I was…I was just trying to help," he said, his voice wavering slightly. He released the act, smirking at Ianto. "Jack saw exactly what I wanted him to, and nobody saw any differently."
"I did," Ianto said, his voice growing stronger again, "and Jack will too."
"You're forgetting one thing," the Doctor interrupted, "Jack is head over heels in love with me. You've already seen it, I know you have. Do you really think he'd doubt me? He's to overjoyed that his feelings are returned," he spat out the last line in disgust, "as if I could ever like an abomination like that. And a stupid ape no less…It was bad enough when I disillusioned myself with blondie," he shuddered, "but someone as wrong as him? He shouldn't exist, and after I'm through with him, he won't."
"I'll tell him," Ianto said, once more afraid. "You won't be able to stop me, and then he'll stop you."
"You're obviously not getting it. Do you think I would honestly let you back out there to warn Jack? I'm not going to risk him having even slight doubts that I'm innocent."
"He'll notice I'm gone…He will know something's wrong," Ianto said, backing further away now.
"Oh but you know that's not true, don't you? I can see into your mind. Would you like to see into mine?"
The Doctor wrapped his consciousness around the human's, smothering him in visions of all the evils he had committed. He showed him the planets burning, the armies ripped apart with a single thought, entire civilizations collapsing by his hand. The filthy ape collapsed onto the floor, screams erupting from his mouth. The TARDIS grew increasingly annoyed, and trapped him in a soundproof bubble. "Thanks old girl," the Doctor grinned, and she hummed in reply. The Doctor turned back to the teaboy, who was on his knees, tearing at his head as the images continued, the Doctor had an endless supply of them, and the he watched happily for a few moments, before growing bored. He slowly drew Ianto out of his mind, and into his own, imprisoning him in a dark corner, the images continuing, and Ianto's body slumping to the floor, alive, but the soul gone.
The Doctor smirked in success, and then looked into his own mind, entering the prison he made there, the whole thing glowing with the gold of his mind. He passed cell after cell, the occupants all screaming and begging to be let out. He reached Ianto's cell, and looked at him through the bars. His presence was a silver color, and was laying on the floor, shaking in the continuous onslaught. He paused it temporarily, and he sensed Ianto's confusion.
"Do you understand now?" the Time Lord questioned.
The shaking form pushed itself into a sitting position. "Where am I? Why didn't you just kill me?"
"Because if you were found dead, then there would be a sad Jack to comfort of course, but then he'd also want to find whatever did it to you. With you just injured, then there's still a sad Jack who will lean heavily on me for support, but he'll also skip the whole mourning phase. And you'll be in the TARDIS, with the greatest medical equipment in the universe!"
"So I'm still in the TARDIS then," he growled.
"Depends on your definition. Your body is, but your mind? Everything that makes you you, is up here," the Doctor pointed at his head. "I have greater power than you could ever have imagined. This isn't the first time I've done this, remove a mind from its casing, just look around you, and it probably won't be the last. I'm going to leave now, I do have a Jack to get back to; he's probably be worried about me. Before I go though, let me show you once more everything you missed about me," he continued the stream of memories, and Ianto screamed again. "And when Jack finally decides he's waited long enough, when he makes his move and tells me how much he loves me, I'll let you watch as he fucks me."
"Jack!" he heard a frantic voice call.
Jack spun around to see the Doctor running towards him.
"I don't know what happened! I was in the forest walking back, I didn't expect anything to happen, but it did and he's hurt!" the Doctor said, the words tumbling over one another.
Jack looked him over, noticing how he was breathing hard, as if he'd been running, how his hair was all over the place, more than usual, and the frightful expression on his face.
"Calm down, Doc, what happened?" Jack asked calmly, resting his hands on Jack's shoulders.
"I didn't see what did it…If I had finished faster…" the Doctor said, looking down.
"What happened?"
"Ianto…he must have come to check up on me…I found his body…"
Jack froze his heart stopping.
"Is he…?" he couldn't say the word.
The Doctor shook his head, and Jack gasped in relief. "But I can't get him to wake up…He's in the TARDIS medbay, I carried him there to see if she could help…she doesn't know what's wrong either."
Jack heard his voice crack, and he immediately pulled the Doctor into a hug. "It's not your fault," he said softly.
"Yes it is. It always is! Somebody always gets hurt, and it's my fault! I should never have taken you guys with me, if I hadn't he'd still be okay."
"This isn't your fault," he said forcefully, pushing the Doctor away from him slightly so he could look into his eyes. He saw the pain there, how sad they were. He knew that everything Eya had said earlier was spot on. The Doctor tore himself apart every time somebody in his company got hurt. "If he decided to go out after you, then it's only his fault. We will find a way to make him better."
The Doctor nodded, and Jack wrapped his arms around him, reveling in the slightly cool body in his arms. He realized just how true Eya's words were. The Doctor needed someone, and Jack was perfect for that. He wouldn't die or age and he would never willingly leave the-no. He'd never leave his Doctor. He smiled at the thought, and although he was worried about Ianto, he knew his Doctor wouldn't stop trying to help him.
A/N: Have you ever sat down, your mind overflowing with good ideas, ready to type/write them all down, and then somebody decides to throw a great big bucket of life in your face? No? Well that's what happened to me this week... Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out...I wasn't 100% happy with it, but I wanted you guys to have at least something to read.
Also! I've gotten over 1,000 views on this now! *dances around crazily* Thank you to everyone who read/reviewed/followed/favorited! It means a ton! It's the reason a keep writing! :D
Next weekend, I'll work extra hard to get multiple chapters out, but it might be difficult because I have testing all week in school.
Thank you again for reading, and for your amazing review!