Wish Fulfilment

Standing before the two doors they noted a small plaque.

One door leads to your greatest desire, the other leads to back to the maze.

"Oh god not that bloody maze," Jack groaned.

Ianto grinned and then said in a rote voice, "You are in a maze of twisty passages."

"I hate mazes," Jack said.

"One wrong turn, and there we were," Ianto commented on their decision to turn right after the dragon instead of left.

"The passages were all alike, exactly alike," Jack repeated the frustration of the hours they had spent trying to work out their way through evident in his voice.

"So now we are faced with the two doors riddle," As Ianto spoke a face appeared in each door.

"I always tell the truth," the door on the right said.

"He always lies," the door on the left declared.

Together then intoned, "To discern which is the correct door you can ask one of us a single question."

"So," Jack started to speak, "one is lying and one is telling the truth, so if the door telling the truth never lies..."

"Got it." Jack looked at Ianto, startled.

"You sure? This is an age old riddle, I'm pretty sure, there's no correct answer."

"Yes but I know everything," Ianto told him with a smile as Jack crossed arms.

"Prove it," he said raising his eyebrow.

Ianto took a breath. "Door to the right, if I asked the door on the left which door led to the reward what would it say?"

"It would say it was the correct door," the door the right replied. Ianto grinned, taking Jack's hand and opening the door that spoke.

Ducking their heads they now found themselves in a passage that led to a large stone room. On the wall was a gold card. Plucking it Ianto placed it in the card holder along with all the others.

"How?" Jack said looking at Ianto in amazement.

"I told you I know everything," Ianto teased as he began to examine the room.

"No seriously how?" Jack asked again.

'Okay, one door tells the truth the other one tells lies." He saw the look on Jack's face as he pointed out the obvious. "If you ask the liar door it will lie about the correct answer. If you ask the truth teller it will tell the truth about the lie. So regardless of what answer the door you ask gives you always chose the opposite." He smiled.

"Ianto, have I told you you're a genius?" Jack told him. Ianto's smile grew and he was about to reply when the door slammed with a clunk, locking them in.

What seemed like hours later, Jack began to examine the walls again. They were trapped in a large sandstone box. It was tall enough for them to stand up in. The walls were covered in motifs of water: leaping dolphins, stylised waves, fish...one he could swear looked like a clown fish carved into the surface. No amount of pushing moved them. Running their fingers along the edges of the wall and along the outline of the motifs didn't reveal any hidden switches. Nor did Jack's rendition of a number of very risqué sea shanties release them from their prison.

The only thing the room had other than the wall motifs was a small dish-like depression in the centre of the floor. The card had pinged several times asking if they wanted a hint, but after using a large number to escape the several mazes they had found themselves in they only had four left and both agreed they would save them for later.

Ianto sat back into a corner trying to work out the clues. As he thought he opened his backpack and took out the bottle of water from the pump house. Jack joined him as he took the offered bottle and took a drink. He placed the open container down and pulled Ianto into a snog. They had got to the removal of clothes stage when Jack's hand knocked the bottle. Being their only water Ianto tried to save it but the water half glugged out before he could reach it. Picking it up he noticed that the water slowly ran towards the centre of the room, filling the small depression. Moving he poured the remainder of the water into the depression. As soon as it was filled they heard a deep boom, and the floor underneath them shifted.

Feet first, Ianto tried to slow his decent down the large pipe with his hands. There were so many twists and turns it proved impossible. The pipe did a final twist and he flipped landing heavily on one ankle and he let out a grunt.

"Yahooooo!" Jack said as he landed next to Ianto.

"What is that smell?" Ianto said still trying to catch his breath as a foul odour seemed to rise in a yellow haze.

Jack sniffed the air as he held out his hand and grimaced. Taking it Ianto pulled himself up. As he put weight on his right ankle he winced.

"You're injured," Jack said concerned. "This was not meant to happen".

"It's not too bad," Ianto pointed out seeing Jack was upset.

"But this was meant to be perfect," he said supporting Ianto.

"Jack, it's wonderful."

"I need to check your ankle," Jack fussed. Ianto grabbed Jack's shoulders.

"Listen we only have two more cards to find, and I'm betting that the rest of this holiday doesn't require much walking," he said kissing Jack gently on the lips.

Jack nodded. "It's just I wanted to give you the perfect experience and..." he tried to say but Ianto put his finger to Jack's lips to stop him.

"Jack being here with you is. I've had a fantastic time, the most fun I've had for years, honestly." He smiled and put his finger under Jack's chin and kissed him gently.

"Okay," Jack told him as Ianto leaned his weight on him.

Looking around they found themselves in a cavern, a wide chasm before them. They were standing on some kind of spongy mushroom growths which had softened their landing. Every step however caused the release of a pungent odour reminiscent of sour feet. With help Ianto hopped over to a convenient rock beside the chasm. One of the large growths was sporting a silver card which Ianto picked up as they passed.

Jack searched about for a clue as Ianto rested his ankle. The scene it was quite beautiful; there were giant crystals interspersed with columns that looked like spun sugar. His eyes following up one of the columns Ianto saw the ceiling was filled with twinkling stars.

Ianto had a thought and opening his backpack he took out the three foot black rod with a rusty star on the end. After carrying the awkward object for some time, they found the rod slid into itself decreasing its length somewhat. Pulling to extend it fully Ianto waved it. Nothing happened.

A few moments passed and the card pinged. Pulling it out Ianto pressed the 'Q'

'Magic Word'

appeared on the card. Ianto now took out his note pad and said out loud 'PUGH' and waved the wand. As he did a crystal bridge appeared. In the centre was a gold card. Jack gave him the thumbs up.

"That's eleven only one more to go," Ianto told him as Jack helped him up.

Placing some weight on his sore ankle he now found it wasn't quite so bad and they made their way across the bridge.

On the other side they found a short passage which lead to a large door.

On it was an inscription

This quest is almost ended, one step doth remain, answer me this riddle and wonderment will be gained

'Which creature in the morning goes on four legs, at mid-day on two, and in the evening upon three, and the more

legs it has, the weaker it be?'

Ianto lent against Jack, as he thought. "I think the answer's 'a human being'," Ianto replied.

As he spoke a gold card appeared where the inscription had been. Taking the card the door shimmered then vanished, replaced with a stunning view. It was clear they were high in orbit, the beauty of the Earth spread out before them. Hopping forward supported by Jack Ianto moved to the window, his mouth slightly open.

"Wow," he said after several long moments passed.

"You said a year ago you wished to see something wondrous," Jack said softly.

"Jack, I always dreamed, never thought..." he said as he breathed out as Jack wrapped his arms around Ianto's waist. "Incredible, beautiful," he said captured in true wonderment. "Where are we?" he asked not able to tear his eyes away.

"This is the Star Ship Magnificence. She passes through the Earth solar system once a year on a pleasure cruise. One of the services on board is 'The Quest'…" Jack got no further as Ianto kissed him and gave him a huge hug.

"I don't know how to thank you," he said as Jack held him. "I had no idea what you had planned, but all this," he said as Jack cupped his face and kissed him gently.

"Come with me, trust me the views will be just as wonderful," Jack promised. The large viewing area now started to close down as Jack took Ianto's weight and they slowly headed towards the exit.

Lying in Jack's arms Ianto sat back and took in the view. It was astounding; he had been trying to find the words for hours, but no words he knew seemed to sum up the view. They just watched the Earth turn below them from the large oval window that was a feature of their small suite of rooms. Jack was being very mysterious about the true purpose of all this and he was curious. Jack had promised that he would explain. Not tonight, it had been a long tiring day, this was time just to enjoy being in each other's company along with wine and good food. Ianto agreed; the 'company' they had taken in the shower was wonderful.

He has to pinch himself to keep reminding himself this was real. Right now they were high in orbit around the Earth, and in a few hours they would be moving out to the two gas giants Jupiter and Saturn, returning by Sunday when they would depart.

He felt incredibly touched Jack had recalled his answer, he had completely forgotten. He looked down and saw Jack was almost asleep. He leaned over and took the glass out of his hand before he dropped it.

"I think it's time we went to bed," Ianto suggested.

"I thought you would never ask," Jack joked as he stood and stretched.

Ianto now stood and gave him a hug. "I think I need to sleep out some of my aches," Ianto agreed as he pulled back the covers and they both laid down now just holding each other.

"You know this is a first for us," Jack said as he pulled Ianto into a hug.

"Well we did sleep in the same bed in New York and at my flat."

"I know, but this feels different," Jack tried to explain as he yawned and wrapped himself around Ianto.

As he drifted off to sleep a thought came to Ianto. Jack was right; this was different. This was a first for them both; they were experiencing a true intimacy and it felt so natural, so right. His eyes became heavy and within moments had joined Jack gently snoring.