Lycan Ianto

Chapter 26

"So what Ianto goes to the elders with what an opened box that hasn't been opened in centuries with a recipe that could spell destruction for all of mankind that has been in Torchwood but no we didn't interfere with it, they are never going to believe Ianto, he will be put in the utmost danger, I won't have it, I won't" Jack shouted in exasperation and anger.

"Jack I will have to try, there is nothing more, if I go, yes I will be in danger, and if I don't go I and you all will be danger, hell my sister and her family could be in danger, so Jack I am going with the box opened or closed"

Owen, chin in his hands as he yawned and picked at his egg and bacon roll, his sleepiness all but overwhelming him, "Just a thought, Ianto opened it, yeah?"

"Yes Owen , I was there, I saw him do it soon after he transformed" Jack said a little snarkily, thinking that Owen disbelieved that Ianto opened it to start with.

"Well what if he has to close it because he was the one that opened it, I don't know maybe it has a circuit that whoever opens it must close it?" Owen continued and then yawned loudly.

Jack, Tosh and Conner's eyes and mouths gaped open in a comedic way, almost like those clowns in the sideshow alleys, Jack spluttering on his mouthful of egg and bacon, "Bloody hell, of course, it is so bloody obvious, why didn't we think of that?"

"Hey I'm not saying that it will work, but have we tried that?" Owen said exhaustedly.

"No " Jack said, "Conner transformed to close it but what if you're right, what if it only works that whoever opened it has to close it"

"What are we waiting for? Ianto go and transform already and see if that works to close it" Owen said getting tired of the discussion and wanting to go to bed.

Jack looked apologetically at Ianto, knowing that he didn't want to transform in front of Jack again and at most of, not all in front of his team, "Ianto where do you want to do this?"

Smiling tightly Ianto said, "I'll do it in your office" knowing that all of them could not fit in there.

"Ianto" Tosh said shyly, figuring that Ianto did not want an audience, "I am intrigued, would it be okay if I came along as well, I would love to see how it closes"

Turning to his friend Ianto, he nodded slightly, "Just you and Jack" and then looking at the others, "okay?"

twtwtw

The three stood in Jack's office with Tosh smiling warmly at Ianto as she handed him the two halves of the box she looked expectedly at him. Placing it on the ground at his feet, "It might be best to transform first" he said nervously.

"Oh..oh of course" Tosh said smiling reassuringly at her friend trying to ease his discomfort.

Ianto took a step back, his shoulders rising as he took a heaving breathe, closing his eyes after fleetingly locking eyes with Jack to gain more a sense of security. Reaching into his werewolf identity he felt the first tingling of his transformation, then the all too consuming ache all over as the muscles, sinew, bones and skin stretched beyond what should be normal. All too soon he stood tall and yet a little stooped with the added height as he stood there his eyes still that of Ianto but from a face almost unrecognisable as Ianto. Tosh reached out to him seeing his eyes glistening, with tears she wasn't sure but she could see pain, was that pain from the transformation or was it pain from having his friend see him as a creature that others feared. Jack reached out to Tosh and gently pulled her back, he didn't fear Ianto in this form, not really, but he wasn't going to take any chances.

The werewolf knelt down to two halves of the sacred box, his claws reaching the indents on all the sides as he pushed the two halves together.

Jack and Tosh's eyes never left the box and yet they wouldn't be able to tell anyone what exactly happened as all they could tell anyone was one moment the box was in two then at the same instant that Ianto as the werewolf pushed the two halves together, there was no spark, no melding that they could see, no nothing to signal that the two were now one, it was just that it was. Later on viewing the video didn't reveal anything more, even when the video was slowed down to an excruciating slow pace nothing could be discerned to conclusively to say how the two halves melded together.

twtwtwtwtw

Monday night

All too soon it was time for Ianto to go to the elders, the parchment was written in the same script with a slightly different ingredient list, the artefact opened and closed again with Ianto's help as it made sense that he open it again whilst he was in Jack's office the first time he closed it.

"Ianto….please be careful….this is not the gathering…..they are asking for you specifically" Jack said his voice laced with dread for his lover.

"Jack" Ianto said, his hand gently cupping Jack's cheek rubbing his thumb near his lips, "it will be fine"

"You know Ianto, I'm getting really tired of you saying that 'you're fine', 'things will be fine', no, this is not a fine situation. This is the most un-fine situa…" Jack was silenced by Ianto smashing their lips together.

twtwtwtwtw

Ianto sat in the park outside his apartment waiting for Lisa, the sacred box in a recyclable calico grocery bag on the park bench besides him, his hand resting on it. He had been sitting there for about fifteen minutes now and he wasn't too sure if Lisa was going to show, he wished that he could be in communication with Jack and the team, he had gotten so used to having the blue tooth device in his ear that he felt naked without it, but having that would raise suspicions, so the only reference of what was happening was for the team to monitor his vitals from the tracer but for Ianto he was in the dark literally except for the park's dim lighting.

With his sensitive hearing he heard rustling behind him, alerting him to someone or something moving behind him, he turned quickly so as to eliminate the element of surprise for him. Out of the bushes emerged Lisa smiling, "Gee Ianto I would have thought you would have smelt me before you heard me"

Hiding the snarky reply he so wanted to give Lisa, he hid his true feelings about Lisa and what she represented and smiled, "Oh you know, some senses are more acute than others, I suppose I was more in tune with sound at this particular time" shrugging his shoulders.

"Oh Ianto you crack me up, lighten up a bit, yeah?" Lisa said, standing on tippee toes to kiss him, Ianto moving quickly so her kiss landed on his cheek.

"Yeah of course, just a little nervous about meeting the elders. I've only been a werewolf for a short time and I have an audience with the elders, this is not usual, is it?"
"No but you are Torchwood and Torchwood had the sacred box, the elders were never too sure if they would ever see it again. You were, I suppose heaven sent, the elders knew that it was in possession of Torchwood, they thought it was lost to them forever, your Torchwood is a very secure place" Lisa said knowingly.

"Did you try to get it out of Torchwood?"

"Listen, I'm not going to lie to you Ianto, yes we did, but your security systems are the best that we have ever seen" Lisa said in truthfulness, the first time that Ianto actually believed her since learning that she was part of the werewolf society that was hell bent on destroying the human race.

"Well we do have the best technical brain in the Northern hemisphere" Ianto said thinking of Tosh and her prodigies with anything technical.

"We could do with someone like that in the clan" Lisa said without thinking.

Turning sharply to glare at Lisa, "You will not be turning my friends"

"Hey calm down, gees louise, I just thought it wouldn't bother you to have a friend of yours join us and it is a bonus that she is brilliant"

'she' did she just say 'she' , I didn't say the technical brain was a female, the clan must know each member of Torchwood, Ianto thought, shrugging this thought off unless he would start to get antsy, "Like I said, just a little nervous"

"You'll be fine, you just have to hand over the sacred box"

twtwtwtwtw

Owen and Jack hovered over the read outs, watching intently as the bars rose and fell. When the heart rate monitor spiked yet again Jack inhaled sharply and his body jerked, he looked quickly at Owen fretfully.

"Jack if you are going to be jumpy and edgy you can bugger off, Ianto will be fine" Owen said sternly.

"Yeah sorry Owen" Jack tried to relax, "it's just that his vitals were steady then all of sudden they shot up twice in a short time"

"Yeah doesn't mean anything sinister, his heart rate is steady again and it seems to be stable, okay, so relax" Owen said wishing he could monitor Ianto without having Jack hovering around.

twtwtwtwtw

Stepping into the clearing, Ianto recognised it as where the gathering was, he sighted the same five elders, they were sitting at a rectangular table this time, three of them were as werewolves and two were in human form. The elder with a ginger tinge to his fur, who was sitting 2 spaces to the left of the werewolf who was in the centre, motioned for them to come closer.

Walking up to the table Ianto tried to stop his hands from shaking as he held on the calico bag. "Ianto Jones, thanks for coming tonight" the centre werewolf said.

"U..um…my pleasure" Ianto stumbled over his words unsure of what to say.

"I believe you have something for us Mr Jones" Ginger-Tinge werewolf said.

'Y..yes"

"Do you know of the importance of this sacred box Ianto?" the human-werewolf said, who was next to the centre werewolf on the right, this human-werewolf had a scar across his face, the mark starting from bridge of his nose running diagonally down his cheek to his jaw line.

"No, other than it has been in the clan for centuries" Ianto said remembering that Lisa didn't tell him much about the sacred box other than it can help werewolves.

"Yes Ianto it has been with our ancestors and the clan for many many years and they feel safer knowing it is in the presence of the clan"

"Uhuh" Ianto mumbled, struggling not to say, that they would be the only ones who would be safer, not so the human race.

The werewolf who was sitting between ginger-tinge and the centred werewolf sported a tuff of grey hair sprouting from the top of its head reached out with his hands in invitation for Ianto to hand over the artefact. Glancing down at the calico bag in his hand, Ianto raised his arm and placed the calico bag onto the table. Ianto could feel a bead of sweat run down his face and he quickly brushed it away before anyone could see it.

Watching as the artefact was taken out of the calico bag Ianto tried to reign in his anxiety, the grey-furred elder held it aloft as the other elders looked on in anticipation, their eyesight never leaving the artefact. Ginger-tinge werewolf stared at the artefact and placed one of his hand on it and closed his eyes in reverence, then the grey-furred werewolf passed it to the centre elder werewolf who passed it down to the human scar-faced elder to his right who held it then passed it to the werewolf on his right.

The human scar-faced elder transformed quickly and quietly. The centre werewolf nodded his head looking at the newly transformed werewolf. The scar on the newly transformed werewolf was still slightly visible reached out for the artefact, placing his claws on the indents. The box remained closed, the werewolf tried again and yet again the box steadfastly remained closed, growling, the werewolf slunk down into his seat. The centre werewolf took hold of the artefact and tried, his claws automatically touching the indents, again the artefact refused to open. Snarling he pushed away at the box, one by one each of the elder placed their claws onto the indents, in the hope that it would open the box.

Ianto wondered why the box would not open, it opened the first go when he placed his claws on the indents, he wondered if it would only open the once but no, he thought, he was able to open it, then after deducing that he had to close it as he was the one to open it then he had opened and closed it again to put the new parchment with the alternative recipe, so it can be opened more than once.

"Why are they upset?" Ianto whispered to Lisa pretending he didn't know that the box opened.

"It is foretold that only one, the one who has been prophesied about, only that werewolf can open the box"

A/N: does that explain a few things, it seems that there will be more troubled times ahead for our poor hapless Ianto.