52

They were running, the distant scream fading as they put more distance between them and their mother, the little ones sobbing as they held their brothers hands, the older boy taking the lead as the smaller one looked back with wide eyes, a baby in his arms as he held his oldest sister's hand. Sean had the two middle girls and Rhiannon carried little Casey. Seven. Seven sad little ones with nowhere to go but going anyway.

Another scream, closer this time telling them their other mother had been reached by those things, standing at one end of the long swinging rope bridge that the children were almost over. Bella and Lauren both started to cry, their mother was dying and they could hear it.

The older boy looked scared, almost hysterical as he turned to look back, "Ianto, hurry!"

The small boy pushed the baby at his older brother and the knife he had in his boot appeared as he sawed wildly at one of the ropes, "Don't just stand there Sean. Cut! Mama said so."

"But I can't see her" Sean wailed, the baby being handed off to Rhiannon who looked to her sisters, ushering them towards the shelter of trees. The fog that had hindered them now masked whoever was still out there.

The bridge started to move and Sean stopped sawing "MAMA!"

"It's not her" Ianto panted, his eyes wild as he finally cut the first rope, falling to his knees to cut the next one, "Can you hear her calling? No! It's not her."

Sean knew his little brother was right, sawing as he started to cry and Ianto moved to help with the bottom one. His hands were raw, bleeding from slippage but he knew it was their only hope, they had to protect the girls.

"Come on Sean!"

With a mighty groan the ropes gave and the bridge began to fall, the roars of anger proving Ianto right as finally through the fog they could see the marauders clinging to the ropes as they fell.

Ianto rose, the knife going back into his boot as he looked across the ravine to where their mothers were most likely being eaten, "Come on. Let's go."

"But where are the mamas?"

.

.

.

.

Ianto sighed as he shifted in the bed, finding Jack's warmth. He hadn't thought of that day in so long, it was a lifetime ago after all. The day their mothers all died. Left more or less orphaned with their father off world on assignment. They had to trudge to the nearest town where men went to make sure the marauders could not get through the ravine.

It was the next morning that they first realised how much danger they were in, several families coming forward to claim the little cute babies as Ianto clung to them and glared at them, his little sisters terrified as well.

There was only one thing to do, only one way to keep the Hive together without a mother there and Ianto knew what to do, his little ten year old self standing to square off beside his brother "I am Gentile! I can care for my siblings ta."

And so it was.

An Alpha hid as a Gentile and kept his Hive intact until his father arrived to scoop them up, telling them he already had a new mother sorted and Ianto found a new form of hell as he not only fell into the role of a Gentile to help her but he found that his father treated him differently upon hearing that his second son was not an alpha like he had thought. He had tried to explain, tried to say that he was, it had been a rouse but he was a small child, Sean speaking louder and faster as he took credit for Ianto's actions, the girls clinging to Ianto as they knew he was the only one who could care for them.

Ianto did not blame his siblings, they all went off to good lives even if he found himself in one he had not thought he would be in. He went to a different school, he learnt different things but the Alpha in him craved as his brother begrudgingly shared lessons on secret with him. He was scared, confused and it was hard to swallow down his natural impulses to stand up for himself, fight.

Ianto snuggled against his mate and considered things, knowing his life was more than he might have even wished for. A sister-wife who was a good woman, a husband who was kind and loving.

First Prime, not a Gentile anyway. As good as an Alpha in this Hive.

Ianto knew he was smiling as he let go of that scary memory, his mother's voice telling him to run, protect, survive.

He had.

His siblings were all still alive, even if they did not keep in touch.

He survived.

And now?

He could start to live.