33
Ianto stood in the middle of the party, those around him happy, festive. It was a wedding, the two intended clutching at one another as those around them sang to their happiness. He travelled home with his parents, glad their daughter was set with a good people, a good clan. He would miss his sister, but happy for her.
So much joy, they had overcome so much. The distant murmurs of war over in the next system was nothing, after all they had a treaty with their neighbors and they had won the battle against the Greys. Life was good.
He would soon wed his own love. This time of plenty, time of peace so fragile and hard won. Yes… soon this would be his turn and as he watched his parents shine, he knew they were proud of their offspring. Tired, they all went to bed, his mother complaining that she drank too much again and felt rancid for it as his father laughed and scolded that she always drank too much.
It was early the next morning he woke to find something wrong, his mother ill and vomiting, and his father listless in his bed. Their skin an unnatural purplish colour as they labored with whatever this was. Food poisoning? He felt fine so he sat and went over what had been there, what food had they imbibed that he hadn't.
There was little to do apart from sponge bathing them to ease their discomfort and he felt tendrils of fear as the radio started to crackle as people called in with varying stories the same as his. People not at the wedding. He tried to contact his sister to no response. Maybe they were cleaning up… it had been quite the party. Largest in the district.
By mid morning the alerts stated to ping, the warnings that Strangles had been discovered and he had renewed fear, now tending to both parents who lay on their bedding mats groaning as fever raged within them.
IT did not look like strangles.
Still he felt fine.
He settled on the floor next to the bed so if they needed him he would be there and he felt into a light sleep, his mind whispering that he was infected after all, just not like them. He was feverish before he even knew it, waking to find himself soaked and parched, sitting up blearily to look at the bed, his heart falling as he saw his mother's side empty.
"Mama?" he croaked staggering to his feet and searching , finding her on the privy, her pants around her ankles as she sat on the toilet with her lead lolling to one side and her flesh bloated to the point where she was unrecognizable.
He knew she was dead.
She had died on the toilet, alone. He felt a sob rip through his throat as he turned to find his father on his hands and knees, crawling towards her as he had also woken to the cold empty bed. He cried as he helped his father the rest of the way, his bloating hand able to clutch the ankle of the woman he loved and there was nothing left to do but kneel and comfort his dying father as he followed his only love to the next place.
He staggered outside where the radio messages changed to warn that this was not Strangles. They had released a toxin, the Greys had done this…. They had….
.
.
Ianto woke with a gasp, the bed shaking as Jack wrestled to keep Ianto from throwing himself from it as he cried out for parents he never knew, a memory of another time and place from an ancestor sent to warn him.
"Easy" Jack crooned "Easy love."
Ianto rolled to him and wept for those lovers.
.
.
"Christ… that sounds horrible" Owen said softly as he watched Ianto push the food about on his plate, the dream lingering enough that the smell of the dead took his appetite.
"I just don't understand it, why change it like this? My other dreams were useful, hopeful… this is just…" Ianto shuddered.
"I dreamed" Mica said softly, settling next to her uncle who drew her in for a hug "People tuned purple and died."
'Me too" he sighed.
"that will not happen here right?" she asked looking up at him with wide eyes and he felt his mouth go dry as Jack sat back in his chair with a grunt of shock.
"She's right. Your dream are always useful… is this a warning. The Grey Men did that, right? How. Is that part of their MO? After the take what they can they release something to kill the rest?" Jack demanded, looking to Owen "Sounds night?"
"Yeah" Owen sighed.
"But we are here" Mica frowned "If it kills everyone would we be here? The ancestor who saw this, who lends his memory to the collective… he was not dead… he had not married yet or had kids. He must have lived to do that"
"Mica… you clever little princess" Ianto gasped as he looked at Owen, "She's right. Not everyone died of this disease or whatever they release. Clearly… some were survivors."
"And if they survived… they adapted. Shit… they got sick but recovered." Owen muttered as he plucked at the table then he smiled as he nodded again, looking up "They became immune. Anti-bodies!"
"Then… we might have them?" Ianto asked.
"Yeah… if you are from them... yeah… you will be vaccinated by blood" Owen grinned as he saw where this was going as well as Ianto could.
"What does it mean?" Mica asked.
Jack was the one to answer "It means if we get the right gear Owen can create a vaccine to protect against this attack … if we can get it right."