Chapter 12: End of Days
Iris was back at her home. She looked at the clock with a sinking feeling in her bed. She hadn't been able to sleep at all last night. She knew that last night would probably have been the last chance for her to sleep for what was to come, but she just couldn't shake the fear that had taken hold of her.
If anything, she desperately regretted leaving Ianto's side and hurt that Jack didn't talk to her at all after coming back. Ianto had offered to stay over, knowing that she was terrified. It was hard to admit to anyone about the migraines. Iris had guessed that it was. She didn't actually feel it, but that moment when she had looked at the news on Christmas and saw the name Harold Saxon, something in her head felt like it was tapping at the back of her forehead.
A beat of four.
That was why she just felt really out of it when Tosh and Jack had fallen through the Rift. Because she had so much going on in her head. And with the appearance of her future self, Iris had even more piling up.
Iris glanced at her clock after she rolled to her side on her bed. It blared a solid 4:00 a.m. With a sigh, she got up, not having gone inside her blankets, and proceeded to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and washed her face in cold water. Looking at the mirror, she saw her own reflection. Since her arrival to this universe, she was significantly thinner. She used to be a little round. Not fat, but still with some more weight than almost like a bony figure. She could have passed it as a skinny person, and honestly, if she had been feeling any better, she could have sworn that she looked better than before. But she sure didn't feel it.
If anything, she just felt heartbroken. Ever since she had been in this universe, she felt significantly happier and miserable at the same time. She found out that she could act like herself and people would just accept it since nobody from her past could judge her. However, she missed her family to the bottom of her heart. She couldn't even say goodbye to them. She was stuck and now it was close to the end of her plans for this season.
When she stepped out of the shower, she let it dry naturally as she put on her clothes for the day. She first tried on blue jeans and a simple white blouse with a navy-blue blazer then looked at herself and grimaced. For she was planning to do, the white blouse was probably not a good idea. She immediately changed into her gray jeans and a grey knit short-sleeve shirt. Looking at herself, she then proceeded to French braid her hair and called it good enough. Taking one last glance at her reflection, she let out a breath to calm her fast-beating heart and turned the lights off of her apartment as she went to the Torchwood base.
It was still relatively early in the morning when she arrived. It was around 6:00 a.m. and she was fetching herself some water from the refrigerator in the Hub when she heard footsteps coming near. She turned around and saw Jack. The man stopped upon seeing her and stood there, just looking at her. Iris wanted to speak up, but she couldn't find her voice as she looked at the man. She turned around and began to undo the cap of the water bottle as she heard Jack come up behind her and wrap his arms around her waist.
She set down the water bottle onto the counter and just stood there, not saying anything. Then she felt Jack breathe by her neck, sending tickling sensations on her back as nerves kicked in.
Then Jack spoke.
"Is everything going to be alright in the end?"
Iris nodded, not able to say anything out loud in fear of her emotions revealing her conflicted emotions. She felt Jack's hands on her shoulders as he turned her around to face him. She looked up to see him and Jack said,
"This is it isn't it? The end of a season of the show of our life?"
Jack saw how Iris' eyes tear up a little and he hugged her again. He knew something was wrong when he had seen her come to the Hub so early in the morning looking haunted. It was as if she hadn't slept. He hadn't talked to her last night in fear of what he had done back in the other timeline.
His encounter with the real Captain Jack Harkness had shaken him up a bit. And when he heard from Ianto after Iris had left about her giving Ianto a set of directions, he hadn't been able to shake off the feeling that something horrible was about to happen. And when Iris had answered his question about everything turning out alright in the end, a little bit of that fear was suppressed. But what really concerned him was what Ianto had told him about the migraines Iris had.
"Iris mentioned a bit earlier that what she thought her migraines were, but I didn't know what it meant." Ianto said, looking at the leader of Torchwood.
They were in Jack's office as they talked about Iris. Ianto didn't reveal any secrets, but wanted to discuss this with the man. Jack looked at Ianto in surprise as he asked,
"What did she say?"
Ianto hesitated before responding with,
"She said 'the drums'. I wasn't sure if you knew anything about what that means…"
Jack shook his head as he replied,
"No… I hope that she lets me know what it is… but I think she will tell me when she's ready. That's the one thing that Iris has always done since she came here. Of course, not always on the moment we wanted, but she always told us. I'm relying on that."
Jack then focused back to the present as he felt Iris's eyes on him. He smiled and then pecked a kiss on her lips and let her go. Iris then sauntered back to her computer, trying to think of what she would say to Bilis Manger.
When everybody arrived after the night, they all went to the conference room to discuss about all the things that were pouring through the Rift
Iris looked up at Ianto, who was quoting something from the Bible.
"And I heard but did not understand, and I said, Master, what is the end of all these things? And he said, go, Daniel, for the things are closed up and sealed until the end of time. Daniel 12, verse 10."
With that, Ianto kept the Bible open and looked at the team, who stayed silent for a minute before Gwen murmured,
"Sounds a bit close for comfort."
Owen was looking at the setup with the Doctor's hand and said,
"This machine's on the blink, Keeps losing power. Sorry, don't let me stop your portents of doom. Or have you finished?"
Iris glanced at the hand, still shuddering at the thought of how the hand was cut off and the Doctor had managed to just grow another one. As she was thinking about what it might have looked like, Ianto said,
"No, plenty more where that came from. Abaddon, the Great Devourer, who'll lead the world into shadow."
Iris looked up at Ianto and frowned, looking back at the hand. She then realized that the Doctor met a version of Abaddon in the episode, The Satan Pit. She was thinking about how Bilis managed to know about using the Rift as the rest of the team continued talking.
"Yeah, thanks Ianto. I can do without the superstition. You people love any story that denies the randomness of existence." Jack said, glancing at Iris, who was just looking at the Doctor's hand intensely.
Ianto smirked and Jack continued to say,
"Thanks. That makes me feel better Okay, I've been fielding calls all night. The government, UNIT, the CIA. Half the Western world and a good proportion of the Eastern are all asking the same question. Is this anything to do with us?"
Iris flinched at the mention of UNIT, knowing how blind that group was at that moment under the leadership of a certain Time Lord.
Gwen looked a little scared as she asked, "And is it?"
Tosh walked by Jack and the rest of the team as she said,
"I've run a profile on every reported temporal anomaly and tracked any physical or temporal pattern."
The entire team looked at the screen Tosh was using and Gwen cursed. Jack had a look of disappointment in his eyes as he said,
"The cracks in time trace back here to the Rift. This city, this Hub, is the center. What you're seeing around the world are ripples and aftershocks. The Rift is splintering because of you."
Jack looked straight at Owen, who looked surprised as he said,
"What?"
Jack stepped a little towards Owen as he said,
"You opened the Rift without knowing what you were doing. You've caused the temporal cracks to widen. Time is seeping through."
Owen then stood up, anger settling into his face as he responded with,
"If it wasn't for me, you two'd still be in the 1940s. So are we going to sit around crying into our lattes, or are we going to do something about it?"
Jack looked at the rest of the team as sighed and ordered,
"Bring those who've fallen through time back here, into the vautls."
Owen asked,
"and do what with them?"
Jack glanced at the medic and snapped,
"We'll deal with phase one first, then I'll tell you about phase two."
Tosh looked upset that Owen was so angry at Jack, but she didn't speak up, knowing that the medic might have gone a little too far. But she was surprised at how Iris seemed to be just staring off into nothing again. She made eye contact with Ianto and indicated towards Iris. The man looked over and he quickly went up to her to move her to the sofa so that she was sitting down at least.
Ianto went back to the group as he heard Jack say,
"We'll think of something! Hey, this is not the end of the world. I'm certain of that."
Iris's computer beeped and Ianto quickly took a look and said to the team,
"Priority one attendance at the hospital. Mortality rate's gone through the roof. They're sealing off the area and designating a hot zone."
Owen then quickly stood up and said,
"I'll go."
Jack looked at Tosh and said, "Tosh, go with him."
Owen looked at his boss with disbelief and said,
"No thanks, I'm fine on my own. And it's not safe."
Tosh glared at him and said,
"I don't need you to protect me like I'm unable to do that myself. And anyways, you'll be even better with me alongside. Shut up and come on."
Gwen looked at Iris, who was still staring into nothing and looked at Jack with a little bit of a disappointed look. She then said,
"Did you have to pick on him in public like that? You know that he just wanted Tosh and you safe."
Jack looked down at her with a dark look and said,
"All of our actions have consequences."
While Gwen and Jack talked, Ianto headed back towards Iris. He gently put a hand on her shoulder and the girl's eyes finally focused and looked at him. Iris smiled as if nothing was wrong, and patted. Ianto's arm to comfort him as she stood up and went to her computer to deal with the paperwork that would pile up.
After a moment, Gwen and Jack went to the police station to fetch the Roman who had fallen through the Rift. As Ianto was dealing with phone calls, Iris heard something rustle and looked up. She saw her future self again, but it seemed like a different version of her. Iris jumped when the woman's eyes flashed with a gold light momentarily. Iris looked around and then looked back to see that her future self wasn't there anymore. That scared Iris. She wasn't sure what that meant. And she really didn't want to see that again. Breathing out slowly, she put her head in her hands and then felt it. Her hands began their tremors again. In pure anger, Iris yelled out,
"Shit!"
Ianto came up, thinking something wrong had happened and then saw it. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably. He quickly went up and grabbed her hands, feeling just how much they were shaking.
"Iris? Are you ok?"
Iris looked like she was going to cry as she nodded, tears streaming down her face. Ianto wanted to be able to do something, but he couldn't think of anything much as his mind went blank. Then he remembered her medications and brought those to her with water. Iris graciously took the medicine with Ianto's help and sat down on the sofa. Moments later, Jack and Gwen were back with the limp body of the Roman soldier.
Iris saw Jack and Gwen putting the body into one of the holding cells and went down and heard Jack ask Gwen,
"Are you sure it was the same guy?"
Gwen answered, "It was definitely him. Bilis, the caretaker of the dancehall."
Jack looked back at Gwen as he asked,
"That's all he said, sorry? Well, what's he got to be sorry for?"
Then Iris moved a little to let Ianto through as he pushed a Weevil into an empty holding cell.
Ianto huffed as he said to the team, "13 more reports of Weevils on the loose. We're not going to keep up at this rate."
Jack frowned and said, "Everything's on the increase."
Gwen looked at the Weevil and asked, "Can you stop them from making that noise?"
Ianto looked at the woman and said, "If you've got any ideas how."
Jack looked at Ianto and Gwen saying,
"Maybe they're time sensitive. This disturbance may be too much for them."
Iris then spoke up as she said, "We're now full in all vaults across all nine levels. Do you want me to activate the vaults below? It's just we've never used them since… well…"
With that, she glanced at Ianto. The man looked down, feeling a little guilty still about the past.
Jack looked at Ianto and Iris as he responded, "Do it Gwen, maybe you're right. Let's run a search on your dancehall buddy. We need to find him."
Gwen nodded and as they were about to head upstairs, Iris asked,
"I want to join. Will you let me? I think I can get through him."
Jack looked down at the girl and wanted to say no. But he thought better of it and nodded as he went back up with Gwen. Iris was about to head up when she heard Ianto whisper,
"What do you want? Why are you here? This isn't happening."
Iris looked at him, knowing what he was seeing and when the man turned around to follow them, he froze. Iris looked at him and just turned without saying anything, giving him privacy.
When she arrived back at the Hub, she heard Owen say,
"You're the big man here. You keep all the secrets. Well, now's the time to tell us a few and tell us how the hell we'll get out of this. Same with you Iris. You must know about what's going. Let us know what to do."
Iris froze at the angry look Owen gave her. She wasn't sure what to do when Jack said,
"You want to know a secret? There is no solution. I can't fix this. Because this was never meant to happen. The first thing you learned when you joined Torchwood was don't mess with the Rift. But you disobeyed those orders, and now everything that's happening is down to you."
Owen looked angry as he said,
"I only disobeyed instructions to get Tosh and you back."
With that he looked at Tosh, who wasn't sure what to say.
Jack then looked at Owen with uncontrollable anger as he said, "And now people are dying."
Owen responded to that with something close to hatred in his voice.
"What, so I shouldn't have bothered? Who the fuck are you anyway? Jack Harkness? You don't even exist. We've looked. So, if you're not even a real person, then why the hell should I follow your orders?"
"Owen, stop." Iris said, as she approached the team.
Owen looked up at her and seemed to be equally angry as he said,
"And you must surely know what's going on and thinking of something Iris. You clearly know Jack as well. Why don't you explain to us about who he is since he is so chummy with you anyways?"
Iris grew impatient with Owen as he spit out each word to her and she finally yelled,
"If you think that you're so great, then yeah, keep yelling and complaining. Owen, you're clearly not thinking straight and Jack's secret is not up for me to tell. Sure, I know about Jack and his past, but that doesn't mean I know everything about him. I know how he came to be here, but not every single damn detail of his life. So if you think you can talk to me in that way when I'm struggling to remain sane and not fall over in exhaustion, then go ahead, do whatever you want!"
Owen froze for a moment, shock hitting him as Iris continued in anger.
"I can't believe that this is the limit of your trust towards Jack and me. Despite everything I've risked and will do, you simply can't just let us handle this can you?"
Jack then said, "Iris, stop."
Iris quickly stopped talking and glared at Owen, who began to look around with guilt. Then Jack said,
"Get out."
Owen looked at his boss in disbelief as he said, "What?"
Jack had anger come back in him as he said, "Get out! I'm relieving you of your duty."
Tosh jumped in as she yelled out, "No! You can't do that!"
Owen stomped on the ground as he angrily yelled, "Bollocks you are."
Gwen tried to take control of the situation as she said, "Jack, wait."
Jack stepped closer to Owen and pointed a finger to the medic with pure anger as he said, "You're done here."
Owen yelled back at Jack, who walked away "What, so that's it? The whole world is going to shit and you're going to fire me?"
Gwen was clearly upset as she said, "For God's sake, both of you. We need to stick together on this."
Jack looked at Iris and then to Owen as he said, "If I can't rely on you, if Iris and I don't have your complete trust, you don't belong here. That goes for the rest of you. Anyone who agrees with Owen, leave now."
The team looked at Jack with disbelief as Owen, finally accepting the situation, said,
"So now we know how it is. So that leaves me 24 hours to savour the good times."
Gwen looked at Owen confused as she asked,
"What are you talking about?"
Owen spit the harsh truth out to Gwen, "Nobody leaves this place intact. Sometime in the next 24 hours I get Retconned. All my memories erased. I don't know where or when, but he'll get me."
Gwen then felt anger stir in her own chest as she glared at the 51st century man as she said,
"Jack this has gone far enough."
Owen put his gun down and stomped out as he yelled back at all of them, "So I guess this is goodbye. Good luck with the end of the world. I would say thanks for the memories."
Tosh looked distraught as she looked towards Iris, wanting Iris to step up, only to see Iris sighing out loud, clearly upset that Owen blew up like that. She saw Iris shake her head and follow Gwen and Jack out to see Bilis.
When they finally reached the shop, Iris looked up at the sign that said, 'Stitch in Time'. If she was in better situations, she would have scoffed out loud at the irony, but she just remained stoic about everything. By this point, whenever she turned around, she would see her future self just standing there or following her. As she entered the shop, she saw her future self already there and fooling around with one of the clocks, though nobody else seemed to see the woman there.
Iris glanced at Gwen who was saying, "Wow. Some of this stuff must go back centuries."
Jack responded with, "He scavenges antique pieces from the past, brings them here, sells them for a profit. Not a bad business plan."
Then Bilis popped up near them by coming down the stairs as he said, "We all have to earn a living"
Jack looked surprised as he said, "You're from 1941."
Bilis looked at the man with curiosity as he said, "As you were. Hello, again."
Gwen then asked, "How can you be in two time zones at once?"
Bilis answered nonchalantly, "I can step across eras, like you'd walk into another room At first, it was the most incredible gift. Now I know the reality. It's a curse."
Gwen looked confused as she asked, "why?"
Bilis coldly responded with, "I can see the whole history, but I don't belong anywhere within it. So, your return to this time had a price. Time's splintering. This city exists on a Rift in time. The only way to make it right is to fully open that Rift, let it suck back what fell through."
Jack shook his head as he said, "No way. It's too dangerous."
Gwen hesitated as she asked, "Can we even do that?"
Bilis said, "Of course you can. Isn't that right, ma'am?"
Iris looked at the man in shock as Jack and Gwen looked at her. She wasn't sure what to say as she heard her future-self chuckle darkly. Iris shook her head, trying to ignore the other version of herself, but Bilis took that as an answer to his question. So she said,
"If we open that Rift fully, millions of lives will be at risk."
Bilis looked at her and said, "And yet, you know that if you don't, more will fall through. Lives will be lost."
Jack pointed his revolver at Bilis and said,
"You know so much, you're coming back with us."
Bilis then just apologized and looked at Iris with curiosity and disappeared.
Jack swore and said to Tosh and Ianto through the communicator, "Trace the temporal activity around this location. We need to find out where he is."
After Jack left, Gwen slowly went to exit the building with Iris when they suddenly heard the clocks sounding the hour when they shouldn't be.
Bilis then appeared by them and stopped them from leaving again as he said, "Gwen. I am not your enemy."
Iris looked at the man and said, "Leave her alone."
Gwen just shook her head as she said, "In the cells, why did you say you were sorry?"
Bilis looked at the former police office and said, "Sometimes it's better to live in ignorance, unless… do you really want to know?"
Gwen looked hesitant as she said, "Know what?"
Bilis held out his hands and said, "Hold my hands. I'll show you."
Iris muttered, "Don't do it Gwen"
Gwen looked conflicted but after a while, put her hands in his and Gwen's eyes unfocused. Suddenly she pulled out from the man and muttered with fear, "What did you just show me?"
With that she ran. Iris stayed a little and glared at Bilis, saying,
"Whatever you're planning, change it."
Bilis looked at Iris with curiosity as he said, "You have so much that will happen to you and yet you fear it."
Iris ignored that comment as she had one mission she was focused on at the moment.
"I want to make a deal."
Bilis looked decently surprised then amused as he said, "Oh? And what can that deal be?"
"I know you just showed her that you will be killing Rhys. Instead of that man, why don't you take me?"
Bilis tilted his head as he thought about it. Then he cautiously asked, "Why would you sacrifice yourself?"
Iris looked at him and said, "Because you're going to have to stop me before I blurt out to everybody on my team about who you want to raise."
Bilis' eyes narrowed and Iris wanted to step away in fear, but she held her ground. Bilis then seemed to contemplate about the deal and then said,
"I will think about it. But you can be assured that it must be either you or Rhys. If you tell your team, it will be that innocent man. And if you keep silent, you can be assured that our deal will go through."
Iris nodded and bolted after Gwen. When both women reached Jack, he just looked at both of them and asked, "What took you so long?"
Iris just said, "Nothing really."
They got in the car and Iris was in the back seat. She got in and she almost gasped as her future-self came back again, this time, taunting her.
'I see that you're doing just fine. Do you really want to die? For these humans?'
Iris tried to not look at what really was an empty space so she looked out the window and tried to ignore her. It was hard as the future-Iris kept talking to her and taunting her about how this was all going to end horribly, but Iris just continued to stay silent and look out the window. The future version of herself then disappeared after a while and Iris breathed out in relief.
Jack stopped the car by Gwen's place and went in with the woman to help fetch Rhys. Iris realized that this was it. This is the moment that she would be able to say goodbye. But she decided against it. When Jack helped Gwen bring the tasered Rhys into the back seat, Iris held her tongue and looked at the poor man.
When they finally arrived, Iris let Gwen talk with Rhys and hid in the corners of the holding cells. Iris had volunteered to help Gwen with putting Rhys in one of the cells and Jack, without much though, had gone to his office to deal with UNIT. After giving Gwen and Rhys a moment, she waited for Gwen to leave the area. Iris had hidden herself in the shadows of one of the empty cells and had waited.
Iris then heard Gwen's footsteps leave the area and quickly stepped out. Rhys looked up at her and saw her unlock his door.
"Oh, do you work here? I'm Rhys. Gwen's boyfriend?"
Iris looked at him for a moment and smiled as she said,
"Rhys, go after her. I know that she's just being overly protective of you since there's a lot of stuff going on. I'll clean up here and follow you."
The man looked at her and replied, "Uh, sure. I'll see you in a moment then?"
Iris nodded and faked a smile. She waited for the man to go up and then dropped the façade. She turned around and saw Bilis waiting at the end of the corridor. Her facial expression was empty as the man said,
"Well, well. You did keep your end of the bargain quite well."
Iris looked down at the curvy knife with immense fear and said,
"I'm ready."
Bilis smiled evilly and said, "I'm so sorry."
With that, he approached her and stabbed her in the stomach once, and Iris felt like screaming. She held in her breath and then couldn't manage the pain she felt as her vision blacked out when Bilis stabbed her in the heart next.
Bilis quickly stepped back as he heard footsteps approaching as he saw Iris's corpse on the ground. With that, he quickly disappeared.
…~~~…
Rhys stepped up towards the Hub and he heard,
"Did he wake up?"
Then Gwen's voice replied with, "Yeah. Yeah, he did. Tosh, can you bring up the CCTV of the vaults? Er, just leave it on the screen. I know it sounds crazy, but…"
Then Jack turned to see Rhys and he said, "Rhys? How did you get out?"
Gwen quickly turned around and saw her boyfriend standing in the middle of the Hub with surprise in his features.
"Rhys?" She whispered out.
Rhys was confused as he said, "The girl let me out. Saying that it would be better to talk with Gwen about this…"
Ianto's eyes widened when he saw Rhys when the lights turned off. "No…" Ianto whispered as he then yelled, "No!" and ran down towards the vaults.
Jack followed after Ianto, not sure what was happening. When they reached the vaults Rhys was supposed to be, they both froze at the sight. Blood was all over the floor and in the middle was Iris lying unconscious.
Ianto looked horror stricken as he remembered what Iris had said to him.
"…I planned something and I know you're not going to like it, but this is where the secret between us starts. I'm going to make a deal with Bilis…. I can't tell you what that entails, but you'll know when the deal is done."
He couldn't believe that this was what she had been pointing to. He quickly kneeled and lifted her body to bring it closer to him.
"No! No! She's gone. Please! No… We… we need to bring her back…"
Jack looked at Iris's body and it felt like his heart was tearing into million pieces. The blood around her and how she limp she was… he wished this was a nightmare. Anything but this. She had promised that everything would be alright. He had promised to take her to meet the Doctor, and yet she was here lying on the ground… dead.
Ianto cried as he held on to her, and Jack heard Ianto cry out,
"What are we going to do?!"
Then he remembered again about how Iris said that Jack would be able to stop this. Determination came across his face as he lifted Iris's corpse up and ran towards the autopsy room. Jack stood there, frozen and unable to move. Every moment that he had spent with Iris flashed across his mind and he felt like the sadness in Iris's eyes finally made sense. She knew. Jack finally realized that Iris had known about Rhys and she had thrown herself instead.
"Why…" was all he could muster up as he continued to stare at just how much blood Iris had lost. And then he bolted after Ianto, needing to see Iris again. When he reached them, he saw Tosh and Gwen just staring at the corpse, not sure how to react at the death of their coworker. Rhys on the other hand was trying to comfort Gwen, as he was scared about what had just been done.
Jack came up to Iris's corpse and finally looked at her face. She seemed so peaceful as her eyes were closed and almost looked like she was sleeping. Ianto cried silently as he hated himself. The weight of the knowledge that Iris was pointing towards this last night made him hate himself. Was this what she always felt? Did she let her guilt eat her away every time she knew what the case was? He looked at the girl who was now a corpse and wanted to just give up everything to be next to her.
Jack cleaned the blood from Iris's hands and then held it as he remained there. The promises she had made. She had lied to them to prevent them from possibly finding out what she had been planning. The fact that she had held herself back from loving him so much, knowing that she would be breaking it through what she intended to do. It wasn't fair.
They all just stood by Iris's body and after a while, Ianto looked up and choked out,
"Jack… Iris said something to me last night…"
The team looked up at Ianto, wanting to listen to what she had said.
"Iris told me that she was going to make a deal with Bilis…"
Jack looked up at Ianto and pained flashed Jack's features as he said,
"And you didn't tell me?!"
"She asked me to keep it a secret!" Ianto said. He continued with, "Had I known that it would lead to this, I would never have kept it a secret. But she told me that whatever Bilis releases from the Rift, you will stop it."
Jack looked at the man, realizing what Iris has done.
"She left you instructions."
Ianto nodded and then grabbed Iris's journal and handed it to him silently. Jack immediately opened it up and read the bookmarked page that Ianto had pointed to. Before, Iris had refused to let anybody look in the journal, but the fact that she had asked Ianto to give it to Jack made reality of her death that much more painful. He quietly read what was in there and closed the journal, holding onto it. In the journal, there was a letter from Iris to Jack.
Jack,
If you're reading this, I'm most likely dead. But this is really important I don't know what must have happened but it's crucial for you to finish reading this letter and then tear out the page and destroy it. Bilis intends to release Abaddon and if you're reading this, the creature is most likely released. All I can hope is that Rhys is alive. I wish there was another way, but there isn't and you have to make sure that you stop Abaddon. Abaddon feeds on life, and I'm sure you know what I'm going to tell you. You will come back by the end of this, and if everything works like I hope, then we'll see each other again.
I love you Jack. I really do. And if this is the last thing you read or hear from me, then please, don't keep to yourself. Move on. I don't want you to just hold onto me. I don't want that. I want you to be happy. Thank you for giving me such wonderful memories.
Sincerely,
Iris.
He reopened the journal and tore out the page. He then proceeded to rip it apart and throw it into the trash can. Jack painfully glanced at Iris and then slowly looked up at Ianto, and asked,
"Is there anything else she said?"
Ianto shook his head and looked back at Iris, sitting down by the girl again. Jack looked at Iris, thinking back to her letter as he got up when Owen burst in to run over to see Iris dead.
"Oh, shit. What happened?"
Tosh looked at him with tears in her eyes as she whispered, "You're back."
Owen looked at her and asked, "Are you alright?"
Tosh shook her head as she finally broke into tears in his arms. Owen looked at Jack and said,
"How many more people have to suffer? Iris can't die like this. She just can't! She promised…"
Owen felt despair as he remembered how harsh he was to Iris and that was going to be the last thing she was going to remember about him. Him yelling at her.
"I'm gonna fix this. I'm opening the Rift." Owen said as he rushed over.
Everybody but Jack followed him and Jack said,
"You can't."
Tosh said, "We're gonna help him. We have to try."
Gwen looked up, guilt and sorrow in her voice as she said,
"He said open the Rift and everything goes back to normal. I owe Iris that much for saving Rhys. Owen's right, we have to try to fix this."
Jack yelled after them, "Get away from the computer, Gwen. This is a trap. All these cracks around the world, they're diversions. This is what Bilis wants. Iris said so."
Owen looked at him, and said, "What are you afraid of, Jack?"
Gwen didn't step away from the computer and Ianto helped type the password in, the pain of Iris's death being too much. This would bring her back. He somehow knew it.
Jack drew his gun out and pointed it to Owen, anger back in his voice as he said,
"I said move."
Tosh freaked out as she asked, "What the hell are you doing? We could get her back!"
Jack said, "Final warning. You're a united front now? Iris is dead. There's no guarantee that opening the Rift will bring her back. It's only going to cause millions of death! Iris said so! You heard what she said to Bilis Gwen!"
Gwen shook her head as she said, "Even if that's the case, I have to do this."
Jack scoffed in pain as he said, "Yeah, cos you're feeling so guilty about how you horribly treated her and degraded her self-esteem in the beginning. "
Gwen punched Jack so hard that he fell to the ground while Owen quickly grabbed the gun that Jack dropped.
Gwen yelled out, "Fuck you! I admit, I was horrible to her. I caused her pain and led her to die because of Suzie. But I tried so hard to make it up to her. She said that it was alright! She forgave me for what I've done. How dare you judge me! The one person I need to make things right with and you stop me from doing just that!"
Owen kept the gun pointed at Jack as he said, "We're relieving you of your command, Captain. We're opening that Rift and getting back Iris."
The computer screen then requested for retina prints of all Torchwood personnel. Ianto grimaced as he realized what was happening. He quietly took the machine and went to Iris's dead body and got her print. As the machine scanned her retina, he whispered,
"I'm so sorry. I know that you don't want us to do this, but we can't lose you. Not after all you've done for us."
Then the rest of the team got their retina scanned. When he came back, Ianto saw Owen shoot Jack between the eyes and then shoot him twice more.
"He's going to come back." Ianto said.
Gwen looked at Ianto in surprise as she asked, "How do you know that?"
Ianto looked back at Iris's corpse and they all fell silent.
Gwen then said, "We've still got to do Jack's…"
They then scanned Jack's retina and the computer began the protocol. Alarms began sounding all over the Torchwood base and then Jack gasped back to life, fearing what the team has just done.
"Oh, my God. What have you done?"
With that, electricity shot through the Water tower and then into the sky. An earthquake hit the base and as the team including Jack ran from the base, they didn't see Iris' corpse disappear.
Jack bit through his bottom lip as tears finally fell.
Gwen then said out loud, "It's going to be all right, Jack. Everything is going to go back to normal."
Then all of a sudden the team heard Bilis say,
"From out of the darkness, he is come."
Gwen felt fear settle in her stomach as she asked, "What is he talking about?"
They all heard Bilis answer that question as he looked towards the sky and say,
"Son of the Great Beast, cast out before time, chained in rock and imprisoned beneath the Rift."
"What?" Gwen muttered, not sure what she was hearing.
"All hail Abaddon, the Great Devourer, come to feast on life. The whole world shall die beneath his shadow. I look upon you, my god, and know my work is done."
The team then saw just what they had unleashed and heard people scream. Jack looked at the beast and then realized just what Iris had meant. It finally made sense to him and he looked at the team and specifically looked at Ianto as he said,
"Ianto, I need you to get me to an open space."
Ianto pulled the car over the waste ground as he stepped out towards the clearing.
"Jack, what are you going to do?" Ianto asked, not sure what the man intended to do.
Jack replied with, "If Abaddon is the bringer of death, let's see how he does with me. If he feeds on life, then I'm an all you can eat buffet."
Ianto looked at the man and realized what Iris meant when she said that Jack will stop whatever Bilis will release from the Rift.
Jack looked at Ianto and said, "Get out of here. In case things do go back to normal, I want you to be there for her."
Ianto looked at Jack and nodded as he quickly went to stand by the Rover to see what Jack was about to do. If Jack died, he needed to be there. Iris would literally kill him if she did come back and had left Jack alone.
Ianto saw Jack grab Abaddon's attention and then the man fall over in pain as the shadow fell over him. Ianto felt like he couldn't breathe as he saw his boss give so much until he saw what was happening. Abaddon swayed before falling to the ground while Jack fell unconscious at the same time. He quickly closed his eyes as white light engulfed the area. When he finally looked up, he saw that Abaddon was gone and ran over to the dead man.
He knew that the man would come back after a while and put him in the rover to head back to the Hub. He quickly drove over to the Hub and found that the team was there already, with grim looks over their faces. He had carried Jack all the way over from the garage and desperately looked around for Iris.
He saw how the team's gazes all went down when Ianto looked at each of them and he asked,
"Where is she?"
Owen looked up and went up to help him with Jack's body and said,
"She wasn't here when we came back…"
Ianto looked at the medic with disbelief and almost burst out crying as he didn't want to believe what was said to him.
"No…" he said.
After a while of just standing there, Ianto muttered,
"We should put Jack somewhere comfortable."
They all looked at him and Owen said, "There are no vital signs Ianto. He's dead."
Gwen then spoke up, hope in her voice still, "He survived when you shot him. When I first joined, he said he couldn't die."
Owen looked at her, clearly distraught himself as he said, "He was wrong."
Ianto shook his head and held onto Jack protectively.
"Iris said he will come back. She told me that it will take days, but that he will. I trust her. Even if she's not here, I believe what she told me. I'm not going to let her request go in vain."
With that Ianto put Jack on the sofa and sat by the man.
For the rest of the day, the team waited for Iris to pop up. They waited and waited, but she didn't come back. One day passed and she still didn't come back and they feared that the worst had happened.
Tosh then looked at Owen, who was holding onto her and asked,
"Do you think there's a chance that maybe she survived and when we opened the Rift that she was sent back home to her universe?"
Owen looked down at her and quietly said, "If she's not back, I really hope that's the case."
It felt weird really. All her stuff was there, but the one thing that was not back was Iris. They had tried her home and she wasn't there either, so they kept waiting, all of their hopes of Iris's return dwindling by the hour. While not watching over Jack, Ianto had busied himself with cleaning up Iris's desk, clearly devastated that she hadn't come back.
Couple more days passed by, and Iris still hadn't returned when they all heard someone gasp out loud and weakly say, "Thank you."
They all stood up and saw Jack wake up. Ianto quickly helped Jack with dressing into fresh clothes and when Jack came back up, he had more color in his skin. They all waited at the Hub for him with dread. What were they supposed to tell him? When Jack stepped into the Hub, Tosh immediately ran over and hugged Jack. Owen stood there, aloof and tried to apologize when Jack cut in with a smile and said,
"I forgive you."
Owen rushed over and cried in Jack's arms. Gwen had also hugged him. And when they all had a share of hugs, Jack looked at Ianto and asked,
"Where's Iris?
The team's happy faces immediately turned sad and Jack felt like his heart broke again.
"Guys? Where is she?"
Ianto quietly spoke up and said, "She hasn't come back. We couldn't find her body anywhere. It vanished and she wasn't here."
Jack thought that his world was going to end. Why didn't she come back? Everything else seemed to have gone to normal. Then he thought back to who Iris was. She wasn't from this universe.
"No… no she couldn't have…" Jack said in utter despair.
He held onto Ianto's hand as he couldn't imagine a world without Iris anymore. His legs gave in and he began to cry as Ianto held onto him.
…~~~…
The last thing Iris felt was just pain. Pain so great that it was the only thing that she felt. And then all of a sudden, she felt cool air and tubes all over her. She felt trapped and when she opened her eyes, the light above her burned. Iris blinked her eyes couple of times before she could see anything. That was when she realized where she was: a hospital.
Then she heard footsteps and a doctor come into view as the doctor said,
"Hello, I'm Doctor Scott. Do you perhaps know who you are? We found you without any identification."
Iris looked at the Doctor and nodded, but she felt so exhausted that she couldn't do much. Soon, the world turned black and she fell unconscious, unable to finish her conversation with the Doctor.
Days passed like this and eventually, she was discharged. While in the hospital, Iris had realized that she wasn't in Cardiff, but back home in Seattle. At first, she didn't want to believe it, but the brutal reality settled in and she realized that she had come back to her home universe. In the hospital, she had realized that she felt empty, and realized why. There were no migraines. The one thing that she had constantly felt back in the other universe was gone. It felt wrong without it. For so long she had grown accustomed to the migraines that though it was refreshing, she couldn't help but wish it back. But when she left the hospital she had no choice but to go back to where she lived. What she also noticed was that she was not gone for long at all. Apparently, she had come back to the same day she had disappeared from.
For days on end, she just stayed home, feeling despair settle in. She had gone to see her family once, but she felt miserable and didn't stay for long and had come back to her own place. But after a while, she decided to walk in the park nearby where she had first stepped through the Rift. Every day she went back, hoping that something would happen and take her back. And one night, Iris decided to just go after dark. She wasn't sure why, but it felt like she had to. Listening to music, she walked around the park, almost absentmindedly.
Then suddenly, Iris felt a tugging sensation in her heart and she grabbed her chest in shock. She wasn't sure what she felt and looked around only to see light where there was none before. It seemed to beckon Iris to approach. Iris quickly ran towards it and then the world went white and she closed her eyes.
She felt like she was falling from a tall cliff, that's what you could describe the sensation. It felt endless. Iris wasn't sure how long it really was that she felt like she was falling until she hit the ground with a strong impact. She rubbed her head, groaning in pain as she looked around and froze. She recognized where she was and she pinched herself in disbelief.
It was the Torchwood vault. Her breath quickened and in shock. She tried everything to see if she was hallucinating, and then the migraine hit her full force.
She was really back.
A smile came over Iris as she couldn't be happier despite the pain in her head and she quickly bolted back to the Hub.
…~~~…
Back at the Hub, Jack had stopped crying, his tears having dried out and all he could do was sit there in silence as Ianto handed him a cup of water. He just stared blankly at it, not really wanting anything anymore.
When the team had threatened to kill him to bring Iris back, one part of him really wished that it had worked.
But it hadn't. And the truth of it hurt. While the team cleaned up the Hub, Jack just sat there, all emotions no longer existing as he just stared blankly at nothing. Ianto watched the man and when a few minutes passed, he got up and decided to clean up Iris's desk. The others quickly stepped out to remove the trash when Ianto heard a set of footsteps running towards the Hub, but not from the direction the others had gone to.
Ianto's heart raced as both hope and fear settled in and he reached for his gun. That's when the owner of the footsteps came up to the Hub, tears glistening in her eyes.
"Iris…" He whispered out, not believing his eyes.
He immediately dropped his gun and rushed over in shock. He blinked to see if he was truly seeing things correctly and when he saw her rush over, he ran towards her.
"Ianto!" Iris said as she saw the man run towards her.
She quickly rushed over and hugged him. Ianto wrapped his arms around her so tight that she felt her breath leave her body.
"You're really back. We thought we lost you forever."
She heard Ianto say. Then Iris pulled out and said,
"I thought I lost you guys too. I tried so hard to get back, and I finally managed. I can't believe it!"
Jack heard the commotion and looked up and froze. He saw Ianto hugging someone until the person came into view. It was Iris. He stood up and looked over. When Iris felt someone else's gaze on her, she looked and froze too.
Tears came into her eyes and she rushed over to Jack. She hugged him and Jack didn't react until much later, still trying to process that Iris was actually there.
"Iris?" He whispered.
Iris said, "I'm back. I'm so sorry…"
Jack shook his head and immediately wrapped his arms around her and then without holding back, he slammed his lips on her. Iris's eyes widened and she froze for a bit before leaning in, all thoughts escaping her mind.
Ianto watched in shock and then hurt. He realized that they had feelings for each other, but Ianto also couldn't hope that he could maybe get Iris's love too. He silently walked to alert the others, despite feeling hurt at the scene that had just played out before him. Despite everything he still smiled. She was back, and for him, that was all that mattered.
Iris had to pull away slightly to get air and Jack looked at her with so much relief and he said,
"I thought I lost you forever."
Iris didn't say anything but hug him again and breathe in his scent. Jack smelled oddly of cinnamon and the forest and she didn't want to forget. She still quite couldn't believe that she had come back. But nonetheless she was happy. Then a question popped into her mind,
"When did you come back?" She asked him.
Jack chuckled a little and said, "You come back after making us all miserable and that's what you wonder about?"
Iris glared at him a little and said, "Jack, I'm serious. It's really important."
Jack saw that she was indeed serious about when he had come back to life and he said,
"Just a few hours ago. When they said you hadn't come back… I thought my world would end."
Iris saw how Jack looked haunted as he seemed to be remembering something he didn't want to see, and put her hand on his cheek as she said,
"I'm back. And that's all that matters."
Jack opened his eyes again to see her brownish-black eyes and smiled. Then Iris grimaced and he instantly frowned.
"What's wrong?"
Iris held her head with both hands and said,
"It's my migraine… It came back when I arrived here."
Jack instantly frowned but before he could say anything, three people had tackled Iris and put her into a hug.
Iris was on the ground as Owen, Tosh and Gwen were laughing and crying at her return. Iris looked at Gwen with surprise and then smiled brightly, forgetting all about the migraine and hugged Gwen tightly with overwhelming joy.
Later, Tosh, Owen, Ianto went to grab coffees and Gwen was in Jack's office looking at the two of them as she said,
"How did you come back?"
Iris looked at Gwen and said,
"I'm not sure. I saw a bright light while walking at a park and then I felt like I was falling forever. And then finally, I found myself here where I happened to have died."
"Then what happened to the Rift?" She further asked.
Jack looked at her and hugged Iris from behind, resting his chin on her head as he said,
"It closed up when Abaddon was destroyed. But it's gonna be more volatile than ever."
Gwen then looked at both of them as she asked hesitantly,
"The visions we had. We all saw people we loved. What did you see?"
Iris flinched and shook her had as Jack answered,
"Nothing. There was nothing."
Gwen didn't push the topic further, seeing how upset Iris became at that. In all honesty Iris didn't want to think back at how she had been haunted by herself. It sounded ridiculous really, and it led her to wonder if the first time she had seen her future-self, the hallucinations had already been part of the Rift itself.
Gwen then asked,
"Jack, what would have tempted you? What visions would have convinced you to open the Rift?"
Jack responded with, "The right kind of Doctor."
Iris nodded and smiled, knowing who was coming. Then her smiled died, as she realized that she would have to get ready. She pulled herself out of Jack's grasp and smiled at him when he looked down at her confused.
Gwen smiled warmly at the two of them and left quietly to her desk. Iris kissed Jack lightly and then bolted off to get her bag that she had hidden.
"What are you doing?" Jack asked her as he followed her.
Iris then smirked and said,
"Well... you might want to get ready too."
Jack looked confused and when Iris pointed towards the Doctor's hand, he almost got it and quickly went to retrieve his backpack. When he stepped out, he saw the Doctor's hand glow a little and Iris standing next to it smirking.
Then she said,
"I'll race you to the TARDIS!" and bolted out of the Hub.
"Iris! Wait!" He said, flustered. But he quickly packed and ran after her, smiling.
When he was on the Plass, he found that Iris had managed to lightly pack a small backpack and had already almost reached halfway to the TARDIS. Jack yelled out,
"Doctor!" multiple times as he followed Iris, his heart racing in joy more than he thought was ever possible.
A/N: Hey guys! I'm on a roll this week and determined to upload a chapter for Utopia soon! I was just overly excited to finish Season 1 of Torchwood so I just worked my hardest on this as much as possible. Let me know what you think should happen with the Doctor!