TITLE: Beauty of a Broken Angel

PART ONE OF SERIES: The Five Elements (AU Verse)

Disclaimer: I don't own Torchwood, because if I did Ianto would be immortal!

Note: Here's the next chapter. Not sure it's the best, but here hoping.

Reviews:jekyllhj7 - I sent a reply to your last review to your private messaging but I don't know whether you get an alert – I know I don't. Thanks for all your reviews.

Chapter 5: Unquiet Dreams

21st April 1995

The fifteen year old curled in on himself protectively as the blows rained down from above, harder than ever before, his shouts of pain muffled by the floor. He squeezed his eyes shut, tears escaping from the sides as he whispered a final plea. "Please, make it stop. Anything, please."

The kicks stopped abruptly but the screams continued and it took him a brief moment to realise it was longer him making them. The pain dulled and then nothing.

Silence.

6th January 2000

From the position of the sun through the open curtains, Ianto could tell it was late as he startled awake from another dream. For a brief second, he tried to figure out why it was so late but remembered Jack shaking awake from another dream several hours earlier, explaining he needed to pop out for an emergency. His emotions had literally been screaming panic and concern for others, but disorientated and shaken from his dream, Ianto had barely noticed as Jack had fled from the room, calling back his apologies and promising to be back by morning.

The hotel room was empty meaning that Jack hadn't returned yet, but for some reason Ianto didn't panic. The dream was somehow more disconcerting that being alone. He couldn't remember having many dreams before, but the last two nights been full of them.

Sliding out of bed, he looked around the scarce kitchenette area behind the counter he'd sat against the previous night. His eyes were drawn to a small coffee machine in the corner that seemed vaguely familiar and he wandered over, intrigued.

A wave of déjà vu rolled over him as he ground the coffee beans and worked the machine almost instinctively. He didn't understand how he knew what he was doing, his mind just seemed to know the steps and his body followed, and he briefly wondered if he'd done it in the past, in the life Jack had told him he'd had before. What annoyed him however was if he remember how to work a coffee machine, why couldn't he remember his actual life.

Caught up in his confusion, Ianto wasn't focusing on his surroundings and so jumped as the hotel room door opened and Jack strolled in carrying a large holdall. The mug clattered to the floor, spattering the coffee across the tiles but thankfully not shattering the mug. Ianto's hands shook as he knelt to collect it. "I'm sorry sir. I'll clean it up."

"Nothing to worry about." Jack replied, placing the holdall down before bending down with a hastily grabbed cloth to help with the spillage. "Now is this fresh coffee?" He asked, sounding hopeful.

"Yes sir, sorry sir." Ianto replied stepping back against the closest wall, as Jack poured himself a mug full and taking one thoughtful sip before quickly downing the rest of the hot beverage.

"Heaven!"

"Thank you sir." Ianto returned. "I don't know how I did it, it just seemed natural…" He faltered off, visibly withdrawing.

"Hey, none of that okay. You've got something to say to say it. No-one going to punish you."

"Yes sir."

"Now, what were you saying?" Jack asked, refilling his mug and one more with the last of the coffee. He wasn't confident Ianto would drink it with him around, but it wouldn't be fair to keep it all to himself without offering.

Ianto took the offered mug, but placed it down on the counter, considering what to say. He hadn't even organised his thoughts in his mind, let alone getting them out into words.

"I don't understand how I can remember how to make coffee but can't remember why or even doing it before. I just did it. Everything seems familiar, even my dreams but I can't make sense of them."

"Maybe this will help?" Jack said reaching into his greatcoat cover to retrieve a small leather bound book, which he passed to Ianto. He stared down at the cover, uncertain, but at Jack nod and the overwhelming sense of enthusiasm pouring from him, he opened the front page.

Inside was a picture he recognised from what Jack had shown him the first morning, someone he now knew was him. Flicking through a few pages, he discovered more photos. A few were of him, but others were of girl of different ages and Ianto looked up questioningly at Jack who explained.

"I side-tracked when I was out and did some digging. That's you and your sister Rhiannon. I couldn't find much but I thought the pictures might help your memory."

"Thank you sir."

"Your welcome, and call me Jack. Sir makes me feel my age and trust me I don't want to feel that."

"Thank you Jack."

"Great. Why don't you have a look through the book while I order room service for some food? Feel free to use the bed if you want to be more comfortable than the corner."

~ * o ~ * o ~ T ~ o * ~ o * ~

At just gone midnight that morning, Jack had been checking in on the rift when he saw a recent Weevil alert had been ignored. The new team clearly hadn't been 'read in' on Weevils yet or at least how to deal with them. From the current alert, one was attacking a nearby 24/7 store in the city. He was angry at having to leave Ianto twice in 24 hours despite him being asleep. Though he wondered if you could call it sleep as he shook him awake from the 3rd nightmare of the night already, but quickly promised he'd be back by morning.

The fight however had unfortunately not gone his way. There had only been a single Weevil, which Jack normally could have taken down quickly, but, not that he'd ever admit it, he'd been slightly distracted as the Weevil's sharps claws teared at his throat.

The darkness engulfed him for a few moments but soon he felt the tug back to awareness, the weevil gone by the time he'd pulled himself back to his feet. He groaned at his blood-covered clothes. He still hadn't any spares from the Hub, but he knew he couldn't return to the hotel dressed in these. It would do nothing to convince Ianto he didn't mean any harm.

Waiting in the SUV not far from the Hub, he faked a rift alert at the furthest edge of the city and watched until the last of Yvonne's henchmen left, before silencing the alarms and entering through the garage door. Proceeding down the dark corridors to his current room, he'd quickly changed and packed a holdall with a few of his clothes, but on his way out he stopped. The rift alert would take a while and with time available, he'd could use the computer power and access to research more into Ianto's past, printing any picture he found.

He'd lost track of time down in the Hub, and had to clear his tracks and flee with almost seconds to spare as the others arrived back. Reaching the surface, he was shocked to find it late morning already and hoped Ianto was either still asleep or not panicking on his whereabouts.

Instead, he'd been surprised to see Ianto working the coffee machine when he arrived, but suppressed his emotions on witnessing his reaction, focusing his thoughts on the coffee, which was honestly the best coffee he'd ever tasted.

The rest of the afternoon had been uneventful, Jack wanting to give Ianto some time to look though the album and hopefully regain some memories. When all had been quiet for too long, Jack glanced up from the sofa to see if Ianto was okay, and smiled with relief when he saw Ianto lying asleep on the bed with the book resting on his side. His expression was peaceful as he slept and while Jack knew it wouldn't last long, he gave himself the win as he gently removed the album and placed it on the bedside table before returning to the sofa.

~ * o ~ * o ~ T ~ o * ~ o * ~

7th January 2000

Jack stirred to the smell to something burning. He hadn't meant to fall asleep but if he was honest, other than dying yesterday morning, which probably didn't count, he hadn't slept in almost a week which was stretching it even for him.

The room was pitch-black showing it was the middle of the night and ignoring his aches from sleeping while sitting on the sofa as he stood, Jack switched on the light. Nothing he could see at first glance seemed to be the cause of the smell, but he was quickly distracted. Ianto was in the throes of a nightmare, but as he reached out to wake him, Jack snapped his hand back. The covers were hot to touch under his hand and Jack realised he was subconsciously heating the cover. Jack didn't have much knowledge of Ianto's additional powers other than what he'd experienced in the staircase and what little he'd read from TW1 but figured that was the cause. Ianto had mentioned that sometimes he couldn't control it, and the terror of the nightmare probably wasn't helping.

Worried if it got any hotter, Ianto would burn his skin or cause a fire, Jack quickly shook him awake. Startled, Ianto fled from the bed, breathing heavily as he leant back against the wall. As Ianto seemed to get more aware, his breathing calmed down and Jack physically felt the heat in the room cool down.

"Are you okay? Not hurt?" Jack asked, concerned.

"I'm okay." Ianto whispered his head bowed. "Sorry, Jack."

"Not you're fault, don't worry about. Why don't you get cleaned up and changed." Jack suggested, noting the drenched clothing from his sweat. "I'll sort things out in here."

Ianto nodded slowly and went through into the en-suite with a change of clothes as Jack gathered up the smouldering bedsheets into a bag he found. They were completely ruined and Jack wondered how he could explain it to Helen or another of the hotel staff. By the time Ianto came out the bathroom, Jack had finished tiding, with no sign that anything had happened. Jack led him over the sit on the sofa, leaving him a glass of water as he went to get his own, before sitting opposite.

"You better now?"

"Yes, Jack."

Jack sighed, wondering how he' going to breach the subject, but realised there was no right way to go about it and decided to get it over and done with. "We need to talk about this power of yours."

As expected, Ianto recoils. "Because I could hurt someone. I can control the weather. Fire, wind and water. I told you I was dangerous."

"No, because you could have hurt yourself." Jack returns. "And you're not dangerous. You can only be called that if you mean to hurt someone."

"I don't, I swear."

"I know." He assures. "I'm just hoping maybe I can help get them under control more so there's less incidents. I understand you don't know where it came from but do you know how it works? How do you get it to happen?"

"I don't know. I just concentrate on what I want and it just happens."

"Can you show me?" Jack asked intrigued, but realising how that might have sounded he quickly withdrew the question. "No, never mind. You don't have to if you don't want to."

Ianto didn't respond. Instead, he closed his eyes and fist for a brief second. When he opened them again, a small flame hovered a couple inches above his palm, flickering harmlessly.

Jack stared amazed. "That's incredible! Doesn't it hurt?"

"A little, but not much. Just heat and I've got used to it." Ianto answers, the flame slowing dying out into nothing as he spoke. "I can't use it too much in one go. It drains my energy. The bigger or hotter I make it, the more it wears me out."

"But this proves you can control it, does it not?"

"Maybe, but sometimes…"

"I think that sometimes it's not your fault. When I bumped into you in the staircase, and just now in that nightmare, you were startled and it reacted to emotions. They protected you. But as you recover and get control of your emotions, the power will follow."

"Maybe." Ianto shrugged, and Jack got the feeling the conversation was not going to any further.

"I called room service for more bedding, so you can get more sleep. Shouldn't be long." Jack informs him, changing the subject. "How was the book? Any memories returned?"

"Just flashes." Ianto replied, downhearted. "I remember playing on a swing with Rhiannon and playing in some forest, but nothing more. Nothing about what happened to get these powers."

"They'll come back eventually." Jack asserted, hoping he was telling the truth. "Just give it time."

Notes: Thanks for all those sticking this far. I wasn't as pleased with this chapter so I hoped you still like it. Next Chapter has a time skip and should be up in two or three days. Only Two left!

Edited Jan 2021 as realised invisible lift wouldn't exist yet

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