TITLE: To Separate The Lies From Truth

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

CHAPTER SUMMARY: The big reveal – part 3.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Torchwood or Doctor Who which is unlucky because Jack and Ianto deserve so much more!

WORDS: 2000

Notes: Here it is – the end of the Small Worlds arc, with the last part of Ianto's reveal!


Chapter 16: Water, Fire, Earth, Air [and Spirit] (2007)

(A/N: Flashback developed from Part One, Chapter Five: Unquiet Dreams)

21st April 1995

Ianto curled in on himself protectively as the blows rained down from above, harder than ever before, his shouts of pain muffled by the floor. The fifteen-year-old squeezed his eyes shut, tears escaping from the sides as he laid as still as he could, hoping the assault would soon stop.

He heard, rather than saw his friends appear and even amongst the pain, he felt some relief engulf him as he whispered a final plea. "Please, make it stop. Anything, please."

"Come away O' human child?"

The Fae posed the familiar phrase almost as a question and this time Ianto didn't even hesitate as he nodded weakly, no longer able to speak as he screamed in pain once more.

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.

The Fae flittered around him, as his father laid on the ground struggling for breath. Ianto could only watched as the man slumped motionlessly on a few feet away from him, before the whole world turned white around him.

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

16th April 2007

For the longest moment, Jack couldn't speak. Ianto sounded so sincere and certain, that for a second Jack thought it was the truth, but then he remembered the faces of his men on that dreaded troop train; the face of Jasmine's mother as she'd screamed in his arm earlier, and he couldn't. He didn't want to know what the Fae had told Ianto to make him believe this, especially after last time.

"You can't say you believe them." He tried not to let any anger show in his voice, but it was hard, because he was angry. He hoped Ianto could tell it wasn't at him, but rather at the Fae. "The Fae can't be trusted. They threatened to freeze the whole planet earlier this morning."

"I do…" Jack opened his mouth to argue, but Ianto continued before he could. "…because it fits. Not just with what I know now, but it matches exactly with what I've dreamt for years. It finally makes sense."

"What makes you think what they told you is the truth." He didn't understand where this theory had come from, and why Ianto was so adamant to believe it after last time.

"They didn't just tell me, Jack. They showed me." Ianto explained, tone steadfast. "I wasn't in shock because of anything but having 15 years of memories return. I remember everything now. My father being abusive. The day I went missing. He never hurt me around my mother and sister so they never saw, as far as I knew that was, and I couldn't tell anyone. He threatened to do the same to them if I did, probably even worse. Plus, my mother needed his money. We barely had enough as it was."

There was a moments silence as Ianto paused. It lasted less than a second but for Jack it seemed to stretch for hours as he went over in his mind what Ianto was trying to say. Eventually, Ianto continued, no longer anticipating a response.

"I doubled checked everything Jack, and it fits." Ianto repeated. "The report on my father's death states he was suffocated as well as also inferring that I'd seemed to have vanished into thin air. What if I actually had? The dreams I had of the forest; the Fae were my safe haven as a child. They didn't hurt me, they just wanted me to go with them, but I didn't want to leave. I couldn't and they didn't force me."

Ianto stopped once again, and this time Jack could tell he was hoping for some kind of reaction from him, but he didn't know what to say. He stayed silent, and eventually Ianto continued, but not before he saw the latter glance away from him disappointedly, and he kicked himself internally. It must have taken a lot for Ianto to share this with him after what he'd just shared about his own experiences, and yet he had so far made nothing but a negative reaction.

"When I was 15, however, my father lost his job. That week he got drunk, and I really thought he was going to kill me, so I agreed that they could take me. Ma couldn't rely on his money anymore and was already planning to leave him and Rhiannon had left for University and had Johnny to look after her, so they were safe. I didn't expect them to kill him, but they saved me. You said yourself they control the 5 main elements. The way they can manipulate air and water – it's the same as me. The power I could feel surrounding me, it felt exactly the same to what I feel inside me."

Jack could here Ianto getting increasingly agitated as he spoke as if trying to make him believe what he what he was saying and he sighed. Ianto was right, the things he was saying made sense even if he didn't want to believe it. It wasn't because he didn't trust Ianto, nothing about this sounded anything like his fault, but he was holding onto hope it'd was just a ploy by the Fae, but it wasn't their tactic. They manipulate the weather, not people.

It wasn't just because it involved the Fae either. He'd tried to have faith the first fifteen year of Ianto life before he'd vanished and subsequently been captured, had at least have had some sense of normalcy, but if this was true, then Ianto would have been in some kind of fight the whole of his life. Recently it was beginning to feel like Ianto never got a break.

"You really believe this, don't you?" Jack said quietly, looking up at Ianto and taking another deep breath. "Okay, say your right, how…"

"Do you actually believe me, or are you just saying that?" Ianto snapped, taking Jack by surprised. It was still rather uncharacteristic of the other, but Jack couldn't exactly blame him. Ianto dropped his eyes to the floor however in response. "Sorry…"

"No. No apologies. Not for that. And yes, if you're sure about this then I am." Jack stood, moving around his desk to perch closer to the other. "Okay, we know Air and Fire are self-explanatory, same with water, but what about Earth? And what about your empathic abilities, how does that relate in any way to the elements?"

"I think it comes down to water having connotations to emotions and empathy, but as for Earth I…" Ianto paused, taking a breath as if he didn't really want to remember what he was about to say. "When I collapsed that building that killed Tanizaki, I thought I'd just used more of my air powers than I had before, just uncontrolled from the pain of Tanizaki's experiments, but now I'm wondering whether it was actually past of my Earth abilities emerging."

"Okay, then what about the fifth?" Jack asked. He wasn't entirely sure what the fifth element of Spirit meant, but it was the only one Ianto hadn't mentioned yet.

Ianto shrugged. "They didn't say."

Jack left that question be. Things were starting to make sense, but he still had a few unanswered questions- too many to try and focus on the ones Ianto didn't know the answer to.

"What did they want with you when you were young?" Jack asked, instead. "Other than to go with them, I mean. I've always known the Fae took children, but I never understood why."

"Maybe this will help? I spotted this when I was tidying the boardroom." Ianto selected the computer monitor remote from his desk. Jack looked confused, until Ianto brought up the Cottingley glass-plate photos on the monitor, that he'd used when he was explaining to the others the previous day. "Recognise anyone?"

"No…why? Oh, wait!" Jack exclaimed suddenly, taking the remote and zooming in on one of photos, instantly recognising the familiar feature in the face of one of the Fae. "That's Jasmine. I'm sure it is."

"You remember yesterday, when you said Children and the Fae seem almost connected?" Jack nodded, remembering the conversation outside Estelle's, though the other would have continued regardless. "The Fae can't reproduce themselves, so the Chosen children become changelings then eventually Fae, but there's a reason the Chosen Ones are usually younger. Jasmine was only seven, whereas I was 15 when I finally agreed. The longer you live on Earth, the more mature and less naïve as child becomes, the harder it is to cope with the transformation."

"And you couldn't…"

"I still can't remember too clearly was it was like, or how long I was there, but yes." Ianto confirmed. "They returned me to Earth, what must have been a year after I went missing in this timeline, but while my powers, though limited, were already a part of me – a gift the Fae said – clearly my memories of them weren't. They didn't survive."

"You remembered this time." Jack had only intended for the words to be more of a confused question rather than a disbelieving statement, but soon realised it might not have been interpreted that way as Ianto shrugged, his gaze lowering to fixate on a spot on the floor.

"This doesn't change anything, right?" Ianto mumbled, almost inaudibly.

Jack froze, his mind trying to recall the last time he'd seen Ianto this worried that one day something he'd revealed might be too much for Jack to be so supportive with, but he was stopped from thinking further by suddenly noticing the other's man shoulders sinking at the prolonged silence.

"No. No, of course not." He hurried to reassure him, Ianto immediately looking back up at him at the words. "It might not have been what I was expecting, but I'm happy you've finally got the answers you've been looking for."

Ianto nodded. The was another few seconds of silence before he stood, heading to leave. "I should go."

"You know you don't have to right?" Jack returned, jumping up as well to follow. "I meant what I said, we're okay. You can stay."

"Jack, it's fine. I know." Ianto turned back as he replied, sending him the start of warm but hesitant smile. "I said I'd pick Moses up for Estelle. I don't want to be too late."

"Can I join you?" Jack asked. He knew Estelle had assured she was fine, but the team had all but raced from her house the night before after the attack, wanting to get Ianto back to the Hub where Owen could examine him more closely, and he thought it might ease some of the swarm of guilt inside him to see for himself once more. However, the tension in the office had only just started to fade, and he didn't want to force Ianto into spending more time with him after what he'd just revealed if he didn't want to. "If you want some time alone, I don't mind, but…"

"Jack." Ianto's words cut through Jack's tirade, and he froze, looking up to see the former already moving to select Jack's greatcoat from the stand. "It's fine. She's your friend too. I'm sure she's expecting you to come."

Jack took the coat from Ianto, walking with the other out towards the SUV, but not before slowly pulling the other towards him and pressing a quick kiss to Ianto's cheek, giving the other full chance to pull away if he wanted. Neither of them said a word, but he could tell from Ianto's guarded posture and slightly strengthened shields, that the latter was still wary and nervous, but in that moment there wasn't really anything either could say that would add more to the previous conversation. Jack had never been good with words – other than flirting of course – but he just hoped his presence would go a lot further in easing Ianto's worries.

Come away, O' human child.

To the waters and the wild.

With a faery, hand in hand,

For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

W. B. Yeats (1865-1939)

Notes: Yay! Jack and Ianto (and us) knows the truth! I didn't want Jack of course to believe Ianto (or rather the Fae) straight away, but I hope I portrayed this okay. I think this was one of the hardest chapters so far to write. Lots of talking rather than action, but don't worry the action returns for the next chapter: COUNTRYCIDE!

Will be up in the next 2-3 days. I only just finished writing 23/26. That was another hard chapter to write meaning I'm behind so I'll see how much I get written this weekend.

Please review if you have the time, I'd love to know how I did with this whole reveal. I stressed so much trying to get it perfect – cause it was the reason I started this whole series ahaha. Thanks to all who have already. I see some of you guessed correctly so congratulations.