Ugh

Ugh. I just had to write a recipe for good writing for English. What's more, I just realised that I told my teacher I wrote as a hobby, so now she's going to expect really good stuff all the time… I didn't think that one through. I start this chapter in a neutral viewpoint 'cause I think it works better. And Jess's viewpoint disappears because of… well, actually I don't think I should tell you just yet.

Disclaimer: Tree.

My brain pulled a Jack on me and disappeared off. As a consequence the second paragraph may make Jess seem totally Mary-Sue. That's why I've been pumping her full of character flaws from the very start. Just so I could do this now.

Also – and yes, I know this A/N is ridiculously long. You can skip if you want to – did anyone notice me screwing up my tenses in the last chapter? First past, then present, then past again? Yeah, silly author, :headdesk:. That's what happens when I write while I'm tired. I keep doing it, as well! And apologies for the wait, but school and homework screwed up my writing time.

Ah, shoot, I think I've rambled enough and I actually need to write some story now…

Rift

Jess looked like she'd seen a ghost. The power of the rift was pounding in her head, and she tried to find words to warn the others. But there were no words. The rift swept through her like wildfire, and scattered her. Jess was gone.

John

We all noticed Jess jump back like she'd been burned. The rift flowed around her, and then she just collapsed. And even though it went against every single rule I have for myself, I felt the need to protect her. That is not good. I can't care for people like that. That's not who I am. But… that's still how I felt. Not a good sign. Then Jess sat up and we could all tell something was wrong. Her eyes were red-gold; rift coloured. It wasn't her.

Ianto

It was one of the bizarrest and scariest things I'd ever seen. It was still Jess – at least it still looked like her – but her eyes were so different. I have a thing about eyes. I hate when they're not right.

"Jack, what's happened to her?"

"I don't know, Ianto."

John looked absolutely livid. I wonder if he or Jess realised how good they look together. Like a proper couple. Plus she's the only person I've ever seen control him. Even if Jack insists he can, I've never seen it in action.

Tangent. Back to what happened.

Jess – or not – looked around her curiously. Then she laughed and I actually got chills. It was unearthly, empty and echoed like someone laughing in a cave. Then she spoke and her voice sounded like a snake hissing.

"Well, it seemed I picked an interesting one to take over. Pretty too, this just gets better."

Jack looked pretty angry too. I think I just looked bloody terrified. "Let her go. Whatever you are, let her go."

"You mean you don't know who I am? But I would have thought it was obvious. Think, the clue's been there from the start."

"The rift," I blurted. "You're the rift, aren't you?"

"Clever one, there. He's right. Ah, but she never told you about what she learned."

"What do you mean?" asked Jack, and out of the corner of my eye I could see John silently cursing. Obviously Jess had shared whatever it was she'd learned, just not with us.

"Jess didn't find anything that would cause this. She told me what had happened to her; it wasn't this."

"What did she tell you?"

He cast a look at me and Jack, and I couldn't tell what he was thinking. Not that that made much of a difference, since I can't tell most of the time anyway, but this was more a jumble of emotions – he has emotions, who knew? – rather than hiding what he was feeling.

"She said that the rift was a being comprised of energy – some of which comes from the dead."

"The dead?" I couldn't stop myself asking.

"Yes, Eye Candy, the dead. That was why we didn't tell you, Jack. Because of what happened to your team."

"She was right. I am energy, just energy. This world is so much more. It was easy to go through the fragile connection to her, and now I can have that. Substance, sensation…"

"Alliteration?" John has a strange thought train. Mind you, I've know that for ages.

"Sarcastic one, you are. She has memories of you."

"Where is she now?"

……………

Jack

I've seen John in combat situations before, but I've never seen him this angry. The rift seemed to have left no trace of Jess, and so we arrested it and took it back to the hub. Then we held a meeting to discuss what should be done.

"We find a way to get it out of her, then we destroy it." I'm not surprised he came up with a solution like that, to be honest. But the look of cold anger in his eyes was unnerving. I've seen his single-mindedness before, but never like this.

I wonder if there's more to him and Jess than I'd thought. Ianto's good at picking up things like that, I'll ask him later. Normally I'd think that was just me being stupid – I mean, John Hart being serious about someone? – but I think he likes Jess. In a weird way it makes me think a little bit of me and Ianto… but that is scary because that makes me and John the same… and no one wants that to apply to them.

"We can't destroy the rift, John. It's way to powerful, plus that would probably destroy the universe. And just out of interest, how would you go about destroying the rift?"

"We have to do something."

"Not that. We'll find another solution."

………………

Ianto

Jack and John had resorted to out-and-out fighting. I escaped from it, because if there's one lesson I've learnt while at Torchwood it's not to piss off Jack… and I'm willing to bet John comes under the same category. To hide from the pair of them I went down to the cells to see the rift. I thought we should have a name for it, so I asked.

"Do you have a name?"

"Rift. And you?"

"Ianto Jones. What did you do to Jess?"

"I took her place. Where she's gone, I don't know."

"Why?"

"Why, Ianto Jones? I have spent eons as nothing more than a consciousness, a single mind stretched across time and space. Devoid of emotion, devoid of sensation, for so long. Then one day a little girl, so bright with what I can never have, blundered close and I took my chance. It was never meant to go so far as to give her power. Everything I did was just to experience this. And it is so magical I will never go back."

Evil Rift. Now, a review… Lemme know whatcha all think.