Three
Orange lamplight streaked through the main window, illuminating great swathes of the coffee shop. Aderyn could hear the two men moving about, their voices drifting across in half-darkness. She followed the wall around a corner and crouched down behind a chair to get a better look.
"Well, technically it is theft," the Welshman said.
The other man put his hands on his hips. "I don't care, I want it back."
"Why couldn't you have just—" the Welshman began. "Ah. No, of course not."
"Exactly," said the American. "There's no way I could have come here." He bent to look under another table. "What if just seeing me had tripped the retcon?"
"Yes. That is rather a predicament," the other man agreed, "but breaking and entering? Really?"
"I want my coat."
"You sound like a sulky child."
"Sulky children get what they want, Ianto. You checked under the bar?"
As the taller, American man moved on to looking behind the sofa-chairs, Ianto walked toward the coffee bar, lifting the hatch and sliding through. He saw the coat tucked away beneath the till and grabbed at it, holding it aloft for the other man to see. "Found it!" he announced.
Then his eyes fell on Aderyn.
Aderyn felt her hands grow clammy, a tingling chill spreading down the back of her neck. "It's you," she whispered.
"Er, Jack..." said Ianto.
The American, Jack, appeared and leant on the bar, hands open and waiting for the coat. "What?"
Ianto passed him the coat, pointed at Aderyn and said, "Problem."
Jack's eyes flicked toward Aderyn, his face lit by the orange light outside, and their gazes met. A bright and brilliant pain shot through Aderyn's head and she gasped, doubling over.
"Shit."
"Exactly my sentiments," the man called Ianto said.
"Get her up," Jack commanded. "Quickly, we have to get her out of here before—"
Aderyn began to scream, clutching at her head under the onslaught of memory.
"Get away! She isn't yours!"
The light: the whitest of lights, so painfully bright and burning straight through the whole of her.
"Hey, sweetheart, what's your name?"
Arms around her. It hurt, everything hurt.
"Aderyn..."
The whiteness clawed its way up her throat, robbing her of speech as it stole her mind.
"My name's Jack. I'm going to get this thing out of you, understand?"
Nothing. Just intense pain and paralysing fear. Aderyn was nothing.
"We have her now. Through her we will have you all."
The memories cut off for a merciful second and Aderyn drew in a ragged breath only to choke as vomit flooded her mouth. She just about heard Ianto shout "Jack!" before the memory of the past two days dragged her back under again.
-T-
Monday. It had all started with a coat.
"Hey, this yours?" Aderyn asked. The man in question paused at the doorway of the coffee shop.
"Shoot! Yeah," he said in an American drawl, "that one's mine. Thanks."
"No problem." She handed it over, enjoying the wink he at tipped her. "Be careful with it, yeah? I'd hate for you to lose it."
"Know what?" The man stopped, holding the door open. "So would I!" And then he left, walking outside toward an ostentatious black SUV, getting in and driving away.
-T-
"Alright, just breathe," Jack's voice coaxed. "Try to breathe, Adie." But she couldn't. The little air Aderyn managed to force into her lungs escaped immediately as a strangled scream and hysteria added itself to the whirlwind of emotions and pains that thrummed through her body.
-T-
Tuesday. Aderyn drove home in the rain. Through the water running in rivulets down her windscreen, she caught sight of a familiar car ahead on the almost deserted road. The guy with the coat, Aderyn thought, and that devilish smile—
She shook her head, not allowing her mind to wander. There were more important things to think about, mainly the fact that she was driving in horrid weather, but also that Nathan had finally popped the question today. Aderyn let the glow of that moment flood through her. So happy, so peaceful.
Up ahead, the black SUV tumbled off the road and into the undergrowth, hurtling toward the trees. Aderyn's foot slammed down on the brake without instruction from her brain and she stared in shock at the car as it narrowly avoided tree after trunk and vanished into the murky gloom of the forest.
As ever, Aderyn's curiosity got the better of her. Indicating left, she drove down the shallow embankment and parker her car just outside the trees, not facing her chances inside. Whoever was driving that SUV was a maniac.
Pulling her jacket closer around her, and grabbing her purse as an afterthought, Aderyn began to follow the larger car's tire marks.
-T-
"Put this under her head," Ianto said. Aderyn's eyes were jammed shut, so she didn't see the affronted look Jack gave Ianto as the Welshman passed down the greatcoat, nor did she see the eyebrow Ianto raised at Jack in return, clearly saying 'this is your fault, now deal with the consequences'.
Slowly, Aderyn began to calm. Her ribcage rose and fell with more even breaths as she watched her memories return within the confines of her eyelids.
-T-
Strange lights ahead as she wandered through the murk. Aderyn could hear vague shouts, cries of pain and anger:
"Get back!" an American voice yelled. Aderyn recognised it as the man from before. "Don't let it touch you!"
Aderyn heard footsteps. "What about you?" another voice shouted back at him. Local boy, Aderyn thought, noting the accent.
"See this?" He hissed an intake of breath. "Yeow, doesn't like me, does it?"
"I'll bet your ego's suffering," the Welshman deadpanned.
Aderyn edged closer, wanting to see. The lights grew brighter and more ethereal with every step she took. Hypnotic, she thought.
Then Aderyn stepped out into the clearing and became transfixed. So beautiful, so bright. Her skin warmed where the light touched it, dissipating the rain induced chill. Aderyn took a deep breath and felt the warmth flow into her mouth, down her throat and flood her lungs. It felt exquisite.
"Hey!" the American voice shouted. Her head whipped around. How could she share this? This was hers!
Aderyn froze. Who's thought was that? She had no claim on the light...
But the light had a claim on her.
Author note: Come on, you know Ianto and Jack are practically a married couple... Also, I am beginning to feel quite cruel about what I'm putting Aderyn through, but oh well!