Author's Notes: Just like only Jack got the animal ears several chapters ago, now it's only Ianto that gets the different clothes. I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, but the prompt was there and that was what came to mind. I hope you like it.

Very important reference: The planet is indeed a thing in one of the books – the Mystery of the Haunted Cottage, it's with Ten and Martha – and it really picks up the first thing a person had read when they step on it. In that case, it was Martha and the Doctor told her that had it been him, they wouldn't be in a human children's book but in a Gallifreyan fairytale, so this is where the idea came from.

Day Sixteen: In a Different Clothing Style

"I'm only dropping you off here," the Doctor said and then added for the hundredth time, "Try not to blow anything up, eh?" He didn't say anything about guns and Jack wasn't sure if it was because he thought they had stopped taking them around or because he knew that they couldn't discouraged from doing it. "I promised Amy and Rory to take them out for their anniversary, so I better go. Don't get yourselves in trouble. I'll come to pick you up in five hours, so try not to get lost." And with that, the Doctor practically pushed them out through the wooden doors. "Have fun."

As the TARDIS added out of existence, Jack heard Ianto gasp and finally took in his surroundings.

The sky was red, bordering on bright orange on the horizon, and they were standing on a wide road. There were mountains in the distance and a city nearby – all its buildings protected by a glass sphere – and the trees in the valley they were currently in as low-numbered as said trees were had silver leaves that reflected the light of the two large suns spectacularly.

Ianto had frozen on his feet and seemed unable to utter a word. His eyes were wide with wonder and, considering he had the biggest eyes Jack had ever seen on anyone, it was rather impressive. And happened rarely. Ianto couldn't be surprised easily.

"Do you know where we are?" Jack asked as he kept looking around himself The Doctor had went with the randomiser – just as they'd asked him to – when choosing a planet for them to visit and therefore, they could be quite literally anywhere. "Have you been here before?"

Ianto remained silent for a moment more before whispering, "Yes. Yes, you could say that." He turned around to face his lover and despite the red light Jack could see he was even paler than usual. "Jack, this is Gallifrey."

o.O.o

They had almost reached the city when Ianto's phone picked up their coordinates. He'd made so many modifications on it and had added so many parts that it didn't even look like a phone any longer, but it could do basically anything.

"So it's not Gallifrey after all, look." Ianto showed him the readings. "We're half a Universe away."

There was disappointment in his voice and Jack couldn't blame him for it even though he himself silently didn't want them to end up in a Time Lock. He'd had less-than-pleasant experiences with that before and didn't want it repeated. Especially not in the middle of the Time War. "So it's a copy, then."

"It must be," Ianto agreed. "But who would want to copy Gallifrey? What for? Wait a minute, we've got to find clothes," Ianto continued and pointed at something that looked like a clothes store. "Whatever time period we are in, the clothes are basically the same; Time Lords were never ones for fashion and we've got to look like natives. Visitors were never too welcome in the Citadel."

"Seems visitors were never too welcome on Gallifrey in general," Jack muttered and Ianto laughed heartily as he led them into the store.

"Right after the war started, I was leading one of the Army's squads that had to go to other planets and discuss their desire – or lack thereof – to get involved in the conflict. I can say I've damaged my uniform; a quick scan should be enough to prove it and everyone, no matter where they lived or worked, was told to keep surplus of anything – food, water, clothes, money – those were given by the government, though – in case the Army needed something in moment of crisis."

Ianto looked so comfortable, so at home, that it brought a smile to Jack's face as well. He knew that this was just a copy of Ianto's actual home world, but it was still something, he thought as Ianto discussed his situation with the store keeper and got his scan.

"Who would guess?" Ianto asked as the man started looking for a uniform. "We're working undercover again."

Jack's smile widened and he nodded before his eyes were drawn by the clothes that were suddenly handed to Ianto. "Why were Time Lords so obsessed with red?" He wondered out loud, then smiled sheepishly when the man – still looking for the other parts of Ianto's uniform – threw him a sharp look. "No, I won't need an armour," Ianto said hastily. "We're hoping for a peaceful greeting."

"Good luck with that." The store keeper's laugh was bitter but his voice was kind. "Everyone in the Citadel's on edge."

"Why?" Jack asked, frowning. "What's happened?"

"Oh, nothing yet." The man said, then abruptly disappeared behind the curtain on the back of the room.

"There's something... off here," Ianto said as he put on his new clothes. "I'm not sure what, but there's something out of place."

"Maybe we've arrived in the war?" Jack suggested. "If it's all copied, maybe they've got the war too."

Ianto shook his head. "That's just the thing. It's not a perfect copy. And plus, if we were in the war, you'd recognise it. Te shield was broken, damaged Dalek ships scattered everywhere, everything was burning... no. There's something else here.

"Why don't we go find out, then?" Jack asked. They've supposedly come here for a short holiday but hey, even back in Torchwood, they've never had much luck with dates that ended with a peaceful dinner at home. "The Citadel... also known as the Capitol, right? Did you live there?" Ianto nodded. "Well, then there must be something for us to learn."

o.O.o

"What do you mean, you can't let us in?" Ianto was getting more and more agitated by the guard's lack of cooperativeness, but Jack tried not to get involved. He was passing as the ambassador of his own planet – since he thought the guards might recognise the accent – and therefore didn't have a say in what was currently happening.

He'd never seen Ianto like that before. In his uniform, he seemed even taller than usual, suddenly authoritative and completely in his element. Jack couldn't read the label on the front of his jacket since it was Gallifreyan and the TARDIS wouldn't translate it, but Ianto had told him that it meant 'Junior Commander' and that, while it wasn't that important of a position, it was still better than any passer-by trying to enter the city, especially if the defences had been heightened.

"I'm sorry, Sir." He did look like he was sorry, if the way he eyed them both apologetically could be anything to go by. "But the city is closed."

"What for?" Ianto snapped. "Look, it's important. We've got to go in. This here is the ambassador of Boeshane Peninsula and we can't keep him waiting just because someone in the Council–"

"What is Boeshane Peninsula?" The man frowned and suddenly, the world around them looked somehow... sharper.

"It's a colony world," Ianto said, apparently taken aback by the question. "Six thousand light years away from here."

The man shook his head. "Sir, but you must be wrong. There's nothing else here."

"What do you mean, nothing else?" Jack asked before he could stop himself.

"Nothing else except for Gallifrey. It's all there is."

Ianto rolled his eyes and looked at Jack in the way he usually did when someone's stupidity was just too hopeless to be addressed. "Can I talk to someone else?" He asked. "Someone from the Council?"

"Sorry, Sir, but I can't–"

"Look," Ianto interrupted. "I know you're just doing your job, but this is important. What's your name?"

The guard was now staring at him as if he had completely lost his mind. "I don't have one, Sir."

o.O.o

Jack and Ianto were sitting nearby a lake in the fields that surrounded the city, and had been going through theory after theory for the last hour or so.

"Okay, so what do we have until now? Apparently Gallifrey is – or will be – under attack, but nobody talks about what will or is happening, they think that nothing else but here exists and half of them don't even have names. If you would make a copy of a planet, why would you do such a poor job of it? It feels..."

"Unfinished," Jack supplied and Ianto nodded. "Exactly. So it's either a work in progress or... or I don't know. "

"Don't you remember anything like this?" the Captain asked. "From, I don't know, history books, fairytales–"

"Fairytales!" Ianto exclaimed. "That's it! We're in a fairytale! The Doctor told me about this place once. This planet is like an empty slot and when someone visits, it digs into their mind and remakes their first memory of reading a book. I was the first to come out of the TARDIS, so it picked up the first thing I've ever read." Ianto closed his eyes, his enthusiasm suddenly deflating. "It was the story of the Black Sun War."

"The what?"

"You were right. Gallifrey – this Gallifrey here, anyway – is at war, or will be very soon. The first Time War." He gulped audibly and looked back to the city. "The war against the Order of the Black Sun. They tried to stop Omega and Rassilon – supposedly the ones who established our society – from finding the source of time travel."

"What happened?" Jack had known that there were several Time Wars in Gallifrey's history and yet, he knew next to nothing about the earlier ones.

"They didn't succeed – apparently – but still did quite some damage and–" Ianto looked him straight in the eye. "And I can't do anything. That's why we can't move around much or enter the city – we're not the heroes of this story. I can't watch while it's destroyed again if I can't do anything, Jack."

"So we're calling the Doctor?" Jack asked and Ianto pulled out his phone again and sighed in resignation before nodding. "We're calling the Doctor."

Ianto seemed mostly angry with himself and Jack wanted to tell him that he really couldn't do anything, but he didn't. Not even when the TARDIS came to pick them up and Ianto walked in, ignoring the Doctor's questions and going straight to the library where Jack found him several minutes later, after he had explained to the older Time Lord what had happened.

Ianto wasn't reading; he was just sitting on the floor with his back against a shelf and staring at nothing, and Jack knew from experience that this was never a good sign. Neither was Ianto in the library, really; usually he read either in the control room or in his bed, but the library was a safe place for his hardest moments.

He sat next to Ianto without saying anything. His lover just leaned his head against the Captain's shoulder and closed his eyes. Jack wrapped an arm around him and did the same; it had been a rather exhausting day and he wasn't sure he had the energy to move back to their bedroom. He pressed Ianto closer to himself and felt the Time Lord sort of snuggle – not that Ianto would ever use that word to describe it – into his side and no one said anything for the rest of the night.