Time Trap - Chapter Fifteen

Author: Milady Dragon

5 February 5114

Ddraig Llyn

The yellow glow in the middle of the room was the only indication Anwyn had that someone was arriving via time travel.

She had her gun out before she realised who it was.

The weight in her chest – not related to her injuries – lifted at once as she recognized the man who had appeared in the Harkness-Jones lounge. The smile tugged at the bruise on her cheek as she put her weapon back in its holster and practically threw herself at him. "Uncle Phillip!" she exclaimed, relief slamming through her even as she slammed into her adopted uncle.

Arms went around her, and Phillip Pendragon sighed into her hair. "I'm so glad you're alright. I thought…"

"Just bruises and a bum shoulder." She pulled away, checking him for injuries. She noted the damaged cast on his left wrist, and frowned.

"I'm fine," he answered, but there was a shadow in his eyes that Anwyn didn't like.

She didn't have time to ask, however. Her Tad was suddenly beside her, and he reached out to grasp Uncle Phillip by the shoulder. "Welcome back," he said warmly.

"It's good to be back," Phillip said. "How bad were things here?"

"Pretty bad," Jack replied, coming to stand with them as well. Mere minutes before Uncle Phillip had reappeared, he'd regained his colour and his normal, boisterous personality. "Whatever was going on in the past was affecting both me and Merlin –"

"I'm fine now, Granddad," Merlin's voice interrupted. Both he and Arthur were standing on the stairs leading up to the upper floors of the house, and the sorcerer looked a little worse for wear but the smile on his face was just as wide as it usually was.

"It was Juno Bayl," Uncle Phillip explained. "He decided that kidnapping me and exposing me to my past self would be a really good idea."

Both Jack and Ianto were nodding, but Anwyn was confused. "And just how is that a good idea to anyone?" she demanded.

"He wanted to take me out of the timeline," he explained as Merlin and Arthur also joined them. "He thought the best way to do that was to remove me from history completely. I'm not sure if it would have worked…"

"It would have," Merlin said. His arm was around his mate, and he was leaning a bit against Arthur. "That much energy expended when the two of you met…even your immortality wouldn't have been any sort of protection."

"And the level of paradox that would have caused…" Jack shuddered.

"I'm sorry," Anwyn said, "I get that it would cause a paradox if Uncle Phillip were suddenly removed from history." She did; she was well aware of everything that he'd done behind the scenes over the centuries he'd been Grand Master of the Shieldsmen, and even before. "And I also get just how bad it would be. But why would someone – someone even as crazy as Bayl – want to even do something like that?"

"He thought if he removed one of Torchwood's primary allies it would make for a weaker Torchwood," Phillip answered, "one that wouldn't be able to take down the Time Agency."

Her Dad snorted. "He must have been so busy trying to track down just who Phillip Pendragon really was that he didn't even check on his own agency's history."

Anwyn knew her own confused look matched those belonging to both Arthur and Merlin.

"I was the one who suggested creating the Time Agency in the first place," Phillip clarified. "Taking me out of history would have meant the Time Agency never would have existed in the first place." He glanced over at Arthur and Merlin. "Why do you think I was so behind the disbanding of the Agency in the first place when Merlin wanted to do it? I'd seen what it had become. Plus, I had certain information that you both didn't have…in that the Time Agency would be disbanded anyway. Of course, Jack and Ianto knew that as well, but since their retirement they didn't have the ears of the Imperial Council like I did. And it didn't hurt that Council Leader Smith-Sullivan is a personal friend…"

Anwyn shook her head, laughing. "So he was creating an even bigger paradox by targeting you. That sounds about par for the course."

"That's not even counting the fact that Torchwood probably wouldn't even exist now if he'd succeeded," Ianto added. "No Time Agency…no Agent Boe. No Agent Boe…no Jack Harkness."

"No Jack Harkness," Phillip continued, "no Torchwood…at least as it is now. And how many times has Torchwood protected the planet Earth, and beyond? Bayl wasn't thinking. He was simply out for revenge on what he believed was a wrong done him."

"Where is Bayl?" Arthur asked.

"I nicely asked Captain Hart to deliver him back to prison. He didn't want to at first, but I convinced him." He looked smug. "Did you really have to send him back? I was perfectly able to get myself out of trouble. He also thinks it's a good idea to call you Queenie, by the way. What your sister, Cadi, sees in him I honestly don't know."

She couldn't hide the frustrated noise she made to that comment, but decided there were more important things to discuss. "Well…" Anwyn looked over at her Tad, who nodded. "If you must know…Franklin told us to send him."

Phillip frowned. "I'm sorry…but what does your brother have to do with it?"

"We aren't really sure," Ianto admitted. "He claimed to have been there…and then he told us to send Hart and left."

"He seemed really adamant about it," Anwyn added. "And what did it hurt? It also freed you up to come straight home."

"Well, not exactly…I took a detour to take the Cardiff Hub off lockdown." Phillips smiled sadly. "I'd forgotten how the Plass used to look until I was actually standing on it…"

Jack laughed. "I seem to recall that Ianto and I always did wonder who'd released the Hub from lockdown!"

"You remember now?" Anwyn asked.

"Kinda," her Dad admitted. "The memories are blurry, just like they were centuries old…which they are so that makes sense. But they're there, so time definitely has settled into whatever path it needed to be in." He stared at Phillip. "And just how do you have those old codes anyway?"

"Someone handed me their wrist strap as he borrowed the working one I'd taken from Bayl," Phillip admitted. "It didn't take much to find them. I'm…not even sure why I looked, only that I doubted you'd release the Hub while I was still in the timeline, Jack. And I just had to see old Cardiff…" His expression turned wistful, and Jack grabbed onto his shoulder in a show of comfort.

"So much lost," Ianto lamented, and Anwyn put her good arm around his waist, her fingers meeting her Dad's at the centre of Tad's back.

"Enough of this," Jack proclaimed. "Phillip, we need to get that arm checked out and get you some decent clothes to wear." His eyes raked up and down the wrinkled blue outfit Uncle Phillip was wearing. "That's not your usual style."

Phillip held up the bag he'd been carrying. "My uniform is in here. Of course Torchwood in the past had to test everything. I had to make up a false cult in order to keep them from finding my scar, just in case they added things up."

"They returned them in a plastic bag?" Ianto huffed. "Really?"

"Well, to be fair they didn't know that this sort of plastic wasn't made anymore," Phillip said, "Although I did point out that it's worth a bit of money now…at least to collectors."

"But Uncle," Anwyn said, "what about Franklin? He said he was there, back in time. How could he be?"

"I don't know, but if he was I didn't notice."

"That's because you didn't know what to look for."

The entire group spun in order to pinpoint the voice that had just spoken. Franklin was standing just inside the house, fidgeting from foot to foot, his eyes restless and not focusing on anyone.

It was Phillip who broke the sudden silence. "Clint?" he whispered, his face going pale.

"What?" Anwyn exclaimed, echoed by her fathers. She wanted to say that it was Franklin, her wanderlust consumed younger brother, and that it wasn't this Clint person that her uncle was clearly thinking of.

Franklin smiled shyly. "Hey, Phil."

"Oh Goddess," Jack whispered.

"Why didn't we see it before?" Ianto replied, almost at the exact same time.

"Because the memories weren't set yet," Franklin answered. "And I made sure I wasn't around all that much so nothing would trigger them before it was time." He looked guilty.

"Can someone please explain to me what's going on?" Anwyn demanded. She hated being left out of the loop and was perfectly able to maim anyone who didn't answer her question.

"I wouldn't mind an explanation, either," Arthur added softly, which meant he was as put out as Anwyn was.

"Your brother," Ianto said, his mouth quirking upward in a disbelieving yet happy smile, "appears to be the reincarnation of an old teammate of mine and your Dad's." He pulled away from the group, walking up to Franklin. "Hello, Clint," he greeted, pulling him into a hug.

Anwyn's eyebrows went up. Well, this was certainly a day of surprises. First, her uncle had been kidnapped by a time travelling maniac, and now the younger brother she'd known and loved for over sixteen hundred years was actually the reincarnation of a long-dead Torchwood employee…

Well, she'd certainly seen stranger things.

Ianto pulled away, hands resting on both of Franklin's shoulders. "Why didn't you say anything before?" he asked gently.

"We could have helped or something," Jack added, joining them.

"I had to wait," Franklin replied. "When I started regaining my old life's memories, I got a visitation from you-know-who," he jerked his head toward the lake, "who informed me that certain things had to happen before I could reveal myself. The last of those was Phillip Pendragon's kidnapping and return." Tension was bleeding out of him slowly. "I just couldn't stay around, knowing what I did and not being able to tell anyone in my family."

"That's why you're always gone," Arthur said.

"Yeah. I couldn't risk anyone recognising me before it was time, but I couldn't live with the secret, either."

It was Anwyn's turn to hug him. She'd always loved her brother, but hadn't gotten to know him all that well after he'd left to go off on his own. It was wasted time, and she regretted it, but she could understand in a way, carrying such a big secret. "It's fine, Frankie," she murmured. Then she pulled away. "Or should I call you Clint now?" Every person she'd met who'd reincarnated always preferred to be called by their original name.

"I've been Franklin for a long time," he chuckled. "Call me whatever you want, I'm sure I'll answer to anything."

It was Anwyn's turn to laugh. "So I can call you idiot and you'll know it's you?"

"Hey, now!" he protested.

Franklin released her, his eyes raising to look over her shoulder. Anwyn turned, watching her uncle take several tentative steps toward them. Just behind him, Arthur and Merlin were both wearing twin expressions of confusion on their faces and Anwyn just knew it was because of Phillip's reaction.

And then, Franklin was pushing past her, and as Anwyn stood there her brother was suddenly grabbing Phillip and dragging him into his arms, his entire body shaking. "Oh Goddess," he moaned. "I've missed you so much…"

Phillip's eyes closed as he held on just as tightly. "Clint," he muttered brokenly.

"Oh," Jack said, tugging Anwyn toward the hug her fathers were sharing, "by the way, Phillip and Clint were lovers back in the day."

"Which just happened to be the 21st century," Ianto added, "where Phillip has just been."

Anwyn couldn't help the dopey grin that pulled her cheek painfully, but it didn't matter. While she hadn't seen her uncle as much as she would have liked, she'd always felt that there was something missing, a part of him that he'd lost but just hadn't realised it. Now she thought she had it figured out. "So I'd guess that Uncle Phillip going back in time was a way to remind him of what he'd had?"

"Nothing is coincidence," Ianto said, shrugging. "Humans weren't meant to be immortal, and they have a tendency to lose their memories under the weight of all those centuries. I'm not saying that Phillip ever completely forgot Clint, but a gentle reminder is always a good thing."

"And it's always a good thing to have someone by your side to help with those old memories," Jack added, giving his mate a fond smile.

"Get outside!" Arthur suddenly ordered.

Anwyn startled at the shout. Turning, she saw exactly why her son had been so adamant.

Franklin's body was glowing.