A/N I read a theory about my story! I'm so happy! Thank you, and you and especially you (that was for everyone)! You know, I'm a really mean person. But you'll see that for yourself in a few minutes.

The Funny Little Thing Called Memory

Ianto Jones remembered a lot of things, it was one of the perks or maybe the curses of being who he was. He could go so far as to tell you what sort of cake he had had on his 8th birthday or the name and age of his first homeroom teacher. He had no trouble recalling events he shouldn't have remembered like when back in the days he didn't know what Torchwood was and Jack had to practically retcon him after their every other date.

But there was one thing, a single event in his long life that he couldn't remember. Ironically, the memory of it would have probably been able to save the Earth as they all knew it.

The first time he had seen him on the news his heart had skipped a beat. The Master, witty, cocky, sarcastic... when he wasn't pushing his lover against the wall, ignorant of the way the other people in the room were watching them, of course. Ianto had admitted long ago that he had a bit of a crush on his snarky ways, a fact that his Jack found both amusing and a little concerning.

The Welshman had been disappointed when he had found out that the man on the screen was simply that- a man. He even had a new name- Harold Saxon.

Ianto couldn't help but find it heart-clenching. The only one who could make the Doctor happy- a human. Because if there was someone who knew about the pain that was being in love with an immortal man that was Ianto Jones.

So, really, he had no idea what to expect when he entered the room picked for the meeting of the Minister of Defense with Torchwood, represented by Ianto. He couldn't help but wonder how much a person could change if they were born a different species, he had never seen something like that. Maybe the Master would be... normal. He almost laughed at that, the other man would be batshit crazy even if he was a plant.

Then a familiar scent washed over him and he gasped. Oh. Still a Time Lord then. Ianto watched as the other stopped as well and sniffed the air and he tried not to wince. He knew how he smelled. Like a garbage-can left for a few days to sunbathe, like a house full with corpses. Like a paradox.

"You smell differently," Harold, the Master, smirked and headed towards him. It seemed like he had no problem with the smell that only those like him could sense.

"So do you. An alien?" Ianto decided it was best to act clueless before he knew if it safe to open his mouth.

"As much of an alien as you are."

How dare he... The Welshman stuck his chin out. "I'm perfectly human."

The Master just continued to smirk and offered his hand which the other accepted, even if a little reluctantly. "Were human, once upon a time in a different world, you mean? I've done my research, Ianto Jones."

The grip around his fingers tightened. It would have made more men cry out but Ianto just returned the squeeze with as much force. "Yeah? Well, I know everything about you, too, Master." Harold tilted his head but the smirk on his face was a shade lighter. "The Doctor's lover, the last one of your kind, besides him. Don't act all high and mighty because I've seen you, the way you look at him as if you would do everything for a simple smile. And if you loved him there you love him here, too."

The smirk was completely gone now. The Master snorted lightly, eyebrows raising slightly and his lips formed a bitter smile, just for a second before the Time Lord let go of the other's hand, turned his back on him and led the way to the sofa in the middle of the room.

"The same goes for that immortal of yours, my dear boy," the Master finally said after a few seconds of silence. Ianto fidgeted in his seat. But he had said so much already and it wasn't like the other didn't know about his past. He knew about Jack after all, and nobody knew about that because there was nothing between them worth knowing. Between him and this Jack.

"Yes, I'm the love of his life. The only one who can make his existence feel perfect and meaningful, the one that could put a smile on his face and make sure it never goes away. But not the me standing before you... but the one that died long ago. My soulmate is gone and so is his. What we are doing right now is clean each other's wounds." The Welshman could feel tears burning his eyes and he shook his head to send them away. He had never admitted it out loud. That there was only one for him and he no longer existed.

"And don't call me boy, I'm as old as you," he added just for the sake of the barter. Like the old times.

The Master was looking at him carefully like a rare bug he had found on his sleeve. Ianto had never liked it when people did that, he felt like a freak. Not that he wasn't.

"Yes, yes, you are," the Time Lord whispered and it sounded almost gentle. He reached out to caress the Welshman's cheek but Ianto backed away. The Master was never careful with anybody who didn't bear the title 'The Doctor' if he didn't want something. The man before him immediately dropped his hand. "Then tell me, Ianto Jones, are you afraid of the darkness?"

He meant something more than just the lack of light and Ianto should have been afraid- the alien in front of him knew. Instead he just smiled.

"You are only afraid of things you haven't experienced before."

"Good." The smirk was back and it was even more scary. "A brilliant answer. This would hurt a lot."

Something pointy touched Ianto's skin and before he knew it, something was injected into his body. The pain make him yelp and double up, but that just made the thing travel faster, like acid burning through his veins. He almost missed the words whispered into the room.

"I think in another life we would have been friends"

Ianto didn't have the time to reply "We were" because he was falling and the all-too-familiar darkness that had nothing to do with the lack of light embraced him.

He was climbing the Himalayas when the memory of this struck him. But it was already too late.