A/N First, yes, I know the title is so bad but I couldn't help it! It sounded so funny! Which was so not the point of the whole chapter but... yeah...

Second, I don't remember if I told you so if I'm repeating myself- I'm sorry, but there will be no more flashbacks. Yep, it's over, there is just one storyline to follow right now. This takes place after the first season, when the Master is taking over the planet. "Oh, and you can tell Handsome Jack that I've sent his little gang off on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas"- a quote from the TV show. I just took it and ran with it. Enjoy!

Just Because I'm Dead Doesn't Mean We Shouldn't Be Friends

In retrospect, Ianto should have realized sooner that it was a trap. Honestly, how nobody had suspected a phone call from Jack, who just for the record had been missing for a month, telling them he was stuck on the Himalayas, of all places, was just beyond him.

What really hurt, though, was the fact that even he hadn't figured it out. No, of course not. He had been too scared, consumed by the horrible thought of Jack being in danger. So it figures that it took a fall, a slip, because he was so exhausted, for him to come tumbling on the ground and hit his head on a rock.

Not a very dignifying way to die, he had to admit.

Still, not his worst.

The familiar darkness surrounded him, quicker than he had expected yet it was okay. That meant no pain. He had always feared the darkness, one way or another. Not because of what it symbolized, he knew he was coming back, or the memories it always provoked- it was that similar to the one in which he had spent centuries. He had always wondered if it was the same.

But there was one little part of his brain that never ceased screaming, "Look out. There is someone there!"

There always was. He just pretended he had someone to hold onto when he was here, unseeing and terrified, praying that this time he will be faster than the creature, that he will slip its grasp once again. Or not. God knew how many times he had wished it to be over, back when he didn't see the point. Not now, though, now he had something, someone, to live for.

"Then tell me, Ianto Jones, are you afraid of the darkness?"

The whisper of a voice crept in his mind and he trembled. Time Lords were a wise race, yes, they knew a little about a lot of things. But no one could have the power of a paradox if they weren't one.

Because here, in the darkness, there was nothing hidden. Here you remembered every day of your life with clarity, it was its way of torture. Even the memories forcefully removed from you found a way back. Always did. He should know, long ago he had used it as a way to relive his moments with Jack. Mostly to punish himself.

Ianto came to life with a sharp intake of breath. He looked around fervently as his whole body tried to adjust at once and his eyes fell on the little group of people gathered around him. Tosh was crying, there were strains on her cheeks. Gwen was wrapped around her, looking equally miserable and even Owen looked sad.

The next moment, it was all gone, wiped from their faces and replaced by relief on the girls' part and suspicion on Owen's.

"Ianto!" Tosh shrieked as she let go of the other woman and tried to jump in his arms. Yet someone was holding her back and Ianto's heart almost stopped again from the coldness of the glare leveled at him.

"Don't touch it. He was dead, I checked his pulse. Whatever this thing is, it's no longer Ianto Jones."

Tosh went still at that statement, the struggle leaving her almost as fast as the Welshman's mind was trying to work, and stared at him with wide and fearful eyes. It hurt even more than the other man's words.

"Look..." he began. He tried to lift himself from the ground, the cold was unbearable and he hardly wanted to die in front of them again, but the gun pointed immediately at his head told him he could stand it a little longer. "It's not what you think."

"What I think is that I should push you off that cliff and see if you can revive with your brain all over your hair," Owen didn't miss the opportunity to snarl. Despite all their teasing and arguments Ianto had never before seen such blatant hate in the other's eyes.

"I can," he almost said, because he had tried. He doubted there was a man on this earth or on any other that wanted to see him dead as much as he had, once upon a time. But he managed to stop himself just in time, he didn't want to provoke them.

"It's hard to explain," he said instead." But I'm still me! Nothing had changed. I'm still able to make the best coffee in the world and prefer suits to anything else. I still know about the red thongs incident, Owen."

Any other time, that remark would have given him a colleague as red as the colour of the fore mentioned underwear, yet now all he received was a raised eyebrow and a stony face. That was not good.

Although in some twisted sense he was glad. At least now he knew his team wasn't that helplessly trusting.

"Then start explaining!"

The gun twitched up and then down again as if to urge him as well.

"It's a long story."

"It's a long road. We have time."

Ianto sighed and shook his head. He scrambled to his feet, mindless of the weapon ready to inflict damage any moment. It wasn't that he didn't believe Owen would shoot, because the other man would, he could see it in his eyes, if only to protect the other two, who were still looking like deer caught in the headlight. But they didn't have time now, he remembered clearly. They had to head back or they would die.

All of them.

"We don't have oxygen. Besides there is something more important that we have to do."

Hours later, when they saw, or rather heard, a helicopter above their heads that made their hearts leap, Owen was still pointing a gun at the Welshman's head.