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d8rkmessngrAuthor: d8rkmessngr
Pairing: Jack/OMC, Jack/?, Jack/Ianto eventually, het and slash
Rating: NC-17 (betaed)
Summary: He left Jack on the game station. Abandoned. But then…he came back…different. An AU look on what happens if things happened differently. Doctor Who 'verse with Torchwood later on. Be sure to read the warnings.
Warnings: Please read each chapter's individual warnings. Some parts down the road may briefly mention non-con, abuse, and/or violence. Dark in the beginning. Please note there are some dark thoughts as my boys are broken…for now. Each chapter will be labeled for your convenience.
Author's Notes: Please note this is an AU that will cross over DW to TW season one. I'm probably spoiling my own story, but it will eventually be Janto. There's a bit of a journey first. I hope you enjoy. I'm working on this and intend to post regularly every other day. And again, I always believe in happy endings. So without further ado…
Disclaimer: RTD and BBC owns them. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Warning For This Chapter: strong language, angsty, VIOLENCE
Notes For This Chapter: This is all hypothetical at this point as we delve into "The Year That Never Was". There is no proof or canon hints on what may have happened. I may be right, I may be wrong.
Prologue + Ch , Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6, Ch 7, Ch 8, Ch 9, Ch 10, Ch 11, Ch 12, Ch 13,Ch 14, Ch 15, Ch 16, Ch 17, Ch 18. Ch 19, Ch 20, Ch 21, Ch 22, Ch 23, Ch 24, Ch 25, Ch 26, Ch 27, Ch 28, Ch 29, Ch 30, Ch 31, Ch 32, Ch 33, Ch 34, Ch 35, Ch 36 Ch 37, Ch 38 Act 1/5
Master Fic List: here
Chapter 38 "The Year That Never Was"
Act II
Valiant
Month One Ver.1
The Valiant, when the Master was too uninterested for any mischief, was eerily empty and desolate in its inactivity.
Saxon's guards, all dressed in the same sterile black business suits like uniforms, stood bored by doorways. They were like silent pallbearers, not even acknowledging Toshiko Sato as she went by.
That suited her just fine. This was the one time Toshiko really did want to be invisible among a crowd.
Most of the rooms were sealed shut, the bodies of the press—those who weren't thrown overboard, that is—were stuffed in some of the rooms like forgotten Christmas presents. The UNIT guards who pledged their allegiance to Saxon got rid of the ones who wouldn't. How they did, no one knew, but there were rumors—horrible, terrible rumors that kept Toshiko awake at night.
Not that she would have been able to sleep anyway. The metal pallet in the engine room next to the Jones’s cell was warm enough, but the pipes around her rattled and moaned like they were being tortured.
At the thought, Toshiko sniffed. Come on, Sato. Chin up. Work to do.
Holding the tray of now ice-cold tea and stale biscuits, dressed in that horrible maid's outfit, Toshiko walked as slow as possible—she witnessed Saxon kill one maid because he thought she ran too crudely—and tried to look like she belonged here wandering about Level four.
No one had been allowed to speak with the Doctor. Saxon would rouse him out of the ratty teepee the Doctor slept in with the humiliating ding of a triangle chime. Everyone was told not to talk to him, not to answer if he spoke. When Martha's sister Tish tried, Lucy Saxon had slapped her hard enough to knock her against the table then made her mother stay in the bridge all night doing both their duties. Toshiko hummed a song her mother used to sing her through the fencing until Tish succumbed to her tears and finally went to sleep.
The Doctor never tried to speak to any of them again. Toshiko was never allowed on the bridge to see the Doctor either. She'd been banished to the lower levels to clean the computer and processor rooms like a shadow or to help out Clive Jones in the engine room. The only way she received word about anything was through the Jones family at night when they were locked in their cells.
Toshiko's eyes burned. The Jones family was at least together…sort of. She didn't know where her family was. Her little brother had hinted he might visit Cardiff and Toshiko had Jack's assurances it wouldn't be a problem to take a week off. Her little brother. He'd just turned nineteen. He passed his exams and was thinking of marine studies. Where was he when the world ended? Did he try to call her? Did he wonder why she never picked up her mobile? Who was with mother? Or grandfather?
Focus, Sato, focus. Toshiko quietly sniffed. She paused under the shadow of a corner to balance the tray with one arm, and wiped her eyes with a corner of her apron. Toshiko took a deep breath. She set her jaw and kept walking, blinking rapidly until her eyes cleared so she could continue counting every door she strode by.
She was given a job to do.
A week after the Toclafane had plundered their planet and Saxon began his version of a 'fox-hunt' as he cryptically called it, Francine Jones had received an odd sort of message from the elderly Doctor while she was cleaning his pitiful quarters on the floor of the bridge.
He winked.
Francine had lamented in the beginning that the old Doctor had lost his marbles. It happened enough times though that Francine began to realize the winks came in sets. One eye. Or the other. Sometimes both. And every night she recited them back to Toshiko despite her body aching and screaming for sleep.
It was code. A rudimentary Morse code that Toshiko barely remembered from her old university studies of cryptography. Its first message was simple.
Find Jack.
No one had seen him since that day.
Walking past door after monochromatic door, Toshiko studied them, memorizing their location so that at night, she could whisper the schematics to Clive Jones in the next cell. He would update the map with a piece of a broken screw he had slipped into his shoe from the boiler section. He etched the map on the concrete floor, close enough to the fence between them so Toshiko could see what areas there were left to explore. In the morning, before they were fetched, Clive would push the rack bed back over to cover the map.
Toshiko's footsteps faltered and her tea tray rattled. She refused to believe Jack wasn't on the ship. It was a terrible thing to hope that Jack was here. Yet the way Saxon's eyes had gleamed when he leaned over to whisper in Jack's ear, told Toshiko it wouldn't be that horrible if her captain wasn't, either.
She was exhausted. Tish took over her tasks cleaning the technical rooms—a joke in Saxon's eyes—so Toshiko could investigate the ship while Saxon chased after whomever he was chasing after.
Toshiko only hoped it meant Owen, Gwen, and Martha were still alive. Ianto on the other hand…
Unbidden, her eyes filled. Jack's scream had rung in her ears for days afterwards. It sounded like it had been ripped out of his throat and Jack's eyes, God, his eyes…
The tray rattled again, enough that one of the guards down the passageway took notice. Toshiko inhaled and exhaled slowly and steadied her hands. The metallic titters stopped and the guard looked away with a smirk.
She was tempted to walk by him and swing the tray at his face.
Instead, Toshiko lowered her eyes and walked past him. She rounded the corner. She stopped when she realized this hallway was void of any guards.
Toshiko set the tray down on the floor and checked behind her shoulder. When it didn't sound like anyone was walking towards this direction, Toshiko studied the three doors on her left and the two on her right as her teeth worried her lower lip. A moment's decision was all it took before she took the fork from the tray and worked on the panel in the door in the middle on her left.
Prying off the panel was easy enough. Whoever constructed the ship followed the highly advanced plans but skimped on material. A screw less here, less caulking there, and things were now easy to pry loose thanks to unscrupulous contractors.
Let's hear it for human greed, Toshiko thought wryly as she palmed the loosened panel before it could clatter to the floor. She smirked at the alphanumeric keypad and LED screen.
"You could at least try to make it harder, boys," Toshiko murmured as she flipped the fork around and used its tines to yank the wires loose.
It was slow work, but Toshiko savored the feel of machinery yielding to her will, numbers releasing their secrets to her with the right twist of switched wiring. There was something satisfying about watching the digits flip to the correct one a space at a time. Nine spaces. Easy enough. Already five were deciphered, the other four sure to follow.
It was easy work, but one she missed in a ridiculous fashion. She must admit though, the schematics of the place were far more complex than twenty first century technology can presently boast. It would still be a minute before she can—
One of the guards could be heard straightening. "Lady Saxon."
Toshiko froze. She could hear the slow, lazy clip of heels on polished stone. It stopped short in the corridor Toshiko previously walked by.
"Has my husband been this way?"
The fork nearly dropped as Toshiko doubled her efforts. Two more numbers. Now it felt like it was too slow.
"Not yet, ma'am." The smugness that was on the guard's face before was absent in his voice in the presence of Lucy Saxon.
"Of course." Saxon's wife made a funny sort of laugh. "Not yet. No matter. It makes no difference."
"Do you require an escort?"
"I do not wish to be disturbed," Saxon's wife informed the man in a cool voice.
"But—"
Lucy Saxon sniffed. "He can't do anything to me."
Toshiko paused from her frantic pace. She glanced over her shoulder at the other doors. When she heard the heels clicking again, Toshiko hurried. Damn it, just one more.
The heels were coming closer to the corner.
The door in front of Toshiko slid open.
Toshiko hastily snapped the panel back over the gutted keypad. Hopefully, it could pass a glancing inspection despite the missing screws. Toshiko ducked inside the empty room. The door slowly glided back the other way.
The heels were now starting to turn the corner.
The tray!
Toshiko dropped to her knees, reached for the tray on the floor and snatched it towards her just as she could see Lucy Saxon's shadow stretching down to Toshiko's door. The plate of biscuits rattled just as the door shut completely, save a tiny slot where Toshiko stuck the fork in.
The heels stopped.
Toshiko cupped her mouth with her left hand. She held her breath as she watched satin black heels stop in front of her door, but facing away.
The slit the fork made was barely enough to reveal the dark suit Lucy Saxon wore or the heels turning as Lucy Saxon looked about her.
Toshiko's right hand, curled tight around the fork was starting to cramp. Her arm shook. God, be still, Sato, be still.
The heels turned counterclockwise towards Toshiko's door…
Another clang, this time above the woman's head as a pipe groaned.
Lucy scoffed.
The heels pivot back around towards the wall and vanished.
Toshiko twisted her fork, initiating the door to open again and she stared at the passageway in front of her. She swiveled her head left to one end, then right. No, Lucy Saxon definitely walked directly away from her to the wall. The Master's wife made no detours.
Squinting, Toshiko stared at the wall. She looked at the two doors, leaned out further and glanced at the door on either side on her wall. Toshiko turned back in front of her. She narrowed her eyes and thought she could faintly make out very familiar looking crystals embedded like jewels on top. All they were missing were shoelaces.
A smile slowly curved across her mouth.
"Gotcha," she murmured.
New Delhi, India
The weather had changed since Saxon's reign. It was far colder than any of them expected for this part of the country. Owen grimaced as he huddled into his leather jacket and the various layers they salvaged off Torchwood Four. Owen told himself it didn't matter—those poor bastards didn't need them anymore—but Owen was relieved nevertheless that the warm jumpers they found were shrink-wrapped and looked new.
The broken-down one level brick building looked like it had been abandoned long before the world went to shit. The roof was gone over one corner, all the windows were broken and the doors only shut with crates shoved up against them. There were wrappers from food rations, empty tins and dried up grey firewood all over the ground that told him they weren't the only ones who used this wreck as a hotel.
Owen balanced the dented thermos of coffee in his hands. He was reluctant to take a sip—who knew when they could get more—but knew realistically that the hot liquid would keep him warm. Hypothermia was an enemy here.
With a scowl, Owen fought the urge to toss his thermos away.
There had been far too many enemies.
A pebble skipped. A footfall.
"It's not your turn yet," Owen whispered, not looking, but his left hand drifted to the handgun on his lap.
"As if you follow the rota, you twit," Gwen scoffed. She looked odd with that furry hat on her head—looked like a beast had crawled onto her head and died—but it was warm. There was no luxury to be picky. She sat down cross-legged next to him by the broken window. Huddled in that ridiculous hat and the furred wrap she traded for at the base of the mountains, Gwen looked oddly in place in the rundown structure and dusty ground.
"Anything?"
Owen shook his head. It felt like it had been so long since they spoke in normal volume. He checked for the key around his neck. He still wasn't sure how it worked. It wasn't perfect though. They had to stay in shadows, talk low, avoid the crowds of people waiting for food, and keep their movements to a minimum.
It also meant no campfires.
Gwen peered cautiously over the windowsill and stared at the shadows of people walking aimlessly around the once lively city. She was sitting closer to him now, her closeness more for warmth than anything else. There was simply no room or time for anything else.
Every time it seemed like one of those hovering metal balls were patrolling, Gwen ducked her head back under.
Owen glanced back at the lump curled on the ground by Gwen's bedroll.
"There's still another hour before your shift," Owen checked his watch. It was a miracle it survived the tumble. Of course, it was a miracle any of them survived those bloody mountains. Couldn't Jack have sent them someplace more level?
At the thought of Jack, Owen glanced up at the night sky through the shards of dirty glass still stubbornly hanging on like jagged teeth. He zeroed in on one point, the brightest point of light just under Cassiopeia.
"That where they are?" Gwen interrupted his reverie. Owen looked over. Gwen was squinting, trying to locate the spot herself.
Owen scoffed and looked away. He shrugged. "Apparently. I was checking for patrols."
"Um hm."
Gwen's knowing smile made him fidget and he nearly snapped at her.
"Go back and get some winks," Owen said gruffly. "You girls need your beauty sleep."
Gwen lightly punched his arm but she didn't get up. Gwen acted as if she loathed escaping the temporary warmth their close proximity created. She checked behind her and turned back, looking even wearier.
"Coffee?" Owen offered. He raised the thermos he'd been using to warm his hands.
Looking sorely tempted, Gwen reached for it then shook her head.
"What do you think?" Gwen whispered instead. "About Martha's plan?"
Owen scoffed. He would have laughed but he heard a barely suppressed cough and a sniffle behind him and he sobered. Owen shrugged.
"Going around the world after some ruddy weapon?" Owen rolled his eyes. "I think the Doctor was bonkers with senility when he told her."
"I don't know." Gwen chewed her thumbnail. She looked thoughtful. "I'm thinking there was something more."
Owen gave her a frown. "What?"
"I don't know. Just…it feels like Martha wasn't telling us everything."
"Sounds like someone else we know," Owen grumbled. He scratched at the crack below the sill and watched an ant scurry out in a panic, dashing for the outside. Not much better, mate, Owen thought. "Chasing fairy tales, I think. So positive that Doctor bloke is right. Man was probably not even in his right mind when he told her that shit full of—"
"Owen!" Gwen hissed. She tensed.
They both checked behind them. When the lump huddled under the coats didn't stir, they turned back. Gwen slapped his arm in silent admonishment.
"Do you have to be an ass all the time?" Gwen said low.
Owen lifted his shoulders once. Gwen sighed. She shook her head and stared out the window. After a moment, Owen could hear her squirming and he steeled himself for the inevitable.
"Jack has been waiting for this Doctor for a very long time." Gwen drew up her knees and rested her chin on top. "He never intended to stay with us, did he? That jar of his with that…hand."
Owen simply pursed his lips. He learned giving Gwen a reply was pointless. She just seemed to want to have someone hear her think out loud. She had already come to her own conclusions. Gwen always did.
"Do you think he's all right?" Gwen sounded small.
Owen exhaled. He wished they hadn't descended the mountain so early. They were all too tired, too unnerved, to keep their thoughts their own any more. Things were spilling out into the quiet night that normally wouldn't. The change bothered him more than the need to track the Valiant in the sky every night.
"'Course he is. Jack can't die, Cooper." Owen smoothed his hand over his pistol. He used to have a shoulder holster; now it felt better tucked in the back of his jeans. "You saw how hard it was to get rid of him." Owen twisted his mouth to what he hoped was a smirk. It felt strange on his face.
Owen could see one of those flipping Toclafane spinning, floating by in the distance. Someone cried, pleaded. Stray dogs howled. There were sounds of running, then nothing. Even the dogs quieted. And then, somewhere, a baby began to cry.
Owen's hands clenched to fists on his lap.
"You're right. He can't die." Gwen sounded relieved at the reminder. She nodded to herself and chuckled half-heartedly when her huge monstrosity of a hat tipped forward. Gwen braced the hat back and smiled. "And he'll watch out for Toshiko. It'll be fine."
Owen wondering whom was she trying to reassure. He checked over his shoulder again at the silent shadow. He turned back and stared out sullenly into the dark. He could see the lights of the Toclafane winking from afar like tiny stars.
"Get some sleep, Cooper. Both of you," Owen grunted.
"Wake me when it's my turn." Gwen got up reluctantly and shuffled back to her bedroll. She rolled closer to the other for warmth.
"Yeah, sure," Owen mumbled. He sat there by the window until dawn, though. It was the only time he felt peace these days when no one was around asking him questions he pretended to know answers to.
Valiant
Toshiko waited in the empty, dark room. She waited until her knees cramped. She waited until her elbows were sore and bruised from their positions propped up against the door. The fork was starting to warp from being a makeshift doorstop.
The room she was in looked like an abandoned lab. There were tables shoved up against the wall, chairs stacked up in one corner and metal boxes the size of coffins huddled against everything. They stood four boxes tall. Toshiko didn't look to see what was inside. She was afraid she already knew.
It wasn't clear how long she sat there. She tried not to stare at that elongated crates that stood like granite in the dark, tried not to think about how much her right hand was cramping, tried not to worry about the gutted and unscrewed panel outside merely hanging by static electricity for all she knew. She tried, but when she felt the fork wobble, metal finally yielding, Toshiko panicked.
And that was when she heard heels clicking.
Toshiko turned around and pressed her face to the door slit. She watched as Lucy Saxon walked out of a door Toshiko could barely discern. Lucy stood there, staring into the doorway for a very long time before she turned sharply on her heels and walked away calmly towards the end of the passageway.
When even the echoes were gone, Toshiko pried the door open again and retrieved her tray with the fork, now mangled into a 'V'. She replaced the screws on the panel. She kept missing though because her hands shook too much. Done, she spun around.
Toshiko studied the wall across from her. She fought to remember where exactly Lucy Saxon exited. It seemed like everything blurred back into place.
Frustrated, Toshiko dropped her head. Damn it. She should have been more observant.
When she started to raise her head, Toshiko nearly missed it.
A drop of blood. Very small, barely the size of her pinky nail.
Going up, Toshiko noted another droplet, drip by drip until the wall cut it off.
Slowly, Toshiko stared up and saw the crystals lined on the top edge of the wall. They blurred as if they were an illusion.
Toshiko set down the tray, checked the corridor again, and aligned herself under the crystals. Then she stared at the wall below it. Hard.
Sure enough, like double vision, there was an outline of a door wavering into view. If she didn't blink, it solidified but when her eyes winked at a mote of dust, the door was gone.
Her eyes burned as Toshiko fought not to blink, to keep her eyes wide open as she approached the space. When she reached out her arm, the moment she touched the surface, the door stood still as if it had always been there.
It was a strong filter, Toshiko calculated. She grimaced as she felt for the panel. She was getting a headache now. But that mattered little the moment she found a perfect replica of the previous panel by the door.
Toshiko made quick work of the panel; making sure to memorize the deciphered code, reinsert the screws over the panel before she entered the brightly lit room. Not forgetting her tray, of course.
Whereas the other room held a feeling of neglect, this room was clearly built with a purpose. The light was bright enough to bring tears of pain to her eyes. The walls were lined with strange cylinders the size of oil drums, tubes running into them. None of them were activated though. There were also switched off monitors. Chairs. Desks.
A bed.
"Jack?"
Toshiko set down her tray and hurried over to the bed, already talking, already filled with so much she wanted to say, that she didn't notice. She didn't realize.
"Thank God. I thought I wouldn't be able to find you. There were only a few more levels I could access and this was really a clever way to hide your cell in plain sight although it was the Doctor's idea to use the crystals like perception filters so Saxon stole the idea—Oh, Jack, I…"
Reaching the bed, Toshiko realized three things.
One, Jack was cuffed to the bed, bound wrist and ankle by thick metal cuffs with chains snaking out to the back of the bed, so tight his ankles and wrists looked swollen. Two, his eyes were just staring towards the ceiling. And three…
Jack wasn't breathing.
Toshiko sat gingerly on the edge of the bed, her hands clamped over her mouth. His body felt warm against her hip.
Stay calm, Toshiko told herself. You've seen this before, Sato. You saw him shot and he walked in perfectly all right.
There was a lot of blood on the bed around his head, a morbid halo, but no visible mark of what caused the gory stain. She reached over with a trembling hand towards his face, towards his jaw.
With a gasp, Jack jerked. His body arched, as far as his binds would let him. He cried out a name, but it was too garbled to comprehend as he fought for breath.
"Crazy 'itch," Jack snarled. He twisted when he felt Toshiko's hand on his face. "Get the 'uck away from me!"
Caught off guard and frankly, scared shitless, Toshiko squeaked, lost her balance and fell right on top of him.
Jack stopped. He lay there, his chest heaving as he struggled for breath.
"Jack?" Toshiko said timidly, still on his chest, her hands curled lightly on his shirt.
"Toshiko?" Jack gasped out.
Toshiko pushed up on her hands. "Are you all—"
"Before you try to say anything," Jack interrupted her, his eyes still towards the ceiling, "check the back of my head."
Toshiko clamped her mouth shut. She frowned but did as instructed. She slipped a hand behind his head, pausing when Jack hissed. Her eyes widened when she felt a painful welt on the base of his skull and the crystal embedded deep into his skin. She snatched her hand back and stared at Jack and realized he still wasn't looking at her.
Jack's mouth quirked, his eyes blank but still suspiciously bright. "In any case," Jack murmured, "it's good to see you, Toshiko…sort of."
Her eyes filled. Toshiko stared at Jack, pale and bound on top of bloody sheets, his gaze past her face. There were lines at the corners of his mouth. He laid there, his skin cool, his clothing crooked and rumpled.
Unable to push back what had been building in those long weeks, Toshiko dropped her head on Jack's chest. First it was just a sniffle. Then, Toshiko simply wept. She cried for her little brother. She cried for her mother. For her friends. For Ianto, oh, Ianto. And she cried for Jack.
Toshiko curled her body up on the bed, knees tucked in, her head on Jack's chest and she sobbed. She rammed a fist in her mouth because she didn't dare be too loud, didn't dare risk succumbing to something so completely that she wouldn't be able to get up again. Toshiko thought about her handsome brother and the last text he wrote her; a jubilant message about how he had passed his entrance exams. She didn't know where her mobile was. Even that message was lost to her.
Toshiko felt her tears unable to stop as she thought about the tiny Polaroid Ianto took of Owen falling off his chair on the day after he forgot he was supposed to pick her up in the morning. Ianto left the snapshot of Owen, his ass up in the air, Gwen bent over laughing by his bewildered face, on her keyboard along with two tiny joint screws taped to the back of the photo.
The tears eventually dried and Toshiko pulled her fist out of her mouth. She blinked gritty eyes at the teeth marks over her own knuckles. Toshiko sat up and wiped her eyes.
"I wish I could say something," Jack said abruptly, never acting like he was just drowned in tears. But his eyes were red-rimmed. His voice was raspy from disuse.
"But it might come out cliché," Jack went on. He smiled but it looked odd as he stared at nothing.
"And I wouldn't be able to hear it to tell."
Toshiko hiccupped a giggle that sprang forth more tears.
"Hang in there, Tosh," Jack murmured. "We can't…" He swallowed. "Otherwise all those…deaths…" Jack closed his eyes.
"Ah, Tosh," Jack said sadly. "I wish I can hear you."
"Wish you could hear me, too," Toshiko murmured. "There's so much…" Toshiko cocked her head. She raised her hand up and wiggled her fingers in front of her face. She hesitated.
"What?" Jack knitted his brow.
Carefully, Toshiko grazed a fingernail on his jaw and drew an 'H' and an 'I'.
A smile spread across Jack's face.
"That's my girl," Jack breathed. His eyes crinkled. "It's a good thing you taught me how to IM," Jack rasped. "Although Ianto thought it…" Jack stopped. His right brow twitched, his face contorted before he pulled a neutral face with some effort. "This'll work," Jack croaked.
Toshiko sniffled. She patted Jack's cheek and wiped the blood that beaded out from his cracked lips. Toshiko chewed her lower lip as she glanced over her shoulder. She drew out a 'BRB' on his cheek before she levered off the bed to fetch the tray. The tea was certainly cold by now, but Toshiko doubted it would matter to him.
Jack closed his eyes while Toshiko pressed the teacup to Jack's mouth. She slipped a hand behind his head, mindful of the wound there and tilted the cup back.
Tears wanted to fall again as she watched Jack drain the cup. He took great care not to hurry, savoring the bitter, cold brew like it was ambrosia itself.
When she pressed a biscuit to his teeth, Jack shook his head.
"Better not," Jack said, his voice clearer now. "I might get sick."
Toshiko swallowed but pulled it away. She took a corner of her apron and wiped his mouth, then, with some hesitation, reached down to straighten up his clothes.
"It's…" Jack started. He shook his head. "Better leave it. It's all right." Jack seemed to sink deeper into the bed.
Toshiko bit her lower lip. She set her jaw and hitched his trousers higher and did his flies. The button on top was gone though.
"Toshiko…" Jack sighed but said nothing more as she smoothed out his trousers and let the cuffs cover his swollen, cuffed ankles. He took a deep breath. "How are you? Are you okay?"
The 'Y' lightly etched on his jaw made Jack relax. As did the other 'Y' when he asked about Martha's family. But when the inquiries turned to the Doctor, Toshiko flinched.
Jack's lips were white as he waited for her answer. He was still tense when Toshiko drew an affirmative.
"You don't really know, do you?"
Toshiko bowed her head. She was about to draw a 'N' when Jack spoke up again.
"I didn't think the Master would put you near him." Jack's mouth tugged to a tired smirk. "That'll be like asking for trouble putting two minds like that together." Jack chuckled weakly when Toshiko swatted his left arm.
Toshiko reached over and etched out a 'D'.
Jack's smile faded. He scrunched up his face. Moments later, Jack's face cleared.
"You found some way to talk to him anyway, didn't you?" Jack breathed. "What did he tell you?"
'Yes,' Toshiko replied, her fingernail light on his skin. 'Plan.'
A new smile twisted Jack's mouth.
"Well," Jack said in a grim voice, the smile humorless but still a welcome sight to Toshiko, "it's about damn time."
Act III
Additional Notes: Many thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
soullessminion for betaing this chapter. And trtmx for her magic trick that saved my sanity! LOL.
Pairing: Jack/OMC, Jack/?, Jack/Ianto eventually, het and slash
Rating: NC-17 (betaed)
Summary: He left Jack on the game station. Abandoned. But then…he came back…different. An AU look on what happens if things happened differently. Doctor Who 'verse with Torchwood later on. Be sure to read the warnings.
Warnings: Please read each chapter's individual warnings. Some parts down the road may briefly mention non-con, abuse, and/or violence. Dark in the beginning. Please note there are some dark thoughts as my boys are broken…for now. Each chapter will be labeled for your convenience.
Author's Notes: Please note this is an AU that will cross over DW to TW season one. I'm probably spoiling my own story, but it will eventually be Janto. There's a bit of a journey first. I hope you enjoy. I'm working on this and intend to post regularly every other day. And again, I always believe in happy endings. So without further ado…
Disclaimer: RTD and BBC owns them. I'm just borrowing them for a while.
Warning For This Chapter: strong language, angsty, VIOLENCE
Notes For This Chapter: This is all hypothetical at this point as we delve into "The Year That Never Was". There is no proof or canon hints on what may have happened. I may be right, I may be wrong.
Prologue + Ch , Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6, Ch 7, Ch 8, Ch 9, Ch 10, Ch 11, Ch 12, Ch 13,Ch 14, Ch 15, Ch 16, Ch 17, Ch 18. Ch 19, Ch 20, Ch 21, Ch 22, Ch 23, Ch 24, Ch 25, Ch 26, Ch 27, Ch 28, Ch 29, Ch 30, Ch 31, Ch 32, Ch 33, Ch 34, Ch 35, Ch 36 Ch 37, Ch 38 Act 1/5
Master Fic List: here
Chapter 38 "The Year That Never Was"
Act II
Valiant
Month One Ver.1
The Valiant, when the Master was too uninterested for any mischief, was eerily empty and desolate in its inactivity.
Saxon's guards, all dressed in the same sterile black business suits like uniforms, stood bored by doorways. They were like silent pallbearers, not even acknowledging Toshiko Sato as she went by.
That suited her just fine. This was the one time Toshiko really did want to be invisible among a crowd.
Most of the rooms were sealed shut, the bodies of the press—those who weren't thrown overboard, that is—were stuffed in some of the rooms like forgotten Christmas presents. The UNIT guards who pledged their allegiance to Saxon got rid of the ones who wouldn't. How they did, no one knew, but there were rumors—horrible, terrible rumors that kept Toshiko awake at night.
Not that she would have been able to sleep anyway. The metal pallet in the engine room next to the Jones’s cell was warm enough, but the pipes around her rattled and moaned like they were being tortured.
At the thought, Toshiko sniffed. Come on, Sato. Chin up. Work to do.
Holding the tray of now ice-cold tea and stale biscuits, dressed in that horrible maid's outfit, Toshiko walked as slow as possible—she witnessed Saxon kill one maid because he thought she ran too crudely—and tried to look like she belonged here wandering about Level four.
No one had been allowed to speak with the Doctor. Saxon would rouse him out of the ratty teepee the Doctor slept in with the humiliating ding of a triangle chime. Everyone was told not to talk to him, not to answer if he spoke. When Martha's sister Tish tried, Lucy Saxon had slapped her hard enough to knock her against the table then made her mother stay in the bridge all night doing both their duties. Toshiko hummed a song her mother used to sing her through the fencing until Tish succumbed to her tears and finally went to sleep.
The Doctor never tried to speak to any of them again. Toshiko was never allowed on the bridge to see the Doctor either. She'd been banished to the lower levels to clean the computer and processor rooms like a shadow or to help out Clive Jones in the engine room. The only way she received word about anything was through the Jones family at night when they were locked in their cells.
Toshiko's eyes burned. The Jones family was at least together…sort of. She didn't know where her family was. Her little brother had hinted he might visit Cardiff and Toshiko had Jack's assurances it wouldn't be a problem to take a week off. Her little brother. He'd just turned nineteen. He passed his exams and was thinking of marine studies. Where was he when the world ended? Did he try to call her? Did he wonder why she never picked up her mobile? Who was with mother? Or grandfather?
Focus, Sato, focus. Toshiko quietly sniffed. She paused under the shadow of a corner to balance the tray with one arm, and wiped her eyes with a corner of her apron. Toshiko took a deep breath. She set her jaw and kept walking, blinking rapidly until her eyes cleared so she could continue counting every door she strode by.
She was given a job to do.
A week after the Toclafane had plundered their planet and Saxon began his version of a 'fox-hunt' as he cryptically called it, Francine Jones had received an odd sort of message from the elderly Doctor while she was cleaning his pitiful quarters on the floor of the bridge.
He winked.
Francine had lamented in the beginning that the old Doctor had lost his marbles. It happened enough times though that Francine began to realize the winks came in sets. One eye. Or the other. Sometimes both. And every night she recited them back to Toshiko despite her body aching and screaming for sleep.
It was code. A rudimentary Morse code that Toshiko barely remembered from her old university studies of cryptography. Its first message was simple.
Find Jack.
No one had seen him since that day.
Walking past door after monochromatic door, Toshiko studied them, memorizing their location so that at night, she could whisper the schematics to Clive Jones in the next cell. He would update the map with a piece of a broken screw he had slipped into his shoe from the boiler section. He etched the map on the concrete floor, close enough to the fence between them so Toshiko could see what areas there were left to explore. In the morning, before they were fetched, Clive would push the rack bed back over to cover the map.
Toshiko's footsteps faltered and her tea tray rattled. She refused to believe Jack wasn't on the ship. It was a terrible thing to hope that Jack was here. Yet the way Saxon's eyes had gleamed when he leaned over to whisper in Jack's ear, told Toshiko it wouldn't be that horrible if her captain wasn't, either.
She was exhausted. Tish took over her tasks cleaning the technical rooms—a joke in Saxon's eyes—so Toshiko could investigate the ship while Saxon chased after whomever he was chasing after.
Toshiko only hoped it meant Owen, Gwen, and Martha were still alive. Ianto on the other hand…
Unbidden, her eyes filled. Jack's scream had rung in her ears for days afterwards. It sounded like it had been ripped out of his throat and Jack's eyes, God, his eyes…
The tray rattled again, enough that one of the guards down the passageway took notice. Toshiko inhaled and exhaled slowly and steadied her hands. The metallic titters stopped and the guard looked away with a smirk.
She was tempted to walk by him and swing the tray at his face.
Instead, Toshiko lowered her eyes and walked past him. She rounded the corner. She stopped when she realized this hallway was void of any guards.
Toshiko set the tray down on the floor and checked behind her shoulder. When it didn't sound like anyone was walking towards this direction, Toshiko studied the three doors on her left and the two on her right as her teeth worried her lower lip. A moment's decision was all it took before she took the fork from the tray and worked on the panel in the door in the middle on her left.
Prying off the panel was easy enough. Whoever constructed the ship followed the highly advanced plans but skimped on material. A screw less here, less caulking there, and things were now easy to pry loose thanks to unscrupulous contractors.
Let's hear it for human greed, Toshiko thought wryly as she palmed the loosened panel before it could clatter to the floor. She smirked at the alphanumeric keypad and LED screen.
"You could at least try to make it harder, boys," Toshiko murmured as she flipped the fork around and used its tines to yank the wires loose.
It was slow work, but Toshiko savored the feel of machinery yielding to her will, numbers releasing their secrets to her with the right twist of switched wiring. There was something satisfying about watching the digits flip to the correct one a space at a time. Nine spaces. Easy enough. Already five were deciphered, the other four sure to follow.
It was easy work, but one she missed in a ridiculous fashion. She must admit though, the schematics of the place were far more complex than twenty first century technology can presently boast. It would still be a minute before she can—
One of the guards could be heard straightening. "Lady Saxon."
Toshiko froze. She could hear the slow, lazy clip of heels on polished stone. It stopped short in the corridor Toshiko previously walked by.
"Has my husband been this way?"
The fork nearly dropped as Toshiko doubled her efforts. Two more numbers. Now it felt like it was too slow.
"Not yet, ma'am." The smugness that was on the guard's face before was absent in his voice in the presence of Lucy Saxon.
"Of course." Saxon's wife made a funny sort of laugh. "Not yet. No matter. It makes no difference."
"Do you require an escort?"
"I do not wish to be disturbed," Saxon's wife informed the man in a cool voice.
"But—"
Lucy Saxon sniffed. "He can't do anything to me."
Toshiko paused from her frantic pace. She glanced over her shoulder at the other doors. When she heard the heels clicking again, Toshiko hurried. Damn it, just one more.
The heels were coming closer to the corner.
The door in front of Toshiko slid open.
Toshiko hastily snapped the panel back over the gutted keypad. Hopefully, it could pass a glancing inspection despite the missing screws. Toshiko ducked inside the empty room. The door slowly glided back the other way.
The heels were now starting to turn the corner.
The tray!
Toshiko dropped to her knees, reached for the tray on the floor and snatched it towards her just as she could see Lucy Saxon's shadow stretching down to Toshiko's door. The plate of biscuits rattled just as the door shut completely, save a tiny slot where Toshiko stuck the fork in.
The heels stopped.
Toshiko cupped her mouth with her left hand. She held her breath as she watched satin black heels stop in front of her door, but facing away.
The slit the fork made was barely enough to reveal the dark suit Lucy Saxon wore or the heels turning as Lucy Saxon looked about her.
Toshiko's right hand, curled tight around the fork was starting to cramp. Her arm shook. God, be still, Sato, be still.
The heels turned counterclockwise towards Toshiko's door…
Another clang, this time above the woman's head as a pipe groaned.
Lucy scoffed.
The heels pivot back around towards the wall and vanished.
Toshiko twisted her fork, initiating the door to open again and she stared at the passageway in front of her. She swiveled her head left to one end, then right. No, Lucy Saxon definitely walked directly away from her to the wall. The Master's wife made no detours.
Squinting, Toshiko stared at the wall. She looked at the two doors, leaned out further and glanced at the door on either side on her wall. Toshiko turned back in front of her. She narrowed her eyes and thought she could faintly make out very familiar looking crystals embedded like jewels on top. All they were missing were shoelaces.
A smile slowly curved across her mouth.
"Gotcha," she murmured.
New Delhi, India
The weather had changed since Saxon's reign. It was far colder than any of them expected for this part of the country. Owen grimaced as he huddled into his leather jacket and the various layers they salvaged off Torchwood Four. Owen told himself it didn't matter—those poor bastards didn't need them anymore—but Owen was relieved nevertheless that the warm jumpers they found were shrink-wrapped and looked new.
The broken-down one level brick building looked like it had been abandoned long before the world went to shit. The roof was gone over one corner, all the windows were broken and the doors only shut with crates shoved up against them. There were wrappers from food rations, empty tins and dried up grey firewood all over the ground that told him they weren't the only ones who used this wreck as a hotel.
Owen balanced the dented thermos of coffee in his hands. He was reluctant to take a sip—who knew when they could get more—but knew realistically that the hot liquid would keep him warm. Hypothermia was an enemy here.
With a scowl, Owen fought the urge to toss his thermos away.
There had been far too many enemies.
A pebble skipped. A footfall.
"It's not your turn yet," Owen whispered, not looking, but his left hand drifted to the handgun on his lap.
"As if you follow the rota, you twit," Gwen scoffed. She looked odd with that furry hat on her head—looked like a beast had crawled onto her head and died—but it was warm. There was no luxury to be picky. She sat down cross-legged next to him by the broken window. Huddled in that ridiculous hat and the furred wrap she traded for at the base of the mountains, Gwen looked oddly in place in the rundown structure and dusty ground.
"Anything?"
Owen shook his head. It felt like it had been so long since they spoke in normal volume. He checked for the key around his neck. He still wasn't sure how it worked. It wasn't perfect though. They had to stay in shadows, talk low, avoid the crowds of people waiting for food, and keep their movements to a minimum.
It also meant no campfires.
Gwen peered cautiously over the windowsill and stared at the shadows of people walking aimlessly around the once lively city. She was sitting closer to him now, her closeness more for warmth than anything else. There was simply no room or time for anything else.
Every time it seemed like one of those hovering metal balls were patrolling, Gwen ducked her head back under.
Owen glanced back at the lump curled on the ground by Gwen's bedroll.
"There's still another hour before your shift," Owen checked his watch. It was a miracle it survived the tumble. Of course, it was a miracle any of them survived those bloody mountains. Couldn't Jack have sent them someplace more level?
At the thought of Jack, Owen glanced up at the night sky through the shards of dirty glass still stubbornly hanging on like jagged teeth. He zeroed in on one point, the brightest point of light just under Cassiopeia.
"That where they are?" Gwen interrupted his reverie. Owen looked over. Gwen was squinting, trying to locate the spot herself.
Owen scoffed and looked away. He shrugged. "Apparently. I was checking for patrols."
"Um hm."
Gwen's knowing smile made him fidget and he nearly snapped at her.
"Go back and get some winks," Owen said gruffly. "You girls need your beauty sleep."
Gwen lightly punched his arm but she didn't get up. Gwen acted as if she loathed escaping the temporary warmth their close proximity created. She checked behind her and turned back, looking even wearier.
"Coffee?" Owen offered. He raised the thermos he'd been using to warm his hands.
Looking sorely tempted, Gwen reached for it then shook her head.
"What do you think?" Gwen whispered instead. "About Martha's plan?"
Owen scoffed. He would have laughed but he heard a barely suppressed cough and a sniffle behind him and he sobered. Owen shrugged.
"Going around the world after some ruddy weapon?" Owen rolled his eyes. "I think the Doctor was bonkers with senility when he told her."
"I don't know." Gwen chewed her thumbnail. She looked thoughtful. "I'm thinking there was something more."
Owen gave her a frown. "What?"
"I don't know. Just…it feels like Martha wasn't telling us everything."
"Sounds like someone else we know," Owen grumbled. He scratched at the crack below the sill and watched an ant scurry out in a panic, dashing for the outside. Not much better, mate, Owen thought. "Chasing fairy tales, I think. So positive that Doctor bloke is right. Man was probably not even in his right mind when he told her that shit full of—"
"Owen!" Gwen hissed. She tensed.
They both checked behind them. When the lump huddled under the coats didn't stir, they turned back. Gwen slapped his arm in silent admonishment.
"Do you have to be an ass all the time?" Gwen said low.
Owen lifted his shoulders once. Gwen sighed. She shook her head and stared out the window. After a moment, Owen could hear her squirming and he steeled himself for the inevitable.
"Jack has been waiting for this Doctor for a very long time." Gwen drew up her knees and rested her chin on top. "He never intended to stay with us, did he? That jar of his with that…hand."
Owen simply pursed his lips. He learned giving Gwen a reply was pointless. She just seemed to want to have someone hear her think out loud. She had already come to her own conclusions. Gwen always did.
"Do you think he's all right?" Gwen sounded small.
Owen exhaled. He wished they hadn't descended the mountain so early. They were all too tired, too unnerved, to keep their thoughts their own any more. Things were spilling out into the quiet night that normally wouldn't. The change bothered him more than the need to track the Valiant in the sky every night.
"'Course he is. Jack can't die, Cooper." Owen smoothed his hand over his pistol. He used to have a shoulder holster; now it felt better tucked in the back of his jeans. "You saw how hard it was to get rid of him." Owen twisted his mouth to what he hoped was a smirk. It felt strange on his face.
Owen could see one of those flipping Toclafane spinning, floating by in the distance. Someone cried, pleaded. Stray dogs howled. There were sounds of running, then nothing. Even the dogs quieted. And then, somewhere, a baby began to cry.
Owen's hands clenched to fists on his lap.
"You're right. He can't die." Gwen sounded relieved at the reminder. She nodded to herself and chuckled half-heartedly when her huge monstrosity of a hat tipped forward. Gwen braced the hat back and smiled. "And he'll watch out for Toshiko. It'll be fine."
Owen wondering whom was she trying to reassure. He checked over his shoulder again at the silent shadow. He turned back and stared out sullenly into the dark. He could see the lights of the Toclafane winking from afar like tiny stars.
"Get some sleep, Cooper. Both of you," Owen grunted.
"Wake me when it's my turn." Gwen got up reluctantly and shuffled back to her bedroll. She rolled closer to the other for warmth.
"Yeah, sure," Owen mumbled. He sat there by the window until dawn, though. It was the only time he felt peace these days when no one was around asking him questions he pretended to know answers to.
Valiant
Toshiko waited in the empty, dark room. She waited until her knees cramped. She waited until her elbows were sore and bruised from their positions propped up against the door. The fork was starting to warp from being a makeshift doorstop.
The room she was in looked like an abandoned lab. There were tables shoved up against the wall, chairs stacked up in one corner and metal boxes the size of coffins huddled against everything. They stood four boxes tall. Toshiko didn't look to see what was inside. She was afraid she already knew.
It wasn't clear how long she sat there. She tried not to stare at that elongated crates that stood like granite in the dark, tried not to think about how much her right hand was cramping, tried not to worry about the gutted and unscrewed panel outside merely hanging by static electricity for all she knew. She tried, but when she felt the fork wobble, metal finally yielding, Toshiko panicked.
And that was when she heard heels clicking.
Toshiko turned around and pressed her face to the door slit. She watched as Lucy Saxon walked out of a door Toshiko could barely discern. Lucy stood there, staring into the doorway for a very long time before she turned sharply on her heels and walked away calmly towards the end of the passageway.
When even the echoes were gone, Toshiko pried the door open again and retrieved her tray with the fork, now mangled into a 'V'. She replaced the screws on the panel. She kept missing though because her hands shook too much. Done, she spun around.
Toshiko studied the wall across from her. She fought to remember where exactly Lucy Saxon exited. It seemed like everything blurred back into place.
Frustrated, Toshiko dropped her head. Damn it. She should have been more observant.
When she started to raise her head, Toshiko nearly missed it.
A drop of blood. Very small, barely the size of her pinky nail.
Going up, Toshiko noted another droplet, drip by drip until the wall cut it off.
Slowly, Toshiko stared up and saw the crystals lined on the top edge of the wall. They blurred as if they were an illusion.
Toshiko set down the tray, checked the corridor again, and aligned herself under the crystals. Then she stared at the wall below it. Hard.
Sure enough, like double vision, there was an outline of a door wavering into view. If she didn't blink, it solidified but when her eyes winked at a mote of dust, the door was gone.
Her eyes burned as Toshiko fought not to blink, to keep her eyes wide open as she approached the space. When she reached out her arm, the moment she touched the surface, the door stood still as if it had always been there.
It was a strong filter, Toshiko calculated. She grimaced as she felt for the panel. She was getting a headache now. But that mattered little the moment she found a perfect replica of the previous panel by the door.
Toshiko made quick work of the panel; making sure to memorize the deciphered code, reinsert the screws over the panel before she entered the brightly lit room. Not forgetting her tray, of course.
Whereas the other room held a feeling of neglect, this room was clearly built with a purpose. The light was bright enough to bring tears of pain to her eyes. The walls were lined with strange cylinders the size of oil drums, tubes running into them. None of them were activated though. There were also switched off monitors. Chairs. Desks.
A bed.
"Jack?"
Toshiko set down her tray and hurried over to the bed, already talking, already filled with so much she wanted to say, that she didn't notice. She didn't realize.
"Thank God. I thought I wouldn't be able to find you. There were only a few more levels I could access and this was really a clever way to hide your cell in plain sight although it was the Doctor's idea to use the crystals like perception filters so Saxon stole the idea—Oh, Jack, I…"
Reaching the bed, Toshiko realized three things.
One, Jack was cuffed to the bed, bound wrist and ankle by thick metal cuffs with chains snaking out to the back of the bed, so tight his ankles and wrists looked swollen. Two, his eyes were just staring towards the ceiling. And three…
Jack wasn't breathing.
Toshiko sat gingerly on the edge of the bed, her hands clamped over her mouth. His body felt warm against her hip.
Stay calm, Toshiko told herself. You've seen this before, Sato. You saw him shot and he walked in perfectly all right.
There was a lot of blood on the bed around his head, a morbid halo, but no visible mark of what caused the gory stain. She reached over with a trembling hand towards his face, towards his jaw.
With a gasp, Jack jerked. His body arched, as far as his binds would let him. He cried out a name, but it was too garbled to comprehend as he fought for breath.
"Crazy 'itch," Jack snarled. He twisted when he felt Toshiko's hand on his face. "Get the 'uck away from me!"
Caught off guard and frankly, scared shitless, Toshiko squeaked, lost her balance and fell right on top of him.
Jack stopped. He lay there, his chest heaving as he struggled for breath.
"Jack?" Toshiko said timidly, still on his chest, her hands curled lightly on his shirt.
"Toshiko?" Jack gasped out.
Toshiko pushed up on her hands. "Are you all—"
"Before you try to say anything," Jack interrupted her, his eyes still towards the ceiling, "check the back of my head."
Toshiko clamped her mouth shut. She frowned but did as instructed. She slipped a hand behind his head, pausing when Jack hissed. Her eyes widened when she felt a painful welt on the base of his skull and the crystal embedded deep into his skin. She snatched her hand back and stared at Jack and realized he still wasn't looking at her.
Jack's mouth quirked, his eyes blank but still suspiciously bright. "In any case," Jack murmured, "it's good to see you, Toshiko…sort of."
Her eyes filled. Toshiko stared at Jack, pale and bound on top of bloody sheets, his gaze past her face. There were lines at the corners of his mouth. He laid there, his skin cool, his clothing crooked and rumpled.
Unable to push back what had been building in those long weeks, Toshiko dropped her head on Jack's chest. First it was just a sniffle. Then, Toshiko simply wept. She cried for her little brother. She cried for her mother. For her friends. For Ianto, oh, Ianto. And she cried for Jack.
Toshiko curled her body up on the bed, knees tucked in, her head on Jack's chest and she sobbed. She rammed a fist in her mouth because she didn't dare be too loud, didn't dare risk succumbing to something so completely that she wouldn't be able to get up again. Toshiko thought about her handsome brother and the last text he wrote her; a jubilant message about how he had passed his entrance exams. She didn't know where her mobile was. Even that message was lost to her.
Toshiko felt her tears unable to stop as she thought about the tiny Polaroid Ianto took of Owen falling off his chair on the day after he forgot he was supposed to pick her up in the morning. Ianto left the snapshot of Owen, his ass up in the air, Gwen bent over laughing by his bewildered face, on her keyboard along with two tiny joint screws taped to the back of the photo.
The tears eventually dried and Toshiko pulled her fist out of her mouth. She blinked gritty eyes at the teeth marks over her own knuckles. Toshiko sat up and wiped her eyes.
"I wish I could say something," Jack said abruptly, never acting like he was just drowned in tears. But his eyes were red-rimmed. His voice was raspy from disuse.
"But it might come out cliché," Jack went on. He smiled but it looked odd as he stared at nothing.
"And I wouldn't be able to hear it to tell."
Toshiko hiccupped a giggle that sprang forth more tears.
"Hang in there, Tosh," Jack murmured. "We can't…" He swallowed. "Otherwise all those…deaths…" Jack closed his eyes.
"Ah, Tosh," Jack said sadly. "I wish I can hear you."
"Wish you could hear me, too," Toshiko murmured. "There's so much…" Toshiko cocked her head. She raised her hand up and wiggled her fingers in front of her face. She hesitated.
"What?" Jack knitted his brow.
Carefully, Toshiko grazed a fingernail on his jaw and drew an 'H' and an 'I'.
A smile spread across Jack's face.
"That's my girl," Jack breathed. His eyes crinkled. "It's a good thing you taught me how to IM," Jack rasped. "Although Ianto thought it…" Jack stopped. His right brow twitched, his face contorted before he pulled a neutral face with some effort. "This'll work," Jack croaked.
Toshiko sniffled. She patted Jack's cheek and wiped the blood that beaded out from his cracked lips. Toshiko chewed her lower lip as she glanced over her shoulder. She drew out a 'BRB' on his cheek before she levered off the bed to fetch the tray. The tea was certainly cold by now, but Toshiko doubted it would matter to him.
Jack closed his eyes while Toshiko pressed the teacup to Jack's mouth. She slipped a hand behind his head, mindful of the wound there and tilted the cup back.
Tears wanted to fall again as she watched Jack drain the cup. He took great care not to hurry, savoring the bitter, cold brew like it was ambrosia itself.
When she pressed a biscuit to his teeth, Jack shook his head.
"Better not," Jack said, his voice clearer now. "I might get sick."
Toshiko swallowed but pulled it away. She took a corner of her apron and wiped his mouth, then, with some hesitation, reached down to straighten up his clothes.
"It's…" Jack started. He shook his head. "Better leave it. It's all right." Jack seemed to sink deeper into the bed.
Toshiko bit her lower lip. She set her jaw and hitched his trousers higher and did his flies. The button on top was gone though.
"Toshiko…" Jack sighed but said nothing more as she smoothed out his trousers and let the cuffs cover his swollen, cuffed ankles. He took a deep breath. "How are you? Are you okay?"
The 'Y' lightly etched on his jaw made Jack relax. As did the other 'Y' when he asked about Martha's family. But when the inquiries turned to the Doctor, Toshiko flinched.
Jack's lips were white as he waited for her answer. He was still tense when Toshiko drew an affirmative.
"You don't really know, do you?"
Toshiko bowed her head. She was about to draw a 'N' when Jack spoke up again.
"I didn't think the Master would put you near him." Jack's mouth tugged to a tired smirk. "That'll be like asking for trouble putting two minds like that together." Jack chuckled weakly when Toshiko swatted his left arm.
Toshiko reached over and etched out a 'D'.
Jack's smile faded. He scrunched up his face. Moments later, Jack's face cleared.
"You found some way to talk to him anyway, didn't you?" Jack breathed. "What did he tell you?"
'Yes,' Toshiko replied, her fingernail light on his skin. 'Plan.'
A new smile twisted Jack's mouth.
"Well," Jack said in a grim voice, the smile humorless but still a welcome sight to Toshiko, "it's about damn time."
Act III
Additional Notes: Many thanks to
soullessminion for betaing this chapter. And trtmx for her magic trick that saved my sanity! LOL.![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2008-10-15 11:15 pm (UTC)*tries to muffle her own crying as she gently pats Jack's cheek*
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Date: 2008-10-15 11:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 11:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-15 11:16 pm (UTC)The woman is a supergenius, and too few remember that.
-applauds-
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Date: 2008-10-15 11:47 pm (UTC)I think Saxon understood, hence why he's been keeping Tosh away from the Doctor.
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Date: 2008-10-15 11:46 pm (UTC)Need to get Jack free! Need to... wait, how is Ianto? D:
We need Ianto! He'll save the world with coffee!
And then he'll make Jack all better. Plz? *puppyeyes*
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Date: 2008-10-15 11:48 pm (UTC)We need Ianto! He'll save the world with coffee!
Do we need to make him a cape? Hee hee.
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Date: 2008-10-15 11:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-16 12:01 am (UTC)Thank you!
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Date: 2008-10-16 12:11 am (UTC)'See I told you that Morse code and instant messaging was a good idea.'
Jack pouted. Just a little. After all, dashing heroes were not supposed to pout but he was Jack. He could pout a little.
'Admit it. I was right again and you were wrong.'
'Ok, you were right and I was wr... I was wro...'
'You can say it. Come on Jack.'
'I was wroooo...'
'Say it Jack. Three simple words. I was wrong.'
'Really Tosh? Is that so. You just admitted that you were wrong! That means I'm right as usual.' Jack turned on his 1,000 watt smile and bounced a little. Tosh banged her head against her desk.
'Jack, I'm starting to cheer on the Master right now.'
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Date: 2008-10-16 12:13 am (UTC)'Jack, I'm starting to cheer on the Master right now.'
Tee hee hee. Oh, i've missed these!
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Date: 2008-10-16 01:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-16 01:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-16 01:53 am (UTC)And i'm thinking the "silent shadow" is a certain Welshman... who will end up being instrumental in saving Jack AND the world.
i can't WAIT until Friday!
peace,
the kendermouse
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Date: 2008-10-16 02:05 am (UTC):)
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Date: 2008-10-16 01:54 am (UTC)Anyway, I'm a bit worried as to how the Earthbound team will manage- they do seem to be following the pattern set forth by the original timeline, which, I suppose at this point they would, but I'm sort of afraid of how much a wake up call would cost them. I mean, I know that theorhetically any charcaters you kill off would be able to return when the paradox machine set things, but still...*is worried and waiting until Friday*
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Date: 2008-10-16 02:06 am (UTC)Have faith, Torchwood isn't as daft as they look...:)
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Date: 2008-10-16 01:59 am (UTC)OMG I read that too fast!
Even with the kids interrupting me to help with homework!
And Friday! EGADS! I have never wanted a week to be over this is worse than waiting for summer vacation!
And then you are going to make us wait till Monday!
Evil!
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Date: 2008-10-16 02:00 am (UTC)(no subject)
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From:Snarky!
From:Re: Snarky!
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Date: 2008-10-16 01:59 am (UTC)Yay Tosh! Excellent placement. You know I think I like your version better.
Did you not mention how Ianto was on purpose? Because it's killing us. XD
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Date: 2008-10-16 02:09 am (UTC)Oh, did I forget to mention him?
-points to your icon- The perfect one for the current fic.
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Date: 2008-10-16 03:41 am (UTC)I'm looking forward to more hun!
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Date: 2008-10-16 03:53 am (UTC)If you want to see how Tosh might take over the world, may I suggest
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Date: 2008-10-16 11:22 am (UTC)I'm not sure I have the nerves for this. *wibbles* Does Jack have to be blind and deaf again? You're killing me with Jack's portrayal :( I just want to hold him and make sure Ianto is ok and, and they snog each other senseless, and ok I'll shut up now but, but....happiness? anywhere?
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Date: 2008-10-16 01:50 pm (UTC)Ack, I'm sorry you feel that way about the story so close to the end. The 'Year' was bound to be dark as hinted by Jack in season 2.
I assure you though the blind/deaf thing isn't gratiutous though as it effectively sealed Jack off from his allies (Jones family and Tosh) or so Saxon thinks. It's also an attempt to reestablish the control Saxon was trying before to become 'his' Doctor, which of course, brings that whole Stockholm syndrome in full force now.
Sorry the story's upsetting you. I hope you at least come back for the ending though. As I've always promised, it will get dark, unavoidably due to the situstion they're all in, but I firmly believe in happy endings. :)
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Date: 2008-10-16 02:39 pm (UTC)I know Jack has to go to the bad place, but I want some more comfort for him darn it! Just a smidge more. A tiny morsel. A teddy bear to hold off the dark.
Please.
Please.
Pretty please.
You know I'll read anyway, so please don't think this is a criticism. I think you are amazing in how your mind works and how you write. You should be writing for the show! The "what happened to TW 4" twist alone is brilliant!
It's just you are killing me with the unending tension!
Argh!!!
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Date: 2008-10-16 10:25 pm (UTC)Oh no, my dear, trust me, I love this kind of feedback and honesty. I mean, I just got hate mail privately so believe me, your response is a refreshing one.
I know Jack has to go to the bad place, but I want some more comfort for him darn it! Just a smidge more. A tiny morsel. A teddy bear to hold off the dark.
It's funny you should mention that because it was what I worried anout when I was going into the 'Year', because personally I want a balance despite their situation. I think I achieved it in the next chapter and acts. We shall see. -fingers crossed-
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Date: 2008-10-16 03:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-16 03:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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Date: 2008-10-16 05:03 pm (UTC)I love this so much, but I can't help but think...during the entire Torchwood scene, only Gwen, Owen and Martha were mentioned. Ok Docto, time to be a Tinkerbell!Jesus!Doctor.....please?
Oh god. There's two more acts of the Year. Kill me now.
.,;:Meex:;,.
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Date: 2008-10-16 05:17 pm (UTC)Er...the Year takes up two chapters, LOTTL one chapter and the epilogue.
But the 'Year' is not what you might think. -wink wink-
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Date: 2008-10-16 09:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-16 09:32 pm (UTC)It just kills me how underused Tosh was in the series, I just had to have her on the Valiant for that.
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Date: 2008-10-16 09:48 pm (UTC)I can't wait for more, I unashamedly devour each chapter when I see a new one!! Love it! :)
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Date: 2008-10-16 10:24 pm (UTC)Thank you for sticking with this story! As for the crystal, I think we will see the last of it soon.
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Date: 2008-10-17 07:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-17 01:51 pm (UTC)Who says IM-ing can't save the world? :)
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Date: 2008-10-17 01:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-17 01:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-17 09:18 pm (UTC)I'm useless at leaving coherent and meaningful comments but I have enjoyed every angsty word of this fic.
Looking forward to your next update.
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Date: 2008-10-17 10:01 pm (UTC)