Chapter Text
Part Five ~ The Key
Chapter Twenty-One
Avenant sped along Avenue Georges Pompidou, weaving in and out of the late-night traffic and cursing his luck that there would be a Concert in the Park tonight. There were too many people on the road and they were all blocking his way. He swerved around a slow-moving Volvo and sped up to pass a second, even older, German car before he ran out of passing lane. Another thousand meters up the road, he turned right and away from the worst of the traffic.
The Horse crystal was precariously balanced in his right hand between his fingers and the top edge of the steering wheel. It still glowed in sullen smoky red pulses, and it burned his hand even through his glove, but he couldn't let it go. Not now. He'd had to use it to shoot out the main gate at the base when the guards refused to let him pass without authorization from that fils de pute Harkness. He didn't want to use it, but they'd given him no choice. Harkness had given him no choice in any of this. But he had the crystals now. He could get to the ship and make the pain in his head stop; he could make it all stop and find peace again.
He turned onto Rue des Menestriers du Perigord, ignoring the horn from the lone driver behind him as he veered the car without signaling. Then he pressed his foot to the floor and pushed the SUV as fast as it would go in the dark.
Shivering, Avenant switched the Horse Crystal to his left hand and punched the heater buttons with his right. Hot air filled the vehicle, warming his face, but it did nothing for the cold biting into his bones.
The SUV shuddered as the thick tires traded smooth pavement for crumbling dirt. He lost his hold on the crystal, swinging the car madly across the road as he groped for the falling cube. He pulled his foot off the gas in a moment of sanity and finally caught the crystal between his knees with a gasp. He ran a shaking, gloved hand across his eyes, straightened the car and started off again, the cube safely tucked into his coat pocket.
He had passed the rose wall and was jogging along the cobblestone drive with its trees and shadows when Jack's voice reached him over the comm unit.
"Avenant!" Jack's voice hissed in his ear, startling him. They'd been so quiet he'd forgotten he still had it on.
"Talk to me, Avenant!"
"Why?"
"You've hurt one of my team and I need to know why."
"Check again, Harkness. My shots were carefully aimed to dissuade, not to harm."
"And Toshiko?"
Avenant stopped walking and looked over his shoulder toward the SUV and the general direction of the UNIT base, something close to sorrow filling his heart. Toshiko was lovely and he truly enjoyed her company, but nothing was more important than getting home. "I never meant to harm her."
"But you have. You used her to get the information you wanted. To bring us here. And she knows it now."
"She should have known better."
He looked back towards the castle. The trees seemed to be closer and darker along that part of the path. No matter. He shivered and started running again.
"What, than to trust a silky voice and a pretty face?" Jack barked a laugh. "Tosh trusts unconditionally; that's part of what makes her who she is."
"That is not my fault," he hissed.
"But you used that against her to achieve your own ends. Why?"
"I needed her expertise and that of your team to find what was lost."
"The crystals."
"Yes."
"And then what?"
"What shall I say? That I have taken what your lover found? You know that already."
There was silence from Jack and then, "Why did you take the crystals?"
The second barrier wall reared up before Avenant. Sparks of blue light shot wildly from the edges of the wall where it met the stones of the drive and flowed over ancient trees.
Avenant stopped in front of the wall.
"They are mine. Mine by blood and birth."
"I don't follow."
Avenant pulled out the scanner he had taken from Tosh's desk and called up her codes. After a moment, the light flared across the length of the wall and then vanished. He picked up a stick, lobbed it across where he'd last seen the wall meet the drive, and breathed a sigh of relief when it landed unharmed a few meters away.
"Avenant," Jack said again, when the silence had gone on too long. "Explain it to me."
Avenant looked up at the sky, searching for the star patterns he remembered from his childhood, but saw only lights in the darkness. Nothing looked familiar after so long.
"That monster you have all become so fond of is my brother. He holds what is mine. Now, with your gracious help, I can finally go home."
"Where is home?"
"Far out into the stars," Avenant answered softly, longing filling his lungs and mouth, spilling over as tears down his cheek.
"You don't know, do you?" Jack whispered.
Avenant paused and shook his head. "The Diana knows; that's all I need."
"And Beast?"
"What of him?" Avenant bit out.
"He's dying."
"So?"
"You said it yourself: he's your brother. Doesn't that count for something?"
"Why should it?" Avenant shouted. "He trapped me here. Him and our father. Without him, the Diana would never have crashed and our mother would never have died. If they had just given… It's all their fault. All of this! Let him die as well! "
"Five hundred years is a long time to hate."
Avenant looked up at the stars again and then along the drive to the castle. "You have no idea."
He ripped the comm unit from his ear and tossed to the ground. The Captain's voice was still calling out to him as he ran towards the castle. Shout all you want, Captain. I have what I need at last! Avenant thought as he ran, not noticing that his hands and legs were still ice cold.
Years of being away from the castle did not change the call in Avenant's mind. He still heard the Diana singing to him as sweetly as she ever did when he was a child. It was not the deep tones and languages he only half-remembered, but it was enough to guide him to her hiding place in the heart of the garden and that was all that mattered.
Walking up to the stone building that was her outer dressing gown, Avenant pulled the four crystals from his pockets. Plucking the Key out of the pile, he held it to his face for a moment, savoring its shape and feel. "Thank you," he whispered to the cube. "Thank you for bringing me home."
He pointed the crystal towards Diana's camouflage and pressed the button on its side.
Gold, silver, and copper light poured out of the crystal, bathing the garden and the building before him in a metallic gleam. Under the lines of light, the building shimmered, its walls dissolving, expanding and reforming into the living, fluid form of the Diana.
Tears welled up in Avenant's eyes. He hadn't believed that he would ever see her again, as much as he had hoped and prayed and even schemed to make this possible.Somewhere inside, he realized that he had given up hope. And now, here she was, just as beautiful and precious as he remembered.
He took a few halting steps toward the glowing surface and reached out his hands, crystals and all. He would sink and sleep in her embrace forever if she would let him. Instead, just as his hand touched the surface, the ship's skin shimmered again, changing colors from gold to sun yellow, to purple to red, to dark blue and back to gold. He pulled his hand away in surprise and the ripple of colors stopped, leaving the skin copper in color. He leaned in again with just one hand, the one with the Horse, Mirror, and Glove crystals. The Diana's skin shivered and morphed once again as soon as he touched her. This time the colors shifted from red to yellow to deep blue to purple and back. A moment later a panel opened in front of him with five image squares. At the top was an image of a Key; below that there were two squares showing an image of a mirror and a horse and below that two more squares with the images of a glove on one and a rose on the other.
"Five? How can there be five slots? There are only four keys." Avenant looked up at the rippling skin of the ship.
Fear welled up in his heart, but he had to try. He had to get inside the ship; she was the only one who could make the pain in his head stop. She was the only one who could repair the split in his mind.
With shaking fingers, Avenant slid the four keys into the key pad. He offered up a prayer to gods he no longer believed in and waited. Nothing happened.
"No! Please! Diana! Please!!!"
He pulled the crystals off the pad and replaced them, pressing them deeply into the pad until his hands hurt with the effort. Still the Diana remained sealed.
Smashing the crystals to the ground, Avenant cursed in several languages, three from earth and two others half-remembered from his childhood in the stars. He fell to his knees before the Diana and cried, banging his fists against her shimmering hull and begging for release.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jack pulled his ear piece off and slammed it on the desk.
"Damn it!"
Knowing that Avenant had taken the crystals out from under their noses galled him. That the man had used his Toshiko to find the damn things in the first place made him even angrier. At least the man had had the sense not to kill anyone while he was breaking out of the base. That would have put him on Jack's permanent hit list with no hope of getting off.
"Anything, Tosh?" Jack paced over to her station to look over her shoulder.
"Confirming four signals; he has them with him," Tosh said, looking up from the computer.
"And we have the fifth one."
Tosh nodded.
"So now what, Jack?" Gwen asked.
Jack looked at Gwen and then to Owen, who was standing next to her. They were all as sick of sitting around gathering data as he was. It was time for some running. Jack grinned, and he knew it was the smile of a wolf, hungry and determined. "Now we go after Avenant and get the other four back."
"And help Beast," Ianto said from where he stood leaning against the door jamb.
Owen looked over his shoulder and sighed with good-natured exasperation. "You should be in bed."
"I'll live." Ianto gave a half-shrug and smiled, almost like his old self. "Like you said, no one's ever died from embarrassment."
Jack put a hand on Owen's arm and shook his head ever so slightly at the doctor. Owen sighed again and nodded. Jack looked over to Gwen.
"Go requisition us an SUV and get it ready. We'll meet you out front in fifteen."
Gwen grinned. "Does this mean I get to drive?"
"Depends on how good you are at requisitioning," Jack answered with a wink and a wicked smirk.
Gwen humpfed good-naturedly then grabbed her gun from the lock-box in her desk and headed toward the motor pool.
"Tosh, figure out what you'll need to get the ship working once we get the crystals from Avenant. Owen, bring whatever you can that might help Beast."
"And me, sir?" Ianto asked with a tired smile.
"Well… you can start with holding up that wall."
"I think I can manage that."
"Good," Jack said, walking over and putting his arms around Ianto's waist. "You know Beast the best of all of us."
Ianto nodded.
"So you're on point with him. Keep him talking. Get him to tell you everything he knows about that ship and how it works. If there are codes we need, or sequences to how the keys work - anything that's going to help Tosh get it working."
"And if he's too ill to speak?"
"Leave that to Owen."
"Right."
Jack opened him mouth to say something, then closed it again, knowing Ianto wouldn't take kindly to his thoughts.
"What?"
Jack shook his head. "A momentary desire to wrap you in cotton batting and lock you in the medical bay."
"Oh, really?"
"It passed."
"I should hope so. Imagine what Tosh would do if you tried that with her."
Jack winced.
"And we both know Tosh could take you in fight." Jack started to dispute this but Ianto continued over his protests. "Now imagine what I will do to you if you pull that shit with me."
"Oh," Jack said with a patently false quiver in his voice. "I see your point."
"Good. Now help me to damn car before I fall over, sir."
Jack lifted Ianto's arm up on to his shoulder and hugged him close to his body so that he could take most of the other man's weight. With Ianto grumbling quietly under his breath about the ridiculousness of being more tired than a newborn babe, they made it to the parking lot and got Ianto settled into the SUV in less time than it took the others to get their supplies ready, so no one but Jack saw Ianto startle awake from a doze as the car doors slammed shut.
Chapter Twenty-Three
"Ianto, slow down!" Jack called out, but Ianto couldn't wait. He needed to see Beast. He needed to know that they were not too late.
Though it took more effort than he cared to dwell on, Ianto sprinted up the last steps of the spiraling south tower stairs. His breath came in ragged gasps, but he pushed past his body's exhaustion and ran the short distance to the bedroom where he'd last seen Beast. Jack and Owen were right behind him. He could hear the higher pitch of Gwen and Tosh's boot heels on the stairs following them.
He pushed open the doors to the bedroom and did a quick scan. Nothing. He moved farther into the room and saw the doors to the balcony standing open, one iridescent clawed hand lying on the floor against the glass paneling.
"Beast!"
The dark, patchy head turned slowly as Ianto stumbled to a halt beside him.
"The peacock has gone silent," Beast said, trying to raise his head. "The devil has devoured him from the inside out."
Beast eyes were clouded over, the yellow irises bleached out to gray with cataracts. His mouth was crusted with blood and most of his whiskers were broken or missing. Ianto ran his hands along Beast's face, hoping to reassure him that he had come back, only to pull back in horror as his fingers came away with mats of scale-encrusted fur.
"Beast…"
"Everything is fading. I could see the barrier with its crackling lights. It was beautiful. I stood here and watched it for an hour or more. The peacock called out to his hen in the lightning. Now they are all gone.…" He brought his hand up in front of his eyes. "I can barely see my own hand."
Ianto raised Beast's hand to his chest and held it tightly. "Beast, it's me…it's Ianto."
"Ianto…" he turned his head, tracking the sound of Ianto's voice. "You came back."
"Yes."
"Did you save your Jack?"
Ianto looked back over his shoulder to where Jack stood watching them. "I did, thanks to you."
"I am glad."
Jack knelt down and took one of Beast's hands in his own, squeezing it gently. "Hello, Beast. Thank you for sending Ianto back to me."
Beast tried to smile but was overtaken by a storm of coughing that shook his body from head to foot. Owen pushed past Jack to kneel on Beast's other side.
"Hold him still!" Owen ordered.
Ianto and Jack grabbed Beast's arms and held him through the coughing, doing their best to keep him from thrashing around and hurting himself or them. When he could speak again, Beast turned his head toward Owen.
"You are the doctor Ianto told me of?"
"Owen Harper. Lie back now while I check you over."
"It is too late for that."
"I'll be the judge of that," Owen said, running his scanner over Beast. "Right. I can give you something for the pain. It should also slow the course of the reaction and give us time to sort you out properly."
"Nothing will stop what is coming for me. All that's left is pain."
"I've seen you face pain, Beast. You've coped with isolation for too long to give up now. I know you have more courage and strength than this," Ianto said in desperation.
Jack nodded. "Do it."
Owen pulled a syringe out of his kit and slid its needle into a bottle of clear liquid.
"Ianto, if I were a man ... doubtless I would ... be and act as you say ... but poor beasts only know ... how to lie on the ground ... and die."
Owen inserted the needle into Beast's arm and depressed the plunger. Beast, staring sightlessly up at Ianto, shivered once and passed out.
"No!" Ianto cried. He reached for Beast's face but Owen stopped him.
"He's not dead, mate, just unconscious. Let's get him onto the bed."
Ianto and Owen lifted Beast and, with help from Jack, got him settled gently onto the bed.
Owen glanced over at Jack. "That shot won't hold for long. We have to get those crystals back into whatever configuration they belong and we have to do it soon."
"Right. Tosh and Gwen, you're with me." Jack pointed at each of the women in turn and walked toward the door.
"Jack, wait…." Jack turned back to Ianto. "Beast's ship, the Diana, is in the center of the garden out back." Ianto indicated the balcony windows. "Since that's what Avenant wants…"
"That's where he'll head first. Got it."
"Good luck."
"You too." Jack turned in a swirl of dark blue wool to follow Gwen and Tosh into the hallway.
Chapter Twenty-four
Avenant stood outside the Diana, the Horse Crystal in one hand, the Glove Crystal in the other. Tears streamed down his face. A faint violet glow emanated from the Glove crystal.
"Let me in, damn you!"
He pushed a button on the Glove crystal and closed his eyes. The crystal began to glow more intensely but Avenant remained where he was.
"Please! I just need to get inside," he begged the ship in a flood of tears. "Please!" he sobbed and then threw the crystal at the ship wall, where it bounced and slid to the ground.
Avenant stood sobbing for a moment and then pointed the Horse crystal at the ship. "I didn't want to do this…"
Pushing a button on the side of the crystal, he aimed and fired it at the ship's hull. A bright beam of light pierced the darkness and bore into hull plating. Avenant ran forward, only to watch as light and liquid fiber poured into the hole, filling it and closing it in an instant.
"No!" he shouted, shivering in the warm air.
He fired again and again. Chills crawled up his arms and spread to his chest, making it hard to breath. Each time he fired, holes appeared in the ship's hull and were healed over moments later. Avenant pushed the button to fire again but nothing happened; the cube stayed dark. Cold sapped his strength. His teeth clattered like bones in his mouth and tremors rippled uncontrollably through his limbs. His hands shaking with cold, he dropped the cube.
"There has to be a way," he mumbled, stumbling away from the ship. "There has to be!"
He shoved his ice-cold fingers in his pockets and turned back towards the ship. His knuckles collided with the hard edges of the other crystals. "Of course!"
He pulled the crystals from his pocket, sorted the Mirror from the other two, and held it aloft towards the Diana. He pressed the button and the pale yellow viewscreen shimmered to life in the air between him and the ship.
"How do I get in?"
Avenant glared at the image screen, willing it to show him what he needed. Slowly an image formed: five crystal cubes sliding into place in the slots of the keypad of the Diana's hull.
"I know that!" he shouted, his breath growing ragged as the crystal drew power from his lungs. "What's the other crystal?!"
A second image appeared in the Mirror's viewing area, this time of a single crystal cube with a rose carved into its glowing surface.
"A rose? A damn Rose is one of the crystals?" He took another deep breath and tried to focus his thoughts back on the Mirror crystal.
"Where is the Rose crystal?" He staggered as air hissed from his lungs. His vision grayed out and then refocused as he gulped air.
The image shifted again to show Jack running through a long hallway lined with candelabra held by a moving golden arm, his long coat nearly gold in the pale light of the crystal's screen. In front of him were Tosh and Gwen, who slowed down as the hallway ended. The three leaned out into the room in front of them, shook their heads, and then turned to the right, following Tosh into the kitchen.
"Damn meddling Torchwood," Avenant muttered, knowing full well that there was a door from the kitchen to the garden. He'd snuck through it on more than one occasion as a child, before he'd run from the nightmare memories of the castle.
He shoved the Mirror back into his pocket and leaned over, trying to catch his breath through the shaking of his muscles. He was frantic for sleep and warmth, but there was no time for either. He needed to go home. He needed to be safe. And now Torchwood was on his heels.
"Avenant!" Jack yelled, barreling into the garden with Gwen and Tosh right behind him.
Avenant grabbed the Horse from the grass between his feet and stood up. He backed up against the side of the Diana facing Jack and the women and pushed the button on the crystal. This time a weak bolt of light shot out from the cube to burn the earth in front of Jack's feet. Avenant shivered.
"Stop where you are!"
Jack slid to a stop, holding his arms out to block Tosh and Gwen from moving forward as well.
"Whoa! Hang on a minute. We just wanna talk."
"Give me the Rose!" Avenant shouted. His head was pounding. Voices were calling to him but he couldn't make out their words. He looked over his shoulder; there was a shadow there reaching out towards him. "Mother?" he whispered.
"Not going to happen," Jack said.
Avenant swung his aching head back to Jack. The Captain was looking at him oddly. He looked back into the shadows. The image was gone. Had she ever been there?
"Avenant?"
The voices were finally forming words. Give it to us! Give it to us and we'll stop hurting her, they sneered. Avenant shouted to drown them out. "Give me the crystal!"
"I can't do that."
Give it to us! The voices droned on. Do you like seeing her in pain? You must. You are doing this to her. You are causing her pain.
Shadows stepped away from the trees, stalking towards him. Villains with fangs for teeth and hate for hearts reached for him, laughing as he dodged. His mother reached for him with her arms out to him, her empty eyes sloughing around, seeking him.
"Mother…" Avenant reached out to the shadow. His hand passed through air and he cried out. "No! Nonono…." He looked at Jack, and he knew that the other man was confused, but he couldn't explain. He needed to follow the rules and help his mother. "Please, I need the Rose crystal!" Avenant cried.
"Why, Avenant?" Gwen asked. "Why do you need it?"
"It's been too long," Avenant said, tears spilling down his cheeks. "So long."
"So long since what?"
"This ground is too far away, and cold." The shadows circled him, daring him to tell them the truth, tell them about the woman screaming in his head as she died. "The stars are home. Run far enough, fast enough and the stars will sing you to sleep."
"We can help you," Gwen said.
"No! You can't help." Avenant turned the Horse crystal on Gwen, the shadows pressing in on him. Get it for us, child. Get us what we need and we'll stop. "I know all about Torchwood. 'If it's alien, it's ours' - that's what you do. You take everything that is alien. You take and you keep. You don't help."
"That was the old Torchwood," Gwen said, stretching her hand out toward him. It passed seamlessly through a demon with a leering grin. "Torchwood One. Torchwood London."
"You're all the same," he cried, pressing his hands to his head.
"We're not them," Jack said.
"Avenant, please… listen to Jack," Tosh begged, stepping around Jack.
"He's the worst of the lot!"
Tosh smiled at him gently. "He's not. Jack's different. He's the best of us all. I told you that when we talked in all those emails. Remember?"
"Tosh?" Avenant took a step toward Toshiko. Her voice cut through the noise in his head like a soft breeze.
"Yes, it's me, Toshiko."
"I remember talking to you. You were so kind to me."
Tosh took another step toward Avenant. The shadows receded in her wake. "I'm glad you think so. I enjoyed our talks."
"It's so loud, Toshiko. So loud and cruel. They keep hurting her and taunting me. It won't stop. I just want it all to stop."
Tosh looked over her shoulder at Jack. Jack motioned her to keep going.
"I know. Will you trust me to help you?"
"I'm so cold, Tosh. So cold and tired."
"I know… I know. Will you let me help?"
Avenant took a step toward Toshiko and collapsed at her feet.
"Oh god, he's ice cold!" Tosh cried.
She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and cradled his shivering body. He felt warmth spread through him as Gwen knelt beside them, her gentle hand rubbing small circles along his back. Avenant tilted his head as Jack stepped into place beside them. Beyond the Captain, the shadows were cowering in the trees, still reaching for Avenant but unable to touch him. He breathed a sigh of relief and balled his hands in Tosh's jacket.
"That must be the side effect of the Horse crystal," Gwen said. She took the crystal from Avenant's unresisting hand and offered it to Jack. "And his breathing is nearly as bad as yours was, Jack. I'd say he tried every crystal he had to get into the ship."
"I think you're right. It drained him dry," Jack agreed. "We need to find the rest of the crystals."
Tosh stroked Avenant's arm and stopped to pat the surface of his jacket. "There's something here."
Jack reached into the pocket and pulled out the Key and Mirror crystals. "That's three. The other one has to be around here somewhere."
Gwen and Jack stood up. Through his haze, Avenant could hear them pacing through the grass around the Diana, looking for the final crystal. He tried to lift his head and point to where he'd seen the crystal fall when he'd thrown it, but he was so tired and finally safe, wrapped in Toshiko's arms.
At last, Gwen shouted from near the ship's hull. "Here!"
"Right, that's all of them." Jack turned to the ship. "So, lovely lady, what say you and I have a little talk?"
Jack pointed the Key at the ship and activated the cube. Copper light radiated from the ship's hull as the key panel slid open. "Well, that was easy."
Avenant forced his eyes open so he could watch as Jack placed each cube in its appropriate slot on the pad. A moment later, the ship lit up with a golden light. A panel, as tall as Jack and wide enough for all three of them to stand in, appeared in the side of the ship, and slid inward and then to the side. The Diana was open.
The voices in Avenant's head cheered. At last! Take us in, child! Take us in and we'll stop hurting her. Take us in and we will end all of it! The shadows raced out of the darkness to fill his eyes, his ears and mouth. They drowned him with their laughter. Avenant screamed and clawed at his ears.
"Jack!" Tosh called out, fighting to hold onto Avenant's thrashing form.
"Mother!" Avenant screamed, his throat distending on the extended sound, and then collapsed into oblivion in Tosh's lap.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Light flared outside the balcony window, a shimmer of gold and green, followed by the pervasive blue. The barrier walls vibrated back into life. Animals called out throughout the garden, startled by the surge of power around them.
"Looks like they did it," Owen said.
"Mm-hmm," Ianto nodded, turning away from the fading glow and back to Beast.
On the bed, Beast surged up, his eyes open and staring towards the ceiling. His breath came in ragged gusts and he shook from side to side. After a moment, the tremors subsided and Beast was left gasping for breath.
"Beast! What is it? What's wrong?"
"Ianto…" Beast wheezed.
"Yes. Can you tell us what's happening to you?"
"I can see home!" Beast reached out to grasp at something beyond Ianto's shoulder. "I can see… but I can't reach it."
Ianto looked at Owen, who shrugged.
"I'm almost home, but I'm here." Beast turned and grabbed Ianto's arms. "Trapped forever. I can see home, but I can never be home. That's the cruelest thing they could have done."
"Who? What did they do to you?"
A shock wave of energy poured over them from the garden, followed by a blast of sound and golden light. Beast reared up again, nearly pushing both Owen and Ianto off the bed as he reached desperately for something outside the bedroom.
"Please! Please…"
A moment later Beast collapsed backward, screaming like his soul was being pulled from his body. When the sound stopped, near-silent words from another world began pouring out of his mouth while his eyes tracked motion that only he could see.
"That blast has to have been them getting into the ship. Shouldn't that have made things better instead of worse?" Ianto asked.
"I don't know," Owen said, pulling equipment from his bag. He ran his scanner through a set of tests and shook his head.
"What?"
"This doesn't make any bloody sense!"
"Owen!"
"The breakdown of his cells has accelerated."
"What the hell does that mean?"
"It's almost as though something is tearing him apart on the genetic level."
"How do we stop it?"
Owen shook his head. "I don't know."
"Not good enough!" Ianto leaned his chest on top of Beast to keep the alien from throwing himself off the bed and reached up to tap the comm at his ear. "Jack."
Static crackled along the channel for a moment and then Jack's voice filled Ianto's ears. "We found Avenant and the keys," Jack said. "We've opened the ship."
"We know. Jack, listen… Beast is worse."
"How is that possible?"
"Something is tearing him apart, Jack," Owen said, joining the conversation. "There has to be more going on. It's not just the crystals going missing."
"Damn."
"It started when you opened the ship," Ianto said.
"So he's tied to the ship somehow," Jack surmised.
"Seems that way," Owen added.
"Did he tell you anything about it? How to work the controls or anything?"
Ianto shook his head. "Just that he is trapped here."
"Not if we can get the ship working, he's not."
"I think it's more than that. He kept saying he could see home but he couldn't touch it."
"He could see home but not touch it?"
"That's what he said."
"Huh."
"What are you thinking?" Owen asked.
"Sounds like a Temporal Divider."
"Meaning what?"
Jack sighed, the sound echoing along the comm link. "I'm not sure. They're damn hard to create by mistake and they take a hell of a lot of power to maintain. I've only seen it done once before and it wasn't for a joy ride."
"He said it was it was the cruelest thing that could have been done to him," Ianto said.
"It would be. It's probably the nastiest form of prison cell around. Lock someone in one place and tie their essence to another. They're split in time and space until the lock is released."
"That's horrible!"
"Yeah."
There was a long pause, and then Jack spoke again. "Well, now we know what to look for here in the ship. I think can give Tosh and Gwen enough information to track down the lock. Breaking it is going to be another matter…"
"You're good at locks."
"Yeah." Ianto thought he could hear a tired smile in Jack's voice before the other man continued. "Let me know if Beast tells you anything else."
"Will do," Ianto agreed.
Ianto tapped his earpiece off and looked over at Owen.
"You know," Owen said. "Just once I'd like an alien to come through on holiday. Stay a few days, share a drink, take a couple of photos and go home. No hassles, no plots to kill humanity or each other. Is that so much to ask for?"
"I wouldn't know. I've forgotten what going on holiday feels like."
"Yeah."
Owen looked at the alien shaking on the bed beneath them and growled. He could almost see Beast coming apart at the seams and that made him angry. He was a doctor who dealt with aliens every day. He should be able to figure out how to help Beast, but he was stuck holding him in place so he didn't do himself more damage while others hunted for a solution.
Ianto squeezed Owen's shoulder. Owen looked over at the younger man. He saw the exhaustion that still etched lines around his eyes, but beyond that was determination and a promise that once again they were in this together. Owen nodded and adjusted his hold on Beast's arm.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Outside the Diana, Jack tapped off his comm. He crouched beside Tosh and brushed a hand across Avenant's forehead. It was clammy. The man was shivering and his skin looked nearly iridescent in the flowing metallic glow of the ship's hull. "How is he?"
Toss shook her head. "Not good."
"We need to get inside and find the base unit for a Temporal Divider."
"A what?" Gwen asked, kneeling on Tosh's other side.
"Something you never want to experience."
"What about Avenant?" Tosh asked, worry in her eyes.
"There's nothing we can do for him at the moment. When Beast is free, Owen can look him over and see what can be done to help him."
Tosh nodded then brushed a lock of hair away from Avenant's eyes and laid him gently on the ground. Jack offered her a hand up.
"So what are we looking for?" Tosh asked, brushing grass off her pants.
"It should look something like a globe split in two along its axis. At least the last one I saw did. It shouldn't be bigger than about…so big." Jack spread his hands about twelve inches apart.
"How do we turn it off when we find it?" Gwen asked.
Jack pursed his lips and shrugged. "One piece at a time. Let's get inside and see what we can find."
Jack led the way through the portal into the Diana's main chamber and stopped in his tracks, a small "oh" escaping through his parted lips. "Hello, beautiful!"
If the ship was pretty on the outside - and Jack certainly loved the sweet curve of her lines - she was magnificent inside. Her interior was all smooth planes and glowing lights that flowed from console to console, along the matte-black floors, and up the copper walls to ripple along the semicircle curve of the room's ceiling.
Jack let his hands glide along the glass-like surface of the console nearest to him, following it around to the midpoint of the room to what might've been a pilot's or navigator's station. He spun the contoured chair around and flopped into it with a barely repressed giggle. Lights glimmered to life on the panel in front of him.
"What is it?" Gwen asked, coming to stand behind him. He looked up and knew he was grinning like a fool and couldn't care less.
"A work of art!"
Gwen laughed. "Really, what's got you grinning?"
Jack swung the chair back around and ran his hands along the console, feeling the smooth panel warm under his fingers. "Beast wasn't kidding when he said the Diana was a living ship. Everything about her is alive. She knew when we walked in; she turned the lights on and activated this console when I sat down. She's a sweet ship, and a rare find. There's not many like her in this time period."
Tosh leaned over Jack's shoulder, her hands ghosting over the markings that blinked into life when Jack's hand passed over them. "So where's she from?"
"A couple of possible places. The Sseliesian Nebula was on the verge of developing technology capable of smart-ships, but I don't think they were quite up to this level of sophistication last time I checked. Could be the Pelleplos; they were well-known for blending cognitive tech with liquid gene bonding."
"So definitely not local," Tosh teased.
"Definitely not."
"Right. I'll start looking for an evil sphere, shall I?" Gwen rolled her eyes. Jack laughed and nodded.
"I'll give you a hand," Tosh said.
Jack held her back with a light touch on her arm. "I need you to see what you can do about getting the Diana ready to fly."
"Wouldn't you be better at that? I'm mean, you've actually flown a space ship, right?"
Jack shook his head with a grin. "Fighter jock. I just followed the manual. You actually understand how the gears work, and that's way more important right now."
Tosh beamed. "All right, then."
Jack ran his hand longingly across the console once more, then pushed himself out of the chair and held it in place for Tosh to sit down. Once she opened her laptop to link with the ship's interface, he turned to the opposite side of the compartment to hunt for the device.
"So, my girl, what do you need from me?" Tosh mused, and then stopped suddenly. "Oh! Um… Jack…"
He strode back to her side. "Yeah?"
"You keep saying that this is a living ship…"
"Yep. Why?"
"She just answered my question with a question."
Jack peered over her shoulder and read the words blinking on the computer screen.
"'Who are you?' The ship is asking who we are!"
"Well, I didn't type that," Tosh insisted.
"Huh."
"What do I say?"
"We're inside her. I, for one, would tell her the truth."
"Right." Tosh typed a few lines into her computer. "My name is Toshiko Sato. I work for Torchwood and I am here to help repair you so you can fly again."
"Simple and to the point," Jack said approvingly.
Words appeared on the screen below the prompt icon. Who are the others?
"Observant, isn't she?"
"Is the ship really asking questions?" Gwen asked, joining them.
"It seems so. Any luck?"
"Nothing."
"This is my boss, Captain Jack Harkness, and the other woman is my coworker, Gwen Cooper," Toshiko typed.
You found the keys that Father hid.
"Yes."
That is good.
There was a pause. All three team members looked at each other. Jack knew they were wondering what to do next.
The sons are not well.
"The sons?" Gwen asked. "She means Beast and Avenant, doesn't she?"
Yes.
"You can hear me?"
Yes.
"The sons are both very ill and we would like to help them," Jack said, propping one foot on the edge of the seat and resting his arms on his knee. "Beast and Avenant spoke of needing to see the stars again, to leave this planet. Will getting back aboard you and into space help them?"
Yes. And no. That which fractures them must be destroyed first.
"That which… the Temporal Divider?" Jack asked.
That which fractures and separates them from home and each other, yes.
"We think the device is here inside of you. Can you help us find it?"
No. The Diana paused and Jack couldn't help but wonder if a living ship had emotions as well as sensors. It was shielded before it was placed within my hull. I only know it exists. It broke my path and distorted my vision.
"Someone put the Temporal Divide on board and locked it against you as well?" Tosh asked.
Jack whistled. "I didn't think it was possible to lock a TD to a ship."
Yes. Such a thing is done. It was done to me.
"Jack, I have an idea…" Gwen said. Jack nodded for her to continue. "Diana, is there a place within you that feels wrong?"
Please explain.
"Not like what you remember from before the device was placed. Something that feels...um… different…" Gwen looked to Tosh for help.
The other woman thought for a moment and then added, "Less than optimal."
Yes.
A map appeared within a screen on the console. It showed the layout of the ship. There was a blinking spot in one compartment two levels below where they currently stood.
This spot has been less than optimal for 512.34 earth years.
A moment later, a trail of copper lights spread out along the matte floor panels leading from the chair out of the main cabin.
"That has to be it," Gwen said.
"Good work!" Jack said. "Tosh, you stay here with Diana. Keep an eye on the map and the sensors. Let me know if anything changes as we get close to the device."
"Sure thing."
"Gwen - with me."
Jack jogged out of the cabin, trusting Gwen to follow him. The copper lights continued into the hallway and down a flight of stairs. Lights pushed the darkness away ahead of them, showing tantalizing bits of the ship as they went quickly past. With another flight of stairs, the light trail turned left into a narrow corridor barren of all color and texture.
"Jack…"
"I know."
"It's like the walls are dead."
"They may be. That's the door we're looking for." Jack pushed several buttons on a small panel next to the door but nothing happened. "Diana, the door's locked. Can you open it?"
I have tried, but the controls are no longer within my command structure.
"Tosh?"
"Hang on a sec."
Jack heard her type a few instructions into her keyboard. "It's not working, Jack. I'm locked out of all the commands for that area, just like Diana is."
"Ok. I hate to do this to you, Diana, but we need that door open."
I understand.
Jack nodded to Gwen. They each raised their guns, aimed and fired at the key panel. The door slid open. "Got it!"
Gwen reached into the gaping hole. It looked like a wound with a thick silver substance oozing down the wall towards the floor. Jack had to look away. He tugged Gwen with him into the room.
Inside, they found shelves and tables overflowing with data cubes, boxes of toys, clothing, personal items, household goods, even furniture, and Jack thought he saw a rug rolled up in one corner.
"Ianto would be in heaven in here," Gwen said softly as they looked around the room.
Jack smiled. "We'd lose him for a week while he got everything catalogued to his liking."
Near the back of the room, the Temporal Divide sphere sat on a table surrounded by what looked like a lifetime of personal effects. It was an innocuous-looking object. This one was a little bigger than Jack had expected - closer to a foot and a half in diameter and two feet tall. It looked like a simple piece of abstract art or a science project gone wrong. Three interlocking globes were suspended over a trapezoidal base. Two of the globes had been sliced, not just in half, but into quarters. The third was more like a collection of splinters held in a roughly spherical shape than a true globe. Jack shivered. Nothing about this TD was good. He wanted it unlocked and broken now, and then he wanted to hunt down and hurt the people who had used it on this family.
"Tosh, we found it," Gwen said into her comm unit, then turned to Jack. "Any ideas on how to disable it?"
"Brute force worked on the door lock." Jack clamped down on his anger and pointed his gun at the device.
"Okay," Gwen said, gamely aiming her gun.
Together they pumped continuous rounds into the Temporal Divider. As the shots impacted it, the device started to glow. The light increased until neither of them could look directly at it, though they kept firing. Jack's Webley ran out of bullets. He holstered the gun and pulled his UNIT-issued Glock and kept firing. The light flared around them and burst outward, sending Gwen and Jack flying back into the hall. Smoke and a dust wave of debris followed them.
Jack put a hand to his head; there was a very loud, very bad mariachi band playing in there and he really wanted them to stop. Gwen groaned beside him, flat on her back. She was squeezing her eyes shut, which suggested that the band was playing in her head as well. He took a couple of deep breaths and felt his stomach settle back into place. The band wound down and he heaved himself to his feet without an encore.
"Ugh," Gwen groaned as she sat up.
"I know what you mean. Come on." Jack held out a hand and pulled her to her feet. Together they walked back into the room.
On the table, the Temporal Divider lay blackened and broken into numerous pieces.
"Jack! Gwen!" Tosh's voice came over the comm.
"We're here, Tosh," Gwen answered. "We're okay. We did it. It's shattered."
"I know! Diana can see you in the room. She can access every part of herself again."
Thank you.
"Our pleasure, lovely lady," Jack said.
"Diana?" Gwen asked. "Can you tell how Beast and Avenant - how the sons - are? Has destroying the device helped?"
The sons are still unwell. If you will attend to the son who is outside my hull, without touching him or interfering in the process in any way, I will instruct Toshiko regarding the placement of the power crystals for the optimum health of all family members.
"Got it!" Jack said heading for the stairs at a run.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Jack's voice buzzed over the comm unit. "Diana says to keep an eye on Beast, but don't touch him or get in the way of what's coming."
"What the hell does that mean?" Owen demanded.
"Don't argue. Just keep an eye on him, but don't touch him until things stop changing. It should be pretty obvious, given everything else she's done so far." Jack paused. "Are we clear?"
"Yes," Ianto said.
"Owen?"
"Yeah, okay, fine."
"Okay, then hang on."
Moments after Jack disconnected, fingers of light poured into the room from the garden. The rays spread out, blanketing all three of them in a warm golden haze. On the bed, Beast twitched as the light enveloped him. Ianto looked down at his hands, turned them over and back, watching the light paint patterns on his skin, but he felt no effects within himself.
A second set of light rays joined the first, alternating pink and green strands down the walls, along the floor and across each of their bodies. As the tendrils of light reached Beast, his tremors increased.
"Look!" Owen pointed at Beast's arm where dangled off the edge of the bed. Ianto followed the line of Beast's arm to his wrist and saw that the scales were glowing and separating from each other.
"He's changing," Ianto whispered. Owen nodded, entranced.
A third and fourth set of colored lights flowed into the mix. Pale yellow danced with waves of purple and cobalt to blanket Ianto, Owen and Beast in the colors of air and water. As the new colors poured over Beast, his trembling increased until he was thrashing around the bed. Ianto curled his hands into fists, wanting to hold Beast in place and keep him from hurting himself.
All along Beast's body changes were appearing. His sable fur fell in clumps onto the duvet, revealing pearlescent skin beneath. The triangular cat ears vanished into a thick mane of black hair that slowly bleached to something pale enough to capture every color of light shimmering in the room.
Ianto knew that the final crystal had been slipped into place when a brilliant red beam of light blazed across the room. Beast screamed as the fiery light hit his body and fell back onto the bed, his arms thrown out to his side.
Silence filled the room, and it was loud enough to make Ianto realize that there had been a low-level hum throbbing through the air. In the quiet, it felt like the work of transformation was complete. Even the waves of light had stopped moving. It seemed everything, Ianto and Owen included, was waiting for permission to breathe.
Then, as Ianto watched, all the streamers of light moved as one, spilling off the walls and rippling across the floor towards the bed. There, the light wrapped around Beast's body, completely covering him in a rainbow of color. Slowly Beast's light-wrapped form rose up and off the bed. He hung there for a moment, then began to turn, spinning faster and faster until the colors exploded through the room in a nova of white light.
Ianto and Owen hit the floor, arms shielding their eyes.
The blaze of light faded and Ianto braved a look towards the bed. Hovering just over the fur- and scale-littered bed, wrapped in robes of clear light, was Beast. He was beautiful. His skin glowed with an iridescence similar to the scales he had once worn, but now the surface was patterned like waves that rippled smoothly along his limbs. Ianto thought they might still have some of the function of scales, but looked so much more fluid and at one with Beast's body. His eyes, once slitted and yellow, were now pure gold ringed with copper.
The light robes moved, lowering Beast to the floor, then dimmed to nearly nothing in puddles of gold, pink, green, yellow, purple and red light around the bed.
Beast shuddered and sighed. He stared at his hands in wonder, then touched his face. His fingers slid easily across the smooth skin.
"Thank you," Beast said.
Owen grinned. "Don't thank us yet… well, okay; do thank us, but wait till you see what's waiting for you in the garden."
Ianto held out a hand to Beast, who took it with a distracted smile. Then he and Owen helped Beast, who was still unsteady, out of the castle and to the Diana's resting place.
Outside the Diana, the others were waiting for them beside a transformed Avenant.
"Brother!" Beast cried when he saw Avenant. "You're alive!"
Avenant nodded, his pale hair shimmering with reflected streaks of copper and gold. His skin, Ianto noted, it was slightly ruddier than Beast's, which appeared to blend into a dark pink. Avenant waved toward Jack, Gwen and Tosh. "Thanks to your friends."
Beast stepped away from Ianto to take his brother's hands in his own. They stood together, hand in hand, eyes closed, foreheads touching for a long moment. Ianto walked around the brothers towards Jack's side. He watched Beast's movements and he saw Beast's breathing stumble and then take up a new rhythm, synced to Avenant's. With a sigh, the brothers opened their eyes, blinked slowly and then turned towards Jack and the team.
"Thank you," he said. "You have returned to me more than I ever dreamed possible."
"You're welcome," Jack said.
Owen raised his scanner and began to check Beast's vitals. "Amazing."
"What?"
"The root cell structure is the same in this form as it was in the other… but this one is stable, whole, and complete. No mix-and-match science project pretending to be a living creature."
"Yes," said Beast.
"So?" Gwen asked. "Do you know what happened?"
Avenant nodded and Ianto saw him squeeze Beast's hand reassuringly. "Those who imprisoned our family were thieves of ships; pirates, you would call them. They wanted to own the Diana, but had no interest in paying us for her, even if we could have given her to them."
"I can understand why. She'd be a prize in any galaxy," Jack said.
Beast nodded. "But Diana is family. We are bound to her as she is bound to us."
"Chromosomal or Rh factor?" Jack asked.
"Chromosomal," Avenant replied. "Supplemented with each generation born into her keeping."
Jack whistled appreciatively. "No way your parents could have sold her with that kind of bond."
"No," Beast said sadly.
"But pirates do not care about such things. They took us and our mother hostage to try to bend Father to their will," Avenant said. "They bound my brother and me within the Temporal Divider three times over several days' time."
"And your mother?" Gwen whispered when both aliens had fallen silent.
They bound the Mother within the device. The Diana continued the tale, her voice projecting from out of the ship and into their minds. Every day, from the time they captured us until the moment we entered the storm, they bound her and released her over and over again. In the end, she neither knew her family nor her own genetic structure.
Ianto fought back a wave of nausea, imagining the hell their mother had suffered. Beside him, Jack looked sick. Tosh and Gwen each sobbed quietly, hands clasped for strength. He looked across the grass where Owen was kneeling, busily digging in his medical bag, his back to all of them. Given the stiffness of his shoulders, Ianto knew he was equally affected by Diana's words.
Avenant ran a hand over Beast's hair, a gesture of comfort and connection. Beast leaned into the touch, his eyes closed, sorrow etched into his features.
"I'm sorry," Jack said at last.
Avenant nodded, settling his arm around his brother's shoulders.
Their father never gave the pirates what they were seeking. He hid the crystals from them and from the sons, and when the opportunity came, instructed me to fly into the storm.
"She saved our lives," Beast said.
"But the damage had been done," Owen said, looking up from his kit.
"Yes. The Temporal Divider was still in place, as you saw, and we were still bound within its grasp, split and pulled apart until you destroyed it and set us free," Avenant said.
"And this is you - who you really are?" Gwen asked, fascination replacing horror.
"Yes," Avenant said. "This is who we really are. This is the form I was born into more than half a millennium ago."
And now that my systems have been released from the device, I can take them back to walk the lands of their people.
"Will you be planet-bound after all these years?" Tosh asked.
Beast and Avenant looked at each other and, after a moment, each shook his head. "No," Avenant answered for them. "We wish to see that world again, but our true home has always been Diana and the stars."
Beast nodded. "Indeed, the stars have called to me each night that I lay trapped within my split form. All I wish for is my brother, Diana and the rest of my life among them."
Jack smiled and nodded. "I'm glad we could help."
"About that, Captain," Beast said, stepping away from his brother.
"Yes?"
"I named you 'thief' not long ago and sentenced you to death."
"I believe I remember something about that, yes."
"And your loyal Ianto took your place instead."
"So I noticed," Jack said, with a mock glare at Ianto.
"I thank you both for your actions and your willingness to help me, even when I held each of you against your will."
"Don't mention it," Jack said.
"Not a problem," Ianto said with a shake of his head.
Beast looked at Jack and Ianto each in turn and thought for a moment. "I ask that you accept the deed to this castle in thanks and as payment for your services."
When the two men began to speak, Beast held up a hand to stop them. "Once we are in the stars, what need will we have for a castle on earth? Consider it Torchwood's home in France. After all, even a heroic organization needs a place to get away from the pressures of the job."
Ianto stood back and watched as the other members of the team looked at Jack pleadingly - not that Owen would ever admit that he pleaded, or even wanted a Torchwood France branch. Jack looked from face to face, his eyes growing wider and wider with each silent request. At last he turned to Ianto, a question in his eyes. Ianto regarded Jack for sixty long seconds, mostly to make him sweat, and then nodded.
Jack sighed. "It will mean more work for you."
Ianto shrugged.
"And more paperwork for me."
Ianto rolled his eyes and walked slowly forward.
"I hate paperwork."
"We know," Ianto said, stopping a handspan from Jack. He reached up to straighten Jack's collar. "It will look good on the taxes."
"We don't pay taxes."
"If we did." Ianto brushed a patch of dust off of Jack's shoulder. "We could use it as a rental property, to offset expenses."
Jack looked at him, aghast, then hung his head and laughed. "Fine! Fine! We'll keep the castle."
The girls cheered.
Ianto leaned in and kissed Jack on the nose. "Thank you," he said with a teasing grin.
Avenant coughed, drawing everyone's attention to himself and Beast. "I must also apologize," he said quietly.
Stepping away from Beast, Avenant approached Tosh and gently took her hand. "Toshiko, I am very sorry for any harm I may have caused you. I truly did not know all that I did, and would not… do not wish to see you harmed."
Tosh stared down at her hand nestled between Avenant's softly glowing iridescent ones.
"I…" Avenant hesitated, looking to Tosh for her reaction and clearly not knowing how to take her silence. "I did wish to get to know you. I enjoyed our time together. If I could…"
Tosh looked up. Ianto could see a glimmer of moisture in her eyes. "It's all right."
Avenant touched her cheek. "You are crying."
She shook her head but didn't pull away from his touch. "It's fine. I just… don't really know what to say."
A tear slipped down her cheek and Avenant brushed it away with his thumb. "Say that you forgive me?"
Tosh nodded. "I do."
"If I could stay…"
"I know."
"May I…" Avenant looked down at Tosh's clasped hands and back up to her face. "May I kiss you one last time?"
Ianto could feel the stillness in the garden as everyone - even the ship, it seemed - waited for Tosh's answer. Then Avenant's copper-and-gold-speckled head dipped down, his hair falling like a curtain to shield them as he took Tosh's lips with his. Ianto only knew that Tosh was pleased because her slender arms came up around Avenant's waist to hold him close.
Epilogue
Jack shaded his eyes in the dawn's light to watch as the Diana hovered over the garden. A moment later, she pivoted on her central axis then tipped her nose towards the sky. Her engines flared and, with the afterimage of her flight painting their eyes, she was gone.
"So," Jack said, turning to his team. "Home?"
"What?!" Gwen and Tosh said together.
Jack laughed.
"Do you know how long I have wanted to come to Boudreaux?" Gwen said.
"You promised us a vacation, Jack!" Tosh added.
"I did?" Jack tried, and failed, to look innocent.
"You did." Owen crossed his arms over his chest and stepped closer to Gwen and Tosh.
"Siding with ladies now?"
"I'm not stupid, Jack. And besides, yeah, I could do with a bit of time off m'self. Maybe try out the local wine and cheese, you know."
"Un huh," Jack grinned. "Is that what we're calling the lasses nowadays?"
Owen shrugged. "Whatever works."
Jack looked over at the one who'd helped save his life. "And you, Ianto? What do you want?"
"I believe you promised to show me the sights of Perigueux."
"Did I? Odd how you all seem to remember much more than I do about this fabled trip to the Aquitaine."
"Jack!" Tosh and Gwen both threw mock punches at him.
Jack held up his hands in defeat. "Fine. Go pick rooms in the Castle and I'll settle things with UNIT. Anything but the South Tower!"
Gwen grabbed Tosh's hand. "We know!" Together they started across the garden at a run.
"Two days!" Jack called over his shoulder. "Two days and then we head back. And you all better hope that the Rift behaves itself while you're lounging around spending money."
"Oi! We don't lounge. We recline - like you don't know the difference!" Gwen said with a laugh. She and Tosh ducked through a hedge. Jack could hear them laughing all the way to the castle.
Owen tossed off a wave at Jack, a smug look on his face as he followed behind the ladies.
"Oi! You birds! Wait up!" Owen shouted as he passed the hedge and jogged towards the castle.
Jack heard a snicker beside him and turned to see Ianto, hands stuffed into his pockets, toeing the grass and chuckling. The other man still looked a little worn from their adventures. His borrowed tuxedo was dusty and wrinkled. It was really kind of perfect, in a messy sort of way.
Jack tugged Ianto into his arms. "Show you the sights, huh?"
Ianto twisted in Jack's arms and brushed a phantom leaf off of Jack's shoulder. "I do believe those were your words, sir."
"Mmm." Jack leaned in to kiss Ianto lightly on the lips. "I think I might be starting to remember something about that, now that you mention it."
"I'm glad to hear that, sir," Ianto said, kissing Jack in return, then he dragged his lips along the strong jaw to suck at Jack's ear. "Anything I can do to jog your memory?"
Jack moaned. "Oh, I can think of a few things."
Jack captured Ianto's lips, needing to kiss him again. He pulled the other man's head toward him with one hand and pressed their bodies tightly together with the other. When they came up for air, Ianto laughed and stepped away from Jack, taking him by the hand.
Walking past the hedges that led up to the castle, a single deep pink rose with a midnight black center and emerald green leaves fell to the ground at their feet. Jack reached down and picked up the flower. He brought it to his nose and inhaled.
"Mmmm, lovely."
"Jack…"
Jack turned to Ianto.
"That shouldn't be here."
"I know."
"That's Beast's rose… the gallica decur."
"I know."
"It should have…" Ianto looked around the garden. There were no other Rosa gallica decurs anywhere in sight. "They all vanished with the Diana."
"Ianto… I know." Jack smiled softly and offered Ianto the rose with a flourish. Ianto rolled his eyes, but took the proffered flower with a quiet smile.
Once upon a time, a leader of heroes and his trusted partner walked hand in hand through the stone archway of a castle that had been missing for five hundred years. Together they, and their intrepid team, had freed the princes and returned to them a family fortune. That the princes were aliens and the fortune a space ship would never be told in any public history book, but that is the way of things in such tales. And here our story ends, with the fragrance of wonder and beauty on the breeze, a rose and love in hand, and the lights of an alien spaceship streaking across the skies… until the next time childhood's fantasy calls us to the stars and magic beckons us to believe in the impossible.
The End