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fathomlessspite Mar. 4th, 2012 12:41 pm)
fathomlessspite Mar. 4th, 2012 12:41 pm)Title: It Goes On (4/4)
Series: A Good Old Normal, Human Life
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Rating: R
Word Count: 1815 / 8320
Pairing: Ten2/Alt.Master, Eleven/Jack Harkness (background Rory/Amy, Ianto/Jack)
Characters: Ten 2 (John Smith, Alt.Master, The Doctor (Eleven), Jack Harkness. Cameos from Donna, Wilf, Amy, Rory, Gwen, Martha, Rose, alt. Ianto, Suzie Costello, Owen Harper & John Hart (phew)
Summary: Continues straight after Data Compression. The Doctor has found John and the Master and he and Jack want some answers. Can they work together to save 'Pete's universe' and their own?
Warnings: potential non-con (of a time lord-y mind nature) in a past part
A/N: Set partly in 'Pete's universe' where The Doctor left Rose and Ten2 (John Smith) at the end of Journey's End, this follows on from A Good Old Normal, Human Life, Data Compression & Ianto's Dreams. Also as usual the fic is filled with pictures, because they are fun!
Title taken from Robert Frost quote; "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on."
Archived on AO3 here
**CATCH UP WITH PART ONE, PART TWO & PART THREE**
“So because this rift is on a planet, you need Torchwood Three to tether the Tardis’ down?” Suzie asked.
“Exactly,” the Doctor grinned at her over the video feed.
“And all the other rifts are in space?”
“Yes, so if the Tardis causes any disturbances or gets jostled about a bit there won’t be any people in the vicinity to be say, accidentally blinked out of existence.”
“And that’s a possibility is it? People being blinked out of existence?” Owen grumbled over the comm.
“No, because you’ll be tethering us,” the Master said slowly with a tone which implied a silent ‘idiot’ tagged on at the end.
“Behave,” John murmured from the Master’s side at the Tardis central console. They were back in the Master’s own universe, parked again on the Plass and above the hub. Jack had insisted on coming through with them much to the Doctor’s annoyance and was currently in the hub with Ianto.
“How are they doing?” John asked.
“Jack’s already on his way back up,” Rose replied.
“That was quick,” the Master smirked. John trod on his foot as the Tardis door opened behind them. Jack smiled at John when he gave him a questioning look.
“He’d already taken notes, hand written, typed and voice recorded of everything he’s dreamt or seen flashes of,” Jack said; he held up a notebook and a flash drive. “Thought it would be important for me to have.”
“Your Ianto is alive then?” John asked.
“I don’t know, maybe. If he is I just need to make sure he’s okay you know? Not being experimented on or something for having come back from the dead,” he said with a self deprecating smile.
“I hope that helps,” John replied.
“Come on then, let’s get on with this.” The Master clapped his hands together and started the Tardis engines.
“Doctor, do you have your humans hidden away somewhere safe?” the Master asked through the comms.
“Gwen has taken Martha to a local hospital to get checked over and the Ponds are still site seeing, how about yours?”
The Master looked across expectantly at Jack and John.
“There isn’t anyone quite human in this room,” Jack raised his eyebrows. “But we’ll temporarily abandon ship anyway,” he added.
They sat on the Plass and watched the Tardis from a distance. The Torchwood team joined them a few minutes later, Suzie with a remote tablet for the hub in her hand and Owen with John Hart handcuffed to one of his.
“All set?” Jack asked her.
“Yes, the Master and the Doctor have provided a programme which will mostly automate the tether but I can monitor it from here to make sure nothing goes wrong.”
Jack laughed. “When is anything ever straightforward for us?”
John made a noise of agreement, but his eyes didn’t leave the Tardis. His whole body itched to run back to the Tardis and the Master. He had a bad feeling. Waiting and watching didn’t seem to be a forte of John Smith anymore than it had been of the Doctor.
After a few more minutes of tense staring Jack nudged him with his elbow, “Am I going to have to tie you down? Because I can definitely do that if you need me to,” he winked.
Staring contest with the Tardis broken, John turned to Jack just in time to see Ianto roll his eyes over Jack’s shoulder. John grinned. “Aren’t you too exhausted from your earlier exertions to be flirting with me?”
“How do you- did he tell you about that?” Jack asked with a frown.
“No, I er could sort of feel it? Sorry, I thought he’d explained,” John shifted uncomfortably. The Master had gently helped him strengthen his mind afterwards. If they were going to stay in the Doctor’s universe it wouldn’t do for the Doctor to hear John’s thoughts whenever his emotions were heightened.
“That’s...interesting,” Jack said thoughtfully.
“Oh shut up,” John said exasperated. “It won’t be-” he stopped mid sentence as the Tardis began to glow. The light started inside and glowed dully through the windows, but gradually became brighter and brighter. It looked much like the Doctor’s Tardis had when Rose had opened up the time vortex, light spilling out everywhere, bright and dangerous to look at.
Soon the Tardis was completely engulfed. The Tardis engines roared to life, protested loudly at having to remain stationary whilst working at such a level.
John almost didn’t notice the golden glow of the rift opening across the Plass from them and the Tardis, but the beam of light identical to that which was surrounding the Master’s Tardis which shot out from it drew his focus. When it reached the Tardis the red phone box shook as it was hit and began to glow even brighter.
Jack gripped John’s arm tightly, it divided his attention for a moment long enough to realise he had stood and taken a few steps forward in the direction of the Tardis.
“Wrong way!” Jack shouted over the noise. The ground began to shake beneath them.
“We need to get out of here!” Rose shouted. The others began to back away from the Tardis, now too bright to look at for more than a few seconds. John resisted the pull of Jack’s hand.
Jack looked for a moment like he was considering staying with John, but then the ground of the Plass began to crack beneath their feet. Ianto was at his other side in a flash and he and Jack both pulled John away to where Rose, Owen, Hart and Suzie had retreated to a safer distance.
Before John could turn back to look at the shining Tardis there was an ear-splitting noise and then everything stopped; the noise of the Tardis engines, the light that had been flooding the Plass. In the ensuing silence John felt almost blinded and deafened due to the sudden lack of sensory input. He managed to turn around to stare at the Plass.
The empty Plass.
John staggered forward, he easily moved out of Ianto and Jack’s slackened grip towards the space where the Tardis had been.
He heard Jack bark orders at Suzie distantly, demanding to know what had happened, where the Tardis had gone.
John walked across the Plass, over the stone which had seconds ago been full of gaping fissures but was now smooth. He stopped on the sport where the Master’s Tardis had stood and closed his eyes.
He knelt down and put his palm to the concrete, it was warm to the touch.
The sound of Jack’s footsteps as he approached didn’t stir John.
“John,” Jack put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry; Suzie is trying to figure out what happened but the Hub’s sensors-”. He stopped mid sentence and knelt down opposite John. He spared a glance and a frown for the warm ground beneath him before he resettled his hand on John’s shoulder. “I’m sorry,” he repeated.
John looked up and met his eyes; he managed to produce something which felt like a smile. “He’s not dead, Jack.”
The sound of Tardis engines cut off any reply Jack was about to make. John didn’t even turn round, didn’t get his hopes up, knew the engines were those of the Doctor’s Tardis and not his and the Master’s own.
To his credit Jack didn’t move, although he clearly wanted to. They waited where they were for the others to converge on them.
“Did it work?” he heard Rose ask.
“Yes, all fixed, well this rift at least. Hopefully the effect has rippled through, but I’ll do a quick fly round to see if it has stabilised the others as well. I should be able to fix them by myself if need be,” the Doctor responded. There was a pause where John was sure they were all uncomfortably not looking at him. Although he couldn’t be sure, as he was currently focused on his fingers as they flexed against the warm concrete.
“So what happened to the other Tardis?” Owen asked.
“Implode did it?” Hart added. Ianto trod on his foot which elicited a curse from Hart.
“No he’s fine,” The Doctor replied uncomfortably. “John, he er, left a message if you want to-”
“No,” he answered quietly and got to his feet to face them. Jack stood as well. “Thanks.”
“I don’t understand,” Rose shook her head and frowned.
“He did what we do best,” John answered.
“He ran,” Jack said as understanding dawned for him before the others. John wasn’t surprised, he wasn’t sure exactly how old Jack was by now but he was old enough to have done plenty of running of his own.
Rose looked at John sadly, with perhaps a little bit of hope hidden behind it. John almost seized upon it, it would be easy to come back here and stay with her. But it wouldn’t be fair to her. He wasn’t sure what the message the Master had apparently left for him said, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to leave John behind forever. He’d be back, and John would follow him if he asked. He couldn’t do that to Rose again.
The others began to disperse, Owen, Hart and Suzie headed back down to the hub. Ianto stopped to speak to Jack for a moment, leaving him with a hand shake and a quiet “I hope you find him, sir,” before he followed them out of sight. Rose hovered uncertainly on the Plass by John’s side.
“So, you’ll need some helping looking for your Ianto yeah?” John asked as nonchalantly as he could when Jack rejoined them. He pointedly did not look at Rose whilst he spoke, but he saw the Doctor who was facing her wince out of the corner of his eye.
“You’re not going to stay?” Rose asked.
“Rose I’m always going to run at some point, it wouldn’t be fair on you to stay,” he said quietly.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. After a moment she opened them again, “Okay,” she nodded and stepped forward to pull him in to a hug. For a moment he let himself forget everything else and hold her close. But then she pulled back and said goodbye to Jack, she gave the Doctor an unsure smile and followed the same path the rest of the Torchwood team had back to the hub.
“Time to go home then?” the Doctor asked. There was a pause where they all three exchanged glances, before Jack laughed and John snorted in amusement. “Well, back to the right universe at least,” the Doctor amended.
“Lead the way,” Jack gestured with his hand. John trailed after him. All he could do for now was follow the wrong time lord in to the wrong Tardis and be whisked away to another universe.
Series: A Good Old Normal, Human Life
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Rating: R
Word Count: 1815 / 8320
Pairing: Ten2/Alt.Master, Eleven/Jack Harkness (background Rory/Amy, Ianto/Jack)
Characters: Ten 2 (John Smith, Alt.Master, The Doctor (Eleven), Jack Harkness. Cameos from Donna, Wilf, Amy, Rory, Gwen, Martha, Rose, alt. Ianto, Suzie Costello, Owen Harper & John Hart (phew)
Summary: Continues straight after Data Compression. The Doctor has found John and the Master and he and Jack want some answers. Can they work together to save 'Pete's universe' and their own?
Warnings: potential non-con (of a time lord-y mind nature) in a past part
A/N: Set partly in 'Pete's universe' where The Doctor left Rose and Ten2 (John Smith) at the end of Journey's End, this follows on from A Good Old Normal, Human Life, Data Compression & Ianto's Dreams. Also as usual the fic is filled with pictures, because they are fun!
Title taken from Robert Frost quote; "In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on."
Archived on AO3 here
**CATCH UP WITH PART ONE, PART TWO & PART THREE**
“So because this rift is on a planet, you need Torchwood Three to tether the Tardis’ down?” Suzie asked.
“Exactly,” the Doctor grinned at her over the video feed.
“And all the other rifts are in space?”
“Yes, so if the Tardis causes any disturbances or gets jostled about a bit there won’t be any people in the vicinity to be say, accidentally blinked out of existence.”
“And that’s a possibility is it? People being blinked out of existence?” Owen grumbled over the comm.
“No, because you’ll be tethering us,” the Master said slowly with a tone which implied a silent ‘idiot’ tagged on at the end.
“Behave,” John murmured from the Master’s side at the Tardis central console. They were back in the Master’s own universe, parked again on the Plass and above the hub. Jack had insisted on coming through with them much to the Doctor’s annoyance and was currently in the hub with Ianto.
“How are they doing?” John asked.
“Jack’s already on his way back up,” Rose replied.
“That was quick,” the Master smirked. John trod on his foot as the Tardis door opened behind them. Jack smiled at John when he gave him a questioning look.
“He’d already taken notes, hand written, typed and voice recorded of everything he’s dreamt or seen flashes of,” Jack said; he held up a notebook and a flash drive. “Thought it would be important for me to have.”
“Your Ianto is alive then?” John asked.
“I don’t know, maybe. If he is I just need to make sure he’s okay you know? Not being experimented on or something for having come back from the dead,” he said with a self deprecating smile.
“I hope that helps,” John replied.
“Come on then, let’s get on with this.” The Master clapped his hands together and started the Tardis engines.
“Doctor, do you have your humans hidden away somewhere safe?” the Master asked through the comms.
“Gwen has taken Martha to a local hospital to get checked over and the Ponds are still site seeing, how about yours?”
The Master looked across expectantly at Jack and John.
“There isn’t anyone quite human in this room,” Jack raised his eyebrows. “But we’ll temporarily abandon ship anyway,” he added.
They sat on the Plass and watched the Tardis from a distance. The Torchwood team joined them a few minutes later, Suzie with a remote tablet for the hub in her hand and Owen with John Hart handcuffed to one of his.
“All set?” Jack asked her.
“Yes, the Master and the Doctor have provided a programme which will mostly automate the tether but I can monitor it from here to make sure nothing goes wrong.”
Jack laughed. “When is anything ever straightforward for us?”
John made a noise of agreement, but his eyes didn’t leave the Tardis. His whole body itched to run back to the Tardis and the Master. He had a bad feeling. Waiting and watching didn’t seem to be a forte of John Smith anymore than it had been of the Doctor.
After a few more minutes of tense staring Jack nudged him with his elbow, “Am I going to have to tie you down? Because I can definitely do that if you need me to,” he winked.
Staring contest with the Tardis broken, John turned to Jack just in time to see Ianto roll his eyes over Jack’s shoulder. John grinned. “Aren’t you too exhausted from your earlier exertions to be flirting with me?”
“How do you- did he tell you about that?” Jack asked with a frown.
“No, I er could sort of feel it? Sorry, I thought he’d explained,” John shifted uncomfortably. The Master had gently helped him strengthen his mind afterwards. If they were going to stay in the Doctor’s universe it wouldn’t do for the Doctor to hear John’s thoughts whenever his emotions were heightened.
“That’s...interesting,” Jack said thoughtfully.
“Oh shut up,” John said exasperated. “It won’t be-” he stopped mid sentence as the Tardis began to glow. The light started inside and glowed dully through the windows, but gradually became brighter and brighter. It looked much like the Doctor’s Tardis had when Rose had opened up the time vortex, light spilling out everywhere, bright and dangerous to look at.
Soon the Tardis was completely engulfed. The Tardis engines roared to life, protested loudly at having to remain stationary whilst working at such a level.
John almost didn’t notice the golden glow of the rift opening across the Plass from them and the Tardis, but the beam of light identical to that which was surrounding the Master’s Tardis which shot out from it drew his focus. When it reached the Tardis the red phone box shook as it was hit and began to glow even brighter.
Jack gripped John’s arm tightly, it divided his attention for a moment long enough to realise he had stood and taken a few steps forward in the direction of the Tardis.
“Wrong way!” Jack shouted over the noise. The ground began to shake beneath them.
“We need to get out of here!” Rose shouted. The others began to back away from the Tardis, now too bright to look at for more than a few seconds. John resisted the pull of Jack’s hand.
Jack looked for a moment like he was considering staying with John, but then the ground of the Plass began to crack beneath their feet. Ianto was at his other side in a flash and he and Jack both pulled John away to where Rose, Owen, Hart and Suzie had retreated to a safer distance.
Before John could turn back to look at the shining Tardis there was an ear-splitting noise and then everything stopped; the noise of the Tardis engines, the light that had been flooding the Plass. In the ensuing silence John felt almost blinded and deafened due to the sudden lack of sensory input. He managed to turn around to stare at the Plass.
The empty Plass.
John staggered forward, he easily moved out of Ianto and Jack’s slackened grip towards the space where the Tardis had been.
He heard Jack bark orders at Suzie distantly, demanding to know what had happened, where the Tardis had gone.
John walked across the Plass, over the stone which had seconds ago been full of gaping fissures but was now smooth. He stopped on the sport where the Master’s Tardis had stood and closed his eyes.
He knelt down and put his palm to the concrete, it was warm to the touch.
The sound of Jack’s footsteps as he approached didn’t stir John.
“John,” Jack put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry; Suzie is trying to figure out what happened but the Hub’s sensors-”. He stopped mid sentence and knelt down opposite John. He spared a glance and a frown for the warm ground beneath him before he resettled his hand on John’s shoulder. “I’m sorry,” he repeated.
John looked up and met his eyes; he managed to produce something which felt like a smile. “He’s not dead, Jack.”
The sound of Tardis engines cut off any reply Jack was about to make. John didn’t even turn round, didn’t get his hopes up, knew the engines were those of the Doctor’s Tardis and not his and the Master’s own.
To his credit Jack didn’t move, although he clearly wanted to. They waited where they were for the others to converge on them.
“Did it work?” he heard Rose ask.
“Yes, all fixed, well this rift at least. Hopefully the effect has rippled through, but I’ll do a quick fly round to see if it has stabilised the others as well. I should be able to fix them by myself if need be,” the Doctor responded. There was a pause where John was sure they were all uncomfortably not looking at him. Although he couldn’t be sure, as he was currently focused on his fingers as they flexed against the warm concrete.
“So what happened to the other Tardis?” Owen asked.
“Implode did it?” Hart added. Ianto trod on his foot which elicited a curse from Hart.
“No he’s fine,” The Doctor replied uncomfortably. “John, he er, left a message if you want to-”
“No,” he answered quietly and got to his feet to face them. Jack stood as well. “Thanks.”
“I don’t understand,” Rose shook her head and frowned.
“He did what we do best,” John answered.
“He ran,” Jack said as understanding dawned for him before the others. John wasn’t surprised, he wasn’t sure exactly how old Jack was by now but he was old enough to have done plenty of running of his own.
Rose looked at John sadly, with perhaps a little bit of hope hidden behind it. John almost seized upon it, it would be easy to come back here and stay with her. But it wouldn’t be fair to her. He wasn’t sure what the message the Master had apparently left for him said, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to leave John behind forever. He’d be back, and John would follow him if he asked. He couldn’t do that to Rose again.
The others began to disperse, Owen, Hart and Suzie headed back down to the hub. Ianto stopped to speak to Jack for a moment, leaving him with a hand shake and a quiet “I hope you find him, sir,” before he followed them out of sight. Rose hovered uncertainly on the Plass by John’s side.
“So, you’ll need some helping looking for your Ianto yeah?” John asked as nonchalantly as he could when Jack rejoined them. He pointedly did not look at Rose whilst he spoke, but he saw the Doctor who was facing her wince out of the corner of his eye.
“You’re not going to stay?” Rose asked.
“Rose I’m always going to run at some point, it wouldn’t be fair on you to stay,” he said quietly.
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. After a moment she opened them again, “Okay,” she nodded and stepped forward to pull him in to a hug. For a moment he let himself forget everything else and hold her close. But then she pulled back and said goodbye to Jack, she gave the Doctor an unsure smile and followed the same path the rest of the Torchwood team had back to the hub.
“Time to go home then?” the Doctor asked. There was a pause where they all three exchanged glances, before Jack laughed and John snorted in amusement. “Well, back to the right universe at least,” the Doctor amended.
“Lead the way,” Jack gestured with his hand. John trailed after him. All he could do for now was follow the wrong time lord in to the wrong Tardis and be whisked away to another universe.