Pity Is Treason

[aviv_b_artwork]

TITLE:  Pity is Treason 
AUTHOR: Aviv_b
RATING:  PG
CHARACTERS:  Ianto, Jack, with brief appearances by Doctors 10 &11, two companions & a famous historical figure
DISCLAIMER:  Not mine; Aunty B's and RTD's
WORDS: ~ 2685
SUMMARY:  Traveling with the Doctor has its hazards and rewards

Written for redisourcolor Challenge 27 - Theme: Travel 

A/N: Once again I decided to use all the prompts:
Words: Rabble, loath, stark, fortuitous, helpful.
Quotes: “Go ahead, kid.” "It was justified, if nothing else." Beowulf line:  "I expect you're here to find adventure, not asylum."

“When you said the Doctor would take us somewhere exciting for our honeymoon, this isn’t exactly what I had in mind. And while I’m loath to complain about a free vacation, a ride in a tumbril is not exactly the promised carriage ride through the Bois de Boulogne.”

“Where’s your sense of adventure,” Jack replied, the calmness of his voice belying his frantic attempts to loosen the ropes tying his hands behind them.

“I think I lost it, along with my lunch, when we had that run in with your ex-lover.  Charming gentleman, if not a bit bad tempered,” Ianto replied with a sad smile on his face.

Jack snorted and looked at Ianto. Ianto’s hair was shaved from the back of his head and his shirt collar was torn open, but the love he had for Jack never shone more brightly on his face.

The cart turned the corner and the Place de la Revolution came into view.  Ianto paled. He knew the end was near but at least his death would be quick. But what about Jack? The stark truth of his immortality was something people of this time would have no way of understanding. Would he revive without a head? Could he regenerate if his body was cut apart? Would he be doomed to suffer repeated deaths until the bloodlust of the crowd was satisfied?”

“I love you,” he mouthed across to Jack.

“Don’t give up Ianto, there’s still time. No matter what, if it takes me all of eternity, I will fix this. I promise.”

In the background, they heard the sound of a weight falling, a short scream, and the roar of the mob.

***

The Doctor had promised them a honeymoon they’d never forget.  Ianto was hesitant, but with a bit of cajoling Ianto finally agreed as long as he could pick the time and place. As they entered the Tardis, the Doctor tempted them with stories of all the wonderful places and times he could take them.

“There’s a cherry festival held once every thousand years on Sakuranbo. The cherries are as large as yango melons.” Seeing the puzzled looks on Jack and Ianto’s faces, he continued, “Yango melons, large fruit the size of…” he moved his hand to outline the size.

Ianto started to reply, “that sounds very nice, but I was hoping for something a little quieter, more intimate…,” 

 “How about Deva Lok, a tropical paradise, home to the peaceful Kinda people. They are telepathic, so if it’s quiet you want, I can’t think of a better place.”

Jack noticed Ianto shift uneasily at the suggestion. “We really appreciate your input, but Ianto has his heart set on a destination a bit closer to home.”

“And a bit closer in time,” Ianto added.

“Of course,” the Doctor beamed. “Diadem is only half way across the Milky Way and isn’t called the Most Relaxing Planet in the Galaxy for nothing. We won’t have to go more than a thousand years in the future to enjoy the comforts of a Stellar Luxury vacation package. ”

“A bit closer still,” Ianto said gently, “in time and place.”

“What, Mars? Even five hundred years from now, Mars is still a rough spot, not at all suitable for a vacation. The Moon? You can’t possibly want to go there, it’s positively…”

“Earth, actually,” Ianto finally interrupted. “Paris, 1889 specifically.”

“Paris?” The Doctor was incredulous. “1889? Why on earth would you want to go there?”

“It was the year of The Paris World Exposition.  The Eiffel Tower was almost finished, and many of the greatest writers, artists, composers attended. We might get to meet Debussy or Gauguin or even Henry James,” Ianto said with unbridled enthusiasm.

“Not to mention Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley.  I can tell you that Annie was quite a little pistol…” Jack added, his voice trailing off when he saw the look of disapproval on Ianto’s face.

The Doctor shook his head in disbelief.  “I can’t believe that you, Jack, would agree to such a mundane suggestion.”

But Jack wanted Ianto to be happy and wouldn’t budge.

“Paris, 1889 then it is,” the Doctor said with a sigh. He activated the Tardis and moments later and flung the door open to reveal an avenue in central Paris. “I’ll just wait here in the Tardis, not much here to interest me.”

***

It took only moments for Ianto to realize that something wasn’t right. Jack couldn’t understand why Ianto seemed so perplexed.

“What? It’s Paris. The weather is lovely, the streets are…”

 Jack’s speech was cut off by a mob heading toward him and Ianto.  Ianto wisely pulled Jack back from view so they could safely observe the jeering crowd and the large cart holding the prisoners pass by.

“Lovely, if you like to deal with the rabble running loose, beheadings, no law and order,” Ianto hissed in reply.

“I don’t understand,” Jack said feeling a bit worried.

“I think your Doctor got his dates confused, this looks more like the early 1790s – time of the French Revolution. The King is dead and the “Reign of Terror” has begun.  And if you look around, we don’t exactly fit in. “

Jack watched the stragglers run after the cart for a few moments. As much as he hated to admit it, it seemed like Ianto was correct. The men were dressed in tight britches and hose, the filthy ruffles at the neck, long cutaway coats, definitely not the time of Van Gogh. Though people were losing more than their ears, Jack reflected sadly.

After the mob had passed, they looked around for the Tardis. It had vanished. They stayed hidden until nightfall, wary of approaching anyone. Their clothes, not to mention Ianto’s impeccable, but modern French, would immediately identify them as outsiders.

“It’s getting late,” Ianto remarked, “and a bit chilly. Maybe we should find some place we can hunker down for the night.  Under a bridge, or in the doorway of a shop would probably be our best bet.”

Jack recalled his one trip to this time period when he was with the Time Agency and realized there was one man they could turn to for help. “Ianto, I know someone who can help us, an old friend of mine. He’ll never turn me away,” Jack said with confidence.

Ianto raised a skeptical eyebrow but allowed Jack to lead him through the back alleys of Paris until they reached a townhouse in the Rue Saint-Honoré. “Don’t worry, it’s fortuitous that my friend is a lawyer, a great believer in abolition of the death penalty, he’ll protect us from harm. He’s funny, handsome, witty and charming…”

Warning bells were going off in Ianto’s brain but before he could form an objection, Jack pounded loudly on the door.  In butchered French he shouted, “Maximillien, open up. It is Capitaine Jacques!”

The door opened and a middle-aged man, face a bit puffed with drink and dressed in a sleeping gown and night cap glared out at them.

“Who are you? What do you want?”

It took a moment for Jack to recognize his old friend. The years between his youth and the current time had not been kind. His former lover had become much older looking; heavy jowls and a sallow complexion had replaced the fair and sweet countenance he remembered. And in place of the lithe body of his gentle lover was a stocky, meaty body not at all appealing to Jack.

“Robby? Is that you?” Jack asked in confusion.

The man at the doorway seemed equally stunned. “Jacques, after all these years you show up,” he said in a tone that did nothing to hide his displeasure.

Ianto stood absolutely still. He’d know that face anywhere. From the history books and the accounts of the Reign of Terror, Robespierre was the most feared and hated figure of the French Revolution.

“Much has changed since I’ve seen you last,” Robespierre told Jack after listening to his story of being stranded in Paris with his protégé.  “I see you still like them young,” he said inspecting Ianto closely.

“It’s a shame that you’ve gotten mixed up with this man,” he said nodding toward Jack. “I expect you're here to find adventure, not asylum.”

Robespierre sighed. “Pity is treason, but if you agree to leave now, I’ll forget I ever laid eyes on you,” he told Ianto. “Your friend, however, will have to stay. Go ahead kid,” he said derisively, “no reason for you to suffer his fate.”

Ianto, of course refused to leave Jack’s side and the two were locked in a dark cellar while Robespierre went to fetch others. “I don’t understand, he was such a lovely young man.”

Ianto glared at Jack. “Do you really have no idea who that is,” Ianto hissed. “You’ve delivered us into the custody of a madman.”

Jack paled as Ianto described to him the excesses of the French Revolution, of the increasingly erratic behavior of his former lover and his eventual execution and death. “Unfortunately, that won’t happen for another year or so and in the meantime, an unexplained male lover would be a bit inconvenient for him. We’re dead men Jack, we need to get out of here before he gets back.”

They tried to find a way out, but the brick cellar was solidly built, the iron gate tightly locked. Without the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver, there was no way to break the lock.

“Don’t worry, Ianto, I’ll think of something or the Doctor will come to the rescue.”

Ianto snorted; it was justified, if nothing else. He was baffled how Jack could still place his trust in the Doctor. After leaving Jack on Game Station, telling him he was ‘wrong’, not helping him after the year that never was, and failing to show up during several invasions by aliens, Ianto thought that maintaining a skeptical attitude toward the Doctor was the wisest course.

“Somehow, I knew you’d say something like that. I wish I had your faith in the Doctor.” He motioned Jack over. “Come here, we have a little time yet until he gets back we might as well make the most of it.”

Ianto kissed Jack deeply and with tear-filled eyes, looked at Jack. “Whatever happens, I’m not blaming you. We’ve had a wonderful ten years together, I just wish we hadn’t waited so long to get married.”

Jack kissed Ianto forehead and held him close. “I always had a feeling that something terrible would happen if we got married, that’s why I held off for so long. And I was right.”

They made love passionately but quickly on the floor of the cellar, finishing just as they heard voices from over their head. They dressed quickly and awaited their host.

“I’m sorry,” Jack said, “but don’t lose hope, we may get out of this yet.” Ianto rolled his eyes as the cellar door swung open.

“Assassins,” Robespierre cried as he pointed to Jack and Ianto. “They tried to break into my house and murder me in my bed.”

Jack and Ianto were quickly bundled into a carriage and taken to a nondescript building in the center of Paris. They were locked into a small, sparsely furnished room. “Maybe they’ll just keep us for a while until things quiet down.”

“Jack,” Ianto whispered, “this is the Conciergerie, where prisoners were kept before they went to the guillotine. If that thing you are wearing,” Ianto said indicated Jack’s wrist strap, “can help us, now would be a good time to try."

Jack fiddled with it all the rest of night but couldn’t activate any of the functions of his vortex manipulator. The next morning four grim guards came for them. “Don’t we get a trial?” Jack shouted at his hands were tied behind his back.

“Monsieur, you have been tried and found guilty of conspiracy. The sentence is death, or course.”

“Well, that’s helpful,” Jack retorted.  He was about to continue, when he saw Ianto shake his head, ‘no.’

“There’s little time left Jack,” he said as his own hands were tied, “best to be thinking how you will come back to life and escape,” Ianto warned.

“I don’t want to come back without you.”

“Ah, well, I don’t think either of us is going to be consulted on the matter,” Ianto replied sadly.

The back of their heads were quickly shaved and their shirts torn so that the blade of the guillotine would face no impedance in its task. They were loaded into the tumbril along with other prisoners and began the ride to their executions.

Jack’s thoughts were racing as he tried to figure a way out of their predicament. He couldn’t change this now, but he would come back, and he’d make a future Doctor come back and rescue them setting the time-line back on course.

***

One by one, the prisoners were taken to the scaffold. Jack and Ianto having been loaded first, were the last off the cart. As they walked toward the guillotine, they heard a familiar sound and a blue box appeared just by the side of the platform. The door swung open and a young red-headed woman appeared in the doorway. She was wearing a short plaid skirt with a red hoodie. The crowd moved back in fear.

“Run! Run as fast as you can!” she shouted in Scottish accented English.

Jack and Ianto broke free of their stunned guards and ran toward the Tardis. The guards hesitated only a moment and took off after them. The crowd stayed back fearing some witchcraft or other evil. Jack and Ianto made it into the Tardis, but one of the guards got halfway through the door as well. A tall young man in medical scrubs hit the guard over the head with a teapot and pushed him out the door. A man was at the console, fiddling with the controls. Jack and Ianto sighed as they heard the noise of the Tardis dematerializing. Ianto was startled as he realized that this was a different Doctor, younger and taller than the one who had dropped them off, but no matter, they were safe.

Ianto sank to the floor with relief, Jack sitting down next to him. “Hello,” a female voice said. They looked up to see the young woman holding out her hand to them. “I’m Amy, and this is my husband Rory.” The young man waved the now dented teapot at them. “We’re on our honeymoon and the Doctor said you were on yours as well. He thought you might want to join us for a week on Diadem. He’s booked us the Stellar Luxury package.”

Ianto and Jack looked at each other and burst out laughing. “That would be delightful, Amy,” Ianto said taking her hand.

“And you look like you’ve had a few adventures of your own,” Jack said admiring Rory in his scrubs. 

“You want adventure; I’ll go change into my Roman Centurion clothes.”

“Yeah?” Jack said with undisguised interest. “I look forward to seeing that.”

“He’ll be seeing stars if he so much as flirts with your husband,” Ianto told Amy. 

“Well the teapot is available if you need it,” Amy teased.

“Which one is he anyway,” Ianto asked looking toward the Doctor.

“I’m directly after the one who left you here, and I apologize for my former self getting the time wrong,” the Doctor said looking up from the controls.  “Still everything’s worked out fine so it’s off to Diadem. Run along and get cleaned up; we’ll be there in no time.”

“Was that the French Revolution we just picked you up from?” Rory asked as the four companions walked out of the control room.

“Yeah, not exactly what we had in mind for a honeymoon,” Ianto replied.

“And what’s with the bad haircuts,” Amy asked, staring at Jack and Ianto in amusement.

“Don’t ask,” Jack said.

“Let’s just say it was a bit of a close shave,” Ianto snarked.

“Yeah we’ve had a few of those ourselves,” Rory replied. “There was this one time we were supposed to land on this pleasure planet, Apalapucia ….”