Title: I Crossed Paths with the Pretender.
Rating: R
Genre: Dark and angsty.
Warning: Spoiler-ish for Greeks Bearing Gifts, Cyberwoman and Countrycide. This is a dark-ish story, for me anyways. This is Dark!Jack.
Summary: Shortly following after Greeks Bearing Gifts Ianto should really have made sure the telepathic stone was properly disposed of.

A/N: I had this posted on my LJ and decided I'd try it over here for reactions. Please let me know what you think.

He tried to shut his mind down thinking: "Blank". That doesn't really work though because thinking "Blank" makes you THINK of blank so you're still thinking and you're still not blank.

And he was back to thinking, as inane as it was.

The chuckle behind him caught him by surprise and he turned slowly, stiffly, with trepidation to face the reason why he wanted his mind to be blank. His shoulders were held stiffly, he could feel the knots begin to form along them but he didn't care about that because he was facing a far bigger threat then tight shoulders.

The lazy smile that had been playing across the man's face widened into a shark like grin and he held back the urge to step away from the man at the implication of that cruel smile of all teeth and no warmth.

He knew.

He also knew that the man knew that he knew.

He was back to inane thoughts again. They gave away less though, were less dangerous than other thoughts.

"You ramble a lot," the man began nonchalantly, leaning against the door with eyes of blue chipped ice giving nothing away of his own thoughts.

'Danger, danger,' his inner self cried like a siren. "Maybe you'd be happier not listening to me at all sir," he said in turn, his eyes drawn to the ring on the man's right hand that held a magnificent stone that was green in color. The very stone that was making his life utter hell right now.

The man's smile somehow widened showing more bright white teeth. 'Maybe the last smile had been a wolf's smile and this the shark's?' he opined in his mind.

"But I do so love to hear what you have to say," the man said smoothly, pushing himself off the wall and stalked, for that's really all it could have been described as, towards him.

He prayed for a distraction from one of his teammates as he moved backwards and away from the man.

The hunter.

The wolf.

The Shark.

"I sent them all home already seeing as it's been a quiet day. Might as well let them take advantage of it after all," the man said crushing his internal hope for a distraction. He paused, tilting his head thoughtfully. "You really think of me that way? Not very flattering."

The invader.

Bastard.

Asshole.

The one that won't leave me alone.

The Monster.

The man's eyes flashed angrily. "Monster am I?"

He shuddered seeing the depths of anger in his eyes and all directed at him. He wanted to run. "Get out of my head!"

He settled for yelling instead.

Couldn't run very far anyway. He was backed up against his desk now with shelves to his left and right and his only exit was blocked by the man that was quickly becoming his worst nightmare, rated above cannibals but below daleks and cybermen.

It had only been a couple of days following the disaster with Tosh and her alien girlfriend when he'd noted the man watching him more often, like before the cyberwoman incident but with a different look in his eyes than before. He wishes he knew then what he knew now about that look.

"You wanted to be noticed," the man reminded him.

He shook his head, rejecting the words. The man had put his own spin on his words and took it to a whole other level. He was finding out things about him but not by asking or talking.

He listened.

He eavesdropped into his mind.

The parasite.

Leech.

Disgusting.

Unclean.

There was nothing that was just his anymore.

His home had been invaded after the… incident. A check to make sure he didn't have anything else he shouldn't have.

He didn't, but now it wasn't safe anymore. Torchwood had touched it.

He was always followed by cameras.

He had to do constant check-ups with Owen.

His mind had been his last sanctuary. The comments he couldn't, wouldn't, say out loud he could let flit through as a brief thought. His private thoughts and opinions, no more private.

No more just his.

He didn't have anything left untouched by Torchwood.

Untouched by the MONSTER before him.

"You seem overly fond of that word when it comes to me," the man growled, his voice a warning.

He wasn't dissuaded.

He'd met plenty of monsters in his life. Long before he'd even joined Torchwood.

Not all the monsters came from beyond the stars, were one eyed, slimy or even alien. In fact, some looked remarkably human.

He kept his eyes level on the being before him who'd lost his humanity long ago and was impersonating a human now.

A FAKE.

He threw the thought forcefully at the man.

Just like that the man snapped and quick as a flash he found himself shoved harshly to the left and into a shelf, a hand wrapped around his throat.

He somehow found amusement in the situation even as he struggled to breathe. Strangling doesn't exactly work to silence a person after all if it was their thoughts being read.

"Killing you would silence you for good," the man hissed.

Amusement bubbled through him.

You're the one with the tool to surf the mind.

"Shut up," the man growled tightening his hold a little more.

His body fought for breath around the restrictive hold but he didn't struggle anymore. Not even when black spots danced in front of his eyes. If he was going to die he was going to do it on his terms. Holding the man's eyes he remembered the last two times he'd been held like this.

Recently with the cannibals.

Another, a long time back, as a boy at the hands of his father. Just shortly before the bastard had passed away, getting what was coming to him in the end.

You two are worse than cannibals. I should have been able to trust you.

He took pleasure in his last thought as it struck the other man, widening the man's eyes just moments before his world went black.

xxx

He came too eventually, surprised and not to find himself still alive. A quick assessment told him he was in the main level of the hub, laid out on the couch and that his throat hurt.

No surprise there.

Moving carefully he pushed himself up into a sitting position, eyes warily moving through the darkened Hub, the only light coming from the computer screens, to look for the one who could have moved him to this location from the archives.

Turned out he didn't have to look far for sitting on the floor at the foot of the couch was the huddled up form of the man one he'd been looking for. Their eyes caught and held in the dim lighting before the man other looked away.

He somehow managed to hold back a snort of contempt. Was the man other regretting his actions now?

"Yes," the man other murmured.

He made to reply but his throat hurt too much so he settled back, slowly thinking of the best way to respond.

Fuck you.

Too late.

I really would stand back and watch you die. Last time the words were said in anger, this time in truth.

I forgive you, but still hate you.

Don't come near me.

Boogeyman.

Monster.

Lost, like a child, but no excuse.

Humanity lost, now all you can do is play at being human. The others may not know but I do.

Conman.

Murderer.

The man other seemed to shrink at each thought.

"What do you want from me?"

For you to suffer.

Your world to fall apart.

For you to lose everything you love.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing because I refuse to fall to your level.

"How can I make it better?"

You can't.

Give me back my peace of mind.

LEAVE ME ALONE.

No more trust—all gone.

"I'm sorry."

Sorry fixes nothing.

I HATE you.

"Is there anything I can do?" the man other, the being, the fake, the pretender, asked raising his eyes again to meet his own.

Get out of my head and stay out.

That would be a nice start.

After that? Stay the fuck away from me.

"What about—" the man other licked his lips in an act of nervousness, pausing.

He waited patiently for him to continue.

"What about retcon?"

He almost fell off the chair, jerking back as hard as he did, staring at the man other in horror.

MONSTER!

His mind wailed even as he looked for an escape.

"I—wait, I thought I'd be doing you a favor," the man other protested weakly.

You're only doing yourself a favor. Making me forget would alleviate YOUR guilt.

His eyes narrowed on the other.

You've truly lost your humanity if you believe wiping somebody's memory is a cure all.

He spat the thought venomously.

"I'm human," was the weak denial.

No, you only look like one.

The reply was cutting. He swung his legs over the edge of the couch and stood up on unsteady feet. When the other made a move to steady him he blasted out: No, don't come near me.

The other held his hands up feebly in surrender, taking a couple of steps back to show he wasn't a threat.

A bit late for that.

He'd already seen how much of a threat the other could be.

He moved backwards from the other, keeping his eyes on the other to make sure the other wouldn't follow. The other made a show of raising his hands higher and moving back further. As the cog slid open to let him escape the other spoke. "Take tomorrow off."

He didn't bother responding to that.

He showed up the next morning. Same time as usual. Unnoticed as always, as long as the rest got their coffee, and the items they needed appeared magically at their side. None but one pair of eyes noticed how the shirt was buttoned higher than usual in a practically choking manner.

END

A/N: I know it seems abrupt or at least I think it kind of is but to go past that seems counterproductive to me right now. I can't really get past this part. I've been trying. I have lots of scenes worked out but they don't really "work". The one I've been trying right now is when Owen starts picking up on stuff and confronts Ianto but I always get stuck at the part when he figures out its Jack and it just doesn't work. If someone wants to try (doesn't have to be my Owen/Ianto confrontation) be my guest. You would be some kind of superhero as far as I'm concerned.

In other news the fact that this is so dark came as a surprise, and not, to me because I started out with the intention of the boys having fun and this is what happened. So not fun. I wasn't surprised at the same time though because I seem to unknowingly hate the boys being together, or I just hate Jack in particular which expands every time I take a closer look at his character. Especially his character around Ianto. I can't even manage short drabbles of fluff for them I have been so overcome. I still love reading it but just can't seem to produce it myself. This sucks.