Title: Shadows on Your Side
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 17, 5_prompts
Prompt: 3, Deep Shadows
Author's Note: Spoilers for the Doctor Who episodes Silence in the Library and Forest of the Dead.
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own Ianto Jones or the Tenth Doctor. Please do not sue.

***

The Doctor looked around cautiously as he and Ianto made their way through the streets of the city they'd landed the Tardis in. This planet was one that he wasn't familiar with, but some sixth sense told him that something was very wrong here.

This felt like the time he'd been in the largest library in the universe with Donna -- and all that had happened there. He had nearly lost the companion who'd been like a sister to him, but he had managed to get them both safely away before too much harm had been done.

Of course, there had been that odious woman from his future who claimed to know his real name -- and then had whispered nonsense gibberish into his ear. He should have known from the first words that came out of her mouth that she was a phony.

But she was in another universe now, a place that she wouldn't be able to come out of to trouble him again. Even if she was a part of his future, he wouldn't have to see her again; she hadn't known him in this body, this incarnation of himself.

That thought made him shiver; he hated ot think of the day when he would inevitably change. But that future wasn't written in stone, told himself fiercely. Time was malleable, and so was destiny. Everything was mutable; nothing was absolute.

The Doctor ruthlessly pushed those thoughts down, slamming a mental door on them and locking them away. They represented the past, one that he didn't enjoy remembering -- and also the future, a future that he didn't want to look too closely into.

Ianto caught at his arm, his lover's fingers wrapping around his wrist and tightening. When he turned to look at the young man with a questioning expression, Ianto put a finger to his lips, standing stock-still as if he was listening for some sound only he could hear.

"Listen," he said softly, the word sounding rather loud in the quiet that surrounded them. "Listen to the quiet, Doctor. I've never been in a place that's so eerily silent. It seems .... well, unnatural. It's had for me to believe that there's always this little sound here."

The Doctor nodded, a frown settling onto his features. Yes, this was reminding him more and more of the time he had tangled with the Vashta Nerada -- a time that he didnt want to have lingering in his memory. That encounter was better filed away with the past.

"Ianto, I think we need to get back to the Tardis. Quickly," he said, his voice tight and strained. "This is far too much like the time I told you about -- when the Vashta Nerada tried to destroy everyone around them, including me."

Ianto nodded, a shadow crossing his features. "Should we just make a run for it? Or is there a better way of escaping them before they know we're here?" The Doctor could feel the tension vibrating through his lover's body, simply through the touch of his fingers.

He shook his head in answer to Ianto's question, turning to go back the way they'd come. "The best thing -- the only thing -- that you can do when you're confronted with the Vashta Nerada is to run. And hope that they can't catch you."

He took a deep breath, hoping that he and Ianto hadn't been discovered yet -- but of course, that was a vain hope if the Vashta Nerada were already here. Even if they had sucked the life from this planet, they might still be here, looking for more unsuspecting victims.

Taking Ianto's hand, he moved ahead of his lover, making his way quickly along the path that led back to the Tardis. So far, so good, he told himself as he moved cautiously along the pathway; he saw no deep shadows, nothing to indicate that the Vashta Nerada were around.

No. There. On his left side. A shadow that was definitely unnatural; it was creeping forward as though it might be following them, slowly, stealthily. All he and Ianto would be able to do if it crept any nearer in the next few seconds was to make a run for it.

"Ianto, glance to your left. Don't turn your head," he murmured, his voice low and tense. "That shadow. It's part of the Vashta Nerada. A deep shadow, darker than others. You can tell how unnatural it looks. Just keep away from it."

"What if it follows us?" Ianto said softly, his voice echoing the tension that the Doctor felt. "All we can do is run from it and hope that we make it back to the Tardis, right?" His fingers tightened around the Time Lord's, their grip almost painful.

"Yes. If it seems to be moving towards us quickly, run." The Doctor risked glancing at the deep shadows to his left again; there seemed to be more of them, closing in, covering ground more quickly than the two of them were. And these shadows weren't on their side.

"Ianto, run!" he cried, tightening his grip on his lover's hand and breaking into a run. The Tardis was there, in front of them, only a few hundred feet away. All they had to do was to make it into her inner sanctum, and then they would be away from here safely.

The deep shadows were closing in on either side of them now; not just on the left, but on the right as well, and he was sure that they were also right behind them. All those shadows had to do was latch on to a part of them, any part, and they would be done for.

No. He wasn't going to let that happen. He had no intention of dying here, on a planet he didn't know, just another victim of a race that had already claimed far too many lives. And he wasn't going to let the man he loved die that sort of death, either.

His breath was coming in gasps, not only from the exertion of running, but also from the fear that the Vashta Nerada might catch up to them before they could make it to the ship. Only a few more feet now .... closer .... closer.

He leaned against the wooden door of the ship for a fraction of a second before pulling it open; Ianto stumbled inside after him, slamming the door behind them as the Doctor bounded up the steps to the console and began frantically pushing buttons.

Ianto leaned against the wall of the Tardis as the Doctor slumped over the console, both of them feeling the familiar displacement of time and space as the ship shimmered into nothingness on the world they'd just left; it had been a narrow escape for all of them.

"Let's make sure we don't go back to that planet again," Ianto said in a shaky voice, pushing himself away from the wall and coming to stand next to the Doctor. "I don't think I want to see any place that looks dark and shadowy any time soon."

"I can certainly agree with that," he murmured, shuddering at the memory of those deep shadows that seemed to close in on them so quickly. The next time he took them to a planet that he didn't know, he would be sure to check for shadows -- and leave at the first sight of them.

***