Title: Imminent Disaster
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Table: 5_prompts
Prompt: Reimaging challenge
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 slowly straightened up from the Tardis' console, looking around him with a frown settling onto his features. He couldn't have said why, but there was a tension in the air; something didn't feel quite right, though he couldn't put his finger on just what it was.

Ianto had noticed it, too; his young lover had said something to that effect the night before, that there was a feeling in the air around them that spoke of danger. He'd said that they needed to be cautious wherever they went, and the Doctor couldn't help but agree with him.

What was it that had made both of them so uneasy? Was it just the residual tension from all that had so recently happened that had changed their lives forever? Or was it some new threat, something that neither of them had faced before?

Whatever it was, the Doctor was feeling more and more uneasy every moment. The only thing that he could credit with engendering this feeling in him was his most ancient enemy, the one who he considered the most dangerous enemy he could possibly face.

The Master. Somehow, he had managed to insinuate himself into their lives again, without the two of them knowing it. Who else could raise the hackles on the back of his neck and make him feel as though there was some sort of imminent disaster waiting to swoop down upon them?

True, the Daleks and the Cybermen could do the same thing -- and he didn't even want to think about the Vashta Nerada. But no, this didn't feel as though it was a menace that came from any of those species; this felt closer to home, more personal.

If it was indeed the Master, then they would have to be prepared for some sort of attack. The Doctor knew all too well how good the Master was at slipping under defenses, undermining any plan that might have been set in place, and striking when he was least expected.

This time, he wasn't going to be caught unawares, the Time Lord told himself grimly. This time, he would make sure that the two of them were prepared for any attack that the Master could launch, and that they'd be able to stop whatever he might have planned.

"It's him, isn't it?" Ianto's voice was soft, coming from the corridor behind him that led to their bedroom on the ship. Slowly, the Doctor turned around to face his lover, not wanting to admit that Ianto was right, but knowing that he had to do so.

"Yes, I think it is," he murmured, his dark eyes meeting his lover's. "It feels like him, Ianto. The malevolence, the darkness, the twisted desire for power and control. It's in the air. I can feel it. I can feel him, even though he might not be physically close. Yet."

"I can, too." Ianto's voice was just as soft as his own -- and there was an edge to it that the Doctor hadn't heard before. He hadn't realized just how much anger Ianto could be holding inside -- and it could prove to be detrimental to them if that anger was allowed free rein.

"Don't let him pull you in, Ianto," the Doctor warned, raising a hand to stop Ianto when the younger man opened his mouth to speak. "I know that you're good at controlling your emotions -- but this time, it might not be as easy as you think it is. Tread carefully."

"I will, love," Ianto told him, his tone softening. "But I'm not going to forget what he almost did to us, either. And what he's tried to do to us -- and to you, specifically -- in the past. I'm not going to let him keep getting away with that. I know that forgiveness is divine, but --"

"But neither of us are a divinity," the Doctor finished for him, a wry smile on his lips. "I agree with you, Ianto. But still, if we lower ourselves to fighting fire with fire, then we become no better than he is. And I won't let you lose yourself in that kind of hatred."

But even as he said the words, he could feel the tension in the air around them mounting, as though the Master was somewhere very close indeed. His uneasiness was growing more pronounced by the moment, and he was sure that Ianto felt the same.

Just as the thought struck him, the inside of the Tardis seemed to explode in a flash of brilliant light, and he was falling, falling from the center of his ship into a deep, dark chasm that had no end, falling into a darkness that threatened to extinguish all that he was and had ever been.

***