Cursed

“There’s something…  I think you need to see.”  Luna stepped back from Gwen and said, “We need a pensieve.” 

“We don’t have time to look into a pensieve, one by one,” Harry frowned.

“We’ve been working on something,” Luna replied, and with a wave of wand, a large, shallow glass container appeared in front of the sofa.  It was about three feet across but only a few inches deep and sat on a wrought-iron stand.  It shimmered with what appeared to be water but became cloudy as Luna added several long, wispy, string-like clouds extracted from Gwen’s temple.

“What is that?” Owen asked.

“Just a few of her memories,” Luna replied.  “This design allows all of us to watch.  She gave the side of the pensieve a tap.  The clouds rolled across the surface of the liquid that now looked more like quicksilver.  Another tap, and the clouds cleared, showing a scene, much like on telly.  Owen cursed and Toshiko grabbed a scanner to record the images as they all watched Gwen walking along a tree-lined path, talking on the phone.

***

“No, Owen, I did not call bloody UNIT.  It’s just a retrieval.  The sensors said it was inorganic…  No, I didn’t check with Tosh, there wasn’t time…  Because someone else can find it, that’s why…”  She looked around.  “No, it’s on the far side – pretty remote…  Because we don’t need UNIT, Owen.  What we need is Jack to stop babying bloody fucking Ianto and get his arse back here and do his job!  Ianto’s probably just faking it anyway, you know how he’s fixated on Jack…  Shut up, Owen…  Okay, I see it…  I’m hanging up, now.”

***

“None of us thinks that,” Jack whispered, kissing Ianto on the temple, unhappy about the way Ianto had curled in on himself almost imperceptibly when he heard Gwen’s nasty comments.

“Yeah, mate, she was just pissed she wasn’t getting her way,” Owen assured him.

***

Gwen cut off the call, rolling her eyes and muttering to herself about how they couldn’t trust Ianto after all of his lies.  When she reached the rift debris, she knelt down and looked at it for a moment.

“Called out for something, and it’s not even alien,” she muttered, staring at what appeared to be a wooden puzzle box.  Protocol dictated that she go back to the SUV and retrieve a containment box, but she looked around as though checking to make sure she wasn’t being watched and then poked the box with a bare finger.

***

“Stupid bloody cow!” Owen shouted as Jack swore and Ianto pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.  “No need to ask how she was compromised.”

“All because she hadn’t brought a kit with her and didn’t want to go back to the SUV for one,” Tosh sighed, shaking her head.

***

As soon as she touched the box, a fine mist rose from it, resolving after a moment into the image of a man who looked to be about thirty.  His face would be handsome if not for the sinister smile on his vulpine face.

“Oh!  You’re human,” Gwen said.

“I’ve been trapped,” the alien said, sounding anguished.  “Please, help me!”

“Of course!  That’s why I’m here,” Gwen assured him.  “Are you a projection?  Will you come along, if I bring this box with me?”

“It would be easier if I could travel with you,” the being said, reaching towards Gwen, who at least had the sense to draw back.

“No, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I’m dying!” the alien sounded pained.  “Please!  You must help me.”

“Just let me get you back, and we’ll find a way to help you.  I promise.”

“I don’t think I’ll make it that far.  Please, let me travel with you.”

“I can’t do that.”

“I can help you!  Remember…” the alien said as the mist brushed against Gwen.  “I can help you convince Jack to come back and stay.  I can help you make him see how Ianto is lying to everyone.  I can help you get rid of Ianto so you can have Jack for yourself.”

“How do you know…” Gwen began to ask, but then she said, “You can do that?”

“That and more!  If you allow me to travel with you, you will have all of my powers at your disposal.  We can help Jack to remember that Ianto trapped that poor pizza girl so his girlfriend could transplant her brain into the poor girl’s body.”

“But that’s not… oh, I see,” Gwen said, her eyes wide. 

“And we can help him to remember all the lies Ianto has told.  He will execute Ianto like he should have, to begin with.  And then you can take your rightful place by Jack’s side, as his second-in-command and his lover!”

“But I have Rhys,” Gwen said, unconvincingly.

“And I can help you to keep him, as well.  I can help you make it so he never remembers – not Jack, or any of the others.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said haughtily.  “There haven’t been any others.”

“Gwen, I know you.  I know your mind.  I know about Owen and Andy and all of the others.  And I know Rhys has threatened to leave each time he gets wise, but I can help you keep him ignorant and happy so he will stay and tend you when everything else gets too much.”

Gwen looked thoughtful as the alien continued, “Just think of it, Gwen.  Everything you’ve ever wanted!  You can have Jack without giving up Rhys.  With my help, you can keep both of them.  But best of all, you can get rid of that traitor, Ianto.  He’s the one who has been in your way from the moment you arrived.  I’ll help you get rid of him so you can have Jack.”

“What do I need to do?” she asked.

“Just let me in,” the alien replied.  “And don’t resist when I need to act, in order to keep us safe and reach our goals.”

“And what will you do?”

“Once I am strong enough, I will take on a form of my own.  In the meantime, I will help everyone to remember things the way we want them to remember them so they will do what we want them to do.”

“You won’t hurt them?” she asked.

“Of course not!” the alien promised.  “Well, except for Ianto, but he’s in our way.”

“Oh, I’m not worried about him,” Gwen waved a hand.  “C’mon, then.  You help me get rid of Ianto and get Jack, and I’ll help you get whatever it is that you want.”

***

Once the memory faded, everyone sat back, gobsmacked.

“It wasn’t even influencing her,” Toshiko said, her voice small.  “She just… gave it everything it wanted, for the promise of…”  She shook her head, angry.  “How could she?”

“She was compromised from the moment she touched the box,” Ianto said.  At Tosh’s and Owen’s surprised looks, he added, “Oh, come on.  It knew from touching her what her deepest, darkest desires were, and it played her.  Don’t get me wrong, not following protocol is what compromised her, but who could have resisted the promise of their most secret desires?”  He gave Tosh a pointed look, and she blushed but then nodded.

Jack kissed Ianto again, proud of his lover’s compassion, even for the woman who, deep down, clearly wished him ill, compromised or not.  They watched as Luna sent the giant pensieve back from whence it came.  Everyone conjured chairs and sat so they could discuss whatever the next step should be.

“The problem is,” she said once she was seated, “this creature thrives on memory.  As long as we remember it, it will exist.  Making ourselves forget will be a simple matter.  But it has taken root in your operative’s mind, woven itself into so many of her memories, it will be difficult to get it out.”

“What do you propose?” Ianto asked.

“Hermione has always been the best with the obliviate spell,” Luna nodded to the woman she had been grousing about, earlier.  “I think if the rest of us set up a hexagram, we can all help feed into her spell, and she can extract the memories of the alien from Gwen’s mind.”

“We should take my things back to my flat and set it to rights,” Ianto added.  “And then meet up at the hub.  Put the weevils away and then take care of Gwen.  It should be okay if we remember that there was an alien, as long as we don’t remember the alien, itself,” he looked to Luna for confirmation, and when she nodded, he went on, “Tosh can use what she just recorded – extract the alien from it, all but its offer and Gwen’s acceptance.  That will explain why she’ll be in the cells, when we wake.”

“Ianto?” Jack frowned.  He wondered if Tosh and Owen had noticed the younger man’s seemingly new take-charge attitude.  And he realized, this was Neville, resurfacing.  The war hero, used to strategizing and snapping off orders.  But he looked exhausted, and Jack was concerned.

“Jack, at the very least, she violated protocol.  And yes, she was compromised when she agreed to help the alien, but we can’t ignore that.  And now we all need to have our memories altered, in order to eradicate it.  I’m sorry, Jack…”

Jack realized that the hurt he was feeling along the bond was because Ianto thought Jack wanted to refuse to hold Gwen accountable for her actions.  Again.  He sucked in a breath and quickly said, “No, you’ve got it all wrong!  I agree with everything you’ve said; I’m just worried you’ve overdone it.  I think you should stay at the flat when they take you there.”

“We need to move quickly, Jack.  Please don’t argue with me.  Luna’s right that we’ll need a hexagram formation, with a wizard or witch at each point.  We’ll protect the perimeter and help power the center, where Hermione will be, extracting the alien from Gwen’s mind.”

“And what will that do to you?” Jack asked, becoming truly frightened.

“I’m weak, but I can do this.  And having you at my back will bolster me.”

“Ianto’s right,” Luna nodded.  “We must move quickly.  And we need to contain this,” she pointed at the entity twitching pitifully on the ground, wrapped in magical shielding.

“Yeah, I’ll go get a containment unit,” Owen said, jogging off.

“I’ll work on the footage so we can watch it without reference to the alien – only see Gwen’s reactions,” Toshiko said, heading for the SUV and one of its computers.

“Hermione and I will contain Gwen,” Luna said.  She released the levicorpus spell as Hermione wrapped the Welshwoman in a few layers of spells.  “George, you come with us.  Ron, Harry, and Ginny can help Ianto and Jack.”

Once Owen had returned and the alien was confined to the containment unit, the group went their separate ways, as planned.  Jack helped Ianto stand and the others gathered Ianto’s belongings (including the broken cup), repaired and cleaned it all up, and piled it onto the sofa before Harry levitated it and Ginny cleaned the grass stains.  She disapparated with the sofa, and then Ron took Jack, and Harry took Ianto back to the flat.

It only took a few minutes to repair the lamp’s lightbulb and put the books back on their shelves.  Jack and Ron helped to set the sofa just so, and Ginny fixed Ianto a cup of very strong, very sweet tea.  She also made him eat – all he could manage was an egg and a slice of toast, but she slathered the latter in raspberry jam, hoping the sugar would help fortify him.

By the time they got to the hub, the weevils had been placed in the cells and the containment unit had been put in one of the secure labs after the wooden puzzle box the alien had arrived in was secured in the unit, as well. 

Ianto took them to an empty storage room, and Luna scored a hexagram into the concrete floor with a spell from her wand.  Gwen was still unconscious, but she was freed of the alien, at least.  The problem was that her memories of the alien would keep it alive.  But its trickery and the attempts it had made on Jack’s mind made it clear that it was hostile, and so they were all in agreement that it was necessary to eradicate it.

“We will support Hermione as she pulls the memories of the alien from Gwen’s mind,” Luna said.  “It has insinuated itself into her memories as a friend and teammate named Adam.  Hermione, you will need to remove all traces of Adam from her mind.  The memory from the pensieve is a loose thread you can pull.  It will unravel the rest.  Just focus and follow the thread.  We can destroy it once you’ve extracted it.”

“Understood,” Hermione nodded.

“The six of us will shield Hermione and Gwen so no stray energies can escape or latch onto anyone else.”

“And once it’s done?” Jack asked.

“Perhaps Owen and Toshiko can prepare a cell?  Make it as comfortable as you can.  Gwen will remember everything but the alien, so she will know why she’s in there, even if she tries to deny it.  Everyone, get out your phones now and delete the message from Ianto.  Ianto, you delete it from your end, as well.  Once we’re done, Ron can obliviate Owen and Toshiko.”

“Cover story?” Ron asked.

“Let them remember everything up to Gwen getting Jack killed,” Ianto said, and Jack nodded.  “Plant the idea that Jack’s psychic defenses were too strong, and the alien expired trying to move from Gwen to him.  They contained its remains – which you’ll need to check on, once you wake,” he added, looking at Jack.  “It should be dead, and protocol dictates that due to the breach, the puzzle box and the alien’s remains should be destroyed.”

“You’re right – we’ll do that automatically,” Jack nodded.  “Tosh can make note that we left it in the lab overnight for observation, to be sure it was dead before destroying the remains.”

“Got it,” Ron said as Toshiko nodded.

“I will take you and Jack home,” Luna said to Ianto.  “You’re not going to be feeling great, Smoke, so I think we can plant the idea that Jack’s death caused you to collapse.  As soon as Jack got the weevils, the alien’s remains, and Gwen secured, he came home to you, and you both fell asleep after agreeing to clear the air in the morning.”

“Nothing to clear, but okay,” Ianto said, giving Jack and apologetic look, which won him a rueful headshake and a kiss on the cheek.

Luna turned to George.  “Please say you left Angelina asleep.  Good.  Ron will take you home and obliviate your memory so you won’t remember anything from just before Ianto’s text.  You’ll think you just fell asleep on your sofa.”

“Same for Harry and Ginny,” Ron nodded.  I’ll go to them after I leave George and tuck them in so they’ll think they went to bed and had a lovely night’s sleep, with no interruptions.”

“And once I’m done with Ianto and Jack, I’ll meet you and Hermione at your home.  Same story – you fell asleep like normal.  But then I’ll wake Hermione and get her to come home with me and obliviate my memories of tonight.”

“Won’t she ask why?” Owen asked.

“She will, but she’ll know that this sometimes happens, for an Unspeakable.”

“You mean it’s normal to need your memory wiped, and you can’t tell anyone why?”

“Occupational hazard,” Luna shrugged.

“What if you break it?”

“It’s not like Retcon,” Ianto explained.  “The obliviate spell doesn’t suppress memories; it removes them, altogether.”

Owen paled slightly, but then seemed to steel himself.  He gave a curt nod.  “Let’s do this, then.”

***