The "Vault"

“Go to sleep”
“Soon. I need to finish this. Work out our options once we get to the Vault.”
“Hmph, well. I'm going to sleep”
“You do that…“
She turned back to her calculations, cross checking against the lists of comics in the data base Ianto had given her. Time passed and she didn’t notice until…
“Oh… oh dear”
Mikiya stirred slightly - long departed to the realms of dream and oblivious to her concern.
“I'm sorry.” A tear rolled down her cheek. “I'm sorry but I don't think we'll get our happy ending, not the way we wanted it.”

She wondered briefly whether it would hurt, who would betray them, before realising that it didn't matter, none of it mattered any more. She opened up the laptop and began to type. It had to be now, before it was too late, before there were no more options left. Her breathing slowed and her eyes unfocused as she typed her final five reviews.
Mikiya slept on the sofa leaving her the bed in the small motel room outside Tokyo. She glanced at the bed, instead lifting the blanket and curling up next to him. The last night of their lives.


‘click’ a sharp pain in her neck and her body fails her. Rough hands grab her as she falls.
“Mikiya, no!” Anguished and pointless. She knew what was coming. Both hoped there would be something left after processing but there was no certainty. The spreads never promised certainty.
Chloroform then, his hand wrenched from hers. His eyes the last thing she saw, no desperation – he knew the inevitability just as she did – only determination and sadness in his gaze. His body went limp moments before hers, the darkness slowly closing in on her vision and his name on her lips.