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fandomweekly2019-01-03 03:59 pm
badly_knitted) wrote in fandomweekly2019-01-03 03:59 pm
Entry tags:
[#001] Brief Reprieve (Torchwood)
Theme Prompt: #001 – Second Chances
Title: Brief Reprieve
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: PG / None
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 878
Summary: After saving her mother’s life Tosh is thrown in prison, but then a man she’s never met before makes her an offer…
Toshiko Sato’s life as she knew it was over; she’d been branded a traitor to the country, thrown in prison without so much as a trial, and for what? For being a dutiful daughter and trying to save her mother’s life. She might have been angry if she hadn’t been so afraid.
The British Government called what she’d done treason, and they were most likely correct to do so; she’d stolen classified documents and built a device that, in the wrong hands, certainly counted as a weapon. Then she’d handed it over to… she didn’t actually know who they were and at the time she hadn’t cared because they’d had her mother and she’d been given no option but to follow their orders. Wouldn’t anyone have down the same to save a loved one’s life?
She didn’t regret what she’d done either; her mother was safe, she’d been grudgingly told that much. Tosh hadn’t been permitted to see her, hadn’t been allowed any kind of contact, but she could live with that far more easily than she would have been able to live with doing nothing and letting her die at the hands of her abductors. She’d never doubted they would have carried out their threat; they’d been very persuasive.
Now it was over though, and she was faced with the reality of her situation; this cramped, harshly lit, unfurnished stark grey cell would be her home for the foreseeable future. She’d sleep on the cold, unforgiving concrete without so much as a blanket for warmth, her only clothing the ugly orange coveralls she had on. She might never see the sun again, the blue of a summer sky, the green of trees and grass. Might never hear anything but her own breathing, her heartbeat, except for those rare occasions when a voice issued orders from a grille in the ceiling.
Perhaps worst of all, she might never get to do anything meaningful with her existence. Her life hadn’t been perfect; she’d been perhaps too reserved to make close friends, and her job at the Ministry of Defence, while interesting on some levels, hadn’t really stretched her intellect. There was so much more she might have done if she’d been more forward, but it was useless to think about that now; all the things she might have done were unlikely to be anything more than dreams, tantalising her in her sleep. Better if she didn’t dream at all, because the waking was always so much worse when she did.
Time soon lost all meaning; the light in the ceiling never went out. Food was delivered at intervals, there were exercise periods, chained to other prisoners and marched in line… She tried at first to track the passing of days by scratching marks on the cell walls, but gave up when one of her nails caught on the uneven surface and tore painfully, the red streak of blood shocking against the grey. After that she took to biting her nails to keep them short.
Then one day, when she had almost resigned herself to her fate, he came, Captain Harkness, a tall, handsome man in a long coat, his eyes bluer than any she’d ever seen.
The Captain confirmed what she’d already begun to suspect, that she was to be held without charge forever. She hadn’t wanted to believe it, tried to insist that she still had some rights, but deep down she knew he was telling her the truth. And he had a proposition for her.
“Come work for me. Give me five years, I’ll get them to wipe your record clean.”
She didn’t understand why he would even ask; surely if he had the power to get her out of here he didn’t need her consent, and anyway, how could he even consider employing someone accused of treason? But did any of that matter? He was offering her a way out, a second chance, and she didn’t care if that meant signing away her soul for five years of indentured servitude, because even that would be better than a lifetime spent wasting away locked in a cell. When the five years were up she might even gain her freedom be able to start over with a clean slate.
He warned her it would be dangerous, but what was a little danger if it meant doing something useful with her life by helping Captain Harkness to protect people? Maybe working for this man she could do some good, make amends for her crimes, and wasn’t that worth any risk involved?
She accepted his offer; it was one of the easiest decisions she’d ever made, and even when five years later she lay dying in his arms, red blood pooling on the white tiles of the autopsy bay, she still didn’t regret it for a moment. She’d taken that second chance, and she’d seen and done things she never would have imagined in her wildest dreams. It had been terrifying and wonderful, and exhilarating, she’d learned so much, and she wished it didn’t have to end, not like this, not ever, but for five years she had truly lived.
If that was all she got of life then she couldn’t find it in herself to complain; it was enough.
The End
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Thank you for sharing it.
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Sorry for the owww, I don't usually write sad stuff, but this one just slid down the slippery slope before I could stop it.
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Tosh was so brave and heroic.
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Nice use of the prompt; I like the way you took it!
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Yes, not knowing canon can be an advantage sometimes.
Glad you liked it.
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I was really hoping I wouldn't be stepping on your toes with this one, but it was demanding to be written and when the Plot Bunnies get their teeth into an idea, that's it, I have no choice.
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I haven't read any yet, I'll have to get through them all when it's time to vote otherwise I won't remember which I want to vote for. There are just so many this time. Things are getting off to a great start!
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Thank you!
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Thank you!