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fandomweekly2020-01-19 02:16 pm
badly_knitted) wrote in fandomweekly2020-01-19 02:16 pm
Entry tags:
[#038] The Price (Torchwood)
Theme Prompt: #038 – Betrayal
Title: The Price
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: PG
Bonus: No.
Word Count: 998
Summary: Jack is dead, and the team have to accept that they all share the blame for betraying him.
The team stood around in shock. Actions had consequences and this… this was what happened when they didn’t listen, didn’t obey, didn’t trust their leader.
“This is my fault,” Gwen whispered. “I just wanted Rhys back, was that so wrong? I didn’t know…” She trailed off, tears sparkling in her eyes, ready to fall.
“Fuck that; if anyone’s to blame it’s me,” Owen retorted. “I’m the one who opened the Rift to get Jack and Tosh back. I started the whole sorry mess, and I’m the one decided to open it again to fix something that couldn’t be fixed. Hell, I’m the one shot Jack when he tried to stop us!”
“Shut up, Owen,” Ianto snarled. “You don’t get to take all the blame. We’re all guilty; none of us even tried to stop you. We betrayed him and now see where that’s left us. We wouldn’t listen to Jack, thought we knew better than him, and we unleashed a demon that would have destroyed the world! Jack’s dead and it’s our fault, all of us. He came back from being shot just so he’d have to sacrifice his life to stop Abaddon, and we stood back and let him. We should all have gone with him, stood alongside him when he faced the Devourer.”
“But then we’d be dead too,” Owen said hotly.
“What makes you think any of us deserve to live?” Ianto fixed Owen with such a look that the medic took a step back.
“Okay, yeah, fair point.” Owen ducked his head, suddenly subdued.
“Jack gave his life so we wouldn’t have to,” Tosh said quietly. “Dying would have been the easy way out for us anyway; we don’t deserve to get off so lightly. Now we’ll have to live with the consequences of our actions.”
Ianto’s shoulders drooped. “You’re right, Tosh; we made this mess, now we have to fix it.”
“But didn’t Jack just do that?” Gwen asked.
“No.” Ianto’s voice shook slightly. “He defeated Abaddon, let it suck all the life out of him, I’m betting no one else could’ve done that, but that’s all he did. Cardiff’s probably still a mess. Even if all the cracks in time have closed and everything that bled through has gone back where it belongs, what about the people who died up there?” He tilted his chin towards the ceiling of the Hub. “Are they all still dead?”
“Dunno,” Owen said. “We should probably check.”
“Maybe when Abaddon fell…” Gwen’s eyes were wide with hope.
“If they’re alive again, it’s more luck than we deserve. We’ve still got this mess to fix though.” Ianto scanned the Hub with weary eyes, taking in the wreckage caused by the tremors. “Got a lot of work ahead of us, and the Rift’s probably going to be unsettled for a while. We shouldn’t have messed with it.”
“You tried to stop me,” Owen pointed out.
“For all the good that did. Sorry I shot you.” He wasn’t sure he was, but it seemed the right thing to say.
Owen gave an awkward half shrug, shoulder still painful. “Might’ve been better if you’d aimed for something a bit more permanent instead of just winging me.”
“Then Jack and Tosh would still be stuck in the past.”
“That might have been better than this.” Tosh sighed. “We were manipulated. Bilis Manger wanted us to open the Rift.”
Gwen nodded. “All the promises he made us were nothing but lies.”
“Yeah, for all the good it did him in the end.” Owen managed a bitter smile. “His lord and master might’ve been freed but Abaddon’s reign of terror didn’t last long.”
“So what next?” Tosh looked from one of her colleagues to the next, her gaze finally settling on Ianto.
Hands stuffed in the pockets of his trousers, he scuffed one foot against the concrete floor. “I suppose we should start clearing up, get the computers and the Rift monitor back online. We’ll need to monitor what’s going on up top in case we’re needed. Right now we’re flying blind.”
“I’ll get started on that.” Tosh seemed grateful to have something concrete to do.
“What about Jack?” All eyes turned to Gwen as she spoke. “Well, we can’t just leave him… like this.”
They’d all been avoiding looking at their leader, the man they’d betrayed. Cold and still, his skin grey and lifeless, Jack lay there on the gurney Owen had used to bring his body in from the garage. Owen and Ianto had already stripped him of his trademark WWII era clothing, replacing it with an incongruous white medical gown.
Owen steeled himself. “Yeah, suppose I’d better move him to cold storage.
“No! You can’t!” Gwen protested.
“He’s dead, Gwen. No sense leaving him to stink up the place.” Owen’s characteristic bluntness made the rest of the team flinch.
“I know, but…”
“Ianto, give me a hand.”
Ianto nodded silently and moved to help. It was a solemn procession to the morgue, but when they got there, Gwen balked at the idea of sealing him away in a drawer.
“You’re certain he’s dead?”
“He's ice cold. No vital signs.”
He survived when you shot him. When I first joined, he said he couldn't die..”
“Looks like he was wrong. There’s a big difference between him getting shot a few times and having all the life sucked out of him. It’s over, Gwen; whatever brought him back before isn’t gonna work this time.”
“You don’t know that, Owen Harper! I want to sit with him.”
“Fine suit yourself, leave all the work to the rest of us.”
Owen led the way out with Tosh, Ianto bringing up the rear; he glanced back over his shoulder as he left, torn between wanting to stay and knowing he needed to help the others set the Hub to rights. Torchwood had to carry on.
This was the price they paid for betraying the man they should have trusted. They could never make this right.
The End
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