An Injury to One - Prologue

[sariagray]

Title: An Injury to One

Author: sariagray 
Chapter: Prologue
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto 
Rating: PG 
Word Count: ~1000 
Spoilers: CoE. Therefore, the whole series.
Warnings: Nothing too bad. Canon character death.
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. Oh, but if it did…. 
Betas: Most sincere thanks and gratitude to lynnmyth23 ! 

Author’s Note: Currently, this appears to be a one-shot quick little piece. But, if it does well, it becomes a fix-it. Well, more of a bandage rather than a fix. Bear with me. It is not all sadness! Feedback is appreciated, and the more feedback, the quicker I continue. :)

 

 

An Injury to One

Prologue

      It felt strange. After all of this time, all of those moments when he thought with absolute certainty that the end was near…there had even been a time when he had wanted the darkness to wash over him, to provide a quiet wash of endless peace.
     That was before he had heard from everyone that there was nothing. A voice in the darkness. It scared them, Suzie, Owen, those who died before him and had somehow come back to tell the tale. Was it Hell? Was it Everything?
     “You are dying,” warned the strange voice, “even now.” He clung to its certainty with surprising vigor.
     He felt familiar hands and instinctively masked his fear. Still, thick worry seeped through the usual brave voice he heard.
     “We’ve got to get you outta here. I can survive anything, but you can’t.”
     “Too late,” he said, already resigned. “I breathed the air.”
     Jack’s face fell. He saw it, even as his vision faded, saw…love? But it was too late for that, now. Just days ago…. no, no time for that now. Efficiency. Yes. Efficiency in the face of death. For him.
     “There’s gotta be something! There’s gotta be an antidote!”
     He held on to the frantic voice like it was a lifeline, like he was drowning, and still he knew, somewhere deep within his soul, that it was too late for all of that.
     On the bright side, his bitter thoughts mocked, he’ll never see me old and withered and weak.
     He heard the 456 say something about fighting. Who was fighting, again?
     “Then I take it back, alright? I take it all back, but not him.”
     He knew, then. And he was warmed by the knowledge. Comforted. And anguished, just a little, that he would never hear the words he himself had been refusing to say these past months.
     He collapsed into what felt like Jack’s arms.
     “No, no, no…” and he heard his name from miles away.
     “I love you,” he murmured to Jack, trying to get out the “too” that was stuck just behind his lips.
     “Don’t.”
     He closed his eyes at the word, chiding himself even now at his hurt. Don’t what? Can’t even…think. Can love.
     “Ianto, stay with me. Stay with me. Please! Stay with me, please, please….”
     He let the understanding wash over him. Jack. Jack who had suffered so much loss, but still ultimately gave himself up to the love he felt, even now scared to admit it. He opened his eyes.
     “Hey.” He tried to smile as reassuringly as he could. Lessen the blow. Do this final kindness. “It was good, yea?”
     “Yea,” Jack said, barely able to disguise the hope in his eyes. It broke his heart.
     “Don’t forget me.” He had to say it. Had to be realistic. But it still sounded weak to his ringing ears.
     “Never could.”
     He wanted to sob. A lie on his deathbed, such as it was, wasn't much appreciated. He found that truth sat much better with him in this moment, something he could catalogue and process, a way to bring order into the unknown.
     “A thousand years time? You won’t remember me.” It wasn’t an accusation. It was a promise. A hope.
     “Yes I will. I promise I will.”
     He was losing his grip, slowly, but he could still feel Jack's lips on his, the fading hope they held that the kiss would cure again. They died. He was grateful to know that Jack would wake up and go on to save the world.


Ongoing Archive Notes
Torchwood 3
Volume 72, Week 37

Excerpt: “His love for Lisa clouded his judgment, and he made some serious mistakes - but I have to wonder if I would have done the same thing in his situation.”


     “You are dying,” warned the strange voice, “even now.” He wanted to laugh at the voice. Dying? Sure. Again and again and again. He was always dying. And then it dawned on him, a rush of panic, a faltering of nerves, a loss of balance.
     He grabbed, clung to Ianto, trying to think of anything.
     “We’ve got to get you outta here. I can survive anything, but you can’t.” Dammit.
     “Too late. I breathed the air.”
     His face fell. He saw it, even as his mind reeled, saw…resignation? No, it was bravery, even now. He had always been amazed by this man’s fortitude, had worried once that he was weak. Captain Jack Harkness was not going to accept “too late.”
     “There’s gotta be something! There’s gotta be an antidote!” Looking into Ianto’s eyes, he wasn’t sure who he was trying to reassure.
     The 456 taunted him, and while he knew that he said he would fight, he didn’t mean like this.
     “Then I take it back, alright? I take it all back, but not him,” he pleaded. Pleaded. Pleaded.
     It struck him most that he meant every word.
     “No, no, no, no. No, no, Ianto…,” holding on. Trying to draw him back. He felt the virus, too, eating away at him, but he didn’t care. It was his fault, his alone, and he needed to fix it.
     “I love you,” and his heart broke.
     “Don’t.” Don’t you dare, Ianto Jones. I don’t deserve it, he yelled. But only in his head. “Ianto, stay with me. Stay with me. Please! Stay with me, please, please….”
     Eyelids fluttered open and he breathed and hoped and prayed. What? He never prayed.
     “Hey.” He gave a small smile. Oh, how he hoped. “It was good, yea?”
     “Yea,” Jack said, deflated and ruined and broken.
     “Don’t forget me.” Never never never never.
     “Never could.” A promise, a vow, one he had never wanted to have to make.
     He wanted to sob.
     “A thousand years time? You won’t remember me.” Never never never never.
     “Yes I will. I promise I will.”
     And he kissed him. And he hoped again. And he died.

     Ianto was shocked to find that the voice in the dark was Jack’s and that it was the most soothing, reassuring thing that he had ever heard.


-End

 

Continue

Chapter One

Comments

[kiraclara.livejournal.com]

Been reading all these sad fics and just crying. A perfect way to start my day. This was lovely. I can hear the voices in my head, and I believe that the characters would have thought this. I would love to see more.

Thank you!

[sariagray.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for your kind words!

And I promise it isn't all sadness in the future! :-)

[angstosaur.livejournal.com]

more please ... that final scene (final in so many ways) stays with me and those words as well ...lovely to read the thoughts behind them ... :-)

Thanks! :)

[sariagray.livejournal.com]

There will be more.

I asked them what the hell they meant when they were talking, and they told me. But then they wouldn't shut up.

"Oh, you THINK it ends there." That was Jack. Ianto just got me more coffee, because he knew I would need it.

So, yeah, there will be more. ;-)

Wednesday, 15th September, 2010

[pingback-bot.livejournal.com]

User stasha2g referenced to your post from Wednesday, 15th September, 2010 (http://community.livejournal.com/torchwood_three/363393.html) saying: [...] by [Jack/Ianto, Gwen | PG]
An Injury to One [...]

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

Oh you have to do more..puleez?

[sariagray.livejournal.com]

More on its way soon! Stay tuned! :) Thanks for commenting! :)

Hey!

[lynnmyth23.livejournal.com]

Yay you for posting! Still love it!

Re: Hey!

[sariagray.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :) And I am glad! Thanks for putting up with my bouncy-ness and for being such a good beta'er! :)

[jsks.livejournal.com]

you have me in tears.

[sariagray.livejournal.com]

*Hands you tissues*

:) It gets better. There, there!