Drabble: Clarity

[bk_forever]

Title: Clarity

Author: badly_knitted

Characters: Ianto, Lisa

Rating: G

Written For: Challenge 292 – The Billboard Hot 100 at tw100

Spoilers: Cyberwoman

Summary: Ianto finds clarity as he thinks about the events leading to Lisa’s death.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.

A/N: Song title = drabble title. It’s just easier that way.

Lisa was dead, callously murdered.

Except that hadn’t been Lisa. Not because she’d stolen another woman’s body, but because not even her mind had been her own by then.

When had that changed? When had Lisa ceased being the woman he’d loved? When had she stopped fighting, fallen to the cybermind?

After Tanizaki helped her breathe on her own? Before? Had there even been anything left of her once the conversion began?

Ianto didn’t know.

One thing was certain; it hadn’t been Lisa rampaging through the Hub, but the thing that killed her.

He understood.

Not murder.

Neutralising a threat.

The End

Comments

[jedi-harkness.livejournal.com]

Oh, that must have been such a hard realization. Poor Ianto...

Well done.

[bk_forever]

Thank you.

Yes, but I think he must have realised or he couldn't have forgiven Jack so quickly.

[timelordshines.livejournal.com]

Brilliant.
Love how you got inside his mind and followed his thought process to realisation and forgiveness.

[bk_forever]

Thank you.

It had to happen in order for Ianto to move forwards, otherwise he would never have forgiven the team - let alone Jack - and found peace and love again. He must have been seething with rage at first, but the more he thought about it, the more it became clear that the team had done the only thing they could - eliminate a threat not just to themselves but to the world. At that point, he had to start wondering just when Lisa stopped being Lisa and whether there had EVER been a chance of saving her. It's a hard thing to face, that he may have been duped by the cyberman right from the start. In the end, I think it would have been easier for Ianto to forgive Jack than to forgive himself.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

Wonderful drabble. I think there's a moment after Jack brings him back where he recognizes that Lisa is gone, but he can't bring himself to admit it.

[bk_forever]

He's been living for the hope that he can save her for months. To let go of that would leave him with nothing and that's too terrifying a propect to consider. He's clinging to sanity by his fingernails in the middle of the madness that is cyber-Lisa's rampage. Just a short while earlier he'd thought she was on the road to recovery and suddenly she's trying to kill everyone. it must have been like being stuck in a nightmare - probably one he'd had many times since 'rescuing' her.

Thank you.

[owensheart.livejournal.com]

Its still heartbreaking for him though, the poor guy.

Great drabble.

[bk_forever]

Heartbreaking and troubling, because he has no way of knowing exactly WHEN Lisa was taken over by the cyber implants. Not only is he grieving but now he feels guilty for protecting a monster bent on destroying humanity. It's a very bad time for Ianto.

Thank you.

[too-beauty.livejournal.com]

it must have been hard for Ianto thinking about Lisa as just a threat ......

[bk_forever]

He'd been trying to save her for so long that realising he's already lost her without knowing would be hard for him to accept. He can't be sure of much except that the team did the only thing they could.

Thank you.

[jsks.livejournal.com]

Ianto must feel he is trapped in hell.

[bk_forever]

He must. But at least now he realises Jack and the team did the right thing, so he can forgive them sand starting trying to forgive himself for all the harm he's done. It's a step in the right direction.

Thank you.

[neverminetohold.livejournal.com]

I think it was a hard realization to come to, that there was nothing left of Lisa, maybe never had been to begin with after the conversion. And I think for the thought to take, it will take far longer than this - but lovely written! I loved that conflict on the show, and felt for poor Lisa and Ianto equally, but for Jack, too.

[bk_forever]

The way I see it, this is set during Ianto's suspension. He just keeps going over and over the events in his mind and at some point during that month, he comes to the reluctant realization that Jack and the team had done the right thing, that his Lisa had already been gone. But once he realizes that, then he has to stasrt wondering if there had ever been a chance of saving her. It's something he can never know for sure and perhaps that is the hardest thing of all to accept. It's going to take him longer to forgive himself than it will to forgive the team, because he doesn't know if he was prolonging Lisa's suffering by trying to keep her alive or if he'd been protecting the thing that had killed her. Either way, the weight of the guilt he feels must be almost crippling.

Thank you.

[mango-apple.livejournal.com]

Powerful!

[bk_forever]

Thankyou.

We never saw it on the show, but Ianto must have realised at some point that Jack and the team had done the right thing, otherwise he would never have been able to forgive them for killing Lisa.

[iolo1234.livejournal.com]

Such a tough realisation for Ianto that his love was dead. This sums up his pain so well.
K
xx

[bk_forever]

Thank you.

I felt like he had to have a moment like this where he recognises the truth, otherwise he'd never be able to forgive the team and find happiness with Jack.

[black59.livejournal.com]

it's true

[bk_forever]

Thank you.