Drabble: No Hero

[bk_forever]

Title: No Hero

Author: badly_knitted

Characters: Gwen, mentions Jack and Torchwood

Rating: G

Written For: Challenge 332 – Gwen Cooper at tw100

Spoilers: Nothing specific.

Summary: She wanted to be a hero.

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

Working for Torchwood wasn’t what she’d expected. She’d thought she would be a hero, saving the day, protecting earth from extraterrestrial threats.

She’d been wrong.

There were days of drudgery, searching for small, seemingly insignificant objects that had fallen through the Rift. There was endless paperwork, and when an extraterrestrial threat appeared and the team went into action, there was blood and horror and fear. They saved everyone they could, but so many died.

She railed at Jack, telling him they should do more, but deep down she knew they were doing all they could, and something broke inside her.

The End

Comments

No Hero

[(Anonymous)]

I love Janto

Gwen was a hero in her own mind.
Jack's long life gave him the nohow.

You can't save everyone.
And yelling at Jack won't fix that.

When the truth did hit Gwen was never the same.
This is when she wishes she payed attention to her dad.

Re: No Hero

[bk_forever]

Yes, exactly. Well put. Gwen had to lose a lot of her idealism, now she must surely regret not listening to her dad.

Thank you.

Re: No Hero

[(Anonymous)]

I love Janto

The rest of the team had lost people, and had been broken.

They had a realty check before they joined.
Gwen did not have that.
And did not know what she was getting into.

What one does not know can kill you.
Gwen needed to learn this, the hard way.

Re: No Hero

[bk_forever]

YES! Gwen thought they could save everyone because she'd never lost anyone. The others had a more realistic view of the world. Being idealistic is all very well, but Gwen also needed to understand that the real world is not some fairytale with a guaranteed happy ending. Torchwood does great things, they protect Cardiff, and the world, but they're neither invincible nor infallible. They do they best they can, save as many as they can, but even success doesn't mean there aren't casualties.

Re: No Hero

[(Anonymous)]

I love Janto

Just because they are the good guys doesn't mean that they will always win.

Jack makes the hard choices so the teams does not have to.

He will have to live with them for quite a long time.

Re: No Hero

[bk_forever]

It's a sad fact of life that the good guys don't always win. All anyone can do is their best.

Gwen has no idea how lucky she is. She gets to live a normal life, but Jack has to carry his regrets throughout eternity.

[jo02]

You give more insight into Gwen here than RTD ever did :)

[bk_forever]

Thank you! I'll never like her, but it's interesting trying to make sense of her.

[owensheart.livejournal.com]

Torchwood is a thankless job but they do it so well.

great drabble.

[bk_forever]

They do, and they risk their lives frequently. They're heroes, but it's not the fun Gwen expected. It's deadly serious.

Thank you.

[timelordshines.livejournal.com]

Hello, *waves* I'm back trying to catch up...

You almost made me like Gwen in this. She really did try her best and it was hard for her to realise that life isn't perfect and you can't always win.

Well written!

[bk_forever]

Hi! *waves*

Thank you! I still find it hard to write Gwen sympathetically, but I do try from time to time. It's a bit like walking a tightrope, trying to keep her in character but make her more tolerable, or at least less intolerable, lol!