Ficlet: Ghosts

[bk_forever]

Title: Ghosts

Author: badly_knitted

Characters: Jack

Rating: PG

Spoilers: Fragments.

Summary: The Hub is haunted by the ghosts of the past.

Word Count: 330

Written For: juliet316’s prompt ‘Torchwood, Jack Harkness, all he sees is ghosts these days,’ at fic_promptly.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.

All Jack sees these days are ghosts; the Hub is full of them, lurking in the shadows, and there are a lot of shadows. He can hear their voices, their laughter, their insults, and every phantom sound cuts him right down to the bone, like the sharpest of the knives Alice and Emily used to derive so much pleasure from.

They’re here too, or course, among the oldest of the ghosts that haunt this place. All of Torchwood’s dead walk the tunnels and caverns that make up the underground base. Their bodies are still here as well, stowed away neatly in the drawers of the morgue, row upon row of them, tier upon tier. Now another set have joined them.

He doesn’t understand why Alex did it, most likely he never will. It’s not like he can ask the other man to explain his actions; he tried that at the time, just before Alex shot himself in the head, but he didn’t get an answer he could understand. Something about a locket and a vision; well, Jack has tried the locket himself and seen nothing.

Five more people have joined the ranks of Torchwood’s deceased. Five people who should still be living their lives and protecting Cardiff. Jack blames himself; if he’d been here, maybe he could have prevented the massacre, locked Alex up until the man came to his senses. If he ever did.

So now here he is, the only living soul in the place, surrounded by the ghosts of people he knew, people who were his colleagues, even friends. They mock him. They are dead who should have lived and he… He must live because death can’t hold him. The irony isn’t lost on him.

How many more will live and work and die here while he just goes on and on forever? Jack pours himself another drink, closes his eyes and listens to the voices of Torchwood’s ghosts. For now, they’re the only company he has.

The End

Comments

[akawho.livejournal.com]

Poor Jack, he's at a low point and has no idea that his future will be so much better...

[bk_forever]

He's having to start his Torchwood from scratch, which isn't a bad thing in itself. What makes it hard is the reason he has to re-build.

Thank you.

[too-beauty.livejournal.com]

Even though he had a rough beginning, he will create something much better; unfortunately he won't be able to stop more ghosts appearing ....
sad but beautifully written, as usual!

[bk_forever]

That's really the tragedy, because the job has to be done - for as long as the Rift exists - but that means more people must put their lives on the line. No one except Jack lives forever.

Thank you!

[owensheart.livejournal.com]

This is really heartbreaking in so many ways.

great ficlet

[bk_forever]

Losing the entire team, everyone he worked with, all in one evening must have been devastating for him, especially when they died at the hands of someone they should have been able to trust completely. It was the last thing any of them could have expected.

Thank you.

[rose-cat.livejournal.com]

Nice!

This has to have been a serious low point for Jack, having to deal with the shock of losing the whole team at the same time being saddled with the burden of completely rebuilding Torchwood 3, all on his own. You've described the experience in a way that feels right.

...every phantom sound cuts him right down to the bone, like the sharpest of the knives Alice and Emily used to derive so much pleasure from...

A marvelously creepy detail there (as well as a really good metaphor).

All of Torchwood’s dead walk the tunnels and caverns that make up the underground base. Their bodies are still here as well, stowed away neatly in the drawers of the morgue...

And so many of them to remember. What must it have been like to walk through the Hub -- which he must have done a lot, since by his own admission he didn't sleep much -- through the corridors and rooms and different levels, and past the wall of drawers, with memory evoking ghosts at every turn?

And surely it's at times like these that the Doctor's ghost appeared as well.

(The Hub was as much a part of Torchwood as the people who worked there. In my fanon, it still, and always will, exist, ghosts and all.)

[bk_forever]

Thank you!

Jack's been there so long that I'm sure he remembers them all - their names, faces, little quirks, these who were friends and those who weren't, even a few lovers. It's not surprising that they haunt him, really.

The explosion may have caved in the upper level, but everything below that surely still exists - morgue, vaults, archives, so many places where the ghosts still walk.

[rose-cat.livejournal.com]

I like your theory about the Hub. Maybe Janet and the other inhabitants of the cells are OK too. (Although I'd like to see them released somehow. I have considered a fix-it fic in which the Doctor helps find them other homes. After giving Jack what-for, of course.)

And the snipers were too busy missing Gwen to notice Myfanwy flying away. (Although I mostly see Children of Earth and Miracle Day as depressing AUs, in any case.)

[bk_forever]

I never watched Miracle Day, so I have no opinion on that beyond 'It's not MY Torchwood', but CoE (when I'm not writing fix-its) is definitely AU - a badly written one at that.

I believe that when Ianto was frantically working at the computer before Jack threw him onto the invisible lift, he was locking down the lower levels and opening the vault doors and sewer access points so whatever was caged down there could get out. Myfanwy had already been released for her evening exercise, so she wasn't in the Hub.

Truthfully, in my Torchwood, Jack would never have returned to the Hub after waking up on that table, he would have made for a safe house (Torchwood MUST have them) and contacted the Hub from there to tell them that he may have been compromised. The whole 'bomb in stomach' plot made no sense to me at all. Blow up the Plass, yeah, way to keep the public from panicking! *rolls eyes*

[rose-cat.livejournal.com]

I believe that when Ianto was frantically working at the computer before Jack threw him onto the invisible lift, he was locking down the lower levels...

YES. Followed by AU of the AU, to write the characters back to not being idiots. Somebody needs to tell RTD what "idiot plot" is (and what "drama" isn't).

And why would they blow up the Hub anyway? You'd think they'd want to get all the stuff that was in there -- technology, alien artifacts, all the information in the computer, and, oh, ACCESS TO THE RIFT?

(But if they hadn't blown up the Hub, we couldn't have had all that graphic torture porn of Jack coming back from bits and pieces. BLEAH.)

[bk_forever]

Ah yes, RTD's idea of comic relief, see how many times he can kill Jack horribly and have him come back writhing in agony.

I think the destruction of the Hub was supposed to be a way of taking all the team out at once, but that whole section of the storyline was just idiotic, it makes both Torchwood and the black ops team sent to kill them look like rank amateurs. and how was Gwen able to take out a pair of snipers by posing and running in heels? They were spectacularly bad shots. *headdesk* Most fanfic writers could have come up with a better, more coherent plot. Of course, we would have made Torchwood save the day without Ianto dying or Steven being sacrificed, because we know how to write drama without resorting to shock tactics.

[rose-cat.livejournal.com]

(sorry, I'm a bit late to this)

Also, you could tell Gwen is RTD's favorite character; he managed to assassinate just about everyone else's! (The Doctor's included.)

They were spectacularly bad shots

Which reminds me of this awesome icon post (http://kholran.livejournal.com/116202.html#cutid1). Follow the link after the icons to see their post on COE (actually, there are several); I think you can relate to it.

Also, I took "alien turducken," and use it every Thanksgiving.

[bk_forever]

Thanks for the link, I don't think I'd read that one, but I definitely agree with it.

I know! Gwen gets everything her way while everyone else dies horribly or loses everything. The het white couple get the perfect life - I expected better from a gay man! Why couldn't the same sex couple get the happy ending for once?