Sanctuary Ficlet -- Monstrous
A little Helen and James ficlet, with spoilers for Into the Black.
First, do no harm. James is a doctor before all else. That is what a doctor promises first, the thing from which all else derives. Do no harm. The good of the patient is paramount.
When Helen comes to him, when she tells him what has happened, this incredible story that has brought her into the past from a hundred and ten years in the future, he listens with wonder. He listens while she tells him what John Druitt has done and what he meant to do -- to prevent the Five from ever using the source blood. He listens while Helen says more than she meant to. John Druitt would trade her life, her specialness, erase the living wonder that is Helen Magnus.
And it burns like a flame in his chest until it breaks.
"Your specialness," he says quietly, his voice thrumming with rage, "My specialness. It's built on the bodies of those women in Whitechapel. Without the source blood we would not be special. And they would not be dead. They would not have been carved up by a madman, reduced to scraps of skin and organs. And we would not be special."
Helen stares at him as if he has slapped her, all the color leaching from her face.
"We are special," James says. "You, and me and Nigel and Tesla. We're unique and amazing. We have wonderful gifts. And the price of those gifts is that John lives in hell for a hundred years. The price of those gifts is that women die. Do you think that if I could go back in time and prevent us from using the source blood myself I wouldn't do it? Do you think that I want my gifts at the expense of their suffering? That as a physician I can possibly say, 'I deserve to be gifted and you deserve to die?' Or that as a man and a friend I can say to John, 'You deserve to live in hell so that I can be exceptional?'"
Her face is white, but she does not agree. He can see that in her eyes. But then he has always known that he loved far less selfishly than Helen. He has always known that of the monsters who tested the boundaries of human knowledge, Helen has always been the most monstrous.
First, do no harm. James is a doctor before all else. That is what a doctor promises first, the thing from which all else derives. Do no harm. The good of the patient is paramount.
When Helen comes to him, when she tells him what has happened, this incredible story that has brought her into the past from a hundred and ten years in the future, he listens with wonder. He listens while she tells him what John Druitt has done and what he meant to do -- to prevent the Five from ever using the source blood. He listens while Helen says more than she meant to. John Druitt would trade her life, her specialness, erase the living wonder that is Helen Magnus.
And it burns like a flame in his chest until it breaks.
"Your specialness," he says quietly, his voice thrumming with rage, "My specialness. It's built on the bodies of those women in Whitechapel. Without the source blood we would not be special. And they would not be dead. They would not have been carved up by a madman, reduced to scraps of skin and organs. And we would not be special."
Helen stares at him as if he has slapped her, all the color leaching from her face.
"We are special," James says. "You, and me and Nigel and Tesla. We're unique and amazing. We have wonderful gifts. And the price of those gifts is that John lives in hell for a hundred years. The price of those gifts is that women die. Do you think that if I could go back in time and prevent us from using the source blood myself I wouldn't do it? Do you think that I want my gifts at the expense of their suffering? That as a physician I can possibly say, 'I deserve to be gifted and you deserve to die?' Or that as a man and a friend I can say to John, 'You deserve to live in hell so that I can be exceptional?'"
Her face is white, but she does not agree. He can see that in her eyes. But then he has always known that he loved far less selfishly than Helen. He has always known that of the monsters who tested the boundaries of human knowledge, Helen has always been the most monstrous.