Title: Guilt
Date Written: 11/25/07
dwtwprompts prompt: Writer's Choice #1 -- Guilt
Rating: K+
Word Count: 182
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Jack/Ianto, Gwen, Owen, Tosh, Rhys
Spoilers: None
Warnings: Character death
Author's Notes: Man, someone opened up all my angst bunnies...
It wasn't fair.
They were all gone. Tosh. Owen. Gwen. Killed in the line of duty, by alien tech they didn't know how to fight back against.
There was grief, of course (his and others -- Rhys has punched him so hard he'd probably be dead if he didn't have Rose's 'gift'). And pain, and sorrow: the regrets and the "Why God"s and the "If Only"s and the "Why Didn't I Pay More Attention At The Academy"s... But there had also been revenge, the pure black pleasure that came from avenging your fallen friends and putting their souls to peace.
But Ianto...
It was a simple misstep at the Hub. He'd tumbled down the stair and cracked his head on the flagstone. His body had survived the fall.
His mind hadn't.
There was no Kiss of Life this time, no turning of the clock and everyone's alive and healthy and well, no magical alien tech that could cure this. All he could do was sit next to his lover's suddenly-so-fragile human shell, clutching at his hand.
And feel so guilty that he couldn't save him this time around.