A New Dawn 41 (Epilogue)
Part: 41/41
Rating: 18+
Warnings: Mentions of previous torture and rape
Genre: Angst, AU
Characters: Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Owen, Tosh, Gwen
Summary: AU. The Torchwood team discover the truth about what happened on the Valiant and search for Jack. A dark fic.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
AN: And finally, we reach the end.
Previous chapter here: http://ohinyan.livejournal.com/36844.html
Epilogue
As the years went by, Jack, Tosh and Ianto sold up and moved every ten years or so, so that no one would notice that Jack did not age. Tosh bore Jack's children, and Jack bore Ianto's. Owen and Joanne provided the medical backup needed for a male pregnancy. Tosh and Ianto instilled in their children a strong sense of loyalty and protectiveness to the immortal, that lasted down the generations. They taught Jack to love and trust again, and to love the descendents of their children as much as the first generation. When mankind left the Earth for the stars Jack went with them.
* * * * *
The TARDIS landed in the year 1.352 billion on New Cardiff. The Doctor and Martha exited, with the Doctor expounding about how peaceful New Cardiff was, and how it was the perfect place for a holiday. However, as they came out of the TARDIS, the Doctor's skin began to prickle. He frowned. It felt almost as if he were near a rip in the space time continuum, though there were no records of such a phenomenon here. Pushing aside his disquiet, he and Martha headed for the capitol city of Nagoya.
Martha was confused. “Why would a planet that is named after a Welsh city have a capital named after a Japanese city?” she asked. “Or am I being too parochial and neither of them have anything to do with Wales, or Japan or even Earth?”
“No, it does refer to Earth,” the Doctor assured her. “For some reason, when humans left Earth, they brought with them a preference for Welsh and Japanese place names. I've never understood why.”
After a half hour walk, the Doctor and Martha had reached the city, and the Doctor was trying to navigate them to the Presidential Palace. Finally, the Palace came in to view. “Wow,” exclaimed Martha, “it's gorgeous. Do you think they do tours?”
“We can but ask,” said the Doctor enthusiastically, ignoring the prickling which had been increasing ever since they arrived. He walked up to the main doors and knocked loudly.
“Doctor, no!” hissed Martha. “You can't just knock on the Palace doors. That's like knocking on the main door of Buckingham Palace.”
“Oh, they won't mind,” the Doctor said cheerfully. “Look, there's no guards, they obviously don't mind visitors. And it's way more important than Buck House. Nagoya is the capitol of this entire quadrant of space.”
Martha was astounded when the doors opened and a man invited them inside. “Welcome,” he said, “The President would like to see you.”
Martha gaped, “They would? Why?”
“Come this way,” was the only answer.
They were taken through the corridors of the most luxurious building Martha had ever seen. And she had been on the Buckingham Palace tour. Eventually their guide stopped outside a pair of massive doors and knocked. The doors were opened and, as they were, the Doctor staggered. His skin was now tingling as if a thousand needles were pricking him. And, as he looked into the room, he could see a shape, which his eyes refused to focus on. The shape moved towards him, and, as it moved, timelines swirled around it in eddies. It was terrifying. The age of the being, for that is what it was, the Doctor realised, was beyond belief.
The Doctor practically fell, only held up by his grip on Martha's arm. He felt sick, as his time sense was assaulted. He couldn't even attempt to look. As he hung onto Martha, the being removed the shields around its mind. It made no effort to penetrate his Gallifreyan shields, but it was as if they did not exist. The Doctor gasped. This was the most powerful being he had ever encountered, it made the Time Lords look like children. As he shrank away from it, he heard Martha say with surprise, “Jack!”
* * * *
As they entered the room, Martha felt the Doctor sag against her. She was now practically holding him up, but had no idea of what was wrong with him. She looked towards the President, who was approaching them, and, with shock, recognised him. He looked exactly the same as when she had seen him before their encounter with the Master, one year ago in her timeline.“Jack!”
Jack looked at her strangely, then he seemed to look inwards for a moment. “Tish?” he queried.
“No, it's me Martha, Tish is my sister.”
Jack thought for a moment, sifting through his most distant memories, then he smiled. “Ah yes, Martha Jones, companion of the Doctor. Your sister was a good friend to me. You are welcome to New Cardiff.”
He then looked across at the Doctor and his expression changed to one of contempt. “And the treacherous Time Lord, the consummate betrayer. How many times did you abandon me? Three, I think it was. How many other companions have you abandoned over the centuries?”
Jack brushed the Doctor's mind once more, as the answer to his question bubbled up to the surface of the Doctor's thoughts. “So many,” he murmured.
The Doctor cringed. Martha steered him to sit in one of the chairs along the wall. “I don't know what is wrong with him,” she told Jack. “He was fine before we came in here.”
“He can feel me,” Jack explained. “He always thought I was wrong, and that wrongness would increase with time. So now that I am older it affects him like this.”
“But you don't look much older,” Martha said with surprise.
“Do you know what year this is?” Jack asked her gently.
“Yes, the Doctor said it was the year, er …, something billion.”
“Close enough,” Jack smiled. “You travelled in time to get here, I came by the slow path.”
Martha was stunned. “You can't mean that you are 1 billion years old!”
Jack nodded, “approximately.”
“But you look just the same,” she stuttered, repeating herself.
“How long has it been for you?” Jack asked.
“Only about a year since I last saw you.” She looked dubious. “If it's been so long for you, how do you even remember who we are? Did you meet me, or the Doctor, in the meantime?”
“No, I haven't seen the Doctor in all the millennia I've lived since the Valiant. I think he has been avoiding me. But there are some things you never forget,” he added darkly.
Jack then turned his attention to the Doctor, who could still not look at him. “I felt a TARDIS arrive, and the presence of a Time Lord. I can feel all the humans, but Time Lords stand out from them.”
As Jack walked even closer, the Doctor forced himself to open his eyes and look at him. He wavered, but Jack grasped his chin and looked him straight in the eyes. For the Doctor it was like looking into the Untempered Schism, and he shuddered.
“So that is how little you thought of me,” Jack murmured sadly. “You should know the truth.”
As he spoke, Jack opened the door in his mind fully to one of his most distant, and worst, memories. He let it flow into the Doctor's mind. To the Doctor it seemed to last for days, but in reality only minutes passed. Martha looked on anxiously.
The Doctor felt the full impact of Jack's memories of the Valiant, and the events that followed. He knew intimately the depths of agony and despair that Jack had felt, and his desperation for help, that had never come. He felt the emotional devastation that Jack had felt when he was reviled by the friends he was sacrificing so much for.
As the Doctor wilted under the weight of the knowledge of how badly he had misjudged Jack, and what his abandonment had condemned the immortal to, shame overwhelmed him. He would never be able to face Jack again after this day. “I'm so sorry. I should have believed in you. I should have known you would never rape Tish. I should have tried to help you. I should have made sure that you were alright before I left.”
Martha started at the mention of Tish. She hadn't had any inkling that the Doctor thought Jack had raped her sister.
As the Doctor ceased babbling, Jack spoke. “You always did find it easy to abandon me.”
The Doctor cringed again. He couldn't deny it.
“I just have one thing to say to you,” Jack said.
“What?” gasped the Doctor.
“I forgive you.”
End
AN: I was inspired in this chapter by a couple of stories I read of the Doctor meeting Jack when he was hundreds of thousands or millions of years old. One was Identities by Ry (dreamsforlease and curseangel) wish I could remember the other title and author.
And no, Jack was not a head in a jar, I always hated the idea of that fate for him and I hoped he was just winding Martha and the Doctor up.
I do have pdf files of each of the stories in the trilogy. If any one wants them message me and let me know your email address. If anyone knows how I can post them on livejournal please tell me.
Rating: 18+
Warnings: Mentions of previous torture and rape
Genre: Angst, AU
Characters: Jack Harkness, Ianto Jones, Owen, Tosh, Gwen
Summary: AU. The Torchwood team discover the truth about what happened on the Valiant and search for Jack. A dark fic.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
AN: And finally, we reach the end.
Previous chapter here: http://ohinyan.livejournal.com/36844.html
Epilogue
As the years went by, Jack, Tosh and Ianto sold up and moved every ten years or so, so that no one would notice that Jack did not age. Tosh bore Jack's children, and Jack bore Ianto's. Owen and Joanne provided the medical backup needed for a male pregnancy. Tosh and Ianto instilled in their children a strong sense of loyalty and protectiveness to the immortal, that lasted down the generations. They taught Jack to love and trust again, and to love the descendents of their children as much as the first generation. When mankind left the Earth for the stars Jack went with them.
* * * * *
The TARDIS landed in the year 1.352 billion on New Cardiff. The Doctor and Martha exited, with the Doctor expounding about how peaceful New Cardiff was, and how it was the perfect place for a holiday. However, as they came out of the TARDIS, the Doctor's skin began to prickle. He frowned. It felt almost as if he were near a rip in the space time continuum, though there were no records of such a phenomenon here. Pushing aside his disquiet, he and Martha headed for the capitol city of Nagoya.
Martha was confused. “Why would a planet that is named after a Welsh city have a capital named after a Japanese city?” she asked. “Or am I being too parochial and neither of them have anything to do with Wales, or Japan or even Earth?”
“No, it does refer to Earth,” the Doctor assured her. “For some reason, when humans left Earth, they brought with them a preference for Welsh and Japanese place names. I've never understood why.”
After a half hour walk, the Doctor and Martha had reached the city, and the Doctor was trying to navigate them to the Presidential Palace. Finally, the Palace came in to view. “Wow,” exclaimed Martha, “it's gorgeous. Do you think they do tours?”
“We can but ask,” said the Doctor enthusiastically, ignoring the prickling which had been increasing ever since they arrived. He walked up to the main doors and knocked loudly.
“Doctor, no!” hissed Martha. “You can't just knock on the Palace doors. That's like knocking on the main door of Buckingham Palace.”
“Oh, they won't mind,” the Doctor said cheerfully. “Look, there's no guards, they obviously don't mind visitors. And it's way more important than Buck House. Nagoya is the capitol of this entire quadrant of space.”
Martha was astounded when the doors opened and a man invited them inside. “Welcome,” he said, “The President would like to see you.”
Martha gaped, “They would? Why?”
“Come this way,” was the only answer.
They were taken through the corridors of the most luxurious building Martha had ever seen. And she had been on the Buckingham Palace tour. Eventually their guide stopped outside a pair of massive doors and knocked. The doors were opened and, as they were, the Doctor staggered. His skin was now tingling as if a thousand needles were pricking him. And, as he looked into the room, he could see a shape, which his eyes refused to focus on. The shape moved towards him, and, as it moved, timelines swirled around it in eddies. It was terrifying. The age of the being, for that is what it was, the Doctor realised, was beyond belief.
The Doctor practically fell, only held up by his grip on Martha's arm. He felt sick, as his time sense was assaulted. He couldn't even attempt to look. As he hung onto Martha, the being removed the shields around its mind. It made no effort to penetrate his Gallifreyan shields, but it was as if they did not exist. The Doctor gasped. This was the most powerful being he had ever encountered, it made the Time Lords look like children. As he shrank away from it, he heard Martha say with surprise, “Jack!”
* * * *
As they entered the room, Martha felt the Doctor sag against her. She was now practically holding him up, but had no idea of what was wrong with him. She looked towards the President, who was approaching them, and, with shock, recognised him. He looked exactly the same as when she had seen him before their encounter with the Master, one year ago in her timeline.“Jack!”
Jack looked at her strangely, then he seemed to look inwards for a moment. “Tish?” he queried.
“No, it's me Martha, Tish is my sister.”
Jack thought for a moment, sifting through his most distant memories, then he smiled. “Ah yes, Martha Jones, companion of the Doctor. Your sister was a good friend to me. You are welcome to New Cardiff.”
He then looked across at the Doctor and his expression changed to one of contempt. “And the treacherous Time Lord, the consummate betrayer. How many times did you abandon me? Three, I think it was. How many other companions have you abandoned over the centuries?”
Jack brushed the Doctor's mind once more, as the answer to his question bubbled up to the surface of the Doctor's thoughts. “So many,” he murmured.
The Doctor cringed. Martha steered him to sit in one of the chairs along the wall. “I don't know what is wrong with him,” she told Jack. “He was fine before we came in here.”
“He can feel me,” Jack explained. “He always thought I was wrong, and that wrongness would increase with time. So now that I am older it affects him like this.”
“But you don't look much older,” Martha said with surprise.
“Do you know what year this is?” Jack asked her gently.
“Yes, the Doctor said it was the year, er …, something billion.”
“Close enough,” Jack smiled. “You travelled in time to get here, I came by the slow path.”
Martha was stunned. “You can't mean that you are 1 billion years old!”
Jack nodded, “approximately.”
“But you look just the same,” she stuttered, repeating herself.
“How long has it been for you?” Jack asked.
“Only about a year since I last saw you.” She looked dubious. “If it's been so long for you, how do you even remember who we are? Did you meet me, or the Doctor, in the meantime?”
“No, I haven't seen the Doctor in all the millennia I've lived since the Valiant. I think he has been avoiding me. But there are some things you never forget,” he added darkly.
Jack then turned his attention to the Doctor, who could still not look at him. “I felt a TARDIS arrive, and the presence of a Time Lord. I can feel all the humans, but Time Lords stand out from them.”
As Jack walked even closer, the Doctor forced himself to open his eyes and look at him. He wavered, but Jack grasped his chin and looked him straight in the eyes. For the Doctor it was like looking into the Untempered Schism, and he shuddered.
“So that is how little you thought of me,” Jack murmured sadly. “You should know the truth.”
As he spoke, Jack opened the door in his mind fully to one of his most distant, and worst, memories. He let it flow into the Doctor's mind. To the Doctor it seemed to last for days, but in reality only minutes passed. Martha looked on anxiously.
The Doctor felt the full impact of Jack's memories of the Valiant, and the events that followed. He knew intimately the depths of agony and despair that Jack had felt, and his desperation for help, that had never come. He felt the emotional devastation that Jack had felt when he was reviled by the friends he was sacrificing so much for.
As the Doctor wilted under the weight of the knowledge of how badly he had misjudged Jack, and what his abandonment had condemned the immortal to, shame overwhelmed him. He would never be able to face Jack again after this day. “I'm so sorry. I should have believed in you. I should have known you would never rape Tish. I should have tried to help you. I should have made sure that you were alright before I left.”
Martha started at the mention of Tish. She hadn't had any inkling that the Doctor thought Jack had raped her sister.
As the Doctor ceased babbling, Jack spoke. “You always did find it easy to abandon me.”
The Doctor cringed again. He couldn't deny it.
“I just have one thing to say to you,” Jack said.
“What?” gasped the Doctor.
“I forgive you.”
End
AN: I was inspired in this chapter by a couple of stories I read of the Doctor meeting Jack when he was hundreds of thousands or millions of years old. One was Identities by Ry (dreamsforlease and curseangel) wish I could remember the other title and author.
And no, Jack was not a head in a jar, I always hated the idea of that fate for him and I hoped he was just winding Martha and the Doctor up.
I do have pdf files of each of the stories in the trilogy. If any one wants them message me and let me know your email address. If anyone knows how I can post them on livejournal please tell me.