aibhinn_fics (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
aibhinn_fics) wrote2007-12-16 08:34 pm
aibhinn_fics) wrote2007-12-16 08:34 pm
Entry tags:
Fic: Alone We Live and Die
Title: Alone We Live and Die
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aibhinn
Rating: G
Character: Jack Harkness
Spoilers: None
Author's Note: Written for challenge 1.02 on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
writerinadrawer: Wild Boys and Girls On Film. The challenge was to write a story based on a line of lyrics from a Duran Duran song. My chosen lyrics were Alone we live and die.
A cool, salt-tanged breeze drifted in from the Bay and ruffled Jack's hair as he stood atop the Millennium Centre, hands in his pockets, gaze unfocussed. The lights of Cardiff extended out before him, fading into suburbs and then into darkness at the farthest reaches of his vision—much farther away than his fully-human senses could have seen before Rose had absorbed the Time Vortex and brought him back, forever.
She's trapped there. The walls have closed.
The pain in the Doctor's face when he'd said that had been palpable, even through the reinforced, lead-lined door that had separated them. "I'm sorry" had seemed so inadequate, but it had been the only thing he could think to say.
And he was. He was genuinely sad that Rose had been trapped in the other world, separated from the Doctor for all time. But a small part of himself, a part he didn't like to admit existed, had also been a bit selfishly glad. Now you know what it's like being left behind, a nasty voice in the back of his mind had thought, though he'd immediately felt ashamed of it. How could the Doctor not know what it was to be completely alone? The last of the Time Lords, the only one of his species left. He'd been as alone as Jack, and for much longer.
That tiny, cruel satisfaction had been utterly wiped away by the Doctor's mourning over the Master's corpse. As horrific as the Year that Never Was had been, as much as the Doctor had suffered both personally and vicariously, he still had not insisted the Master pay with his life—had, in fact, begged him to stay, to regenerate. For a moment, just a moment, Jack had seen the friendship that had been theirs so many lifetimes before.
A scrap of a song brushed through his mind: Alone we live and die, we love and fight. He smirked humourlessly. Yes, that was his life—his and the Doctor's both. Perhaps there was some Greater Good that was being served by their lives, or perhaps there was nothing but random chance and the ability to make the best of what they were given. No matter which it was, when it came down to it, both of them were alone.
"Jack?"
He swung round at Gwen's tentative question. She stood behind him near the roof access door, hands in her jacket pockets. "We were thinking of getting some takeaway," she said. "I thought you might like to join us?"
Jack blinked before allowing a smile to curve his lips. "Yeah," he said. "Thanks. I'll be right down."
She nodded and disappeared back down into the building. Jack sighed and turned back to the city before him.
Alone, yes. But maybe, for small snippets of time, he could manage to pretend he was human again.
With a nod towards the Plass and the newest potential invisible lift, he went down to join his team for dinner.
Author:
aibhinnRating: G
Character: Jack Harkness
Spoilers: None
Author's Note: Written for challenge 1.02 on
writerinadrawer: Wild Boys and Girls On Film. The challenge was to write a story based on a line of lyrics from a Duran Duran song. My chosen lyrics were Alone we live and die.A cool, salt-tanged breeze drifted in from the Bay and ruffled Jack's hair as he stood atop the Millennium Centre, hands in his pockets, gaze unfocussed. The lights of Cardiff extended out before him, fading into suburbs and then into darkness at the farthest reaches of his vision—much farther away than his fully-human senses could have seen before Rose had absorbed the Time Vortex and brought him back, forever.
She's trapped there. The walls have closed.
The pain in the Doctor's face when he'd said that had been palpable, even through the reinforced, lead-lined door that had separated them. "I'm sorry" had seemed so inadequate, but it had been the only thing he could think to say.
And he was. He was genuinely sad that Rose had been trapped in the other world, separated from the Doctor for all time. But a small part of himself, a part he didn't like to admit existed, had also been a bit selfishly glad. Now you know what it's like being left behind, a nasty voice in the back of his mind had thought, though he'd immediately felt ashamed of it. How could the Doctor not know what it was to be completely alone? The last of the Time Lords, the only one of his species left. He'd been as alone as Jack, and for much longer.
That tiny, cruel satisfaction had been utterly wiped away by the Doctor's mourning over the Master's corpse. As horrific as the Year that Never Was had been, as much as the Doctor had suffered both personally and vicariously, he still had not insisted the Master pay with his life—had, in fact, begged him to stay, to regenerate. For a moment, just a moment, Jack had seen the friendship that had been theirs so many lifetimes before.
A scrap of a song brushed through his mind: Alone we live and die, we love and fight. He smirked humourlessly. Yes, that was his life—his and the Doctor's both. Perhaps there was some Greater Good that was being served by their lives, or perhaps there was nothing but random chance and the ability to make the best of what they were given. No matter which it was, when it came down to it, both of them were alone.
"Jack?"
He swung round at Gwen's tentative question. She stood behind him near the roof access door, hands in her jacket pockets. "We were thinking of getting some takeaway," she said. "I thought you might like to join us?"
Jack blinked before allowing a smile to curve his lips. "Yeah," he said. "Thanks. I'll be right down."
She nodded and disappeared back down into the building. Jack sighed and turned back to the city before him.
Alone, yes. But maybe, for small snippets of time, he could manage to pretend he was human again.
With a nod towards the Plass and the newest potential invisible lift, he went down to join his team for dinner.