Ficlet: No Excuse
May. 23rd, 2025 06:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badly_knittedTitle: No Excuse
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Ianto, Gray, Jack.
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 625
Spoilers: Exit Wounds.
Summary: Ianto has no sympathy for Gray.
Written For:
sarajayechan’s prompt ‘any, any, “sorry about your tragic backstory but it doesn't excuse trying to blow up the city”,’ at ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
threesentenceficathon.Disclaimer: I don’t own Torchwood, or the characters.
The last few days had been the worst nightmare since Lisa, worse even than Jack being dead for three days, which Ianto had thought at the time might kill him as well, and then running off with the Doctor on what turned out to be a less than fun jaunt.
Once again, the entire city had suffered because of Torchwood, and Ianto might have felt bad about that if not for what it had cost them to limit the damage as much as they could. There’d been nothing they could do about the bombs, but as much damage as they’d caused, things could have been so much worse if the catastrophic meltdown at Turnmill hadn’t been contained.
Across Cardiff, the emergency services were working overtime, but here in the Hub, everything had stalled. There were things that needed to be done, but after all that had happened, the remaining members of the team were still reeling, struggling to deal with their losses. It hurt, so much, and it all felt so completely senseless!
Part of Ianto thought maybe he ought to sympathise with Gray, because he was Jack’s brother, and because Ianto couldn’t imagine what he must have gone through after being taken prisoner while still a young child; the torture and abuse, even brainwashing, he’d been subjected to. But at the same time, no matter what trauma he’d endured, that didn’t give him the right to come to Cardiff and blow Ianto’s world apart just because he thought his big brother didn’t try long enough or hard enough to rescue him.
Ianto had heard the whole story from Jack, knew that Jack still blamed himself for letting go of his brother’s hand, but Jack couldn’t have let go if Gray had held on, and Ianto knew Jack had kept searching until he’d ended up stuck in the past. Gray was delusional if he thought Jack should have found him when no one, not even whatever authorities existed in the fifty-first century, had any idea who the raiders were, or where the prisoners were taken.
The destruction Gray had caused to the city Ianto called home was beyond devastating, and if he’d succeeded in destroying the Turnmill nuclear power station, that would likely have irradiated a good chunk of Britain, and even the continent. But that hadn’t happened, because Owen had sacrificed his life to contain the meltdown, and Tosh had bravely fought through her pain, guiding him, telling him what he needed to do, even as she was bleeding to death.
So no, Ianto couldn’t feel sorry for Gray, despite the unimaginably awful ordeal he’d undoubtedly been through, and he refused to believe that causing massive destruction and the deaths of countless innocent people he’d never met was an acceptable way for Gray to deal with his trauma. Neither was burying his brother alive for almost two-thousand years, even if that was at least directed at the person Gray held responsible for his suffering, and while Jack might be able to forgive his brother, Ianto knew he never would.
Gray’s rampage of terror had been like a child throwing a temper tantrum, breaking everything, he could get his hands on, all because he’d wanted to make an immortal man suffer. Well, he’d succeeded in that; Jack was shattered, and he wasn’t the only one. Two good, brave people, two of Ianto’s closest friends, were dead, his heart was broken, and his world in a shambles. If it wouldn’t have made things worse, he might have killed Gray himself, but that would only hurt Jack further. All Ianto could hope was that Gray would remain frozen for eternity, so he could never harm anyone else in his quest to punish his brother for being human.
The End
Once again, the entire city had suffered because of Torchwood, and Ianto might have felt bad about that if not for what it had cost them to limit the damage as much as they could. There’d been nothing they could do about the bombs, but as much damage as they’d caused, things could have been so much worse if the catastrophic meltdown at Turnmill hadn’t been contained.
Across Cardiff, the emergency services were working overtime, but here in the Hub, everything had stalled. There were things that needed to be done, but after all that had happened, the remaining members of the team were still reeling, struggling to deal with their losses. It hurt, so much, and it all felt so completely senseless!
Part of Ianto thought maybe he ought to sympathise with Gray, because he was Jack’s brother, and because Ianto couldn’t imagine what he must have gone through after being taken prisoner while still a young child; the torture and abuse, even brainwashing, he’d been subjected to. But at the same time, no matter what trauma he’d endured, that didn’t give him the right to come to Cardiff and blow Ianto’s world apart just because he thought his big brother didn’t try long enough or hard enough to rescue him.
Ianto had heard the whole story from Jack, knew that Jack still blamed himself for letting go of his brother’s hand, but Jack couldn’t have let go if Gray had held on, and Ianto knew Jack had kept searching until he’d ended up stuck in the past. Gray was delusional if he thought Jack should have found him when no one, not even whatever authorities existed in the fifty-first century, had any idea who the raiders were, or where the prisoners were taken.
The destruction Gray had caused to the city Ianto called home was beyond devastating, and if he’d succeeded in destroying the Turnmill nuclear power station, that would likely have irradiated a good chunk of Britain, and even the continent. But that hadn’t happened, because Owen had sacrificed his life to contain the meltdown, and Tosh had bravely fought through her pain, guiding him, telling him what he needed to do, even as she was bleeding to death.
So no, Ianto couldn’t feel sorry for Gray, despite the unimaginably awful ordeal he’d undoubtedly been through, and he refused to believe that causing massive destruction and the deaths of countless innocent people he’d never met was an acceptable way for Gray to deal with his trauma. Neither was burying his brother alive for almost two-thousand years, even if that was at least directed at the person Gray held responsible for his suffering, and while Jack might be able to forgive his brother, Ianto knew he never would.
Gray’s rampage of terror had been like a child throwing a temper tantrum, breaking everything, he could get his hands on, all because he’d wanted to make an immortal man suffer. Well, he’d succeeded in that; Jack was shattered, and he wasn’t the only one. Two good, brave people, two of Ianto’s closest friends, were dead, his heart was broken, and his world in a shambles. If it wouldn’t have made things worse, he might have killed Gray himself, but that would only hurt Jack further. All Ianto could hope was that Gray would remain frozen for eternity, so he could never harm anyone else in his quest to punish his brother for being human.
The End
(no subject)
Date: 2025-05-23 07:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-05-23 08:00 pm (UTC)Thank you!