Torchwood: Fanfic: A new dawn

[m_findlow]

Title: A new dawn
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Ianto
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 912 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for badly_knitted's prompt "Any, any, Woken by the dawn chorus" at fic_promptly
Summary: The dawn chorus brings a new day and fresh hope

It was almost like awakening from a dream, or perhaps a nightmare. He hadn't been asleep as such, but it was like he'd come out of a trance, seeing the world in a completely different light.

The place was bustling with people, paramedics and police and a raft of locals, all now suitably handcuffed and slowly being lead away to later face justice for their horrendous crimes. Despite all the noise and the commotion, he didn't hear any of it. In fact, the world should have been completely silent as it passed him by, except for the fact that he could hear one sound in amongst all the others; the sound of birdsong. It was the dawn chorus, breaking through the silence of the rising dawn, just as the sun was breaking through the darkness, bringing him to a state of wakefulness.

That was how he felt, as if the light was erasing the darkness of the long, hard night that they'd just survived. Only two hours ago, he'd been knelt on the bloody floor, gagged and bound, about to be bled like a pig for slaughter. And that was what he'd been to them, just an animal ready for harvest. It was sick and horrifying, but it wasn't even alien. It had been humans; just plain ordinary humans capable of the most despicable and heinous acts of violence. Was that all they were at the end of the day? Just animals fighting each other for supremacy? Dog eat dog, survival of the fittest, the very worst of the human condition? It made him despair to think that was all they were worth, and that there was no redemption for any of them.

Yet Jack had come and saved them at the very last moment, when he'd thought that all hope was lost, that that he'd never wake against to see the sunrise. Jack had spared them, even though perhaps they didn't deserve saving. Perhaps it would have been better if he'd killed all the cannibals and them along with. Weren't they all killers at the end of the day?

Instead, here he sat, perched on the back of the SUV, watching everything unfold like a bizarre silent film. Tosh was getting patched up by two paramedics in a nearby ambulance. Owen was busy liaising with the police, making sure every last one of the villagers was arrested and taken away. Somewhere still inside the farmhouse was Jack, facing their leader, the devil incarnate himself, trying to understand what it was that made them do what they did. Ianto could have told him that it was just the nature of humans to put their own needs above those of everyone else. He'd done it himself, and as shocked as he'd been by what they were doing, he now felt like he understood their motivations. Selfishness lead them to their actions. What wouldn't you do to protect your way of life? What wouldn't you do to anyone who stood in between you and what you wanted?

Gwen stormed past him, ignoring all of them, like she was stuck in a silent film all her own, the look of disgust and weariness clear on her face. She was in bad shape, but had ignored any attempts by the paramedics to tend to her injuries. Like him, she didn't want them anywhere near her. They'd had enough of people for today. The injuries merely served as a reminder that they weren't the same as those monsters. His own injuries were less obvious, with the exception of the huge welt on his head where he'd been knocked out cold. It hurt less now, but he was assured that tomorrow, the headache would be phenomenal.

Still the birds chirped, cutting through the sound of everything else. He hadn't noticed them at all yesterday. In fact, the silence had been all pervading and unsettling. With only the exception of a stray raven crawing, and the yelps of a lonely fox, there'd seemed to be nothing else out here, when the fields and mountains should have been filled with the sounds of rural wildlife. The village had been bereft of inhabitants except for those hunting in stealth, and even the animals had cleared off. Now though, it was as if they'd sensed the danger had passed, returning to their homes, filling the air once again with their song. Whatever black curse had blighted the land, with the passing of the cannibals it had seemingly lifted, taking with it the deathly silence and heaving sense of foreboding. Once again, the lush green hills and crumbling stone walls of tgr land of his forebears seemed a quiet and pleasant idyll.

Despite the ugliness that was slowly being scrubbed away by the police and their vehicles, the sound of early morning birdsong broke through crisp, clear air; the only sound he could hear, and a beautiful sound it was. It truly was as if he'd woken to find a brand new world had arrived with the light of day; the horror and the fear washed away, soothing the visions that had haunted his waking nightmares. He prayed that this wasn't a dream, and that he wouldn't wake up to find himself back in the farmhouse, strung up amongst the bloodied carcasses. He closed his eyes, leaning against the side of the car's frame and let the chirping sounds fill his ears. Birds had never sounded so good, nor the feeling of being alive to enjoy it.

Comments

[bk_forever]

Great look at the aftermath of Countrycide. I like the fragile sense of hope the birdsong is creating in Ianto, telling him that maybe everything will be okay after all. He's come through the nightmare, and now maybe, after coming so close to death, he can start learning how to live again.

Thanks for the fill!

[m-findlow.livejournal.com]

Thanks. One of my rare bus fics (i.e. fics written on the bus) using my tablet on the bus usually makes me feel travel sick, but sometimes ideas won't go away, and they usually turn out quite well, so I suppose it's worth a little queasiniess!