m_findlow

Title: Journey's end
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Characters: Jack Harkness
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 863 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for juliet316's prompt "Any, any, Journey's End (Doctor Who)" at fic_promptly
Summary: Jack has finally reached the end and he's ready for it.

It was so good to see the Doctor again after so many years, Jack thought. And Martha Jones, too. She was so young and full of adventurous spirit. He'd always loved that about her, even after she'd left travelling with the Doctor to take up that job with UNIT. He tried to remember all their adventures, the end of the universe, the Toclofane, the Year That Never Was, fighting the Daleks, the Sontarans, the Pharm, discovering the Higgs particle, watching her marry Tom, Martha watching him get married. So many good memories.

And then there was the Doctor. All the centuries they had kicked around the universe, him and his Doctor, and Ianto Jones, getting into mischief and getting the Doctor out of just as much trouble as they got him into.

It had been more millennia than Jack could recollect since they'd crossed paths. He'd smiled to himself the handful of times he had seen the Doctor, from that very first time he'd laid eyes on Rose Tyler, watching the end of planet Earth. It was the only time he'd seen her since that first time he'd become immortal and had to say goodbye to her as she was forced to leave him and the Doctor forever, returning to the alternate universe she called home. She was even younger than Martha, so innocent and in awe of the universe. He wished he could have said hello, but Rose didn't know him yet, nor did the Doctor. He was just a face in a jar these days; nothing like how he'd looked when he'd been human. To explain how he'd become the way he was now was far too long a story for anyone to tell in a single lifetime. He'd had billions of lifetimes to get where he was now.

No more did they know him when they'd passed him in New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York, where he'd been seeking aid of the faithful cats that had nursed him back to health from many a scrape. He'd known then that he was reaching the end. Billions of years of life and love and friends and adventure and now it was all grinding to its fateful conclusion. There truly was no such thing as immortality. He'd always wondered, but now he knew for certain. All things must come to an end; even impossible things like him.

Just one last trip to New Earth for old times sake, he'd thought. Once last chance to retrace the paths he'd trodden so long ago, reawakening the memories that had been created there. Only it wasn't how he remembered it. In the few short minutes he'd been there, a virus had caused the city and its inhabitants to perish. Jack had done what he could, sealing off the under-city, protecting its occupants from the same awful fate. Only, with the city in ruin, there was no power left to keep them safe permanently. He knew there was only one course of action. What was left of his life force he'd use to keep the under-city powered.

It would be cramped down there, and far from a perfect existence, but they couldn't know that they were now the sole survivors. Better that they continue to think there was a greater world above their heads, one that they would always hope and dream for and aspire to reach. If he'd learnt anything in his life, it was that the spirit of human hope was the one thing that could never be truly defeated. It was their hope he clung to, and the sweet sound of their singing. Their faith in a better tomorrow would sustain him. Humanity's very survival depend on him. One hundred years until the city would be able to call out to the universe for help.

And so he'd stayed, giving himself to the people, though they would never know it. How long he could sustain them was in doubt. He'd been dying for so long, yet the years continued to stretch on, his immortality hanging on by a thread, knowing that it had to for all their sakes.

And then the Doctor had come along. He'd come along and saved them all. Bless you, Doctor. Finally, Jack could breath that clean air again and let go, knowing that he'd done all he could. He only wished he had the chance to say goodbye properly, and to remind the Doctor of who he was and all of the wonderful adventures that his regeneration and all those to come would have with him. Then again, perhaps it was right that his identity should remain a mystery. The Doctor had always been so mysterious with his own. It was time to return the favour. One day maybe he'd remember that Jack had once told him he'd been known by the villagers of his home world as the Face of Boe. For now, all that remained was one very important message, one that Jack himself had kept reminding himself through all the years of his extraordinarily long life. You are not alone. None of us is ever truly alone.