Torchwood: "From Which Come All Things", epilogue and author's notes

[mclachland]

From Which Come All Things, epilogue
mclachlan
Torchwood, post-"End of Days"
Jack/Ianto
Summary: From the chaos, life.

Thanks, everyone. You were marvelous. ♥


Prologue
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten




He watches them now, harried mothers with their loud and inquisitive children as they scuttle across the Plass, couples chattering excitedly, laughing, as they leave the Millennium Centre theater, eyes bright and inspired from the shows, cell phones glued to their ears as they relay the experience. There are car horns blaring in the distance, tired blue-collared men determined to get home, just to relax in the warm arms of their wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, sons, daughters, arm chairs. A dog barks, traffic lights change from green to red.

Cardiff is alive.

Earth is alive.

He sees Gwen, Tosh, and Owen leaving the Hub, rising out of the ground like flowers, smiles blossoming at the cool night air. Their words escape him, too far away to be heard, but Gwen breaks away from them, going home to Rhys, settling down into a mundane existence after spending the day living the life of an action hero. For her, a warm meal, a rugby match, and a loving embrace await her. Mundane existence, but it's an existence.

Owen says something that causes laughter to bubble out of Tosh, surprisingly loud for someone so tiny, and he offers her his arm. She takes it, glad, and he smiles at the happiness that rides the last dredges of thermal pockets up to him, glowing like the sun and fading like daylight. They glide together over the Plass, disappearing from view and into the confines of a taxi, making the most of the second chance he's happy to have provided.

There is a dried-up leaf next to his hand, and he takes it between his fingers, twirling it by the stem.

For a fleeting moment, he feels well and truly alone, the last person in the entire world, in the galaxy, in the universe. His eyes stray to the sky and he stares, unable to see many stars due to the lights, but enough to remember that 'alone' isn't a word that can be applied to the human race. Or anywhere else, not anymore.

"Haven't you ever looked up at the sky at night and seen all those possibilities? I mean, you must've when you were a kid. All kids do that."

Ianto frowns, shrugging, his bare shoulder scraping against the floor. "I suppose. I guess I haven't had the time to do it these days."

"You should," Jack says, and in a split second is on top of Ianto, pinning his wrists above his head with an over-exaggerated leer. "When you have the time, of course. Look up and see what the sky has to give. It always gives something to someone. See what you get."

He has the time now. He has all the time that reality has to offer, and so he looks to the sky, taking in all that he can. Billions and billions of stars, and those are only the ones that he sees. Once, he'd had no idea how far the universe stretched, where it ended, if it ended. Thought it might be nothing more than perpetual space.

He knows better, because he's seen it. Because he's lived it.

Because he made it.

He can feel them, their hearts beating next to his, their lives pulsating in time with his, and he takes comfort in the fact that the Doctor is finally home, that Gsotiar and Tkiddaaros are raising their children with light and laughter, that John Hart knows what it means to have loved and lost, that the world knows how to come together in the face of adversity and work toward a common goal. That his family, that Torchwood, will rest easy tonight and know that they are alive.

That when he looks up at the sky, it gives him something.

Warm arms coil around him, tethering him to the ground, and he closes his eyes.

"What'd you get?" Jack asks quietly, looking up.

In his hand, the dead leaf bleeds to the truest green, vibrant, pulsing. Alive.

Ianto smiles and opens his eyes to everything. "You."


This world is not conclusion;
A sequel stands beyond,
Invisible, as music,
But positive, as sound.
It beckons and it baffles;
Philosophies don’t know,
And through a riddle, at the last,
Sagacity must go.
To guess it puzzles scholars;
To gain it, men have shown
Contempt of generations,
And crucifixion known.



Author's Notes:

R.C.'s crazy.

The end.

(Kidding.)


"From Which Comes All Things" was my very first Torchwood fic. I'd been watching the show for maybe four days when I had a dream of Ianto getting hit with a brilliant, undulating light. I woke up and immediately began jotting ideas down, the most prevalent being the concept of "Khaos", which had been taken straight out of Greek myth -- Being Greek, I get to do that. The story and its scope kind of got away from me, but I learned to roll with it.

"FWCAT" is also my most experimental story to date. I began branching out into less conventional ways of telling a story with my Queer as Folk fic, "The Invincible Arc", which was written to be like a graphic novel -- complete with comic art! However, "FWCAT" definitely takes the cake, as I've never used metaphors, symbolism and imagery like that with any other story. It was consciously done; it's easier to understand a situation or scenery when you have things to compare it to, which also gets you into Ianto's head a bit more than just having normal sentences.

It was hard as hell, and probably way too much to take on for the first fic in a new fandom, but it pushed me to break my limits and set new standards for myself. It showed me that I'm disciplined enough to finish a multi-chaptered story and be almost-happy with it.

I didn't want people to simply read the story; I wanted people to experience it. I hope I succeeded in that regard.

But most of all, I hope you enjoyed it.

-- R.C., 2008


Glossary:

Ianto Mabon Jones: Torchwood General Support, "Tea-boy", host for Khaos, the Creator of the universe. (Note: Ianto is Welsh for 'God is Gracious', Mabon is Welsh for 'Divine Son'.)

Jack: The first child, representing knowledge and power.

Grey: The second child, representing innocence and that which might be lost.

The Council: The acting 'senate' of the universe; God's God. (Ianto would have been on the highest seat of power possible had he not turned it down.)

Khaos: A Greek myth in which a shapeless, crazy thing exploded and, thus, life.

Om: Echthros (enemy). 'Om' was taken from the Greek word 'omega', which is the 24th and last letter of the Greek alphabet. It is often used to denote the last, the end, or the ultimate limit of a set. In this case, it was used to represent THE END.

The Way: The way of the universe; Life, Death, Rebirth, Repeat. No gray areas, no in-betweens.

Acetylene: The simplest alkyne, found EVERYWHERE in space. I consider it to be the building blocks to creating a world... or in this case, a universe.

Idrysi: Ancient Greek word for 'creation'.

Ocean: Oceanic imagery was used in recognition of the quote 'Eternity began with the ocean', anonymous.

Emily Dickinson: American poet whose poetry is categorized into five sets: Life, Nature, Love, Time and Eternity, and The Single Hound. All poetry used in this piece was from Time and Eternity.


Greek anagrams:

Oslfi: Filos (friend)
- Gsotiar: Giatros (Doctor)
- Tkiddaaros: Didaktoras (Doctor)
Oudol: Doulos (slave)


ATTENTION: Still have questions? ASK AWAY!

Comments

[piss-and-ink.livejournal.com]

Woah woah EPILOGUE?? Way to catch me off guard. Wooaahhh! I love it, and I especially love how he still has [the power of] CREATION in him. That was really nice, with the leaf. Damnit, Ianto, what a prophetic name. Not Ianto Khaos Jones, though, aka Ianto "COWS" Jones.

I'm proud of you and of Foo-Cat. It was a challenge for you, and it all turned out wonderful.

[etharei.livejournal.com]

Seconding the WOAHness, but just as you further your boundaries with every fic, so does your fic redefine my ideas about perfection ♥ That epilogue is WIN in every sense, and leaves me feeling such hope and warmth that I don't think I'll stop smiling for days.

Again, I absolutely love what you did with Jack and Grey as the two children; very profound and fitting, and a parallel that totally didn't occur to me before reading your fic.

Never get down from your cloudy summit of epic dreams, my darling.

BYE FOOCAT, IT WAS AMAZING ♥