Sweet Surrender
Lyrics by Sarah McLachlan
Story by TvObsessed09

It doesn't mean much

Montague John Druitt looked at Helen who was telling him they'd find another way to battle the electric being, the side of him that had once been Jack the Ripper. All he kept thinking about was everything that had been taken from him. About all those years wasted on that thing.

it doesn't mean anything at all
the life I've left behind me
is a cold room

That electric being, or whatever one wanted to call it, had taken everything from him. He'd once been a man in love with a woman. That had never changed; he'd always loved Helen no matter what it turned him into. Love on her part had turned long ago.

Because of that beast he'd lost his own daughter, not to meet her till she was grown in a time when she should have been a grandmother rather than just a young woman. That madness it had caused destroyed everything that had been a part of him.


I've crossed the last line
from where I can't return

It had turned him into a monster. Even with it gone no one would ever look at him as John Druitt again. They would always see what it had made him into, Jack the Ripper. They'd see the killer, the slayer of women.


where every step I took in faith
betrayed me
and led me from my home

He was well aware of the fact he could never turn back the clock and get those days back. He could never get back those years. He'd betrayed everyone whether or not it was his fault. That beast had led him from the life he was meant to have to one never meant to be.


And sweet surrender
is all that I have to give

She looked at him, her eyes pleading as only her eyes could but he knew… That thing had been inside him for years. He knew how it thought, how it worked. They didn't have time, they had to work fast. There was no other way.

"Would you please shut off the Em shield," he asked and the good little boy turned to Magnus who didn't say anything. He did it anyways and Druitt felt the weight lift of the shield showing him he was free to teleport.

Of all the mistakes he'd made there was no way he'd let it harm her. It would kill her in a matter of minutes unless he stopped it.


You take me in
no questions asked

"I love you, Helen, always know that," he whispered to her and he saw the fear in her eyes as well as the pain. She knew what was to happen, that in a moment those words would mean nothing. This would be the last thing he'd say that would matter. This was the last time he would utter those words in truth. There was nothing on the planet that could make him stop loving her. She'd once loved him openly, he'd betrayed that.

Still, she took him in knowing the dangers associated with his monstrous side. She'd trusted that and he'd ruined it once more. He would never let that happen again.


you strip away the ugliness
that surrounds me

With one last look at her, with one last clear thought he teleported into that room where the beast was. He watched it stop its poisonous work. It knew he was there. It lunged at him and he stood ready. It entered him and he felt the darkness return. One moment he was standing and the next he was on the ground, the world black.


(who are you?)
are you an angel?
am I already that gone?

Helen, his Helen, ran to him. He jerked from her, angry that she'd assume he needed something like a woman's aid.

"Let me help you, John," she told him and he felt the monster rear its ugly head. Already the lines were blurring within his mind. Where did Montague John Druitt end and the Jack the Ripper entity begin? It was within his mind, his very soul creating nothing but a darkness that he could not find his way out of.


I only hope
that I won't disappoint you
when I'm down here
on my knees

"No one needs your help," he spat and he felt himself pull away from the entity in his mind enough to see the hurt look on her face. It killed him. The gentleman in him wanted to get on his knees and beg her for her forgiveness of all his sins.

Still, the monster he'd become would not permit something so degrading and humanizing.


(who are you?)
And sweet surrender
is all that I have to give

She looked into his eyes and he looked into hers. Looking at her he saw the life he should have lived. He should have married her in another century. He should have loved her like any man would love his wife or betrothed.

They should have raised their child together in the right time – not allowing her to have the name she'd had. What in the world Helen was thinking when chosing a name that had been predominantly male in their time he'd never understand. The girl would have been just like her mother, refined on the surface but a rule breaker beneath everything.

Eventually old age would have taken him but not before Ashley had given him grandchildren and they'd seen the world as a family.

All this flashed through his mind and only in a manner of seconds but to him it was more than enough strength to stay sane.


(who are you?)
sweet surrender
is all that I have to give

Those thoughts fueled him in his rebellion against the darkness. Like Ashley before him he was emerged for a short period because of the world before him. He knew what he had to do, though the chances were great he'd destroy himself in doing so.


And I don't understand
HOW the touch of your hand
I would be the one to fall

He wanted to reach out and caress her like he once had. He wanted to touch her hand once last time knowing what was about to happen. He was about to fall for the last time. With this time she would not be around to save him, to bring him back from the brink.

This was his final gift to her. She would never again look over her shoulder wondering when Jack the Ripper would appear in the shadows once more.


I miss the little things
I miss everything *about you*

"Where will you go?" she asked a slight hesitance in her voice.

He smiled at her sadly. It had to be this way but he knew this would truly make her the last. She would be the last of The Five, completely alone in this world. She'd have her work but she would never truly be the same as she was now.


It doesn't mean much
it doesn't mean anything at all
the life I left behind me
is a cold room

"I have nowhere in mind," he told her and her eyes grew wide when she realized what he meant. To teleport and do it correctly one had to have an image of place you want to go in your head. It had to be clear and real. If not he could land halfway through a wall, in the floor/ground, or even stuck in furniture.

That's what he was saying.


(who are you?)
And sweet surrender
is all that I have to give

He felt the darkness begin to creep up once more so he gave his final adieu. Then he jumped. He didn't have a designation, just let him body take him wherever it must. When he began to form he felt pain like he never knew.

Without fighting he gave into the sweet surrender, willing to die. Even Jack the Ripper could not stop that. For the first time Jack the Ripper died.


(who are you?)
And sweet surrender
is all that I have to give

[I'll admit that chances are unlikely that Druitt is dead but this came to mind and I had to get it down. I figured this song fit him perfectly anyways so – hey, why not. I hope you liked it… Obsessed.]