Ok, this is such a random idea, but I couldn't get it out of my head. It occurred to me, like, a year ago and then came back to me this morning, so I wrote it down and typed it up. It's completely unbetaed and I'm not sure if it makes complete sense, but I just decided to go for something a little different.
The Little Welshmaid
When Gwen was a little girl, she'd adored watching the Little Mermaid movie. She could sit and watch it over and over, wishing her hair could be as thick and lovely, that her voice could enchant people, that a handsome, dashing Prince would come along and fall in love with her.
Now Gwen is grown up, and she realises that, in a weird way, her wish had come true. But as grandmothers will warn, 'Be careful what you wish for.' Gwen had wished to be like the little mermaid. But she did not get to be the Disney one.
Gwen met her Prince and he was everything she'd wanted. Handsome, strong, romantic eyes, charming smile and so heroic. Gwen, though wary at first, fell hard. Like the mermaid who left her familiar ocean, her beloved family, Gwen went into the strong, scary world of the Prince, so she could be with him.
The true story of the Little Mermaid is not a happy tale. Neither is Gwen's. The Mermaid gained legs, but every step was like walking on knives. Every step deeper into Torchwood tore at her ideas of goodness, right and wrong, her world. And even though she was with the Prince, with Jack, there was an obstacle in her way. For the mermaid, it was her lack of speech. For Gwen it was Owen. Her affair allowed her to live in Torchwood, without drowning in its air. But it kept her from Jack.
The Prince did not know what the Mermaid wanted, because she had no voice. Jack could not, would not have her because of Owen, because he'd have to acknowledge that Gwen wasn't an ideal. And then, the mermaid and Gwen lost their Princes completely.
The Prince fell in love with a Princess.
Now, not even Owen, on a bad day, would dare call Ianto a princess. After all, Ianto was a strapping 6 foot-something 25-year-old man who could lift Gwen and Tosh off their feet with one arm each and could wield a gun as wall as Jack could. Really, Ianto was as much a dashing prince as Jack, only maybe more tragic. Gwen worried that Ianto still believed in happy ever after, a belief that would only break his heart.
But still, Jack had found Ianto, and chose him over Gwen, or maybe just chose him.
The Prince married the Princess, and the mermaid threw herself back into the ocean, where she died.
Jack picked Ianto, and Gwen felt herself wake up, and, although she could never return to her old life and leave Torchwood, a part of her fantasy did die.
But the story doesn't end there.
The mermaid's pain stirred pity in the spirits and so they blessed her with a soul, so she could exist forever.
Gwen felt she'd gained a soul too, after meeting Jack, even though, in many ways, she'd always had it.
Rhys was her soul.
If you could let me know what you think, I'm quite nervous about this one.
Night's Darkness