Some day I'll write something happy, but today's not that day. Compliments, criticism, and ideas for a happy story you'd like to see are all appreciated. No, I don't own Torchwood, the characters or anything. Still.
-The Potato One
Fighting the universe Forgetting things is a part of life. People forget things everyday-milk from the store, car keys, homework, ect- and they simply move on. If you forgot it, it isn't important, right? Things were different for Captain Jack Harkness. He only had a normal human memory, which was faulty at best. There was no possible way for Jack to remember everything he had ever done and everyone he had ever met. However, forgetting meant admitting to yourself that those people were gone and no longer important enough to recall. People who had been your neighbor, best friend, or lover. People who had given you change for a twenty and people who had loved you unconditionally and promised to do so forever. And although Jack promised them the same, he knew the truth. He would always forget them.
Ianto Jones was not the first person Jack Harkness had lost. Ianto Jones was not the last Jack Harkness lost. In reality, Ianto Jones was just an insignificant period of time in The Captains extended life. And Jack couldn't lose Ianto. He had lost so much, so many people he loved, but Jack wouldn't lose this one. He wouldn't let Ianto slip away from him. The man yelled, screamed, and cried, not just at the 456 but at the universe. It was going to take everything from him, because it always did, but not this man. Just not Ianto, who hadn't had enough time, who Jack hadn't had enough time with. He would take back everything, give the world anything,just for a miracle. Just for Ianto Jones.
Yet the world doesn't work like that, and the universe is cold and unforgiving. The same man who Jack caught a pterodactyl with, who hid a cyberman in the hub, who had once nicknamed "the Risen Mitten", who Jack had kissed before shoving to safety, who Jack never told "I love you", died in his arms that day. This is the real world, and in the real world people die, miracles don't happen, and you can't bargain with the universe.
However, Captain Jack Harkness wouldn't forget Ianto. He could have, it would have been much easier to forget Ianto and all the pain. He was just one more person in Jacks life to die. Yet, Jack wouldn't.
Because Jack had made a promise.
Because Jack loved Ianto and owed it to him to make sure he wasn't just an insignificant period do time in the Captains life.
Because Ianto was special.
As time went on, Jack left behind many things. He had to leave behind torchwood, his name and eventually earth. Jack forgot many things in that time, like the color of Rose's eyes, or what Owen's middle name had been. However, Jack never forgot one man. The man he had fought the universe for. Jack never forgot Ianto Jones.