Tosh:
I sit up, gasping for air. It's utterly, utterly black. Nothing in front of me, beside or behind. Where am I? What happened to the hub? Why is it so dark?
I'm scared now. I can't understand what's happened to me. I search my brain fro anything that might help me, anything at all. I pause, I think, I remember.
"I'm dead." I whisper to no one, for there's no one there to hear.
I close my eyes, not that it makes much difference, and think. I remember being shot; the hot, sharp burning of the bullet as it pushed its way into my skin. I remember the wetness of the blood, the coppery tang of it against my lips. I think of Gray, of how he knelt beside me and asked how it felt to die. I remember thinking the world was going to end and I remember saving it. But, most of all, I remember Owen.
Owen. Snarky, hard – as – nails, confident Owen. The man I'd loved for as long as I could remember. Not that he'd known but…
He was dead now, again. I'd lost him again, and lost myself along the way as penalty for it. He'd been right, about death. It's dark, darker than I'd imagined. And lonely. There's no one here but me. I'm alone, I'm lost and I'm scared. It reminds me of my time before Torchwood; locked in a cell, no chance of escape. Trapped forever in a windowless prison.
I hug my knees to my chest, finding some comfort in the solidity of my body. Owen is out there too. Alone, lost, trapped in the dark. I close my eyes and think of him, picture him as he once was, as he should be, picture the two of us together. I smile softly. There it is, the life I'd always wanted, flickering behind closed lids. Out of sight, out of mind; just like me.
But something else is flickering, beyond my eyelids. Something bright. I blink my eyes open. A light shines before me, bright and bold and warm. I stand, slowly, and move towards it, squinting as I go. The light grows bigger, brighter until I can't see anything anymore. I stand before it in awe, a bright white light amongst the darkest black. Perhaps even death has a happy ending after all?
I smile at that, at the idea of a Torchwood operative receiving a happy ending.
I take a deep breath, deaden my fear, and step forward into the light, feeling a rush as the darkness melts away behind me.
