!SPOILERS!
Title: Black Roses
Rating: K+, Mentions of character death
Pairings, Characters: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys;
Set: Post CoE
POV: 3rd
A/N: More angst…I promise the next chapter will be slightly lighter. I've got most of it written long-hand, so it should be up by tomorrow. As always, let me know if you liked it!
"They called him a hero."
"He was a hero, Jack." The day they buried the victims of the 456 was cold and cloudless, unseasonable for the time of year. By this time, the government eulogies were over and the reporters had faded away, leaving only the grief of the victims' families behind. Jack and Gwen were the only ones standing by this particular grave, but both of them were dressed somberly and Jack was clutching an overflowing bouquet of black roses in one hand. The freshly turned earth was stark against the almost overgrown old cemetery, leaving a visible trace of the wounds they were feeling.
"Its funny," Jack went on, staring at a point slightly above the gravestone. "It seems that the heroes always die."
"Jack?"
"He shouldn't have had to be a hero, Gwen. We…" He paused, voice thickening with the threat of unshed tears. "I should have been able to save him. I should have known. I could have saved him." Jack fell silent, bowing his head as the wind picked up.
"Gwen!" Rhys, dressed smartly in a black suit and tie, was running across the cemetery towards them, another bouquet in his hand, this one white lilies and lilac. "Gwen, I'm so sorry." Rhys stepped forwards, resting his flowers against the gravestone, then stepping back to embrace Gwen, who began to cry into his shirt collar. The three of them stood there in the cooling evening air, the silence only broken by Gwen's occasional muffled sob.
Once Gwen had finally quieted, she and Rhys turned to leave. Jack hadn't turned once the whole time, but now he spared them a glance over his shoulder. Gwen couldn't meet his puffy red eyes, which glimmered with unshed tears.
"Don't fail him, Gwen," Jack whispered, dropping his eyes. "Don't fail him like I failed Ianto." Gwen frowned.
"You didn't fail him, Jack.
"He's in an early grave because of me Gwen! Protect him with your life. You don't deserve to bury someone you love because you were careless. No one does." Jack knelt down, laying his own flowers beside Rhys'. He sat there as the cold wind picked up, plucking at the verdant green leaves of the roses.
"I can stay with you, Jack," Gwen offered after a pause. "It might be easier." Without turning around, Jack shook his head.
"No need. It's not like I can kill myself." Ignoring him, Gwen sat beside him, folding his unresisting body against her own and wrapping her arm around his shoulders.
"Grief is a terrible thing." The warmth of Gwen's body next to his own was the final straw that broke him and the tears that Jack had suppressed ever since Ianto died bubbled over, flooding out in heaves and gasps. Gwen just sat with him, letting the flood abate at its own pace.
"I never told him," he sobbed. "He knew, but I never told him." Gwen just held him as the wind shook free one single black rose petal, which proceeded to spiral up into a crystal clear blue sky.