[He waits for an answer--waits long enough to know that Reaper considers the conversation finished, but Jack isn't about to give up so easily. HIs own murder at Reaper's hands should be proof enough that there's nothing left to salvage between them, and that pressing him further is only going to invite a repeat of what just happened, but Jack is pathologically stubborn. He's not about to be ignored.]
i already killed you. whatever bullshit brought you back, you were dead. i made sure of it.
why are you still trying to talk to me?
[Its more of a dismissal than a question. But some part of him wants to know. Did he think he was going to suddenly see the light and follow him back to his farm to raise bees? Did he still think that there was any shred of him left that still cared about what happened to him or the rest of ex-Overwatch?
[He shouldn't bother. This is just a waste of his time, an attempt to recapture something that's long gone and that he isn't getting back, no matter how hard he tries. His death is evidence enough of that, but Jack finds himself surprised at how not angry he is about it--just exhausted.]
Doesn't seem right to just let this go.
[Or keep going the way they had been--circling each other until something snaps, only to rinse and repeat the cycle. Jack can't honestly say the answer is that he misses Gabriel, not given everything he's done to dismantle the thing they gave their lives to, but how can you spend the better part of thirty years so close to someone only to give up?]
[It was too late. Even if he wanted to go back, even if he could forgive their lost trust in him, it had been too long. He was one of Talon's leaders now. Just like they were too old to keep trying to fight like this, in a world where nobody cared about their personal conflict, Jack had long ago deemed Gabriel's methods too extreme.
He didn't change then. He wasn't about to change now.]
just because it doesn't feel right doesn't mean it isn't. thought you would have figured that out by now.
[But of course not. This is Jack Morrison he's talking to.]
[And it should be easy to hate Reyes for everything he's done and all that he's destroyed--for aligning himself with the enemy and seemingly caring little for all the shared history between them. For all the good they did.
Maybe Jack finds it easier to pretend there's something to save, because the alternative is to finally admit that Gabriel Reyes had never been, at any point, the man Jack thought he was.
That hurts more than he can possibly find words for. Of course he's still going to fight.]
[He's not sure who he's trying to convince, but he isn't going to let Reaper forget this. It's too big a slip-up, even if he was certain Jack would be gone for good.]
[Really? That's his game? Challenging him to kill Ana too?
Its not a bad idea. It would give him something else to focus on. Something else to do, another way to prove Jack wrong about him. But it doesn't escape his notice that it would be just as useless.]
[Yeah, Jack isn't sure where he's going with this, but he seems to think that maybe he can find the chink in Reaper' s armor if he pushes far enough. Doesn't mean it's not frustrating.]
[Its a challenge he'd take any day -- if it were anyone else. But Ana had still shot him, so that should have been enough motivation to move forward.
But it wasn't as if she hadn't taken those shots before, when Jack was involved. He hadn't mattered to them like they mattered to each other in a long time.]
its never going to go back to how it was. we have different things we want for the world. that's just how it is.
if we did any good, we wouldn't be where we are. besides. we didn't do any work here.
these people don't care about you. they don't care about amari. they don't care about me. why do you care so much about what happens to them? to this planet?
i'll tell you one more time. stay out of my way. and if you can't do that, then you aren't tired enough.
[...huh. That's almost an actual apology. It doesn't mean he's going to accept it -- he was in far too deep, and leaving him to his current state of being wasn't something Jack could just apologize away.]
nobody was there when it mattered.
[And to make sure he isn't tempted to reply again, he slides the TAB across the floor to the other side of the room.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Gabe
[Come on.]
no subject
i already killed you.
whatever bullshit brought you back, you were dead.
i made sure of it.
why are you still trying to talk to me?
[Its more of a dismissal than a question. But some part of him wants to know. Did he think he was going to suddenly see the light and follow him back to his farm to raise bees? Did he still think that there was any shred of him left that still cared about what happened to him or the rest of ex-Overwatch?
That time of his life was over. It had to be.]
no subject
[He shouldn't bother. This is just a waste of his time, an attempt to recapture something that's long gone and that he isn't getting back, no matter how hard he tries. His death is evidence enough of that, but Jack finds himself surprised at how not angry he is about it--just exhausted.]
Doesn't seem right to just let this go.
[Or keep going the way they had been--circling each other until something snaps, only to rinse and repeat the cycle. Jack can't honestly say the answer is that he misses Gabriel, not given everything he's done to dismantle the thing they gave their lives to, but how can you spend the better part of thirty years so close to someone only to give up?]
no subject
[It was too late. Even if he wanted to go back, even if he could forgive their lost trust in him, it had been too long. He was one of Talon's leaders now. Just like they were too old to keep trying to fight like this, in a world where nobody cared about their personal conflict, Jack had long ago deemed Gabriel's methods too extreme.
He didn't change then. He wasn't about to change now.]
just because it doesn't feel right doesn't mean it isn't.
thought you would have figured that out by now.
[But of course not. This is Jack Morrison he's talking to.]
no subject
[And it should be easy to hate Reyes for everything he's done and all that he's destroyed--for aligning himself with the enemy and seemingly caring little for all the shared history between them. For all the good they did.
Maybe Jack finds it easier to pretend there's something to save, because the alternative is to finally admit that Gabriel Reyes had never been, at any point, the man Jack thought he was.
That hurts more than he can possibly find words for. Of course he's still going to fight.]
You didn't kill Ana.
no subject
[He regrets that. It wasn't necessarily because he cared, though some part of him might have hoped that she wouldn't have taken that shot.
But it had just proved that he was right all along. It was never about respecting his position. It was always about Jack Morrison.]
leaving her alive was a better idea while you were still dead.
no subject
[He's not sure who he's trying to convince, but he isn't going to let Reaper forget this. It's too big a slip-up, even if he was certain Jack would be gone for good.]
I won't let you forget that.
no subject
Its not a bad idea. It would give him something else to focus on. Something else to do, another way to prove Jack wrong about him. But it doesn't escape his notice that it would be just as useless.]
what do you want me to say, jack?
no subject
Where do you think you can go from here?
no subject
[Its a challenge he'd take any day -- if it were anyone else. But Ana had still shot him, so that should have been enough motivation to move forward.
But it wasn't as if she hadn't taken those shots before, when Jack was involved. He hadn't mattered to them like they mattered to each other in a long time.]
its never going to go back to how it was.
we have different things we want for the world.
that's just how it is.
so stay out of my way.
both of you.
no subject
[Which says something, Jack thinks.]
Can't. Not as long as you're trying to undo all the good we did.
no subject
besides.
we didn't do any work here.
these people don't care about you.
they don't care about amari.
they don't care about me.
why do you care so much about what happens to them?
to this planet?
i'll tell you one more time.
stay out of my way.
and if you can't do that, then you aren't tired enough.
no subject
no subject
do what you want.
but consider yourself warned.
i'll kill you again.
and i will kill her too.
no subject
no subject
it doesn't.
ball's in your court, jack.
no subject
no subject
what are you going to apologize for?
no subject
no subject
nobody was there when it mattered.
[And to make sure he isn't tempted to reply again, he slides the TAB across the floor to the other side of the room.]
no subject
Everything we went through means nothing to you?
no subject