for best_served_hot Every night he had bad dreams...

[quitehomoerotic]

It had been months since then. Months since the Valiant and the terrible events that occurred upon it. It had been months of rebuilding a life. Torchwood, his team, his people.

But every night. Every night without fail. He dreamt.

No, not dreams. Dreaming sounded like too nice a word. He had nightmares. Terrible nightmares.

He did his best to ignore them, or at least get used to them, and sometimes he even managed it. He did his best to push aside the memories of that year that never was, and of the pain and terror. To forget the face of the man who caused it all. But it never was that easy.

Some nights would be easier. The nights forcing himself to stay awake or better the nights he spent with Ianto. It stilled his mind and sometimes he could even relax. But they'd still be there, tickling away at the back of his mind, reminding him that they were there. Reminding him of just what happened.

He'd even, on an occasion or two, gone to the point of taking pills to steady his mind. They worked, at least for a while.

But nothing could work for long, and when he slept, he knew to expect it, and to expect he'd wake in a sweat.

And he expected that now. Alone in the Hub at the end of a long day, lying in bed and waiting. He closed his eyes, and he knew they'd come.

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[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack's face went pale with fear. He tugged a little more against the shackles but the only result was making them dig in more against his arms, painful as they cut into the skin.

"No" he said.

He couldn't go through this again. Not like this. Not in such vivid reality. "This is just a dream," he repeated again, parroting his own words. "Just a dream."

What could it be, this creature, to reach into his mind and pluck the image so perfectly? He didn't know of anything that could do this.

"Wake up. Wake up. Wake up," he whispered the words under his breath, behind closed eyes. He just needed to force himself to wake up and the nightmare would end.

"You've got no control over me. You're just a dream."

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The Master chuckled, watching him struggle in vain and felt a familiar rush go through him. This was going far better than he had imagined. He chuckled then, turning as the door opened and his three favorites hovered in.

"There he is! We found him." piped up one, a male voice.

"My Mister Master, hiding again. So kind and he always plays games with us!" came the high pitched voice next, a girl's. "Can we finally play with your very favorite toy? We only get to watch, can we play? Pretty please?" It was child-like, plaintive even and it made the Master smile. He did miss them, his children.

The metal orbs hovered closer to Jack, darting around excitedly. Another male voice, sounding older than both, spoke up. "If his head were to come off would it grow back?"

The Master outright laughed then. "Such curious little things. Adorable, really. Makes me feel all fuzzy inside."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack's heart beat fast; racing at triple speed. The Toclafane, or whatever they were, had killed him before. They had killed him with their blades, cutting him to pieces slowly, making him scream in agony as they tore him up.

It was a terrible memory, and a memory recalled now in fear as he felt the air shift around him as the spheres flew in circles.

This was all too very real.

Jack looked at the Master. He stared at him. He felt sick.

"You're him..." he said, and he tried not to sound as scared as he felt.

[best-served-hot.livejournal.com]

The Master took a deep breath, savoring this moment as if he were drinking a very fine wine. The orbs still flitted about in this memory conjured up for the both of them and he walked closer, ike a cat toying with a mouse before it's killed.

He moved closed enough to where he was in his space, eyes cold and full of malice. It was all a game. All of it and the Master was so very good at winning games.

"What gave it away?"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"How?" Jack demanded, not answering the Master's question.

"You died. I saw you die. How are you doing this?"

Jack had always been afraid. Afraid when he was on the Valiant, afraid of what the Master might do. He always managed to hide it well in the past. But here, knowing he was in his own dreams, that was somehow so much more terrifying.

"Why? Why me?"

[best-served-hot.livejournal.com]

"Oh no you don't. Not giving away my secrets so early, I have things to do. Planets to destroy, a cosmos to conquer, you know, the usual." he grinned, eyes a bit wild.

"Kinda scary isn't it? I had you going for a bit, you really thought I was some worthless entity pretending to play around in your head using my form?" He tsked him, clearly unamused.

"You're getting slow, old man."

He continued to watch him. "Next to the Doctor, you were my favorite. A mind so strong was just begging to be broken and so I set to work. The only reason I'm mucking about in your head is easy access." he smirked.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack stared at the Master with utter disgust. He thought he was rid of him. He thought death had been the end.

He should have known better.

"Oh but you're nothing," Jack says with an almost laugh. "So you give me bad dreams, so what? I'll wake up eventually and then you'll be gone again. You're nothing. Nothing at all."

That had to be right, didn't it? There was nothing he could do past this. At least he hoped not.

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The Master stepped even closer, giving a cold, cruel laugh of his own. "Do you think I'd waste my time with you if that was all I could do?"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack bristled with fear.

The words cut through him like a knife.

"You're bluffing," he tried to laugh and sound as flippant as he possibly could, but beneath the surface the very idea was terrifying.

"You wasted your time last time," he spat, "didn't do you much good then."

[best-served-hot.livejournal.com]

"You only wish I was." he said, ignoring his last statement.

The Master reached out, placing a hand on Jack's chest, over his heart. He then leaned in as if he were sharing a prized secret. "Listen, Jack, don't you hear it?"

His fingers on the Fact's chest mimicked the steady four-beat. Tap-tap tap-tap, over and over again.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"Stop it," Jack said angrily as the Master tapped his fingers against his chest.

"You don't get to me that way," he wouldn't hypnotise him like he hypnotised the whole of the UK into believing in Harold Saxon. He wouldn't let him.

But that was foolish too, wasn't it? Saying he wouldn't? Saying he couldn't? Because he was in his mind now, in his dreams. And even though Jack knew it was a dream, he couldn't break free from it.

And even too as he scolded the Master and rejected his threats, he heard it, like an echo in his mind. An echo of the taps.

An echo of a drum beat.

[best-served-hot.livejournal.com]

The Master continued the four-beat, the drums, never-ending and eternal. "I don't need to hypnotize you to gain control. To use you." he whispered.

"Closer and closer. You can hear them now, can't you?" He didn't need an answer to know that he could. "It never stops. It will never, ever stop and they are so demanding." he hissed, sounding nearly desperate.

"This constant noise." he said, looking up to meet Jack's gaze once more. "You hear it? Don't you?"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"No," Jack said back, desperately. Oh that thought was chilling. To use him? What did he mean by that? What could he possibly have planned? There's nothing that Jack wouldn't put past him. Nothing.

He heard it though, and as the Master spoke, as he went on, they got louder.

Tap tap tap tap. Tap tap tap tap. Tap tap tap tap.

He looked up at the Master, met his eyes to at least make a show of being fearless, and he wondered if this was what it was like for him. Is this what he heard? So constantly? Is this what drove him to insanity?

"What have you done to me?" he grit through his teeth, and his fear was in his eyes.

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But Jack was only getting a small taste of what it was like for the Master. For the Time Lord it was so loud and constant.

"I've heard it since I was a child." he admitted, gaze suddenly far off, lost in memory. Thinking about that, he frowned and looked at Jack again. "We're sharing one mind, it was bound to bleed through sooner or later."

There was something else Jack might catch in his gaze, remorse possibly. But it could have been an illusion. "I'm sorry."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"You're sorry?" Jack tugged on the chains as if to just prove how out of place that statement was in this scenario.

The Master looked genuinely remorseful for a second, but it was nothing, it passed and even if it didn't, Jack didn't care. Right now, locked in the recesses of his own mind, trapped inside a nightmare, he wasn't feeling overly receptive to the Master's emotions.

"How long," Jack said, "how long have you been here?"

[best-served-hot.livejournal.com]

That seemed to snap the Master out of his reverie, the tugging of the chains.

He had been genuinely remorseful but it really had no place here. Nor did it have a place in his plans, that was all Jack would get. Things had to move forward. He wanted existence back. Life.

"Still trying to get information. Ever the soldier, dear Captain. You wouldn't appreciate the answer anyways."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"You won't succeed. Whatever you're trying here, you won't succeed." Jack warned him with a growl, tugging on the chains a little more.

The memories in this room were horrific, and so many were buried and uncovering themselves, merely by virtue of his being there. He was terrified.

"I'll wake up," he said, "you're just a nightmare. You're not real." He wanted so desperately to believe that.

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The Master stepped back then, smiling graciously as if he were the host of a magnificent party and Jack were an honored guest.

"And on that brave note, I leave you to their tender mercies. They have so been looking forward to playing with you. Have fun!"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"No," Jack shouted, face going pale. "No!"

He struggled against the chains in vain as the sphere's approached and the next thing that could be heard from him was wailing screams as they attacked and cut him up

The next thing he knew he was sitting up in bed. Awake.

He clutched his wrists, and they still felt sore from the shackles.

[best-served-hot.livejournal.com]

Soon you won't be able to get away from me so easily. It was weak, a barely there whisper. He'd used much of his energy with that little game. But now that Jack knew of his existence, lurking behind the veil of his mind and the drums were a constant in his subconscious--

It wouldn't be long now.

Go ahead and mainline coffee and other assorted stimulants but sooner or later, you'll be back and I'll be waiting, Jack Harkness.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

That should have been it, when he woke up. That should have been enough to cut off the nightmare.

But it wasn't.

The voice was distant, but it was there, like a whisper in the back of his mind. His imagination; it had to be. It wasn't real, it couldn't be.

"Jack, you're finally losing it," he whispered to himself.

He spent his day as normal, working. Nothing huge, no big dramas or end of the world scenarios, just a day in the Hub with paperwork and coffee. A lot of coffee. Fine, he thought. He was fine. But then when he was alone, sitting at his desk, he found himself tapping away on the desk. That little drum beat...

Tap tap tap tap, tap tap tap tap

No. No it wasn't in his head. But then he could swear that when he noticed it he heard laughter.

He couldn't fall asleep again. He wouldn't let himself. Two days was easy enough to stay awake. Easy enough with caffeine and concentration. But as he got tired (as much as he ignored it), that peat seemed to appear again, just at the back of his head.

And he couldn't will it away.

[best-served-hot.livejournal.com]

And yes, the Master was laughing at him. His feeble attempts to fight off the Drums now that the floodgates were opened. As he promised Jack, he would wait. Oh for the prize he was after, he had no problem in biding his time and tormenting Jack whilst the human tried to wish him away.

Ianto wasn't stupid, he saw Jack and the rhythm he'd been tapping at odd intervals throughout the two day span but being polite; ignored it. But he also seemed stressed, so after refilling his cup again, he waited, watching.

"Song stuck in your head?"

Oh if only the little teaboy knew, eh Jack?

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"No."

Jack had snapped at Ianto and stood from his desk to pace. "It's nothing." He tried to ignore it, and the whisper of a voice that mocked him. The voice that seemed so much more real now than it was when he was wide awake. He couldn't force it away, and that was some how scarier. He shouldn't have to face this now, he shouldn't have to be afraid in his own skin. Captain Jack Harkness didn't do afraid.

He spent the next two days in the same manner, forcing himself to stay awake, but the waking nightmare just getting worse. The sound, that little feeling that even when completely alone, there was someone there.

It was day four when he fell asleep again, and it was much against his own will. Sitting on the couch in the Hub with some much needed to attend to paperwork on his lap, he drifted off.

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Ianto frowned, filing the outburst away to think on later. It was painfully obvious that something was bothering him and he hadn't been the only one of them to notice. But he doesn't press for answers, he knew it wouldn't get him anywhere, anyways.

"Let me know if you need anything else then." He hoped he'd take the offer before whatever this was got out of hand.

And when he finally falls asleep, he'd hear the rustling of the papers in his lap as the Master picked them up for closer examination. He dropped one, letting it float to the floor.

"Boring."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack 'woke' into his dream with a start. He hadn't intended to fall asleep, and for a moment he didn't think he had. But there he was, in front of him. Chilling to see him standing in the Hub like that.

He straightened his back and tried to clear his head a little.

"What do you want?" he said as he wiped a hand over his face, trying to act as though the Master was nothing more than a minor annoyance.