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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The urge to go with a blatant cliche and laugh maniacally was nearly too amusing an idea to resist, but resist he did. He settled for a lazy, self-satisfied smile.

Then promptly reached over and pinched the skin of his chest rather hard.

"Well, these things are quite complicated. I'm assuming that by you you're implying him. By him one could automatically assume that you're speaking of the Master and since the Master-" He grins and waves as if to say hello.

"-Is moonlighting as a pile of ashes more than likely a) scattered or b) sitting in an urn on a shelf in the TARDIS, I can assume that you don't literally mean me. So no, he's not here." he announces, smiling slyly.

"Just us."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack swallowed hard. The Master was dead. He'd seen him die. He'd watched him die in the Doctor's arms, and he'd later helped to move his corpse to the TARDIS. He couldn't be here.

And here was where he'd gone to sleep, wasn't it? He looked around, checked. It was all the same. Nothing different, nothing out of place. His small little room beneath his office in the Hub.

So how could he be here?

He flinched a little as he grabbed him, and shifted back slightly. It hurt. Really hurt. If he had any remaining question as to whether he was sleeping, it was cleared up by that proof.

"Fine," he said firmly. "So what are you then? Some sort of life form that latches on to memory? Come in with that apparatus we found today did you? Well buddy you've picked the wrong guy to annoy."

In his sleep, Jack's body stopped shifting a little. The tossing and turning relaxed, and it was as though his body was giving in.

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The Master did laugh when he flinched that tiny bit and shifted away from him. It was refreshing to know he still inspired some level of fear in the freak.

He looked mildly concerned but it was all a lie. He wasn't worried in the least. "Oh goodness me, figured it out? Or have you? I think all that is for me to know and you-" It was punctuated by his touching a finger to Jack's nose in a sign of mock affection, like you would do to a small child that amused you.

"-to find out."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

It made sense, Jack considered, that something would do that. A creature that wanted supremacy, if it could access the mind, even if it could only scrape the surface, it would look for those memories that held fear. The Master held a lot of fear.

Though even if that was the case, this creature seemed a perfect facsimile. The Mannerisms, the tone of voice. The smugness. It was so very him and it sent a shiver along Jack's spine.

"No, sorry, that's not how I work," he spoke with confidence he didn't really hold. "If you won't tell me what you are, tell me what you want."

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And some part of the Master knew that Jack would be thinking something like that. He had more control in his mind as he slept but there were still many things he couldn't manipulate or access. Luckily for him, he wasn't some creature looking for supremacy but it had the added benefit of camoflauge.

It would suit his plans for a time and he could grow stronger.

"Why should I? I rather enjoy games and this Master seems to well, be quite adept at them." he mused aloud, canting his head as he delved into memory. "Fascinating how there isn't even a mark." he said, eyes on Jack's body.

"That must have frustrated him terribly."

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There felt to Jack that something was wrong here. Something that he couldn't quite put his finger on. But the thought was a fleeting one, and it left his mind as soon as it was there.

Almost as though it were pushed out.

"I'm sure it did," Jack said back with a firm tone. It was a conscious attempt to sound stronger than he felt. Usually he could pretend, but for some reason, here, he felt truly weak.

He was terrified of the Master, of course. Terrified and haunted by all the things he did. All the things the Master had put him through.

"What do you want?" he growled again. He didn't like this. He didn't like it at all.

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It might have been, after all, couldn't have him overthinking things could he? Another, softer smile graced his lips as he watched him struggle to keep up that brave face. Oh, for the longest time on the Valiant he had been left to wonder if he'd truly broken any part of the Fact.

Now he knew and reveled in the knowledge. Another victory, however small. Soon he'd be able to bare his mind and see just how deep the scars went. See how truly damaged the brave Captain was.

"I believe I answered that. You have a habit of repeating yourself but repetition gets you nowhere and it certainly doesn't allow you into my good graces."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

"I believe you answered nothing!" Jack said back, infuriated and annoyed. He wouldn't stay here like this, he refused.

With laboured movements he pulled himself up from the bed, heavy handed as he tugged the sheet aside and reached for a pair of his trousers hanging over the ladder.

"I don't know what you are or how you got here but trust me, you're not going to get what you want."

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"I told you it was for me to know and you to find out." he chuckled, giving a wolf-whistle just to agitate the other man.

He contemplated replies to his declaration as he did a lazy sprawl across the spot where Jack had been laying. Arms behind his head, he toed his shoes off and let gravity handle their brief fall to the floor. "Oh it's still warm! Nice and cozy." he grinned up at him.

"Oh, but I am because you have no idea who you're dealing with, Jackie boy."

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"Don't talk to me like that," Jack said, attempting a warning, but he could hear the nerves in his voice. Why couldn't he control himself? Why couldn't he hold it back? He should be able to hold it back.

"You're not him," he repeated, although he knew the creature, whatever he was, had already admitted he couldn't be the Master. Hadn't he? Or at least he thought he had.

He turned, ready to ascend the stairs. He wasn't going to stay here.

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"Threatening an entity inside of your head or at least with the ability to control certain aspects of your mind isn't the most brilliant idea you've ever had, I should think." he announced, watching him move across the small room from the bed which he'd claimed for himself.

He gave a put upon sigh. "We already discussed this. Come on, catch up already!"

Only when he turns to go, that hatch slams with an audible clang, sealing him in. "Going so soon? Such a horrible host, I hope you don't intend on throwing parties."

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack stared up at the hatch. No. No it couldn't have. The sound echoed around the small room and Jack knew he was closed in.

"No," he shouted at the figure as he turned his head.

Jack, he heard, distant in the back of his mind. Jack! Jack wake up. Jack!

Jack frowned. It didn't make sense.

Jack!

He woke with a start.

He was lying in his bed and beside him, Ianto was sitting with one hand on his arm. "Yeah," Jack breathed out. "Yeah. Must have been asleep."

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All day, Jack pondered on that dream. That dream that wasn't a dream. The Master. No. It wasn't the Master. It was... he didn't know.

Another day passed, more adventures, more chasing, more shooting. The same old thing. It came to night and he was alone. He didn't want to go to sleep.

He didn't want to. So he stayed awake. He stayed awake, that was, until his body forced him to sleep. Exhaustion setting in, deep in the night.

He drifted off.

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And when he woke it would be to that cell the Master had secured him in towards the end of the Year. Manacles digging into his wrists.

"Oh hoho! I do like his tastes! I mean, he pulled out all the stops for you didn't he? Could use with a bit of fancy decor but I think that would be wasted on you, wouldn't it?" he said as he ducked under an arm in order to stand in front of him, smiling.

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack 'woke' with a start. He hadn't meant to fall asleep. He hadn't.

But that thought barely matters as the realisation of where he was dawned on him.

Oh no. No no no. He couldn't be there. He couldn't be. Of all places. That had gone, that ordeal was in the past.

"This is a dream," he said through gritted teeth, pulling his arms against the shackles. "You're not real."

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The Master smiled easily, as if he were an idiot and patted his cheek. He stepped back a couple of steps, inspecting the cell, even if he already knew all it's nuances. After all, he had built it especially for the freak.

"Doesn't feel much like a dream though, does it?"

[quitehomoerotic.livejournal.com]

Jack looked around. It was identical. Utterly identical. Right down to the scratches on the walls, or the bullet marks where they'd cut through his body and out to hit it at the other side.

He'd had these nightmares before, where he'd remembered being there, but none so vivid as this. None so very very lucid and real.

"You can't be him," Jack said. They'd had this conversation the last time Jack was asleep, but he needed to convince himself as much as anything.

The Master was dead and gone. Gone.

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It was exact, down to the clock on the wall and the date. Even the guard was there, eyes on Jack in case he tried anything.

"I found this buried in there while I was waiting for you to exhaust yourself and I can't help but be fascinated." he mused, pacing the small area in front of him. "I think, I could be wrong, but this was when you were first introduced to- Oh, what did he call them?" he sighed and made a show of pretending he was looking through Jack to pluck the information out of his mind.

"Oh yes, the Toclofane."

[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."

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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.

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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?"

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"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?"

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"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.

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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?"