After so many years of immortal existence, Captain Jack Harkness could personally attest to a terrible truth. Times of joy and happiness always seemed to go by in a flash, while times of misery and pain simply slowed into a crawl, bringing hopelessness and desperation along with them.
This time, however, it looked like as if time had come to a complete stop. There was no day or night, nor sleep or wakefulness. Just before and after death.
Before death meant the Master's reign over him. The torture, each time different and aiming to reach Jack's limits and have his screams ring throughout the room. The scorn as the Master taunted the former time-agent, laughed at him for the loyalty he carried in his heart; the loyalty that never was nor would ever be returned. And then there was the stripping of pride, a reminder that Jack was a violation to nature and that he should be treated no differently.
After death, though, when Jack softly gasped to life, weak and trembling and once more tied up, he would close his eyes and hope. Hope that Martha was safe, that the Doctor didn't come to any further harm, and that, one day, they would get out of the endless cycle. And then, just maybe, he would find those he had taken for granted all this time and make things right. To be Captain Jack Harkness, leader of Torchwood, and not… a toy.
"Awake so soon?" the hateful voice said from the doorway, cutting into the silence like a knife. "Then we can begin again!"
And with that, the cycle started anew…