Title: Breaking The Heart
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating:R
Prompt: "No one mourns the wicked 255" from 500 prompts.
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I gaining any money for this work. I'm just trying to enjoy myself.
Summary: Set during the Year That Never Was. The Master's games extended beyond Jack.
Breaking The Heart
Gwen dreaded the nights.
During the day she would be left alone, in her room. But at night… at night the door would slid open and he would come in.
Not every night. He came one in three nights. But Gwen had begun to think of her time alone as day, and his visits as night since she didn't have daylight anymore.
She had been here 240 days, or 80 depending on which way she looked at it. Either way did not seem long enough to encapsulate what was happening to her.
The Master walked into the room at night, undoing his tie and grinning like a madman.
"Hello slut!" he greeted her, wrapping the ends of the tie around his hands and pulling it taunt. Gwen closed her eyes and slid off the bed and knelt before him, holding out her hands.
"Welcome Master. How may I serve you tonight?" she recited, swallowing down her fear as the Master wrapped the tie around her wrists, binding them tight enough to hurt, tight enough to made her fingers go cold with blood loss as well as fear.
"You can scream!" he told her, tugging on the longer end of the tie, forcing her to shuffle along on her knees after him. There was a stool near the bed, and the Master bent her over it, tying her to the pole on the wall. There were lots of poles along the walls, so the Master could tie her however he liked. Once, he had tied her to the four corners, splayed out like a Vitruvian man, suspended in the air, until her shoulders and hips had popped out of their sockets and she had screamed herself into unconsciousness. That had been 60 days -20 days- ago. Her body still ached, but the Master had used something to speed her healing after he had lost interest in fucking her so hard her dislocated limbs thrashed like a rag dolls. He had only lost interest because she kept blacking out with pain.
Gwen rarely felt her nakedness anymore, at least when she was alone. She was not permitted to wear clothes, and the Master liked to play with the heat in her room, freezing her to hypothermia, and scorching her to heat stroke so at times she longed for clothing, and at times was relieved she had nothing on. But when the Master came into the room, and filled her vision, she became aware of how bare she was. Lucy, his wife, had come into the room on the first day and had made two UNIT soldiers hold Gwen's legs apart while she shaved her, until she was as bare as a little girl. Gwen had screamed her protests, but the men had held her motionless.
"Silly little girl." Lucy had said, "Need to look like you are. You already agreed."
Yes, Gwen had agreed. But she had hoped that she would have been able to retain some dignity.
In Gwen's mind, stupidly she knew now, she had imagined that there would have been something almost heroic about her silent, composed submission to the Master's demands, because she would have been doing it for Jack. The Master had him down in his cells, and as long as Gwen behaved, as long as she called him Master, and not Saxon, as long as she let him do these things to her, he would not go down to torture Jack. The team was dead. Rhys was dead. Jack was all she had left. Gwen would do anything to protect Jack. And when he saw what she had done for him… what she had sacrificed for him… well maybe then…
But any thoughts of a dignified situation had been torn away when Lucy had walked in the door.
"You're not a mistress. You're his whore. He has a mistress… sort of." Lucy had said as she wiped the remnants of the shaving foam away, Gwen's face had burned with humiliation. "He knew you'd agree. You're the Torchwood whore. Everyone knows that."
How the Master had known about Owen, Gwen had no idea. Nor did she really want to contemplate it. Tears streaming down her cheeks, Gwen had shook her head, unable to protest because of the duct tape Lucy had slapped on her face when her screaming had become annoying.
"I'm his wife. He has a mistress. You… you're just a toy. A thing."
No, Gwen refused to accept that. She was Jack's heart. He had all but told her so. It was the one thing that kept her going when the Master was laughing in her ear as he fucked her.
"Not mature enough to be more than a toy." Lucy had giggled as the UNIT soldiers had released her, eyes shamefully turned away from her naked body. "Little girl stamps her foot to get what she wants. Thinks she's the only one in the world. The star in the solar system of her life. Of his life."
The Master bit her arse, making her shriek in pain, and then he slapped the bite, making her groan.
"You'd like it if the good freak did it." sniggered the Master. Gwen said nothing. The Master had no interest in her words unless they were to beg him, or to give him his greeting or farewell. "You'd probably like it all if it was the freak."
Freak. The Master's word for Jack. Gwen had no idea what it was that made Jack such an abomination to the Master, but she had learned defending him would not end well for either of them. Last time she had told him to stop calling Jack a freak, the Master had gifted her with Jack's finger, still warm.
"Complain again, and I'll make you eat it, slut."
Gwen closed her eyes tight, repeating her mantra to remind herself why she was doing this.
'For Jack. I'm the only one who can. For Jack. I'm the only one who can. For Jack.'
"I have something to show you." said the Master, catching her by surprise. Her eyes opened slowly, half expecting a smack. But instead he was smiling at her, not kindly, but not that manic smile he had worn when he had splayed her. Maybe whatever it was would be tolerable. "You've been a good slut lately. Don't even talk back anymore, and that was definitely your worst quality. Honestly I don't know how your teammates or even your boyfriend didn't cut out your tongue."
Gwen flushed, grimacing with pain as she thought of Rhys. Sometimes she thought this whole experience was a punishment for her betrayal of Rhys, for her affair. He had died trying to protect her, before she could tell him that was her job, before she could tell him she loved him. Without Rhys, she had turned all her focus on Jack.
"So I think you deserve to see the man you've been doing this for."
Gwen gasped at those words. She could see Jack?
"Would you like that slut? Would you like to see him?"
"Yes Master. Please Master, I would like that." she babbled, not caring if the Master dragged her as she was now, bruised and naked, so long as she could see Jack. So at least he could see what she was doing for him. What she was willing to do for him. So he could tell her he was proud of her. So that this would be worth it.
"All right then!" The Master beamed as he pulled out the duct tape and ripped off a strip, pressing it to her mouth. He seemed to like this more than any other gag. "Off we go to see the freak."
He untied the longer end of the tie from the pole and dragged her along, almost knocking her over as she struggled to keep up with him. Her leg joints protested the excessive movements –her room was too small to permit much movement. She blanked out everyone they walked past, refusing to meet their eyes. They went deeper into the Valiant, into the bowels of it, and much like the bowels of Hell, it got hotter as they went. And then, Gwen saw him. Side on, through a thick wire mesh. The Master's hand wrapped around her throat and he pulled her against his body, forcing her to stand still and stare.
Jack was splayed out, just like she had been. Only he was still standing. A big damn hero, always standing. Only… he was thinner than she remembered. And his head was hanging, defeated. Gwen ached to reach out to him, to touch him.
And then he spoke.
"I know you think you've been protecting me."
Gwen's stomach gave a leap and she started forward, but the Master pulled her back.
"I know what he's been doing to you at night."
His voice was raspy, and cracked now as he began to sob, "I'm so sorry. You should never have felt that you had to sacrifice yourself like that to protect me."
Gwen closed her eyes. So he knew. All along, he had known.
"When he told me… I thought he was joking. I almost had hoped you had died, rather than begin subjected to…"
'I'd do anything for you Jack.' she thought, wishing Jack could hear her thoughts.
"I wish I had treated you the way I should have. I wish I had told you how I felt."
'I love you too Jack.'
"I'm so sorry." he whimpered, hanging his head even lower. Gwen felt tears on her cheeks, but she didn't care. All that mattered was-
"It's ok Jack."
Gwen's stomach dropped, her eyes widening.
Jack lifted his head, tears rolling down his cheeks. From the shadows, right in front of Jack, Ianto Jones emerged. He was thin, pale, dressed in a tight fitting suit. Reaching out with a pale hand, he cupped Jack's face tenderly. Jack leaned in to the touch hungrily, trembling. Ianto's face cracked as he thumbed away a tear.
"Lucy calls me his mistress."
"I'm his wife. He has a mistress. You… you're just a toy. A thing."
"You shouldn't have to do this."
Gwen became aware that she was struggling, straining against the Master. He held her tight by the throat, but she did not care. This wasn't fair! She had given up everything for Jack! And Ianto was getting the credit.
But Ianto was alive! The Master had said he was dead.
"I can live with my choice." said Ianto.
"What about the others? Gwen, Toshiko, Owen?"
"All dead. Master ordered their execution. He had them shoved off the edge of the Valiant."
That's what he had told her about Ianto. About the others.
Jack stared at Ianto, pressing the most tender of kisses to his palm. Ianto smiled with a broken heart.
"Aww… they are cute together, aren't they?" cooed the Master in Gwen's ear. Gwen shook her head even as Ianto leaned in close and pressed his lips to Jack's holding his face like a sacred treasurer. "You didn't really think he was talking about you, did you? It's not all about you slut."
'Not all about –but Jack –I did this for you Jack, to protect you!'
Ianto pulled away whispering against Jack's lips. "I can take whatever the Master does to me, so long as it keeps him away from you."
'No! That's what I'm doing. You can't –you can't just –no! No, no no!'
Gwen kicked out, she struggled with all her might, even as the Master tightened his grip on her neck. Spots danced in front of her eyes, hiding Ianto and Jack from her, but she still struggled.
This wasn't fair! This wasn't right!
She was meant to be the one!
Her!
Oh but Ianto was alive.
She had missed him so much.
It was meant to have been her!
Epilogue
There was a thump of a body hitting the floor. Ianto and Jack jumped, turning their heads without parting their bodies.
"What –Gwen!"
Gwen lay on the ground, eyes wide and empty. Her thin, naked body was white in the dark boiler room. Ianto clung to Jack as he sagged in horror. The Master laughed as if he was at a comedy show.
"Lucy did tell you I had a toy as well!"
Ianto's stomach turned as he realised where the Master had gone every third night.
"Gwen…"
"Seems she thought she was protecting you freak."
"No…" moaned Jack. The Master grinned, his foot sliding out and nudging between Gwen's legs, pressing against her sex, the black of the leather contrasting with the whiteness of her skin and the red of the bloody bite mark. Gwen's body shifted as he pressed his toe forward, a final violation.
"I thought it was high time she learned that it's not always about her. She was so upset she strangled herself on my own hand."
"You bastard!" spat Jack. The Master's eyes hardened, even though his smile remained fixed.
"Watch your tone freak, or I might cut your little reunion with your boy-toy short. By cutting his head off."
Jack whimpered and shook his head, pressing closer to Ianto.
"Good." said the Master, smiling widely again, "Well, I leave you alone to get reacquainted with your heart."
Humming 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart', the Master sauntered out, leaving Jack and Ianto alone with Gwen's eyes staring up at them accusingly.
Reviews will be greatly appreciated as I tried to stay true to Gwen, but also be fair to her. Also, I don't think I've ever seen a fic like this, where Gwen is the one the Master fucks with.
Night's Darkness