John had no way of knowing for sure of how long had passed since Scorpius had taken advantage of him. John began to assume that Scorpius visited once a day, not acknowledging him, only speaking to John when he commanded him to drink the contents of the flask. John only refused once, and true to his word Scorpius turned the collar up a setting, causing John to vomit with the convulsions his body was sent into. He soon learnt that he was going to drink that foul liquid regardless, apart from that one time where Scorpius lost his temper, Scorpius had patience to spare. The only thing John could control was whether it was going to hurt or not.

What felt like weeks of John having no one to talk to, only Harvey taking delight in telling him the same thing over and over again, food, and water appearing in his cell after during moments of broken sleep, dreams of Aeryn taking comfort in Crais and the order from Scorpius, John was sure he was going mad. It was a welcome surprise that after forcing that liquid on John, Scorpius reappeared a few hours later.

"I suspect your body has come through the worst of your fever now John if that flask and its contents have done its job and you are beginning to feel the cold in this cell. Although I'm not sure how your unique physiology differs from sabacean physiology" Scorpius said, throwing a blanket at John.

John grabbed at the thick material and wrapped it around him, grateful for something to hide his body away from Scorpius' hungry eyes. Scorpius stood there, expectedly.

"What?" came a sharp reply from John, trying his best to hide how grateful he was to have someone speak to him.

"Oh come on John" came an exasperated retort, "Are humans really that primitive that you aren't taught to say thank you? We both know you can say please just fine"

"You have got to be kidding me? You've left me to rot in this cell and you expect a thank you?!"

Scorpius sighed and went to take the collar's controller from its holster.

"Wait Scorpius" John found himself blurting out.

Scorpius' hand hovered above his holster and waited.

"Thank you" John whispered.

"You're welcome John. See, manners are what keep us civil."

"That, and shock free" mumbled John.

Scorpius laughed and turned to leave.

"Please stay" John asked softly.

Scorpius bent over to stroke the top of John's head, "no not yet John, not yet" and left.

The next few days continued much the same, first the flask and then Scorpius would come back a few hours later with a token gesture – a pillow, a bioluminescent stone, a ball – and each time made John thank him as if it was the most wondrous gift he had ever been given. John spent the time between Scorpius' visits thinking about all his memories back on Moya, how he had got stuck with this wormhole knowledge in the first place, how he was desperate for some company other than himself, and Harvey. The dreams weren't as bad now his fever had broken, the liquid was obviously helping John overcome any illnesses from lack of vitamin D and poor hygiene.

For some reason Scorpius' extra visits abruptly stopped, even John's 'medicine' was delivered a few times by someone under Scorpius' command. They still had the controller to the collar though. John had try to ask why the routine had changed, flitting between being thankful Scorpius wasn't there to leer over him and wondering if he had done anything wrong. The worst bits were when he considered it was because they had captured Moya and her crew. No-one ever answered his questions though.

John lost count of the times he had broken down, weeping openly. He tried everything to get someone's attention, refusing to eat, trying to prise the card reader from the door, yelling, he even resorted to bursting out in song. He never refused to drink what was given to him though. It was during one of these moments that John realised that the luminescent stone had a sharp edge to it.

John just wanted the pain, the voices, and the loneliness to stop. Right now he'd give anything, do anything to just have Scorpius talk to him, he would even take a repeat of how Scorpius abused him the first few nights since he willingly left Moya.

Unable to take it anymore, John took the stone and held it against his left wrist. Harvey was shouting at him to stop, that Scorpius needed John alive in order to retrieve the neural implant, and did he really want to be a disappointment to Scorpius, after everything he had done for John?

Holding his resolve, he pressed down hard and drew the stone up his forearm. It took a few tries to achieve the depth he was after, each stroke being made deeper and deeper. Blood started to bubble at the skin threatening to start flowing. In the dimly lit room, John could only make out bits and pieces. But what John felt as he cut through his skin, causing blood to drip down his arm, was better than anything he had felt before.

John held his arm out and let the bliss wash over him as the blood trickled to the floor. For a few moments, John was rewarded with the same sense of release that first orgasm gave him. He had tried getting himself off to pass the boredom but he couldn't bring himself to finish, images of Scorpius throwing him to the floor stopped him every time. He sighed and leant against the wall. He was ready for this to be it.

He was brought out of his sense of euphoria sharply by his cell door being flung open. Scorpius was standing there, looking furious. An air of foreboding woke John's senses up. Without a word, Scorpius bent down and yanked the blanket from around John and, gripping John's wrist tightly, began to apply pressure to the fresh wound.

Taking a breath to calm his anger, Scorpius looked and John and asked "What das-trak krjtor do you think you are doing? I told you Chrichton there's no escape here. I will make the decision on whether you die or not and I will not be making that decision any time soon. Least of all before, I dig in that brain of yours to unlock my wormhole technology. Do you understand John Chrichton?"

Unnerved by the use of his full name John simply replied "Yes. I'm sorry Scorpius." Tears began to roll down John's face.

"We'll need that seen to."

Instructing John to hold pressure on his arm, Scorpius managed to get him to his feet and supported him by putting one arm around John's waist. They walked quietly out the room and down a corridor. John was struggling to place where he was. Entering a lift, Scorpius propped John up on the lift wall and pressing his comms device, he instructed Bracca to bring a med kit to his quarters.