Jack groaned as the bullet tore through his neck and the blood gurgled up from the wound. He used to scream, gasp, try to breathe through it until the end, but these days, Jack Harkness finds that it 's easier to not cough, to inhale the blood and let it drown him before he dies because it 's not going to his brain. It 's so much nicer to die before your brain starts sparking, he 's discovered.
Still, this one should be quick. Not much damage, injury-wise, so he should be penny-new soon enough. Penny-new. Sounds like something the Doctor would say, he thought, as he sank into that all-too-familiar darkness.
Suddenly, the darkness began to recede a little. What the hell? Jack knew from copious experience that he would only go back when he
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"How is it you keep escaping me?" Death asked, tapping his cane against the hard floor as they went. He didn 't seem angry, simply curious. "Humans, angels, demons, they come to me when they die. But you constantly leave, and I can 't say I understand it."
Jack sighed. He hated explaining. "Do you know of the Time Lords?" He went on to explain about the Doctor, Bad Wolf, the Time Vortex and Platform 500, and how Rose had inadvertently used the power of the time vortex to make him permanent. Death listened to the story with a look of mild interest, swinging his cane, other hand tucked into his pocket. "I 'm a permanent part of space time," Jack finally finished with a sigh. "I can 't die. At least, nothing I 've tried or has been tried on me works."
Finally, after a long time more, just when Jack was beginning to feel the darkness press in on him again, Death spoke. "You will die, Jack. Not yet, but some day." His wrinkled lips spread into a small grin. "It appears that the universe has a sense of humor. I presume you don 't sleep?" When Jack answered with a shake of his head, Death continued. "You 're not tired enough. Every time you die, you start over. If you ever stop dying, you will simply keep going. Never sleeping, just existing. And then, when you are very old, and very tired, you 're last