She'd been there for hours or days or weeks - she didn't know. Time had blurred thanks to the darkness and the lack of any way possible of knowing when it was or how long she'd been in there; plus, they drugged her at regular intervals. At first she'd thought it was in the food - gruel, really, because it was little more than hot cereal...well, lukewarm, really - they gave her and she'd gone on a hunger strike. All that had resulted in was her having the humiliating experience of being forcefed. Eventually Sydney realized that the drug was in the air itself, pumped in via some sort of ventilation system. They'd kept her in constant darkness, not even giving her the chance to see the tiny cell she was in. Originally, she'd considered keeping track of the days or weeks by her menstrual cycle, but considering she'd been abruptly removed from birth control by being kidnapped, that plan hadn't worked either; however, she had been provided a sink, toilet, and feminine products.
They weren't uncivilized, after all.
She'd just endured another round of questions about her actions, the state of her soul, and how she felt, and Sydney had rebelled by not responding. She'd done nothing more than lean against the wall, eyes closed as she endured it, not wanting to give their night vision cameras the satisfaction of a response. Eventually they gave up again and she could feel herself becoming sleepy once more, and wanted to sob. The drug meant that Adrian couldn't get to her, because this wasn't a real, true sleep.
When she awoke again, Sydney knew instantly that something was different. First, she no longer felt completely cold. Sure, there was still the deep ache in her bones that came from not getting any warmth for a long time - but she wasn't cold all over. Second, the floor felt different. And third...third she could feel the fog lifting from her mind, signalling that there was no drug being given to her at the moment. And from behind her eyelids, she could see light.
Beautiful, precious light. Shuddering faintly, hardly daring to hope and half wondering if she was hallucinating, her eyes cracked open slowly, very carefully, then immediately closed again. Before she could get her brain to form the word "sunlight", she heard a voice - a voice that wasn't mechanically feminine - a voice that was familiar. Licking dry lips, she spoke faintly, hardly more than a whisper.