Koschei was close to breaking, he wanted his grandmother to walk down the steps of the Prydonian Academy and teach the boys who were bullying him a lesson. They hurled abuse at him about his father, he had already heard some of the terrible things that he had done, contacting aliens and taking bribes from time travel extremists but the things these boys were saying about Koschei's father made him out to be some sort of ruthless, uncaring villain. Koschei looked up at his bullies, Vansellostophossius (or Vansell as he liked to be called) and Jelpax stood by snickering at the taunts as beside them Torvic made up some new ones.
When Koschei had met Torvic for the first time, only a few days ago, Koschei made the error of looking him in the eye, apparently that was a big mistake, or so the other children at the academy kept telling him.
Koschei couldn't stand the constant abuse any longer, he reached into his equipment carrier and pulled out his clockwork Gappabird and began to stroke its metal wings. He knew it was stupid to do this around bullies but it calmed him, until it was snatched from his hands at least.
"Aw precious little loomling" Torvic taunted as he rolled the Gappabird in his hands before throwing it at the wall behind Koschei
"Don't look at me again" Torvic warned before leaving with his giggling friends
Koschei gathered his clockwork Gappabird together, they were built to be durable but one of the wings had dislodged itself from the body and a few gears and springs had come loose. Koschei wasn't good at fixing things but right now he prayed to Rassilon, Omega and the Other that he could find some way to mend his favorite toy, it was given to him by his grandmother when he was brought into being and it meant the world to him.
"Excuse me" Spoke a soft voice, the accent was hard to place
Koschei looked up and saw a blond haired boy, about the same age as himself, looking kinda lost.
"Yeah?" Koschei spoke unsure of the new comer's intentions
"I'm good at fixing clockwork pieces, would you mind?" The boy seemed sincere and had a warm face
Koschei nodded and handed the bird over to the boy, who sat down beside him and started tinkering with it.
"How do you know how to do that?" Koschei asked
"My brother taught me, he's the real expert when it comes to clockwork devices" said the boy, trying not to look up
"Wish I had a brother" Koschei drifted
"You wouldn't if you had mine" The boy giggled before adding "Can I ask you something personal?"
Koschei was taken aback, he really hoped the boy wasn't going to ask him about the regeneration cycle or where children come from, mainly because Koschei didn't really know anything about either of these subjects.
"What was it like?" The boy asked
"What?"
"You saw into the Untempered Schism, didn't you?"
Koschei paused, he only told one person about what he had seen that day and they told him he was being childish and immature.
"It wasn't that interesting" Koschei lied
"Hurt like Pythia to me" the boy replied
Koschei was again stunned, every Prydonian, hell every Gallifreyan he had ever met always talked about the Schism as some giant rite of passage, a moment of divine wisdom that was as sweet as honey and bestowed great power to Loomlings. This was the first time anyone had admitted to him that it was painful.
"It felt like the time vortex burning through my mind" Koschei admitted as he tapped out a faint tune that frequently popped into his head
The boy handed him back the Gappabird, the wing had been reattached and could even be moved properly again.
"Good as new" The boy smiled reassuringly
"Thank you so much" Koschei beamed "I'm Koschei by the way"
The boy told Koschei his name "Good to meet you" he added
"Do you wanna play?" Koschei asked, gliding his Gappabird playfully in the boy's direction
"Yeah, thanks" said the boy excitedly as he pulled a strange looking toy out of his equipment carrier
"What's that?" asked Koschei
"It's called a train, it's from some strange planet one of my relatives visited"
"It's alien?" Koschei whispered
The boy looked saddened, Koschei guessed many people had tried to tell on him for having an alien toy.
"Is that okay?" The boy asked
"Of course, maybe we can swap?"
The two boys played with each other's toys for the rest of the class break and when they were pried away from each other by the sound of the lesson bell, they both knew that they had just made a friend for life.
Knock, knock, knock. Drumming? No that left ages ago. Missy brushed some sleep from the corner of her eye, it sounded like someone very impatient was knocking on the door of her TARDIS. She was lying in her queen sized bed, just spurned from a dream about... actually she couldn't remember, something about the old days definitely, maybe something about that wretch Torvic.
Knock, knock, knock again, this time sounding louder and far more demanding. She swore if this was another postal worker, she'd flay him and marinate him in chilli powder. Missy pulled the duvet off herself, revealing her favorite pair of pyjamas, a black pair with red question marks embroidered on the lapels, a call back to a few versions of one of her favorite people.
Knock knock knock again, Missy had enough of this nonsense, she rose from her bed, shivering slightly at the coldness of her ship and grabbed her Tissue Compression Eliminator from a nearby shelf. She then strode downstairs into her console room and took a look at the monitor, the last thing she needed was to open the door and be executed by a Dalek attack force.
Missy didn't know where her TARDIS had landed, before going to bed a few hours ago she programmed her ship to stay in the Vortex. The monitor held no clues, it was most likely faulty just like all the other old relics she'd stolen from war torn Gallifrey.
Knock, knock, knock
Missy tightened her left hand into a fist and with her TCE in her right, approached the door, Daleks be damned someone was going to get turned into a teeny, tiny dolly for waking her up and being persistently infuriating.
Missy opened the door and saw the one sight she had not planned on seeing. Stood at the door was not a postal worker, nor a Dalek attack force. Stood at the door was an older man with grey hair and piercing blue eyes, dressed in his usual magicians garb and holding a small grey box decorated with an even smaller red bow.
The Doctor strolled past her and into the TARDIS, handing her the suspiciously heavy little box and nicking her TCE in the confusion.
"Mark 6, nasty little thing" he commented before throwing it onto the chair nearest the console
Missy couldn't believe the man, how did he track her down, what did he want and perhaps most importantly what was in the little box he had given her.
Missy placed the box on a nearby bookshelf and asked the Doctor the first question that came to her mind.
"What's in the box?"
The Doctor smirked "Open it and find out"
Missy unravelled the bow and was about to take the top off the box when she considered that since the last time she saw the Doctor he was about to kill her, maybe in this box was some kind of bomb or device that would atomize her upon opening it. Realising how stupid that sounded she slid off the top and looked inside to see a clockwork Gappabird, the same clockwork Gappabird she'd had as a child. The same one she'd given to the Doctor as a present when they'd left the academy.
"It was in my pocket when I left Gallifrey, thought you might want it back"
Missy was awestruck, she wasn't sure what made her happier, the fact that the Doctor had kept her clockwork toy for millennia or the fact that he had given it back to her. An idea struck her.
"Wait right there" Missy barked at him "Don't move, don't touch anything"
Missy ran back upstairs, leaving the Doctor standing in her console room, he looked around, played with his fingers and eventually started to examine the TARDIS console.
"Don't even try it!" Missy yelled from her bedroom
The Doctor retracted his hand from the TARDIS console and began to count how many valuable pieces of art Missy had hanging from the walls of her TARDIS. After a minute, Missy descended from the top of the stairs, she was dressed in a navy blue version of her scary nanny outfit and was keeping something covered in her hands. When she reached the bottom of the stairs she gave the Doctor a smile that sent a shiver down his spine.
"Since we're having reunions"
Missy opened her hands revealing the Doctor's old toy train, it had not aged as well as Missy's Gappabird but apart from a little scratched paint and a little faded colour, it was essentially the same as the first day the Doctor had laid eyes on it.
"I thought I had lost that" said the Doctor as Missy handed the toy to him
"I needed a memento when you left for pastures new, so I may have nicked this from your house"
The Doctor examined the toy and watched as some very early memories flashed before his eyes.
"I don't suppose I'd have it now if you didn't"
Missy finally asked the most pressing question, the one that could mess up her day or make it more interesting.
"Why did you find me?"
"Closure" The Doctor revealed "The last time we met didn't go so well"
"I liked it"
"You died"
"I survived" Missy smirked
"Obviously" The Doctor said slightly coldly
Missy frowned "What now"
"How about a stroll" Suggested the Doctor "It's not bad outside, in fact it's Christmas"
"Where have I actually landed, I set my TARDIS to hover in the Vortex"
"I set mine to intercept" explained the Doctor "And guide your TARDIS to the nearest uninhabited planet... but I may have gotten a little off course"
Missy stroked her TARDIS console affectionately.
"It's not Earth again, is it?" she asked
"Not quite"
Missy approached the door, her curiosity peaked, she pressed the release mechanism and opened it. Outside was a veritable winter wonderland. Snow covered hovering market stalls filled with food, gadgets and decorations. Faux 19th century gas lights stood tall and cast bright comforting lights over the entire market festival, banishing the night from beyond. The smell of the grass was faint but Missy could detect the scent of Apple and Cinnamon even through the snow that was still falling.
"It's called New Earth" said the Doctor
"Of course it would have to have something to do with Earth to catch your attention"
Missy noticed a giant pink Christmas tree walk up to a stall and buy a cup of mulled wine, meanwhile a few literal Cat ladies bought knitting supplies.
"It's not bad" Missy admitted, stepping out into the cool winter air
The Doctor joined Missy, closing her TARDIS door behind him. Missy feeling like chancing her luck linked arms with the Doctor and though he tried to squirm out, he found himself trapped.
"If only our little Clara could see us now" she dared
"There are some things Clara doesn't need to know" the Doctor replied
"Like your age for example"
"What about my age"
"Well you go around telling people you're what? 2000 years old, you reached that milestone millennia ago"
"You're one to talk, how old are you now anyway"
"Ladies and age, Theta" she warned, giving him a cheeky smile
The Doctor and Missy played archery together at a nearby games stall, Missy scored a bullseye and the Doctor remembering, or at least trying to remember his light training with Robin Hood failed to hit the target and ended up knocking the owners hat off her head.
Missy and the Doctor then went bargain hunting around the stalls, Missy found a new bracelet, not as useful as her old one but still very pretty and could electrify her touch ever so slightly giving anyone she laid a hand on the shock of their lives. Naturally she honoured the Doctor with the first, second and third settings. The Doctor found a butterfly pendant that could pick up radio signals from other dimensions (or at least that's what it said on the label) and Missy won him a Sensorite plushie in a laser gun competition.
Finally they sat down at a near by bench with some peppermint hot chocolate that they had managed to win from the drinks stall.
"That Cyberman that shot at me though" Missy interjected into their conversation "Was that Clara's boyfriend?"
"No" The Doctor said forcing himself not to smile at the identity of her would be killer
"Then who was it?"
The Doctor remained silent but the hint of a smile cracked through his secretive demeanour.
"Doctor?" Missy persisted
"The Brigadier" The Doctor finally cracked
Missy was shocked "Lethbridge-Stewart tried to kill me" she almost choked "Well I suppose it was my fault for resurrecting the dead"
"Speaking of the dead though" She continued "I don't suppose you ever see that old Celestial Toymaker any more, do you?"
"Nah" The Doctor mumbled as he took a sip of his hot chocolate "Not since the Eclipse event near the end of the War"
"Eclipse event?" Missy repeated, The Doctor forgot she wasn't there for that particular crisis
"Basically" he explained "The Daleks invaded the Toymaker's home dimension to search for the Seven Keys to Doomsday"
"I thought that was just a fairy tale"
"Apparently every fairy tale has a scrap of truth in it"
"So what happened?"
"The Toymaker grew bored of Dalek company, used a Time Lord to activate the keys and then collapsed his dimension"
"So he escaped"
"Into another, yes" The Doctor confirmed
"Which Time Lord did he use, not because I actually care, just because I'm nosy"
"Jelpax"
"Couldn't have happened to a more deserving Time Lord"
"Jelpax was a good man in the end" the Doctor countered
"I couldn't care less, I still remember him as one of Torvic's goons, I don't even know why him and Vansell got into the Deca"
A look of pain glazed over the Doctor's face for a moment, he wasn't used to hearing Torvic's name, it sliced at a raw nerve but he quickly composed himself.
"Sorry I should know better" Missy admitted
The Doctor said nothing, his gaze now fixed on a stall in the distance.
"Thank you by the way, I don't think I've ever actually said that" Missy spoke again
The Doctor turned back to face her.
"For what?"
"Torvic"
"I killed a boy and cursed you, I don't see why you should thank me"
"It was either Torvic or us and we were only kids at the time too"
"There should've been a better way" The Doctor insisted
"Sometimes a balloon just needs to be popped"
The Doctor's eyes widened, his face became the very epitome of fury and rage.
"Like Osgood you mean" he almost spat "Or Lucy Saxon or Tremas, you remember him right? And they're just some of the names that keep me awake at night, you've left whole civilizations dead in your wake"
"We're like two peas in a giant Gallifreyan pod" Missy replied
"The difference is I have never killed out of cruelty or cowardliness and definitely not out of some twisted obsession"
Missy's eyes lit up "Your obsession is Earth, you'd do anything for it"
"Because I want to protect it from people like you"
"People like me" Missy said in a cockney accent before sliding into her Glaswegian" You mean people like us"
"I am nothing like you" The Doctor affirmed
"You're exactly like me"
"You're not even real!" The Doctor boomed
"What?"
The Doctor looked uneasy, he took another sip of his hot chocolate before looking back at Missy.
"You know the way I said I found you because I needed closure"
Missy nodded briefly.
"This isn't New Earth" The Doctor admitted "It's a virtual reality chamber aboard my TARDIS"
Missy looked horrified.
"You're not Missy, you're just a toned down virtual character made up from all known information on Missy/The Master"
"Why?" Missy asked plainly
"You're dead and I didn't get a chance to say goodbye" he said coldly "Now I'm not sure if you were even worth it"
The Doctor was about to stand up, when an idea came to Missy
"Theta" She called
"Yes"
"I can't believe Lethbridge-Stewart got the last laugh, did he at least have a moustache?"
The Doctor smirked and sat down again
"No moustache but the old solider did get his prize"
"Remember that Christmas we spent drinking champagne at UNIT"
The Doctor snickered "Lethbridge-Stewart nearly shot me for not bringing you in"
"Then there was that one time you invited me over to Lungbarrow to spend Otherstide and your brother wouldn't stop calling me your toxic influence"
"Brax really didn't like you" The Doctor laughed
"That wasn't even the worst part" Missy said as she finished her hot chocolate "I couldn't sleep because I was convinced that your house was going to eat me"
The Doctor and Missy started laughing, to the Doctor he had a chance to talk to his old friend and reminisce about all the strange things they had done together.
"Would you like another" The Doctor said, glancing in the direction of her empty cup.
"Why not" Missy smirked handing him the cup "What would the universe be if evil couldn't take a day off"
Inside the real Missy's TARDIS, she smiled as she watched the Doctor go up and win her another cup of peppermint hot chocolate. It had been such a good idea of hers to keep a watch on him since the Cybermen business and when he was making his little Christmas with Missy program, it was an even better idea of hers to hack her character avatar and spend some quality time with her old friend.
On her monitor, the Doctor came back with her hot chocolate and carefully handed it to her.
"Merry Christmas Thete" Missy said into her headset as she played with the Doctor's toy train
"Merry Christmas Kos" The Doctor said to her avatar