A/N: This is an all likelihood a one shot. I'm sort of torn over making a second chapter follow up but I find myself increasingly doubtful that I'll make it. Anyway, this just occurred to me one day and when I went reading through the other stories here about The Master I ran across Tea Break by Margaret Price. So if the idea of having the Master and the Doctor just chat without the world about to end appeals to you, I'd recommend reading that one as well.
Far beyond the reaches of Earth lay worlds of unimaginable size and scope. Entire civilizations existed, some for longer than the Earth had been spinning the cosmos, others spanning more planets than anyone on the blue planet could possibly hope to reach, and still others were nearly exact copies of that world. There were cosmic wonders out there as well, from black holes, to nebulas, to things that were beyond any earthly description.
But for all its wonder and all of its awe, there were some things sadly that did not change. Famine existed, the rich still got richer and the poor poorer, someone was exploited, someone was murdered, someone else was robbed, and the cycle continued. But perhaps the universe's worst invention was still very much apparent even out here amongst the stars where everyone should have had more than enough to keep themselves happy. War.
War was perhaps the one constant in this universe where nothing else possibly could be. War was a simple concept; destroy the enemy that was it. Stop them before they stopped you and then reap whatever rewards were left over…if there were any.
Numerous civilizations had waged war across this universe throughout its history. The war between the Sonatarans and the Rutan Hosts was perhaps the most prominent example as they had been warring for longer than anyone could remember and it had devastated numerous planets across the cosmos. The humans too had gotten into their own war with their sister species the Mondasians after that species had turned itself into Cybermen. They had fought until the late 29th Century when the Cybermen had been seemingly wiped out, though rumors and legends still persisted that they had survived in some shape or form.
But these wars were largely small and confined to only a few hundred of planets. To some this would seem like a lot but not to others, and not with what was to come. Because though numerous civilizations rose to unimaginable heights and fell from power, two were always miles above the rest.
One was an extremely passive species merely content to let the universe runs its course free of their interference. The other an extremely aggressive species whose only intent was to conquer the universe and leave it the only species left alive. Though it might seem that these two, with their seemingly polar opposite philosophies, would immediately run headlong into each other, they didn't. The reasons for this were never very clear. Some suspected the passive specie believed itself far too superior for the aggressive specie to be of any threat. Others suspected the opposite; that they knew they were no match for the other and any war with them would only serve to wipe them out. As for the aggressive species, it was anyone's guess why they did not attack the other. Suspicion was that aside from rumors, the aggressive species had little to no knowledge of the other. Still more supposed that the aggressive species was just biding its time to grow strong enough to defeat the other. At any rate, they stayed well away from each other…mostly.
One member of the passive species did not harbor whatever other thoughts his species did about the more aggressive one. He knew the aggressive species perhaps better than anyone in the known galaxy. They were one of the first species he had ever encountered on his journeys and they had been one of the few he encountered on a consistent basis. The two had clashed across space and time and left a swath of devastation and destruction in their wake. His actions perhaps had two consequences. It had finally tipped off his race that to sit by and watch these creatures continue their rampage across everything that got in their way was no longer a viable option. It also had the unintended consequence of giving the more aggressive species more than enough knowledge of the more passive one to begin drawing plans against them. Especially after the passive race attempted to and failed to prevent their creation.
And so a Cold War of sorts occurred with minor skirmishes here and there throughout reality. The aggressive species soon got involved in a war with a lesser one and though they had put up a fight the lesser species was wiped out in the end. And then there was nothing left between them. For the Daleks and the Time Lords, time and space had run out for both of them
And so the Time War erupted. Worlds crumbled, cities exploded, a whirlwind of devastation, a firestorm of fear. Entire civilizations were wiped off the map, the Autons and the Nestene Consciousness were some of the first to go but they were by no means the last. The Sontarans and the Rutan Hosts actually managed to put aside their differences and put up a unified defense when the war threatened their worlds but their noble efforts were in vain when the War claimed their planets anyway and sent both species into hiding if not extinction. The only species that managed to put up any sort of prolonged defense against the two warring species were the Cybermen and for a brief time, no more than a few thousand years, the war took on a triangular form with three combatants. But the Cybermen fell like all the rest did. And the war continued unabated.
The individual who had first brought the Daleks to the attention of his species too fought in the war. Normally a pacifist by nature, the Daleks always brought out the worst in him. He hated them with a passion and it had driven him to make seemingly irrational decisions in order to stop them. He had destroyed their homeworld, he had brought about the destruction of their creator, and he had taken up arms against them when the war commenced.
But he had also failed in destroying them at the moment of their creation. He had vainly believed then that they were worth saving, that something good could come from their existence. It had not taken him long to realize the folly of that idea and so it was a decision that continued to haunt him as the War dragged on. How many more species had been lost, how many planets had he once known that no longer continued to exist? He didn't know; all he knew was that more were to come and there was nothing he could do to stop it. There was no possible way this war could end without something terrible happening that could not be reversed. It burned him inside to know this and it was here that he found himself sitting on a grassy hill just below his spaceship, his TARDIS, trying to enjoy a moment's peace during a rare lull in the fighting and collect his thoughts.
The sky was blue, white fluffy clouds hung in the air as birds chirped and fluttered about amongst the trees behind him as the sun shone down warming the air. It looked like his favorite planet, Earth, on a normal day. But in front of him the story was much much different. A city lay in front of him, a city that was burning with smoke rising high into the air. The buildings were on fire, large craters marked the surface around it, and no sounds emerged from it. Indeed, the grass ended just beyond him at the base of the hill and turned to scorched ground.
And so this doctor, The Doctor, sat contemplating his life, or lives, he'd had seven of them and was now on his eighth which he strongly suspected would be his last. A mass of conflicting thoughts raged in his head with no possible release. He used to have companions to talk things out with, but with the War he knew he could no longer afford to put their lives at risk. Trillions were dying every day and the Doctor knew that whoever traveled with him would not be alive for very long. And so he traveled alone, a lonely god out amongst the dangerous cosmos.
He was so deep in thought that the sound that was almost like wheezing was heard behind him as if some centrifuge was constantly spinning around almost escaped his notice. Using his peripheral vision, he saw an automobile appear that founds its origins on Earth. A black Lamborghini materialized and the Doctor eyed it curiously before one of the doors swung open and an individual climbed out all dressed in black. The Doctor turned his head away and chuckled to himself as he shook his head.
"Greetings Doctor," said the man standing next to him. The Doctor looked up at the fellow Time Lord who in stark contrast to the Doctor looked like the master of all the domains he surveyed.
"Maybe that's where he got the name from," the Doctor thought mildly amused. "Well, well, well, look what the 'cat' dragged in."
The Master growled softly as he rubbed his black gloved hand down his face as the Doctor began laughing to himself.
"Much to your disappointment I am sure, but I am no longer afflicted with that feline contamination, that accursed Cheetah Virus," commented the Master.
"Oh and here I was so looking forward to the day when I would be fetching you saucers of milk for breakfast," lightly goaded the Doctor smiling broadly as he desperately tried to contain his laughter. The Master's scowl worsened before he decided it wasn't worth brooding over and his face returned to a more neutral one though with still a slight downturn of the mouth.
"So whose body did you steal this time?" inquired the Doctor. "It wasn't anybody I knew was it?"
"On the contrary this is my own body," said the fellow Time Lord patting himself down. The Master looked at himself, admiring his new form. It was somewhat a mix of the forms he had had when he first bothered his fellow time lord and the body he had stolen from one of the Doctor's companion's parent when he had been on the verge of dying. It certainly was better than the body of that Ambulance Driver that had failed him and gotten him sucked into the Eye of Harmony during their last encounter.
"Come now, it's awfully late for jokes," quipped the Doctor not believing him.
"I'm not joking," stated the Master. "When the High Council succeeded in removing my body from the Eye of Harmony, they also managed to restore my original form and then grant me more regenerations on a trial basis of which this is the first."
"And why would they do that?" inquired the Doctor. He had caught wind of the High Council's intent to free him from the Eye but that was all he had gleaned from his sources back on Gallifrey. His old companion and dear friend Romana was the Lady President of the High Council, true, but throughout the war she had become more and more distant even to the point of rebuking his attempts to visit her. And so it took the appearance of the Master to finally confirm that the rumors were true and the Council had gone ahead with the plan.
"Is it not obvious?" stated the other Time Lord waving his hand at the devastation. "We are at war and they need all the assistance they can get. And let us not kid ourselves Doctor I am one of the smartest Time Lords, if not people, in the universe."
"And so modest too," said the Doctor dryly as he rolled his eyes. The Master narrowed his eyes at that before letting it go as well.
"So what are you here for if not to provide me ample opportunity to antagonize you?" inquired the Doctor. He produced an apple and began chewing down on it waiting for the answer.
"First Doctor may I applaud you on your decision to eat more healthy by choosing fruits instead of your jelly babies, perhaps you are finally letting go of your childish ways," commented the Master wryly. "And to properly answer your question I am now working on behalf of the Council to try and combat the Dalek menace. Hopefully you will believe me this time around unlike before when your fifth self left me to die at the hands of those Cybermen back in the Death Zone on Gallifrey."
"I already apologized to you for that but in my defense it's not like you wouldn't have done the same. The difference being you would have known better," commented the Doctor. The Master nodded.
"Regardless, I am here to inform you that the High Council requires your presence on Gallifrey to give you new orders," answered the Master. The Doctor sighed deeply at that and looked at the damaged city with saddened eyes.
"Then you can return and inform them that I shall be along shortly," responded the Time Lord defeated. The Master looked at the Doctor with slight concern at his tone and expression.
"Are you…alright?" asked the Master cautiously. He was never one to care for another's wellbeing, but then he had never seen the Doctor like this before. Usually even in the worst of circumstances the Time Lord had an irritating streak of maintaining at least some optimism despite the Master's plans. But now…now he seemed totally defeated and it disturbed him greatly.
"DO I LOOK ALRIGHT TO YOU?" the Doctor suddenly shouted causing the Master to jump, startled. The Doctor looked away.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," he apologized ashamed. The Master softly sighed.
"Doctor if you have something on your mind you may as well get it out in the open now rather than later," stated the Master. The Doctor knew he was right but still he always assumed if he'd be opening up to someone the last person on his mind would've been who was with him now.
"I realize I may not be able to offer you much consolation," admitted the Master no doubt guessing what was going through the Doctor's mind at the moment. "But at least getting your concerns out into the open might help your at least recognize them."
The Doctor laughed. "I didn't realize you were a master at psychology."
"I am many things Doctor," was all that the Master said in response to that. The Doctor nodded.
"A fact I'm well aware of," he agreed before hitting his hand on the ground next to him. "Why don't you sit down, take a load off."
The Master looked at the regular ground reluctantly. He was an all powerful Time Lord and beyond the normal pitiful individuals who would sit on the ground for no reason whatsoever. But to humor the Doctor he sat down and it seemed as if a shift occurred where they weren't just two enemies but merely two individuals sitting on a hill that didn't have the whole weight of the universe on their shoulders.
"I miss the clock," stated the Doctor out of the blue.
"The what?" asked the Master confused. The Doctor jerked his head back at the Master's TARDIS.
"I miss when that thing looked like a clock. That way it was at least partially useful," explained the Time Lord. "That way even when I had to deal with you, at least I always knew what time it was."
The Master laughed at that. "Yes I too miss the clock. It was certainly more elegant than that bland stone pillar."
"Yes why did you change the outward appearance of your TARDIS?" the Doctor asked.
"It was not by choice I assure you. My TARDIS decided to emulate yours for a time when my chameleon circuit also stopped working though unlike you I did manage to fix mine," said the Master pleased with himself. The Doctor snorted.
"Well unlike you I've come to rather like the shape it's in now," said the Doctor proudly. As if in response to his enthusiasm, an explosion from the city briefly rocked the ground causing the Doctor's TARDIS to tip over and crash down on its back.
"I see," commented the Master looking behind him. The Doctor held his head with his hand in shame. "But I can only assume this is not the cause of your problems. Though, if you were to rid yourself of that contraption, I would hardly complain."
"I'll bet you wouldn't," said the Doctor darkly before sighing and looking at the devastation before him and sighing once more. The Master too looked at the devastation and then both sat there watching the city burn.
"We're not going to make it," stated the Doctor breaking the silence as the Master turned to face him. "The Time Lords, I mean. We're…we're not going to survive. Soon we'll just be the stuff of legends and nothing more. In a few years this universe will no longer even acknowledge that we ever existed. And everything that we've done, all the good that we've accomplished, and the evil, will no longer matter."
"Is that what you're so concerned about?" asked the Master emulating annoyance as he tried to brush off the Doctor's comments while also trying to brush off his own doubts. "Soon the Daleks will be rid of and then we shall return to our game of me causing trouble and you trying to stop me."
"And just what is the word from the front?" asked the Doctor knowing fully well the truth. The Master turned away from him.
"You have your good days and your bad ones," was all he said. The Doctor shook his head in pity.
"Haven't you noticed that it's been consistently bad now for the past several skirmishes?" inquired the Doctor. "Haven't you noticed that we no longer have made any significant advances into Dalek territory? A good day is when we don't loose any ground for Rassilon's sake! We're loosing this war! And that's why you're here because they would not have released you if they didn't have a choice."
"And so what if we are loosing this war?" demanded the Master. "Are you just going to give up like that, turn and run? Is that going to make things better? What are you going to do about it Doctor? You claim to be the end all when it comes to matters concerning the Daleks as well as what to do in situations like this, so what's your decision?"
"I don't know!" shouted the Doctor holding his head with his hands and rocking back and forth. "I don't have all the answers!"
"Well congratulations Doctor you've become just like one of your pitiful humans," said the Master antagonizing him. "But I don't see them giving up just because the 'going got tough' as they say. If you can't then they're better than you and if that's true and you've still managed to defeat me time and time again then that makes me worse than a human. If that's how it is then I'll kill you right now! I'm not going to have a defeatist for a-"
The Master suddenly stopped himself and shuddered. "I just won't," he swore.
The Doctor laughed mildly again before he quieted down.
"I hate the Daleks," he swore. The Master nodded.
"Join the club," he said. "It's strange that after all your encounters with them I was the one who got exterminated in the end."
"Fate," said the Doctor with a smirk. "Or else the universe has a strange sense of humor."
"I believe in neither," said the Master with an air of superiority. Silence descended on the two again as the city's fires began to slowly die down.
"I don't suppose you have anything you want to get off your chest?" inquired the Doctor. The Master looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"No, I don't," he stated crossing his arms. The Doctor nodded his head silently in acceptance. After a few moments of quiet, the Master finally sighed and then groaned despite himself before he turned to face the Doctor.
"Do you hate me?" he asked bluntly.
The Doctor blinked at that. "What?"
"Do you hate me?" repeated the Master. "I just wanted to know in case one of us…"
"I don't hate you," answered the Doctor shaking his head. "I pity you. I just wish you didn't do the things that you have or will do. But I will save you, I promise you. Then it'll be like the old days when we used to travel the cosmos in my TARDIS encountering all those worlds and peoples. I miss those days."
"As do I," admitted the Master reluctantly. "But you won't be able to save me Doctor. In fact the day will come when you will have to kill me for the greater good."
"I won't make that choice," said the Doctor angrily. "You still can be-."
"Doctor!" interceded the Master. "I am not someone suffering from delusions or a mental trauma. I rationally made my choice a long time ago and I don't regret it. You will just have to accept that. Do not delude yourself under some misguided notion of-."
"It's not misguided!" shouted the Doctor throwing up his arms for emphasis. "The human's have a saying: 'blood is thicker than water' and they're right you know. Why have you always come to my rescue when I've been on the verge of defeat? You didn't have to save me when the Time Lords put me on trial all these years ago but you did! Why? How is that rationally in line with your ways of thinking?"
The Master scratched the back of his head to delay answering.
"I don't know," he confessed finally. "And it's been bothering me for quite awhile."
"The truth is that there are some things even us Time Lords cannot explain," answered the Doctor. "That's just the way it is. We can't control everything."
The Doctor appeared thoughtful at that statement.
"Thank you old friend," he commented softly. "You may have given me more to think about than you realize."
"All part of my plan," commented the Master with an evil grin across his face. The Doctor rolled his eyes at that.
"Oh come now!" he scoffed. "You didn't have any plan!"
The Master's smile widened and began a more evil grin. "As a poet on your favorite planet Earth once said: 'Theirs not to make reply, there's not…"
"…To reason why," picked up the Doctor. "Theirs but to do and die."
"Into the Valley of Death rode the six hundred," they both finished together.
"Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 'The Charge of the Light Brigade'," finished the Doctor nodding his head. "I didn't know you were one for poetry, just mad ravings."
"It seemed poignant given what happened here and what is yet to come," answered the Master. But before he could say anymore, a device on his wrist beeped.
"The High Council awaits," said the Master looking at the wrist communicator. The Doctor frowned at that.
"And here we were having such a nice heart to heart," he intentionally lamented to the Master's dismay, before the Doctor began laughing.
"You shall pay for that comment Doctor," was all the Master said to that.
"I'll bet," commented the Doctor lightly. The two slowly picked themselves up off of the ground and took one last glance at the city where the fires had nearly receded and then both made their way to their TARDIS.
"Do you know that plural of TARDIS is?" inquired the Doctor curious. The Master stopped in his tracks.
"Don't start with me," he warned. The Doctor chuckled.
"Sorry," he apologized. "But I wonder if you'll at least do me one favor."
"I'm not going to like this am I?" said the Master as the Doctor approached him.
"No," commented the Doctor shaking his head. He opened up his arms and hugged the other Time Lord. The Doctor sat there clasped to the Master for several moments as the other Time Lord decided what to do. Finally giving in despite his best attempts not to, the Master slowly put his arms around the Doctor and hugged him too. Finally the Doctor let go and the two stepped apart.
"I'm sorry," apologized the Doctor greatly. "It's just…I don't know if I'll ever get the chance to do that again. And if I'd done it any other time you would've killed me."
"I may still kill you for just this," admitted the Master frankly before amending. "But we'll see."
"I just don't know what came over me," admitted the Doctor patting himself down. "This incarnation just seems more emotionally needy than the rest."
"Yes I've noticed," commented the Master. "You even kissed that human doctor, Grace I think her name was, and I've never seen you do that before to a companion."
"It's strange I will admit," said the Doctor. "Knowing my luck I'll be wearing nothing but leather and be a complete lone bad wolf in my next regeneration."
"Wouldn't bother me," stated the Master. "Though let's keep it so I'm the one who wears black in this family."
"No promises," commented the Doctor lightly. He then looked at his fallen over TARDIS and then to the Master.
"I don't suppose you'll help me set this upright?" he asked vainly. The Master shook his head.
"Unfortunately for you, a laborer is not one of those many things I brought up earlier," commented the Master with a smirk. The Doctor nodded as the other Time Lord prepared to board his own TARDIS.
"So just out of curiosity, who decided to send you after me?" asked the Doctor as he sat on the edge of his TARDIS.
"Your former meddling student," responded the Master. The Doctor smiled to himself.
"Good ol' Romana," said the Time Lord grateful. "She's always watching out for me even with all of her pressing duties."
"Well you can tell her that I do not appreciate being an errand boy and if she ever does something like this again, I will do something about it," commented the Master as he forcibly cracked his knuckles for emphasis. The Doctor nodded.
"I will," he promised. The Master was about to disappear into his Time and Relative Dimension in Space when he turned around.
"One last thing Doctor," he added. "There will come a time in this War when will you have to make a decision of grave consequence and it will be something you will never be able to go back on and will regret for the rest of your life. But when that decision comes, just remember, don't hesitate. When the time comes, just act."
The Doctor opened his mouth to respond but found he couldn't.
"Goodbye old friend," he finally decided on. The Master nodded.
"Goodbye," he said and was nearly into his machine when he finally added. "Brother."
The Doctor grinned at that before he lightly saluted as the Master's TARDIS vanished before flipping over his back and into his TARDIS before it too vanished leaving the city, no longer on fire, behind.
And so despite all the problems the universe had at the moment, with war, famine, pestilence, poverty, and plagues, perhaps it was not completely without hope. Because for one brief moment, at one time, in one place, two warring brothers found peace.
Yet still, the Time War raged on, but perhaps that is a story best left for another day…
A/N: You can flame this if you want, it doesn't matter to me. I just figured between the dialogue of Planet of Fire and Smith and Jones that since the Doctor evidently had a brother, the Master would be the only likely candidate as to who it could be as others have figured as well. I think it went well since I managed to write it exactly how I imagined it which is rare for me.
