Thank you.
A Doctor Who Fanfiction
by Steamcraft
AN: Smith!Doctor and Simm!Master. Pre-slash or friendship.
LJ prompt: 093. Thanksgiving.
He couldn't understand the idea of going to a country to celebrate a holiday no one else did. The date outside the TARDIS was November 25, 2010, as the newlyweds insisted since it would be the Thanksgiving of their wedding year. The Master rightly didn't care.
The Master rolled his eyes at every little emphasis the stupid human girl Amy said in her thanks. Her husband beside her coughed politely and finally she ended. It was silent for a moment before the Doctor on his other side nudged him in the ribs pointedly.
"No," the Master said, poking a fork at his turkey. He only sat at the table to eat, nothing more. He didn't even want to talk to the others, but they continuously tired to pull him into conversation. Except Rory, though. Rory was too nervous to want to talk with an insane Time Lord. Well, more insane than the Doctor.
"Master…" the Doctor said, "It's Thanksgiving. Give at least one thing you're thankful for this year."
"I'll be thankful if you shut up," he retorted. Rory tried to hide a small smile and Amy snickered.
"Not happening until you give two thanks, now."
"Gods, you never shut up!"
"Three."
The Master fumed and finally gave up. "Doctor, what do I have to be thankful for? What on this Earth should I be thankful for? Oh, I know!" He faked a very cheerful expression, counting down on his fingers. "I'm thankful Lucy's potion had almost no effect. Thankful for having the power to kill the Lord President, and heck, let's also say I'm truly ever-so thankful to the good Doctor."
With that, he gathered turkey on his fork and stuffed it in his mouth. The Doctor didn't say anything.
Rory and Amy exchanged looks, then Amy question, "Why?" The Time Lord rolled his eyes and put down in fork with a loud thud and faced the redheaded girl with an annoyed expression.
"What?"
"Why are you thankful to the Doctor?"
The Master was silent for a moment, getting a slightly faraway look in his eyes. "...For everything's he done."
Amy's curiousness persisted. "What's he done?"
"Nothing that concerns you, Pond! Enough!"
The Doctor cleared his throat. "I know what he's talking about, Amy, it's alright."
"But—"
"Amy."
She huffed and poked unhappily at her stuffing, muttering something under her breath. Rory, good man he was, changed the subject. "And you, Doctor? What are you thankful for this year?"
"Well," the Doctor started with a happy smile on his face. "First I must say I'm thankful for meeting Amy—"
"That was fourteen years ago, Doctor," she said pointedly.
"Not for me. Anyway," he continued, "I'm thankful for meeting Rory and being invited to a wedding. Oh, I do love weddings… And I'm also truly ever-so thankful," he said, mimicking the Master as his gaze fell on the other Time Lord, "that the cracks in the Universe had an upside to them."
'Come with me,' the Doctor had said, appearing between the void of Earth and Gallifrey. His memory-lanes with Amy were over, now going back through his own timeline. Though why he landed here was a suprise until he realised that the White Point Star could have only come through a crack in the Universe. It definitely explained how Amelia didn't remember the Madusa Cascade or the Daleks in Earth's sky.
The Master had looked at him incredulously, but severly weakened. He even fought to keep his eyes open while Rassilon had already gone to the next life. 'How are you here, regenerated no less! Where's the TARDIS?'
'Master, hurry, grab my hand and I swear to you, you'll live.'
And, like any other madman, he did so. The crack closed between Earth and Gallifrey, and the Doctor and Master were taken even further back. The rocket on Mars self-distructing, his most recent companions driving the TARDIS, the surface of Midnight, suddenly in a crowd with black-dressed people that appeared from a computer's harddrived, catching a glimpse of Agatha Christie, hearing the song from the Oods, meeting good old Donna Noble again...
Martha confessed she had feelings for him and left, then the Master was Prime Minister, Martha was his servant when the Doctor needed to be human, oh, and the human Dalek... Inviting Martha to come along the TARDIS.
Rose, so much of Rose, the memories swirled faster. Each second went by quicker than the last, and the Doctor barely saw the alive plastic, his face from two regenerations ago... Eighth, Sixth, Third, First... There were cracks everywhere the TARDIS had landed.
Then there was nothing, until Amy Pond remembered the TARDIS and the Doctor back into existance. The Master was there with him due to the Doctor remembering, too. And he was alive. So very alive, he didn't dare inquire too much on the how. Mostly because he was fighting against being ushered into a suit for the wedding reception.
The Master didn't meet the Doctor's eyes. "So you're thankful for everyone here, good for you."
The other Time Lord laughed. "I'm also thankful that we have this great Turkey dinner, of course."
"Made by questionable hands who didn't appear to eat with us herself."
Rory paused in his chewing and stared at his plate as if it had suddenly sprouted mold before his eyes. Amy, however, didn't seem concerned but instead curious. "Sorry to interrupt but why didn't River stay?"
The Doctor gave a wry grin and a half-shrug. "River said she didn't want to give too many spoilers, but was taking trips through history to 'do a good cleansing of wrongful politicans that were pretty dangerous to the world'." As Amy quickly wondered out loud how Joseph Stalin really died, the Master choked in his wine glass. He forcefully swallowed what he had in his mouth before coughing up what went down in his lungs.
"Pardon," he said more to himself after his coughing fit, slightly red in the face, "but I just choked on Gallifrey's ashy bullshit."
"What?" the three asked in near unison.
The Master glared and pushed his plate from him and stood from the table. "Nothing," he replied bitterly, swiping at his mouth with a napkin that was in his lap. "Gallows frayed ashy with bitter spit, I suppose." He tossed the napkin on the table and left the mess hall.
From there, he went immediately to his room where he wasn't bothered until hours later after recalling the angry threats and suspicious 'spoilers' the woman gave him before the pair of Time Lords and the new happy couple went to chase down the Egyptian Goddess on the Orient Express (in space).
'I remember exactly how this was written, Master,' River had thrust a worn blue book in his face, 'and none of it is the same!'
Itchingly, the Master realised he was being accused of something he had nothing to do with. He narrowed his eyes right back at the archeologist. 'I don't know what you're blaming me for, Professor, but I didn't switch your silly journal.'
River Song's smile was sour. 'No, it's not switched,' she said, 'but history is different in it because you came with him.'
'What?'
'I've seen the Doctor's remaining regenerations! Spent years with him, had such fine times and adventures! We even, even...' she trailed, looking slightly lost for the moment before she turned piercing eyes on him. The Master would have been astounded by the amount of pure hatred there if he hadn't seen a lot more within himself.
'But that's all gone now,' River said, voice chilled. 'You see...Koschei-,' the Master's eyes widened at the use of his real name, too shocked to say a thing, '- I'll give you a spoiler, just for you, so you may try to fight against it before I fight it for you.' From there she took the book and opened it to about two-thirds in.
'"It's been four years since I've seen my Doctor, but it could have been only yesterday for him. He appeared out of no where, it seemed, happier than ever. When he first spotted me on the street, my Doctor took me gleefully by the arm and declared we were going shopping. He said he wanted a woman's opinion on a gift.
'"Jewelry, I noticed was what we were looking mostly at, but more plain and simple. No rocks or jewels. It was here I realised that we were buying for a person he sees often because while it might be style of the person to wear plain jewelry, my Doctor was also searching for something that he liked as well.
'"I asked him who this was for, but my Doctor answered that he was going to follow Gallifreyan tradition and not tell a soul before the time. (After I left him, I thoroughly went through all of my resources to help me find what sort of tradition he was talking about. There are only two that fit the match: a binding ceremony of two people (called Krayliss; like human marriage, only deeper) and an apology ritual (Hilisuna, the right thing to do when one does something completely terrible to another; no examples given in text).)
'"He finally settled on a chain bracelet and asked my opinion. It was a platinum gold linked chain, and despite its simplicity, I wish for it to be for me. I can only hope that I will meet my Doctor again in the future and he will offer it to me. After he made his purchase, we grabbed a bite to eat near the toxic river, then parted ways once again. It definitely was one of the most laid back adventures I've ever spent with my Doctor.
'"And, now, as I write this, I realise belatedly that I did not see the TARDIS or his...'companion' the Master. In fact, he did not once mention him..."'
River flipped at least twenty pages before finding what she wanted. '"Another month its been fighting ever more Daleks and our men are either tired or dead. The enemy all know me now and associate me with my Doctor and the Master; perhaps this means I will seen him again, soon, I remembered thinking the first time I heard it.
'"Earlier tonight, it was, when the TARDIS appeared in the middle of the battlefield. Our soilders cheered with delight at the sight while the Daleks retreated to re-organise. When the pair of them stepped out from the blue box, a silvery thing caught in the firelight and drew my attention.
'"The bracelet from all those months ago was wrapped around the Master's wrist..."'
The Master hissed through his teeth as River closed the book. 'After that I didn't have the time to write; the Daleks were beginning their attack.'
He had been silent for a moment, eyes narrowed again. 'That does not mean a thing,' he said quietly, anger in his words. 'It very much might have been for the Hilisuna Ritual.'
River smiled without happiness. 'Spoilers, Master. I gave you two and you'll know the rest soon enough, I suppose. But try to lead it away from anything along those lines, if you would. That, or you could consider yourself an...accidental target.'
'Do not threaten me, human,' the Master snarled. She threw him a smug smirk in return.
'Then don't make it so easy, Koschei. Now-'
'How do you know my name!'
'-I must go. I'm fairly busy as it is; I didn't need a wedding to distract me, but I had to make my intentions known, at least.' River tucked her journal within her coat and looked at the device on her arm.
'See you soon, dear.' And with a press of a button, the archeologist was gone, leaving the Master terribly confused.
A quiet knock on the door roused the madman from his near-slumber. The Master kept his back to the door, knowing it was the Doctor outside it and also knew the man had no privacy boundries. And, as expected, the door groaned open slightly; the light from the hall filled the Master's darkened room. He tried to repress a heavy sigh, but it was inevitable.
"Oh good, you're awake," the Doctor said. He closed the door with less care, but didn't move from that area. It was several moments in silence until the Master had enough and flopped over with a scowl.
"What do you want?" he demanded.
The other Time Lord seemed to be studying his expressions but it was just a bit too dark. "What has River said to you?" he asked, searchingly. The Master rolled over again. He should have seen it coming, given the attitude the Master displayed at dinner.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Doctor."
"You know I won't go until you say something."
And to prove his point, the Doctor did probably the second greatest thing that has ever annoyed him: he sat down on his bed. The mattress sunk gently under his weight, the shifting telling the Master that he now leaned back on his arms. The Master frowned deeply, crossing his arms like a sulking child while fuming.
"What makes you think she said anything to me?"
The Doctor snorted. "Please. First mention of dangerous politicans and you start choking on 'Gallifrey's ashy bullshit'? It's not hard to know that she said something to you."
The Master giggled insanely. "Then I suppose you knew when she told you she was talking about me? Oh, tell me, Doctor; what more has good ol' River Song spoiled?" Then he suddenly rolled to his knees and launched himself at the Doctor, taking his surprise to pin him to the bed. "Don't you ever tell that woman my name! Under no circumstances will you tell her my name! Do you understand me!" His face was livid red.
"...she knows your name. But..." the Doctor's brown eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "...unless you told her directly, it could only have been me. Why would I do that? What would it be in her business to know your name?" He came back to real time, looking at the Master. "I promise, until Fate says otherwise, that I will never reveal your name to River Song."
Hands shook his shoulders roughly. "No! Never, ever will you give her my name! Under no circumstances shall you!"
The Doctor shook his head. "She knows my future; sooner or later, I will tell her. In her book, we've already had this conversation. You've gotten angry, I've promised to keep silent. But no matter what, something down the line in my, our future will make it so that she knows, so she'll write it down, so she will tell you. It's Fate."
The Master's grip loosened while he settled his weight evenly over the Doctor's abdomin. He wasn't happy with it.
"Make a Claric Vow."
The Time Lord under him started and his eyes widened. "What?"
"The Claric Vow, idiot!" The Master scowled, fumbling to grab ahold of the Doctor's right hand. He clasped it with his own tightly and brought it between their faces. "Theta Sigma, under the Claric Vow, swear on your life that unless I tell you otherwise you will not tell Professor River Song that my name is Koschei!"
After a moment, the Doctor nodded in agreement and said quietly, "Koschei, under the Claric Vow, I swear on my life that I will never reveal your name to Professor River Song without your permission."
The Master's face finally laxed with tired relief. He released the Doctor's hand and crawled off him, his back facing the other man.
"Thank you," he said with the most sincerity he's ever given.
"...you're welcome." The mattress moved again, and there was a shuffle of feet. The Doctor had stood, and the Master could feel a questionable gaze still upon him.
"I won't tell you what she said," the mad Time Lord said. He then looked at the Doctor with a smirk. "Spoilers."
The Doctor gave a small smile. "Right." He rubbed his hands together. "Now, would you like to go out for dinner? You hardly touched yours earlier, and I hardly doubt that you'd eat anything from her."
"Is this your poor way of asking me out on a date? Because 'all we've got is each other' was a better line."
"Nope. I mean it. Just you."
The Master raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Without a damn leash and collar? Or you secretly hiding behind bushes to see that I won't misbehave or something? It's too early for Christmas, Doctor."
The Doctor dug into his pocket and held out American dollar bills for him to take. "Go on," he said with a smile, but suddenly looked a bit concerned, "Though if you're not back before ten, I'm going out to find you." The Master took the money and made for the door immediately. It'd been months before he'd gone out alone (regardless, that was before the Doctor had saved him from their burning home planet), and any other time had the Doctor at his elbow.
He opened the door, and paused, swallowing thickly. "Doctor."
"Master."
"...thank you, and, er... Happy Thanksgiving." He left without another word or wanting to hear what the Doctor would say.
In the room, the Doctor rocked on his heels and smiled wide. "Happy Thanksgiving, Master."