When the Doctor woke up, he had no idea where he was. Must have hit his head on the console...It was definitely still on the TARDIS, he could hear her humming away, almost sounding anxious. But she was cut off from doing anything. Like the room he was in was isolated inside her. Separate but still part of the whole.

That was when he began to realize more about the room.

For example the fact that he was chained to the wall. There was maybe three feet of chain allowing him to move forward and around. Though, this was useless as there didn't seem to be a door. Every wall was the same smooth white. Almost radiating a faint light. It must have been, there was nothing else to be causing it. Unless that was him, he was still bleeding time energy like a broken faucet.
The TARDIS had stabilized at least. Or she seemed to have, the cloister bell had stopped going off. No toxic smoke anywhere. Yes, she must be fine.

But why was he chained up? He certainly hadn't done that himself.

"Um, hello?" He called, feeling rather foolish. The room was empty. He could see to the wall in every direction. There was no furniture, nowhere to hide. So...Hang on was that laughter?

And he knew that laughter, different ears now, but the same sound. That manic laughter, seeming to radiate from inside the room. But he wasn't there. He couldn't be. The Doctor whipped his head around though it did nothing. He was still alone.

"Master?" He called, disbelieving. The Master had been dragged into the time lock with the rest of the high council. He'd lost him... Again. But the Master would have died anyway. All that energy he'd been using.

"Is your faith in me really so little?" The voice radiated again from inside the room, as if right beside him. The Doctor jumped.

"But, you can't be alive, you just can't-"

Laughter again, the laughter of the mad man who had tried to save his life.

But, no, still mad, still utterly completely insane, and possibly still dying. He had to help if he could. Which, wasn't likely to be easy when he was chained to the wall.

"Doctor when will you understand I can never be alive. The entire fact that I'm still around is only slightly less wrong than your friend the Freak."

And then he was there, as if he'd melted out from the wall. Still scruffy and dust covered, though, he seemed to have gotten rid of the hoodie somewhere along the way. His shoes and socks as well, wandering around the TARDIS barefoot. Though how he had gotten there the Doctor still didn't know.

And he'd promised Amelia five minutes.

Hopefully he'd still be able to manage that after whatever the Master planned on doing...He was still getting used to this body, he didn't have time to chase the Master around. Except, it didn't seem he'd be chasing him anywhere. More likely he was going to be kept here until the Master got bored.

"Let me out of these, how did you even get here?" The Doctor demanded, suddenly very irritated with the whole situation. Because really, he'd been tied up by the Master quite enough for some time. That bloody chair had been bad enough.

"Oh come on." The Master scoffed "You think with six billion of me I didn't have time to make a short range teleport? Activated as soon as you re-entered the TARDIS."

"But you were on Gallifrey. Back inside the war- a teleport wouldn't have worked-"

"-If Gallifrey had been completely back where it belonged. Which it wasn't quite yet. Just luck. Heartbreaking regeneration, really," He laughed again "I don't want to go. Just precious. Going 'round saving all your little pets. Visiting darling Rose."

"You were there, the whole time? And you didn't- I could have- Master I could have helped you!"

The slap was more shocking than painful, assaulting his ears with the noise and making him jump back a few steps. Almost tripping in the process.

"I don't need your help. And if I want something from you, I'll take it." The Master said sharply "It seems I need to remind you of the rules. Again."

"Deflate your ego and let me go, there's a little girl waiting for me to come back-Ow!"

The Master had slapped him again. It was starting to hurt now, his nerves beginning to figure out how they were supposed to react. "Not even an hour and you've already got a new pet?" The Master drawled, fingers tracing lightly over the red mark on the Doctor's face. He always did look so pretty covered in red. "Might be a record even for you."

The Doctor stepped back, the thought carrying over unintentionally. Standing now as far from the Master as the chains would allow. Which, granted, was not a large space. "They aren't pets Master." He said, managing to sound indignant "Stop calling them that."

"Oh yes they are." The Master replied, rolling his eyes "It's like a lonely person getting a dog, and then you get bored and decide 'well maybe I'll get a new dog' Or the dog dies. You get a new one. The whole process starts over."

"Shut up!" The Doctor snapped "Unchain me and go do whatever you want, wreak havoc, blow something up, I don't care!"

The Master grinned "Oh? Can I really, still Earth right out there waiting. Should make use of the activation codes for all those warheads while I can remember them." He paused, watching the Doctor loose his handle on the lie. "You don't want that. You don't want me to go anywhere. Tell me Doctor, would it still be your honor on my terms?"

No no no no. Another trick, just don't answer. If he gets bored. Well, no, if he gets bored he'll start playing games. Nobody likes his games. Especially not the Doctor. Or at least, he tells himself so. It's better for his mental health.

The Master sighed, coming closer until the Doctor was backed into a wall. "I asked you a question Doctor," He said, voice far too calm to be normal. "I. Expect. An. Answer." Every word was another ringing blow. The Doctor's face burned, stung, and he squeezed his eyes shut against the pain. The Master had backed away a few steps, smiling again. Admiring his work so to speak. "Well?"

The Doctor swallowed the lump rising in his throat, still breathing hard and waiting for the pain to dissipate. When he did answer, he summoned whatever defiance he could muster into his words. "Not on your terms no, I've never, never really liked doing things your way."

At his words, that smile became more of a leer.

"Do you know what this room is Doctor?" The Doctor looked around again. Truthfully? No, he had no idea what this room was. Or how it had managed to appear on his TARDIS. He shook his head. "Theoú paidikí̱ chará." The Greek took a moment to register. Apparently the room was cutting off the translation circuits as well. "Literally, God's playground."

"Where did it come from? It wasn't here any of the other times she changed-"

The Master cut him off, again, that wasn't going to stop was it... "Slight advantage to being inside while she was still stabilizing. The room was only added to the older models, eventually the High Council banned them. Too much power, but the idea is still there. Sleeping. It didn't take long to write it back into the system."

"So, fine, you brought back a banned room, what does it do?" The Doctor asked, apprehensive, and at the same time curious about this strange little white room. God's playground. He wasn't sure he liked the idea.

As soon as he finished the thought, the chains dissolved around his wrists. Disappearing completely. The next moment, they had reappeared, this time binding the Master in place and pulling him to his knees. Allowing for no movement.

"Better?" The Master asked, tilting his head slightly to look up at the Doctor."After all, it's never a bad thing when you want to keep me. No, just the other way around. Isn't that right?" He paused for a moment, the chains vanishing, replaced with the bright red collar. He hadn't gotten off his knees. "A pet who can't leave you?"
The Doctor couldn't form the right words. No, he hadn't, he'd never meant to lock him up. Only if he had to. To help him. He didn't want to. So he only stared at his old enemy, kneeling on the floor, looking, for the moment, as if the roles had been reversed. Though the Doctor knew better than that.

"Do you understand Doctor?" The Master's voice had gone quiet as he got to his feet, collar vanishing. "I've only just scratched the surface, I could have years just to experiment with this room."

The Doctor saw a problem with that idea "But, you haven't got years. You're dying."

Laughter, this face did love hearing itself laugh it seemed. "Oh no, completely stable now. No more energy draining. No more stripping humans to the bone."

"How-?!"

"Stole our wonderful President's regenerations." The Master replied, as if this was the most obvious thing in the world "You know he kept giving himself new ones. I just, took a few. He was dying anyway, it wasn't exactly difficult in my condition." And it was Rassilon, he'd been twisting the Master's life since childhood. What did it matter if he died?

"Now then," He began "Where was I?" He looked mock thoughtful. The chains returned, binding the Doctor flat to the wall this time. "Oh right, you didn't like my terms."

"I don't." The Doctor agreed, almost hesitantly, expecting to get hit again. "Why can't you just-"

"Just what exactly?" The Master spat "Stop wanting the universe? Stop wanting to get rid of every corrupt ruler? Get rid of everything unnecessary? Trim away the dead, if you'd like. Though your second self didn't."

"You can't do that!" The Doctor insisted, straining against the chains "You don't have the right to tear everything down and make it all different, no one does, that isn't how it works-"

"And why not!?" The Master demanded "Why shouldn't I have the right? Nobody else would dare do it! Or even suggest it needs doing!" Every sentence brought him closer, until he was just a few inches from the Doctor, still looking up at him. Rassilon, why was he always so bloody tall.

"It's not supposed to be like that. One person isn't supposed to-"

"It's never been just one Doctor." He murmured "It's always been two. Every time I tell you. But no, you're just as bad as the rest of them. You might help here and there. But you don't really interfere. You still just watch." So much disgust in his voice. Like he could barely stand to be there speaking to the Doctor at all.

The Doctor's mind was not focused on him anymore. It was on a million what if's and choices he didn't really like the idea of making. Of bargains that could be made. Just...To help the rest of the universe.

"Will you stop?"

"What?" The Master's words were harsh, he was watching the Doctor carefully, like he didn't quite understand what he was saying.

"If I let this be on your terms...Will you stop trying to rule the whole universe?"

"Probably not," The Master replied, smirking slightly "you can distract me for a while Doctor, but I don't think even you could keep me that entertained until I die."

"Will you at least try?" The Doctor asked hopefully.

The Master hummed softly, as if thinking it over. A finger traced absently down the scorched tie the Doctor still wore. "And why should I? I could just keep you here the whole time."

Now the Doctor smiled "No you couldn't. You'd get bored. You always get bored without me. How else would you explain setting every scheme you come up with at my feet-" The Doctor's head was yanked downwards for a moment as the Master tugged hard on his tie.

"Still disobedient as well. But that's easily fixed." His voice was barely above a whisper, fingers tracing the red on the Doctor's face again. "After all, you're shiny and new. There's still time to teach you a few things."

He disappeared, seeming to vanish like everything else in the room could. Leaving the Doctor alone, unchained now at least, but still in an exceptionally small room. The longer he stood there the more he noticed the lights, which had started out almost blindingly bright, seeming to fade out as well.

Chapter one of a story that originally didn't have plot.

Cross-posted on Archive of our own and tumblr.

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