AN: This is a sequel of sorts to my fic running off to the (blood soaked) stars and if you haven't read that fic first, then this will make absolutely no sense.
He decides to take her to the annual harvest festival on the planet Gyre.
It's the biggest festival of the year and every alien in the galaxy always decides to show up and he hasn't been since he was a child (at least, he thinks so, but his memories as a child are filled with drum beats and madness and he doesn't really remember and doesn't really care to) but the festival has things like unicorns and butterflies as big as a house and creatures that look like (but aren't) dragons and even though he hates everyone and everything and there are far too many beings there for his taste, he knows Annie will love it so they make plans to go.
His hearts skip a beat at the look on her face the moment they step out of the TARDIS and he knows immediately that all the trouble is worth it.
She beams at him and grabs his hand (this is a recent development and he isn't used to anyone touching him with kindness and it feels strange and alien to him but it feels calming and right and he thinks he can get used to the feeling of her small hand in his) and immediately pulls him to a vendor who looks like he's selling puppies.
"Oh my gosh Koschei look!" She squeals and stops in front of a glass box and a little puppy that looks like a golden retriever and the dog puts his paws up on the glass, peering up at her. She coos and the Master sighs loudly.
"Oh Koschei look at him, he's so adorable. I think he likes me!" The puppy gives a squeaky bark, licks her nose and Annie giggles.
"We're not getting a dog." He says sternly. Annie turns and rolls her eyes.
"Well I wouldn't want to cramp your style in your 300 hundred empty rooms, now would I?" She drawls.
"There's about 1,000 and most of them are locked away. But thank you for your consideration."
Annie shoots him a glare and he just grins at her. She huffs and turns around, making cooing noises at the dog.
The Master frowns, not liking the feeling of dismissal, for a little fluffy rat no less and he's about to rile her up to put her attention back on him where it belongs when he hears a small hiccup and Annie lets out a startled cry.
The Master rushes to her side, grabbing her arm and turning her around, scanning her face.
Her face is a little pink and she feels warm but he doesn't see any damage and he relaxes, slowly letting go of her arm.
He turns to the small dog and the puppy yawns and then cocks his head, looking at him with these big innocent brown eyes. Disgusting. But there's a slight stench of smoke in the air and he narrows his eyes and then barks a laugh when he realizes what happened.
Annie's glaring and pouting at him as he just grins. "It's a stigorax. They look like puppies but breathe fire. Cute I suppose, if you ever need a house burned down."
Annie glances at the innocent looking stigorax, looking up at her with its tongue sticking out. He can see her wavering and sighs and he grabs her arm gently.
"Away from the adorable fire breathing puppy. There are plenty of other dangerous animals to look at."
"Well maybe they're not as cute." Annie replies.
He can feel a small smile tugging at his lips and he doesn't even try to mask it. He turns to look at her, all bright smiles and big blue eyes and he can feel his traitorous hearts skip yet another beat.
And not for the first time, he thinks of the Doctor and his pink and yellow human and how he never understood how someone like the Doctor could stand falling in love with a human.
And not for the first time, he thinks he might finally understand.
He's a homicidal maniac which is something she never forgets (though she becomes increasingly at ease with this fact and what does that say about her?) and so far, she's mostly kept his blood thirst at bay and his murdering tenancies to a very impressive minimum.
That all ends the day she gets taken from him.
He takes her to this market on what she thinks might be a Wednesday and she's pondering whether or not to buy these gorgeous little porcelain figurines that actually dance when her world suddenly goes black and there's a brief moment of terrifying understanding before she passes out and all she thinks is "there's going to be so much blood."
She's right.
When she wakes, her head hurts like a bitch and the first thing she notices is that she's sitting on a dirt floor, she's underground and literally all she's wearing is her underwear.
Her arms have many hand shaped bruises and there are scratches all over her body (she assumes that she was dragged) but there isn't any more damage than what she can tell and she's relieved.
She wonders how long she was out.
And then she wonders (and worries) about the Koschei looking for her and not finding her. He's going to be livid and she almost feels sorry for the creatures that are responsible for her predicament.
Almost.
He's going to paint this place in blood.
Suddenly she hears deep voices and she instinctively scoots back into the corner, her back against the wall. There's a deep feeling of dread forming in her stomach as an alien who looks like a human (with the exception of his bright blue skin), walks in the small room that she's holed up in and he stops right in front of her cell. He bends down, his eyes raking over her and she hugs her knees to her chest, trying to keep herself from shivering. He slowly smiles, standing back a step, his eyes never leaving her.
"Mine." He hisses. He licks his lips and it takes everything in her to keep from throwing up.
He stares at her for another long moment that seems to last forever when there's suddenly loud crashing and even louder yelling coming from the hallway and he mutters something under his breath that she doesn't understand and he runs out towards the noise.
She lets out a deep breath, feeling a deep sense of relief at a strike of good fortune.
It doesn't last long.
Because then there's screaming.
Terrible, terrible screaming that seems to be all pain and suffering and it's not quick. The screams are long and terrible and being dragged out and she knows who's behind this. She knows what this is. It's death and violence and rage and she feels a shiver run down her back.
Suddenly the screaming stops.
She tenses when he walks through the door.
His clothes are soaked in blood, his hands are stained red and yet his face is strangely clean. There's a cloud of mania that surrounds him and she feels a flicker of weariness.
She supposes she should fear him after what he's done, but she can't bring herself to feel much of anything. Besides, she's long past learned that he'd never lay a finger on her unless she wanted him to.
He immediately sees her in the corner of the cell and he's there in less than a second and he takes out his laser screw driver to open the lock with shaking hands.
She blinks and then he's crouching in front of her and wiping his still shaking hands on his pants as best he can in order to clean off the blood. Then his hands running all over her body (her arms are crossed over her chest but his hands leave a trail of fire that she tells herself isn't for him), prodding her gently to see the extent of the damage.
"I'm fine." She says softly, looking up at him.
His jaw is clenched so tight she thinks he just might break it. His eyes are dark, glittering with a furious mania that is still bubbling just below the surface and without thinking about her or her nakedness, she cups his face and pulls him down to her, their faces only inches apart.
"I'm fine." She says again louder, more firmly. His dark eyes are locked on hers and she sees his crushing guilt under everything else so she says, "You got me in time. I'm fine. You got me. You have me. I'm safe now. I'm safe."
Suddenly she's in his arms and he's hugging her tight like he's never going to let go and she feels just how sore she is.
He doesn't let her go and he gently picks her up (it's the most gentle he's ever been with her) and he tells her to close her eyes before they walk out of the room and even though she closes her eyes she can't close her nose and she smells the stench of blood they leave behind.
Every last one of them, dead.
"Where there any others?" Her voice comes out horse and scratchy. She doesn't know the purpose of why she was kidnapped, but she can take a pretty good guess. Sex trafficking is a goldmine and she knows how easily it is for people and aliens alike to be taken in the mist of chaos like the one in a large market.
Koschei studies her for a moment as they keep walking and his face his blank. But she keeps looking at him and she can feel the moment he relents. She can feel the sigh, deep in his chest.
"Only a few. I released them once I was done dealing with the filth." He spits out the last word. "They scurried off once they were sure I wouldn't kill them."
Annie's quiet for a moment.
"I want them gone. All of them."
Koschei pauses his steps and inspects her, looking deep into her eyes as if he was trying to see past her words and into her mind. He's quiet for another moment before he gives her a little nod and keeps walking.
"I think we can make time for that."
His response spread a warm feeling throughout her very cold and naked body. Annie was very aware of what this would mean (and she wonders yet again, what does this say about her?). She knows that what happened not even ten minutes ago will most likely be repeated. She knows that he not only single handedly murdered a group of aliens, but he tortured them. Extensively. Because he could. There was a possibility that he even liked it (she says possibly because in any other circumstance he most definitely would have enjoyed it, but the whole her-being-kidnapped-thing probably took the joy out of his bloodlust).
She knows this wasn't justice. It was a bloodbath full of vengeance and rage.
And he's going to want more.
Suddenly there's a voice inside her head (that sounds suspiciously like Britta) that's warning her to get the hell out of there because he is clearly psychotic and unstable and more than a little dangerous. And then there's another voice (this one sounds like Shirley) and it's telling her that she'd better be careful because while it's nice that he saved her, he's still a murderer and she just essentially asked him to hunt down and kill more aliens and if she stays with him her soul is going straight to hell.
And while she can't quite disagree with them, she still can't leave him. She looks up at the face that she's known since she was 18 years old that's both so familiar and so alien and despite everything, she feels safe.
He came for her. He avenged her.
He's holding her with hands stained with dried blood, hands that have tortured and murdered and all she can feel is safe.
AN: Let me know your thoughts! Constructive criticism is always welcome. Not too sure how I feel about that ending. Hope you enjoyed!