Chapter One - The Doctor Lives, The Master Lives (Posted April 24th 2010)

AUTHOR'S NOTE : The story starts in part 2 of "The End of Time" just after the Master turns everyone into himself. I use part of the stuff in the episode because they're important to my story and to set the story up. it's kinda shippy, so i had to use it. The story starts to change a little before the time Wilf gets stuck in the radiation container. This is my first fic but I want tons of criticism so I can make it better :)

DISCLAIMER: I don't own or claim to own anything associated with BBC or Doctor Who or whatever. I just borrowed them for a little bit. I promise I won't make too much of a mess with them lol

RATING: I'm not gonna rate individual chapters separately from the whole story, so a higher rating will be used for the whole story. I don't plan on getting very graphic, mostly because I'm not very good at writing scenes like that, so the rating shouldn't be like really bad or anything. I'm gonna go with PG-13 and possibly R later for violence or language, but right now I'm sticking with PG-13

The Doctor was strapped to the chair, unable to speak. After Donna's frantic phone call, and a smug wink from the Doctor, the Master finally unstrapped the belt around the Doctor's mouth and allowed him to speak.

"That's better, Hello! But really, d'you think I'd leave my best friend without a defense mechanism?" He explains to Wilf what happened to Donna, all the while earning a puzzled and angry glare from the Master.

In the sexiest, yet evil, voice he could muster, the Master spoke to the Doctor. "Tell me, where's your TARDIS?"

"You could be so wonderful" the Doctor answers.

"Where is it?"

"You're a genius. You're stone-cold brilliant, you are, I swear you really are."

At this the Master turns his head in agreement.

The Doctor continues. "But you could be so much more. You could be beautiful. With a mind like that. WE could travel the stars, it would be my honor.

Cause you don't need to own the universe just to see it. To have the privilege of seeing the whole of time and space. That's ownership enough."

Through the Doctor's speech, the Master looks contemplative. "Would it stop then?" he asks, "the noise in my head?"

"I can help."

"I don't know what I'd be without that noise."

The Doctor considers this for a moment. "I wonder what I'd be..." he says, "without you?"

The Master thinks about this, and laughs as if he wonders that too. "Yeah."

Wilf finally gains the courage to interrupt. "What does he mean? What noise?"

The Master goes into a detailed description, complete with flashback, about his 'childhood' on Gallifrey. When the drums began. Then he realizes that every single person on earth is hearing what he hears. They are all being tormented with the Drums. He laughs evilly.

Then, a sudden look of pain sweeps across his face and he crouches down.

"The Gate wasn't enough," the Doctor threatens, "you're still dying."

"This body was born out of death, all it can do is die." the Master retorts. "But what did you say to me? Back in the wasteland? You said 'the end of time'."

"I said something is returning and I was shown a prophecy. That's why I need your help."

"Well, what if I'm part of it? Don't you see? The Drumbeat is calling from so far away, from the end of time itself, and now it's been amplified six billion times! Triangulate all those signals, I could find its source! Oh, Doctor, that's what your prophecy was! MEEEE!" and he smacks the Doctor fiercely. "Where's the TARDIS?"

The Doctor doesn't give in so easily. "No. Just stop. Just think!"

The Master sicks one of his soldier-selves on Wilf, threatening to kill him if the Doctor doesn't tell him where the TARDIS is. Then, the person inside the suit hits the Master with the butt of his weapon. He reveals himself as one of the spikey-headed green aliens from the salvage team, who are most definitely not cacti.

They wheel the doctor away on the chair. The poor Doctor has a bit of a bumpy ride. All the Masters run frantic to catch them. They escape to the ship, but the Master knows they're there. He commands all of his selves to concentrate on the signal. To find the signal. All of a sudden, not only can they hear the Drums, but they can feel them as well.

Wilf receives a message from a stranger, and tries, unsuccessfully, to give the Doctor his gun.

Then the Master's voice is heard. "A star fell from the sky. Don't you want to know where from? Because now it makes sense, Doctor. All of my life, my destiny. This star... is a diamond. And this diamond... is a white-point star! And I have worked all night to sanctify that gift. Now this star is mine. I can increase the signal. And use it as a lifeline. Do you get it... now? D'you see? Keep watching, Doctor. This should be... SPECTACULAR! Over and out."

In the midst of Wilf's confused mumbling, the Doctor voices his revelation. "A white point star is only found on one planet. Gallifrey. Which means... it's the Timelords. The Timelords are returning!"

Wilf speaks up, "Well, I mean, that's good isn't it? Those are your people!"

The Doctor yoinks the gun out of Wilf's hand and rushes off to find a way to get to the Master before it's too late.

The Master strengthens the link to the Timelords through the Drums and the star. He opens a pathway for them. "Come home." he says to them. "We have contact."

The Timelords come through the path. Just then, the Doctor falls through the glass ceiling, gun in hand, but week from the pain.

The Doctor begins to tell the Timelords the Master's plans, but the Master does it himself. He threatens the President, but he retaliates by returning every human back to themselves. "On your knees, mankind." the President orders.

"I saved you!" The Master tells the Timelords. "Don't forget that!"

Then realization strikes. Not only have the Timelords come back, but so has Gallifrey and Skaro, and everything once trapped in the time-lock. The whole time, the Master is begging and trying his hardest to convince the Timelords that he's on their side, but to no avail. They see him only as a tool. A mongrel. Nothing more.

The world is in a state of panic as bright, orange Gallifrey invades the Earth. A man is stuck in the radiation containment centre, and, of course, Wilf is the one to set him free and get himself stuck in the container. "The war turned into Hell! And that's what you opened. Right above the Earth. Hell is descending!" the Doctor yelled at the Master.

"My kind of world" is the Master's reply.

They learn that the Timelords aim to bring about the end of all time, and to ascend as beings of consciousness alone. They want to be free of the constraints.

And the Master is very pissed that they used him. His 'disease' was the work of his own people. They had put him through all the torture with the Drums.

The Doctor battles with himself. He knows he has to use the gun. He can feel it. But who deserves the bullet more? The President? Or the Master? He waffles a few times, finally taking aim at the Master and saying "get out of the way."

The Master smiles and the Doctor sends the bullet on a collision course with the machine generating the signal, he destroys the link.

"The link is broken! Back into the Time War, Rassillon!" the Doctor yells.

But the Master isn't finished with them yet. He's still royally pissed. He hits them with every bit of energy he has left in his withering body. "You did this to me! All of my life! You made me!" He sends beams of blue force at them until he collapses to the ground, and the Timelords disappear, taking Gallifrey and everything back with them. The Doctor collapses as well, right next to the Master.

A few moments later, the Doctor awakens. "I'm alive... I'm alive!" He sits up, and sees the Master lying beside him. He bends down again and begins shaking him, screaming "Master! MASTER! Wake up!" But the Master doesn't stir. So he rolls him onto his back, and leans down to his chest. He listens, to see if he can hear his heartbeats. They're so faint, he is so close to death. And the Master is a menace, but the Doctor can't just let him die. He can't. So he places his hands on either side of the Master's face. He's about to try to get inside his head when something stops him.

What about the Drums? He only heard them for a few seconds before, but they were so maddening. Would he be able to handle that again in order to save the Master? He decided that he had to risk it. He touched his forehead to the Master's and probed his mind. He called out to him, hoping he would get the message and heal himself. The Doctor did as much as he could, then he felt the head in his hands turn slightly.

"Master?" he said in a low voice, "are you all right?"

The Master moved his head from side to side a little bit, then he opened his big, beautiful eyes, and stared into the Doctor's. He looked away and sat up suddenly. "I'm alive?" He asked, very confused.

"Of course you are." The Doctor said, relieved.

"And you're alive. You were supposed to die!"

"Yeah, still trying to figure that one out." the Doctor acquired a look of puzzlement on his still-bleeding face.

"The Drums..." The Master said quietly, almost whisper-like.

"What... what about the Drums? Is something wrong?" The Doctor asked frantically.

"Yeah, something's wrong. They're gone."

"They're... gone? You... can't hear the Drums anymore?"

"They just stopped. It's so... odd... not to hear them. My head is so clear. So... free and... I don't know just... it's just me in there."

"That's it!" The Doctor stood up. "The link! The link isn't just gone! It's completely dissolved! You're... you're free from the Drums forever." The Doctor crouched down, and and put their heads together once more, just to test it. For all he knew, they could be lying dormant in there, waiting to resume the beat at any moment and threaten Earth again. He searched. And searched and searched. He found nothing. Only silence. It was quieter than all the other minds he'd ever looked at. Probably because the Master wasn't sure of what to fill it with, having only just been liberated moments ago. "Nope. They're gone. Completely gone. How do you feel?"

"Well, it feels like..."

Just then, he heard the knocking. Four knocks. On glass. Only one thing that could be. Wilf... stuck in the radiation chamber. Both the Doctor and the Master looked over at him. And he kept knocking. 1,2,3,4. 1,2,3,4.

The Doctor's face became immediately sad. The master looked at him. "What's wrong? What's going on?" He asked desperately. "I thought you said the Drums were gone! What's that then?"

"Shhh!" the Doctor put a finger up to the Master's lips. "Hang on. This one's not for you. This one's mine."

"What you mean it's for you?" The Master asked.

"All this time, with that rhythm in your head, I thought it was you. But it wasn't. It was Wilf. I was so caught up on the number, i never thought about the sound. None of it was ever knocking. it was always thumping or ringing or banging. But this. It all makes sense now. You couldn't kill me before the battle because you needed me to save you. You can't kill me now because you've already been saved. But now he's knocking. So it is you, but it's the aftershock of the you who was still experiencing the Drums." The Doctor did have a habit of explaining too much of the deeper meaning without having defined the original concept.

"What are you on about now? I didn't do anything!" The Master said, jumping to his feet.

"I know. That's exactly my point. You know the prophecy. 'He will knock four times' and then I die."

"Well if this is the right knocking then why aren't you dead yet? And, speaking of, why aren't I dead, either?"

"The Drums used so much of your energy, and your resurrection was even weaker than your real body. But with the destruction of the link, your mind has healed itself and reenergized you so that you've still got some life in you. It delayed your death, but not by much." The Doctor said. "I, on the other hand, have an old man to save. I think it's about time now, anyway, don't you?"

"You're asking my opinion on whether or not you should die?"

"Why not? It's going to happen anyway. I'm just trying to delay it as much as possible. But that window is closing. If I don't go now, Wilf will die. So, Alons-y, I suppose." He walked to the chamber, quickly opened the door, and stepped inside. He was about to press the release button, but the Master delayed it just a bit more.

"Doctor. What happens to me then? If you die, am I allowed to go free? I can just go, wherever I want whenever I want?"

"I suppose so. I won't be there to stop you. Plus, honestly, you haven't got much time left." And with that, the Doctor pushed the button, sending Wilf out and allowing the radiation to pour out onto him. The pain was awfully excruciating. The Doctor was whaling and writhing from the absolute magnitude of pain. Wilf and the Master stood there looking at him.

"Should we do anything for him?" Wilf asked.

"There's nothing we can do. But if I know him, he'll figure something out. He always does. He has such a hero complex. Drives me insane." The Master said.

And then it stopped. All of it. The noise, the screaming, the flailing. The machine died. And the Doctor was curled up into a little ball on the floor of the container. If it would have been anyone else, he would have seemed so insignificant. But almost everyone on earth and beyond had some kind of connection with the Doctor. And for the two people standing before him, this was so not insignificant.

The door to the Doctor's chamber slowly creaked open, and Wilf ran over to him and dragged him out onto the glass-covered floor. The Master just stood there and looked.

"Is he dead then?" Wilf asked.

"How should I know, you old ape!" was the Master's reply.

"Well, you're one of him, you should know something."

"In case you haven't noticed," said the Master through clenched teeth, "I'm not on his side."

"But you don't really want him dead, do you? Not really?"

The Master just looked at Wilf for a moment, then at the Doctor. He looked away for a moment, as if trying to come up with an idea. He stooped down and laid a hand on the Doctor's chest. He felt no heartbeat, but he noticed the scars on his face were healing, meaning the regeneration had already started. That meant the Doctor would live, but as another man.

Then the Master got an idea. "I wonder..." he said to himself as he rubbed his hands together. There were some sparks, indicating he still had some power left. He put them over the Doctor's chest, one hand over each heart, and channeled the energy into them, causing them to beat again. He could hear it as soon as they started, similar to the Drums, but less repressing and maddening. Then it died off, and the last of his power was used up. He felt for a heartbeat again, and this time both hearts were fully functional.

The Master slapped the Doctor's face once more as well, to wake him up. The Doctor came out of his sleep and was a bit startled to find both Wilf and the Master peering down at him. "What's going on? Where am I?"

"You are stupid, Doctor." the Master said. "Your right where you were before you went into that radioactive death-sentence."

"But I'm supposed to be dead."

"You were dead. You were completely gone. So the prophecy did hold true. But then I brought you back to life. Did the prophecy say you had to stay dead?"

"How? Why?"

"I used my power to restart your hearts, that's how. All you have to do now is regenerate and you'll be fine." the Master replied.

"That doesn't tell me why you did it." the Doctor pointed out.

"I can feel my body dying. And now that the Drums are gone, and I see what I've used my life for, I figured I should do something better before I go. And I couldn't think of anything really great, so I saved you. Consider us even, then.

By now, the scars on the Doctor's face were completely gone. He looked hazy, like he was half asleep and about to sneeze. The Master spoke even though he was having trouble taking breaths. "You absorbed all the radiation You need to regenerate. If you don't then you'll die, like me. I can't regenerate because I've only got this one body." He answered the Doctors unspoken question.

So the Doctor stood, and erupted into a great golden flame as the Master stood and watched. But the Doctor had an idea. He was almost done healing, and he like the body he had now (even though it wasn't ginger). Had he not stopped the last stage of regeneration once before? He could do it again. Only last time, he channelled the energy into his cut-off hand. He didn't have anything to deflect the energy to this time. Unless... when the hand absorbed the energy and then Donna touched it, it released another Doctor. Granted, it was a part-human doctor with only one heart, but it was a Doctor nonetheless. He wondered what would happen in he transferred that energy directly to another Timelord.

He thought through it, holding back the regeneration for as long as he could. When he couldn't fight it anymore, he made a spur-of-the-moment decision. "Hey Master... Catch!" He directed the energy to the Master. He hoped it would give his body the boost it needed to reconnect with its Timelord functions, and that the Master would live and be able to regenerate again and again and again just like any other Timelord. He could at least give him that. He deserved another chance. He was brilliant, after all. And the Doctor really didn't want to change.

So he aimed the energy at the Master, and the flames died, and the Doctor still looked the same (though less bruised, obviously) as he did before. He shook his head a few times, and made sure everything on his body was in order before looking over at the master. The Master stood there, looking at his hands, feeling his face.

"How do you feel, Master?" the newly healed (but not regenerated) Doctor asked.

"Perfect. I've gone completely back to normal. Minus the Drums. But I don't understand. I know I was about to die. Don't tell me that's the second time you saved me!"

"I couldn't help it!"

"And how come you look the same?" He hesitated a moment. "Oh, wait I get it. When I was in your head, I got a glimpse of your memories. You gave me back what makes me a Timelord. My body is healed, and the next time, I can regenerate."

"That's right. But I guess, not that everything is safe, I should be getting Wilf home. His family needs him." The Doctor grabbed Wilf by the shoulder and led him away from the Master.

"Wait!" The Master yelled after them. The Doctor turned around and waited for the Master to speak again. "What should I do? I don't have a TARDIS. Should I just..."

The Doctor interrupted him. "You can do whatever your heart desires. You can roam the Earth a free man. Just don't get into politics or anything mainstream like that. You know the rules. No one can figure out you were Harold Saxon. You're cover would be blown."

"Yeah, I got that much. But what about you? Who're you traveling with these days?" He asked, with a hint of hope in his voice.

"No one. I'm going at it alone. It's better that way." He turned and walked more, but was stopped again by the Master.

"But you said it would be your honor..."

"What?"

"You said it would be your honor to travel the stars... with me. Can't I come?"

"I don't know." The doctor sighed.

"Please let me come with you. Just for a little bit? See parts of the universe I've never seen. Is that offer still open?" The Master seemed saddened that the Doctor had forgotten his words, but his sadness was unnecessary.

"I did say that. And it would be my honor. Come on then." The Doctor's answer made the Master so happy.

The Master ran and stood next to the Doctor, and the three of them walked to where the Doctor was hiding the TARDIS. They boarded and the Doctor set the controls to take Wilf back to his family.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Wow. this first chapter relies heavily on the second part of "The End of Time" and I apologize for having half of it be that. But it needed to be there, it kinda ties it all together. This will be a serial but maybe not a very long one. I'm thinking ten chapters or something like that. Let me know what y'all think. If you liked it, plz tell me what you liked. If you didn't like it tell me what you didn't like and what you would recommend I change. I want the truth!