Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, no copyright infringement intended. If you still want to sue, well, let's discuss priorities, shall we? English is not my native language, any constructive criticism is appreciated.
Warning: My attempts to finish off the old series of Doctor Who didn't get along with my wish that there was more about Third and Master. I eventually stumbled across the novel 'Divided loyalties', which just managed to make me also like the Deca. Hence this story was born. You don't really need to have read the novel, since I'm basically blowing away whatever will happen after the Third Doctor and the premises here are different, mostly because I needed tons of fluff. Besides, I'm taking many liberties as far as I know. Story inspired by an image I found on the internet by Halorvic (sorry, I don't have Tumblr so couldn't find any better reference to link) in which there was the following lines of dialogue:
Third Doctor: Do you ever think about how much better it would be if we just stopped fighting?
Master: Yes. That's why I keep proposing that we join forces. You're the one who insists on being difficult
Third Doctor: I'm told that most lasting relationships don't involve one party trying to kill the other
A/N: Rejoice, I managed to write about 30k without adding any porn (you will still find it in the last chapter)
Windswept to the Doll's house
"Master!" The Doctor yelled with all the breath he had left in his lungs, attempting to overcome the deafening noise of the wind madly blowing all around them. "If you were supposed to have the stupidest idea ever, this one certainly will account for it!"
"May be" The Master countered irately, grasping desperately the green grass under himself as he crouched down not to be blown away. "But it would never be as stupid as yours"
"My idea!?" The Doctor yelled back, attempting to free himself from his own mantle, flowing like crazy all around him, as he did his best to reach for the Master's arm and kneel down at his side. "You were the one who decided to use Coveurilian day-of-doom weapons to hijack the national meteorological station!"
A stronger blaze of wind made the Doctor lose his equilibrium, and he fell face flat over the wet grass of the garden around the station. The Master stared at him with concern at first, then he attempted to manoeuvre him back to a kneeling position so that he could face him, both hands holding tight the Doctor's shoulders for support.
"Well" He countered matter-of-factly. "I wasn't the one inverting the polarity of the electromagnetic field!"
"And I wasn't the one who mounted the stabilizing ionizer backwards!"
"It was supposed to balance the anti-gravitational cooling system"
"Wait" The Doctor interrupted the banter, surprised at the news. "What did you need an anti-gravitational cooling system for?"
"For the nuclear powered generator of the doomsday weapon" The Master explained quietly, his brown eyes staring proudly back at his friend as his eyebrows rose in challenge and his smart and satisfied smirk grew larger on his lips.
"I thought you had deactivated it!" The Doctor complained heatedly, the tone of his voice accusing yet dejected at the notion that he had guessed it all wrong. "You weren't seriously thinking to go through with that plan, were you?"
"It was to give the whole ordeal a touch of realism!" The Master admitted grudgingly, irritated knowing that the Doctor had actually seen through his plan that much. "It still put the wind stabilizer out of sync when you opened the vault door"
"You had Jo trapped inside it!" The Doctor pointed out, the pitch of his voice rising in outrage. "If you didn't want me to open it, you shouldn't have put her there!"
"There was a back exit."
"How was I supposed to know?!"
"If you had gone through the security like any sensible Time Lord would do instead of blazing inside the station with your army friend on that bloody canary, you would have noticed it!" The Master eventually began yelling back at the Doctor, annoyed at his best friend's idiocy as well as attempting to be heard better over the roaring wind.
"Don't talk like that about Bessy, she's a gorgeous ride!" The Doctor countered petulantly, pouting in mild offence. "And if you elaborated less dangerously complicated plans, it wouldn't always turn out like this!"
"Would you like better easy and deadly plans?" The Master pointed out evenly, closing the space between their faces a bit more not to shout once again.
The Doctor at that point had finally ran out of protests of his own.
"What are we going to do, then?" The Doctor asked seriously, as he desperately grasped the Master's upper arms for dear life.
As to pin point how urgent the matter was, a concrete panel detached from the station roof and started floating randomly above them as it was thin paper.
"Perhaps, if we went back inside, we could attempt to power out the machine or whatever set the whole thing on a frenzy..." The Master proposed unsurely, attempting to turn behind himself to assess the situation of the station but failing miserably at it because of the wind strength.
"Are you out of your mind?" The Doctor countered. "The wind pressure inside is even worse than out here!"
Right that moment, a bar of steel came flying in their direction from the meteorological station, pointing straight towards the Master's back.
"Watch out!" The Doctor yelled, as he grabbed the Master tighter and rolled them some feet away from immediate danger.
A loud noise was heard not too far from them and, as the Master turned to stare at where they had been few seconds before, he could only register the tube of steel piercing through the ground.
"Thanks" He murmured nervously. "That would have hurt"
"We're still stuck, though" The Doctor wailed, as he tried to free himself from his mantle that had now enveloped both of them, tightening the two Time Lords close together.
The Master simply rolled his eyes at his friend's unsuccessful efforts and sat up fiercely, bringing up with him the Doctor too. With quick and well-coordinated movements of arms and shoulders, in reasonable time they were once again two separate beings. The Doctor's mantle, however, just kept floating madly behind the fair-haired Time Lord.
"You should leave it, Doctor" The Master suggested, his voice dripping with warm affection despite his better judgement. "And listen to me, outside out-powering it I see no other options for us to get out of this mess unscathed"
"Let's try to work out something from the outside, then" The Doctor reasoned, as they grasped on one another to attempt a standing position and walk back towards the station.
They had not moved a foot towards their aim, that the structure blasted open, his walls falling miserably on the ground like the ones of a dollhouse. From the ruins of it, a tall menacing hurricane stormed out, the machine that was controlling it and its power source were safely enclosed in its eye.
The Doctor and the Master had no time to worry about that, though, since the hurricane started moving resolutely in their direction, its suckling energy pulling them and everything else towards it inexorably. Both Time Lords held tight on one another and closed tightly their eyes, certain that the end was about to come.
Nevertheless, nothing happened.
Even before they opened their eyes, they knew that this could only mean that they had better just being dead.
They dared to watch what was actually happening around them only when they heard Jo's desperate cries from the entrance of the garden, asking them whether they were fine.
Surprisingly, they had to say that they were.
As they stared at the station, they could still see the menacing hurricane that was supposed to have killed them but it now appeared frozen still.
"A time bind" The Doctor recognised, his stomach sinking at the realization.
The steel pipe that had pierced the ground near them before throbbed and shacked until it freed itself from the earth and flew back towards the meteorological station. The hurricane subsequently began rotating backwards and slowly the dropped walls and the floating concrete roof – that had just stood fixed in mid-air until then - moved back to its original location.
"A time reversal emergency procedure" The Master deadpanned, his hearts starting to beat faster in fear.
"Where's your TARDIS?" The Doctor asked, each second paler than before.
"The woods. About a mile from here" Came the immediate answer.
"We'll never make it" The Doctor realized, his big scared eyes staring back at the Master's for the first time since they had decided to disentangle and assess the situation.
The concrete roof in the meanwhile landed graciously over the rest of the structure with a loud clank and the Master concluded that they had absolutely no more time to waste.
"We'll try anyhow!" He yelled back at his friend as he grabbed the Doctor's wrist and both of them ran for their life towards the station side gate in front of the shocked stare of Jo, who had just reached them to check if they were fine.
As the Doctor had guessed, they didn't even manage to exit the perimeter of the station garden that they were rebounded by an invisible wall, that made the Doctor falling backwards ungraciously on the ground and the Master landing half on the ground and half on the Doctor, since he still stubbornly wouldn't let go of his friend's wrist.
As they stared in front of themselves, they noticed two people coming towards them, both clad in black tunics over which red intricately decorated robes swayed open around them. When their face started becoming visible, both the Doctor and the Master attempted to move backwards, but both of them just found themselves pinned down on the grass, just as if the gravity had been increased only where they laid. Something that probably was entirely true.
Not knowing what else to do, the Doctor held tight to the Master, who welcomed the hug and grabbed the Doctor's arm for reciprocate support.
To complicate the matter, from behind them Jo and the Brigadier came in a rush, more curious to understand what was happening than willing to apprehend the Master.
"Doctor, what-" Jo attempted to ask, before noticing the two highly irate shadows stalking towards them. "Who are they?"
Instead of answering, both the Doctor and the Master attempted to resist the gravity pinning them down to sit up and escape, only succeeding in straining their muscles more than they already were after their daily self-inflicted adventure.
"What the-" The Brigadier asked, seeing them just lying there and grimacing in pain. He tried to reach out his arm to place a worried hand on the Doctor's shoulder, but he had to retract his hand immediately as it touched halfway something frizzling like electricity that seemed running all around the two wailing Time Lords.
"Force field, humans" Explained one of the newcomers, now very few feet away.
Now that they were near, it was also quite visible on their neck a rather large golden pendant intricately yet differently decorated. The one walking top front had short dark hair, deep blue eyes glaring in pure anger and disgust at all the other people in front of him, and featured a beard not so different from the Master's. The one coming a few feet behind him, the same who had just spoken to the Brigadier, had instead dark blond hair, light blue eyes and looked more sad and disappointed than irate like his companion.
"You're a disappointment" The dark haired newcomer snarled, staring down disapprovingly at the Master and shaking his head gravely, his lips pursed in a sneer.
The Master glared back at him but said nothing, he only held tighter to the Doctor defiantly.
"Nothing to say on your behalf?" The blond stranger questioned the Doctor, who simply lowered his head in defeat and drew closer to his friend to partially hide behind him.
"You should be glad, Doctor" The Master pointed out acidly, as he stared at the Time Lord that had questioned him with pure hate, blatantly ignoring the one who had just addressed his friend. "You're not considered a disappointment"
The Doctor knew too well that the Master's words meant to reassure him more than criticize the two Time Lords, something that his friend would never do this openly, and welcomed it gladly. Unfortunately, he couldn't say that his friend was quite right in his assumptions.
"It's not really required to say it aloud, isn't it?" The Doctor countered, staring once again back at the blond Time Lord, this time with eyes full of sadness and proud defiance.
"This thing has to stop" The blond stranger countered heatedly, staring at the Doctor with determination now that he had dared to speak up to his scolding. "You were already being punished for interfering and wreaking havoc around the universe and this is what you end up doing? Do you really want the High Council of the Time Lords to strip you of all your regenerations?"
"Like you would care!" The Doctor yelled back at him in irritation at him being right since he was not really in the position to contest the accusations.
"Stop behaving like a child!"
"They can't stop behaving like children when children is what they are" The dark haired newcomer took his chance to point out, staring menacingly down at the Master as he saw with satisfaction the implied reprimand sink in. "Mischievous children, behaving like they never came of age. Not even the Academy could discipline them and make them useful"
"We are not children just because we want to see what there's outside Gallifrey!" The Master protested eventually. "Your rules are blatant idiocies and your ways boring!"
"What would you know?" The other Time Lord pointed out, not showing an inch of compassion on his face. "You escaped not only your planet but also justice. You are worse than a meddling renegade like your friend, you're a common criminal"
Those words stung worse than the Master wished them to. The Doctor took immediate notice of what was happening and he tightened the hold he had on his friend, taking his chance to steal more than just a few glances in the direction of the dark haired Time Lord who kept addressing his friend.
"That's cruel to say to him" The Doctor protested weakly, his voice almost a murmur as he addressed the dark haired stranger. "It's not really all the Master's fault"
The blond stranger rose a surprised and curious eyebrow at the Doctor. "This isn't really what you keep telling to the CIA, the Council and basically everyone you encounter during your travels"
"The Master and I have our disagreements, this doesn't really imply I mean each and every insult I throw at him"
"How kind of you, my dear" The Master drawled back at him, rolling his eyes in disappointment.
"Like you really mean everything you keep say about me"
"I thought better of you too" The dark haired reprimanded the Doctor before the Master could answer his friend, his voice more sad this time than cold and enraged as it had been whenever he addressed the Master. "I allowed you at our home hoping that you would be something of a decent influence to him… Unfortunately, it still wasn't enough to erase the shame of someone so frail that he couldn't even manage to stay sane after a small task was required of him"
"And why would you think this, I might add" The blond stranger took his chance to add in a deadpan, his reproachful glare never leaving the Doctor. "He run in fear from that same task"
Deep silence followed, as the older Time Lords let their scolding sink in. Both the Doctor and the Master seemed to have more than just accused the stray hits and both seemed to be holding back tears only by sheer will.
Seeing the shocking scene in front of them, Jo and the Brigadier didn't know what to say, but they felt the need to at least attempt giving their friends some leeway.
"I do beg your pardon" The Brigadier questioned the two newcomers eventually. "But who are you?"
"Our fathers" The Doctor and the Master answered at the same time, their submissive tone welcomed with pure satisfaction by the two older Time Lords.
The Brigadier was so shocked by the news that couldn't think promptly to a proper counter-topic, leading the two newcomers to take again the reins of the conversation.
"Yes, and it's good you that remember who we are clearly, because as your fathers we bring you a proposition" The Master's father stated plainly, allowing himself a satisfied smirk. "It's not something I would have agreed upon under any other circumstances, but this solution might actually bring more good than harm. Would you imagine that?"
The Doctor and the Master stared back at their fathers deeply in shock, now honestly fearing for their safety.
"We have no intention to come to any agreement" The Master countered eventually, his voice way less menacing than he intended it to be.
"I agree with the Master. Besides, I'm already being punished: why should I accept something that we certainly are not going to like?" The Doctor added.
"Our proposal would override your current punishment" The Doctor's father explained almost kindly, sounding like he was talking to an extremely ill-behaved child. "Moreover, you need to understand that it's something the whole planet has agreed on, you can't say no that easily"
Hearing those words, pure dread descended over the Master and the Doctor, who felt impossible even to breathe regularly.
"You should both be glad to accept. You will maintain your full freedom, no more exile and no prison" The Doctor's father concluded with mirth, his own eyes now glistening with malice.
"Indeed, we came to the conclusion that even though you are absolutely incapable of proper behaviour, you're also too smart to be held hostages against your own free will." The Master's father added in annoyance.
"Where's the catch, then?" The Doctor asked suspiciously, rising an eyebrow to his father.
"You will need to get married" The other Time Lord answered plainly, looking down challengingly at his son.
"Oh, please! Not again!" The Doctor protested heatedly, his tone holding the petulance and annoyance one would associate to a teenager. "Again a random girl for the good of the family? What's the point?"
"I am against it, too" The Master came to the Doctor's rescue, panic written in his voice despite his attempt to sound menacing to their fathers. "There's no way that being married to someone we never met can finally make us repent or whatever we are supposed to do in your confused minds"
"I think you misunderstood my words, children" The Doctor's father paternally interrupted their charade. "We are proposing you to marry one another"
Both the Doctor and the Master froze still, their eyes staring at their fathers as they processed the request. Long minutes passed before finally the Master dared to speak.
"You" He asked to his father, still deeply in shock and not really knowing how to put his confused feelings in words. "You really would allow someone like the Doctor to marry in the House of Oakdown? You didn't even want me to bring him home during the holidays"
"Still, I always allowed you" The Master's father countered plainly. "Besides, I already told you, the benefits seem to be more valuable than the risks"
"And what would those benefits entail?" The Doctor asked suspiciously, his eyes glaring alternatively to his father and the Master's.
"Peace and quiet for the universe, a respectable marriage into a rich and powerful family" The Doctor's father started enumerating.
"Your criminal records erased, an honest marriage into a noble and prestigious family" The Master's father went on, much to their sons' shock.
"You don't want peace for the universe, you want a political alliance!" The Doctor protested indignantly, clenching his arms around the Master even more for support as soon as his attempt to stand up against the other two Time Lords was neutralised by the increased gravity.
"And without the two victims around to remind you how you signed it!" The Master added, on the same upset tone, holding back the Doctor despite admitting that he had never given his father the credit he apparently required.
"We came to the conclusion that we don't really want so many different things" The Master's father countered nonchalantly, staring at his nails as he picked non-existent dirt from under them.
"However, we can assure you that such an agreement came after the request of the High Council to let you two marry" The Doctor's father added plainly. "We just tried to get something good for our families out of the obligation forced on us"
"Why do they think that marry us off to one another would teach us some valuable lesson in the first place?" The Doctor asked incredulously, his expression a mask of pure confusion and worry.
His father didn't offer him any open answer, he just lowered his eyes to stare at the Master's waist, where the Doctor's hands lain in a loose embrace.
The Doctor followed his eyes and then glared back at him, all his features screaming outrage.
"We're best friends!" He bellowed, unconsciously tightening up his arms around the Master's waist and doing so bringing him up to sit basically on his lap. "We literally grew up together, while you were too busy meddling in politics!"
"May I ask to your associates if they use the same manners with their own childhood friends?" The Doctor's father countered distrustfully, as his eyes finally moved up to stare at Jo and the Brigadier.
"Well, actually…" Jo stuttered embarrassedly as the Brigadier, not really knowing what to say, just coughed politely.
The Doctor used all his remaining strength to turn towards them, a betrayed expression on his face.
"We don't really do that between male friends" The Brigadier offered, in a desperate attempt to defend himself. "Still, I come from the military, so I'm not really someone reliable on these matters. Our conduct is quite strict "
"Yeah, besides, there might be cultural differences" Jo added nervously. "And upbringing! Or… different characters"
"How quaint" The Master's father deadpanned, staring at the two humans who just looked ashamed at their vain attempt to help the Doctor and the Master. "Both so ready to deny the obvious"
"Let's assume for a moment that this is true and we are indeed infatuated with one another" The Master pretended to condescend eventually, his fingers nervously and unconsciously tapping on the Doctor's forearms. "What's your point in making us marry? That wouldn't really be a punishment"
"That's because it's not supposed to be a punishment" The Doctor's father pointed out tiredly, heaving a sigh as he stared down at the younger Time Lord.
"Yeah, it's just a conclusion the whole planet came to for the sake of the universe" The Master's father continued grudgingly, sharing a quick uncomfortable glance with the Doctor's father.
"Like you would care" The Master retorted acidly, gritting his teeth in distrust.
"I never really attempted to conquer other galaxies" His father answered him quietly.
"Yeah, your main focus is Gallifrey: get control of the controllers." The Master stated plainly. "Why wanting an alliance with the Doctor's family, if not to get more power?"
"Yours are just suppositions" The Master's father curtly closed the topic. "You on the other hand are risking more than just your regenerations with all you've done. You should think of this as your last chance to get what you want and redeem your crimes before your misdeeds trap you into a mess too big to be salvaged"
"Who are you to tell me what I want?" The Master spit back at him arrogantly.
"We just want freedom, marriage it's not really that" The Doctor added, hiding behind the Master's shoulder his miserable pout as he allowed his mind to brush against the one of his friend to update him about a viable way to escape.
"You will keep it" The Doctor's father added resignedly. "The Council is just ordering you to get over this childish behaviour of yours and finally marry. It won't be sudden, unless you want it to be. At least give it a try"
"We could escape during the time you leave us" The Doctor enumerated plainly. "Or we could accept to marry and then go on like we have always done"
"You're free to believe what you want, both about this proposition and about yourselves." The Doctor's father countered, now plainly exasperated. "Still, you're going to come with us on Gallifrey and do what we are all asking you to do"
"We already told you, we know that we can't trap you on Gallifrey. You might be immature and childish, but no one thinks we have better minds than yours on the planet." The Master's father concluded. "We know we can't force you to stay unless there's something you really want and we also know we have currently nothing to offer. That's why we all came to this solution: to do damage control"
Both the Doctor and the Master attempted to say something incredibly nasty to their parents, but were promptly stopped by the pressure of the gravity changing its attraction point to coerce both of them to a standing position. Not having many other choices, the two Time Lords decided to obey the not so subtle invitation of the Master's father – the one clearly manoeuvring the gravitational control device – still clinging tight to one another, in case one saw a viable way to escape and had to drag the other towards it before even telepathic explanation may occur.
It was a strategy that had never failed them.
Unfortunately, exactly because it was a strategy they had perfected during the years of their juvenile escapades, their fathers new quite well the appropriate countermoves.
"You won't be freed from the energy field until we reach Gallifrey" The Master's father announced, extracting from the lapels of his tunic the controls of the detention field their sons had been captured into. After some careful taps on several colourful buttons, the field around them frizzed light blue and then turned a dusty golden yellow.
"Wait, what are you doing to them!?" Jo yelled at the two older Time Lords, moving one feet towards the group of aliens as the Brigadier held her firmly next to him, restraining her the best he could to not let her get involved.
"We'll give them back within a reasonable amount of time in Earth terms. Hopefully, after they are properly wed" The Doctor's father announced, staring attentively at the device his companion was still fidgeting with to assure himself that it wouldn't be misused against his son.
"Wait a bloody minute-" Both the Doctor and the Master yelled back at them, realising that their escape would be certainly unlikely if their fathers had really succeeded to just teleport them on Gallifrey.
As it unfortunately happened, before they could even put into action a counter-field with their sonic screwdrivers like they were attempting to do while stalling their parents with chatters and banters.
They rematerialized, as they had feared, in the centre of one of the vast corridors of the administrative palace of the Time Lords' Citadel. They gladly noticed that the gravity inside the field containing them had been restored to normal and that there was no one in sight guarding them at the moment. Despite that, the barrier enclosing them was stronger than ever.
"What kind of energy do you think it is, Master?" The Doctor asked eventually, as he poked the field surrounding them. He felt a light electrocution running from the tip of his finger throughout his whole body, and he was violently bounced backwards in the Master's ready arms.
"Ions, considering the smell around us" The Master answered, his hands not moving from his friend's upper arms even after the Doctor was once again stable on his feet. "But they must have coerced inside the field some other kind of particles to allow the spatial-time transport"
"Must be something that works like the Harmony-" The Doctor attempted to say, before being rudely interrupted by the Master.
"It can't. My father had the device and the device is still on Earth with him" He explained plainly. "The field is still present and I don't see catalysts around us that we can deactivate"
"It turned blue before transporting us, though." The Doctor pointed out. "The spatial-time travel might just be something that can be contained inside the field but it's not part of the field itself"
"Ionized three or four ring polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, then" The Master concluded pensively before sighing deeply. "We're never going to find out how deactivate this before they return, do you realise it?"
"You are not wrong" The Doctor admitted sadly. "Besides, even if we succeed, how do we return to Earth? We don't have our TARDISes and I doubt we'll be able to steal another one considering that they brought us here on their own volition"
"We could reverse the space-time shift through this barrier. It would give us enough time to work out something better" The Master proposed, eyeing attentively the field in front of him. The Doctor stared at his friend dubiously and then took out his sonic screwdriver, attentively scanning it.
"No residual traces of Time Vortex" He concluded, staring sadly at his friend. "We're trapped"
"Glad to see you have finally reached such a vital conclusion" The Master's father said rematerializing just behind them. They both turned to stare at the older Time Lord, wondering how they hadn't even heard him coming. With him, there was also the Doctor's father, sporting an expression that spoke disappointment in volumes.
Maybe, the Doctor assumed, his father would have liked him to actually escape, if only to prove to everyone that at least he could achieve something useful. Too bad he hadn't managed to do well even that.
"Guards are all around this building and this corridor is highly secured, so don't even think you can escape." The Master's father announced, as he pushed one final button on his device to free the two younger Time Lords. "Moreover, all the TARDISes have been momentarily set to not allow you access and so has been the Time Matrix, just in case you thought of being creative"
As soon as they were free, the Master grabbed a firm hold of the Doctor's forearm and stared deeply at his father with pure hate.
'We're stuck.' He mentally announced to the Doctor.
'Let's follow through this madness, we might manage to escape further on. It doesn't really seem something happening overnight.' The Doctor answered back, relaxing his shoulders in surrender but still holding the older Time Lords' disappointed glaze with stubbornness.
The Master glanced up at the Doctor as if he wished to say something else about the mental discussion they were having, but eventually he decided to say nothing. Despite the lack of proper phrasing, his uneasiness passed through their still open mental connection before the Master could do something to prevent it, making the Doctor stare back at him questioningly. The Master, however, simply shook his head and turned back to stare at their fathers, his grip on the Doctor's velvet-clad arm tightening unconsciously as the Doctor placed a reassuring hand on his.
"What's the deal, then?" The Master asked eventually, attempting to change the topic.
The Master's father stared at his son exasperated and rolled his eyes, grimacing in plain disappointment.
"That is your first step" He snarled, nodding in the direction of a door to their right.
The central label on the plain wooden door stated in looping golden letters:
The Doll – psychological help.
T.B.C.