Notes: The Master's third body is based on Ivan Gonzalez, and his fourth is based on Jim Sturgess.
Divergence Interlude I
Birth of a Renegade
PART III
"Remind me never to attend another political dinner."
Koschei and Jyoti staggered into the TARDIS; the Time Lord collapsing to his hands and knees as the doors shut and nearly taking the woman with him. Jyoti slid from beneath his arm and bolted for the door that led deeper into the vessel, Koschei groaning in pain.
"Ship! Medical bay!" Jyoti called, her hand already on the latch.
Koschei doubled over, his body seizing. He coughed; a tearing sensation spreading through his chest. The wet, gargling sound with each cough, each gasping breath, sounded more like a death rattle. Blood splattered on the floor. "I'm afraid it's too late, Miss Sharma," he wheezed.
"Nonsense. I've seen a man recover from wounds inflicted by a tiger with nothing more than herbs and tinctures." Jyoti disappeared through the door and Koschei could hear her going through drawers and moving equipment. "This ship has the most advanced medical equipment in the universe. You said so!"
"I did," Koschei whimpered, shuddering as his stomach clenched; fire and acid flooding his veins. "And I have unshakable faith that given enough time, my TARDIS could identify and counteract the poison. But time, my dear, is something I don't have."
Jyoti reappeared in a swirl of blue sari silk and silver embroidery, pressing a glass bottle into his hand. "Here. I found laudanum... for the pain."
"No, no, no. It will pass. I just need to regenerate."
"You're dying! There has to be something I can—"
"It's all right, Jyoti." He reached out a shaking hand to squeeze her shoulder. "To everything there is a season."
She swallowed. "Very well. If you are so at peace with dying then tell me: How am I supposed to get home if you are dead?"
A glimmer returned to his eyes and he smiled. "Faith, my dear."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Koschei opened his mouth to reply, but all that came out was a whimper as he curled in on himself. He shuddered, retching, and blood was all the came up. Blood that, an hour ago, had probably been some delicate internal organ. He retched again and the blood came up darker.
The sting was spreading through his capillaries; his abdomen a searing inferno. The heat had even reached the back of his eyes and when he wiped the tears from his cheeks his hands came away bloody. His nose was bleeding too, and he could taste more welling up from his gums. The pain was unlike anything he had ever felt. His senses blurred. He couldn't concentrate. He knew the poison must have been working on his brain by now, which could explain the hearing loss on his left side and the colour-blindness in his right eye.
Jyoti's hand was gentle on his back, soothing his tremors. "Tell me what you need me to do."
He coughed—a terrible, sucking cough—and it was impossible to tell when the cough stopped and the retching began. The result, however, was the same. Some tiny, distant part of him was just grateful that the TARDIS floors were impossible to stain.
"Just stand back, Jyoti. Let it happen."
"Let what...?"
She trailed off; staring at Koschei's hands. Soft, golden light flowed from his pores and over his skin; spreading over his arms and shoulders and up and down his spine. It hovered over his flesh like a luminous mist, growing brighter and brighter. She could see the glow shining through his retinas.
She was frozen—transfixed. She had never seen anything like it and she couldn't tear her eyes away. Not even as the light burst forth like water from a dam, consuming Koschei and very nearly blinding her. She shrank back from the swirling tendrils of light, but it only lasted a moment. As quickly as it had begun, the brightness trickled away; evaporating like candle smoke. Koschei was still there, hunched over; the floor around him slick with blood. But something was different. She could have sworn his hair had been shorter a moment ago. And darker.
Koschei groaned, running his hand through his hair. "I think I might just be getting the hang of this." His voice was different. He looked up at her and she gasped.
"Your face..."
Koschei wobbled like a new puppy as he tried to move. "I know. I look different. New face, new me." He staggered to his feet and Jyoti noticed that he was taller. "What do you think?"
She gaped. How was she supposed to answer that? Her good friend had just metamorphosed before her eyes and he wanted her opinion without giving her any sort of explanation. Her words came out with a terribly undignified squeak. "You look... nice." Attractive was probably closer to the mark, but it wouldn't have been proper of her to say so.
He had fine, impish features and warm brown eyes. His hair was now a deep brown and wildly curly. It lent him a roguish, yet boyish, charm that was a far cry from the prim and proper gentleman that she had run away with.
She considered herself a rational, educated woman, but some part of Jyoti wondered whether she had found herself in the company of a god. Surely no mortal could do what Koschei had just done. Perhaps her mother had been right. Perhaps the gods did exist.
"You are not human?" She asked, rising from the floor and straightening her Sari.
Koschei smiled, adorably sheepish. "You know, I always assume my companions will figure that out for themselves."
"You told me you were a time traveller. I thought... You look human."
"No. You look Gallifreyan." She frowned and Koschei shrugged. "We came first."
"And you do... that... often?" She gestured at the pool of blood and at Koschei's new body.
"More often than I'd like." He shook his hair from his eyes. "This is number four."
Jyoti swallowed. "You're immortal?"
Koschei peeled off his bloody gloves and suit jacket. "No. Far from it. I can only regenerate so many times." He glanced up at the column of the time rotor—up to where its blue-green glow vanished into the shadows of the vaulted ceiling. Almost to himself, he added: "I really need to be more careful."
