A/N: Oh my gosh, thank you to Mabudachi-trio and Mysterious Strangee for your reviews! You get a new chapter ahead of time for that! I'm really glad that you like this story. It just sort of popped into my head and it sounded great. As for the Doctor's opinion on all of this… well… ;)

Oh! And because I didn't do this at first, I own none of these characters [except for The General]. They all belong to BBC and the other creators of Doctor Who and Torchwood.

Chapter 4

The General sat in his office, dreading the moment the Doctor would come storming into his office. He dreaded the sound of the TARDIS in his hallway. He knew damn well that the Doctor wouldn't agree, but what else could he possibly have done? Jack Harkness would have either taken the Master willingly, or by force—he'd seen it in the Captain's eyes. He hadn't really felt good about all this in the first place. The General pitied the Master because even during The Year, he had known about Rassilon's plans. That had been one of the reasons he'd abandoned Time Lord/Gallifreyan society. When he'd found out that the Master was being used, he'd taken his TARDIS and left, hiding on the one planet his co-workers would never find him. He'd planned on apologizing to the Master at some point, but now…

The General shook his head, clearing regretful thoughts. If there was one thing the General had learned while living with the humans, it was that regret would only eat you alive over the years. It was best that he did what he could now to make up for his part in the Master's fate. He'd been the one to manipulate the Time Vortex enough to pound Rassilon's orders into the Master's head. He thought that it had been because they were trying to fix the young Time Lord, not use him as an escape for crimes committed in the future.

The Master had been a sociopathic little boy on Gallifrey. He had witnessed young Koschei creating programs to break into Gallifreyan databases and making small changes in the law. He had witnessed Koschei ignore everyone—even his family; only paying attention the little boy who followed after him all the time. Theta, currently known as the Doctor. Koschei had been diagnosed as a sociopath at a young age. He was rude to his teachers and even more so to his fellow classmates, declaring himself as the only intelligent being on 'this godforsaken planet'. Koschei treated everyone like they were less than he was and cared for no one, watching as people that were supposed to be his friends were hurt by others without even blinking. He had so much ambition and he could have been so wonderful. He had hated the Time Lords, but became one because he thought he could change things. He wanted them to interfere and rule the universe as gods, fixing things he believed were wrong with societies. Koschei had spent all of his time coming up with rules and reasons. It drove him mad and everyone made fun of him for it. Koschei became angry and lashed out at anyone who wouldn't respond as well as everyone who would. He had been sent to Solitary multiple times for extended periods and emerged cold and uncaring. The only one that stayed by his side was little Theta. A slight, skinny boy with intelligence levels way beyond the norm. The General knew—he'd tested Theta himself. Theta was simply lazy and wanted to travel the universe. They had both let their hair grow long until it touched their shoulders. They remained in their dormitory huddled over little projects and inventions. They were inseparable and Koschei would go mad in Solitary if Theta wasn't there with him. He would scream and throw things and eventually not eat or speak for days. Koschei would huddle in a corner and talk to himself as if someone else was actually there. He would laugh at stupid ideas or nod in agreement with himself. The General suspected that he had developed a dissociative disorder when the behavior didn't stop outside of Solitary. Other people suspected they—Theta and Koschei—had some sort of… inappropriate relationship. When that rumor went around, the two were alienated even more. They were bullied viciously. A group of young boys would torment them and break their inventions, claiming that they didn't deserve to be alive. Koschei would break down and become unresponsive (talking to himself or repeating the same phrase over and over), Theta being the only one who could coax him out of such a state.

So, it was with surprise that the General had found Theta in his office, standing strong and admitting to beating one of the boys to death with a brick. Apparently, the other young man had hit Koschei and made his nose bleed. Theta claimed to have seen red after that, but he was absolutely sure that it would never happen again. Everyone feared the duo after that. Rassilon had said that Theta was a good kid, generally, and that Koschei's hate for the Gallifreyan race had rubbed off on him. That was when he'd come to the General with a Signal that he was to thread through the Time Vortex and into the Master's mind. It was supposed to be to calm him whenever he had a breakdown or became too angry. Obviously, that was a lie. The General became so angry when he'd found out, he'd hit Rassilon in the nose, calling him a cruel, foolish old man. He'd left shortly after a bounty had been placed on his head.

The General sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. This was not going to be good. The feeling of dread swelled in his stomach until he could no longer remain sitting. He made a few phone calls, closed a few files, and stood to pace around his office. He wondered how Jack would help the Master. The Master was in a fragile state at the moment, and the usual tactics wouldn't work. What if he turned into that little boy who broke down without his friend again? What if Jack became that friend? What would the Doctor do when he returned?

So many thoughts ran around the General's mind that he didn't actually hear the TARDIS materializing outside his office. He jumped a bit when the Doctor burst into his office, looking worried and enraged at the same time.

"Where is he!" the Doctor screamed, storming right up to the General's face. The General tried to look innocent.

"Where is… who?" he asked, eyeing the Doctor carefully. He knew that this man was more dangerous than the Master could ever hope to be. The Doctor grabbed the General by the front of his shirt and pulled him close, growling.

"You know exactly who I'm talking about."

The General took a deep breath and grabbed the younger Time Lord's fists, slowly and carefully removing his hands. He pointed to the chair behind him. The Doctor sat, legs bouncing off the floor sporadically. His fists clenched and unclenched. It was an exercise they had done in the General's office back on Gallifrey. The General would sit behind his desk and watch Theta slowly calm himself down. After about a half hour, the Doctor sat back in his chair and took a deep breath. The General nodded and stood, pulling a sonic screwdriver out of his coat pocket. He walked around the room and pointed the device at several spots in the room. His higher-ups had thought it would be a good idea to monitor his office because they knew he had private conversations with the Doctor. Normally, the Doctor would visit to talk about things he'd done or failed to do. This time the intruding devices weren't necessary or appropriate. He cut them all off and sat back down at his desk. He waited several minutes before speaking.

"To be honest, Doctor," he began. "I do not know where the Master is right now or what is being done to him." They stared into each other's eyes and the Doctor sighed, sagging in his seat a little. He rubbed his face.

"I believe you, General," said the Doctor. "Do you know who he's with?"

"Jack Harkness."

The Doctor looked surprised. "Why?" The General licked his lips, considering his words carefully.

"Jack Harkness… believes that the methods by which we at UNIT will use on the Master would only have negative effects on him. Jack thinks that by simply showing the Master everything he destroyed would help him."

"Oh," the Doctor said dryly.

"He thinks that by seeing everything he's done, he'll understand why you left him here with us," the General added. It was not spoken without a slight hint of malice.

"It was for his own good!" the Doctor snapped. "There's nothing I can do!" The General leaned forward.

"What happened to just seeing the world, Doctor?" he said. "That's what you told him. You said it's enough to just see the universe to see how wonderful it is. Surely, you can see that the Master's changed completely. What happened to your brilliance, young man?" The Doctor scoffed.

"I'm not nearly as brilliant as I pretend to be," he grumbled. "If I was, I could have stopped this from happening in the first place." The General became impatient. The Doctor was constantly blaming himself for these things that happened.

"You have to stop feeling guilty, Doctor," he determined. "None of this was your fault. What happened to Koschei was a fixed point in time. Neither of us could do anything once that program—"

"NO!" roared the Doctor, standing and slamming his hands on the desk. "I could have stopped it! I tried to stop it! I could have prevented all of this!"

"It was Rassilon's fault, Theta, not yours," the General whispered, staring up at the Doctor calmly. The Doctor seemed to break instantly and collapsed into the chair.

"It's all my fault, General, don't you see?" he whispered. "I'm responsible for this… because… …."

"What?" the General exclaimed, looking horrified.

"How can I face him, General? How can I face him when I was the one who created the Signal?"

A/N: Thanks for reading! A few things:

In this fic, it's understood that the General served as Theta's guidance counselor in school, as he would often become angry with himself and others. Especially after the incident with the bully. I also wanted to make this chapter longer, but I needed the cliff hanger. XD Reviews are always appreciated!

-The Lonely King