I may have enjoyed myself a little too much with the Master in this one. I didn't realize he'd be so fun to write! Also, I think this is the first time that I don't jump around scenes.


.3.

The Sound Of Drums

Part Two

I regain consciousness slowly, groaning.

I notice three things right away. One, my head hurts like hell. Two, I'm tied to a chair. Three, I'm freaking hungry. How long can a human survive without food? Because I already feel like I'm wasting away again in Margaritaville. Mmm… margaritas… Oh, and coconut shrimp with a sweet and spicy dipping sauce. And a big order of fries.

My stomach rumbles so loud I think it just echoed against the walls.

Speaking of walls…

I open my eyes, blinking at the light. I'm back in the room with the half red, half wood paneling walls. I'm seated at the end of the long table. Thankfully, all the dead bodies are gone.

But I'm not alone. No, someone is pacing behind me.

"Leo!" Wait, that voice is familiar. Where is it coming from? "Oh, thank God! Leo, you gotta listen to me. Where are you?"

Martha! She's on the speakerphone on that conference call thingy in front of me. Ok, I don't really remember this part…

"I'm in Brighton," Male voice now. "We came down with Boxer. Did you see that Saxon thing on telly?"

Telly. Quick! Remember… Oh, the Roombas! The Roombas are coming! What are they actually called again?

"Leo, just listen to me," Martha's voice is shaking, betraying her worry. "Don't go home, I'm telling you. Don't phone Mum or Dad or Tish. You've gotta hide."

Pause. Then, "Shut up."

"On my life. You've gotta trust me. Go to Boxer's. Stay with him.Don't tell anyone! Just hide!"

Someone puts their hands on the back of my chair and I don't need to turn around to know who.

"Ooh, a nice little game of hide-and-seek. I love that," the Master snickers. "But I'll find you, Martha Jones. Been a long time since we saw each other. Must be, what, one hundred trillion years?"

"Let them go, Saxon. Do you hear me? Let them go!"

I fight with the ropes, trying to free myself, but I just succeed in giving myself a rope burn. The Master places his hands on my shoulders and I freeze.

"I'm here."

The Doctor.

My stomach twists. Oh, god. How can I be so happy yet so scared all at the same time?

The Master leans over me, draping his left arm around my neck, just tight enough to make my breathing a little hard.

"Doctor."

"Master."

The Master chuckles and pushes a lock of hair out of my face. Barf. "I like it when you use my name," he growls into my ear.

I know he's doing this to un-nerve me. I'm sad to say that it's working. Really well. I'm trembling like a autumn leaf in a windstorm.

"You chose it. Psychiatrist's field day."

"As you chose yours," The Master touches a bruise on my temple, pressing the wound. I bite my lip. There's no way I'm giving him the satisfaction of crying out loud. "The man who makes people better. How sanctimonious is that?"

I jerk away from his ministrations, but it's not like I can go far. He just chuckles and pushes me away from the desk. The chair, apparently with wheels, bumps into the left wall.

I'm gonna kill him. I swear to god, he is a dead Time Lord.

"So… Prime Minister."

"I know. It's good, isn't it?" He bends down at the knees, chin resting on the edge of the table.

"Who are those creatures? 'Cause there's no such thing as the Toclafane. It's just a made-up name like the Bogeyman."

Toclafane! That's what those Roombas are called! Man, that was bugging me.

"Do you remember all those fairy tales about the Toclafane when we were kids? Back home." Pause. The Master watches me, grinning. "Where is it, Doctor?"

"Gone."

"I know."

I think my eyes just bugged out of their sockets. I don't remember this scene, but how does the Master know that Gallifrey is gone?

Because he read it from your mind…

Oh, this is bad. This is really bad. This is really, very not good.

"You did it, Doctor. You burned us. You destroyed Gallifrey and our entire race."

"Except you, apparently." The Doctor doesn't sound surprised that the Master knows. But he should be surprised. There is no way that the Master should know any of this. And he wouldn't, if it weren't for me.

"The Time Lords only resurrected me because they knew I'd be the perfect warrior for a Time War. I was there when the Dalek Emperor took control of the Cruciform. I saw it. I ran. I ran so far. Made myself human so they would never find me." The Master gets up with a twirl and that crazy grin, grabbing the right arm of my chair, pulling me back to the table. I stare at the speakerphone with tears in my eyes. This is not good at all.

"What did it feel like, though?" The Master sounds almost… horny. "Two almighty civilizations burning. The Time Lords and the Daleks. Oh, tell me, how did it feel?" He squeezes my shoulders.

"Stop it!"

My thoughts exactly.

"You must have been like God." He leans down so his chin is resting on my shoulder.

"I've been alone ever since. But not anymore. Don't you see, all we've got is each other."

His head pops up, thank god. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

"You could stop this right now," The Doctor pleads. "We could leave this planet. We could fight across the constellations if that's what you want. But not on Earth."

"Too late." The Master starts to twirl a piece of my hair. Blech. Why is he so touchy-feely? I feel like little ants are running all over my skin.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I already know how this is supposed to end. But I'm going to change it. Right, Lily?" The Master smoothes my hair, petting me.

"No!" I shout, jerking my hear away from his hand. I try to twist in my chair so that I can see him. "You can't! You'll rip a hole through space and time. Don't you see?"

I know. You can't reason with a mad man. Or a mad Time Lord. But I have to try.

The Master just laughs. "You know nothing of space and time." He starts spinning my chair in a circle, faster and faster. "Tell her, Doctor. Tell her that the future can always change."

The spinning stops. I try to focus my wobbly vision on the speakerphone.

"Lily," the Doctor says. His tone has changed. It's softer, more intimate. "Everything is going to be fine."

"No, it's not!" Great, now I'm crying. This is just fantastic. "It's all my fault."

"Lily, listen to me," the Doctor's frantic now. "When you were in fifth grade, you wrote a report about Keith Moon, not bananas."

That stops my tears. Now I'm just confused. "I don't understand."

"Think!"

The Master pushes me away from table again, hard. I fly across the floor, then hit the wall and tumble over. I scream before I can stop myself. At least I didn't hit my head.

"What have you done?" The Doctor sounds very, very angry now.

"The drumming," the Master starts drumming his fingers on the table. "I thought it would stop but it never does. Never ever stops. Inside my head, the drumming, Doctor. The constant drumming."

I stare at the carpet and the tears that are being absorbed into the fibers.

"I could help you. Please, let me help."

"It's everywhere. Listen, listen, listen. Here come the drums. Here come the drums."

Drums. Keith Moon. Drummer for The Who. In my opinion, the best drummer there ever lived. Wait, wait, wait. I know I didn't tell the Doctor about that essay I wrote. What is he trying to say? And what do bananas have to do with it?

Hold the curtain. Our password was banana. Still trying to figure that whole thing out, though.

But what if he was saying that Keith Moon is the password now. If we have a new password and I don't know what it is, then that must mean… we get through this. Somehow. Otherwise the password would be banana! Oh, this is clever! Whoever thought of this whole password thing is a genius!

Of course, then again, I have already met 11… so I don't know why I'm so worried. I wouldn't have met 11 if the Master wasn't defeated. That would be a paradox. Right?

"Ooh, look. You're on TV." The Master is seated in front of his laptop now.

"Stop it! Answer me! Lily!"

"No, really. You're on telly." I can faintly hear the news. "You and your little band, which, by the way, is ticking every demographic box. So, congratulations on that. Look, there you are! Ha!"

"…They are known to be armed and extremely dangerous."

"You're public enemies number one, two and three. Oh, and you can tell handsome Jack that I've sent his little gang off on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas so he won't be getting any help from them. Now, go on, off you go. Why not start by turning to the right?"

"He can see us."

"Ooh, you public menace. Better start running. Go on. Run!"

The Master shuts the speakerphone off. He stands from the desk and puts his hands on his hips. "Oh, Lily, Lily, Lily. Whatever am I to do with you now?"

"Set me free?" I paste a smile on my face.

"No chance of that," he walks around the table, drumming his fingers still. One two three four. One two three four. I watch, transfixed. "What happens next?"

"A Toclafane will appear and ask you if everything is set for tomorrow."

What? I close my mouth. Why did that just spill out?

"Hmm," he's still drumming. "What is the Doctor doing now?"

I bite my tongue, but the word comes out. "Running." No, stop! Just stop it!

"What will he be doing later?"

I hold my breath and squeeze my eyes shut. "Making…a…perception…filter." Goddammit! Why can't I stop talking?

"This is just fantastic!" the Master exclaims, giddy. "What did the Doctor do three episodes ago?"

Three episodes? How am I supposed to know?

"He was human. To hide from the Family of Blood." Seriously? I can't remember to set my alarm half the time to wake up for work and I remember three episodes ago?

The Master dances around the room. "What did he do in the last episode you watched on telly?"

Good-bye, Doctor.

"He died," I whisper.

"What was that?" he cups a hand to his ear.

"He died," I said, only a bit louder.

"Once more?"

"HE DIED!" I scream, so loud it makes my throat hurt. I start coughing.

The Master stops dancing directly in front of me. "Brilliant." He voice is full of such reverence. I don't like the look in his eye; as if he is a wolf and I am an injured deer.

"What did you do to me?" My voice cracks and the tears are back.

"Simple," he shrugs. "You've seen or at least know about all these episodes. You might not think you remember, but you do. I just… unlocked your capability."

"How?"

He wags his finger in my face. "Tut, tut, my dear. A magician never gives away his secrets." The Master grabs my shoulders and lifts me (and the chair) back up, so I'm righted again. He puts his hands on top of mine and leans into my face.

But he doesn't say anything. For three whole minutes.

"What?" I exclaim.

"Oh nothing," he winks. "Just waiting."

A Toclafane appears in the air. I jump back, gasping. It hovers over his left shoulder, silent. For the most part. There's a little whirring going on.

"Have you ever seen anything so precious?" the Master says. I don't know if he's addressing the Toclafane or me. "She is the perfect spy, because she didn't even know that she was one!"

"Is the machine ready?" The Toclafane has a high pitch female voice.

Saxon doesn't stop regarding me. "Tomorrow morning," he pulls out a handkerchief and starts wiping my face. "It reaches critical at 8:02 precisely."

"We have to escape. Because it's coming, sir. The darkness, the never-ending darkness. The terrible, terrible cold. We have to run and run and run!"

Anyone else thinking of the crack in time here? I don't think that's what the Toclafane is talking about, but it sure is all I can think of.

The Master brushes a lock of hair out of my eyes. I spit in his face. He just smiles and wipes it away. "8:00 tomorrow morning. Tell your people. The world is waiting."

The fact that he doesn't hit me is worse than if he did.

He cups the handkerchief over my nose. "Now, blow."