Chapter 7

The Master's blood was slowly pooling on the floor of the console room.

Ed walked quickly around the console and hit switches and turned dials with no hesitation, as if he had suddenly become familiar with the workings of the Tenth Doctor's Tardis.

Rose was staring at him, and he sensed it and looked up at her.

"Yes, what?" he said impatiently.

Rose replied in a hushed voice.

"There's something different about you since the partial regeneration – it's the way you're handling the Tardis, like my Doctor does."

"Oh, that..." he paused to key in some flight co ordinates, "Idris restored my memory completely, I suppose I would seem slightly changed, I can recall everything now, from every life time I ever lived."

"I hope you're not too different." Ace sounded worried.

He looked up from the console.

"I'm still the Doctor, Ace," he reminded her, and then his gaze shifted to the Master.

"Is he still breathing?"

"What?"

The look in his eyes hardened as he spoke again with urgency.

"The Master, Ace! Is he still with us? You may not care if he lives or dies, but I do!"

"He's still breathing, but only just. His pulse is weak too." Rose had replied in a hushed voice as she sat on the floor beside the Master, who was on his side and struggling to breathe as he coughed and more blood ran from his mouth.

"He might not make it," she added, "He's very weak now."

Determination burned in the Doctor's eyes as he activated the space time controls.

"I'm not losing him!" he vowed, and the Tardis vanished from the woodland, leaving Earth far behind.


Rose watched over the Master, and as his face grew pale and he struggled for breath she put her hand on his shoulder, keeping him on his side as he choked, coughed blood and drew in a desperate breath that choked off somewhere deep in his throat.

Then she turned her head and watched as Ed stood at the console and spoke to Ace, sounding very much like a true Time lord now his memory was completely restored.

"It won't take long to get there," he said, "I'm taking a short cut – I've travelled through this constellation many times over the centuries, I know the way... I can get us there in seconds."

He turned another dial and the vortex flashed by as the Tardis picked up speed. Then as it slowed into deep space, it turned gracefully as they approached a nearing planet.

"That was a skilful ride," Rose remarked, "Your gentle touch just got even better."

And the Doctor ignored the compliment as his thoughts stayed with the wounded Master, while Ace shot her a stony look as jealousy prickled. And then the Tardis shifted dimension once again, leaving space and landing on the planet with graceful ease.

The Doctor lifted the Master into his arms, and more blood spilled on to his shirt as the Master took in a difficult breath. He carried him to the door of the Tardis and Rose and Ace followed, and they stepped out into a long white corridor.

Rose recognised the place as the hospital where the Tenth Doctor was recovering from the snake bite.

"As soon as the Master's taken care of, I'm off to see the Doctor," she said.

"Of course," Ed replied, and then he saw medical staff further up the corridor and shouted to them for help as the Master continued to struggle to breathe.


Ace stood back saying nothing as the Master was rushed to the emergency room.

Rose hurried off and took the lift to the next floor to see if her Doctor was yet recovered, and as Ace stood in the corridor with Ed she once again wondered why he was so anxious to save the Master's life.

She watched as he spoke to a nurse, explaining Harold Saxon had been injured in a fall from a steep height, and when the nurse had seen his own blood stained clothing and asked if he was also injured he had dismissed the remark.

"I'm a Time lord," he said," So is Mr Saxon, but he can no longer regenerate. I'm fine, worry about him."

"We do not know a great deal about Time lord anatomy," the nurse reminded him, "Due to the regeneration process we have little knowledge, and if his internal injuries are severe it may be impossible to save him."

"Just do what you can," he said.

And then Ace continued to listen as the Doctor gave more of the Master's details, naming him as Harold Saxon from Earth.

"Earth?" she murmured, and then the Doctor followed the nurse over to a desk where he drew out a credit card and paid in advance for the Master's treatment.

Then the nurse asked another question.

"You do realise there is most likely very little we can do for your friend?"

Ed nodded.

"But as I said, just try, please."

And then he ran his fingers through his hair and looked anxiously towards the emergency room. As the nurse walked away, Ace stood beside the Doctor and knew she had many questions that needed answering, and those questions could not wait any longer, because she needed those answers now...


Ace and the Doctor walked down the corridor to a waiting area and sat down together. The Doctor had fallen silent and one look at him told Ace all she needed to know – he was desperately worried about the man who had once been his sworn enemy...

"Doctor," Ace said quietly, "Why are you helping him?"

Ed met her gaze, and such intensity burned in his eyes it seemed they reflected fear and grief and so many other emotions she could make no sense of as he thought of the Master.

"You hate him!" she exclaimed, "Why should you do all this for him? He would have seen you dead back there, why do you care if he lives or dies?"

Suddenly it seemed as if all of time and space burned within his blue eyes, and as he spoke in a hushed voice, he began to explain:

"You want to know why? Only one other person knew, and he's dead now."

"Jayden?" she guessed.

"Yes, Jayden. And now I'm choosing to trust you, and this is the closest I will ever come to speaking of my true identity."

And still it seemed those mystical fires burned in his eyes, reminding Ace that her lover was indeed alien.

Ed kept his voice low as he told her the secret no other living soul shared:

"My name is not the Doctor. I chose that name when I left Gallifrey – actually, I ran away – I ran from my responsibilities. I was born the son of the most powerful Time lord in the entire universe. I was destined to take his place, to rule over all of time and space – but I rejected that role in favour of freedom. I didn't want to rule time and space, I wanted to be free to wander as a traveller, to explore its wonders!"

"So you stole a Tardis and ran away?"

"Yes I did," Ed replied, "The Gallifrey High Council was formed in my absence and they elected me President. But that didn't last because I was never there! I'd made my intentions clear from the start."

Ace looked at him in confusion.

"Okay, I get that part – you're some kind of Time lord prince – but what does that have to do with the Master?"

Ed leaned closer, dropping his voice lower as he continued:

"From now on, in front of others, you must only refer to him by his earth name of Harold Saxon."

"Why?" Ace asked him, "Why are you hiding his real identity?"

"Because if Gallifrey found out they would send for him and execute him for his many crimes!"

Ace was looking at him in disbelief as she tried and failed to understand how he could bring himself to protect the Master from punishment.

"Why are you protecting him, I don't get it?"

Ed looked into her eyes.

"We grew up together, we were educated together, he was a year younger than me and enjoyed the same childhood as me – but for one difference. He knew he would never share in the greatness I was supposed to inherit."

"Because he's just the Master," Ace replied, "So what was it that turned him against you, was he jealous?" And then she started to smile as a sudden thought occurred to her, "Oh wow – you're a prince! My boyfriend is a Time lord prince, how cool is that -"

"Ace!" he said sharply, "Listen to me – I'm trying to explain something!"

"I am listening," she replied quietly.

"Yes, I am a prince," he continued, as his voice dropped to a whisper, "And the Master is my father's younger son – his illegitimate son, born to his mistress, the Master is my half brother."

Ace stared at him. Words failed her as she took in all he had said, and her blood ran cold as she realised what this could mean for their future. Then she sat in silence, thinking and trying to make sense of it all, as she still felt guilty for hoping the Master would not survive his injuries...

Ace and the Doctor sat in silence for a long while as Ace tried and failed to come to terms with all he had said. Then he spoke her name and she turned her head and looked at him as anger blazed in her eyes.

"Ace," he said, "I'm sorry I kept this from you -"

"You kept it from me for a thousand years!" she said bitterly, "You could have told me when we first met on Iceworld, back in your Seventh life! You've always been secretive, maybe I shouldn't be so shocked – it's a habit you've never got out of!"

Hurt reflected in his eyes as he looked at her.

"No Ace – my personality has undergone many changes with every regeneration! I admit I could have been more open with you back in that other life, but this is different, it's a terrible secret I don't even like to admit to myself!"

That look of pain was still in his eyes, and seeing it made her anger simmer down.

"I can believe that!" she exclaimed, "I mean, who would want him for a brother!"

"He's not entirely to blame for his actions," Ed told her, "He's unwell, Ace – he's mentally ill -"

"Oh no, don't start making excuses for him! You can't dress it up any other way than it is – he's a psycho! He's evil!"

"No, he is ill. No one is born evil! I've always tried to stand up to him without destroying him in the process."

And then he paused as he blinked away tears, recalling the moment they fell from the walkway together.

"But today I had no choice but to try and stop him any way I could."

"At least he can't regenerate now," Ace told him, "I'm glad Idris took his spare life and gave it to you. If she hadn't done that he would have regenerated and gone on with his plans and left you to die. And you want to save him?"

"I have no other choice," Ed replied, "The Master is my brother, I can't ignore that fact."

Ace looked into his eyes.

"Jayden Drake was like a brother to you. The Master is just someone you were unlucky enough to be related to, there's a big difference! Family isn't always blood!"

Sorrow reflected in the Doctor's eyes.

"But nothing changes the fact that he is my brother. If I could have chosen between them, I would rather have had Jayden here with us, of course. But we can't choose our relatives and nothing alters the fact that I can't walk away from this situation."

Ace drew in a slow breath as she tried to keep her rising temper in check.

"But you have to walk away from him, you have to think of you and me and the baby!"

She looked to him pleadingly.

"Ed, this is the result of his actions. You're not to blame for him being a psycho! Let's just wait and find out if he makes it, then we can leave."

"But we will have to return. Rose is hoping my Tenth self will be awake by now – but he won't be recovered for another two days. We have to come back."

"So we come back for the other Doctor, he drops us off back home on Earth and that's the end of it!"

Ed stared at her. And in that moment the look she saw in his eyes told her for certain that he would not be walking away from his brother, and it began to dawn on her that she had been naive to ever think that he would – he was the Doctor, he believed in fairness and his compassion was deep as space.

Of course he wouldn't turn his back on the Master...

She she took in a couple of deep breaths, still keeping her temper in check before she spoke again. When she did speak her voice was calm and controlled, but the anger she was holding back showed in her eyes as she told him exactly how she felt about the situation:

"What ever you're planning," she said in a low voice, "I don't want to be a part of it! I want nothing to do with the Master!"


Rose quietly pushed open the door to the Tenth Doctor's room and went inside.

"Wake up," she whispered, "Please...I've come a long way. And I've got so much to tell you, stuff about the future. There's this guy called the Master but his Earth name is Harold Saxon. He's dangerous, but you've never mentioned him to me. I guess we've yet to meet him... Doctor, please wake up, I just want to talk to you..."

Rose drew in a sharp breath as she blinked away tears. The Doctor was sleeping easily, but very deeply and she noticed a trickle of sweat run from his brow as he rested.

The snake bite was healing but still looked raw.

"I was hoping you might be awake... but it's too soon. Of course it is, you need another day or two...we came back here early because the other Doctor almost killed him – the Master, I mean. He was planning to rip his old Tardis apart for spares and steal yours too. But Ed stopped him. And I've never heard of Idris, but she lives inside the Tardis matrix...do you know about her, or hasn't that happened yet?"

And the Doctor slept on and Rose stepped closer to the bed and ran her hand over his hair. He was resting easily and she could tell he was making a slow and sure recovery, but it didn't stop her heart aching as she remembered she would have to get back in the Tardis and leave without him.

"Leaving you once was hard, but twice..."

Rose stifled a sob and then quickly wiped her eyes.

"Good thing you're not awake yet. You're not strong enough yet to hear any of this... it was really bad. I thought they were both dead, the other Doctor and the Master. Then Idris took the Master's regeneration out of him and gave it to him – to you, I mean your future self. And then he was okay and the Master was dying. He's still alive, but I don't know for how much longer. I can't see him recovering from this. Maybe that's a good thing, he's evil... Sorry, I should shut up now. I'd feel guilty if I woke you up, I know you need to rest. But I wish you would wake up..."

Rose drew in a slow breath, willing herself not to cry. She knew he was recovering, but it didn't stop her heart feeling as if it was being slowly torn in half.

"Rose..."

She turned from his bedside to see Ace standing in the doorway.

"Are you okay?" Ace asked her, noticing Rose looked on the brink of tears.

She nodded.

"Yeah, I'm just missing him...I know I don't need to, I know he's going to be okay but I just don't want to leave him again."

"I just spoke to the nurse," Ace told her,"She said he's still under sedation for now, but he should be ready to go home in the next couple of days, the venom's almost out of his system."

Rose nodded.

"That's good to know."

And then she paused, before asking a question she really didn't want to ask, but felt she had to:

"How is he? Did the Master survive?"

"We're still waiting for news," Ace replied, "Well, I mean I'm not, Ed's waiting. He's determined to help him."

"Why?"

As Rose looked at her, Ace recalled how the Doctor had confided his secret and knew she could not share all she knew.

"Because he's like that," she replied, "He doesn't want to see anyone die, even the Master."

Rose smiled as she looked back at the Tenth Doctor.

"So he won't change much through all those regenerations," she replied, "He hates violence. Never wants anyone to get hurt."

And then she leaned over him and kissed his cheek fondly, but the Doctor continued to sleep.

"I'll see you soon," she told him, and then she turned away and walked out of the room, joining Ace in the corridor.

"You don't need to wait around with us if you don't want to," Ace said quickly, knowing there could be no discussion about the Master's true link to the Doctor in front of Rose.

"No, it's okay, I'd better leave now," Rose told her, "I might as well wait with you – if I stay here with him any longer I won't want to leave, and then I'll end up sleeping on a chair in the waiting area for the next two days!"

"I bet you would," Ace replied as they walked together towards the lift, "I'd be the same if it was Ed. Oh God, I'd be in such a mess if it was him bitten by a poisonous snake!"

They reached the lift doors and Ace pressed the call button.

"I'm really not looking forward to this," she said to Rose, "Because the Doctor wants him to live, and I don't think he's going to make it, I think the Master's going to die."


As the lift rose to the next floor and the doors opened, Ace and Rose stepped out and then Ace stopped, looking up the corridor to see Ed talking with a member of the medical staff.

"This is mental!" she said, "I hate the Master. But I don't want him to die because I love the Doctor."

And then she watched as Ed thanked the nurse and as she turned and walked away he breathed a heavy sigh and blinked away tears and turned towards a window.

"I don't want this to be bad news," she said in a hushed voice, "If it is, his hearts will be broken."

"But the Master is an enemy...I'm confused, Ace."

"He just wants to save him," Ace replied quickly, and then she quickened her pace as she hurried up the corridor towards the window at the end of the hall where the Doctor stood watching the sun set.

"Doctor?"

Ed heard her, he knew Ace was standing behind him, but he was still watching the sun set, focussing on it as the dying light caught on lilac sparkles set in the hillside far away.

"Talk to me," Ace said gently, "What's happened?"

"They couldn't fix his internal damage so they had to remove some tissue and replace it with a cybernetic implant, he's going to need a few more of those to complete an internal life support system. He won't make a full recovery. If he survives over the next few weeks he will most likely need care for the rest of his life, and that could be a long time. He could live for another four hundred years...not that it's going to be much of a life."

"I'm sorry," Ace said softly, "For you, I mean – I'm sorry its bad news for you."

"It looks like I'll have to leave him here," he said quietly, "I don't just mean for now, while he has treatment, I mean permanently."

And then as Ace stood beside him he turned his head and looked at her and a tear ran down his face.

"This is just as painful as losing Jayden. At least I have memories of him, good ones – and the Tardis has kept his old room just the way he left it. And there's the grave...I have no memorial to the Master. I know he's not dead, but I don't even have a fond memory. Just rivalry and war and hatred between us that should have finished a thousand years ago!"

Ace took hold of his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"The other Doctor should be well enough to leave in a couple of days. We can come back for him and leave right away, it's best if you don't see the Master again. Just leave him, Doctor. Think of the future, our future."

He blinked away more tears.

"I am thinking of the future but it doesn't make walking away any easier."

"But it's the best thing to do," Ace reminded him, "Walking away is never easy but sometimes its all you can do. Now let's go home."

He hesitated and she looked at him pleadingly.

"Let's go," she said again, and Ed nodded.

"I suppose there's nothing else we can do," he said quietly, and then, keeping a tight grip on her hand, they walked away together towards the Tardis at the end of the corridor.


Once they were back inside the Tardis and the Doctor had activated the controls and the police box had shifted gracefully to another dimension, Ace and Rose stood in silence as Ed leaned on the console and watched as the vortex rushed by.

"The worst thing about being a Time lord is living longer than those around you," he said quietly, "I never forget them, I never forget anyone I've known. And today I miss Jayden more than ever."

And he indicated to the doorway that led to the Tardis corridor.

"That corridor has always been in the same place no matter how many times this ship alters internally. And if I think about it, I can still see him standing there, leaning against the doorway in his blue Edwardian suit checking his pocket watch as he asked me what the local time was when we landed on a planet. He was always setting that watch, everywhere we went, turning the hands around the dial...to me it was yesterday."

And then the Tardis landed and he continued to stand there for a moment, lost in thoughts of the past.

"I've lost them all, Ace – every one I've ever known. Except you. I'm holding on to you. I'd be lost without you."

"I'm not going anywhere," she promised him, and he smiled sadly.

"You will never know how thankful I am to know that."

And then he turned from the console and headed for the door.

"At least we're back on Earth, back in the Tardis I call home," he said, and as he opened the door and stepped out Ace and Rose followed him and found he had landed the Tardis in the garden, close the the wall and the hidden entrance to the maze.

Here it was still daylight and the sun was high in the mid day sky.

"I don't want to think about anything for the rest of the day," Ed said to Ace as they walked along the path towards the house.

"All I keep thinking is how much my Doctor has missed," Rose said, "I can't wait to tell him!"

And Ed said nothing as he silently worried about the fact that Rose Tyler now knew far too much about the distant future and the ultimate fate of the Master...

As they passed the willow tree, Ace glanced over at the marble headstone – and then she turned her head again, taking in a sharp breath as she stared in disbelief.

"Ed..."

"Not now," Ace, he said, sounding exhausted as they neared the house.

"But Doctor -"

"Not now, I just want to go inside and rest," he said.

Ace looked back again, and now she was sure her eyes had not deceived her, but the Doctor was already opening the door to the house, weary and needing sleep, he had not noticed what had shocked her so deeply as she looked over at the place beneath the willow tree:

The grave of Jayden Drake had vanished...