The Master woke slowly. Memories flooded back to him of destroying Daleks. How had they gotten into the TARDIS anyway? He felt weak and hungry. He had expended a lot of energy.

He looked around his surroundings. He was in the Infirmary. How had he gotten here? Clara must have brought him.

He looked over and saw Clara resting her head on his shoulder, dozing. One hand was held in his, while the other was flung across his chest. He squeezed her hand lightly. As much as he hated to admit it, he felt that he was beginning to fall for this small human girl. She was like no other. He was probably growing weak in his old age. He wanted to move, but at the same time he didn't because it would wake her up.

She was the reason he started caring about living. On Gallifrey, he hadn't cared if he died. It would end his miserable existence. But then the Doctor came and freed him. He had been mad at first, but then she had shown up, and everything seemed brighter, despite the fact that he had technically kidnapped her, and that the Doctor was probably searching for her.

He finally settled for staying where he was, and started tapping the drums on the bed. He could wait.


Clara was dreaming. This time, she was having nightmares.

She was being chased by a Dalek down a dark, steamy corridor. No matter what she did, she couldn't escape it. It kept on pursuing her.

"EX-TER-MI-NATE!" It screeched.

The breath sobbed in her throat as she ran. There was no Master to save her this time. She was in the Dalek Asylum, running to escape conversion. It was fruitless, though. She knew it.

She rounded a corner, and found herself staring at a dead end. She flattened her back against the wall, staring in horror as the blue light of the Dalek's eyestalk shone into view.

"Please, no." She whimpered as it came closer.

"PRE-PARE FOR FULL CON-VER-SION!" The Dalek said.

"No!" Clara screamed.

As the Dalek was about to reach her, it screeched: "CLARA! WAKE UP!"

Then she was tumbling through blackness. Somebody was telling her to wake up, and somebody else was crying.

Her eyes flew open. She was clutching the Master's shirt, and she was the one crying.

"Clara?"

She clung to his shirt, letting the tears flow out. The Master sat up slowly, pulling her up to sit beside him on the bed. "It's alright." He said, hugging her tightly. "You're safe. It was only a dream and nothing more."

After a while, her tears subsided. She sniffed and wiped away the remaining stains. "I'm such a child, crying over stupid dreams like that."

"It's fine." The Master's voice was a rumble in his chest as Clara leaned against him. "Everyone has nightmares. Even Time Lords."

"Are you okay?" She looked up at him. "You passed out."

"I'm fine." He smiled. "Just a bit weak."

"What was that? You were destroying Daleks, and then for one instant, you were this creepy skeleton thing…"

"It's like a… glitch. This body was born from death, and I'm able to expel my life force from my body. And sometimes, the inside shows through."

"Will you die?" Clara looked up at him fearfully.

"No. All I need to do is eat something and then I'll be fine."

"How did the Daleks get in here anyway?"

"I think they came from the time crack we're sitting on top of. The TARDIS should be fully charged by now, so I'll move us when I get the chance.

"Are there more on board?"

"No. I destroyed them all."

Clara shut her eyes tightly. "Those things scare me to death."

"Is that what your dream was about?"

"Yeah. I have some… bad memories of them."

"Well, I'm going to move the TARDIS before more show up and get in." The Master stood up, and wobbled slightly.

Clara grabbed his arm. "Looks like I'm supporting you now."

They made their way to the control room, albeit slowly. When they got there, they saw that the door was wide open.

"Really?" The Master complained. "Who knows what else could've gotten in!" He turned to Clara. "Get me some food."

Clara cocked her head. "What's the magic word?"

The Master stared at her. "What magic word?"

Clara sighed. "Say please!"

The Master rolled his eyes. "Can you please get me some food?"

Clara smiled and skipped off. "Thank you!"

The Master watched as she left. She seemed far better now than she had been earlier. He went over to shut the door, but when he closed it, it got stuck and there was a small metallic clank. He looked down to see a tiny metallic object wedged in the doorway.

He picked it up, inspecting it. It was a tiny cybernetic bug made of metal. "How'd this get here?" he muttered. Thinking nothing of it, he slammed the door and tossed the bug on the console as he started up the TARDIS.


Clara started to make her way back to the Master. She didn't know how hungry he would be, so she had taken pretty much everything she could find and stuffed it into a random basket she had found. Fortunately, she had not run into any other monsters lurking around the halls so far.

She was starting to think she liked the Master. Despite what the Doctor had said about him being a criminal and dangerous, he didn't seem too much like that. Sure maybe he had drums in his head, and he was a little bit crazy, and arrogant not to mention, that didn't mean he was bad. He had saved her life twice now, and was probably bound to do it again. She wasn't as worried about the Doctor finding her quickly now, but she still wanted to see him again. She wondered what it was about the Doctor and the Master that made them not like each other. They were the last two Time Lords, as far as she knew, so they should get along, right?

At that point, she entered the control room. She set the basket on a bench and looked around. The Master was nowhere to be seen.

"Master?" She called. She looked at the console, and saw that they had entered the time vortex. He had been here at some point.

Suddenly, a voice breathed in her ear.

"Wakey, wakey."