A Year of Torture
"And so it came to pass…that the human race fell and the Earth was no more. And I looked down upon my new dominion as master of all and I thought it…good."
"Well at least one of us does," The Doctor tries to say but it came out as a hoarse whisper, causing the Master to chuckle. He suddenly turns them both around, pushing the Doctor's stiff body at Lucy who held up the taller woman as best as she could. The Master jumped down the stairs, grinning around the room.
"Don't you all have work to do?" He asks in a loud voice and suddenly, the guards were escorting people out until the only people left in the room were the three Jones', Jack, Lucy, the Doctor and the Master. The Master turns to look at the frightened forms of Francine, Clive and Tish and smiles.
"Well, well, well. The Jones family! What should we do with you?" He asks, walking around the three in a circle before jumping. "I know!" He shouts, causing everyone to jump at the sudden shout. "We need people to clean the Valiant. Take them to get their new uniforms!" He says to a nearby guard who nods, leading the three out of the bridge.
"And what about the freak?" The Master says, looking at Jack's figure which was still on the floor.
"How about you let me go and we forget all this happened?" Jack asks with a grin and the Master chuckles.
"Or I could do this!" And once again Jack collapsed to the floor, dead once more. The Master laughs and runs back up the stairs, stopping in front of Lucy and the Doctor. "And now you," He whispers, holding out his arms for Lucy to place the Doctor in which she does quickly and gladly. He carries her down the steps and seats her on a chair, standing behind her and placing his hands softly, almost delicately, on her shoulders.
"Everyone leave!" He suddenly shouts and the guards all walk out of the room in unison, glad to be away from the Master's imposing presence. Lucy, however, stops behind the Master and softly touches his arm.
"Harry?" She asks softly, flinching as the Master turns to look at her with icy eyes.
"Leave," He hisses and she quickly does so, glaring at the Doctor as she does. The Master runs his hands up the Doctor's neck and over her face before they came to rest on her temples. She stiffens, her eyes closing, as she felt his presence in her mind once again.
"What did you do?" She asks, her eyes still closed.
"Oh, that was nothing. You should be afraid of what I'm going to do to you," He chuckles.
"And what are you going to do to me?" She asks and her eyes open when she feels his presence leave her mind and his fingers leave her temples. She watches as he walks around her to sit on the table in front of her.
"How did it feel?" He asks and the Doctor blinks at the confusing subject change. "The emptiness." He specifies, leaning forward and raising an eyebrow as she stayed still, not leaning back to get away from him. "It must be so quiet in here," He says, tapping her temple softly. "with no other Time Lords out there," He says and she shakes her head.
"It doesn't have to be anymore. It's just you and me now," She says and the Master laughs.
"As you keep saying," He says. "I'm bored now," He says and his hands reach out towards her temples.
"You always did have a short attention span," She quickly says before falling unconscious as his fingers came into contact with her skin.
The Master smiles and looks at the sleeping form of the Doctor, many ideas running through his mind.
*Doctor Who*
When the Doctor woke she noticed that the room she was in was actually well-decorated. However, the thing she assumed the thing that woke her was the figure stood at the bottom of the bed she was laying on, his fingers tapping that four beat rhythm which was quickly getting on the Doctor's nerves.
"Could you please stop doing that?" She asked, stretching slightly to get rid of the stiffness in her limbs. The Master grinned and jumped onto the large bed beside the Doctor, causing her to groan as her body was jerked. He moved beside her, laying on his side and resting his head on his fist, grinning down at the Doctor.
"Good morning," He says cheerily and the Doctor glares up at him, causing him to laugh. "Oh don't be like that! You should be enjoying your last moments as a free person," He grins and the Doctor stares into his eyes.
"What are you going to do?" He asks and the Master's grin falls as he stares down at her seriously.
"I know you." He says and the Doctor says nothing, just continues staring at him. "And I know that physical torture will be a breeze for you. Mental, on the other hand..." He says and his hand once again touches her temple and the Doctor curses herself at that sense of familiarity which she shouldn't be feeling.
She could feel him moving through her mind and she gritted her teeth as he moves, not bothering to be gentle. She could feel him looking through her memories of every companion, regeneration and journey through time and space. She blinked as he moved backwards through her memories, continuing going back until she saw Gallifrey and herself as a young Time Lord, not even out of the Academy. He stopped there and she saw herself and the Master, young and happy, before everything turned black.
*Doctor Who*
The Master looked down at the Doctor, wondering if this was going to become a routine between them, and smirked in excitement of the Doctor's reaction when she awoke. It had been two hours and thirty eight minutes exactly since he had gone through her mind; he knew this due to his sensitive time perception. He sighed as the Doctor moved but didn't wake. She annoyed him even when she was unconscious.
Ten minutes later, the Doctor's eyes fluttered open and she stared up at the Master with growing confusion. "What?" She asks, looking up at him and his insane grin. She sat up, looking around the room with wide eyes before turning back to the Master who was almost bouncing up and down in his glee.
"Oh, this is remarkable." He chuckles, leaning closer to her face and the Doctor automatically leans away, falling off the bed. The Master laughs as she quickly gets to her feet, moving backwards to put as much effort between her and the man in front of her. "Do you know who I am?" He asks, sitting on the edge of the bed and leaning forward in anticipation of the answer.
"No," She replies slowly and the Master laughs, jumping up and dancing to music that couldn't be heard. "I should, but I..." She flinches as she tries to remember but all she could feel was fire. The Master laughs as she collapses, her hand going to her head. He walks over to her, kneeling in front of her and placing his hands on either side of her head and looking into her eyes which showed nothing but pain and he almost missed that shine that was present in every regeneration of hers and was purely the Doctor.
"You can't remember anything at all. Yet," He says, standing up and walking to the door as the Doctor gets to her feet. The fire in her mind was gone now and she could remember Gallifrey. She could remember that beautiful planet she called home and remembered the rest of her people and wondered why there was no link between her and anyone, except for the man in the room with her.
The Master stopped at the door and turned to face the Doctor who was deep in thought.
"You can easily get your memories back. Just think," He says with a grin and she stares at him.
"But it burns. Every time I think I remember and it feels like I'm being burned alive," She whimpers at the end and the Master's grin falls slightly. He loved torturing her and bringing her pain, but deep down he remembered the little eight year old girl he met at the Academy.
"That's the point," He says brightly, leaving the room quickly and walking away as the Doctor falls on the bed. She closes her eyes and lets herself fall in the fire, opening her eyes just as quickly as the fire once again burned at her.
*Doctor Who*
He visited her the next day and found her with her eyes closed and her face set in a grimace. He knocked loudly, grinning as she jumped up in surprise. He walked in and sat on the edge of her bed, wondering how much she remembered now. His unasked question was answered when she threw herself at him, almost knocking the two of them off the end with her surprising strength.
"Koschei!" She grins, her arms wrapped tight around him and he groans, pushing her away and holding her at arms length. He eyed her carefully.
"How much do you remember ". He asks and she rolls her eyes.
"Not much but I don't really feel like going through all that fire again so I stopped." The Master sighed as he listened to her talk; this was Theta Sigma, not the Doctor. "Where are we anyway?" She asked before looking at him closely. "And why do you look old?" She asked and was unprepared for the slap she received and looked up in shock. The Master glared down at her before grabbing her arm and pulling her away to a bathroom which held a mirror. He shoved her in front of it, watching her eyes widen as she looked at herself. Her Tenth regeneration was much older than the memories she had and he enjoyed the lost look she held on her face.
"Oh Doctor. What would people think if they saw you now? The great and wonderful Doctor, scared of her own mind," He says and a tear runs down the Doctor's face as she stared at herself. Her teenage body was gone and placed in a body of a woman.
"Is that who I am now? The Doctor?" She asks and the Master raises an eyebrow at her but nods. "And what about you? I presume you are no longer Koschei," She says and the Master smirks, not saying anything. "What happened to you? And to everyone else? Where are they?" She asks and the Master laughs.
"You know the answers. You just need to remember," He says, walking away and leaving the Doctor to stare at her reflection.
*Doctor Who*
Lucy Saxon was walking to the room that she knew held the Doctor. Harry - or the Master as she was supposed to call him now - hadn't told her anything concerning the Doctor and Lucy wanted answers about who she was to him. Lucy knew there was something between the two but Harry refused to answer any questions, instead glaring at her with eyes like ice before continuing with whatever evil plan he was working on.
She stopped outside one of the many rooms aboard the Valiant and opened the door. She walked inside and found herself staring at the Doctor who was looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Who are you?" She asked and Lucy scoffed.
"Oh come now, don't play stupid. I want to know - need to know - who you are to him." Lucy says and the Doctor blinks.
"To who?" She asks and Lucy laughs lightly.
"And to think you were apparently the only one who could stop him. He was wrong about you," She says, turning back around and heading to the door with her head held high. She stopped at the door and looked over her shoulder at the confused Doctor. "He's mine, you know. No matter who you were to him once upon a time," She says and walks out the room, leaving a determined Doctor who wanted to know who she was.