Back with another chapter :D Once again I'm so so so so sorry for keeping ye waiting so long! Exams blaaah :/ Hope you guys enjoy this one and thank you so so so so much for sticking with the story! Ye're all amazing! Special thanks to Ms. Estella Black, thank you so much for all the kind reviews! Really didn't think I'd get this amazing reaction to the story!
Clara clutched the Master's hand tightly as they ran, trying futilely to ignore the mind of Rassilon forcing her back with every step. Her breath caught in her throat and she let out a frightened shriek as a shard of lethal metal whipped past her, missing her by inches. The Master growled and tightened his grip on her, pulling her closer to him as he dragged her along.
"The door, get the bloody door!" He screeched at the Doctor who rushed to a large lever that Clara would have easily missed had it not been pointed out to her as it was covered by a rusty metal casing. He flipped the switch urgently and a huge sliding paneled door in front of them slid open, allowing them entrance.
"This is all your fault, you imbecile!" The Doctor yelled, brandishing his sonic screwdriver at the door wildly in a bid to make it close more quickly.
"My fault?!" The Master tugged his hand out of Clara's and took an ominous step towards the Doctor. "Who's ship was it that brought us here in the first place, Doctor?"
"You're the idiot that invented the Toclofane in the first place!" The Doctor yelled, finally succeeding in closing the door. Clara winced at the clash of metal on metal as the Toclofane came into forceful contact with the sturdy door.
"Well I didn't know they'd come back, Dr. 'The Toclofane Are Gone Let's Call This The Year That Never Was How Flipping Fantastic Am I'." The Master balled his hands into fists, slightly out of breath from his speedy rant. "You always were such a self obsessed, arrogant prat."
"Oh that's rich coming from a psychotic former Prime Minister."
"Stop it, both of you, shut up for a second!" Clara yelled, straining for her voice to be heard amoungst the ranting Time Lords. "One of you explain to me, how is arguing going to get us out of this mess?" She folded her arms across her chest and raised a sarcastic eyebrow. "Go on, tell me how we can get out of this if we're not going to work together?"
"Well we could always throw him out to the Toclofane, maybe they'll be content with ripping just one of us to shreds," The Master fixed his fellow renegade Time Lord with a steely glare.
"Oi!" Clara began, about to defend the Doctor when a huge crash shook the core of the planet, the room beginning to crumble around them.
"What the hell is that?" The Master yelled, automatically rushing to Clara's side and moving her out of harms way as another tremour rocked the ground.
"Oh no," The Doctor murmured, a horrified look crossing his features as he shifted from foot to foot in worry. "It's Rassilon, he's waking up!"
"He's dead you moron!" The Master screamed as the walls began to crack and rocks tumbled from the ceiling.
"Do you not remember the last time we were here?" The Doctor ground his teeth together, glancing over his shoulder worriedly at the sounds of the Toclofane attempting to get in. They had two options, as Clara saw it. One was to die in this crumbling tomb, the other was to go out and face the wrath of the Toclofane, almost certainly dying in that scenario aswell. Things were not looking well for the trio, she realised with sickening dread.
"I remember you being a complete dunce. All four of you."
"Rassilon holds the power of immortality!" The Doctor cried frantically, his bowtie almost falling off in his distress. "He lies in eternal sleep until someone wakes him up, which we just did and not very pleasantly. If he thinks his tomb is in danger, he'll destroy everything and everyone in it!"
"Anyone want to come up with a plan because now would be a good time!" Clara yelled, struggling to keep her balance as the tremors shook the ground.
"Who has woken me?"
Clara flinched at the booming voice, loud enough to shatter the slim shards of rock hanging precariously from the high ceiling.
"Oh, ah, hi Rassilon," The Doctor offered a small wave towards a seemingly motionless form, encased in a stone coffin.
"The Doctor."
The rumbling stopped momentarily and Clara breathed a sigh of relief. The Master stroked soothing circles onto her back, almost unaware that he was doing it as he stared firmly ahead at the speaker.
"The Doctor," The voice repeated with a thoughtful tone. "And the Master."
Clara felt the Master stiffen as the voice turned hard and cold with recognition.
"The Time Lords most infamous child," Rassilon continued with an air of harshness. "I must say I was hoping I would never see you again."
"Oh well you know me," The Master smirked slightly but his eyes remained hard and cold. "Always one to pop in for a visit."
"I see your demeanor has not changed much, even with regeneration," Rassilon adopted a light tone as he continued. "And who is this human you bring?"
"It's none of your business who she is," The Master hissed threateningly, moving to stand in front of Clara protectively. Clara frowned, not understanding the problem. She couldn't even see the face of the speaker, the voice simply appeared to be emitting from the stone tomb.
"Her name is Clara Oswald," The Doctor spoke in a hurried tone, earning a hard glare from the Master. "Look, Rass, we just want to-"
"Have you come to seek immortality?" The deep voice interrupted almost impatiently.
"Rass," The Master snickered as Clara pinched his arm slightly.
"Behave," She mouthed at him with a small smirk.
"Oh no, oh God no," The Doctor backtracked hurriedly in response with a nervous chuckle. "No no, that's not the way for me. Not for any of us."
"Then why do you burden me with your presence?"
"Well, you see, we-"
The Doctor was interrupted by a loud crash as splintered wood and metal flew in all directions. Clara gasped and backed away from the now very much open door, revealing the hoards of remaining Toclofane.
"Traitors!" One cried, advancing rapidly.
"You have brought trouble to my resting place, renegade Time Lords," Rassilon boomed, rage lacing his tone. "You are no longer welcome here. I am to leave you to your own devices."
"But we'll die!" Clara yelled, turning towards the source of the voice in fear. "You have to help us!"
She was met with silence and realised that they were on their own, surrounded by Toclofane in a falling empire. Her breath came in short, sharp gasps as panic over took her at the sight of the ever advancing Toclofane.
"Master," She whispered, reaching for his hand and looking up into his eyes. "What do we do?"
The Master's expression was torn, conflicted as he took in her words, his eyes roaming over her face as if attempting to apply it to memory. He gave her hand a light squeeze and pulled away, taking a step back.
"I know what I have to do," He gave a small, humourless bark of a laugh as he looked to the Doctor. "Get your Tardis and get yourself and Clara out of here."
"What are you... Master no! You can't!" The Doctor yelled, reaching out to grab his old enemies arm as he stalked closer to the hoard of Toclofane. "You know how dangerous that is!"
"What's he doing?" Clara whispered fearfully. "What are you going to do?!"
"Get her out, Doctor!" The Master yelled, pain evident in his eyes. The Doctor hesitated then nodded, backing away and pulling Clara with him.
"No!" She screamed, struggling against his hold as angry tears filled her eyes. "No, I'm not leaving him!"
"Time Lord's most infamous child," The Master began with a light smirk, crackling blue electricity building up between his palms. "I suppose it's time to redeem myself."
Clara gasped in surprise, expecting the Master to use his power on the Toclofane. Instead, he slammed his palms down hard on the edge of the stone block that Rassilon's tomb was laid on, causing an eruption of blue energy to push him back. He stumbled away, his palms now glowing with a mixture of blue and gold sparking light.
"Regenration energy," Clara heard the Doctor murmur as he pulled her away. "He's bringing the Tardis to us but this place is going to blow."
"What?!" Clara shrieked, scraping at the Doctor's arm as he dragged her away from the scene and towards the sound of the Tardis materialising.
The Master shot a beam of blue tinged with gold electricity at the Toclofane, pushing them back with raw power that Clara had never seen the likes of before. Fire was everywhere, chaos and destruction as the Toclofane perished. Clara felt her heels dig into the hard wood of the Tardis entrance and gave a strangled sob as the Doctor pulled her inside, slamming the door shut behind them.
"No!" She screamed, tears flowing freely now as she leapt up and began to hammer her fists on the door, pulling and pushing and even kicking when it wouldn't budge. "Let me out! Doctor, we can't just leave him!"
"We'll come back," The Doctor replied in a blank tone, his voice somehow thick. Clara spun around and blinked, tears cascading down her face and allowing the Doctor to come into clearer focus.
"But it'll be too late! You said the place was going to explode!" Clara cried.
"We'll get him out."
"Why are you saying it like that then?" Clara grit her teeth together and balled her hands up into fists as the Doctor refused to meet her eyes, his face and tone devoid of emotion. "Why do you sound so... Blank?!"
She cringed at her own exclamation for lack of a better word but at this point there was only one thing she cared about and that was the Master. The ship lurched, causing her to stumble and catch onto the console before she lost her balance.
"Landed," The Doctor stated, a sense of urgency creeping into his voice as he ran from the console to the doors, avoiding her question.
Clara followed him hastily, her heart in her throat as she caught sight of the wreckage outside. Thick, black hazy fog obscured her vision and made her cough as she squinted around in the gloom for the Master.
"I've got him!" She heard a shout and leapt out of the way as the Doctor half carried the Master into the Tardis.
"I can walk by myself you-" The Master was cut off as he let out a cry of pain and hunched over, staggering away from the Doctor. Clara rushed to his side, fear and relief flooding her simultaneously, mixed with her shock that he was actually alive and mostly unscathed.
"Don't- Don't touch me," He growled, pushing away from her and letting out a low whine from between gritted teeth as he clutched his torso.
"What- What's wrong?" Clara cried helplessly, reaching a hand out to him but not touching him. "Doctor, help him!"
"I can't."
Clara's heart froze at the solemness in the Doctor's voice.
"What do you mean, you can't?!" She cried, unwillingly allowing the desperation to seep into her voice. She didn't turn to face him. She couldn't take her eyes off the Master. He looked unharmed, his clothes covered with a thin layer of dust that he had mostly brushed off and his hair slightly disheveled as the only signs of him being the main cause of a powerful explosion.
"He's regenerating."
Clara frowned at the Doctor's words. She didn't understand what he meant, but at least he hadn't used the word "dying". The Doctor had briefly mentioned the word to her before, saying it was something a Time Lord did when they were dying, that they changed to safe their own life, but she wasn't sure what exactly that meant.
She crept over to the Master, unable to stay away any longer. He clutched the console with a vice grip, his knuckles going white with the strain. Clara gently put her shaking hand over his as he let out a small whimper.
"Don't try to hold it off," The Doctor murmured, a hint of sorrow in his tone.
"Like last time you mean?" The Master snarled with a wince, snatching his hand away from Clara and clutching his stomach with a groan. His hands began to glow with the same energy she had seen before, this time emitting from himself. Regeneration energy.
"Please, don't die," Clara begged, feeling her knees weakening as she took another shaky step towards him.
"I'm not going to die, Clara," The Master scoffed lightly, though his expression darkened slightly. "I might... Change though."
"Time Lords, when they're dying, they change their face, their body, eveything about them becomes new, different," Clara was vaguely aware of the Doctor's voice giving an explantion somewhere behind her but she couldn't concentrate on that. All she could think about was the man in front of her was in pain. And soon, he would be completely different. He had given this life, this body, to save them.
"He absorbed a colossal amount of energy from the tomb of Rassilon to build up the power to get us out of there safely. But that's intense energy," The Doctor murmured softly with a pained tone. "No one should ever absorb that, not even a Time Lord."
"Even in my dying moments, always a dictionary of wisdom," The Master scoffed with a forced smirk, wincing again and squeezing his eyes shut.
"You're not going to die," The Doctor ordered sternly. "Not this time," The Doctor's voice cracked and he swallowed to regain his composure. "This time you have something to live for."
"I know," The Master whispered, trembling slightly. Clara approached the Time Lord, trying and failing not to let her tears spill over.
"Please," She half whispered for fear of her voice cracking, reaching a hand out to touch his face lightly as tears streamed down her cheeks. "Don't go."
The Master raised a shaking hand to cover hers, trembling with the effort it took to contain the energy and hold off the regeneration.
"I'm so sorry, Clara," He murmured, his eyes filling with tears, a mixture of pain and sadness that broke Clara's heart. "I wish we'd had more time. But I'll always..."
He trailed off, grinding his teeth together and letting out a moan of pain. Clara ran a hand through his hand slowly, forcing a watery smile onto her face, trying to show him that it would be okay, she would still love him, whatever happened. He leaned in and kissed her briefly, breaking away with a pained gasp and staggering back as the pain became too much for him to bear. He let out a cry of pain, his breathing ragged. The knowledge that she couldn't help him was almost too much for Clara to bear, and hurt her in a way nothing or no one had ever hurt her before.
"I'll always..." He began again with a gasp, struggling to finish his sentence. "Love you."
He stumbled away from her, out of her reach, hands and face beginning to glow with an eerily beautiful golden light. Clara's heart ached, realising that this was the first and probably last time she would hear those words from this man's mouth.
"I love you too, Koschei. Always," Clara whispered, just loud enough for him to hear as she felt the Doctor pull her away. She struggled, tears clouding her vision as she let out a choked sob.
"Shhh," The Doctor hushed her, holding her back. "There's nothing we can do now. I'm sorry."
"Clara Oswald," The Master half smiled through the pain, the glow becoming more pronounced.
He threw his head back with a yell, arms outstretched as the golden glow engulfed him completely, the regeneration taking it's course, and taking the man Clara loved with it.
Oooooh cliffhanger :D I'm evil, I know ;;) But don't worry, there's a huge plot twist... Aaaand I'm saying no more ;;) Leave a review to let me know what you think :D