Chapter Fourteen: They Did Not Know
The Doctor opened the doors in front of him and let Mesae out into the desert first. "I've brought you back six years later. They've rebuilt the whole sanctuary by the looks of it." The girl looked ahead at a large, glass covered building that stood ahead of them. Her jaw dropped and she smiled. She turned back to her half-sister, who was just as shocked as she was. She stepped out onto the Rhian sand and shook her head. It was unbelievable. She turned back to the Doctor.
"Thank you," she said breathlessly. He nodded and looked to Hasani, who was lingering on the back of the control room. The Doctor walked over to Tosset and gave him what would have seemed like a hug. He pulled back, Tosset's vortex manipulator in his hand. He handed it to the Master, who pocketed it. Tosset grew furious.
"What are you doing?" he asked as the Doctor got behind the two and gently urged them to the doors. They both were standing in the sand before the Doctor answered.
"You two are too dangerous to be wandering the galaxy. I'm leaving you here in Rosealyen's care. I've talked to her already and she said that she would be more than happy to take care of you." Hasani didn't respond and stared at the sand whipping about her feet. Tosset glared at the two Time-Lords.
"Don't be angry with him." Rosealyen said quickly. "I offered for you to live here." Tosset scowled and shook his head.
"So we're animals to be shuffled between owners, then?" he demanded. The Master walked to the doorframe and leaned against it.
"Be thankful." he said, flashing a smile to the other man. "Because I would have dropped you off on some moon in the middle of the universe. At least you've got a nice home out there." Rosealyen walked over to the Doctor and kissed his cheekbones. She did the same for the Master, who obviously tried to avoid the contact. Mesae walked over and looked past them. She noted the Engelin in the back of the control room, listening intently to what was happening. The younger girl pointed her out to her sister, who tilted her head to the side.
"Eashi…" Rosealyen asked, stepping back into the TARDIS. "Do you want to come with us?" The young woman hesitated. "It would be no problem." The Engelin waved her face in front of where her eyes used to be.
"Even without sight?" she asked, her voice almost inaudible.
"We nurses deal with people with disabilities all the time. It will be fine." Rosealyen walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. She dropped the hand to fit inside of the Engelin's and led her out of the TARDIS. The Doctor stared after the two, wondering what would happen to them. Mesae offered a hand to Hasani. She didn't know that, someday, she and her sister would be revered as the most influential and important nurses in Rhian history. She didn't know that one day she would get married, have a baby boy, and name him Tei after the boy she had glimpsed through a Time-Lord's memories once.
Rosealyen smiled. She didn't know that, one day, she too would be married, that she would never have any children, and that her husband would be murdered by one of the patients at the sanctuary. She never would have guessed that she would become the person she did.
Eashi tilted her head up to the warm sun. It reminded her of the planet she was born on. The young woman never knew that she would find another Engelin in the sanctuary, a young boy that was promised to the Weeping Angels and then ran away. She never knew that she would end up raising him as her own son and he would later tell her tale for the generations to come.
Hasani whipped her head up to look at the Doctor. "You promised me that I could bring my family back." The Doctor shook his head.
"I can't. It would create a paradox. I'm sorry." She looked at Tosset. He didn't know that he would soon be in mourning that would last his entire life. He didn't know that Rhi would soon become his permanent home after he would be declared insane.
Hasani brought her hardening gaze to the ground, tears streaking her face. She didn't know that, two weeks later, she would be hanging from a balcony that she had jumped off of, a thick, metal wire around her neck.
The Doctor closed the TARDIS doors as the Master set her to sit in space for a while. The Doctor threw the vortex manipulator over his shoulder and into a pile of junk building at the base of the TARDIS. He walked over to the small, silver box sitting in the corner, staring at it.
"Master?" he asked, not daring to touch it. "What should I do?" The Master hit the final button and the TARDIS rumbled. She materialized into space as the Master walked over to the younger Time-Lord. He looked at the machine and sighed.
"We should throw it into a black-hole." he offered, only somewhat jokingly. The Doctor shook his head.
"I need to destroy it." The Master nodded.
"Of course." he said and picked it up. He pulled the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket where he had left it after he had taken it from the Doctor and aimed it at the box. He clicked it on and a low whine emitted from inside the machinery. There had been a time where he had helped create the Doctor's first sonic screwdriver. Those years felt like they were so long ago. And they were. The box began to smoke. The Doctor came up behind the Master and watched as the metal sheathing began to melt and a heavy smell encircled them. The smell of burning plastic and melting metals. The Master stopped and looked at it. The thing was no longer a threat, but a strangely shaped almost-cube. It almost looked a like a 'modern' statue that the humans loved so dearly during the twenty-first century. He didn't dare pick it up in case he burned himself, so he looked at the Doctor.
"What will I do about the Triangle Source? Now anyone from any time can harness unlimited energy once they find the right frequency and converter." The Master shrugged.
"Destroy the energy." he offered.
"But the energy quiets your drums." the Doctor argued. The Master shrugged again.
"I think that I can live with the drums if it keeps people like me from finding limitless energy to fuel their projects that will most likely destroy at least part of the universe." The Doctor looked shocked by the admission. "But the only reason I'd not want them to do it is because it's my job." he said backtracking and sounding very much like a young kid. The Doctor shook his head.
"I can't subject you to that. I let them swallow you once; I let them control you. I won't let that happen again." The Master grumbled something. "Hmm?" he asked.
"Look, the drums aren't bad when you're around. I'll forgive you for giving the drums back to me if you promise to keep them quiet." The Doctor took a deep breath and nodded slowly.
"If this is what you want." he said. The Master rolled his eyes and handed the sonic screwdriver to the Doctor who accepted it and began to set the coordinates to Ancient Egypt and glanced back at the Master. The Master gave him a thin smile. He feared the drums and their inevitable approach. He began to walk down the hallway.
"Doctor, I'm going to leave this up to you. I'm going to wander around for a while." The Doctor nodded as the Master walked down the hallway, away from him. The Master felt his heart speed up. The beat that ruined his life was going to come back. Would it devour him again? He walked to the room that he and the Doctor shared as the TARDIS shook and landed. He sat on the sheet, enjoying his last moments without the drums. He smoothed the black and white sheets under his hands, frowning. What if he turned back into the old Master, the one who no longer cared about the Doctor, the one who only cared about power and control? He tapped his fingers together and tried to slow his rapidly beating hearts. He took off his tie and jacket. He put them outside of the room, along with a few other sharp objects. He closed the door and locked it. He knew that if he was truly desperate, he would simply unlock it and get out. He didn't want to turn back into the monster he had been. He moved back over the bed and laid down on it. He shook his head. Hasani had given him something that no one else had been able to gift him with and it had to be taken away as quickly as it was given. He put his head against the pillows beneath him and listened to the magnificent silence that engulfed him. He turned onto his side and pulled the blanket over his head and sat in the darkness.
I am sorry. the TARDIS said. He didn't respond back to her. In fact, he tried to ignore her. All he wanted was silence. I will try to replicate the wave-lengths to help. With that, she left him to wallow in silence.
It began quietly, at first, just a whisper. The Master shook his head. "No." he whispered. 1-2-3-4. 1-2-3-4. 1-2-3-4. "No," he repeated desperately. "GO AWAY!" he yelled. They did not listen. 1-2-3-4. 1-2-3-4. They were louder and louder. Racking through his body. The Master tossed his head. 1-2-3-4. 1-2-3-4. He writhed, his fingers clutching his hair. Pain shot through his scalp, but he didn't care. It was so much. He gasped for air and tried to shake the noise out of his head. He shoved his nails into his scalp and dragged them toward his face. The drums were now unbearable. He was thrashing so hard that he fell off of the high bed and onto the floor. He didn't feel the blood dripping onto his white shirt, staining it. He also didn't hear the hurried footsteps in the hallway. He did hear someone trying to open the door. He threw his head back into the ground; the sound of the doorknob being twisted was too much. There was the sound of high-pitched whirring and the door popped open. The Doctor ran over to the older Time-Lord and grabbed his hands to pull them away from his face. The Master moaned and opened his eyes .He saw the concern in the younger Time-Lord's face.
"Master?" he asked, making the drums fade slightly. The Master blinked.
"Doctor. They're back." he whispered. The Doctor kissed him on the forehead.
"I know." he whispered. The Master tried to sit up, but the Doctor didn't let him. The Doctor moved away from the Master, but didn't break contact with the older Time-Lord's hands. He moved closer to the Master's head. He had noticed the blood underneath the Master's fingernails. He ran his lithe fingers through the Master's hair. His hands came back out, their tips covered in a sticky, red substance. "I can't leave you alone, can I?" he asked. The Master nodded.
"Never leave me," he commanded gently. The Doctor smiled sadly.
"I promise. I never will."