"Aaaaaah!" the Doctor's scream was piercing enough that it could have broken not glass, but thick metals, shattering them into dust. It rapidly drown out to something like a gurgling choke as the Doctor's eyes shut and he fell back into the Master's arms, totally still. Then a twitch – then still again.
Something went through the Master's eyes – fear. Quickly, without hesitation, he pulled the Doctor in and checked his pulse, feeling himself begin to shake. His hands were too jittery, but he forced them to freeze to the spot. They became so motionless that he began to feel his own pulse before the Doctor's. It was reminiscent of the drums, the common sixteenth rhythm that infested in mind and body.
He forced himself to focus, and made his arms unmoving, and through the flesh of the Doctor and his own fast beating hearts, he felt the pulse of the other time lord. The Master let out a huge sigh of relief. A tiny urge to draw the Doctor into his arms tugged at his mind. But the reminder of the drums, as they beat back into his conscious being, kicked out that thought.
Instead, he leaned back in his chair and examined his Doctor, whose eyes were shut and brows knitted slightly. The Master hadn't known how powerful the shock would be. Of course he had found this thing on earth, so he'd hotwired it, thinking humans were too soft to be able to create real pain. He'd had no idea that only the fourth setting would be enough to knock out a time lord.
The drums told him to put the Doctor up on the table he'd prepared with arm and ankle bindings, but the Master refused to do so. He couldn't. He told himself he was stalling it so that the Doctor would be able see the beautiful strapping table when he awoke - but behind a door that was kept locked by the drums was the real reason for his delay; He felt scared. Genuinely scared, at least for that moment. The thought of losing the Doctor was something he never wanted to face. Out of his own selfishness, he could allow the Doctor to be the last of their species, but he couldn't allow himself that agony.
The urge to embrace the Doctor came back, stronger this time. The drums got louder and louder as the yearn became stronger and stronger until the Master uttered a tiny sound and pulled the Doctor in tightly, against the command of the drums, burying his face in the Doctor's limp shoulder. This was okay, he wasn't awake to see this weakness. The Master felt the Doctor's shallow breaths, and drew him in closer. Don't leave me Doctor…he thought, I command you, don't leave me.
The Doctor's hair was still wet, and it made his neck and the shoulder of his blazer damp. He felt alone, once again. He couldn't know when the Doctor would wake up. It could be the next second, it could be tomorrow. Hell, he could have put the Doctor into a coma. No….That thought scared him so much that he pushed it out of his head, and pulled the Doctor in even closer.
If there was some way the Doctor and the Master were very similar, it was a mutual loneliness. Both of them were so lonely. The Doctor, living his existence as the last of his kind when the Master ran off or died - The Lonely Angel. The Master, isolating himself from love and kindness of other beings, forcing it away - the Lonely Adversary.
The Master denied himself of his desires, not allowing anything of weakness to show. That was what they were, his feelings - just weaknesses. But when these moments, these chances came (and so rarely they did), his weaknesses surfaced more than any other time and he hated it. Hated them more than he hated everything about the Doctor. Hated them enough to admit that he didn't hate the Doctor.
- Although it felt so good to be holding the Doctor in his arms.
The Master noticed the Doctor's breathing became steadier. He exhaled a breath he just realized he'd been holding and brought his hand up and down the Doctor's back, rubbing it gently. Wake up, he thought, the plead like background noise in the soundtrack of the drums. He didn't want to be alone with this song, this never ending beat. Wake up.
Oy, working with the Master emotionally is like trying to nail jello to the wall. XD Anyway, hope it wasn't too OOC it seems a bit like that, but I did my best. I received a comment telling me that they were sad it would be ending so soon with the sonic screwdriver bringers. Oh, I'm liking this story too much to let it slip so easily. There's going to be a range of stuff happening before I give this one up! And if you want this story but roles reversed, I have another Master/Doctor that's really this story, flipped. It's called 'Doing Time'. I haven't worked much with it recently, but I like it. It's a lot less violent and more emotional. Check it out if you want.
AnyWHO (lol punny), if there's something you want to see in the story and/or you have feedback, rants or compliments, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to hear them! So R&R people! I wanna know you're out there!