Chapter 20 - Nowhere Else Left to Go

"Doctor?" I called hoarsely. I had ran down to the cells again, exhausted. He stepped to the fence. I collapsed on the floor, leaned my side against the fence.

"What happened? Are you okay? Is Donna...?"

I took a few deep breaths.

"She's fine. Regenerated, she's a Time Lord, I think, sort of." He should have felt her presence, like I could. "I got stuck in your--her mind. They must have found me, paralyzed, and called the Master."

"What happened?" he said darkly.

"I fell into his mind."

"What's wrong?" he asked even though he knew, and knelt on his side of the fence, fingers twisting through the wire.

"The drums," I whimpered, "Can't you hear them?"

He breathed for a moment, considering. "They'll go away soon, they're just an echo," the Doctor said. He could probably take them away from me if he tried. I didn't ask, he didn't offer. "He wanted you to hear them after he got you out of there."

"Why does he hear drums?"

"He never told you," the Doctor said with realization. His words came in spurts, he was careful about stringing words together "He's not...not a normal Time Lord, Seren. He's insane. He says that he looked into the Untempered Schism and heard the drums. It's his call to --"

"War. Destruction and death at his hands," I finished. I could hear them myself, and feel the pull. I wanted to destroy so much, fight against something – I stopped my thoughts, and choked out a sob. This was how the Master thought, his every action influenced by insanity. There was another awkward pause, one we didn't have time for. I changed the subject. "How did he get me out if I was locked in there? Why was I stuck? How did he get through?"

"I don't know," he looked away involuntarily.

"It's your mind."

"He's known me longer," he said at length. "Maybe it serves you right for snooping. Remember, Donna is controlling both minds now, not me. Is she alright?" he stressed.

"I don't know. I ran after that. We don't have much time," I reminded him.

"Okay, we better get talking then," he said as he looked around for approaching guards. "Who are you?" he asked.

"Seren. It's short, I know."

"There's more to tell."

"There isn't much. Grew up normal, started at the Academy -- Pyrdonian." A whisper of a smile flickered on his face. "A couple of decades in records, then the War." I didn't want to remember the details of my life. They were so boring, years and years spent in dusty archives or gathering records; a deglorified librarian. I had only been off-planet a few times, even through the war. What was left of the drums beat louder in my head at the thought of the Time War.

"Did you fight?" He said in a raw way, like an open wound of words coursing from his mouth.

"Yes." Of course. The drums beat louder.

"You stayed until the end."

It wasn't a question, but I answered anyways.

"Nearly."

We both paused, but he seemed to be reminded of the limited amount of time we had.

"What do you have to do with the Master, then?"

"He saved my life."

"And now you owe it to him?" We paused again. I gathered myself, stood up, ready to leave in a moment. He copied me, and pressed his forehead to the wire. "Look, you and I can--"

"I don't owe you anything. I promised him, I--" I fumbled for English words that described what I had done. It was more than giving my word, more than an obligation. It was my life and my hearts, my sense of everything. I had to obey the Master until I had fully replayed the debt of my life. It wasn't a choice anymore. I whispered the true name of the promise, it was in Gallifreyian.

"I know. I'm so sorry. But you have to understand," the Doctor became even more serious, a look of heartbreak on his face, "The Earth hangs in the balance. It's too much to lose. If you check the calculations it doesn't add up. Earth will crack in two, dissolve into pieces, it will end in destruction. But that isn't enough to bring back Gallifrey. There is too much difference, it would go on to destroy more of--"

Sharp footsteps descending the stairs interrupted him. I ducked behind a stray crate, feeling quite useless. The Doctor quickly sat down on a crate inside his cell.

It was the Master, of course.

"Hiding won't do any good, Seren."

I guiltily came out from my hiding place. I was suddenly aware of tearstains on my face that I didn't remember being there before. I walked past the Doctor and Master, ready to run back to my room.

"Looks like today was Donna's lucky day," he said to the Doctor. The blood pounded in my veins forcefully, like the almost fading drums that were still in my head. "No more running off, Seren," he said sternly, never turning from the Doctor. "I won't let it slide again, especially not when I don't need you anymore." I lost my footing and spun to stare at his back. He had needed me, needed three Time Lords. That's why he wouldn't hurt me or the Doctor. Donna wasn't exactly a Time Lord, but she was Gallifreyian. It would be enough. Any of us could be the expendable.

I caught the Doctor's eye, he was scared for me.

"Stay away from them," he said as forcefully as he could, defending me as I had him. The new Time Lord had made all the difference.

I caught a chuckle from the Master and I half ran up the stairs. I could hear part of his conversation with the Doctor, one last word dripping with sarcasm.

"Kids."