And the next chapter is up! ^^ sorry it took so long, but thanks a ton to those who've reviewed, favorited and followed this story! i hope you enjoy this next chapter and, once again, a warning about torture in this one too. but don't feel too bad! things will pick up in the next chapter.
I took a deep breath, shaking slightly as my fingers danced on my thigh in that beat of four.
Duh duh duh dum.
Duh duh duh dum.
Duh duh duh dum.
I couldn't make it stop. It was as though the Master had carved the drum beat into my head when he first went into my mind to find out who I was. I tried everything to shut it out since then. I held my own hands together to try and keep from tapping, but then I'd tap my foot or bounce my leg, or run my tongue along my teeth. I physically couldn't stop. So I tried mentally blocking it out. It would work the first few times I tried it, but then the Master kept coming and forcing the drumming back on me and any barriers I built up against it would shatter like glass. I was trying though. I would never stop trying.
He nearly broke me though. Very nearly and more than once. The drumming wasn't helping and when he started trying to assault me, I quickly snapped and would attack him with a ferocity that even I didn't know I was capable of. It's the drumming. I told myself the first time it happened and I had broken the Master's nose with a head butt when he'd slipped his hand up my shirt. The times after that though, the drumming was so loud and my skin seemed to burn where he touched me, until I'd tried to strangle him or kick him in the crotch or bite his ear off.
The drumming made the violence worse, I thought. It just pulled forth that bundle of emotions that made the Master go insane and tried to do the same with me. The anger, frustration, pain, fear. It multiplied it ten fold and used it to block any rational thoughts. And with the Tardis being in so much pain all the time, that only seemed to encourage the drumming. Like the drumming was feeding off those emotions and getting worse. So I tried that. I stopped reacting. I shoved my emotions as far back as I could and locked them in a mental box. Not even the Master could rile me up now. He kissed me? Nothing. He hit me. Nothing. Threats, attacks, starving, electrocution. Nothing. I wouldn't show anything to him. Not to him or the guards or anyone. Not that anyone visited me in isolation.
I yearned for things though. I yearned for this to be over. For me to pop off with Eleven or Twelve or even a Tenth Doctor who hated me, but it never happened. A whole year and nothing. I wanted to see the Doctor sometimes too, because sometimes, when I could get some sleep, there were times that I heard him talking to me. Different versions, but they were him all the same. Eleven would comfort me and apologize, saying that it wouldn't be long now. And I could hear Ten too. I didn't know if it was him in the other room or if it was a future him, or if I was really going mad and none of these Doctors were even real. But this Ten would apologize over and over again, telling me to wait just a little more. Just a little bit longer.
"Don't stop fighting."
I was hanging onto those words, from when I was with Donna-Tenth the last time. They were all I had left, really. I hadn't been allowed to see anyone but the Master or my guard who fed me on occasion. It was that thought that kept me going, kept me strong, kept me from breaking under the pressure. I'd nearly cracked when the Tardis was finally used as the Paradox machine, and almost broke down after that when the Master used electrocution on me upon finding how it bothered me with the Daleks. I probably shouldn't of called out his name in front of the Doctor like that. I didn't even think that'd be something that would rile him up so much, but it did and whenever I wanted to have that bit of satisfaction that I had something to hold over his head, I'd use it. I never told him anything though. He never found out much from my memories either, so it obviously frustrated him when he wanted to know how his plan turned out and I'd say nothing. On occasion though, I'd give him a hint in exchange for something.
I once asked for Jack to be given a meal of whatever he asked for and told the Master that it would be a year before anything changed. And another time I asked for Martha's family to have a day off with their own dinner, in exchange for telling the Master that the Doctor told Martha about a weapon that would kill him; though I didn't give him anything more than that. He would of found out through the rumors of Martha anyway. I never asked for anything for myself though, because I knew that the Doctor was outside living in a tent as an old man watching the world burn; that Martha was out in that world just trying to survive and spread the word; and that Jack was being killed again and again just for entertainment.
I didn't have it that bad. I told myself. I deserved it, for abandoning my family to be here. I deserved it for letting people die when I could save them. I deserved it for hurting the Doctor so much. Shh. I mentally shushed myself, trying not to think about it because that would make the drumming worse than it already was.
Duh duh duh dum.
Duh duh duh dum.
Duh duh duh dum.
A year… A whole year… Three o' clock… It'll happen soon… The year that never was.
14:58, the clock said. Two minutes to three and Jack started pulling at the chains that held his wrist captive as the Master walked unknowingly onto the flight deck.
"Time for my message. Who shall I have today? Tanya. Come on, sweetheart." He said to the woman sitting at a desk nearby. "Lucy, have you met Tanya? She's gorgeous. Tanya, when we go to the stars, I'm going to take you to the Catrigia Nova. Whirlpools of gold." He said as the woman headed over and started massaging his shoulders; his coat now lying on the table. "You two should get to know each other. That might be fun!"
As he enjoyed himself, Jack finally broke free of the chains and grabbed a pipe, blowing white hot steam in a guard's face the same time Martha's father, Clive, dumped a bucket of water on some electrical wires downstairs.
"Condition red. Repeat. Condition red!" A call came out over the speaker as Martha's mother, Francine, grabbed the Master's coat and tossed it to Tish, who passed it to the Doctor. Using that chance, he pulled out the laser screwdriver and aimed it at the Master on the upper deck, who held his hands up.
"Oh, I see."
"I told you. I have one thing to say."
The Master started laughing though, as Jack and Clive downstairs were caught by the guards and the Doctor tried using the screwdriver unsuccessfully.
"Isomorphic controls." The Master said, leaning down to take it from him and punching him. "Which means, they only work for me. Like this." He aimed it over at Francine, purposely missing by mere inches. "Say sorry!"
"Sorry, sorry, sorry!"
"Mom!" Tish ran over to the bowed woman, hugging her as the Master came back down the stairs.
"Didn't you learn anything from the blessed saint Martha?"
Lucy, his wife, rushed over and picked up his coat, replacing it on his shoulders as he went on.
"Siding with the Doctor, is a very dangerous thing to do. Take them away."
A guard took the two out of the room and the Master went over and helped the Doctor back up into a chair.
"Okay. Gotcha. There ya go, gramps." He sat on the table and spun the Doctor around with his foot. "Do you know, I remember the days, when the Doctor—oh, that famous Doctor—was waging Time War. Battling sea devils. And Axons. You sealed the rift at the Medusa Cascade single-handed." The Master shook his head with a breath. "Look at him now. Stealing screwdrivers. How did he ever come to this?… Oh yeah! Me!"
The Master laughed, but the Doctor still spoke up.
"I just… need you to listen."
"No. It's my turn. Revenge! Best served hot. And this time, it's a message for Miss Jones." He turned to the woman Tanya and nodded. "Get the cameras. And guards? Bring the girl."
Once everything was set up and Alex was brought in, the Master went over and adjusted the camera a bit; having lost most of the camera men during a temper tantrum of his.
"My people. Salutations. On this, the eve of war. Lovely woman." He joked. "But I know that all sorts of whispers down there. Stories of a child, walking the Earth, giving you hope. But I ask you, how much hope has this man and woman got?" He went over and stood behind the chair the Doctor sat in and then grabbed the woman by the chain on her neck and pulled her to lean over behind him. "Say hello, Gandalf, Pest."
He released the woman and a set of guards pulled her back as the Master went on.
"Except he's not that old, but he's an alien with a much greater lifespan than you stunted little apes. But what if it showed? What if I suspend your capacity to regenerate?" He asked, pulling some things on the laser screwdriver in his hands. "All 900 years of your life, Doctor. What if we could see them?"
"Leave him alone."
The Master frowned over at the woman who stood there in the back of the video, defiant.
"Or what?" He demanded.
"Or I'll tell them. I'll give them a name to match the face of the Master."
The Master frowned seriously. "I'll make you leave."
"Then I'll shout it as I get dragged out." She retorted and he aimed the screwdriver at her.
"Then I'll kill you right here, right now."
"And risk not knowing what happens next?" She questioned, though the expression on her face never changed.
"I can wait." He challenged in return.
"Oh, but then you won't know about the gu—" She suddenly stopped. "Oops, I should stop there. Nearly gave it away. That wouldn't be good."
"What?!" He snapped, stepping closer with the screwdriver still raised. "I won't know about the what?! Tell me!"
"Then leave him be."
He was right in front of her now and grabbed her throat tightly, ripping the white bandage off from her eyes as she clenched them shut with grit teeth; not used to being back out in the light when her isolation cell was kept dark most of the time.
"Tell me, or I'll find out myself. The hard way."
She stayed completely silent, wheezing as he strangled her, before he threw her back at the guards with a snarl and aimed the screwdriver at the Doctor once more, holding the button down as the man writhed in agony.
"Down you go, Doctor." The Master snarled. "Down, down, down the years. And not even Alex can save you."
The Doctor seemed to disappear under the clothes once he'd sank to the floor and the Master headed over, silently wondering if he'd killed the man, kneeling over towards the bundle of clothes.
"Doctor."
Within it, was a golem-like creature, but he was just out of view of the camera and the Master knew that, approaching the machine and pushing the issue.
"Received and understood, Miss Jones?"
With that, he shut off the camera and turned to Alex, storming over as the guards held her still and she stared blankly at him; her drumming fingers being the only thing to show her frustration.
"And now for you."
He pressed his fingers to her temples and forced his way into her head, searching for what she had been about to tell him, but everything had already started getting closed off and just when he believed to of found it, the vision was cut off and he was forced out of her head; having to dodge her as she viciously threw her head forward to head butt him; panting and wild-eyed as she snarled in an animalistic fashion.
"Put the bird in it's cage." The Master ordered, nodding over towards the Doctor and a guard brought in a bird cage to put him in it, as the Master held out his hand for a baton.
Once it was given to him, he swung it down across Alex's head with a deafening crack, forcing the guards to carry her before the man hit her hard in the stomach and they let her fall to the floor in a heap. The Master then grabbed the chain around her neck and forced her to raised her head and face him as he knelt down in front of her.
"Don't test me." He snarled, tossing the baton aside and turning away. "Chain her up by him."
The guards hauled her to her feet and half-dragged, half-carried her over to where the Doctor was, chaining her to the wall behind him as he stared on sadly. She was still so strong, but he could see the damage done to her from being here. He'd missed her and worried for her everyday, hoping for just a chance to see her whether she was the Alex who loved him or not. Because he'd hoped that just one glimpse would help her fight, would help him fight, but not like this.
She was gaunt, frighteningly so, with bruises and cuts and burns littering what skin he could see and he could only question what sort of pain she was hiding. Even as weakened as she was now though, he could see her fingers twitching that familiar four beat pattern, despite the fact that she was near unconsciousness. For now, however, she was allowed to rest because the Master soon left to go enjoy himself and have a meal with his wife as well as prepare for the launch that was going to happen tomorrow.
"Alex." A croaky voice spoke up and I twitched, coming back to consciousness after passing out sometime the night before.
My head ached terribly from the hit the Master had given me on top of everything else. I tried to concentrate on the drumming, hoping that it would give me the same pain-relieving effects it had before, but it only gave me half the effects without someone there to force it deeper into my head. My finger tapped angrily on my skull (the only thing I could reach with my hands above my head) as I cringed at the pain and wearily opened my eyes to see the Doctor hanging onto the bars of his cage and looking down at me with large, sad eyes. My chest clenched at the sight and I wondered if this may be because I liked him—even in this form—and felt upset because of what he was turned into. But my head quickly rebutted that and I looked away, believing it to be guilt.
"Sorry." I muttered under my breath, unable to face him. I tried… but that's never good enough, is it…
"Are you alright?" He asked and I felt sick.
Why was he worried about me? Look at him! He's been turned into some golem-looking alien and he's worried about me?! The drumming grew louder and I winced.
"F-Fine. I'm fine. Headache, shoulder pain. Nothing I can't handle. Haven't been handling. Already handling."
I flinched at the look he was giving me, knowing that I hadn't convinced him in the slightest, but keeping my mind blank as best I could. I can't give in. Not now. Even if it helps with the pain. I can't— I let out a slight whimper as the pain in my shoulder flared up just as I had stopped focusing on the drumming; getting the full force of the blow.
"Ale—"
"I'm fine." I snipped, turning away from him and curling up the best I could as the drumming flared up along with my frustration. "Fine. Fine. Fine. Fine. Fine." I breathed out, just as the doors opened and the Master came in along with some guards and all of the prisoners, including the long missing Martha Jones.
Martha. Martha's here. Today. It ends Today. The year that never was, but will always be. My mind raced as an announcement was made to the world and Martha approached the platform that the Master was on, before she glanced with a sad look at the Doctor and I. Don't look. Look at him. Don't look at me.
"Your teleport device, in case you'd though I'd forgotten." The Master said, holding out his hand as Martha pulled out the Vortex Manipulator from her pocket and tossed it to him. "And now… kneel."
She did so as the Master spoke to the others.
"Down below, the fleet is ready to launch. Two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the universe." He headed over and pressed a button on a control panel. "Are we ready?"
"The fleet awaits your signal. Rejoice!"
"Three minutes to align the black hole converters. Counting down." The Master called out, turning towards the clock on the wall before moving back to the railing of the platform. "I never could resist a ticking clock. My children, are you ready?"
"We will fly and blaze and slice. We will fly and blaze and slice." The Toclafane replied.
"At zero, to mark this day, the child Martha Jones will die. My first blood." He laughed, tossing a hand at Alex. "Other than Alex, of course. Any last words? No?… Such a disappointment, this one. Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the Time Vortex. You had people stronger than Alex. This one's useless."
"She's not useless." Alex said, making the Master roll his eyes and flip his screwdriver around, before aiming it and pointing it at her; shocking her with a bolt of electricity before he adjusted the settings once more and turned it to Martha.
"Bow your head. And so it falls to me, as Master of all, to establish from this day, a new order of Time Lords. From this day forward—"
Martha started laughing, cutting him off and confusing him.
"Wha… What's so funny?" He asked, lowering his screwdriver as Martha lifted her head.
"A gun."
"What about it?"
"The gun hidden in four parts." She said and he nodded, getting annoyed.
"Yes. And I destroyed it."
"A gun in four parts scattered across the world? I mean, come on. Did you really believe that?"
"What do you mean?"
"As if I would ask her to kill." The Doctor croaked out, grabbing a bar of his cage as the Master held out his arms in question.
"Oh well. It doesn't matter. I've got her exactly where I want her."
"But I knew what Professor Docherty would do. The Resistance knew about her son. I told her about the gun, so she'd get me here at the right time."
"Oh, but you're still going to die."
Alex started laughing then, loudly, madly, and drawing the Master's attention to her.
"Oh, what now?"
"The gun. The gun!" She laughed, before lifting her head to show the first hint of emotion she'd shown in nearly a year; a smirk. "Don't you remember? I nearly let it slip a year ago. You wanted to know about it, so I told you about the gun. I told you about the four parts."
"Yeah. I know. So what?" He frowned, not liking where this was going.
"I told you the rumors. Exactly what the rumors would say, but a whole year in the future. The gun never existed, not physically."
"Tell me now!" He shouted, screwdriver aimed at her once more.
"The most powerful weapon in the world, words." She said, just before he shocked her out of fury.
"Words?! A word is not a weapon! This is a weapon! This!" He shouted at the woman who writhed in agony.
"Stop it!" Martha shouted, and he turned to her in his fury, turning the screwdriver back her way but not doing anything.
"Is that what you were going to tell me? About words?"
"Yes and no." She said, being careful of her response. "While I was traveling the world, I told a story. I did just what the Doctor said. I went across the continents all on my own. And everywhere I went, I found the people and I told them my story. I told them about the Doctor and I told them to pass it on. To spread the word so that everyone would know about the Doctor."
"Faith and hope? Is that all?" He snarled, getting more and more frustrated by the second; something only Alex seemed to be able to do to him anymore.
"No, because I gave them an instruction, just as the Doctor said." Martha stood up then, making him eye her suspiciously. "I told them that if everyone thinks of one word, at one specific time—"
"Nothing will happen!" He cut her off, putting the screwdriver away in disbelief. "Is that your weapon? Prayer?"
"Right across the world, one word, just one thought at one moment, but with 15 satellites."
"What?"
"The Archangel Network." Jack said, catching on.
"A telepathic field binding the whole human race together, with all of them, every single person on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time. And that word… is Doctor."
The countdown hit zero and the cage the Doctor was in started to glow, him along with it and he grew as the Master realized what was going on.
"Stop it. No, no, no, no, no. No you don't!"
The people in the ship and the people all around the world started shouting and thinking the same thing. Doctor.
"Stop this right now. Stop it!" The Master demanded as the Doctor stood up.
"I've had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices."
"I order you to stop!" The Master continued, but it was useless; the Doctor was turning back.
"But one thing you can't do… Stop them thinking." He levitated off the ground a bit, facing the Master. "Tell me the human race is degenerate now, when they can do this."
"No!" The Master shouted, firing his screwdriver at the Doctor, but it hit the energy swirling around the man harmlessly.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Then I'll kill them." The Master said, turning to aim his screwdriver at Martha, only for the Doctor to knock it out of his hands. "You can't do this! You can't do this! It's not fair!"
"And you know what happens now." The Doctor said, making the Master panic as he floated closer.
"No! No! No! No!" The man cried out, backing up to the wall behind him.
"You wouldn't listen."
"No!"
"Because you know what I'm going to say."
"No." The Master said, curled up and trying to claw at the wall to get away, but the Doctor just floated down and held him. "I forgive you."
I watched this scene in awe, still chained up and shaking slightly, but I wondered to myself if I could forgive him too. I remember telling the Doctor after this to forgive people as I was dying, but could I do the same to a man who tortured me? To a man who put this drumming in my head that would continue to torture me? A man who turned the Tardis against itself, making it scream out in agony inside my head, all for the sake of trying to understand something? For trying to live a life despite everything turning having already been destroyed? Could I really blame him? Could I truly hate him for what he's done to me? To all these people here? To the people that will never remember their fate?
I could, I realized. I didn't know why, but I felt as though I could forgive him. I could forgive him, because the Doctor forgave him. Because, although no human on this ship would, I could forgive him. And I almost… I almost didn't want to do it for me. I didn't want to do it to be the better person. And I didn't want to do it to show the future Doctors that I wasn't being a hypocrite. I wanted to do it, because he was like me. Alone, with no one to turn to but the Doctor, and he just chose not to. He chose to turn to the only other thing he knew; himself and the drumming in his head. And he went mad because of it. He wanted to prove he was strong, better than the Doctor, and that would be his downfall in the end. But the next question was, should I change the end?
Pain racked my form suddenly, as the ship started shaking and I slid across the deck, somehow having had my chains unhooked from the wall. I hit my head on the wall, before someone grabbed me and held me with them, as I curled up in a ball and let out a cry of pain, clutching my shoulder in agony. When it all finally stopped, I was hardly conscious and realized that it wasn't the Doctor who'd grabbed me, but the Master, who now clung to me like a life preserver. He released me then, practically tossing me aside as the Doctor started speaking.
"The paradox is broken. We've reverted back, one year and one day. Two minutes past eight in the morning." He rushed over to a panel and turned a knob on a radio.
"This is UNIT central. What's happened up there? We just saw the President assassinated."
"See? Just after the President was killed, but just before the spheres arrived. Everything back to normal. Planet Earth restored. None of it happened. The rockets, the terror. It never was." He said, turning it off as Martha stared up at him in confusion and I tried to at least move into a sitting position.
"What about the spheres?"
"Trapped at the end of the universe."
"But I can remember it." Francine muttered, confused.
"We're at the eye of the storm. The only one's who'll ever know." The Doctor said seriously, before spotting Clive and rushing over to shake his hand happily. "Oh, hello! You must be Mr. Jones. We haven't actually met."
The Master rushed for the door, only for Jack to be there and bring him back into the room.
"Woah, big fella! You don't want to miss the party. Cuffs."
A guard passed him handcuffs and Jack handcuffed the Master's arms behind his back before leading him forward a bit.
"So! What do we do with this one?"
"We kill him." Clive snarled.
"We execute him." Tish followed, myself slowly making my way along the wall, trying to get within distance of the Master.
"No, that's not the solution." The Doctor said, but Francine had another idea and lifted the pistol she'd picked up earlier.
"Oh, I think so. Because all those things, they still happened."
The Doctor slowly made his way down the steps towards her, not making any sudden movements should he scare her into taking the shot.
"Because of him, I saw them."
"Go on. Do it." The Master encouraged, as the Doctor reached her.
"Francine… You're better than him."
The woman was crying now, and dropped the gun to the floor, hugging the Doctor as Martha rushed down the steps and took her off of him to comfort her. The Master wasn't pleased, but still wanted to know what would happen.
"You still haven't answered the question. What happens to me?"
"You're my responsibility from now on." The Doctor replied. "The only Time Lord left in existence."
Jack rushed over to him in surprise. "Yeah, but you can't trust him."
"No." The Doctor agreed. "The only safe place for him is the Tardis."
"You mean you're just gonna… keep me." The Master questioned in disbelief.
"Hm. If that's what I have to do." The Doctor nodded, before facing Jack and the others. "It's time to change. Maybe I've been wandering for too long. Now I have someone to care for."
I rushed forwards as fast as my body would take me, just as the gunshot went off. The gunshot meant to kill the Master. A searing pain went through my hip just before my legs gave out and I cringed, waiting for the impact from the floor only to get caught by the Doctor.
"Hold on, Alex. Okay? J-Just hang on for me." He said with a smile, before lying me down and moving behind me as Jack got the gun from Lucy. "There you go. I've got you. I've got you."
No… I grunted, forcing myself up onto my hands and knees shakily as the Doctor tried to stop me.
"Alex, Alex, please. You shouldn't be moving."
"D-Did she hit him?" I asked, cringing as my hip ached in protest and the drums in my head grew louder as my emotions ran high. "Did she?"
The Doctor looked away from me, silently letting me know she had hit the Master, who chose that time to joke.
"Always the women."
"I didn't see her." The Doctor said, sending a glance at me as the Master turned to me with a frown.
"But you did… So why?"
"Because…" I breathed out, moving to sit, only to move back to lie on the floor instead. "Because I forgive you."
He seemed surprised, but quickly frowned up at the Doctor. "Dying in your arms. Happy now?"
"You're not dying. Don't be stupid. It's only a bullet. Just regenerate."
"No."
"One little bullet. Come on."
"I guess you don't know me so well. I refuse." The Master said, making the Doctor sound more desperate.
"Regenerate. Just regenerate. Please. Please! Just regenerate. Come on."
"And spend the rest of my life imprisoned with you?"
"You've got to. Come on. It can't end like this. You and me, all the things we've done. Axons. Remember the Axons? And the Daleks." The Doctor began to cry and I felt a tear slip down my face as well, feeling guilty for not being able to stop this and angry and frustrated; the drumming in my head echoing my pains.
"We're the only two left… There's no one else… Regenerate!" The Doctor begged, but the Master just smiled.
"How about that… I win." He then eyed the Doctor, questioning. "Will it stop, Doctor? The drumming. Will it stop?"
The Master's eyes rolled back and he died in the Doctor's arms before the man could answer and the Doctor just held him close and rocked back and forth, before expressing his own frustration.
"No!"
I stared, a few tears still slipping down my face, but all emotion locked back up. I had to. The drumming was deafening, otherwise. Even now as I tried to lock everything back, I could still hear it; tapping the beat on the floor. The Doctor's eyes turned to me and I quickly looked away, but he asked me something anyway.
"Will it?" He asked. "Will the drumming go away?"
"…until the next time." I muttered, looking over at him and wincing as my shoulder started to ache; making me question if I was finally popping off somewhere or not. "The Master… will save the universe… and… I'm sorry."
He looked at me and then shifted closer, pulling me up as he hugged me and cried into my shoulder.
"It's not your fault. You tried. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Thank you, Alex. Thank you, my Alexander. Thank you for forgiving. Thank you for fighting. Thank you for trying to save him."
I hesitated, but returned the hug, feeling tears well up within me again as they spilled onto his suit.
"Keep fighting. Keep forgiving. You will find another soon." I said, the last bit referring to Martha, who I knew would be leaving him. "And I'm sorry. I will try not to be, but I am."
And with that, I popped off, not knowing what I would do next because the drumming was still there, and I knew that it may slowly drive me to insanity alongside the Master.
Sneak Peak:
I was scared. More scared than I had ever been, because I could feel it slipping. I could feel everything slipping, and my sanity would be one of the first things to go.