Obligatory Disclaimer: Here we go. I still can't believe I've put a disclaimer throughout this whole story. Well, um, I still don't own Doctor Who. I do own many, many aspects of this story though and I hope you've enjoyed them all!

To My Lovelies:
Neko Noke:
Woman, you have been one of the cornerstones in this story! Ehehe. I'll keep you update on life via Tumblr.
ClinicallyInsaneKoschei: All good things must come to an end. But this chapter is just for you!
Ahsilaa: That is what I strive for in every chapter honestly.
Pattibon: Your reviews make me blush... You're just too nice! I am definitely trying to make it realistic. I have a good sense of where its going so I feel confident in saying everyone will appreciate it.
TheWickedHeart: I know. I'm horrible. But thank you!

Enjoy.

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Chapter Twenty-Eight:

If She Dies So Do You

"Still think you can win, Master?"

Sabas' arrogant smile was enough to make the Time Lord's anger triple, a feat he didn't think was possible. The Master could barely remember the last time he'd been so frustrated.

Not since flinging himself across the rift at Rassilon had the drums blinded him so mercilessly. It was dangerous, he knew, to allow them to drive him like they were.

Yet, it didn't matter how dangerous it was, or how deep in over his head he was. There was only one thing that mattered for the moment.

Keara Ashland is all that matters.

Subconsciously, he was praying to a god that he knew didn't exist that she was safe. Nine hundred years of living by the hand of science and now he hoped there was a higher being. He prayed she'd made it to the Doctor.

If she did - When she did, the Doctor could save her. The Master's never-ending, always growing hatred for the man did nothing to cloud his better judgment.

The Doctor could get her off the ship and away from the Aquincum. He could get her into his TARDIS and into its Zero Room. He knew that the Doctor would save her. The Master was putting so much, too much, blind faith into the man he used to call his friend.

Hopefully, he wasn't handing his trust to the wrong man. The Master shook this thought away as he stared across the way towards Sabas. He knew better than to doubt the Doctor. The other Time Lord was one of the few people in all of Time to earn the Master's respect. A feat that many doubted possible.

"I'm going to make you beg for death," The Master bluffed, already feeling fatigued from everything. He was a genius, he used his wits to win fights. It had been a very long time since he'd had to physically fight without the aid of a weapon.

"Is that so?" The Aquincum laughed, looking as if he'd barely even broken a sweat. The Master had to think. He had to keep his mind on the fight at hand.

"I'm the Master. I always win," He snarled, wiping away the mixture of blood and sweat away from his line of vision. He needed a way to tip the scales in his favor. There had to be a way of distracting Sabas. There had to be a way of winning.

He was the Master, after all. Surviving was the only thing that ever mattered. Dominating came secondary to his will to live. No matter what it took, he had to survive as he always did. Only this time, he didn't just need to survive for himself.

Keara was becoming his Achilles' heel. Most of his thoughts were directed solely towards her and her safety. His mind wasn't used to being split between two people. How did people think rationally when they had someone else to worry about, the Master asked himself.

"When I'm done, you'll wished you had run away," The Master stated, locking eyes with the man opposite him. A brilliant plan had just formed in his mind, playing to all his strengths. "Just like your dear Lidia did when I murdered her."

"You bastard!" Ah, there it was. Sabas' had lowered the laser screwdriver, allowing his hand to drop completely to his side. The Master was in his head now. Using the other's own weakness against him. "You don't get to mention her name!"

"Lidia was certainly a beautiful little thing. So petite, so fragile," He smiled, watching Sabas face redden in anger, "So breakable. And her screams! Oh, how delicious."

"Shut up!" Sabas marched straight up to the Master, shoving the laser screwdriver into the area under his chin. "Say one more word about her and I swear, you'll be beating your precious Keara to the afterlife!"

"I thought you were going to kill me anyway," He mocked. This was the opportunity he was looking for. He had to prepare himself, had to draw out the moment so he could gather his life energy for that one single moment. If he could, he could kill the man with one single blow, even if it meant draining himself of precious life energy, "Kill me, Sabas, and I'll send Lidia your best when I see her."

"Fucker," He hissed, shoving the screwdriver further into his neck. The Master could feel the energy pooling in the pit of his stomach, making him feel incredibly strong and completely weak at the same time.

"If she'd lived, do you think she'd still shriek the same as she did? I'd hope so! It was such a sound to hear. It made taking her life all the sweeter," The drums were pulsing so loud, the Master could barely hear himself speak. Just a few more seconds, he told himself. "I wonder, did she taste as good as she sounded?"

"That's it," Sabas screamed, and the Master heard the all too familiar sound of his own weapon preparing to fire. It was now or never.

The laser screwdriver fired first, but the Master narrowly moved away in time. The golden arch of light grazed his ear, burning the skin and melting it completely away. He hissed, pain shooting throughout his body but it didn't stop his plan.

Using all the life energy he had gathered, he focused it solely on his hand. The entire arm glowed a vibrant blue. For a very brief moment, it reminded him of being stuck in the wastelands of Earth and the thought caused him to smile.

I always survive.

Lightening crackled around him as he thrust his hand forward. He poured all the life energy he could spare into that single thrust and it didn't let him down. His arm felt like it was being crushed under an unimaginable weight, but he didn't slow the speed.

The fist collided with Sabas, hitting him square in the chest. Instantly, the Aquincum dropped the laser screwdriver, howling in pain as the Master pushed his fist further into his chest. It was digging through the skin and the Master soon felt it connecting with bones.

Sabas' ribcage didn't stop him though. He simply pressed on further. Soon, blood was rushing around his fingers and onto the floor. The drums delighted in seeing them, picking up their already vicious tempo.

The Master was delighted to see it as well. Just a few more centimeters and this would be over. There was no stopping him. The Aquincum was going to die by his hand. He'd promised Keara that he'd rip Sabas' heart out one day, and that day was at hand.

"No!" The Master heard someone screaming but didn't stop. His fingers were brushing against the other man's heart now, and he allowed his hand to open. It gripped around the beating organ, squeezing it as hard as he could.

"Tell Lidia I said hello," The Master laughed, pulling his hand away. He could feel the veins connected to the heart rip and snap as he pulled it from Sabas' chest.

The Aquincum seemed to not even comprehend what had just happened as he stood there, literally heartless. The Master, on the other hand, knew exactly what was happening. He smiled triumphantly, looking down at the man as he fell to his knees.

Suddenly, Lucy was by his side, sobbing violently. She gripped him and pulled him close to her chest, becoming covered in blood herself.

"No! No! Sabas, please," She wailed, clutching him tightly. Her eyes locked with the Master's, her hatred not doing anything to diminish his smile. "You monster! Do you have to take away all my happiness?!"

The Master didn't reply, instead simply letting the still beating heart fall to the floor with a thud before picking up the blood covered laser screwdriver.

Monster, he mused, how many times had he been called that? Each time with more truth than the last. Yet this time was much different. As much as he had wanted to kill Sabas since Silistra, he hadn't done it for himself. He'd done it of Keara because she needed to know the real monster, Sabas, wasn't going to be coming for her anytime soon.

He turned to leave, unwilling to look at the pathetic sight of Lucy bawling for yet another lost love. The woman became too attached too quickly. He knew that from experience.

He wondered for a moment if he should just put her out of her misery. She had shot him aboard The Valiant. She had mucked up his resurrection. She was the reason for the whole mess in his opinion. If she hadn't been so dead set on revenge, then Sabas would have never captured any of them. He gripped the screwdriver tight in his hands, ignoring the drums plea for her death, and made to leave to find Keara.

"This time, you'll stay dead!" Lucy roared to life, causing the Master to look back at her. She stood there, her attention unwavering. In her hands, the Master could see a sleek black blaster pointed directly at him. "Even if I have to stay right here and kill off every one of your regenerations!"

Her anger driving her, Lucy unleashed several blast from her handgun. The Master barely had time to move, managing to only dodge the first two. Blast three and four tore through the flesh of his shoulder and forearm. But it didn't hinder the Master's reactions.

The laser screwdriver in his opposite hand rose high, and the sound of it began to fill both Lucy's and his ears. With a screech, golden light shot across the small gap between the two and hit Lucy in the same place the Master's fist had hit Sabas.

Lucy let out an ear-splitting scream, one that even rivaled the pound of the drums in the Master's mind. She fell backwards, landing next to Sabas' limp body. The Time Lord let a small laugh pass over his lips as he looked at the two laying side by side.

"Y-you w-will die," Lucy managed to choke out, blood spill from her mouth. The Master stood over her, raising an eyebrow. He watched her shaky hand pull out a small remote concealed within the confines of her pocket and hold it up. "Everyone will."

Her slim finger pressed against a button and her hand fell to the ground, her body going as limp as the man next to her. The Master could see the life drain from her eyes as they glazed over and he knew it was done.

"Please evacuate," A stoic voice announced overhead. The voice was completely devoid of emotions and the Master instantly knew the computer's voice only meant more trouble. "Emergency self-implosion activated. Please evacuate."

"Shit."

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"Please evacuate. Emergency self-implosion activated. Please evacuate. Implosion in ten minutes and counting. Please evacuate."

"What has that megalomaniac done now?" River asked, gripping the Doctor's hand tighter. The man let out a forced laugh as he shook his head back and forth.

"I don't know," He replied. "But I'd say we have about ten minutes to find out."

"Doctor," Amy said, glancing around the hallway they now stood in. Both River and the Doctor looked up at her, seeing the ginger's face as white as a sheet. "Where Dominus?"

River's and the Doctor's complexion rivaled that of Amy's as they exchanged knowing glances. Neither had even thought about the boy since finding Amy, and neither could answer.

"Keara is going to kill us," Amy stated flatly, her eyes widened in fear. The last time she'd seen the boy was when they'd arrived in the study. It was like he'd been there one moment, and gone the next.

"Alright, we need to find him and fast," The Doctor stated, running his hand through his messy hair several times as he locked eyes with the woman before him. "River, go find Jack and Amy and I will look here for-"

"Where's Keara?!"

The Doctor looked up from River's face to be met with the angry face of the Master walking towards them. One arm was completely black, looking as though the entire thing had been bruised all at once. The other was covered in blood that flowed down to his fingers. The rest of his body was in no better condition.

"Master!" River exclaimed, her eyes narrowing slightly before widening, remembering that they had just lost his son.

"What happened to you?" Amy asked, though she didn't dare get closer to the Time Lord. His expression alone was enough to cause the woman nightmares. But then she noticed something odd. "And where's Keara?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out!" He snarled, shooting the girl a hateful look before turning back to the Doctor. "Care to explain why she isn't with you?"

"She was supposed to be with you," The Doctor defended himself.

"She was supposed to be finding you," The Master hastily retorted, "She was poisoned by Sabas!"

"She's been poisoned by an Aquincum?" River nearly gasped, giving the Time Lord a sympathetic look to which the Master just scowled. "We haven't seen her since we split up!"

"Fan-fucking-tastic!"

The Master shouted, slamming one of his bloody hands into the wall beside him. He ground his teeth together, trying to calm the drums as best he could. Nothing seemed to be helping and the others, though concerned, didn't seem to be grasping the full extent of the situation.

Glancing around, he tried to locate the one person who would understand his pain but couldn't see him. Dominus was no where among them.

"Where's Dominus?" The Master asked, continuing to search for the young boy. No one dared answer which didn't help the man's anger. "I said, where the hell is my son?!"

"Calm down," The Doctor stated even though he knew it wouldn't help anything. "We were just about to go looking for him."

"Go looking for him?!" The Master scuffed. "If you haven't noticed, we've got about eight minutes until this entire ship collapses in on itself! How do you expect to find him?"

"Don't you guys have like a psychic link thingy?" Amy asked, oblivious to the mounting tension between the two Time Lords. Both looked back at her and she shivered slightly at their intense gaze. "Geez. I just meant, maybe you could use that, yeah?"

"She has a point," River spoke up, coming over to stand beside the two men, looking back and forth between the two as she gave each one a soft smile. "Sweetie, you could find. Or, Master, he is your son. You're bound to have a much better link with him."

"Fine," The Master retorted. With another hateful glance at the Doctor, he closed his eyes and began to search for his psychic link with Dominus. It was faint, blocked by many psychic barriers but it was still there. The link seemed to waver slightly, as if the boy were much too far away.

Dad, Dominus' voice was soft in the Masters mind but it was loud enough to be heard over the sound of his drums.

You little brat! Where are you? The Master couldn't help the anger and annoyance in his voice. He didn't have enough time to find both the boy as well as a dying Keara.

I'm not far outside of London. I have something that needs taken care of before I leave, He stated and the elder man could hear how strained his voice sounded, even in his mind. Don't worry about me! You have to find mama. This is all apart of the story.

What story? What the hell are you talking about?

Your story, Dominus said with a cheerier tone this time, I'm sorry but I've known from the beginning what was going to happen - or at least, I knew enough to help it along. You and mama have to live because you haven't told me how this story ends yet. So go find her, I'm okay!

I wont let you die, The Master was surprised with the desperation in his own voice.

I wont die. I have a Time Ring. I've had it a while, The boy answered, It was tempting to use it before but I knew I had to see this through until the end. Now its over and you have to find Keara... Tell her I love her.

I will, He replied softly.

Tell her you love her, It was the last thing the Master heard. He kept his eyes firmly shut, unwilling to let them open just yet. Dominus' words angered him further yet he couldn't help direct the anger at himself.

"You really don't understand at all, Dom," He mumbled to himself, finally looking up towards the others. They were staring at him curiously. He gave a long sigh, mimicking the Doctor's nervous habit and ran his hand through his messy blonde hair. "You all go find Jack and get the TARDIS here immediately. I'll find Keara."

"What about Do-"

"It'll keep. Just do as I asked!"

"Shouldn't one of us help you?" Amy asked quietly even though she already knew the answer.

"No. She still has the tracking chip in the base of her skull. I can find her quickly," He said bitterly, pulling out the laser screwdriver from his pocket and looking it over before tossing the small metallic rod towards the Doctor. "You can get to your TARDIS, right? Use that to locate us when you finally do."

"Yes. We just have to find Jack and the vortex manipulator," The Doctor reassured the other man as he caught the screwdriver. "I'll find you both, I promise."

"Good, because if she dies," The Master stared holes into the Doctor, earning a subtle shudder from the man. His voice was resolute and the man knew that the Master meant his words, "So do you."

"Understood," The Doctor replied, stopping River before she had a chance to speak. "We will save her."

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Author's Note: It's the eve of the end. Any who, I hope you've all enjoyed this story! I'm thinking about writing a sequel but again, I'm not sure. I have a few really good ideas... Depends on how I decide to end this. Yes, well, reviews would be highly appreciated as they've been lacking as of late. I'd really love to have the next to last chapter be the most reviewed yet!

Also, thanks to pattibon, I have created a playlist! Just in case you want to read back over this story with the music that inspired me!

A Kiss With A Fist - Florence + The Machine

Cosmic Love - Florence + The Machine

Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm Of The War Drums - A Perfect Circle

Demon Kitty Rag - Katzenjammer

Drumming Song - Florence + The Machine

For The Heart I Used To Have - Nightwish

I Cant Decide - Scissor Sisters

Jar Of Hearts - Christina Perri

Let It Die - Emilie Autumn

My Angel Put The Devil Inside Me - Murray Gold (Performed by Yamit Mamo)

My Body Is A Cage - The Arcade Fire

Rolling In The Deep - Adele

Soul 4 Sale - Simon Curtis

Sound Of Drums - Chameleon Circuit

Supermassive Blackhole - Muse

The Bird And The Worm - The Used

The Master Vainglorious - Murray Gold

This Is Our Home, This Is Gallifrey (This Is Gallifrey Cover) - Halia Meguid

Voodoo Child - The Rogue Traders

Who Am I Living For - Katy Perry

NEXT CHAPTER: To Look at Koschei