A/N: Hallo. So this is the first of three installments about the master's return. I hope you enjoy this. It was actually a little more difficult to write than I had thought it would be, but everything will be explained by the third part. I hope it won't be too confusing.
Thank you for your kind reviews.
Hugs and such.
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The Doctor stepped out into the snowy terrain of the Ood planet and looked around for Ood sigma. His face lit up in a smile when he found sigma standing and waiting for his arrival.
"Hello there, sorry it's been a bit. I've had things to be doing." The Doctor explained, straightening his coat and taking a look at the Ood.
"You should not have delayed." Sigma said tilting his head at the Doctor.
"Well, I had things to be doing. Important things, things that couldn't be postponed..."
"Enough Doctor, just get to the point." Micah said, stepping out of the TARDIS and looking around.
"You brought a companion." Sigma said, looking curiously at Micah.
"Not a companion, no! My husband." The Doctor said watching Micah smile brightly at him.
"We're sorry it took so long. We needed to help a baby in need." Micah said, walking to stand beside the Doctor.
"Doctor, you should not have delayed." Sigma said once more and the Doctor frowned.
"Well, the last time I was here you said my song would end soon, I was in no hurry for that." The Doctor explained and waved off Micah's concerned look.
"Come and speak to the elders." Sigma said, turning to leave.
"Hold on then. Jack, Ianto, hurry it up then."
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"Jack, we can't just leave Saben here for who knows how long...I'd die." Ianto said, annoyed at his fiance.
"The Ood don't summon people at random. Something's going on and it could mean the end of the world. I don't want to leave him, not now when he's able to be out of that damn incubator but you have to trust me...something big is about to happen and they will need our help..." Jack said, wiping at his tears. He honestly didn't want to leave Saben, but he knew how this would end and they needed to help.
"I've got him Ianto, there' no safer place than with us, now is there? I've got all his things, nappies and clothes and the like. Your sister is a phone call away if I need anything...if you have to do this at least know that Saben will be very well taken care of." Joshua said, looking at Ianto with care and understanding.
"I don't want to leave him." Ianto said, petting Saben's cheek.
"You can read to him nightly. He'll be fine I swear it." Jazz said, trying to assure the new parent.
"I feel horrible. What kind of parent leaves their kid...and to do what?" Ianto said, angry at himself.
"We're not leaving him, we'll be back when we make the world safer for him..." Jack said, voice breaking. He was as against this as much as Ianto was, but he knew Saben may very well not have a future if they stayed behind. The Doctor didn't usually ask for it, but he needed help.
"You can stay, if it'll make you feel better!" Jack said.
"And leave you to kill yourself first chance you get? You won't come back as fast if you die...not for a while yet...Saben...I love you." Ianto said, turning back to his son and kissing the baby on the head. Saben mewled and snuggled into Joshua's arms.
"I love you buddy." Jack said, petting Saben's hair and kissing his forehead. "We'll be back for you."
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Jack whistled when he left the TARDIS, seeing the vastness of the planet. It looked beautiful. Buildings that reached the sky had been built. It was magnificent.
"Beautiful planet." Ianto said, looking up and down and finally seeing Ood Sigma, his eyes widened and he looked gob smacked.
"Um...hello. I'm Ianto and my fiance Jack. We're here to help."
"Come, speak to the elders." Sigma said as he led the way.
"This place is gorgeous. How long did it take for you to accomplish all this?" The Doctor asked.
"100 years."
"Then we've got a problem. All of this is way too fast. Not just the city I mean your ability to call me...reaching all the way back to the 21st century...something's accelerating your species way beyond normal." The Doctor said worried.
"And the mind of the Ood is troubled." Sigma said.
"Why? What's happened?" Jack asked, standing next to Sigma.
"Every night, impossible one, every night we have bad dreams." Sigma answered, a hind of fear in his otherwise monotone voice.
"Come on then." The Doctor said and they all made their way to the Ood elders.
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"Returning, returning, it is slowly returning. Through the dark and the fire and blood, always returning. Returning to this world. It is returning, and he is returning and they are returning, but too late...too late...far too late...he has come." The elder said as they made their way towards the Ood.
"Sit with the elder of the Ood and share the dreaming."
Making their way towards the Ood the Doctor seemed the most uncomfortable, hesitantly taking a seat.
"Well...Hello!" The Doctor said, drawing his knees to his chest.
"You will join, you will join, you will join." The Ood began chanting.
"I'm guessing they want us to hold hands." Ianto said, watching the Ood kind joining hands and continue chanting. Taking each others hands they braced themselves.
Immediately an image flashed through their minds of the Master laughing. Ianto, Jack, and the Doctor looked fearful while Micah just looked confused.
"He comes to us every night. I think all the peoples of the universe dream of him now." The elder Ood said.
"That man is dead." Jack said, looking pointedly at the Doctor. "He's dead...he has to be dead."
"There is yet more." The elder said, joining hands once more. "Join us."
They braced themselves once more for the onslaught of images.
"Events are taking shape so many years ago and yet changing the now. There is a man...so scared."
Donna's grandfather, sitting at the table, fear and anxiety on his face, worrying his hands and waiting.
"Wilfred, is he alright?" The Doctor asked, he was getting increasingly more worried. "What about Donna, is she safe?"
"You should not have delayed." The Ood reminded. "For the lines of convergence are being drawn across the earth, even now, the king is in his counting house."
A man and a woman, possibly married, being photographed, dull expressions on their faces.
"I don't know who they are!" The Doctor said, looking at the others for help.
"Don't look at us. I don't keep up with politics and Ianto doesn't really have a life." Jack said and Ianto punched him on the shoulder for the retort.
"You and Saben, that's all the life I need. Now shut up, things are happening."
"And there is another." The Ood elder continued. "The most lonely of all. Lost and forgotten."
A woman sitting in a cell, crying and alone.
"The Master's wife." The Doctor said and Micah was about to talk but the Ood spoke first.
"We see so much but understand little. The woman in the cage, who is she?"
"You said the Master's wife...is she really..." Micah asked, looking pointedly at The Doctor for answers.
"She was...uh...it wasn't her fault...she was...the Master, he's a time lord like me...I can show you." The Doctor said and they all held hands once more.
The Valiant, the Master and his wife all of the year that never was. The Master being shot, the Master refusing to regenerate, the Master dying and being burned while the Doctor watched.
"The Master took the name Saxon, he married a human, a woman named Lucy, and he corrupted her. She stood at his side while he conquered the world. I reversed everything he'd done so it never even happened, but Lucy Saxon remembered. I held him in my arms, I burned his body...the Master is dead." The Doctor said. He sounded angry and Micah knew why. He knew.
"And yet, you did not see." The elder Ood said.
The Doctor, turned from the burning body of the Master.
"What's that?"
A ring, falling into ash, a woman picking up the ring and looking at it. A time lord ring.
"A part of him survived...We have to go." The Doctor shouted, wanting to stand and leave.
"But something more is happening Doctor. The Master is part of a greater design. Because a shadow is falling over creation, something vast is stirring in the dark." The Ood lowered their heads and raising them once more their eyes were red, making Jack and Ianto uncomfortable.
"The Ood have gained this power to see through time, because time is bleeding. Shapes of things once lost are moving through the veil and these events from years ago threaten to destroy this future and the present and the past."
"What do you mean?" Micah asked, frowning at the concept. Time couldn't unravel...they wouldn't let it.
"This is what we have seen. The darkness heralds only one thing, the end of time itself."
"Come on!" The Doctor shouted, standing and running, knowing the others would follow.
"Does he always have to run everywhere. We have a time machine." Micah said, taking off after the Doctor, Jack and Ianto close behind.
"We've been late before, even with the TARDIS." Jack said as they made their way to the TARDIS. He hoped that this time, they wouldn't be too late.
The Doctor skidded to a halt in front of the TARDIS control panel and started working on getting them to where they needed to be.
"I'm sorry." Micah said, flipping switches and pulling levers, helping the Doctor fly the TARDIS.
"No need." The Doctor said, wiping at his face.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Micah asked, looking pointedly at the Doctor.
"It would hurt for you to know how bad he'd gotten." The Doctor said, taking a seat on the floor and putting his face in his knees.
"None of us blamed him." Ianto said, lying for the most part. "Well...I know The Doctor and Jack didn't blame him. They knew he wasn't in his right mind...if we can save him this time, we will."
"I would love nothing more than to save him..." Micah admitted. "But if he's too far gone...if saving him won't work...then what do we do?"
"We hold him and let him know he's not alone." Jack said talking on the Doctor's behalf. "We forgive him and do what we did with Gwen. We lock him up until we can fix him."
"But that's not fair...it's not his doing." Micah reminded.
"You're smart, you're capable. You can find a cure. You can fix this." Jack said, radiant smile on his face. "After all, you are the Magician."
"Can you sense him?" Micah asked, feeling a tug at his hearts.
"Yes." The Doctor admitted. Whatever was to have taken place, had already done so.
"He's not whole." Micah said, throwing a switch and speeding the TARDIS along. "He's hurting."
The TARDIS stopped and out they stepped, looking around with a grimace. They were in a dump.
"Why would he be here?" Ianto asked, running down the mound of trash to look about some more. "I mean, there's nothing here."
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM.
The Doctor looked up at the noise. He shall knock four times.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM
"He's just past there then." Jack said, running towards the sound.
The Doctor and Micah ran ahead of him, trying to get to their son as fast as they were able to. Micah, more so, having not seen the extent of madness his son had fallen into.
Ianto was the last to follow. He wasn't as happy about finding the Master as the others were. He might forgive, but he could never forget and what had happened to him and Jack was horrific. He had no idea how he would be when he saw the time lord again. He hoped he could dampen his urge to murder the bastard.
Micah stopped dead as he looked off into the distance and noticed the Master looking at them. The Master's eyes widened as he noticed who he was looking at. He hadn't seen that man in so long...he should have been dead.
"MASTER!" Micah yelled, getting his attention.
"FATHER!" The Master yelled, taking a step closer to them. He couldn't run from his father...he'd never had the courage to run from his dad at face value.
"He ran from you." Jack whispered to the Doctor, who nodded.
"Magi is his father, we're conditioned at a young age to always follow our father...to always keep respect. The Master waited until Magi was out before he ran. To this day Magi blames himself. If he'd been home the Master wouldn't have dared run." The Doctor explained and Jack nodded.
"But he can run from you?" Jack asked, not knowing how sore the subject was for the Doctor.
"Yes, Jack. Yes. He can run from me, because I'm not as respected, as loved, as my husband is. I'm useless in comparison. The Magician is faster, stronger and more brilliant than I will ever be. Our kids respect him and hell even the elders respected his choice, and in all of the universe he chose to be with a lowlife like me, so yes Jack. My children will always run from me and if he'd had any foresight at all he'd have done the same. He'd have run."
Jack kept his mouth shut then. What could he say to a man who one rant earlier, seemed to be full of self confidence and happiness. Jack really needed to learn when to keep his trap shut.
The Master had slowly walked closer to them, slowly making his way towards them like he was being forced to...like he really wanted to turn and run.
"Master." Micah said, kindness and understanding in his voice. "Come here."
The Master bowed his head as his feet obeyed, moving him closer to the family he had run from so long ago.
Micah walked towards the Master, meeting him halfway and pulling him into a hug, hushing him as he began to cry.
"My head hurts." The Master said, clinging to his father's back.
"May I?" Micah asked and the Master nodded.
Raising his hands Micah held the Master's face and dove into his mind for the first time, trying to figure out where the disturbance was coming from.
"It's a signal..." Micah said, removing his hands and looking at the Master with concern.
The Master glowed blue, his skeleton visible, before he turned normal once more and Micah's stomach dropped.
"Your resurrection wasn't completed...you're burning your own life force. We have to fix this." Micah said, grabbing the Master's hand and dragging him to the others.
"I don't want to see him." The Master said and Micah glared at him.
"You will. He wants to help." Micah said and the Master hung his head.
"He caused my death." The Master said and Micah arched a brow.
"Your foolishness and inability to forgive him, caused your death."
"He won't believe me. He thinks I'm mad. I'm not mad...they're there...the drums."
"I'm sorry." The Doctor said, having heard the last bit.
"He forgives you. Don't you Master?" Micah said and the Master bowed his head.
"No, Magi. He needs to forgive on his own. You can't keep controlling him like this." The Doctor said and Micah shrugged.
"Until I get that signal out of his head, I will control him. I won't have him dying again. He's burning his own life force, we need to stop that first."
The Doctor grabbed the Master's face and took a look, moving around him to get a better look. A flash of blue and skeletal structure and the Doctor nodded.
"I can help him. Everything I need is in the TARDIS. Come on."
"I'm hungry." The Master said, holding his stomach as it screamed at him to eat something.
"You need the energy. The TARDIS, hurry it up now." The Doctor said, leading the way back towards the TARDIS.
Ianto glared at the Master. He wouldn't even pretend he was okay with this but he'd do the same for Saben, he just hoped they knew what they were doing.
"Don't glare so much, you'll get wrinkles." Jack said, and Ianto looked up to smile at him.
"I don't like him." He admitted and Jack nodded. No, he was right, the Master wasn't likable.
"You don't have to." Jack said.
"What are they doing?" Ianto asked, looking up at the helicopters that surrounded the place.
"I don't know." Jack admitted, running to catch up to the time lords. Something was very wrong.
"DOCTOR! LOOK UP." Jack screamed and watched the Doctor do as he was told before stopping in his tracks. Not good.
They were surrounded within moments, guns pointed at them from all around.
"We're here for the Master." A woman said, walking closer to the five.
"And why do you want me? I can't possibly be that interesting." The Master said, sarcasm rolling of his tongue.
"You're needed. We brought you back for a reason. Come on, before I order them to fire."
The Master's eyes widened as he looked at Micah. He couldn't let him die...he'd try to regenerate and they'd kill him again...the onslaught of bullets would kill his father...actually kill him.
"Okay...okay...I'll go...just let them go..." The Master said.
Jack and Ianto looked shocked at what he'd said...there was no way.
"We can't let them go." The woman said as though it was perfectly obvious.
"You can't kill him." The Master said, anger flaring as he concentrated his life force on attacking. It might kill him, but they wouldn't have his father...never his father.
