That awful day we learnt a painful lesson...that there are some boxes that should never be opened as you may never be able to shut them again.
Not that we didn't know that already.
But that day has left scars that may never heal...but perhaps that's as it should be.
If you forget...you will only repeat the same mistakes again.
Ianto Jones
The whole building was shaking and pieces of the ceiling were starting to fall...not that anyone was taking notice; they were all busy holding on to anything that seemed solid as the floor shook with the power of the machine.
Except for White Coat, who in his hubris was still trying to command the Doctor.
"You will stop or I will hurt your young!"
The Doctor or whatever he was now looked at White Coat and said in a cold tone. "You do not control this body anymore. I obey only one master and he will soon be free. Then you will know a new master and you will obey him."
White Coat let out a snarl and took out the device but it sparked and it flew from his hand.
"You will cause no more pain...only my master shall give out punishment."
White Coat looked at the device and then back at the Doctor and then he turned and ran.
"Run as far as you want, my master will always find you," the Doctor called after him.
Another surge of power ran through him and he let out what could only be described as a moan of pure ecstasy.
"My master...he comes."
The Master tore his eyes away from the screen when he heard the Doctor...this couldn't be...it wasn't possible.
Even he wouldn't go this far...this had to stop, before it was too late and his hearts were torn as to the act he would have to commit to stop it.
But first he had to make sure his children were safe and for that he would have to trust Jack Harkness.
He stumbled across the unstable floor and managed to grab hold of Jack. He had to shout to make himself heard.
"You have to go!"
"What?" Jack yelled.
"You have to go...take the children with you...find my son!"
He pressed something into Jack's hand and turned away, holding the blade he'd slipped from Jack's coat.
Jack held onto the nearest solid object as the room shook, but his eyes were fixed on the Doctor inside the machine and that awful sense of déjà-vu ran through him...another nightmare was unfolding and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
He almost laughed when White Coat tried to command the Doctor...hubris in its extreme...you might as well try and control a god...because that was what the Doctor looked like.
The words between White Coat and him were meaningless and he could do nothing when White Coat ran.
The moan that came from the Doctor would have been highly erotic at any other time but now it seemed perverse as whatever the Doctor called his master did something to him.
Then the Master was in his face and shouting something.
"What?" he yelled and then he heard him say. "You have to go...take my children...find my son."
He felt something being pressed into his hand and he looked down...it was White Coat's control box.
The Master turned away and then he saw the glint of metal...his blade...the Master, he was going to...no!
He was torn between saving the others and stopping the Master; he knew with increasing fear what the Master was intending to do.
In the end the choice was simple and he yelled at Ianto and Gwen.
"Get out...get the kids out!" he yelled.
Ianto shook his head and managed to make it over to Jack.
"I'm not leaving you!"
Jack grabbed hold of Ianto's hand but said nothing just placed a small box in his hand...the control device.
Ianto looked into Jack's eyes and he felt an overwhelming sadness overcome him...Jack wasn't coming with them.
He suddenly leaned in and kissed Jack and then turned away and yelled at Gwen. "Grab her and run!"
He didn't give her time to argue; he grabbed Seska and began pulling him along and Gwen reluctantly followed.
They emerged from the shaking building and onto no safer ground.
He heard Gwen gasp. "Dear god!"
He turned and in front of him was a swirling mass of red and black and whatever it was, it was growing.
He didn't know what it was but every fibre of his body was telling him to run.
He grabbed hold of Seska again and started running...he really needed to take that collar off but now wasn't the time.
He could hear Gwen behind him, her language was colourful but she was following and the further they got from the swirling vortex the better it felt.
They didn't stop running until they reached the tunnel and they collapsed to the floor. It was only then that Ianto looked at the device in his hand.
It wasn't hard to work out the controls and with a twist of a dial the collars locks undid and Gwen removed them and threw them away into the dark with a look of disgust.
"We have to go back."
"No...Jack's orders..."
"Screw Jack's orders."
Ianto looked at her. "Damn you," he said.
He crouched down in front of a still dazed Seska. "Look after your sister...we'll be back soon."
With that he stood and he and Gwen ran out of the tunnel and into an uncertain fate.
Seska's world had been one of intense pain and then a nagging pain like needles in your brain.
He was vaguely aware of what was going on around him, but it was like he was looking at it from far away.
Then reality came rushing back with painful clarity and in front of him was General Ianto Jones telling him to look after his sister.
By the time he could marshal a reply he was gone and he was left alone in the dark with his sister.
He panicked slightly until he put his hand to his neck and found the cursed collar gone and when his eyes adjusted to the dark, he could see that Ashena's was gone as well.
However, she was still out of it, the trauma of the last eighteen hours taking their toll...guess it was up to him then...time to be the Time Lord he was expected to be.
He took hold of Ashena by her shoulders and shook her hard until her eyes focused on him.
"Enough of this...you are the daughter of the Lords of the house of Prydon. We do not cower at the acts of mere humans. We cannot help our parents but we can find and save our brother. You are the Huntress, use your skills for the right reason!"
At first his words got no reaction but then he could see the light come back to her eyes...a predatory light and she got to her feet.
"Come brother...let us show this man in the white coat who the real masters are."
The Master knew that Jack would know what he intended to do only seconds after he walked away.
But seconds was all he needed and he flicked a switch on a panel as he walked towards the machine.
Until he's seen what was on the screen he'd been tempted to go along with whatever this was; shared power was better than none. That was until he saw what was forming outside.
He'd seen that swirling red and black mass once before, and that was on an ancient holo-vid.
He knew what it was, every Time Lord knew what it was and every Time Lord knew what it meant. It was a weapon of their making, created when the Time Lords were at war with the creatures of the Dark Times.
A weapon that became too powerful, one that was contained at the cost of so many, and now the Time Lords were gone...he would have laughed at the irony of the person who had destroyed the jailers becoming the means to free it.
But now was not the time for laughter, not when...
Jack had taken as many seconds as he could, just enough to see Ianto and Gwen drag the young Time Lords away.
Now he had to stop the Master.
He moved quickly but was stopped when he bounced off an invisible wall...an energy barrier. He could see the Master advancing on the machine and the Doctor.
"No!" he yelled and beat his fist against the barrier. "Master...stop!"
The Master shook his head.
"Master, don't...please!"
The Master could hear the crackle of the barrier as Jack hit it, and although his words were muffled, he knew what he would be yelling.
He shook his head and shivered as he walked through the machine's protective shield and stopped a few paces from the machine.
The Doctor was now wreathed in the energy from the vortex; he didn't have long.
Sun bright eyes fixed themselves on him.
"Too late, Time Lord, the gateway is already open."
"Oh, I know. I only want to serve your master."
He stepped back a few paces when the Doctor stepped out of the machine, the green tendrils coiled round him like serpents.
"You do so willingly?"
Absolutely," the Master lied.
"To serve, you must change."
"Whatever it takes, I assume it's going to hurt."
"The process can be made pleasurable. This body is not...unattractive. It would ease the pain."
"Not a bad way to go, I suppose."
The Master tried not to flinch when fire lit eyes bored into his, seeking untruth.
"This body desires you...it would be interesting to experience desire."
The Master repressed a shudder; the last thing he felt was desire. But he had to pretend and allowed the physical form of the Doctor to draw him closer and kiss him.
It felt like kissing cold marble; there was no passion in those lips...time to do this. He deepened the kiss and slowly moved the blade from behind his back.
He pulled back, just enough to make the Doctor lean forward and he struck...but he wasn't quick enough and the Doctor grabbed his wrist.
"Not fast enough, Time Lord," he hissed and his eyes flashed even brighter.
"You think," the Master snarled and struck with his own blade.
The Doctor jerked backwards and the creature let out a hiss but seemed unaffected by the blade buried in the Doctor's shoulder.
"You cannot kill me," it hissed.
"Maybe," the Master said as the Doctor suddenly fell to his knees. "But you've forgotten one important thing."
The light in the Doctor' eyes flickered and then went out and the Master was now looking into the eyes of his lover and the mother of his children...and they were full of fear and something else...he knew...the Doctor had seen and felt everything.
"Do it," the Doctor hissed.
The Master moved even closer and knelt down right in front of the stricken Time Lord...he hesitated.
The light began to flicker in the Doctor's eyes once more.
"Ni'ala...please!"
The Master steeled himself and grabbed hold of the hilt of the blade and ripped it out, flinching at the cry of agony it elicited.
"I'm sorry Si'arila," he whispered and raised the bloody blade and plunged it into the Doctor's right heart.
Ni'ala- Master
Si'arila- beloved.
