Despite the pain in their legs and the roaring in their throats, Korvai and Veera kept running (well, more like limping) through the barren wasteland, their bare, blistering feet thudding down onto the equally cracked, burning ground. They didn't know where or when they were, only that they needed to get as far away as possible from Him.
The last few hours blurred together in a whirlwind, and they thought not of the wedding, their capture, or their escape. The Toymaker may be shackled, trapped inside one of his own toys, although how they had done this they couldn't remember, and of what he was still capable, they didn't know.
They didn't remember their lives before the Toyroom, not really. They knew facts about their lives, as one might read in a particularly detailed biography. But their actual memories, those had been taken from them.
And so they ran, with no destination in mind apart from Away.
A faint humming could be heard underneath their heaving, although it was several seconds before they noticed, and a good many more before this humming gradually began to transform into words.
"Veera! Korvai! Please, listen!"
A man and a woman were running behind them, almost beside them now, begging them to stop. They were dressed in what had once been reminiscent of traditional Gallifreyan wedding attire, but was now torn, stained and dishevelled.
"Korvai! Korvai, stop. Please. It's us!"
Gradually, Korvai and Veera became more aware of their presence, and slowed to a halt.
The older couple were visibly exhausted, but glanced at each other in relief, before hesitantly stepping towards the younger Time Lords, hands raised, as if approaching a frightened animal.
Veera collapsed into her former mentor's arms as soon as she was approached, and had to be carried back onto their ship.
Korvai was barely aware of this, or even of his own mentor cupping his chin and brushing the dirt off his face, and guiding him onto the ship.
No sooner had they left the ground than Korvai and Veera descended into a fitful sleep.
"Well, this has been fun," the Toymaker grinned jovially, "but I'm afraid time's getting on. A notion that must be just a little confusing for you two, since you just lived out two thousand years in your heads."
Veera's head jerked up, sending the metal circlet clattering across the floor. She took her hands from Korvai's brow as if she'd been scalded, and glared daggers at the entity that was looking down at them in amusement.
Around them, their (perhaps former) friends were also wearily pushing themselves to an upright position.
Korvai's eyes widened, stealing a glance at the young woman. She sharply looked away, her ears as hot and red as Korvai's face felt. "Oh, yes, you had the same dream," The Toymaker confirmed. "Wasn't it beautiful? The Defier and the Warlock! And dear me, wasn't it revealing?"
"What do you mean? You wrote it," Veera glared.
"Oh no, rather not," the Toymaker replied. "I simply engineered locations and events. That whole love story came from you. And I must say, I'm far from disappointed."
Even more heat rose to Korvai's forehead. "Go to hell."
"In front of the Warlock? My, my, how cruel," The Toymaker returned. "Well, as enjoyable as this has been, I'm getting bored of you young ones. So our next game is very simple." He waved his hand, and the back wall spun around to reveal an array of computers and communicators. "First one to successfully call one of the Deca wins. And they get the best prize," his eyes twinkled. "They get to go home."
Korvai's blood ran cold.
"That's why we're really here, isn't it?" Sahna accused. "You've just been toying with us this whole time."
"Oh, my poor, sweet Sahna," The Toymaker murmured. He raised a hand towards her cheek, but she jerked backwards. "Well, I'll leave you to discuss strategy. The game will commence in five minutes. Oh, and one more thing." He smiled. "The room is set up to mildly shock you should you demonstrate thirty seconds of inactivity. Just to keep you on task. Good luck!"
"We can't contact them," Romana stated resolutely as soon as the Toymaker left. "It's a trap."
"Yes, well, I don't know about yo,u but I don't want to be shocked every thirty seconds," Taloro replied hotly, still wincing in pain.
"I'm sorry," Veera told her softly.
"You did what you had to do," Taloro replied crisply.
"We all would have done the same," Joss added. "Hell, we were all trying to do as much, as soon as we were able."
"Thanks," Korvai said softly. He'd been worried that his friend would have held his actions against him, but Joss seemed to understand.
"Doesn't mean I'm not going to give you a hard time later," Joss shot back with a twisted smile.
Korvai amended his thoughts. His and Veera's acts were forgiven, but not forgotten, it seemed.
"This is lovely," Lorzo said briskly, "but what are we going to do?" She was restless, and she tapped her foot incessantly—whether from impatience, or the leftover electricity coursing through her system, Korvai couldn't tell. "We've got less than five minutes, now, until we have to at least look like we're doing something. And I don't know about you, but I want to get out of here."
"She's right," Jazzlin chimed in. "And the Deca are all trained, and have far more experience than we do. They'd be able to get out of this more easily than us."
"You're asking us to betray our mentors!" Veera protested.
"Of all the things you've done today, that's the one you baulk at?" Adross said incredulously. "Trust me, we all know what you'd do to get back safely, and this doesn't even come close to that."
"We did it to save your lives!" Korvai shouted. "We could save you, but only if we did—"
"Yeah, because I feel soo safe right now," Lorzo interrupted scathingly.
"Stop this right now!" came a sharp voice, cutting off the growing argument before it could crescendo to full strength. All eyes turned to the person who'd spoken—Sahna. The last shock had hit her hard, and she stood braced on Romana's arm, but her voice was steady and clear.
"We are not selling out my mother, or my mother's friends," Sahna said firmly. "But we are going to get out of here. And we can't do that if we use up all our planning time squabbling!"
The cacophony released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. Veera didn't; despite her words, Sahna was still stoutly avoiding looking at Veera.
"Thank you, Sahna," Romana began, once an appropriate level of quiet had been reached. "I think we all agree that summoning the Deca isn't an option, correct?" The others nodded. "So here's what we need to do," Romana continued. "We'll send out messages all over to the universe, however, we shall send them to dead receptors. Databases and servers which haven't been used in centuries. We all took elementary virtual architecture, did we not? It shouldn't be too much of a challenge. Does everyone agree with that?" They nodded. "Good, now let's get to work."
A minute later, the Toymaker reentered the room, and the timer started.
The group raced into action, each person taking up a position by one of the stations.
"You can work separately or as a team in this game," the Toymaker called. "I'm not going to make you poor things stab each other in the back again, you did that so very well in the first round. And my, it was revealing to see how quickly you turned, and on whom."
At those words, Sahna turned her head sharply away from Veera as her shoulders rose defensively, the young woman huddling in on herself. Noticing how her friend shrank back, Veera pinned the Toymaker with a glare that would have melted steel, to which the being just smiled prettily in response.
"I wouldn't be wasting valuable time if I were you, Veera dearest," he cooed. "I'm being oh so generous in letting you all work together, but remember—there can still only be one winner."
The timer began, and immediately the young Time Lords got to work. Usually, they would have worked together, however the last "game" had frosted over their camaraderie. They worked on their own, occasionally assisting each other where required. Every minute or so, somebody's head was thrown back in a blood-curdling scream, a rate that increased as the game wore on.
Korvai himself had been shocked five times already, when he missed his deadline by only half a second.
The shock hit him, like a micro-bullet in his forehead, spreading across his face, head, neck and body, with a greater intensity than he'd ever felt before.
This shock lasted longer than the others—it was a full minute before he was thrown backwards, collapsed on the floor, unable to rise.
"And we have a winner!" The Toymaker grabbed Korvai by the arm and hauled him up, lifting his hand and above his head. "Korvai, my boy!"
"What? What, no!" Korvai glanced at the shocked faces around him. "I didn't. I swear I didn't."
"Oh, but you did!" the Toymaker smiled.
Korvai glared. "I'd rather die than bring the Doctor to you."
"Oh, the Doctor? I think we all know he's not your real dad," the Toymaker replied. "Look at you, all noble and pure, and you were the first one to fall. Like father, like son, after all."
Korvai's eyes widened. "What? No! The Master?"
"The very same."
Korvai stared ahead, preferring the Toymaker's gloating face a million times over to whatever expressions were on those on his friends.
"Joke's on you, if you think he'll come," he spat.
"We'll see," the Toymaker shrugged, shoving him out of the way. Veera and Sahna surged forward to catch him. "Nonetheless, you won, so it's time for you to collect your prize." The air in front of him grew warm, and a dark purple opening appeared. "Off you go, then. Say hi to the Doctor for me!"
Korvai glanced between the teleport, the Celestial Toymaker, and the two young women supporting his weight. Without a moment's hesitation, he used the last of his strength to detach himself from Sahna and shove her through the teleport.
The Galactic Emergency Services were unable to locate the missing Time Lords, and were able to offer no insight into what had become of them. All they had succeeded in was confirming the disappearance of several more; all young Time Lords who were important to at least one member of the Deca. The bride, groom and rest of the nine of ten of the Deca sat, stood, paced, slept, existed alone in the old hall that had recently and yet so long ago been filled with friends, love, laughter and joy.
Their once ornate, beautiful gowns and robes had become as dishevelled as those who wore them. Computers, transmitters and communicators lay all around, as the half-dead Time Lords despondently but desperately continued to search for a lead.
By now, it had been several hours since their children had disappeared without a trace. They were almost comatose when the tenth member of the Deca crashed through the door, with what looked like a bodybag slumped over his shoulder.
"Theta—" the Master gasped breathlessly. "I know where Korvai is. Where they all are."
The Doctor rose to his feet, aiming an ice cold glare at the other man, and swore loudly.
"Explain," Ushas demanded.
The Master took the small figure off his shoulder and passed her to Theta Sigma. Patience was at his side immediately, uncovering the figure's head, although she already knew what she'd see.
"Sahna," Patience breathed. The bride and groom collapsed to their knees, cradling their child.
"She's alive, she's just taken a nasty fall," the Master assured them. "She'll be fine."
"How did you find her?" Theta asked.
"She was dropped from a teleport on top of me," the Master replied. "Now, would you like to know where your beloved proteges are or not?"
"Yes!" Drax spat.
Uncharacteristically for the Master, there were no riddles, no gloating teases. "The Celestial Toymaker has them," he replied soberly. "I have the coordinantes."
"How the hell did you find that out?" Jelpax asked. "And is that where Sahna came from?"
"I can guess, but I don't know," the Master replied.
"Koschei." Mortimus growled. "How. did you get. The coordinates."
The Master glanced at the Doctor. "Theta's going to kill me."
"You missed my wedding," the Doctor replied. "I'm already going to kill you."
The Master sighed. "Psychic link. It just allows me to check in with him occasionally, see how he's doing."
The Master had expected Theta to take the news badly. He had not, however, expected to be grabbed by the collar and thrown against the wall.
"How. Dare. You," the Doctor growled.
"Theta!" Jelpax exclaimed whilst Drax and Rallon held him back.
"He formed a psychic link, without consent!" the Doctor shouted, trying to get free. "You had no right…"
"He's my son!" the Master shot back.
"You lost the right to call him that a long time ago," Theta returned.
"Who says I didn't gain his consent?"
"Oh, don't try that one on me," the Doctor snarled. "You never would. And besides, you haven't seen him for years-even decades. When would you have got his consent?"
"Fine," the Master grumbled. "It was after he regenerated for the first time. He was still underage, so I technically didn't need consent."
The Doctor glared. "Hold on. You didn't believe me all those times he got into a ridiculous amount of trouble when he was my apprentice."
"It only activates when he reaches a certain level of distress," the Master explained. "It's never activated before, which means…"
"Whatever's happening right now is very, very bad." Rallon finished grimly.
The Doctor was about to reply, when Sahna stirred. Immediately, Theta was beside his wife and step-daughter.
"Sahna! Are you okay? What happened? Where are the others?"
The Doctor was frantic with worry, his questions falling over themselves in his haste to ask everything.
"Theta! Take a step back, and let her breathe," Patience commanded, unusually sharp. She turned back to her daughter, whose eyes had just fluttered open. "It's okay, love, it's okay," she soothed gently, seeing the panic flare in Sahna's eyes as she awakened fully. "You're with us. You're safe."
"…Mum?" Sahna asked hesitantly. Her voice was thin, and her tone wary-as if she couldn't quite bring herself to believe that she was safe.
"Oh, my Sahna," Patience breathed in relief, gathering the girl close. "Yes, it's me. Theta's here too. All of us are."
Sahna looked around, her gaze settling on the familiar faces of the Deca. "Doctor? Millennia? ...Koschei?"
Her eyes flicked back to the Doctor, then to Patience, then widened in dismay. "Your wedding-!" she exclaimed. "It's still your wedding day! Oh, Mum, Doctor, I'm sorry—"
"Don't you dare apologise," Patience whispered fiercely. "None of this is your fault. And the wedding is neither here nor there-Theta and I are still married, and stars know we can have a fancy dinner another day. That's not what's important. All that matters is that you're safe."
The barest hint of a smile flickered on Sahna's face, faint and trembling, and she hugged her mother tight.
"I'm so glad you're safe," Patience murmured, voice muffled.
"Sahna?" the Doctor asked gently after a moment. "I don't want to drag you back there, but we need to know. What happened to the others?"
Sahna met his eyes for a second, then looked away. "I'm not sure. There were these… games, the Toymaker made us play. He wanted us to contact you, we figured out a way so that we could send messages into blank space. The first person to contact the Deca got to go free."
"Oh, Sahna," Patience breathed. "You made the right choice. Now we at least have a lead."
"No," Sahna pressed on. "I didn't - none of us did. Until the Celestial Toymaker did something to Korvai and then he.. said that Korvai had won, and that he'd contacted Koschei, not Theta. Korvai didn't - he had no idea, he didn't mean too…" She took a long breath. "When the Toymaker opened up… the portal - Korvai shoved me through instead. But they don't want you to come." Using what little strength she still had, she glanced around at the eleven older Time Lords. "He wants to bring you down. All of you."
"All of this, just for us," Koschei murmured, but those who knew him best could hear and see his distressed tells. "But he won't succeed, right?"
"You're planning on ignoring your son's wishes yet again?" the Doctor sniped.
"You have a better plan?" the Master snapped, and the Doctor could see Korvai's pain, reflected through the psychic link, flash in his eyes. It was taking a lot for him to stay there and work with the others, rather than just haring off on his own. "Besides, you say that like you haven't been acting like a bear with a wasp under its tail for the past few hours. It's not a matter of respecting his wishes anymore, it's getting them all home safe, whatever it takes."
The Doctor muttered something under his breath, then subsided. His old friend-ex-friend, he corrected himself-was right. They both knew that he'd do anything to rescue his protege and the others. "You've got the coordinates, don't you?"
Koschei nodded briskly.
"Then let's go. Don't bother telling me, you can put them straight into my TARDIS. Are the rest of you coming, or what?"
"Wait," Rallon interrupted, unusually commandingly. "Every one of his 'captives' is a highly talented, experienced Time Lord. So much so they've found a way to discreetly contact us—"
"Not that they've told us anything useful," Drax muttered darkly,
"And get Sahna out of there, and back to her mother," Rallon continued, as if he hadn't been interrupted. "So let's not underestimate them, they can handle themselves."
"You've never been trapped in that place, Rallon," the Doctor said darkly.
"But I have," Millennia said. "Thete, your former apprentice has been through hell. He can handle this," she told him gently. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is our chance to take down the Celestial Toymaker for once and for all." She glanced around the room. "All of us, the entire Deca, together again. One last mission."
"Far be it for me to suggest there's anything we can't do," the Master drawled, leaning back on the barstool, "but the Celestial Toymaker doesn't exactly play by the rules. He's existed since before the dawn of time. He sees all of time, matter, and space, and twists it, for no purpose other than to play his little games."
"He's never gone against the whole Deca before," Jelpax replied. "Besides, I have an idea to even our odds."
Ushas raised an eyebrow. "Care to share?"
"The Untempered Schism," Jelpax replied.
The Master chuckled mirthlessly. "You've got to be kidding me."
"We're not children anymore," Jelpax replied. "I think we can handle it. But I'd never ask any of you to do this. I fared the best out of all of us, all those years ago. I'll do it."
Millennia studied him. "Jelpax, you don't have to do this."
"I know," Jelpax smiled. "But like you said, this is our chance to bring the Toymaker down, for once and for all. To end trillions of years of suffering. So let's give it everything we've got."
"Jelpax," Magnus interrupted, "stop. We won't let you do this."
"I'll go with him," Vansell volunteered quickly. "I can provide an anchor and—take over, if need be."
"Okay," Millennia nodded. "I can live with that."
"Millennia and I will take the frontal assault. We'll go in," Rallon added. "It's our plan, we wouldn't charge anyone else with it."
"I'm coming with you," the Doctor said darkly. "You need at least three for a frontal assault."
"It'll be covert, a big team would not be advisable," Rallon replied.
"So three's the perfect number," the Doctor smiled thinly.
"You're not the only one with a protege in there, Theta," Ushas told him hotly. "I have a better idea. The four of us will go in together. Then we split up, Theta can go find our apprentices because stars know he won't be able to focus on anything else, Rallon and Millennia can find the Toymaker, and I'll stay hidden, do as much scouting as I can and be ready to provide backup to whoever needs it. I think once Theta's got everyone free, there'll be more than enough soldiers on the inside.
Drax held out his hand to the Master. "Hacking bros again, Koschei?"
The Master ignored his hand. "We'll bring his whole world down," he agreed, "and keep an eye on everyone on the inside."
"Magnus and I will pilot the backup ships from the outside, and run interference," Mortimus added.
A weak voice interrupted their discussion. "Be careful, all of you," Sahna said, from where she sat supported by Patience. "The Toymaker… he was a step ahead of all of us. He forces everyone to play by his rules, and he changes them whenever he likes."