A/N: I found the most sexy image of Simm wearing glasses. Too bad I can't put it in here. (But it's on my wattpad, if you wanna see it) UwU
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Deadly, hot burning wrath obscured his vision as the Master left the building. He grabbed one of the weirdly looking inhabitants, tore at his arm so he would turn around, the light-blue skin glowing softly as if to show his surprise.
"What's the quickest way to that bloody crystal?" the Master growled and pointed towards the crater.
The keleperian tried to get free, his eyes displaying a satisfying amount of fear as his snout opened to let out a scared noise. "N... no one gets down. There... there isn't a way."
"Bollocks!"
The Master pushed the creature away and produced his tablet from his jacket. Seconds later he cursed nastily as it got clear that his TARDIS' remote control still wasn't responding. He got back to the makeshift house, purposefully striding to Roka's bed. She was still unconscious, but at least she didn't seem to be in pain anymore. That was something. But the Master was eager to inflict this pain to the one who had caused it, so he grabbed her wrist and detached her Vortex Manipulator from it to strip it on himself.
"Where do you think you're going?" River asked, her face showing disapproval.
"None of your damn business, ape," the Master snarled back and pressed some buttons. "Just making sure someone gets what they deserve."
"Master..." Her voice was careful now, almost considerate.
"What?!"
"No one but you has seen anyone down there."
He huffed and almost laughed. "I have no idea what stupid game you're playing with me. Actually... I don't care. It won't matter as soon as I'm done."
He gave her a last, disgusted grin and was about to teleport himself downwards, but then his finger stopped right above the button and instead he reached out for River, tore her from the chair and pushed her so hard against the next wall that her head thudded loudly against the concrete behind.
"You're coming with me," he growled so deeply it was almost inaudible.
"Oh, you sodding... Ow! That hurt!" the woman complained and awkwardly rubbed the back of her head. "Do you ever think for a single second in your life before doing anything?"
A nasty grin was his only answer at first, but he had to make sure this ape wouldn't step in his way, so he grabbed her collar tighter, leaned closer to her face and put on his most menacing stare.
"I still have no idea who the hell you actually are. So, yes, I am thinking." His eyes bore into hers, a small itch scraping his pride when the curly one didn't start to shake in fear. He only met the annoying ones, as it seemed. It didn't matter. "I'm not going to leave you with Roka and risk you doing something to her. So if you want to continue your meagre existence, obey and shut your mouth."
With that he released her collar and grabbed her wrist, before he finally hit the teleport button.
Downward. Since he didn't have coordinates it was the only direction he had, and when the pull of the Vortex Manipulator stopped they found themselves in a corridor that was completely overgrown by the crystal's glowing veins.
River tore her hand away and probably scowled or whatever dark expression she might deem fitting for him. The Master really didn't care right now.
"Doing something to her? Are you completely nuts?" There was a sigh. "I'm not your enemy. And I'm certainly not like you. I take no pride in hurting defenceless people."
"Pride?" He huffed and shook his head, while trying to cut a way through the veins with his laser screwdriver. "Neither do I. It's usually horribly boring if people don't fight back, don't you think?"
"Ugh! Of course..."
Well, it was fun when it came to earth and meant to cause the Doctor pain... but that was none of that woman's business. The Master continued to ignore her, pointedly disregarding the curses she threw at him. Although, he had to admit, some of them were quite colourful and funny.
But his attention was still on the veins, which were a weird mixture or organic and crystalline in nature. The light pulsated through them like blood, tinting the narrow corridor in shades of purple and blue. He found his way through the mess without having to remove too many veins. Better that way. Who knew what damaging them would cause, and he sure as hell wasn't eager to get buried here.
"Will you shut up for a second?" he snapped eventually. "I don't care the slightest about what you think of me, ape."
"Yeah, I figured," River sighed and finally went quiet. For a few seconds at least. "There, we made it out."
"Oh, really? Would have never ever seen that giant hole, the lights and that huge crystal without you!"
If it weren't for his focus on the person out there he would have surely hurt that woman by now. However, he wasn't willing to get distracted. He needed to find out what exactly it was the guy did to hurt Roka, and how he could prevent it.
He had to shield his eyes with his hand at first to endure the blinding glow the crystal emanated. From down here it was almost unbearably bright, especially for a Time Lord's eye, even though it was still a good distance away. River didn't seem to be affected as much with her underdeveloped senses. Though, even she held her hand up.
Since the colours of the huge crystal had reverted back to normal the Master hadn't thought to actually find the intruder still in place, and had hoped to get a trace to follow them instead. Now he saw it wouldn't be so hard to get a hold of them.
"See?" River taunted from the side, "no one here."
He turned slightly towards her, put his index finger in front of his mouth and nodded towards the centre of the crystal. It was surrounded by the thickest veins, building an almost delicate, throbbing, crown around it.
And at its foot sat a small figure, clad in one of the dark blue silken robes of the keleperians, a hood drawn deep into their face and a silken scarf covering their nose and mouth. The figure sat on his knees in what could be a meditation pose if it weren't for the rapid breathing and the occasional trembling of his body. Colours ran through the skin of the being as if it had replaced their blood, visible even through the thin cloth of the robe.
The Master pulled out his laser screwdriver and aimed it at the person. "You really can't see him?" he hissed towards River.
She followed his stretched out arm and the Master could see her eyes slowly widen as she finally got aware of the intruder. "What?" she mumbled. "But, just a second ago... Wait! What are you doing?!"
"What do you think?" the Master growled and purposefully strode over to the person. "Getting some answers and then probably inflict a little pain."
River hurried to catch up, anger in her voice as she tried to hold him back. "No, stop! Can't you see? It's none of the keleperians. Way too small. It might even be a child!"
"So what?" The intruder made no move whatsoever, even though he had to have heard them by now. The strange state he was in seemed paralyzing. "Makes them still powerful enough to have done whatever they did to the crystal."
But now he saw it too, felt it. A different feeling than the inhabitants had, even further distorted by the light glowing in his veins. It was such a small person, although that didn't necessarily mean it was a child. And he had hurt Roka, badly. There was no excuse for that.
Driven by newly blazing rage the Master flung himself towards the person, forgot about his screwdriver and simply wanted to put his hands around that throat, wanted to inflict pain and other physical damage in the most direct way possible.
The trembling stopped.
And with it time came to a halt. Literately. The Master could feel the strands of it slowing down to a single frozen moment. Impossibility.
It only lasted for a second, finally snapped back like a rubber band and reverted to normal. In the same moment the intruder raised his head, revealing white glowing eyes in the small slit between scarf and hood. The light bled out of them like dust, staying in place whenever he moved and producing a surreal pattern of light-threads all around the figure.
He was fast. A lot faster than anything the Master would have expected. Swaying cloth, traces of light and the feeling of something shifting in the air, it all was woven together to a net of distraction and... power. The figure held up his hand, pushed it towards the Master and shot out a hot beam of light against his chest.
The impact was painful, almost indented his ribcage and let him gasp, but not fall. Cursing and panting he hurled around, remembered his laser screwdriver and shot at the...
The beam only hit the ground, let a vein explode into tiny light particles.
The intruder, however, had vanished as if he had never existed in the first place.
oOo~-̶̰͕͑̐ ̵̡͔̕~̷̱̤̖̆͋͘ ̴͍̈́̂̽.̴̯̦̹͛ ̶͍̎͌#̷̡̳̟͆ ̷̲̇̋̑-̸̧͙͂ ̶͕̜̆̐̿~̵̡̛̳͖͂̃ ̵̣̊̓̄.̷͇̺́̏ ̷̞̑͐#̶̢͈̦͌ ̴̰̃̐͠-̸̝́ ̵̛̱͉~̸̫̈̎ ̴̙̇̿̄.̵̧͙̻̓͛̓ ̵̦̠̈́̿#̵̳͎̯̀̑ ̷͓̩̞̉̑͑-̴̮̞̕ ̸̢̭̪̊~̷͔͇̞̈́͝ ̵̙̬̓.̶̰̘̏͘ ̶̯̝͐̿͛#̷̪̆́ ̶̼̎̾͋-̸̨́ ̴͙̹̪͆͊~̵͓̓̔͐ ̶̛͎͍̗.̷̀̎ͅ ̴̳̬͆͝#̵͉̻̭̓̑ ̶͈̗̩̂̈́-̷̢̛̙͆͐ ̶̙̐~̶̬͓̎̈ ̵͓̄.̶̹̪̆͝͝ͅ ̵̥̑̀̈́#̵̭͚͂̔ ̷̤͔̈́͜-̷̥̗̈ ̵̝̀͆͘~̶̓̿͜ ̸̺̣̈́.̴̜͗̅ ̴̿͜#̷͈͉̋ͅ ̴̡̠̒̾-̵̡̯̤̒̕ ̸̺͋͂~̸̦̗͚̾̕ ̸̭̝͋.̸̢͖̻̅̇͝ ̴̨̬͗#̵̺͍̮̂ ̴͖̫̈́ͅ~oOo
The sound of shuffling clothes woke her up. All the strange pain that had paralyzed her before had now vanished and Roka could breathe freely again. Only the sensation of wrongness remained, made her lay still for another while and focus on it. Something was missing. Something important. But her mind wouldn't get a hold of it, so she finally opened her eyes and took a look around.
The house they were in was as rundown as every other she had seen, light shimmered through cracks inside, reminding her of the huge crystal in the depths. There was dust and debris, maybe from the previous attack, maybe because the house had been abandoned for a while. Probably not, when she considered she was lying in an actual bed, and the dwellers surely wouldn't leave one of those unused. The previous owner might be one of the victims of the attack.
Her head turned and found a small fire inside a makeshift concrete oven. It tinted the interior in eerie orange shapes that fought against the blue and purple from outside. Next to it was a wooden chair and on it sat the Master, slightly bent forwards with his elbows on his knees and his chin resting on top of his interlaced fingers. A tablet lay on his lap and he wore his glasses, the lenses bending the flickering from the fire to hide his eyes in a dance of light.
The image was calm, but Roka could feel a sense of worry radiating from him. Worry and anger and a lot of puzzlement over many things at once. Again she wondered why she was even able to pick up on this, or whether she was only imagining it, simply projecting emotions into what she saw.
His head turned slightly, left his folded hands so his eyes could rest on Roka now. He certainly was brooding over something, that she could see clearly. At least his eyes lit up a little when he noticed her awake.
Roka had to smile and let out a huffing chuckle.
"What's so funny?" the Master asked calmly, the worry never leaving his eyes.
"You know...actually..." She sat up and ruffled through her tousled hair to get them back in order, before she threw another mischievous look in his direction. "Those glasses make you look forbiddingly sexy."
Finally his lips split into a grin and he started to laugh. "Glad, you noticed," he smugly answered and stood to head over and slump down next to her on the bed. His eyes wandered over Roka, searching for any sign of harm.
"I'm okay again," she mumbled and cast her eyes down. "But I think... we should leave."
"Why?"
"I... don't know. It feels strange. This whole place. Somehow it resonates with me, if that makes any sense."
With a grunt the Master dropped to his back and stared silently at one of the cracks in the ceiling. Roka noticed his tie was missing, the first few buttons of his black dress shirt opened.
And then those god damn glasses!
She really needed to find some time for her meditations, she decided and flopped onto her back next to him, then turned slightly and stretched out her hands to carefully take off the glasses. He followed her every movements with his eyes, slight amusement twinkling inside their depths. With a smirk Roka pushed the glasses up her own nose and immediately felt a little dizzy.
"Whoa, they are a bit strong, aren't they?" She blinked at his slightly blurred figure. "Didn't know you have bad eyes."
"It's different for Time Lords." His voice spoke soft and he turned to his side to fully face her, his head resting in his palm. "The spectrum of our vision is... I wouldn't say better. It's just... different. We can focus much better. The glasses aren't necessary, it's just like... resting your feet on a pillow."
While he talked his hand reached up, traced the frame of the eyewear and moved to her face, tenderly slid down her cheeks and her neck, up again and along her jaw to her chin, where he slightly pushed a little to make her look at his smirk. "You look cute with them. Much like that little nerd you are."
"Hey!" she playfully slapped his hand away. "That's not how compliments work."
"Not? And there I made such an effort."
He chuckled and reached over to pick the glasses from her nose and place them on a piece of concrete next to the bed. When he turned back he somehow managed to simultaneously slide a little closer, his head now resting close to hers, their noses almost touching. Roka made no attempt to widen the distance, stayed exactly where she was and simply watched him, his features, his eyes.
Those hazel depths that seemed to hold all the stars of the universe in them, once filled with a wild madness and now calm, but equally dangerous and sad and also gentle at the same time. None of the cruelty he was capable of was visible in them right now, none of the coldness he displayed towards anyone else.
"You're such a strange man, Master," she whispered.
"Took you long to notice." His voice was still calm, not even teasing.
His calmness seemed to wash over Roka, she felt it as if it was her own, or was it? She slid her hand towards him, placed it over his hearts to feel the alien beat under her fingertips. Her eyes never left his, trying to read his thoughts from them. It wasn't possible. He was as much of a mystery than ever.
"There must be something wrong with me," she uttered, her fingers idly playing with the buttons of his shirt. "I know what you've done. I know what you're capable of, and that you seldom care."
She felt his fingers on her arm, slowly tracing down from her shoulder to the hand that wasn't busy with his shirt. There was no hurry in his movement, no urgency. The fire in his eyes was a soothingly flickering candle, meant to assure safety, a complete opposite of what his very being radiated. Roka's breath caught in her throat, her heart suddenly hammering wildly against her ribcage. She fell... fell into the depths of his darkness. Of her own. There was no way she could deny it any longer, no reason to hide it from herself, or from him.
"You are death," she breathed.
"Yeah." He traced further down her hand, interlaced his fingers with hers. His voice was quiet, soft, sounded almost trance like. "And still you're not running. Still you're not scared. Will you ever be, my silly little crow?"
"How could I?" She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed in, let the air rest in her lungs and exhaled slowly. "Once I fell in love with the Grim Reaper himself." Another breath, their eyes locked, his filling with an almost unnoticeable uncertainty, hers with a kind of playful resignation as the shadow of a smile whizzed over her face. "Twice now."
Under her hand she felt his hearts missing a single beat, saw his eyes widen ever so slightly, the truth of her words sinking into him as slow as sand through an hourglass. His fingers left her hand, both of his arms reached out, pulling her tightly against him and she nuzzled into his chest. His chin rested on top of her crown, the hand on her back clutching at the cloth of her hoodie. The sheer tenderness of his movements and the way he held her made Roka tremble for a moment, overwhelmed her together with the warmth and affection pouring from his mind into hers, and this time she was certain not to imagine it.
She didn't care. Nothing was important in this very moment. And so fully lost in each other they somehow drifted into a slumber.
oOo~-̶̰͕͑̐ ̵̡͔̕~̷̱̤̖̆͋͘ ̴͍̈́̂̽.̴̯̦̹͛ ̶͍̎͌#̷̡̳̟͆ ̷̲̇̋̑-̸̧͙͂ ̶͕̜̆̐̿~̵̡̛̳͖͂̃ ̵̣̊̓̄.̷͇̺́̏ ̷̞̑͐#̶̢͈̦͌ ̴̰̃̐͠-̸̝́ ̵̛̱͉~̸̫̈̎ ̴̙̇̿̄.̵̧͙̻̓͛̓ ̵̦̠̈́̿#̵̳͎̯̀̑ ̷͓̩̞̉̑͑-̴̮̞̕ ̸̢̭̪̊~̷͔͇̞̈́͝ ̵̙̬̓.̶̰̘̏͘ ̶̯̝͐̿͛#̷̪̆́ ̶̼̎̾͋-̸̨́ ̴͙̹̪͆͊~̵͓̓̔͐ ̶̛͎͍̗.̷̀̎ͅ ̴̳̬͆͝#̵͉̻̭̓̑ ̶͈̗̩̂̈́-̷̢̛̙͆͐ ̶̙̐~̶̬͓̎̈ ̵͓̄.̶̹̪̆͝͝ͅ ̵̥̑̀̈́#̵̭͚͂̔ ̷̤͔̈́͜-̷̥̗̈ ̵̝̀͆͘~̶̓̿͜ ̸̺̣̈́.̴̜͗̅ ̴̿͜#̷͈͉̋ͅ ̴̡̠̒̾-̵̡̯̤̒̕ ̸̺͋͂~̸̦̗͚̾̕ ̸̭̝͋.̸̢͖̻̅̇͝ ̴̨̬͗#̵̺͍̮̂ ̴͖̫̈́ͅ~oOo
River roamed the settlement, restlessly reaching out a helping hand to the inhabitants. Only because she had been raised in this corrupted way didn't mean she had to be a bad person altogether. There were many things in her life she regretted having done, not all of them so out of her control like the... occurrence with the Doctor.
Several hours went by like this and still they hadn't gotten rid of even half the debris, hadn't retrieved all corpses yet, hadn't made sure each and every of the crawlers really was no threat anymore. It irritated River immensely, for some reason, that the Master was nowhere to be seen. Okay, she hadn't awaited for him to actually help... But it still annoyed her. Probably only because of the rough treatment she had to endure earlier.
Gods, she would slap him at least ten more time just for that!
She also was wondering what in the universe he was planning with Roka. That girl seemed spectacularly ordinary in comparison to the Time Lord. Sure she was amazingly fast with her knifes, using her small size to her full advantage, but other than that... River couldn't imagine why she was travelling with the Master, less why he let her. And a lot less why he had been so enraged all of a sudden.
As if one like him would actually care for another person. River huffed to herself and decided to kick his arse a little, just for the fun of it. It was astonishingly easy to rile him up, and forbiddingly much fun.
With a teasing smirk she opened the door to the makeshift house he had vanished into, last time she had seen him. A fire was burning and she had to look twice to realize the room wasn't empty. She hadn't awaited the sight before her. Not at all.
It was the perfect opposite to what she had witnessed down at the crystal. Rage and hatred had hovered around the Master like a dark cloud, then. And now he was lying next to Roka, on his back, one hand under his head, the other holding the girl. She had cuddled up to him, sleeping soundly while having one hand curled over his chest.
The Master was awake. His eyes shot open and he turned his head to cast a dark and foreboding look at River, making clear he would rip her into tiny pieces should she possess the audacity to wake Roka. To her his eyes wandered next, and his expression changed to that of admiration and a weird softness River would have never awaited to see on a man like him.
Hastily she left the building, turned and dropped her back against the cold concrete. The scene had pretty much answered all of her previous questions. Not the one about why he had chosen especially this girl, but still...
She felt a nasty sting in her chest, one of jealousy and maybe some guilt at envying those two for what they shared. One such simple moment together... it was something she would never have with the Doctor. They always met in a storm, a flurry of action and excitement. But never like this, never just calm and...
River sighed and closed her eyes. It was how it was. There was no way to change it. There was no way to change the Doctor. But wasn't that one of the reasons she loved him, after all?
Something shifted in the air. River opened her eyes again, wondering if she had imagined it. Around her were people rushing by, searching and scrambling.
Almost all of them stopped in what they were doing, dozens of heads turning upwards to the tiny red particles that slowly started to fill the air.
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A/N: Please leave some favs, follows and reviews if you like this story! UwU
Also, stay safe and healthy!