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The Master…

In this moment he hated her…

This had to be a damn mocking trick it had to be, it couldn't be a coincidence… galactic coordinates ten-zero-eleven-zero-zero by zero-two from galactic zero centre.

There was nothing there The Doctor had already been there following The Master's merry little dance and now this damn psychic signal was dragging him back to the last place he wanted to be. Yet something had to be sending out this signal, even if it was just a microscopic relay station and The Doctor scowled down at the Tardis console, his dark grey eyebrows drawn so deeply together they seemed to blur into one.

Rubbing his eyes The Doctor tried to recall how long it had been since he had slept? He had been surviving on cat naps for so long now, ever since his attempt to take the Tardis into hell had backfired with such superb idiocy. He had tried to interfere with the laws of nature and had been slapped back like an upstart teenager. Why had he even set himself up for failure?

Clara…his two hearts constricted…his impossible girl…so vulnerable and yet so strong…a contradiction in human form and so like Susan in personality that sometimes it hurt to look at her and when she did that thing with the eyes… How could he say no to her when she did that? He had never been the stern parent in the past and now…

Now he was clinging to whatever shreds remained of his life with such desperation he was pushing away the last person in the universe that could see him. He had been hurt, his pride wounded by Clara's willingness to give up on their friendship for her relationship with Danny, like any father he could never believe that there was a man good enough and P.E's utter contempt for him had certainly not helped matters.

And yet even Clara had disappointed him, the moment she had thrown that last Tardis key into the lava The Doctor had felt his hearts break yet again. He had hidden his pain the best he could, choosing to ignore it rather than risk losing Clara completely.

He had already lost so much…so much of his recent past selves. He remembered the details, the names and places the faces yet so many had lost their emotional resonance. Yet the further back in his life he stretched the clearer the memories were, it was like his timeline had been at the epicentre of an explosion and the further away from the damage he walked the less shattered his past became.

Of all his memories those early years on Gallifrey he could recall with perfect clarity and perhaps that was why this was so hard…Kochei had once been his best friend and The Doctor had little trouble recalling the way his mischievous companion would liven up the usually dull lessons they were forced to endure at the time academy. Memories of whispering in neighbouring bunks, of places they would visit and adventures they would have…Theta and Kochei together exploring the universe…together…

..I need my friend back…

Pushing aside that memory too fresh and too real, The Doctor couldn't allow himself to dwell on the genuine plea he had heard in her voice or the way it echoed a similar need in his own hearts; for the first time in forever he could almost see his former best friend, the face was so different but he could almost see her.

..I need my friend back…

…So do I…

The Doctor's hearts echoed in reply even it were words he would never speak aloud.

No they couldn't go back. It was too late even if The Master wasn't dead and Missy seemed to realise before the end when he had turned around prepared to turn her weapon on her.

The look of surprise, the hesitation she tried to hide under a smile. He had suddenly changed the rules of the game they had been playing since their very first incarnations. The Master plotted it was in her nature, she challenged him like no other could and The Doctor would admit only to himself the exhilaration he felt in besting her, so he would foil her complicated plots and somehow she would find a way to escape, only for the cycle to begin again.

Never had he threatened her life, not like that, not in what would amount to an cold blooded execution…

Friend or Family? That was what it had come down to and for the first time ever The Doctor was grateful that Missy hadn't forced him to follow through.

Yet gratitude did not extend to playing along with her childish games and it was time he stopped but something prevented him from simply sending the Tardis back into the time vortex and forgetting the whole thing. The Master had been as good as murdered. The horror and injustice of some mystery killing getting away without consequences sat uneasy in The Doctor's hearts.

Sighing The Doctor set the Tardis on to scanning for different phase variances, for any sign of a cloaked vessel, or something…anything. The Tardis would alert him if she found anything and in the meantime he was going to try and get some sleep and hope that for once his dreams were kind. Yet as The Master's pained and bloodshot eyes swam once more into his mind The Doctor doubted very much that they would be.

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