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There was something there. The fact that The Master, that Missy, hadn't been lying stuck like a caw in The Doctor's throat even as he tried his best to swallow it down. Something caught midway between his head and his hearts; the irony did not escape him. Still it certainly wasn't Gallifrey and The Doctor stomach churned in bitterness at the disappointment, even if he hadn't expected it to be, a part of him still couldn't help the hoping.

Scanning the lump of rock that was neither comet nor meteorite, an artificial gravity keeping it in place, The Doctor quickly found the only thing on it that appeared to have been constructed and plugged the coordinates into the navcomputer. A moment later the Tardis sat down roughly on the uneven surface and satisfied that the environment was safe if not exactly hospitable The Doctor made his way to the Tardis doors. Only when he reached them the doors stuck under his hands.

"Now then don't you start." The Doctor muttered directing his impatience towards his one constant companion, feeling fluttering at the back of his mind.

"Look I am just going to take a quick look around." The Doctor added when the doors remained stubbornly closed.

"I will be back at the first sign of danger I promise." He sighed patting the wooden doors affectionately, relieved when this time they opened under his request, albeit slowly and grudgingly.

"Good girl I'll be back before you know it."

It was freezing when he stepped outside of the Tardis and the thin barely there atmosphere clawed at his lungs. Holding his coat close to his body The Doctor covered the few feet over to the entrance, crouching as he ran his sonic over what appeared at first glance to be little more than a manhole cover set into the rock face. Popping the simple lock mechanism The Doctor stared down into a unlit tunnel, simple metal rungs were set into the wall running down into the darkness and The Doctor could only guess how far down they went.

Climbing lovely…

Sighing he twisted his screwdriver setting and the little light on the end suddenly grew brighter, putting the sonic between his teeth he lowered himself down into the hole his long dexterous fingers closing tightly over the cold metal rungs, rough ridges biting into the flesh of his hands. Down and down he went until the top of the tunnel and the dull starlight could no longer be seen and all that was there was this small tunnel with its all-encompassing darkness broken only by the bright illumination from his screwdriver.

Pushing aside the worrying sensation of being confined and buried deeply in the earth The Doctor tried to keep his mind occupied.

He thought about Clara and wondered if P.E had worked out how to use the teleporter yet? The Doctor didn't exactly have the highest regard for Danny's intelligence but surely even he would work it out? At least his heart was in the right place and The Doctor no longer had any doubts that the boy truly loved her. They would be happy and The Doctor would do his best to be happy for them, it was selfish of him to resent Danny for swooping in and stealing Clara away, she had never really been his to claim, and she did care for him in her own way.

Yet when it came down to it her love for Danny was stronger than her affection for him and The Doctor had seen the bitter evidence of that first hand…the sting of betrayal was a feeling The Doctor was unfortunately all too familiar with recently. Clara and the Tardis keys, Kate and UNIT drugging and forcing him into a Presidency he did not want and would never have accepted unless coerced and as for her…

Though in her case he really only had himself to blame for ever expecting any different. Missy had never made him any promises; she hadn't lulled him into a state of false security only to reveal her true nature. He knew her true nature, new it better than anyone because it was the dark reflection of his own. It was a chilling reminder to The Doctor every time he was face to face with his old friend. It could have been him…

Rassilon and the High Council had chosen to fracture The Master's mind to save themselves but they could so easily have picked him instead. The Doctor could only imagine with horror what atrocities he would have committed had it been him who had looked into the schism of time and had his mind split by the drums of war.

What could The Master have been if he had been spared?

She was brilliant, had always been, had outshone him and all others at the academy and yet just like him she had been an outcast of sorts. Her isolated by her brilliance and him by his unnatural birth, they had been shunned by the others and had somehow ended up falling into a friendship.

I need my friend back

NO…He wouldn't, he couldn't think about that, not now, not here, not again. He needed to concentrate and he couldn't do that with his hearts breaking.

So it was with distinct relief that The Doctor's foot collided with solid ground. Turning around he ran his sonic over the surrounding walls, relieved when he heard the pop and hiss of an airlock and he was able to escape the small dark tunnel and step inside…

Freezing The Doctor couldn't believe what he was seeing. Reaching out hesitantly he took a handful of the long grass in his hand, running the texture against his fingers. It was real, the feel the smell was just as he remembered and The Doctor took in a lungful of oxygen rich air. The sky had to be some sort of holographic projection and yet it had been crafted by an expert eye, if The Doctor had been able to land his Tardis here he doubted he would have known it was a simulation and not the real thing.

In this distance the mountains of Solace and Solitude rose like giants from the grassy plane, the sparkle of silver in the summer sunlight giving the illusion of glittering snow on their majestic slopes. Yet it was the perfect representation of the citadel that really stole his breath. There was no ravage of the last war here and if he closed his eyes, listened to the sound of the wind rolling through the grasses. Breathing in the scent of home The Doctor could have almost convinced himself it had all been a bad dream; that any moment now Koschei would come running through the long grass, blue eyes laughing with mischief, calling out to The Doctor to hurry up or they would be late to class again.

Yet The Master would never return and that was the reason The Doctor was here in the first place.

Pushing aside his conflicting emotions The Doctor switched the setting on his sonic and immediately the little device began to bleep. This was the source of the signal, the command to kill The Master had come from somewhere inside this vision of perfection and serenity and that turned the taste of joy to ashes in his mouth.

Unsurprisingly the signal was coming from the citadel so that was where he would go, unable to answer the only question that was now resounding around in his head…if they were willing to murder The Master in cold blood, what exactly would they do with him a convicted traitor, the man responsible for Gallifrey's fate, given the chance?

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