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His hands were bleeding and he hadn't noticed, not until it made his hands too slippery to grip properly and The Doctor couldn't deny the irony of the situation. These were wounds that he had gained indirectly by The Master's hands when he had unleashed his grief and rage on the Tardis console and now they wept open once more but this time as he sought to save her.
He had tried everything, the sonic was useless, a frantic search of the surroundings yielded no control he could manipulate and now even blunt force had failed. All the while The Doctor could feel the weight of invisible mocking eyes on him, studying, measuring and finding him wanting. Frustrated and exhausted The Doctor sank down against the cell door resting his head against the smooth surface that allowed him to see in but stalwartly kept him out.
The Master hadn't moved since their last exchange, she hadn't even flinched when The Doctor began to beat his fists against the thick glass panels. There had to be something he was missing and The Doctor knew if anyone would be able to help him then it was her. He just had so many questions that needed answers, questions that he should have asked when he had the chance on the aeroplane.
How had she escaped Gallifrey before it was locked away in the pocket dimension?
Yet he had been so angry with her, his initial twisted joy once he had gotten over the shock of finding her alive alive had mutated to blind rage.
Missy had pranced and preened and killed for his attention and he had gained satisfaction from doing his best to ignore her, outwardly he had dismissed her turning his attention to poor Osgood and Kate, yet inwardly he had begun to make plans. He had once given her the choice of leaving him with him, this time there would be no choice and a dark possessive part of his psyche that The Doctor shied away from had shivered.
"Master." The Doctor called out to the other time lord his voice carrying a note of pleading that normally would have had him cringing. "Help me please I don't know what else to do. What is this place, who is keeping you here?
"Leave." The word was whispered yet there was no denying it was still a command. "Leave Doctor whilst you still might be able to."
"Do you really think I could do that?" The Doctor could only shake his head in disbelief, yet part of him soared with relief as The Master lifted her head from the floor and actually looked at him, not through him, but at him.
"I am not asking you I am telling you…Go…I don't need your help or your pity."
Pressing his palm against the glass The Doctor tried to inch himself as close as he could as if he could somehow fuse himself with the glass and reach through and touch her. "It is not pity that moves me to help an old friend Koschei…"
"That is no longer my name Doctor any more than Theta is yours…"
"It was our name, you gave it to me remember?" The Doctor prodded unable to simply let this drop. "What happened to you, how are you here?"
"I died." The Master replied simply as if that answered everything her eyes nervously flickering around her cell as if suddenly afraid of the deep shadows. "You know I died you were there…I died for you remember."
"I saw you vanish with Gallifrey when it returned to the time lock." The Doctor replied softly. "And you are not the only one who died that day averting a radiation leak took care of that."
That at least elicited a half smile, yet it faded quickly as though the mere effort of maintaining it exhausted her. "I honestly don't know how I escaped Gallifrey, I died, I regenerated and I woke up in a cell in the dark…with this." She added fingers reaching up to touch the metal collar snug around her neck.
"But you must have seen…Who did this?"
"I…I can't tell you."
"You can tell me." The Doctor insisted only able to watch as The Master quickly became agitated her fragile limbs literally shaking.
"No..No…No." She hissed her fingers gripping the edge of the collar as she began to rock. "I won't tell…I won't…No more questions…Leave…you have to leave."
"Not without you…don't you see I can't do it, I can't be alone anymore." The Doctor snapped banging his bloodied hands against the glass before turning his rage and desperation at their unseen observer.
"Is this what you wanted to see? To have me beg?" The Doctor bellowed. "You coward you can't even face me, you starve and torture her and you won't even show your face. Why are you doing this, what do you want?"
There was only mocking silence as a reply yet The Doctor knew he had been heard, it was almost oppressive the sensation of being watched now…almost angry…and The Doctor prepared himself.
Yet it was The Master who began screaming.
"No." The Doctor turned, all colour draining from his face as he could only watch helpless.
The Master was writhing on the floor of her cell, her fingers and neck bloodied as she tried to claw off the metal collar that was sending wave after wave of strong current through her body. The scent of burning hair and skin muddied the air and The Doctor could only gag.
"Stop this…Stop hurting her…I was the one who provoked you…Just stop…Please…" The Doctor screamed himself hoarse, sinking down to his knees as he pressed against the glass, unable to hold back the moisture that sprang to his eyes as The Master's head now lolled senseless to one side and her body tensed and jerked like a marionette with its strings being yanked.
"Please I'll do anything." The Doctor whispered his forehead pressed against the cell door which suddenly and unexpected gave slightly, a tell-tale click of the lock.
So that was the price.
It really wasn't much of a choice but it was his to make.
Climbing to his feet The Doctor pushed open the cell door, crossing the ground to where The Master still convulsed he removed his sonic he began to work to remove it, choosing to block out the sound of the door locking firmly behind him.
He was trapped.
Held prisoner in this perfect recreation of Gallifrey hidden deep inside a rock floating in deep space.
Finally the shock collar unfastened and dropped heavily onto the floor of the cell and The Doctor was able to safely gather the insensible Master gently in his arms, tucking her tiny freezing form against the warm solidity of his chest. Absorbing her unintelligible whimpers he cradled her like a child, hands gently stroking the butchered remains of her hair and massaging out the withered remains of cramped muscles.
Pressing his forehead to hers out of instinct or some lingering want The Doctor was shocked by the complete absence of her once formidable mental shields. The Master had been the best of them, the strongest mentally, and now he could if he wanted waltz inside her mind and pick it over. Instead he hovered at the outskirts, like an uncertain guest at the threshold after finding the front door unlocked.
Master
The Doctor whispered her name into the mental abyss, his relief overwhelming him when a moment or so later he felt a rush of emotions back from her, disbelief…relief…concern…frustration…even chastisement…
Silly…Doctor
Smiling like a fool who had nothing left to lose The Doctor laughed at her rebuke even as he sank greedily into the luxurious complexity of her thought patterns. Imprisonment would have been worth it just for the sensation of having that empty part of him suddenly alive and full again.
You should have left me now we are both doomed
No…Never…
The Doctor insisted, not caring if he came across needy and desperate. He had once screamed at her to live, had cried over her body when she refused. There was no use in pretending otherwise. It had been over a millennia since he had held another's mind or felt a double heartbeat at his breast that wasn't his own. Surely by now she must understand how it felt? The last time she had been newly regenerated fresh from the horrors of the time war; there had not been time to truly acclimatise to the reality of what it meant to have survived.
We're the last
The Doctor repeated, hoping that this time The Master would be able to understand. Yet of all the reactions he hadn't expected for her to stiffen with fear, her thoughts suddenly turning chaotic and panicked and The Doctor had to fight to stop himself from drowning in them. Pulling back into the sanctuary of his own mind, he was left reeling by her parting comment, her mental fingernails scoring a fresh bloody wound across his psyche.
No we're not
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