I apologize for the long wait. It's been very busy recently and this chapter has been particularly difficult to write. I was planning on making this the last chapter, but there will be one more to follow it.

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The Doctor had been to many dark places before. The most memorable was a planet with a sun that had long since gone dark, and a strange species that feared the light so much they stole their victims' eyes.

This was worse than even that.

The Doctor was usually fairly good at adjusting to changes in light. He could see better than any human in the dark once he got used to it. But this? This was nothing like that. The longer he stood there, the darker it seemed to get, until he stood there shivering in the oppressive darkness. It felt like it was closing in on him, squeezing him. The throbbing in his head wasn't helping matters much.

"Hullo?" he called hesitantly, but his voice was weak and frightened. The sound was quickly stifled and he took a shuddering breath.

A hazy memory of a grumpy old man in velvet and ruffles accompanied by a girl with short blonde hair and an even shorter skirt resurfaced. Both were frightened, but the older gentleman didn't let it show, instead comforting the girl to the best of his ability. "We'll do the only thing we can do, Jo. We wait."

"We wait," the Doctor echoed, sinking down to what he assumed was the ground and pulling his legs up against his chest. He rested his head on his knee and closed his sightless eyes, waiting.

He'd done something like this once before, two lifetimes ago, a hand clasped tightly in his companion's as they trekked through endless darkness, completely silent. Just like then, he closed his eyes and listened to his hearts. And just like then, his sense of time had somehow been cut off, making him feel sick and even more alone. But he could keep track of time if he listened to his hearts, listened to the even, steady beat. He sighed loudly and focused only on the sound of his hearts beating.

Nearly an hour had passed before anything changed. The Doctor jumped violently when he felt a touch on his shoulder and his concentration shattered, brown eyes opening as wide as he could manage and staring about in the darkness. There was a soft feminine laugh.

"Relax, Time Lord. I'm not going to hurt you."

The voice was familiar somehow, but the Doctor couldn't place it. His mind raced furiously, trying to make sense of the situation, but no solutions came to him.

"Where's the Master?" he demanded, his voice hoarse. He wasn't sure, but it almost seemed like it was starting to get lighter, just a little bit at a time.

"I'm here."

The familiar voice almost made him melt with relief, and he reached out in the direction of the voice. The Master chuckled, and a moment later the Doctor felt fingers intertwine with his. He was solid again, real, and the Doctor had to fight down the sudden urge to cry.

"You'll be able to see again in a few moments, Doctor," the woman said. "You single-handedly ripped apart the world I built for you. It's going to take a bit longer for you to see how I have reshaped it."

"Built for me?" the Doctor asked, confused. The Master made a sound that might have been a sob or a laugh beside him, squeezing his hand.

"For us," he said quietly.

The Doctor opened his mouth to ask another question, but a sudden burst of painfully bright light made him cry out and hide his eyes.

"My apologies," said the woman's voice.

The Doctor just scowled, rubbing at his eyes. He felt the Master's hand gently rubbing across his back and relaxed instinctively, taking a deep breath. Soon the Master was massaging the Time Lord's shoulders. The Doctor sighed, letting his hands drop to his sides. His eyes stayed closed against the light, but his head tilted back slightly.

The Master chuckled behind him, but there was an underlying note of sadness there. His companion shivered slightly at the feel of lips on his neck.

"Look at what I've done to you," the Master commented softly, his voice almost longing. "Look at how much you want me. Need me. Why didn't we try this earlier?"

"Stubbornness," the Doctor replied simply. That made them both laugh bitterly. It was so true it hurt. Really the only thing that had kept them apart was sheer stubbornness and a grudgematch that held very little to no genuine hate.

He heard the Master move around him, sliding to his front. "Open your eyes," he murmured. "Trust me."

The Doctor took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

He couldn't keep back a loud gasp, pushing himself to his feet and gazing about. There was a steady hand at his back as he swayed slightly. Chocolate brown eyes swam with tears, taking in the glorious red fields and snow capped mountains. The sky glowed orange above them under the twin suns, and the magnificent Citadel shone in the distance.

"Gallifrey," the Doctor whispered, and the Master nodded beside him.

"It isn't real," spoke the soft, feminine voice behind them. The Doctor had forgotten she was even there. "A replica, drawn from the Master's mind."

The Doctor turned at the voice, taking in the woman behind him. She was tall and slender, long chestnut hair cascading down past her shoulders. Her dress was simple and plain, sleeveless white with a gold sash. She wore no jewelry and her feet were bare, but her tanned skin seemed to shine with a strange light. Her face, though, that was familiar. Shining eyes were complimented by artistic golden paint, coloring her eyelids and arching in patterns across her high cheekbones.

"It's been a very long time, Kronos," the Doctor said with an almost affectionate smile. "Several centuries, I think."

Kronos smiled back at him and lifted one shoulder in a delicate shrug. "Time passes differently in my realm, Doctor. But it has indeed been quite some time since we have seen each other last."

The Doctor nodded in agreement, and the Master sighed a little at his side. Reunions were always boring to him, and besides, Kronos hadn't even been much of a friend to the Doctor. She'd sent him into the vortex of time. How he'd escaped that, the Master had never asked. Perhaps he should have...

"You look...nice," the Doctor was saying awkwardly. "Last I saw you, you were just a big face."

The Master snorted, nudging the Doctor. "Your manners astound me," he informed him.

"What, was that rude?" The shorter of the two just gave him a long look, until the Doctor blushed slightly in embarrassment. "Right, being rude. Sorry."

Kronos chuckled. "You are forgiven, of course."

He beamed back at her before a sudden wince crossed his face and he swayed. The Master instinctively wrapped an arm tight around his waist, his worry showing for a moment.

"Sorry," the Doctor apologized again, smiling weakly. "My head..."

Right, the concussion. The Master frowned. It must be troubling him badly if he was starting to show it here. "Come on," he murmured. "Lay down. Relax, and we'll explain everything."

The Doctor didn't protest as his companion gently tugged him down to the ground. He sighed and sprawled out, his head resting in the Master's lap as he closed his eyes. A cool hand stroked back his hair gently and he relaxed, his breathing getting soft and even. Kronos watched them silently as they lay down in the red grass, smiling faintly at the memories it brought back for the Time Lords.

"You really did concuss yourself." The Master's voice was a bit sheepish. "I don't know how..."

The Doctor chuckled, eyes still closed. "The TARDIS was going mad. I hit the wall hard. I'm assuming it's your fault she panicked?"

"Mine, actually," Kronos interjected, settling herself down in the grass beside them. "I hadn't meant to startle her, but I doubt I could have done much to prevent that. I was drawing your mind into my realm."

"She doesn't respond well to people doing things like that to me," he murmured. The Master was still stroking his mussed hair, and it felt good. "How did you two find each other, anyway? Kronos, last we saw you, you were hellbent on punishing the Master for what he did to you. What happened, exactly?"

Kronos glanced at the Master, indicating it was his story to tell, and he sighed a bit, nodding reluctantly at her as he kept petting the Doctor.

"It's hard to explain," he started, his voice soft. "I still don't understand it exactly, how it all happened." He paused, and the Doctor's brown eyes fluttered open, watching him. Silently he encouraged the other Time Lord to continue.

The Master took a deep breath, still stroking the Doctor's hair gently. "I...died. You were there." He paused, watching his once-lover's face. A shadow had passed over it, one of recollection and grief. After a moment, the Master continued.

"You cried, you begged me to stay. It was so ironic I could hardly stand it. You'd never wanted me until that moment, and it hurt." He hesitated again, but the Doctor was still watching him. "I had a backup plan though, of course. As if I would ever willingly die."

It hurt to talk about this. It was all he could do to get a few sentences out at a time. "It failed though. Horribly. I wasn't just unable to come back, I was thrown backwards into the heart of Space and Time. By sheer accident, I found myself in Kronos' realm."

The Doctor's eyes flickered over to rest on Kronos for a moment before returning to the Master's face. The smaller Time Lord couldn't meet his gaze.

"I was trapped here, with Kronos, who hated me and wanted me punished, with no real body and only half an existence. Oh, it was hell, Doctor. I don't know how long I've been here. Time doesn't move the same way it does in the rest of the universe, but it felt like a millennia before she finally took pity on me." He paused, swallowing a bit and still stroking the Doctor's hair.

"She was going to let me go, to let me die, properly this time. I was scared. I…begged her to let me see you one last time, as my last request. You know the rest."

The Master fell silent, and for several long moments there was no sound. The Doctor's eyes had closed again and he was wincing with every throb of his skull. After a long while, he finally spoke.

"So this…this is what we could have had?" he asked quietly.

Kronos smiled faintly. "This is a fantasy," she explained. "I drew it from the Master's mind and breathed life into it."

The Doctor's eyes opened and he couldn't help but laugh. "You're so domestic," he teased, and the Master glared.

"I cannot keep you here much longer," Kronos said, watching the two of them for a moment. "Now that you understand, Doctor, I have no power over you. I must send you back."

The taller of the two Time Lords sat up abruptly, wincing a bit at the pain it caused but more concerned with the words that had been spoken.

"Send me back?" he echoed. "No! I can't, I don't want to! There's nothing for me there anymore! Let me stay!" He looked at the Master, tears welling up in his brown eyes. "I can't…"

Kronos stood, lifting her skirts as she came to sit down beside the two Time Lords. Gently, she took the Doctor by the chin. "Two of you came to me," she began. "One living, and one only a shell. I cannot change that. One of you will live, and the other will die. My power cannot transcend the natural order of things. I cannot give life, nor take it away." Tears were slowly starting to fall down the Doctor's cheek, and Kronos wiped them away. "I am sorry," she said, and her voice was so sincere that neither of the two could doubt her.

Ignoring the pain in his head, the Doctor gently brushed Kronos' hand aside and got to his feet, starting to pace. The Master's hearts broke to see how hard the man he loved was trying to make this work, and for the first time, he realized what he'd done to his old friend.

"You can't fix this, Doctor," he reminded him quietly. "There's no more fixing me. You can't fix a corpse."

The Doctor whirled on him, eyes glittering with moisture. "Don't. Don't you dare talk to me right now." He was torn between rage and sorrow, pacing back and forth as he tugged violently at his hair. He turned on the Master again, poking him hard in the chest.

"You don't understand, do you? Do you know what it's like to lose everyone you've ever loved? And then what, you decide to drag me in here, play games with my head, just so I can lose you all over again?" Tears were falling freely down his face now, and he gave the other Time Lord a rough shove. "Is this all part of your plan? You just want to break me? You're so desperate to win you'll go this far?" A strangled sob burst from his throat and he turned away.

The Master blinked. "Oh yes, because this is all so easy on me!" he said sarcastically. "Let me ask you something then, shall I? Do you know what it's like to be murdered by the man you love? Do you know what it's like to be burning, screaming for help, only to have him just stand there and watch you die?"

He gave the Doctor a shove just as hard as the one he received. "Don't you dare act like you're not at fault for any of this. Because it's your fault, Doctor. It is all your fault. We could have been happy together, but no. You left me. You left me for some damn woman!" He was starting to get emotional as well, fighting back the lump in his throat. He couldn't be weak right now. He had a point to get across.

The Doctor was at least looking at him now, with a sort of startled realization that made everything hurt that much more.

"All I ever did was love you!" the Master shouted, his voice cracking. "You had your fun with me and threw me away like an old toy. Do you know what that feels like? To think that someone actually cares about you, for the first time, only to find out you've been played? That you mean nothing to them?"

He took a deep, shuddering breath. The Doctor looked like he wanted to say something, but the Master wasn't finished.

"Don't you ever act like you're the victim," he said quietly. "You've hurt me far more than I could ever hurt you, and the worst part is that I still…" He swallowed. "I still love you. And I always will. No matter what you did to me, I still cared. I've loved you more than you could ever imagine. Now you'll know what you ended before it even started."

The Master turned away, realizing for the first time since they'd started arguing that Kronos had disappeared. Angrily, he wiped away a few stray tears and ordered himself not to break down. He hated that he wanted to run into the Doctor's arms, to feel safe and comforted and loved. The life they had been living wasn't real to the Doctor like it had been to him. The thought that the Doctor had actually loved him was a stupid fantasy. He really ought to just die and stop tormenting himself like this, but the Master had always been a sadistic creature.

To his surprise, he felt himself being pulled into an embrace. He fought it fiercely, but the Doctor didn't let go.

"I'm sorry," he heard the other man whisper, and despite himself he let out a choked sob.

"You think just saying that will—"

His protest was silenced by a kiss, a soft, reassuring, passionate sort of kiss, the kind that he'd been yearning for so desperately that he returned it without thought. He didn't want this to end. He didn't want to die. He was scared and he wanted the Doctor to take him somewhere that he'd be safe, but it was too late for that. It was too late for a lot of things.

They'd reached a sort of understanding when the kiss broke, and neither of them spoke. Instead, the Doctor just held the Master close to his chest, fingers absently stroking through the smaller man's hair. The Master clung to him, breathing in his scent and wishing fiercely that he'd been less stubborn, that Theta hadn't been such a selfish bastard, that they had had the happy lives they had both deserved.

"I'm going to talk to Kronos," the Doctor said finally. Reluctantly, the Master pulled back.

As the Doctor walked away, his counterpart wished he hadn't made a last request at all.