The Master pulled away from the Doctor. He had one hand either side of the Doctor propping himself up and looking down at the Doctor "You really are pathetic" he told him. "You're completely covered in cuts and bruises and yet you didn't even fight back. What sort of fight is it when the other person doesn't fight back? You gave no reaction apart from those pathetic, little tears. You're like a little girl" the Master roughly wiped a tear from the Doctor's cheek.
The Doctor blinked, only just aware that he was crying. He silently wished the rest of his tears would stay inside. "Sorry" he whispered.
"Don't" the Master warned. "Just don't" he moved away from the Doctor, standing up and leaning against the nearest wall. "Don't apologise. You can never make up for it so just do us both a favour and don't try to."
The Doctor had slowly sat up while the Master was talking, "I have to" he replied "You have to know that I'm sorry. I'm so sorry" he wiped away the last few stray tears.
"Just shut up" the Master said, "Shut up! I don't want to hear it."
The Doctor stayed quiet this time.
"Better"
"I'm going to get cleaned up" the Doctor said, quietly, starting to stand up. He didn't move, waiting for the Master to reply. No reply came so after a moment the Doctor stepped towards the door.
"Theta?" the Master said, just before the Doctor opened the door. He turned back to the Master "You're mine now, remember that."
The Doctor nodded, knowing exactly what the Master meant. He was his to love, his to hate, and his to hurt. The Doctor slipped out, thinking everything through. He was all right with that, if it meant he got exactly what he needed then he would've been all right with anything. He wasn't alone anymore and nothing could make him regretful of that.
He entered the bathroom and stared at himself in the mirror for a moment. A bruise had formed around his left eye, on his right cheek and on his jaw; his bottom lip was cut and there was dried blood between his nose and his mouth. He began gently wiping the blood away, wincing the whole time.
Once he'd got rid of the blood, he headed to the TARDIS wardrobe where he stripped pulled off his pin-stripe jacket and shirt. He examined the various bruises across his arms, chest and stomach. He pulled on a clean shirt and his blue suit-jacket. He did the same with his trousers, examining the bruises than lined his legs, before pulling on the blue trousers. He sighed, he didn't look as injured as he did when the Time War ending. No, he amended the wording in his head, as when he ended the Time War. But he still looked pretty hurt. He had meant what he said though, nothing could hurt more than the pain he carried around all the time.
Once he was redressed he headed further into the TARDIS wardrobe and took a seat amongst the clothes, not knowing what to do. After a while the Master found him there.
"Hiding from me, Theta?" he asked. He was a lot calmer than he had been, his tone was almost playful.
The Doctor didn't look at him "Please don't call me that."
"But I want to" the Master said and pouted. He sat down beside the Doctor and smiled "And anyway you didn't answer my question: are you hiding from me?"
The Doctor shook his head.
"Good" the Master said. "D'you wanna… do something?"
The Doctor didn't reply, he seemed to be wondering about what the Master meant by "something". He didn't want to agree to something he could come to regret, although he knew he wold have little choice.
"Theta!" the Master sighed exasperatedly, he began tapping subconsciously on the Doctor's knee "You know what your problem is? You either never shut up or never say anything"
"Sor-" the Doctor stopped himself.
He placed his hand over the Master's gently stopping his tapping. The Master turned his hand over and closed his fingers over the Doctor's almost curiously, the Doctor automatically locked his fingers around the Master's as well. The Master barely even noticed the slip up. He looked down at their entwined hands, then back up at the Doctor. He opened his mouth to say anything but closed it again.
"What is it?" the Doctor asked.
"Nothing" replied the Master.
"Master, talk to me"
"Don't tell me what to do" the Master snapped. He sighed, "Come on, let's go somewhere" He stood up, pulling the Doctor up with him.
"Where to?" the Doctor asked as the Master led the way to the console room.
"You'll see" the Master replied. He let go of the Doctor's hand, running around the console hitting buttons, a scheming look on his face the whole time.
"Master…" the Doctor said, "Where are we going?"
"Come on, Theta, where's your sense of adventure" the Master ran back around and pulled the Doctor to the seats by the consol. "Sit back, relax" he pushed the Doctor into the seat "You'll see when we get there"
The Doctor automatically stood back up and stepped towards the console with the plan of seeing where they were destined for.
"No!" the Master stood directly between the Doctor and the console, knowing the Doctor wouldn't push past him "Just sit down and wait"
"You're not going to do anything stupid as you?"
"What? Like destroy Gallifrey? Oh no, wait, that was you?"
The Doctor just looked at him, not sure why he was shocked at the Master's words. "Where are we going?"
The Master's face lit up "You really want to know?" the Doctor nodded "We're going to the constellation of Kasterborous."
Pure horror quickly followed the realisation on the Doctor's face "No! You can't! You can't go there"
"I can do whatever I want actually!" The Master told him. "Tell me, have you been back? Have you seen what it's like now?"
"Of course not!" the Doctor replied, his voice depicting all the horror and fear he was feeling. "I has to be left. It has to"
"No, no, no, Theta, what has to happen is me and you going to see it now. Going to see what you did to our planet."
"I can tell you! I can tell you what it's like" the Doctor argued desperately "I'll never forget what it was like, I never could. I don't need to see it again."
"I need to see it" the Master told him, anger growing rapidly. "And you deserve to see it. We are going and there's nothing you can do about it."
"Fine." The Doctor agreed bitterly, taking a step back and sitting down.
"Sonic!" the Master said, hold out his hand. The Doctor looked at him, his wide eyes the picture of innocence "I'm not stupid" the Master clicked his fingers impatiently "I know you can use it to control the TARDIS. Give me the sonic screwdriver now."
Reluctantly, the Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out the sonic screwdriver, which the Master snatched as soon as it was in view.
"Good" the Master said, turning back to the controls, watching the progression of the journey. "We'll be there soon" he said wondrously, his voice was excited but something else tinted it. Nerves.
"You're going to regret this" the Doctor whispered, soft but certain. "Once you see it you'll never be able to un-see it. The image will stay with you for the rest of your life. It won't go away."
The Master was about to answer when the TARDIS came to a halt. "Well, I guess your TARDIS is on my side" he laughed "Here we are."
"We have to leave now" the Doctor said, staring at the TARDIS doors in complete horror. "Please. Just leave."
"No. We leave when I'm ready to leave and not before" the Master told him. He walked toward the door.
"Don't do this, Master. Please, you don't know what it's like. Just walk away"
"Why should I?" he asked softly without turning to face the Doctor "Why shouldn't I be able to see what's happened to my planet?"
"Just trust me" the Doctor pleaded.
The Master swung around to face him "Trust you? Trust. You?" he fumed. He quickly walked back to the Doctor, "Trusting you is the last thing I would ever do." He grabbed the Doctor's arm and pulled him along. The Doctor struggled but he was no match for the Master, especially when he was annoyed. The Master stopped in front of the doors "Open them."
"No." the Doctor refused.
"I said open them"
"And I said no"
The Master stared at him, anger filling his dark brown eyes, but he didn't pursue it. "Fine. I'll do it myself."
"No" The Doctor pulled away from him and stood directly in front of the doors. "I won't let you do this."
"I won't let you stop me" the Master said, pulling the Doctor out of the way with ease, but keeping hold of him, making sure he was facing out when he opened the door.
The Master's grip on the Doctor instantly loosened once the door was open, but the Doctor made no attempt to move away. Both of them stared out in petrified silence. The Doctor, who had seen this sight before, struggled to fight off the flashbacks of the last time he was here. While the Master, who was new to it, found himself thinking about being a child and taken to the Untempered Schism. It has inspired and hurt him so deeply because in it he had seen everything, but this was worse, this was so much worse, because this was nothing.
The TARDIS was floating in the empty space of the constellation of Kasterborous, like a tiny moon trying to find its way around a lost planet. The only thing visible from the TARDIS was the two suns which Gallifrey had once orbited and otherwise empty space.
The Doctor looked away first, though the image followed him even when he closed his eyes. He opened them only a minute later and tried to push the TARDIS doors shut. The Master grabbed his arm to stop him, never looking away, moving almost as though he were a robot.
"Don't" he whispered, his voice more emotional and pained than the Doctor had ever heard it. He wasn't anger here, he was vulnerable.
"Stop looking" the Doctor told him. "Let me close the doors and just stop looking"
The Master shook his head, "No. I have to, Doctor, I have to see."
"Master, this isn't going to help anything" the Doctor reasoned, "Let me close the doors"
"No."
This time the Doctor ignored him and when he tried to push the door shut the Master didn't stop him. Once the doors were shut, the Master blinked as though breaking out of a trance. A stray tear fell from his eye which he wiped away furiously instantly. He turned to the Doctor.
"There's nothing. Absolutely nothing" he said, his voice hollow. "You did that? You?" he almost didn't seem to believe it. His voice steadily became more bitter "How could you? How could a coward like you do something that destructive?"
The Doctor purposely avoided the question "It's worse now, isn't it?" he said, "Now you've seen it, now you can't deny it even to yourself. You can't pretend that it's all some dream that you're going to wake up from. You can't pretend that you're choosing not to go back but that you could. Now you've seen it so you can't. You should never have-"
"Let me see" the Master said simply, quietly as though re-entering the previous trance, reaching for the door but the Doctor kept his hand on it, stopping him.
"No, you don't need to look again" The Doctor replied. He knew how easily the Master could have moved him to open the door and he knew the fact that the Master didn't try meant he didn't really want to look again. The Master's eyes were wide and glassy and the Doctor knew he was still seeing the empty space.
He took the Master's hand and led him up the TARDIS, sitting him down on the seats by the console. "I'm going to just take us into the vortex, all right?"
The Master stared at him blankly, muttering about Gallifrey being gone.
The Doctor set the controls watching the Master from across the console. He patting the TARDIS, faintly comforted by the familiar noise and movement. Once she was set in motion the Doctor went back to the Master. He crouched down in front of him.
"Master…" he said softly but got no reply "Master" still nothing "Koschei" this got the Master to look at him, but he still didn't say or do anything. Then the Doctor said the only thing he knew would definitely get a reaction "I'm sorry."
The Master automatically hit out and although he thought he would the Doctor didn't have enough time to move out the way. "I told you not to see that." The Master told him, looking at him properly now "Don't you ever listen?"
"I had to get your attention" the Doctor shrugged, standing up "I had to know you're all right. Are you?"
"Just peachy" the Master replied with sarcasm. "Don't pretend you care when you're the one who caused this. Anyway, I believe I asked you a question earlier which you didn't answer. How could a coward like you do something so destructive?"
A/N: When I started this it was supposed to be a one-shot, but the story had other ideas. Hope you like it, please R&R :)
Carly. x