They made it as far as the room's door when they were met by the Lord Mayor, an amused smirk on his face, "Going somewhere?"
They both stopped, the Doctor lent sideways against the wall to support himself while the Master glared at the Lord Mayor and spoke as if talking to a simpleton, "Yes, we are actually, out of here."
The Lord Mayor laughed at this "I don't think so."
"I do," the Master shrugged and hit him over the head with a force that knocked him out. He turned to the Doctor, grabbed his arm "Come on," he said before pulling him through the corridors of the Guildhall. The Doctor followed him, glad for the support the Master's grip on his arm gave him, sure he wouldn't be able to stay upright, let alone get out without it.
The Master took him out the back way, the same way he had snuck in and stopped just before the 6 foot wall they had to get over to get out. The Doctor stared at it, unsure he had the strength to pull himself over it. At the sound of shouting he looked back and saw a number of armed guards following them.
"Up or I'm leaving you here," the Master told him, jumping up onto the wall himself.
The Doctor didn't believe he would leave him but he wasn't about to risk it. He reached up and pulled himself onto the wall, just in time to avoid the first round of bullets which attacked the bricks.
"Gonna have to do better than that if you wanna get us," the Master taunted the guards, jumping down the other side and pulling the Doctor with him. He started running the second he hit the ground and his grip on the Doctor forced him to run alongside him. They were both aware of the guards behind them as they ran through the town, they were also both aware that they stuck out like a sore thumb.
"This way," an Astrian grabbed the Master arm and pulled him and the Doctor into the back streets. Once they stopped the Master identified the Astrian as Hastica and after a quick moment looking around, saw his son asleep in a closed down shop doorway. "You were right, I can't just sit back and allow this to happen."
The Doctor dropped to his knees, unable to stay standing. He breathed deeply and tried with all his might to ignore the pain still roaring through his back. The Master ignored him and listened to the shouting coming from the main street, he could hear the guards shouting the threatening people into giving up where they were.
"How can I help?" Hastica asked.
"Get us to the TARDIS," replied the Master, instantly. He quickly explained where the TARDIS was and then knelt by the Doctor, gently putting his arm around him and less gently pulling him up.
"That's the Doctor?" Hastica asked, watching them.
"I don't have time for small talk," the Master snapped.
The Doctor tried to tell him not to be rude, but struggled and gave up, just looked at Hastica and nodded slightly, "I am."
"It's an honour to help you, sir," Hastica said, before turning to wake his son, "Come on, Bele," he turned back to the Time Lords once his son was stood holding his hand, "Your TARDIS is this way."
They followed him quickly and quietly through two back streets before they had no choice but to enter the main road. Hastica pointed up the street to where the TARDIS was.
"We've got to get from here to there, but the guards are there," he pointed down the road to where the guards were still threatening people for information. "As soon as we head out we're going to be seen and I don't know if you're going to be able to get to the TARDIS before being caught."
"We'll have to risk it," the Master replied. "Come on, Doctor."
"I'll cover you," Hastica said. He turned to Bele, "Stay here, I'll be back in a minute." Bele nodded his understanding and Hastica turned back to the Doctor and the Master, "Come on."
They left the safety of the back street, the Master practically having to drag the Doctor along by this point. Hastica watched paranoidly down the street at the guards movement while the Master concentrated on getting him and the Doctor to the TARDIS.
"Freeze!" As one guard shouted all the rest turned and saw them. Numerous guns were pointed towards them, but they didn't stop moving towards the TARDIS
"Run!" Hastica told them, urgently.
"Freeze or we shoot," one guard said, his tone too reasonable for anyone's liking.
The Master kept dragging the Doctor along, and the guard, true to his word, shot in their direction. His gun shot was quickly followed by the repeated shots from the other guards' guns. The Master succeeded in getting them far enough away not to get hit, but the piercing scream of "DDDAAADDDDDDYYY!" told them that Hastica was not so lucky. They both looked back momentarily before the Master unlocked the TARDIS door and went to push the Doctor in.
"NO!" The Doctor screamed, seeing what the Master missed. Bele ran out of the safety of the back street to join his Dad and got caught in the gunfire. The Doctor tried to pull away from the Master, "We have to help them!"
"Do you want to die here?" the Master asked rhetorically and pushed the Doctor into the TARDIS. "We can't do anything."
"We can't just leave them," the Doctor argued. The Master didn't answer, just countered his argument by setting the TARDIS controls, "They got hurt because of us, we can't just let them die."
The Master glared at him bitterly, "No? You didn't care when it was Gallifrey, did you?"
The Doctor went quiet and looked away. After a moment in a silence he couldn't bear he whispered, "You saved me…"
The Master pulled his jacket off and threw it to the side as he spoke, "I didn't do it for you," he said bitterly. He watched the Doctor who was looking at him with hope and thanks mixed with the pain on his face. "Stop looking at me like that," he sighed, "I only did it because I'm not like you, I'm not going to destroy any part of Gallifrey," he smiled mischievously and added, "Plus if anyone's going to torture you, it's going to be me. No one else has that right."
The Doctor's expression fell into worry "Right…" he said, simply through lack of anything else to say. He avoided the Master's gaze, leaning on the console to support himself, when he added, "I meant it… the other day… when I said I love you."
"You've been spending too much time around humans," the Master told him.
"What do you mean?"
The Master looked at him from across the console, "You keep talking about love, you sound like them."
"We have love on Gallifrey, Koschei." The Doctor whispered.
"No. Can you really, truly, honestly say that when the last time you saw Gallifrey everyone was killing each other and you destroyed it?" the Master questioned, bitterly, "Where was the love then?"
"The love was in those who died in a vain attempt to protect those they cared about. Love was in the people who did everything to try and stop their children facing the true horrors of it," the Doctor replied, defensively. "Love was there but hate was winning."
The Master shook his head, "I don't believe you, there's no such thing as love."
"Do you really believe that? You said it first, remember."
"You caught me at a bad time, I was over-emotional," he walked over to the Doctor, and took his face, making him look at him. Staring the Doctor in the eyes he continued, "I don't love you," the Doctor forced himself not to blink, not to let any tears fall, "Even if I did believe there was such a thing as love, how could I love you?"
The Doctor flinched slightly, trying to pull away from the Master but he wouldn't let him, "Because… y-you said it yourself, I'm everything you want."
"And everything I hate. Don't forget that Theta, I hate you. I hate what you did, I hate what you let yourself become," the Master replied, the Doctor's expression telling him, he didn't believe him. "You think I love you, really?" the Doctor didn't move or give any answer and the Master continued, "Would love do this?" He moved his hands away from their gently hold on the Doctor's face and smacked it instead before stepping away from him.
The force almost knocked the Doctor over, but he grabbed the console and regained his balance but otherwise he made no reaction to the hit, "Koschei believed in love," he said, his voice quiet and nervous.
"Koschei died when I left Gallifrey," the Master spat, glaring at him, his eyes a silent warning that he didn't care if he was already hurt he was willing to hurt him more. "Just like Theta did."
"If you believe that why do you keep calling me Theta?"
The Master grinned, delighted to be able to explain that, "Two reasons. I know that as the Doctor you can bear me hating you, you're used to it, but can you under the name of Theta? I doubt it, I bet it hurts so very much. All those memories you hold so dear being tainted because it's not like that anymore and you know you have no one to blame but yourself for that."
The Doctor nodded, "A-a-and the other reason?"
"I don't hate Theta as much as I hate the Doctor," the Master replied, "If I didn't call you Theta then I'd only see the Doctor and I think if I only saw the Doctor I'd probably kill you without a second thought."
"But you don't want to kill me?" the Doctor asked quietly.
"Doesn't mean I'm against hurting you, don't forget that."
"I'm not likely to."
"You were right though, the other day," the Master said, thoughtfully, "I don't want to kill you because I want Gallifrey. And if I can't have it I want the next best thing. I want the only living, breathing part of Gallifrey to be mine. And it is. I own you Doctor, Theta. And you're too much in 'love' with me to do anything about it," his lips twitched up in amusement.
"It's more than that," the Doctor's tone was equally as thoughtful, "I love you, yes, but if it was just love I would leave, I'd walk away, I have before but it's you. It's you and that goes deeper than anything else I could never leave you-"
The Doctor clearly hadn't finished but the Master interrupted, "Because I am Gallifrey now and you want that so it's not like you destroyed it all."
"No, because it's you, because you're Koschei, because-"
"I am not Koschei" the Master interrupted.
"But you have those memories," the Doctor continued calmly, reasonably.
The Master smirked, "Oh but so much has changed since that time, Theta."
"I know," the Doctor sighed inwardly, "I'm just saying…" he struggled to explain, "It's not just love because you're right, that is so human. It's more than that, you're my life now and I think in a way you always were even after I left-"
"Shut up!" the Master practically shouted, "Don't go there."
The Doctor ignored him, "You never forgave me for that did you, Koschei?"
The Master's glare intensified, "I said don't call me that."
"But it's true, Koschei never forgave me and you never could either."
The Master spoke through gritted teeth to try and stay calm, "I said shut up," the Doctor looked at him sadly for a moment, "Better."
"I-" the Doctor started, but stopped at the Master's pointed glare. They stood in silence for a moment, before the Doctor dared to continue, "He's still there somewhere, isn't he? That's another reason you're not calling me Doctor, because somewhere deep down Koschei's still there and he's scared and lost and he's looking for his Theta to make it better. But you're worried you won't be able to find him, because you think he's gone so you insist that he has but at the same time you won't admit that he has."
The Master smacked the Doctor again, this time the force did knock him over, causing him to land on his back and scream out in pain. The Master smiled and angry smile, "You need to learn that when I say shut up, you shut up."
The Doctor shifted and sat up slowly, wincing as he did so, "You want me to be scared of you, so I'll do what you say. Well I'm not."
The Master smirked, grabbed the Doctor's arms and pulled him to his feet. "Yes, you are."
"No. I'm not," the Doctor replied without blinking, "The worse you'll do is hit me again. I'm not scared of that."
The Master laughed just slightly, "Except you are. You won't admit it, but it's so clear, there in your eyes, you're terrified of what I'm going to do next. And you need me, you need my help." He spun the Doctor around, keeping hold of his arms so he couldn't move away, "You need my help because I'm the only one who can make this better," he moved one hand away from the Doctor's arm and ran it lightly down his back, causing the Doctor to whimper in pain and tears to well up in his eyes. "Ask me to help."
The Doctor stayed quiet for a moment, so the Master spun him around again forcing him to face him, glaring pointedly at him. Eventually the Doctor gave in, "Please help me."
"Sorry what was that?" the Master said, making it clear he thought there was something missing.
"Please help me… Master." The Doctor amended,
"I will," the Master agreed and the Doctor's eyes widened in shock. The Master smirked again, "On one condition. You tell me about the Time War."
The Doctor stayed silent, trying to work out what he wanted more. Whether it was worth telling the Master what he wanted to hear to get the help he needed.
"Well, Doctor?" the Master prompted. "It seemed like a fair suggestion to me. Do you agree?"
Reluctantly, slowly, the Doctor nodded.
I actually think part of my died writing this chapter. I struggled so much with the last scene on Astria because I wasn't sure if I should write what I planned or not. Then back in the TARDIS, I wrote most of that conversation months ago (in fact in April, Laura545 helped me write the beginning of it). But the next chapter, I've wrote most of so it won't be long until it's up.