CHAPTER 5

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FACING THE PAST

While Lucy disappeared into one of the TARDIS' many bathrooms in order to change her appearance by cutting and dyeing her hair, The Master paced back and forth nervously in the Console Room. At that point, she actually found herself starting to babble with the Doctor about different recipes for soufflés which made her jaw drop once she realized what she was doing and caused the Doctor to actually smile at her for a moment.

"Just how long were you going to keep letting me go on like that, Old Man?" The Master said in an indignant tone.

"I wanted to see how long it took you to realize what you were doing," The Doctor said.

The Master smiled as she said, "I bet you just got a great big kick out of too didn't you?"

Osgood laughed as she said, "See? You really are Clara now. You did that automatically without even thinking about it."

The Master shook her head as she quickly corrected her, "I was Clara, Osgood. Some traces of her personality still remain behind and reappear from time to time. It's nothing more than that."

Osgood looked disappointed at that and the Master couldn't help but put her arm around her and say, "Don't worry, Inhaler Girl. That doesn't mean that I didn't learn a thing or two from being her."

As Osgood smiled at her in gratitude for her gesture of friendship, the Master realized that she had actually begun to care for the girl. It felt good to see a smile on her face because of her.

It felt good to see a smile on anyone's face because of her for that matter. It was quite a welcome change of pace from the misery that she usually brought instead.

"Clara, are you alright? You look really upset about something," Lucy's voice called out from behind her.

The Master turned to see that Lucy now looked completely different from the way that she had only moments earlier. In fact, she looked so different that even she barely recognized her now.

Lucy's once blonde hair had been dyed dark black and shaped into a flapper hairstyle with bangs that looked just like the kind that Clara had worn on the Orient Express. Her eyebrows had been dyed dark black as well to match.

Lucy had done even more than that to change herself however. Her very look itself was different. She had used heavy make-up to completely change the look of her face just enough where it would be extremely hard to tell that it was really her unless you were specifically looking for her and maybe not even then.

Finally Lucy had changed her usual fashion style and was now wearing simple blue jeans and a t-shirt. The previous Lucy Saxon wouldn't have been caught dead wearing such clothes since she had always been used to having the best of everything due to her family's vast fortune. This new look was perfect for her to hide herself with no matter where they dropped her off.

Lucy smiled as she said, "I take it from that long pause from all of you that I did a good job at hiding myself."

"I'd honestly never know it was you, Luce," The Master admitted with a shocked look on her face.

"None of us would and I don't think anyone else will be able to either. So where and when do you want me to take you? I assume that you want to stay in the early twenty-first century or am I wrong?" The Doctor asked.

Lucy now suddenly spoke with an Italian accent as she said, "Yes, Doctor, I want to stay in the same century. I just want to go forward a few years into my own future so that people will have already long forgotten about me but not too far ahead where I won't fit in anymore. Say the year 2015 maybe? Maybe you could drop me off in Italy? I always loved going there on holiday."

The Doctor nodded as he said, "You'll be there in a few minutes."

"Maybe. You never know when his driving's involved," The Master couldn't resist saying.

Lucy laughed as she said, "He's that bad is he?"

"You have no idea," The Master said with a chuckle.

She found herself actually enjoying talking to her and realized to her surprise that Lucy was enjoying it too. As far as Lucy knew they had only just met, and yet she was already talking to her like she was an old friend. They were quickly developing a relationship even as they spoke, and it was happening so easily that it was almost tempting to carry it on further just to see where it would go. The Master suddenly started to like that idea a lot in fact.

It would be nice to start over again with Lucy even if the most that she could ever have was a close friendship with her this time around without giving away her true identity. At least she could actually make a positive impact on her life for once.

She'd much rather have her look at her with a smile once again than with the look of pure hatred that she remembered from before. She'd much rather make her laugh than to ever cause her to cry again.

The Master could see the Doctor gave her a questioning look now out of the corner of her eye. She knew from centuries of being around him exactly what that look meant. He was wondering if she wanted him to help her talk Lucy into staying.

The Master really wasn't sure yet. She didn't how she felt to be honest about it. She'd certainly like for her to stay a little bit longer though so that she could find out.

The Master nodded at the Doctor and the Old Man immediately said, "Lucy, why don't you take a trip with us before you leave?"

"What?" Lucy asked as she suddenly whirled around to look at him in surprise.

"Well, you do have a time machine at your disposal. Wouldn't you like to take advantage of that and travel somewhere that you've always wanted to go? It could be the past, the future, or another world entirely. Most of your species would jump at a chance like that," The Doctor said.

Lucy's smile immediately faded and she said in a shaky voice, "I was already taken somewhere, Doctor . . . by Harry. He took me to the end of time and all I saw was devastation and darkness. I . . . I really don't want to travel anywhere else."

She suddenly began to start crying then and quickly said, "I'm sorry. That just brought back a lot of memories that I'd really rather forget."

"So that's a no then," The Doctor said in a completely emotionless voice as he went back to the console with no concern on his face whatsoever.

"Doctor," Osgood said in a disbelieving tone.

"What?" The Doctor asked as he looked at her in confusion.

"She just started crying right in front of you," Osgood said.

"And? I don't understand why that should concern me," The Doctor said.

The Master glared at the Doctor as she said, "She's upset, Doctor. Most people would want to comfort her."

The Doctor nodded as he said, "Ah, I see. I'm not very good at that kind of thing I'm afraid. Why don't one of you do it instead?"

"Well, it looks like we'll have to, won't we?" The Master said in an angry voice.

"No, don't make such a fuss over me, Clara. I'm alright," Lucy insisted as she did her best to calm herself down.

She gasped in surprise as the Master suddenly put her arms around her and held her close to her as she said, "No, you're not. You're just trying very hard not to show it because you're embarrassed at showing weakness in front of total strangers. Well, you don't have to be, Lucy. You're with friends here. You're safe. I promise."

Lucy looked at her in absolute surprise. How did she know that? How could she already read her emotions so quickly? She had only just met her.

Hadn't she?

She stared at who she thought was Clara Oswald intently for a moment while she tried to console her. There was something about her and the way that she moved and acted. Something that was almost . . . familiar to her in some way.

She couldn't put her finger on exactly how that could be though because she knew for certain that she had never met her before. So why did she feel almost from the moment that she had met her as if she had known her for years?

Who was this girl?

The Master smiled warmly at her as she said, "Are you alright now?"

Lucy nodded still looking confused as she said, "Yes, I'm much better now. It just kind of hit me all at once. Even now I still have moments where it just all gets to me out of the blue like that. I went through - Well, let's just say that it was a lot of unspeakable things and leave it at that, okay? Thank you for your sympathy though."

The Master nodded but still didn't let go of her causing Osgood to clear her throat loudly. The Master looked at her with incomprehension for a moment, and then she suddenly realized what she was doing and quickly let Lucy go with an embarrassed look on her face.

She had forgotten for a moment that Lucy didn't know who she was and would probably not understand why an almost perfect stranger had been holding her for so long.

"I'm sorry. I – I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I was just trying to make sure that you were alright," The Master said in a nervous voice.

Lucy smiled once again as she said, "I understand. It's okay, Clara. Don't worry about it."

The Master saw Osgood smiling at her sweetly and realized that the girl liked seeing her in this kind of vulnerable and uncertain state. She was probably feeling even more justified in her opinion that she was more Clara than Koschei these days because of it.

Then she saw the Doctor smirking and quickly shot him a dirty look. The Doctor immediately looked away from her but continued to have a small smile that the Master just wanted to slap off of his face so much in that moment.

"Oh, my stars! I really am still like Clara," The Master said under her breath as she realized that it was exactly how her human self would have felt about the situation.

The exclamation didn't help her any either.

"What?" Lucy asked with a frown.

"Nothing. I was just talking to myself. I do that . . . from time to time. I'm not a nutter though. Definitely not a nutter," The Master said quickly.

Lucy started to laugh and briefly hugged the Master as she said, "You're just as bad as I am, aren't you?"

"Not usually," The Master said in consternation.

She knew what it was of course. Lucy was making her nervous. She wasn't sure how to act around her now, and she didn't want to mess up their newly beginning relationship. She really wanted things to work out between them this time.

It would be her way of making it up to her for all of the rotten things that she had done to her in the past. Not that Lucy would ever realize that. Not if she could help it.

"Clara, why don't you just quit talking while you're ahead, okay?" Osgood said with a giggle as she gently pulled her away from Lucy.

"Yeah, you're probably right about that," The Master agreed as she suddenly felt like kicking herself very hard in that moment.

She glared at the Doctor once again as she heard what she thought was a low chuckle coming from his direction.

"Shut up, Skeleton Man!" The Master said with a frown.

As Lucy smiled at their antics, she realized in that moment that she felt almost happy now for the first time in a very long time. She was completely at ease around these people especially with Clara in a way that she hadn't been with anyone since before she met Harry. Was she really willing to let that go so quickly for an uncertain future all by herself?

Maybe she should stay just a little bit longer to see where traveling on the TARDIS led her?

All such thoughts were quickly interrupted though when Missy suddenly appeared inside the Console Room along with a woman who was glowing so brightly with energy that she almost blinded everyone who looked at her. They all had to quickly shield their eyes from her even as Missy's laughter reverberated through the TARDIS.

"Well, I have to admit that I really didn't think that would work, Bella. Trying to find one tiny little TARDIS in the middle of the Vortex like that should have been almost impossible. You made it look like child's play though. You really are getting better and better by the moment. Soon you'll be more than a match for Super Rose," Missy said with a grin.

The woman known as Nightshade frowned as she said, "If you felt that way about it, why did you agree to go along with me then?"

"Well, I make it a rule to always try everything at least once and if I don't survive it well . . ." Missy said trailing off with a shrug of her shoulders that was capped with an evil smile.

"You really are completely insane," Nightshade said as she shook her head at her.

The Master immediately confronted the two of them as she said to Missy, "How did you escape from Kate Stewart so quickly and who is your new friend? How many reject bins did you comb through before you dug her up?"

Missy looked at the Master in amusement as she said, "I wouldn't speak to my friend like that if I were you. She has a tendency to kill anyone who insults her. Very, very slowly."

"What is it that you want, Rani?" The Master said already tiring of this conversation.

"Rani?" Missy said as her laughter almost deafened them now in its sudden intensity.

"Oh, did I say something funny, Ushas?" The Master said in a furious voice.

"Clara, why don't you back away from her? I know you like to live dangerously but this might be one time when you might want to use caution," The Doctor said as his eyes quickly darted to a very confused looking Lucy and then back to the Master once more.

The Master realized that she had completely forgotten about Lucy and the fact that she was trying to hide her identity from her. Suddenly completely switching personalities right in front of her was probably not the best way of doing that.

"You're right, Doctor. Why don't I just let you handle it from here on out, okay?" The Master said.

"Why stop now, 'Clara'? You were doing such a great job of telling me off. I was enjoying it immensely. Only you got one thing wrong though. I'm not the Rani. I'm the Master, the Master of another reality. My friend here is from another universe too by the way. Say hi, Bella. I wouldn't try calling her Bella by the way. Only I'm crazy enough to do that. She prefers to be called Nightshade instead," Missy said with an insane grin.

The Master now looked at Missy in stunned disbelief as she said, "You're the Master?"

Missy nodded as she said, "That's right. Why so surprised, eh? It's not like you didn't do the exact same thing . . . Harry."

Missy grinned from ear to ear as Lucy gasped from behind the Master.

"Hello, Lucy. I thought that was you. Still looking good as ever I see, dear," Missy said.

The Master became filled with rage now as she glared at Missy for revealing her identity to Lucy so callously. She had just ruined her one and only chance at finally getting things right with her.

"What was this to you, Harry? Some kind of sick joke? Was that all I ever was to you? A joke?" Lucy said to the Master with tears streaming down her face.

"No, it wasn't like that. I . . . I was just trying to start all over again. I wanted to do things right this time," The Master said in an emotional voice.

Missy rolled her eyes and snorted in derision as she said, "Oh, not another one! What is it with all of you alternate universe mes and going soft anyway? Who's going to be afraid of me if you all go around giving me a good name like that? What's really disgusting to me the most though, even more so then the fact that you let your version of Inhaler Girl live, is that you're wearing Clara Oswald's face. Why of all people did you have to be her? It's like the multiverse itself is openly mocking me or something. All the more reason for me to bring it to its knees I think. Would you like to join me now that I've ruined any chance that you ever had with dear old Lucy here? It is what I came here for after all so you might as well take me up on my kind offer."

The Master almost growled at her as she said, "Take your offer and stick it, Evil Me. I'm never going to hurt anyone ever again. In fact, I'm going to do everything that I can to stop you now that I know what you're up to."

The Doctor smiled at the Master proudly and so did Osgood. Lucy just looked at her in incomprehension. She had no idea what to think now. This was the same Master who had made her life into a living nightmare and yet it wasn't. This version of the Master seemed to be completely different from the one that she knew before and not just in the obvious ways.

Could she really have changed that much from the person that she knew?

Missy frowned at the Master's response to her as she said, "Oh, you really shouldn't have said that. I really don't like doing anything to other versions of me because I love myself so much but in your case with that particular face on I'm more than willing to make an exception to my own rule."

She suddenly pulled what the Master recognized as a disintegration device out of one of her pockets and pointed it straight at her. She grinned with such devilish delight as she did so that the Master instantly knew that she was going to use it to kill.

"Oh, don't worry. I won't use this on you. That would end it all too quickly for you, and I can't have that. I want you to suffer first. I think I'll just correct that error that you made instead. That will be much better," Missy said as she suddenly moved the device away from Missy and pointed it at Osgood instead.

"I really do hope that you say something nice this time around, Inhaler Girl. The version of you in my reality was much too busy babbling in a misguided attempt to save herself when I killed her," Missy said as she smiled at a visibly frightened Osgood.

"Leave her alone," The Master said.

Missy laughed as she said, "Listen to you. 'Leave her alone.' You're become just like the Doctor now haven't you? You're pathetic. Alright then, 'Clara', if you don't want me to kill her, then someone else will have to die then. Someone's got to die after all. So who should it be, hmm?"

"Go ahead and kill me. I deserve it anyway. Just leave the rest of them alone," The Master said.

She knew that Missy wouldn't though. She knew her far too well to ever believe that she would do that. That's why she already had a plan formulating in her mind at that very moment.

"No, I won't kill you, 'Clara', because then you'd get out of things all too easily. I want you to suffer first for rejecting me. So with that in mind I think I'll kill . . . her," Missy said as she pointed the device directly at Lucy now.

"Don't!" The Master shouted in an alarmed voice causing Lucy to look at her in shocked surprise.

"That's right, dear, she actually cares about you. How about that? I know that if I kill you I'll be hurting her far more than I will if I kill the Doctor or Inhaler Girl. Who better to know that then me after all? Now go ahead and prepare yourself, Lucy. Are you ready now? Say something nice," Missy said as she prepared to fire.

The Master immediately dived in front of her while simultaneously pushing her safely to the ground. Missy's blast went off in that very same moment and headed straight towards the Master. She knew then in that moment that she was going to die, and she really regretted that it had to be this way with so much left unresolved and unfixed in her life.

Then just before the blast hit her a force field immediately surrounded her and safely absorbed it. The Master looked on in disbelief now as yet another glowing woman entered the room in a burst of golden Vortex energy.

"Rose," The Doctor said in a hushed tone of reverence.

The Rose Tyler of Nightshade's dimension waved at him with a warm smile as she said, "Hello, Doctor. Glad to see me?"

"Always," The Doctor admitted as he began to have an uncharacteristic smile spread all over his face at the mere sight of her.

"Now there'll be none of that, Doctor. I'm already married to another you," Rose said as she teased him.

"Heel, boy," The Master added with a chuckle as she suddenly began to feel that everything was alright now for some reason.

"You just made the biggest mistake of your life by coming here, Rose. I've finally gotten you all alone now without any of your friends around to help you. Not that they really stood a chance anyway," Nightshade said as she began to glow with energy while preparing to attack her.

"You don't have me here for long, Bella. Even I'm not mad enough to stick around long enough for you to kill me. I'll just be taking who I came here for back home with me then and move on out of your way, yeah? See ya!" Rose said as she snapped her fingers.

Suddenly she, the Master, and all of the other members of the TARDIS crew all vanished in a shower of golden energy leaving Missy and Nightshade standing all alone in the Console Room. Missy shook her head at first with a furious look on her face, and then she suddenly burst out laughing.

"What do you find so funny about this? She got away before I could even touch her, and she took the other you with her. This is what we call losing where I come from, Koschei. That's widely considered a bad thing," Nightshade said.

Missy nodded as she said, "You really have to admire Miss Tyler's style though even if you do hate her guts, Bella. She's almost as mad as me."

"I don't think that's even possible," Nightshade said with a frown.

"Let's go. She can only delay the inevitable so long anyway, Bella. Her final reckoning is coming soon enough now and then I'll kill her, the other me, and her precious Lucy all at the same time. I'll get Inhaler Girl too. Just for not getting to kill her this time, I'm making it my personal mission to kill every one of her in every reality from now on," Missy promised.

"Osgood," Nightshade said in an annoyed voice.

"What?" Missy asked.

"That's her name. Quit calling her Inhaler Girl and use her name instead. It's very irritating to hear you keep saying that stupid nickname for her," Nightshade said.

"Osgood? Is that her name? You know I actually forgot it. And you know what? I'll probably forget it again too," Missy said with a chuckle.

"Let's just go," Nightshade said in disgust as the two of them vanished from the ship in a burst of energy.

The Master now found herself and the others in what her time sense was telling her was another reality as Rose began to tell her why she had brought them there.

"So I assume from the comments that you just made to Missy that I'm not the only Doctor that you've taken from another universe, Rose," The Doctor said.

Rose nodded as she said, "That's right. I came to you to get your help just like I'm doing to the yous in every other reality to help me fight with Missy and Nightshade. They're going to kill all of you anyway so I figure that we should all make our last stand against them here in my universe together. We've got much better odds with us all fighting at once than separately, yeah?" Rose said.

"I agree. It's a brilliant plan, Rose. Gathering all of the most brilliant minds in the multiverse together to let them sort it all out is pure genius. So how many of me are there?" The Doctor asked smugly.

"Oh, boy! Your ego really does know no bounds, does it? Somehow I don't think she's just recruiting you and the other Doctors," The Master said as she rolled her eyes at him.

"No, I'm recruiting the other versions of everyone else that I trust too including the better versions of the Master," Rose said as she smiled at the Master.

"Missy's trying to gather the not so great versions of me too, isn't she?" The Master asked with a frown.

"Yeah, she is. We'll probably be facing a lot of different yous before the end comes," Rose admitted in a sad voice.

"Good," The Master said.

"Good? What's good about that?" Osgood asked in disbelief.

"Now I finally have a target for all of that self-hate that I've been carrying around," The Master said in a completely serious voice.

The Doctor looked at her sympathetically as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Then to the Master's complete surprise, she felt Lucy's hand grabbing hers.

She turned to see Lucy smiling at her hesitantly. Lucy wanted to believe her. She was going to give her a second chance even if she wasn't completely sure about it yet.

The Master became filled with absolute joy and gave Lucy a quick kiss on the side of the mouth as she said, "Thank you. You won't regret it. Not for a second."

"That's assuming that we survive long enough to regret anything of course," Lucy said in a voice that was trying to sound brave but that had a clear tinge of fear to it.

The Master couldn't help but wonder just how much of that was fear of Missy and how much was fear of her. She wasn't sure that she wanted to know the answer to that.

Next: The final battle with Missy and Nightshade will be told in its own mini-series very soon now and will include the cast of this story alongside those who are ready to fight for the very freedom of the universe against them. Next time in this story will feature the aftermath of that horrible battle and its effects on our cast. Plus we'll see further developments in the relationship between the Master and Lucy. Will Lucy finally start to trust the Master once more? More importantly, will she decide to stay on the TARDIS now that she knows the truth about her? Oh, and we'll finally have a proper adventure at last because Osgood really deserves one.