The girl fainted. The bloody girl fainted. In hindsight, maybe he shouldn't have barged into her room at two in the morning and exposed her to the TARDIS so quickly, but time was a luxury that he couldn't afford at the moment.

With an exasperated sigh, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the nearest bedroom, and laid her down on the bed, not even bothering to pull down the covers. He stood there awkwardly, looking at her for a moment then left to go back to the console room. It was there where he found himself pacing—back and forth, back and forth, from one side of the room to the other.

What was he going to do now?

He had to get as far away from Earth as possible, that was for sure.

He dug in his pocket and produced a small pendent. He looked at it in disgust and hate as it swung from side to side gently. 'This.' The Master thought bitterly. 'This small trinket is what's making my life a living hell. ' And the ironic part was that it was so small. Something the size of his thumb is ruining his life. Though he longed for a more calm life (like the humans possessed, damn them), as long as he had this in his possession, that wouldn't ever be a possibility. He let out a short humorless laugh and pocketed it.

Time to dig himself out of the mess he'd made.

When Clara awoke, she found herself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. It wasn't her flat's and most definitely wasn't the Doctor's TARDIS. She blinked until her eyes focused and sat up, rubbing her throbbing head. It felt like she'd been hit in the head with something (like a transfer truck), and the headache that came along with it was dreadful.

Along with the incessant throbbing, memories of the past few hours came flooding back. Jumping in front of a car to save a man she didn't even know. Her dragging the weird seemingly-homeless man to her flat. And last but certainly not least, her being dragged into another TARDIS by the man.

Another TARDIS.

Another TARDIS .

Another TARDIS.

This...couldn't be real. Right? Clara looked around.

It was a small room with a chest of drawers and night stand to the left of her. There were no decorations or any telling signs of life, as if someone had never slept in here before, let alone lived here. She slowly slid off the bed, using the nightstand for support when she felt a wave of dizziness.

She made her way out of the room and into the thin hallway. After several wrong turns and dead ends, Clara was close to giving up, but then she heard a yell of frustration. She followed its source until she was at a single door.

She heard the voice again. "COME ON YOU BLOODY EXCUSE FOR A TIME MACHINE!"

Clara opened the door quietly, careful not to draw attention to herself, and snuck in. She watched the man—the Master as he called himself— as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. He didn't seem to even notice her. He seemed a lot older now, than when he'd been sleeping, more stressed out, less innocent.

He suddenly stopped and raised up his head. "You're awake." When Clara said nothing, he turned to her general direction. "I know you're there."

"How...how did you know?" She asked, eyeing him suspiciously. She knew for sure that he hadn't seen her. He was far too busy clamoring about and shouting to notice her.

"Oh please, you were so loud, you'd probably wake the dead in those." Said the man, looking rather pointedly at her heels. When he awoke her in her bedroom earlier, she'd grabbed the first pair of shoes she could find. The first shoes just happened to be hills. She rolled her eyes and brushed the insult away, instead turning to get a full view of the console room. It was much like the Doctor's but it had a much more sinister feel to it. More desolate. More lonely.

"This...this is a TARDIS, isn't it? How did you get one?" Clara turned.

He looked at her as if she'd just grown a second head. "Pardon?"

"TARDIS—this thing here—how did you get it?"

He stared at her a moment more then threw both his hands up in exasperation. "You have GOT to be kidding me."

"What?"

"Of all the humans I could've picked up, it had to be...one of HIS!" The man's voice was filled with loathing and disgust.

"His?"

Apparently they were playing the pronoun game because he was being vague as hell.

The Master swung a flippant hand through the air he started to pace again.

"Yes, his!"

"What does does that mean? WHo exactly are you talking about?"

He gave a her annoyed look. "Oh, you know who."

"I really don't."

"Then think about it. Who's the only person you know that has a TARDIS besides me?"

Clara was quiet. She knew exactly who he was talking about, and they both knew it. Satisfied that he made his point, the blond-haired villain went back to work.

"You still haven't answered my question." Clara said following him around as he jogged around the console room.

"Well I find it a bit naive of you to think that I actually would." He countered smartly, not even bothering to look at her

"Where are we going?"

"You're just going to keep asking me questions, aren't you?" Said the Master, but still refused to answer any of her question.

Even on Earth, Clara was no pushover. The second someone tried to belittle her, she came right back, showing them that she was a force to be reckoned with. So when this man had the audacity to blow her off, she wouldn't stand for it.

She tried again, this time moving in front of him, blocking his path. "Where are taking me?" There was a lever that he very clearly needed to get to, but a very short (although she was undeniably fierce looking) human was looking at him rather determinedly.

"Get out of my way." He commanded firmly.

"No. Not until you answer my question."

She wasn't going to move, and they both knew it.

With an overly-dramatic sigh, he said, "Away from Earth. Past your solar system and Galaxy. In short, very, very far away. There, I answered your bloody question. Happy now?"

Clara looked at him, alarmed. "Why?"

"You wouldn't understand. Now, I've answered your stupid questions, so stop pestering me. Go somewhere else."

"Now just wait one bloody minute! When am I going to get to go back home?"

He looked at her, seemingly stumped. It was as if he didn't know how to answer one simple question. "I'm not exactly sure actually. It could be soon, could be a while, it could be never. "

"Not sure? How can you be not sure? It's a simple bloody question!"

He pushed past her, and pulled down the lever, which sent the TARDIS into motion.

"Again, like I said, you wouldn't understand. Now leave."

"And where would you suggest I go, smart guy?" She retorted indignantly.

"Anywhere you want, honestly, I couldn't care less. Just don't blow up something."

"And if I get lost?"

"You won't."

"How do you know that?"

He patted a piece of the TARDIS's equipment. "The TARDIS likes you for some reason, so it'll make sure you stay safe." As if one cue, the TARDIS whooped happily, confirming the man's words. Wow, a TARDIS that actually liked her. Now Clara really HAD seen everything. She was about to set off to explore when the Master spoke behind her.

"Not that I really care, but what's your name?"

"Clara. Clara Oswald."

He chuckled and Clara raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny?"

He shook his head, still smiling slightly. "Nothing."

Clara spent the next few hours exploring the TARDIS. It was a maze, but just like the Master had said, she always managed to find her way out. Her stomach growled, and it occurred to her that she'd not eaten in at least twelve hours. She made her way back to the console room and looked for the crazy man.

Could she call him a man? Perhaps guess not because he was obviously a Timelord, accounting for the TARDIS and his ability to survive a car hitting him head-on.

She found him reading. He was sitting precariously on a rail above her with perfect balance; he had to be at least ten feet above her. What he was reading, Clara couldn't tell, but whatever it was it was thick. The only books she'd seen that size were dictionaries. Funny, she'd never taken him as a reader because he didn;t seem patient enough to do so, but there he was, reading so intently that he didn't even notice her walk in the room.

She coughed, and he looked down at her annoyance already creeping in his eye. "What?" He asked.

"I'm hungry. Do you have any food?"

"Oh, I'm starving! Glad you said something!" He grinned and jumped off the railing and landed softly next to her with surprising ease. There was something very unnatural about how he moved, too graceful and calculating to be normal. Although she had suspected it before, but now she was certain, he wasn't normal, even in Timelord standards.

He rubbed his hands together in excitement. "We're almost out of your galaxy, so we'll get something to eat. And I know just the place!"

Clara look down at herself. She was still in her clothes from yesterday, a stain from where she'd spilled coffee on herself was still there.

"I need to change."

He pointed to the hallway behind her. "Go back to the room you woke up in. There should be some clothes there for you."

Clothes? For her? Why would he have any need for clothes for a woman? Even though he definitely needed a wardrobe change, she couldn't understand why he'd have clothes for a woman. Sure there was regeneration and he could've been a woman at one time or another, but the Doctor never kept any of his old clothes from past regenerations, so why would the Master keep his?

Despite these thoughts, Clara made her way to the room. She opened the closet and struggled to hold back a gasp. It was full of beautiful dresses of very color she could think of. Red had always been her favorite so she picked a short-cut dress that wasn't formal, but still had a sense of elegance to it. It fit almost perfectly. A mirror hung on a wall so she did her best to run her hair through her fingers for a second. Satisfied that she look halfway decent enough, she went back to the console room.

'My God, she's gorgeous.' was the Master's first thought. He'd always been a sucker for a pretty face, but dear Gallifrey, he hadn't been expecting her when he'd tuned around. He hoped to God that his face still stayed emotionless, and she didn't see his jaw drop slightly. After all, she was just a stupid human. Her beauty will fade, she will die, and he will be left alone. Just like always.

"What?" Her voice cut through his train of thought.

"Huh?"

'You were staring at me."

"No I wasn't." What a filthy liar.

"You kinda were."

He cleared his throat. "Well never mind that, we're here."

"And where are we exactly?"

"A planet called Vilreach , best food in the quadrant." He grinned and held out his hand. She accepted it and they walked through the TARDIS's door. In truth, he'd never been to Vilreach and had never eaten their food (what was a little white lie?), but he did need to come to this planet to deal with his current...predicament. Though it was low-tech, the planet was certainly full of life. It resembled that of a kingdom that one would see in a bedtime story. Creatures (that looked disturbingly close to humans, except for the claws and the gill-looking incisions in their neck) moved about quickly, not even sparing them a glance, which was just fine by him. The less attention they attracted, the better.

It felt like they wandered for hours.

Then the Master saw just what he was looking for. "This way."

"I though we were getting something to eat!"

"We are, but we're taking a brief detour first."

She huffed, but went along with him anyway. "Alright, fine. Where are we going?"

"None of your concern."

"Seeing as I'm going with you, I think it is."

"Stop asking questions."

"Just tell me!"

She didn't have to look at him to see that he had rolled his eyes. "I need to go...retrieve something. Something important. We don't have a lot of time and we have to get up there." He pointed to one of the taller buildings to their right.

"What's in there?"

He grinned, a sense of excitement coming into his eyes. "Let's just say, what's in there is one of the factors that determines whether or not you get to go home."

"You must be joking."

"Nope."

Clara looked at the building that lay before her. It was important-looking and resembled something of a prison building. It was high security, to say the least. Five guards stood on the outside, holding weapons and didn't look like a force to be reckoned with. She didn't want to do this, but she did want to go home. She longed to see the Doctor, and wondered briefly where he was and what he was doing. Did he realize she was gone?

She looked at him, and nodded towards the prison. "Well I'm hungry and I want to go home. So let's do this."