Chapter 12
"You bastard," the Doctor didn't used such strong language often, and even now it was so quiet, full of horror. The Master simply laughed, his amusement growing as a tear ran down the Doctor's cheek. Quickly, stubbornly the Doctor reached up and wiped it away. "You complete monster." He moved away from the Master and slid down the wall, sitting with his knees at his chest and his arms around his legs, shaking his head slightly in disbelief.
"It's funny though, isn't it?" the Master commented, crouching down beside the Doctor. The Doctor wouldn't look at him, he just stared straight ahead. "You give more of a reaction to your brother's death personally than the death of the entire planet as a whole. It's funny how we prioritise."
The Doctor didn't reply for a long while, he was trying to get his head around this, trying to understand the situation, what happened. He couldn't imagine his brother betraying Gallifrey, but then again his brother probably wouldn't have expected him to just run away like a coward. The Master watched him, seeing him trying to make sense of all of this and smirked.
"You can't comprehend it can you?" the Master asked, moving onto his knees, "Let me help you understand."
The Doctor turned to look at him, wondering what he meant and that was all the Master needed/ He grabbed hold of the Doctor's temples, tightly. The Doctor struggled but there was no way he could get out of the Master's grip. He looked at him wide eyed, silently begging him not to do this, but the Master ignored him. He forced himself into the Doctor's head, and the Doctor couldn't stop himself from screaming. His mind was protesting, everything hurting. He fought against him, using everything he had to trying to force the Master out.
Oh Theta, don't bother the Master spoke directly into the Doctor's mind and he momentarily froze.
Don't call me that he replied harshly, and got his senses back and continued struggling.
The Master growled lowly and looked around the Doctor's mind, explaining as he did so, I live with the drums now, this constant four-bar beat in my head that never stops. A constant battle, can you hear it? Can you Doctor? Listen.
The Doctor could, he whimpered slightly, still trying to pull away, his hands over the Master's trying to prise them off his head, but it was in vain. Taptaptaptap, taptaptaptap, taptaptaptap, it hurt. It hurt more than that the pain of the Master forcing his way in, because it seemed to feed on that pain, work on it, make it worse.
I live with that all the time. I fought in the Time War before that. Don't ever think you're strong enough to fight my mind. There was laughter in his voice, he was mocking the Doctor's weakness. Even more amused when the Doctor didn't stop fighting against him. He sighed in over-exaggerated exasperation, and numbed everything in the Doctor's mind just to get his attention.
The Doctor's mind went still and he went quiet. The Master started by manipulating the Doctor's mind, making him think he was ok with this, that there was no need to fight. The Doctor stopped fighting and he had no choice but to let the Master look at whatever he wanted to, do whatever he wanted to.
That's better, the Master said with a smirk, Now, are you sitting comfortably? Good, then I shall begin.
The Master's mind was very controlled, he had learnt to hide what he didn't want to think about, he had no choice when it came to working with and against the drums. He pulled out the one memory he needed now, and forced it into the Doctor's mind.
The Doctor's brother was on his knees, staring up at the Master in pure fear. Tears were running down his face, freely, unstoppably. He was muttering something about being sorry, about how it had been a mistake. The Master had never really taken any notice of the words he was saying, just the state he was in, the state of everything around them. All around them, everything, was fighting, fires, bombs, guns, death.
The Master kicked the Doctor's brother. The other Time Lord was already weak, too lost and scared to fight back. He simply fell back and slowly attempted to get up. The Master didn't let him though, simply kicked him back down. He kicked him repeatedly, not caring about his screams and begs. Eventually he stopped and pulled him to his feet, slamming him against the nearest wall.
"Gallifrey doesn't need traitors," he snarled, pulling out a knife and stabbing him directly in one heart , watching the blood pour out of him and his life start to dwindle. He pulled the knife back out, smirking, keeping hold of him, waiting for the orange glow of regeneration to start. Once it did he pushed the knife into his other heart, killing him during regeneration. Permanent death. Perfect. He grinned and let his lifeless body fall to the ground, kicking him once more for good measure before just leaving him there.
The Doctor was shaking by the time the Master finished showing him his brother's death. He tried to pull away and this time the Master let him. He couldn't stop the tears that were running down his face, he made no effect to speak, he had nothing to say. He closed his eyes, his head in his hands, trying to block out everything he had just been forced to witness.
"That was the war," the Master told him harshly. "Well, no, that in comparison to a lot of it, was friendly. I only stabbed him, if the Lord President had got hold of him?" the Master just laughed, knowing he didn't need to fill in anymore. "Oh but I enjoyed it. Everyone enjoyed it. Even you would've enjoyed it."
"I'd never enjoy killing," the Doctor spat, through his tears. He swallowed a couple of times, trying to force himself to pull himself together. He sighed shakily. "Stop this," he said simply.
"Are you begging?" the Master asked, amused.
"No!" the Doctor insisted instantly.
"Good, because I've barely even started yet.
A/N: I'm so sorry it's been so long. I blame uni, Christmas, uni again, and then Steven Moffat.