A/N I don't own BBC
Book of the Update: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Chapter 14: The End of Time (Part 2)
"Now then," the Master said into the Doctor's ear, "I've got a planet to run," and with that he walked over to the screen on the far wall to communicate with his other selves in leadership positions all across the globe, leaving the Doctor strapped into a big….thing, Rose didn't quite know what it was, but it was covered in straps and there was one tied across his mouth as well. She and Wilf were nearby, tied to office chairs.
Rose locked eyes with the Doctor and he seemed to be staring a hole right through her soul. She wondered idly if she had done something wrong.
"Well, Doctor? Nothing to say?" the Master asked, and the Doctor broke his gaze to look at him. "What's that? Pardon? Sorry?" he asked mockingly, leaning his ear closer to the Doctor's bound mouth.
"You let him go, you swine!" Wilf cried but the Master only laughed.
"Oh, your dad's still kicking up a fuss."
"Yeah, well I'd be proud if I was," Wilf said back and Rose couldn't help but smile. The Master hushed him and Wilf's face fell, as if he still couldn't quite believe that this insane man had so much power in the world.
"And what about your little pet, eh, Doctor?" The Master asked, coming to stand by Rose. "What did you tell this one to make her so obedient?" he crooner, stroking her hair. She glared at him, but said nothing. The Doctor made a noise behind the bonds over his mouth, wriggling about, a furious panic in his eyes. "Oh, you don't like that. He doesn't like that," he told Rose confidentially. "You must be special." He released her hair and looked up at the Doctor. "So where'd you find her? Was she another stray dog from some alien planet about to explode? Are you a Drahvin? Peladonian? A Trion, perhaps?"
"I'm human, actually," she spat venomously.
He jerked back. "What? Why didn't she change?" he growled, swooping over to the Doctor. He was mere centimeters from his face. "Who is she?" he yanked the bonds off of the Doctor's mouth and he opened and closed it a few times, flicking his tongue out.
"That's better. Hello."
"What is she?" he growled and the Doctor grinned, laughing.
"I haven't got a clue," he said truthfully, still laughing.
The Master roared and overturned a small table. Rose raised her eyebrows. "There was no need to do that," she said reproachfully and he glared at her before going back to his place by the Doctor.
"Tell me," he muttered, "Where's your TARDIS?"
"You could be so wonderful."
"Where is it?"
"You're a genius. You're stone-cold brilliant. I swear, you really are." The Master tilted his head as if in agreement with the Doctor, who continued, "But you could be so much more. With a mind like that, we could travel the stars. It would be my honor. 'cause you don't need to own the universe, just see it." The Master was actually listening now, and Rose's heart went out to both of them. How much could it hurt, to see the person who was closer than a brother to you gone mad. Or to see them fighting so hard to stop whatever you were trying to do? That had to be painful. "To have the privilege of seeing the whole of time and space…that's ownership enough."
They were silent for a few moments until the Master finally spoke, his voice choked and teary, "Would it stop then? The noise in my head?"
"I can help," the Doctor told him, but the Master shook his head.
"I don't know what I'd be without that noise.
The Doctor mumbled something, too quiet for anyone to hear but the Master, who sniffed and replied with a "yeah."
"What does he mean?" Wilf asked loudly, and Rose shook her head at him, trying to tell him stop. He ignored her. "What noise?"
The Master turned, glaring at Wilf. "It began on Gallifrey as children. Not that you'd call it childhood. More a life of duty," he spat, sitting down on a chair between Rose and Wilf, facing the Doctor. "Eight years old. I as taken for iniation, to stare into the Untempered Schism."
"What does that mean?" Wilf asked, and the Doctor replied,
"It's a gap in the fabric of realty. You can see into the Time Vortex itself. And it hurts." He looked at Rose as he said the last part and she had to blink back tears at the sound of raw pain in his voice, even after all these years.
"They took me there," the Master continued, "In the dark. I looked into time, old man, and I heard it. Calling to me. drums, the never-ending drums." He had closed his eyes now. "Listen to it. Listen."
"Let's find it, you and me," the Doctor offered, but the Master seemed not to hear.
"Except…Oh! Oh, wait a minute. Oh, yes! Oh, that's good!"
"What? What is it?" Rose asked, not being able to stop herself.
He spun around on his heel to look at her. "The noise exists within my head and now within six billion heads! Everyone on earth can hear it. Oh, imagine! Oh, yes!" he started to laugh again, his madness returning full speed after those few moments of sanity. His face flickered between his skin and his skull as he laughed, but he seemed not to notice. The Doctor, however, did. And he frowned.
"The gate wasn't enough," he said sadly, "You're still dying."
The Master huffed, curled up on the floor, "This body was born out of death. All it can do is die." He stood up. "But what did you say to me, back in the wasteland? You said the end of time."
"I said something is returning. I was shown a prophecy. That's why I need your help."
"What if I'm part of it?" the Master cried, but the Doctor shook his head. "Don't you see? The drumbeat is calling from so far away, from the end of time itself! And now it's been amplified six billion times. Triangulate those signals, and I could find its source! Look, Doctor. That's what your prophecy was…me!" he spread his arms wide to show himself off, and then, in a flash, his hand came down and smacked the Doctor across his face.
"Don't touch him!" Rose cried, but he ignored her.
"Where's the TARDIS?"
"Just stop," the Doctor said, almost begging, "Just think."
"Kill him," The Master said, gesturing behind him at Wilf. A soldier all in black with a helmet walked over, pointing a gun directly at his head, and Rose thought that something seemed a bit off about it. "I need that technology, Doctor. Tell me where it is or the old man is dead."
"Don't tell him!" Wilf cried, and Rose felt a surge of pride for the man.
"I'll kill him right now!" the Master roared, walking back to stand by Wilf and the soldier. Now that they were side by side, Rose could see that the soldier was taller than the Master. Not by much, but too much for them to be identical people. Someone else was in the soldier's armor and helmet. Someone on their side. She breathed a sigh of relief.
"Actually," The Doctor said, "The most impressive thing about you is that, after all this time, you're still bone-dead stupid."
The Master rolled his head and cracked his neck. "Take aim."
"You've got six billion pairs of eyes, but you still can't see the obvious, can you?"
"Like what?"
"That guard is too tall!" Rose blurted out, done with all the chit-chat.
The Master turned around to look, only to be hit in the face with the blunt end of the gun and fall to the floor, most likely unconscious. The guard took off his helmet to reveal the spiky green man who had been posing as a scientist earlier. "Oh my god, I hit him. I've never hit anyone in my life!"
"Well come on!" Said the other green alien, the oman, bursting through the doors, "We've got to get out of here, quick!" she ran over and used some sort of pocket knife to cut Wilf's bonds loose, and then Rose's. The man ran over to the Doctor and tried in vain to unclip all of the straps and things. "Come on, we've got to get out!"
"There's too many buckles and straps!"
"Just wheel him!"
The Doctor's eyes widened, "No, no, no, no! Get me out! No, no, don't! No!" he protested as the man began to wheel him out of the room. "No, no, no, the other way! No, I've got my TARDIS!" he cried when they started down the wrong way, but the woman cactus would hear nothing of it.
"I know what I'm doing!"
"Listen to him!" Rose yelled, but of course they didn't. and then they proceeded to try and wheel him down the stairs, which, as you can imagine, caused quite the uncomfortable journey for the Doctor, who was yelling and screaming the whole way down.
"Worst rescue ever!" he yelled when they had finally gotten down the stairs. Rose didn't even try to correct him for being rude. He was right.
They wheeled him into some basement room with not much in it, and he kept yelling for them to stop and listen, and Rose joined him, saying they should use the TARDIS, but no, apparently the cacti were very stubborn. Soon enough, they were surrounded by soldiers in black suits, and Rose noticed that they were all exactly the same height, so no chance of a rescue mission for the rescue mission anytime soon.
"Got you," said one of the Masters, and the woman cactus smiled.
"You think so?" and pressed the button on her watch/transport, ignoring the Doctor's cries to stop.
They reappeared in a ship, probably hovering somewhere above the earth. "Get me out of this thing!" The Doctor cried, and the woman put her hands on her hips.
"Not even going to thank us?"
"He's not going to let us go! Just hurry up and get me out!" Rose took pity on him and began to work on the many buckles and straps, soon aided by the two cacti.
"Oh my goodness me," Wilf said, astonished, "We're in space!"
"Yeah," Rose confirmed, "Yeah we are."
"Hurry up!" The Doctor screamed and jumped up before he was completely free, causing the bard to crash to the floor. He ignored it and ran over to the controls, sonic'ing them until something exploded and sparks flew everywhere. "Where's your flight deck?"
"But we're safe!" the woman protested, "We're 100,000 miles above the earth!"
"And he's got every single missile o the planet, ready to fire!" Rose cried and the woman gaped for a moment.
"Good point," and she ran off, the Doctor hot on her heels. Rose looked over, grabbed Wilf and followed them, nodding and agreeing as he went through the shock of being in space.
Wilf, who ran a bit slower in his old age, made them enter the flight deck a bit late, but just in time to see the Doctor point his sonic at the flight controls and watch them explode as well.
The ship went dead. Entirely silent and still. No one on earth could detect them, but they couldn't move or go anywhere either. They were stuck.
A/N Please go and vote on the poll on my page; it's really important to the story!