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Yay! I will now update once every two days, officially. And sorry for inconsistent chapter size!

This is a sad chapter. Prepare yourself!

None of the three friends were going home for the Christmas holidays. "Mostly," The Doctor remarked, "because they're not our homes anyways! I mean, imagine if I went to the Weasley's! Blimey." They all shared a chuckle at this mental image. Then Martha sobered up. "Doctor," she started tentatively. Jack realized what she was going to ask and discreetly tried to signal her to shut up, but she didn't notice. "D'you… do you have a home? I mean, a real one? Y'know, you talked about Gallifrey once..."

The Doctor stopped laughing, just froze, and in that moment Martha saw The Doctor's eyes, not Ron's. Old, impossibly old, and regretful. She stopped talking, but the damage was done. He looked like he was going to say something, but seemed to choke on his words. "No." he said shortly, then dashed away. Martha, startled, was going to follow him, but Jack put his hand on her shoulder. When she looked, she saw him, with an expression on his face almost as sad as The Doctor's. "No." he said softly. "He needs to sort himself out." Martha looked like she was going to cry. "What-what did I do wrong? I was just asking…" Jack shook his head.

"The Doctor, has he ever told you about the Time War?" Martha shook her head No, and Jack sat her down then and there and explained it to her. The Daleks. The Time Lords. The terrible, terrible war that echoed through all of creation. Martha realized what demons she had awoken, and was horrified at her own thoughtlessness. "We-I-I have to go find him and apologize! I didn't mean to-" "No, Martha! He's… he needs to figure himself out right now. Trust me. Just… make sure not to say things like that again, okay?" "Of course not! I, I don't know what came over me…" Martha wept, and Jack's eyes were wet as he hugged her. Oh, Doctor, they both wondered, will you ever be alright?

Since it was the holidays, and there weren't any classes, they didn't see The Doctor the next day at all. They figured he needed some alone time, and kept an eye out for him, but mostly just spent the day playing Wizard's Chess, subdued. "This is hard…" Commented Martha as her pawn got wrestled to the ground and trampled by a mounted knight. "Yeah." They still didn't see him for the rest of the day, and were beginning to worry by the morning after. "Let's look for him." Jack said as soon as he saw her. "Yeah, lets," she said, relieved she could do something to take her mind off the icky feeling of guilt.

They started doing a thorough search of the school, beginning with the out-of-the-way hallways The Doctor loved exploring. They looked all through the castle, but didn't find him, not even in the library. So they went outside, and spent the cold, snowy day trudging around the lake. Martha wanted to go into the Forbidden Forest. "No." said Jack. "But he's sure to be there! It's his sort of place!" "Martha, we're losing light. D'you want to be in the Forbidden Forest after dark?" She shuddered. "Didn't think so. Now, let's go inside. We can check the castle again after dinner." So they went back inside. The Doctor wasn't at the Great Hall for dinner, either. They sighed together, worried. "I know!" Martha said with a mouthful of potatoes. "Let's ask the teachers!" "Brilliant!" Jack whispered. "After dinner, let's ask Professor Kitty. But we can't just go up and ask the whole table-Bat and The Master are there!" Martha nodded, grimacing. So, after dinner was over, they discreetly followed Professor McGonagall upstairs, pretending to run to catch up to her when she was far enough away from the Great Hall. "Excuse me, Professor?" Martha said in her most innocent voice, and McGonagall turned to them. "Have you seen Ron? We haven't seen him around lately." She thought. "Weasley, hmmm… No, I haven't seen him lately either. Don't worry, though," she added kindly, "I'm certain he'll show up before too long." Frustrated, the two muttered a quick 'thanks' before running to the common room to start looking again.

Professor Yana was rather distant at dinner, everyone noticed. Severus had stopped trying to read his mind after the first time he tried, which he ended up really regretting. He still wouldn't look Yana in the eye. He noticed the two companions of The Doctor quietly talking with concerned faces. Well, now they worry about him, he thought with a snort. Honestly, humans could really be so thoughtlessly cruel sometimes. It was another reason to add to the list of why he hated them-completely insensitive. The girl had hurt The Doctor, his dear friend, deeply, and he would not forgive that. After dinner, in which he had not said a word, he quietly rose and left, noting the two idiots following McGonagall and trying not to be obvious about it. He did not follow them, instead going upstairs to the Astronomy tower. When there, he went up onto the roof and sat beside the lone figure huddled near the edge.

"They're just idiots, Theta. Idiots who don't know what they're talking about." he said comfortingly. "But, Koschei… they're right. I have no home." The Doctor whispered. "I killed them all… Koschei, it was me!" The great Oncoming Storm put his head into his friend's chest and weeped as the sadistic madman rocked him and comforted him. "Shhhh, it wasn't your fault…" The Master sung a Gallifreyan lullaby to his dear friend, rocking him to sleep. The Master, the madman who heard the war drums, had tears in his eyes as he contemplated the fate of his people, and that of his friend. After he could feel The Doctor relax his tense, trembling body and sleep, he gently carried him into his room and lay him on his bed. The couch would be sufficient; The Doctor needed the rest far more than he.

Okay, that was sad. Incredibly so.

Just a few things: First, I know this is incredibly OOC for The Master, madman, sadist, etc. But, he did use to be The Doctor's friend. And he cares about the fate of his people, if only for his friend's sake.

Which brings me to another point. I know the Time War hasn't happened yet in The Master' timestream. I have no quasi-excuses for that, except perhaps that a war which locks your people out of reality might affect them. At least a little bit, y'know? Meh, please just work with me here.

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