"You have to bring him back before he kills more people," hissed Martha. She had run after me, the Doctor and Donna in thaw.

"I don't think he will," muttered the Time Lord. He abruptly halted and turned to his former human companion. "What am I supposed to do? Restrain doesn't work, force doesn't work. The only thing that ever made him calmer…"

Maybe I imagined it, but for a moment the Doctor looked in my direction. Not directly, not distinct. That can't be true anyway.

"Then get rid of him," said Martha. "Put him somewhere safe. You know there are places even he can't escape. Doctor. You have to. That poor girl could still be alive if not-"

I stopped paying attention to their conversation as soon as I left the building. I didn't want to think about how right Martha might be. Luckily, the outside was distracting enough. A memory of the barren landscape I had seen through windows flashed through my mind. There had been nothing but grey dirt and stones. But now… now there was a hint of soft green below my feet and the air smelled of petrichor. Somewhere I spotted the colourful beginnings of what might become beautiful flowers in some time, or even trees.

Humans and Hath stood together, admiring the greening environment and bathing in the sunlight. If they could manage to lay down the past, they surely would thrive here.

I found the Master not far from the doors. He leaned against the metal, eyes closed and looking as if he was just chilling there. But I knew of the chaotic storm of emotions that must be brooding inside of him. I could somewhat even sense it.

He didn't look up when I trod next to him, but his look wandered down to me when I silently closed my hand around his. There was nothing displayed on his face, it was just blank. He looked at me for a long while and then breathed out slowly, leaning back again with closed eyes. He didn't need to ask his question again, the answer would be the same anyway. What he had just done was horrible and there was no doubt about it. But I would stay. And I told him so with a squeeze of his hand and by not moving from his side, even as the other approached with rapid steps.

Martha was pleading with the Doctor to immediately put cuffs on the other Time Lord and when he told her to handle it his way, she let out an angry grunt.

"You promised, Doctor. And now look at what he's done. This will have consequences, don't you see? It has to."

"Martha… please. Let me handle this."

"She's right, though, Doctor." Donna said quietly. "This can't happen again. You can't play with lifes like that."

Next to me, the Master started to laugh. First it was barely a chuckle, then it came out full force. He took his hand away from mine and just… laughed.

"He's insane! Always was!" Martha screamed.

I had enough. How could they not see? How could they not feel all the pain that poured out of him? Those black tendrils that threatened to eat him up alive. How were they not able…

"Killing her was bad. But don't you understand it?" I looked at the three. At the Doctor, at Martha, at Donna.

Dear Donna. She was so empathic, and yet, even she averted her eyes. The laughing had stopped. A hand wrapped itself around my shoulder, warm.

"Don't you dare excuse it," the Master said, his voice still way too happy. "This is mine. And no one can take it away."

"We could have found a solution," said the Doctor. At first he didn't directly look up. His feet were more interesting. They could hide whatever struggle went on in him. But then he lifted his head, eyes pleading. "Don't make me drag you back. I promised you, no more cuffs. But… that doesn't mean I can let you do whatever you want."

"Because you can't let your little human friend see?" the Master sneered. "Don't act now as if that clone girl meant anything to you. Or any of those running around here."

"They're not so different from us. Only because they came out of machines…"

"You know perfectly well that looming is an entirely different process. Don't compare it with those primitive… things."

The Doctor rubbed his neck and winced at Martha's accusing stare. There was no need for more fighting, however. The Master pushed himself away from the metal wall and towered above the other man. "I don't want to stay in this wretched place for any longer than I have to. Go on. Or do you expect me to know where you crash landed your ship again?"

"N… no. I don't. 'Cause I don't. This way."

He basically ran. Not literally, but his stride was the closest thing to running he could get to, without actually looking as if he was fleeing the situation. We all followed, the Master just behind the Doctor, completely untroubled by the other one's speed. Then came Martha, fists clenched. Donna and I followed last and only then did I realise that she had been eerily quiet the whole time.

"I thought the same," she eventually said, her voice small. "That they are not quite real. But… it's not fair, is it? To think so."

"Hm… I don't know what to think, to be honest." This was a hard topic. How could one tell if they were real people or not? If they were only semi-clones of themselves, then could they have thoughts of their own? Or were they as programmed as the cowboy androids had been? And if children from androids could be real, could clones be too? "I can't wrap my head around it."

"But they are… alive. Properly alive they are. That's something. It has to be."

I nodded. "Yeah."

"I can understand him, though." Now her voice was barely a whisper, choked out by her own disbelief in voicing them. "I thought… if we all work together, he can forget the pain of the past. But what do I know? I don't know what happened to his daughter and maybe it hurt him so much that… Oh Lucy, I should have never pressured him so much."

There it was, one of those moments where I should tell her she's wrong and that it would have happened anyway. But how could I? Chances were high she was probably right. He wouldn't have had a reason to shoot Jenny if no one had tried to make him adopt her as his own. And yet…

"It was still his choice how to react." Not perfect. It was better than flat out lying, though. "You couldn't have known."

Donna looked at me, biting her lower lip. "Ugh! You're probably right. It still feels bad."

"Yeah," I seconded. "It does."


.


The Doctor dropped Martha off at UNIT and promised again and again that he would have an eye on the Master. He reassured her it had never been planned that he would just leave the TARDIS on his own. And there was also an unspoken accusation, because, to be perfectly clear, they had been the ones to run off.

I didn't want to stay to listen to the whole thing. Donna had immediately left to see Wilf. The Master had vanished too already. And now the Doctor was rushing into the depths of the TARDIS to snatch something he wanted to give Martha.

Which meant that I was now alone with her. Well, almost. Kira had practically attacked me the second we had been back. The little dragon was firmly attached to the front of my hoodie, with no apparent intention to leave anytime soon. He had been the only reason I had stayed this long anyway. Cuddling with him had been too distracting.

"What did he do to you?"

Martha's voice tore me out of my musings and I looked up, my finger still stroking Kira's head. "Nothing. He's just missed me."

"I don't mean your dragon. I mean the Master," Martha clarified. She looked rather composed, but I could clearly feel anger. "I saw him hold you, back there and you even tried to defend the murder. You can't impossibly think this was justified in any way!"

Confused, I blinked at her, until I remembered that he had, indeed, held my hand there. And yes, defending him also had been stupid. Oh, there was no way to explain this to her. There were no words she would understand.

"No, that was a horrible thing to do. I never wanted to say anything else…"

"It still looked as if he threatened you."

"Nothing happened. Don't worry about it."

"But I do."

I looked at her for a few seconds, trying to find the right words, but, as always, they failed me. All I could do was to slowly shake my head.

"He's no threat to me. And not to Donna. I don't know much about this reversed year, but… he's been with the Doctor for a long while since then. I guess that changes people."

Martha scoffed. "People that aren't insane maybe."

"Maybe." I slipped from the jump seat. "I need a shower. Take care, yeah?"

"Mhm, I will. Oh I will take care. Don't worry."

As I walked away there was a cold drop in my stomach. Something about the way she had said this made me horribly uneasy. But I probably was just tired.

What I now needed was a snack and a long hot shower.


.


I sighed happily when I stepped out of the water stream. Washing off the grime of a past adventure was always satisfying. I rubbed my hair dry and checked my body for any injuries. Always a good idea after some dangerous escapades. When I found nothing but a few harmless scratches, luckily, I slipped into some comfy sweatpants and a T-shirt, already contemplating what to do with the remaining evening. Or rather, the remaining time I was awake. There was no evening in here and the adventure had left me tired.

Kira sat on his favourite pillow when I entered my room and only looked up briefly before resuming his sleep. Or rather, his sulking. It had been a real effort to get him to let go of me.

Something crackled.

Confused, I looked around the room, in search of the strange noise. It had sounded like… There was another crackling and then, "You there, lil' lumin?"

Indeed, a small device sat on my desk. It was yellow and looked old. A thing to be found in an ancient toy box or maybe a second hand shop. With a huff I picked it up and pressed the button at the side. "Why the heck did you put a walkie talkie in my room?"

"Why not?"

"You can just come over if you want to talk."

I waited for the static crackle, smiling to myself at how silly this was.

"I don't want to talk."

"Which is… why you put a device for talking in my room." I giggled. "Great idea, Master."

He chuckled. "Shut up."

"As you wish."

Grinning, I sat the thing down on my desk again and booted up my PC. Now that I basically had access to an infinite number of games, it was hard to decide which one to tackle first. My to-play list had grown significantly more within the past months than my finished pile.

It didn't take ten minutes before the walkie talkie activated again.

"You there?"

I picked it up and held it to my mouth. "Seriously, just move your ass over here."

A grunt came through the static and then nothing. I wondered what this was for. If he didn't want to be alone then why not just leave his damn room or wherever he currently was. And if he wasn't in the mood to talk, then why…

I glanced at the clock, rubbing my eyes. Half an hour had passed since the last message. Over and over again I caught myself reaching for the walkie talkie without ever quite knowing what to even say. But in the end I settled for a simple question.

The button felt stiffer than before. "You alright?" I asked, taking maybe a little too long to let go of the button, afterwards.

The answer came immediately.

"Of course. I'm always alright. What a dumb question."

"I just thought… Old memories… You know. Sometimes they can mess you up quite a bit for a while."

There was only static speaking for almost a minute and once or twice I thought there would be an answer any moment. In the end it came, short and calm. Too calm.

"Yeah."

I continued with my game for another ten minutes, before there was the crackling again.

"I really don't want to talk."

"Mhm… I know." I paused, thinking. "Do you want to be alone?"

A crackle. A breath. The hint of an answer that didn't come. It repeated twice. And then, "I don't know." The admittance was quiet, uncertain. "I'm always alone. It's familiar."

I hummed. "Yeah, isn't it?" A pause stretched between us again and I couldn't bring myself to focus on gaming anymore. Instead I held the walkie talkie in my hands, playing with it. "Wanna watch how I get my ass beaten by this stupid gargoyle boss?"

There came a chuckle through the static. "You and your games."

"You don't need to say anything and I will keep my mouth shut. Well… I'll surely curse like a dwarf here and there, but you get the gist."

The crackle died and I put the device away. It was all I could offer.

I didn't keep an eye on the clock, but red letters on my monitor told me that I had, again, failed against my enemy when there was a knock on my door. I grunted and got up to open. The Master stood there, all dangerous and closed off and with a dark look. And a mug of coffee in his hands. He held it out to me.

I blinked. "Oh, this is exactly what I needed. Thank you."

And with that I simply let him stand there and moved back to my gaming chair, smiling to myself when I heard him shuffle in and drop down on my bed. He surely would have to endure a lot of cursing, I mused, picking up the gamepad again.

Only Kira didn't seem to be happy about the new guest. He had fluttered out of the room with a little indignant squeak before the door had closed, leaving me with a rather disgruntled looking Master and a slightly inappropriate joy in my heart that he had really taken my offer.


.


A/N: Let's see if we will see Martha again...

Also, I think the Master just has no idea whatsoever how to be "normal" with anyone, lol.