There's a yawn that broke through the silence of a quaint family home, a man shuffling around, his head of wild hair turning grey from years of adventuring and the stresses that came from it.
He passed by several family pictures during different stages, from when they only had Hammond to Odette.
Good times and bad, he wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, a quick kiss on the family portrait of him and his beloved Sarah.
It may be years since her passing, but he never forgot the days he spent with her.
Coming down the stairs, he stops when he felt a strange presence, seemingly calling out to him to join it in the den.
It felt far different than any he experienced when he traveled throughout the world over, he couldn't tell if it was dangerous or not.
Shuffling around the corner, his blue eyes focused on a man wearing a navy-blue pressed suit sitting quietly in the chair, waiting for him.
He greeted with his stilted speech, "Medikus… in the… flesh…"
Stunned, Medikus grew angry as he recongised the man, but as swift as his anger, it disappeared when the man denied being the Master.
Though, he found it enjoyable to mock the Master with his own face.
Proceeding to demand to know who the man was, already alerted by his appearance, Medikus watched the man gesture for him to take a seat, he wouldn't be long.
"Who are you?" Medikus demanded an answer from him.
His pale lips contorting into a smile, the man stiltedly replied, "Let's say… an old friend… of unusual… circumstances."
Seeing how the man wouldn't tell him much about himself, Medikus demanded, "What do you want?"
Sitting comfortably in his spot, the man pointed to himself as he explained, "To… warn… you."
Visibly stunned, Medikus shook his head as he refused to believe it, but the man uttered, "Vivit."
In disbelief, Medikus utters, "No!"
He killed him!
The shame he carried from that day still haunts him to this day!
He hears the man say, "The… hour… has come… again."
The shock replaced with panic, Medikus gestures as he tells the man that he didn't have the TARDIS anymore, but he saw that cunning look in the man's illuminating blue eyes as it appeared the man already knew and more.
"It will come… again… but not… to you… Medikus," the man informed him that after decades of being gone, the TARDIS will return, but not for Medikus.
"No!" Medikus instantly knew what this meant, the man affirming with a stiff nod Medikus' worst fears.
Disheartened, Medikus demanded to know why now, why Theodore, and he saw how reserved the man was that he raised his voice as he repeated himself.
Medikus continued demanding to know, "Why does it have to be him?"
His hands together as he's deep in thought, the man explained, "When he is… dying… I want him… to see… your face... the faces… the truth… he so desperately… sought to… destroy."
The Master wanted to stop all and any men that were a threat to his rising power, but at the end of his elongated life he will learn that there was nothing he can do to stop fate.
Scoffing, Medikus pointed out that this wasn't his first jaunt, as he summed for the man, "I may be out of practice, but even I see through you. There's more than using my own son to go after your master to spite him. Am I wrong?"
He saw the displeasure on the man's pale face from the comment as his illuminating blue eyes grew intense.
Still, the man remained pleasant as he gave his reasoning for coming here.
"There are… events… that need… nudging… Medikus… I cannot possibly… do it… myself," the man stiltedly informed Medikus.
Sensing how personal this was, Medikus inquires how the man knew his plan would work, and the man explained with, "He… made me… Medikus."
Having been made in secret with the express purpose of being a living vessel for when the Master was caught and executed by the Council, the man was quick to adapt, and learnt more than his progenitor could ever hope learning.
"What was he doing all these years?" Medikus wanted to know what his former friend had been doing since eluding death and seeing the calculating look on the man's face, he heard, "In time… it will… be revealed… for now… I wish to leave you with… a message… prepare… for unforeseen… consequences."
He wouldn't tell Medikus what the Master been working on since escaping the clutches of death and Medikus knew that he couldn't force it out of him if he tried.
"What if you're wrong?" Medikus gestures at the possibility of the man's plan failing.
Tilting his head, the man reminds him, "I am… Staxus… al… Alhazared… I will… be the… death of him."
He didn't escape death and persecution himself just for his progenitor to attempt killing him, no, he had grown since the scape, that the Master had no hopes of controlling him anymore.
However, Medikus cunningly pointed out that the Master always had contingencies for all and anything happening, causing the smug expression on Straxus' face to dissipate.
"Even if you finally kill him, he's got one last laugh in him," Medikus warns him how the Master always made sure that even if he was losing, he'll still win somehow.
He sees a look on Staxus as he brought out a vial of unknown liquid, he made with blood collected from a while ago, as he said, "I am… aware…"
Silently, Medikus watched Straxus inject himself with the liquid.
Showing sympathy with his former friend's creation, Medikus asks, "How long?"
He heard back a dull, "Enough… to see it… through."
Straxus was aware of his impending fate, but he was going to do whatever it took to ensure his plan comes into fruition, even challenging fate itself.
"Tell me the truth. I'm already at death's door. What else was he doing?" Medikus calmly asks Straxus, knowing that he'd be watching his progenitor from afar while planning his downfall down to the minute, and Straxus inquires if he would tell anyone afterwards.
His wild hair stiffly moving as he shook his head, Medikus stated that while he didn't trust Straxus purely in principle, there were more pressing matters, and he could tell that Straxus never had the luxury of having someone listen to him.
"You are… your father's… child…" Straxus gave a genuine grin.
THE END
