When had we moved to the bed? I couldn't remember. My consciousness returned from the depths, leaving a trail of foul memories. It didn't last. Warmth and comfort washed them away. It was the past, nothing more. Here and with the Master it couldn't harm me any longer.

"I see," the Master murmured. I looked up and met his thoughtful gaze. "Yeah, she really deserves to die." He wouldn't let go of me, held me tight and secure. A small smile played on his lips. "I'm not letting you get away, though. You have to stick with me."

My heart jumped and I sheepishly returned the smile, again confirming, "'kay. I won't leave."

He wanted me with him. I still couldn't believe it, but it was true. The things I felt when we were connected ran deeper than any empty promise ever could. It was true and real.

"You have to apologise to Kira, though," I mumbled. "He did nothing wrong."

The Master grunted. "As if that little nuisance understands anything."

I snuggled closer. "He does. In a way. And also, you were the one who wanted to hatch him so badly."

"Yeah. I thought it would be bigger. And a little more… destructive."

I snorted. "Do children of Time Lords come fully grown or what? Give him time. He'll grow."

He growled and drew small circles on my back.

"Please."

"Ugh, alright."

.

The Master really did apologise, although with a dark look. The two of them stared at each other for some minutes, one as much on edge as the other. In the end, the Master sighed and held out a little treat. "You better behave and don't harm her, you hear me? Let's call it a truce."

Kira inched forwards and carefully plucked the treat from the Master's hand. He never let the Time Lord out of sight and when he was done he stretched to poke his nose against the Master's finger, then looked up.

The Master cast a glance at me, raising an eyebrow. "Right… I guess he understands something."

"See? That wasn't so bad." I smiled at him and let Kira climb up my arm where he nuzzled against me. "So… do we continue as planned then? Get the last parts?"

The Master nodded and traced a finger over the rim of his tea cup. "Yeah. I need an inductor core from Helma Harant. That one should be fun for you."

.

It was easy to convince the Doctor to visit our next location. Even without the Master I would have begged to go there, had I known the place existed. Helma Harant turned out to be a large moon, orbiting an even larger pink gas giant. It was covered mostly by glittering, crystal clear ocean water. A fact that attracted tourists from all around the galaxy.

And there was an old harbour! One like I had only ever seen in pictures in books. As we strolled along the docks I admired all the sailing ships that lay there, waiting to be boarded and loaded and then brought out to sea. They were old. They were new. Sometimes they were both. The ones that reminded of pirate ships had subtle augmentations to make them easier to handle and more robust, but they had kept the style and the sails.

"I need to get aboard one of these," whispered the Master into my ear. "They have the part in their engine rooms."

I quirked a brow. "That sounds dangerously as if you would sabotage something important to get it."

He only gave me an impish smirk.

Was I really okay with this? Lives might get endangered just because of me. But they were always in danger, out there at sea. From what I've heard, this ocean didn't behave much different to the one on earth. And it held at least as many deadly and dangerous creatures. They probably even had spare parts somewhere and could fix the damage in no time.

"Fine. I'm not saying anything."

"Splendid! Oi, you there. Yes you." He waved at a tall sailor who was about to undo a knot in a long taw. "I was told you're doing some sightseeing on your ship. I want to come aboard."

The man looked confused for a moment, but then he stilled and finally nodded, waving us up the wooden ramp. Donna and the Doctor followed us, exchanging excited looks. They didn't seem to have noticed the hypnosis.

We were led on deck of a wooden yacht of some sorts. It wasn't as big as any of the old pirate ships and had only two masts, but other than that it barely resembled one of the older models. It was more bud like… well yeah, a mini yacht. There was enough space on deck to set up some sunbeds, one short set of steps led up the captain's cabin and another one led downwards. The belly of the ship didn't seem too large, certainly not made to hold a decent amount of cargo either.

The Doctor and Donna immediately went to the prow, giddy as children. Donna pointed at different ropes and the Doctor probably told her about whatever adventures he already had on boats.

I decided to call this a boat. Sails or not, it was hardly a proper ship. Or maybe I was just biassed after reading too many adventures of seafarers and watching too many pirate movies.

"The ship's in good condition, Sir," said the sailor. Only now did I see the green stripes behind his ears, leading down his neck. "'S not exactly for sightseeing, but you can book it for a trip. There's some food and water and whatever you need for some days and you can sail it with only two men."

"Mhm, yeah yeah. What about the engine room?" The Master nodded towards the downwards stairs.

"Oh that one. Yes. Ship has engines, Sir. Quite sure about it. We only use the sails though. Much more fun."

"I want to see it."

"That uh… Captain wouldn't like that, Sir. Don't think I can arrange… Maybe." He slowly nodded as if an unknown voice had suddenly convinced him. "Yes, yes. I think it should be… possible."

The sailor turned around and strode towards the downwards staircase. He seemed unstable on his feet, pausing in his steps here and there, only to shake his head and walk further down. He led us into a room and showed the Master some engines, then excused himself to get more work done.

"That was easy. For a moment I thought he would resist." The Master grinned at me and waved towards a part of the engine. "There. That's what we came here for."

"It's tiny," I remarked.

"Well, it does need to fit into a handheld device, doesn't it? Good thing the sound system has a ton of inductor cores." He got out his laser screwdriver. "Would need a lot less of those if I didn't have to build new screwdrivers all the time."

"Wait." I watched as he carefully soldered out a bunch of rectangular components. "The sound system?"

"Yep. You see, the conductors are part of the relays that… ah well, you don't understand anyway."

"I know what a relay is." I pursed my lips.

"Do you, now?"

I huffed and picked the small components from his hand. "Remember that planet near the black hole?"

"How could I ever forget?" The Master wrinkled his nose. "It was rubbish." Another conductor landed in my hands and he winked at me. "But at least I could snatch a kiss from you."

At that time there probably wasn't much he would have loathed more than to kiss a human, of all things. But I kept that thought to myself. "Well, that one guy, he was teaching me some electronics. I found it interesting and kept studying it. Here and there. Not too much, honestly. It's a bit difficult to learn when we're always attacked or running or imprisoned."

The Master snickered and turned off the screwdriver. "It is, isn't it?" He took the parts back from me and put them all inside his pants pocket. "It's good that you're learning, though. Keeps the mind sharp. Come on, let's get back t-"

A low roar rumbled through the ship, loud enough that I had to cover my ears. I hurled around, watching with wide eyes as a construct of gears and bands started to turn. Confused, I looked back at the Master and he didn't seem to have a clue either, so we sprinted up the stairs again. Donna and the Doctor came running towards us, the Time Lord flinging his arms about as if he wanted to fly away.

"He's kidnapping the ship! That sailor! He said this is a tour, not a kidnapping!"

"Well, not exactly a tour…" admitted the Master. "I think he figured out that we aren't supposed to be here."

We turned to the captain's cabin. And, really, there stood the man, the steering wheel clutched between his hands.

"I told you not to bring him," whined Donna. "I bet he hypnotised the poor sod and now look what happened!"

"No time for that, Donna!"

The Master didn't bother with knocks or even threats. He simply blasted the door's lock away with his laser and marched inside, grabbing the sailor by his collar to drag him outside. "I can't remember having commanded you to drive away," he growled.

"Let him go, Master," warned the Doctor.

"Or what?" The other Time Lord pointed his laser, making clear that he would not hesitate to use it. "Get out of my way, you two." He pushed past them and rammed the struggling sailor in his grip against the railing, letting him dangle over the water. "What exactly have you done? You didn't drive away just like that."

"I… I… informed the coast guard. They'll be here any second and you can't get away."

The Master wrinkled his nose in disgust and, without a second thought, pushed the man over board and stormed back to the cabin. The Doctor, now free from being threatened, ran over and leaned down. "Keep swimming. I'm going to-"

But he could never finish the sentence. The boat already picked up speed and left the man back in the ocean, a struggling point getting smaller and smaller with every second. There really was another boat nearby, but instead of following us, it set course towards the sailor to rescue him first. They wouldn't be able to reach us afterwards, I realised.

The other two were already at the stairs to the cabin. Their voices sounded angry and heated when I approached. The Master had the steering wheel in both hands, wearing a smug smile on his face. Somehow he seemed extremely pleased, more than the situation should allow.

"Stop whining, you two," he complained, never dropping the smile. "No one came to harm."

"Then why don't you bring that ship back already?" asked Donna.

"Why steal it in the first place?" The Doctor sighed in exasperation. "Can't you be anywhere without causing chaos?"

"Now, that would ruin the fun." The Master pushed down a lever next to him and the boat picked up speed. "Lumin, if you untie the second rope of the first sail we can get a lot faster. Do me the favour."

I blinked at him, then at the others. For a moment I was frozen, uncertain what would be the right thing to do. Would they hate me if I followed the command? Would the Master hate me if I didn't? But then I stopped the thoughts. What was it that I wanted? We were by the ocean, on a ship. On a captured ship at that.

A grin broke out on my face and in the same moment I felt a struggle under my jacket so I turned around to run towards the mast and untie the knot, letting out a happy squeal when the sail unfolded, billowing in the wind. The struggle under my jacket got stronger and a little annoying, so I opened the zipper and greeted Kira, who gave me a truly displeased look because I had kept him there for so long.

"Look, we're sailing!" I told him.

Kira turned his head, the rest of him still beneath my clothes. He sniffed the salty air and I felt a pleased emotion.

"Yeah, I like it too."

The others were still in the cabin, so I joined them again, earning myself a groan from the Doctor and a surprised look from Donna when they spotted Kira.

"Trouble," mumbled the Doctor. "You two are nothing but trouble, you know that?"

"Well, to be fair," Donna intercepted tentatively, "You're not even an inch better, spaceman."

"Oi, thats that's so-"

"Absolutely true!" finished Donna. She then turned to the Master. "And what now, smart-ass? I'm sure they are after us already."

"Yeah, probably. But who cares?" He shrugged. "They never follow a ship too far out. Few miles and they get bored. It's a corrupt little moon here."

So he had been here before. No wonder he had known immediately on which type of ship to look for the component.

"We can't be on the run forever!" whined the Doctor. "We need to get back to the TARDIS."

The Master snickered and turned the steering wheel ever so slightly. "Want to try?" He asked me

I happily slipped in front of the wheel, gripping the handles tightly. I hadn't expected him, however, to step behind me and place his hands over mine, gently guiding my movements. I felt a blush creep up my neck, conscious of all the looks. Kira sat still, eyeing everything with a tilted head. His fingers were clawed into my collar so he could get a better view.

"Well, could be wo-horse," Donna sang and smiled. "Are there supplies on board?"

"There are. Should be enough for a couple of days even," told the Master. "Oh come on, Doctor, stop sulking. No one's hurt and we can have some fun. You do remember what that is, right? Wipe that sulk off of your face."

"Usually it's you who's sulking," I remarked and bumped my back against him.

He grinned down at me and I heard the Doctor grunt. "As if you'd listen to anything I'd say."

"Nope, I won't. Especially not until you enjoy yourself a bit."

Donna giggled and grabbed the Doctor's arm. "For once I actually agree with him. Come, let's see what the ship has to offer. We could sunbathe a little, or… oh! Maybe we can have a barbecue on deck! Wouldn't that be nice. Say yes, Doctor. Smile a little."

He sighed and tossed a last glance at the Master and at me. Then he finally grinned too." Alright, alright. 'S Really isn't too bad."

It was all he managed to say before Donna grabbed his arm and yanked him away, making him stumble after her like a lost puppy.