On their way they found a ruffled plant and a bag of thieving equipment. Good and solid tools, but neither of them had much of an idea how they could have ended there or who they might belong to.

Loose threads everywhere.

They didn't get a single step farther and ended up in the empty sitting room again, silently ruminating about the few clues they had managed to gather.

"I'm sure the Doctor would have solved this already." Donna sighed.

The Master, suddenly ripped out of his blissfully distracting thought process, groaned. "Can't you ever stop mentioning him?"

"Why? Jealous 'cause you can't solve it?"

"Tsk. He'd be completely useless here. Not enough brainless running."

"Seriously though." Donna put down the notebook she had snatched from Agatha. "You've been getting along so well recently and now you're back to oh, I hate this guy, although you clearly don't and he's all grumpy and doesn't say a word although it's obvious that he's worried 'bout you."

"Worried… rubbish."

"Oh, he is." Donna smiled a little. "He's always getting this little wrinkle above his nose when he worries' bout somethin'. And we weren't in any danger, Lucy's back home, I'm not making trouble… which leaves only you. And, I know you'll just start insulting me again, but could ya finally open your flippin' eyes?"

"No, I'm starting to get a headache from all your blabbering." He rubbed his fingers over his eyelids, trying to calm the drums that were getting annoying again.

"Not literally, dumbo. The Doctor's head over heels for you! Even you should have noticed. And God damn me for saying it, but if I don't do it, then no one ever will!" Donna let her hands dramatically clap against her legs and regarded him with a no-nonsense look.

Stupid woman. "I know. He told me."

"He… oh." That silenced her. Finally. The Master already wanted to sigh in relief when she opened her mouth again. "So, he's all worked up 'cause you didn't say it back."

"Uuuugh! Donna!" He wanted to bloody murder her, he really did.

"If I may be so bold," Agatha chimed in. She had been sitting by the fire the whole time, not saying a word. "Maybe-"

"You may not." The Master growled in frustration. Stupid humans. Always meddling.

"Well, I'm going to say it anyway." The Master felt his blood starting to boil. Someone would die soon. And it would not be because of the mystery murderer. "Let that man chase you a little longer. Let him prove he's being serious. In the end they'll betray you anyway."

Hilarious! "This shit went on for centuries already. There is nothing to prove." Except for if he was able to leave them all gagged in this room. Why did he even answer? The Master shot a quick, angry look at Donna and that woman had the audacity to smile. And not just any smile. No, it was one of those reassuring, empathic ones. Stupid. Just stupid. And yet, he kept talking. "It can't even work anyway."

"'Cause he's a man?" Agatha snorted. "Ignore the gossip, move to the country. No one will bother you."

"Not for that stupid reason," the Master groaned. "Seriously, humans, get some real problems already."

"Oh, he's getting snappy again." Donna rolled her eyes.

"Humans…" Agatha let the word rest on her tongue as if it were something special. "You two always talk funny. But if that isn't the problem, then what is? Is he of higher status? If so, screw that too."

They would never understand. The Master grabbed the drink from the table he hadn't even touched yet. Alcohol, what else. He wrinkled his nose as he sniffed at the stuff. The Doctor had used it to finally gather enough courage and the Master… he had done the one thing he had never actually wanted to do.

"It was all games," he muttered, the words more for himself. "He always had a way out, always options. If not for his stupid morals he could have escaped the Valiant any time. And everything else too. Just this once… This time… I actually hurt him."

"Oh dear, that's why he's sulking."

"Guess so. I ruined it all." A bitter laugh escaped him and he downed his drink in one go. Screw it. If she knew about it she could at least use it to annoy the Doctor to death.

Weird, the two humans were talking about something, but the Master couldn't quite focus on it. Had the bitterness of his soul now overtaken his mind? The drums grew a little louder. He didn't even feel that angry and yet his breaths came shallow. That was weird indeed or was… The Master took a breath. No, this wasn't anger. Sure, there was a lot of that, but it wasn't what made him feel funny. His eyes landed on the drink he had put back on the table.

"Fuck, Donna…"

"Don't listen to her. The Doctor won't be mad at you forever. Just talk to him. And if he doesn't-"

"Shut up!" He panted, tightening his grip around the sofa's armrest. What was that? That pain in his body all of a sudden, the stings that went through his very cells. "Fuck, that was poison."

There, on the table, looking so innocently. The last drops spilled when he doubled over from the pain that wrecked his nervous system. Donna screamed, but he wasn't sure why. Hot, hot, hot, hot, pumping through him with every heartbeat. Yes, heartbeat, he could slow one of them, slow the whole process. It took an eternity and breathing was hard, but at least he could move again, hear again, think again.

"Bitter almonds." Agatha's voice "It's cyanide. Sparkling Cyanide."

"Ah, that makes sense." He grunted, heaving himself from the floor. He needed… needed. Damn, he couldn't think clearly. But now he could feel the poison pumping through his veins with the same rhythm as the drums.

"Oi, don't you dare die on me!" Donna shouted. "Back to the TARDIS, now!"

"Too far." The Master swayed. His head hurt. Cyanide, inhibited enzymes. Right, he knew what to do.

Vaguely, he registered the humans following him as he stormed towards the kitchen. Walking with only one heart pumping was exhausting enough and the poison spread fast, too fast. He wasn't sure he would make it.

Regeneration? He could. It was definitely an option. Regenerate and leave. Leave this whole messed up situation behind.

Walnuts.

Perfect.

"Could you speak to me, space boy! What do you need?" From Donna. Stupid woman. She looked at him with wide, pleading eyes as if she was actually worried.

"I'm an expert in poisons. Mister Keller, there's no cure. It's fatal." Agatha. Brilliant, annoying writer. She looked at him as if she had seen this happening before. Fascination, not much worry. That was funny.

The Master stumbled over nothing, almost collapsing, but Donna caught him, pressed her hands against his chest to keep him upright. "What do you need? Talk to me!"

"Oh, you'd be happy to see me die, wouldn't you?" How did he manage to grin? If it wouldn't be for Donna, the Master would simply collapse. And he hated the fact. So much worry. Someone might actually believe her. "Salty. Not pure salt."

"Right." She kept her hands against him for support and let her eyes wander over the kitchen racks. "Miss Christie, hand me those anchovies!"

"It won't be of much u-"

"Just do it!"

The commanding tone would make everyone obey, the Master thought, a trickle of amusement seeping through pain and fog. Agatha hurried and soon handed him the glass of the small fish.

"Perfect." Disgusting things, but he managed to open the glass and take a big, nauseating swig of the liquid inside. That was enough. No, not enough. The process was too slow, the poison too deep in his body. He could barely stand. Not even Donna could hold him anymore and so he sank to the floor, leaned against the kitchen table. He tried to speak. He really did. But nothing came out.

His remaining heart wouldn't make it much longer. Seconds. A human would be long dead by now.

He still had most of his regenerations left. It wouldn't be too bad. A new face. Why not? A new start. He had nothing to return to anyway. The Doctor would evade him from now on, and he should. And that was worse than collars and handcuffs. Somehow he could understand Lumin a little better now. When there was nothing you could return to, no one who waited for your return, then there was not much that kept you wanting to live on. Even when it was, in his case, only figurative.

The air bristled around him. Someone screamed. And then something hit him, hard, sharp things pierced his skin. The Master jumped in surprise, gasping. And his body reacted, combined the components and shook him violently.

No death for him. Not now.

It all got released. He coughed and opened his mouth, releasing a cloud of bound poison in the air, black and foreboding.

No new start for him. Not now.

His hearts beat faster again, lungs filling with air as if he breathed for the first time. Expansion, energy. He coughed and a last waft of the poison cloud left him.

No silence for him. Not ever.

"Oh my gosh, what was that?" Donna. Screaming again. The Master looked up and found her face streaked with tears. How strange. Maybe the writer had pinched her or something.

"Detox," the Master mumbled. Oh, his head hurt. Blinking into the ceiling lights probably didn't help. "Only thing I needed was a little shock. But you managed. Good job."

"Uhm… That was'im." She pointed down.

The Master blinked once more at the too bright lights. His eyes were recovering quickly, the headache subsided. He looked to where Donna was pointing.

"What is that thing?" Agatha asked. "First a giant wasp and now… a… a dragon?"

The small, black creature that now sat in his lap certainly looked like one. Aside from its size of course. The fletchling was only as big as a rat, observing him with purple eyes.

"How did Kira get here? Wasn't he with Lucy?" Donna squatted down and wiped her face, sniffing. "An' you? You alright?"

"I… don't know." To both questions. The Master shook his head and heaved himself from the ground. Donna helped, grabbing his arm.

The dragon fletchling flapped up and sat on the red head's shoulder. Why was it here? How was it here? The last time it had just appeared out of nowhere there had been a rift to the void. But no such thing was present right now. And yet, somehow the little one had made its way here, and just in time to surprise the Master enough to get the detox working properly.

"Why are you crying?" he asked, eyes squinted at Donna. He swatted her hands away. What had he missed? "I'm not in the mood to deal with whatever happened when I was out."

"When… nothing else happened!" Donna gaped at him. "You were dying, idiot!"

The Master shrugged and then nodded to himself. "Ah. Happy tears. That makes sense. Too bad I can regenerate, isn't it?" He gave her a shit eating grin that dropped immediately when her anger spiked tenfold all of a sudden.

Donna lunged forward and, before he could do anything about it, slapped him hard enough for a potential second detox. The Master stumbled, too perplexed to really be angry in the moment. But his instincts kicked in and he took on a defensive stance. A stupid human would not finish the poison's job. If she wanted him dead so badly, she would be in for a surprise.

"You bloody stupid git!" Donna shouted full blast. Loud enough to startle the fledgeling. But it stayed put. "I was worried about ya!" Why's that so flippin' hard to get in your head? And the Doctor's worried too! Else he wouldn't be sulking so much. That's his worried-sulking. But you wouldn't know! Cause you're just hiding and running away! You're a total arsehole, but that doesn't mean no one's allowed to be scared for you!"

Right, alright. He had not expected that. But they were all lies, weren't they? "Don't talk bullshit on me," he grumbled and released the defensive posture.

"You are impossible, Mister Keller," murmured Agatha. She didn't look that interested in the rest of the conversation. "How did you survive that?"

"Impossible indeed," Donna seconded. "Impossibly thick and daft. And can we get that murderer now? You stupid, stupid man!" Angrily she wiped some new tears away.

"Don't call me stupid." The Master had no energy left to argue much. Almost dying was exhausting. "I'm way smarter than all of you."

"Obviously not with everything."

She ignored his eye roll and he ignored everything she had said during her outburst. And for him that was good enough, for now. He just wanted to sleep. He wanted to find out why the dragonling had appeared. He wanted to find out if the Doctor really would still talk to him. He wanted to sit in his time-frozen forest and have the drums be a little quieter for just a while.

"Are you going to explain that miracle?" Agatha asked. She still glared at him with wide eyes.

"No." A simple answer. The Master didn't care if she accepted it. "And, I'm afraid, you're going to have to solve this on your own, Mis Christie. All I came here for was some of your books that aren't available where we come from."

"You… oh. That's flattering. But what am I supposed to do about a monster? One that can't even exist, mind you."

"You're brilliant!" said Donna. "Who else could solve this but you?"

"But I'm only a writer." Her voice got meek. "You don't write a crime novel from start to finish. You already know everything and then you reconstruct the case back to front."

You already know everything. The Master dipped his head to the side and crossed his arms. He was curious about the outcome. But he was not eager at all to get himself into more of the humans' trouble. They were not worth dying for.

"Tell you what, Mis Christie." The Master smirked. "You let us take whatever books we want. And in return I tell you, how to find out who the shape-shifter is. And… I think I can also tell you who your infamous Unicorn might be. Interested?"

The author looked up at him with wide eyes. "Yes, very."