A/N: Happy Halloween! 🎃👻

And yes, the updates are coming slow. Lack of energy, burnout and depression will do that to one...br /

But... they are coming. ;Dbr /

Also, most of you won't know the character that gets introduced here. I listened to too many Big Finish audios and the dynamic between her and the Master is just pure gold! I couldn't resist. She's fun, I promise ;D

.

There was no awkward morning after. When I dragged myself out of a dreamless sleep the sun still hadn't come up again, but even in the darkness I could feel the empty space next to me.

My head swam with memories from the night. The whole experience felt utterly surreal to me and yet, in a way, familiar. I sensed that we definitely had done this before, no doubts there. Our minds slotted together like pieces of a puzzle, perfectly shaped or even moulded to fit. That wasn't a coincidence.

Something about my mind made the Master's drums quieter. Or less notable. Depending on how I wanted to see it. For the end result the details probably didn't matter much. So, for one reason or the other, I was certain, I had offered to share minds with him before. To soothe the drumming and maybe even gain something for myself.

The sense of belonging perhaps. The experience of feeling understood without judgement, without strings attached, without having to hide almost everything about who and what I was. Never in my life had I experienced that. No one had accepted me, not without conditions.

Change the way you think and act and function. Change the very foundation of your existence and then, maybe, just maybe, they will accept you.

That was the deal. Always. With everyone.

Except for the Master.

Definitely weird. Definitely not what I expected when I had volunteered to come here.

Groaning, I rolled out of bed and slipped back into my clothes. The small, adjacent bathroom luckily offered a tooth brush and a shower, so I felt somewhat refreshed when I entered the tavern below. Well, it wasn't really a tavern, too modern. And yet, it appeared to serve the same function. That or I decidedly consumed too much fantasy literature.

A small lump sat in my throat. This was a foreign place, after all and I didn't understand the language. Not many people sat in here right now, at this late an hour, tired looking faces, one group of three that shared a last drink. The staff looked relaxed, they probably worked in shifts. What if I was alone here? Would it have been wiser to wait in the room? And what, a nasty voice in my head whispered, if he wasn't even here anymore?

One of the waitresses almost bumped into me, apologising (or maybe cursing at me, who knows) and giving me a confused look. That one I often got. That one where people suddenly realise that I exist in the same reality as theirs. Maybe he had simply forgotten that I was here and had moved on. No thought wasted.

It wouldn't be the first time someone did that.

The fear wasn't necessary. I only took a few more steps into the room and immediately found the Master. He sat at a table, a whole buffet in front of him of which he picked a piece here and there, making different faces at the tastes. Like an emperor who judged the fruits of his peasants. He looked equally silly and as if he owned the whole place and the thought struck me that maybe I should ask him how to become less invisible to people.

Relief trickled through my stomach, brushing the thought away. And, strange enough, when I watched him make a delighted face at a tiny fruit on a stick I couldn't help but smile. Was that fondness? How strange. Those were both emotions I never thought I would have around him, but here we go.

Or not. I couldn't get close before another person swooped in, taking the seat opposite of the Master. She was lean, blond and wore an outfit meant for movement and travel. A futuristic looking pistol of some sort stuck in a holster at her thigh. The Master almost choked at her sight, glaring at the woman with wide eyes.

"Now, that's a face I didn't expect to see again," he remarked and quickly regained all of his usual composure. His demeanour changed when he spotted me and waved me over. "Don't worry, that lovely lady here isn't as dangerous as I."

The woman turned around and tossed glances back and forth between me and the Master. "Another one of your victims?"

"More like a prisoner, slash tour guide?" I shrugged and reached a hand out. "Lucy."

"Vienna," she said, shaking my hand. "Vienna Salvatori."

I cocked my head. "Sounds familiar. Somehow. You're famous or something?"

"Among certain people, of course. But… prisoner?" Vienna looked me up and down. "You look awfully unbothered for one."

I shrugged again, not yet awake enough to deal with explanations. Since she occupied the only other chair on that side of the table I slid on the bench next to the Master, nudging him with my shoulder. "Make space. Is there coffee?"

The Master moved a little to the side and reached for a small pot nearby. "Nope. Told you, this planet doesn't have any."

"But yesterday…"

"I built a nano processor while you slept." He shrugged and filled a cup with the white-yellowish liquid in the pot before pushing it towards me with a wide grin. "You literally had the only one this planet has ever seen."

I glared at the cup, blinking. "You built that thing so I could have coffee?" It sounded like way too much effort.

"Now, don't get your knickers in a twist, little one. I simply know how unbearable you can be without. And this," he pointed at my cup, "has a similar effect, but I'm not sure how exactly a human organism reacts to it, soooo…"

"I wouldn't drink it," said Vienna. "It's probably poisoned."

"As trusting as ever."

"After our last encounters?" She huffed. "Let's say I learned a thing or two."

It was either this or being tired. There was also the logical side; the Master wouldn't go through so much trouble all those days only to casually poison me now. So, while the two still bickered, I carefully took a sip. The beverage tasted surprisingly sweet and a little fruity. But it was still hot, which made it hard to drink. "So, how exactly do you two know each other?"

"Ah, long story." The Master snickered. "Several, to be precise."

"And all of them bad. I thought you were finally properly dead, Lloyd."

The Master let out a groan.

"Lloyd?" I looked at him. "Don't tell me that's your actual name?"

"No!" He snapped. "Of course not! It sounds stupid!"

"He wouldn't tell and I refused to call him Master." Vienna grinned. "Guy needed a usable name and got one."

"What do you want?" The Master tapped on the table. "Who put a bounty on my head, this time?"

"Actually," Vienna grabbed a fruit from the table and ignored the death glare she got for it, "You did. The order came from the high president. Who is obviously dead, after the resistance blew the place up. Say, did you make them do it or was that just a case of right time, right place?"

"Would you believe it if it was the latter?" The Master smirked, then nudged me and nodded at the table. "It's all edible for you. I didn't order this all for myself. Dig in." And to Vienna he said, "So there was a protocol in place for when someone else dares to overtake the place. Not uncommon."

I picked a plate with fruits and a fork, shovelling some other… stuff on it. Curiosity be damned. I wasn't even that hungry and yet couldn't resist biting into various fruits and pastries. A lot of them tasted similar to things I knew, others were completely foreign, but interesting enough to eat them anyway.

"Not just any old protocol, no. It was you."

I looked at the Master. He obviously had no clue how that might have happened.

"In fact," she said, "It was you in person. How else do you think I'd recognize that new face of yours. Last time you were all… grey. The voice was better. Well, the money also isn't that bad. Which leads to the question… What made you suicidal all of a sudden?"

"A different timeline maybe," the Master mused. "That or my future. Which would mean I decided that you're the best option for whatever lies ahead."

"Mhm. Don't flatter me. That doesn't work. Last time you needed me, you only wanted my body."

I choked on a grape-thing and glared at them. Not only did they both look as if they could jump each other at any second, it also was very clear that it would not end in a bed, but in a blood bath. The Master sat leaned backwards on the bench, one arm on the armrest, his whole self radiating tenseness. And Vienna's hand lay on the thick weapon on her belt, one leg half off the chair, ready to move whenever needed.

"Thought you were above that," I couldn't help but tease, if only to loosen the mood a little. Him being tense must mean that the woman was dangerous.

It worked. The Master stopped clenching his jaw and blinked stupidly at me for a moment before barking out a laugh. "No, silly. Not like that. Stop having horny thoughts about me."

"Oi! I don't!"

He poked the side of my head, grinning mischievously.

"He literally wanted my body," coughed Vienna. "In the sense of stealing it to transfer his consciousness into a vessel that was not dying. Didn't work, of course."

I swatted after his hand, glowering. The Master only found it funny and poked me again.

"Did you hypnotise that girl? Can't imagine why else she'd manage not to stab you by now."

"'m not!" I protested, but then looked at the Master, scepticism rising within me. "I'd… know if I were, wouldn't… I? Am I? Did you?"

Last night, while we shared our minds, he could have done literally anything in there without me noticing. Would I know?

"Nooooo!" whined the Master. "What for?"

"I could name a bunch of reasons," drawled Vienna. "Sending her into an impossible situation, making her do stuff you're too busy or lazy to do yourself, sending her on a death mission, sending her on a suicide mission, making her fight your battles, so it's her who dies instead of you… I could go on, shall I?"

"You shall shut the fuck up, Salvatori," the Master grumbled. "Lumin isn't hypnotised and she is not some random victim."

"A special victim, cool." I smirked and grabbed more of the not-coffee.

"Not that either." The Master ground his teeth, then frowned at Vienna. "Why speak to me? You could have shot me from afar and been done with it."

The assassin scoffed. "I'm not as stupid as you think I am."

"I wouldn't have hired you if I thought that."

"Uhm… well, er… Wait, no, you try to trick me into helping you with… whatever shitty thing you're scheming again! I learned enough about time travel to know you can't hire me if your past is dead!"

Slowly, the Master clapped his hands a few times. "Bravo. A+ in temporal physics. But you are wrong. It is possible, although it would require some serious… cheating. Like a paradox machine."

"Oh, don't start. It's implausible and that's enough."

"If you say so."

"Let her talk," I said and nudged his shoulder. "There needs to be something more to the story."

"Why, thank you, Lucy. At least one person on your side of the table with some brains."

"Says the human who has provenly less than half of-"

"We get it!" I groaned. "You can't stand her."

The Master crossed his arms, pouting. "Fine, talk. And make it quick.

Vienna didn't manage to speak, however. The first half of her sentence drowned in an ear piercing crashing and rumbling, fire and debris splattering through the room. I only saw a piece of burning wood crash into the wall right next to me, then an arm wrapped around my middle. The Master dragged me under the table, holding my head. My heart pounded against the hardwood floor, dust blew in my face and I hid it below my arms, coughing. Mind blank. I heard screams, people running, a loud rumble that vibrated through the whole building and more falling stones.

It took a while. The ringing noise in my ears overshadowed it.

Then silence.

Slowly it ebbed its way into my consciousness, only occasionally disturbed by another piece of collapsing wood or stone.

The darkness.

It was all around me. No light made its way to my eyes.

The smells.

Of dust and sweat and old paint.

And, as slow as my senses and my thoughts returned from the shock, I puzzled the pieces together.

The whole building had collapsed over us.