The unmistakable sound of the TARDIS materializing echoed through the other room, announcing the comfy times to be over. The Master let go of me, his mind retreating, while his gaze wandered past me, followed by an eye-roll.
"Spoilsport," he murmured and sat up.
Suddenly the warmth was missing, replaced by cold air and the simple lack of someone. I swallowed a grunt and rolled over, picking up my glasses before standing up from the bed. For some reason I didn't want anyone to see me like this. With him. Not as close as we had just been.
I heard the TARDIS door creak open and seconds later the Doctor rushed onto the bedroom, missing not only his coat, but also the tie. His hair spiked in several more directions than they were supposed to, and that alone told enough. He didn't even glance at me, rushing towards the bed to almost crush into the Master who just got to his feet. The reward came in the form of a rough shove, the Master growled, glaring at the other man with contempt.
"Now you pop up. When everything is over. That's so typical."
"I… I thought…" stammered the Doctor. He swallowed and tried again. "Are you alright?"
"Oh, I felt splendid until you arrived."
Donna and Vienna appeared in the room as well, the former storming in and next to the Doctor, regarding the Master from head to toe. "Thank god, you're alive. The Doctor would've been unbearable otherwise. And what the flip happened to your hair? I mean, he was a sobbing mess the whole time anyway, but it wouldn't have made anything better."
"I'm sorry," murmured the Doctor. "I'm so, so sorry I didn't even try and listen. I should have. Really should have. This's all my fault."
"Yes, it is," hissed the Master.
"Oi, don't be mean, alien boy! What else were we supposed to think, seeing ya standing there in the flames and all?"
"Well, you do have a reputation." Vienna nodded, arms folded loosely in front of her chest. "Would have thought the same thing if I hadn't known the political situation here. And you are the Doctor? Really? It's a bit unfair that you can get younger, don't you think?"
The Doctor twirled around, scanning the assassin, then the Master again. "Ohhhh, Vienna! What are you doing here? Not good. Not good at all."
The blonde gave a little wave and a smile. "That's me in a nutshell. Hello to you too."
After taking one last look at the Master, the Doctor grabbed Vienna's arm and dragged her into the next room, out of sight and out of hearing range. Donna stayed behind, scowling.
"Someone, and I assume it was that woman, contacted us via your tablet." Her brows knitted together even tighter.
"It's not locked, yeah. So what?" He shrugged, sitting back down on the edge of the bed, holding a hand to his chest.
"You had a tablet! The whole flippin' time you had a tablet! You could've called! You could've tried to explain the situation and you did nothing!" She threw her hands up. "This whole thing's for nothing! And you got Lucy in danger too!"
"Don't shout, woman," grumbled the Time Lord and rubbed his ear. "My head hurts already."
"Don't you dare!" Donna stepped closer, towering as menacingly as only she was capable of. "You have no idea how worried the Doctor was 'bout ya!"
"No, really. Keep it down a bit, will you?"
But Donna had quite the opposite idea. "Don't sit there so calm! At least apologise! Can't believe how you're just… just… get up already!" She even grabbed a small pillow and tried to slap him with it, with little success.
The Master raised his arms in time, swatting it away. At least he tried. In his current state not everything seemed to work quite as he liked. "I'm going to fucking murder you," growled the Master, then started coughing, evading another attempt.
"Just try, moon boy!" She let the pillow flop on his head. An indignant whine came as the answer and she lunged at him again.
Finally I awoke from my stupor and rushed to Donna, grabbing her dress and dragging her away. She protested, cursing, while a speckle of blood landed on the carpet, coughed up by the Time Lord. "Leave him be," I begged. "Don't you see he's wounded?"
"So what? Daft superior biology and all. Bet he's faking it even! This… this… oh, let go of me, I'm going to hurt him only a little!"
"Donna, please!" I grabbed her arm. "It's serious. He almost died. I saw it. It's not fake or anything."
"And how come you're defending him? He's been a total prick to ya!"
Finally the Doctor came back and took her other arm. His look was strangely serious. "It's alright, Donna. I'm fine. Lucy's fine. See? It's all good."
It was exactly then, just as if she had heard those words, that the TARDIS made noises. The unmistakable sounds of… dematerializing. We all stilled, glaring at one another in disbelief. Surely this was a mistake and she would return every second, surely I had misheard and the time ship still stood where it had been before. Slowly the sounds faded and behind stayed an unsettling silence.
The Master broke out in a hysterical laugh.
"What did you do?" gasped Donna. "Did-"
"Wasn't him," murmured the Doctor and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Something here must have scared her off. I think the HADS might have been activated." He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. "Dammit! I should have checked!"
The Master's laugh finally died down, probably only because his lungs protested, making him cough up even more blood. A big splotch of it landed on the floor and immediately the Doctor ran over and crouched down, taking the Master's face into his hands. "Hey, let me have a look. I wanted to get you to the med bay, but… weeeell…"
"Fuck off." He swatted the hands away, glowering at the other man.
"No. No, I won't. I'm sorry, Master. I really am."
"Oh don't bloody apologise all the time," Donna grumbled. "He's got a reputation for a reason and we all know it."
"Yes, Doctor, we all know it," the Master parroted, wiping blood from his mouth. "Only you don't want to see it. There is nothing in me but destruction. Get updated."
He tried to push the Doctor away, but he remained where he was, on his knees and reached upwards to grab the Master's face again, pressing a kiss to his lips. The room fell silent with shock, disbelief and simple surprise. A moment that stretched for a strange undefinable time and yet it lasted only mere seconds. It broke, together with a strangled sound, then the Master shoved the Doctor away, his eyes wide with alarming rage, dark with contempt. He wiped his mouth again, spitting on the ground and standing up.
"Oh no, Doctor. You don't get to do that," he hissed.
The other man stayed on the ground, no sound left him. And no one dared to keep the Master from walking out of the room, even though his every movement showed how weak he still was. The hate and darkness he radiated was enough for anyone to feel.
Donna stepped next to the Doctor, Vienna left the room and I silently followed. I didn't know how to react. The Master was right, in a way, to be pissed about the Doctor's mistrust. They were a thing, weren't they? And every relationship needs trust. On the other end the Doctor also was right. History and experience offered enough evidence to support that this was exactly a thing the Master would do. And had done.
Somehow they both were equally right and wrong in this. Strange.
"I might have a hunch about that TARDIS running away," said Vienna, nodding towards a window. "Or flying. Teleporting. Whatever those things do."
I took a glance out too and saw a bunch of people standing there, holding up protesting signs and shouting stuff. They were too far away to understand anything, but the message was clear. They wanted the Master gone. One poster said something about an election. The other demanded to know more about the Master, not wanting to be ruled by some stranger.
"They don't look very dangerous to me," grumbled the Time Lord. "Let them protest. My soldiers patrol the premises and if anyone makes a wrong move they have orders to use violence."
"Of course they do." Vienna rolled her eyes. "As if I would need yet another reason to fulfil my contract."
"No! Don't do anything you'll regret!" The Doctor came stumbling outside, holding a hand up as if to calm the head hunter. "Don't… whoever hired you this time. We can settle it. I can get the money, somehow, probably. Of course I can! Just don't hurt him. Please."
Vienna sighed and shook her head. "Wow. You're already number two who begs me. And especially from you I wouldn't have expected it."
"That.. well… things have changed." He begged her with his eyes not to do anything stupid. "Somewhat."
"Mhm, I noticed." She winked. "Preeeetty sure you weren't snogging last time."
Immediately the Doctor's face drowned in a deep shade of red. "Tha… that's got nothing to do with it. Okay, a little. Maybe a lot."
"And apparently," said the Master, ignoring everything else, "I hired her myself to finish the job."
"What?!"
"Maybe not." Vienna regarded the Master with a sceptical look. "The other you wasn't blond. And I assume this isn't going to just change back?"
The Time Lord stroked a hand through his hair, humming in thought. "I did release some regeneration energy. That must have caused the change. So, no, it's not going to change back. Unless I dye them. Does it look stupid?" He looked at the Doctor, then at me.
"Just makes you look more like a rascal." I poked my tongue out. "But I like it."
"Errr… I… didn't notice," murmured the Doctor. "Was busy with other stuff, you know?" The red shade still hadn't vanished entirely. "But… Regeneration energy? How bad were you wounded?"
"Pretty bad." The Master shrugged. "But it's healing."
The Doctor ignored us being there and rushed to the other man, carefully lifting up his jumper up to where the bullet had ripped a hole through the Master's chest. Smears of dried blood clogged the hole, travelling downwards to vanish somewhere on the way. Some of the blood had soaked into his pants, some had simply crumbled away after drying out.
I almost got sick at the sight, not because I couldn't see blood, but it reminded me of how much of it he had lost, how close he had been to dying. And yes, in that moment it hadn't even occurred to me that he would have been able to regenerate. An overreaction, and now I felt shame creep up my neck. What if the void had swallowed us? What if those creatures had gotten too close?
The Doctor stroked a finger over the wound and the Master hissed, wincing, but not backing off. He let the other one take a good look before rolling his jumper down again. "Satisfied?" he grumbled.
"You know I'm not," mumbled the Doctor, looking away.
And then, suddenly, he jumped forward to the window, pressing his hands and nose against it. "What the… why are they running away?"
"Who's running?" asked Donna.
"Everyone! The soldiers too. They're coming back inside."
"What?" said the Master and now looked too.
Something clearly was going on out there. And probably nothing good. My suspicion got confirmed only moments later. Loud screams rang up all the way to our ears, followed by bright light and an ear-piercing explosion that shook the ground and the whole building. Plaster trickled down from the ceiling, the screams got first quiet, then louder. People banged against closed doors, someone shouted orders.
"What was that?" asked the Doctor, eyes wide in shock.
"Another one," murmured Vienna. "We got bombed once already. They blew up a whole district. No idea who or why. But it's obvious who they want." She nodded towards the Master.
"And of course the flippin' TARDIS has to vanish now of all times," whined Donna. "What if there are more attacks? How do we get out? And what about those poor people down there?"
"The mansion is stable." The Master shrugged. "I looked at the plans and if they don't come with at least nuclear firepower nothing will break here. Maybe some glasses, but who cares."
"We have to let the protesters in," the Doctor demanded.
"Oh, hell no! They hate me!"
"What if there is another attack? Another bomb?"
"So? No one forced them to be here!"
The Doctor let out an exasperated sigh. "See? This is why I didn't trust you."
"There is already one assassin in here who wants to kill me," the Master protested. "Why would I let in dozens of them?"
"How about to show those people that you care?" offered Donna. "Might paint you in a better light to them."
"She's not wrong," Vienna seconded. "You might get them on better terms that way."
"You could do something good here," begged the Doctor.
The Master rolled his eyes. "You're ruining all the good reasons. But fine." He went over to a desk and picked up a small device, holding it up to his mouth. "Let them come in. Don't shoot or harm anyone. And don't let them upstairs. All soldiers should come inside too. We don't know who set off the bombs and we have no idea if there will be more, copy that?"
Some radio static followed, then we heard a short confirmation and the static died down. We shared some glances, no one spoke for a good minute.
Finally, the Doctor moved. He walked up to the Master, looked him in the eyes and only whispered, "Thank you."