Alone in the Dark
Alone in the Dark
By: Memory Dragon
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, nor do I make any claim to.
Characters: Eleventh Doctor/Delgado Master
Warnings: Rather angsty and still not one of my favorite things I've ever written. I don't know, for some reason this one just bothers me. I think it's the relationship between Eleven and Delgado Master, which never quite satisfied me. Still, for what it's worth, here it is.
Original Prompt: 11/Delgado - 'trust me, I'm the Doctor'.
Notes: Written for the best_enemies anon meme. Original can be found here. Also, I'll add some of the deleted paragraphs in the comments. They had to be deleted because of pacing, but my beta reader has told me they were brilliant and I needed to use them elsewhere... except I don't think I have any other place for them? -_-;;; Still, you can read them if you want now.
Thanks: Many, many thanks to nemaline for making this fic at least semi-bearable. She worked wonders on this fic. Seriously, you don't want to see what it was like without her.
Edit: Now with awesome art by pride1289 in the comments! <3
~
The Doctor was unceremoniously thrown into a very dark prison cell. He suspected it was because he was distracted one too many times by the light displays that were famous on this planet and the guards had gotten tired of pushing him along.
The displays were every where, even in the prisons, dazzling exhibits of color through stained glass that he'd brought Amy and Rory to see. "I didn't mean to break any of them," he told the guards that were dragging him along. "I was saving you lot all from an alien attack. It's not my fault the chameleon lizard decided to go hiding among your national treasures! He'd have started a planet wide riot with his emphatic abilities within a day and how do you thank me? Arresting me for breaking and entering."
Still, hopefully Amy and Rory could manage the little guy until they got it back to the TARDIS. He had managed to trap the chameleon before he'd been arrested and the Ponds had been outside of the scene of the 'crime' when he'd been caught. Which left him to be the only one arrested and sentenced to a life time of the planet's worst torment... a cell that completely lacked light. "And you lot, you never say anything interesting. Might as well be talking to a wall. Then again, it is easier to hear myself think this way." He was thrown in without so much as a good-bye.
"Okay," he said to himself as he got off the floor. He dusted himself off despite the fact no one would be able to see him and went over to where he'd thought the door was. "Completely locked up, no sonic and no sense of sight. That does make it hard to escape, but I'm sure I'll come up with something."
"It's impossible to escape," a voice said from the darkness.
"Aren't you a cheery one? Impossible is my middle name. That and Alfred, but Impossible sounds better." The Doctor paused, thinking over what he'd just said. "No, not Alfred. No, that's a rubbish middle name. I should get a new one. Now hush. I'm thinking." The door was very solid, unfortunately. Depressingly solid. It didn't even have a door handle from this side of the wall or a lock to pick. "Food! They must bring in food some how."
"It's a pulley system," the voice explained helpfully. "They don't even send a guard to give it. It just slides to the floor from a mechanical arm to the right and no light comes through."
The Doctor immediately dropped to the floor, feeling around the edges of the room for the hatch. "Then maybe I can rewire it. I'm good at rewiring. I'm missing something though. It's right under my nose, but I can't seem to - ah ha! Hatch." With a depressing lack of wires to mess around with to match the depressing door. In fact, he couldn't feel anything other than a very small rectangular box he could barely stick his arm through. "Okay, no accessible wires. Should have guessed that. I'm still missing something big. Once I figure that out, we can escape."
"What you are missing," the voice said acidly, "is the fact that there is no way to escape. I've tried most everything."
"Of course there's away," the Doctor said, turning to face the voice. Where he thought the voice was, to be more precise, since he couldn't see anything. "There's always a way. And you aren't me, which makes all the difference. Trust me, I'm the Doctor. I've gotten out of a lot worse-"
"Doctor?" the voice interrupted, surprised and urgent.
"Yes, that's right. Now be quiet for a moment so I can think. I can't think when people are talking!" The Doctor turned back to the hatch, trying to see how far he could reach into it.
For a moment, there was silence. The Doctor was just about to start talking to himself again to try and figure out what he was missing, when the Master interrupted yet again, ruining his concentration. "You can't be the Doctor. I'd have been able to tell if you were him."
"Time lock," the Doctor explained tersely. "In fact, you really shouldn't even be here, Master. It could be a really, really bad thing that could rip a hole through time and space of colossal proportions, but right now none of that matters if we don't first get out of here. And I'm still missing something - huge - yet this old brain of mine refuses to work. Stop talking so I can figure it out."
He could tell the Master had been about to argue, but something stopped him. Probably the fact the Doctor had proven his claim by naming him. Only the Doctor would know the Master's voice in the dark, at least as far as this planet was concerned. That wasn't important right now though. The Doctor was still missing something vital, so he didn't press further. What was he...
"Wait, Master?" The Doctor felt his jaw drop to the floor. Not only that, but the Master in his original set of regenerations, the first body he'd taken to calling himself the Master in. This wasn't just big, it was... "How are you?" he asked absently, more to give himself time to sort out all the emotions he was feeling. It couldn't process and wouldn't add up, so he fled into the numb calm that settled over him willingly.
"I've been trapped inside this cell for four days completely in the dark. How do you think I am?" the Master snapped. The Doctor could hear him take a deep breath and could picture him trying to reign in his temper, shifting his shoulders down slowly and folding his hands together in front of him. "I take it you've just noticed I'm here then? My dear Doctor, such nonobservance could very well get you killed. It's also no way to greet a person."
"I'll try not to make it a habit," the Doctor said as he got off the floor. Escaping could be put off for a while, if the Master was here. The Doctor took a hesitant step towards where he assumed the Master was. "Are you still afraid of the dark?" he asked casually, testing the waters.
"I'm hardly a child anymore, Doctor," the Master said as he attempted to keep his words friendly. There was an edge of fear to his tone, however, and a tension that the Doctor knew he wasn't imagining. "I've long since gotten over those silly fears."
"Not all of them were silly," the Doctor said gently. Some of them were, like Koschei's fear of heights and the Gallifreyan equivalent to a spider. He'd also had a tendency to worry himself down over his grades when Koschei really had no reason to even think he was failing the class. Those had no real founding and Theta had been able to tease his friend about those.
There had been three big ones that Theta never made light of though. The first was the deep rooted fear the Master had of death. The second was the drums. And the third was the Master’s fear of the dark, instilled in him when he was just a child, before he’d become Koschei and made friends with the more outgoing Theta. Even before the drums, the Master's parents had been scared of their precarious and brilliant son. When he refused to study or show interest in proper subjects, he was locked into a dark closet and kept there for hours on end. To compound matters, when the professors of the Academy had found out about Koschei's 'irrational' fear, they'd thrown him in the darkest places they could find to 'cure' the child of crying in the pitch blackness. It had only taught Koschei to hide his feelings better in the end, but that was all the professors really cared about anyway.
The Doctor did a few quick calculations in his head and figured the Master had to be sitting on the ground over to the left, based on where his voice had come from. He quietly moved towards the Master, crouching down and reaching out to where he assumed the Master's shoulder was. He did, thankfully, touch the Master's shoulder and not anywhere else. The last thing he needed was that sort of awkward right now.
The Master jumped at the contact, letting out a small yelp as he tried to pull away. "Easy now," the Doctor said, moving until he was sitting beside the Master against the wall. "It's just me. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," the Master stressed. The Doctor could feel how tense he was, just from that touch to the shoulders. Four days of this without any light would be enough to drive most normal people insane, especially someone who was already not quite right in the head. On the plus side though (and the Doctor did try to think positively), there was no smell and the cell itself seemed fairly clean. So did the Master's clothes under his fingers. The Doctor wasn't entirely sure how that worked, but at least hygiene wasn't a problem. Which meant the hug he was about to give the Master wouldn't be uncomfortable, if you discounted the hard floor.
He slipped his arm around the Master's tense back as the Master stiffened even further. Just as the Doctor had thought, curled up in the corner in the same position Theta had always found Koschei. The Doctor wasn't overly prone to physical affection in this regeneration, but he still reckoned he could give a fairly good hug and he pulled the Master closer against him.
It said a lot for the Master's current state of mind that he didn't fight the embrace. He didn't lean into it and rest his head against the Doctor's shoulder like he used to, but he didn't try to pull away either once he realized it was the Doctor touching him. "It's been a while since we've sat like this, hasn't it?" the Doctor said quietly so as not to startle the Master again. "A lot longer for me than it has been for you. This regeneration of yours was always one of my favorites."
"One of your..." the Master started to say. The Doctor felt the Master shake his head. "I take it this means you haven't just regenerated then. You mentioned something about a time lock?"
There was a slightly desperate note to the Master's words as if he needed to hear the Doctor's voice, regardless of the topic now that the Doctor wasn't babbling. Four days, the Master had said. Four days of solitude was hard on anyone, no matter how well trained they were to resist torture. The Doctor didn't think he'd have been this coherent, but the Master was holding on through a sheer force of will.
Unfortunately, the time lock wasn't a subject he could really discuss, not without going into the War. It was better the Master didn't learn about that yet, to keep what innocence he still had. "No," the Doctor said, focusing on the first part of the conversation. "I haven't regenerated in your time yet. I'll still be wearing smoking jackets and driving Bessie. Where are you right now? Plastic flowers and the Axos?"
"I just got away from trying to summon Chronos," the Master said, slightly sulking. He didn't push the other issue of the time lock, so long as they were talking about something. "I suppose this was her way of getting revenge since she let me go."
"Chronos! You went by Professor Thascalos, didn't you?" Not that the Master could see it, but the Doctor smiled fondly. Before the destruction of Atlantis, he and Jo had made some good friends while trying to foil the Master. Old hurts of the time were worn away as he kept remembering the good bits. "I don't think her reach extends here anymore. Just your terrible luck, really. Then again, if you'd learn to stop summoning things you can't control..."
"I could control them. You just constantly interfered!"
This idle conversation wasn't going to get them anywhere besides a pointless argument which the Doctor really didn't have the heart for right now. The Doctor may have put escaping on hold to deal with the Master, but that didn't mean he needed to stop entirely. Putting the conversation on a slightly more useful track, the Doctor said, "Tell me what a normal day is like here. What do we do for fun?"
The Master had been relaxing slowly against him, but as soon as the Doctor mentioned the daily schedule, he stilled again. The Doctor found he was furious at their captors for treating the Master like this. As he tightened his arms around the Master, emotions he'd thought were long dead surged up. He hadn't felt this protective of the Master since... Well, since the Master stopped letting him, back at the Academy. They'd been thirty-nine when Koschei told Theta he didn't appreciate it anymore.
Theta had backed off at the time, but in hind-sight the Doctor wondered if he really should have. "We'll get out," he told the Master softly. "I promise you, we'll get out. You can trust me."
"Trust you?" the Master asked bitterly. "My dear Doctor, every time I've seen you recently, you've turned around and betrayed me or left me to the mob you always leave in your wake. Should I even mention what you did with the Axos? You never had any intention of coming with me, did you?"
"Not at the time, no," the Doctor admitted, saddened by the cold anger in the Master's voice. What would have happened if he'd called the Master back after all of that and apologized? If the Doctor had gone with the Master, would he have gotten as bad as he has? He'd been so very young when he told the Master no. Young and rash, not thinking about obligation towards an old friend, but of excuses and hiding behind morals.
Wondering about all those maybes and what ifs wouldn't reassure the Master right now though, and they wouldn't do the Doctor any good either. "I'm older now," the Doctor said, not adding 'wiser'. He was still just as foolish as he'd been when he was younger and sometimes more so if his last regeneration were anything to go by. "And what would I gain from tricking you now? Master, I'm old and tired and I've come to realize I haven't always done the right thing by you. Also, I've missed you." The last he admitted quietly, leaning his head into the Master's to remind himself that this really was happening right now. He had this, even if he didn't have his Master anymore.
The Master stayed silent at that, allowing the Doctor to be soothed by the Master's dual heart beat. It had been so very long since he'd been this close to someone of his own kind. On the Valiant, he and the Master had been near each other, but they hadn't been close. Later, when the Master had been resurrected, they'd never gotten the time. To have the Master just sitting here beside him now was nothing short of a miracle.
When he felt the Master's hand hesitantly reaching out to touch his cheek in the darkness, the Doctor leaned into the touch like a starving man. It wasn't until the Master gently started to rub at his eyes that the Doctor realized he was crying, however. "You have changed," the Master said as the Doctor let him continue to brush away the tears. This time, the Master did lean into him and the Doctor was both surprised and gratified when the Master returned the embrace.
The Doctor didn't speak again until some time later, once they'd both had their fill of the mutual comfort. "Is there any way we can exploit the schedule?" he asked, bringing the topic back around.
The Master shook his head against the Doctor's neck, tensing but not as badly as earlier. "Nutrient cubes come from the hatch twice a day. If you refuse to eat them, you get a forced injection. Every sixteen hours, they pump a pathogenic gas in to put me to sleep. There's nothing to be done to avoid it, though I've tried. And when I wake up..." The Master forced bitterness into his words to cover the shiver that went down his spine, but the Doctor could tell that whatever it was bothered the Master deeply. "When I wake up, I find myself clean, refreshed and with a needle prick mark on my arm regardless of whether I've eaten or not."
"Yeah, those injections... I got one too." It didn't have an effect at the time, so the Doctor was left to wonder what they were for. There didn't seem to be much room to take advantage of the situation either. They couldn't even fake food poisoning with those cubes. The Doctor got the feeling that the Master had nearly been successful before they had started all these measures, especially the pathogenic gas aimed to get around their respiratory bypass system. He was beginning to understand why he'd been thrown in here with the Master, since he doubted many cells would be set up to handle Time Lord biology. Never actually seeing anyone also greatly reduced the effect of the Master's strong abilities at hypnotism.
"I think... Doctor, I see things in the darkness," the Master said quietly, shivering again. "Things I shouldn't. I think that's what the injections do."
"What kind of 'things'?" the Doctor asked, worry bleeding through his tone.
The Master just shook his head again and refused to speak of it anymore. They continued to talk after that. The Doctor let the Master steer the conversation to safer topics because there was just so much he couldn't tell the Master, but the Master didn't seem to care. He was starving for social interaction and who was the Doctor to argue with that? The Doctor himself wanted nothing more than to be close to the Master, so this suited his purposes as well.
Five hours later, they were still curled up together and arguing about astrophysics. The Doctor was so caught up in the conversation that he missed the soft clicks at the door. The Master didn't, however, and he pulled away from the Doctor automatically as he hushed the Doctor. "Someone's opening the door?" the Doctor asked curiously.
"Picking the lock," the Master replied, shushing him again. "It's taking too long for it to be a key and they've made sure not to have any contact with me."
Probably Amy or Rory, coming to the rescue and they were late about it too. The Doctor helped the Master to his feet and moved until he stood slightly in front of the Master. Just in case it wasn't one of the Ponds, the Doctor was going to protect the Master and the Master seemed content to let this happen. Sadly, the Doctor was disillusioned to the Master's gratitude at the situation. He was merely a convenient shield, not a protector any more.
When the door finally cracked open, the Doctor was never more glad to hear Amy's voice. "Doctor? Are you there?"
"Amy! Good to hear you!" The Doctor squeezed the Master's hand reassuringly as he grinned. He hadn't lied to the Master this time; they were going to get out of here.
"Is it always this dark in here?" she asked, coming into the room though staying along the wall and walking carefully. "It could give a girl ideas, you know."
"Is this your new... assistant, Doctor?" the Master asked, clearly implying a dip in quality.
Before the Doctor could answer, however, Amy verbally pounced on the Master. "Now there's a sexy voice. You didn't tell me you had a cell mate, Doctor! Aren't you going to introduce us?"
"Master, this is Amelia Pond. Amy, meet the Master. Trust me, he's not your type." The Doctor was going through his pockets as he spoke, looking for something that would be suitable for a blind fold. Unfortunately, the police had taken most everything that would be useful.
"Is that a bit of jealousy, I hear?" Amy asked with a shocked innocence. "I've no problem if you've got a prior claim."
"Not now, Amy," the Doctor said, very glad Amy hadn't brought a torch. For one, it would have been painful to both his and the Master's eyes. For another, if no one could see the blush when she asked if he was jealous, the Doctor didn't have to admit it was there. "Do you have a handkerchief or something that could act as a blindfold?" he asked her.
"What do you need a blindfold for? It's already dark."
"I believe that would be for me, Miss Pond," the Master said wearily. The Doctor reached for the Master's hand again when he heard the misery in his voice, interlinking their fingers to give him comfort as he explained. "I've been imprisoned in here for four days and any kind of light now would do more damage than good to my eyes. I've also been regularly injected with something that I suspect was to keep me from escaping by further messing with my sight. I'm afraid it will simply be better... if I'm blindfolded for the time being."
"We'll just have to take it slowly," the Doctor said. "And technically, it's Mrs. Pond."
"Nah, don't be a grumpy spoil-sport like him," Amy said. "Just call me Amy. And will this work, Doctor?"
Correctly judging the distance Amy would hold something out for him, the Doctor felt a scarf in her hands. When she was sure he had hold of it, she let go. It was light weight, but it would have to do for now. "As long as you keep your eyes closed," the Doctor told the Master, folding it over to thicken the material. Carefully, he tied it around the Master's head, making sure his eyes were covered securely. He could almost feel the Master's unhappiness at the blindfold and...
Well, Amy wouldn't be able to see it, would she? The Doctor gave the Master another quick hug and placed an even briefer kiss to the Master's forehead. Before the Master could respond or give him away, the Doctor pulled back but kept hold of his hand. "Come along, Pond, Master. Let's get out of here."
Once out of the cell, Amy felt her way back to an airlock sort of corridor and they waited for the door behind them to swish shut so they could be let out. The lights came on as quickly as the door shut behind them and the Doctor didn't succeed in biting back a small hiss of pain at the sudden light. It was thirty seconds before the pain subsided and his eyes still weren't clear. Everything looked fuzzy.
He could, at least, see the Master's face clearly enough to know that the blindfold didn't help much. The Master gritted his teeth at the pain and gasped, not crying out through sheer force of will. "Just keep your eyes closed and we'll lead you out," the Doctor reminded him quietly.
It was Amy that ended up leading them both though, since his own eyesight was blurry and disorienting. The Master must have been right about there being something in that injection to make them more susceptible to a sort of light sickness. It certainly didn't help that everywhere on this planet was different colored lights.
They did get away without a lot of fuss, but most of it was Rory's distraction to keep the guards attention. No one got hurt and they were all back in the TARDIS an hour later.
Asking to be left alone with the Master, the Doctor programmed the lights in one of the bed rooms to a dark blue. The Doctor could see a lot better now, but he'd only had one of the injections... "You can take off the blindfold now," he said.
Gingerly, the Master started to untie the knot and blinked open his eyes. Even the blue light hurt and he had to wince away from it. "Should I make it darker?" the Doctor asked, worried he'd set it too bright.
"No, just let me adjust to this." The Doctor waited, coming to sit by the Master though he didn't reach out to him again. After a few moments, the Master was able to look around keenly. He still had to blink frequently, but it was getting better. "I wondered what you looked like in this regeneration," the Master said finally as his eyes came to rest on the Doctor. "Don't you think you're taking your youthfulness to the extreme?"
The Doctor shrugged, leaning back on his hands that were spread behind him. "I didn't choose it. Do you think it's easy being taken seriously when you're this young?"
Not paying attention to what the Doctor was saying, the Master squinted at the Doctor's neck. He raised his eyebrows significantly when he was able to make out what it was. "Really, Doctor? A bow tie again?"
"Hey! Bow ties are-"
"I don't care what they are," the Master said, cutting him off. This time, the Doctor could see the tight lines on the Master's face and the exhaustion in the Master's rapidly blinking eyes. "I want to know what you're going to do with me now. Are you going to trot me off to your friends at UNIT while I'm still easily controllable?"
Still pouting over being cut off, the Doctor shook his head. "You're not supposed to be here, Master. As much as I wish that you..." As much as he wished the Master could stay and travel with him now, as much as he wished to make up to the Master all those times that he'd been hurt, the Doctor couldn't. Time could be rewritten, but not this much. "Once you're better, you can go back to your TARDIS. Believe it or not, you do get me out of a tight spot soon and I can't have you missing that appointment."
Then the Master would be gone again and the Doctor would still be the last Time Lord in existence. He'd once told that Silurian warrior, Alaya, that he knew how being the last of a race sat on one's soul and right now it was sitting pretty heavily. The worst part wasn't being the last though, but being the last again and losing the Master once more. Even if this time it really was inevitable, the Doctor still wanted to fight it.
The Master watched him carefully. He was always highly attuned to the Doctor's moods, but he didn't reach out as he had in the dark. He seemed to be weighing cruelty versus dropping the issue, now that there was enough light for the Master to be unafraid. He no longer needed the Doctor, so he fell immediately back into the 'game' that never ended between them. To hurt the Doctor more or to leave him be for now... Yes, the Doctor could see the thoughts running through the Master's head as clearly as he could now see the Master's beard.
In the end, the Master decided their current 'truce' was enough to forgo being consciously cruel. He shifted the subject instead. "I see you've taken to using my name now," he said smugly.
"Don't get used to it," the Doctor said, pushing a finger against the now glaring Master's nose. "You're not going to hear it from the me in your time line."
"Pity," the Master said as the Doctor stood, walking to the door. The Master's eyes followed him as he tried to refocus on the Doctor now that he was farther away. "Where are you going?"
"To warn Amy and Rory about you. Can't have you trying to hypnotize them or hurting one of them while you recover." The Doctor left the room then after a brief warning to the Master to close his eyes.
"So," Amy said, starling him as he closed the door. "Who's the bloke? Old boyfriend?"
"What part of 'don't go near him' didn't you understand?" the Doctor asked. She must have been waiting just outside the door. He didn't feel like arguing with her right now, however, and answered her question before she could ask again. "He's... just an old friend. Was an old friend, before he started killing people and trying to take over the universe. He's not a nice man and he'll kill you in a heartbeat to get at me, so stay away from him."
"And you're just going to let him go then, if he's that dangerous?" Waiting outside the door and eavesdropping, the Doctor revised in his head.
Closing his eyes, the Doctor felt every single one of his nine centuries in his bones. "I don't have a choice. He's from a point in my past and if I kept him here I'd be messing around with my own time stream. And he's..."
The Doctor trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. Arms slowly wrapped around his shoulders as Amy stood on tiptoe, hugging him tightly. "He's still your old friend?" she asked with an amount of understanding that the Doctor would never have expected from a human. Then again, she'd never seen any of the things the Master had done.
He returned the hug and soaked up the comfort of it until Amy finally pulled away. She parted from him then, telling him to come and talk to her about it if he needed to, but the Doctor wanted to be alone. Actually, he didn't want to be alone, not in the slightest, but the person he really wanted to be with right now would just hurt more. Two weeks later, when the Master inevitably left without saying good-bye to the Doctor, he would be the last of his kind again.
"Still the last," he said quietly to himself as Amy walked away. "I'm still alone."
~FINI~
Memory: There are a lot of good quotes about the dark. This time, have two.
Quotes of the fic:
"What other dungeon is so dark as one's own heart! What jailer so inexorable as one's self!"
-Nathaniel Hawthorne
"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light."
-Plato
By: Memory Dragon
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, nor do I make any claim to.
Characters: Eleventh Doctor/Delgado Master
Warnings: Rather angsty and still not one of my favorite things I've ever written. I don't know, for some reason this one just bothers me. I think it's the relationship between Eleven and Delgado Master, which never quite satisfied me. Still, for what it's worth, here it is.
Original Prompt: 11/Delgado - 'trust me, I'm the Doctor'.
Notes: Written for the best_enemies anon meme. Original can be found here. Also, I'll add some of the deleted paragraphs in the comments. They had to be deleted because of pacing, but my beta reader has told me they were brilliant and I needed to use them elsewhere... except I don't think I have any other place for them? -_-;;; Still, you can read them if you want now.
Thanks: Many, many thanks to nemaline for making this fic at least semi-bearable. She worked wonders on this fic. Seriously, you don't want to see what it was like without her.
Edit: Now with awesome art by pride1289 in the comments! <3
~
The Doctor was unceremoniously thrown into a very dark prison cell. He suspected it was because he was distracted one too many times by the light displays that were famous on this planet and the guards had gotten tired of pushing him along.
The displays were every where, even in the prisons, dazzling exhibits of color through stained glass that he'd brought Amy and Rory to see. "I didn't mean to break any of them," he told the guards that were dragging him along. "I was saving you lot all from an alien attack. It's not my fault the chameleon lizard decided to go hiding among your national treasures! He'd have started a planet wide riot with his emphatic abilities within a day and how do you thank me? Arresting me for breaking and entering."
Still, hopefully Amy and Rory could manage the little guy until they got it back to the TARDIS. He had managed to trap the chameleon before he'd been arrested and the Ponds had been outside of the scene of the 'crime' when he'd been caught. Which left him to be the only one arrested and sentenced to a life time of the planet's worst torment... a cell that completely lacked light. "And you lot, you never say anything interesting. Might as well be talking to a wall. Then again, it is easier to hear myself think this way." He was thrown in without so much as a good-bye.
"Okay," he said to himself as he got off the floor. He dusted himself off despite the fact no one would be able to see him and went over to where he'd thought the door was. "Completely locked up, no sonic and no sense of sight. That does make it hard to escape, but I'm sure I'll come up with something."
"It's impossible to escape," a voice said from the darkness.
"Aren't you a cheery one? Impossible is my middle name. That and Alfred, but Impossible sounds better." The Doctor paused, thinking over what he'd just said. "No, not Alfred. No, that's a rubbish middle name. I should get a new one. Now hush. I'm thinking." The door was very solid, unfortunately. Depressingly solid. It didn't even have a door handle from this side of the wall or a lock to pick. "Food! They must bring in food some how."
"It's a pulley system," the voice explained helpfully. "They don't even send a guard to give it. It just slides to the floor from a mechanical arm to the right and no light comes through."
The Doctor immediately dropped to the floor, feeling around the edges of the room for the hatch. "Then maybe I can rewire it. I'm good at rewiring. I'm missing something though. It's right under my nose, but I can't seem to - ah ha! Hatch." With a depressing lack of wires to mess around with to match the depressing door. In fact, he couldn't feel anything other than a very small rectangular box he could barely stick his arm through. "Okay, no accessible wires. Should have guessed that. I'm still missing something big. Once I figure that out, we can escape."
"What you are missing," the voice said acidly, "is the fact that there is no way to escape. I've tried most everything."
"Of course there's away," the Doctor said, turning to face the voice. Where he thought the voice was, to be more precise, since he couldn't see anything. "There's always a way. And you aren't me, which makes all the difference. Trust me, I'm the Doctor. I've gotten out of a lot worse-"
"Doctor?" the voice interrupted, surprised and urgent.
"Yes, that's right. Now be quiet for a moment so I can think. I can't think when people are talking!" The Doctor turned back to the hatch, trying to see how far he could reach into it.
For a moment, there was silence. The Doctor was just about to start talking to himself again to try and figure out what he was missing, when the Master interrupted yet again, ruining his concentration. "You can't be the Doctor. I'd have been able to tell if you were him."
"Time lock," the Doctor explained tersely. "In fact, you really shouldn't even be here, Master. It could be a really, really bad thing that could rip a hole through time and space of colossal proportions, but right now none of that matters if we don't first get out of here. And I'm still missing something - huge - yet this old brain of mine refuses to work. Stop talking so I can figure it out."
He could tell the Master had been about to argue, but something stopped him. Probably the fact the Doctor had proven his claim by naming him. Only the Doctor would know the Master's voice in the dark, at least as far as this planet was concerned. That wasn't important right now though. The Doctor was still missing something vital, so he didn't press further. What was he...
"Wait, Master?" The Doctor felt his jaw drop to the floor. Not only that, but the Master in his original set of regenerations, the first body he'd taken to calling himself the Master in. This wasn't just big, it was... "How are you?" he asked absently, more to give himself time to sort out all the emotions he was feeling. It couldn't process and wouldn't add up, so he fled into the numb calm that settled over him willingly.
"I've been trapped inside this cell for four days completely in the dark. How do you think I am?" the Master snapped. The Doctor could hear him take a deep breath and could picture him trying to reign in his temper, shifting his shoulders down slowly and folding his hands together in front of him. "I take it you've just noticed I'm here then? My dear Doctor, such nonobservance could very well get you killed. It's also no way to greet a person."
"I'll try not to make it a habit," the Doctor said as he got off the floor. Escaping could be put off for a while, if the Master was here. The Doctor took a hesitant step towards where he assumed the Master was. "Are you still afraid of the dark?" he asked casually, testing the waters.
"I'm hardly a child anymore, Doctor," the Master said as he attempted to keep his words friendly. There was an edge of fear to his tone, however, and a tension that the Doctor knew he wasn't imagining. "I've long since gotten over those silly fears."
"Not all of them were silly," the Doctor said gently. Some of them were, like Koschei's fear of heights and the Gallifreyan equivalent to a spider. He'd also had a tendency to worry himself down over his grades when Koschei really had no reason to even think he was failing the class. Those had no real founding and Theta had been able to tease his friend about those.
There had been three big ones that Theta never made light of though. The first was the deep rooted fear the Master had of death. The second was the drums. And the third was the Master’s fear of the dark, instilled in him when he was just a child, before he’d become Koschei and made friends with the more outgoing Theta. Even before the drums, the Master's parents had been scared of their precarious and brilliant son. When he refused to study or show interest in proper subjects, he was locked into a dark closet and kept there for hours on end. To compound matters, when the professors of the Academy had found out about Koschei's 'irrational' fear, they'd thrown him in the darkest places they could find to 'cure' the child of crying in the pitch blackness. It had only taught Koschei to hide his feelings better in the end, but that was all the professors really cared about anyway.
The Doctor did a few quick calculations in his head and figured the Master had to be sitting on the ground over to the left, based on where his voice had come from. He quietly moved towards the Master, crouching down and reaching out to where he assumed the Master's shoulder was. He did, thankfully, touch the Master's shoulder and not anywhere else. The last thing he needed was that sort of awkward right now.
The Master jumped at the contact, letting out a small yelp as he tried to pull away. "Easy now," the Doctor said, moving until he was sitting beside the Master against the wall. "It's just me. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," the Master stressed. The Doctor could feel how tense he was, just from that touch to the shoulders. Four days of this without any light would be enough to drive most normal people insane, especially someone who was already not quite right in the head. On the plus side though (and the Doctor did try to think positively), there was no smell and the cell itself seemed fairly clean. So did the Master's clothes under his fingers. The Doctor wasn't entirely sure how that worked, but at least hygiene wasn't a problem. Which meant the hug he was about to give the Master wouldn't be uncomfortable, if you discounted the hard floor.
He slipped his arm around the Master's tense back as the Master stiffened even further. Just as the Doctor had thought, curled up in the corner in the same position Theta had always found Koschei. The Doctor wasn't overly prone to physical affection in this regeneration, but he still reckoned he could give a fairly good hug and he pulled the Master closer against him.
It said a lot for the Master's current state of mind that he didn't fight the embrace. He didn't lean into it and rest his head against the Doctor's shoulder like he used to, but he didn't try to pull away either once he realized it was the Doctor touching him. "It's been a while since we've sat like this, hasn't it?" the Doctor said quietly so as not to startle the Master again. "A lot longer for me than it has been for you. This regeneration of yours was always one of my favorites."
"One of your..." the Master started to say. The Doctor felt the Master shake his head. "I take it this means you haven't just regenerated then. You mentioned something about a time lock?"
There was a slightly desperate note to the Master's words as if he needed to hear the Doctor's voice, regardless of the topic now that the Doctor wasn't babbling. Four days, the Master had said. Four days of solitude was hard on anyone, no matter how well trained they were to resist torture. The Doctor didn't think he'd have been this coherent, but the Master was holding on through a sheer force of will.
Unfortunately, the time lock wasn't a subject he could really discuss, not without going into the War. It was better the Master didn't learn about that yet, to keep what innocence he still had. "No," the Doctor said, focusing on the first part of the conversation. "I haven't regenerated in your time yet. I'll still be wearing smoking jackets and driving Bessie. Where are you right now? Plastic flowers and the Axos?"
"I just got away from trying to summon Chronos," the Master said, slightly sulking. He didn't push the other issue of the time lock, so long as they were talking about something. "I suppose this was her way of getting revenge since she let me go."
"Chronos! You went by Professor Thascalos, didn't you?" Not that the Master could see it, but the Doctor smiled fondly. Before the destruction of Atlantis, he and Jo had made some good friends while trying to foil the Master. Old hurts of the time were worn away as he kept remembering the good bits. "I don't think her reach extends here anymore. Just your terrible luck, really. Then again, if you'd learn to stop summoning things you can't control..."
"I could control them. You just constantly interfered!"
This idle conversation wasn't going to get them anywhere besides a pointless argument which the Doctor really didn't have the heart for right now. The Doctor may have put escaping on hold to deal with the Master, but that didn't mean he needed to stop entirely. Putting the conversation on a slightly more useful track, the Doctor said, "Tell me what a normal day is like here. What do we do for fun?"
The Master had been relaxing slowly against him, but as soon as the Doctor mentioned the daily schedule, he stilled again. The Doctor found he was furious at their captors for treating the Master like this. As he tightened his arms around the Master, emotions he'd thought were long dead surged up. He hadn't felt this protective of the Master since... Well, since the Master stopped letting him, back at the Academy. They'd been thirty-nine when Koschei told Theta he didn't appreciate it anymore.
Theta had backed off at the time, but in hind-sight the Doctor wondered if he really should have. "We'll get out," he told the Master softly. "I promise you, we'll get out. You can trust me."
"Trust you?" the Master asked bitterly. "My dear Doctor, every time I've seen you recently, you've turned around and betrayed me or left me to the mob you always leave in your wake. Should I even mention what you did with the Axos? You never had any intention of coming with me, did you?"
"Not at the time, no," the Doctor admitted, saddened by the cold anger in the Master's voice. What would have happened if he'd called the Master back after all of that and apologized? If the Doctor had gone with the Master, would he have gotten as bad as he has? He'd been so very young when he told the Master no. Young and rash, not thinking about obligation towards an old friend, but of excuses and hiding behind morals.
Wondering about all those maybes and what ifs wouldn't reassure the Master right now though, and they wouldn't do the Doctor any good either. "I'm older now," the Doctor said, not adding 'wiser'. He was still just as foolish as he'd been when he was younger and sometimes more so if his last regeneration were anything to go by. "And what would I gain from tricking you now? Master, I'm old and tired and I've come to realize I haven't always done the right thing by you. Also, I've missed you." The last he admitted quietly, leaning his head into the Master's to remind himself that this really was happening right now. He had this, even if he didn't have his Master anymore.
The Master stayed silent at that, allowing the Doctor to be soothed by the Master's dual heart beat. It had been so very long since he'd been this close to someone of his own kind. On the Valiant, he and the Master had been near each other, but they hadn't been close. Later, when the Master had been resurrected, they'd never gotten the time. To have the Master just sitting here beside him now was nothing short of a miracle.
When he felt the Master's hand hesitantly reaching out to touch his cheek in the darkness, the Doctor leaned into the touch like a starving man. It wasn't until the Master gently started to rub at his eyes that the Doctor realized he was crying, however. "You have changed," the Master said as the Doctor let him continue to brush away the tears. This time, the Master did lean into him and the Doctor was both surprised and gratified when the Master returned the embrace.
The Doctor didn't speak again until some time later, once they'd both had their fill of the mutual comfort. "Is there any way we can exploit the schedule?" he asked, bringing the topic back around.
The Master shook his head against the Doctor's neck, tensing but not as badly as earlier. "Nutrient cubes come from the hatch twice a day. If you refuse to eat them, you get a forced injection. Every sixteen hours, they pump a pathogenic gas in to put me to sleep. There's nothing to be done to avoid it, though I've tried. And when I wake up..." The Master forced bitterness into his words to cover the shiver that went down his spine, but the Doctor could tell that whatever it was bothered the Master deeply. "When I wake up, I find myself clean, refreshed and with a needle prick mark on my arm regardless of whether I've eaten or not."
"Yeah, those injections... I got one too." It didn't have an effect at the time, so the Doctor was left to wonder what they were for. There didn't seem to be much room to take advantage of the situation either. They couldn't even fake food poisoning with those cubes. The Doctor got the feeling that the Master had nearly been successful before they had started all these measures, especially the pathogenic gas aimed to get around their respiratory bypass system. He was beginning to understand why he'd been thrown in here with the Master, since he doubted many cells would be set up to handle Time Lord biology. Never actually seeing anyone also greatly reduced the effect of the Master's strong abilities at hypnotism.
"I think... Doctor, I see things in the darkness," the Master said quietly, shivering again. "Things I shouldn't. I think that's what the injections do."
"What kind of 'things'?" the Doctor asked, worry bleeding through his tone.
The Master just shook his head again and refused to speak of it anymore. They continued to talk after that. The Doctor let the Master steer the conversation to safer topics because there was just so much he couldn't tell the Master, but the Master didn't seem to care. He was starving for social interaction and who was the Doctor to argue with that? The Doctor himself wanted nothing more than to be close to the Master, so this suited his purposes as well.
Five hours later, they were still curled up together and arguing about astrophysics. The Doctor was so caught up in the conversation that he missed the soft clicks at the door. The Master didn't, however, and he pulled away from the Doctor automatically as he hushed the Doctor. "Someone's opening the door?" the Doctor asked curiously.
"Picking the lock," the Master replied, shushing him again. "It's taking too long for it to be a key and they've made sure not to have any contact with me."
Probably Amy or Rory, coming to the rescue and they were late about it too. The Doctor helped the Master to his feet and moved until he stood slightly in front of the Master. Just in case it wasn't one of the Ponds, the Doctor was going to protect the Master and the Master seemed content to let this happen. Sadly, the Doctor was disillusioned to the Master's gratitude at the situation. He was merely a convenient shield, not a protector any more.
When the door finally cracked open, the Doctor was never more glad to hear Amy's voice. "Doctor? Are you there?"
"Amy! Good to hear you!" The Doctor squeezed the Master's hand reassuringly as he grinned. He hadn't lied to the Master this time; they were going to get out of here.
"Is it always this dark in here?" she asked, coming into the room though staying along the wall and walking carefully. "It could give a girl ideas, you know."
"Is this your new... assistant, Doctor?" the Master asked, clearly implying a dip in quality.
Before the Doctor could answer, however, Amy verbally pounced on the Master. "Now there's a sexy voice. You didn't tell me you had a cell mate, Doctor! Aren't you going to introduce us?"
"Master, this is Amelia Pond. Amy, meet the Master. Trust me, he's not your type." The Doctor was going through his pockets as he spoke, looking for something that would be suitable for a blind fold. Unfortunately, the police had taken most everything that would be useful.
"Is that a bit of jealousy, I hear?" Amy asked with a shocked innocence. "I've no problem if you've got a prior claim."
"Not now, Amy," the Doctor said, very glad Amy hadn't brought a torch. For one, it would have been painful to both his and the Master's eyes. For another, if no one could see the blush when she asked if he was jealous, the Doctor didn't have to admit it was there. "Do you have a handkerchief or something that could act as a blindfold?" he asked her.
"What do you need a blindfold for? It's already dark."
"I believe that would be for me, Miss Pond," the Master said wearily. The Doctor reached for the Master's hand again when he heard the misery in his voice, interlinking their fingers to give him comfort as he explained. "I've been imprisoned in here for four days and any kind of light now would do more damage than good to my eyes. I've also been regularly injected with something that I suspect was to keep me from escaping by further messing with my sight. I'm afraid it will simply be better... if I'm blindfolded for the time being."
"We'll just have to take it slowly," the Doctor said. "And technically, it's Mrs. Pond."
"Nah, don't be a grumpy spoil-sport like him," Amy said. "Just call me Amy. And will this work, Doctor?"
Correctly judging the distance Amy would hold something out for him, the Doctor felt a scarf in her hands. When she was sure he had hold of it, she let go. It was light weight, but it would have to do for now. "As long as you keep your eyes closed," the Doctor told the Master, folding it over to thicken the material. Carefully, he tied it around the Master's head, making sure his eyes were covered securely. He could almost feel the Master's unhappiness at the blindfold and...
Well, Amy wouldn't be able to see it, would she? The Doctor gave the Master another quick hug and placed an even briefer kiss to the Master's forehead. Before the Master could respond or give him away, the Doctor pulled back but kept hold of his hand. "Come along, Pond, Master. Let's get out of here."
Once out of the cell, Amy felt her way back to an airlock sort of corridor and they waited for the door behind them to swish shut so they could be let out. The lights came on as quickly as the door shut behind them and the Doctor didn't succeed in biting back a small hiss of pain at the sudden light. It was thirty seconds before the pain subsided and his eyes still weren't clear. Everything looked fuzzy.
He could, at least, see the Master's face clearly enough to know that the blindfold didn't help much. The Master gritted his teeth at the pain and gasped, not crying out through sheer force of will. "Just keep your eyes closed and we'll lead you out," the Doctor reminded him quietly.
It was Amy that ended up leading them both though, since his own eyesight was blurry and disorienting. The Master must have been right about there being something in that injection to make them more susceptible to a sort of light sickness. It certainly didn't help that everywhere on this planet was different colored lights.
They did get away without a lot of fuss, but most of it was Rory's distraction to keep the guards attention. No one got hurt and they were all back in the TARDIS an hour later.
Asking to be left alone with the Master, the Doctor programmed the lights in one of the bed rooms to a dark blue. The Doctor could see a lot better now, but he'd only had one of the injections... "You can take off the blindfold now," he said.
Gingerly, the Master started to untie the knot and blinked open his eyes. Even the blue light hurt and he had to wince away from it. "Should I make it darker?" the Doctor asked, worried he'd set it too bright.
"No, just let me adjust to this." The Doctor waited, coming to sit by the Master though he didn't reach out to him again. After a few moments, the Master was able to look around keenly. He still had to blink frequently, but it was getting better. "I wondered what you looked like in this regeneration," the Master said finally as his eyes came to rest on the Doctor. "Don't you think you're taking your youthfulness to the extreme?"
The Doctor shrugged, leaning back on his hands that were spread behind him. "I didn't choose it. Do you think it's easy being taken seriously when you're this young?"
Not paying attention to what the Doctor was saying, the Master squinted at the Doctor's neck. He raised his eyebrows significantly when he was able to make out what it was. "Really, Doctor? A bow tie again?"
"Hey! Bow ties are-"
"I don't care what they are," the Master said, cutting him off. This time, the Doctor could see the tight lines on the Master's face and the exhaustion in the Master's rapidly blinking eyes. "I want to know what you're going to do with me now. Are you going to trot me off to your friends at UNIT while I'm still easily controllable?"
Still pouting over being cut off, the Doctor shook his head. "You're not supposed to be here, Master. As much as I wish that you..." As much as he wished the Master could stay and travel with him now, as much as he wished to make up to the Master all those times that he'd been hurt, the Doctor couldn't. Time could be rewritten, but not this much. "Once you're better, you can go back to your TARDIS. Believe it or not, you do get me out of a tight spot soon and I can't have you missing that appointment."
Then the Master would be gone again and the Doctor would still be the last Time Lord in existence. He'd once told that Silurian warrior, Alaya, that he knew how being the last of a race sat on one's soul and right now it was sitting pretty heavily. The worst part wasn't being the last though, but being the last again and losing the Master once more. Even if this time it really was inevitable, the Doctor still wanted to fight it.
The Master watched him carefully. He was always highly attuned to the Doctor's moods, but he didn't reach out as he had in the dark. He seemed to be weighing cruelty versus dropping the issue, now that there was enough light for the Master to be unafraid. He no longer needed the Doctor, so he fell immediately back into the 'game' that never ended between them. To hurt the Doctor more or to leave him be for now... Yes, the Doctor could see the thoughts running through the Master's head as clearly as he could now see the Master's beard.
In the end, the Master decided their current 'truce' was enough to forgo being consciously cruel. He shifted the subject instead. "I see you've taken to using my name now," he said smugly.
"Don't get used to it," the Doctor said, pushing a finger against the now glaring Master's nose. "You're not going to hear it from the me in your time line."
"Pity," the Master said as the Doctor stood, walking to the door. The Master's eyes followed him as he tried to refocus on the Doctor now that he was farther away. "Where are you going?"
"To warn Amy and Rory about you. Can't have you trying to hypnotize them or hurting one of them while you recover." The Doctor left the room then after a brief warning to the Master to close his eyes.
"So," Amy said, starling him as he closed the door. "Who's the bloke? Old boyfriend?"
"What part of 'don't go near him' didn't you understand?" the Doctor asked. She must have been waiting just outside the door. He didn't feel like arguing with her right now, however, and answered her question before she could ask again. "He's... just an old friend. Was an old friend, before he started killing people and trying to take over the universe. He's not a nice man and he'll kill you in a heartbeat to get at me, so stay away from him."
"And you're just going to let him go then, if he's that dangerous?" Waiting outside the door and eavesdropping, the Doctor revised in his head.
Closing his eyes, the Doctor felt every single one of his nine centuries in his bones. "I don't have a choice. He's from a point in my past and if I kept him here I'd be messing around with my own time stream. And he's..."
The Doctor trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. Arms slowly wrapped around his shoulders as Amy stood on tiptoe, hugging him tightly. "He's still your old friend?" she asked with an amount of understanding that the Doctor would never have expected from a human. Then again, she'd never seen any of the things the Master had done.
He returned the hug and soaked up the comfort of it until Amy finally pulled away. She parted from him then, telling him to come and talk to her about it if he needed to, but the Doctor wanted to be alone. Actually, he didn't want to be alone, not in the slightest, but the person he really wanted to be with right now would just hurt more. Two weeks later, when the Master inevitably left without saying good-bye to the Doctor, he would be the last of his kind again.
"Still the last," he said quietly to himself as Amy walked away. "I'm still alone."
~FINI~
Memory: There are a lot of good quotes about the dark. This time, have two.
Quotes of the fic:
"What other dungeon is so dark as one's own heart! What jailer so inexorable as one's self!"
-Nathaniel Hawthorne
"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light."
-Plato