32 // [Dream]

[neverendingbeat]

[The Master rarely sleeps. As an old acquaintance of his said once, "Sleep is for tortoises." And that's at least one thing he's said that the Master can agree with. Why sleep when there are so many more, interesting options for what he could be doing?

Of course, given long enough, he does need sleep, but that's not what's happening tonight. Tonight

Comments

Let's evil it up in here~

[letxequalnull]

[Like the shadow he sometimes is, Xemnas drifts from dream to dream. He doesn't have any dreams of his own, just memories that will bow to dream-logic. Or so it is as far as he knows, anyway. So it's interesting to see what other people dream of. It's a glimpse of who they are.

He makes no effort to hide his presence. Merely walks into the TARDIS with the same calm that he always seems to carry with him. The labyrinthine passages are nothing unusual to him, given the castle he ruled over.]

Righto!

[neverendingbeat]

A little down the hallway, the Master exits a room, music blaring from it and then getting cut off entirely as he closes the door behind him. He turns to face Xemnas, grinning like a hyena.

"Hello! Nice here, isn't it? I hope you're enjoying yourself as much as I am!" He taps at his lips with a finger. "Even if you haven't really been here long. Oh well!" Walking toward Xemnas, he stops just before him and lets a sliding door that wasn't there previously open for him. "Excuse me." He walks through it and onto the deck of the Valiant, his lovely, self-designed airship. The Doctor collapsed hopelessly against the stairs, the Freak dead by the conference table, Martha held prisoner by his guards and Lucy, loyal Lucy, coming instantly over to cling adoringly to his arm. It's time to bring down hell upon Earth.

[letxequalnull]

Xemnas makes no real comment on the music. It's not his dream, so he doesn't expect to know all of the details.

"It's certainly an interesting place," Xemnas answers politely. "Unique, even." He almost wants to ask how it works, but decides to save that for later, provided he actually remembers the details comes morning. So for now he settles for following along behind the Master. He doesn't mind a spot of hell-raising.

....I think this is what comes of writing whilst tired. Sorry, man.

[neverendingbeat]

"Right!" says the Master. "Where was I?! Oh yes." Pulling his arm out of Lucy's, he runs over to the window, yelling, "Down you go kids!" as millions of Toclafane stream from a red crevasse in the sky. He watches for a while, and then turns around, speaking to Xemnas.

"That's Earth, down there." He gestures violently at the window. "Mine. All mine." He bounds over to Lucy and kisses her with equal violence, bending her back as one hand grips tightly in her hair. "Lucy," he says, after he breaks the kiss. Lucy smiles absently and lowers her eyes. "My wife. She'd do anything for me. Lovely, loyal--NO." He grabs her arm before she can raise the gun that is suddenly in her hand. "Wrong!" He wrenches it away from her and sideswipes her to the ground. She maintains the absent smile throughout and eventually, he smiles back fondly and then strides over to the Doctor.

"The Doctor," he announces, ruffling the Doctor's hair. "Also mine. In fact, I see no reason to even age you, Doctor, really. I know what happens. And you'll be so good anyway

'sokay~

[letxequalnull]

'Earth'. A rather uninteresting name for a world. But it's not any world he's familiar with, and that's what's of the most interest at the moment. A world with people. A world with hearts. A world he can use to make more Heartless to fuel his Kingdom Hearts.

And that, in turn leads him to a particularly interesting option.

"Are you familiar with what the being we term Heartless?"

That would be 'we' as in 'people from his world'.

[neverendingbeat]

"Why don't you explain them to me?" says the Master, walking over to sit down in a wheely chair and scoot it over, closer to Xemnas. The Freak gasps, coming back to life and the Master casually shoots him down without looking, putting the laser screwdriver away and leaning toward Xemnas attentively.

[letxequalnull]

"They are creatures born of the darkness," Xemnas begins, not batting an eye at the fact that someone was just casually shot down. He can't care for a stranger. "Creatures of little more than instinct that hunger always for the one thing they call food. Living hearts."

It's not a pleasant death either, and he knows it.

[neverendingbeat]

"Oh, I like that," says the Master, incredibly interested now. "Tell me, how do you go about making one of these...Heartless."

"Don't," says the Doctor hoarsely from his corner and the Master shuts him up with a look. "Did I ask you?" he says, turning back to Xemnas. "I assume they can be made. Well, there's an entire planet of humans down there to work with or..." And he scoots his chair backwards across the room, sliding to the edge and then stands, walking the short distance to where Martha struggles in the grip of his guards. "...you can use her. Might be more convenient." Martha is still silent, but her eyes widen in terror.

"Please," says the Doctor quietly, fervently, "Please don't do this, Master." The Master ignores him, waiting for Xemnas' response.

[letxequalnull]

Xemnas smiles, and ignores the Doctor as well. He's clearly not terribly important in this dream and really, if Xemnas brings the Heartless anyone here could fall to them.

At least, in theory. It's not his dream, so he supposes he can ask them to not go after a few people, if he must.

"Every heart that is stolen by a Heartless becomes a Heartless in turn," he explains. "Thus the most expedient way is to use one of the previously existing Heartless. However, since I do not see any currently in residence, we shall mostly likely need to use the method by which the were originally created." A pause, and he smiles. It's not a pleasant smile by any stretch of the imagination. "If a heart becomes too full of darkness, it collapses. That collapse is what creates a Heartless."

[neverendingbeat]

The Master claps his hands excitedly, a short burst of applause. "Oh, wonderful! Of course, I have no idea whether the same physics are applicable here but I'll make it work, don't you worry. It does sound a little figurative at the moment but I'm sure I'll understand if you give me a demonstration." He strokes Martha's cheek and she hangs her head. No world-saving plans from Miss Jones this time. "How does one go about filling a heart with darkness?"

[letxequalnull]

If the physics of it apply in the City, Xemnas is pretty sure they'll apply here. But he doesn't say as much much as he looks Martha over.

"The fastest way is to quite simple inject the appropriate amount of darkness. I'm afraid I didn't think to bring the tools with me, but perhaps a syringe could be found?"

He makes no comment on where the darkness will be coming from, mostly because he'd rather not give up too many secrets.

[neverendingbeat]

"Well?!" the Master calls out. "Look lively! Go fetch me a syringe!" He could just make one happen, but there's a certain pleasure in making the humans do it for him. As his guard leaves, the Master notices movement out of the corner of his eye and his expression turns to surprise when he realises the Doctor is standing again, looking defiant.

"This is getting a little bit ridiculous, don't you think?" he says to the Doctor. "Before you say anything predictable, no, I won't use you instead of her. Well, not yet, anyway," he adds thoughtfully, and as the guard returns to place the syringe in his hand, he asks, "What happens if there are two hearts to be destroyed by darkness?"

[letxequalnull]

That comment, off-hand though it's probably intending to be, gets a moment of silence from Xemnas. Most of the beings he knows are beings with single hearts, and in theory there should only be one emotional heart for a being.

But it's just a theory and theories can always be proved to be wrong. So after a moment he speaks up again.

"I do not know. It's never been tried before."

[neverendingbeat]

"Oh good," says the Master. He looks at the Doctor, grins, and then shoots Martha. "We start with him, then, and find out. Up you come, Doctor, over here. Obey your Master." The Doctor looks a moment as if he's not going to do it, and then his shoulders hunch and he stands and walks over to stand in front of the Master, his eyes sad. "Get rid of that," the Master says to the guards, and as they carry Martha off, the Master grins eagerly at Xemnas. "Come on! You have me on tenterhooks, whatever those are."

[letxequalnull]

Well, things are certainly looking up, there's no mistake about that. There's only one thing missing, and so as the syringe slow begins to fill up with darkness, he turns to look at the Master.

"Does he need the both to live, or can he survive on one alone?"

A very important detail if part of the process (usually) involves death.

[neverendingbeat]

"He can survive on one, even though it hurts," says the Master smirking at the Doctor. "You'll fill both, though, won't you? Otherwise we'll miss out on the most exciting part of the experiment!"