oncoming_storms Prompt 50
Susan Foreman had the same ridiculous capacity for hope as her grandfather.
She was desperately willing to believe that she could find some trace of the person he’d once been. Little Susan - no longer that little, actually - was all too happy to kiss the same man who’d bounced her on his knee when she was a Time Tot, trying to draw out the less than savoury memories as if she was sucking poison from a wound.
The Master had seduced her, luring her into his bed and away from her husband and her life on Earth, yet she refused to consider him a true villain. She was still so deliciously naïve, and it was rather nice to know that some things never changed.
They’d been rather close, back on Gallifrey. He’d never had children of his own, let alone grandchildren (although he’d had high hopes for the future, back then), and had invested a great deal in her upbringing. He’d given the young Gallifreyan her first set of Röntgen blocks to play with and he'd told her stories of the founding Time Lords, mixing together facts and legends until he came up with a combination that never failed to make her smile.
She’d been so promising. She’d always been intelligent, in fact, and, with her induction into the Academy - all those rules and restrictions! - many years away, she’d been a fresh piece of clay, just waiting for someone like the Master to come along and mould her. Perhaps into his own image or perhaps into something more.
His little prodigy.
He had told her all about the Prydonian Chapter, stirring her into an excited frenzy while her grandfather occasionally chipped in with stories of old tutors and childish antics. They’d both agreed that she would be a perfect Prydonian and little Susan had been all too happy to go along with it. She’d loved them both more than anyone else in the world, after all. She hadn’t even considered contradicting them, preferring instead to drink in their words like a flower soaking up the sunlight.
But then the universe changed its course. It denied Susan her life on Gallifrey and it denied the Master everything he’d been working towards. His future family. His best friend. Even his beloved prodigy ...
Although he hated the Doctor most of all, the Master eventually came to hate her as well. He hated her for creating an unexpected void in his chest with her departure, and maybe, just maybe, because she’d been so happy to leave with her grandfather while he remained behind.
Susan. Such a ridiculous name, such a human name. A character from a children’s book - ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’, or some such nonsense - when she’d always been anything but a child! She could have been so much more! The Doctor had stifled her potential. Allowing her to christen herself so ignominiously was only the beginning. Enrolment in an Earth school had soon followed, along with human companions on their TARDIS. What could he have been thinking?
The Master came to hate his former friend for that as well. His poor little Susan. She’d always deserved more than the Doctor could give her and the Master often wondered why he had never noticed as much back on Gallifrey.
He’d been grimly satisfied - and horribly delighted - to learn that the Doctor had eventually left his granddaughter behind as well. It righted the wrongs of their initial separation and, more importantly, left behind a vacuum just waiting to be filled by a knight in shining armour. Although their reunion came many centuries after his reunion with the Doctor, it still wasn’t too late to fix things. The Master had always been good at bidding his time.
He had found her on Earth, with a silly human husband and silly human children. She’d rushed out on to the lawn of her ramshackle little house, eager to see her grandfather and the familiar blue box again.
“You came back,” she’d breathed, burying her face in his neck, “You kept your promise!”
“Not exactly, my dear,” the Master had replied, “But don’t worry. I’ll put everything right. You can trust me ...”
She could have been so much more, but it wasn’t too late. They were Time Lords. Time Lords had all the time in the world.
Prompt: It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
Word Count: 725
She was desperately willing to believe that she could find some trace of the person he’d once been. Little Susan - no longer that little, actually - was all too happy to kiss the same man who’d bounced her on his knee when she was a Time Tot, trying to draw out the less than savoury memories as if she was sucking poison from a wound.
The Master had seduced her, luring her into his bed and away from her husband and her life on Earth, yet she refused to consider him a true villain. She was still so deliciously naïve, and it was rather nice to know that some things never changed.
They’d been rather close, back on Gallifrey. He’d never had children of his own, let alone grandchildren (although he’d had high hopes for the future, back then), and had invested a great deal in her upbringing. He’d given the young Gallifreyan her first set of Röntgen blocks to play with and he'd told her stories of the founding Time Lords, mixing together facts and legends until he came up with a combination that never failed to make her smile.
She’d been so promising. She’d always been intelligent, in fact, and, with her induction into the Academy - all those rules and restrictions! - many years away, she’d been a fresh piece of clay, just waiting for someone like the Master to come along and mould her. Perhaps into his own image or perhaps into something more.
His little prodigy.
He had told her all about the Prydonian Chapter, stirring her into an excited frenzy while her grandfather occasionally chipped in with stories of old tutors and childish antics. They’d both agreed that she would be a perfect Prydonian and little Susan had been all too happy to go along with it. She’d loved them both more than anyone else in the world, after all. She hadn’t even considered contradicting them, preferring instead to drink in their words like a flower soaking up the sunlight.
But then the universe changed its course. It denied Susan her life on Gallifrey and it denied the Master everything he’d been working towards. His future family. His best friend. Even his beloved prodigy ...
Although he hated the Doctor most of all, the Master eventually came to hate her as well. He hated her for creating an unexpected void in his chest with her departure, and maybe, just maybe, because she’d been so happy to leave with her grandfather while he remained behind.
Susan. Such a ridiculous name, such a human name. A character from a children’s book - ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’, or some such nonsense - when she’d always been anything but a child! She could have been so much more! The Doctor had stifled her potential. Allowing her to christen herself so ignominiously was only the beginning. Enrolment in an Earth school had soon followed, along with human companions on their TARDIS. What could he have been thinking?
The Master came to hate his former friend for that as well. His poor little Susan. She’d always deserved more than the Doctor could give her and the Master often wondered why he had never noticed as much back on Gallifrey.
He’d been grimly satisfied - and horribly delighted - to learn that the Doctor had eventually left his granddaughter behind as well. It righted the wrongs of their initial separation and, more importantly, left behind a vacuum just waiting to be filled by a knight in shining armour. Although their reunion came many centuries after his reunion with the Doctor, it still wasn’t too late to fix things. The Master had always been good at bidding his time.
He had found her on Earth, with a silly human husband and silly human children. She’d rushed out on to the lawn of her ramshackle little house, eager to see her grandfather and the familiar blue box again.
“You came back,” she’d breathed, burying her face in his neck, “You kept your promise!”
“Not exactly, my dear,” the Master had replied, “But don’t worry. I’ll put everything right. You can trust me ...”
She could have been so much more, but it wasn’t too late. They were Time Lords. Time Lords had all the time in the world.
Prompt: It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
Word Count: 725