Its hard to have trust issue when there is no trust at all.

[themastereffect]

So he'd been here for roughly a week now and within that week, he'd only been here in a helping capacity, not because he felt any needed to stay, of course. The Doctor was meant to be fixing their minds, they weren't here to have tea together and chat about the universe and their own moral and philosophical beliefs. Even if they had done so twice,

Comments

[notsoperfect10]

It was bad for the Doctor. Each day seemed to make the other Time Lord a little bit more manic or a little bit more twitchy. There was nothing left to do about it. He'd either sink or swim.

There were times of course when the drums faded out. Usually these times didn't occur when he needed them to the most or when he was actively perusing such a thing, but rather when he played ten dimensional chess with the Master or debated about the finer points of the Markalian Theorum that the Doctor had never quite grasped during their years at the Academy.

This was shaping up to be a rather bad day for the Doctor. He was already getting frustrated and cursing wildly and colorfully at his tools before he fell into a silent huff and sank further still into euphoria.

He ran at once to find the Master. "We need a ganglopartical emitter!"

[themastereffect]

"Well, we don't have one," Was his only response, not even boring to look up from the book he was reading about complex formulas on time travel. Half of which were very much wrong and he was attempting to correct with a pencil.

Well, what did the Doctor want him to do? Leap to his feet and go make one? He told the Doctor every day that this was his fault and he could fix it. It was cruel and harsh but he found it much easier to just blame the Doctor and distance himself from his ever fragile mind than over think it.

In the grand scheme, well it was kind of his fault. Or Rassilons! Either way.

"Have you tried the scrap draw? Your bedroom? In that room full of unused devices? If you've check there and still haven't found one, try the 67th century skip-planet."

[notsoperfect10]

"Right!" the Doctor said, bounding off and in five minutes, Master and Book went traveling clear across the room. Just because the Master pointed out the parking break, it didn't mean that the Doctor cared about correcting it. Anything even remotely familiar was something he very much needed right now.

The steady beat of the drums pushed and pulled him and tore him open. He was losing himself. It was worse feeling it than knowing it would be inevitable that he cracked.

Should the Master decide to join him in the console room when the Doctor 'parked,' he'd find the other Time Lord standing by the door, staring at it. He was counting fibers in the door, lost in thought, overcome by obsessiveness.

[themastereffect]

Ah, great! There went the book, sliding down the gaps in the grating of the TARDIS floor. He knew that was a bad idea and yet he suggested piloting the TARDIS, why he did was beyond him? As he staggered to his feet, growling, he stalked out to find the Doctor.

And there he was, gawking at nothingness. Loudly clearing his throat, he waited for a response. For a sign of life. Was he really that out of it?

"Doctor?! You lost my book down the side and you're piloting is as awful as ever. Could you at least pay attention, I'm trying to critque you here and if you don't listen, you'll never learn."

[themastereffect]

"OI! I do not run like a girl!" the Master yelled, not willing to admit that yes, sometimes he did happen to run a bit like a girl... maybe it was because his hands flailed, maybe it was because he kicked his heels but it wasn't that bad.

At least... at least-- err, he didn't have stupid hair! Well, he could be childish too!

Running very consciously, he caught up the Doctor and offered him a glare before sliding his hands into his pockets to keep them safe. "Ye, yes, abandoned planets are never dangers and inhabited by dangerous creatures. Thats only happens like, what? Thousand and one times!"

It was like the Doctor was asking to get them into trouble.

[notsoperfect10]

"You do, you do, you do, you do, do, do, do!" the Doctor said, humming happily to the drums as he sonicked the door open. "And there we are, emergency lighting even seems to be on!" This was not a terrible thing to the Doctor, as the lights blinked on with their presence and hadn't been on already. The hallways lit up for them each time they turned a corner or opened a door and the Doctor made it a secret game every other turn to try and beat the light.

It was like watching a dog with three legs...a train wreck but sweetly and painfully loveable.

"Ooh! More handprints! Master, let's see if your fit any of them!"

[themastereffect]

While boy wonder ran around, leaping about to catch the lights and singing to himself, the Master kept up his guard, checking over each corridor they step into as critical as he could. He supposed that the drums were distracting the Doctor but not him, he could see what was happening. He could tell by the fresh blood prints that this couldn't be deserted unless it was very recent.

"I'm bored of this now, lets leave. If we leave now then I'll show you a more interesting planet. There are wild indigenous people who'd stone you to death for wearing pinstripe," he suggested with a bright smile, hoping to tempt him away from what he assumed was a death trap.

There was a sudden noise ahead of them, like heavy equipment toppling over and the bang actually made him jump. Though he managed to cover it well.

Ah great, that would probably be his horror-film badguy!

*squee* Master makes me so happy! *true love!*

[notsoperfect10]

"We're not attractive blonds!" the Doctor called out suddenly, back tracking to the Master to put his hands on his shoulders. "I'd like to go back to the TARDIS now, change into my brown suit, and visit the anti-pinstripe planet, if that's all right with yo--"

"Now now now." The voice was familiar. The sneer to it grating. "Now boys, you just got here."

The Doctor didn't turn around, he just blinked down into the Master's eyes.

"Look around my arm very, very slowly and if that voice belongs to the Rani, run like hell!"

[notsoperfect10]

It generally made no difference if the Master understood the reason for the Doctor's attack or not. It just happened sometimes, something snapped inside his head and poof, there he went.

Oh, like no for instance. Why he suddenly jumped the Time Lady was for a reason no one would be able to fathom. Namely, her shoes were annoying him as she pranced around.

He was quite happy beating her head into the floor in time with the drums.

[themastereffect]

"Woah, woah, woah, woah!"

Leaping across, the wrenched the Doctor off the Time Lady and hauled him back before he forced the Rani into another regeneration. Sometimes it was like a wild animal he couldn't contain. Once moment they'd be talking, the next moment he flipped out. The Master was littered in bruises from the Doctors insanity.

Pinning the Doctor to the floor, he sat on the Time Lords back and offered the Rani an apologetic look. He couldn't get up to help and frankly, he was bit indifferent to trying.

"Told youuuuu. Crazy, drums, rabid dog. Remember?"

[notsoperfect10]

Rabid was right! The Doctor snarled and hissed for ten or fifteen seconds longer before he fell still under the Master and let his aching forehead rest on the cool floor. "I want to go to the TARDIS," he murmured as the Rani pulled herself up, hands trembling as they slipped into her hair.

"I'll...I'll..."

She saw the Master just gaze at her and knew that something very wrong had happened here. She was a little too afraid to actually ask what. Theta and the Doctor were peaceful, roll over and scratch my belly types.

What the hell had happened.

"Explain this, Master."

[themastereffect]

Perhaps it was all the days of watching the Doctor or perhaps his own internal frustration but he simply gave the Rani a look of contempt before he snapped. "THE BEAT OF DRUMS!"

It was a feral wild yell that verged of a snarl as he got up and off the Doctor, his own fingers raking through his hair and tugging it. "Its the drums, remember the drums. One, two, three, four! In my head, it was always in my head. It was put there by Rassilon. The bastard ruined my life and now he's ruining the Doctor. Want to know why? Because both are selfish. Neither could let go or accept death. I could and yet here I am. The Doctor brought this on himself and now he wants me to fix it

Bumped!

[notsoperfect10]

The Doctor could say with all certainty that he really didn't think that the Master would actually do it. He blinked at the triumphant man with great big wide eyes and jerked toward to grab something, anything, to hold onto.

The world was spinning, his brain was spinning, time itself was spinning and the Doctor could do nothing but yell as he was flung across the room. He blacked out blessedly shortly thereafter, rolling against the back wall with a definite sigh of relief.

The Doctor did not know what happened. He had no idea how long he was asleep, but when he did come to, there was blood in his hair and his whole body ached...but he could smell it. Gallifrey.

[themastereffect]

The grass was red. That was his first thought when he woke up, just outside the door the grass would be red and he could lie on it and forget the searing pain running through him. It took a lot of awkward crawling and determination but he still managed to beat the Doctor outside.

Waiting in the red grass with blood dripping down his face, he lay just outside the distressed TARDIS and waited for the Doctor to come join him.

He couldn't help but be proud. He'd done it, even if it was unwise. He'd pulled it off and he couldn't be happier for it. The sky never looked brighter.

Sprawling out all his limbs lazily, he waited as he always would.

[notsoperfect10]

Why had he wanted this? The feeling of euphoria had died completely, drowned out by the less than blissful call of the drums. He need solace. He needed silence. He needed the Master.

It took ten very long minutes to pull himself up enough to see that the other Time Lord was gone and five more to realize that the doors to the TaRDIS were open. The smell of it was what was calling to him, the sirens's call of fresh grass. He had not laid in it since the night before his first wedding, side by side with his best friend.

The Doctor found that soul, battered and bruised though they both were, just outside of the TARDIS. The sound that came from the Doctor's mouth was sheer and perfect joy, nothing else. He dropped beside the blond, breathing hard. "You did it "

[themastereffect]

He supposed he should be more angry. More frustrated. But he wasn't, the planet didn't ruin him, Gallifreyans did. With a soft sigh, he looked over at the Doctor before wriggling over a bit so the Doctor could fit down beside him.

"I shouldn't of. Your TARDIS is going to hate us so much for that. And we've probably unlocked a way to get out of the Time Lord. Plus we've broken the rules of time and space. Aren't you meant to be lecturing me?"

He missed those days, he missed when the Doctor was more sane and logical.

Now the Doctor was just like him, wild and frustrated, not able to cope with the the drumming.

"We'll get better, anyway. Me and you. I'll fix your head so you can give me lectures all day, yeah?"

[notsoperfect10]

"A nudge! To jolt her open!" The Doctor was already off and running, most likely to stupidly cause a paradox or to unravel their own futures. The Doctor, without any sense of guilt or conscious, could do very terrible things and not even realize what consequences they would bring.

Like this, for instance.

Seeing Theta and Koschei brought back memories of a particular member of the Deca that he trusted inexplicably...and who was one of the youngest Time Lords to master TARDIS control.

Surely, he could help them with his idea of a 'nudge.'

[themastereffect]

Why did he have a very bad feeling about this? Oh yes! It would be that the Doctor was running out into the open and risking his anonymity to 'nudge' the TARDIS. Which was also a very unwise plan.

Chasing after the man, he stumbled awkward and only just managed to keep up. The Doctor was much faster than him, always had been.

"Slow down, Doctor! Think what you're doing. You could ruin our time line!"

Oh Lord, they were going to end up with a freaking paradox by the end of the night.

[notsoperfect10]

That caused the Doctor to slow down and blink absently at the Master. He had a better idea. A much better idea. "Now you?" he said, putting his hands on either of the Master's shoulders and bending down to look him in the eye. "You're absolutely right."

He could stop this from happening. Maybe stop the Time War too. Could love do that? Theta Sigma and Koschei were the most amazing people on this planet -- and he was not really being that subjective...they did survive, didn't they?

If he could get it through Theta's thick skull that he had everything he wanted in front of him...

Back to the river!

[themastereffect]

What the hell was the Doctor talking about? He was-- Oh. Ooooh. Oh no!

No, no, no, no, no, no! He wasn't! He couldn't. "DOCTOR! Don't you dare!"

Running the best he could, he just couldn't catch up to the Doctor. Instead, he just yelled in Gallifreyan behind the man, obviously unimpressed by this dreadful idea. Not only was his inner Koschei mortified at his biggest secret being spilled by a crazy mad man but he really didn't want his world to be rewritten so he loved the Doctor!

The closer they got to the river, the more he began to panic. Which is why he stopped, pulled off one of his boots, lined up the shot and fire!

Thwack! He nailed the Doctor as hard as he could on the back of the head, knocking him off centre.