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,

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[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

[themastereffect]

"We're also brilliant at getting ourselves almost killed, killed and oh yes! Getting ourselves screwed over for the rest of eternity. Thus far, we're pulling all three off perfectly."

Shoving the Doctor away, he stormed past, not willing to admit that he actually agreed. First thing was first, he was going to sulk, get angry then finally, start working.

He was aloud too, he was frustrated.

"Besides, unless you have a brilliant idea, you and I are going to be torn to shreds."

[notsoperfect10]

The wasn't exactly true. They could embrace their merge and work together with it, but neither Time Lord was willing to do that, not yet at least. The Doctor was so very angry. Right now, all he wanted to do was bang his head against a wall for a few hours.

Letting the Master go, the Doctor sat outside the TARDIS for a good, long while. He could feel the Master's anger and his distain. He could taste the bitterness of it.

After awhile, the Doctor just couldn't manage to stay away anymore, not when he could feel what the Master was feeling. He found him easily enough, tilting his head to the side. "What would you like to do more than anything else in the universe? Minus kill me of course."

[themastereffect]

The Masters hand was down the side of the TARDIS, trying to fish out his maths book as he totally ignored the Doctor at first. Course, it as hard to utterly blank him. Instead, he slid his hand out and looked up at the Doctor.

"Kill Rassilon. And the Rani. Maybe go back in time and beat Koschei to death with a towel?"

Well, the Doctor did ask. There wasn't much the Master wanted to do. Conquer? Rule? One last hurrah before the curtain close. A chance to show off his brilliance once more perhaps? But he knew that couldn't happen, not with the Doctor here.

"See Gallifrey, just once more, while we're on the topic of impossible things."

[notsoperfect10]

The Doctor stared quietly at the other Time Lord before he moved closer inch by inch. "You can't kill Koschei," he said. "And breaking the Time Lock will likely kill us both. I'd really rather not die," he said, falling into the Master's usual chair. He dropped a leg over the arm rest and yawned a little, head against the back of the couch.

He kicked his foot just a little. Wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle. In time with the drums.

"Why don't we go back to Earth? It's really quite lovely there. We can refuel...?" He could already feel the pounding coming back. "Before I lose it again."

[themastereffect]

The Master was quite for a while, staring ahead slowly as he listened to the Doctor shift in the beat. Slowly getting to his feet, he dusted off and took a deep inhale. He didn't want to go back and refuel, the Doctor asked him what he wanted to do.

So, naturally, he dashed to the control console before the Doctor could stop him and went right for main screen, fingers flying over the keys and he started typing in the formula for going around the Time Lock.

Dangerous, wrong and could potentially blow them both up but at this point, he was no reason to stop. Making sure the code was input, he left it to formulate before fiddling with the nearby gears. It would never work but at least he could try.

Even if the TARDIS was fight him tooth and nail and the Doctor would never let him. He had to try

[notsoperfect10]

Watching the Master leave the room, the Doctor started to sing rather happily before he felt the TARDIS groan in anger. Blinking slowly, he got himself to his feet, tilted his head owl-like to the side, and headed towards the hall only to realize what was happening.

"You'll kill us! You'll-- Master! Master no! No, no, no!"

He flailed his arms, but it was too late. The Master only needed to push one more button. Holding out his hand, the Doctor swallowed and shook his head.

"It doesn't have to be like this. Master. Master...stop it."

[themastereffect]

As the TARDIS sparked wildly and tried to knock the Master over, he gripped onto the console and glared down at the button. No one could stop him from pressing it, his hand gently hovered over it. The Doctor had no way of stopping him, none at all.

"What do we have left to lose? We can die alone, bitter and not mattering to this universe or we could go home? Just once. We could see our home, we could feel the red grass and see the orange sky. I want that Doctor, I don't want to just die here."

He couldn't deny that his hand trembled, his palm softly covering the button but not pressing down. There was no way to stop him if he wanted to. But he couldn't bring himself to do it.

He just needed a reason not too.

[notsoperfect10]

"You're not going to die," the Doctor said, teeth gritting. "You're not going to die. No one is going to die. We're going to be here forever, doing this forever. We haven't ruined half the universe yet. You keep on picking on Earth."

The Doctor kept inching closer.

"We're...we're an us now, right? Me. You. What happens to you, happens to me." He swallowed a little and then breathed out through his nose. "No. No, you can do it. Push the button," he growled. "Push it! Let's see the sky! Let's lay in the grass!"

He was getting closer and closer. If the Master didn't do it, the crazed Doctor would.

[themastereffect]

The TARDIS can practically screaming in his ears and without the drums to usually fuel his mayhem, he was left stuck on the spot, something crawling through his mind and stopping from doing what he wanted. To pressing down on that button and taking them home.

He knew the TARDIS would never forgive them, he knew it was wrong and for some reason, he didn't want to do it. There was something churning in his stomach, something he hadn't felt for years.

Guilt. Not his. Oh no, it was the Doctor.

"...We can't do this," he finally said, keeping his hand over the button almost protectively. He didn't know what happened, why his mind suddenly changed like this. He just knew he hated it. He hated having a sense of morality.

[notsoperfect10]

"Do it!" the Doctor shouted in his face, caught up in a fit of static mania. He hopped around so much like the Master had on the Valiant that it was, truly, an uncanny resemblence or the best impression possible this side of the timeline.

He gripped the Master's hand, but did not press downwards. His touch simply lingered.

"We'll go together. That's all I want."

[themastereffect]

He could see it, the switched roles, how they both were. He hated it, he really did. The Doctor was so much like him now and he was the one worrying over moral implications. He knew what the Doctor would do, he would fight him off and command he didn't. Instead, the Master looked down and shook his head.

That was it. Battling against that annoying voice in his head, the Master slammed his hand down in an act of defiance. This was how it was meant to be, they were meant to do this.

As the TARDIS rocked wildly and struggled with the command and the Master had to hold on tight. If they even managed this, he wasn't sure if the TARDIS would even stick around with them.