She learned it the hard way. Some people were never meant to exist. Not even the Doctor wants her as a companion. But then the Master saves her from certain death and discovers that this human girl might be of more use to him than he expected.
Ranki...
A/N: So... 2021... same old, same old. Somehow it's only getting worse instead of better... but that seems to be the process with every shitty thing. It has to get really bad before it can start getting better again... right?
Eh... that actually fits this chapter quite well...
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He carried the Doctor all the way back to the TARDIS, through burning debris, heaps of ashes, splinters of glowing wood and a snowstorm of glimmering embers. I followed behind silently, not daring to speak a word to disturb the strange image in front of me.
Only in the console room did the Master drop the other Time Lord into the jump seat.
"Not the med bay?" I asked, eyeing all the scratches on the Time Lord.
The Master glared at me, his look so angry as if he wanted me to dare speak up ever again, then bent down to lightly touch the other one's temple. A second passed in silence. The Doctor groaned, lifted his head. Soot and blood covered his face and clothes. Groggily he blinked at the Master, his hand twitched upwards, enclosed the one on his temple, but only to guide it away from him.
"Oh good," the Doctor murmured. " TARDIS. Don't want humans to- ahh!"
The Master smacked him right across the face.
Only his surprised outcry disturbed the otherwise silence that followed. It hung in the air so heavily, I was almost certain to never hear a sound again. The Doctor seemed equally shocked, held his cheek.
"Auuu..." he eventually murmured defiantly and shrunk together when the Master bent over him, both hands on the jump seat next to his head, a murderous glare in his eyes.
"What were you thinking, you bloody idiot?" the Master growled angrily. "A perception filter! As if that would work on a freaking dragon!"
"Well, it did... for a while." The Doctor's voice pitched to a defiant squeak under the other one's glare.
"And it almost killed you!"
The Doctor opened his mouth, but shut it again, quickly. Somehow he managed to sink even deeper into the seat.
"N... nice of you to be so concerned, Master, but.."
The Master snorted and rolled his eyes. "My only concern, Doctor..." He spat the name as if it were something disgusting. The closer he bent down, the further the other man sunk together. "...is that you let yourself be killed by something else than me!" Almost sweetly he added, "And we'd both be disappointed by that."
The Doctor let out a weak groan, but if of annoyance or because he was in pain was hard to tell. Parts of his coat were scorched, there were scratches and dirt all over him. Otherwise he seemed surprisingly well.
"Are you alright?" I dared to ask, almost feeling the Master's anger, but ignoring it.
"Yup," the Doctor somehow brought out, despite his crumbled together pose. "Kind of. Just... my head's a little messy." Finally the Master straightened himself and let the Doctor sit up, what he promptly did. His hands quickly were busy dusting himself off. "I think it's an egorlblak," he told, not looking at either of us. "Ancient species that is said to have inhabited many planets. No one knows how they get there, just..." He spread his fingers and finally looked up, only at me, though. "Appear. One day they are seen. And one day they are gone again."
