The Master chases, the Doctor runs. That's how it has always been, that's how it will always end.
Deep inside his hearts the Master knows it.
It is one reason why the death of his human gnaws so much on him. With her it was the other way around.
But...
A/N: I'm not entirely happy with this chapter, but ehhhhhhhh, whatever. The next chapters will hopefully make up for it.
Also, happy ney year everyone!
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
The Master made a mental note to not get drunk again anytime soon, if ever again. The evening on the small island had been fun, no doubt about that, but now there was something missing. And he wasn't entirely sure if his way of coping, some hours before wouldn't slap him in the face all too soon.
Images of the past haunted his sleep while his body got rid of the toxin. Images of how he had stumbled over this stupid woman somewhere in a too small town. She had looked more like a boy with the short pixie cut and the nerdy glasses. And then that thing also possessed the audacity to have the same name as his former wife. As if the Master needed any reminder of that one. He dreamed of the moment he found that girl again, somewhere by the ocean, red blood dripping from her wrists, telling him to just let her die.
But the Master couldn't. Not when he had felt something in her mind cry out. Something that felt like it belonged to him. A mystery. And so he had broken the promise to let her sleep and had pushed some of his own life force inside this dying body to bring her back. To find out why the heck he would ever go and leave some sort of marker inside that human's mind to begin with.
He had never found out, in the end. Not really. He also had never planned to get attached to the little ape. But she had refused to stay away from him, too fascinated, too lonely, too curious. Even when he had scared her, she had always come back.
Something shifted atop of his chest. The Master slipped out of the not-sleep half dream, realising two things. First, the alcohol was gone. His body had done its job. Second, an arm lay over his chest, and it was attached to a certain Time Lord who slept soundly next to him.
The Master scrunched up his nose, contemplating pushing the arm away. When had it happened, anyway, that he allowed anyone to get so close to him? Not long ago and he wouldn't have even thought about staying the night, no matter the circumstances. It all had changed over the past year. The ape had made him soft, he decided. It was time to change that again.
Abruptly, he sat up and tossed the Doctor's arm down, startling him awake.
"Wh's happn'd?"
"I'm not your cuddle toy," the Master grunted, earning himself only a confused look.
The Doctor sat up and rubbed over his face with both hands, then looked up and suddenly beamed. "Hello there. Still here?"
Alright, this situation was uncomfortable. The Master really didn't want to talk. Not about why he hadn't left to sleep somewhere else, not about what they had done the previous evening and most certainly not about what this might mean to the way they now stood with one another.
"Tea?"
"Huh?"
"You want some tea?" The Doctor still wore that stupid smile.
