The Master's Game (Doctor Who)

Empire of dust

Roka stared wide-eyed at the now empty spot where the Master had sunken down moments ago, just to suddenly vanish into thin air. Everything had gone so incredibly fast... too fast for her mind to catch up. But it did eventually, everything rushed down on her like a waterfall of fire, burned her insides, twisted them in such painful ways that she thought she'd die any moment.

"What..." Roka mumbled in disbelieve and stared at her trembling hands. "What did you make me do?"

Hot, painful tears burned in the corners of her eyes like acid. It wasn't true. It was impossible! She hadn't...

The Doctor hesitantly lay a hand on her shoulder from behind. "Where did he go?" he asked, his voice breathy and filled with as much disbelieve and confusion as Roka felt.

"I..." The tears now came, silently ran down her face, hot and unstoppable. "Doctor... what did I do?" she whispered shakily, still staring at her hands. So, so long ago she had sworn to herself to never take a life again. And now she had... and not just any...

Carefully the Doctor grabbed Roka's arm and helped her up. She saw the same terror in his eyes that was in her heart, the same disbelieve, shock. "I didn't know this would happen." His voice was trembling, his eyes wide and darting around, as if he hoped the Master would reappear. "If I had, I would have warned and stopped you, I swear!"

Roka's legs were like brittle logs, refusing to carry her weight. If the Doctor wouldn't hold her arm, she would have simply sunk back down to the ground. And for a few moments she could only stare at him, silently begging him to tell her that this was just a bad dream, that she would wake up, that he could fix it!

"I... I killed him!" she cried out eventually and suddenly started to shiver violently.

"No... no... Roka," the Doctor tried to appease. "He tricked you into doing it."

"That doesn't change anything!" she sobbed. Her head was so dizzy, any moment and she would simply collapse. It couldn't be. It couldn't... It hurt too much!

The Doctor pulled her into a careful hug and rocked her back and forth. "It's not your fault. Not your fault. Don't think that for even a second."

But all she could do was to sob uncontrolled into his shirt and wish she could wake up, could stop the numbing pain in her chest and in her very being. At the same time she knew it wasn't a nightmare. And the thought ripped her apart. Why? Why had he made her do this? It was not fair. It was cruel, and he surely had known it.

"I know him since we were children," the Doctor eventually muttered, still gently swaying back and forth. "But I never thought I would see him doing something like this."

An eternity passed before the tears ran dry and Roka looked up at the Doctor, who was thinking intensely about something. She pushed herself a bit away and ran a sleeve over her face.

He wasn't dead. Not really.

"He had an emergency teleport," she explained toneless. "For cases when regeneration wouldn't be an option." The Doctor simply nodded as if he had already guessed something like that, and she continued, her voice bitter, "I was so dumb to never ask to where it would bring him though. But it has something to do with resurrection."

"Yeah, that makes sense." Tongue between his teeth the Doctor marched up and down. His face displayed concern and... fear? "That's not good... not good at all... I have to find him. Quickly."

Roka took some deep breaths. "Yes, let's hurry."

"No, Roka." He shook his head determined. "You have to stay out of this."