Revery of Silence (Doctor Who)

I - Running from the future

For the second time Roka entered the interior of a TARDIS that was unfamiliar to her. A lot more orange and vertical than that of the Doctor's previous incarnation.

"It's cool, he? I was sooo amazed, first time I came in." Amy had followed closely, blabbering on. "Oh right! You know all that already. I can't believe you actually lived here!"

"You redecorated," Roka remarked towards the Doctor. "Looks bigger."

"I don't like it." The Master wrinkled his nose and stroked a finger over the console. "Such a mess. And what's all that stuff here? My, my, no wonder you can't pilot that thing properly."

"She's absolutely fine!" the Doctor protested. "Stop mocking her!"

"And how can you be two hundred years old!?" came Amy's voice from somewhere between the chattering, completely ignoring the others.

"Frozen time stream," Roka just mumbled and shrugged.

She absolutely hated being here. Not because of the TARDIS, but because there were simply too many people, all of them talking, plus the bright lights and the machine humming. It all started to give her a headache in no time.

"You're fine?" the Master asked with raised brows. "Do those bots still make problems?"

"No..." She shook her head and glanced up. "Stop staring at me, all of you," she grumbled and folded her arms. "I'm not used to so many people around me, that's all."

"And you certainly don't make it better." Amy nudged the Master with her elbow and grabbed Roka by her shoulders. "How about you show me some... I don't know... secret cool places in here, and we leave those grumps to themselves?" Meanwhile she shoved her away from them.

"Oi, who's a grump?" the Doctor whirled around with a grin and pressed some buttons, pulled a few levers. "Apart from him of course." He thumbed towards the Master, without looking up from his machines.

"Hey, don't leave me with him!" the other Time Lord called after the girls, as they vanished through a door. "Gah! Great!"

"Why... it was you, who wanted to come along." With a now more serious face the Doctor sat onto the jump seat and kneaded his hands.

He still had no clue whether or not this was a good idea. Actually, it was the worst idea he had ever given into! Maybe apart from feeding the dloyoshwak hatchlings after the president of Fehytra had invited him to a dinner party.

"You're not leaking life force anymore," the Doctor finally broke the silence.

The Master stood leaned against the console, arms crossed and glaring at the ceiling; strangely calm and a completely different sight than the mad, jumpy something he had been the last time they had met. When he finally looked down, it was as if he had to pull himself into the present moment from somewhere far, far away.

"Yah, the Time Lords fixed my body," he answered a bit absent, then added quietly, "And the drums."

Ha! So that was why he was so different. For the longest part of his life, the Doctor had been convinced the drums were nothing but an illusion. Madness induces by the untempered schism. An excuse the Master used to get away with the things he did. Through Roka he had learned that it wasn't just that. That they had tormented his former friend a lot more than he had ever known.

And then he had heard them himself.

"All of this... Rassilon, Gallifrey in the sky... for me this was yesterday, you know." A smile creped over the Doctor's face. "And I thought... new face, new life. Leaving everything behind and start from zero."