The Changing Man (Doctor Who Fan Story)

Chapter 29

I woke up slowly, allowing my eyes to adjust to the bright light that flooded in through the fabric skylight of the tent. I stretched my legs, and I felt terribly hot, too hot for my liking. I looked down and saw an arm wrapped around my waist, grasping at the fabric of my shirt, however i knew that it wasn't the Masters arm, who was sprawled out beside me. Carefully, I glanced over my shoulder and noticed Jack was pressed against my back, his face buried into the pillow. His closeness unnerved me and I gingerly removed his arm from my waist, trying not to wake him. But I didn't expect the movement would make his arm clamp down with a grip of steel, his other arm snaked around the other side of my waist and dragged me closer, like a wolf dragging its prey into the depths of his den. I struggled for a moment, caught in the conflict of trying not to wake Jack but trying to free myself.

I struggled for a few moments, and as if by magic, The Master began to stir, his eyes blinking away as they adjusted, and immediately hardened to watch Jack's arm sliding down to grab by right breast in his sleep. I muffled an annoyed squeak that had involuntarily bubbled up in my throat.

"Get off her, you bastard!" And then he launched himself at Jack, who woke up as he heard the Masters thundering voice. His body collided into Jacks, the contact created a noise almost like thunder and immediately his body was no longer touching me and I was left alone in the sleeping bag as the two men tumbled around on the floor, growling and swearing like a couple of sailors.

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I had crossed my arms around my body as I stared at the ruins of the tent, standing outside in the morning light where few people stirred by tending small and delicate fires. The two men that were at each others throat about half an hour ago were now standing on either side of the small clearing, their clothes were slightly torn, Jack was covered in blood as he had sustained multiple deaths, his eyes were wide open and alert. However, the Master almost seemed untouched, his hair was ruffled in a delicious sort of way that made my stomach hunger, his eyes were stony even though it was the colour of molten honey and his posture was so calm and relaxed, I wouldn't have thought that he had been involved in a death brawl.

"So what was the cause of all this then?" asked my father, who stood near me with disbelief in his eyes, his lips were pursed, a sign that the wrath that is renowned for making Daleks fear him, was not far behind and close to erupting.

"The Captain was touching something that wasn't his to touch" Growled the Master, his raised his eyebrows sky high when Jack replied.

"It happened in my sleep, I cannot control what I do in my sleep" He then turned to me "I'm sorry Ashly for touching you and..."

"Save it Jack, I'm still pissed off about you barging in last night" I interrupted him, almost startling myself about my sudden boost of confidence that I didn't know I had.

"Hey guys, I don't want to alarm you all, but I think we should get a move on. We can get some distance before any more danger arrives" Martha called to us from the next small clearing, where she changed some bandages on an elderly lady.

"I would say that danger is the best bit... but your right Martha, we should discuss this another time. Right now we need to get going" The Doctor clapped his hands enthusiastically, his pursed lips had disappeared and so did the bubbling wrath inside.

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We were on the move once more, the people started to lag and so did I, my legs were like jelly and my eyes just felt like sand had been poured into them like an hourglass. However, one thing kept my spirits up, and that was from having the Master walk beside me, holding my hand even though we received sour glances from everyone around us. They kept their distance, as though they thought the Master would pounce on them and tear them apart like a big rack of ribs covered in BBQ sauce, picking the bones clean until they gleamed pearly white. I did my best to ignore them, especially the worried whispers and gossiping.

The Master had felt my unease and squeezed my hand gently, allowing the fear to melt away into nothingness. In this moment in time, I am completely happy and contented. Nothing can bring me down from this feeling.

However, the naughty and mischievous thought of dragging the Master off into the woods and peeling off his clothes with animalistic eagerness, still played in my mind, the scenario repeating and replaying every few minutes, as though I was a horny teenager with angst problems. And it seemed like I wasn't the only one with these thoughts. Glancing over towards the Master, I saw that a light sheen of sweat beaded on his brown and at the base of his neck, his dark pupils seemed to have inflated, filling the pool of liquid honey like dye. He caught my eye and snuck in a seductive wink and raising of his eyebrows, the way that makes your knees weak and your mouth water.

"We are almost there, I can feel it... The TARDIS is close, maybe a day or two away?" I heard the Doctor call out at the front of the column.

I reigned in my thoughts and half dragged the Master to the front of the long line, to slowly trudge through the undergrowth by my fathers side.

"You sure dad? I cant feel anything..." I whispered

"Well when your with the TARDIS as long as I have been, you get more attuned her... Yes, she is close, two days away, tops" The Doctor almost seemed relieved, managing to make his eyes sing even though they looked baggy and tired.

And this sent a chain reaction throughout the rest of the group, they all whispered a different tune, about getting away from the dangers of this planet and finding somewhere new to settle down, this made their paces quicken and straightened their backs as they pushed on.

"We have to keep a look out though, I know Einstern and his men,they won't give up this easily. They might be lying in wait for us when we get closer" The Master explained, his eyebrows knitting together as his eyes scanned the surrounding forest. I followed his lead and also scanned the forest, but I didn't see, hear or smell anything out of the ordinary.

"Yes, for once I agree with him. They don't seem like the characters to let us go just like that, maybe we should scout ahead?" Jack said, he crossed his arms over.

"Yes that is probably the safest way" the Doctor replied

A tired looking women suddenly trudged forwards, she looked as though she was in her mid-thirties, she clutched at a long makeshift walking stick and balanced her weight out so that her injured leg wasn't under any strain. Her skin was flecked with mud and her eyes were dull but looked panicked.

"But that will only take more time! We need to go now, escape from this planet and those murderers!" She croaked, voice paper thin.

"We can wait, better to be safe than sorry, am I right?" Kara comforted the women by holding her gently by the shoulders, stroking her long blonde hair with a caring and motherly hand.

"I am going to need to feed today, so I can go have a look after I am done" I said, steeping forwards to make myself known, realizing that the whole column of people had stopped walking and were listening with great intent.

"I will go with you" The Master squeezed my hand

"So will I" Jack stepped forward as well, his eyes pinned to me and The Master.

"You'll only slow us down Jack, best to stay here and protect the people" I told him, warning him with my eyes.

"But you need protecting too..." Jack hissed, as though he was dropping an obvious hint, his eyes darting between me and The Master.

"Hey! What about me? I could use some protection..." Donna sauntered over to Jack's side and flashed him an obvious wink, that only seemed to elicit awkwardness from Jack and everyone else who could hear.

"We can sort out groups closer to the time, for now lets keep moving until we find a suitable spot where we all can sit tight and wait to see if it is safe to carry on" The Doctor called, blinking his eyes as though he wanted to remove the image of Donna and Jack from his memory.

No-one could seem to argue with the Doctors judgment, and we resumed to walk through the forest in silence, I noticed Jacks gaze repeatedly darting towards me and the Master, who still held my hand as though I was a balloon and he was holding me to the ground. I didn't entirely lie, the Master did need to feed soon, however for me, I had another activity on my mind, that involved no clothes. Cue the dirty thoughts once more...