13th Doctor & The Master || Be My Equal

Don't Run From Me

The Doctor groans as she wakes up on a flat, uncomfortable bed.

The Master is sat, staring out into the morning sun through a tall glass window.

"The stars look different in the day, don't they." He says calmly, not turning around. "They're less clear, less significant. Less meaningful. Not all things thrive in the light, Doctor.

She responds with a moan. "You drugged me."

"I cured you."

"Which involved putting me to sleep for....how long?"

"A few hours. I hope you're well rested."

She yawns loudly without care and rubs her face, adjusting her eyes to the light.

"Am I allowed to leave or will I have to bargain my way through that as well?" She grouches.

He turns his head to her and gives a light smile. "You can leave whenever you want. I promise I'll let you go without any hassle."

She stands up from her bed, feeling her bones crack into place.

"And if I stay?" She questions, interested to see his response.

"Then I'd let you stay, without hassle." He then pauses, his somber eyes dropping down. "But I know you don't want that."
He waves a hand to her in dismissal. "Go, run off to your humans and skirt around the universe in your TARDIS. I have what I want now."

"You wanted me to suffer. That's what you wanted."

"I wanted my key."

"No, you were angry at me. At the citadel, you said 'all I am is because of you.' You said, you couldn't bare that. Why?"

The Master gets up from his chair with a fury.

"I already told you why. But I didn't think you'd listen anyway. You were too caught up in everything."

She huffs a laugh. "Can you blame me?"

"Well I can say it again. Hopefully this time you'll listen and not get caught up in your....ego."

He pauses, seeing her eyes flaring up like a burning star.
Then lets out a deep sigh.

"I was angry because you've always shown yourself to be better, more special, more kinder than everyone else. That you were more....superior, and when I found out..." his voice fades away.
"When I found out that it was, in fact true, that you really were the timeless child." He says with disgust, like the title is a curse. "I knew that you'd never be my equal. That I would always be lesser. That you'd never stand with me." He laughs, painfully, eyes beginning to glaze over.
"But I did try. I tried to make you me. Make you destroy yourself....for me. To prove that if you were going to die, we'd do it together in the end. Standing side by side." His face turns to ice. "But you ran. Like you always do. You ran, Doctor."

She can't look him in the eye because she knows it's all true. She did think herself as better. She even announced it to his face in the Citadel. 'I am so much more than you.' And that crushed him. It made him think he wasn't good enough for her. That he never would be again.

The Doctor opens her mouth to speak but before she can a loud bang echoes from the back of the room.

"DOCTOR!" Yaz cries.

"Doctor? You've been gone a while, we were getting worried." Ryan exclaims, footsteps quickening.

"Are you in here Doc?" Graham shouts, before seeing her face round the doorway. "She's in here!"

Yaz bursts in and shoots a glance at the Master. His emotions are cold, still staring at the Doctor, waiting for a reply.

She gives him it.

"You can stand with me. Here, right now." Then she offers her hand out as he once did to her. "Take my hand."

"What?" Ryan blurts, confusingly.

The Master shakes his head. "No, no, you don't get it. If I take your hand I'm giving into you. I'm giving into your superiority of turning everyone good and kind. I will not Doctor. I will not become you."

"Doctor come on, let's go." Yaz urges.

"But I do offer you this." The Master holds out the key to his TARDIS. "Stop running. And come with me. I'll show you what you really are. And you'll see for yourself. It's in there, you know it. I know it. The darkness. You just need my help and you'll learn to be like me. You'll be my equal and then eventually...."

The Doctor gulps down.

"You'll do what you couldn't do in the Citadel." The Master finishes.

"Doctor?" Ryan mutters, quietly.

"You can't." Yaz demands. "You can't, he just said he'll kill you!"

"We'll stand together." The Master protests. "That's all me and her have wanted."

"Don't do it."'Graham finishes.

The Doctor takes a step back from him. "I've been running all my life. Saving and helping people. I can't....I won't turn into this darkness you think I am. I won't change for you."

She sees the infinite pain in his deep brown eyes.

"But you can always change for me." She smiles, stepping back from him.

"No." The Master whispers.

Yaz, Ryan and Graham leave as the Doctor turns away.

"No, don't leave. DON'T YOU DARE RUN FROM ME AGAIN!"

He grabs her by the hand. This is his last chance. Funny, now he's the one begging.

"Please." He aches out from his lungs.

"You promised you'd let me go without hassle, remember. Keep your promises for me." She then simply grasps his fingers tight with both her hands, and lets him go.

The Master falls to his knees.