The Faithful Companion

[bungakertas]

Spoilers: Big, major, flashing-neon-sign spoilers for “The Last Of The Time Lords.” Seriously don’t read this if you want to be unspoiled.
Disclaimer: “Doctor Who” and related characters and situations are the property of the BBC. No money changed hands and no copyright infringement is intended or implied.
Feedback: All comments are welcome.
Author's Notes: You know that scene after the funeral pyre in “The Last Of The Time Lords?” The one with the woman’s hand and the ring and no body in the background? Yeah, this is my take on that.
I currently have no beta-readers, so any mistakes or weird anythings are my own. Feel free to inform me of any problems you spot in whatever language you deem appropriate. :)

*~*~*

It was quite cold on the hill where the Doctor held his funeral for the Master. Extremely cold, in fact, and Lucy didn’t have much anymore in the way of money or clothes. The Doctor had done something to Harold’s accounts. Everything was gone. But she’d stashed this outfit away along with some other supplies, in a capsule the Master had built for her, “Just in case.” It was black, with lots of pockets. In a way, she was reminded of that Martha Jones bint who’d hung around with the Doctor.

Lucy Saxon was a number of things. But first and foremost, she was loyal. “My faithful companion,” the Master had called her. And she was also not nearly as much of a battered wife as she and Harold had had everyone believe. Yes, he was cruel and harsh and all the things that everyone else had hated him for, but he was hers. And despite all the show he’d put on, he’d always taken care of her. During that year that the Doctor (damn him!) had managed to erase, she and the Master had been playing a subtle game.

The Master hated loosing. Hated it. But he had lost before, usually to the Doctor, and he was far too smart not to have a back-up plan. So, gradually, over a year, the Master had started in with the other women and the ignoring of her. And she’d become progressively more and more unhappy-seeming. If it looked to everyone as if there was division between the two of them, then no one would guess there was any sort of a “plan B” available.

So they’d watched carefully. They’d actually been about ready to drop the charade when the Doctor had brought it all crashing down. If the Master’s plan had succeeded…

But it didn’t, which was why she was out in the cold, watching with horrified impatience as the Doctor brought that torch to her husband’s funeral pyre. Following the Doctor had been simple enough. The Master had placed a tracking device in the Doctor’s screwdriver long ago. Lucy wasn’t quite sure how he’d managed to prevent it (and that capsule with all the things she had now) from being rewound with the rest of that year, but she wasn’t going to question it too closely. The Master was a Time Lord, after all. He must have known this could happen.

And so when it had all fallen apart, she’d done exactly what they’d planned. A betrayal so public and outrageous that no one would think she could possibly still be on the Master’s side. Something so dramatic that no one would ever suspect it was just a cover. And while Harold had never actually said the words, “Lucy, I want you to shoot me,” he had told her that if afterwards he said, “I win,” then she would know she’d done right. From there, it was up to her to somehow find him and get him his ring.

“Hurry it along, Doctor,” she whispered as he watched the flames for a moment, with something like grief on his face. Then he turned and walked away. His TARDIS was about a hundred meters off, and no sooner had he entered the door, but it started wheezing and becoming more and more transparent until it disappeared entirely, leaving only some zipping noises to mark its passage.

Lucy scrambled up and ran for the pyre. The flames were already quite high, a little work with the Laser Screwdriver fixed that. They died down and she pulled his body off the top.

“Please, Harry, please be all right,” she whispered, unwrapping the cloth that covered his head, hoping for his face to still be the same.

And it was, but it was far too still. He couldn’t be alive. But he’d warned her that that might be the case, so she pulled him back from the pyre as far as she could and then gone back to sift through what ashes there were, looking for his ring. The heat from the still-warm wood almost burned her fingers and was painful after her hands had been cold for so long. She had trouble gripping anything, even though, in the end she had to climb up to the top of the pyre and pull up some of the boards in the center to find it. But finally, the ring was in her hands. She slipped it into a vest pocket.

Behind her there was a golden flash of light, and she turned, hearing laughter.

“Harold? Master?” she yelled. Lucy climbed down and raced over to the body laying on the ground. Her husband, her Master was gone, and there was a new face there. This new man seemed older. He seemed taller, too. There were more lines on his face, for sure, and more gray at the temples. He had more hair than Harold had, too, and it was darker. Almost black. Blue eyes were looking up at her where brown eyes had been.

“Lucy! Quick, there’s not much time,” he told her. “Get me out of this.”

“Harold?” Lucy shivered in the cold, trying not to

“Master, darling Lucy, now don’t argue! I’ll explain when I can, but you must obey me. Get me loose.”

Lucy nodded and pulled out a knife, making quick work of the wrappings the Doctor had had him in. The man was wearing the same clothes Harold had worn on the Valiant that day, but now the cuffs of the sleeves and pants were too short.

“Idiot Doctor. Think! What next?” The new man who claimed to be the Master reached out and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her.

“You told me to get you your ring,” Lucy ground out, trying to ignore the shaking and the cold.

“Good girl, Lucy! Hurry, give it to me.”

Lucy fumbled with fingers that were going numb again, but handed it over. He smiled a bit madly as he looked at it, and then used his fingernails to press some of the circles on its face in sequence.

Nothing happened.

“What did you do?” Lucy asked.

“Just listen, my girl,” he told her with a smile.

Lucy frowned, confused. Listen to what? But then, a few zipping noises came out of nowhere and an odd, cyclic wheezing filled the air. It was like the sounds the Doctor’s TARDIS had made, but these were smoother and more controlled. As if the machine making them were better tuned.

A box was starting to appear. It looked like a small tool shed had been built on the top of the hill. Given where they were, it made perfect sense.

“A TARDIS?” Lucy asked incredulously, looking down at this man she’d just rescued.

“Surely you didn’t think I got to the end of the universe by walking?” the man asked her, looking maniacally gleeful.

Lucy stared into this face for a few moments, into these new eyes, trying to gauge what she thought of it. What was really going on. And the man just looked back. But there was that little animation in that gaze. The dark creativity that had drawn her in, and suddenly she just knew.

“Master, it is you, isn’t it?”

“Yes it is, Lucy-girl. Help me into the TARDIS,” he told her. “I’ll be out of commission for a bit soon. Best to be in the Vortex by then.” He pressed another circle on his ring, and the door to the shed swung open.

“A remote control?”

“Stattenheim remote,” the Master nodded. “Very useful.”

Lucy pulled one of his arms around her shoulders and they staggered upright.

“Easy there. I think I’m taller than I was,” he said.

Lucy didn’t respond, focusing instead on getting them into his TARDIS. They limped over and entered.

It was dark inside, but lights came up as soon as they entered. Lucy stared around in surprise. There were round depressions set into the walls, and iron-looking support beams running in a ring around the outside. Everything looked very green and black, and there was huge and imposing round computer console in the center.

“How can all this fit—,” Lucy started.

“Bigger on the inside,” the Master muttered, “like the Doctor’s TARDIS. Over to the console now.”

Lucy helped him over. The console panels were all sleek touchscreens and clean lines. The Master made a few quick motions before a quiet hum filled the air, and she felt them take off smoothly. The Master touched a few more spots on the console before collapsing to the floor.

“Master!” Lucy yelled.

He could barely keep his eyes open, but he managed to speak a little. “Other door…not the one that goes outside…find a bed. I’m going to sleep now.”

And with that, he passed out.

Lucy stood, looking around curiously. And there it was, the other door. It led out of the console room and down a hallway. Lucy entered the hall and began opening doors. The first few were full of complicated equipment that she couldn’t hope to make out, but the fifth door she opened had a very soft and comfortable bed, and a big squashy sofa and some chairs in front of a fireplace with a roaring fire.

She went back to the console room and put her arms under the Master’s shoulders, pulling him back into the bedroom. It took some rather undignified shoving to get him onto the bed and get the now too-tight shoes off, but she managed it in the end.

Finally, she was able to collapse onto that delightfully squashy sofa, let the heat from the fireplace wash over her, and just think about everything that had happened. She wasn’t the Prime Minister’s wife anymore. For all she knew, she wasn’t even the Master’s wife anymore. This new man seemed a bit nicer than the old one had, but she’d been safe with the old one. Whatever he would have done to anyone else, he never would have hurt her. She didn’t think.

She almost cried for a moment, but her eyes were too heavy and her breath too slow for her to do it. She’d been going for so long and she was so tired and the couch was so comfortable. Just a nap. That’s what she needed. Just a little sleep.

She woke to the aroma of coffee. Strong and sweet, the way she loved it, and it smelled hot, too.

“Waking up, Lucy?” asked a voice. It turned her blood to ice as she remembered everything. Her Master was gone. A stranger took his place, and now she didn’t know what would happen next.

She looked up worriedly and saw the Master’s new face smiling pleasantly at her from another chair. He’d changed clothes, too. Now he was wearing a dark blue silk shirt and some deep black trousers. He seemed a little more casual than he had, but there was something around the edges that was a little bit terrifying.

“Can’t join your husband on the bed, Lucy?” he asked. “Surely you can’t be frightened of me?”

Lucy didn’t speak. She had no idea what to say. But by the way that smile turned slightly hard-edged, he knew what she was thinking.

“You’re quite right to be afraid, of course. I am the Master, and all should fear me. But this regeneration seems to have an even softer spot for you than the last one, so I think you may be the only exception to the rule.” He held out a mug. “I’ve brought you coffee.”

She took it.

“This regeneration seems to have a sweet tooth, as well. I couldn’t actually stand to drink the stuff,” he went on.

Lucy pulled herself up, realizing for the first time that her shoes were gone, she was laid out flat on the couch, and there was a blanket covering her. The Master had looked after her while she slept?

She took a sip of the coffee. It was perfect.

“How long was I asleep?”

“It’s been about thirteen hours since we boarded the TARDIS. You slept longer than I did. You must have been tired.”

Lucy nodded. The next question wasn’t one she was looking forward to asking, but she had to know. “The…drums? Can you still hear drums?”

“No.”

The silence stretched between them until Lucy finally asked, “Where are we going?”

“My dear girl, we’re there. I’ve taken us to about four thousand years in your past, to the place where Cardiff will be built,” he told her.

Lucy stared at him curiously.

“Cardiff is built on a rift in the universe, and it gives off energy that we can use as fuel,” the Master told her. “Unfortunately, the Doctor tends to use this spot as a pit stop as well. We can’t use it at your time or we risk running into him.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t worry, my girl,” the Master told her. “We may be beaten, but we aren’t done yet. First, I’ll have to find some way to properly thank you for saving my life. And then…well, this TARDIS isn’t stuck between two spots in space and time. This time, I can show you the whole universe, and this time…” He smiled that frightening smile again. “Oh, this time we’ll find some way to beat the Doctor for good. I will rule this universe, yet. And you’ll be at my side, Lucy. Every step of the way.”

Lucy goggled. His words sounded so mad, but his eyes were completely clear. The mania that had ruled his last incarnation was completely gone, and this calm assurance was a bit terrifying. But as he continued to explain to her about regeneration and what had happened to him, Lucy found herself relaxing. And then getting a little excited. If anyone could manage taking over the whole universe, it would be the Master. And she’d be right next to him.

A Time Lord and his human companion.

*~*~*

Author's Notes: For the Master’s new regeneration, I was imagining Pierce Brosnan. I suppose that’s not terribly relevant, but that’s what went on in my head, anyway.