For sinister_charm

[thecricketer]

The Doctor wanted to relax.

Usually he found such things rather boring, but even he could admit it was sometimes essential; after, perhaps, an emotional upheaval, and a battle with rabid fluffy toys. Funny; usually such an adventure would help put such things out of his mind, but it didn't work.

Perhaps this would.

The Eye of Orion may have been a predictable choice, he supposed, even dull, but there was no need for the TARDIS to be so stubborn about it.

"Now, really – " He stumbled, banging his shin against the console as his ship roared in his mind; since when did she hate...

...No.

No, she wanted to go somewhere else, somewhere specific.

Slowly, he straightened, holding tightly to the edge, and listened. He'd been so closed off, so rigid, that he never felt her own desperation. He didn't know the cause, but he knew that emotion so very well.

So very, very well.

Softly, "All right, old girl. Take me where you like."

Soon enough, they materialised on a scorched, barren world that made his mind shiver.

Well, he can't go back now.

Comments

[sinister-charm.livejournal.com]

His eyes went wide and black at the tell-tale sound of grinding engines. He hadn't heard those in so long, but he knew the noise as if it were instinctual. The Master inhaled deep, and in the air he could faintly pick up the smell of energy.

So the Master approached, wary and careful. He knew it would do him well to keep cautious - he had no desires to meet with any further misfortune; especially at the hand of the Doctor. Not after he had declined to be rescued from his plight.

From a few metres away, he crouched low, watching the TARDIS materialise fully on the hot sand. Oh yes, it was the Doctor, and he assumed the man had returned to attempt to rescue him, to force him to accompany him. He never learned.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

The air is hot and dry in his lungs, the ground is dying beneath his feet, and

He barely notices.

He's staring at a ghost.

The TARDIS door falls shut behind him, and he does nothing, rigid once more with shock and horror and something almost like relief.

"Master?" The word is hoarse, thin, weak, and he immediately regrets it, but it's just one more thing he can't take back.

[sinister-charm.livejournal.com]

Imagine his surprise at the Doctor when he steps out. It isn't the Seventh; no, it isn't the man who fought with him and whom he had tried to contact before things got too far gone. This is a relic of centuries past. He can't help but grin just the slightest bit, exposing his fangs.

Slowly he rose from his croutching position, taking a pose much more befitting him. Straight, rigid, strong, proud. It's the best he can manage, and in itself, it is a defense. "Why, Doctor," he said in a tone both low and soft. "Isn't this a surprise."

He curled his fingers into claws, in process hiding the ones on his own fingers (as he had since abandoned the gloves when they developed). Of all the Doctors, of all the times. It had to be him.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

It is only now that the change truly registers; bronze eyes and dagger teeth, this isn't the Master he knows, but it wouldn't be, would it?

He leans back against his TARDIS, just slightly, and manages to speak. His voice is stronger, now, but his eyes remain fixed and wide.

"To say the very least."

Time is knotting itself between them, tugging and pulling; he knows already that this Master isn't from his past.

You survived.

[sinister-charm.livejournal.com]

He growls lowly, and his curled fingers become fists. "You ought to leave, Doctor," he says in hard tones. "This isn't a place for the likes of you."

The desire to attack sits in the back of his mind, whispering to him, and it takes all his control to keep himself from viewing the Doctor as just barely above prey. The virus still raged in his body despite his attempts at fighting it, and it provided little alternatives.

"I'm certain there are other things more... suited to your attention."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He wants to agree. He wants to slip back into his TARDIS and forget the future like he's meant to. It's the safe, sensible, simple route to take.

Instead, he steps forward, away from the TARDIS, though the door remains in reach.

"This world is dying."

[sinister-charm.livejournal.com]

He nods. "And what of it?"

The Master doesn't move from his place, doesn't so much as twitch as the Doctor approaches. His eyes remain just as wide and his stance as stiff.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

A slight shrug.

"Only commenting."

He can still turn back, if he wants - but he doesn't want to leave, not enough, and neither does his TARDIS.

"Where is your TARDIS?"

[sinister-charm.livejournal.com]

"She isn't here." And that is as difficult an admittion as anything; a point that was still rather sore. He was foolish to have allowed himself be captured.

"In fact, I haven't seen her in months. Though I highly doubt you care for the details."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

His brow furrows, and he can't help the pang of sympathy; to be separated for so long, with no way to reach her...

"Then you have no way to escape."

And neither, he realises, does the Master's TARDIS.

[sinister-charm.livejournal.com]

He response is light, and his grin turns into something more resigned than anything else. "Indeed."

He hates being resigned, but he knows there is little he can do. He made his choice; to die with the planet than to be brought elsewhere and forced to become an animal.

"So, unless you wish to die along with this planet..."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

"You do?" There's a stunned quality to the words - the Master, resigned? The Deathless accepting death?

He takes another step, brow furrowing, curiosity guiding his gaze now as his voice lowers, softens.

"This isn't reversible, is it?" This wasn't your choice.

[sinister-charm.livejournal.com]

"It's better than the alternative."

The Master smooths his hands against his sides to prevent him from digging his own claws too far into his palms. It's silly to avoid causing himself undue pain when his death is soon to come, but he can't help it.

"As far as I know, it's permanent."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

He comes no closer - he's isn't that much of a fool - but his gaze remains probing.

"It's not so horrible, really."

[sinister-charm.livejournal.com]

He snarls. The Doctor might not've come close enough to warrant an attack, but his words did. "You know absolutely nothing," he growls - and that's almost literally, as voice turns into a mix of words and animal sound. "'Not so horrible?'"

The Master now begins to stalk forward, "Becoming an animal is 'not so horrible'?"

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

The Doctor holds his ground, and meets the Master's eyes.

"It goes deeper than the surface, then, thank you for confirming." The words are idle, but he'd be a fool to let down his guard.

"What caused it?"

[sinister-charm.livejournal.com]

The Master hisses with annoyance at the Doctor and reigns in his composure once more. "You're breathing it right now."

Slowly, he gestures around them. "A natural feature of the planet - an airborne virus."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

His eyes widen, and he almost steps back, closer to the safety of his ship; why risk such a thing for a dead man?

He doesn't move, of course, and curses his own weakness.

"I imagine continued exposure makes it worse."

[sinister-charm.livejournal.com]

The Master nods. "Correct. As does violence."

Of all the things. His death was immiment and here he was, discussing the points of the virus. What a lovely conversation to have as his last.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

"Ironic."

Another cautious step towards him as his voice softens, just slightly.

"You're not an animal, not yet." He raises a hand, brushing windswept hair from his eyes. "It might even regress once you're off the planet."

[sinister-charm.livejournal.com]

"Or it won't. I refuse to live that way."

He's tempted to step back, to retreat and force the Doctor to leave; but he stays, refuses to flee.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

"Giving up before you try?" Slowly, he shakes his head, hand falling to his side. "That's disappointing."

[sinister-charm.livejournal.com]

He stiffens once again.

"I am not giving up. I am simply not taking an uncessary risk."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

"Really." His lips curl in a faint, derisive scowl.

"Pathetic."

[sinister-charm.livejournal.com]

It's enough to make him livid. He bares his fangs at the Doctor, and growls lowly. "I could tear your throat out now, without hesitation. It'd make no difference to me."

The Master is as tense as a wound up coil. Everything about his body language hints to the fact he's right on the verge of just attacking.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

The Doctor holds his ground, and his voice is carefully level.

"You could. A fitting vengeance, I suppose. Of course it would leave you on a dying planet without a cure, but what does that matter?"

[sinister-charm.livejournal.com]

"Are you attempting to goad me into attacking, my dear Doctor?" He asks in a relatively steady tone. "If you are, you're being very foolish."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

The Doctor rolls his eyes. Does the Master think he has a death wish? Really.

"No, Master, I'm attempting to goad you into living."

[sinister-charm.livejournal.com]

"You fail to see my reasoning behind my choices, Doctor."

Goad him into living. He had already made his choice, and now he is being presented with the opportunity to make it again.

He sighs and shakes his head.

"I would rather be dead than become an animal. I refuse to allow any further loss of my identity and self control."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

"And how do you know we can't stop it?" His voice is louder, more urgent; he can feel this world dying around them, its time coming to an end as they argue, and he can't stand it.

No more than he can stand watching the Master give up.

"You haven't had access to any technology, any assistance, how do you know it's irreversible? Inexorable?"

[sinister-charm.livejournal.com]

He bares his fangs in response to the Doctor. "And what would you do if I were right? If you took me from here only to find that this is permanent, that it shall only continue on?"

It's grating on him, trying to get the Doctor to leave before the planet dies; to let him have the fate he chose. Yet he keeps arguing, and there's a part of him that wants - or needs - to prove him wrong.

"Would you kill me without hesitation, Doctor? Or rather, would you do it again?"

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

The Doctor scowls, and risks another step. His eye burn with the wind, but he refuses to close them. His palms sweat and sting, but he refuses to shield them.

Caution, of course.

"You can do it yourself."

[sinister-charm.livejournal.com]

He crosses his arms. "I already am - and you're attempting to convince me otherwise."

This was firmly getting no where. He isn't moving, and the Doctor is only getting closer. Both of them are too stubborn for their own good, really.

"If you so desperately wanted me to leave, you'd take responsibility. You are, after all, the one trying to get me to live."

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

The Doctor briefly wonders when they became so stubborn, and concludes that they always were.

"Fine." Pause.

"If nothing else I can always ask Peri."

[sinister-charm.livejournal.com]

"No," he says firmly. "You. Not Miss Brown."

This, he has decided, is something he will not budge on, for any reason.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

"I wasn't serious. Not to say she wouldn't, really, just that I would never ask." Now, of course, he's stalling, which quite defeats the point of this insane venture.

"...Fine, then.

[sinister-charm.livejournal.com]

He growls momentarily before nodding slightly. Now he does have to make a choice- the Doctor has offered to kill him, if needed, but there's that... that feeling he might not follow it.

"Good. That's an improvement."

Of course, he doesn't have time to think. He must make a decision.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

The Doctor forces a grin.

"Brilliant! Let's be off, then." He turns, then, if slowly.

[sinister-charm.livejournal.com]

"I wasn't aware I had agreed to leave completely." Though he is aware he needs to make a decision soon. Sorry for dashing your hopes there, Five, the Master is being a pest.

[thecricketer.livejournal.com]

The Doctor stiffens, and stops, and sighs.

"Well, do hurry up, it's rather hot out here."