The Master (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beholdthedrums) wrote2009-07-26 12:39 am
beholdthedrums) wrote2009-07-26 12:39 am
fic: To War We Go
Community: ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
justprompts
Prompt: What worries you masters you. -Haddon W. Robinson
Character(s): The Master, the Doctor, Donna Noble
Words: 1,265
Directly follows this. The evil!Donna thing I previously wrote ended up in its own little verse, and I wasn't planning on having anything after that particular piece (more going in the direction of everything leading up to it) but lol... things happen XD;
I was thinking about how the hell the Master ever thought that he could have a new Gallifrey up in the heavens. Seriously, dude, wtf. … I have no idea if this would actually work, of course, but hey. That’s life.And it's not like I really care
What worries you masters you. -Haddon W. Robinson
“It’s simple, Doctor. You first destroy the universe – break down the basic fundaments that hold it together, and then you push further. You find those other ruffles, those hidden corners of time. You find all those little locked periods that the Time Lords created, all those trapped planets… And you pop their locks.” The Master flutters his fingers through the air around him, eyes dancing. This is his greatest masterpiece yet. He’s so proud of what will be accomplished here, today.
“Let their chaos flood into the chaos of this universe, let it spread further and further until times are just so dark… And in that madness, Doctor, I do something that you could never bring yourself to do. I pluck out that little home of ours, right from the chaos, right from the shreds of a broken time-lock and the universe… and place it right amongst the heavens.” He folds his hands behind him and grins widely. “All. Hail. The Master.” Yes, simple.
“No, no, no… please. No. This is wrong - so wrong - and you know it. This is going too far. You can’t do this!”
“I can do whatever I want, Doctor!” the Master yells, fists clenched. “I don’t need you. I have your mind. I have what I need, finally. And you know what? You practically gave it to me. Isn’t that precious? Well, you always did fail at protecting your companions.”
He turns away from the Doctor, arms flung out, greeting the grating sound – oh, it was like the drums coming to life, echoing around them. Machinery expelling steam and music. Simply stunning. Donna truly is a genius. It should be the Doctor here, at his side, making this happen, bringing Gallifrey back. But Donna will have to do. Donna is a jewel in her own way, and only the Master is left to treasure her.
Beautiful.
“Can you hear it, Doctor?” the Master purrs, arching his head to the rafters. “Can you hear the cries of the universe? Can you feel time screaming? The Time Lords are coming back, you see. A war-torn planet, and I’m bringing them out to safety. I’m rescuing them, instead of burning them. You were always cruel in your own way, Doctor. Thinking you were making people and things better, but really…” He glances over his shoulder and grins at the Doctor’s shattering image, “I know you.”
And there’s the irony… only, the Master proved the Doctor wrong, once. That could not be reversed now. The Master knew the Doctor better than anybody, possibly even Donna. He knew all the tiny ways to break him, to set him spiraling into despair or becoming like a wild animal – the notorious Oncoming Storm. Oh yes. He always knew the emotional side of the Doctor.
With Donna, he had the logic in his grasp. The way the Doctor’s mind works without being bogged down by ethics. He was one-hundred percent Doctor-proof.
“They’re singin’ now, you raggedy bloke,” Donna chirps, bouncing back into the room, looking quite pleased with herself. “It’ll be quite the show, don’t’cha think?”
“Yes, indeed, Miss Noble.”
“Crack open the champagne, then?” she offers, then she glances over to the Doctor briefly and has to do a double-take to really take him in. She folds her arms and glares at the Master. “You still haven’t gotten rid of ’im yet?”
“All in due time, Donna. He has to see this. He has to see Gallifrey again, see all the Time Lords. See them under my reign.”
“Our reign, thanks.”
“Of course,” he agrees after a moment. He turns and stalks towards the Doctor, gently picking him up from the ground where he’s recent sagged and grasps his shoulders. “Now, now. Don’t be like that. We’ve only just begun. The war has barely started.” He leans his lips besides the Doctor’s ear and whispers, “The drumming, the drumming, war is coming. You’ll hear them this time, I’m sure of it. You’ll go positively mad. The Toclafane were nothing compared to this. And you’ll have a front row seat. You won’t be able to escape. Listen.” He curls his lips back and practically shouts into the other’s ear, “LISTEN!”
The Doctor manages to tear shakily away from him, darting eyes between the pair quickly. “You’re making a mistake here. Donna - Donna! In your mind, somewhere, you know what this is doing. The universe isn’t going to be able to patch itself up from this. If everything falls apart… and if Gallifrey, and whatever else, is pulled from their time-locks, everything will die!”
“Oi, will you ever learn to just shut it?”
“He does love to hear himself talk, Donna.”
“Am I as bad as him?”
“No, you’re your own person.”
“Good. As it should be. He’s bleedin’ daft, anyway.”
“Donna…”
A high-pitched whistle sounds. It echoes along walls and pierces the Doctor through the gut, through his inner being. Something has changed. Something outside this base has begun to eat and eat… He can feel it. He can see it, a glimpse through time, a glimpse into their future, and everything is aflame. There’s so much burning that he recoils sharply and shrinks back. The pair just send him a perplexed look.
“How can you not feel this?!” the Doctor demands suddenly. “How can you be okay with it? How can you possibly survive being torn to bits? It has nothing to do with a damn conscience! It has everything – absolutely everything - to do with what you are!!”
The Master tilts his head curiously to the side. He replies calmly, “Doesn’t it feel remarkable, Doctor?”
“No. No, it doesn’t. Why this, Master? Why are you doing this?”
“Don’t you know? It’s so blindingly obvious,” he spits. “Every action you commit, Doctor, I have to make its opposite. It’s balance. We’re two sides of the same damn coin. I destroy universes, you save them. You burn Gallifrey, I save it.”
The Doctor just stares with wide eyes, a cold comprehension seeping through his features. He stiffens, works his jaw to speak, then remains silent. The Master patiently waits. He can feel the same thing as the Doctor, feel the universe falling to its knees. Donna is spared of it, at least. The Master lied – it’s a horrendous feeling. Time is weighing him down; the drums are deafening now, to the point where he almost wants to slam his skull against something hard just to put silence into his mind.
TO-WAR-WE-GO
THE-PROM-ISED-PLACE
He needs to stop them so badly now. It aches so much that it’s sickening. A simple war would not do; it wouldn’t ease this away from him. He had to set the drums loose on everyone and everything, and then - and then - when Gallifrey has been risen from its ashes like a phoenix, then he will finally be free.
This is destiny. Always a tug-of-war. The Master and the Doctor. A coin, a mirror image. Yes, some days he looks into a mirror and sees the Doctor grinning back. They’re opposites, they’re magnetic. One changes the universe, the other comes running to counter things. Push against it.
He feels his insides burning and smells ash and hears their work of art bellowing around them. Sees Donna’s cocky grin, the Doctor’s defeat, the time stream flailing before his eyes.
“I bet you knew this would happen, one day, Doctor,” the Master whispers suddenly. “Because you were too weak to do it yourself. So where does the task fall? Me.”
And the universe begins to unravel, with them at its nucleus.
to war we go
... the quote kinda made me have a LOL moment. 'cause it's like... the Doctor worries about the Master himself, and hey, he totally just mastered him 8Dahahaha I crack myself up...
Oh, and, ah 'to war we go' is my favorite 'thing' for the drumming to take on. Although in theinsanely long post-s3 story I'm still slowly working on, Shades of Three, he does get stuck with EX-TER-MIN-ATE actually filling the drumbeat for a good hour at least :D That was fun. I need to finish that story... gah BS logic...
justpromptsPrompt: What worries you masters you. -Haddon W. Robinson
Character(s): The Master, the Doctor, Donna Noble
Words: 1,265
Directly follows this. The evil!Donna thing I previously wrote ended up in its own little verse, and I wasn't planning on having anything after that particular piece (more going in the direction of everything leading up to it) but lol... things happen XD;
I was thinking about how the hell the Master ever thought that he could have a new Gallifrey up in the heavens. Seriously, dude, wtf. … I have no idea if this would actually work, of course, but hey. That’s life.
“It’s simple, Doctor. You first destroy the universe – break down the basic fundaments that hold it together, and then you push further. You find those other ruffles, those hidden corners of time. You find all those little locked periods that the Time Lords created, all those trapped planets… And you pop their locks.” The Master flutters his fingers through the air around him, eyes dancing. This is his greatest masterpiece yet. He’s so proud of what will be accomplished here, today.
“Let their chaos flood into the chaos of this universe, let it spread further and further until times are just so dark… And in that madness, Doctor, I do something that you could never bring yourself to do. I pluck out that little home of ours, right from the chaos, right from the shreds of a broken time-lock and the universe… and place it right amongst the heavens.” He folds his hands behind him and grins widely. “All. Hail. The Master.” Yes, simple.
“No, no, no… please. No. This is wrong - so wrong - and you know it. This is going too far. You can’t do this!”
“I can do whatever I want, Doctor!” the Master yells, fists clenched. “I don’t need you. I have your mind. I have what I need, finally. And you know what? You practically gave it to me. Isn’t that precious? Well, you always did fail at protecting your companions.”
He turns away from the Doctor, arms flung out, greeting the grating sound – oh, it was like the drums coming to life, echoing around them. Machinery expelling steam and music. Simply stunning. Donna truly is a genius. It should be the Doctor here, at his side, making this happen, bringing Gallifrey back. But Donna will have to do. Donna is a jewel in her own way, and only the Master is left to treasure her.
Beautiful.
“Can you hear it, Doctor?” the Master purrs, arching his head to the rafters. “Can you hear the cries of the universe? Can you feel time screaming? The Time Lords are coming back, you see. A war-torn planet, and I’m bringing them out to safety. I’m rescuing them, instead of burning them. You were always cruel in your own way, Doctor. Thinking you were making people and things better, but really…” He glances over his shoulder and grins at the Doctor’s shattering image, “I know you.”
And there’s the irony… only, the Master proved the Doctor wrong, once. That could not be reversed now. The Master knew the Doctor better than anybody, possibly even Donna. He knew all the tiny ways to break him, to set him spiraling into despair or becoming like a wild animal – the notorious Oncoming Storm. Oh yes. He always knew the emotional side of the Doctor.
With Donna, he had the logic in his grasp. The way the Doctor’s mind works without being bogged down by ethics. He was one-hundred percent Doctor-proof.
“They’re singin’ now, you raggedy bloke,” Donna chirps, bouncing back into the room, looking quite pleased with herself. “It’ll be quite the show, don’t’cha think?”
“Yes, indeed, Miss Noble.”
“Crack open the champagne, then?” she offers, then she glances over to the Doctor briefly and has to do a double-take to really take him in. She folds her arms and glares at the Master. “You still haven’t gotten rid of ’im yet?”
“All in due time, Donna. He has to see this. He has to see Gallifrey again, see all the Time Lords. See them under my reign.”
“Our reign, thanks.”
“Of course,” he agrees after a moment. He turns and stalks towards the Doctor, gently picking him up from the ground where he’s recent sagged and grasps his shoulders. “Now, now. Don’t be like that. We’ve only just begun. The war has barely started.” He leans his lips besides the Doctor’s ear and whispers, “The drumming, the drumming, war is coming. You’ll hear them this time, I’m sure of it. You’ll go positively mad. The Toclafane were nothing compared to this. And you’ll have a front row seat. You won’t be able to escape. Listen.” He curls his lips back and practically shouts into the other’s ear, “LISTEN!”
The Doctor manages to tear shakily away from him, darting eyes between the pair quickly. “You’re making a mistake here. Donna - Donna! In your mind, somewhere, you know what this is doing. The universe isn’t going to be able to patch itself up from this. If everything falls apart… and if Gallifrey, and whatever else, is pulled from their time-locks, everything will die!”
“Oi, will you ever learn to just shut it?”
“He does love to hear himself talk, Donna.”
“Am I as bad as him?”
“No, you’re your own person.”
“Good. As it should be. He’s bleedin’ daft, anyway.”
“Donna…”
A high-pitched whistle sounds. It echoes along walls and pierces the Doctor through the gut, through his inner being. Something has changed. Something outside this base has begun to eat and eat… He can feel it. He can see it, a glimpse through time, a glimpse into their future, and everything is aflame. There’s so much burning that he recoils sharply and shrinks back. The pair just send him a perplexed look.
“How can you not feel this?!” the Doctor demands suddenly. “How can you be okay with it? How can you possibly survive being torn to bits? It has nothing to do with a damn conscience! It has everything – absolutely everything - to do with what you are!!”
The Master tilts his head curiously to the side. He replies calmly, “Doesn’t it feel remarkable, Doctor?”
“No. No, it doesn’t. Why this, Master? Why are you doing this?”
“Don’t you know? It’s so blindingly obvious,” he spits. “Every action you commit, Doctor, I have to make its opposite. It’s balance. We’re two sides of the same damn coin. I destroy universes, you save them. You burn Gallifrey, I save it.”
The Doctor just stares with wide eyes, a cold comprehension seeping through his features. He stiffens, works his jaw to speak, then remains silent. The Master patiently waits. He can feel the same thing as the Doctor, feel the universe falling to its knees. Donna is spared of it, at least. The Master lied – it’s a horrendous feeling. Time is weighing him down; the drums are deafening now, to the point where he almost wants to slam his skull against something hard just to put silence into his mind.
TO-WAR-WE-GO
THE-PROM-ISED-PLACE
He needs to stop them so badly now. It aches so much that it’s sickening. A simple war would not do; it wouldn’t ease this away from him. He had to set the drums loose on everyone and everything, and then - and then - when Gallifrey has been risen from its ashes like a phoenix, then he will finally be free.
This is destiny. Always a tug-of-war. The Master and the Doctor. A coin, a mirror image. Yes, some days he looks into a mirror and sees the Doctor grinning back. They’re opposites, they’re magnetic. One changes the universe, the other comes running to counter things. Push against it.
He feels his insides burning and smells ash and hears their work of art bellowing around them. Sees Donna’s cocky grin, the Doctor’s defeat, the time stream flailing before his eyes.
“I bet you knew this would happen, one day, Doctor,” the Master whispers suddenly. “Because you were too weak to do it yourself. So where does the task fall? Me.”
And the universe begins to unravel, with them at its nucleus.
... the quote kinda made me have a LOL moment. 'cause it's like... the Doctor worries about the Master himself, and hey, he totally just mastered him 8D
Oh, and, ah 'to war we go' is my favorite 'thing' for the drumming to take on. Although in the