but none of 'em were home inside the catacomb (for twood_rose)

[syncopath]

He had no way of knowing how long he had been in the dark; it was a funny thing, perhaps, but even a Time Lord must concede (as much as it might personally gall him) that death is timeless by its very nature. Still, he remembered everything.

When he awoke, groggily, the first thing he did was clap a hand to his neck, expecting a mark or a hole where the persistent memory of pain told him it should be. There was nothing. A ghost feeling. He blinked twice and sat up.

The room was dim, dusty and unused, and the small sink in the corner rattled ominously before spitting out water of some unsavory color, but there was comfort, egregiously tiny as it may be, in washing up as best he could. He surveyed his surroundings again. Besides the mattress he'd woken up on (and who had placed him there?) the room boasted nothing else.

He knew when he was, but not where. Or why. Not for the first time, he wondered if it might not be a prison.

The Master took panicked strides toward the door, fully expecting it not to open when he yanked on the handle roughly, and almost falling backwards when he was proven wrong.

A maze of hallways spread itself before him, each equally dim and dusty as the room behind. As the Master began to walk, it became obvious what he'd somehow known from the moment he opened the door. It wasn't a prison.

It was a ruin.

Comments

[syncopath]

"Don't flatter yourself," the Master snapped, but he continued to hold her there, not knowing quite what to do with her.

"Did you really believe that a stunted ape from a backwater planet could possibly hold the interest of a Time Lord? Do you even know what I did to your precious Earth?" He gave her an almost desperate look, as if he needed her to know.

[twood-rose.livejournal.com]

"Yes," she said, her voice still quiet. "The Doctor told me. Jack told me. I know what you did. And I know it was undone."

She swallowed.

"I think," she continued slowly, "that you don't want to say I mean something to you because it makes you vulnerable. And that is what scares you more than anything."

[syncopath]

He laughed. "Oh, no, no you don't. Don't you dare try to get inside my head. Not this time."

He yanked Rose towards a wall of the cave, intending to pin her there.

[twood-rose.livejournal.com]

She struggled, of course, but it did very little good. The only thing she accomplished was cracking the back of her head even harder against the rock than the Master's actions alone would have managed. The flash of pain made her whimper, and she sagged in the Master's grasp.

[syncopath]

The Master felt a flash of concern, deep down, as Rose's skull connected with the wall with a little thud. A small moment of

what am i doing

before his common sense resurfaced.

"I warned you," he told her sternly, before pressing on her shoulders to push her to the floor.

[twood-rose.livejournal.com]

She couldn't do much more than slide to her knees, leaning against him, her eyes closed, feeling dizzy and a little sick to her stomach. It wasn't hard enough to give her a concussion... she hoped... but she certainly wasn't feeling so hot.

[syncopath]

"Is this what you wanted?" he asked her harshly, as if all this were her fault. In truth, part of him was enjoying her supplicant posture, his position above, very much. In truth, another part of him was tense, on the edge of something terrible and alluring.

And it was all her fault.

"Look at me," he demanded, yanking her head back by her hair.

[twood-rose.livejournal.com]

She didn't even have the energy to yelp. Instead she grimaced, and moaned, and raised her eyes to his.

[syncopath]

"That's better," he said in a tight voice, looking her over. Rassilon, she was like a ragdoll in his arms, limp and just as useless.

"I brutalized your planet," he informed her, "And I enjoyed every second of it. I would have built an empire-- a new home-- on its ashes, if it weren't for the Doctor and his pathetic little band of companions. Your species is nothing to me but a means to an end. Do you understand?"

[twood-rose.livejournal.com]

"He stopped you," she said hoarsely. "Him andhis companions. Humans."

She coughed a little, smiled a little in spite of the pain.

"Friend? Lover? Confidante? Savior? Yes. Yes I am. I was all that to the Doctor. I have been all that to you. And that just scares the daylights out of you, doesn't it?"

[syncopath]

"You're wrong." The Master pushed her away from him violently, taking a few steps back himself to increase the distance, as if she had suddenly become a dangerous thing.

"You're wrong," he repeated, words having temporarily fled him in his rage.

[twood-rose.livejournal.com]

And again against the rock, more her back than her head this time. She groaned, and slumped against the cave wall, then opened her eyes to regard him.

"No," she stated. "I'm not."

She coughed a little, shivered, the cave still drafty, damp and cold from the storm outside.

"If I'm n-nothing to you now, then l-leave. Go find your own way off this d-dead rock. I'll not stay just as your toy... your means to an end."

[syncopath]

The Master tried to ignore his sense of misgiving, watching Rose shiver on the cave floor.

"You'll not tell me what to do," he growled. "Little fool. I do as I please, with you or otherwise. It is my right."

Although his words were stilted, he sounded like a bit more like a sulky boy than a Time Lord.

[twood-rose.livejournal.com]

"You h-have no r-right," she chattered, shivering harder. "You h-have n-nothing that you d-don't s-steal. You're n-nothing but a thief."

Rose's skin was getting very pale, and her lips were tinged with blue. With the cold and the psychological and physical trauma, her body was beginning to drift into shock. She lowered her head, curled in on herself, shaking hard, trying to warm herself at least a little.

[syncopath]

He laughed, painfully, at that, thinking of what the Doctor had taken away from him, his own plans, his genuine hard work, laid to waste. Abandoned time and again by the cowardly hypocrite. Taking away his home, his origins, leaving him stranded, awash in the universe.

The Doctor is the thief. Not me.

"You know nothing," he said, quietly, suddenly tired.

Rose's head dropped and he strode toward her quickly before he could think it through.

"No, no, no. No. You can't sleep." The Master attempted to push her upright, his hands on her shoulders.

[twood-rose.livejournal.com]

Rose's head lolled back and to the side, her eyelids fluttering open just a little.

"Can't," she mumbled. "Can't stay awake. Got to sleep. So tired..."

Her eyes closed again.

hey, it works in the movies

[syncopath]

The Master sighed impatiently before striking her hard across the cheek, trying to keep her alert.

"No sleeping," he reiterated, removing his coat and draping it around her shoulders.

"Foolish, foolish child," he murmured.

Hee!

[twood-rose.livejournal.com]

She cried out, pressed a hand to her cheek, drew back from him. When he gave her his coat she pulled it tight around herself, feeling the shivers begin to subside. After a moment, she looked at him, studying him, wanting to understand. He had capacity for such tenderness and such cruelty.

And she wanted to both cower from him, and curl in his embrace. To fear him, and to love him.

[syncopath]

He watched her, the crisis dissipating and and vague doubt beginning to creep in and take its place. He shouldn't care whether she lived or died; companions were expendable and easily replaced, should he care to have one. Being alone was a preferable condition to the liability of partnership, which would inevitably betray him, foul something up, get underfoot. Even given his extended history with Lucy, he'd been able to discard her at will when necessary. Why this one was so different...

He scowled as Rose looked back at him, as if she had access to his thoughts. "Oh, don't make cow eyes at me," he snapped, "Or I will leave you to die."

[twood-rose.livejournal.com]

"You won't leave," she said simply. "You need me just as much as I need you."

Her certainty was clear in her voice. He wouldn't be with her in the first place if he didn't need her on some level.

[syncopath]

The Master closed his eyes as if his head suddenly hurt. "Don't press your luck," he warned, slumping against the wall to sit a little apart from her.

[twood-rose.livejournal.com]

Rose laid on the ground, on her side, the Master's coat wrapped tightly around her, and put her head in his lap. They had such an odd relationship, one that would indubitably horrify the Doctor.

The Doctor...

She'd think about him later, she decided, closing her eyes.

[syncopath]

Not recoiling from her took some effort, but not as much as he would have thought. After a moment, the Master dared to touch a hand to her temple, checking for any lasting injury.

[twood-rose.livejournal.com]

She would heal. Her head still throbbed dully, but it would pass with time; nothing had been seriously damaged.

Rose made a small sound as he touched her. She was already drifting into sleep, exhausted by everything that had happened in only the past couple hours.

"Love you," she whispered, very softly, half asleep.

[syncopath]

The Master's eyes snapped open and he withdrew his hand as if from an electrified dimensional stabilization panel.

"What did you say?" he whispered, although he was sure of what he'd heard, felt. The words stung him, paradoxically. It should have pleased him that he had gotten this far, wormed his way inside. Instead he felt smaller than before, and the song of the Vortex raged in his head.