Worth A Thousand Words

Chapter Nine

 'You always think the worst of me,' the Master mused in a light tone that he meant to be disarming, but which made the Doctor tense reflexively. 'Why would I bother with your little goldfish?'

'You've done it before every chance you had – should I list the number of my friends that you've killed over the years?'

'Oh, let's not, that's rather dull,' the Master said, wrinkling his nose and examining his nails. 'Although, on reflection, you do have a thing for blondes, don't you?'

'If you've hurt her –'

'Why would I hurt her? There would be nothing in it for me – especially as I'm perfectly aware that I'm only an echo to you right now,' the Master remarked innocently. 'Our timelines are quite out of sync – or can't you sense it?' The Master considered him coolly, his usual madness banked behind deceptively deadened black eyes. Realisation sparked in them. 'Oh, no, you can't, can you? Because you're ignoring your time sense – now why, oh, why would you do that?'

'Echo or not, you stay away from Rose,' the Doctor growled.

The Master snorted. 'I've no intention of doing anything to your little bit on the side –' The Doctor started to speak, but was cut off. 'And before you start moaning and groaning about not being able to trust me, I'll tell you why: I owe her.'

'You... what?'

'Quite. Let it never be said I don't honour my debts, and she'll do me a great one. Or already has done, from my perspective at least, seeing as I've got absolutely no idea when you are in your timeline right now,' the Master went on.

'And you won't.'

'Yes, yes, Laws of Time and all that boring nonsense,' the Master sighed. 'You're so predictable, Thete.' The Doctor flinched, and the Master grinned at him, shark-like. 'Actually, I suppose it would be best to say I owe you. Because if not for you, she wouldn't even be there in the first place.'

The Doctor tensed at this, and as usual, the Master noticed. His grin widened.

'I bet that makes you feel so much better. You, with your constant, unending guilt and righteous notions – now what do you do?' the Master adopted an exaggerated, thoughtful expression. 'I can hear the rusty old cogs in that brain of yours whirring – you want to discover what I mean! Should you take her back home? Drop her off into whatever mediocre life you plucked her from? Or is that exactly what I want you to do? Is that how I get to her? Perhaps you should keep her close, stick to her like a burr – only that wouldn't do either, because it'll drive her away. It always drives them away when you hold on too closely, Doctor, or don't you remember?'

The Doctor clenched his fists.

And then, as usual with the shifting, mercurial moods of the Master, his old friend and enemy had pulled away from him and gazed out across the sea.

'The most painful is yet to come, and I fully intend to let you both live to endure it.' The Master looked up, smiling unpleasantly to the Doctor. 'You might want to go save your assistant now. I saw a rather suspicious looking character wandering around here earlier.'

The Doctor made an aborted move toward him. The Master sniggered at that; it was an incongruous action for his sombre looking body.

'Oh, but you have a decision to make now, don't you? Do you stay and babysit little old me? Find a way to control and contain me – and trust me, I'll kick up a fuss. This sack of meat is a rather important businessman at the moment, and you'll attract so much attention you might derail the history of this lovely ship.' Off the Doctor's surprised expression, he chuckled. 'What, you thought I didn't realise? Give me some credit, Doctor, I chose this ship to escape the fuss in Europe specifically because of the tragedy about to unfold here. Can you imagine all that chaos and pandemonium? It will be easy for me to find a new body and set myself up in a lucrative position. Did you hear that Jack Astor's here tonight? Such an important man... the whole of the twentieth century would be different if he survives, I think.'