InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Don't steal my eyebrows!"

lucy saxon isn't as dumb as she seems to be (neverthatbright) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2010-11-05 23:39:00

Entry tags:

!closed, #complete, lucy saxon, the master

WHO: Lucy Saxon and the Master
WHAT: A surprisingly calm reunion.
WHEN: Not long after Lucy posted this.
WHERE: The steps of the Grand Library, to start.
RATING: PGish [language and references to darker themes]
STATUS: Complete!

The Master was alive.

Lucy had known there was always a chance he would be resurrected. She had known, as soon as she was settled in prison, she had to start making plans to stop that from happening. However no sooner had she received her sentence did she find herself in that strange little library with knights who seemed determined to keep her out. Clutching the device they'd given her in her hand, she stared once more at the conversation she was having over what she guessed was a public message board of some kind. Her stomach tightened at the words that stared back up at her, finger lightly dancing across the small picture that made identification all too easy.

The Master was alive.

She wasn't prepared for this. She was in an unfamiliar city that apparently wasn't even on Earth, she couldn't leave, and she wasn't at all prepared to face him again. Her heart thudded painfully in her chest as she quickly scrolled through the menu of her PDA. It had given her the number of a flat, as well as a map, and she was curious if there was anything else of use. Anything at all that might help her.

Coming up empty, the woman closed her eyes for a brief moment. Her jaw quivered, lips pressing softly together as she swallowed down the emotions rampaging through her. When her eyes reopened she was calm, almost detached. Rising to her feet, she gripped her PDA tightly with one hand and began descending the stairs. She knew she wouldn't make it all the way to her new flat. She knew he was already on his way because she knew him. What she didn't know, though, was when exactly their paths would cross or what would happen once they did.

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cantyouhearit
2010-11-06 09:16 am UTC (link)

"I could've," The Master said quietly as he started back towards the flat, glancing at her sideways as he settled his other hand over the arm that had taken his. "I could have easily. But then what kind of husband would I be?" Ironically enough, he seemed to be asking that question in earnest as he glanced over at her, quirking an eyebrow before turning back to their route.

It didn't take too long to reach the small cluster of apartment buildings, The Master turning to building C and pausing to hold the door open for Lucy and gesturing for her to head inside in front of him, "The sixth floor. Top of the building," He said as he slipped in behind her and headed towards the stairs, hand resting lightly on the small of her back. "It's really rather nice...for a prison."

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neverthatbright
2010-11-06 09:29 am UTC (link)

And there it was. The guilt that she normally could ignore, could have kept right on ignoring if he'd simply stayed dead. The guilt of having betrayed her husband when he'd needed her most. The guilt of having broken her vows for reasons that, although seemingly justified, didn't amount to much as far as Lucy was concerned. Not when compared to the solemn promise she'd made to love, honour, and obey the man beside her.

She swallowed thickly and tried not to think about it, but his words had struck a chord deep within her. He had been a good husband, for the most part. He had protected her and cared for her. He'd let her stand at his side while he'd conquered the world. And in return she had shot him. And now, fresh on the heels of her own betrayal, he was helping her once more.

Lucy could only imagine what those who considered him a monster would think of her.

Blinking, her thoughts fading into the background as she stepped inside the building, she smiled faintly at the all too familiar feel of his hand upon the small of her back. "A room with a view," she said softly as he steered her toward the stairwell. She frowned ever so slightly at the thought of climbing all those flights of stairs instead of just taking a lift, but wasn't sure if this was a preference of his or the building was simply ill-equipped. Not wanting to risk it being the former and voicing an objection, she stayed quiet on the matter.

Instead she waited until they were making their way up the first flight before she asked curiously, "Is there ever anything exciting or is it always like this?" She didn't mean as quiet and deserted as the stairwell, of course, but rather the city as a whole. The streets had been surprisingly calm. She hadn't even heard so much as a single siren on their walk over.

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cantyouhearit
2010-11-06 10:35 am UTC (link)

"It has its moments," The Master said as reassuringly as he could. It was mostly dull, he remembered well, but there were times that it could really turn into something that knew how to capture the attention. "Just enough to keep it from getting too dull," He said, a flash of a smile crossing his features as they reached their flat. There were only two on this floor that were occupied. It made it a great deal quieter than the lower floors, and that was how the Master liked it. He had more than enough noise to deal with as it was.

Even if the sound of the drums only seemed to rear its head anymore when he was enraged or when he was trying to be enraged. Somewhere outside of his time, outside of his location, they didn't seem to matter nearly as much.

"But other than that, it's a pretty normal city." Normal meaning tedius as far as the Master was concerned.

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neverthatbright
2010-11-06 10:46 am UTC (link)

Lucy smiled vaguely, one corner of her mouth quirking upward and her expression taking on a dreamy quality as she let him lead her to their flat. She listened to what he said, knowing him well enough to read between the lines and recognize what he truly meant. The city was mostly boring, with only occasional instances of the dullness fading by something new and exciting. It never lasted long, though, and for the most part it was very much a normal city much like most others.

"I was afraid you'd say that," she commented as she frowned lightly at his last statement. A bored Master wasn't good for anyone, especially himself and her. She found herself rather hoping something to liven things up would happen sooner rather than later, never mind the consequences for everyone else. Nothing that happened here could be as bad as what the Master could cook up when he ran out of things to do.

The door opened and Lucy stepped inside. Her expression became one of wonder, almost childlike, as she had her first glimpse of their flat. It was nice. Perhaps not as nice as the places they'd stayed back on Earth, but considering he wasn't in a position of power here, it was impressively classy. Idly, Lucy wondered if all of the other flats looked the same or if each was decorated differently. The thought fled her mind, however, when she finally turned back to the Master with the beginnings of an authentically happy look.

"It's lovely," she said, a bit unnecessarily yet unable to help herself. Turning back in a small circle, she looked in every direction she could manage then back to him.

"What sorts of things happen to keep it from becoming dull?" The question was an impromptu one and likely unexpected, but the thought had been rattling around inside her mind since he'd commented and she found herself suddenly very curious as to what he'd meant.

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cantyouhearit
2010-11-06 12:36 pm UTC (link)

There was something quietly refreshing about the sheer innocence that seemed to surround Lucy when she was pleased. It had been a long time since he'd been around anything that even had the slightest hint of purity, and even when he was, he corrupted it almost instantly. Kassia had been a Trakenite, a member of the purest specie int he galaxy, and yet, she'd fallen under his dark influence simply by being in contact with him, a process that had been slow but had achieved its end in time.

The only issue at the moment was that while he had corrupted Lucy with his presence, she will seemed to retain more of herself than any of the others that he'd used ever had. She clung to it, and there was something about that he had to admire. Even if it made her useless as a pawn...there was no circumstances here that he would ever need one.

"All sorts of things," The Master said, a hint of an honest smile on his features. "They had a great deal of death recently that I unfortunately arrived too late to enjoy. But there's also more mundane things. Episodes of spontaneous honesty, blackouts, unprovoked bouts of lustful behavior... Just depends on the day."

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neverthatbright
2010-11-06 01:05 pm UTC (link)

Even with their fairly pleasant conversation and their gorgeous flat, things still felt a bit... off, to Lucy. It felt to her as though something was missing. Something important, that needed to be there. Then the Master flashed her a smile - a barely there, honest smile - and she knew instantly that's just what she'd been waiting for. The sight of him actually pleased at something, not faking it for cameras or pretending just to play some sort of twisted game with her, was almost more than she could take. Her eyes grew damp as she returned his smile with a watery one of her own.

She'd heard what he'd said, the mentions of all sorts of strange and interesting things that had befallen the city thus far. But at the moment, Lucy's worry that he'd grow bored was a silent one. It was hard to be concerned, after all, when you were feeling the first glimmer of happiness - starting out more as contentment but surely with room to grow - that you'd felt in quite some time.

"I can't say I'm thrilled at the idea of forced honesty," she spoke up. Her tone was light, her gaze moving to a picture hanging on the wall. Moving to it, she absently straightened it then smiled up at the print with an almost wistful expression.

"Who do you suppose it is that's responsible for this, H-" She paused, the name he'd gone by for the majority of their relationship very nearly spoken. Turning toward him, she said quietly, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

With a soft sigh and a touch of nervousness as she stared at him, she tried again. "Who do you suppose it is that's responsible for all of this, Master?"

After all, it wouldn't do to upset him terribly at the moment. She still needed him to serve as protection from everything else in the city and, if they had a row now, she doubted she'd ever get close enough to kill him again.

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cantyouhearit
2010-11-06 05:51 pm UTC (link)

There was something about that pause, that hesitation, and the statement of his name that just felt wrong in these circumstances. He'd actually gotten used to being called Harry by Lucy to a degree that he answered to it easily enough, so stepping forward, the Mastered stepped forward and settling one hand reassuringly on her arm before pressing a finger gently against her lips. "I think, considering the situation, Harry's fine."

After all, who did he have to impress at the moment? No one. What did it matter what she called him?

"And as far as a guilty party, I haven't seen any evidence of a specific individual. It's not one of the locals. None of them have enough brain capacity to pull off something like this off, not even by half. Considering we're on another planet, though, and an unidentifiable one for that matter, the possibilities are potentially limitless."

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neverthatbright
2010-11-06 06:06 pm UTC (link)

Once upon a time, Harry Saxon had been a persona that Lucy had shared with the world. The public face of her husband, back in those days before the Toclafane, that promised everyone a brighter tomorrow with the single casting of their ballot. The darker part of him, the part that had been striding toward the conquering of the human race right under their very noses, had been just hers. No one else had seen his madness, his dark vision of the future, any of it. No one else had been privileged enough, trusted enough, to be shown the truth.

And then the Toclafane had come and the world had crumbled and little Lucy Saxon had suddenly had to share every aspect of the man she loved with the rest of a terrified humanity. She'd resented it, then, not being able to keep a part of him for herself. It was all she'd wanted, really. To just know that she mattered, even in some small way. To know she was special - privileged and trusted - as she'd once been.

Yet that had never happened and eventually her frustration and fear had given way to bitterness and hatred. Now, his death and her own imprisonment later, here they were. And that very thing she'd hoped for, that smallest of glimmers that he still cared for her at least somewhat, was handed to her with one simple statement.

She didn't pull away from his touch, too stunned to even consider it. She simply stared at him with eyes filled with a vague sense of hope that she was certain he'd squash soon enough but that she was equally certain she'd enjoy for as long as she could hold onto it. Nodding at his request, her smile a small, private one but nonetheless pleased, Lucy told herself not to jump to conclusions anymore than she already had and focused on what he was saying in the hopes of deterring what few fragments of her heart that were still whole from putting themselves back into a situation to be shattered all over again.

Worry flickered briefly across her face when he admitted he didn't know who was responsible. "But..." she finally spoke, the worry and confusion evident in her tone, "how can you hope to run the planet if you don't even know who you have to take it from first?"

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cantyouhearit
2010-11-06 07:11 pm UTC (link)

It took everything in the Master to keep from laughing, his soft smile deepening into something else, his eyes crinkling at the edges as he moved his hand to touch her cheek, fingers folded back to caress it lightly. Oh, Lucy. Lovely Lucy, already expecting to be preparing for world domination. She knew him better than most, so she could probably answer the very question that she had just asked if she only thought about it for a moment, "The opportunity will present itself eventually. All I have to do is wait."

Even if he didn't know who he had to take it from, if he took it, there was always the chance that the individual wouldn't be able to take it back. There was only so much that someone could do from a covert location, after all. Especially if he was able to get himself into a better position.

"Until then, I see no reason why I can't just enjoy the place as it," He said with a genuine smile. "Why we can't."

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neverthatbright
2010-11-06 08:12 pm UTC (link)

She arched into his touch, her stomach fluttering as the sensation caused memories of a happier time to flicker through her mind's eye. They had been happy, once. They had watched the planet burn and had made love to the sounds of death and destruction fluttering on the breeze. She had stood by his side as he put humanity on a course that would spare at least most of them from the terrible fate that awaited them, willing to betray her entire species just to see the very same smile that he now wore for reasons she couldn't determine.

Lucy's heart ached at the thought of having lost something that had once mattered more to her than life itself. She felt fractured, right down to her very soul, and not one single thought of all of the bad that she'd been through at his hands didn't do a thing to ease her desire to just have things back to how they'd once been.

So caught up in her own thoughts and emotions, she was sure she must have misunderstood him when he spoke again. She blinked rather owlishly, mouth working for a moment with no sound emerging as her brain tried - and failed - to figure out just what he was playing at. He couldn't be serious though, could he?

"Do you mean that, Harry?" she questioned as she tried in vain to keep the hope from her tone. One of her hands rested lightly against his chest, feeling the beats of both of his hearts beneath her fingertips. She struggled between wariness and desire, eventually tacking on in slight confusion, "You would really give me another chance?"

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cantyouhearit
2010-11-08 05:59 am UTC (link)

"Oh, Lucy," The Master said, a slightly amused smile slipping over his features at her shock. Though, he supposed it was only natural. She had killed him, after all. She had killed him when she's known all too well just how he was about death, how much he feared it, the lengths that he went to prevent it from happening. Killing him would have seemed like the ultimate betrayal in her mind, and without the time to divorce herself from his presence, the guilt would still be lingering.

Stepping forward, his arm slipping down to pull her into a gentle embrace, the kind that he used to before it all began, he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead before murmuring, "You have no idea the agony that you saved me. Centuries, millenia, with the Doctor, as his prisoner, his pet. Do you truly think I wanted that? No, my dear. There's no real grudge to be held," He said, raising a hand to stroke her hair. "Saving me from the insistent preening care of my former best friend is more than enough to make up for any trespasses."

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neverthatbright
2010-11-08 06:27 am UTC (link)

It couldn't be real. None of this, not one single bit, could really be happening. Being here, in his arms, feeling as safe as she had in the early days of their relationship, and knowing he forgave her for what she'd done? It was all too much, too perfect, and if there was one thing that Lucy had learned from the Master it was that nothing was ever as perfect as it seemed.

However if it wasn't real and was, in fact, some sort of hallucination or dream, Lucy didn't want it to ever end. Closing her eyes, still feeling the ghost of his lips upon her forehead, she rested her cheek again his chest and tried to stave off the tears that were threatening to fall. "I'm so terribly sorry, Harry," she breathed. Her fingers clung to the front of his shirt, part of her afraid if she pulled away this would all end as quickly as it had begun.

Slowly she raised her head to meet his gaze, the tears still shining in her eyes but not having yet fallen. Her lower lip quivered as she said quietly, "I only ever wanted to make you happy. Please tell me where I went wrong."

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cantyouhearit
2010-11-08 06:38 am UTC (link)

It was surprising. This was surprising. Oh, he'd broken women before, bent them to his will. He had conquered kings and keepers, dominated planets, destroyed civilizations, made deals with demons, and pushed the human race -- the universe's greatest creators and most infectious disease -- to the brink of extinction. But in the end, all of his creations had backfired on him, turned to be the ruin of his plans with no intention of ever turning back, that hearing Lucy say those words with such an intense sincerity that it was...off-putting in a way he hadn't experienced in a great time.

And the question left him struck silent, just holding her for a long moment as an internal debate raged in his mind and his gut until he found himself saying words that he never thought that he would out loud, not to anyone but the one who had been there to experience it as well and even then, reluctantly to him.

"It's not you, Luc," The Master said after an extended silence. "You didn't do anything wrong. I just kept expecting you to."

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neverthatbright
2010-11-08 07:09 am UTC (link)

She waited with baited breath for what felt like ages for him to respond. If he would tell her what she'd done wrong, she knew she could fix it. She could make sure she never did it again and then maybe, just maybe, she could be the companion he needed instead of such a great disappointment. She knew it wouldn't be easy. He was a difficult man to please under the best of circumstances. However if he could forgive her for betraying him as he had, surely she could at the very least manage not to screw things up this time.

Except, when he finally did speak, the answer wasn't what she'd been expecting at all. It didn't make the least bit of sense either. Her brow furrowed slightly in confusion.

"I don't understand," she said slowly. A tear finally fell, sliding silently down her cheek all but unnoticed as she struggled to figure out why he wouldn't just tell her. He'd never spared her feelings before. Why was he trying to do so now?

"All those times... and you were so angry, so disappointed with me... and I thought..." She wasn't even finishing her sentences, the tears threatening to turn into nothing short of a deluge. "Please just tell me," she all but begged, clutching at the front of his shirt as she peered up at him in earnest. "Whatever it is, whatever I have to do, I promise I'll do it. I can change. I can."

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cantyouhearit
2010-11-08 08:19 am UTC (link)

It was impossible to explain, too long and sorted and far more complex than words could express, but she was sobbing and demanding that he tell her what she'd done wrong, and squashing down on the rise of anger at the general woman's tendency to assume that it was her fault only in those moments when it was not. Reaching up and grasping the sides of her face perhaps a little harder than he should, he shook his head as he leaned looked down at her.

"Oh, Lucy, Lucy, Lucy, Lucy. Be quiet and listen, you silly, silly girl," The Master said, leaning forward and pressing his forehead against hers.

A torrent of images blossomed in her mind, himself, younger and yet older at the same time, looking so much more carefree and gentle than even his cover had ever managed to do. On Earth, in London, with a young woman, a young woman that he believed to be human, and taking her to his TARDIS (blended perfectly into the landscape in Hyde Park) and disappearing into thin air. A cascade of visions followed after that, friendship, playful sites, adventures, experiences, love, until they settled down in the middle of a warzone, colliding with the Doctor and his companions, both there in order to stop the same thing.

The chaos of the scene unfolded with a hectic speed: strategies, arguments, insisting that the Doctor take his companion with him, so that she would be safe. Him, trying to set the machinery to self destruct, only to be ambushed by team of guards while he's trying to finish and a fight breaking out, his mind immediately tuning to automatic as he mowed down anything that entered the room without even pausing to think until his body lashes at the sound of someone entering the room and fires...only realizing a second to later that it isn't a guard but his companion that had entered the room.

Fleeing the room, running into one of the people in charge, convincing him that they're on the same side, manipulating him into obeying his instructions, allowing him access to the machinery only to be spotted by one of the Doctor's companions.

"Ailla is dead," the odd voice replied, his own but still foreign to his ears, somber and heavy as the surprise crosses the young girl's features.

"I... I'm sorry. What happened?"

"A stupid accident," His voice tightened, anger and rage tainting it, self-hatred boiling just under the surface. "A twist of fate when I wasn't paying attention to where she was."

"I am sorry."

"It's such a total waste," He murmured, the anger fading from his voice back into sorrow.

"Had you known her for very long?"

A long pause extended between them, him hunched over the control panel of the weapon that they'd come to stop, sadness etching his features but mixed with an odd sort of determination, "How long does anything finite last when compared to eternity? Time is relative, Miss Waterfield; sometimes it seemed I had always known her; perhaps we but briefly met."

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cantyouhearit
2010-11-08 08:19 am UTC (link)

The scene skipped, consolation of the Doctor's companion mixed with a maniac determination in his younger self that more closely mirrored his current self. The concern seem intensified, bleeding into confusion at the franticness with which his younger self was working, a certain heaviness in his form before he broke away from the machinery to make a call.

The return of the young scientist that he'd manipulated provoked the suave aspects of his personality, alternating mocking and praising as he moved forward to lay out the details of a plan.

"My dear Terrell, you will have a very long time to wait for results if this is the best you can do. All you’re really doing is exploiting a simple side effect of the Darkheart’s operation. The true power... That still eludes you, does it not?"

The young scientist looks incredulous, as if he wants to know exactly who this man in front of him is to tell him what he has managed, "And I suppose you can do better."

"Of course," The reply was irritated, mocking, as if to suggest that he was anything but capable of thinking higher and better than the man in front of him was an insult. Which it was. "The Darkheart was, after all, designed to transmit vast energies around the Cosmos. I would suggest you use it as such."

"To what end?"

There was a brief moment of hesitation in his features, as if he knew what he was about to say was a monumental choice that, once made, could not be taken back. And one that he shouldn't be making for that matter. But after that moment, the younger man turned back to the control panel, setting the dials as his body slowly settled into the choice he'd made, a dark smile crossing his features. "Pick a specific target."

He fled the machine, pale and burdened, no longer the carefree and gentle man that he'd been, encountering the Doctor's companion again, quietly stunned at the concern that she seemed to show.

"Did you stop that changes?"

"Oh, I did," He replied, a quietly haunted look on his features that seemed to startle the young girl in front of him. "Yes, Miss Waterfield, the effect has stopped. Terrell and the others are now busy with some functions of the Darkheart that are rather more narrow in their visions."

"But they're still using it?"

"I'm afraid they are. Sometimes, Miss Waterfield, one must compromise and accept the existence of a lesser evil for the greater good."

Another torrent of images and scenes, the young Master wedged until a panel of wires with the Doctor's young companion looking on.

"These all seem to be in working order, they are simply not configured and powered yet. Yes, my dear, I do believe we can work with these."

"To do what?" Such an innocent question from an innocent girl expecting heroes and miracles while watching the worse unfold.

"Anything we want," His younger self replied, good natured, smiling in a soft reassurance despite the lingering darker undertones in his words. "For one thing we can rescue Ailla. First, though, there is so much to study. Knowledge is power."

"But, Allia’s dead..."

"With access to the space/time conduit, Ailla is only dead until I choose otherwise."

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cantyouhearit
2010-11-08 08:23 am UTC (link)

Another rush of scenes and work, the Companion leaving the room as she was instructed only to return a few minutes later looking relieved only to have it fade a second later.

"The Doctor has always said that you can’t go back and change what has happened to you. I’m not sure whether he means it is impossible or just wrong"

"Both – under normal circumstances," The younger Master answered, still focused on his work. "It would be so easy with this equipment – to undo what has been done..."

"What do you believe it?" The question of a child, but the young woman standing behind him was little more than a child, with the same questioning innocence in her eyes as she looked up at her, imploring him to say what she wanted him to say.

"Oh, I believe in me. Whoever that is."

The Master broke away, a sheen of sweet on his forehead, taking deep breaths as he tried to mask the raw emotion flashing across his face as he released Lucy's face, staggering for a moment before taking a few steps backwards and collapsing into the closest chair, squeezing his eyes closed against the headache raging in his mind. It was only half the story, not even far enough into the tale to truly tell the changes, the reasons, the explanation that he'd been meaning to get to. Reaching up blindly at Lucy, he caught her hand, squeezing it for a moment as he kept his eyes closed.

"I need a minute."

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