Chapter Thirty

Okay, this is now vying for first position in my head as Best Chapter. Granted, it's not a side to the Master we usually see (not at this point, anyway), but I honestly honestly believe that it's canon. There were flickers of it in The Sound of Drums - just moments; but the presence of the Doctor for such an extended amount of time - someone who knows him so well - would be bound to bring it out of him eventually.

Some people may say I'm writing him too soft at the moment, but that's not true - keep reading, and you'll see I know what I'm doing. This story would not be interesting if the characters stayed in the same state of mind all the way through.

 Seriously, though, It's just nice to get inside the characters' heads once in a while. The Master is so wound up in his own little mind games most of the time that we don't get to see what lies under the surface. This is just one of those moments where the walls come down. Yay for angst.

"I didn't try hard enough." - I've been waiting chapters to get that line in. Back in chapter 19 we got a hint of that sentiment, but for the Doctor to openly come out and say it is on a whole new level.

Basically - finally - the characters are starting to reconnect on more than a physical level. How long it's going to last I won't say, but fleshing these characters out for prose means that you have to delve deeper than what's shown on the TV and see what could be underneath.

The greatest example of the change in relationship is this: Looking back at the first few chapters, would the Doctor ever have dared to say that final line? (Which, by the way, I grinned at while I was writing it - it's so very him).

Link to the chapter can be found HERE

Oh, and just because I'm a geek and a showoff - I thought I'd share one of my birthday presents with you. Yay.