Chapter 35

I had to literally work myself up to writing this scene. At my very heart, I am a lover of fluff, and writing the Master and the Doctor those fluffy moments are few and far between (though they are worth it when they come around).


This scene is - in some ways - one of the most important so far. How to explain without spoilers? There are so many aspects that it's difficult to say.

The Master has his own motives, which will for once be explained by the Doctor in the next interlude. Suffice to say that this is him at his absolute worst (as far as the Doctor is concerned) - vindictive, childish, and spiteful.

While he might attempt to kill the Doctor, or occasionally lash out with the odd inappropriate backhander across the face, he respects the Doctor in a very odd way - he is, after all, a fellow Timelord (the only other Timelord at this point), and not another filthy ape. Their history also goes some way towards protecting the Doctor from the Master's absolute fury.

 The Doctor, however, is also at his worst in this scene - we've seen shadows of it in him before - for example in The Runaway Bride when he stood watching the Racknoss drown and Donna had to practically slap him out of it. This is the side of himself that the Doctor has been scared of all along, and if there's one person who can pull it out of him, it's the Master - the person who is both a reminder and a temptation of it.

The burning of Japan has been leading to this moment. This is a huge turning point in the story of the Year that Never Was, as well as a turning point in Jack's (and our) understanding of that relationship. While they do honestly still love each other (I don't know why I still make that word so small - it should be painfully obvious by now) that connection between them is sort of more complicated than that.

There are some aspects of this chapter that I am absolutely in love with. There are bits of dialogue here that have been in my head since the story began to grow:

"Because I really do have a secret... I know you."

The Master and the Doctor often do echo each other's words (For example 'It's not fair!' - spoken by the Master at the end of Last of the Timelords, and by the Doctor at the end of The End of Time.), and there was a line in Last of the Timelords, spoken by the Doctor, that always bothered me:

'Because I've always had the greatest secret of all... I know you.'

It felt like we were hearing one side of a conversation - one that had obviously taken place while the characters were 'off-camera' on board the Valiant. This scenario simply sprung to mind every time I watched it.

"I win... I WIN!"

Again, we're echoing Last of the Timelords. The Master - let's face it, can be ridiculously childish. You do not sit in the Prime Minister's office, drinking brandy and watching the Tellytubbies unless you are just a teensy bit childish.

Basically, this is the Master and the Doctor at their most feral and furious. We're beginning to come back to some stuff that was said in earlier chapters here:

"It hurt... it still hurts."   "Of course it does."

"On some level I think I wanted the door to open, so that I could pour all my rage and grief into him."

"It wasn't him I was afraid of... I was scared of myself."

"Oh Doctor, and you think we're so different."

(Those quotes may not be verbatim - I can't remember what chapters they're in).

The Master has known since the phonecall that this side to the Doctor existed - it's something they share. So why bring it up after two months? That will have to wait until the next interlude.

That's it for now. Once again, thank you so much for your support. It really does make a difference.

I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up, but hopefully within the next few days. I'd like to get onto the next memories before Christmas is over.

Until next chapter, 

Turkaholic.