Heritage

Summary: Rory finds his old fob watch, that one with the interesting circle design, the one he never really wanted to open for some reason...

The rush of power and memories left him feeling dazed and dizzy. He never thought the two thousand years he spent as a Roman Centurion could be called "dull," but that was his conclusion as he compared those years to what coursed through his mind now.

When he reviewed the memories, organized them, and collected himself, the first thing he wanted to do was to laugh.

Oh, how he used to love laughing out loud! And given his discovery today, how could he not?

He wasn't sure what was more worthy of celebration today, his gain, or the Doctor's loss? How could the great, wise, intelligent, god-like almighty Doctor miss the signs? It must be the age! Or is it the Pride? Or Senility?

Who cares, he thought, but he wanted to savour this moment, his victory.

How could the Doctor have missed the signs?

Admittedly, Rory Williams did display some atypical behaviour, but everybody displayed some strange personality traits after going under the Chameleon Arch. Some details never change, though. Wasn't his tenacity to life proof enough? Rory Williams, the man who always died and always came back. Dying and refusing to die – whose life story was that?

How about Rory's thirst for victory, his determination to achieve his goals? Sure, this time around, his goals were nobler than before, but that was a subjective value. Definition for "noble" varied from culture to culture, but victory and success contained no ambiguity, and victory and success was what Rory Williams had in the end.

And if the Doctor was too busy worrying about his own imprisonment or death or whatever, his own wife, River Song's identity and abilities should have been a hint! And that man called himself a scientist! If every child conceived in the time vortex gained Time Lord DNA, then Time Lords would have flooded the universe! The Time Vortex was a factor, but were other causes. For example, if one parent had authentic but hidden Timelord DNA, the Tardis would have ensured that that precious DNA was extracted and passed to the offspring.

Rory - he didn't like that name very much anymore – considered his daughter for a moment, and he was very satisfied. Intelligent, lively, ambitious, determined, tenacious, a name to be feared, the most wanted criminal in the universe, and could order the Doctor around at the drop of the hat. The Master couldn't be prouder.

He snapped the watch shut and tossed it into trash. It was useless now. He took a deep breath, and did what he wanted to do for ages: he laughed. The Master loved to laugh. He had to admit that he didn't plan this, but it was too sweet of a victory.

He wondered how the Doctor will react when he finds out that he repeatedly saved his worst nemesis? Or better yet, now the Doctor finally has to bow down to the Master. Even if it is only too call him "Father-in-law," it will be a moment to be savoured.

-fin-

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