Author's Notes

Spoilers for the entire series, but especially "The End of Time."

I'd like to thank the following websites for your plethora of Whovian information:

quotes/doctorwho/specials/the-end-of-time-part-two/ for your "The End of Time" quotes.

wiki/Doctor_Who_Wiki for your timeline.

anglophenia/2012/07/doctor-who-cosplay-how-to-dress-like-donna-noble/ for your description of Donna's outfit. (A banana chocolate chip muffin for anyone who can identify when she wore it.)

Doctor Who does not belong to me. If it did, I'd find a way to save Donna Noble, have River Song meet Captain Jack Harkness, and commission a Doctor Who – Sherlock crossover. In the meantime, I have to credit Steven Moffat, Russell T. Davies, Julie Gardner, and the BBC. I should also credit Verity Lambert and Sydney Newman.

Summary

All the Master cared about was escaping death and taking over the universe. Then, all he cared about was escaping the Time Lock and destroying the Doctor. He didn't plan on being haunted by a ginger-haired woman only he could see or hear. He didn't plan on meeting two teenagers, one a sullen boy and the other a girl who claimed to be his archenemy's daughter. He didn't plan on crashing into a parallel universe after a Cybermen apocalypse. He didn't plan on being rescued by a widowed nurse and his young daughter. He didn't plan on saving a mentally disturbed Time Lord-human version of the Doctor from the clutches of Torchwood. And he certainly didn't plan on ever having a family again.

Journey's Beginning

Chapter 1

Naismith Mansion
London, UK
December 25, 2009

"The gate wasn't enough," the Doctor said. "You're still dying."

1 2 3 4. 1 2 3 4. The drums beat their steady never-ending rhythm in his head. The Master pressed a hand to his forehead, but the sound was unrelenting. 1 2 …

Before the drums got to the third beat, a ginger-haired woman appeared in the center of the room. She wore a long grey sweater over a purple top, dark trousers, and practical brown shoes. A thick tan belt was tied over the sweater. Over this ensemble, the woman wore a dark tan leather raincoat. Her only jewelry was hoop earrings and a pebble ring on the middle finger of her right hand.

"Where am I?" she asked. "What is this?" She looked around at the identical people. "What the hell is this? Attack of the Bloody Clones?" Finally, her gaze rested on the Doctor. Her expression turned immediately from confusion to anger.

"Oi, Spaceman!" she shouted at the Time Lord. "You stupid, bloody fool! You think you can give me the greatest experience of my life and then wipe my memories?"

"Who the hell are you?" the Master demanded to know.

"You know who I am, Koschei" the Doctor responded, thinking he was the one being addressed. "It's me, Theta. The Doctor. We used to be friends. Remember? We used to …"

"Not you!" the Master interrupted, before he started rambling on about friendship, yada yada, being the last of their kind, yada yada, let's travel together. He'd rather stick his nose in a vat of Maxusian toxic waste. He pointed at the woman, who was by now waving her hands in front of the Doctor's unseeing eyes. "Her!"

"Her?" the Doctor asked. "I don't see anyone here but me and you. Well, one me and lots of yous. If you want to be technical about it." Had he not been tied up, the Master was certain he would have scratched the back of his ear. That was one tic this particular regeneration of the Doctor had. Not that the Master noticed, of course. Or cared.

"Earth to Dumbo! Dumbo, can you read me?" the woman was calling out. No response. She tried again, to no avail. Instead, she decided to continue her rant. "I leave you alone and look what happens. You great big stupid outer space dunce! Got a bit tied up, I see."

"There's a woman standing in front of you!" the Master replied. "You can't see her?"

At his unspoken command, several clones stepped forward to detain the intruder. She held up a hand and they were tossed against a wall.

Impossible! The Master thought. Was this some sort of alien entity? Everyone in the world was him. Why hadn't this woman changed? Why could he see through her? She wasn't entirely transparent, but she definitely wasn't solid, either.

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't see anyone, Kosch."

"My name is Master!" he thundered. He glared at his enemy. "Call me that again and you won't live to see another regeneration! And wipe that stupid look off your face. I don't need your pity." He turned toward the old man. "Tell me you see her!" he begged. No, demanded. The Master does not beg, especially not lowlife ape scum.

"Sorry, sir, but I don't see anyone neither." Stupid human. Asking him was a waste of breath.

"Oi, Spaceman! What do you mean you don't see anyone?" the woman shouted. "I'm standing right in front of you! Are you blind? I know you sure as hell can hear me! If this is some game, I'm gonna slap you!"

The Master bit back a laugh. It was just like the Doctor to submit to threats from a weaker species. Any laughter was choked back when the ginger woman raised her arm and slapped the Doctor across the cheek. Why wasn't the Doctor reacting? It couldn't be everyday someone shouted at the saintly Doctor, much less slapped him. These stupid apes looked to him as a savior. The Master wanted to thank his Gallifreyan physiology for providing him with a respiratory bypass system. The woman's hand had gone through the Doctor's face! Based on her Bynon-in-the-headlights look – what did humans call it? – this was a complete shock to her, too. Apparently, this transparency thing was new to her.

Before he could question the woman, she whirled around to confront him. "And you, Ringo! Changing everyone in the world to look like yourself? That's just wizard!"

"This body was born out of death," the Master reminded his oldest friend-turned-archenemy, deciding to return to their earlier conversation. "All it can do is die."

"'Born out of death?'" the woman repeated incredulously. "Yeah, mate, you do look like death. Next time you wanna make the whole world look like you, you might wanna shave first. Coulda been worse. I could be starin' at billions of copies of my mother. Now that's scary."

The Master decided to ignore the woman's barbs – for now. "What did you say to me?" he asked the Doctor. "Back in the wasteland. You said 'The End of Time.'"

"I said something is returning," the Doctor corrected him. "I was shown a prophecy. That's why I need your help."

"His help?" the woman scoffed. "You bloody idiot! He's got you and Gramps tied up! Why the hell are you beggin' for his help?"

"What if I'm a part of it? Don't you see? The drum beat is calling from so far away," he spoke over the woman. "From the end of time itself. And now it's been amplified six billion times. Triangulate all those signals, I could find its source!" The Master wildly waved his arms, pointing at himself. "Look Doctor! That's what your prophecy was! Me!"

The mystery woman shook her head in dissatisfaction. It was bad enough that he had to suffer the never ending drums, but at least they were a constant through every regeneration. This woman, who it seemed was only visible to him, was another matter. She smelled human, so he could rule out those theories. Was she a ghost? An astral projection? A hologram? Worse yet, was she a manifestation of his psychosis? She was something new, something he didn't create, and therefore, could not control. He would never admit it, but she was making him nervous.

"Where's the TARDIS?" he asked.

"Just stop," the Doctor begged. "Just think."

"Think? You want him to think?" the woman asked. By now, she was leaning against a column, arms crossed over her chest.

"Kill him!" He motioned one of his clones to hold the old man at gunpoint. "I need that technology, Doctor. Tell me where it is or the old man is dead."

"Gramps!" the woman cried. "Don't you dare lay a finger on him!" She planted herself between the old man and the clones, but his clones just walked through her. The Master made a mental note to test her lack of solidity later.

"Don't tell him!" the old man – Gramps – begged.

Oh, those humans, the Master thought. Have to admire them. So brave and yet so stupid. "I'll kill him right now!" he warned.

The Doctor smirked in response. "Actually, the most impressive thing about you is that after all this time, you're still bone dead stupid."

"Take aim," the Master commanded.

"You've got six billion pairs of eyes but you still can't see the obvious, can you?"

"I what?

The Doctor's smirk couldn't possibly get any wider. "That guard is one inch too tall."

The last thing the Master heard before being knocked out was the woman's shouts of "Daft Martians!"