Soul's Shadow

Too many thoughts were running through my mind again. This steady back and forth with the Master had become so familiar, so… reliable, in a way, that it felt outright uncanny to have him try and be so open with me during the last days. And now that the Doctor was also in the picture, even this acquired sense of balance was tipping in a direction I could impossibly predict. It was bad enough to be so aware of my short life span, and now there were also all the other things I fell short with, compared to a Time Lord.

For an hour or so I did nothing but wander through the corridors, not knowing where to go and wanting to stay in motion. The only thing I made sure of was to not stray away too far from familiar territory. Getting lost inside the TARDIS wouldn't help now. It was no surprise, then, to meet Wilf after a while, exiting his door and closing it with almost fatherly gentleness.

"It's a fascinating thing, isn't it?" he asked when he saw me. "A ship. But it's… it's alive, isn't it? Feels like it is. Old girl here." He chuckled and stroked the frame of the door with his fingers. "You keep the Doctor company when no one else does, eh?"

His words made me smile. The ways the TARDIS tended to communicate were indeed fascinating. Wilf bent forward a little, inspecting Kira, who sat on my shoulder.

"I thought it was a toy. It's so small. But Donna said it's a dragon. A real little dragon?"

I chuckled and nodded. "Yep. Well, it depends on what myth you want to go with. He's actually more of a wyvern, but… I guess that doesn't really matter." I scratched his little head and then turned. "Shall we go and have a look at what the others are up to?"

"That was my plan, yes." Wilf's eyes twinkled friendly. "Still can't wrap my head around this fantastic place. Donna's one lucky girl. But…"

We stopped walking and I glanced at the old man, who was looking uncomfortable for a moment. "What is it?"

"The Doctor's not always around to protect my Donna. I know it now and he can't be, of course. But say… That other man, the Master. Is he dangerous? For her?"

Sometimes it was so hard to see through the eyes of other people. Because through my own, there was no threat. He could hurt and break me and there was still a part inside of me that kept me… going. Maybe it was because of his life force in me, maybe there was something else. Whatever the case, to me he was no threat.

But what about Donna, who he hated simply because she was human and because she was bold and loud? What about the Doctor, who he had tried to kill on so many occasions that it could fill entire books? What about the entire earth that he had tried to conquer and destroy many times, some of them even with success? The memory of him nonchalantly causing the deaths of a million people just recently still lingered in my mind.

But no. "He won't hurt her," I mumbled, eventually. "He wouldn't risk it. If Donna would come to harm then he'd lose both me and the Doctor. And I'm pretty sure…" I shook my head and smiled. "She's as safe as someone can be in a circumstance like this."

"Mhm… Mhm… 'S what I thought. Thanks for being honest, Lucy."

I nodded, smiling, and we sauntered on, stopping at my room where I dropped Kira. He seemed tired and didn't protest when I sat him down on his favourite pillow. After that we walked to the control room, not expecting what we would find there.

Donna was there, propped against the control table, both hands firmly gripping the metal and staring intensely across the room. There the Master sat, launching in the jump seat with a seemingly casual posture, but a not less intense stare. Neither spoke a single word.

"We interrupting something?" blurted out Wilf. When I tossed a glance at him he definitely had an amused spark in his eyes.

"Ask your granddaughter, old man," snarled the Master. "She's staring at me like that for a solid five minutes now."

"I asked where the Doctor is." Donna stood her ground. "And I haven't gotten an answer yet."

"I said," grumbled the Master, "I don't know where he is."

"And last time I saw him was with you," she countered, sounding actually more like she was bursting with curiosity rather than with concern.

"Yes, he was. And now he isn't. I didn't kill him, if that's what you want to know. Would be pretty stupid to get myself stuck like that." He rolled his eyes, then glared at Donna's face a little more closely and let out a grunt. "And I definitely did nothing of what you're just thinking about, so stop the bloody stare. We're not mindless animals."

That was when the penny dropped. I almost laughed out loud and only didn't out of concern the Master would snap at me. Donna was nosy, that's for sure, so maybe it was for everyone's good that the doors opened to let Martha stroll in. She stopped dead in her tracks when her eyes landed on the Master, her brows furrowing; she tossed some glances around as if to assess if anyone was in danger.

"Where's the Doctor," Martha asked carefully. "He wanted to meet me to discuss a few things."

"You'd have to ask him." Donna thumbed at the Master, apparently oblivious to what that might cause to someone with a history like Martha. It took her only a second, however, to hastily add, "I mean… they were a little…" She made a funny eel-like movement with her body and put some air quotes with her fingers around her words. "...busy."

The Master only groaned, but Martha had no clue about what was going on and lashed out, storming forward, but staying far away enough to be out of imminent reach. "What did you do?" she shouted. "Get him back!"

"Uhm… that was not…" Donna tried to interrupt.

The Master sat straight on the jump seat, rubbing his ear dramatically. "Hell, that girl can shout," he muttered, then raised his voice. "Listen, apes. Believe it or not, but I neither killed, nor shagged that idiot. So get out of my face. All of you!"

Donna could barely contain a giggle and Martha seemed as shocked as she was confused.

I got distracted when there was a low rumbling beneath my feet, followed by a sudden jolt that sent me tumbling against Wilf. The old man managed to grab a coral pillar, but the TARDIS didn't stop moving, sending me right to the floor. It felt as if we were in full flight, against all possibility.

Somewhere a cable snapped, sending sparks flying over the floor. I didn't even try to get back up, knowing how messy time travel could get.

"What are you doing!" I heard Martha shout.

"I'm not doing anything!" shouted the Master back. "I can't touch anything here."

"Get me back! Get me back right now!"

"Shut up, Jones! That's not me!"

Finally the shaking stopped, leaving us in sudden silence that was only broken by a soft groan from Wilf and the noises of a few broken cables. I dared to heave myself from the ground, checking if anything was hurting more than necessary. Wilf also seemed okay, maybe a little shaken.

"I think I'm too old for this," he mumbled, although I saw the hint of a smile on his face when I checked him. "Did we travel? But the Doctor's not here. How can we have…"

"That I want to know too," Martha demanded, fists stemmed into her hips. "The Doctor promised he would make sure-"

"He did!" snapped the Master, rubbing his arm that he had probably hit somewhere and stepping around the console to tower over Martha. "Or do you really believe I'd still be here if I could just get away?"

For the longest moment they just glared at each other. And I was convinced this would end in a fight of more dangerous proportions, but luckily there was still Donna. She trod between the two and put a hand on each of their arms, having her no-nonsense look.

"Come now, you two. This's getting us nowhere. And if the Doctor's hiding or whatever then it's up to us, isn't it?"

The Master shook her hand off. "What's up to us? I don't even know where we are. The scanners show nothing."

"Time to find out then!" Donna held her head high, grinning. "Let's see what's behind the door, shall we? Martha?"

"You go and explore," muttered Wilf from the side. "I think I'm not up for what's out. Just get me if it's nice and safe, will ya?"

Donna only grinned at him.

It was obvious how much Martha struggled between being pissed at the Master and being curious about what there might be. She had, after all, been the Doctor's travel companion once. So there had to be at least some urge to know. Even I felt it, although I wasn't sure if I really wanted to know what was powerful enough to move the TARDIS without her pilot's consent.

The women took the choice in their own hands and promptly stormed away, both having an air of childish curiosity about them. It was contagious, so I followed, determined to only take a quick peek outside and not interfere any further with whatever there might wait.

But again, the choice wasn't mine. Martha and Donna simply left and after a moment the Master stormed past me, following them down a dark corridor with some sort of barricades strewn around.

"Oh no, you don't," he grunted. "You have no idea what's there. You could get killed in no time."

"Aaaaw, are you worried about us?" mocked Donna.

They didn't stop moving, however, so I stepped outside, making sure to close the doors behind me, and followed, unnoticed.

The Master growled annoyed. "I don't care if anything eats Jones, but the Doctor will rip my head off if you're on the meal."

"For all I care," Martha muttered, "They can eat you first."

"So, you have to take care of me then." Donna nonchalantly remarked, turning her head just enough to wink at me. "We'll just have a look and see what brought us here."

The Master turned as well, groaning when he saw I had followed. "Couldn't you have stayed inside at least?"

"You all just ran off." I shrugged. "And… maybe I'm a little curious too."

"Great." His voice was oozing sarcasm, but I didn't care.

It didn't take us long to meet the first people. At the end of the corridor was a big commotion going on. People were busily rushing about; humans, by the looks of it. Most of them were armed, some wounded.

And, of course, they spotted us. A group pointed in our direction and immediately we got swarmed and were threatened by half a dozen guns pointing at our heads.

"Don't move! Stay where you are! Drop your weapons," an older man threatened.

We had no choice but to raise our hands. Even the Master wasn't bold enough to risk getting shot.

"Wish I had one," he grumbled. "I don't even have my laser on my, thanks to the bloody-"

"Look at their hands. They're clean." The interruption came from a young guy, probably not older than twenty.

I exchanged a quick look with Donna, but she shrugged and Martha also made no sign of understanding what was going on. The older man nodded, then spoke again.

"All right, process them. Him first. He looks the strongest."

"Oh no, you're not going to process me." The Master dropped his hands, stepping forward and throwing all precaution aside. "Whatever that means."

It was obvious, however, that he wouldn't get a choice in that matter. Too many hands were grabbing him, too many to fight them all off, and he definitely tried his best, struggling and spitting insults the entire short walk to a machine where they roughly shoved his hand inside, followed by a pained and surprised grunt.

"What the hell do you think you're doing there?!" he snarled at the soldiers. "Don't dare to think I won't kill every single one of your bunch when… the fuck?"

The machine let go of his hand and a look of disbelief and shock appeared on his face. I trod next to the Master to inspect his hand, but it only had a small cut on it that wasn't even bleeding anymore. That didn't seem to be the reason for his reaction, however, his eyes being glued to the tube shaped machine in front of us that now displayed a streak of light down its middle.

Just a few seconds passed and the tube opened, revealing a person. A young woman, with black hair tied to a ponytail. She had a childish face and was fully clothed in military style attire.

"Where did she come from?" asked Martha, dumbfounded.

The Master glared at her with an open mouth. "That can't… They didn't…" He mumbled, then stared at Martha with wide eyes, holding up the hand with the cut. "They just took a sample."

Martha gaped at it, understanding something I didn't quite grasp yet.

"What does that mean?" asked Donna. "How's she here? Who is she?"

"Fr… from… me." The Master licked over his lips, unable to take his eyes away. "She's a sort of clone. A genetic…"

"Does that make her… your daughter?" asked Donna, raising an eyebrow.

The Master gave her the same confused look, almost a pleading one. "Basically…. yes."