Something Very Unpredictable

Something or rather someone was near. The Doctor could feel a shift in the air and he took a deep breath. A familiar scent was here but…no, no it couldn’t be. It wasn’t possible. He was wrong to ever think of the idea. A knot began forming in the bit of his stomach as he began to follow the scent. It led him to a wasteland, a sense of deja vu came to him. He walked around and stopped when he climbed up a small hill to look around.The Doctor took a deep breath once more. The same scent was stronger this time but not a soul was around.

Was the Doctor going mad? Was he just wrong about this instinct? He ran a hand through his raven hair and sighed frustrated. He turned to walk back to the TARDIS but he didn’t see someone was behind him and the Doctor walked right into the other. He was about to apologize but he stopped and looked up, shock filling his features. It was him…it was him.

“You can’t be…” The Doctor murmured as he staggered back a bit. “It’s impossible…”

“Never say impossible, Doctor.” The other man said. His voice sent a chill down the Doctor’s spine but he composed himself quickly.

The man tilted his head curiously at him, his ice blue eyes hard and a shadow of a smirk on his face. He was wearing a light gray button down shirt with a black vest over it, black pants and shoes. His hair was still blonde and short-ish but black was showing slightly at the roots.

“Speechless are you?” He asked in a taunting tone as he began to walk around the Doctor.

“You’ve gotten older. What is this, the Twelfth? You ought to be more careful with one more regeneration to go.” The Doctor stared straight ahead, silent still.

“Oh, Doctor, why won’t you speak? Still in shock I’m here in your presence? I’ve been around for a while but you were too oblivious, again, to see.”

He was getting closer as he continued to walk around the Doctor, like an animal looking right at it’s prey. He paused on the left side of the time lord and pressed himself closer, his chest touching the Doctor’s back. The Doctor was conflicted on what to do: get away from him or lean in but he did neither.

The taller leaned closer to his neck and breathed in. “Hmm…still smell as good as the last time, maybe even better.” He said to himself, as if he was talking out loud.

“Do you know how long it’s been, Doctor?” He asked in his ear.

“One hundred and thirty years.” The Doctor said once he found his voice again and tried to keep it even.

“Correct. Of course, being in the Time Lock for that long, time…” He began tapping his fingers up and down the Doctor’s arm to the beat of four. If the Doctor wasn’t frozen in place, he would have jumped out of his skin. “Time goes by so differently there where at any moment now, it could be ceasing to exist as we speak.”

The Doctor swallowed hard at that, an apology was bubbling up. He should have been the one in the time lock, not him.

“And don’t you dare begin to say you’re sorry.” He growled harshly in his ear and the tapping on the arm getting faster and harder. Silence fell between them as the tapping became softer on his arm, the other’s anger calming down…slightly.

“But what gets me, dear Doctor,” He said. “Is that…well…you never said my name. You know who I am but I didn’t get a proper acknowledgement and I’m a bit hurt by that.”

The Doctor remained silent, the name was caught in his throat. He could feel the other moving away from him and walking to face the Doctor.

“Use my name.” He whispered, his blue eyes hardened more than the last time he saw them.

“Master.” The Doctor said immediately. A smirk crept onto the Master’s face but the Doctor could see the ice blue eyes soften just a bit.

“Oh how I missed my name coming out of you.” The Master said in a proud yet dark tone.

He reached his hand to stroke the Doctor’s cheek, blue eyes staring right into the green. A small, visible shiver came out of the Doctor and the Master’s smirk grew more noticing that.

“That’s my Doctor.” He murmured to himself as he continued to stroke his cheek softly. The Doctor closed his eyes and turned his head slightly into his hand, missing this contact so much. The Master removed his hand and the Doctor opened his eyes at him.

“Don’t get too comfortable.” He said with a smirk. “We got a lot of…catching up to do.”

“Let’s get started then.” The Doctor said to the Master, a hint of a smile coming to his face.