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It had been an accident. She hadn’t meant to come here - the Doctor had simply landed the first safe place she could find in an attempt to avoid damaging the TARDIS even more than she already had. So when she stepped out of the doors (she would’ve liked to immediately flown away, but the room was filled with smoke and she needed to leave so the TARDIS could clean the air) she was surprised to see not two TARDISes, like she’d been expecting, but three .
Unfortunately, she only had herself to blame for this crash-landing (but she was trying her hardest to blame the Master, too.) She’d been angry , barely paying attention to where she was going, and she’d been determined not to let any other ships get in her way.
It was reckless. It was dangerous. And, more importantly, it was the way that the Master always flew his TARDIS, so it was hardly a surprise that when they crossed paths, they crashed straight into each other.
The Doctor glanced between their two ships, both of them leaking smoke and radiation, and when the Master crawled out of his TARDIS, doubled over and spluttering, she was relieved. (Was relieved the right word? Maybe that was taking it a step too far.) But despite that feeling (whatever it was) she was angry. Angry that he destroyed their planet, and angry that he hadn’t at least had the decency to tell her himself.
Maybe he’d been afraid of what her reaction would be. Good, she thought. Let him be afraid of me.
But although she wouldn’t admit it in the moment that the thought crossed her mind, she didn’t really mean it. If the Master was ever afraid of her, it would hurt . Because the two of them had been friends - after everything he’d done, he was still the man who used to be her best friend. Now, she could hardly look at him without the anger burning hot inside her. (As hot as the fires that he used to burn their planet, maybe.)
The doors to both of their TARDISes slammed themselves shut, and the two Time Lords found themselves staring at each other for a moment, before both of their gazes turned to the third TARDIS. It looked like a police box, so they both instantly knew it was one of hers.
The Doctor was desperate to leave - if she escaped the situation before the other version of herself saw her (would they be past or future - she was dying to know), then maybe she could avoid a paradox. But with the TARDIS trying to clear the radiation, she wouldn’t be able to fly it away, and if she left it here and ran off, then the other version of herself would see it. Before she’d had a chance to decide what to do, the Master was running over to her, rage evident in his eyes as his hand came up to wrap around her throat. Her back hit blue wood, and despite his painful grip, she rolled her eyes.
“ Great .” She hissed, glancing to the side. (At least he’d had the decency to shove her against the door that the Doctor barely ever used, so she wouldn’t fall backwards if they opened it.) “Now they’re going to wonder who’s outside.”
As if on cue, the door swung open, and a younger version of the Doctor stepped out. (She should’ve known it would be him - each TARDIS exterior had slight differences that she should’ve recognised.) She didn’t realise how much she’d missed that pinstripe suit until she saw it on him. And she’d really had good hair back then, too.
“Who are you?” He asked, confusion written on his face. But his eyes quickly flicked over to their ships, and he instantly knew that one of them was his. He might’ve taken a little more time to figure out who was who if the Master hadn’t had his hand wrapped around her throat. “Ah.”
The Master’s hand dropped to his side. “Hello, Doctor.” He said, eyes softening as he looked over at the other man. As much as he hated to admit it… he’d missed this Doctor. This was the Doctor who had truly believed that he could be better - who had begged the Master to travel with him, even while he’d been holding him captive. (But he tried to convince himself that most of the reason he’d missed this Doctor was because he was pretty.)
It took the Doctor a moment to realise that he was looking at his old friend. Considering where he was in his timeline… it was painful, for a moment, but it filled him with hope. “Master.” He breathed, before a grin broke out on his face. “You’re alive.”
“ Obviously .”
“How? You refused to regenerate, I held you as you died-”
Ah, so that’s where he was from. Well, if he thought this resurrection was a shock, he’d be even more surprised at all the ones that were to come.
“I know. And you cried .” The Master’s eyes sparkled with mischief - he was taunting him, and enjoying it - and the older Doctor rolled her eyes and pushed him back a few steps by a hand on his chest. He seemed to have momentarily forgotten about her, as all his attention was now fixed on the other Doctor. (If only she ever gave him her attention in the way that he gave her his .) But she was glad for the opportunity to move herself away from the doors.
“Of course I did.” The Doctor murmured, and the Master was slightly taken aback by the emotions in his voice. That one sentence alone was so different to the way that his Doctor would have answered, and he’d almost forgotten what felt like to be looked at with such love. He spoke as if it were something obvious - of course he cried, why would the Master even consider that he wouldn’t? And why would he ever assume that it’s something he would be ashamed of? “You’re my oldest friend.”
The Master sucked in a breath and paused as he stared at him, and the older of the two took the opportunity to speak up.
“We crash landed, and now we can’t go anywhere until they clear up the radiation.” She said, and the other Doctor nodded in response.
“You can wait in here. Wasn’t planning on leaving yet anyway.” He took a few steps back to give them room to come in. It was probably a bad idea - you shouldn’t cross your own timestream, they both knew that. It was one of the first things they taught you at the academy. But the female Doctor had done this before - she’d met past versions of herself, and even had thirteen incarnations all converge on Gallifrey, so she had a feeling that simply sitting in the same TARDIS wouldn’t be too big of a deal. But the other Doctor hadn’t done this before, and he didn’t know if it was safe.
But he’d still offered, because getting to see the Master again was worth the risk of ripping the universe apart.
As the two of them walked inside, their faces were graced with fond smiles. They’d both regenerated in this TARDIS, a long time ago, and that meant they were strangely attached to this layout. (Since this wasn’t his own TARDIS, it was considerably stranger for the Master to like it in the way he did.)
“So, I become you? How do I end up like that ?” The Doctor asked, gesturing towards her. He was mainly referring to the rainbow, they both knew.
“Don’t know - I just quite liked it.” A pause, and then she smiled and ran her fingers over the lapels of his trenchcoat. “But I missed that coat. Missed it enough that I went and got one that felt similar.” She held the material of her jacket away from her body for a second as she looked down at it. “What do you think?”
He looked her up and down, then put his hands in the pocket of his own coat. “I like mine better.” But he had to admit, she looked good in that one. Though he’d always have a soft spot for this particular outfit.
Meanwhile, the Master had wandered over the back of the room, and was leaning against a doorframe, half in the console room and half in the hallway. “Are neither of you going to offer to make me a cup of tea?” He asked, promptly vanishing down the hallway, and the Doctors instantly ran after him. After all, it wasn't a good idea to let the Master run wild in their TARDIS. (Though hopefully he’d understand that the Doctor’s past was not to be meddled with.) “I made you and your pets tea when you were in my TARDIS.” They may not have known it was a TARDIS at the time, but it still counted.
The Doctor didn’t seem to understand that last comment since he didn’t have any context for it, so he hoped that it meant the two of them were working together. Or that they had worked together, at some point. (Why else would she take her companions into his TARDIS?)
When her younger self glanced at her with that hopeful and ever so optimistic look in his eyes, the Doctor knew exactly what he wanted. Some time alone with the Master would make him feel so much better after having to watch him die, even if he wouldn’t remember it. And who was she to deny a grief stricken man a few minutes of happiness? (Because no matter what happened, this Doctor would always be happy simply to spend time with him.)
“I’ll go make some.” She offered, and she was gone before either of them had a chance to thank her. (Not that the Master would’ve even thought to thank her for anything.)
The Master may have only been on the TARDIS once while it had this layout, but after he’d regenerated he’d taken the time to have a good look around. Now, he was especially glad for that, because he was able to easily locate a room with a comfy looking sofa, a fireplace, a table, and a tv. There was a bookshelf in the back corner of the room, and all of those things put together gave the place a calming atmosphere.
It took the Doctor a few minutes to find them again when she was returning with three cups of tea carefully balanced on a tray, but she really didn’t mind. After all, she was still angry with the Master, and every moment without his presence was a gift. She hated him. (And as soon as she calmed down, she’d go back just hating that she loved him, instead.)
When she walked back into the room, what she saw surprised her. The Master was curled up at one end of the sofa, and the Doctor was hugging him, resting his chin on the top of the other man’s head. At first, she wondered why they were sitting in silence, but when her eyes landed on the Master’s tear stained face, she understood. They’d been talking, she supposed - having a proper heart(s) to heart(s).
Her tenth incarnation had seemed to be the happiest of all of them, though he carried so much pain and regret in his hearts. He’d simply learned how to hide it, though he had occasionally let pure anger shine through. When he’d saved the humans on Mars and declared himself the Time Lord Victorious, he’d leaned into the rage; let it fuel his actions, and for a brief moment, he’d felt powerful. It had been the same feeling that had flashed through him when destroying Gallifrey, though he hadn’t wanted to admit it. (It had made him swear to never hurt anyone again, because he knew that inflicting pain could be addictive, and he wasn’t always as strong as he wanted to be.)
So when The Oncoming Storm dropped his usual grin and turned his anger on someone, it would make them run. (He’d use this track record to save Missy one day, and the Doctor could firmly say that was the only good thing to come of it.)
But now, some of that anger was turned towards his future self. “ What did you do to him? ” He mouthed, fixing her with a death glare that would’ve made anyone else take off running. Instead, she simply gave him an exasperated eye roll.
Whatever the two of them had talked about while she was out of the room, it had obviously been painful, if it had made the Master break into tears so easily. (Although he had always been worse at keeping his emotions in check.) But then, she thought, he had almost looked like he was going to cry on the hologram he left her, so maybe it was easier to make him cry than she’d expected.
Or maybe, said a voice in the back of her head, he told him the secret that had seemed to shake him to his very core. Maybe I knew the secret that forced him to destroy our planet hundreds of years before he even did it.
But the Doctor was still looking at her expectantly, waiting for an answer, so she pushed all speculation to the back of her mind and tore her eyes away from the tears that were sliding down his cheeks. Looking at the two of them sitting like that was painful, anyway. (It made her wonder if she could’ve avoided their recent problems by simply sitting him down and offering him a hug.)
“He burned Gallifrey.” She whispered by way of explanation (it wasn’t what he’d asked, but it was meant to prove that he deserved the way she had treated him - the way that she had given up on him.) Her words were quickly followed by a sigh.
Seeing them like this - upset, angry, and finding comfort in each other - made her realise that she truly was the Doctor who gave up . She’d fought for justice where she had needed to, but as soon as the Master had appeared she’d tried to stop him by any means necessary. At least his other incarnations had gotten an inspiring speech about how to be a good person before she’d convinced herself that there was no saving them. Maybe she should’ve tried harder to emotionally connect with him, this time round.
Her younger self didn’t seem surprised by the revelation about their planet, so she assumed that he had already told him.
“So did we.”
Well, he had a point there.
He wasn’t suggesting that the Master was right for what he did, but he was saying that he deserved a second chance. (Though it was more like his twentieth.)
This Doctor had always tried to connect with the Master - he’d taken every opportunity to try and bond with him, even when trapped in a cage - and now that he was finally reciprocating, he’d never been happier. Finally, it felt like he had his friend back, even though he’d used their time apart to do unspeakable things. (Maybe even because of it.)
Now… they had something in common, and it was the rage and pain in their hearts.
A soft clinking sound filled the room as the Doctor placed her tray on the table and came to sit next to them, with her cup of tea in hand. Neither of the other two made a move to reach for the ones she’d brought them, not wanting to break the closeness between them, in case they never had another chance to be like this with one another.
Sipping at her tea, the Doctor watched as her past self slowly stroked the Master’s hair, and she found that even just watching the action was relaxing. After a moment, one hand held the cup steady as she balanced it on her leg, and her other was reaching out to touch the Master; to rub comfortingly at his arm, even as he refused to look at her.
Despite the damage they had caused, she was suddenly glad for their crash landing. If it hadn’t happened, she wouldn’t have had the much needed reminder that, no matter what, the Master was a man who could be saved.