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Now, that’s enough. How is she supposed to teach the already semi-anesthetized students about Tudor history, when the intruder won’t stop prodding them with that device?
“Excuse me,” she says, trying to catch his attention.
The man keeps doing his work, undisturbed. It looks like he hasn’t even heard her.
Evelyn clears her throat and raises her voice a bit. “I said, excuse me, sir.”
One of the students, who at this point are laughing, pokes the stranger in the side. He turns around, an annoyed expression on his face. He moves the device around the student, then he clicks his tongue.
“Not what I’m looking for,” he says. “Shoo, now. Let me do what I––”
“I can’t keep the lesson going like this,” Evelyn mutters. She crosses her arms and eyes the stranger until he notices her.
“Oh. Oh!” he exclaims. He looks at the device and then, with a couple of jumps, he is at her desk. The beeping sounds coming from the device are much faster now, and much more annoying, if that’s even possible. “There you are! I found you!”
The stranger looks really happy, for some reason.
“Were you looking for me?” Evelyn asks, lifting an eyebrow.
The stranger pockets his device and puffs his chest, giving himself a dignified air.
“Pleased to meet you. I am the Master.”
Muffled laughter ripples through the classroom, and the stranger gives the students a crooked look, even if it’s somewhat indulgent.
“Alright,” Evelyn sighs. “I suspect the lesson is over for today.”
As soon as she utters the magical words, the students stream out of the classroom, leaving only the two of them inside. When the dust has settled, Evelyn sits back on her chair. Her chest aches, and she presses a hand on it for a moment.
“Master. Master of what, if I may ask?”
“A lot of things,” the stranger says. He sits on her desk and crosses his legs. “A bit of this, a bit of that. May I kindly ask you your name?”
Evelyn hesitates for a moment, then she looks at him right in the eye. He has bright light-blue eyes, very sharp, and the hint of a smirk dancing on his lips. He has very long, curly hair, that he carries in a low ponytail. But what truly attracts Evelyn’s attention are his clothes. They’re definitely not common. He’s wearing a red-blood vest and a pair of black trousers, on top of which he carries a black coat. The insides of the coat are padded with brightly colored fabric, a mix of clashing primaries and secondaries that almost hurts the eyes.
“Doctor Smythe,” she says in the end. “Evelyn Smythe.”
He smiles. There's a certain alien coldness to it, a smile that makes her skin prickle. “A nice name. Listen, now, Evelyn. You might think this is strange, but you must know that you’re very special. And that I need you to come with me, now.”
***
After a minor squabble, she invited herself aboard the TARDIS. That was unexpected. The Master had thought he would have to use harsher methods to convince her to go on board, but fading in and out of existence - on top of seeing the insides of the time machine - had convinced Professor Smythe to follow him out of her own will. Not only that, she had even seemed enthusiastic about it. That made for an interesting change of pace.
The Master had tried to take someone to keep him company here and there in the last few decades, but he had never gotten along with his companions that well, and he had either dumped them somewhere or left them to their fates after jumping aboard the TARDIS. It helped that, as a Time Lord, he had a bit more of a sprint compared to feeble humans, and that he could easily outrun them and slam the doors of the TARDIS shut before they could follow him inside. Not that this body was particularly athletic– yes, it was strong, and it could be imposing when he used it to his advantage, but it wasn’t made for long runs and what humans called ‘sports’, not in the same way the previous one had. That was the one thing the Master missed about his old body. Jumping around now caused him to be a bit out of breath. But he could be frightening in other ways, so overall he didn’t mind.
Either way, a human walking themselves into his home was a lot better than forcibly shoving them into it or yelling them into submission.
And Evelyn had brought chocolate cake.
Veni, vidi, vici.
The Master almost felt sorry at the thought of letting his new acquaintance die. But what could be done? She was an unpredictable variable, a lot of timelines were converging on her and they were soon going to explode in a marvelous display of colors. All he had to do was apply the right amount of pressure, stand back and watch.
***
They took him. They took the Master, and Evelyn is alone. She knows the age, but even a historian can’t be able to navigate a society when the time-travelling alien who said he was going to help her told her they were in the wrong year. Turns out this is 1555 and Mary is still on the throne. And now, there are people who aren’t being reasonable about all this in the slightest. She might be panicking a bit, actually.
But then- no, the people who have taken her aren’t catholics after all, and they’re not going to have her head for making a toast to Elizabeth. They’re protestants, and they’re planning to kill Mary.
Evelyn tries to explain them that Mary will die soon either way, of natural causes, but their minds are set, in particular Reverend Crow’s. Turns out that men can be pretty unreasonable when they have set their minds on something and that they’re not particularly good at listening to old ladies’ opinions. However, when she makes them hot chocolate, they seem a lot more cooperative.
***
The Master lends a patient ear to Mary’s woes. It’s interesting to see which futile things push humans to persecute and kill each other. A quibble, a slight difference between one religion and the other. There’s a lot of darkness in humans – a different kind of darkness, compared to the Time Lords’, but just as murky and deep. He could listen to them talk about how unfair the world is and about how they want to paint it red with the blood of their enemies all day.
And he has all day, actually. He doesn’t have much to do, but to contemplate and listen. And to whisper ideas into human ears. What if Mary took matters in her own hands even more? What if, then? It’s better to be feared than to be loved, sometimes. Love is much harder to earn, and she doesn’t seem particularly good at doing that. So fear it needs to be.
Then, while thinking about love and fear, the Master meets her again. Evelyn. She is disappearing and reappearing more often, now. She has lost the stabilizer he had lended her. For shame. Her own fault. She should have been more careful; he doesn’t like careless people, especially those who squander his gifts.
However, Evelyn is such a pleasant presence that he surprises himself smiling to her while they’re talking.
She’s saying something about him being her great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather. Her surname is Smythe, his fake surname is Smith. He used to be a grandfather, once, but he’s definitely not hers. She would be a far colder and less amicable creature, if that were the case, and maybe have two hearts.
Evelyn is smart and stands her ground. The Master admires that in her. She’s a delight. Even the people who initially scared her have grown fond of her, and the Master is starting to think that he’s not immune to her charms.
A pity she’s going to fade away soon.
***
In the end, everything falls back into place. As soon as history takes its original course, Evelyn doesn’t feel faint anymore, nor do her hands start to become transparent. She’s here and she’s here to stay, in spite of what the laws of time or her heart might say.
And the Master- she wasn’t sure what to think of him at first, but he’s so nice, under the prickly character and the big words. He’s helped her a lot. He didn’t have to.
She needs to thank him somehow, and so she bakes him chocolate cake, for which he is starting to develop a taste already.
Then, she goes home to grab some things, and she’s ready to travel. Who knew it wasn’t too late for her yet. Nothing can stop her now, not even an ill heart. Plus, which kind of respectable historian would ever pass up the opportunity to know more?
***
The Master wasn’t entirely sure as to why he took Evelyn on board. He liked her. He liked her more than what he was willing to admit to himself. He liked her chattering, he liked her mind, he liked her passion about history. He always appreciated someone with a great passion. There was that peculiar spark in Evelyn, the one that he just cannot resist.
If things go badly, he said to himself, I can always bring her back.
Yes, he could always do that. He wasn’t forced to do anything he didn’t want to. He was the Master. He could do whatever he wanted.
And if he wanted Evelyn to travel with him, he could take her.
However, he wondered.
Would she like me as much, if she knew the kind of creature I am?
She hadn’t seen what he’s capable of. He could do unspeakable things. And what would she have said, once she inevitably discovered that side of him, the one he wasn’t always this good at keeping under control?
The Master shook his head. Better not to think about it. He was determined to take as much enjoyment from this as he could.