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Fic: Mrs Saxon's Diary. Part 5/?
Here you go - I hope you enjoy. Have I mentioned recently how much I adore The Master? If not, then this ought to confirm it yet again. :) (Hopefully you'll be able to see the story through all the meta...)
Setting: Around 15 months pre-'Sound of Drums'
Spoilers: End of S3.
Pairing: Lucy/Harry.
Rating: PG-13.
Previous parts here.
Mrs Saxon's Diary. Part 5
I can’t describe - or explain - what I saw in Utopia. Not yet anyway. That part is all too raw and terrible. But in an attempt to formulate how it affected me, I will instead put down a story I heard many years ago. It is probably not true, but its significance suddenly struck me.
It centered around a medical student at a hospital. One day a man was brought in, horribly mangled. The student was one of those who helped mend him, which took a very long time. But finally, after a year or so, the man was fit and healthy again - everything healed. It was a miracle of medicine. But - when he walked out of the hospital he was run over by a bus and killed in an instant. So the medical student decided that being a doctor was pointless, and instead became a Polar explorer.
Humankind is that man... we fuss over everything, trying to fix things, clinging to life - but why? What is the point? I have seen how it ends.
~~~
When we returned to the TARDIS I couldn’t speak. The Master pulled me close and just held me silently. After a long moment he pulled away, and carefully lifted my face to look at me.
“I’m going to save them,” he said and I could only stare at him, wide-eyed.
“How?” I breathed, and he smiled - that bright, self-assured smile of his.
“I’ll tell you - but not here.” He thought for a moment. “Listen, there’s a wardrobe through there... go find yourself a pretty summer frock of some kind, and I’ll take us somewhere nice.”
He then gave me rather complicated directions, but I only got lost twice and soon enough was back in the main control room. I found it empty, the door open - and when I went outside I realised that we were on the most stunning beach I’d ever seen.
“Where are we?” I asked, and Harry looked up from the blanket where he was sitting next to a full hamper. “The Caribbean,” he replied. “Come - have a drink and something to eat.”
Utterly thrown I sat down next to him, and he poured me a glass of champagne.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked, a wave of his hand encompassing the perfect white sand of the beach, the deep blue of the sea and the palm trees swaying above us.
“Yes,” I whispered; the darkness, terror and despair I had so recently seen still clinging to me, like a nightmare. Except it had been real.
Then he raised his glass, and looked at me - that same look in his eyes as the very first night I had met him.
“To the end of the world!” he said, smiling, and I just stared, astonished.
He laughed and shook his head. “The end of this world, dear Lucy. That’s how I will save them. I’ll bring them here.”
“Here?” I asked, looking around at the idyll surrounding us. I could feel the soft breeze through my hair, the sand beneath my feet, the sun warming my skin... and yet nothing felt real.
Gently he sifted some sand between his fingers, watching as it blew away.
“Let me tell you a story about a Doctor,” he said, and I nodded.
The story was long, but I could listen to him all day. And finding out about his past - his long, long life before I met him - was terrifying and awe-inspiring.
“You see Lucy, he needs a lesson. He and his little pet humans that he is forever trying to ‘save’. I will save them too, save them far more thoroughly than he ever has, even as I wipe them out.”
I shuddered in the warmth, both at what his words implied, and at the other, worse, fate. As his words sunk in, I couldn’t help asking: “But why - why do you want to save them? The people of Utopia? What makes them so special?”
He holds humankind in such contempt, mostly, being so very far above us, and I couldn’t understand it. Was it just because he could? Because they would help him take over the world?
“Because they’re mine,” he replied, a strange light in his eyes. “I spent... a lifetime helping them - humbly, and pointlessly, aiding them to reach Utopia, never receiving a single moment’s recognition for my talents. They didn’t understand how gifted I was... even I didn’t. But they will now. My name will be on their lips, and I will be their Master, their Saviour.”
“But... you will destroy the world?”
“Shame, isn’t it? It is so very pretty.” He let his eyes travel over the beauty around us, face melancholy, but then shrugged.
“Still - in 500 years time this beach will be gone, and a giant plastics factory take up the entire coastline. Humans are excellent at destroying what they have, really I’ll just give them a helping hand. Nothing lasts, Lucy, nothing. But I will change that. My Empire will continue to the end of time itself. Will you help me? Will you be by my side? My dear Lucy-”
He stopped, tilted his head and just looked, like he could see inside my soul, “-will you marry me?”
It was a heart stopping moment. For the tiniest moment I hesitated, as my thoughts were going in circles in my head: The terrors I had seen, the terror he would unleash - and yet I knew.
How often have I wondered these last few months about his motives as concerns me? Was I just a distraction? A test subject? Something to keep boredom away? He could have any woman in the world, what did he want with me? And now I know. He has chosen me - me out of 6 billion people - to be by his side. To be his partner, his wife... So how could I not choose him too?
“Yes,” I answered. “Of course I will.”
And his kiss tasted of Champagne and eternity.
Part 6
A/N: The story about the medical student is true. It's the story of Peter Freuchen, whose books I read years ago. It sprung to my mind when I wrote this, as particularly appropriate.
Setting: Around 15 months pre-'Sound of Drums'
Spoilers: End of S3.
Pairing: Lucy/Harry.
Rating: PG-13.
Previous parts here.
Mrs Saxon's Diary. Part 5
I can’t describe - or explain - what I saw in Utopia. Not yet anyway. That part is all too raw and terrible. But in an attempt to formulate how it affected me, I will instead put down a story I heard many years ago. It is probably not true, but its significance suddenly struck me.
It centered around a medical student at a hospital. One day a man was brought in, horribly mangled. The student was one of those who helped mend him, which took a very long time. But finally, after a year or so, the man was fit and healthy again - everything healed. It was a miracle of medicine. But - when he walked out of the hospital he was run over by a bus and killed in an instant. So the medical student decided that being a doctor was pointless, and instead became a Polar explorer.
Humankind is that man... we fuss over everything, trying to fix things, clinging to life - but why? What is the point? I have seen how it ends.
When we returned to the TARDIS I couldn’t speak. The Master pulled me close and just held me silently. After a long moment he pulled away, and carefully lifted my face to look at me.
“I’m going to save them,” he said and I could only stare at him, wide-eyed.
“How?” I breathed, and he smiled - that bright, self-assured smile of his.
“I’ll tell you - but not here.” He thought for a moment. “Listen, there’s a wardrobe through there... go find yourself a pretty summer frock of some kind, and I’ll take us somewhere nice.”
He then gave me rather complicated directions, but I only got lost twice and soon enough was back in the main control room. I found it empty, the door open - and when I went outside I realised that we were on the most stunning beach I’d ever seen.
“Where are we?” I asked, and Harry looked up from the blanket where he was sitting next to a full hamper. “The Caribbean,” he replied. “Come - have a drink and something to eat.”
Utterly thrown I sat down next to him, and he poured me a glass of champagne.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” he asked, a wave of his hand encompassing the perfect white sand of the beach, the deep blue of the sea and the palm trees swaying above us.
“Yes,” I whispered; the darkness, terror and despair I had so recently seen still clinging to me, like a nightmare. Except it had been real.
Then he raised his glass, and looked at me - that same look in his eyes as the very first night I had met him.
“To the end of the world!” he said, smiling, and I just stared, astonished.
He laughed and shook his head. “The end of this world, dear Lucy. That’s how I will save them. I’ll bring them here.”
“Here?” I asked, looking around at the idyll surrounding us. I could feel the soft breeze through my hair, the sand beneath my feet, the sun warming my skin... and yet nothing felt real.
Gently he sifted some sand between his fingers, watching as it blew away.
“Let me tell you a story about a Doctor,” he said, and I nodded.
The story was long, but I could listen to him all day. And finding out about his past - his long, long life before I met him - was terrifying and awe-inspiring.
“You see Lucy, he needs a lesson. He and his little pet humans that he is forever trying to ‘save’. I will save them too, save them far more thoroughly than he ever has, even as I wipe them out.”
I shuddered in the warmth, both at what his words implied, and at the other, worse, fate. As his words sunk in, I couldn’t help asking: “But why - why do you want to save them? The people of Utopia? What makes them so special?”
He holds humankind in such contempt, mostly, being so very far above us, and I couldn’t understand it. Was it just because he could? Because they would help him take over the world?
“Because they’re mine,” he replied, a strange light in his eyes. “I spent... a lifetime helping them - humbly, and pointlessly, aiding them to reach Utopia, never receiving a single moment’s recognition for my talents. They didn’t understand how gifted I was... even I didn’t. But they will now. My name will be on their lips, and I will be their Master, their Saviour.”
“But... you will destroy the world?”
“Shame, isn’t it? It is so very pretty.” He let his eyes travel over the beauty around us, face melancholy, but then shrugged.
“Still - in 500 years time this beach will be gone, and a giant plastics factory take up the entire coastline. Humans are excellent at destroying what they have, really I’ll just give them a helping hand. Nothing lasts, Lucy, nothing. But I will change that. My Empire will continue to the end of time itself. Will you help me? Will you be by my side? My dear Lucy-”
He stopped, tilted his head and just looked, like he could see inside my soul, “-will you marry me?”
It was a heart stopping moment. For the tiniest moment I hesitated, as my thoughts were going in circles in my head: The terrors I had seen, the terror he would unleash - and yet I knew.
How often have I wondered these last few months about his motives as concerns me? Was I just a distraction? A test subject? Something to keep boredom away? He could have any woman in the world, what did he want with me? And now I know. He has chosen me - me out of 6 billion people - to be by his side. To be his partner, his wife... So how could I not choose him too?
“Yes,” I answered. “Of course I will.”
And his kiss tasted of Champagne and eternity.
Part 6
A/N: The story about the medical student is true. It's the story of Peter Freuchen, whose books I read years ago. It sprung to my mind when I wrote this, as particularly appropriate.
no subject
Their return from Utopia was really well done as well: another comforting hug—he shows her death, he shows her the pointlessness of human life, but he's always there to hold her afterwards and make her feel safe again. I LOVED the way he set himself up as their saviour, and Lucy's awe and amazement. Also loved the way he directed her to go find a dress, and took her out. It felt like some backward version of the Doctor—so wrong! And yet great! (Isn't the TARDIS supposed to be only able to travel between the two places she landed at though? Well, I don't exactly remember if it was only time-wise and he could move around in space as much as he liked, as long as it was Earth.) I loved the striking contrast between the beautiful beach and the darkness where they came from (real vs. not real… reminded of Clara's Cold War line… hello, Doctor/companion parallel!), and Lucy's shock when the Master toasted to the end of the world.
I loved the way the Master told Lucy about the Doctor. Backward parallel AGAIN, and it's all very deliberate. (Well, this one is canon.) Lucy was quite right to wonder why he wanted to save Utopia, and I loved the idea that those people were his… His friends, the Toclafane. His pretty, deadly friends who delighted in death and cruelty. ♥
“But... you will destroy the world?”
“Shame, isn’t it? It is so very pretty.”
Destroying what's pretty. Oh, Lucy, my love, you're next! ♥ And the Master's following speech… Oh, the feels. I loved Lucy's moment of puzzled hesitation at his proposal—she really is quite lucid, she just sees how different and dazzling he is, and wonders what he's doing with her… That part was just a sum-up of everything Lucy could be or was for the Master, and it was smashing.
Amazing last line too :D
no subject
I... never noticed that.
I loved the way you handled the beginning—how she could not come to terms yet with what she'd seen (raw is the perfect word), let alone narrate it, but the story was a perfect metaphor to her situation. So striking. "There's no point, no point to anything, not ever." Quoting that line forever and also hearing her voice and also shuddering. ♥ And goodness, how you prepared that scene… the continuity is just flawless.
*smiles* And that story is perfectly true - as in, it actually happened. So although Lucy's reaction is obviously more extreme, due to the extremeness of her situation, it's a perfectly normal human response.
Their return from Utopia was really well done as well: another comforting hug—he shows her death, he shows her the pointlessness of human life, but he's always there to hold her afterwards and make her feel safe again. I LOVED the way he set himself up as their saviour, and Lucy's awe and amazement. Also loved the way he directed her to go find a dress, and took her out. It felt like some backward version of the Doctor—so wrong! And yet great!
So, so many echoes of the Doctor, but warped and dark and backwards. Not seeing the wonders of the universe, but the darkness... And making it all turn around himself.
(Isn't the TARDIS supposed to be only able to travel between the two places she landed at though? Well, I don't exactly remember if it was only time-wise and he could move around in space as much as he liked, as long as it was Earth.)
I'm not sure, but I decided to just go with what would fit with my story. *g*
I loved the striking contrast between the beautiful beach and the darkness where they came from (real vs. not real… reminded of Clara's Cold War line… hello, Doctor/companion parallel!), and Lucy's shock when the Master toasted to the end of the world.
He is in many ways pushing her very far, very fast. Partly, I think, to test her. How will she react? Will she understand what he's doing?
Lucy was quite right to wonder why he wanted to save Utopia, and I loved the idea that those people were his… His friends, the Toclafane. His pretty, deadly friends who delighted in death and cruelty. ♥
Well they used to be his actual friends, sweet and innocent, like Yana - but they (like him) learned that life is cruel and hard. (And he truly cares about them - he calls them 'My children' in LotT - I think they meant more to him than he'd let on. Broken, warped humans, mirrors of himself, just like the Doctor likes to keep mirrors...)
she really is quite lucid, she just sees how different and dazzling he is, and wonders what he's doing with her… That part was just a sum-up of everything Lucy could be or was for the Master, and it was smashing.
*beams*
no subject
*cannot help but squee* Well, it was always Harry before, but the character went and had her little mental shift on her own accord ;) What were you saying about them taking a life of their own?
*smiles* And that story is perfectly true - as in, it actually happened. So although Lucy's reaction is obviously more extreme, due to the extremeness of her situation, it's a perfectly normal human response.
Of course. And goodness, that story fits so well.
So, so many echoes of the Doctor, but warped and dark and backwards. Not seeing the wonders of the universe, but the darkness... And making it all turn around himself.
♥
He is in many ways pushing her very far, very fast. Partly, I think, to test her. How will she react? Will she understand what he's doing?
And she clings on and keeps following him, loving him… Lucy ♥
Well they used to be his actual friends, sweet and innocent, like Yana - but they (like him) learned that life is cruel and hard.
Really did learn from him—killing is fun… Killing their own kin is fun—hurting what you love, should love, or are. A kind of self-destruction, gleefully.
(And he truly cares about them - he calls them 'My children' in LotT - I think they meant more to him than he'd let on. Broken, warped humans, mirrors of himself, just like the Doctor likes to keep mirrors...)
:D Loving the insight.
no subject
*points to icon*
Just thinking about all this stuff about warping people - the Master's wife, the Master's children. Of course the Doctor's companions are referred to as his 'Children of Time' by Davros a year later ('turned into weapons/soldiers')... And we can see how both Time Lords change people and turn them into mirrors of themselves. And where the Doctor's companions become heroes, the Master's become killers. ETA: And then Moffat comes and conflates everything... Which is why he won't need the Master. All the issues are there already. (Oh River, who is EVERYTHING!)
no subject
Quiteeee true. ;)
Just thinking about all this stuff about warping people - the Master's wife, the Master's children. Of course the Doctor's companions are referred to as his 'Children of Time' by Davros a year later ('turned into weapons/soldiers')... And we can see how both Time Lords change people and turn them into mirrors of themselves. And where the Doctor's companions become heroes, the Master's become killers. ETA: And then Moffat comes and conflates everything... Which is why he won't need the Master. All the issues are there already. (Oh River, who is EVERYTHING!)
♥♥♥ Not much more to say.
no subject
♥ RIVER!