Chapter Text
Deception was a talent and this incarnation dripped with it. She could lie with her eyes – lie with crafted words and lie to herself. It was a habit she’d been trying to kick during her near-hundred year evil-detox programme. Missy wasn’t convinced her morality was getting any better but certainly on the surface she’d been able to present a façade sufficient to lull the Doctor into agreeing to an excursion. Convincing his pets had taken a bit longer but that was probably her fault for threatening to eat them on more than one occasion.
Parading around the TARDIS, she paused to lay against the wall and feel the engines spinning. There was a bitter musk of energy on the air and a vibration from a slight fault. It wasn’t perfect yet but the ship was running more smoothly. A few more months of work and she’d have the TARDIS back to its glory days. The Doctor had even let her sleep down there a few times among the wires and spinning clouds of charged ions.
“You’re chipper,” the Doctor noted, emerging from the depths of the TARDIS with his hands clasped behind his back suspiciously.
“Are you having second thoughts?”
“No.” He replied quickly. Yes. Of course. What am I thinking… His eyes said.
“You needn’t worry,” Missy assured her old friend, rolling around so that she was laying against the wall with a bookshelf either side of her. “I’ll not run. We had an agreement.”
“When has that stopped you?”
“Always.”
The Doctor thought about it. “Oh – that was me, wasn’t it?”
“Yes dear, that was you.”
He looked down at his feet nervously. Always nervous – even after the aeons and all they’d done. It was her eyes. They peered through him, peeling his layers away. “If you were to run and as a result I break my vow to guard you – it’ll be me on the scaffold. They take those things very seriously.”
“I know that too. What are you hiding?” Her head tilted quite dramatically.
“Oh this?” He pulled out the roughly wrapped, vaguely spherical gift from behind his back and brandished it in her direction, stepping forward.
“Doctor… Did you get me a gift?”
“No – uh – yes. Sort of. For your-” He wasn’t quite sure how to express it so he just waved his hand in her general direction.
Missy helped, descending the stairs and taking the parcel from him. She held it reverently for a moment. “Giving gifts is usually my area,” she observed, giving him a wink. Then she tore the tissue away in a single stroke as though she had claws. “Oh!”
Her enormous grin was infectious and the Doctor found himself sharing in her joy as she held up the bizarre hat.
“I love it!” Missy exclaimed, sliding the hat onto her hair. She extracted a couple of hat pins from god knows where in her jacket and set it in place then gave him a bit of a twirl.
“Much better.” The Doctor nodded, reaching out to her arm to steady her for a moment. The touch was brief. Unexpected. There’d been a few of them lately – more and more. They were inching closer to each other and both of them could sense the inevitable approaching. Whether the horizon was tonight or in the next hundred years, neither of them knew. “You have to have a hat,” he added, “you always have a hat. Why is that?”
“I’ve no idea,” Missy admitted. “When I regenerated the first place I crashed was Paris. I had this desire to have a hat. I remember it well but this – this I prefer.”
“Is it the feathers?”
Her eyes softened. It was from him. She’d always prefer it. “Oh no, here come the children...” She pulled back at the sound of footsteps outside the door.
*~*~*
Eating. The nerve of him! Missy could hear the insufferable crunching in her ear piece as he fritted around the TARDIS, silently marking her as if she were one of his students. Oh how they pined over him. She could hear it, coming through their ill-formed text on the essays he let her read. He hadn’t realised but then the Doctor had never been one to read between the lines. Missy? She lived in those spaces separating the print.
A moment later she found herself at the pointy end of a primitive energy weapon. The barrel shook in time with the blue alien’s hand. He was all eyes and stinking of terror. Missy snarled quietly. Her instinct was to snap him down with her sonic umbrella – safety assured but that was not the Doctor’s way so she waited. Listened. Lingered in the danger and learned to relish the rush of fate against her face.
It ended poorly.
*~*~*
He was enjoying himself. That was the most sickening thing about the whole situation. His little friend was dead – great big gaping hole in her chest and the Doctor’s eyes were alive with the thrill of it. A weirdly familiar need to protect the Doctor kicked in and Missy found herself staring down the blue alien with a fierce glower. She’d kill for him. In an instant. Without a thought. He wouldn’t like that so she held back, placating with lies rather than violence but the blue man felt the truth.
Stepping toward the lifts Missy hesitated. They should run back to the TARDIS. Fly away. The Doctor’s single-minded guilt for his pet was about to lead him off the edge of a cliff and she had no choice to follow. If this was ‘being good’ she feared her lifespan had been sheered in half.
*~*~*
Mondas. Shit. Absolute shit. Those fucking cloth-heads had a familiar look to them but it was so long ago. Even Time Lords had trouble recalling events from several thousand years ago. Except those nights in the halls of Gallifrey.
She pushed away from the console and had nearly made into the hallway w hen the irritating lurker reared up from behind – mocking her.
“Oh – Doctor – Doctor – Doctor!” He riled.
Missy’s limbs froze. A wave of bile rose up her throat. She knew that tone. She knew that voice. It wasn’t the first time she’d used those words to mock herself but generally she preferred to be the one uttering them. Fucking hell. Not now. Missy turned slowly and lifted her eyes. She wasn’t certain but she suspected.
And she was right. When the mask came off Missy found herself staring at her past – an echo left in memory – alive. God, he burned. She could see it in his face. Even now she remembered his passion for hate – how it warmed her soul.
She was done with that.
“I’m very worried about my future...” He rattled off, side-eyeing Missy like she was some kind of consolation prize. So young.
The Doctor was in danger. Mondasian Cybermen were crawling over the ship and his pet was missing – she needed to get back and warn him but she had to deal with this first. “If I were you, I’d be worried about my immediate future.” Missy replied, circling him. She was taller now – physically larger as well. If it came to it her odds were better than his. “Although it’s nice to know that there’s a way off this ship. Your presence rather gives the game away.”
“What’s the deal here?” The Master asked, holding the corpse of his disguise. “Trap the Doctor with an old foe – have a bit of a lark watching from the sidelines? How did you manage it or was it a trick?”
Lying was an art.
“This is a long game and you’re in the way.” She snapped back. “So, kindly crawl back into your TARDIS and find something else to do for the afternoon. I’m working.”
“Nice hat.”
“Thank you.”
“No.”
“No what?” Missy pressed.
“No. I’ve been sitting down here watching you and him on that screen for decades. I’m not about to scurry off just when things are getting interesting. Had a bit of fun already, as you might have guessed. Those pets of his – they are terribly dull, aren’t they? I know you think so too. You may have changed on the outside but you and me, we are the same.”
M issy took a measured breath and stepped back. He was undressing – taking off the layers of filth – letting his tattered cape drop to the ground along with his old face. Beneath he’d dressed in one of the finer suits that she’d lost along the way somewhere. Then, casual as you like, he slipped out a pencil and slid a dark line of charcoal under his eyes. He was serious and there was no easy way to shake him off. Didn’t she know that… A dog with a bloody bone. The last thing she needed was to find herself in chains and exchange one jailer for another . No. Whatever the Master’s plan was, if she had any hope of keeping the Doctor out of trouble she’d have to play along.
T he thought of it made her ill. Shifting from charade to charade, how was the Doctor to know her intention when he always assumed the worst? No matter. Their survival mattered more than her pride. Somehow she was going to have to get both the Master and the Doctor out of this alive.
“How long have you been waiting to wear that little ensemble then?” Missy asked, shifting into playfulness to distract him. Yes, there was that too. She’d caught a look or two already.
“I had ample time to pull something together,” he admitted. “This black hole… Sometimes I forgot how tiresome time can be. Though it did present a golden opportunity. A bubble in time to build a present for the Doctor – one he might like, I think. A whole city converting the population into Cybermen. They’re a bit slow right now but give them a few thousand years and I – well you and I could really have some fun.”
“Another present. He’ll like that.” An army of Cybermen and all they had was the egg-thing and a couple of sonic devices. The Doctor was good but he wasn’t that good.
“Come on – girl copy...”
“Not a copy...” Missy reminded him. “I am you and you are me. As you said. Remember that.”
“Well, shall we go say, ‘hi’ to our dear Doctor?”
* ~*~*
Missy felt the Doctor’s eyes on her for some time before she could muster her courage to look up. His companion, Bill or whatever, was a fully fledged Cyberman standing in the centre of the room like a household appliance. The Doctor was in shock. That much was evident but his day was going to get worse. She wanted to say sorry . Wished she could warn him about the face waiting in the shadows. Wanted – more than anything, to give him some kind of assurance that she wasn’t tearing his heart out for real – only for show.
Theatrics were their thing but every now and then they played it too close to the line.
The Master sauntered in to the surgery and the Doctor’s eyebrows dropped. For a moment he seemed to forget that she existed at all. Missy , of course, was the leopard on a chain but the Master was a puma in the wild, stalking around in the jungle, about to tear someone’s throat out.
They stood as bookends with Bill between them. The Doctor turned white with fright. She hated the betrayal in his eyes. The Doctor had a way of projecting his disappointment right into the soul and all of it he reserved for her . Missy mimicked the Master’s movements, turning herself into a frightening mirror. Another act.
Let him lead. It was the only way to unravel his plan.
“Missy – please...”
Her hands clenched at the Doctor’s soft plea. She reached out to him with her mind – hoping to offer something but he’d closed himself off and left her grasping in the dark.
*~*~*
The first strike was brutal. The Master’s fist smacked into the Doctor’s face, throwing the Doctor backwards. Missy flinched away, swallowing her instinct. The Master went straight back in – again and again, swiping at the Doctor with his hands – equipment from the lab – anythin g he could find.
The Doctor was left on his knees, dripping blood from his forehead onto the ground. He reached up and touched it, rubbing it between his fingers. The pure bile that was spilling between the pair of them rattled Missy’s soul. Old pain. Slights and burns that she had pushed to the back of her mind in the hundreds of years since. She didn’t remember any of this but perhaps the process of airing all the darkness between them had been cathartic in the end. Or maybe it would finally kill them.
Missy looked up and realised that the Master was staring at her, waiting for an answer to a question that she’d never heard the first time.
“Well, don’t keep us in suspense.” The Master prompted. “This is what we agreed.”
“Did we?” Missy slipped momentarily. It was enough for the Doctor to find the strength to clamber back to his feet. There were dark bruises knitting through his skin, covering his face and neck. She wanted to move to him, cup his face in her hands and hold him close. The wounds between them were so deep that she was done making them deeper. At some point you had to draw a line and heal. This was the last thing she wanted right now. What if it tore her stitches straight out?
“What – are you actually feeling sorry for him?” The Master’s suspicion grew. He was taking a second look at her. Questioning.
Missy caught herself and straightened up. She raised the umbrella and squeezed the fabric in her hands. The steel beneath was going to hurt. The Doctor’s eyes flicked toward the rudimentary computer system to the side. That wasn’t the first time he’d done that. It wasn’t much but it was all she could offer.
“Stand up, Doctor...” Missy commanded. Her voice was firm and she’d never know what compelled him to obey but he did. She moved closer, locking eyes with him.
“Missy – you don’t have to do this. Missy...”
“Let it go, Doctor. I already failed your little test.” She swung the umbrella and hit him firmly in the chest, throwing him onto the computer where he landed in a pile of hands and limbs. Missy immediately turned to the Master, distracting him with a dazzling smile that lasted long enough for the Doctor to mash on the keyboard. Goodness knows what he was up to, as long as he succeeded.
The Doctor made a choking sound as he slid from the table.
The pair of them turned as he faded off into oblivion – unable to take any more abuse.
“God, was he always this easy?” The Master strutted about, disappointed. “Did something happen to him?”
“The Doctor was always fragile,” Missy replied, kneeling down beside him. She placed the back of her hand on his forehead. He was burning up – swarming in time energy. He’d been dying for a long time but he wouldn’t tell her why. Missy had a terrible feeling that this entire process of turning her good was born out of mortal fear rather than a true desire on his part.
The Master watched h er tenderness and curled his lip in disgust. “I can’t believe I’m going to be you,” he added. “Are you the next one along or-?”
“I think so,” she replied. “That last regeneration, it’s all a bit of a blur I’m afraid. A haze. Even if I did know, I wouldn’t tell you. Spoilers.”
“What?”
“Oh – it’s – it’s something he says.”
* ~*~*
The Master wanted to kill him outright. He’d been gunning for it – climbing up onto the edge of the roof – peering down over the city and laughing at the drop. “Oh how well he’ll look, all bones and skin!” He’d said, pulling back with a smile. “We’ve been down a few good heights – you and I. It hurts like shit, putting everything back together. That’s what he deserves – the pain.”
Missy looked over to the Doctor, unconscious and strapped in the wheelchair they’d taken from the hospital. His head was still dripping, thick and slow. “I hear he has many lives,” Missy replied, distracting the Master. “You’ll be up and down all night if you seek to end him that way. And your suit – think of your suit… All the blood will get into the lining – you’d hate that . I might break a nail. ”
He pulled out his laser screwdriver and pointed it first at her heart , then the Doctor. It’d be a lie to pretend there wasn’t a moment of ice in her veins. A horrible death. Burning from the inside out. She’d snapped that wretched device in half the moment she took this body and tossed it into the abyss. That was one of her first memories. Watching it float into the dark.
“Shooting him is a bit – boring – for us, don’t you think, dear?” Missy stepped closer and eventually managed to lay her hand on the Master’s arm, lowering it. She all but purred at the Master, softening his blood lust.
“True. True. It would be over in an instant and where is the fun in that? I want it to last, his death, like the times that we spent lingering between life and death in the pain and torment. Did he come for us then? No. He let us suffer.”
“I remember…” Missy realised.
“Do you? It doesn’t seem that way. I saw the looks you gave the Doctor – the ones you’re still giving him. What is that, Missy? Pity? Is it something else?”
“I remember.” She repeated, firmly. “Of course I do but I’ve had time to think and so will you. Time changes your perspective.”
“So you don’t want to kill him then?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Didn’t you?”
“I -”
“Oh look, grand dad’s awake.”
* ~*~*
T he minute the Cyberman’s hands wrapped around the Doctor’s waist Missy raced over. They’d been discussing the Doctor’s death for the last hour. S he’d been trying to save his life and when she’d finally worked him out of the Master’s clutches here he was, in the jaws of death. Thank fuck the Master’s Cybermen were still in their infancy. Their powers weren’t enough to kill a Time Lord outright.
Missy saw the laser screwdriver on the cement and bent down, retrieving it immediately. Oh. She knew that weight in her hand.
“Doctor!” Missy watched as he spun, around and around, unable to get a clear line. She couldn’t risk hitting him with the beam. Now that would kill him.
In the end she didn’t need to. Cyber-Bill woke up and went into a rage. J ust when Missy thought she had a chance to go to the Doctor and offer him a moment of comfort, she heard the Master’s voice on the air and pulled herself back from his body.
Lie. Lie and lie again.
She feigned disinterest and went off to shadow the Master. She couldn’t risk letting him loose in the world, unsupervised.
* ~*~*
The crash left Missy shaken. Smoke poured out from the craft along with a rush of smog from the burning city below. The ship was busy healing itself, repairing the damage so quickly that they only just escaped the craft before it was torn asunder and sucked into the fabric of the ship.
Cyber-Bill carried the Doctor in her arms while the Master strode ahead, nose to the sky, feeling the glow of a different set of electric lights. He’d been cooped up, trapped down on the lower decks for countless decades. Missy doubted that he knew exactly how long. Why couldn’t she remember any of it? Of course. The laws of time. He couldn’t retain the memories so for her it was nothing but a terrifying dream. They’d been whispering to the surface of her mind every now in then during her time in the vault. She’d wake, in the middle of the night, covered in sweat and screaming with no idea why.
The Doctor moaned softly. She heard – no one else did. As they paced through the mist she stumbled toward him and brushed her fingertips through his hair while the Master was distracted. It was the best she could do.
*~*~*
The Master was insufferable. For the first time, Missy was seeing herself through the Doctor’s eyes and honestly she was surprised that she hadn’t been killed more often. The only residence they’d been able to find was a farmstead surrounded by scarecrows made of Cybermen strapped to crosses and left hanging in the fields.
“Wait here...” Missy whispered to Bill. She looked over her shoulder but the Master was already off, over the paddock toward the building, following Nardole.
“Why should I listen to you?” Bill asked, her voice a mixture of synthesised beats and speech.
“I know what this looks like,” Missy leaned closer. She reached down and placed her palm on the Doctor’s chest. She could feel his hearts beating – softer than she’d like. “That man was me but that is not who I am any more. He is my past and my past is dangerous.”
“You are dangerous,” Bill replied. “The Doctor said so. He kept you in a vault for decades.”
“Yes! And then he let me out.” Missy softened, looking at the Doctor’s pet. She’d done this, even if she couldn’t remember it and the Master was right about one thing, the Doctor would never forgive her. “When he wakes up he will hate me – as I’m sure you do now. My job is not to be loved, it is to get you back home and to keep him alive. Whatever you believe of me, I am his friend.”
“You are a liar.”
“Yes. I am. My lies will save his life.” Missy watched as Bill’s metal body swayed. “Very soon, you’re going to reboot. A couple of weeks, I’d say, before you wake again. In that time I am the only thing standing between the Doctor and that man over there. Stay here. Keep him safe and I will come back for you, Bill. I swear it.”
B ill did not trust Missy but she feared the Master even more. “He – you – betrayed me.”
“I know.” This time Missy lifted her hand from the Doctor’s chest and laid it on Bill’s instead. Cold metal. No rhythm. No heart beat. Dead. “And I am sorry. I am.”
M issy wasn’t even sure if Bill would survive the software upgrade rippling through her brain. It was likely that this was the last human experience she would have and Missy tried to be kind.
*~*~*
“Impolite, don’t you think?” Missy caught up with herself, falling into step with the Master. He was rubbing the nasty bump she’d left on the back of his head. She’d hit him a lot harder than she realised – if the dried blood in his hair was anything to go by. She tried to touch it – to apologise but he beat her off.
“What were you playing at anyway, hitting yourself like that?”
“Well your brilliant plan was exploding in our faces. What was I supposed to do? Stand there and die on a rooftop? No thanks.”
“They were just Cybermen. We could have taken them, together.”
“Oh you arrogant sod.” Missy muttered, trying not to slip in the mud. Her heels were sinking into the soft ground. The smell of farm was real enough, even if the sky wasn’t. There was an ominous number printed on the horizon reminding her of the metal casket they were sealed within. “That battle was lost and you know it. The Doctor’s little pet got us out of that situation – not you.”
Nardole was already in front of them by half a paddock, determined that he’d reach the house before the evil twins.
“Fine. Maybe. But never forget, I had everything under control until he changed the conditions of their programming. The only and I mean the only reason we’re on the menu right now is because he put us there. Our precious Doctor did that and if we end up in one of those factories I promise he won’t be lining up to save us.”
“You idiot...” Missy reached out and grabbed the Master’s shoulder, twisting him around. “Look at me!”
“Yeah. All right. I’m looking – what’s your point?”
“I exist which means that one way or another you are getting off this ship. You’ve got adventures in front of you still to come, oh, the things you’ll see. The only person who is assured survival in this equation is you so would you please stop complaining. Now, you turned Bill into a Cyberman and when the Doctor wakes up and processes that properly he’s going to hate both of us. As far as I can see, the only friend you have in this world is me.”
“Times when you know you’re truly alone...”
“One day you won’t be alone.”
*~*~*
T he woman at the door took a fancy to Nardole and that was the only reason she lingered long enough to hear their story. The Master remained silent, folding himself into a rocking chair on the porch while they bargained for amnesty. Nardole pretended that they were a group of friends – visitors to the spacecraft caught up in the time dilation. Prickly friends. The woman lived in a nest of lies, woven to keep the children safe and sniffed their game out pretty fast . In the end she decided to help anyway. Kindness was a human trait that Missy was still trying to get a handle on.
Bill – now there was the difficult sell to a countryside full of terrified people. Bill’s mind had already started to fail by the time they made it back for her and the Docto r . They found her, laid on the ground in the field beside the Doctor, staring at the sky whispering, ‘is it real’ over and over. Her voice echoed out of that metal hell. Then something about a pyramid. Then nothing at all.
In the end, Missy carried the doctor over her shoulder, clutching his bony for m . Beneath all the layers he was a fragile bird, tired of the world. Missy held him tight as she struggled, barefoot, toward the house. The Master, Nardole and the woman carried Bill’s metal body between them . When they reached the house, they broke off and headed directly to the barn to hide Bill before the children could see. Missy continued into the house where she was led up the stairs to a bedroom.
Missy laid the Doctor on the bed and rushed the others out of the room with a hiss, slamming the door. She laid back against it for a moment, pressing into the solid surface while she looked at the crumpled body on the bed. He looked terrible. He had done for months.
“I’m sorry...” Missy whispered, even though he wasn’t awake to hear.
She crossed over to the bed and rolled him onto his back.
“Yes well, I don’t want to hear any jokes about this when we’re back in the vault, all right?” She added, still talking to herself. It helped to pretend that he could hear her – otherwise she was alone.
Missy unlaced his shoes and slid them off, sitting them beneath the bed. Next, she gripped onto the sides of his jacket and pulled him up into a seated position, allowing him to crumble forward against her chest as she worked his arms out of the sleeves, divesting him of the jacket. It wreaked of smoke and had fresh tears at the edge s . She let it slip to the floor.
“There’s nothing of you, really...” Missy murmured, shifting up the bed with him until she was able to lay the Doctor against the pillows.
For a moment she perched on the bed, one hand over his body and the other draped around the top of his pillow. He’d saved her, countless times, this was her turn.
There was a soft knock at the door. Missy opened it, quieter than before.
“For his wounds – and for the fire…” The strange man said, holding up a tray.
He was an ordinary looking human so Missy stepped to the side and allowed him to come in. She watched from the door as he set the tray next to the bed then moved over to the fireplace. Soon after, a glow flickered into existence. He had no intention of intruding, returning to the door.
“Is he your-” the man started.
It was only then that Missy felt the hot tears sliding over her cheeks. She had no idea when she’d started to cry them but they were thick. She touched them, almost in shock.
“Call, if you need anything. I am next door.” He added, then, “I lost my wife to the metal creatures from below. They come and the come and they come. They say you arrived on another ship. Will you take us with you?”
“I’ll try...” Missy replied, before she realised. They were the Doctor’s words not hers but they spilled out of her lips.
Missy locked the door this time and sat beside the Doctor. She brushed his hair back from his face and cleaned the nasty gash with a wet cloth. The flesh was torn apart from the ring on the Master’s finger when he’d struck him in the face. The bruises were fading but she knew the real damage was under his shirt. That’s where he’d suffered the worst of it, including her strike.
She unbuttoned the fabric tenderly, ignoring the dark red stains seeping through from beneath. Missy pushed the edges open and sat back, taking a good long look at the damage she’d caused. Yes. In the end it was all her. Young and old, she could not excuse herself. Everything the Master did was all on her.
Missy traced her fingertips over one of the cuts. He was warm – the time energy swelling up from inside his body wherever it cracked. It lifted to her touch, sensing another Time Lord.
“Tickles...”
Missy’s hand snapped away. “ Doctor?”
“Last time I checked...” He stirred, eyes fluttering open. He groaned sharply when he tried to move.
“No, don’t do that.” Missy insisted, taking his wrists and gently pressing them back down into the bed. “You need to rest. You’ll heal. Let’s face it, this isn’t the worse thing that’s happened to you. Remember when you fell into that mine when we were kids? Broke every bone – dragged me down after you.”
“You thought we were going to die down there in the dark. You cried for days...” He added, very softly – unaware of what he was saying.
“I certainly did.” Missy placed her hand back on his chest. The action was so tender that the Doctor wasn’t sure if it was real. A moment ago she’d been tearing him apart.
“Didn’t – Missy, did you hit me?”
“Afraid so. A couple of times.”
“You hit hard.”
“I know. I had to. The teenage version of me had it in his head that killing you was a good idea. We were all young once. Doctor?”
He was starting to drift again. “Where – where am I?”
“Somewhere safe.” Missy replied, leaning a little closer. “Go back to sleep.”
“Are – you taking my shirt off?”
Missy managed a smirk through her tears. “ Oh, I’ve seen it all before...”
“Liar.”
“Never...”
Then he was gone again and Missy was left to guard him.
*~*~*
Hours later, the Master climbed the stairs and hammered on the door, insisting she let him in. He growled her name over and over, demanding his laser screwdriver back.
“Keep taking Rassilon’s name in vane and he’ll bloody well come back!” She shrieked. “Where is it that you think I’m going to go? We’ll talk in the morning now shut up!”
The Master bashed his hand against the door one more time but eventually retired. The next person brave enough to try was Nardole. He was well practised with Time Lords.
“How is he?” Nardole asked, after Missy allowed him into the room. Nardole wasn’t stupid. He understood exactly what was going on between the two Time Lords. He’d been listening to the Doctor rabbit on about his youth on Gallifrey and then been subjected to the mirror of his stories in the vault with Missy. Somehow they’d returned to their starting point. Irrational as it was, they were in love and there was no cure for that. He just wished they’d work it out before they tore a star system apart.
“Healing,” Missy replied. “Though his previous injuries are what I’m worried about.”
“Prior?”
“The Doctor has been very ill for nearly a year. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it’s killing him.”
Nardole was shocked. “And you weren’t going to mention this?”
“I’m sure if he wanted you to know or he would have said!” Missy replied. “I’m only telling you now because I reckon the next decent bump he gets is going to send him over the edge. Right now you could literally slap him into his next face.”
“Good thing River’s not here.” Missy’s eyes snapped up to his. Hurt. “The Mistress jealous of the wife.”
“Careful or I’ll disassemble you again.”
“It’s a good thing, Missy. A broken heart means that you have one. At least at the moment.”
“I need you to keep an eye on the Master – just for a few days.” Missy insisted, following Nardole as he started to back away, hands raised. “Come on. I have to stay with the Doctor and I don’t trust myself running around without a chaperone. You know I’m right. As soon as the Doctor is on his feet I’ll swap. I swear.”
“Fine but if the Master tries to use me as spare parts...”
“Don’t worry, I nicked is screwdriver...” Missy brandished it at Nardole.
“If you’re trying to make me feel better...”
* ~*~*
M issy bandaged, dressed and dragged up the thick blankets around the Doctor to keep him warm as the evening frost set in. She could see a false moon tracking over the sky outside, casting long, silver shapes over the land. The fire place was the only source of light in the room. It crackled away as Missy finally sat down in one of the chairs, exhausted.
Ever since she’d run into the Master, her head had been screaming at her. Her mind was foggy, swirling about and ached. Something was wrong, that much she knew. It wasn’t the first time she’d run into another version of herself but this was the first time the experience had made her physically ill. She had this overwhelming desire to run away. It was deep seated – an urge whose only counterpoint was the Doctor laying in the bed.
She’d shucked out of her heavy coat long ago and now considered the clothes laid out for her. An hour or so of internal debate later and she wandered over to them, changing out of her filthy skirt and shirt and into the night ie that was so long it reached past her knees. Next, she reached up and let her hair down in its mad halo.
There was only one bed but it was large and the night was cold. Missy sighed and returned to the Doctor. He was fast asleep. She set herself down beside him on top of the blankets and laid back, careful not to wake him. Almost at once her limbs slackened . God she was tired and this – this was the first night she’d looked up and seen something other than the vault. Ironic – that her night of freedom had been exchanged for a different kind of vault. She had a terrible feeling, right in her soul, that she’d never be free again.
Missy pulled the last blanket up and closed her eyes, falling asleep to the sound of the Doctor’s quiet breathing.