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9 Months Later...
The Doctor sat just outside his tent in the corner when Danni came in wearing her maids outfit, carrying a silver tea-set, her head bent in silent respect as she headed over to him. She crouched down, placing his water bowl on the ground as gently as she could, catching his eye and shooting him a sad smile. He didn't return it, he never did these days, but she knew it helped him to see that she was okay. Every day he expected something bad to happen to her, and it put him on edge because he was helpless to do anything about it. She pushed back up, walking over to the Master, who was sat in his appointed throne at the head of the room with a brunette sat on his knee, giggling gleefully at something he had said. He watched Danni walk up to the stairs out of the corner of his eye with a smirk on his face, looking her up and down as she stopped at his feet. Another of the Doctors friends under his control, to do with what he will; the thought made him grin wider with glee.
"Tea, Master." She announced and he not-so-gently shoved the brunette off his lap.
"Excellent. I hope you brought some water for my pet." He replied to her and she nodded, reluctant to aggravate him by defending the Doctor, it never ended well for the Doctor if someone tried to defend him. He tutted at her lack of response and turned to the woman, "Why don't you go wait in my bedroom? If my wife is there, tell her I won't be long." The brunette nodded and left and Danni began pouring him his afternoon tea as he jumped up and walked over to the Doctor, yanking him up by his chain.
"Come on, Doc. Cheer up. We've had a sighting of Martha Jones, over in Hungary. She's back in Europe, but for how long?" He got no reply and he growled.
"She must be looking for something. What?" Danni moved to stand at the top of the stairs, watching heartbroken as the Master shoved the elderly Doctor into a chair and leant over him. She hated the fact that they had been in the sky for just under 10 months and she couldn't stop him tormenting the Doctor, or anyone else for that matter. She knew she didn't receive the treatment others did, he ordered her about and she had to do what he said but compared to others he wasn't ever cruel to her.
She'd been through various stages during the last nine months. First she'd been terrified about what would happen to her, then she'd settled into a routine so it had slowly fallen away into boredom. She'd spent nights crying herself to sleep over the Doctor out in the main flight deck, all along in his little tent, seemingly with no hope. She'd cried over the Doctor who was married to River, and the Doctor who had promised her it would never happen. She'd cried over Jack, especially when the Master had her tend to him just to see her reaction. Then, one day, she'd just stopped. She wasn't angry at Eleven anymore, she wasn't sad over Ten anymore. Her exciting life of running and helping people had been reduced to serving a very ill man and it had made her sort of... numb to everything. The only thing that mattered to her was hoping that her Manipulator would set off, but the Doctor had once explained to her that if she was in a different time stream it wouldn't be affected. So, she guessed it was the same with different time lines as well. She was stuck here until the end, so there was no point getting upset over it. There was no point getting upset over anything anymore. Nothing happened, no one came. She just woke up the next morning, cold and alone.
"Tell me now, Doctor." The Master hissed but the Doctor turned his head and looked out of the window. The Master moved backwards and raised his hand to strike him.
"I wouldn't do that." Danni's voice floated over and both men's heads snapped to the side to look at her, the Doctor's face suddenly terrified and the Master furious. He walked over to her, slowly walking up the stairs as she suddenly realised she'd said that out loud.
"Should I not? Why don't you tell me why not? Tell me why I should listen to a pathetic little ape like you?" He bit out as he reached her eye level, staring her deep in the eyes with a fury he'd never actually directed at her before. She found that she didn't care, in fact she shrugged as she wasn't even fazed.
"I just wouldn't, that's all." She replied, adding 'Master' onto the end of the sentence as an afterthought.
"Of course, it's not like I'm the Master of the Earth. I don't rule over the human race, doing with them as I see fit. You know nothing, child." Knew nothing? She grinned, a word popping into her head that branched and grew into an idea. Why hadn't she thought of this sooner? She leant closer to him, placing her mouth next to his ear.
"I know more than you think, you best do I say Koschei." She whispered and he jolted backwards, grabbing both her arms and squeezing so hard she tried to pull back.
"How do you know that?" He hissed with his face pressed against her, "Did he tell you?" He demanded, meaning the Doctor. She shook her head.
"No, he didn't. He doesn't know anything, but I do." She replied, "Your name is just the beginning." He let her go, a calculating look on his face before grabbing the sides of her head, trying to force his way into her mind. She quickly pushed him out and away, a frown on her face.
"How did you do that?" He asked, slightly amazed at the ability of the pathetic little human in front of her.
"My mind, my rules. You can't stop me thinking, and I don't want you in there." She replied simply. He studied her, raking his gaze slowly up and down her frame. She was such a small little thing, but she was suddenly holding herself much taller than she had been. He'd thought he'd broken her spirits, but he was delighted to realise he still had time to play with her.
"What do you want?" He asked and she smiled.
"I have a proposition for you. Tit for tat, as it were." She told him.
"Go on." He motioned for her to continue.
"You do something for me, and I'll tell you something useful. Something I know you'll want to know."
"This stinks of a trap, how do I know you're not going to lie?" He eventually replied.
"Because I knew your name." She stated confidently and he considered it for a moment.
"All right, you first." She shook her head.
"My proposition, my rules. Number 1, my request will always happen first. Number 2, only one piece of information per day and number 3, I want you to leave the Doctor alone."
"You never said there were rules." He mocked before nodding, "Fine, what do you want?"
"I want you to leave Jack alone." He looked impressed by her request and bounced over to his main console on the side of the room.
"Stop attacking Captain Flash. Leave his cell immediately." He said into the microphone.
"Master?" A male voice replied, obviously confused.
"Now now, don't make me come find you." He backed away and nodded to her and she smiled.
"The drumming in your head is real. You're not insane, it exists and has always existed." He blinked at her and then grinned manically and ran over, picking her up and squeezing the air out of her lungs in a bone-crushing hug. He dropped her and she coughed in pain, doubling over.
"I knew it! I knew it was real." He crowed in victory, "How is it there?" She tapped her nose.
"I have duties to attend to, if you'll excuse me sir." She turned and walked out, smiling encouragingly at the Doctor who just stared at her in horror at what she was doing.
~0~0~0~
The Master had obviously decided that their deal was a good one, as Jack was left alone from that moment on. She'd heard from the kitchen staff, who'd heard from the cleaning staff that there had been orders given to everyone to not enter his holding cell unless expressly told to by the Master himself. Not exactly what she had wanted, she hoped he was still being fed, but she supposed it was what she had asked for. Quite frankly, she was surprised he was going along with it at all. Probably luring her into a false sense of security until he got what he was after and then would go back to torturing him again. Well, at least for now Jack had some respite. If the bargaining became a regular event she'd request to go see him for a day.
"I can't say I'm not totally relieved." Her room-mate Heather told her as they pulled the new white sheet over the Master's bed, "The poor man can't exactly enjoy dying every day, plus now we don't have to clean up after it."
"That's my friend." Danni replied lightly, but in warning.
"I know." Heather nodded apologetically, "But you've never had to clean up after the poor bastard though." Danni shook her head. She didn't, it wasn't her job to look after Jack. But a few months in, the Master had made her sit in on one of his little 'sessions'. Only the once, but she hoped she never had to see it again. Jack had spent the entire time joking and fighting back, trying to reassure her he was okay, but she knew he wasn't, so it hadn't helped much.
"Do you think he'll start hurting him again?" Danni asked timidly and Heather shot her a sympathetic look and Danni smiled sadly, "Why am I even asking? Who knows when he changes his mind." They both placed the pillows back on the bed before heading out, heads bowed as they walked past the guards waiting outside.
She just hoped Jack was okay.
~0~0~0~
A couple of days after their initial bargaining, the Master had sent for her to be taken from the kitchens to a small meeting room away from the Doctor and anyone else. He sat at the head of the table in the middle to show that he was still in charge but motioned to the chairs for her to sit down, which she did, flattening her skirt underneath her as she made herself comfortable.
"This is how it will go," He started without any introduction, "You will be brought here every day. You will state your request and if I find it reasonable then I will oblige and you will then give me the piece of information. If I find it unreasonable, you'll be removed. Understood?" She nodded.
"Yes, Master."
"And to prove your knowledge, today you will tell me how you know my name." She nodded again. It seemed reasonable enough, after all he had no idea that anything she said was true, all he had was his name.
"Yes, Master." She repeated.
"Excellent. So, you first." He told her with a dramatic wave. She paused, deliberating over what to ask for. Jack was safe, for now. The Doctor was safe as well for the moment, so she had to focus on other people. Asking to be let go wasn't an option, either. He wasn't going to give up his upper hand, and she wasn't going to leave the Doctor and Jack behind anyway. So, what else could she do?
"I want you to stop rubbing all your little call-girls in Lucy's face." She said slowly, nodding to herself once as she did. At the look on his face she held up her hands, "I'm not asking you to stop shagging them, if you want to go right ahead, but she loves you dearly and I don't like seeing her in so much pain. Just leave her out of it." She had spent the last nine months at the Master's feet, serving him food and doing his laundry. She'd seen Lucy, completely destroyed by the man she thought she loved, and he continued to beat her down by openly having affair after affair. Lucy had never done anything wrong, she didn't deserve to suffer so harshly. Plus, if he toned it down a bit she might be less inclined to kill him, meaning the Doctor wouldn't be so alone in the future.
She shook her head again to clear her thoughts, it was never good to think about the Doctor. It hurt too much.
"Fine." The Master replied after some deliberation, "How do you know my name?"
"I'm from another universe." She explained, "You were on a television show with a massive following, background information was widely available. In the Academy you were known as Koschei." She shrugged, "It's not interesting, but there you go."
"There's a television show dedicated to me?" He asked smugly, grinning from ear to ear, "I like that. I should make that a thing, if my workforce had time to watch television." She shook her head.
"Nope." She told him with a slight hint of satisfaction, "It's called Doctor Who." His face fell in indignation.
"Why does he had a television show and I don't?" He exclaimed angrily and she rolled her eyes.
"No one makes television shows about the bad guys." She pointed out, "Overall, he is a good man. He's never taken over a planet to fight a war with the universe." He crossed his arms and she swallowed, the distinct feeling she had crossed some line washing over her as he stared her down. She knew he was waiting for an apology, but she wasn't going to give him one. If she backed down, she'd be at a disadvantage and for once she was almost on top. So she stared straight back at him before raising an eyebrow at the angry look on his face.
"Why are you doing this?" He asked her and she shrugged, breaking their locked gaze.
"I believe I've given you my answer today, Master." She replied, wincing at the slight shake in her voice. Come on, Danni. Grow a pair or get out while you have a chance. The Master chuckled at the annoyed look that quickly disappeared from her face.
"Fine." He motioned to the door, "You are dismissed." She fought the urge to roll her eyes at his last remark, which she always did, before standing up and bowing slightly, like he always demanded before heading out. She was taken to the kitchens, and she spent the rest of the day helping the cooks.
~0~0~0~
It was another three days before he called for her again. She suspected this was his way of showing his dominance over the situation, although she thought the large, flying airship from which he ruled the entire planet showed dominance enough but then again it seemed appropriate so she didn't question it. He was in the same room, waiting in the same chair as she entered and sat down in the same place as she had before.
"I would like the Jones' to spend the day together." She requested, "Morning 'til night, no interruptions." She'd thought of this one days ago. She'd tried to think of ways she could help Martha, but she couldn't really do anything for the wandering companion so she settled for the next best thing; her family. The Master pondered on the request, making a show out of the decision as he always seemed to do before nodding.
"Why are you doing this?" He asked her. It was the same question as last time, but she had seen that coming.
"Because, Master, you're being an arse to people I care about. I want to ease their suffering slightly. I know you won't stop, or let them go, I'm not naive. But I like to help any way I can." She explained calmly.
"An arse?" He repeated after a moment and she nodded with a grin on her face.
"A huge one." She confirmed and he smirked at her. They stared at each other for a few long moments before he broke the gaze and called to the guard outside to take her back to her duties.
~0~0~0~
Heather glanced over at her strange room mate, who was sat cross-legged on her bed, scribbling on a scraps of paper she'd managed to steal from the Master's office. Personally, she thought she was mad stealing from the man, but Danni had just brushed her concerns aside. Out of everyone on the ship, she was always noticeably less affected by the sudden change in the world than everyone else. They'd all fallen into the routine of what had become daily life, the initial shock and terror of being enslaved by an evil alien having worn off. There was only so long you could sit and cower before it just fell to the background. But Danni didn't even seem to have the background sense of hopelessness that the rest did. Sometimes it worried her, but most of the time Danni did what she could to keep her spirits up and she was grateful for it. After all, she could have been roomed with that silly cow Faye down the hallway who spent every night sobbing for her cat. It was no surprise she had ended up on her own, really.
Danni glanced up from her notes and saw Heather staring at her. She frowned, folding up the paper in her hand and tucking it under her pillow. She'd decided to try and recall as much as she could about anything she felt the Master would have an interest in. Stuff like the End of Time were needed to be kept for bigger requests that should could ask for further down the line, but for some of the little things she had planned she needed suitable pieces of information. She also suspected he'd want past information on the Doctor, stuff he could use while interrogating him now he couldn't physically torment the elderly Time Lord. Maybe stuff about upcoming episodes, The Silence and things like that. Quite frankly, she had no idea what he'd want to know about so the more prepared she was the better she'd come out of it. Hopefully.
Maybe.
"Are you okay?" Danni asked, concerned at the way her new friend was staring at her. Heather was roughly the same age as her, but was mainly on the cleaning side of the staff rather than a general maid like she was. She'd been a PA to one of the many reporters who had come to see the Toclafane, but that had gone out of the window the moment the U. S. President had died.
"It never ceased to surprise me how well you take everything." Heather replied and Danni shrugged.
"It's not the worst thing that's ever happened to me." She reasoned, "I lost my family and my home long ago, this is a walk in a park compared to that really." Heather nodded.
"I try to not thing about it," Heather admitted to her, "But I wonder every day about my parents. Are they okay, are they even still alive? Do they worry about me too?" Danni nodded, all them thoughts and more having been through her head at one point or another over the last couple of years. Two and a half years now, nine months of it on the Valiant with barely any time with the Doctor. She's asked for that next, she decided, "It's the not knowing that's the worst, you know?"
"I do." Danni replied before hanging off the side of her bed upside down, rummaging under it, "I can't offer much on that end of things but..." She pulled out a box, jumping off the bed and walking over, "I can give you this." She opened it up and there, inside, was a bunch of chocolate bars. Cadbury's and Galaxy's, all waiting for them to eat. Heather laughed at the sight of them and the pair sat side-by-side, munching on them and chatting away.
~0~0~0~
The Master watched her very closely when she walked into their meeting room, leaning back in his chair with tented fingers. He'd noticed from the beginning that she acted differently around him than most, like she didn't really care either way about it. She wasn't afraid, or angry, or sad. She just got on with it and it really infuriated him for a while. Now it amused him as she flopped on the chair she always sat in, getting comfortable before he told her to tell him her request with a wave of his hand.
"I would like to see the Doctor." She declared, "I want to spend some time with him."
"So you can plan something together? I think not." He scoffed and she shook her head, having expected that response.
"I'm not saying all alone." She explained, "We can stay on the flight deck, there's always guards there and you can keep an eye on us as well. I just want to spend a little time with him."
"Why should I?" He demanded, "We're done here." He wasn't about to give them time to work together, even though he knew they couldn't overpower him he didn't just want to hand them an opportunity to have a go at it. He wasn't an idiot.
"In his personal future he will ask me to marry him." She declared, "And I will say yes." He settled back into his chair again, a look of confusion plastered on his face.
"Why are you telling me that?" He asked, "Why would I even care a little bit about that?"
"Because he does love me." She explained, "Even now it's there. If you can give him time with me, you can take it away. There's only so much information I can give you, I am only human after all." He looked thoughtful as he considered what she had said. The Doctor had been silent since he'd worked out where the Toclafane had come from, a little bit of genius on his part yet again, maybe this could get him talking.
"You're trading in your friend of your own end." He stated slowly, "I'm impressed. Friends of the Doctor tend to be on the 'goody-goody' side of the spectrum."
"Friends of the Doctor don't tend to be proposed to by him then have to watch him get married to someone else." She retorted, "I'm trading the man I love in for my own end. I think you'll find that's much more note-worthy." He looked her over again, her red-hair held back by a black headband, matching the short black skirt and top that made up the maid's uniform. He could offer her back to the Doctor, then tear her away from him. She was too cocky for his likely, or just cocky enough, he hadn't decided yet. He could easily manipulator, take away the woman he loved and make her his own. Watch the Doctor crumble as his little human fell at her Master's feet.
Danni's eyes were drawn to his fingers as he thought over what she had told him. He was tapping out that beat, that four-beat noise she had been painstakingly trying to avoid for the last nine months coming out absentmindedly as he continued on with his everyday business. She shifted in the chair slightly, becoming uncomfortable with the images that suddenly shot through her mind at the many ways she could get him to give her that noise back. That was why she'd not thought about it. Not once. None thoughts at all.
"It's as if you're trying to drag out being in here." He remarked, "Most people would have taken my rejection and left but you have spent the time trying to convince me instead."
"Why wouldn't I? I want to see the Doctor and I like spending time with you." She replied with a shrug and he laughed.
"Now I know you're bullshitting me." He told her, leaning forward on the desk and she frowned.
"What would be the point? You know I think you're being an arse." She pointed out and he nodded in agreement.
"And yet you like spending time with me?"
"You're a brilliant man, Master, and I enjoy talking to someone who can string a sentence together." She explained, "And because you're not scared for your life, you'll actually speak. I like talking."
"I've noticed." He muttered and she shot him a pointed look.
"Plus," she continued as if he hadn't spoken, "you have me working with a bunch of women. I need some male company, and if I can get it with someone as good looking as you I'm not going to turn my nose up at it." She continued, playing up to his ego to try and win him over. She just wanted to see the Doctor. It worked, he smirked at her, straightening proudly.
"Ah, so you fancy me? That's why you're telling me all about your little friends." He said in fake realisation. Of course she fancied him, this body was young and handsome. He hoped he could keep it for a while longer, actually.
"That's not why I'm telling you." She corrected.
"Then why are you?" He asked.
"Because I want to make my friends lives just that little bit better. I'm very rarely any use, I just do what I know the Doctor is going to do before he can do it. And, if I can somehow get you on my side you might be able to remove this monstrosity before I get flung somewhere unknown." She showed him her arm, "You are the greatest engineering mind to have ever existed, and I refuse to believe I'm stuck this way." He grabbed her arm and studied the manipulator thoughtfully. She in turn watched him, smiling in triumph. She knew he couldn't resist a challenge, not one as great as this. Her eyes slipped to his bottom lip, protruding slightly from the thoughtful frown on his face. She wasn't lying, this incarnation of the Master was good looking, and she wasn't afraid to admit it. She knew she loved the Doctor, and that in the future he would love her back. Still, the look in his eyes when he looked back at her sent shivers down her spine.
~0~0~0~
The Doctor looked up as the double doors to the flight deck and Danni was marched in by two guards and the Master. The ruled of the Earth shot him a wink before heading over to his self-appointed throne. The two guards took their posts at the doors and he frowned as Danni looked over at the Master expectantly. He nodded his head once and she grinned, turning back to face the Doctor and rushing over to him, falling to her knees and she hugged him tightly.