Something Evil this way comes{SJ/Doctors/Open}

[The Seventh Doctor]

"Don't you think she knows that?" The Seventh Doctor says as he wanders towards to his Second self "Now then, I know that there is a lot going on right now, but I have some questions for Libby, if your feeling up to answering them." He leans down beside her. "Why did you Chameleon Arch your self?"

[The Master]

Jake put the tube back in his web belt, and turned just in time to see the Doctor tending to the fallen Archivist, asking if she was all right.

"On that note," he said with a grin and a wink, "I'll be in the cabin."

He passed the older Doctor on the way. "You sly dog," he grinned, gripping him by the shoulders. "I thought you'd given up on her, and here you are. Arranging a little ménage à trois à travers le temps to celebrate her return. You're a better mastermind than I ever gave you credit for."

He released the older Doctor, and slapped him on the back. "You two still make a good couple. So don't go and screw this up again." He headed for the door, opened it, then paused. "We'll, uh, just give the three of you some privacy."

Closing the door, he took a seat near one of the bow windows, grinning like a fool. "So, anyway, scampi," he said to Sarah. And then he stopped, and did a doubletake. "Sarah? Sarah Jane Smith? Is that you?" He clapped his hands in delight. "Amazing! I haven't seen you since Romania, and you're even more lovely now than you were then."

[Sarah Jane]

She stood with easy balance as the sweet craft jetted with quite some power across the choppy sea. Knowing who was aboard, she did not bother to coddle the ride. They could all handle it. Besides, it was fun, as one could tell by her smile. Things had gone well, help arriving with perfect timing. Speaking of which, here came Jake, extra large and panther like into the wheelhouse. She shot him a low sideways glance through her lashes, not wanting to give away too much of her curiosity.

Then he named her. And Romania, and her jaw literally dropped. It took her 3.2 seconds to compose herself and put her poker face on, something she had not yet perfected in 1982 when she had first crossed this creature's path. She turned to him, having eyed her way far enough ahead to give him a good, hard glance. As of yet, her eyes hold no judgment.

"I know the name Jake Hill from the UNIT rolls. Tell me one thing. Did you steal the body of a human named Jake Hill? And don't double talk me, 'Jake.' "

Eyes a head again, watching the confusion of Doctors and the young woman outside the window, while wondering quite earnestly who was in here with her. Still, some part of her could not help but be put at some ease by his honest flattery. At least this was more fun that way.

[The Master]

Her jaw dropped.

He'd run into that description before, of course. It was a standard literary trope. But he'd never actually seen it. At first, he was a little confused by the reaction.

"I know the name Jake Hill from the UNIT rolls. Tell me one thing. Did you steal the body of a human named Jake Hill? And don't double talk me, 'Jake.' "

"Stole a body?" He tried to sound confused and offended, but - as he thought back over the past few minutes - he realized his hearts really weren't in it. He'd made a few too many mistakes to successfully hide his identity. From the Doctor(s), from the Archivist, and from Sarah.

She looked out the window again, seemingly calm, knuckles white on the wheel.

He held his hand horizontally, and waggled it. "Sort of. Kind of. Yes, actually. But, if it makes you feel any better, the Spiral Politic really isn't missing the original Jake Hill."

He shrugged. "Foul, petty little man. Beat his best friend to death for a shiny silver ring." He lifted his right hand, displaying the ring, and smiled. "He wanted it so badly."

He looked out the window, watched the spray and the waves. Unconsciously, he tapped out a four beat rhythm on his thigh, then stopped and stared at his hand. "Bad habit, that."

Then he smiled at Sarah. It was a warm, open smile, and the sudden glimpse of his soul made him seem like a shark in human form.

"So you probably know - or, at least, can guess - who I am. And once the Doctor, either of him, finishes fawning over the Archivist, one of them will probably storm in here and accuse me of bringing the Racnoss upon him." He laughed, just a little. "I didn't, but it is the sort of grandly insane thing I might have attempted in the past, so I won't blame him for the assumption."

Silence again, as he watched the waves. "So, anyway, let's clear the air. I, am the Master. And you..." he pointed at her, and let the first half of the phrase hang in the air for slightly longer than was comfortable, "will hopefully still have dinner with me."

Another pause. "Once we've dealt with the Racnoss, that is."

[Seren Ash]

Seren/Libby, which was she supposed to be? She shook her head a little and looked up at the Doctor as he spoke to her. Her eyes misted over, as she tried to control herself. She was breathing heavily for a moment, and then pushed herself to level out her breathing. Goddess, this was such a painful thing for her.

She stared up at him, and then stopped as she realized that both of the Doctors talking to her, were from before the timeline where she ran from the Time war. "I can't, I can't tell you that." She said softly as she looked away. Answering teh question about the Arch. She stopped and stared at Koschei, turning crimson at his words.

"Koschei, you cad! That's horrible!" She gasped out. She was blushing so terribly dark, her eyes wide as she pressed her palms over her eyes. She stopped though and looked at the two Thete's. The man/men she loved so much. She watched them, her head cocked slightly to the side.

[Sarah Jane]

The only sign of her distress about a dead human named Jake Hill was a tightening of her hands on the wheel. She took another moment to glance at him. Yes, he could beat a man to death with his bare hands, she had no doubt about that.

"I'm a woman of my word, 'Jake' " there was no way she was going to call him 'Master'. "Dinner it is if we both survive this, though I'd like you to allow me to amend it with a truce until dawn, if you are willing. Ladies prerogative. The Doctor says you are mad as a Hatter, but I've never known you to bother to lie about anything important. You're not that subtle."

In her own way, she was fascinated by the very nature of Evil, and often wanted just to talk, but was usually to busy fighting or running. Here was a chance to get up close and personal without even having to deal with dripping slime and fangs. Dinner sounded nicer.

[The Master]

"I'm a woman of my word, 'Jake' " she said, stressing the name.. "Dinner it is if we both survive this, though I'd like you to allow me to amend it with a truce until dawn, if you are willing. Ladies prerogative."

He nodded agreement. "Can't ask for fairer than that," he said. And then he smiled a slow, sly smile. "Until dawn?" The grin grew broader. "So... maybe breakfast as well?"

Rod and Eye, he thought, I feel 22 again.

"The Doctor says you are mad as a Hatter, but I've never known you to bother to lie about anything important. You're not that subtle."

"Mad as a Hatter?" The Master sounded offended, and about ready to launch into a tirade. And then he stopped, thought a second, and deflated. "I... deserve that, yes. The last few hundred years haven't been kind."

He started to drum his fingers in a four beat rhythm on the back of the bench, then stopped, his expression a mixture of irritability and guilt. "The drums," he muttered, "The damnable Drums of Rassilon. I've heard them so long that I'm still hearing them."

He forced a bleak smile. "But I used to be that subtle, Sarah - may I call you Sarah? Back in my glory days. Back before my grand plans were drowned in blood. Before the will to power was lost in the thunder of the drums."

He sat in silence, apparently lost in thoughts of the past. Then he let his head roll to the left, so he could look out on the aft deck. With an exasperated sigh, he sat up and massaged the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Loom of Rassilon," he he breathed out in tones of long sufering. "What is wrong with those two?"

[Sarah Jane]

"I'm usually up for an all nighter if circumstances demand." She said simply, making an easy navigation around a rock outcropping. "And please. Call me Sarah Jane." She is smiling, but there is just enough ice in it that brooks no crossing. Only the Doctor called her Sarah. Well, and Susan.

He really was mad, but in this moment with no violence between them, she can see now it is a sad sort of madness. The Master was a tormented Time Lord. She'd seen enough pathos in her Doctor and other Time Lords to know that unchecked and without great will, they could slide into darkness. Still a smile comes to her face.

"And if you can behave yourself enough to make it to dawn, I won't tell you what catchy 1980's pop song goes perfectly with that beat, so you won't have to sing it in the back of your mind for the rest of your long life." She was curious about the drums, but would not press him this moment, not in such tight quarters and with such a dire errand in front of them.

"You know, I think the Doctor has a crush on that woman." It was rather delightful to see.

She looks at him and laughs, but it is a warm laugh, one meant to include him.

[The Master]

"I'm usually up for an all nighter if circumstances demand." She said simply, making an easy navigation around a rock outcropping. "And please. Call me Sarah Jane." She is smiling, but there is just enough ice in it that brooks no crossing.

"All right, Sarah Jane," he said. Lacing his fingers behind his head, he looked up at the ceiling. "'Sarah Jane'," he repeated out loud. "'Princess who is a gift from God.'" His voice sounded dreamy. "We would have rendered it 'Kamalimakanakua', and it would have been a name fit for a queen."

"And if you can behave yourself enough to make it to dawn, I won't tell you what catchy 1980's pop song goes perfectly with that beat, so you won't have to sing it in the back of your mind for the rest of your long life."

That drew a laugh of genuine humor. "Powerful incentive, that. I spent most of the Seventies with 'I'll Be There' stuck in my head. A dreadful experience."

He kept his face carefully straight.

"You know, I think the Doctor has a crush on that woman." It was rather delightful to see.

"A crush?" the Master barked out a laugh. "My dear Kamalimakanakua, they were inseparable for more than two human lifetimes. They had even planned marriage, practically were married..."

His good humor faded, and his voice became the clipped sneer that the Master was famous for. "And then she broke it off, without warning. She never spoke to him again - not that I know of, anyway. He was devastated."

He paused. "It was the Council," he said, darkly. "I learned that, decades later."

He sat, and brooded. "I would have reunited you," he said, lost in memories, talking more to himself than to Sarah. "I would have have burned the Panopticon to light the celebration, Doctor, and given you the throne as a wedding gift."

He sighed, and watched the trio on the deck, eyes filled with love and hate and ancient pain.

[Sarah Jane]

She liked the sound of her Galifreyian name on his lips. He did have quite a lovely voice really, or Jake did anyway. Somehow, though she suspected that it hadn't had quite the resonance and intelligence when the original Jake had used it. The Master was rather dryly funny as well, and she had to chuckle along now that "I'll Be There" was running through her head now.

When the Master explained about the relationship between the Doctor and Seren, Sarah Jane got up on her toes a little bit to see them all better. She was feeling deeply deeply curious.

However, it was the last thing the Master said that really caught her attention. The pain in his voice, she recognized it. In his own way, perhaps the Master cared for the Doctor almost as much as she did, though now at least Sarah had a lasting friendship to use as a touchstone. The Master had become his enemy.

"Do you believe in God, Jake?" She asked him softly.

[The Master]

"Do you believe in God, Jake?" She asked him softly.

"No."

The syllable hung in the air for a long moment. The Master turned his face away from the Doctors and the Archivist, the physical act seeming to turn his thoughts away from the past as well.

"But I suspect you were looking for a little more than that," he said. He stood and looked out the bow window, arms folded behind his back.

"I am familiar with a number of religions in detail - I am actually a figure in more than one religion on your own world. And I recognize the broad broad religious themes of most of the Spiral Politic."

He considered his words. "I believe in entities and civilizations of great power, that appear to be godlike to less advanced civilizations. Gallifrey, for instance. But a god? Some supreme entity, maker of all, that rewards the good and punishes the wicked?"

He shook his head as he turned to look at her. "I have died twice, Kamali. For real, not the false death that marks the transition between regenerations. There was nothing. Not even awareness. I was consumed by the Eye of Harmony, torn apart by tidal forces and hard radiation. The next instant, I was pulled full grown from a Birthing Loom to serve the Time Lords as a weapon. I willed my own death before the Doctor, simply to deny him hope, and the next instant I was wearing Jake Hill like a suit of clothing."

He paused. "I don't have to believe in anything, Kamali. I've been there. And there is no heaven. No hell. No eternal reward or punishment or anything else. We just... end." A sly smile. "Unless precautions are taken, that is."

[The Master]

(Seven? Two? Hello? Bueller? Bueller?)

[Sarah Jane]

She had something brilliant on the tip of her tongue, but didn't get a chance to say it. Truly it was then that all hell broke loose. She, for one had no idea what went down that evening on the North Sea. Early on when the horde arrived, both Doctors had simply picked her up and locked her into the dark little metal can of the hold. She was both grateful and irked.

She knew clearly there was enough firepower on board, that she really need not worry. Besides, there was a fine little bed and plenty of snacks in here. In the end, she hugged the Doctor goodbye, twice. Saran and she shook hands and warm smiles, a wordless promise that they might meet again. That left her standing before the Master.

"Looks like we're alive." She grinned.

[The Master]

In the end, she hugged the Doctor goodbye, twice. Saran and she shook hands and warm smiles, a wordless promise that they might meet again.

To everyone's surprise, the Master made his goodbyes as well, shaking the Doctor's hand(s) warmly and almost - not quite, but almost - hugging him as well.

"Relax," he told the younger, "you'll get your shot at me soon enough."

"And you," he said to the older, "I doubt we'll ever actually reconcile, but perhaps watching me die three seperate times will take the edge off."

Then he grabbed them both by the arms and pulled them into a huddle. "And if you don't wise up and go after her," he hissed with a sidelong glance at the Archivist, "then you're the biggest dang fool I've ever met."

He bowed with grace and dignity to the Archivist, and kissed her hand. "I rejoice in your awakening," he said formally, "and bid you welcome to our fraternity." He crooked a sad little smile. "Memento mori."

Was his manner a little stiff? Possibly. But - buried deep in the withered and blackened thing that humans might call his soul - the young man he had once been remembered the pain she had put the Doctor through, in the days when they had been friends. He had long since learned why, learned that it was not her choice, but the memory lingered.

He smiled, and a touch of warmth thawed the blue ice of his eyes. "Give him time," he said, nodding at the Doctors. "He's young, these two regenerations. He doesn't know what happened. What really happened. Not yet."

That left her standing before the Master.

"Looks like we're alive." She grinned.

"That would certainly seem to be the case," he answered, gravely. And then he smiled, and offered her his arm. "Scampi, I believe I promised. Unless you have some other preference?"