Professor Keller: Chapter 11
Jan. 27th, 2017 09:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scripsiI really need to finish this. And, really, it’s just the epilogue left now.
Title: Professor Keller
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: Teen
Genre: Horror
Word Count: 2016
Chapter: 11/12
Characters: Delgado!Master, Original female character, Original male character, the Third Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, the Brigadier
Pairings: The Master/OFC, the Master/OMC, OFC/OMC
Warnings: Mind Control, psycological abuse, suicide attempt, mind games, dominance, implied dubious consent, character death
Summary: Alison and Peter Grey are living a charmed life, young, wealthy and in love. Until they meet a Professor Keller and find themselves trapped in a spiralling nightmare. Set between Terror of the Autons and The Mind of Evil.
AN: This story is about the Master, so anyone who reads it in the hope of the Doctor, well, I think it's fair to warn you he is only going to have a very minor role in this fic, along with Sarah Jane and the Brig.
(Chapter 1: Party Girl)
(Chapter 2: Watch Your Step)
(Chapter 3: Little Triggers)
(Chapter 4: You Belong To Me)
(Chapter 5: After the Fall)
(Chapter 6: You Tripped At Every Step)
(Chapter 7: Possession)
(Chapter 8: I Want You)
(Chapter 9: Broken)
(Chapter 10: Alison)
To murder my love is crime
But will you still love
A man out of time?
Alison had expected the Master’s answer, but it still hit her like a blow. She had told herself she knew what he would say, but when spoken she realised she had hoped for him to deny it once more. Perhaps she could have believed him then, perhaps she could have allowed herself to think the Professor would take care of her and make everything better. She could have looked into his eyes and given in. Drown herself in his words and believed him. Now she leaned forward, hiding her face in her hands, while the Master continued to speak.
“It’s not so easy as you may think to make someone do something they don’t want. You have broken away from my influence often enough to know this, my dear. And even Peter came to that point once as I am sure you remember. It was not by my will alone Peter stepped out in front of that bus. We had a long talk about it, but we also made a little detour for a practical demonstration of the Keller machine. You never cared enough to to know how it works, did you? It shows you your greatest fear and makes them feel real. So real it can alter a man’s personality for ever. Or drive him insane, and even kill him. Peter’s worst fear was your death. It was not so hard to make him promise to do anything I wanted if it would save you. Especially after I described in detail what I would do to you if he defied me. Poor Peter, he wanted so badly to be a hero and save you. He desperately wanted to believe I wouldn’t hurt you if he obeyed me.”
“Why?” Alison asked without looking up, her voice muffled.
“Because it amused me.”
His answer made her raise her head and stare at him in incomprehension. The Professor looked back at her with no pretence of guilt. If anything he looked interested as if he was curious of how she would react.
“You did all this to us because it was fun?”
“I’m stuck on this blighted planet, and even if I have certain long-ranging plans, I needed something to entertain myself with in the meantime. Both you and your husband proved to be useful in several aspects.”
“But why kill Peter?”
The Master shrugged.
“I didn’t need him anymore.”
“But he loved you!”
“And that should matter to me? Did you think his feelings was reciprocated? He was just a tool to be used. It wasn’t even a challenge, he became mine as easy as this.”
The Master snapped his fingers to emphasise his words and Alison shuddered.
“Peter was weak. I had him where I wanted from the first time I saw him, long before you even knew who I was. It was almost too easy, and in the end he only bored me. But he was useful in making sure I had control over you. I wasn’t going to let you slip away one more time”
“Me? But I’m not special in any way.”
“I hadn’t expected you to be, but then you took a little stroll in my memories, just like that. Surely you remember?”
“It was just a dream,” Alison whispered.
“No, it was not. I hadn’t expected anyone in this primitive place to have any psychic ability to speak of, and I admit I didn’t bother with precautions. It was a surprise when someone as insignificant as you could have enough rough capacity to make a connection like that. And your mind is more resilient than most- you have always had a remarkable ability to shake off my influence.”
“And what will happen now? Will you make me kill myself like you did to Peter?”
He smiled pleasantly at her.
“Not at all. It is what people will think happened, though. There will be enough credible witnesses who will see you jump from a bridge somewhere. Water is quite useful, isn’t it- bodies aren’t always found. So very, very sad; a young and beautiful widow deciding to follow her husband to the grave. I will be properly devastated, of course, but it won’t have anything to do with me.”
There was a brief pause while the Professor lit one of his cigars before he continued.
“You have proved to be far more interesting than I thought, and it has been very entertaining watching you struggle. You are like a butterfly in a jar, thinking you can reach freedom by crashing into the glass over and over. But by every hit, some of the beautiful colours on it’s wings disappears. Do you know what happens to a butterfly if you touch its wings too many times and too much of the iridescence disappears?”
“It can’t fly anymore.”
“Exactly.”
The Professor fell silent, still watching Alison with an air of curiosity as her mind seemed to go in several directions at once. She was still terrified, but there was an odd surge of warmth behind her eyes and Alison, who had never hated anyone in her whole life, realised it was hatred. She wanted to fly at him and scream and scratch and bite, however futile that would be. And she wanted to flee, run away as fast and far as she could, at the same she wanted to curl into a small ball and forget everything. She stood up abruptly, taking a few steps toward the Professor before her legs gave way and she tumbled to the floor. Bile rose in her throat and for a moment she thought she would be sick as the room swirled around her. Then she swallowed, and the world righted itself and she found herself on her hands and knees at the his feet. Alison stayed like that, too weary to move. It was hopeless anyway, she had got what she had said she wanted and now he would kill her. But the Professor didn’t touch her and after a while he spoke again.
“I came to Earth because an old friend got exiled here. I hadn’t planned to become a prisoner here as well. He would undoubtedly call it cosmic justice, I call it his infernal meddling. I plan to get back at him quite spectacularly.”
It was such a weird little speech and Alison couldn’t help but to sit back and look up at him.
“Why do you say things like that all the time?”
“Things like what?”
“Like you don’t belong here.”
He smiled again, a smile made terrible for looking so nice.
“The most logical conclusion would be that I don’t, wouldn’t it? Earth is not my home.”
Somehow this failed to surprise her. Of course he didn’t belong, how could he? He was so unlike anyone else she had ever met, so strange in ways she had never understood. To imagine he was something else than human was not difficult at all.
“What are you then?”
“I am a Time Lord and far superior to any human being.”
His voice was full of pride and to Alison's eyes, he seemed to grow and stretch out in front of her despite remaining perfectly still. His presence seemed to unfold, growing stronger as if his words made him relax and let go of a facade.
“Professor Keller never existed, it was a mere ruse to achieve my goal. But you already know my name, I am the Master. And I will rule this planet of children or, if that fails, I will destroy you.”
Alison felt a chill running down her spine at his words and she thought of Peter, who had been so coolly discarded.
“Are we so easy to kill?”
“What, do you feel I should care for your species? You humans live such brief lives. Why should it matter if you die sooner rather than later when your life is only a blink in the face of eternity?”
He leaned forward, cupping her chin so she had to look at him.
“Yes, I can see you do. I feel… a measure of appreciation for a select few. I have grown quite fond of you, for example. My friend the Doctor would like you very much, I think. Yes, I would say you are exactly what he would like to collect himself. Perhaps I will tell him about you and your husband one day. It will make him terribly upset he couldn’t save you, he has such a hero complex.”
The idea seemed to please the Master, and he released her and leaned back in his chair. Alison thought it was a strange friendship he described. And she thought he must have said what he had intended to tell her and now he would finally kill her.
“My relationship with the Doctor is much more complex than you can ever fathom,” the Master said, as if she had spoken aloud. “And I have no intention to kill you yet. Why should I, now when I can finally do what I please to you?”
He rose and held out a hand for her. “Come.”
Alison tried to obey, but her legs still refused to cooperate, her head spun again and in fear of falling she took his hand. She loathed to accept it, but she wouldn’t have been able to stand without his support. He wrapped an arm around her in what she felt was a parody of an embrace and pulled her close. Alison capitulated and leaned her forehead against his shoulder until her legs could support her properly again. The Master spoke softly into her hair;
“Little girl, you are completely mine now, and you will get to know me very well before it ends for you.”
He led her from the living room, through the apartment to a closed door he carefully unlocked. Inside was a small room, the only furniture an old-fashioned wardrobe at the opposite wall. It reminded Alison of a book she had read as a child. In it a girl had found a wardrobe in an empty room. When she had stepped inside she had found herself transported to another world, full of wonders and great adventures. The Master put his hand against the wood of the wardrobe and to Alison's surprise his expression was almost affectionate. Without knowing why she mimicked the gesture, finding to her shock how the surface felt warm and faintly vibrating under her palm.
“It’s alive!” she exclaimed, and the Master looked at her with a glimmer of respect.
“Very perceptive. In a sense, yes, she is alive.”
“What is it?”
“A TARDIS. My home if you want. My ship, certainly. At the moment, thanks to the Doctor, not fully functional, but it’s only temporary, I’m sure. Soon I will be able to travel in space and time after my own wishes again. I can change events and let history take a new course.“
He glanced at her. “I could even go back to the past and let Peter live. Perhaps I shall hold it out to you as a reward for exceptionally good behaviour.”
For all the lies he had told her, Alison believed him, however impossible it sounded. And hope bloomed inside her, as he must know it would, and it hurt. Hope was not her friend, but only another instrument for the Master to keep her where he wanted her. The Master opened the wardrobe which wasn’t really a wardrobe and when Alison looked inside she found the interior opening up into something much larger than it ought to be. Truly a wardrobe of wonders, then, but not, she thought, for her. In a flash of clarity she understood what would happen to her. The Master would do horrible and cruel things to her, and she would cooperate because he had given her a little hope. And as any favoured toy he would take care of her too, to ensure she wouldn’t break too soon. In the end she would turn to him for any comfort she could get, and if it happened to amuse him for the moment, he would be kind too. He would keep her alive until she started to bore him. Perhaps she should hope it would happen soon.
Alison looked up at the Master, who smiled at her again and motioned to her to step inside. Taking a deep breath, she obeyed.
Title: Professor Keller
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: Teen
Genre: Horror
Word Count: 2016
Chapter: 11/12
Characters: Delgado!Master, Original female character, Original male character, the Third Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, the Brigadier
Pairings: The Master/OFC, the Master/OMC, OFC/OMC
Warnings: Mind Control, psycological abuse, suicide attempt, mind games, dominance, implied dubious consent, character death
Summary: Alison and Peter Grey are living a charmed life, young, wealthy and in love. Until they meet a Professor Keller and find themselves trapped in a spiralling nightmare. Set between Terror of the Autons and The Mind of Evil.
AN: This story is about the Master, so anyone who reads it in the hope of the Doctor, well, I think it's fair to warn you he is only going to have a very minor role in this fic, along with Sarah Jane and the Brig.
(Chapter 1: Party Girl)
(Chapter 2: Watch Your Step)
(Chapter 3: Little Triggers)
(Chapter 4: You Belong To Me)
(Chapter 5: After the Fall)
(Chapter 6: You Tripped At Every Step)
(Chapter 7: Possession)
(Chapter 8: I Want You)
(Chapter 9: Broken)
(Chapter 10: Alison)
To murder my love is crime
But will you still love
A man out of time?
Alison had expected the Master’s answer, but it still hit her like a blow. She had told herself she knew what he would say, but when spoken she realised she had hoped for him to deny it once more. Perhaps she could have believed him then, perhaps she could have allowed herself to think the Professor would take care of her and make everything better. She could have looked into his eyes and given in. Drown herself in his words and believed him. Now she leaned forward, hiding her face in her hands, while the Master continued to speak.
“It’s not so easy as you may think to make someone do something they don’t want. You have broken away from my influence often enough to know this, my dear. And even Peter came to that point once as I am sure you remember. It was not by my will alone Peter stepped out in front of that bus. We had a long talk about it, but we also made a little detour for a practical demonstration of the Keller machine. You never cared enough to to know how it works, did you? It shows you your greatest fear and makes them feel real. So real it can alter a man’s personality for ever. Or drive him insane, and even kill him. Peter’s worst fear was your death. It was not so hard to make him promise to do anything I wanted if it would save you. Especially after I described in detail what I would do to you if he defied me. Poor Peter, he wanted so badly to be a hero and save you. He desperately wanted to believe I wouldn’t hurt you if he obeyed me.”
“Why?” Alison asked without looking up, her voice muffled.
“Because it amused me.”
His answer made her raise her head and stare at him in incomprehension. The Professor looked back at her with no pretence of guilt. If anything he looked interested as if he was curious of how she would react.
“You did all this to us because it was fun?”
“I’m stuck on this blighted planet, and even if I have certain long-ranging plans, I needed something to entertain myself with in the meantime. Both you and your husband proved to be useful in several aspects.”
“But why kill Peter?”
The Master shrugged.
“I didn’t need him anymore.”
“But he loved you!”
“And that should matter to me? Did you think his feelings was reciprocated? He was just a tool to be used. It wasn’t even a challenge, he became mine as easy as this.”
The Master snapped his fingers to emphasise his words and Alison shuddered.
“Peter was weak. I had him where I wanted from the first time I saw him, long before you even knew who I was. It was almost too easy, and in the end he only bored me. But he was useful in making sure I had control over you. I wasn’t going to let you slip away one more time”
“Me? But I’m not special in any way.”
“I hadn’t expected you to be, but then you took a little stroll in my memories, just like that. Surely you remember?”
“It was just a dream,” Alison whispered.
“No, it was not. I hadn’t expected anyone in this primitive place to have any psychic ability to speak of, and I admit I didn’t bother with precautions. It was a surprise when someone as insignificant as you could have enough rough capacity to make a connection like that. And your mind is more resilient than most- you have always had a remarkable ability to shake off my influence.”
“And what will happen now? Will you make me kill myself like you did to Peter?”
He smiled pleasantly at her.
“Not at all. It is what people will think happened, though. There will be enough credible witnesses who will see you jump from a bridge somewhere. Water is quite useful, isn’t it- bodies aren’t always found. So very, very sad; a young and beautiful widow deciding to follow her husband to the grave. I will be properly devastated, of course, but it won’t have anything to do with me.”
There was a brief pause while the Professor lit one of his cigars before he continued.
“You have proved to be far more interesting than I thought, and it has been very entertaining watching you struggle. You are like a butterfly in a jar, thinking you can reach freedom by crashing into the glass over and over. But by every hit, some of the beautiful colours on it’s wings disappears. Do you know what happens to a butterfly if you touch its wings too many times and too much of the iridescence disappears?”
“It can’t fly anymore.”
“Exactly.”
The Professor fell silent, still watching Alison with an air of curiosity as her mind seemed to go in several directions at once. She was still terrified, but there was an odd surge of warmth behind her eyes and Alison, who had never hated anyone in her whole life, realised it was hatred. She wanted to fly at him and scream and scratch and bite, however futile that would be. And she wanted to flee, run away as fast and far as she could, at the same she wanted to curl into a small ball and forget everything. She stood up abruptly, taking a few steps toward the Professor before her legs gave way and she tumbled to the floor. Bile rose in her throat and for a moment she thought she would be sick as the room swirled around her. Then she swallowed, and the world righted itself and she found herself on her hands and knees at the his feet. Alison stayed like that, too weary to move. It was hopeless anyway, she had got what she had said she wanted and now he would kill her. But the Professor didn’t touch her and after a while he spoke again.
“I came to Earth because an old friend got exiled here. I hadn’t planned to become a prisoner here as well. He would undoubtedly call it cosmic justice, I call it his infernal meddling. I plan to get back at him quite spectacularly.”
It was such a weird little speech and Alison couldn’t help but to sit back and look up at him.
“Why do you say things like that all the time?”
“Things like what?”
“Like you don’t belong here.”
He smiled again, a smile made terrible for looking so nice.
“The most logical conclusion would be that I don’t, wouldn’t it? Earth is not my home.”
Somehow this failed to surprise her. Of course he didn’t belong, how could he? He was so unlike anyone else she had ever met, so strange in ways she had never understood. To imagine he was something else than human was not difficult at all.
“What are you then?”
“I am a Time Lord and far superior to any human being.”
His voice was full of pride and to Alison's eyes, he seemed to grow and stretch out in front of her despite remaining perfectly still. His presence seemed to unfold, growing stronger as if his words made him relax and let go of a facade.
“Professor Keller never existed, it was a mere ruse to achieve my goal. But you already know my name, I am the Master. And I will rule this planet of children or, if that fails, I will destroy you.”
Alison felt a chill running down her spine at his words and she thought of Peter, who had been so coolly discarded.
“Are we so easy to kill?”
“What, do you feel I should care for your species? You humans live such brief lives. Why should it matter if you die sooner rather than later when your life is only a blink in the face of eternity?”
He leaned forward, cupping her chin so she had to look at him.
“Yes, I can see you do. I feel… a measure of appreciation for a select few. I have grown quite fond of you, for example. My friend the Doctor would like you very much, I think. Yes, I would say you are exactly what he would like to collect himself. Perhaps I will tell him about you and your husband one day. It will make him terribly upset he couldn’t save you, he has such a hero complex.”
The idea seemed to please the Master, and he released her and leaned back in his chair. Alison thought it was a strange friendship he described. And she thought he must have said what he had intended to tell her and now he would finally kill her.
“My relationship with the Doctor is much more complex than you can ever fathom,” the Master said, as if she had spoken aloud. “And I have no intention to kill you yet. Why should I, now when I can finally do what I please to you?”
He rose and held out a hand for her. “Come.”
Alison tried to obey, but her legs still refused to cooperate, her head spun again and in fear of falling she took his hand. She loathed to accept it, but she wouldn’t have been able to stand without his support. He wrapped an arm around her in what she felt was a parody of an embrace and pulled her close. Alison capitulated and leaned her forehead against his shoulder until her legs could support her properly again. The Master spoke softly into her hair;
“Little girl, you are completely mine now, and you will get to know me very well before it ends for you.”
He led her from the living room, through the apartment to a closed door he carefully unlocked. Inside was a small room, the only furniture an old-fashioned wardrobe at the opposite wall. It reminded Alison of a book she had read as a child. In it a girl had found a wardrobe in an empty room. When she had stepped inside she had found herself transported to another world, full of wonders and great adventures. The Master put his hand against the wood of the wardrobe and to Alison's surprise his expression was almost affectionate. Without knowing why she mimicked the gesture, finding to her shock how the surface felt warm and faintly vibrating under her palm.
“It’s alive!” she exclaimed, and the Master looked at her with a glimmer of respect.
“Very perceptive. In a sense, yes, she is alive.”
“What is it?”
“A TARDIS. My home if you want. My ship, certainly. At the moment, thanks to the Doctor, not fully functional, but it’s only temporary, I’m sure. Soon I will be able to travel in space and time after my own wishes again. I can change events and let history take a new course.“
He glanced at her. “I could even go back to the past and let Peter live. Perhaps I shall hold it out to you as a reward for exceptionally good behaviour.”
For all the lies he had told her, Alison believed him, however impossible it sounded. And hope bloomed inside her, as he must know it would, and it hurt. Hope was not her friend, but only another instrument for the Master to keep her where he wanted her. The Master opened the wardrobe which wasn’t really a wardrobe and when Alison looked inside she found the interior opening up into something much larger than it ought to be. Truly a wardrobe of wonders, then, but not, she thought, for her. In a flash of clarity she understood what would happen to her. The Master would do horrible and cruel things to her, and she would cooperate because he had given her a little hope. And as any favoured toy he would take care of her too, to ensure she wouldn’t break too soon. In the end she would turn to him for any comfort she could get, and if it happened to amuse him for the moment, he would be kind too. He would keep her alive until she started to bore him. Perhaps she should hope it would happen soon.
Alison looked up at the Master, who smiled at her again and motioned to her to step inside. Taking a deep breath, she obeyed.
