Chapter Text
August 2023
The Doctor and the Master were woken at the precise same moment by a piercing mental scream.
‘Dad!’
They met by the TARDIS console, eyes wide and terrified, speaking without words.
‘Did you hear it too?’
‘Yes.’
Where was he - their boy? In a second the Doctor had dialled Jack’s number, both of them listening impatiently while it rang.
The Seeker had decided that he wanted to go camping with his two best friends over the summer holidays, and had somehow - despite the fact that the boys were only sixteen - been granted permission. Jack had offered to help out since he knew plenty of interesting spots around Wales, and so acted as chauffeur when they wanted to move on.
Finally Jack picked up his phone, but his complaints about being woken at 3 am were quickly silenced, as the Doctor asked where he had last dropped the boys off. And... had anything happened to the Rift?
There was a short pause - impossible to wait through - and then Jack was back with a negative reply: None of his equipment had registered anything. Nothing out of the ordinary at least, and certainly no Rift activity.
The Time Lords breathed a sigh of relief, before demanding the co-ordinates for where the boys had settled for the night, which Jack swiftly rattled off.
“I’ll meet you there,” he finished, but - knowing that Jack only had a car for transport - the Doctor ignored this and rang off, before swiftly and carefully programming the TARDIS.
Seconds later he and the Master stood in a dark, grassy valley next to a bright orange tent - which was empty. Then Jack materialised next to them and the Doctor frowned... he distinctly remembered immobilising the teleportation unit, but that particular how and when were questions for another time.
Inspecting the tent, there was no sign of a struggle - just an absence where there had obviously only moments before been three boys; the sleeping bags were still warm.
They could also sense some background radiation which told them nothing.
The Doctor had a terrible, almost paralysing feeling of deja vu - of being nearly broken in half by loss and fear, combined with a rising anger... Looking up, he saw all this and more mirrored on the Master’s face. And it struck him that the other had never experienced this before, had never cared for anyone more than himself until the child had been born. How would he react?
The Master caught his eyes and finally spoke, voice toneless and tightly controlled.
“I will find them. I will get him back, and then I will kill Every. Last. One of them!”
The unspoken words hanging in the air: ‘And don’t you dare stop me!’
The Doctor looked back, nodding almost imperceptibly, before replying.
“One thing at a time, Master.”
He turned to Jack, and saw him carefully loading his gun. When finished Jack looked up, his face a mask as he caught the Master’s eyes.
“Never thought I’d say this, but - you have my vote, Mr Saxon.”
The Master silently acknowledged Jack’s words, and they all three walked back to the TARDIS, ready to tear the universe apart to find the one who had been stolen from them.