With a way too loud creak the big heavy, wooden door opened and Roka stuck her head inside the dark room behind, before strolling inside. A wide smile spread on her face when she found the Master there, sitting against a stone wall, hands chained together and a look on his face as if he could burn down the whole universe right now.

"You know..." she roguishly grinned down at his angry face. "When you look so scary I kinda want to just leave you here."

"You wouldn't! You can't pilot the TARDIS!" he hissed, tearing at the chains.

Roka got out a bunch of keys and kneeled down next to him, while she tried to find the right one. "And I would totally miss getting insulted every few hours."

The chains sprang open and the Master was up his feet faster than Roka could react. Not even a second later she found herself pinned against the wall, his arm pressing against her throat.

"I could do a lot worse than just insult you, you know... might even do that when you let me wait for so long ever gain."

Roka grinned at him and poked out her tongue. "And who gets you out, when you get yourself caught next time?"

With a growl he let go of her and they sneaked out of the cell, past the unconscious guards in front of it. Roka had put sleeping powder into their water. Outside they climbed over the wall of the fortress. But before the Master followed, he turned around and shot his laser at a stash of barrels full of black powder. The explosion ripped out a good portion of the prison and with a gulp Roka looked away. Most of the time she could somehow prevent him from doing things like that, but it was almost impossible when he was angry. And getting caught by a bunch of medieval half-lizards had made him furious.

------------------------------

But all anger and all travels and all trouble couldn't completely swipe away one thought from Roka's mind.

The Doctor.

Her thoughts wandered aimlessly around the question what would happen to him as soon as her timeline would vanish. Had she ever done anything that had influenced him in a way that had lead him to get captured by the Master? Or would this have happened anyway?

And even if everything would be exactly the same, the thought of him being still imprisoned while she had fun with his enemy... it hurt. Of course, they were in a time machine and when they would come back not even a minute would have passed for him. But that somehow only made it slightly better.

"Can't you... just let him go?" she asked the Master as they were eating sushi on an asteroid so small they could let their feet dangle.

"And then what?" He threw one of the rolls out into space and seemed to know exactly what she was talking about. "Being stranded on your planet again? For the rest of my regenerations? No way."

"I'm sure he would let you... come along," Roka objected carefully.

He laughed out loud, throwing his head back.

"Yeah, he probably would. But as what? As prisoner, bound to his will? Or..." He threw a look at her. "As one of his pets, like you?"

"How about... as friend?" She glanced back.

"He's too scared of me for that." He shook his head. "Justifiably. But I bet you don't believe that, right? He is the 'good' one after all."

-----------------------------

Next time Roka stepped out of the TARDIS she was startled for a moment. It felt so surreal that, for a few seconds, she forgot to breath. Everything was exactly as they had left it, the crates with the scavenged devices still sitting on the floor, a still halfway filled cup of coffee next to one of them. It felt like all of this belonged to a completely different life. Only a few minutes could have passed since then and somewhere they would also be outside right now, and an earlier version of herself would reveal the location of the same blue box that now filled a part of the office.

A weird feeling spread inside her chest. It was like a bulging balloon and although it wasn't painful it hurt.

The Master stepped out behind her and all the past travels vanished from Roka's mind to get replaced with everything that had happened inside this room, reminding her that this man was still her enemy and if it weren't for the paradox he would still be eager to kill her. Or worse.

Without a word he lead her down the corridors and to the library, nudging her inside without saying anything when she threw a questioning look at him.

This time the Doctor sat in an arm chair, reading a thick book, while having his glasses on his nose. The weird feeling in her chest got worse and she finally recognized it as her guilty conscience.

"Oi, Doctor." The Master greeted in a sarcastic voice. "I brought your pet." And he shoved Roka towards him.

"Roka!" The Doctor jumped up and, as always, gave her a warm hug. It made the painful feeling even worse. "You... look good." He observed her and sounded honestly surprised. "Really good." He looked up to the Master, then back to her. "Seems like he treats you well." He observed the ear-stud, but looked as if he couldn't remember if she always has had it.

"Hey! Don't sound so surprised!" the Master snorted, then tread to the other Time Lord and pulled him down at his tie. "Was a bit too busy lately, but I thought I let you finally know that I've got your TARDIS. Thought you might want to know." He grinned very nastily at him. "And I'm having sooooo much fun with it!"

The Doctor's eyes widened and darted back and forth between the Master and Roka, who couldn't look at him. "You... you haven't tortured her, have you?"

"Tch, of course not." The Master let go of the tie and stuck out his tongue. "Just a tiny little bit of mind control." He turned around to leave the room. "You have ten minutes. Not a second more."

Roka looked up to the Doctor, in his friendly and slightly worried face. And the pain in her chest got even worse.

"Do you..." He carefully looked around. "I know he is observing the room. But do you know what he is planning?"

She looked up, a bit puzzled, then shook her head. "If anything at all, then I don't know of it."

"Has he done anything to the TARDIS?" He kept asking.

She shook her head again.

"And... to you? You can tell me."

"No... nothing!" She exclaimed.

Why was he so persistent on it? Was it so hard to believe that he wouldn't harm someone? Roka answered the question herself and bit her lip. And suddenly she knew why she had been brought here. To get an answer to the question that was burning in her mind.

"He just wanted to get away from earth, I think. What if..." She looked the Doctor into his eyes. "If I could convince him to let you go. Would... you take him along?" Her voice almost failed her at the last words.

"I don't see how you could convince him... but, well..." He grinned. "Leaving him on earth would definitely be way too dangerous. And in the TARDIS I could at least make sure he can't do any harm."

"So... a prisoner then..." The pain in her chest got worse, but now it felt different. "I thought you two had been friends."

The Doctor looked up and shrugged. "You've been with him for a few days now. You know he is too dangerous to be left on his own." A warm smile wandered down to her. "Don't worry. As soon as I get out of here you'll be safe from him." Then his face got worried suddenly. "Huh? What's wrong, Roka?"

She had turned her head away, feeling tears of anger welling up inside her eyes. She didn't even know where they came from, but they were hot and accompanied the worsening pain in her chest and now also in her throat. But she swallowed them down and smiled up.

"Nothing. I'm fine, really. And... safe too." Maybe only because of the paradox, but for her it still counted.

On the Doctor's face were a bunch of different emotions, ranging from worried to puzzled. It was obvious that he knew that something was going on, but he also had no idea what.

Finally Roka couldn't bear to see those worried eyes any longer. She knew he just tried to do the right thing. And every word he had said was true. But everything had gotten so, so much more complicated.

"I... have to go" she murmured before he could decide on what to say.

From the corner of her eyes she saw the Doctor reaching after her, but it made her only move faster and she rushed out of the room, long before the ten minutes had been over.

The Master leaned at the wall outside with folded arms, staring down at the ground. Without a word she leaned next to him, still trying to calm herself down, while all sorts of thoughts were racing through her head. She threw a look at him and he stared back, not saying a word, and an impossible to read expression on his face.

He was dangerous. He had hurt people and he wouldn't stop doing it. She knew all that.

He also was a traveler. One with a burning longing for the stars within his hearts. Never would he be able to endure captivity. That she knew too now.

She could do nothing and just run away forever. But one day he probably would get bored of it and simply throw her away. And there also was the paradox.

She could still try and free the Doctor. But if she succeeded the Master would become a prisoner. A dog on a leash. Forever trapped, while his former friend hopped through time and space, having fun.

Roka sank down the wall and put her hands against her head. This was too much. There wasn't a way out. There wasn't even a real question which of those options would be the better one. Not from a logical standpoint. But she couldn't think like that anymore. Something had changed. And everything inside her twisted and burned and hurt.

"I told you." His voice was soft and when she looked up he had crouched in front of her. "But I don't get why it bothers you so much." He wasn't looking directly at her.

"I... don't get it either." She swallowed down the burning in her throat. "But it doesn't matter anyway, right? Not forever." She felt her gaze being desperate, but didn't care.

"No... but you also can't run forever." He grinned at her. Not the usual mean grin. It was odd and as if there was a fight raving inside his own head.

"I know... Just... a bit longer."

The grin faded into a not lesser odd smile and the Master got up again, his eyes darting back and forth between the door and Roka, before he reached down a hand to help her up.

"Sounds good to me."