Author's Note: So, here we are again, folks, the final chapter in this particular story. Another journey is over and my "ship of dreams" has docked again for the time being. And yep, you guessed it, the rest is another story and shall be told another time!

Thanks to the following people for reviewing the previous chapter: jazz-sparks, iLuvTwiboys, babybluepineapple, MayFairy, Omniac, Avelo, Kaylie S and Guessswho. Also, thank you to every single person who took the time to review this fic at any stage, you are all wonderful.

Hopefully you all enjoy this last chapter!

CHAPTER 23

The Master stood in the console room of his TARDIS, looking down at the empty slot in the console where his temporal limiter used to be, an amused smile playing around his lips.

Oh Doctor, you should know better than to try to trick a trickster, he thought mockingly. And now the next move in the game is mine.

For a moment, he closed his eyes, listening to the blissful silence in his head. He had no idea whether Rassilon was alive or dead. In fact, he wasn't even sure that the Lord President could be permanently killed, since so many of the ancient Gallifreyan legends claimed that he was immortal. The Master didn't really care. The drums were gone, his mind was crystal clear again. He had been dancing to Rassilon's accursed beat all his life – now it was his turn to call the tune. He knew what he wanted and nothing in the Universe was going to stop him from getting it.

Firstly, he wanted Ana. Beautiful Ana. She was his, born to be a part of him. And he was determined that nobody was going to take what was his, ever again. No matter what the Doctor or Captain Freak or Martha Jones or anyone else did, he would never let Ana go. He thought of his hand-print, seared with his life-energy into her ankle like a brand. His brand, the sign of his ownership, the mark of the Master. They were bound together now and Ana would belong to him until Time itself ground to a halt.

But he wanted even more than that. He had never realised it before, until the Could-Have-Been-King had shown him the truth of his past, but now he knew beyond the shadow of a doubt. More than anything, he wanted a son. Not just any son – Ana's son. Their child would be a true-born Time Lord, the blood of two great Gallifreyan families mingling in his veins, a direct descendant of both the House of Oakdown and the House of Lungbarrow.

The Master conjured up an image of Ana rounded and soft with pregnancy and then another of her holding his son in her arms. He felt a deep surge of satisfaction and possessiveness at the prospect. It would happen, he would make sure of it. His child would want for nothing. Everything that had been taken from him, his son would have. A home, a family, position, inheritance...the Master would literally hand him the Universe on a silver platter.

He and Ana, the Time Lord and his Lady, Master and Mistress of the Universe...oh, he liked the sound of that!

It was all there for the taking, a shining future at his finger-tips. The only stumbling block was Ana herself. He knew she would never agree to what he had in mind. In time, he would make her understand that he knew best and she would learn to obey. But to start with, he would need to play it very carefully to ensure that he didn't lose her.

At that moment, the TARDIS door opened and Tejana entered. She looked upset and he guessed that she had just been on the receiving end of another lecture from her father. Seeing him standing at the console watching her, she gave him a bright smile.

"So, ready to go?" she asked. "This time, can we go somewhere where they have lots of great food? There's got to be a restaurant planet somewhere, right? I am so totally starving! Jack has absolutely nothing to eat in the Hub except chocolate and I think I've had enough of that for one day."

The Master didn't answer, deliberately averting his eyes from her.

Tejana frowned and climbed the stairs towards him. "Koschei? Are you all right?" Then, when he still didn't answer, she asked in an alarmed voice, "Oh gods, the drums aren't back again, are they?"

"No, they're gone," he replied shortly.

"Then what's wrong?"

He took a deep breath and then glanced at her sideways. "I think you should stay here, with the Doctor and Handsome Jack."

He saw her tense, as if he had just stabbed her with a knife. "What?"

"Ana, I'll never be him. The Koschei you saw in that vision...he's dead. Rassilon killed him when he was eight years old," he said harshly. "So, if that's what you're expecting me to be now the drums are gone, forget it. I've been the Master for centuries now, I don't know how to be anything else."

"I don't expect that," she answered softly, reaching out to take his hand. "I'll never be her either, the dream-Tejana. I'm not sure I would even want to be, now. Neither of us can go back – but the future is ours to choose...together."

"Are you sure that's what you want?"

"Believe me, I'm sure."

The Master pulled her close, his hands gripping her wrists tightly, intentionally trying to intimidate her. "This is your last chance, Ana. You can leave now if you want to, I won't try to stop you. But if you choose to stay, there won't be anywhere in the Universe you can go that I won't find you and bring you back."

"Then do it!" she said fiercely. "Because there's nowhere in the Universe I want to be, unless you're there with me!"

The Master's eyes glittered with triumph and he brought his mouth down on hers in a deep, rough, demanding kiss. He felt her hands slide to the back of his neck, pulling him even closer, her mouth opening under his instinctively and unquestioningly. All at once, desire was raging through him, threatening to sweep away all coherent thought.

"Tell me you belong to me," he said, fighting for control, knowing he had to stick to his plan. He had to get her to openly commit herself to him. "I need to hear you say it."

"I belong to you," she repeated, shuddering under the caress of his hands.

"Use my name."

For a moment, she hesitated. But then she capitulated, at last giving him what he wanted. "I belong to you...Master."

That nearly broke him, nearly made him forget everything. All he wanted to do was to push her down on the floor and finish what they had started. But instead, he forced himself to pull back, despite her moan of protest.

"I know, sweetheart," he said soothingly, his own breathing ragged. "But I think your dear old Dad is waiting for a word with us."

Sure enough, on the view-screen the Doctor was clearly visible, sitting just outside their TARDIS, his arms and legs crossed casually as he patiently waited.

"What?" she said hazily, her eyes unfocussed, still lost in the pleasure the Master had aroused in her. "I already said goodbye. What more is there to talk about?"

"I'm guessing...this," he answered, indicating the empty space in the TARDIS console.

"Our temporal limiter is missing," she said in a puzzled voice. Then a blaze of temper lit her eyes as it suddenly dawned on her what was going on. "Our temporal limiter is missing!" she snarled furiously. "Oooh, is he ever going to get an earful!"

With that, she spun on her heel and stormed towards the door. Unhurriedly, the Master followed, his mouth curved in a small smile of anticipation.

The Doctor watched them emerge from the TARDIS. As expected, Tejana looked absolutely furious. The Master, on the other hand, did not look in the least bit bothered. Indeed, if the Doctor had been pressed to describe his arch-enemy's expression he would have said...smug.

"You stole our temporal limiter!" Tejana accused angrily, marching straight up to confront him. "Give it back, right now!"

"No," the Doctor replied calmly. "Whichever way you like to spin it, the Master just slaughtered the entire High Council of Time Lords. Nothing has changed since The Valiant. It's still much too dangerous to allow him to wander around the Universe wreaking havoc wherever he goes."

"Technically speaking, that wasn't actually me," the Master said mildly, leaning casually against the outside of the TARDIS. "Not to mention the fact that you killed them first on Gallifrey, something which you conveniently prefer to forget."

The Doctor ignored him and continued as if he hadn't spoken. "I've made my decision. Master, you'll come with me in my TARDIS, where I can keep an eye on you. Tejana, you'll stay here on Earth with Jack."

"What?" his daughter spat, almost incandescent with rage. "I will not!"

Unexpectedly, the Master threw back his head and laughed.

"What's so funny?" the Doctor demanded.

"You do know that I've got no intention of giving Ana up, don't you?" the Master returned mockingly. "Or becoming your prisoner for the rest of my life?"

"You have no choice," the Doctor told him. "The Hub is still in lock down and your TARDIS is out of action. There's nowhere for you to go."

"Oh, but there's always a choice, Doctor," said the Master. "And the best part about this one is that you forced me to make it. Now whatever happens will be your fault."

"What are you talking about? What will be my fault?"

The Master laughed again and slid his arm securely around Tejana's waist. In his other hand, he held a small button-like device, which he displayed triumphantly to the Doctor.

"You know, Miss Jones was quite right...you really, really should never have let me anywhere near the Rift!"

With that, he pressed the button. He and Tejana shimmered and wavered and disappeared for a few brief seconds. When they reappeared, the Doctor blinked in shock. The Master with the blonde hair and black hoodie had been replaced by a Master with brown hair, wearing an immaculately-tailored suit. The Tejana with the loose black curls, cotton jacket, blue jeans and trainers had been replaced by a Tejana wearing a long, tightly woven plait, black leather waistcoat over a white long-sleeved T-shirt, fitted black trousers and black boots. Her hands were tightly manacled in front of her. The two of them looked around in a dazed and puzzled fashion, as if they had no idea where they were. Suddenly they both seemed to notice the Doctor, standing nearby and watching them. For a moment, they stared at him, apparently without recognition, as though they had never before seen him in his new regeneration.

Then, simultaneously, they both said incredulously, "DOCTOR?"

"Oh, Master," the Doctor sighed wearily. "What have you done this time?"

Tejana shook her head in astonishment, sure she was seeing things. One minute she had been standing in the Hub, facing the Doctor, the next minute...she wasn't. Instead, she appeared to be in a dark, enclosed space of some kind. Both the Doctor and the Master had vanished and she was alone.

"What the hell is going on now?" she exclaimed crossly.

Slowly, she turned in a circle, taking in her new surroundings as her eyes adjusted to the gloom. What she saw made her insides freeze in disbelief. This grotty little room was not strange to her. In fact, it was horribly, terrifyingly familiar.

"Oh no," she whispered. "Oh, no. It's not even possible! The Valiant was destroyed by the Daleks!"

And yet, against every logical argument, she knew without a doubt that she was standing in the prison cell she had occupied during The Year That Never Was, on board the mighty air-craft carrier Valiant. It was like some kind of sick joke, some sort of horrific de ja vu. She knew every inch of this room, every scanty piece of furniture, every mark on the walls, every crack in the ceiling. Even the musty, dank smell was familiar.

What could possibly have happened? Surely she hadn't slipped backwards in time? A Time Lord could never go back within his own time-line, it was strictly forbidden – it would cause a temporal paradox of catastrophic proportions for her to co-exist at the same point in time with her previous self. The Doctor had done it on a couple of occasions, but only in times of grave peril and with the full knowledge and permission of the High Council. But now that Gallifrey had been destroyed and the Time Lords were not available to control the causal nexus, such an act would result in universal destruction!

Trying not to panic, she leapt across to the narrow bunk, seizing the thin, lumpy pillow and tossing it aside. Sure enough, the incontrovertible evidence was staring her in the face. There on the wall at the head of the bed, etched with her own hand, were the marks she remembered, one for each day of her imprisonment, the only way she had been able to keep track of the time sliding by. With a chill, she realised that the marks tallied to approximately six months. Somehow, she had landed smack bang in the middle of The Year That Never Was.

Just then, the cell door opened and revealed the Master standing there. With a flood of relief, she saw his blonde hair and black hoodie and realised that this was her Koschei, the Master from her own time-line.

"Oh, thank the gods you're here," she cried, running to embrace him. "What in the name of Gallifrey is going on? This is The Valiant! We're back in The Year That Never Was!"

He laughed, playfully ruffling her hair. "I know. Good, isn't it?"

Tejana stiffened in shock and pulled away from him, suddenly understanding. "You did this, didn't you? Are you suicidal? The temporal paradox you'll cause could wipe out the Universe!"

"Have some faith, my beautiful Ana. I'm a genius, remember?" the Master smirked. "Reciprocal Temporal Displacement, made possible by a generous serving of Rift Energy. You and I are here, our previous selves are now in the future, at the Hub. Perfect exchange, no co-existence, therefore no chance of a paradox."

Tejana stared at him in horror. "Why are you doing this, Koschei?"

"Oh come on, Ana, you know why," he retorted, his face hardening. "This is my do-over, my second bite of the cherry. This time, things will be different. Forewarned is forearmed. There will be no manipulation of my satellites, no psychic wave from the Earth, no Tinkerbell moment for the Doctor. Now that I know everything that's going to happen, I can change it all. This time the Universe will be mine and no-one will be able to stop me."

"You can't!' she breathed. "After all we've just found out about Rassilon messing with the future by changing the past and now you want to do the same?"

"That's exactly the point!" he said harshly. "From now on, no-one decides my future but me!"

Moving like lightning, he seized her right wrist and snapped something in place before she could react. Glancing down, she saw it was a beautiful golden bracelet, exquisitely engraved with intricate Gallifreyan designs. Instantly she knew that its purpose was much more than decorative – in her mind, the psychic link winked out like it had never been, leaving her adrift on a sudden sea of confusion.

"Psi-inhibitor," the Master said matter-of-factly. "I can't risk you contacting the Doctor. Don't bother trying to remove it – the clasp has an isomorphic seal. No-one can take it off but me."

Then he reached into her pocket and swiftly extracted the laser screwdriver he had given her. "Oh, and I'll have that back too, just for now."

Her eyes flared with pure rage. "You're despicable!"

He laughed, seizing her chin and tilting her head up so that her defiant gaze clashed with his. "Did I ever tell you just how gorgeous you are when you're angry?" he taunted.

"Go to hell!" she spat.

Ignoring her words, he pulled her close and dropped his mouth to hers in a quick, hard kiss.

"The Doctor at my mercy, the Universe at my feet and you by my side. What more could I possibly ask for?" he said in apparent satisfaction. "You'll have to stay here for a while, where I know you can't get into any trouble. I'll be back soon. But right now, I've got a planet to run!"

With that, he turned and jauntily walked out the door, which was promptly closed behind him by the two black-clad guards stationed outside. Tejana looked helplessly around her, the claustrophobia she had suffered since her childhood on Gallifrey already constricting her breathing, the walls beginning to close in on her.

"Oh, you have to be kidding," she whispered, sinking down on to the edge of the bunk, her head in her hands. "You have seriously got to be kidding."

In the distance, she could hear the Master whistling "I Can't Decide" by the Scissor Sisters as he walked up the corridor.

And in that moment she knew that this was no joke. This was a living nightmare.

THE END

Author's Note

For the sequel to this fic, please read "Return to the Valiant".

SUMMARY: The Master has used the Cardiff Rift to send himself and Tejana back to The Year That Never Was, with the aim of using his knowledge of events to change the outcome and conquer the Universe. But the Rift is very unstable and unpredictable. Unbeknown to the Master, something else has come through with them. And this time around, he just may not be the "biggest bad" on board The Valiant.