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Hands on his hips, the Master looked up at the phone wire, where three pairs of red trainers were hanging, and two white ones just a little ways away. He'd also hid all of his other shoes within the TARDIS.

Looking over to his Doctor, he grinned, looking quite pleased with himself.

"Are you really that bored?" the Doctor remarked, looking up at the phone wire with his favourite pairs of trainers hanging from it.

"I don't even know why you would be bored. You have the whole TARDIS to look through," he commented. "And I showed you where the swimming pool was!"

"You..." he pointed a finger at him, "You're mocking me, I just know it. Running around all the time, causing trouble when I can't." he frowned before rolling his eyes - he did it because he was annoyed with the Doctor, and he knew how much he loved his trainers.

"You just try running around now."

"What? I'm not mocking you by leaving the TARDIS," the Doctor looked at him in confusion. "You're collared, but I'm not. Why should I be punished because you've got no self control?" The Master was proving that much right now.

"I could still run if I wanted!" the Doctor insisted childishly, "How do you know I haven't got more shoes? There could be a whole room in the TARDIS that's a--a trainer factory, for all you know."

"Then I'll throw them all up there!" Yes, the Master was aware he was acting like a child, but he couldn't blame him, the Doctor seemed to be treating him that way.

Huffing, he glared at the Doctor before walking off down the nearest alley, of course he couldn't get too far though. He merely went until he felt the shock run through him, making him curse.

"You're just doing this to get my attention. Well, you've got it now. What?" the Doctor asked him, completely exasperated.

When the Master turned and walked off, the Doctor called after him, "I don't know where you think you're going!" He waited until the Master cursed in pain before running after him and trying to pull him back in the direction of the TARDIS.

"What happened?" he asked, giving him a concerned frown. "You were doing so well for a while." Had something happened to change that?

It was obvious he was going through one of his fits again, ever since Vegas, the Master hadn't made one attempt at trying to break through the barrier, and the skin on his neck had started to heal.

He shrugged the Doctor off of him and narrowed his eyes.

"Maybe I shouldn't have agreed to this. At least in death I would have been free..." He had met two of his alternates, and both seemed to think the same, and just pitied and laughed at him - he knew they were right.

"I don't want to be your bloody pet!" he hissed, crossing his arms.

"And then you'd come back like one of those other Masters," the Doctor replied. "Is that really what you want?" He doubted it was. The other Masters were completely mad, not to mention all wrong.

"You're not my pet!" he insisted, reaching out to put a hand on the Master's crossed arms. "You're my friend and I'm just trying to help you. You should've told me that you were upset and we could have talked about it. ...We can still talk about it. Come back to the TARDIS, okay?"

The only thing wrong he found with the other Master's, were that they were dying and were slowly being ripped apart, barely being kept together. He wasn't quite sure if that's what he really wanted, and that just made him even more frustrated.

"I haven't been your friend in a long time, Doctor." he muttered, lifting a hand, stretching his arm until he felt the electric barrier keeping him in, and he hissed as sparks flew through his arm.

"You can't make this better..."

"Oh, no, that's not true!" the Doctor insisted. "We were friends in Vegas, and...what happened afterward," he added, the tips of his ears turning a bit red when he remembered just now friendly they'd gotten in the TARDIS a few days ago.

He pulled the Master closer to him when he lifted out that arm. "Stop it!" he insisted. "Don't hurt yourself." He didn't know how he could make this better, because the Master wouldn't talk to him.

"You want to hurt someone? Hurt me, then," he told him, not knowing what else to do. "I'll fix your collar so you can hit me without getting a zap."

"You're trying so hard, aren't you?" He looked away once he felt the Doctor pull him closer, away from the barrier, and it was at times like this that he couldn't look at him, and he didn't know why, "... Even when you know that I just can't change." It would take years and years, centuries even.

At this, the Master took hold of the Doctor's forearms and twisted them around, pushing him hard against the building behind them - which only caused him to get a large shock for throttling the Doctor so suddenly, but in turn, it also shocked the other Time Lord.

"Is this what you want? For me to hurt you?" he felt another spark and winced. He was frustrated and stressed, that the sparks of electricity actually felt a little good.

"Yes, you can," the Doctor replied, though he sounded tired. Frustrated and exhausted with these temper tantrums the Master seemed to throw every few weeks. He knew what he was getting himself into, though, and he'd put up with it. "You're not going to change overnight, but eventually, you will."

He let himself be pushed against the wall and winced at the electricity running through both of them, hissing in a pained breath. "I want..." he trailed off and really thought about it for a moment, "I just want you to be okay. I don't care what that entails."

Falling silent, the Master kept his eyes on him, watching the pain etched across his expression, and it made him smile. The Doctor was right though, he had been doing fine a while ago, but after seeing his counterparts, they reminded him of who he was supposed to be, even if they irritated him by laughing.

"I was okay when I had the whole world at my feet, Doctor. When every single person on Earth feared me, I was okay. I was brilliant." he frowned at him, "I don't understand you. I tortured your precious Freak for a whole year, I enslaved the human race and I kept you from saving a family in Pompeii - why are you still trying?" he hissed.

He pushed himself away from him, turning his back to the Doctor. It was easy to tell that he was merely trying to get a reaction from the other Time Lord, to anger him and break him.

"But you can be so much better," the Doctor replied, wondering how many times he'd said this exact same thing. "You can be so much more. You don't need fear or power."

He frowned at the other Time Lord when he started listing all the things he'd done. When he turned his back to the Doctor, it was enough for the Doctor to finally snap out, "Because I love you!"

He reached forward and grabbed the Master's shoulder, turning him perhaps a bit more roughly than needed, to face him again. "You're my best friend and, well, my best enemy, really. I'm not going to just give up on you."

He already had words at the tip of his tongue, but then the Doctor said he loved him, and he was stunned, so much that he had let the Doctor forcibly turn him, and all he could do was stare.

"... And that's your weakness." he whispered, "You love and you care too easily, and it only hurts you in the end. What makes you think I'm going to be any different? I don't let these feelings consume me, because what good will ever come of them?"

The Doctor just looked at him wordlessly for a moment, before looking away again and allowing, "Maybe, but I don't believe it makes me weak."

He shook his head, "You're afraid to let yourself be happy." He knew the Master so well, but he still didn't know why that was. "You're afraid to change, because you can already see it in yourself. I know you, Koschei, I do."

The one thing that the Master needed to learn to let go of, was control, and that was the one thing that he wasn't willing to let go of so easily, at least not without a fight.

He didn't want to admit the Doctor was right either, that was the last thing he wanted to do, even to himself.

"The only thing that makes me happy... are the drums in my head. They won't ever leave me, Doctor." he finally breathes and turns as if to go back to the TARDIS -- though that wasn't where he was headed.

This time when he started to walk away, the Doctor didn't try to pull him back. "Is that was this is about?" he called after him. "You think I'll leave you and you're--you're testing me? Blimey, Koschei. I'd think you know me well enough by now. I'm not going anywhere."

Hadn't he before, though? Hadn't he always left him before? It's not as if the Master's worries are unfounded. The Doctor is trying to make up for all those other times now, though.

He paused, though didn't turn back around, "No... that's not what this is about. Stop thinking so hard and jumping to conclusions where I care." he clenched his hands into fists, but then relaxed again.

"And stop pretending I'm Koschei. I'm not. We don't have a home anymore, Doctor. Those skies are gone, all of it is gone."

He could pretend that it didn't hurt, that he didn't miss that old planet, but he would be lying to himself, and he could also deny that he missed being Theta's Koschei. The Doctor saw through that though.

The Doctor wasn't in the mood to be told was this was and wasn't about, when he could see it right there written all over the Master's face.

"Alright, then, Master," he replied, voice neutral as he took a step towards him. "Tell me what this is about, then. Look me in the eye and tell me what this is about. The drums? The collar? What?" He crossed his arms.

"...No."

Instead of going to the other end of the 20 foot barrier, he simply ignored the Doctor's question and headed back into the TARDIS, if that was what would make the Doctor happy and shut it for now, besides the fact that he just threw over half of the Doctor's shoes up the phone lines.

"Suit yourself," the Doctor replied, unable to keep the disappointment from his voice. He'd thought the Master would finally start opening up to him. It clearly wasn't the right time, though.

He watched the other Time Lord walk into the TARDIS and then turned back to his shoes on the wire, trying to figure out how he'd get them off.