Title: Mists of the Past
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Ianto Jones/Tenth Doctor
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Rating: PG
Table: 3
Prompt: 28, Villain
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own Ianto Jones or the Tenth Doctor. Please do not sue.

***

"Why do you think he became such a villain?" Ianto asked, leaning back against the pillows of the bed he and the Doctor shared on the Tardis and ruffling the Time Lord's hair. "After all, you did say that the Master was .... fairly normal until he became a Time Lord."

The Doctor nodded, frowning slightly and catching his lower lip between his teeth. "I can't really say," he answered, his voice thoughtful. "Yes, he was what you might call 'normal' before that -- but he was always a bit odd."

"Odd in what way?" Ianto raised his eyebrows in question, settling into a more comfortable position and preparing to listen. This certainly sounded as though it could be interesting.

"He was always doing things that veered towards deviant behaviour, but never quite made it all the way there," the Doctor explained, tilting his head back to look up at his lover. "There was a strange sadistic streak in him, even as a child."

"From the sound of it, I can't help thinking that you might have been the victim of that streak on a few occasions," Ianto said softly, hoping for the Doctor's sake that his guess wasn't correct.

"On more than a few occasions," the Doctor admitted, a shudder running through his thin body. Ianto wrapped his arm more securely around the Time Lord's waist, drawing his lover closer to him and nuzzling the other man's hair.

"All that's over now," he whispered, but even as the words left his lips, he knew that wasn't true. The Master was still out there in the universe, waiting to pop up yet again and complicate their lives. They were always on the lookout for him.

The Doctor sighed, shaking his head. "No, it's not, Ianto. You know it's not. We've both had to deal with him too many times for either of us to delude ourselves into thinking he's gone."

Ianto nodded reluctantly, agreeing with the Doctor. "It's no use wishing that we've seen the back of him; he always manages to show up again when we think he won't. He's like the proverbial bad penny, isn't he?"

"Indeed," sighed the Doctor, settling more comfortably into Ianto's embrace. "But I believe you wanted to know what he was like when we were younger, didn't you?" His tone of voice hovered between a question and a statement.

"Yes, I did. I can't help but wonder what might have twisted him into the person he is now," Ianto said, hoping that this topic of conversation wouldn't upset the Doctor. It probably wasn't often that he was asked to talk about his greatest nemesis, after all.

"I don't think anyone can say just what made him what he is now." The Doctor's voice was a little hesitant, as though he really didn't want to say the words. "It started when he went through the tests to become a Time Lord -- but the potential was there long before that."

"Were the tests very hard to get through?" Ianto asked, curious as to just how the Doctor had gone from being a normal, everyday Gallifreyan to being .... well, what he was now.

"Some were, some weren't." The Doctor shrugged almost negligently, sighing. "I don't want to go into that, really. Some people passed them, some didn't. And others -- like the Master -- lost their sanity. Though honestly, I don't think he had much of a grip on that to begin with."

"It doesn't sound as if he did." Ianto found that easy to believe; in the few personal encounters he'd had with the Master, he didn't seem sane in any way. It would take a madman to think up some of the things that he'd done, Ianto thought, almost wincing at the memories.

"There was a time when I thought there could still be some hope for him." The Time Lord's words sounded soft, regretful. "I wish there could have been."

"Is that because of the friendhip you had with him when you were young?" Ianto tried to keep his tone level, not to let a worried note creep into it. The Doctor was a big boy; he'd been around a lot longer than Ianto had. He didn't need constant protecting.

"That's part of it." The Doctor sighed again, leaning his head back against Ianto's shoulder. "It just seems such a waste. He had a brilliant mind at one time. Actually, he still does. He just uses it for the wrong purposes. Such a waste of potential."

"Yes, I guess it was, in some ways," Ianto said, absently running a hand through the Doctor's hair. "But you can't change a person unless they want to change, Doctor. It was his choice to become as villainous as he is. You can't force him to be what you want him to be."

The Doctor nodded, closing his eyes. "I still have dreams about the days when we were children -- and we were still friendly."

"You do?" Ianto couldn't help feeling surprised at that; he hadn't thought that the Doctor thought of the Master in any terms but the sort they were on now. But he supposed it made sense; after all, the two of them had been friends once, long ago.

"Yes," the Time Lord answered, looking up at Ianto again with a frown marring his brow. "Does that surprise you?"

"It does, in a way," Ianto admitted, trying to choose his words carefully. He didn't want to offend the Doctor, or make him think that Ianto felt he shouldn't cherish the memories he had of his life on Gallifrey. "I would have thought how you feel about him now would colour that."

"I suppose it does, in some ways," the Doctor told him, nodding. "But I can remember a time when the two of us played pranks together, just like any children would do. Sometimes I wonder if he ever thinks about those days -- and regrets how they ended."

"I'm sure he does," Ianto said softly, stroking the Doctor's hair. "Though not in the same way you do, I'm sure. I don't think he has the emotional capacity to do that. He's not like you, Doctor. He doesn't have your decency, your compassion."

"No, he doesn't," the Doctor murmured. He sounded sad, and Ianto had to push the worry to the back of his mind again.

"Compassion is something I'd say he's defiitely lacking," Ianto said, his lips thinning into a straight line. He still had a hard time forgetting their last encounter with the Master, and the emotional and physical state the Doctor had been in for a while after he'd been rescued.

"He wasn't always like that," the Doctor said, still sounding saddened. "Even though the potential for the villain he's become was always in him, there was a time when he could have chosen the right path. Unfortunately, that time is long gone. It's in the mists of the past."

Ianto nodded, wishing that he hadn't brought up the subject. Why did he seem to have such a talent for speaking about topics that could wreak havoc with the Time Lord's emotions? He'd have to be more careful about doing that.

"We can't change him," Ianto finally murmured, bending his head to brush his lips across the Doctor's forehead. "All we can do is hope that the next time he shows up in our lives, we'll be able to deal with him."

"You're right about that," the Doctor said, closing his eyes as Ianto wrapped both arms firmly around his slim waist. "And hopefully, that won't be for a while."

"I definitely agree with that," Ianto told him, reaching towards the small table by the bed to turn off the light. When the room was dark, he settled back into bed, pulling the Doctor close against him and hoping that this conversation woudn't spark any disturbing dreams -- for either of them.

***