How the Master stole Christmas (Fifth Doctor & Co)

[Deleted]

It is the evening of December 23rd, 1998, at the North Pole. Santa's Workshop was just as busy as it ever was, with all the Elves finishing up their work for the last two nights before Santa's fabled sleigh ride.

Santa Clause, an Earthling who has lived well over 1700 years by this point, assuming of course he is the same man as the historical St. Nicholas.

And a Man who continues to live on hundreds, if not thousands of years afterwards. A legion of Elves at his command, making all the toys for him to deliver to every good little boy and girl on Christmas Eve, in a sleigh pulled by 8 or more reindeer. A wife who also lived on equally as long as he did, and his first eight reindeer all going by the same name.

Normally the Master wouldn't bother with such "Childish" fantasies. But such legends, such myths, have proven to contained power before. And this man was indeed a powerful figure. One which the Master decided to make better use of.

Hiding Santa away, taking on the role and the disguise of the fat old man, and even taking full control of the toyshop proved to be very easy, minus some certain challenges. The first of which was kidnapping Santa and hiding him in his TARDIS without any whitnesses. The second was hypnotizing Mrs. Clause. If she went missing for such a long period of time, then that would surely spoil his plans. He had to put her under his hypnotic control,, as well as the reindeer in order to ensure that none questioned him. Mrs. Clause and the reindeer would've obviously known Santa better than anyone else at the North Pole.

Sadly, one of the reindeer, one with an abnormality best described as a glowing red nose, was somehow immune to his mind control. Did the reindeer's mutation allow him to have a higher resistance to mind control?

He would investigate that further, once his plans were in place.

As soon as he had taken the fat jolly man's place, he had ordered the elves to implant these new chips he created into each of the toys. What these chips were for, he explained that they were to measure the amount of "Christmas Joy and Holiday Spirit" that was given off in every home. Like the blind loyal followers they were to the fat man, they believed every word he said.

And while they worked, and whenever he was free from "Checking his list", the Master was busy investigating every nook and cranny of the toy factory or interrogating Santa Clause about the secrets to Santa's immortality.

This human HAD to have had some secret to staying alive for so long! How could he have done it? If he could figure that out, he wouldn't need to expend so much of the Source of Traken's energy to keep him in this body of Tremas. He'd be able to regenerate his old body, and become a new Time Lord all over again! Never having to worry about aging or dying!

Time was running out for Santa. Soon the Master would begin the final stages of his plan. Then the Earth will be finally his to rule!

[Deleted]

The TARDIS was all tidy and cozy, so The Doctor had taken to pulling up a chair and reading a book. His glasses came out and he ready through them. Of course, he didn't need them, but he liked them, they made him look very wise.

He wondered if that's what others thought when they saw him wearing them. The Doctor chuckled a bit before closing his book and looking up, "Nyssa?" He asked, not sure if she was in the room, "Nyssa, I've had the most wonderful idea. Oh, it's been awhile since I celebrated Christmas. I should pay old Nicholas a visit."

The Doctor took off his glasses and pocketed them before smiling, "You'll love it." And then the Time Lord blinked, she had wandered off again! Where oh where was she now?

"Nyssa? Where are you?" The Doctor called out, "I've told you that it's really quite lonely when you leave me in the console room by myself."

[Deleted]

Closing the door of her room shut, Nyssa followed the sounds of her name being called only a very short way to find the Doctor.

"There's no need to shout, Doctor. I can hear you. My room is only a few meters away, you know," Nyssa told him calmly, just a hint of a smile in her eyes. "Who is old Nicholas?"

[Deleted]

The Master would've nearly puked at having being around so much happyness and holly jolly Christmas cheer if he was in his previous incarnation, both before and after that accident wih the Dalek artifact. He must remember to repay the Doctor's granddaughter kindly for ruining his last life as well as stealing his TARDIS and TCE. Perhaps he'll plant a bomb in her home, assuming she was still living on Earth after her husband's death.

This incarnation however proved to be highly tolerable of all the niceness and goodness in the atmosphere. He personally thought he was playing the part of Santa rather well, much more than those immitators those clusters of Earth stores called "Malls" hired every December.

In the raindeer stables, a few of the Elf Veteranarians were examining and checking up on Rudolph, in an attempt to see what had caused such odd behavior from him this past month.

In the factory, the assembly lines were slowing down somewhat, as the Elves were finishing up any last minite holiday wishes and letters. Sure, Santa is not able to grant every wish to every child every year, but he and his elves do the best that they can. And if one child got left behind, Santa always made sure that he made it up to them in the following years.

The Master was now sitting in the desk of the fat man himself, as he stared into the large snowglobe that was on the other side of the office from where he was sitting.

He had learned that through this snowglobe, Santa is able to keep track of every child's good and bad deeds throughout the world. It was how he made sure who was naughty and nice.

With this, he thought to himself. I would be able to keep a constant eye on all my enemies, no matter where they were hiding on this planet.

A knock on his door. The Master looked up from the large snowglobe and towards the office door. He checked his voice and cleared his throat a few times, and flawlessly recreating Santa's exact voice, he called, "Ohohoho! Come in! Come in!"

It was Mrs. Clause, carrying a tray of hot cocoa. She handed the man she believed to be her husband a mug for him, and she sat down in a big red easy chair to the side of the desk.

"I thought I'd bring you a nice cup of cocoa dear," she said calmly.

The Master took the cup and drank from it. He wondered himself how this fat man was able to ingest so much sweets every year and not be stricken by diabetes or some other human disease that could've come from his poor diatatry habbits.

"Thank you, Dear," the Master said as he tipped his cup to her.

Mrs. Clause drank from her cup slowly. "How are the children this year?" she asked politely.

Mrs. Clause was a very kind and caring woman, who loved the goodness in her husband, from what the Master has been able to deduce. She clearly took an interest in her Husband's work, to the point she even helped out in the factory however she could.

The Master himself had a hard time keeping up with checking the List as much as Santa probably did. It wasn't till his 5th day on the job that he had learned Santa had used a good number of his elves to also help keep track of all the boys and girls throughout the world some years ago when he wasn't feeling well. The Master had to reinstate that elf force to help him keep track of the list this year.

"So far, most have been fairly good from what I've been able to tell," the fake Santa Clause replied.

Mrs. Clause pulled out an envelope addressed to Santa. "Nick, dear. I know the elves usually help sort out the letters, but would you please read this one?"

The Master had let a cringe slip out on his face. Thanks to his hypnotic spell he had already placed Mrs. Clause under, she was unable to notice it. She was virtually unable to notice any slip up of Santa's character on the Master's part. Sadly, the Master was only able to make it minor slip ups. If he should ever do or say anything that would seem too far out of character for Santa, then his hypnotism would wear off.

He reached over and took the letter from Mrs. Clause's hand. He opened it and read the letter to himself.

He looked back to her. "Why did you choose to give me this letter to read out of all of the others?"

Mrs. Clause sighed. "The poor girl there. Do you not recognize the name?"

The Santa Master shook his head. "I'm afraid I do not my Dear. Would you please remind me?"

"The twelve year old girl's name is Rose Tyler," Mrs. Clause repled to the man she believed was her husband. "Her father died before her first birthday in a hit and run accident. She lives with her Mother in Great Britain."

The Master sighed. "All she wants is a red bicycle."

She nodded. "Dear, I know it's been some time since you made a Christmas present, but do you think you can be the one to build her present this year?"

The Master would've used the excuse that no he was too tired to even think about building a toy himself. But he thought better than to do that. From what he could tell, Mrs. Clause and Santa have never had their own children as far as he was aware of. The closest they had were the children all over the world, and everyone, elf, raindeer, the like that lived in the North Pole.

"I will see about making her that bicycle, dear," he replied to her.

Inside his head he was groaning, annoyed. He, the greatest evil in the universe making a child, an insect, a present for a holiday of giving.

He's had to endure twenty two full days of this holly jolly nonsense so far. All he had to do now was finish the final two days, deliver all the presents, and rule the planet and gain his immortality!

Outside the workshop, a few of the elves had finished their shift in the factory, and were now playng outside in the snow, having snowball fights and the like, building snowmen, going home to their friends and family. Santa's village at the North Pole was everything one would expect it to be from a childhood christmas story. The place just screamed magic and happyness and holiday cheer. A place of pure holiday spirit and goodness and the spirit of giving.

This whole place was the embodiment of almost everything the Master and any other force in the Universe would wish to ruin. It was like a second Traken with how good an how nice the villagers and raindeer were!

[Deleted]

"There's no need to shout, Doctor. I can hear you. My room is only a few meters away, you know," Nyssa told him calmly, just a hint of a smile in her eyes. "Who is old Nicholas?"

The Doctor turned to face Nyssa and smiled to her, "Ah, there you are. I was thinking we'd go visit him, my friend on Earth. He's something of an immortal magician. He spends the year building toys for all the good little boys and girls on Earth, and then delivers them to the children on one night in December every year. I thought we ought to go visit him the evening before his trip. He always takes that day off to rest."

He was smiling quite a bit now, "I don't normally celebrate Earth holidays, but Christmas, which you may or may not have heard of, traveled about the Universe just a bit, almost everyone celebrates it after the 33rd century. Such fun."

[Deleted]

Nyssa gave him a mild look that might indicated she thought almost all of his friends were on Earth. Or perhaps it simply reflected what she thought of his story.

It was hard to tell. Nyssa did not make it easy for her expression to be read. It was not because she was overly secretive. She was simply accustomed to feeling others' emotions to an extent, because everyone was always feeling kindly. And in conjunction to that, she was nearly always kind.

"He sounds like a very nice man," Nyssa responded, innocently not even thinking that the Doctor might be joking as a human would. "An awful lot of work for one person though, especially with so many people celebrating.... well, how exactly is this 'Christmas' celebrated, Doctor?"

[Deleted]

Soon Mrs. Claus left the office. The Master slumped over his desk and rubbed the temples on his forehead. The two old fools were perfect for each other.

He picked up the letter and walked into the chimney, the entrance into his TARDIS. The fire burning there was just a holographic projection, the heat was artificial as well.

He navigated the hallways outside the console room of his TARDIS, until he came to the room he was looking for. Pulling out a small datapad, he hit a button and opened up the cell door.

In there was a human, or even an elf himself if some of the stories were true, centuries old. Sadly this elderly man was not the jolly elf he was currently known for.

The Master set the letter on the workbench.

"Here Kris Kringle. Something to keep you occupied. A little girl wants a red bicycle," he said, scoffing at the old man as he removed his disguise.

"Why are you doing this?" the depressed old man sighed. He looked tired. There were more wrinkles in his face than when the Master last saw him.

"My dear old fellow, you know exactly why I am doing this," the Master replied as he walked over towards the old man. "I desire all of space and time under my control. And you..." he nodded slowly, chuckling. "You are going to help me achieve my destiny."

"All I'll do for you is give you a sack of coal," Santa replied to him. "...No, you don't deserve that. You should deserve much worse."

The Master laughed. "Keep telling yourself that, delusional old man. Soon you will see things differently."

Santa looked at him. "Your plans won't succeed. You will fail."

"And who will stop me?" the Master countered.

It was Santa's turn to chuckle. "Who indeed. Perhaps you should see a Doctor for that sick mind of yours."

The Master's grin lessened. It took a little extra effort of will power on his part to not scowl at the old man.

"...I can see why you two get along so well," he said to the old man, the humor in his voice slowly fading.

"You once did too, as I remember," Santa countered.

The Master stayed silent for a few minutes.

"Yes...But that was many lifetimes ago," the Master replied.

[Deleted]

It seems that the concept of Christmas was perking up an interest in Nyssa, as he'd hoped that it might. The Doctor nodded and smiled to her, "Ah, well, celebration is done in many different ways, as humans tend not to be as agreeable with traditions as say the people of Traken."

He continued, "Some go to houses of worship, some have large meals with their families and spend the eve of the holiday and the following day together, often giving gifts to one another. Actually, it's quite lovely, Nyssa, I think after we meet with Nicholas, we ought to have a Christmas of our own, with a lovely meal and gifts, a sit by the fireplace."

Suddenly The Doctor was very excited, "It could be quite wonderful."

[Deleted]

"Humans do not have the benefit of the Source keeping them all agreeable either, Doctor," Nyssa commented peacably.

Initially, Nyssa had not been sure what to think of all the different people and experiences the Doctor had shown her. He was a man of such pure good, and yet he introduced her to pure evil and to people who were imperfect. Still, if Tegan was any judge, humanity might be selfish at times but it was also very giving and good fun, if stubborn.

She supposed it would make sense that there would be multiple traditions in that light. Nyssa could not imagine a country full of Tegans all agreeing to do the same thing without a fight.

Actually, it's quite lovely, Nyssa, I think after we meet with Nicholas, we ought to have a Christmas of our own, with a lovely meal and gifts, a sit by the fireplace."

Suddenly The Doctor was very excited, "It could be quite wonderful."

The Doctor was so excited that Nyssa had to look away for a moment; his joy seemed so personal. More than that, Nyssa found herself feeling extraordinarily special that it was a plan that included her that brought him so much happiness.

"If that's what you want, then of course we can, Doctor."

[Deleted]

The business with the no longer jolly elf over, the Master left his TARDIS wearing his Santa disguise once again. Let the old fool make that bicycle for that little girl. It's not like he can escape his TARDIS, even if he did break out of his cell. He took pride in the recent security measures he installed in this TARDIS compared to his original TARDIS.

He sat back down into Santa's chair at his office desk, and stared once again into the snow globe. He was determined to find what ever the source was in the North Pole and Santa's workshop, even the entire elf village for the immortality.

It felt just a little bit too easy for him though. In a way, he somewhat wished the Doctor was here now. Just so he could gloat in his face about his soon to be won victory over Earth.

[Amelia Pond]

((I am sorry to report that we have lost our Five in the January Activity Check. I'm locking his threads to let folks know that he's no longer with us -- but, if he returns, or if we get a new Five, and you'd like to continue this thread, please PM me with a link and ask me to unlock it for you.))