Plans Change
End of Time
Previous ChapterIt is said that in the final days of planet Earth, everyone had bad dreams. To the west of the north of that world, the human race did gather, in the celebration of a pagan rite to banish the cold and the dark.
Each and every one of those people had dreamt of the terrible things to come.
But they forgot, because they must. They forgot their nightmares of fire and war and insanity. They forgot.
Except for two.
==PC==
The Master’s mad laugh woke me up.
It had been a few months since I left the Doctor in 1969. More specifically, five months. My baby was due in less than a week. Tests had shown it would be a boy, so I had the name all picked out for him. It had been a rollercoaster to make it to this point.
Right now, I was in the house in Glasgow, Montana. It was 2009, or at least looked like it. The children had been here, though Jenny was only for about a week or so around my birthday. I had shown up a month late for their’s so that meant we all got to have a birthday party. I thought it was nice, would have been nicer if the Doctor had been here.
I used this time to familiarize myself with my new town. It had no beach, and was cold enough to snow. The had one Walmart, and it was a twenty minute drive without traffic. The hospital was a twenty-five. Everything was at least a fifteen minute drive. Thirty if traffic was shit. People here barely knew about my family and I, and the same in return.
River had come by a few times. It was good seeing my wife, and the kids loved her. She was surprised to see my eight months pregnant stomach, which means I got to explain 22 to her. That had made her angry. She hated hearing about how I got hurt, with the Doctor unable to stop it.
(More)
Max had already made breakfast.
“It’s really good, Mum.” Ruby said, taking a bite of her omelette. Her Scottish accent reminding me of Twelve.
“I make the breakfast.” I said, disheartened.
Max pulled out a seat for me, showing me the plate of the french toast with a side of scrambled eggs. Damn it, he cooks like his father. “Mom, you’re ten months pregnant. You’re due in a few days. You need to keep off your feet.”
I sat in the seat, pouting. The baby had been kicking hard today. He wasn’t even related to the Doctor, and he hated kidneys. “You’re ten months old.” I grumbled, cutting apart the food.
The twins chuckled at my expense. I rolled my eyes, picking at my plate. “We’re twenty months old, right?” Ruby asked Max. He shook his head.
“Nineteen.” He corrected.
I held back a sigh, digging into my food. “Talking to the baby.” I grumbled, stuffing my face.
(More)
Ruby and Max exchanged a look. Max shrugged off his sister’s worries, apparently agreeing with me. He had his father’s trust apparently. Ruby had inherited my worry wart self, worried about not only me but her younger brother.
Yes. Brother. I had seen a proper doctor in these months.
(More)
“Did you guys have bad dreams last night?”
(More)
(More)
==PC==
The
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“Hello.” I said, sipping at my tea. “Wondered when I would be seeing you.”
The woman just stared her cold yet warm brown eyes at mine. “Events are moving, Terra.”
“Oh, they’re not the only thing.” I remarked, rubbing my hand over my stomach to sooth the baby. He kicked my stomach, hard. I hissed. “I know it’s coming.”
“Faster than we thought.”
I huffed, trying to calm the baby. “You can shut up when you’d like.”
“Mum?” Ruby asked from the kitchen.
“Bit busy yelling at the TV lady.” I remarked.
Ruby walked up behind me. She leaned over the brown leather couch, making it squeak. “I thought you were the TV lady?”
The woman “Only you can see. You are half of what stands at the heart of coincidence.”
“Go get Max.” I advised Ruby.
“Why, what have I done?” I asked, carefully. The baby was acting up again, making me huff in pain. “What makes me so relevant to this?”
The woman “You’re a Queen, ma’am.” The use of the old title made me shoulders square as if a switch was flipped. I gazed a the screen with firm amber eyes. “A Queen does what she must to protect her people.”
Terra “I do what I have to.”
The woman “You killed a man.”
Terra “Yes, I did. Don’t say that like it’s something to be proud of.” I said. “He may have been a bastard, but he didn’t deserve that.”
The woman “The time will come when you must take arms.”
“I can’t.” I said. “I won’t. It’s too dangerous now.” My hand clenched my baggy shirt, taking deep breaths to calm down.
Terra “Who are you?”
The woman “Tell the Doctor nothing of this. His life could still be saved, so long as you tell the Doctor nothing.”
The screen went to black, making me flinch back.
(More)
“You needed me, Mom?” Max asked.
“Yes!” I sat up in my seat, wincing at the sudden pain. My teacup was placed on the coffee table, so as not to be spilled. “Call Martha.”
Max looked at me curiously, then his eyes moved to how tightly I was gripping my stomach and the couch. “Baby?”
“Yep.” I wheezed. “Baby born on Christmas. Sound like a good present, right?”
“Martha is in England, Mom.” Max said, rushing to my side. “We’re in Montana.”
“Birth takes a long time.” I said.
(More)
==PC==
The
(More)
“Mom, we need to get to an actual hospital.”
“She’s the only person Doc will actually answer with that phone!”
(More)
All I saw was black.
==PC==
The Doctor
The
(More)
The Doctor: “Ah! Now, sorry. There you are. So, where were we? I was summoned, wasn’t I? An Ood in the snow, calling to me.”
Sigma blinked, blankly.
“Well, I didn’t exactly come straight here. Had a bit of fun, you know.” The Doctor said. “Travelled about, did this and that. Got into trouble. You know me. It was brilliant. I saw the Phosphorous Carousel of the Great Magellan Gestadt, saved a planet from the Red Carnivorous Maw, named a galaxy Alison.”
“Got married. That was a mistake.” The Doctor winced. Just thinking about it gave him a headache. Terra had been there, he remembered. She had hit him so hard he wondered why he hadn’t regenerated. “Good Queen Bess. And let me tell you, her nickname is no longer.” Oh that had been the thing Terra nearly killed him for. It seemed the Ood had the opposite reaction. “Ahem. Anyway, what do you want?”
Sigma: “You should not have delayed.”
The Doctor: “The last time I was here you said my song would be ending soon, and I’m in no hurry for that.”
Sigma: “You will come with me.”
The Doctor: “Hold on. Better lock the TARDIS.”
(The Doctor points a remote key at the TARDIS. The door locks and the light flashes at it beeps.)
The Doctor: “See? Like a car. I locked it like a car. Like. It’s funny. No? Little bit? Blimey, try to make an Ood laugh. Terra’d love it. I can hear her laughing at it now. So how old are you now, Ood Sigma? Ah.”
(He sees the Ood city.)
The Doctor: “Magnificent. Oh, come on, that is splendid. You’ve achieved all this in how long?”
Sigma: “One hundred years.”
The Doctor: “Then we’ve got a problem. Because all of this is way too fast. Not just the city, I mean your ability to call me. Reaching all the way back to the twenty first century. Something’s accelerating your species way beyond normal.”
Sigma: “And the Mind of the Ood is troubled.”
The Doctor: “Why, what’s happened?”
Sigma: “Every night, Doctor, every night we have bad dreams.”
(More)
==PC==
(More)
The Elder Ood “Returning, returning, returning, it is slowly returning through the dark and the fire and the blood. Always returning, returning to this world. It is returning, and he is returning, and they are returning, but too late. Too late. Far too late. He has come.”
Sigma: “Sit with the Elder of the Ood and share the dreaming.”
The Doctor: “So. Right. Hallo.”
Ood: “You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join.”
(The Doctor links hands with the Ood and sees the laughing face.)
The Master “Bwahahahahahaha!”
The Elder Ood “He comes to us every night. I think all the peoples of the universe dream of him now.”
The Doctor: “That man is dead.”
The Elder Ood “There is yet more. Join us. Events are taking shape. So many years ago, and yet changing the now. There is a man-”
The Master “Bwahahahahahaha!”
The Elder Ood “So scared.”
The Doctor: “Wilfred. Is he all right? What about Donna, is she safe?”
The Elder Ood “You should not have delayed, for the lines of convergence are being drawn across the Earth. Even now, the king is in his Counting house.”
(The Doctor is given images of a black man and his daughter being photographed.)
The Doctor: “I don’t know who they are.”
The Elder Ood “And there are others. The Queen.” The Elder Ood said, pouring the images into the shared vision.
The Doctor could only watch at the images. It was Terra, but she was nine months pregnant. Her hair wasn’t in a neat ponytail, it was messy and looked like it hadn’t been brushed in a week. She was dressed in a white hospital gown. She was panting, face coated in sweat.
“The child. The child is coming.” The Elder went on. “The child of death is coming.”
The Terra in the vision scrunched up her face in pain, letting out a loud scream.
“And the last. The most lonely of all, lost and forgotten.”
(A woman in a cage.)
The Doctor: “The Master’s wife.”
Sigma: “We see so much, but understand little. The woman in the cage, who is she?”
The Doctor: “She was. It wasn’t her fault, she was. The Master, he’s a Time Lord, like me. I can show you.”
(The Doctor shows the Ood images from Last of the Time Lords.)
The Doctor: “The Master took the name of Saxon. He married a human, a woman called Lucy. And he corrupted her. She stood at his side while he conquered the Earth. I reversed everything he’d done so it never even happened, but Lucy Saxon remembered. I held him in my arms. I burnt his body. The Master is dead.”
The Elder Ood “And yet, you did not see.”
The Doctor: “What’s that?”
The Master “Bwahahahahahaha!”
(A woman picking up the Master’s signet ring.)
The Doctor: “Part of him survived. I have to go!”
The Elder Ood “But something more is happening, Doctor. The Master is part of a greater design, because a shadow is falling over creation. Something vast is stirring in the dark. The Ood have gained this power to see through time, because time is bleeding. Shapes of things once lost are moving through the veil, and these events from years ago threaten to destroy this future, and the present, and the past.”
The Doctor: “What do you mean?”
The Elder Ood “This is what we have seen, Doctor. The darkness heralds only one thing.”
Ood: “The end of time itself.”
The Master “Bwahahahahahaha!”
(The Doctor runs outside and back to the TARDIS.)
The Elder Ood “Events that have happened are happening now.”
(More)
==PC==
Terra
My contractions were getting closer together.
(More)
The world started getting fuzzy, the pain piercing through me.
(More)
(More)
(More)
==PC==
The Doctor
The Master had run off, destabilizing in his resurrected form.
The Doctor almost gave chase, til Martha’s phone rang. It was he pulled it out to see it was Max calling him.
“Bit busy, Max.” The Doctor said, chasing after the Master in the Wastelands.
“We can’t find Mom!” His son shouted into the phone.
“Probably popped off. You know it’s random-Hold on what?” The Doctor stopped running. “Slow down. She was with you. What was she doing?”
The Ood vision had shown him Terra, screaming in pain. They said the child of death was coming. What could that mean?
“What number was she?”
“She never said.” Max said. “She would only tell you.”
The Doctor nearly sighed in exasperation. “Terra.”
“Mom was going into labor, so we got in the car-”
“Labor? She’s pregnant?” The Doctor found himself growing more and more concerned. This was bad, very bad. She could have been in Broadwell. “And you can’t find her? When was this?”
“Just this morning.” Okay. So not Broadfell. This took a weight off the Doctor’s shoulders. “Ruby and I were attacked getting Mom to the car. Ruby’s trying to call Uncle Jack to see if he can trace her manipulator. Have you seen anything?”
“Working on it right now, actually.” The Doctor said, resuming his chase of the Master.
“Another thing, might be nothing, but better safe than sorry.” Max said. “We’ve been having bad dreams, but Mom’s the only one who remembers them.”
(More)
The Doctor “Please, let me help. You’re burning up your own life force.”
(They run again, then Wilf appears in the Doctor’s way, with the rest of the Silver Cloak close behind.)
Wilf “Oh, my gosh, Doctor. You’re a sight for sore eyes.”
==PC==
(More)
Wilf “Oh, we had some good times, didn’t we though? I mean, all those ATMOS things, and planets in the sky, and me with that paint gun. I keep seeing things, Doctor. This face at night.”
The Doctor “Who are you?”
Wilf “I’m Wilfred Mott.”
The Doctor “No. People have waited hundreds of years to find me and then you manage it in a few hours. Terra could do that, but she cheats.”
Wilf “Well, I’m just lucky I suppose.”
The Doctor “No, we keep on meeting, Wilf. Over and over again like something’s still connecting us.”
Wilf “What’s so important about me?”
The Doctor “Exactly. Why you? I’m going to die.”
Wilf “Well, so am I, one day.”
The Doctor “Don’t you dare.”
Wilf “All right, I’ll try not to.”
The Doctor “But I was told. He will knock four times. That was the prophecy. Knock four times, and then.”
Wilf “Yeah, but I thought, when I saw you before, you said your people could change, like, your whole body.”
The Doctor “I can still die. If I’m killed before regeneration, then I’m dead. Even then, even if I change, it feels like dying. Everything I am dies. Some new man goes sauntering away, and I’m dead. What?”
(Wilf has spotted Donna outside in the street getting out of her car.)
Wilf “I’m sorry, but I had to. Look, can’t you make her better?”
The Doctor “Stop it.”
Wilf “No, but you’re so clever. Can’t you just go over and say hello? Look, just go to her now. Go on, just run across the street. Go up and say hello.”
The Doctor “She said never to come back, Wilf She never wanted to see me again, not after what happened.”
(They hear Donna speak to the traffic warden.)
DONNA “Don’t you touch this car.”
The Doctor “She’s not changed.”
Wilf “Nah. Oh, there he is.”
(A Mickey Smith lookalike meets Donna.)
Wilf “Shaun Temple. They’re engaged. Getting married in the spring.”
The Doctor “Another wedding.”
Wilf “Yeah.”
The Doctor “Hold on, she’s not going to be called Noble-Temple? That sounds like a tourist spot.”
Wilf “No, it’s Temple-Noble.”
The Doctor “Right. Is she happy? Is he nice?”
Wilf “Yeah, he’s sweet enough. He’s a bit of a dreamer. Mind you, he’s on minimum wage, she’s earning tuppence, so all they can afford is a tiny little flat. And then sometimes I see this look on her face, like she’s so sad, but she stops when she knows I’m in the room.”
The Doctor “She’s got him.”
Wilf “She’s making do.”
The Doctor “Aren’t we all?”
Wilf “Yeah, how about you? Who have you got now?”
The Doctor “No one. Travelling alone. I thought it was better. But I did some things. It went wrong. Terra came too late, and she was. I need.”
(The Doctor starts crying.)
Wilf “Oh, my word. I’m sorry.”
The Doctor “Merry Christmas.”
Wilf “Yeah, and you.”
The Doctor “Look at us.”
Wilf “But don’t you see? You know, you need her, Doctor. I mean, look. Wouldn’t she make you laugh again? Good old Donna?”
(Donna and Shaun drive away.)
Wilf “Eh?”
(More)
==PC==
Terra
NARRATOR “And so it came to pass that the players took their final places, making ready the events that were to come. The madman sat in his empire of dust and ashes, little knowing of the glory he would achieve. While his savior looked upon the wilderness, in the hope of changing his inevitable fate. Far away, the idiots and fools dreamt of a shining new future. A future now doomed to never happen. As Earth rolled onwards into night, the people of that world did sleep, and shiver, somehow knowing that dawn would bring only one thing.
“...the final day.” I sighed as I woke up.
(More)
(More)
I growled at them. “I am missing an important conversation because of you!” I yelled.
(More)
“Where’s my baby?” I growled at Naismith. “What did you do to my baby?!”
The man smiled a dark smile at me, confirming what I feared. “Someone brought to my attention that your son could be a hinder to my plans.”
My jaw dropped. My hand went to my now empty stomach, praying that maybe it was all just a nightmare. Story, tell me he didn’t, tell me this man was not that stupid. My baby couldn’t be dead...he can’t be dead.
Naismith’s evil smile told me that he was. “So we removed him from the occasion.”
I blinked, feeling my body start to heat up in rage. “Say that again.” I ordered, my voice a whisper.
“Saying it again will not change the facts-” Naismith began.
“No. I want you to say it again so my conscience will be clear.”
“Of what?”
“Of you.”
(More)
==PC==
The Doctor
(More)
Night. The Doctor walks towards the Master, who fires bolts of energy at him from his hands. He misses, and sets fires burning behind the Doctor. The third try hits the Doctor squarely in the chest, stopping him moving forward. Finally the energy stops and the Doctor falls to his knees. The Master catches him, then lets him fall to the ground.)
The Master “I had estates. Do you remember my father’s land back home? Pastures of red grass, stretching far across the slopes of Mount Perdition. We used to run across those fields all day, calling up at the sky. Look at us now.”
The Doctor “All that eloquence. But how many people have you killed?”
The Master “I am so hungry.”
The Doctor “Your resurrection went wrong. That energy. Your body’s ripped open. Now you’re killing yourself.”
The Master “That human Christmas out there. They eat so much. All that roasting meat, cakes and red wine. Hot, fat, blood, food. Pots, plates of meat, and flesh, and grease, and juice, and baking, burnt, sticky hot skin. Hot. It’s so hot.”
The Doctor “Stop it.”
The Master “Sliced. Sliced. Sliced.”
The Doctor “Stop it.”
The Master “It’s mine. It’s mine. It’s mine to eat and eat and eat.”
The Doctor “Stop it. What if I ask you for help? There’s more at work tonight than you and me.”
The Master “Oh yeah?”
The Doctor “I’ve been told something is returning.”
The Master “And here I am.”
The Doctor “No, something more.”
The Master “But it hurts.”
The Doctor “I was told the end of time.”
The Master “It hurts. Doctor, the noise. The noise in my head, Doctor. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Stronger than ever before. Can’t you hear it?”
The Doctor “I’m sorry.”
The Master “Listen, listen, listen, listen. Every minute, every second, every beat of my hearts, there it is, calling to me. Please listen.”
(We can hear the four beats of the start of the Doctor Who theme being played out by an iron bar on an oil drum somewhere.)
The Doctor “I can’t hear it.”
The Master “Listen.”
(The Master mind-melds with the Doctor. The Doctor hears the beats and pulls away.)
The Master “What?”
The Doctor “But-”
The Master “What!”
The Doctor “I heard it. But there’s no noise. There never has been. It’s just your insanity. What is it? What’s inside your head?”
The Master “It’s real. It’s real. It’s real!”
(The Master flies off and the Doctor runs after him.)
(More)
==PC==
Terra
(More)
Master “I’m starving.”
Naismith “You’ve my daughter to thank for this. It’s all her idea. She heard rumors of Harold Saxon, his disciples, his return. It’s the sort of thing she finds rather thrilling.”
Abigail: “And I was right. He’s back. The very man we need, and he’s here. Oh, this is going to be wonderful.”
(More)
“We brought the Star Queen.” Naismith explained.
Two of the guards dragged me into the room, keeping a firm grip on my arms. They
I put on a smile, burying my urge to kill Naismith. He would pay for what happened, I would make sure of it. Screw the fact that he doesn’t actually get killed, I will track him down and kill him.
(More)
“First time meeting you.” I answered, my voice full of fake cheer. I starting walking around him in circles. “Hmm. Honey, that blonde hair is really stupid.”
“What?” The Master gaped.
“I meet people in reverse.” I shrugged. “It’s stupid, I know. Couldn’t help it. Seriously though, why blonde?”
(More)
The Master looked down at me. “How far along were you?”
A tear burned in the side of my eye, I pushed it away. “Full term.”
“And it’s Dominic’s?” The Master said.
My eyes widened. I flinched back. “H-h-how do you know about that?”
The Master frowned. “You said you meet people out of order. I didn’t understand it until right now.”
(More)
“Koschei.” The Master whispered.
My eyes widened. That was his name from the Academy! Why was he telling me that? “What?”
“My nickname, from when I was a boy. You’ll use that word to prove we’re friends.” The Master explained. “I will try to hurt you, but you gotta make me believe you.”
I grinned. “Oh! I survive that long.”
The Master grinned. “I made sure of that.”
(More)
==PC==
(More)
“Stop it.” The Master said suddenly.
I glanced up at him. “Stop what?” I sighed tiredly.
The Master flared over at me. “It’s Christmas time, and you’re being quiet.”
“So?” I snapped. “Since when do you care?”
“It’s Christmas, and you’re being quiet.” The Master went on. “You sing Christmas Carols in the middle of July, and whenever else they float in your head. Christmas is the one time of year you feel comfortable screaming them out to the heavens. You’ve been here for two hours, and you haven’t even hummed a single note, much less to a Christmas Carol.”
The Master was almost glaring at me. “You and I became somewhat close in that Year, and I learned that when Terra Song is quiet I should get ready for fireworks.”
“Duh.” I scolded. “No one plans a murder out loud.”
(More)
“I finally came up with a name.” I said, exhausted. The Master gave me a brief glance. “For him.”
“Harold Idris Song.” I admitted. “Sounds right, for him. It would have been anyway.”
(More)
“Miss Addams?” “Miss Addams? If you’ll just excuse me.” (Rossiter leaves.)
Naismith: “Now, please don’t imagine I’m a slave-driver. We can resume work on Boxing Day, Mister Saxon.”
The Master “My name is the Master.”
(The Master has completed his work. He presses enter and the lights dim. A wormhole develops inside the Gate.)
Naismith: “Oh, excellent. Excellent! Mister Danes?”
DANES: “The visitor will be restrained.”
The Master “What? But I repaired it.”
Naismith: “I’m not an idiot. Don’t let him anywhere near that thing.”
(More)
Naismith: “Your reputation precedes you, sir. I have no doubt you’ve laid traps. Perhaps explosives. A means of escape, or murder. But everything you’ve done to the Gate will be checked and double-checked before anyone stands inside.”
(More)
Naismith: “But it’s time for the broadcast. The President’s grand initiative. You might want to see this, sir. Proof that the human race can mend it’s own problems.”
AMN News: “And now, anticipation is rising as we go live to Washington. Here, on Christmas Day, the President has promised an instant and radical solution to the worldwide depression. Barack Obama will lead us all into a new age of prosperity.”
SPOKESWOMAN: “Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.”
OBAMA: “I’d like to speak briefly about the state of our economy-”
(More)
The Doctor: “Turn the Gate off right now!”
DANES: “At arms!”
The Doctor: “No, no, no, no, no. Whatever you do, just don’t let him near that device.”
The Master “Oh, like that was ever going to happen.”
(The Master throws off the strait jacket and leaps over their heads on pillars of energy from his hands, into the Gate.)
The Master “Homeless, was I? Destitute and dying? Well, look at me now.”
The Doctor: “Deactivate it. All of you, turn the whole thing off!”
The Master “Bwahahahahahaha!”
Naismith: “He’s inside my head.”
The Doctor: “Get out of there!”
(The Master’s blast of energy knocks the Doctor down.)
Wilf: “Doctor! Doctor, there’s, there’s this face.”
The Doctor: “What is it? What can you see?”
Wilf: “Well, it’s him. I can see him.”
AMN News: “There’s something wrong. It seems to be affecting the President.”
(The President of the United States has his face in his hands. The Doctor goes to the computer and tries to shut down the Gate.)
The Doctor: “I can’t turn it off.”
The Master “That’s because I locked it, idiot.”
The Doctor: “Wilfred! Get inside. Get him out.”
(The Doctor enters one of a pair of glass sided cubicles, and Wilfred swaps places with a technician in the other.)
The Doctor: “Just need to filter the levels.”
Wilf: “Oh, I can see again! He’s gone.”
The Doctor: “Radiation shielding. Now press the button. Let me out.”
Wilf: “You what?”
The Doctor: “I can’t get out until you press the button. That button there.”
(Wilf does. Wilf’s cubicle is now Locked and the Doctor’s is Open.)
The Master “Fifty seconds and counting.”
The Doctor: “To what?”
The Master “Oh, you’re going to love this.”
The Doctor: “What is it, hypnotism? Mind control. You’re grafting your thoughts inside them, is that it?”
The Master “Oh, that’s way too easy. No, no, no. They’re not going to think like me, they’re going to become me. And, zero!”
(More)
==PC==
(More)
Wilf: “Doctor? She’s starting to remember.”
(Everyone’s face resolves into the Master’s.)
Wilf: “What is it? What have you done, you monster?”
The Master “Oh, I’m sorry, are you talking to me?”
Naismith-The Master “Or to me?”
AbiGAIL-The Master “Or to me?”
DANES-The Master “Or to me?”
SECURITY-The Master “Or to us?”
AMN NEWS-The Master “Breaking news. I’m everyone. And everyone in the world is me!”
OBAMA-The Master “I’m President. President of the United States. Look at me!”
(The audience of Master’s applauds him.)
OBAMA-The Master “Ooo, financial solution. Deleted. Ha ha!”
The Master “The human race was always your favorite, Doctor. But now, there is no human race. There is only the Master race. Bwahahahahahaha!”
(More)
==PC==
(More)
The Master “Now then, I’ve got a planet to run. Is everybody ready?”
Naismith-The Master “Six billion, seven hundred and twenty seven million, nine hundred and forty nine thousand three hundred and thirty eight versions of us awaiting orders.”
OBAMA-The Master “This is Washington. As President of the United States, I can transfer all the United Nations protocols to you immediately, putting you in charge of all the Earth’s defences.”
GENERAL-The Master “UNIT HQ, Geneva reporting. All under your command, sir.”
CHINESE-The Master “And this is the Central Military Commission here in Beijing, sir, with over two point five million soldiers, sir. Present arms!”
The Master “Enough soldiers and weapons to turn this planet into a warship. Nothing to say, Doctor? What’s that? Pardon? Sorry?”
The Master turned to me, seeming to almost start scolding me. “And you, Terra Song? Chatterbox of the Valiant? Nothing?”
I glared at him, almost tiredly. Right now, all I wanted to do was curl up by a fireplace with a nice cup of cocoa with some marshmallows. I wanted the Doctor to wrap his arms around mine, which were also holding the newborn baby, and be gently rocking him to sleep.
But that was never going to happen. My baby died. Naismith had killed him. He had killed my baby because it would stop his plans. The dumbass. I was going to be the one stopping his plan today, then hunting him down like sport. It would make what Dominic himself cringe.
Right now, the Master just made me annoyed. Like a little brother who kept knocking on my door.
“Have you even told him what number you were on?” The Master asked.
I glared, taking a quick breath to quell my murderous attitude at the Master. I wouldn’t look good in prison orange. I wouldn’t look good in prison orange.
Wilf: “You let them go, you swine.”
The Master “Oh, your dad’s still kicking up a fuss.”
Wilf: “Yeah? Well, I’d be proud if I was.”
The Master “Hush, now. Listen to your Master.”
(Ring, ring.)
The Master “But that’s a mobile.”
Wilf: “Yeah, it’s mine. Let me turn it off.”
The Master “No, no, no, no, no. I don’t think you understand. Everybody on this planet is me. And I’m not phoning you, so who the hell is that?”
Wilf: “It’s nobody. I tell you, it’s nothing. It’s probably one of them ringback calls.”
(The Master searches Wilf’s pockets and finds the revolver.) The Master “Ooo, and look at this. Good man!”
(He tosses it on the floor and gets the phone.)
The Master “Donna. Who’s Donna?”
Wilf: “She’s no one. Just leave it.”
Donna: “Gramps, don’t hang up. You’ve got to help me. I ran out, but everyone was changing.”
The Master “Who is she? Why didn’t she change?”
Donna: “Gramps, I can’t hear you.”
Wilf: “Well, it was this thing the Doctor did. He did it to her. The Metacrisis.”
The Master “Oh, he loves playing with Earth girls. Ugh!”
Donna: “Are you there?”
(More)
The Master “Find her. Trace the call.”
Naismith-The Master “Trace the call.”
(More)
Donna: “Are you still there? Can you hear me?”
The Master “Say goodbye to the freak, Granddad.”
Wilf: “Donna, get out of there! Just get out of there. I’m telling you, run!”
Naismith-The Master “She’s on Wessex Lane, Chiswick. Open the phone lines. Everyone on Wessex Lane. Red alert.”
Donna: “What do I do?”
Wilf: “Run, sweetheart, that’s all. Run for your life!”
(More)
Wilf: “Donna? What’s happening? Are you still there?”
Donna: “They’re everywhere.”
CHISWICK-The Master “Oh, I’m starving.”
Wilf: “Look, I’m telling you to run, Donna.”
CHISWICK-MASTER 2: “I’m still hungry.”
Wilf: “Just run, sweetheart. Just run.”
(All the local Masters advance on Donna.)
Donna: “Hold on. I know that face. It’s...it’s him. The Master. How do I know that?”
Wilf: “Donna, don’t think about that. Donna, my love. Don’t!”
Donna: “And it hurts. My head. It keeps getting hotter, and hotter, and hotter, and hotter, and hotter!”
Donna: “What did I-”
Wilf: “Donna? What was that? Donna? Donna, are you there? Donna! Donna! Donna!”
(More)
The Doctor: “That’s better. Hello. But really, did you think I’d leave my best friend without a defence mechanism?”
Wilf: “Doctor? What happened?”
The Doctor: “She’s all right. She’s fine, I promise. She’ll just sleep.”
The Master “Tell me, where’s your TARDIS?”
The Doctor: “You could be so wonderful.”
The Master “Where is it?”
The Doctor: “You’re a genius. You’re stone cold brilliant, you are. I swear, you really are. But you could be so much more. You could be beautiful. With a mind like that, we could travel the stars. It would be my honor. Because you don’t need to own the universe, just see it. To have the privilege of seeing the whole of time and space. That’s ownership enough.”
The Master “Would it stop, then? The noise in my head?”
The Doctor: “I can help.”
The Master “I don’t know what I’d be without that noise.”
The Doctor: “I wonder what I’d be, without you.”
The Master “Yeah.”
Wilf: “What does he mean? What noise?”
The Master “It began on Gallifrey, as children. Not that you’d call it childhood. More a life of duty. Eight years old. I was taken for initiation, to stare into the Untempered Schism.”
Wilf: “What does that mean?”
The Doctor: “It’s a gap in the fabric of reality. You can see into the Time Vortex itself. And it hurts.”
The Master “They took me there in the dark. I looked into time, old man, and I heard it calling to me. Drums. The never ending drums.”
(More)
The Master “Listen to it. Listen.”
The Doctor: “Then let’s find it. You and me.”
The Master “Except. Oh. Oh, wait a minute. Oh, yes. Oh, that’s good.”
The Doctor: “What? What is?”
The Master “The noise exists within my head, and now within six billion heads. Everyone on Earth can hear it. Imagine. Oh. Oh, yes.”
(The Master’s skeleton becomes briefly visible again.)
The Doctor: “The Gate wasn’t enough. You’re still dying.”
The Master “This body was born out of death. All it can do is die.” The Master growled.
“So was mine, you don’t see me throwing a hissy fit.” I snapped dryly.
“But what did you say to me, back in the wasteland? You said the end of time.”
The Doctor: “I said something is returning. I was shown a prophecy. That’s why I need your help.”
The Master “What if I’m part of it? Don’t you see? The drumbeat is calling from so far away. From the end of time itself. And now it’s been amplified six billion times. Triangulate all those signals. I could find its source. Oh, Doctor. That’s what your prophecy was. Me!”
(He slaps the Doctor.)
The Master “Where’s the TARDIS?”
The Doctor: “No. Just stop. Just think.”
The Master “Kill him.”
(A helmeted guard goes over to Wilf.)
The Master “I need that technology, Doctor. Tell me where it is, or the old man is dead.”
Wilf: “Don’t tell him.”
The Master “I’ll kill him right now!”
The Doctor: “Actually, the most impressive thing about you is that after all this time, you’re still bone dead stupid.”
The Master “Take aim.”
The Doctor: “You’ve got six billion pairs of eyes, but you still can’t see the obvious, can you?”
The Master “Like what?”
The Doctor: “That guard is one inch too tall.”
(The guard knocks out the Master with his rifle butt, then removes his helmet to reveal a green spiky head.)
Rossiter: “Oh my God, I hit him. I’ve never hit anyone in my life.”
(Green Addams runs in.) Addams: “Well, come on. We need to get out of here fast.” (She frees Wilf while Rossiter releases the Doctor.)
Wilf: “God bless the cactuses!”
The Doctor: “That’s cacti.”
Rossiter: “That’s racist!”
(More)
Addams: “Come on! We’ve got to get out.”
Rossiter: “There’s too many buckles and straps.”
Addams: “Just wheel him.”
The Doctor: “No, no, no. Get me out. No, no, no, don’t. Don’t! No, no, no.”
(More)
==PC==
(More)
Rossiter: “Which way?”
Addams: “This way.”
The Doctor: “No, no, no, no, no. The other way. I’ve got my TARDIS.”
Addams: “I know what I’m doing.”
The Doctor: “No, no, no, just just listen to me!”
(More)
The Doctor: “Not the stairs. Not the stairs!”
The Doctor: “Worst rescue ever!”
(More)
The Doctor: “Just, just stop and listen to me!”
(The Master runs in with armed guards.)
The Master “Gotcha.”
Addams: “You think so?”
(She presses her wristwatch.)
The Doctor: “No, no, no, no, don’t!”
(More)
==PC==
(More)
The Doctor: “Now get me out of this thing!”
Addams: “Don’t say thanks, will you.”
The Doctor: “He’s not going to let us go. Just hurry up and get me out!”
(Wilf looks out of a nearby window.)
Wilf: “Oh, my goodness me. We’re in space!”
The Doctor: “Come on.”
Addams: “All right!”
The Doctor: “Oh, get a move on.”
The Doctor: “Come on!”
Addams: “All right.”
The Doctor: “Where’s your flight deck?”
Addams: “But we’re safe. We’re a hundred thousand miles above the Earth.”
The Doctor: “And he’s got every single missile on the planet ready to fire.”
Addams: “Good point.”
(Addams, Rossiter and the Doctor runs out. The Doctor returns to gently lead Wilf away from the window.)
Wilf: “But we’re in space!”
The Doctor: “Yep.”
(More)
The Doctor: “We’ve got to close it down!”
Rossiter: “No chance, mate. We’re going home.”
Addams: “We’re just a salvage team. Local politics has got nothing to do with us. Not unless there’s a carnival. Sooner we get back to Vinvocci space the better.”
The Doctor: “We’re not leaving.”
The Doctor: “Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush, shush.”
(More)
==PC==
(More)
Addams: “No sign of any missiles. No sign of anything. You’ve wrecked the place!”
Rossiter: “The engines are burnt out. All we’ve got is auxiliary lights. Everything else is kaput. We can’t move. We’re stuck in orbit.”
Addams: “Thanks to you, you idiot!” (Addams leaves.)
Wilf: “I know you, though. I bet you’ve got a plan, haven’t you? Eh? Come on. You’ve always got a trick up your sleeve. Nice little bit of the old Doctor flim-flam, (Tommy Cooper impression) sort of thing? Eh? Oh, blimey.”
(More)
==PC==
(More)
“What number are you on?” The Doctor asked.
I paused, not looking up from my phone. The headphones were still playing the music, so I could faintly hear the Imagine Dragons song playing.
“Does it matter?” I asked, reaching to put the headphone back in.
The Doctor took my hand in his, the fingers threading in mine were they belonged. I sucked in a cry of pain. My mind going back to the fantasy life I had imagined with him and Harry.
“It matters to you.” The Doctor stated. “That’s enough for me.”
I snorted. What had to go wrong for him to believe that? What made the Doctor so eager to hear my number? “It’s nothing, okay? The Master is just trying to get in your head. You need to get this ship working again.”
“Don’t do that.” The Doctor said, disappointment in his voice.
That made my head snap up. Why was he sounding so disappointed? Why was he looking at me with those big brown eyes like I had just kicked a puppy?
“Do what?” I almost panicked. I didn’t want to tell him my number, okay! That meant telling him about Harry and telling him about Harry would make him angry, because he might think the Master did it. Or worse, he would stop me from getting vengeance.
The Doctor gave me an assuring look. He squeezed my hand in an attempt of comfort. “Putting everyone else’s needs before your’s. You matter to me, so please tell me what’s wrong.”
I didn’t want his pity. It was the last thing I wanted. I wrenched my hand from his, holding it closer to my chest. It went for the headphone, pushing it back into my ear.
“26.” I almost whispered, staring down at my phone to get lost in the music.
The music player loudly in my ears, tuning the Doctor out and keeping me from wanting to look up at him. Even though I wanted nothing more than for him to hold me in his arms, kiss my forehead, and never let me go.
(More)
“Don’t even say it. I’m already doing it to myself.” I snapped, not looking up from my iPhone.
“Say what?” The Doctor said.
“What else?” I asked in a tear filled voice. “That I’m a bad mother.”
(More)
“You’re the best mother, Terra.” The Doctor said. “I saw you with Max and Ruby. Even with Jenny, and she wasn’t your own.”
I scoffed at his ignorance. “My eldest had a gun to her head at seven, then trapped in a basement for a week. At ten, she was a prisoner of war and our captor put a bunch of ideas in her head that I hated her. My second has been attacked by a demon, and thinks no one wants her because she’s an orphan.” I was starting to rant, scolding myself for past mistakes.
The Doctor stared at me, looking horrified at the words coming out of my mouth. He needed to know. I was a shitty mom.
“My third was almost used as a pagan sacrifice for a demon god to unleash hell on earth.” I felt tears burn my eyes, remembering the horrified cries of my infant daughter. To this day, I wonder why she’s not completely fucked in the head. “And the Twins! They were made into soldiers for a war that wasn’t even there’s! And Jenny.” My voice choked at the mention of the blonde soldier. “She was that close to dying that day.”
I wiped away the tears, forcing myself to admit the rest. It wouldn’t do me any good to hide my wrongs. “And Harry.”
“You named him Harry?” The Doctor said, sitting down on the stairs next to me.
I nodded, still wiping away tears. “Th-The-They s-sai-said he w-would st-stop they’re p-p-plans.” I choked on a sob. I pulled my knees to my chest, hiding my face in my knees. “Ah never even got ta look at him.”
The Doctor reached his arm out, holding it over my shoulders. I cried for a minute, just letting tears fall into his pinstripe jacket.
“I had an old companion named Harry.” The Doctor said, almost out of nowhere. A smile broke out in my face. Of course he would bring that up. “A good bloke. I called him an imbecile.”
(More)
Wilf: “Aye, aye. Got this old tub mended?”
The Doctor: “Just trying to fix the heating.”
Wilf: “Oh. I’ve always dreamt of a view like that. Hee, hee. I’m an astronaut. It’s dawn over England, look. Brand new day. My wife’s buried down there. I might never visit her again now. Do you think he changed them, in their graves?”
The Doctor: “I’m sorry.”
Wilf: “No, not your fault.”
The Doctor: “Isn’t it?
Wilf: “Oh, 1948, I was over there. End of the Mandate in Palestine. Private Mott. Skinny little idiot, I was. Stood on this rooftop, in the middle of a skirmish. It was like a blizzard, all them bullets in the air. The world gone mad. Yeah, you don’t want to listen to an old man’s tales, do you?”
The Doctor: “I’m older than you.”
Wilf: “Get away.”
The Doctor: “I’m nine hundred and six.”
Wilf: “What, really, though?”
The Doctor: “Yeah.”
Wilf turned to me. “And what about you? You older too?”
I snorted. “253.” I admitted. Wilf scoffed. The Doctor himself seemed a little surprised. “I am! 253 years old, 7 months, three weeks, and a day.”
“You actually count?” The Doctor asked.
“You actually don’t?” I countered.
“Blimey. Are you an alien like the Doctor?” Wilf asked.
I chuckled. Wilf could always make people smile, everybody could agree on that. “No. I’m human, just a different kind of human.”
“Oh, there’s just no end to the two of ya.” Wilf laughed, good heartedly. Story, Wilf is amazing. “What kind of a human are you?”
“The kind that gets made in another dimension.” Wow. I know I should be freaking out over so much about what I am coming out, but I just couldn’t hide it anymore. It was painful to even try hiding things at this point, hiding half of Harry’s heritage...
“Oh, get away.” Wilf said, disbelieving. “Aliens are easy enough to believe, but other dimensions too?”
“Another reality, technically.” I said. “We don’t have aliens on my earth, so we compensate with people like me.”
“Don’t be offended, Terra, but I don’t think there’s anyone out there like you.” Wilf complimented.
“That actual means a lot, thank you.” I looked over at the Doctor, realizing he had been quiet for far longer than I’d like. He was staring at me in shock, with dropped jaw and eyes wide. Then I questioned, did Ten know what I was yet? Had I not told him what I was? That’s...that’s awkward. “We call ourselves Travelers, cause we travel through realities. I’ve been doing this since I was ten years old, though I met the Doctor when I was two hundred and fifty one.”
Wilf paused. “Anything else?”
I laughed at his tone. “In my world, I was the Queen of ‘um.” The Doctor already knew this fact, I remember 22. “My whole race, spanning over all of the planet Earth in my reality. Almost thirty million people, and I was Queen of all of them.”
“A queen?” Wilf guffawed. He quickly stood, and I felt extremely embarrassed. “Well hello Your Majesty.”
“No! No please.” I face palmed, adding in a sigh. “I’m not a Queen anymore, I’m just Terra. Please stop.”
Wilf sat back down, looking gobsmacked. “A blooming Queen. I’m actually talking to a Queen.”
I was starting to get flustered. “No. No, please, it’s just Terra Song. Not a Queen here. Please. I don’t like my friends calling me a Queen anyway.”
“Nine hundred, and a Queen of Planet Earth. We must look like insects to you both.”
The Doctor: “I think you look like giants.”
My hand reached over, gently squeezing Wilf’s. “I .”
Wilf: “Listen, I, I want you to have this. I’ve kept it all this time, and I thought.” (Wilf offers his revolver to the Doctor.)
The Doctor: “No.”
Wilf: “No, but if you take it, you could-”
The Doctor: “No. You had that gun in the mansion. You could have shot the Master there and then.”
Wilf: “Too scared, I suppose.”
The Doctor: “I’d be proud.”
Wilf: “Of what?”
The Doctor: “If you were my dad.”
Wilf: “Oh, come on, don’t start. But you said, you were told he will knock four times and then you die. Well, that’s him, isn’t it? The Master. That noise in his head? The Master is going to kill you.”
The Doctor: “Yeah.”
Wilf: “Then kill him first.”
The Doctor: “And that’s how the Master started. It’s not like I’m an innocent. I’ve taken lives. I got worse. I got clever. Manipulated people into taking their own. Sometimes I think a Time Lord lives too long. I can’t. I just can’t.”
Wilf: “If the Master dies, what happens to all the people?”
The Doctor: “I don’t know.”
Wilf: “Doctor, what happens?”
The Doctor: “The template snaps.”
Wilf: “What, they go back to being human? They’re alive, and human. Then don’t you dare, sir. Don’t you dare put him before them. Now you take this. That’s an order, Doctor. Take the gun. You take the gun and save your life. And please don’t die. You’re the most wonderful man and I don’t want you to die.”
The Doctor: “Never.”
(More)
==PC==
(More)
The Master “A star fell from the sky. Don’t you want to know where from? Because now it makes sense, Doctor.”
Addams: “It’s an open broadcast. Don’t reply, or he’ll know where we are.”
The Master “The whole of my life. My destiny. The star was a diamond, and the diamond is a Whitepoint Star. And I have worked all night to sanctify that gift. Now the star is mine. I can increase the signal and use it as a lifeline. Do you get it now? Do you see? Keep watching, Doctor. This should be spectacular.”
“Over and out.”
Wilf: “What’s he on about? What’s he doing? Doctor, what does that mean?”
The Doctor: “A Whitepoint star is only found on one planet. Gallifrey. Which means it’s the Time Lords. The Time Lords are returning.”
Wilf: “Well, I mean, that’s good, isn’t it? I mean, that’s your people.”
(More)
Addams: “What’s that?”
Rossiter: “Coming from Earth. It’s on every single wavelength.”
(More)
Wilf: “But you said your people were dead. Past tense.”
The Doctor: “Inside the Time War. And the whole War was Timelocked. Like, sealed inside a bubble. It’s not a bubble but just think of a bubble. Nothing can get in or get out of the Timelock. Don’t you see? Nothing can get in or get out, except something that was already there.”
Wilf: “The signal. Since he was a kid.”
The Doctor: “If they can follow the signal, they can escape before they die.”
Wilf: “Well, then, big reunion. We’ll have a party.”
The Doctor: “There will be no party.”
Wilf: “But I’ve heard you talk about your people like they’re wonderful.”
The Doctor: “That’s how I choose to remember them, the Time Lords of old. But then they went to war. An endless war, and it changed them right to the core. You’ve seen my enemies, Wilf. The Time Lords are more dangerous than any of them.”
Addams: “Time Lords, what lords? Anyone want to explain?”
The Doctor: “Right, yes, you. This is a salvage ship, yes? You go trawling the asteroid fields for junk?”
Addams: “Yeah, what about it?”
The Doctor: “So, you’ve got asteroid lasers!”
Rossiter: “Yeah, but they’re all frazzled.”
(The Doctor throws a lever and two gun alcoves open on either side of the flight controls.)
The Doctor: “Consider them unfrazzled. You there, what’s your name?” (Addams) I’m going to need you on navigation.” (to Rossiter) And you, get in the laser-pod. Wilfred.”
Wilf: “Yeah?”
The Doctor: “Laser number two. The old soldier’s got one more battle.”
Addams: “This ship can’t move. It’s dead!”
The Doctor: “Fix the heating?”
(The Doctor throws two levers forward, and the ship powers up.
Addams: “But now they can see us.”
The Doctor: “Oh, yes!”
(More)
Addams: “This is my ship, and you’re not moving it. Step away from the wheel.”
The Doctor: “There’s an old Earth saying, Captain. A phrase of great power and wisdom, and consolation to the soul in times of need.”
Addams: “What’s that, then?”
The Doctor: “Allons-y!”
==PC==
(More)
The Doctor: “Come on! Come on!”
Addams: “You are blinking, flipping mad.”
The Doctor: “You two. What did I say? Lasers.”
Rossiter: “What for?”
The Doctor: “Because of the missiles. We’ve got to fight off an entire planet.”
(More)
(More)
==PC==
(More)
Addams: “We’ve got incoming.”
Rossiter: “Look at this one! Oh, my God!”
The Doctor: “You two, open fire!”
(The Doctor skims the ocean, dodging the missiles.)
Rossiter: “Oh, my word!”
Wilf: “Whoa. Whoa!”
Rossiter: “No, no, no, no, no!”
The Doctor: “Open fire! Come on, Wilf!”
(Wilf shoots down a missile.)
Wilf: “Whoo! Oh, I wish Donna could see me now.”
(More)
Addams: “And there’s more. Sixteen of them. Oh, and another sixteen.”
The Doctor: “Then get on the rear gun lasers! You two, open fire! Now!”
Rossiter: “Yes!”
The Doctor: “No, you don’t!”
(They keep destroying missiles.)
Wilf: “Come on!”
The Doctor: “Come on! Fire!”
(The front window gets blown in.)
Wilf: “Whoa! Wow!”
Rossiter: “Yes!”
The Doctor: “Lock the navigation.”
Addams: “Onto what?”
The Doctor: “England. The Naismith mansion”
(More)
The Doctor: “Destination?”
Addams: “Fifty kliks and closing. We’ve locked on to the house. We are going to stop, though. Doctor? We are going to stop?”
Wilf: “Doctor? Doctor, you said you were going to die.”
Addams: “He said what?”
Wilf: “But is that all of us? I won’t stop you, sir. But is this it?”
(More)
We jumped.
(More)
Rassilon: “My Lord Doctor. My Lord Master. We are gathered for the end.”
==PC==
(More)
The Master “But, I did this. I get the credit. I’m on your side.”
(Wilf pushes his way in.) Wilf: “Come on, get out of the way. Get out of the way! Doctor?”
The Doctor: “Wilf, don’t. Don’t!”
(Wilf unlocks the other booth.) Wilf: “I’ve got you. Come on. Go on.”
(The freed technician runs.)
The Master “But this is fantastic, isn’t it? The Time Lords restored.”
The Doctor: “You weren’t there in the final days of the War. You never saw what was born. But if the Timelock’s broken, then everything’s coming through. Not just the Daleks, but the Skaro Degradations, the Horde of Travesties, the Nightmare Child, the Could-have-been King with his army of Meanwhiles and Never-weres. The War turned into hell. And that’s what you’ve opened, right above the Earth. Hell is descending.”
The Master “My kind of world.”
The Doctor: “Just listen! Because even the Time Lords can’t survive that.”
Rassilon: “We will initiate the Final Sanction. The end of time will come at my hand. The rupture will continue until it rips the Time Vortex apart.”
The Master “That’s suicide.”
RASSILON: “We will ascend to become creatures of consciousness alone. Free of these bodies, free of time, and cause and effect, while creation itself ceases to be.”
The Doctor: “You see now? That’s what they were planning in the final days of the War. I had to stop them.”
I glared at the Time Lord. “Get off my planet.” I demanded.
The Lord Rassilon scoffed.
“Get off my planet.” I repeated.
“Ah. The Empty Queen.” Rassilon commented. My hand flinched, wanting to rest over my stomach. “We were warned you would try and stop this. You’re too late. We’ve already won.”
“Get. Off. My. Planet.” I growled.
He glared at me, I glared back. “It’s no longer your planet.”
My lips formed a tight line, eyes nearly popping out of my head in anger. “I breathe it’s air, I walk it’s ground, and I stare at it’s moon. That makes it mine. So get off my planet!”
“It is a wasteland!” Rassilon barked. The other Time Lords seemed unfazed by his rantings. The Doctor, however, was still too weak to rise to his feet. “And we have come back to purify the universe of your filth!” Rassilon blasted me with the gauntlet.
“No!” The Doctor screamed as I fell to the floor.
I gasped, trying to block out the pain.
(More)
“Terra!” Wilf shouted, trying the break out of the glass.
(More)
I giggled, delirious. My face cupped his cheek. “My name is Morgan Spencer.” I whispered.
His eyes widened. “What?”
“But I like it when they call me ‘Morgue’.” I smiled. “Say my name.”
He shook his head, holding my head in his hands. “Don’t die. Please.”
I shook my head, closing my eyes. “Please say it. I want to hear it at least once from someone I love before I go.” I said that last part while looking into his brown eyes.
The Doctor looked like he was going to start crying. “Morgan Spencer, don’t you dare die.”
I gasped, feeling this warm feeling spread in my body. It felt like there had been a locked door, but someone found a way to unlock it. It was cool water on my soul. My amber eyes kept contact with his brown, and all of sudden the rest of the world fell away. It was just the Doctor and Terra.
It felt wonderful.
The Doctor seemed to be having a similar effect. His eyes went out of focus for a brief second, locking back with mine in that instance.
I smiled at him, feeling lighter than air. I have no idea what just happened, but I knew it was game changing. “I’ll do my very best.”
As if to call me a liar, a pain filled groan pushed it’s way out of my mouth.
He just held me a bit tighter. “Why did you tell me your name?” He asked.
I kept smiling, staring into those beautiful brown eyes. “Because you made me feel worth it.”
My eyes closed, and I felt my heart stop.
==PC==
My eyes opened, seeing nothing but the darkness of my office. I leapt up from the couch, stumbling in my steps.
“No.” I said, looking up to see the episode had ended long ago. “No!”
I went to my laptop, setting it up to play End of Time Part Two. That would not be how I ended! Not after I just got the Doctor!
“Hey Morgue!” My sister said, slipping into my office. “I was starting to think you wouldn’t come back-”
I let out a pain filled gasp, feeling the Pull come back over me.
“Morgue!” Darcy shouted, running up to my side.
I was gone before she could hold my hand.
==PC==
I gasped, rising up from the ground. Why did my chest hurt?
“Terra!” The Doctor yelled, shocked.
I started coughing as he wrapped his arm around me. There was this weird feeling inside of me.
“My lungs!” I yelled. “I hate the color!”
“Of your lungs?!” The Doctor asked.
“They’re raspberry pink!” I groaned. “That’s the universe just laughing at me.”
“You come back from the dead, and the first thing you do is complain about your lungs.” The Doctor said, starting to laugh.
(More)
(More)
“Impossible.” The Doctor breathed.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re.” The Doctor could only stare. “You’re a Time Lady.”
My jaw dropped. “I died, and became a Time Lady!? What kind of messed up logic is that?!”
(More)
The Doctor: “I’m alive. I’ve. There was. I’m still alive.”
(Knock, knock, knock, knock. Knock, knock, knock, knock. Knock, knock, knock, knock. Knock, knock, knock, knock.)
Wilf: “They gone, then? Yeah, good-o. If you could let me out?”
The Doctor: “Yeah.”
Wilf: “Only, this thing seems to be making a bit of a noise.”
The Doctor: “The Master left the Nuclear Bolt running. It’s gone into overload.”
Wilf: “And that’s bad, is it?”
The Doctor: “No, because all the excess radiation gets vented inside there. Vinvocci glass contains it. All five hundred thousand rads, about to flood that thing.”
Wilf: “Oh. Well, you’d better let me out, then.”
The Doctor: “Except it’s gone critical. Touch one control and it floods. Even this would set it off.”
(The sonic screwdriver.)
Wilf: “I’m sorry.”
The Doctor: “Sure.”
Wilf: “Look, just leave me.”
The Doctor: “Okay, right then, I will. Because you had to go in there, didn’t you? You had to go and get stuck, oh yes. Because that’s who you are, Wilfred. You were always this. Waiting for me all this time.”
Wilf: “No really, just leave me. I’m an old man, Doctor. I’ve had my time.”
The Doctor: “Well, exactly. Look at you. Not remotely important. But me? I could do so much more. So much more! But this is what I get. My reward. And it’s not fair! Oh. Oh. I’ve lived too long.”
Wilf: “No. No, no, please, please don’t. No, don’t! Please don’t! Please!”
The Doctor: “Wilfred, it’s my honor. Better be quick. Three, two, one.”
(The Doctor quickly goes into the open booth and unlocks Wilf’s side. Wilf runs out and red light floods the Doctor’s booth. It hurts a lot. The Doctor curls up into a ball. Then the power shuts down. After a few moments, the Doctor gets up.)
Wilf: “What? Hello.”
The Doctor: “Hi.”
Wilf: “Still with us?”
The Doctor: “The system’s dead. I absorbed it all. Whole thing’s kaput. Oh. Now it opens, yeah.”
(The Doctor comes out of the booth.)
Wilf: “Well, there we are, then. Safe and sound. Mind you, you’re in hell of a state. You’ve got some battle scars there.”
(The Doctor rubs his face and the cuts vanish.)
Wilf: “But they’ve. Your face. How did you do that?”
The Doctor: “It’s started.”
(Wilf hugs the Doctor.)
I popped off, only able to kiss his cheek.
==PC==
He had one last stop to make, one last person to visit.
(More)
It was her house, but it was older. A decade, at least. That didn’t matter to him, just the person he hoped was inside.
A man walked out. He was dressed in a simple white t-shirt, with baggy jeans and a pair of black and blue sneakers. He had scraggly black hair, shaded as a raven’s wing. His eyes were like the time vortex in color, the Doctor wondered if it was the same in power.
The man glared at him. He was faintly reminiscent of his mother in that glare. The Doctor had been on the opposing side of it. “What are you-”
“Max, dearie.” A kind voice spoke.
She walked out of the house, although she looked completely different. Her hair was golden blonde, held back atop her head in a bun. Her eyes were a kind, compassionate motherly green. Her heart shaped lips were painted cherry red.
She was wearing a pair of pajamas, with a cloudy sky for a shirt and gray sweatpants. He could see a wedding ring on her slightly tan finger, as well as a star shaped burn on her left wrist. She had on gray slippers, though they looked old and worn.
Around her neck was a silver infinity necklace, proving to him who the woman was. “Go back inside.” Terra told her son.
Max shook his head at her. “I’m not letting him in.”
“Nor am I. I’m not an idiot.” Terra scoffed. “Spoilers aplenty in that house. He’s Ten. Who do you think taught you how to keep secrets?” She stared her green eyes into the man’s.
Max looked down. He had the Doctor’s attitude, that was for sure. “I’ll just go inside, then.”
“Thatta boy.” Terra smiled. “Don’t forget, your favorite show comes back on tonight. I’m looking forward to hearing about it.”
Max grinned. “Oh yeah. I’ve been waiting months to see how they absolve that cliffhanger.”
“Betcha they won’t.” Terra smirked.
“Don’t even joke like that.” Their son snorted, walking towards the house. “I’ll make popcorn.”
“That’s my boy.” Terra cheered, clapping her hands together.
The Doctor waited until the back door closed to speak. “Terra.” He sighed, lightly grimacing in pain.
She smiled, looking at him with sad eyes. “Doctor.” She said, in a way that could only be a sad hello.
The Doctor couldn’t help the giddy laugh that came out. “I’m dying.”
“Rule Four.” Terra said, still smiling sadly.
“She knows everything.” The Doctor answered. The two laughed. “It’s soon.”
“You will be dead in five minutes.” Terra informed, in a robotic Scottish voice. She snickered. “Sorry. Old reference. Well, old to me. Still funny. I still laugh at everything, which of course ticks you off to no end.”
The Doctor nodded, feeling his hearts warm at knowing he was still by her side. “I doubt that. You always looked your best when you were laughing.”
Terra blushed, her lightly tanned skin turning pink. “Of course I did. You were always smiling with me.”
The Doctor laughed, ending it with a pained gasp.
It took a second for Terra to be at his side, helping him down onto his knees. The ground was covered in snow, so the Doctor’s trousers were getting soaked. “Stay with me.” The Doctor pleaded with Terra, green meeting brown. She frowned, saddened. “Please. I need to be with someone. I don’t want to be alone, without you.”
“But you have all of those other days to come.” Terra cupped his cheek. The Doctor shut his eyes, focusing on the feeling of her skin on his. “Centuries, and centuries of days to come. It is quite the adventure.”
“And you’re there?”
“Not always.” Terra said, disappointment in her voice. “I came when I was needed, not a day sooner.”
This made him frown. “I always need you.”
“True, true.” Terra nodded, then smiled. “And I always need you.”
He almost laughed, but a choked sound came instead. The Doctor gripped at his chest. It was starting to burn...he was starting to burn.
“Go on.” Terra said, placing a hand on his arm. The Doctor felt himself calm down, as if Terra was his balm. “Go on and be the man I know you are.”
“And you’ll help?” The Doctor begged, his voice cracking.
“Every step I can.” Terra promised, tears in her own eyes. She pulled him closer, resting her head on his shoulder. Her eyes caught sight of a strange sight.
An Ood stood in her backyard. The Doctor looked up, confused by the appearance of the Ood.
“We will sing to you, Doctor.” The Ood said. Terra gripped his arm tighter. “The universe will sing you to your sleep. This song is ending, but the story never ends.”
The Doctor grimaced. Terra helped him to his feet, opening the door to the TARDIS.
“When life leaves you high and dry, I’ll be at your door tonight. If you you need help, if you need help.” Her voice floated around his head, soaking in through his pores.
He liked that song...
“When you fall like a statue, I will be there to catch you and put you on your feet, you on your feet.” Terra sang. She guided him down the walkway, the Doctor gripping the handrails. “I surrender honestly. You’ve always done the same for me.”
The Doctor gained his footing near the console, feeling the regeneration about to begin. Terra made sure he was sturdy before letting him go.
She walked maybe two steps before “I don’t want you to go.” The Doctor pleaded.
Terra stopped in her steps. She turned back to him, gaping. She steeled herself-
Running up to the Doctor to give him one last kiss. He was too weak to hold her to him, to keep her by his side before she could walk away.
She did, though. She got to the door before restarting her song. “And I’ll love you long after you’re gone, gone, gone.”
The door closed, and the Doctor felt the last of his restraint fall.
“I don’t want to go.” The Doctor said. ‘Not without her.’
And just like Terra had just done, he left.