Title: In the Aftermath, She was There
Disclaimer: If Doctor Who was mine, I would not be writing fanfiction.
Summary: After the war, the Doctor is broken. She comes to save him as she did before.
A/N: The Day of the Doctor never happened except for Bad Wolf as the Moment. Sorry, but it was crap in my opinion. This story will also be on my Tumblr (same username). This is totally un-beta'd, so all mistakes are mine, but if anyone would like to try out, PM me!
Chapter One: The Children
The Moment had come.
"There isn't really a choice, is there?" His hearts seized in his chest.
Bad Wolf only shook her head with a small, dead smile. She was beautiful, he thought. Soft gold hair in ringlets framed a heart-shaped face and her wide, full lips looked oddly tempting. Who was this Rose Tyler and why had one of the most powerful forces in the cosmos chosen some primitive Earthling to emulate? Too many questions but right now he only had one.
"There's something else," the Lord General's voice was hardly a broken whisper. Soft brown eyes considered him carefully. "How many-" he whetted his lips. "How many children are on Gallifrey, right now? How many will I kill?!"His voice grew, becoming shrill.
His anger only gave his mind fuel for even more hate and despair. Except this time, it was directed at the cruel thing in front of him. This weapon took the form of one of his more beloved species and twisted his image. It wasn't Rose Tyler, or Bad Wolf, or whatever it wanted to call itself. If this incarnation had been more anger-prone, he would have raged and screamed and cursed it's existence. But no, he would not. And the Moment knew that.
The thing with Rose Tyler's face tilted it's head thoughtfully. Once again, The Doctor wondered if it was teasing him or even trying to prolong this crucial moment. "You don't want to know," it concluded cryptically.
"Probably not, but I need to… I need to remember, if I'm going to do this." The Moment looked at him with something akin to pity. Actually, it was more like empathy.
"I know. I just wanted to give you a chance to turn a blind eye. But you're still the Doctor, and you just can't do that, can you?" its chest rose and fell in a sigh before continuing. "Two hundred forty-seven billion, five hundred eighty million, one hundred ninety-three thousand, seven hundred and children will die today." It sentences them to death like telling him what the day of the month it is. Of course, to the Moment, it would be only a number. How could it possibly comprehend lives and souls and the worth of a mind? He falls to his hands and knees – almost like he's praying – at the Goddess's feet.
"Can I save anyone?" he is pleading now.
"Yes." He looks up at it with scarcely veiled hope. "You do this, you save the universe from the corrupt pride of the Time Lords. I'm sorry, there is nothing else to do." She didn't look sorry for what he was to do, just for him. Then the bane of his lives reached for his hand. Only once it had helped him to his feet and over to the Big Red Button in the center of the barn did he notice something strange. Her hand – not the Moment's, but this girl's hand – fit perfectly in his. His eyes closed. She had said this girl was someone from his future. He had questioned whether he had actually had one, but now he had a little hope. Perhaps Rose Tyler would be something bright in the bleak life he saw ahead of him.
"Will this kill me?"
"Yes and no. You will regenerate, and from there you will have to find the Doctor again. But," It stopped and gave a real smile, eyes softening, "you won't have to do it alone. She will save you." He wanted to interrupt and ask who could possibly stand by him, the murderer of multitudes, but it gave him a pointed look and continued. "Now, you must finish what you have started. End it, and run until your hearts give out."
He didn't look at the Interface as he placed his scarred fingers over the enormous jewel and tried to slow the frantic fluttering of his hearts.
His hand pressed only gently and the Moment disappeared. His vision was assaulted with a view of his own mind, and he saw all of time and space convulse as if taking a deep breath and relax. The Daleks were reduced to ash, and a conflagration muffled the screams of his people as they fought the inevitable. Some took longer to fall, but each tether of their mutual mindscape burned in a flash and fell into the darkness beyond.
He saw Romana, his old ally, not screaming or pleading as so many others had. It was too late for that. She saw what was coming and let go, not enduring the pain of being ripped away.
His own mother exuded sorrow and loss to rival his own as she wailed, her despair turning to terror.
And then they were al gone but one. Rassilion. He clung to consciousness with anger and hate and fear as his anchor. And then he, too fell to the power that the Doctor unleashed. For a final time he saw Bad Wolf lend him a hand as he stood in the eye of the storm.
The being who could stand strong at the end of his world led him away to the comfort of his dearest friend, and his TARDIS wept with him as their home fell away. Golden light surrounded them and they flew away from the carnage, the hole in space and time, and into peaceful, quiet space.
The TARDIS couldn't risk the Vortex, because the Moment was there, too, destroying all trace of any Time Lords who didn't belong. The precious few who had been in the Vortex at the time of the moment, like the Corsair, were thrown outside of the prime universe into a strange place that called itself House. Their distress signals weren't received for a very long time, not until a joyous Time Lord found them and came to see those he believed he had killed. He never found them.
The TARDIS, although distraught, found somewhere near the Rose Nebula where she could rest, and her Thief could hide from the universe.
For seven days they drifted; the man inside was damaged to even stand, clothed only in the rags he had regenerated in, not knowing what new pain Fate would deal next.
In his catatonic state half a TARDIS away, he was never made aware of a bright flash and a sound like a gun materializing into existence next to the console room. Nor did he hear the cry of shock and joy that came from the mouth of one Rose Tyler as she found her home again.
A/N: This is my first-ever fanfiction, so please R&R to say if I should continue! After this one, the chapters should be longer.