Time's Revenge
The Doctor watch as his world died; it was all he could do, just helplessly watch. He watched his world age millennia in mere seconds. He watched as Time was ravaging it. He knew he should close the scanner and leave, but he couldn't; he had to see the end of his world, watching what would be his faith too. His thoughts were of those friends left on Gallifrey.
Leela, who would have been the first to die. She was fighter, but she couldn't defeat Time. In a strange and disturbing way her death was not the worst for him; she would die only once and she had lived past her time many years ago, kept alive by the very force that was killing her now.
Then his thoughts went to Romana, the powerful Madam President. She probably stood proudly, letting Time get her, ageing her, making her regenerate, again and again. He remembered the last moment he had seen her, before he knew it was not only too late for his planet, but for him too.
They were fighting their way towards him when part of the roof came down, stopping them death in their tracks. A large piece of debris barricading the path between them and the TARDIS.
"Leave Doctor. It is too late for us, but not for you." Romana was looking helplessly at him from across the Panoptican, as the walls crumbled around them, Leela and K9 standing beside her. At that moment the Doctor knew he had two choices: try to safe them and probably perish in the attempt, or get into the safety of the TARDIS leaving them behind. The Doctor looked her in the eyes and he knew she would go under with her people. She would die victorious and he knew nothing could stop her from doing so. Leela had the same determined look on her face. So the Doctor did the one thing he could do, he made a run for them. This was his fault, he would not let them die not like this. Suddenly he felt a hard push at his shoulder and he tumbled to the ground. A very loud crashing sound told him he had been lucky. On the spot he had stood mere moments ago was now a big part of the Panoptican roof. The Doctor looked around to find his saviour, but all he could find was the torn fabric from the cape of a Chancellery Guard He stood up and knew he would never reached them, even if they were still alive and he did the only thing he had left; he ran to the TARDIS, leaving behind his friends.
The Doctor watched as Time ravaged the mighty Time Lords. The irony lost to anybody except him.
The plan had been so good, use Time to defeat the Daleks, use the Vortex, but now the Vortex hit back, it was lashing out punishing to those who dared to disturb it. And it was all his fault. It had been his design, his plan, his fault. He watched the Vortex sucking everything connected to Gallifrey back into it. He was dispassionate, all his feelings dulled by the horrors already seen in the war, which had lasted both centuries and seconds, Time had played tricks, so he didn't know and he didn't care either. The Time Lords may have won the battle, but the war was lost by both sides.
Then he saw it, a man appearing in the middle of the Vortex, a look of surprise on his face. He was without a doubt an exile whose peaceful life away had been cut short as he was sucked into the Vortex. The man was ravaged by Time in moments, regenerating before that body too was ravaged; he kept regenerating time and time again, until all his lives were spend and the mercy of death claimed him. The Doctor knew he would be the first in a long line. Those in the TARDISes were the unlucky ones; they had to watch as everything was destroyed. They had to watch as their TARDISes were slowly eroded away. The Doctor knew how they felt, as he was watching and waiting for the same thing. He was waiting for Time to claim what it had waited a long time for. The Cloister bell told him their time had come and they would go down together. He closed his eyes for a moment, hearing the screams of thousands of dyeing men and women in his head. The normally soft hum of the Time Lords in the back of his mind had become a concert of screams. Screams that became less and less as more were taken.
Then he saw the first TARDIS dissolve its outer shell, finally succumbing to Time. The Time Lords thrown out into the Vortex, ageing and regenerating The Doctor wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn't; he had to watch the horrors he had caused, the nightmare that was his doing. It was his punishment, watching the destruction before he would succumb himself. The Vortex was ravaging everything inside at that moment, Time Lords, Daleks and all those unfortunates that had been travelling through the Vortex, unknowing they would be dragged into the final Time War; the war that would destroy the two mightiest races in the universe.
The Vortex became emptier as more and more TARDISes were destroyed. The screams became softer. Then he felt it, a soft lurch, almost unnoticeable, only his long relationship with her told him that the TARDIS was in trouble.
It was starting only a few more moments and he would join the rest of his race in oblivion. The Doctor turned from the scanner and placed his hands on the central console.
"I'm sorry, old girl, but it is over. It was fun for as long as it lasted, but now we're done. No more adventures, no more travels. We've lived and now we've to die. The Doctor closed his eyes he felt energy surround him, overwhelm him. He could almost taste the colours it must have. He could almost hear the song it was singing. He felt his energy drain slowly. His body started to ache as it slowly aged. He smiled to himself and for the first time he was happy he had only five regenerations left. He opened his eyes again, wanting to die with open eyes. What he saw made him gasp; it was beautifully. The TARDIS was filled with light, with the energy. His gasp quickly turned to a scream as the light became even more brightly, the energy to powerful to stop. He saw how the TARDIS slowly crumbled He could feel the Vortex tearing him and her apart and with a last, sad smile the Doctor collapsed, his body succumbing to the energy rushing through it. There was one last, happy thought left in the end. He would leave behind an universe free of the Daleks and that was worth all the destruction.
And then even that thought disappeared when the darkness claimed him at last.