Gallifrey was gone.
The expression itself did not do justice for what happened. In fact, it seemed that any statement put to the highest point of exaggeration would indeed be nothing but an understatement in the end. And so it was with simple words that the Doctor used to try and grasp what he saw before him.
Gallifrey was gone.
From across space and time the Doctor felt the great sigh as millions of lives ceased to exist. He had, at the time, been doing what he had always done – saving people. It was a hobby really. To travel from one place to another, discovering and exploring; those were his passions. Saving lives just seemed to be one of the offshoots of such passions.
As soon as he felt the great sweep of death he knew what had happened. Still, he returned to the TARDIS and travelled with such speed that he caused ripples in Time's fabric itself. For in his hearts he held on to a single hope, pointless as it may have been. He hoped that he was wrong.
But, of course, he was not.
Where his home had once been there was now nothing. A great expanse of black stretched out before him, a wound in time and space. As he passed through the great emptiness the Doctor found himself wishing that there were still some vestiges of destruction remaining, some debris, bodies even. Then at least there would be something left, something that would not let him mourn alone. But there was nothing.
A great rage filled him then, a rage that could never be quenched, for the Time Lord's enemy had lost themselves also to the wound in time. He set about the TARDIS with equations and theories, plans to travel back and save his people. He had saved so many other people in his life; surely he would find a way to save his own.
But there was none found. The wound where home had been prevented time travel. And so the Doctor raged and screamed and cried and was finally silent.
Gallifrey was gone.
There would be no more Time Lords. No more walks among the great, towering spires of the city. No more blazing sunsets in the orange sky that set the silver trees alight with clarity. No more days spent with his family and nights swathed in peace and dreams.
And in that moment the Doctor felt a part of his soul pass out of him. Gallifrey was gone. There were no Time Lords but him alone. And he was alone.