The Doctor sat cross-legged in the front of a wooden boat. Three oars on each side held by a maiden each threw the small vessel forward through the water. The clouds over the spiky hair of the alien were slowly gathering moisture, and becoming larger. With his heightened senses, he could almost taste the static charge gathering up above, and he grabbed his jacket closer to him in anticipation of the coming storm. The weather was most certainly a warning from the person he was about to meet: "Stay away!" The Doctor, unfortunately for that individual, was extremely good at ignoring warnings. It took more than a little cold weather to shake off the Doctor.
The oar-bearers continued to row silently. Feeling bored, the Doctor decided to chat.
"So, how long have you girls had this job?" he said to the woman to his right. She was wearing, as the rest were, a red translucent cloak around her face, making it hard to see her features. She turned her head briefly toward him, then returned back to her rowing.
The Doctor shrugged, and said to the one to his left "She must be the shy one."
"She has had this job for longer than you have been alive, Time Lord. She is not shy, just has no time to talk to children," said one of the rowers behind him. She then pointed past the Doctor. The Doctor looked to where she was gesturing, and squinted his eyes through the fog. He could barely see anything, which unnerved him slightly. He had been born with average eyesight for a Time Lord, and normally was able to pierce through a simple fog, at least in this regeneration. He absentmindedly threw his glasses onto his face.
The view suddenly turned red and blue! Was he being tricked? He looked around at the rowers, ready to jump into the water to hide if they decided to attack.. But they didn't seem to be trying to hurt him, or even reacting. Were they hypnotized? Extremely confused, he shouted to the rowers. "Be careful. There's some sort of chromatic aberration going on. It's probably not dangerous, but-"
Several of the rowers began laughing loudly, though they didn't stop rowing. The Doctor looked around, trying to see what was causing the commotion. "What's so funny?" he asked, which only made them laugh louder.
Annoyed, he turned away from the laughing girls, and decided to focus on cleaning his glasses, which seemed a little smudged. When he took them off, the world became normal colored again. In his hands were a pair of 3-D glasses.
"Is the chromatic aberration still there, Time Lord?" said the formerly quiet rower, snickering.
The Doctor was about to respond with something extremely clever, when he noticed a shadow slowly covering the boat. He looked up to see his destination. By now, the rain had begun to pick up, and the wind was rocking the trees of the island in front of him. Shadows from the clouds covered every inch of the rocks from the shore in front of him, and the yellow of the sand had been turned grey. He scanned the ground in front of him, looking for a sign of the person he was to meet.
"Thanks for the ride. I'd prefer to go the rest of the way myself," said the Doctor offhandedly to the rowers. Stepping off the boat, he took a step onto the wet sand, then another. Sticking his hands into his pockets, he strolled up the shore into the forest, his jacket dragging slightly in the sand. The leaves brushed his face as he walked, and occasionally he would feel something slip over his boots. The foliage got thicker and thicker as he walked on, causing him to trip occasionally. The Doctor ignored all these distractions however, and that's what they were—distractions to keep him out. The Doctor almost wished he didn't have to keep on going, but this was something he had to do. Even if Gabby hadn't been sleeping soundly, he still might have left her behind on the TARDIS—this was specifically a Time Lord matter. As the Last one, he had to deal with these things. No one else would, or could.
He stopped briefly, closing his eyes and steadying himself. When he was with his companions, it was easier to block out his grief at his home-world's loss. But he was alone now, and in solitude it was much harder to block out the memory of the burning wreckage of Gallifrey. In silence, it was much harder to block out the memories of children screaming in pain-
Wait. Silence.
He opened his eyes. It was suddenly silent all around him. No slithy toves crawling up his feet, or any birds tweeting. That meant he was close. Picking up his pace, and burying old pains yet again, he went ahead, following what seemed to be a path. He noted that the trees here seemed to be of different species to the rest; apparently someone here had done some farming. He reached for a fruit off one of the trees, and sniffed it.
"I hope you know it's poisonous," said a strong, accented voice.
The Doctor wheeled around. "Really?"
The person he was there to see smirked slightly, and said "No, but you're still not allowed to eat it. Time Lord."
The Doctor frowned, and said "That's the first time I ever heard a Sister of Karn tell a joke. By the way, my name's the Doctor."
"How could I not know who you are? And I am Siobhan. I used to have another name as a Sister, but I haven't been one for a while," said Siobhan. She looked about 20 physically, though obviously she was much older. Her red hair looked disheveled, almost unkempt. It was short, and stopped right before her green eyes, which were looking at the Doctor with a mixture of curiosity and fear. On her slender frame was a garment that looked like a yellow sleeveless shirt with a hood, which the Doctor recognized as a léin. Hung around her neck was a clasp. It looked custom made, as did the ornate designs at the edges of the léin.
"Oh, that looks pretty. Is that from Karn?" asked the Doctor, pointing at the clasp.
Siobhan raised her eyebrow, and looked surprised at the Doctor's query. "No, it's from a friend of mine. A friend from the local forests, here." She waved her hands to gesture at the surrounding trees.
"I'm surprised. Most of the Sisters I know didn't like taking things that weren't from Karn. Actually, how come you're on this planet?" asked the Doctor. He saw her eyes widen at that question, and he expected her to squirm and hesitate. But she met his eyes fiercely.
"I left for personal reasons. Concerning my clasp, I asked him not to make it, but he insisted. The boy's clearly smitten. It is too bad he's about 200 years too young for me," Siobhan said.
"Aww, come on; you could still at least take him on a date," said the Doctor. He inspected the floor, picking up a rose and grinning widely at Siobhan. "Even us old geezers can fall in love."
"It's not the romance I'm afraid of, Doctor. I remember what it feels like," said Siobhan quietly. "It's the damned heartbreak."
"I know what that feels like, " claimed the Doctor.
"Really? How many funerals have you been in?" asked Siobhan, her voice rising.
"Well, I once did a funeral for a canine astronaut-" said the Doctor.
Siobhan cut him off "I've sat at around 50. Across 6 generations. I've seen my best friends die, and then seen their sons die. Most of those deaths weren't heroic, either. Usually someone just got sick because they drunk from the wrong stream, or they fought in a stupid battle that no one will remember in a few years, or were killed after they got in a fight with too many drinks in their system. I come from a race of immortals—I am not used to so much death." She moved her left hand to wipe away her tears and uncovered a black box with a glowing red center. She realized what she had done, and tried to cover it back up. Her green eyes saw the hard stare of the Doctor's blue eyes, and knew she was caught.
"So, now we come to the real reason you're here," said Siobhan. She sighed, and sat back into her chair.
The Doctor remained standing, and walked a few steps closer to the former Sister. He reached his hand out, and said "You know I can't let you keep that."
"You Time Lords were always so stingy with your toys," said the woman. She sounded so bitter to the Doctor. "I assume you know what this is?".
"Of course. My TARDIS can pick up the signals of a Time Lord weapon anywhere," said the Doctor. He leaned on a tree right beside Siobhan.
"It's not a weapon," said the woman defensively.
"No, but it was used in the Time War. That box was based on Ancient Gallifreyan science, and used by the Time Lords to give other allied species the ability to regenerate. Was very useful...but of course, the Time Lords still lost the War in the end. So it wasn't all that useful at all, I guess." The Doctor pushed back the sounds of screams in his head yet again, and continued "So how'd you steal it? Hope you didn't get it from eBay—I would hate to think Gallifrey ever got that desperate."
"I don't know anyone named Ebay. As to how I obtained this, let's just say that the Time Lords weren't as secure with their war equipment as they thought," she said. "What was the outcome of that war, anyway? Is it over? I presume you Time Lords survived-"
"Enough stalling," said the Doctor. With no more trace of a smile, he said "You're going to give me that device now. It doesn't belong to you, and it definitely doesn't belong on this planet. It is Time Lord property."
"Your Time Lord science was Karn's before it was yours," said Siobhan, getting up and backing away with the device in hand.
"Giving yourself the ability to regenerate isn't worth the danger of it falling in the wrong hands. You seem like a good woman, but I can't let you keep that box, " said the Doctor.
"You fool, I'm already immortal!" shouted Siobhan. "I wanted the device for humanity!"
The Doctor was so surprised that he nearly fell. Scratching his head, he said "Wait, you want this for other people? Not for yourself, when you run out of elixir?"
"When I die, I'll die. But, I'm not being completely selfless. I have loved while here on this planet—on my planet- Doctor, and I've had to see the people I care for die over and over again. If humanity had the abilities that Time Lords do, then maybe I could have spent a little more time with my husband before he passed. Maybe my son wouldn't have died of a simple infected flesh wound," said Siobhan. Dark spots appeared on her léin as tears fell from her face. The Doctor moved to hug her, but she waved him off.
The Doctor said nothing as she calmed down. He had misjudged her, and he cursed himself for being too hasty.
"Once I figure out how to activate this box, humanity will become reformed. Stronger, faster and practically immortal. It'll be my last gift to my family. So you see, I can't give you that device," said the woman.
The Doctor nodded. "Humanity isn't meant to evolve that fast right now. It would destroy the Web of Time." He let that statement hang in the air. For several seconds, the two people just stared at each other.
Siobhan broke the silence. "What will you do, Time Lord?"
"Nothing. I've already done it," said the Doctor, scuffing his shoes on the leaves scattered on the floor. "As soon as I got that signal from the box, I turned on the deactivation protocol, which we Time Lords installed in case of thieves." He coughed loudly in Siobhan's direction, and continued "The reason you can't get the box to work-"
"Is because it no longer works," said Siobhan. She immediately slumped, with an expression of total defeat. Staring at the Time Lord, she said viciously "So WHY did you even waste time coming here? To gloat?"
"Well, I...don't know, really. To let you know? Make sure you had no other weapons stashed? And now, I suppose, to ask for forgiveness?" he said.
Siobhan began to first giggle ,then she began to laugh loudly for what felt like an uncomfortable forever to the Doctor. Still laughing, she said "You poor boy. I forgive you. I understand that you did what had to be done for the Web of Time."
The Doctor was a little surprised at her quick understanding, but couldn't say he wasn't happy. "Well, if there are no hard feelings, then that's great!"
Then Siobhan punched the grinning Time Lord in his face.
The Doctor slowly got up off the floor. Dusting himself off, he looked at Siobhan from the side of his eye. "I'm sorry if you don't agree-"
"I do agree. You did the right thing. But I don't ever want to see you again," said Siobhan. "And if I have to explain to you why, then you really are still just a young boy. Goodbye, Doctor."
The Doctor said "Goodbye, Siobhan. Have a good life." She looked like she was about to punch him again for saying that, but looked away.
The Doctor walked back to the boat. He hadn't realized it, but the storm seemed to have stopped when he was in the forest with Siobhan. She probably had erected a minor climate manipulation field in the forest. But now that he was getting closer to shore, the storm was in full force. The heavy rain felt like bricks being pelted at his head, and his feet were sticking in the muddy ground. If Siobhan did have control of this weather, perhaps she was using it to take out her anger on the Doctor.
And she was right, in some ways. The Doctor had cursed her to an eternity of seeing more and more loved ones die. And, unlike the Doctor, she would have to stick around and see the funerals. In her eyes, he had just destroyed an opportunity for humanity to grow leaps and bounds. Thousands of needless deaths, and thousands of chances for progress, had been destroyed in one swoop at his hands. Both the Doctor and Siobhan knew he had done the right thing, but he knew from experience that "doing the right thing" didn't make it feel any better. It never made him feel better when he thought of Gallifrey, or of Donna.
As he came to the shore, waiting for the boat that would take him back to his TARDIS, he grabbed his drenched coat closer as it whipped around him with the wind. His ears picked up some sort of high-pitched whining from far away, and the Doctor immediately hoped in his hearts it was an animal.
Because it sounded an awful lot like a woman crying.