Decay

by Uozumi

The consequences of Lake Silencio reverberate throughout time and space causing destruction in their wake. On his journey to fix this and find answers to his own fate, the Doctor runs across an expiring universe with a surprise lingering.

Title Decay
Author Uozumi
Fandom Doctor Who 2005
Character(s)/Pairing(s) Eleven, Master, Rory; implied Doctor/Master, background Amy/Rory
Genre Alternate Universe/Drama/Episode related/Scifi
Rating PG
Word Count 761
Disclaimer Doctor Who c. Newman, Wilson, Webber, Davies, Moffat, BBC
Summary The consequences of Lake Silencio reverberate throughout time and space causing destruction in their wake. On his journey to fix this and find answers to his own fate, the Doctor runs across an expiring universe with a surprise lingering.
Warning(s) spoilers up through series six episode thirteen
Notes The idea for this kind of fic has been rolling in my head since I realized Rory not only has no parents but seemingly no family to speak of, however, I couldn't find a decent place to set the fic, and the possibilities with the consequences presented at the beginning of episode thirteen of series six really helped bring some logistics together.

Decay

The gun blasts echoed off around Lake Silencio and reverberated through time and space. Time began to disintegrate. Universes that were close by felt the brunt of the effects. It was one such alternate universe the Doctor found himself, somewhere between his almost death and the universe where all history occurred simultaneously. Everything was white. It had no walls or ceilings; the floor was perhaps even an illusion. The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and looked around, his face morphing into guilt. It reminded him of the place he glimpsed when all the other Time Lords were sucked into the void during his last regeneration. The Doctor could feel this decayed universe hurling towards a collision with a nearby universe. He winced at the damage caused by River missing her shots.

"Sometimes I think you enjoy guilt trips as much as a trip in your TARDIS," a voice said from behind the Doctor.

The Doctor brightened and got to his feet. "Rory!" he grinned. He walked over, patted Rory's shoulders twice, and looked him over, his face faltering slightly. "Rory. Here." He looked around. "Nothing can exist here." The Doctor turned in a complete circle, but indeed this was a universe about to be absorbed by another. The only things keeping the Doctor alive was the fact he was a Time Lord with his TARDIS still intact and had only just arrived.

Rory observed the Doctor with a quiet, intrigued air. He wore a simple black suit with a red dress shirt underneath. His hair was its natural color and tousled to make loose spikes.

"Not Rory," the Doctor said and stepped back. "Or at least not the Rory I know."

"We've never met," Rory acknowledged, "Rory Williams is just another Harold Saxon, only cuter, like a fearless puppy." He watched the Doctor's face and his lips quirked into a smirk. "You've looked at me like that in many incarnations in my timeline, but you're not from there."

The Doctor held the Master's gaze a long moment and took a step back. "Well, okay then. Rory is the Master here…" the Doctor's voice trailed, and he looked around and still everything was white without dimension. "Where's Amy?"

"Disappeared," the Master confirmed. "She held on a long time." His hand faded and the returned to normal. "She didn't know I would linger this long."

"So you and Amy?" The Doctor stared a moment and then his nose wrinkled. "You can't just go around and play human like that."

"What was I supposed to do? I followed a certain Doctor's suggestion when I went into that void and it regenerated me into a six year old!"

"Still –"

"I landed in her tree!"

"And then you 'fell out of the sky,'" the Doctor considered. He sighed and he murmured, "So if you're the Master and Rory... Then Rory might be Rory and the Master. So, if you let the drums take over, then maybe Rory thinks someone's playing music too loud. No wonder he's so cross…"

The Master shook his head. "The drums went wherever the rest of the Time Lords went." He shifted his weight. "It was too quiet. I let that silly girl name me, then she dressed me up as the Doctor of all things and we 'flew' around in a large box she painted blue." His legs faded away and then they returned to normal. The Master met the Doctor's gaze. "Not that face. I knew this would happen when I felt that timequake rattle my universe. I'm sure somewhere in that mass of weird hair of yours, you knew that would happen to someone somewhere."

The Doctor looked down, then at the TARDIS, and back at the Master.

"The timelines are converging," the Master stated. His left arm disappeared and did not reappear. "You know you can't take me," the Master continued as he watched the Doctor's face contort. "You can't give me a bit of my TARDIS so I can use it to eject myself from trouble this time." His eyes roamed over the Doctor's face. "I'm dying. I'm ready."

The Doctor watched the Master disappear into the whiteness, continuing to watch a moment after it was clear the Master would not reappear. The Doctor could hear the TARDIS' cloister bell. He knew he would not want to be here when the universe converging with this universe began to absorb the whiteness that had no form. The Doctor got back into the TARDIS and slipped off to his next destination. He needed to find a few Daleks.

The End