I'm still not ok about missy and 12 leaving. So I wrote this to at least give me some closure.
The sound of explosions echoed around a forest, the extraordinary thing was that this forest was, in fact, an artificial one that was located on the level of 0507 of the colony ship that was currently trying to escape the gravitational pull of a black hole.
The Doctor was running through the human-created forest, he was weaving between trees and jumping over rocks and logs. While running, the Gallifreyan was using his sonic screwdriver to set off explosions every few seconds to kill the approaching army of Cybermen, the army was a mix of the armoured evolved and original Mondas Cyberman.
The Doctor was headed towards the middle of the floor, where the elevators were located. It had been enough time since he last saw them that the Time Lord was almost certain all the humans had left, that'd be long gone if Nardole had done his job correctly. The Doctor couldn't sense the humans' presence on this level of the ship anymore, so it seemed they had all gotten away safe.
The Doctor needed to go to the centre of the floor as that was the ideal spot to set off the final explosion as it would allow him to be in range of most of the Cyberman. The explosion would not only kill a large majority of the Cyberman army but The Doctor himself too. And The Time Lord was okay with dying and not regenerating, because quite frankly. it was time to let go.
The Moment had said The Doctor's punishment for ending the war was 'to live' and he honoured that till this day, even though the Time Lord had reversed what he had done to his planet, he still chose to live.
The Doctor had made two vows to himself, the first was that before he died he would see his home again, to make sure it was safe and the second thing he vowed to do was atone for what he did because even though he didn't destroy Gallifrey he remembered doing it and he needed to make up for that.
He had seen his planet again and saved it from Rassilon and at this point, he was confident that he had saved more lives than what he almost ended on Gallifrey on the last day of the War.
He was ready.
As he ran through the fake forest towards the spot where he would soon die The Doctor felt memories stir and flash through his mind, memories of lovers, friends and family.
Running with Rose.
Flirting with Jack.
Playful banter with Donna.
Happy night watched television with The Ponds.
River and Darillium.
Something he couldn't quite remember about a girl named Clara.
…..70 years spent with missy in the vault.
When The Doctor reached the centre of floor 0507 he immediately knew something was wrong, he could feel it. his senses were soon bombarded with the smoky and somewhat sweet smell of Time Energy.
He knew that Time Energy was only released when a Time Lord tries and fails to regenerate. Biologically it was a way to signal other Time Lords that this death would be the one you wouldn't wake up from.
Perhaps The Doctor was sensing his own Time Energy. It was logical enough the timelines were already out of sync thanks to the wonder twins.
But even though he tried to reason that to himself the Gallifreyan knew he was wrong.
The Time Lord paused and not only relied on his physical senses but his telepathic ones as well. Surely his body's want to regenerate was playing tricks on his mind. Surely the energy was his own, there was no way any other dying Time Lords were here.
But soon both his eyes and mind found and sensed a familiar presence laying on the floor of the forest.
The Mistress, Missy
His oldest friend was laying in front of the closed elevator. dying on the floor and secreting Time Energy.
Emotions swept through his mind like a tidal wave.
Joy; his oldest friend had chosen to stand with him in the end after all.
Understanding; she had most likely been killed by a Cyberman
Sorrow; she was expelling Time Energy at an alarming rate.
And the Time Lord felt so many more feelings rage through him so quickly that he couldn't begin to distinguish them as he was running over towards her. She was still alive, The Doctor could sense that. He couldn't save Bill but maybe he could save her.
the Time Lord reached the dying Time Lady and his eyes drank in the sight of her, she was paler than usual, her hair was tangled and messy compared to its normal elegance, her lips had a slight blue tint to them and her normally manic electric blue eyes were open but unfocused as if they weren't taking in the world around them.
The Doctor fell to his Knees and took the Time Lady into his arms.
"Missy," he whispered and shook her slightly to help her regain consciousness, her eyes slowly focused on him and a faint smirk tugged at her lips.
"My dear Doctor," she said, her voice quiet.
"I leave you alone for 10 minutes and look what happens." The Doctor joked as he always did, a humourless chuckle escaping his lips. "You've managed to get yourself in some trouble, Missy, you need to regenerate," he informed her.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you again, probably for the last time though." the Time Lady whispered, her smirk turning into a sad smile.
"What are you talking about Missy you were attacked by a Cyberman after you ditched The Master, easy to regenerate, even I could do it." The doctor said fear laced through his voice.
When Missy didn't respond but looked at him with sorrow, the Doctor felt his hearts beat faster and his breath hitch, "Missy you're not doing this again, ok, you have to regenerate this time and wh..when you do we're going back to the vault and-" The Doctor cut himself off when his voice broke and tears made his vision blur.
"Laz….Lazar ..screwdriver" Misty muttered. Trying to explain to her friend that no it hadn't been a Cyberman that attacked her but herself instead….it was quite poetic in Missy's opinion.
When The Doctor realised what Missy was truly saying a noise escaped His throat that sounded like the cry of a wounded animal.
When Missy heard his cry of pain she felt her hearts break a little...on second thought maybe it was the direct hit from the screwdriver that did that.
"Please don't leave me," The Doctor said in a plea of desperation. "Missy you promised me every star in the universe" The Time Lord said with a shaky voice.
"You'll have to see them for the both of us"
"I've already been doing that for 2000 years and I..I won't be able to see the stars anymore, not without you"
"Yes you will," she whispered, "I know you will, like an awesome hero." Missy laughed breathlessly. The Doctor looked away from her and let out a humourless laugh.
When The Gallifreyans finally looked at each other again Missy saw the anguish in her Doctor's eyes and she reached up a hand and placed it on his cheek. The Time Lady looked directly into the Time Lord's eyes before saying the one thing she thought she never would.
"You win."
"How?" The Time Lord questioned Tears were falling freely from his eyes and his voice sounded raw. Won? He tried to win but he couldn't save Bill and soon every human he saved today would die. Just like everyone he ever cared about did and soon Missy would join them, He'd lost at everything he'd tried to do today.
"My hearts are beating," she said a smile clear on her face, it was the first genuine one in the last two weeks. It was clear by the look on his face that her dear Doctor didn't understand what she just said.
Her hearts were beating, for him. She Was being good.
That's what being good was though? Wasn't it? When you're hearts don't beat for yourself but for others. Her hearts beat for him. He won in his quest to turn her good.
"I can hear the music" the Mistress explained.
The Doctor nodded and smiled sadly tears continuing to fall from his eyes.
Both Gallifreyans could hear the Cyberman approaching and Missy decided to be blunt "if there's anything sappy you want to say, now's your time"
At that moment The Doctor understood what Nardole meant I'll never be able to find the words
"Koschei, you're my best friend." The Doctor said so tentatively that Missy wasn't sure she heard him correctly.
"You're mine to Theta." She whispered.
The marching of the Cyberman was growing so loud, they had only minutes left.
It seemed Missy did too.
Before the end, The Doctor linked there minded and showed her every good memory they had together.
When they met at the academy.
Years spent studying, laughing and causing trouble.
Years of heartbreak and years of joy.
Their first kiss.
There last.
Every battle.
Every triumph.
Every reason why he wanted to save her.
The Doctor snapped out of his trace when his ears picked up the sound of a weapon being charged,
The Cyberman were here.
He genteelly laid Missy on the floor and stood up to face the Cyberman.
"Hello, I'm The Doctor," he said gaining composure.
"Doctors' are not required." The robotic voice of an original Cyberman rang through the artificial forest.
"I'm not a Doctor, I am The Doctor" he responded, before the Time Lord could say or do anything more the Cyberman shot a beam a yellow energy directly at his hearts.
The Doctor fell to his knees and sucked in a lungful of air as a result of the sheer power that was in the energy beam, the original Cyberman my look less advance the newer models but they were just as powerful.
He felt his body respond and regeneration energy began to speed throughout his body.
"Doctor, Doctor" he whispered to himself "it's time enough," there was no point to regenerate. "there's nothing keeping you here anymore." He reasoned with himself looking towards Missy who was most likely dead.
The Doctor pointed his sonic towards the sky and set off the explosion that would not only kill himself but most of the Cybermen; Missy too if she was still alive.
Minutes later when he gained consciousness again The Doctor opened his eyes and saw the remnants of the ship and Cyberman burning around him.
"No stars," he muttered to himself, "I hoped we'd get to see the stars together, just once" he whispered to Missy.