Three Worlds and The Stranger
By Phoenix Helix
"Even if I change it feels like dying. Everything I am dies some new man goes sauntering away…and I'm dead" The doctor mused in a resigning manner to Wilfred; his former companion's grandfather as he sat hunched forward in a café somewhere in London; the very fibre of his being knowing his end was in sight; a simple prophecy had rendered the confident Time Lord to concede to his inevitable demise: To regenerate and change his image and in essence his very soul just as his predecessors had done nine times before he came into existence.
MEANWHILE…AND BACK A FEW MONTHS…
Above the orbit of the Planet Earth, the very momentary events of space were slightly disrupted as a pair of folded blazing wings emerged from nowhere….
"Rawwweuugh! And that's the Mudokens saved from the Glukkons…again." Sparda's voice echoed as his wings spread apart from one another allowing the rest of his body through the passageway between the many cosmos before the opening closed once more.
"Tell you what, for being so sturdy those Blue and Green guys sure are gullible…oh…" The Phoenix spoke aloud to himself as he looked down at Earth below.
"If I saw this one coming, I'd say it was ironic… I'm back?" Sparda frowned as he looked at the tranquil beauty of the world aptly nicknamed Eden. No sign of the destruction he had narrowly escaped from the very beginning of his journey, when he had been so naive and gullible to the ways of life and the machinations fate brought. The chaos he had been made absent from was non-existent and from the looks of it: had never taken place.
"Nah couldn't be: must be a parallel world" The Phoenix folded his arms and let all four of his wings droop behind him, allowing himself to float in the gravity-less void "Least its peaceful…" his words were rendered silent at the sight of a silver coloured star-shaped ship looking like it had been made of webbing. "…Spoke too soon…Racnoss?" His eyes then widened in disbelief "You must be kidding…" Using his telekinesis to move his body, Sparda dived into the Stratosphere. "This I CANNOT MISS!"
Within minutes Sparda had landed on a building and assumed his normal form, The Sacrament hanging comfortably against his waist in its sheath. He briefly pondered in hope that he had gone unnoticed by Torchwood but soon dismissed his worry. "Right! Doctor time to say hi at least before you go vanishing again!" Sparda smirked as he closed his eyes and began to search for the Time Lord with his Mind Merge. "Found you…huh? That's weird… his heartbeats are… NULL?" Sparda's eyes snapped open as he instinctively leapt off the building and began dashing through the streets of London. Once again ignoring the possibilities of being noticed by the populace.
"We've found a body sir…over" a UNIT Soldier reported over a radio with his back turned to an ambulance as two paramedics carried a stretcher with a body with a cover zipped over; into the back of it. The soldier's words instantly caught The Phoenix's ears just as the stretcher caught his eyes. Sparda stopped instantly and hid behind the closest car to listen in to more of the conversation.
"Please don't let it be true…" Sparda muttered under his breath…
"Is it him? Over." The voice at on the radio responded
"I think so, he just didn't make it out in time" The Soldier responded just as an arm peered out of the covering with something falling from the hand; clattering to the floor, the sight caused Sparda to swallow hard as his heart sank.
"The Doctor is dead…Must have happened too fast for him to regenerate" the UNIT Soldier concluded in a disheartening tone through the radio.
"The Sight of the Sonic Screwdriver falling to the ground, had mocked all my hopes, The Doctor, Last of the Time Lords and sole survivor of the planet Gallifrey had died…"
The Phoenix noticed a young blonde haired woman running towards the scene just as an older redheaded woman slowly walked towards her. Deciding to not interfere Sparda turned and walked in the other direction, taking in what he had witnessed but not before picking up the Sonic Screwdriver and pocketing it.
"Of the Doctor of his very own series I had witnessed him survive death many times and avoid it even more so, The Daleks, The Cybermen, The Master, The Sontarans, even the beast; the origin of the Devil Myth on Krop Tor ALL had failed to destroy him. And here he was: dead from being swept away by a flow of water to prevent the Empress of the Racnoss from allowing her children to devour the world and its inhabitants. So much for arriving in the Dr Who world, I had emerged in the parallel that had been created unwillingly by a companion of his…"
Sparda walked into an alley out of public eye and crouched down.
"Donna Noble, her one oblivious simple act of decision unravelled the flow of history: by turning right she had avoided her encounter with The Doctor, the encounter that would've saved his life. and if I needed any further proof of the consequences of this action I would only need to see the Earth in its foreseeable future…"
"Something tells me I'm not going to like what I see… just watching it was bad enough…" Sparda closed his eyes as he began to speed up the flow of time around him. Hours began passing by like seconds, days seemed like flickers of moments in time, and the world began passing by at speeds that would make a person go queasy by just looking. From a glance as a couple of months had flown by The Phoenix witnessed a storm cloud consume a hospital before it vanished into thin air.
"Martha…" Sparda sighed, knowing that with The Doctor dead there was no way they were going to survive, not because of the Judoon, but from the loss of oxygen by the amount of time it was going to take to find the Fugitive Plasmavore they were pursuing and a hospital with over two thousand paitents, doctors and employees being transported to the moon, there wouldn't be enough air for long.
"Sarah Jane…" Sparda realised, as The Doctor wouldn't have been there, one of his former companions had taken the liberty of investigating instead and had too succumbed to the air loss.
"I'm so sorry…" Sparda sighed as he refocused his concentration and accelerated the flow of time forward until the next Christmas break when his concentration was interrupted by a load of screams.
"Christmas…what happened at…" Refocusing the flow of time Sparda headed out of the Alley, which like most in that part of London had been neglected and unused for years; and was welcomed to a wave of chaos, as thousands of people ran screaming for their lives in a wave of panic
"What's got them all…oh….shit…." Sparda's gaze was aimed skyward as a ship resembling the Titanic was hurtling towards Buckingham Palace.
"Ok, this is ONE consequence I'm NOT letting happen!" The Phoenix's eyes widened in obvious pain as his body began morphing into the Frenzied Form, in less then a second Sparda's now exposed Tail wings slammed into the ground sending him sky bound toward the falling ocean-liner, only second's away from impact.
Sparda's clawed hands dug deep into the metallic frame of the ships front as he began focusing all his strength into stopping the fall with the same effort into slowing the flow of time around the ship. All of this taking a toll on the Phoenix's body, his eyes showed the obvious pain and agony that all the stress of maintaining the energy was causing him.
"!" Sparda screamed at the top of his lungs as his feet touched the grounds of Buckingham Palace's garden, the ship now caught in both his talon hands and the halted flow of time surrounding it.
"Pheeeew…" Sparda managed to mutter as his eyes showed his exhaustion "Give me Scyllas, bring on Omega Weapon again: THAT was intense…" his thoughts were silenced by the screams and cheers of thousands in the nearby streets of London.
"Oh great. Now I've been noticed…. didn't think of that…" The Phoenix smirked: ah well, nice to be applauded, usually in London you'd get people sayin "What the ells THAT!"
Sparda coming to his senses flapped his tail wings again and in seconds both himself and the ocean-liner were airborne and before long in orbit. The Phoenix then heard applause coming from inside the ship itself as he gently pushed it out of the Earth's gravitational pull.
"As I watched the ship float off into the sea of stars I realised how important The Doctor really was, and not just for the fate of one planet but that of many. His death had left the universe SO vulnerable to catastrophe. Watching him do the things he had done was one thing but being there in that universe after his death was truly eye opening"
"Doctor…" Sparda began "You're needed here, there HAS to be a way…" Immediately The Phoenix's mind was brought back to the timeline in the true world of The Doctor's: how he had survived the flooding that had killed the Racnoss, how he had saved all of the people in the hospital, how HE had prevented the Titanic Star Cruise Ship from crashing and for the many things he would prevent in the future.
"That's it…" Sparda's eyes brightened "THAT'S IT! His future self!" Once again Sparda found himself diving back down to the ground below, not taking a second to morph out of his human form as he began racing to begin his plans.
"Time And Relative Dimension In Space!" Sparda exclaimed as he tapped the keyhole on a blue painted wooden police box with a single finger. The doors suddenly opened up revealing how its interior belittled its exterior.
"Never did find out how those Time Lords managed that little trick…but I bet The Doctor's gonna wanna know how I even got it to open" Sparda laughed as he jumped inside and closed the doors behind him.
"Hmmm…. Now how to make this thing…tick?" The Phoenix pondered as he began hearing people banging outside
"You hear me? Now I command you to open the door!" a UNIT Soldier bellowed as he banged against the TARDIS door with the butt end of his rifle.
"Sorry mate! But no can do! The gathered hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't break open that door….and believe me: they've tried…" The Phoenix mused remembering The ninth doctor make the same claim in the first series.
HALF AN HOUR LATER….
"C'moooon! How do ya work this thing!" Sparda growled frustratingly as he flipped random switches and pressed random buttons as he finished eating his forty seventh banana and throwing the banana peel on the pile of other forty six, having found the Doctor's stash.
"UGGGH!" The Phoenix moaned as he kicked the panel. "Bloody thing, I break into UNIT to find you and you don't damn work!" Instantly the familiar noise of the TARDIS coming to life fills his ears.
"Bout time! Now then… which universe is the Doctor in….theres millions upon billions of parallels…" Sparda spoke aloud but soon gave up on the idea that he'd get a response, "Several bananas in the TARDIS and I start thinking Im the Doctor and Rose is gonna answer…" Suddenly his eyes went as wide as saucers as the answer hit him.
"OHHHH YES! I am good!" He yelled as he rushed over to the front door and leapt over several UNIT Soldiers as they aimed at him with automatic machine guns.
"Bye guys!" Sparda then dashed through the corridors of UNIT and leapt out of a nearby window and began reversing the flow of time as he remained suspended in mid air with his eyes closed.
Minutes past and The Phoenix refocused the flow of time, and then he began to fall to the ground below. Landing on his feet he quickly returned to his normal form before running off to find the Ambulance The Doctor's body was to be carried off in.
Sparda's feet and legs started to feel like they were on fire: in less than an hour of his own time he had forced himself to do the work taking many days and he began feeling them catch up as he reached the final corner.
"There she is…" Sparda chuckled as he looked at Rose Tyler; she had grown up since she had been separated from the Doctor and even more so since before she had met him in his ninth incarnation.
Rose Tyler, she was my only link to the real world of The Doctor's, as she herself was caught in a parallel but eventually would find her way back…
As Donna who had walked up to talk to Rose as she ran towards the scene; walked away Sparda made his move.
"Rose…Tyler?" Sparda asked the young blonde as she watched the ambulance drive away with saddened eyes.
"Do…. I know you mate?" Rose replied with a semi-smile semi-frown as she tried to recognise the stranger in front of her.
"No, we've never met until now" Sparda replied. "I'm The Stranger"
"O…k, I know you're A Stranger" Rose a little uneasy "Now you are?"
"Just, The Stranger" Sparda shrugged
"Alright… well nice meeting you 'Stranger'" Rose began even more warily
"You know The Doctor, don't you? The Time Lord who just got carted off just now?" The Phoenix asked abruptly; knowing that would spark her interest as not many, if any would know what his species was.
"How do you know that? I don't know you, I've never seen you and The Doctor never mentioned you!" Rose spoke fast and startled.
"Because….I am too… I'm a Time Lord from the Planet of Gallifrey, located in the constellation of Kasterborous of the Medusa Cascade." Sparda lied.
"That's impossible…! The Doctor said the Time Lords were all gone! In the war with the…"
"Daleks, The Time War with the whole of creation at stake" Sparda sighed. "He was right, Gallifrey is gone and they took the Daleks with them. But there were several of us who survived; that doesn't matter right now, I know you're from a parallel universe and the fact you managed to get here isn't a good thing" Sparda continued talking like the Doctor would: factual and fast.
"I didn't like the idea of lying to her, Rose was generally a good hearted person from what I had watched in the series, but the ruse of being a Time Lord and having links to The Doctor I had imagined would persuade her to give me a token of trust, at least for now…"
"The passing between realities is impossible, not without the walls between them collapsing, and I've been unable to return to my own as my TARDIS was destroyed and the Doctor's is lost" Sparda sighed
"Isn't there anything you can do?" Rose asked, trying to overcome her sorrow of the Doctor's death"
"If I could get back to our reality then yes I can" Sparda nodded
"Then you're gonna love me then" Rose smiled as she unzipped her hoodie and presented "The Stranger" with a handsized yellow and silver coloured circle machine causing him to smile slightly
"A Dimension Jump Device. Its not really a good idea to do this… lets just hope we can get to the Doctor…" Sparda placed the Dimension Jump Device to his chest and pressed it in. Within moments the feeling of dizzyness began to consume him. And at the moment when he emerged from the 'jump' he fell on his ass.
"Ughh…rough landing… Rose? Roooose?" Sparda looked from left to right, Rose was nowhere to be seen. As he surveyed his surroundings he noticed the streets were empty and the sky was consumed with the sight of twenty six planets.
"How convenient… and yet it took Rose more than just one attempt to find this universe… either the device looked into my thoughts and intentions and brought me here, on the other hand it might've just been luck…" The Phoenix looks down at the Dimension Jump Device to find it broken.
"EXTERMINAAAATE!" a deep mechanical voice thundered from behind him causing him to jump to his feet then to the side, just narrowly avoiding a laser blast from a Dalek's gun stalk.
"Oh great. THESE guys…" Sparda mutters as he unsheathes the Sacrament, "And here was me thinking I wouldn't have to fight…" Sparda sighed as he dodged yet another laser shot and hacked off the eye slot off of another Dalek: rendering it blind before running down the abandoned streets of the 'Doctor's' London.
After avoiding another dozen Daleks; The Phoenix found himself in a familiar square: outside Rose's flat.
"Ok. Now to get to 2005...New Years Day…" Sparda sheathed the Sacrament then crouched down, once again feeling the strain of using so much energy in such short time before shaking it off and reversing the flow of time. Within moments the Daleks and the twenty six other planets in the sky were gone, people passed by in reverse as time was reversing until the Snow of New Years Day of 2005 began and then he refocused the Flow of Time.
"Here at last Doctor…" Sparda smiled weakly as he sat on a balcony waiting for the TARDIS to emerge; exhausted from the lack of energy and his body' strain to maintain it. Sparda's ears caught the sound of the TARDIS's engine roar though out the square as a dying Doctor emerged from it, for one last visit. One last visit for who was yet to meet him, and yet he had grown to love her so much in the past.
"It was such a shame you two had to go your separate ways" Sparda thought "I watched you two grow close and a load of fans were sad to see you be divided. Now Im watching you two: one of you oblivious to the other and the other knowing that you will be known and loved, I see how amazing life can be, not just in the cosmos I was born in but yours too…" Sparda's attention was drawn as Rose disappeared into the flat and The Doctor fell to the frozen ground: the radiation from the Isolation Chamber used to power the Immortality Gate was causing his entire body to die.
"Doctor!" Sparda yelled as he leaps down just as Ood Sigma appeared beside the TARDIS
"We will sing to you Doctor" Ood Sigma spoke using the mechanical device connected under his tentacled mandible. "The Universe will sing you to your sleep" The Doctor using all his remaining strength struggled to get up and was just about to collapse again until The Phoenix caught him and lifted one arm over his shoulder.
"I'll help you."
"Who…are…you?" The Doctor managed to speak but with great difficulty due to the Regeneration beginning to start up inside his body. Sparda just smiled.
"Just call me The Stranger, just a friend". Just as The Doctor opened the TARDIS door Ood Sigma Spoke once more "This song is ending, but the story never ends."
Sparda nodded to the Ood who nodded back: having read The Phoenix's mind.
As The Doctor struggled on the control panel, the TARDIS left the Earth's Orbit. In minutes his hand began glowing in the light of regeneration, he looked at it with such sadness and contempt. Sparda just leaned against one of the railings feeling really bad for him having to feel the cold grasp of death.
"…. I don't wanna go!" The Doctor cried in despair as the regeneration reaches its eruption and his breath sped up and deepen the energy within him finally explode causing many parts of the TARDIS to set on fire."Then… I WONT MAKE YOU!" Sparda roared as he threw his arms out wide and morphed into his Phoenix form with complete disregard to the agony it caused him, within seconds all the Regeneration Energy suddenly started being channelled directly into Sparda himself; through his eyes, through his exposed cloven hands and feet, his two pairs of wings as the Regeneration of the Time Lord continued to change his shape.
"As I took in the Regeneration Energy of the Tenth Doctor I felt the magnitude of power emanating from it as I had when I defeated Orion and Darius, the pain was boundless, the strain was agonising, all of the knowledge, all of the pain and the hurt, his joy's and his happiness, everything he thought that he had felt, everything that was him flooded my thoughts with every passing second. And it was murderous to endure…"
The Regeneration began receding and the Eleventh incarnation of The Doctor emerged with a scream, just as the last of the regeneration energy was absorbed into the Phoenix's body and as it was all taken in Sparda could feel the absolute strain of holding in such a powerful consciousness. As the new Doctor began checking to see if his regeneration was a success the Phoenix lunged for the TARDIS door, flung it open and threw himself out into the vacuum of space as the TARDIS itself and The Doctor hurtled towards the Earth below.
"Now…to…get….baaaack…" Sparda thought aloud and took out the broken Dimension Jump Device and with a few crossing of exposed wire made it functional.
"GERONIMOOOO!" The Eleventh Doctor yelled in a tone that made it look like he was enjoying himself in a TARDIS speeding towards Earth just as Sparda pressed down on the device and disappeared from space.
"Now we have confirmed the TARDIS can function, we just have to get it to do so effectively and risk freely" Captain Erisa Magambo spoke into a radio just as a UNIT Soldier ran over to her
"Ma'am the unidentified being has reinvaded the base, only this time he looks…" the Soldier paused
"Looks what Sergeant?" Magambo responded coldly
"Well different…" the Soldier spluttered in frustration as a brigade of soldiers rushed in formation towards the morgue where the body of the deceased doctor lay only recently being brought in due to the chaos on the roads.
"What do you think you're doing?" a UNIT Anatomist yelled as The Phoenix picked up the body of The Doctor while surrounded by armed soldiers.
"I'm taking… The… Doctor" Sparda replied trying to hide the pain of all the energy "If you wanna…. stop me, get em… to shoot… me" with that he began walking out of the morgue and towards the opened TARDIS a few floors below, taking only a few seconds as he blasts a hole through the middle of the floor with a shot of raw energy.
"You're mad, completely mad…" Magambo smirked as she noticed the look in Sparda's eyes: that of The Doctors.
"Oh yes, that's why… its gotta work!" Sparda grinned and winked as he kicked out all of the loose cables that UNIT had connected with the TARDIS before waltzing in, closing the doors and leaning the body of the Time Lord against the control panel.
"Hope…this works…." Sparda winced as he began channelling the Regeneration Energy into the palm of his hands before pressing it against the chest of the Doctor's body. The sudden relief of the energy's absence knocked the Phoenix on his back. For a few brief moments nothing happened then all of a sudden The Doctor's arms spreaded downward as he stood as the Regeneration Energy restored his body without changing his form or persona. As the energy died out Sparda felt his eyes water but fought hard to prevent The Tear.
"Mmmm that… I don't wanna deal with again…" The Doctor groaned with a sigh of relief. "You…? You saved me? But…how can that be…?"
"Doesn't matter, Time Lord. There is much for you to do: even one universe cannot be without its Doctor in it. I've seen its future when you aren't there. People die, and misery sets in…ugh…." The Phoenix keels over as blood drips from his nose and mouth.
"What!" The Doctor padded himself over looking for his Sonic Screwdriver, only to have it chucked over to him by the Phoenix coughing up more blood.
"Get us. Into. Space. DEEP Space…please…" Sparda coughed. The Doctor looking at the one who had saved his life with a frown flipped a few buttons on the Control Panel and the TARDIS came alive as if it had only been made yesterday. Within moments the only thing surrounding the TARDIS was complete nothingness, a point in the Galaxy where there was nothing for light years.
"We're here."
"Thanks Doctor…" Sparda panted as he swallowed hard, his eyes watered with The Tear but being held back. "Time for me… to go…"
"You cant survive the vacuum of space, its suicide!" The Doctor exclaimed as Sparda headed towards the door.
"Time Lord, I have my reasons, just as I did bringing you back. YOUR fate here is the important thing, not mine." Sparda smiled "Thank Donna Noble" Even though she was being used by the Trickster Brigade, she created a whole universe with just a thought, a moment of decisiveness. I know why you love them so." The Doctor frowned with a slight smile "They're absolutely fantastic at creating, even when they're not aware of it!" Sparda then opened the door and looked back. "Just a heads up: Martha Jones, Judoon. Space Cruise Titanic. All that stuff you did before you and Rose parted: Meh where's the fun in knowing everything eh?"
Sparda flung himself from the TARDIS as it spiralled off into the darkness of Space and into the flow of time with its traditional engine roar.
"Music to my ears Doctor" Sparda smirked just as The Tear fell. And his body began to combust. "….This ones gonna hurt… this had BETTER be worth it…Time.. To REBIRTH!" Sparda spread out his arms, legs, and wings wide just as his body exploded in flames in a supernova like display, filling every darkened part of space with light as his soul freed itself in all its majesty; spreading its wings and filling the vacuum with the call only that a phoenix can give. Before long using the ashes surrounding him Sparda emerges from his soul flames in a fresh new body.
"Well. That was an interesting one! Wonder how he's gonna cope with the changes this universe…" Sparda laughed off how not holding back the amount of energy from his rebirth gave him no pain as he checked himself over. Now where do I wanna go next….?" as he willed himself into the Passageway of the Cosmos.
The End
At LONG last! I completed an actual fanfic! Lol. This ones a Non-cannon fanfic to my saga: A Genesis And A Revelation. So there are a few terms such as Rebirth, Mind Merge and Flow of Time that will go without being misunderstood. This is because they're canonical to the AGAAR series that WILL be explained the moment I actually get to finish it.
I apologise to all who still read my works who have been waiting for updates, work makes it difficult to write in succession. Even though this was a completely separate piece I consider it a miniseries for after the trilogy ends.
Also as a Disclaimer I own NONE of the Rights to Dr Who or its characters. Those who plan to sue: read this sentence first!
Hope to catch all you guys soon! Read and Review! ^-^
Phoenix Helix
"Invoking the Flames Within since 1988!"