Today isn't One of those Days
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In memory of 9/11/01. We will never forget.
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"Everybody knows that everybody dies
And nobody knows it like him.
I think all the lights would go out of the skies
If he ever gave up trying."
-Traveling Man by Chameleon Circuit.
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The TARDIS landed on the roof of a building in New York and the Doctor stepped out, hugging his brightly-colored coat to himself. He didn't care what building he was on. He could see, and that was what mattered.
"Peri?" he called inside. "Are you coming?" Peri Brown, his companion, appeared at the door.
"Coming, Doc," she said. "What's going on, anyway? You've been grumpy for days!" The Doctor scowled. He wouldn't have brought her here if he hadn't already seen himself here. With her.
"This is New York City, Peri," he said. "Today is September eleventh, two-thousand and one by your calendar. This is indubitably one of the worst days in the history of your country." Peri stepped back, shocked.
"What's that, Doctor?" she asked.
"The day the World Trade Center, the twin towers, fell." Peri was aghast.
"Fell? How? Aren't you going to stop it?" The Doctor sighed. How to explain?
"It's too late, my dear. Look." They turned around, just in time to see a plane crash into the North tower.
"God, why?" Peri asked. But no voice came from above. Rather it was the Doctor that placed his arms around her and spoke in his softest voice.
"Why? I don't know. It is one thing that I may never know. What could inspire such cruel rage? Such reckless hate?" Peri stepped away from him.
"You could have stopped it," she said flatly. "Why didn't you?" The Doctor sighed and lowered his head.
"I'm sorry, my dear. It was a fixed point. This day, this nine-eleven, can never be rewritten. Not one line. And I am trying to help!"
"How? You're just standing there!"
"But I was inside! And I am inside! And I will be inside! Almost every version of me, past and future, is in there. Helping! But look." He led Peri over to the edge of the roof and pointed to the firefighters and policemen desperately working to get people out before the buildings collapsed. "My actions will always pale in comparison to the actions of those ordinary, incredible men and women, working to save more people than I ever could." Watching the fires, Peri was on the verge of tears.
"How many people?" she asked. The Doctor looked at her quizzically and she asked again. "How many people die, Doctor?" The Doctor shook his head.
"Almost three-thousand. Almost three-thousand people who I failed to save. I can never forget this day, Peri." He pointed again to the people below. "They can never forget. And you shouldn't either."
"Why did you bring me here?"
"For two reasons. First, because I saw this self here with you, and second, because I wanted you to know this. Humanity will move on from this, as they have from so many other things. This act inspires your country. In a few years, there will be a monument here with twin beacons of light reaching to the sky. That is why I love your species, Peri. Because you know how to move on."
As the Doctor was saying this, he and Peri heard the noise of a landing TARDIS behind them. They turned to see a second Police Box materializing next to theirs. The door creaked open and a tall man with curly hair and a long scarf came out, leading a group of civilians. The Doctor looked at the Doctor with big, sad eyes.
"Terrible, isn't it?"
"I know."
As more and more of the TARDIS landed, each with their own Doctor and group of survivors. There was a Doctor in a purple jacket, and one in leather, and one with long, curly hair, and one in a question mark pullover, but they all had the same expression. They were all sad. Sad for the loss of life for those the Doctor failed to save.
As the Doctor spoke to himself about the horrible day, Peri watched as the towers fell. Then she turned, ran into the TARDIS, curled up on her bed, and sobbed.
"Why?"
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AN: I was reluctant to do this, but I believe it turned out well. Not too poignant, but six isn't the most poignant Doctor.
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.