4.1. Leaving The Nest.

A second would have been all it took.

With a pull of the trigger, the man the world knew as Harold Saxon, Prime Minister, would be dead to the people he presided over. With a lunatic's smile, he egged on Francine Jones, the mother of the planet's saviour – Martha Jones.

"Do it." He taunted her, teasing not so much in the knowledge that, as a Time Lord, he could easily regenerate, but because he knew that Francine simply didn't have it in her. What did a divorced mother of three from London know of death? What did any human know of the chaos caused by acting in a second to take a life, or the lives of millions? His eyes burning with hate and his head pounding in a march, Harold Saxon stared into Francine's mind and saw humanity in all its weakness. He had them as slaves, puppets, pawns – The engineers of his new Time Lord empire. He had conquest and power within his grasp! Harold Saxon was the lord and master of all.

And the Master he always was. It was him all along. Nobody would stop him this time.

As he watched the barrel of the gun lower, his grin became a sneer as the weeping, defeated, divorced mother of three from London was comforted by a man who knew all about chaos. About death. About murder. Nobody would have stopped him, because nobody understood him. Nobody understood the rage, the regret and the loneliness of survival, other than those strong enough to go on living.

At the end of time itself, the Master was the one who lived. But from the ashes of the devastation, the Doctor survived.

'Sod's law.' The Master chuckled to himself as the Doctor led him into the TARDIS, still stuck as an ancient police box after all these years. Relieved to be out of handcuffs, the Master turned to familiarise himself with the console, only to have his hands slapped away.

"Don't even think about it." The Doctor commanded, calmly plotting the course for his ship's descent back to Earth, following UNIT's rescue fleet, who had picked up his friends from the Valiant. After asking Martha Jones to spend a year wandering the globe telling stories, he could not wish for her to continue putting her own dreams on hold. She was an aspiring doctor herself and with the planet Earth recently becoming a hot-spot for extra-terrestrial attacks, the Doctor knew that the world could use as many Martha Joneses as possible. The rest of the Jones family didn't need, nor ask, to be dragged into the Master's scheme and they deserved another chance to enjoy life. As for Captain Jack Harkness...

For a few moments, the Doctor paused in thought. It wasn't as though Jack wasn't welcome to join him in the TARDIS, as two more eyes on the Master would be fantastic. But before the Utopia hubbub, the only other time Jack was a member of the crew was when Rose was still here. And it would just be... awkward. Laughing at himself, the Doctor shook his head and cast away past regrets from his mind for the time being and focused on his new 'companion', for want of a much, much better term.

"You're going to need me for more than a pet, you know." The Master scolded the Doctor, pointing at him from across the console.

"You're absolutely right," the Doctor beamed back with a nod to the floor, "pass me that toolbox by your foot please."

His initially optimistic expression turning to a grimace, the Master lifted up the tin toolbox and began thumbing through it.

"What do you need, the hammer or the Paltimuud thermometer? The ball of wool or the 25-year-old bag of Jelly Babies?"

"What I wanted was the toolbox. I didn't ask you to go looking through it."

"Well I figured whilst I'm on board, I'd streamline your little operation. It'd be more efficient if you told me what it was exactly that you wanted, I'd then look in your toolbox and I'd pass it to you."

"Right then, pass me a red 'Happy Birthday' balloon and then efficiently close my toolbox and help me streamline my little operation by keeping a lid on that trap of yours whilst I concentrate, got it?"

Rolling his eyes, the Master stretched the balloon and as soon as the Doctor wasn't looking, shot it directly at his ear. Clenching his teeth and breathing in sharply, he looked back up at the Master standing in the centre of the massive and otherwise-empty TARDIS console room.

"Wasn't me." The Master told him, shrugging his shoulders and whistling. A second was all it took for the balloon to strike him and for a new regret to eat away at the Doctor's all-too-kind conscience.

-

"Best deals, brand new!"

"The Big Issue!"

"Jesus loves you!"

One-by-one, street vendors stopped Sally Sparrow during her walk to Tottenham Court Road station. She took a knock-off designer scarf that was far too long, a charity magazine and a pamphlet on Christianity.

Sally didn't believe in God, but she wanted to believe in a Heaven more than ever nowadays. She never purchased a copy of 'The Big Issue' before now, but the homeless needed a reason to believe in the kindness of strangers in times like these. And she didn't like to buy from bootleggers, but she was only earning so much by working in her boyfriend's video and DVD shop.

'Ex-boyfriend damn it Sally Sparrow!' She chastised herself as she passed through the ticket barrier. There wasn't anything particularly wrong with Larry. He was always nice and... well, he was nice. And nice men are rare nowadays. So yes, Larry was nice, but there was only so much she could take of going to the cinema together, only for him to spoil the ending for her halfway through. Then, it was never enough that they watched the film on DVD with Larry's own armchair commentary on the plot holes, the deleted scenes and the bloopers, but she had to watch the film again the next night with the DVD commentary. Here, the actors and directors basically pat themselves on the back for all they'd accomplished and how great their work was, bragging to their audience, so many people who hadn't accomplished all that they had.

Okay, so there were some things wrong with Larry, but Sally reminded herself that deep down, it wasn't him. It was her. And that wasn't just a cliché – Sally Sparrow had her own eccentricities.

"Mind the gap. Mind the gap. Mind the gap."

Since the day when angels whisked her best friend away to 1920, Sally Sparrow had started to grow increasingly wary of the ever-expanding world around her. It was as though the 21st century had finally arrived, but the human race wasn't ready. What do you expect? How do you prepare for demon statues, or a world where the Prime Minister orders a floating alien ball to shoot the U.S. President?

Or even time travel? Where would Sally start understanding the science of so much science fiction? Where did the phone box come from and where did it go? And most curious to her – Where in the worlds is the Doctor? Finding the answers to these questions was her new ambition, but they were out of her reach. When Harold Saxon disappeared, so did the Doctor and nothing on Earth could find him again.

There were groups, practically fan clubs of the Doctor, scattered throughout the world. Over Christmas, Sally took a flight to San Francisco and met other people with tales to tell. They stood around a fire under a highway bridge in the bitter December cold and shared stories throughout the night. Stories of aliens building the Empire State Building, the Yeti in the London Underground and the subliminal messages in the new Hollywood action flick, 'Bad Wolf'. Sally told them about the Weeping Angels, her DVD collection and a phone box that's bigger on the inside than the outside, but that was nothing new. Regardless, they listened and like her, they wanted to believe in a man who can change his face, travel through time and saves people from alien conquest, as stupid as it sounded. It was what the world needed right now though, someone to believe in.

And this was Sally Sparrow's life now, a sudden extension on her own reality full of adventure, danger and the unknown. She wanted to learn more about the universe and she would give anything to explore it. Unfortunately, the Tube would only take her as far as Edgware. Hardly Spiridon, Mondas or Rax...

"Raxa... Raxacoric..." Sally muttered to herself as she shuffled through her coat pockets for her notebook.

"Mind the gap. Mind the gap. Mind the gap."

Sally was so engrossed in her thoughts and theories that she didn't notice the track beneath the train flash with a radiant blue light for a second, leaving a gaseous aura that seemed oddly attracted to her. As the train jolted to start the few minutes' journey home, whispers from invisible lips tried to become screams beneath Sally Sparrow's feet. From the bottom of the dark chasm over the edge of the platform, they desperately tried to call out to her. Their efforts were futile – The darkness was restraining their reaches and throttling their cries. The train shot through the tunnel and briefly, there was a howl and then silence, save for the slow footsteps of a white-cloaked figure on the platform.

-

USERNAME: angelshavethebox

PASSWORD: --

POST TITLE: Ghosts in the mirror?

Hey,

Long-time lurker, first-time poster.

My name's Larry and i live in London with my ex (dontevenblink on these forums before she got banned). I figured you would be the best ppl to ask about this. There's not really anyone else i can talk to about it, cos... well... i don't leave my room anymore. I keep sat in the corner at my desk with my laptop cos this way they can't watch me. I mean i have my back to the mirror lol.

Ever since Harold Saxon and the Doctor left earth, i keep seeing ppl in my bedroom mirror. It sounds stupid i know, but this is the TRUTH! Its always the same ppl and they're in pain, some even dead ('I see dead people' ROFL :D ) But seriously, it's creeping me way out. And they look at me all the time. AND I can HEAR them! Kids crying, evil laughs and then, theres the Doctor. He's never hurt by the looks of things but he keeps knocking on the other side of my mirror and he's waving and calling but he's the one guy i can never hear! But he's so calm. When the visions of the tortured ppl vanish, he's standing there looking like he means business. As though, he's gonna save them and then he just starts trying to get some attention.

I dunno though, i know what dontevenblink would do if she knew. I dont think she can hear them. I keep the door locked when she's here and i don't tell her about this. She can't see this rite? Can any of you guys help me? THIS IS NOT A J/K AND I AM NOT A TROLL!!11 PLZ HELP ME!!

Thanx

angelshavethebox

Larry Nightingale clicked the 'Submit' button. He felt relieved, but his throat clenched up before he could let out a breath. His eyes were strained from insomnia and his palms were clammy from the humidity of his boarded-up bedroom. His shirt was drenched, reeking of sweat and sauces. The wood over the windows had been there since Christmas. Whilst Sally had been away in San Francisco, he managed to have his first conversation with one of the people in the mirror. She told Larry that her name used to be Emma, but now, nobody had names.

"Why would we have names now?" Emma asked him, full of innocence, "people stopped looking for us a long time ago."

"But what about him?" Larry questioned, crawling quickly towards her from his 'safe place', "what about the Doctor? He can help you, save you, what about him?"

"Oh, he's sorry, he's so sorry."

Suddenly, Larry's senses went into a psychotic rampage. Nightmarish visions flashed in the mirror right before his eyes. He watched a tall, slender figure clad in perfect white stand over Emma from behind, expressionless. Tears burst from Larry's eyes as he struggled backwards. He could hear Emma choke and sob, but that was shortly drowned out by a drumming. Over and over again in his head. The same beat. It raced faster still as Larry begged someone to help Emma before there was a shriek and the glass windows exploded into a thousand shards. Each one seemed to hang in the balance for a moment, before falling to the ground so ungracefully. Larry rolled onto his back and stared up at the spinning ceiling, choking with every breath on his own spit.

The entire episode was over in seconds, but it had haunted Larry ever since. Those moments spent watching and listening to the suffering of others were all that Larry could think about. It was his unwanted obsession. And the strangest part of it all?He didn't save them. This experience proved to Larry that Sally's fixation with the Doctor was a lie. He was no saviour.

The sound of drums. He could hear them again, like a command. Smash it! It told him. Smash the mirror and kill the galaxy's false idol. Larry had heard these instructions before, but he was superstitious enough. Seven. That's what they say, seven years bad luck. Were these the only paths his life could take? A life spent living in fear of the ghosts in his bedroom mirror, or seven years bad luck? In a trance, Larry staggered towards the mirror and glared into it. Seven years bad luck? If he allowed the Doctor to escape, would he and Sally even live to see seven years?

Running a finger around her teacup, Sally listened at the door of Larry's bedroom, unsure of what to say or do anymore. It was the middle of the night and she had been woken up by the sound of sobbing through her bedroom wall. The sobbing had halted, but it's not always the crying that keeps her up at night. Sally had kept a diary of all the recent happenings in Larry's bedroom and his behaviour was like nothing she had experienced before. On Monday, he was wailing like a beaten animal, whilst on Tuesday it sounded as though he was throwing his own body to the floor. Wednesday, he was laughing and Thursday, he started scratching meaningless words and strange symbols into his bedroom window. 'Whitecoats', 'M is for hiM', 'Watch your step'... None of it made sense. There wasn't much that scared Sally Sparrow nowadays, but Larry was the stuff of nightmares and however cruel it sounded, she felt compelled to keep him under lock and key. It wasn't as though Larry ever left his bedroom anyway, so she reassured herself that this must be what he wants. Each night, in the few hours when he was asleep, Sally would sneak food, drink and a DVD from the local rental shop into his room. She waited patiently in the hope that Larry would cry himself to sleep, but it never seemed to end. Letting out a slightly frustrated sigh, Sally gingerly tapped on the door.

"L... Larry?" She stammered, "it's me... Do you want some water?"

Larry continued weeping, now groaning as Sally could hear him writhe and squirm on the carpet. Inside, he gripped a piece of scrap paper and a marker pen, and began scribbling in a daze.

"Larry? If you're awake... Please..." Sally struggled with her words, "just let me come in."

Sally unlocked the door with trepidation and opened it a jar. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Larry's eyes, glowing like a cat's in the darkness. She gasped for a second and within that moment, she watched as Larry's body was catapulted across the room and into the door, slamming it in her face! The teacup smashed on the floor and Sally fell backwards, grasping the banister for support. Shaken, her eyes weren't sure where to look. How did Larry do that?

Did Larry do that? Sally felt nauseous with fear, her fingers crawled through the carpet, dragging her backwards and away from Larry's bedroom door, her only barrier between whatever now dwells in there with him

Suddenly, a sheet of slightly crumpled paper was slipped from under the door. 'Get a grip Sally!' she told herself as she slowly crawled over to pick up the note and then immediately jumped back and into the bathroom opposite. She only needed to look at the paper for a few moments to recognise it as nothing more than another of Larry's little nuggets of nonsense. Holding her left temple, Sally ran her other hand through her messy, greasy hair and noticed something peculiar in the mirror. In her hand was the note and on the note was written...

'Sally Sparrow'.

Sally covered her lips with her free hand as she continued reading.

'Dear Sally Sparrow,

Find Harold Saxon. Open the door and mind the gap.

Love from,

The Doctor.

P.S. P.T.O... --'

Sally turned the paper over and found a familiar warning.

'... DUCK!'

She didn't need to be told twice this time and fell to her knees as something shot over her head, hit the bathroom mirror, shattering the image of another white-cloaked visage, and landed in the sink. Sally caught her breath as she knew there was only one direction that the object could've been fired from. Slowly, she began to turn her head before spinning round, pleasantly surprised to be faced with an old friend she'd not seen in a while.

"... Got any biscuits left?" Larry asked her, dishevelled and covered in bruises. Sally could only managed a relieved, yet utterly confused, laugh as she staggered back to her feet. Guided by the wall, Larry dashed over to help her up to the sink. Sally looked down to see an airless red balloon circling the plug hole and picked it up.

"Where did this come from?" She asked as Larry scratched away at his beard, now much bushier since before his self-imposed isolation.

"The Doctor gave it to me, he said to-" Larry was cut off by a loud 'what?' from Sally and realised that he'd probably have a lot of explaining to do. Only he wasn't the best man to do it.

And at that moment, a unique, yet immediately recognisable, sound could be heard emanating from the back garden, followed by a very loud crashing noise.

'He's here!' Sally realised with a smile before dashing down the stairs to the back door. Larry followed; confused, but thankful that he didn't need to take Sally to the mirror.

"That," the Doctor began, scratching the back of his head with eyebrows raised, "that is a really... really..."

He found himself trying to describe what he was faced with in more abstract terms. Not only was such behaviour in his own nature, but it was the nature of any Time Lord. Arrogance, pomposity and intellectualism; all hallmarks of his race and although they were gone, he couldn't shake off some elements of their shared mentality. Whenever faced with something, it was a necessity to explain it in the most complex terms, and the faster he could do so the better. However when faced with something that was so figuratively and literally concrete, the Doctor found himself at a loss for those synonyms and run-on sentences he loved so much.

-

"That... really is a big... brick... wall." He observed, squinting up to the heavens. The wall seemed to reach heights unprecedented for the construction skills of any race in the universe. He rapped his knuckles on it and tried to feel around for some kind of hidden door. It was a bit of trite hypothesis, but as he looked in all directions, there was no other way of getting around the wall.

The only exit, it would seem, was behind him. The stench that lingered in the air was nauseating and it grew in intensity the closer he walked towards the glass. At least it appeared to be glass. The Doctor could see, and smell, right through the glass into Larry Nightingale's bedroom, but he had left, hopefully with the note. The Doctor couldn't help but smirk at his own ingenuity, writing the note for Sally on the moisture his breath left on the glass. He went to breathe on the glass again, but this time, it caused a ripple.

"Ohhh," the Doctor exclaimed in awe, "not seen this for a long time."

He swirled his finger around the glass briefly, causing more ripples before he went to push his arm through.

"Don't!" Came a cry, which immediately startled the Doctor. He spun around to see Emma running up to him, wrapping her chubby arms around his leg and tugging as tightly as she could. "You can't go through! You can't fly!" Humouring the small girl, the Doctor crouched down to her height and ruffled her hair.

"Maybe I can?" He said with a grin, "or maybe I won't need to?" The Doctor secretly thought himself as a bit of a maverick, or even a dare-devil. If he didn't focus on that 1 of hope, the silver lining that may just be invisible to the naked eye, or simply the most hare-brained schemes his mind could concoct, he probably wouldn't have lived for over 900 years! Granted, over 900 years and 10 incarnations, he had never attempted to flap his arms and successfully fly either, but there was a first time for everything, even a Time Lord. And with that, the Doctor darted through the glass.

"Woah!"

The second he slipped through the glass, the Doctor flung his arms back through to the other side. A gust of gale force winds hit him like a bullet through the darkness. Dirt and dust shot up his nose and down his throat and there was a familiar piercing scream racing through his brain. He was sent hurtling back through the glass and slided across the mist-covered floor. Coughing and spluttering, the Doctor staggered back to his feet and dusted down his jacket.

"Okay... So thinking happy thoughts doesn't quite work out here..."

"I told you!" Emma protested, "higher than the wall, faster than the wind and beyond the screams!"

"It's like I'm being dared to try leaving, whatever this place is," the Doctor began to think at a rapid pace, "it wants me to try running. Something tells me I was never expected here, much less wanted. And because I'm here, this place is falling apart at the seams. It wants to keep people away on one side, and it wants me to join them but if I try..."

"You're something different, something new." Emma muttered, with a childish curiosity.

"It's more than that," the Doctor told her, "I'm the last of my kind and it knows that. To this place, I shouldn't exist anywhere. Nobody survived the war and I should be dead."

"Oh, cry me a river!"

The Master stood on the other side of the glass in Larry Nightingale's bedroom, staring across at the Doctor and Emma with a mocking look of false sadness.

"Honestly, I thought the universe wasn't big enough for your ego, but then I send you into the gap and I figured, 'hmm, an empty space between order and chaos that goes on and on and on, surely he can find the time to get over himself?'"

"The gap? You mean-? How in the world did you-? What about-?" The Doctor stammered before slapping his forehead out of frustration, "the gap should only ever open up if the cosmos was so unbalanced that it couldn't support itself. It was sealed in the Time War! You were the one..."

"I was the one who sealed it." The Master finished the sentence, "Gallifrey's last dark secret, at the very root of the Untempered Schism. It was time-locked separately at the moment between the declaration of war and the moment the first shot was fired. A reality checkpoint in a sense. This way, the High Council was naïve enough to think that no matter who won or lost, they could just reset the entire time line of the universe to this point."

"But that's absurd!" The Doctor retorted.

"And yet, doesn't sound a little familiar?"

This couldn't be denied. The destruction of the paradox machine and the undoing of the Master's empire... Absurd or not, it had already happened; time had been reversed. Rubbing his eyes, he still felt like he was missing something.

"So what happened?" The Doctor still didn't quite understand the connection, "the paradox machine was destroyed and time reversed itself. Simple as."

"Exactly! Right to the point when the first shot was fired and the President's body hit the floor." The Master recollected, "the paradox machine was preset to keep that moment in mind. I'd planned the President's death from the moment I built it and do you really think I'd be so inept that I'd carry out this plan without an insurance policy?"

"But that doesn't change the most dangerous part!" The Doctor barked, getting as close to the Master's face as he could without falling through the glass again, "the universe needs to be out of balance for the gap to open! The universe will collapse and you should know more than anyone what happens to anyone who looks directly into the gap from the outside!"

"The entire universe, driven mad. Every creature of every species would go insane. They would all march to the drums Doctor, and nobody would be there to save them from themselves."

"Just use some common sense! You need bring the TARDIS here so we can seal the gap up again! It's not like back on Gallifrey, we could control it then, but now we only have one chance."

"So basically..." The Master began with a wry chuckle, "I now have you trapped in a state of perpetual flux forever, the universe is falling apart, I have your TARDIS to escape in and..."

"Okay, okay, no, you're absolutely right! Again!" The Doctor interrupted, "I mean, as far as evil plots go, letting an entire universe fall right on top of me is quite high up there in terms of effectiveness. You know all about the gap then?"

"Absitively posolutely!" The Master winked with brash confidence.

"You've read the manual?"

"Might as well written it!"

"So you know everything," the Doctor asked, a slightly taunting tone in his voice, "inside and out?"

"... Yes, I sealed the thing, didn't I?"

" And you're sure you know everything?"

"Yes, everything!" The Master yelled, visibly frustrated.

"Alright then." The Doctor said with a shrug and a smile before sitting cross-legged in front of the mirror.

"All... right?"

"Mmm," the Doctor nodded, grinning, "A universe without me and, well, anything really! Hope you have a blast!"

Bemused, the Master just held up his arms and walked away from the mirror.

"Whatever." He snorted, as he disappeared from sight. The Doctor gave a wave as he let himself fall onto his back. For all the chaos that was no doubt happening outside the gap, it was incredibly peaceful here and the Doctor felt that he may as well enjoy it whilst he could. He then turned back to Emma, only to find her doll on the spot where she once stood. For all the peace that resounded through the gap, the Doctor could suddenly sense the shadow of chaos looming over his head. Oddly enough, he found himself hoping it was just the prospect of an entire solar system raining down on him and not something even more than that. He had a sore enough headache as it is.

-

Despite its very human (if old-fashioned) exterior, the TARDIS never failed to look out of place. Crash landing on top of the garden shed and rendering it in pieces, the big blue box seemed to radiate the silence of London in the night. Nothing and nobody was stirring, least of all Sally, who stood in awe of the time machine, despite already seeing it once before.

Larry was somewhat less composed.

"I had all my stuff in that shed!" He lamented, "I kept everything in there!"

"You mean, you kept some DVDs in the shed?" Sally deducted with a wry smile.

"DVDs, video tapes, Betamax, the lot and now..."

"Larry, don't you get it?" Sally dashed in front of him, almost jubilant, "the Doctor's come back!"

"How is that good, Sally?" Larry shouted back at her, "the Doctor would only ever come back here if there was something wrong! Can't you see that? We're in trouble because the Doctor's here! We need to get away!"

"Did you ever stop to think that that's why he's here? To take us away?" Sally took her arms away from Larry's grip, "maybe you're happy to live in a world where the next media gadget thing is all that matters, but the past is still alive somewhere out there. Up there, there's stars and planets and new life. Somewhere Larry, the future has already happened. And I want to see it!"

"You mean, you want to see the future," Larry uttered, in a melodramatic moment of moodiness, "with him."

Sally rubbed her eyes with her palms. What could she say to that? Larry was being so petty in his views. She had experienced a taste of adventure and had seen an alien form of life, but it wasn't enough. She'd spoken with people who remembered an extraterrestrial infestation of Britain at the time of the coronation. She'd listened with intrigue and wonder to stories of giant insects in space, an intelligent race living beneath the sea, and even dinosaurs coming back to life. Some people even had verifiable proof of parallel universes! Betamax? Who needs Betamax in 2007? With the Doctor, Sally could go back to when it was new! As she watched Larry sulkily shuffle his feet and stare at the grass, Sally knew that he had to finally tell him how she felt and that it was time for them both to move on. She'd been patient with him and his behaviour, but he needed help that she could provide, and she just wanted to get away.

"Larry, I-"

Sally was interrupted by the slamming of the back door. As they were lost for words at the sight of Harold Saxon walking towards them, the Master was equally taken aback by two people standing between him and the TARDIS. Only for so long though, as he pulled out his laser screwdriver and ordered Sally and Larry to raise their arms. 'Such weak resistance,' the Master said to himself, 'this will be easier than I thought.'

-

"I'm the Doctor, and who might you be?"

The doll stared vacantly back at the Doctor with vapid eyes and a pouting smile. Clad in Victorian clothing, its lack of response didn't really come as a surprise but as he sat and waited for the universe to fall into the chasm of this gap in time, the Doctor found himself eager for some kind of company.

"Victoria. How about that, eh?" He chuckled to himself, "be a doll and help me out here, would you?"

Pulling out his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor focused it at the doll and watched in amazement as it began to delicately break away into pieces until only the head was left.

"Oh, that is brilliant!" He observed with wonder as he knelt down and picked up the skull in one hand. The left eye whirred and clicked in the same fashion as a camera, enticing the Doctor's curiosity further, "I wonder why it's always the head that's left?"

"You were new," Emma announced from behind the Doctor, "we had to keep an eye on you."

"You're a couple of years too late," the Doctor replied, standing up, "I've already had everything from living plastic to possessed children come after me and I'm still here to talk about it. So unless you're going to show me something new, just let me go and stop wasting my time because from what I've heard, I'm quickly running out of it!"

"How long?" Emma spoke, her voice becoming croakier and deeper by the second, "how long has it been since you saw a universe die before your very eyes?"

"Tell me who you are." The Doctor challenged Emma, gritting his teeth. Emma leaned her head back and stared upwards. The Doctor did the same and watched all the planets of the solar system gather above their heads. The liquid sky began to ripple and gurgle fiercely.

"This is the highest science, the end of the universe." Emma observed as her eyes began to glow brightly. Nonchalant, the Doctor shrugged his shoulders.

"Well," he began, "I'd agree with you on the highest science stuff, but if the universe is coming to an end, what's the point in keeping me alive?"

"You were new." Emma repeated, as the sky resisted the planets plunging into the gap.

"Or was I just unexpected?" The Doctor queried.

"We had to keep an eye on you." Emma reiterated, stationary in her stance.

"Because you know who I am. You know that a Time Lord can seal this place up again. You know that I can stop you."

Emma simply stared at the Doctor, cold and vacant. Narrowing his eyes, The Doctor couldn't believe what his instincts were telling him.

"You... want me to stop you. Is that why I'm here? Is that why you kept me alive?"

"This is our first test," Emma announced in a mechanical voice as drops of water and dust from the sky began to rain down on her and the Doctor, "we need to know who you really are."

-

"Who are you, really?" Sally asked, her voice full of surprising defiance, "is this what politicians stoop to after murder? Petty breaking and entering?"

Laughing to himself, the Master pressed the laser screwdriver against Sally's forehead as hard as he could and watched the confidence fall from her face. He glared over her and grinded the tip of the weapon against her forehead, eager to see how long the cat would hold her tongue. It would be such a shame if she were to die from holding her breath before he had a chance to strangle it out of her, but with the Doctor out of the picture, the entire planet was a slaughterhouse under the Master's control.

"L... Leave... Leave h... her..." Larry stammered, sweat dripping from his brow. The Master simply ignored him and continue to test Sally's spirit.

"Oh, I have a trail of dead behind me that's already long and bloody. Politicians, populations, planets, all reduced to ashes at the heels of my shoes. In fact, right as we speak, this pitiful rock you call home is crumbling and I'm going to watch it with the utmost pride."

"Not if we stop you first!" Sally blurted out, almost immediately kicking herself for being so stupid. The Master moved the screwdriver under her chin and raised her face up to his, giving her the same arrogant, lunatic smile he gave Francine Jones and enticing her with the same challenge.

"Do it! " He taunted, running a hand tenderly through Sally's hair before yanking her head back, the thunder roaring almost as though it was approving, "stop me!"

Screaming out an unintelligible war cry, Larry jumped on the Master and struggled to pry the laser screwdriver from his hand as Sally dashed over to the TARDIS, only to find herself at a loss for what to do.

"Sally!" Larry shouted over, pinning the Master down on the grass, "get the door open!"

Her mind racing, Sally thought back over what the Doctor's note had instructed her to do. Find Harold Saxon? Check. Open the door and mind the gap? Her jaw opened for words that wouldn't come out. The door wouldn't open without the key! Sally tried kicking it and pulling at it to no avail. There was only one key and the Doctor had it, but he was trapped inside the mirror in Larry's bedroom; the same room which suddenly burst with a pulsating blue light, turning the boarded-up window to cinders. A high-pitched screech emanated from the room, but even that wasn't enough to stop Sally from running back inside. By any stretch of the imagination, she knew that running to the light was hardly the most intelligent option, but her imagination had been at breaking point ever since Angels stole her friends, Larry went mad and the Prime Minister taunted her with an over-sized battery. And as Larry turned to watch Sally go, he felt a surge of electric shocks radiate through his body, paralysing every bone and muscle in his body. Adjusting his tie as he watched Larry's limp body hit the ground, the Master got up and blasted the lock on the TARDIS door with the laser screwdriver. The door swung open and he strode inside, stopping only briefly to contemplate bringing Larry along as a hostage before instead deciding that he was worth just as much as a corpse, which the Master decided he would soon become, along with the rest of humanity.

-

Sally could not believe what she was seeing.

Upon opening the door to Larry's room, she could only watch with wide eyes as the neon-lit City of London appeared beneath her feet. The floor of the room had been eroded away to give a bird's eye view of the capital at midnight. Black taxis, red buses and people from all corners of the globe were no bigger than her index finger and in a state of panic as buildings and monuments started to fall apart and the Thames began to boil and flood throughout every district of the city. Too stunned to speak, much less act, she crouched down at the edge of the surreal perspective and held on to the door for dear life. Her eyes tightly shut out of fear, Sally was all too aware that the gap at her feet was gradually increasing in size, tearing apart the room even further.

-

The Doctor could not believe what he was hearing.

The familiar 'vworp vworp' of the TARDIS echoed throughout the gap and no sooner had he turned his attention away from Emma, did his closest companion materialise in front of him. It was a sight and a sound that he had never been happier to hear. That is, until the door swung open, and the Master staggered out, smoke pouring out behind him.

"Tell me," the Doctor began, with a knowing gleam in his eyes, "when you said you knew everything about anything about the gap, did you remember that it swallows up all forms of matter, Type 40 travel machines included?"

"And you didn't warn me about this because... why?" The Master replied, venomously.

"Because I knew you'd need me and I knew you'd bring the TARDIS with you when you did, but more importantly," the Doctor answered, throwing his coat on and tossing the head of Emma's doll back into his hand, "Emma and her friends get to find out just who I really am!"

Hurrying the Master back into the TARDIS and waving to a stoic Emma, the Doctor took a small fire extinguisher to the flames erupting from the console whilst instructing his most unlikely companion yet to hold the broken door in place. Pulling up a nearby panel covered with ancient post-it notes, the Doctor watched as the gap's path of destruction was mapped out before him. It was a complex pattern, but immediately familiar to anyone with experience of travelling through the capital. Emma's masters wanted him to stop them as part of their test and by plotting a course on the complicated, slow and unreliable routes of the London Underground, they had hidden the gap's presence from the human race, yet kept the collapse of time and space moving at a snail's pace to make it easier for the Doctor to follow it. Simple enough, allonsy and all that, but as the Master desperately tried to keep a grip on the TARDIS door, the Doctor couldn't help but wonder why he was just as afraid. Setting the coordinates for the Northern Line, the TARDIS stormed through the glass, the fury of a universe in disarray constantly threatening to break down its walls.

"So... Emma and her comrades. Know them?" The Doctor queried as the console room rumbled and jolted, racing through the deserted London Underground, decaying with the force of the gap.

"Not a clue!" The Master yelled back, "the girl was just there when the gap was opened but by that point, things were going so well I didn't think anything of it! Maybe she's just a lost girl or something?"

Watching the TARDIS escape, the lost girl walked over to the wall, pressed one side of her face against it and whispered to an unseen friend that the Doctor had escaped. As she heard the response to her report, she smiled wickedly and turned to face the heavens again as the planets began to fall faster.

-

As he slowly regained consciousness, Larry awoke to a scene of overwhelming chaos. Frozen with fright, he watched the dark clouds above him swirl around the sky in absolute disharmony whilst thunder and lighting clapped in the distance. More unnerving was the sight of his own home being lifted from its foundations and enveloped by a blue sphere from within. Through the furious storm of bricks and mortar, Larry staggered, screaming out for Sally who he eventually spotted, still clinging onto the door of his bedroom. He tried reaching out to her, but the irresistible force of the sphere was pulling Sally further away. Larry continued trying, until he found himself being pulled into the sphere. He and Sally held onto each other as the light became blinding. He could hear it again, the drumming, the laughter, the voices. Larry watched the Untempered Schism of the time vortex at its most furious. He wanted to turn away, but he couldn't. Once again, he was made to witness the bodies of children bursting into ashes. He watched the oldest race in creation cry and weep in agony as the fire tore through their city. He saw flying saucers explode in their millions and heard the screams of a race furious at their own failure to survive and their determination to go on, beyond death. And then, he watched the footsteps of the last man standing, striding through the ensuing chaos. No remorse on his face. And Larry knew what this man embodied.

Believing to be close to death, Larry made certain his last thought was of Sally and the short time they were together as lovers. Holding her head up to his, he took one more second to remember the scent of her hair, only to find it unfamiliar. The disaster and destruction around them had ruined his last chance to remember the happiest time of his life. If the Doctor had been here, he would've saved them and he would know how good life could be again. But even then, it was their own obsessions with the Doctor that drove them apart. Cursing himself, Larry realised how much time he had wasted watching the Doctor in his mirror, and how the enigmatic time traveller had stolen Sally from him.

'Hate him. I'll never forgive him. I'll never forgive the Doctor! Never!' Larry vowed and with that, through hot tears, he awaited their fate. At that moment however, he watched a darker shade of blue burst through the sphere and strike them down from the grip of fate. Sally and Larry collapsed down onto the grass as the TARDIS spun out of control over their heads and came to a crash landing in front of them! Slowly raising their heads up, they watched the TARDIS door open. Standing over them was the man who Larry looked up at with disdain and who Sally looked up to with admiration. However, both of them would have no qualms admitting that they were relieved when he offered them an outstretched hand and a look of fierce determination.

"Come with me if you want to live."

The pair dashed inside, but quickly stopped dead in their tracks. This was pretty common for the Doctor whenever anyone saw the impossibly vast interior of the deceptively small blue police box for the first time, but this wasn't Sally and Larry's first time. They had already been inside the TARDIS when the Weeping Angels had captured it. As the Doctor looked around as well, he realised that it wasn't the size of the TARDIS that had left them in shock, but the man at the helm.

"Ah," he began, trying to think of the best way to make introductions, "this is-"

"Harold Saxon!" Larry blurted out, taking cautious steps back towards the door, "you're working with him?"

"Excuse me, he's kidnapped me!" The Master shouted back, pointing at the Doctor.

"You killed the President and enslaved the planet!" The Doctor retorted, "I wasn't about to leave you on your own!"

"You turned back time, so it never happened! No harm, no foul!" The Master defended himself, whilst Sally and Larry looked at each other in confusion.

"But you still killed the President and now you're trying to kill everyone else!"

"And I'd be getting away with it too if it wasn't for these meddling-"

"Sally Sparrow!" The Doctor quickly turned his attention away from the Master and stepped over to the girl, who looked almost starstruck, "do you still have that red balloon?"

Eager to help, Sally searched through her coat pockets for the balloon and handed it to the Doctor, who quickly proceeded to blow it up and secure it with a knot.

"Now then... Umm..." The Doctor began and clicked his fingers in the direction of a certain grumpy looking young man in the corner of the room.

"It's Larry." He mumbled in a deadpan voice.

"Oh yes," the Doctor remembered from their meetings via the mirror, "Sparrow and Nightingale, of course! Any chance you could take this balloon and gently place it back in the hole in the floor to your left?"

"Bit beyond me, why don't you do it?" Larry answered back, moping. As the Doctor opened his mouth to reply, Sally butted in.

"Because in order to get the TARDIS back in the air, the Doctor needs to be at the controls in order to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow!" She explained as both Time Lords and Larry listened in disbelief.

"She doesn't have an old watch in those pockets too, does she?" The Master asked, just as surprised as anyone.

"Sally?" The Doctor approached the London girl who somehow knew a piece of time travel terminology.

"I'm right, aren't I?" Sally asked, confident that she'd impressed with the knowledge she'd picked up during her time spent researching the Doctor.

"Well, half-right. Reversing the polarity of the neutron flow will get us back into the time vortex, as well do half a million other things depending on the situation," the Doctor babbled at a fast pace, "but even so, how did you even find out about that?"

"Simple, I signed up to your fan club, went to meets, got chatting on the message board..."

"Oh good grief." The Master rolled his eyes at the notion of a fan club for his rival. Larry simply continued sulking as Sally rattled off a number of names, terms and places linked to the Doctor, who just stood there, bemused.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm flattered," He said, stopping Sally in the midst of explanation, "but even so, what was all this research in aid of?"

"She wanted to meet you," Larry interrupted, resting his head against a pillar, "she saved the world once and now she wants to do it again. Instead, you've probably killed us all."

"Oh no, no, no, no, no!" The Master abruptly called out angrily, walking over and getting in Larry's face, "he's not taking the credit for my work! If anyone's going to kill you all, it's going to be me. The Doctor's got blood on his hands already, but as far as this pathetic, primitive race is concerned, I'm going to be the one to wipe you out!"

"Not that it's unheard of for politicians to kill innocent people," Sally spoke up, getting between the Master and Larry, shoving the former backwards a few steps, "but to do so with natural disasters and a time machine is just a bit over the top!"

Clenching his fist, the Master raised his arm to Sally only for the Doctor to calmly pull it back. Larry held onto Sally's shoulders as she felt slightly shaken by the prospect of another physical altercation with the man they knew as Harold Saxon, Prime Minister. Lowering the Master's arm, the Doctor stepped in between the humans and the Time Lord and decided that it was best to make introductions now before any further conflicts started.

"Sally, Larry," he began, "this man is a Time Lord, just like me. To you, this man may be Harold Saxon. To the rest of a fearful universe, he likes to be known as the Master."

Before Sally and Larry could react, the TARDIS began to shake once again as the Earth continued to fall apart beneath them. Quickly, the Doctor instructed his companions to help out.

"Larry! Put the balloon in the hole in the floor, carefully!" He barked with all the authority of an army major, "Sally, you may want to make notes because it's actually that red balloon that we need to keep the TARDIS flying!"

"A red balloon? Flies all this?" Sally laughed as she clutched onto the console.

"Well when we're in the time vortex, the TARDIS weighs practically nothing so it's a cheap and cheerful way of keeping afloat in a universe where spare parts for a time machine are impossible to come by, even when a temporal anomaly is swallowing up planets! Plus, since this is a time machine, I can keep it inflated for roughly a thousand years and you know the best part of all?"

"A red balloon is going to save the world!"

"Actually, I was going to say that red was my favourite colour, but you're absolutely right anyway! Now, to power up and out of the danger zone!"

"Anything we can do?" The Master uttered as Larry pointlessly held the now-secure balloon in place.

"Larry, hold on tight!" The Doctor advised before turning to the Master, "you, get started on a new lock for the door!"

As quickly as it had crashed, the TARDIS soared up through the storms and beyond the clouds. It continued on its flightpath until it was at a safe distance from the gap, which had almost consumed the Earth and its surrounding planets. From such a high vantage point, the Doctor could see the scale of this horror. It was like a gaseous shark's jaw, snapping and chewing angrily at the fabric of space. Its sole purpose was to conceal what it had devoured and freeze all movement, evolution and sense of time. Initially, the gap was controlled by the Time Lords themselves, to be used only to lock very precise moments in small amounts of space.

Without such restraint however, this was a monster in its own right. Rather than serve its original purpose, without any sense of moderation, it was attempting to digest the entire universe at this very point in time. The gap had grown in size from a small alternative world hidden in a bedroom mirror, to a reality checkpoint centred on Sally and Larry's home, and then it continued expanding via the London Underground. From there, it could be guided to the Thames, and to the oceans of the world, and then every country on every continent. It was a blind phenomenon, working purely on instinct and destroying everything in its path.

But not for much longer.

"Sally, Larry, cover your eyes until I close the TARDIS doors again. Master, keep the controls steady," the Doctor ordered with a deep, resigned breath, "time the universe learned who I am."

His eyes were shielded as asked, but Larry knew what he could see. Once again, a man walking through chaos with death's shadow trailing behind him. He could see the Doctor open up the TARDIS doors and watch over the dying universe with the disapproving look of the most vengeful god. He could feel it, the gap was quaking in fear of what it was faced with.

Hands in pockets, the Doctor leaned his head towards the gap ever so slightly and whispered a word, a name, to it. Such a name would fall deaf on the ears of any species other than Gallifreyan and so the Master was fully aware of what had been spoken, and he shuddered at the mention. It was a name he thought he would never hear again, and yet he had only heard it used once when he had first met the man that a fearful universe would know as the Doctor.

With this act, the gap calmly evaporated into nothingness and the Doctor closed the TARDIS doors, prompting Sally and Larry to open their eyes and return to the console, holding onto anything they could. The universe outside was in a hurry to recalibrate and stabilise itself, and the bumpy ride into the time vortex, away from the celestial reconstruction, was enough of a sign that nothing was going to wait for them to leave. Piece by piece, it was only a few seconds until the universe was returned to its original, much more peaceful condition, both in time and space.

-

"Like you said," the Master said smugly to the Doctor, as he attached the new lock to the TARDIS door, "it was a pretty good plan."

"Oh yeah," the Doctor answered with a cocky laugh, "I mean, as long as we keep in mind that you lost control of the gap, couldn't fly the TARDIS away from the blast area and of course, you made the same mistake you always make, even just as recently as your whole Prime Minister shenanigans."

"And what's that then?"

"The gap would've consumed everything and everyone, yourself included. Once again, you wouldn't really dare to destroy the universe, because by doing so you'd kill yourself. And that's the one thing I know you could never do."

Struggling to find a retort, the Master simply shrugged his shoulders and sat down, retaining his arrogant grin.

"Not to mention," the Doctor continued, turning to Sally, looking quite pleased with herself, and Larry, looking as though he'd rather be anywhere else, "you just so happened to trap me in a house belonging to two of the most brilliant humans alive, big mistake that one! I guess the least I can do is give you both a lift home, how about that?"

Larry nodded enthusiastically and took Sally's arm, already intent on walking straight out of the TARDIS door. Ignoring him however, Sally had other ideas.

"I'd actually think the least you could do is take us on one more adventure," Sally suggested, smiling optimistically, "surely we've earned it after all this?"

"And I'm grateful Sally. You too, Larry," the Doctor replied, his voice full of doubt and concern, "but that's exactly why I think it's probably best you two went home. You need to understand, The Master is dangerous. You've seen how easy it was for him to infiltrate your government, kill the President of the United States and then go on to put the entire universe in a situation, where it all could've vanished forever. Adventure is one thing Sally, but I've seen one too many lives ruined by the Master's influence. I can't risk letting him endanger either of you."

"And you really think I'm that stupid?" Sally argued, "I mean, you've seen how good we are from when we had to take on the Angels with DVD easter eggs, and now we've managed to save the world with the help of a red balloon. You never know when you might need some help again, particularly with an angry politician on board! Whatever's out there Doctor, trust me; I can handle it."

The Doctor couldn't help but smile at the similarities. Sally Sparrow had all the determination and confidence of Martha and Jack, and just like Rose, she was full of desire to see the universe in all its shapes and forms. It would be deadly, the Doctor never lied to any of his companions, but it could be fun and he never faulted people who wanted to have fun.

"So Mr. Saxon, what say you?" The Doctor turned to the Master, "fancy a bit more company to make a lifetime with me just a little bit less unbearable?"

"Like I even have a choice." The Master scoffed, clearly disinterested as his eyes scanned the console room.

"Larry? Staying on for the ride?" The Doctor offered. Larry kept his head turned away, not willing to see the Doctor, knowing full well what a journey with him could lead to. Even so, he couldn't bare to leave Sally alone with him.

"Sure, whatever." He replied, melancholy. The Doctor and Sally looked back at the Master and Larry respectively and sighed in unison before sharing a laugh.

"Well, as long as one person's willing to crack a smile around here, welcome back to the TARDIS, Sally Sparrow!" The Doctor proclaimed with a grin, as he offered a handshake. Before Sally could accept it however, a loud knocking noise hammered against the doors of the TARDIS. The motley crew of the ship slowly gathered together on the ramp leading to the doors and watched as the knocking became more intense.

Knock-knock-knock!

"Who... or what's out there?" Sally asked, biting her lip.

Knock-knock-knock!

"It's death. I told you Sally, he's going to kill us all!" Larry exclaimed, watching the Doctor, who was equally bewildered when a tiny blue flame began to slide downwards between the TARDIS doors.

"Oh for crying out- He'd just fixed that lock!" The Doctor complained as the Master's handiwork hit the floor and a white light began radiating from underneath the doors.

"You said you wanted to find adventure, Miss Sally Sparrow," the Master recalled with a chuckle as the flame was extinguished and the TARDIS doors were slammed open by several figures in white cloaks and surgical masks. "I think adventure just found you."

-