Welcome to The Doctor's Army! This story was conceived, debated and written by LightBender and wolfchic011. Fair warning, in the words of River Song: SPOILERS!

This chapter is written entirely by LightBender.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1: A Beginning

Let me tell you a story.
There once was a Time Lord who stole a TARDIS and wandered all of the
space and time. He was the last Time Lord, the one who had condemned
the rest of his kind. He ran away from them and his past, trying to
atone for the deaths he had caused by protecting the innocent.
It was a lonely life and eventually he started taking companions with
him, children who would follow him with starlight in their eyes and
dreams held in their hands. He thought he was helping them. Instead,
he turned them into weapons, soldiers, the things he despised. They
were all willing to die for him, to protect him. That was never what
he meant to do. He had never meant for things to go that far, but he
turned his companions all into monsters that lingered in dark corners
and waited to strike.
He left all his companions in the end. But they never left him.
He was the Doctor, soaring through time and space, touching and
changing so many lives. He could never stay in one place, stay with
one person. He would save the world time and time again.
But this is not the story of the Doctor's victories.
This is the story of how the Doctor died and it begins with me.
I am the Master. Your enemy, Doctor, don't try and deny it. You and
I...we were meant to have this fight. Forever and ever, destined to
clash our swords, to watch the other burn and be reborn, to die and
yet live.
The Doctor, my Doctor, my Doctor! You wonderful man you...you are ice
and you are fire, you are destruction, you are pure desire. You are
the world and time and you are black holes in the night sky. You are
the destroyer of the world and the protector born again. You are a god
who tries so hard to be human. You are a contradiction, Doctor, my
Doctor. You will drive me mad, don't you understand?
We could dance tonight. I know you danced with her, wasn't it all you
ever wanted? To dance with your precious little flower and pretend
that everything was perfect in the world, that for once no one died?
Didn't you want to dance with her all night long and never have the
song end? But all songs must end and we must go to meet our finale,
the resounding four beats. Don't you hear them? They echo in the
world, in my head, rattling around my chest and the hunger it
creates...it creeps up my sternum, tearing at my throat, longing to
consume the whole world...cast it into fire and destruction and end
all in the darkness that'll fall. Don't you see it? Can't you hear it?
We were made for each other, Doctor. My Doctor. I am your Master.
Mortal enemies until the end of time itself, but time never ends. It
stretches on and on, never ending, no matter how fast we race against
it. Time will always win and leave us behind, wondering why.
We'll crash and burn tonight. I won't change course and you wouldn't
risk stopping. We are a supernova and a black hole that exist
together, one destroying, one creating, constantly canceling the other
out, but now one will win. One will overpower the other.
You protect your companions so much...why? What does it do to care for
people, to care for humans, the weak mortals? We are the last of our
kind, yet you reject me. You say you want to help me, to travel with
me, but you say that because you're afraid. You're afraid of what we
could be, what we could do. We could watch the world burn tonight,
Doctor. Won't you join me? We could be everything, Doctor, my Doctor.
Four beats. Four knocks. The drums. They haunt me. You've heard them. You know
they're real. I'm not as mad you think I am. We are all driven mad by
our own thoughts. You wouldn't leave me alone to drown. You begged me
to regenerate...you are so afraid of being alone, but you shun
everyone. You're afraid of being hurt. You know the pain...you how it
feels, but this will be worse. This will be so much worse. I will make
you feel it all, Doctor, my Doctor. You and I, we will go down into
hell itself and burn by flames so hot they are ice. We will spend
eternity together and I will watch your end.
I did not sacrifice myself to save you. I was controlled by rage. The
madness of those four knocks, the drums, oh the drums that permeate
the world. The drums of war. They put them there, the Time Lords. They
needed me. They still need me. Oh, they need me and you do too,
Doctor, my Doctor. You can deny it all you want, but you cannot lie to
your hearts and with each beat, you know.
Now I see that they were right. The Time Lords were completely right.
You must be stopped, Doctor. You can't be allowed to roam free. You
damage all you touch, make them into your weapons, your tools, and
they can never change back. You have ruined so many lives. You are not
safe for the world. But, don't be afraid. You and me...we'll spend an
eternity together, an eternity suffering.
It'll be perfect, the Doctor, my Doctor.

:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:

The Time Lords had been sent back to their own time and with them came
the Master. He was gasping for breath on the floor, barely conscious.
"What do we do with him?" asked Rassilon, Lord President. He was
injured, but still alive. He was hanging at threads, waiting for the
fallout.
The Visionary started tapping the table in the four beats again. The
Master curled up weakly and covered his ears. The Visionary turned her
endless eyes on the committee. "The beats end not yet. On and on they
go...four knocks. The sound of drums."
The Partisan spoke then. "What do you mean?"
"He still lives yet. One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four,
hear them resound. Hear them linger. Hear them destroy. Here, your
hearts will break."
Rassilion cocked his head. "We could use him. The four knocks...the
passage remains open still. Does it not, Visionary? Answer. You have
foreseen this, have you not?"
The Visionary scribbled wildly on the paper, eyes manic and muttering
to herself. After a few moments, she stared at him. "Use him and more
is at stake than the end of time. Destruction, follow the thread,
following it all the way through and you can try and stop all that
he's ever done, but it could all fall apart. Everything shall fall,
all the lives, all the deaths, every single thing will fall into the
stars and all you will see is...is...
"Time lock, heart lock, key and lock, what is the key? How do you end
our misery? If there is no key, find the creator of the lock. The
lock, the lock, it holds things in orbit, great things, but will
greatness be freed if the lock is broken? You will lose it all, all,
all, it all will fail...all will be lost. The blue box, the four
knocks, the TARDIS in the night sky, the moon in the ocean, the fish
fly through the town, the innocent will die, the weapons will fight,
the army, the army...they are no army. They number few, one short of
two four knocks but more shall come. One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, the
knocks, the breaking hearts of a Time Lord."
The Woman dropped her hands, no longer content to stand by silently.
"Don't do this. You don't know what will happen-"
"Silence. Go back to your weeping. You are guilty." Rassilon dismissed
her with a wave of his hand and went to kneel by the Master's broken
form. "Arise, Master. You have a new purpose."
"Purpose? What purpose? The purpose is gone. Gone, gone,
gone...Doctor..." the Master muttered wildly, pulling painfully at his
hair. "Where is the Doctor? My Doctor, he promised. We will end. We
will burn."
"You will go to the Doctor. Find him. Bring him back. Do you understand?"
The Master looked up with a lopsided grin. "The Doctor. The Doctor, he
is mine. I will destroy him."
"Go. Do. Now."
The Master's laughter lingered in the room long after he was gone.
The Partisan's quiet voice shivered just slightly. "What is the plan,
Lord President?"
Rassilon pet his staff distractedly. "Worry not on that. We will be
free or he will pay."
The Visionary looked at the night sky that was the link of the Time
Lords' to reality. She whispered as she drew the charcoal sketch of a
police box, "The Doctor's weapons."