Pyrrhic Victory
By SCA
The shot rang out much louder than it should have, or so it seemed to Martha Jones.
Immediately, she turned to her mother, but the gun had not reappeared in Francine's hand. Confused, she turned even more. What she saw shocked her- Lucy Saxon holding the gun that had fired the shot that went into the Master.
Betrayed by his wife. Somehow, it seemed a fitting end for the tyrannical, insane, cruel Time Lord.
The Doctor held him now, somehow managing to grieve over this man who had caused him so much pain and suffering. Who had abandoned the Time War and his own people.
If Martha and the Doctor's positions had been reversed, she didn't think she'd have been able to do the same.
"Regenerate!"
The anguished cry tore her out of her thoughts for a moment. Regenerate? What, exactly, did the Doctor mean by that?
Dismissing this, she realized that she was gripping her mother in a tight hug. She didn't let go as she noticed this, though. If no one held her, she would run to the Doctor's side and try to comfort him. That wouldn't do. This moment between him and his enemy was private, no matter that everyone in the room could see and hear them.
"I win."
She barely heard the words, meant for the Doctor, as he said them.
As she did hear them, though, she had the sudden urge to take the gun and put a few more bullets into the Master- just to make him feel the pain. But the Doctor would never, ever condone that, so she forced the thought down.
From what she could hear, she gathered that the Master was refusing to somehow heal himself. His reason for essentially committing suicide seemed to be only as an act of final revenge on the Doctor.
The Doctor was crying now. Her unreachable, untouchable, unshakeable, oblivious, invincible, maniac, bordering-on-insane Doctor was crying.
Her heart broke for him.
The Doctor cried out then, an inarticulate, angry sound that was, somehow, also incredibly sad.
A moment too late, she realized that the Master had died.
She felt like she was a bad person when a part of her cried out in victory and relief.
"They're gone, Koschei. The drums are gone, and you're free."
The Doctor said this to the dead Time Lord lying in his arms. He stood then, going towards the door. Stopping, he turned around, to Martha and the others.
"Pyrrhic victory."
Was all he told them.
Then he left, the body still in his arms.
And Martha Jones wept- but not for the Master.