Here's Part II! Please remember to review!
He wandered the hallways, often going in circles, hitting dead ends, doubling back. The hallways were like his mind, a confined but seemingly endless maze he desperately wanted to lose himself in. Or maybe find himself. Or both, if that even made sense.
He was careful to avoid the staff on the ship. They were well trained, well intentioned, and looking for him. It wasn't uncommon for him to wander about and then return to his room, and was surprised when the staff began searching for him. He remembered what Terminus had been like when he had last visited, and was proud of what his old companion had done to Terminus. What was once a ship of death now promised life.
Life: a curse and a blessing. A blessing when you wanted it, a curse when you couldn't end it.
The sight of stars outside one of the windows caught his eye. He wondered how many of them he had visited. Most of them, probably, at one time or another. The rest, the ones he hadn't visited, he might never get to them…
"Doctor?"
His hearts almost leaped out of his chest. He spun around to find her standing there. It had been years since they had parted, she had been so young then but the years had been kind to her. She was still pretty, her brown hair still bouncing with curls and very few grey hairs. She had laugh lines around her face, and vibrant eyes that were filled with worry. She was a burst of life in a death-filled place.
"Nyssa of Traken," the Doctor said. "You have grown."
Nyssa smiled. "And you have regenerated."
The Doctor sighed and looked out the window. "Four times since I last saw you. How long has it been?"
"Twenty years," Nyssa replied. "Though I think it has been much longer for you, much, much longer."
"At least two centuries," the Doctor said. "Probably more."
"Four regenerations in two-hundred years?" Nyssa asked. "You haven't been taking care of yourself very well."
Okay, more than two centuries," the Doctor admitted. "I've lost count of a lot of things, lately."
"Probably because things have been happening lately," Nyssa said, stepping up beside the Doctor.
"Yeah…" The Doctor said. "You've got a proper staff now, I see."
Nyssa nodded. "Some of those infected with Lazars disease were doctors and healers. A few decided to stay and help perfect the cure, others took what they learned here to cure people outside of Terminus. And then some just elected to stay because they had nothing to go back to."
"And Olvir?"
"He… he stayed of his own accord," Nyssa said.
The Doctor didn't reply. He just stared at the stars.
"You're not him, Doctor."
"What?"
Nyssa looked up at the Time Lord. "When you first woke up, you said you were no better than him, than the Master. That's not true."
"You don't understand," the Doctor said, shaking his head. "In the end… I killed them."
"What?" Nyssa gasped.
"Nyssa, my people were at war," the Doctor said. "We went to war against the Daleks. A war that raged across all of Time and Space: the Time War. I had no choice, I had to fight. As much as I disliked the Time Lords, they were my people, Gallifrey was my home and I was sworn to protect it. I was a commander; I led hundreds of troops into battle, I led them to their deaths. I watched planets become consumed just for a single victory that in the end meant nothing. Gallifrey fell, Nyssa, the Time Lords were defeated."
Nyssa covered her mouth in shock. She had been to Gallifrey once, and the thought of the entire planet becoming overrun by Daleks was almost unbearable. She remembered Gallifrey as an impenetrable fortress of a planet housing a culture and people that had existed for millennia. A tear rolled down the Doctor's cheek. He suddenly looked so old, so frail, like he was about to shatter into a million pieces.
"But so were the Daleks. In the end, there was no choice; neither side could win without all of existence paying for that victory. I couldn't let that happen. In a single Moment, I ended it all. I ended the War. I ended the Daleks. I ended Gallifrey. I ended the Time Lords. Not one survived that Moment, except me…"
Nyssa leaned against the wall for support. The Doctor had expected her to move away from him, but instead she wrapped her arms around him. She couldn't think, she could barely process, barely believe what her friend had just told her.
He had killed two entire species. He had destroyed his own home planet. He was the only survivor.
He was the last of the Time Lords. And he had come to her, the only person he knew who had experienced the same kind of pain.
"Oh Doctor…" Nyssa whispered, suddenly understanding. The Doctor buried his face into her hair and started to sob. "Doctor, I'm here…"
When Olvir found them, Nyssa was crying too. The two were quietly separated when the Doctor fell unconscious. The journey beyond his room had exhausted the recovering Time Lord. Nyssa continued to cry into Olvir's shoulder.
"I don't care what he did," she cried. "He's still nothing like that man."
When Nyssa calmed down enough to tell the others what the Doctor told her, they all agreed that his existence there on Terminus should be kept a secret. It was the safest option for everyone. If people found out there was only one Time Lord left in existence, life might get very hard for him, and there was no telling how the universe would react to the news.
"Olso, hand me that laser cutter there, would you?"
"This one?"
"Yes, thanks."
Olso watched as the Doctor disappeared back into the bulkhead. Moments later a bright light flickered out of the space as the Doctor reconnected the wires back to the control circuit. Once he finished, he shimmied back out of the hole.
"That should do it," he said. "Tell Bor to check it."
"Bor!" Olso shouted down the hall. "Try it now!"
"Okay!" Bor called back. A few seconds later he added, "It's working!"
"Fantastic!" the Doctor exclaimed. He turned to Olso and added, "See, I told you it was the connections."
"Okay, so I was wrong," Olso sighed. "I'm sorry."
The Doctor just shook his head. The two looked up as Nyssa walked around the corner. "Where are you going, Nyssa?" the Doctor asked.
"I'm going to check on a few patients in Ward 5," Nyssa replied. "You fixed the food dispenser, I see."
"Guys! Guys! It gives out ice cream now!" Bor cried happily. He nearly dropped the three ice cream cones in surprise when he spotted Nyssa. "Lady Nyssa, we, uh…"
"It's fine, Bor, enjoy your treat," Nyssa said.
"I'll come with you, Nyssa," the Doctor said. He jumped to his feet.
"Are you…"
"I'm sure."
Nyssa nodded, and the two headed down the hall. She knew it was no use arguing with the Doctor. He may have regenerated, but he was just as stubborn as she remembered.
The Doctor had been on Terminus for almost five months now. He was physically fully recovered, but his mental scars were taking much longer to heal. He was often distant and almost timid and a little skittish around loud noises. When he could finally walk without a cane, he started helping the staff by doing odd jobs. He managed to get the hologram projector working for the first time in years, fixed and updated old systems and machines, took inventory, helped with deliveries of supplies, and more. He was eager to help in any way possible.
He even rearranged the TARDIS so her Sickbay was more accessible and could treat some of the patients. The TARDIS computer banks were used to update the records in Terminus's files on various species and diseases. The knowledge offered by the Doctor was invaluable, and helped save many lives.
But still, lives were lost. And no one took those losses harder than the Doctor.
Nyssa continuously worried about her old friend. He never stayed long in one place, so why was he staying on Terminus? The TARDIS was repaired, had a new coat of pain and a new "desktop" theme, though she hadn't found the time to see it yet. The Doctor had recovered, yet he seemed to have no intention of leaving. She never had time to figure out the answer, and right now wasn't the best time to dwell on the subject. The two entered a turbo-lift, and headed down to Ward 5.
"What's the situation?" the Doctor asked.
"There's been a complication of some sort with Geor Methalin's recovery," Nyssa said. "He wasn't in the best condition when he came in, but we thought he was improving and might make it through."
The doors opened and they hurried down the hall. Nyssa had to jog to keep up with the Doctor's long strides. The Time Lord was on a mission and looked about ready to knock anyone over who got in his way. They entered Ward 5 and headed straight to the room housing Geor Methalin.
"What's going on?" Nyssa asked.
"He's regressing," Patri said.
"You have to get him to the Garm," the Doctor said.
"We can't," Sigurd replied. "The Garm is currently treating others, and Methalin just underwent treatment himself two days ago. He's too weak to go through it again."
"He's still got a chance!" the Doctor shouted.
"A very slim one!" Sigurn shouted back. "You haven't been on Terminus long enough, Doctor. Sometimes there is something called a lost cause, and you just have to accept it!"
"If you're not going to do anything, then I will," the Doctor said. "I bring my TARDIS down here, she's got a perfectly viable Sickbay."
"Doctor," Nyssa said.
"You know she does, Nyssa," the Doctor said. "I thought you wanted to save people here!"
"I do," Nyssa said. "But Geor is beyond saving now…"
The Doctor turned around. Patri gently closed the man's eyes and said a prayer. Sigurn went to find Minister Jopen. The machines monitoring Geor Methalin's life signs had gone silent. The old man was dead.
"We tried…" Patri said.
The Doctor spun on his heel and stormed out. No one spoke for a few moments. They all flinched at the sound of something breaking down the hall; no doubt a cart or a table had gotten in the Time Lord's way. Patri silence. "He can't stay here, Nyssa."
"I know," Nyssa whispered. "But I can't just kick him out; he's got nowhere to go."
"I thought you said he was a traveler."
"He was, but I think he's lost that spirit now. He's lost so much…"
"And he's losing more by staying here." Patri placed his hand on Nyssa's shoulder. "Terminus is not the place he needs to recover from the War. He came here to escape from all the death he had seen…"
"And found more instead," Nyssa finished.
"I stayed here because I knew I could make myself more useful here than back home," Patri said. "The Doctor is looking for a similar usefulness, but he's just getting in the way. He has too much baggage, Nyssa. He's not the man you remember."
"I know, Patri! But I can't just give up on him!"
"Lady Nyssa, as far as I can tell, the Doctor has all but given up on himself," Patri said. "Maybe he is a lost cause…"
"The Doctor is not a lost cause!" Nyssa screamed, shoving Patri away. "I will not give up on him!"
"Well then you had better think of something fast," Patri replied, "Because if he's not a lost cause now, he'll become one. That man is suffering from something none of us can fully understand, and it's destroying him, Nyssa. Staying here isn't helping him, it's killing him!"
Nyssa opened her mouth to reply, but snapped it shut. She sprinted out of the room, leaving Patri and Geor Methalin in her dust.
"Nyssa? Nyssa wait!"
"Let me go!" Nyssa struggled to pull away from the person who grabbed her arm.
"Nyssa, stop!"
She did, and opened her eyes. Olvir looked at her, his face full of worry. "It's the Doctor, isn't it? I just saw him storm off."
"Olvir, I don't know what to do!" Nyssa sighed.
"I think you do, Nyssa, but you want another option," Olvir said.
"Patri's right, he can't stay here…"
"Then tell him that." He cut off Nyssa's protests. "If you think it's the right thing, it won't hurt to tell him that. Just talk to him."
Nyssa nodded. "Talking would be a good start."
"I'll come too," Olvir said.
"Okay, but let me talk to him alone first. I need to be the one to tell him."
