Day of the Doctor

The Doctor was oblivious to Alex when she entered into the TARDIS. He put in the coordinates of UNIT's field HQ and the TARDIS dematerialized from the Waverly Sub Station. When the TARDIS entered the time vortex, part of the stage caught on fire. The Doctor picked up a hammer and smacked the TARDIS control console. The Doctor tossed the hammer onto the ground and he ran to the other side of the console and pressed several buttons. The Doctor flew away from the console and down the stairs to the main floor. He entered one of the doors near the seating and pulled out a fire extinguisher. He ran back up the stage and sprayed the fire, snuffing it out. He put the extinguisher down on the floor.

Alex just watched as the Doctor kept flying across the TARDIS stage and controls. She got to the base of the stairs at the left of the stage before the Doctor noticed her, "Alex!? What are you doing here?"

"I came with you," she answered, "I wanted to come."

"You do realize that this is very dangerous and possibly deadly," said the Doctor, "You do know that right?"

"I thought so, but I felt I had to come," replied Alex.

"Why?" asked the Doctor.

"She asked me to," said Alex, "I heard her."

The Doctor looked at the control console and walked over to it. He put his hand on the glass surrounding the top of the console. He put his head down and told the TARDIS, "She's only just a kid. She's in her teens. I already have the blood of billions on my hands. I don't need or want to have anymore. I hope I know what you are doing."

The Doctor put his head down and turned back to Alex. He looked at her in the eyes with his. Alex had seen it earlier in the sub station, but now she saw them dead on for the first time. She saw the eyes of the Doctor and for first time she saw how old they were. They were ancient. She snapped out of it when the TARDIS's alarm went off and the Doctor ran to the controls and his face was unnerving.

"Alex! Sit down in one of those chairs and hold on tight," ordered the Doctor, "This is going to be bumpy."

Alex sat down as smoke billowed out of several places on the walls and the TARDIS started shaking. "Doctor what's happening!?"

"The materialization is going a little rough," the Doctor replied fighting to stand up, "COME ON Old Girl!"

The TARDIS materialized inside the UNIT HQ, sending papers flying all over the makeshift tent. UNIT soldiers got up and watched as the TARDIS door opened and the Doctor stepped out. Behind the Doctor, Alex walked out into the command center. The Doctor walked over to the crater left by the explosion. As he walked by, the UNIT soldiers and personnel started to salute him.

"Don't salute," the Doctor said annoyed not even looking at anyone but the crater which was a mile wide itself, "Whoa, that was a blast. The Rift must have absorbed most of the energy because I didn't feel a shockwave."

"Let me go! I didn't sneak in!" snapped Alex as was being apprehended by a couple UNIT soldiers.

The Doctor turned around and saw the commotion. "Let her go. She's with me."

"Sir?" asked a private.

"You heard the man," a voice sound from behind the TARDIS.

"General," said the private, letting go of Alex and saluting General Osage.

Osage saluted back and walked over to the Doctor, "So how do you think this thing got here?"

"I have no idea, but I intend to find out before more lives are lost," said the Doctor.

"That this is huge," stated Alex, standing at the edge of the crater. She heard a faint noise in the distance. It continued to grow louder but she didn't know what it was. After a few seconds she started hear singing. It wasn't the singing that she heard from the TARDIS. It was different song. A song much different, but still beautiful. Alex looked over to the Doctor and General Osage, but they didn't seem to notice. They were too busy talking about the plan of attack. She heard the Doctor describing the Oods and how they were friendly so don't kill them, but anything else that gets through is lethal and should be taken care of.

Alex looked back at the crater as the sun was setting on the horizon. There was something about today that was different than any other day, and it all started when this Doctor showed up. She stood there thinking about how crazy and unnatural her life was already and she actually met someone who threw her world upside down. Her world of all things, but there was something else about this Doctor, something he hadn't told her or anyone else. Something deep and hidden in his past, but it was dark.

The Doctor walked up beside Alex without making any noise.

"What are you hiding?" asked Alex staring as the sun was about to fall completely below the horizon.

"What are you talking about?" asked the Doctor as the lights around the UNIT camp started to turn on one by one.

"You know what I'm talking about. I see it your eyes and on your face. It's the look I have when I do something that doesn't end up with anything good," said Alex.

"I don't think now's the best time Alex," replied the Doctor.

"Now the best time I think, before whatever is supposed to happen tonight," said Alex.

The Doctor looked at Alex and said, "I'm alone."

"What do you mean alone?" asked Alex as she turned her attention to the Doctor, "I'm right here."
"Not like that," said the Doctor, "I'm alone in a larger sense."

"Which would be?"

"I'm the last of my kind," said the Doctor.

"Last of your kind?"

"I'm the not just a Time Lord. I'm the last of the Time Lords. There is no one else. It's just me, it's only me," said the Doctor.

"What happened?" asked Alex.

"There was a war, a time war, the Last Great Time War. My people fought a race of beings called the Daleks for the sake of all creation and they lost. We lost. Everyone lost. Now they're all gone. My family, my friends, Gallifrey's sky. Gallifrey, huh, you should've seen that planet. The sky was a burnt orange, a citadel gleaming under the twin suns. Beyond that the mountains go on forever and when the second sun would rise in the south those mountains would shine, slopes of deep red grass, capped with snow. The forests of trees with their leaves of silver looked like a forest on fire when the sunlight hit those leaves at the right time in the morning."

Alex just looked as emotions flooded to the Doctor's face. There was something about this person standing in front of her that stopped her from being her apathetic self. She knew that what he was talking about was true. She had sensed it from the first moment she entered the TARDIS. Then it hit her. The sadness of the TARDIS that she felt was the feeling of loneliness. She felt the TARDIS's pain and she felt her eyes grow watery.

"And on the Continent of Wild Endeavor between the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords, the oldest and most mighty race in the universe. They looked down upon the galaxies below vowing never to interfere, only to watch, but then the Daleks came. A horde across the stars, slaughtering everything in their path. They got so powerful that my people were the only ones that could stand up to them. We did and both sides were destroyed."

Alex saw the hatred in the Doctor's eyes when he mentioned the Daleks. It was terrifying. She had never seen such hate and mixed in with that unbridled rage was fear. Hate and fear was all she saw. She had never seen such fury before and it scared her.

"But that's all in the past now. Don't tell anyone what I just told you," said the Doctor, his eyes melting back into the kind, old thing she saw when they first met.

The two just stood there looking at the crater and UNIT helicopters watched from above illuminating the massive hole with spotlights.

"Doctor," said Alex after a few minutes.

"What?"

"I heard singing when you were talking to the General, but it wasn't the song of the TARDIS. It was another song."

"I know I heard it too," said the Doctor, "It was the song of the Ood. They sing more than they talk. The only reason that some can talk is because the slave traders that owned them made the Ood that way. Natural Oods don't speak as often, but sing. They only speak when it is necessary," explained the Doctor.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"It wasn't the first time that I've heard the Ood sing. They even sang to me when my tenth self was dying. The reason the Ood were singing is because it calms them down and prepares them for the things to come. They are preparing for battle. A battle against a hostile, hungry group of creatures. I just wish there was some way that this bloodshed could be avoided."

There is a way. Alex heard a woman's voice in her head. She shook her head, thinking she was just hearing things.

"Are you okay?" asked the Doctor.

"Yeah, I'm fine," replied Alex.

I can fix this. I can stop the blood bath that is to come, but you have to listen. Alex heard the voice again.

"Doctor can you hear her?" asked Alex.

"Hear who?" asked the Doctor.

Only you can hear me. Alex heard.

"Nothing Doctor," replied Alex.

"What do you want?" Alex asked under her breath.

I need you to convince the Doctor to open my heart. It is the only way to fix this and stabilize the tear. I can absorb the energy and restore the damaged section of the city back to it's former state and everything that died will be brought back to life. The Doctor just needs to open my heart.

"Who are you?" Alex asked.

You heard my voice once before back in the sub station.

Alex looked over to the TARDIS and realized that's what was talking to her. The TARDIS was telling her how to stop what was going to happen. Why her? Why her and not the Doctor? The TARDIS was his ship after all, but she knew she had to listen to the TARDIS. She knew that the only thing that needed to be done was what the TARDIS had asked her to.

"Doctor," said Alex.

"Not now Alex," panicked the Doctor, "Look."

Alex looked to where the Doctor was pointing and she saw dozens of Ood lining around the crater's edge. In the crater, a light appeared and the Doctor's expression went cold. It was time.