'I travelled across the world.' Rose said, looking at the faces eagerly drinking in her every word. 'Everyday I see people getting hurt. Rose legends are right, I was the only person to get out of Japan alive, but… you can't imagine what it was like. I stood at the foot of Mt. Fuji and watched people tryin' to get away from the flames, but the spheres cut down anyone who even got close to escape.
'I was stayin' in this house, right, in America.' She laughed nastily, 'he's even replaced the Statue of Liberty. But in the house next door, this starvin' lil boy had stolen this piece of bread from a soldier's plate. The soldier hadn't even wanted it, but somehow the spheres found out. They crashed into the house, found him and killed him. They vaporised him, then his parents and his little sister, because they had tried to save their little boy. Because she'd cried over her brother's ashes. It was…' she shook her head, a tear sliding down her pale cheek. 'His name was David. I'd been talkin' to him the day before. He'd been excited, said that I was his hero. His parents had offered to hide me, but there wasn't enough room in the house. They all lost their lives because they were so hungry; because their ten year old son had stolen an unwanted piece of bread to feed his little sister. And it made me wonder. What's the point? Wha'ever I do, how is it gonna get those people their lives back? It shouldn't be me who is a legend. It should be the people who died. No one even knows most of the people who were killed. No-one will remember them.'
She held up her chin, swallowing back her tears. 'Tha's why I do this. Why I keep fighting. Not just for the Doctor, or Jack, or even to kill the Master. It's 'cause I'm the only one who has seen it all. I'm the only one who will remember. And it's cost me my life too many times to count. But that don't matter. Because if I don't remember them… who will? But if Rose Tyler became a legend, then that's wrong, 'cause you know what? My name isn't even slightly important. I'm supposed to be dead on this Earth, and if any of you tried to find out anything about me, you'd find a list of dead men and women from the battle on Canary Wharf. Remember those ghosts that turned out to be metal men? I was right there when they came through. I was stuck, for longer that you would believe in the place that they came from. But there's someone else. The reason I'm even here to be talking to you now. If it wasn't for him then you'd be talking to his other companion, Martha. If she wasn't killed trying to get here. But there's someone else.
'The man who sent me out there, who told me to walk the Earth. And his name… is the Doctor. He has saved your lives so many times… saved me so many times, and no-one ever knew he was even there. He never stops, he never stays, he never even asks to be thanked. But I know him. I've lived with him.' She hesitated, looking at the floor. 'I love him.'
Tom looked away from her, knowing from her voice and the way she talked about this mysterious Doctor that his little fantasies were nothing else but that; make believe.
Rose looked up, suddenly uncomfortable. 'And I know what he can do.'
'It's him!' said the woman who had first let them in, who had introduced herself as Jenny, pushing her way inside, 'It's him! My god, it's him! It's the Master! He's here!'
'But he never comes to Earth; he never walks upon the ground!' the young boy from before cut in.
'Hide her!' the woman said, pointing at Rose.
Someone threw a coat over her, but she pushed it calmly away, breathing deeply. Tom cocked his gun, peering through the letterbox to aim it at the Master.
'He walks among us.' Said the boy beside her, called John, fear streaking his voice. 'Our Lord and Master.'
'Ro-se! Rose Tyler! I can see you.' The Master said, impersonating a young child playing hide and seek. Rose stood up, removing the key from around her neck, everybody suddenly looking up as one to stare at her.
'Out you come, little girl. Come and meet your Master.'
Rose was at the door, placing her hand on Tom's gun, silently telling him with a touch that it was okay as she smiled at the others that had gathered.
'Anybody? Nobody? No?'
His attention was drawn to a door opening to his left.
'Oh, Yes!' he said, clapping his hands joyfully, 'Oh very well done! Good girl! He's got you better trained than I thought!'
She walked out calmly, her heartbeats barely above normal, her eyes unwavering.
'Bag. Give me the bag.' He reached into his pocket as she walked forward, 'No, stay there, just throw it.'
She removed it from her shoulders and carefully threw it forward. The Master aimed the laser screwdriver at the bag and pressed the button. A stream of flame-orange light hit the bag, leaving a small fire where it had hit.
Rose tutted, rolling her eyes. 'Oh well done! That had my Gameboy in it! There goes my warranty.'
'Ooh,' he said, tilting his head to the side as he looked at her, 'you're a bit of a joker, aren't you?'
'Like you say,' she said calmly, 'he's got me well trained.'
'Well, I'm afraid, good companion, as I always say; "Siding with the Doctor is a very dangerous thing to do." Your work, my dear, is done.'
He aimed the weapon at her, noting the way she didn't cower away or even blink.
'This is usually the part where people start begging for their lives.' He said, thoroughly put out at her nonchalance.
'I'd rather not give you the satisfaction,' she sneered, 'And anyway, death isn't so very terrifying. Though, a word of warning for you. Beware the Bad Wolf. He'll be waiting in the darkness for you. '
'Sweet Rassilion, riddles and death wishes? Where does he find them?' he said, shaking his head, raising the Laser Screwdriver to aim at her hearts. 'Shame I didn't find you instead of Lucy. You're much more entertaining.'
He moved to flick the switch, but was interrupted by Tom slamming open the door to the slave quarters, running forwards and aiming his gun, yelling.
The Master turned his Laser Screwdriver on the man, the laser hitting him square in the chest. The life and energy seemed to go from Tom's body, stopping mid-run and crumpling to the floor, lying spread-eagled on the wet ground. Rose watched in shock, running to him and looking for a pulse. Nothing. No breathing, no heart beat. Tomas Milligan was dead, because of her.
'But you, when you die,' the Master said, watching her, 'the Doctor should be witness, hmm?' Rose looked up it him, fixing him with a piercing stare.
'And here I thought Time Lords were supposed to have two hearts.' She spat sarcastically, 'It seems that you managed to have gotten away without even one.'
'Oh stop,' he sniped back, 'you'll make me blush!'
She just stared at him silently, standing up slowly.
The Master inhaled deeply, breathing in the wet, smokey smell of the city. 'Almost dawn, Rose Tyler.' He looked up to the skies, towards his airship up above. 'And planet Earth marches to war.'
'Citizens of Earth, rejoice and observe.' Said the Master's voice in his daily announcement to his enslaved planet.
Rose Tyler stood as the door to the bridge of the Valiant opened in front of her, filled with faces that she had longed to see for so long. The soldiers behind her pushed her with the butt of their guns, her eyes turning to the Master standing high above her, looking out at his kingdom. As he heard the doors open, he turned to look at her, stepping forward to stand beside Lucy.
As she walked in, Martha and her family looked at her, the fellow companion giving her a kind smile. Rose's eyes flickered to the filthy form of Jack, his blue eyes following her slow march across the room. She smiled at him brightly, but not as dazzlingly as when her eyes alighted on the stooped figure of the Doctor in his cage.
She came to a stop at the bottom of the stairs, looking up at the Master.
'Your teleport device,' he prompted, holding out his hand. 'in case you thought I'd forgotten.'
Rose looked down, taking the Vortex Manipulator out of one of her many trouser pockets and throwing it up to him, which he caught deftly.
'And now,' he said, looking down at her, 'kneel.'
She scowled at him disobediently.
'Kneel or I kill one of the Jones family.' He said coldly.
She complied reluctantly, glaring at him, her eyes not leaving his face.
'Down below,' he said, twirling the Laser Screwdriver though his fingers, 'the fleet is ready to launch. 200,000 ships, set to burn across the universe.'
He turned, running up to the window at the back of the room and pressing a button, slipping the Vortex Manipulator into his inside pocket.
'Are we ready?' he said over the comms.
'The fleet awaits your signal. Rejoice!' said a man's voice.
'Three minutes to align the Black Hole Convertors.' He announced, fiddling with his watch, 'Counting down!' he turned back to them, Jack standing with his hands in his pockets to try to resist the temptation to punch the man in the face several times. And maybe give him a few well placed kicks. 'I never could resist a ticking clock!'
He placed his hands on the banister of the stairs, raising his voice to a yell.
'My children, are you ready?'
Millions of miles up, above the Earth's atmosphere, four billion spheres floated, arranging themselves into neat lines.
'We fly and blaze and slice!' they chanted, 'We fly and blaze and slice!'
'At zero, to mark this day, the child, Rose Tyler, will die.' He laughed gently, 'My first blood, though… I must admit, I find it a bit of a shame to waste such an entertaining woman. Any last jokes?' she stared up at him unmovingly, fixing him with a look that she had learned from her mother, one that would have most men running for their lives. 'No?' he glanced at the Doctor, 'such a shame you got to her before me, Doctor, I could have had quite a lot of fun with this one.' He aimed the Laser Screwdriver at her, 'Bow your head.'
She rolled her eyes, but complied, sighing softly. 'A simple please wouldn't go amiss every now and then.'
'Always got to have the last word, hey blondie?' he laughed nastily, 'Though I've got to say you could have done a better job with those roots, love.'
She scoffed, looking up at him. 'Careful mate! Never insult a Tyler woman about her hair unless you want to lose a few teeth!'
'Well you're not exactly gonna have a chance to hurt me now, are you?' he said, Laser Screwdriver still aimed.
'Oh, my God, are you actually that thick?' she laughed, turning her gaze to the Doctor, 'And here you made me think your lot were clever, Doctor! All that 'stupid ape' business, seems it should have been directed at him.'
'What are you talking about, you insolent little-'
'Look who's talking!' Rose said, standing slowly. 'Seriously? The gun?'
'What about it?'
'A gun in four parts?'
'Yes, and I destroyed it.'
'A gun, in four parts, scattered across the world, I mean, come on! Did you really believe that? They wouldn't have used that in Star Trek! All you destroyed was a plastic toy and some food colouring. And of course my Gameboy, which I will of course be making you pay for.'
'As if I would ask her to kill.' Said the wizened old Doctor, holding the bars of the cage for support.
'Oh well, it doesn't matter.' The Master said, 'I've got her exactly where I want her.'
'Oh aye?' she asked, smiling and raising an eyebrow. 'So what you gonna do now? Hmm? Kill me? You haven't done a very good job with Jack or the Doctor.'
'What do you-'
'I can't die!' she interrupted, rolling her eyes at his slowness.
'Oh, come on!' the Master whined, his shoulders slumping, 'That's just not fair.'
'And anyway, I knew what Professor Docherty would do. The Resistance knew about her son'
Rose recalled the look on the older woman's face when she had said 'That's why I came to find you. Know your enemy.'
'I told her about the gun so she'd get me here. At exactly the right time.'
'So you're gonna be locked up with your friends instead of out there, giving the people of Earth hope.' Said the Master, 'Suites me! And I get to kill you as often as I like. Ooh, I could invent a new sport!'
Rose turned her head to the side, narrowing her eyes. 'Don't you wanna know what I was doing, all that time, travelling the Earth?'
The Master rolled his eyes, throwing up his arms and sitting on the stairs like a put out child. 'Tell me then, if you must. Might as well give me something to do.'
'I told a story.' She said, 'That's all. No weapons, just words. I did just what the Doctor said. I went across the continents all on my own. And everywhere I went I found the people and told them my story.'
Memories came unbidden to her mind, sitting in countless, identical houses, people looking at her with new found hope in their eyes.
'I told them about the Doctor. And I told them to pass it on. To spread the word so that everyone would know about him.'
'Oh, how sweet.' Said the Master, 'Faith and hope? Is that all?'
'No, 'cause I gave them an instruction. Just as what the Doctor ordered.'
She winked at the frail man in the cage, remembering the last time she had been in this exact spot. The Doctor whispering in her ears, his soft breath sending shivers down her spine. 'Use the countdown.'
'I told them if everyone thinks of one word, at one specific time…'
'Nothing will happen!' insisted the Master, pulling himself up. 'Is that your weapon? Prayer?'
The clock on the wall counted down; 16 seconds left.
'Right across the world. Just one word, one thought, at one moment… but with 15 satellites.'
Realisation mixed with fear on the Master's face. 'What?'
'The Archangel Network.' Jack said simply.
'A telepathic field binding the whole human race together. With all of them, every single person on Earth, thinking the same thing, at the same time. And that word,' she breathed deeply, smiling brightly, 'is "Doctor"'.
As the countdown hit zero, the Master turned to see ribbons of brilliant white light swirling around the Doctor, the very atoms of the bars of the cage becoming loose and blowing away as his body grew, his limbs lengthening as the light not only encased him, but joined with him, becoming a part of him.
'Stop it.' Warned the Master redundantly, 'No, no, no, no you don't.' he held up his fingers, trying to bring a stop to the miracle that was taking place before him.
Jack stepped forward, but his guard soon stopped him. His eyes rolled back as he breathed a single word. 'Doctor.'
The Joneses followed suit, and the Master noticed a screen on the wall was showing different cities, thousands upon thousands of people chanting one word in unison, over and over again.
'Stop this right now!' demanded the Master, turning back to the Doctor, 'Stop it now.'
Lucy watched, before her eyes flickered shut as she whispered "Doctor".
Rose, Jack, the Joneses, everybody in the control centre of the Valiant repeated the word, over and over again, the screen filling with more and more people joined in the mantra as the Doctor stood up, his face returned to his slightly younger self.
'I've had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with it's matrices.'
The Master stormed around the room, looking out of the window, up at the screens on the walls, before stopping at the top of the stairs, almost launching himself down them. 'I order you to stop!' he demanded.
All over the planet below, people in every country shouted in unison at the overcast cloud, reciting the word that the great Rose Tyler had told them to say at this exact moment, some struggling with the unfamiliar syllables.
Suddenly they stopped, Lucy looking at her husband in surprise as the spell over her was broken, realising what she had done.
The Master jumped down the stairs, staring at the Doctor with a mixture of shock and anger as the Time Lord's face returned to its youthful familiarity.
'The one thing you can't do.' The Doctor said, not pausing as the change took place. 'Stop them thinking.'
Rose, Martha and Jack laughed joyously, grinning as the Doctor's feet left the ground, rising up to be level with the Master.
'Tell me the human race is degenerate now, when they can do this.'
Jack ran over to Rose, Martha doing the same, wrapping their arms around her and laughing, Jack's guard unwilling to hold him back any longer.
The Master raised the Laser Screwdriver, firing bolts of orange light at the Doctor, but the shots were absorbed by the armour-like light.
'I'm sorry.' The Doctor said sincerely, ignoring the laser blasts, 'I'm so sorry.'
The Master gave up, letting go of the button, then twisting the end, looking between the floating miracle and the people of the floor.
'Then I'll kill them.' He said, insanity evident in his voice as he took aim.
Before he had the chance to press the button, the Doctor reached out his hand, the Laser Screwdriver flying out of the Master's hand as if on its own accord, skittering across the laminated flooring, out of his grasp. The Time Lord stared at his hand numbly, turning back to look at his ex-school friend. He stepped backwards, towards the stairs.
'You can't do this!' he insisted, 'You can't do… it's not fair'
An unnatural wind blew around the room, paper flying into everybody's face.
'And you know what happens now.' The Doctor said solemnly.
'No!' the Master begged, his hands flying to his head as the Doctor moved towards him, 'No!' he moved back, scrambling down the stairs, looking up to Lucy for help, but she offered none as the man shrouded in light glided past her.
'No! No!' the Master fell to the floor, backing away, reaching behind him, desperate to find some way of escape.
'I gave you so many chances, but you never listened. But you know. You know what I'm going to say.'
The terrified man turned, his hands fumbling over the imitation-wood walls, scratching his hands over it to find a way from the Oncoming Storm. Finally something that the Daleks had got right. As the Doctor's Converse-clad feet touched the floor, the Master cowered like a child, curling himself as small as possible, his hands clamped tight over his head as he started to cry in fear. The Doctor walked deliberately over to him, crouching beside him and wrapping his arms around him.
'I forgive you.' He whispered, holding him close.
The Master looked up suddenly, grabbing the Doctor's arm tightly. 'My children!' he hissed through bared teeth.
Miles up, six million spheres heard their Master's call, moving as one towards air ship that hovered over Great Britain.
'Protect the Paradox!' the said as one, 'Protect the Paradox!'
'Captain,' the Doctor yelled, jumping up, 'the Paradox machine!'
Jack jumped away from Rose and Martha, pointing to the guards. 'You men, with me!' as he moved, Rose reached for him too late, her shouts lost in the rush people moving out the door.
The Doctor turned to see the Master surreptitiously sliding the Vortex Manipulator out of his pocket, opening it and going to press the teleport button. Just in time the Doctor ran forward, wrapping his hands around the Master's hands as he felt his entire being taken somewhere else.
He slammed down hard on a high cliff top, his feet slipping on loose rock as he writhed, trying to clear the pressure in his head, forcing his eyes open against he dazzling bleached-white world around him. His eyes alighted on the Master, his arms spread wide as he stood on the edge of the precipice, surveying his empire, thousands of rockets standing in front of him as the Doctor pulled himself to his feet.
'Now it ends Doctor!' he said, lightning cracking from the ominous grey clouds that were gathering behind them, as if the Earth itself knew about what was going on. 'Now it comes, the end of this world.
Jack and the militia men ran through the corridors of the Valiant, heading for the store room where the cannibalised time ship was kept.
Above Rose, Martha and the crew of the air ship ran onto the flight deck, checking the computer readouts, every one of them the same message the same.
'We've all six million spheres heading right for us!' Martha read quickly, panic rising within her.
'We've got control of the Valiant.' The Doctor said, willing him to see sense, 'You can't launch.'
'Oh, but I've got this.' Said the Master, removing the device that was attached to his wrist and holding it up, 'Black Hole Convertor in every ship. I press this button, then we stand together. We watch, standing on this dying world as it is cremated. If I can't have it, neither can you. No-one can.'
Jack and the soldiers threw the doors to the store room wide open, only to be confronted by three spheres that stood guard over the TARDIS, all of them turning around to look at their intruders.
Outside, the rest of their kin were flocking around the air ship like a swarm of angry wasps, trying to get inside to protect the thing that allowed them to exist.
The three soldiers and the ex-Time Agent fired at the metal creatures, their bullets glancing of their casings with out the slightest impression. The spheres retaliated, blades appearing out of the undersides of their bodies and firing deadly laser bolts that quickly despatched two of the soldier, leaving just Jack and a single soldier.
'Can't get in,' the soldier yelled, 'we'd get slaughtered!'
'Yeah,' Jack replied, 'happens to me a lot.'
With that he moved forwards, firing at the deadly orbs, his face set as they shot and sliced at his flesh, forcing himself through.
With horrified faces, Rose, the Joneses and the Valiant crew watched silently from a window as the wave of spheres descended, heading straight for them.
'Weapon after weapon after weapon.' Said the Doctor, walking towards the Master, his voice being carried away from him on the wind, 'All you do is talk and talk and talk. But over all these years, and all these disasters, I've always had the greatest secret of them all.' As he grew close, the Master brought the wrist device into his body, away from the Doctor's reach as if it were a toy that he didn't want his bully to take off him, 'I know you.' The Doctor looked out over the landscape, 'Explode those ships, you kill yourself. That's the one thing you can never do.'
The Doctor held out a hand, which the Master looked at distastefully, 'Give that to me.'
Reluctantly the Master handed over the device, slapping it into the Doctor's outstretched hand.
Breathing heavily, Jack closed the door of the red lit ship. He pushed himself away from the doors, his face filthy and set in grim determination, aiming his gun at the shield surrounding the central column. After a few seconds it exploded, lighting his face with bright orange flames.
Rose gasped, falling to the floor, holding her head. It felt like a thousand bombs had just gone off in her head, her vision clouding as stars danced before her eyes.
As the spheres disappeared, Martha looked around for her, seeing her on the floor, almost following her as the room shook violently.
On the cliff top, a vicious earthquake threw the Doctor and the Master to the ground. Seeing his chance, the Master went to teleport away, but the Doctor reached over him, grabbing it and bringing it in to his body, taking both of them.
Martha tried to stop herself from stepping on Rose as the tremors through the ship increased. Just as she was about to fall, brown-pinstriped arms grabbed her. A toothy grin filled her line of vision, before she looked up into the Doctor's joyous face.
'Everyone, get down!' he yelled, looking around the room. He followed his own instruction, as did everyone else, 'Time is reversing.'
He flung himself and Martha down on the floor next to Rose, taking her hand in his and laughing madly, not noticing that she wore a grimace instead of a smile.
Everybody held tightly onto anything they could find, a strange wind sending sheets of paper flying around the room.
The door guard fell, his hand gun falling out of its sheath and onto the floor, catching Francine's eye.
Through the window they could see multicoloured clouds rushing past the window.
Down below on the planet's surface, people panicked, screaming as an unimaginably strong wind blew them off their feet, some crying as grit flew into their eyes and they were blinded, relying on their friends to lead them.
But then, suddenly they just evaporated into thin air, the only sound remaining that of the wind whipping through the streets.
All over the Earth statues of the Master disappeared, vanishing as the sun raced past. The shipyards full of rockets followed suite, fading away to be replaced by green grasslands or rocky terrain. The Eiffel Tower seemed to rebuild itself, as if someone had pressed rewind on a video.
The moon and the sun reversed around the Earth, taking back the days that had never been meant to have come. 2008 returned to 2007, calendar pages moved of their own accord, going back to the day that it had all started.
Time gradually began to slow back to normal. In the flight deck of the Valiant, the wind died down, paper fluttering down to the floor. The Doctor smiled to his companions, their fingers still tightly clamped around his as they looked around.
Below the sun shone through feeble clouds, shining down on an awakening world. All over the world the streets were full of people and traffic, everyone trying to get somewhere at the same time, none of them realising that mostly they should all be dead.
The Doctor jumped to his feet, looking through the window and pressing computer buttons.
'Paradox has broken.' He announced 'We've reverted back. One year and one day, two minutes past eight in the morning.'
He clicked a button, listening as the panicked voice of a man crackled though the comms. 'This is UNIT central, what's happened up there? We just saw the President assassinated.'
The Doctor let go of the button, the voice stopping.
'See?' he asked rhetorically, 'Just after the President as killed, but before the spheres arrived. Everything back to normal, planet Earth restored.' He leaned his arm on a beam, looking down at the people still strewn on the floor. 'None of it happened. The rockets, the terror, it never was.'
'What about the spheres?' Martha asked from her position beside Rose.
'Trapped at the end of the universe.'
'But I can remember it.' Francine said, confusion washing over face.
'We're in the eye of the storm, the only ones who'll ever know.'
Everyone looked up at him, still breathing heavily. The Doctor looked around, stopping on Clive.
'Oh, hello! You must be Mr Jones!' he said brightly, jumping over Rose and Martha, grabbing Martha's dad's hand and shaking it happily, pulling the man to his feet, 'We haven't actually met.'
The Master pulled himself to his feet, running towards the door as quickly as he could. The Doctor jumped down the stairs, ready to give chase when the door to the flight deck opened in front of the Master, revealing Jack, who immediately turned the Time Lord by the shoulders, back into the room.
'Woah, big fella!' he said, watching as everyone, even Rose pulled themselves to their feet, 'You don't want to miss the party! Cuffs.' He held out his hand to a soldier, who complied without arguing. Jack slid the metal around the man's hands and held him out for all to see. 'So what should we do with this one?'
'We kill him!'
'Dad!' Martha said, stepping forwards.
'We execute him!'
'Tish, I've told you a million times!'
'Death is not the solution!' the Doctor said, holding up his hands to hold back the murderous Jones family.
'Oh,' said Francine from below him, levelling a gun, the weapon obviously uncomfortable in her hands, her whole body shaking. 'I think so.'
''Cause all those things.' She continued, tears falling from her eyes, 'They still happened. Because of him.'
Silently the Doctor crept down the stairs, his eyes on the gun, coming to stand beside her. 'I saw them.'
'Go on!' the Master prompted, making the Doctor stop a moment in surprise, 'Do it.'
'Francine,' the Doctor breathed as she held back a sob, 'You're better than him.'
She reluctantly dropped the gun, turning into the Doctor's arms, then into Martha's and the rest of her family.
'You still haven't answered the question.' Insisted the Master, his face disgusted at the weakness of humans. 'What happens to me?'
'You're my responsibility from now on.' The Doctor said, breathing deeply,
'The only Time Lord in existence.'
Jack looked between the last remaining members of that famous species, striding over to the Doctor, talking conspiratorially. 'Yeah but you can't trust him.'
'No.' agreed the Doctor, the Master looking over, 'The only safe place for him is the TARDIS.'
'You mean you're just gonna… keep me?' the Master said distastefully.
'Mm, if that's what I have to do.' The Doctor nodded, turning to look at Jack 'It's time to change.' He turned to look at Martha at the bottom of the stairs holding her sobbing mother close, then up to Rose on the next level up, her eyes closed, 'Maybe I've been wandering for too long.' He looked back at the Master. 'Now I've got someone to care for.'
He fancied that he saw the tiniest of flickerings of something akin to acceptance in those dark eyes, but it was instantly replaced to a look of shock and fear as a gunshot rang out and he stumbled back.
The Doctor ran forwards, grabbing him before he touched the floor. 'There you go.' He breathed as if to a child, lowering him to the ground, cradling his head, 'I've got you, I've got you.'
He glanced around to see Lucy standing close to the stairs, smoking gun in hand, her face vacant. She barely even blinked as Jack stepped forwards, his words falling on deaf ears as he gently took the pistol out of her hand. Everybody's eyes turned to the men on the floor, not noticing Rose's hand raising to her head, or her grip on the banister tightening as the sound of the gunshot echoed and multiplied, bouncing around her dizzy head.
'Always the women.' The Master mused, his eyes heavy.
'I didn't see her.' Apologised the Doctor.
'Dying in your arms.' He smiled, 'Happy now?'
'You're not dying, don't be stupid.' The Doctor scolded, looking at the wound to see a scarlet stain blossoming across his shirt, forcing himself to look back into the Master's face, 'It's only a bullet, just regenerate.'
'No.' he breathed, his eyes going wide in insanity.
'One little bullet, come on!'
'I guess you don't know me so well.' He smiled, 'I refuse.'
'Regenerate,' The Doctor said, his calm voice turning to begging as he realised he was serious, 'just regenerate, please. Please, just regenerate, come on!'
'And spend the rest of my life with you?' he sneered hurtfully.
'But you've got to. Come on, it can't end like this. You and me. All the things we've done. Axons! Remember the Axons? And the Daleks.' The Master just lay in his arms, mocking him with a look, swallowing hard. 'We're the only two left. There's on one else. Regenerate!'
'How about that? I win.' He said, then groaned as his body shut down slowly. 'Will it stop, Doctor? Hmm? Will it stop?'
He stared up at the Doctor, his eyes bugging out of his head. But then they rolled back and he fell limp. Tears slowly trickling down his face, the Doctor pulled the Master close to him, pressing his head into his shoulder, rocking his body before screaming in anguish. The sun that had erupted, so very bright, in his mind so long ago, back on that lonely planet that had promised the last of humanity a free ticket to Utopia, now burned to nothing, being replaced by an impenetrable void of darkness. Except there was something, its weak light now the only thing stopping him falling back into depression beyond any sort of prescription. Rose Tyler, saving him from complete insanity. But why was it that now the light seemed to be diminishing; fading into the darkness around it?
Rose was standing, trying to look and listen to what was happening below her, her finders holding onto the hand rail so tight that her knuckles seemed to shine white as she shook her head, trying to rid herself of the vertigo currently trying to overwhelm her. But she knew a second too late that doing so was a mistake, but already she was falling, her shaky balance finally thrown by the small movement. But Jack was there, his fast reactions and keen senses permitting him to easily catch her, gently lowering her down as the Doctor did the same to the Master, still unaware of anything but the passing of the only other survivor of the Time War.
'Doctor!' Jack yelled, 'Get over here!'
The Doctor looked up, tears still staining his face, but as he saw Rose on the floor he jumped up, fear clouding his face as he understood why the star in his mind was waning.
'What's happened, Rose?!' he ran over, skidding onto his knees and shooing Jack and Martha to give Rose space to breath, lowering his voice to a loud whisper, 'What is it, Rose?'
'The Paradox.' She croaked, her breathing laboured.
'What do you mean?'
'Before… she could hide me, stop me from… ripping apart the whole of creation… but she's so weak… the TARDIS… so much pain…'
'Rose, what's happening, what's the matter?'
She smiled sadly, twin tears sliding unbidden from her eyes as she stared into his face. 'I'm a Paradox.' She breathed.
'I don't…'
'You said it yourself, Doctor. When you were talking to Jack. You said he was wrong… that you couldn't stand looking at him… because for you it was instinct. You said that you and the TARDIS automatically reacted against him, 'cause he couldn't die. Well…' she smiled lazily, 'I'm both, ain't I? 'Can't die and I've got two hearts. 'Don't regenerate, but I've regenerative blood.' She pursed her lips for effect, 'Bad combo, that. Before the TARDIS and the Wolf could keep me safe… keep it working together… but they're so weak. They had to keep the Paradox for too long, and now… it's just too much. It hurts her so much, but… I'm failing.'
'Then I'll go sort her out.' He chirped through his fear, tears in his eyes, but as he went to move, a small hand grabbed his coat; the only part of him that she could comfortably reach, forcing him to look at her.
'Don't leave me!' she said, her voice suddenly very childlike and small, 'I can't do this alone.' He moved back to his previous position, resting her head on his knees, stroking her blonde hair. 'It's too late anyway. I won't last much longer. And I've waited to see you for so long. You can't leave me now.'
'Rose, stop talking like that.' He stroked her cheek softly, looking into her dark eyes, his voice becoming pleading as he saw tears forming there 'You can't leave me. Not again. You're literally all I've got left, the only thing. I was broken when you left, but now I'm whole. You can't go again.'
'You always knew it would end.' She said, placing a hand on his chest, 'We both knew that forever was impossible. But…' she stopped, coughing weakly, blood speckling her full lips, 'I wouldn't have wanted to go any other way.' Two sparkling teardrops splashed onto her face, mixing with her own in a constant trickle into her hair, 'Don't cry.' She scolded softly, 'You have to be strong. 'Cause you know what?' he shook his head a fraction, 'I wouldn't have missed it for the world.'
'I…' he said, choking off, sniffing and trying again, 'I love you.' He gently wiped away the tears and tears that offended her beautiful features, his hand shaking badly, 'I should have told you every day from the moment I first met you. I tried so may times, but-'
'Sssh' she whispered, 'I know. I always knew. I just…' she winced, begging her warring enemies within tired body to just down their swords, just live in peace, but to no avail, 'I just wish that it was enough.'
'Rose…'
'Kiss me.' She asked suddenly, her voice returning to that of a small child, 'Please. Just let me have my peace.'
He closed the last few inches, gently brushing his lips against hers in a soft, tender kiss, the taste of her flesh, soft and like sunlight and moonshine now so criminally contaminated by the copper tang of her blood and the salt of their tears. Into their first real kiss they poured feelings that words in any language, known or long since forgotten could even begin to convey, love that only true soul mates could appreciate; pure adoration and unbreakable friendship and devotion that defied the laws of the universe, finding each other in a way that no others ever had been able to do. And in that long moment it seemed that the whole of creation, even Time and Death, his oldest companions, seemed to pause in their eternal march, giving these lovers a moment that could have been an eternity, finally repaying them for all the pain and heartbreak they had bestowed upon them in their long lives, but even eternity, sometimes, wasn't enough.
And they knew that it must end, as all things did. He pulled away reluctantly, looking into her face, at her frail looking body, but seeing in her eyes the strength and brightness that had filled his dreams since that pivotal moment, in a dank basement in London, so many years ago. Into his mind he etched every feature, memorizing the smile that she was giving him that was like the sun, the moon and the stars of every planet in every galaxy in every universe that had ever or would ever exist, and yet in comparison, all these were nothing, mere shadows in the blinding light that had always seemed to emanate from her smile.
Rose smiled up at him, feeling her hearts ramming against her ribs as if they wanted to escape, and she knew that if she had lived for a million more years, she would never have found anything better or more beautiful than the face now watching her to be the last thing that she saw in this life.
'Thank you.' She said quietly, feeling the warm fingers of life starting to reseed from her. 'For everything.'
Her heavy eyes noticed something swirling into being above the Doctor's head, as if formed from golden mist.
'Come at last, have you?' she asked the Bad Wolf jokingly, its amber eyes watching her softly, 'Almost missed me.'
The Wolf bowed its head as if to a Queen, giving her a wolf grin that held no threat.
'You should be taking care of your mistress, dear friend.'
Rose shifted her already hazy focus back to the Doctor's face, their eyes meeting, a look of understanding passing between them beyond that of any other.
'See ya then, Doctor.' She whispered, her eyes flickering shut as the Wolf descended.
