Daughter Who Chapter 10 - Lesser of Two Evils, a doctor who fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to Doctor Who.

Everything else and story line by me but of course they're set in the Dr. Who Universe so I still hold no rights to them.

Story takes place somewhere in the 11th Doctor Era. I hope you enjoy it!

Rating: It's perfectly safe for the whole family, like the show. So don't worry.

Part 10: Lesser of Two Evils

The Empress opened her eyes wide, and marched towards the Doctor with fury in her eyes. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

The Bleak holding the Doctor vanished, allowing him to fall down. She grabbed hold of his collar and lifted him up to his feet, so she could look him in the eye.

"WHAT DID YOU DO, DOCTOR?!"

"What…what you least expected me to," he answered in a dramatic tone. The future Annabella opened her eyes, realizing it at the same speed as he was saying the words. "I killed her."

She threw him aside in a fit, watching more and more Bleaks vanishing. "No, you didn't." Then the whole room started trembling. "You didn't!"

She turned towards him, he was getting up again.

"How? I've been tracking you, she's been with you all this time, so HOW?!"

"My wife…"

She glared back at him.

"No! You sent her to fetch Captain Jack. You wanted them to rig this place to explode while you distracted me, my guards would have captured them and run them off."

"No," the Doctor replied, wobbling to get up, "may she forgive me, I sent her to kill Annabella."

"I-i…idiot. I'll just go back and-"

"She made it a fixed event," the Doctor added as if he could not believe it himself, "she went back to when I first saved her from you and killed her. There is nothing you can do without causing time to self-destruct, even more so because you are about to die as well. Without Annabella, you don't have a body. Without her, your consciousness runs out of life energy around 2020.

"It is… taking longer, but this is the end for all you bleaks. You brought destruction upon your entire race." He sounded so unbelievably sad.

The Empress coughed, the rest of the bleaks vanished, holding their hands towards her for help. The Doctor, meanwhile, approached her.

"You…you would sink that low? You killed Annabella, an innocent! You don't do that! That is how I win!"

"You should've listened to what they said about the Doctor," he told her, "and expected worse. Out of me."

"I…you…you're supposed to…save everyone."

"Else," the Doctor added, grabbing both her hands with his shackled ones, and approaching his face to hers. "When that's all I can do, that's all I do. I save everyone else." He squeezed his grasp apologetically. Desperately. "If-if there's anything left of Annabella in there…I'm really sorry I could not…do more."

She frowned an expression filled with hate and rage, no longer composed. She had been defeated, and to make matters worse, he was apologizing. Like he didn't even mean to, like he didn't do his best to beat her, he had fought her completely on his back-foot.

"YOU GO FU-"

She vanished.

The Doctor's sonic screwdriver fell to the ground, with his whole surroundings still rumbling. He picked it up in a moment of melancholic contemplation, but the crumbling wouldn't let him even take a moment pause.

He got moving, opening the shackles with his screwdriver.

He crossed the corridors at a run. Luckily, the Empress had taken him to a room he knew, so he could trace his way back to the Tardis. The corridors started shining in an attempt to hold strong against the universe's will to erase them, and then eventually, they began giving away, allowing space to replace them.

The Doctor saw the Tardis, and all around it was disappearing, phasing out of existence. "No no no, come on you!" He pointed the screwdriver to enable and expand the Tardis's shield.

It worked just in time. He leaped for the Tardis just as everything around him disappeared, giving way to the vacuum of space. By the time he grabbed the handle of the police box, it and he were all he could see.

"Uff…that was close." He opened the Tardis and went inside.

Closing the door, he sighed, finally taking that moment of pause. Taking it all in. He had been, yet again, unable to protect a friend. Again, he had been forced to pick between evils. To choose the lesser one. Himself.

But this time, it had been worse. As much as the decision had been his to make, and as always, he had made it, another person had had to execute it. If he tried, he would have been stopped, it had to be a move that both unpredictable and secret.

He felt horrible for making River go through that, and was not looking forward to meeting her, because of it.

But still, as always, he approached the controls and put the Tardis on the path of return. He was going to do what he had to. Above all things, that attitude had always defined who the Doctor was. He never shied away from what he had to do when the time came to do it.

Part End: Thank you for reading, please consider leaving a review if you have the time.

Done and done! Epilogue's all that's missing out. If you're asking yourself "wat, did this actually happen?!" then read on!