Why HELLO there my dear readers! I'm back with a special gift you all of you. I am proud to present to you a bonus chapter in Kayden's journey. This chapter that I have here is actually an alternate ending to her story. Let me tell you guys i struggled for WEEKS trying to figure out how to end this story. I had two endings in mind the entire time, one that ultimately became the ending to the story, and this one which I am now releasing for your reading pleasure. Consider this the alternate-ending to Kayden's story, and let me warn you now: YOU WILL NEED TISSUES AFTER READING THIS ONE! Okay, okay enough blabbering on from me, you have a bonus chapter to read! Now for the final time (I promise you) Doctor Who is owned by the all mighty ruler of the feels Steven Moffat and the minions at the BBC.
Time seemed to stop after the gun was fired. The sound echoed throughout the room causing the various beings gathered there to take a collective breath and wait for the smoke to clear revealing whether or not the Doctor had survived. I was shaking like a leaf, cold to the core. I wanted to say I felt like myself but I just couldn't be sure. How long had I been fighting that battle with my other, darker self? This could just be me coming to terms with and accepting the inevitable, that I had killed the Doctor and had given victory to the Jardane race. The smoke cleared revealing the Time Lord standing there head still bowed, arms still flung out wide in surrender, eyes squeezed shut. In the next moment he cracked one eye open, then the other, and his features slowly relaxed to reveal his dashing mad man grin.
"Kayden Grey it is great to have you back." He shouted both in relief and excitement, obviously pleased about something, but I had no clue what.
"But what? What? What?" I stuttered, clearly flabbergasted at the fact that the Doctor was still alive. I shot him, or at least I thought I did. "I-I shot you. I remember shooting you. I had to have shot…I had no choice." I started rambling on now.
"Turn around." The Doctor instructed with a tilt of his head. I turned and looked behind me and saw Amy and Rory freed of their captors holding on to each other and looking at the Doctor and me in pure disbelief.
I noticed their captors, those three Jardane soldiers on the ground completely incapacitated. Had I really done that? Suddenly memories came back to me in a rush. The force was so great that my knees actually buckled. But the Doctor was there to catch me and hold me close as I remembered all of what happened moments ago. Was that him shaking or me? I remembered pointing the gun at the Doctor, remembered him telling me that I was forgiven, remembered pulling the trigger as well. But wait, it wasn't him that I shot. It was those soldiers. That last second, right after the Doctor forgave me for what he knew I had to do, I turned the gun on the soldiers and shot barely missing Amy and Rory who ducked at the last possible second.
"This is not possible! It cannot be!" The Jardane scientist bellowed, "She was under our control, there was no possible way she could fight us."
"And that's where you're completely wrong, "The Doctor started, holding me tightly against him afraid that at any moment I'd break again, "Question: What does a fortune teller at a local galactic market tell an Earth girl four years ago when he says he's going to tell her about her future? Anyone? Ponds? No? Answer: he tells her that she will be forgiven, and that when she is forgiven they will hold no power over her any longer. That's right. I told Kayden she'd always be forgiven and that released her from your hold. She's free now. You hold no power over her any longer. Give up, you've lost."
"IMPOSSIBLE!" The last remaining Jardane was angry now, his eyes burned an intense orange color now, about as intense as the surface of the sun. The Doctor had done it now, not only had he just told him that he had lost, but of course the Doctor had to go around and parade it right in his face. Leave it to the Time Lord to know just what buttons to push to infuriate an enemy. "This is not over Time Lord, your companion may have failed to kill you, but I will not. I will destroy you, and then I will destroy your friends and end your tyranny once and for all. I WILL restore balance to the universe with your death."
"What do you have against the Doctor?" I asked. It was about time I got some answers and no more of this "balance needs to be restored" hocus pocus. "Why do you want him dead so badly? Did he wrong you in some way, treat your people unfairly? Help me to understand why he needs to die."
"It's quite simple really; many generations ago my home planet was attacked by one of the Doctor's most feared enemies, the Daleks. My people were massacred and many perished in an attempt to get to safety. A handful of us survived and managed to escape perhaps two, three dozen of us at most. We fled to the only place close enough: Gallifrey. We begged audience with the High Council of the Time Lords and told them of our misfortune. They took no pity on us, even banished us from Gallifrey to find our own way with no help at all. To them we were too "technologically advanced" a race to consider helping. They were too stubborn, the lot of them citing that they never get involved in the affairs of other peoples and planets no matter what. When we left Gallifrey we heard of our home planets destruction. There were no survivors, and we were left orphaned with no place to call home."
There was a long silence as the scientist told us his tale, the tale of his people. I couldn't help but feel the smallest, slightest twinge of grief for him. I knew all too well what it was like to ask for help and to beg only to be turned away and left on my own, and I knew the Doctor knew that feeling all too well as well. Amy and Rory had joined us while we listened to the story and the Doctor and I shielded them afraid if this lone Jardane was capable of harming us. Who knew what he could have planned, especially with all of this resentment and hate he carried towards the Time Lords.
"But why does the Doctor have to die? Why should he be blamed for the actions of a bunch of old, stubborn Time Lords? He's not like them at all. The Doctor saves peoples and planets of all kinds. He would have helped you if he had the chance." Amy questioned forever defending the Doctor as was her nature.
"He has to die because he is one of them. He is a constant reminder of the race I lost, the people, the friends, the family I watched perish right before my eyes when I was a child. He is the last remaining soul of that race that sent our planet to its death. You look upon him, faithful companion, as a hero, a savior of worlds and of people. But does he not too play god? Does he not also decide which races are deemed worthy to live and which aren't?"
I felt the Doctor's grip around my shoulders tighten and I knew at that moment the Jardane had struck a nerve. I risked peeking up at the Doctor and saw his eyes burning with emotion, that tic was working his jaw again. This couldn't possibly end well. Their stories were quite similar, the Doctor's and the scientist's, but I knew the Doctor never wanted to be reminded of Gallifrey. He never wanted to remember the race that he had lost, and to the same enemy that the Jardane lost their race, their home planet to. The Doctor never wanted to remember, but he also never wanted to forget. The tension in this corridor was mounting now. It all depended on who was going to snap first. We didn't know what this vengeful creature could be planning what other traps could be lying in wait for us. All I knew was that the four of us needed to be ready for anything. We weren't even armed, well not really. I still had the plasma gun and it only had one shot left. I didn't know the full extent of the effects it would have on the Jardane, but I knew I wouldn't hesitate to use it if it came to that. I also noticed the Doctor still had not retrieved his sonic screwdriver. It laid on the floor to my left just a hair out of arm's reach.
"I am terribly sorry for the loss your people experienced; I myself experienced loss beyond measure as well. I know the Daleks and I know what they are capable of. They took away my home too. They made me who I am, the last of the Time Lords. They caused me to go down that path, to destroy my own people, my home for the sake of saving the universe. I know the pain you're feeling; I feel it every second of every day. I can help you though, if you let me. Please let me make up for what the Time Lords didn't do for you, in whatever way I can."
"NO!" The Jardane scientist snarled at the Doctor as he took two, three steps away from us and reached into his lab coat brandishing a plasma gun similar to my own. "I will not trust you Time Lord. I know you are not capable of helping me now, all you would do is deem my people unworthy to live and destroy us just as the Daleks did all those years ago. I will end your tyranny Doctor. You will no longer be allowed to play god. Your pathetic human companions follow you around like little dogs praising you to be a hero and a savior but I know you are nothing more than a monster no better than the rest of your people. It's time to put an end to this once and for all, it's time to avenge my people." He pointed the gun at the Doctor who I had to say looked properly worried for the first time since we've been here.
No one dared to breathe, to move, to even blink. We stood there trying to formulate a plan to get us out of harm's way without the Doctor getting shot. It wasn't as easy a plan to formulate as you may have believed. A heartbeat's time passed and, without warning, the Jardane scientist pulled the trigger firing the plasma gun, the sound reverberating all around us throughout the corridor. Something wasn't right, I could tell that almost instantly. I peeped over at the Doctor who was busy patting himself down; quite comically I might add, trying to find where the Jardane had shot him. No it wasn't right. He wasn't the one shot. At that moment white hot agony tore through my abdomen forcing me down to my knees. I inhaled sharply and risked glancing down at my abdomen, my worst fears confirmed. Blood quickly soaked through my shirt. I was the one who was shot.
"Kayden! Oh my god"
"Kayden!" I heard Amy and Rory shout as Rory dove forward to catch me before I collapsed entirely to the floor. Rory quickly went to work, tearing his jacket off and using it to apply pressure to my wound trying to stop the bleeding. By the look on his face I could tell it wasn't working. "Doctor, I need to get her back to the TARDIS, NOW!"
"I had a moment of clarity, Doctor." The Jardane began as he tossed his now empty plasma gun down at the Doctor's feet. "What better way to make you suffer than to feel my pain, the pain of an entire lost race, again. There is no sweeter way to kill you, Time Lord, than to watch you die of grief. How does it feel, hmm? How does it feel to lose that one light that you had left in your measly existence? Doesn't it just hurt? You'll now get to feel everything I felt that night that I lost my family, my ENTIRE RACE."
"No she'll be okay Doctor, won't she?" Amy implored from next to Rory trying to help him in any way she could. "She'll just regenerate, right? She'll be fine in just a moment. Won't she? Doctor"
Something again wasn't right. I could tell by the stone-faced look the Doctor was giving her. There was something that he realized that he wasn't telling us. Something that spelled out that I wouldn't be okay. The Doctor looked at me at that moment, and I saw it. Burning in his eyes was every emotion one could think of. He knew that I wasn't going to make it. The pain was getting unbearable about now spreading its way from my abdomen all throughout my body. I writhed in pain and groaned not knowing what else to do. Why wasn't I regenerating? I am a Time Lady damn it! I should be regenerating. The Jardane scientist threw his head back and laughed menacingly at that moment. He saw enjoying every minute of this, and I could see how it was starting to tick the Doctor off. Hell even in my current state I was getting ticked off.
"That gun that I used contained pure Time Lord DNA chemically altered to halt the regeneration cycle. She's practically human again. There will be no saving her; she's as good as dead. The altered Time Lord DNA has drained her of all the remaining regenerations that she had left. There will be no way to save her. You see Doctor, it's all over now, and I've won."
"You have done nothing to win in my book." The Doctor stated deathly calm in every sense of the word, "All you've managed to do is make me very cross, and you won't like me when I am cross. You went and hurt the one person in my life who means everything to me, and I do not take kindly to that. You, Jardane, have toyed with me and my friends for long enough. This ends right now. You have not won, nor will you win as long as I still breathe."
"Say what you'd like Doctor, but it changes nothing. I have avenged my people by destroying your precious companion. You won't be able to save her. You are too late." The Jardane stated matter-of-factly with that smug smile still plastered on his face.
"That's enough out of you! You hurt my friend and now I am angry. The Doctor says you won't like him when he's cross, but I am ten times as worse." Amy threatened now standing protectively in front of me, holding my plasma gun and aiming it at the alien in front of her. There was still one shot left and she did not hesitate to use it. In the blink of an eye Amelia Pond shot the Jardane scientist square in the chest sending him crashing to the floor. "That takes care of him. Doctor we need to get Kayden out of here now!"
Rory scooped me up in his arms and jostled me about a bit causing me to cry out in agony. My god everything hurt. My breathing was coming out faster and shallower. This couldn't be good. Rory held my limp body in his arms my head lolling back and forth like a little rag doll as I groaned. I felt myself begin to fall in and out of consciousness. I was thinking at that moment about how much I was going to beat Rory for jostling me about so, trying to remain positive even as I knew how bleak everything was looking right now.
"Rory, Doctor." I croaked out trying to get both of their attention, "Hurts. Everything. TARDIS. Now."
The Doctor was quick with fiddling with the sonic screwdriver and aiming it at an alarm system on the wall to our right. Immediately alarms began wailing and shrieking causing another groan from me, and Amy to clasp her hands over her ears. The Doctor told us how he had just rigged the building to explode and that we had exactly four minutes and thirty four seconds to get out before we went down with the ship, or up with the building, whichever we preferred. We wasted no time in hightailing it out of there. I was still being held tightly in Rory's arms as Amy continued to hold pressure on my wound as we ran, the Doctor leading the way using the sonic to get us to the appropriate exit. In a matter of minutes we were out of the laboratory and back out on the freezing, rainy streets of New York City. We didn't let the rain slow us down and continued to run until we reached the TARDIS. As the Doctor snapped his fingers unlocking her doors the first of the explosions echoed in the streets around us. With that explosion went the remainder of the Jardane race, they were officially no more.
"Amy grab my med kit from our bedroom, Doctor get us the hell out of here as fast as you can. I'm heading straight for the medical wing. Kayden has lost a lot of blood. I don't know if…..if…." Rory let his voice trail off here afraid to put into words what everyone else, including myself, was thinking at that moment.
Amy ran as fast as she could to her and Rory's room to grab is med kit as the Doctor quickly put in the first random sequence of coordinates he could think of to get us out of here. Rory ran through the corridors towards the medical wing, the TARDIS sensing the urgency between all of her passengers reshaped corridors and moved doorways around so it took Rory the most minimal amount of time to reach the medical wing. Rory wasted no time hooking me up to machines and cutting up my shirt, ignoring my teasing in my weakened state about cold hands and his staring at my chest, and went straight to work cleaning and patching my wound. Amy joined us moments later carrying his heaving medical bag and panting from the exertion, but not wasting a moment in helping her husband the best that she could. As Rory and Amy worked, we felt the TARDIS shudder meaning the Doctor had finished getting us the hell out of dodge and moments later he too joined us in the medical wing. We locked eyes for only a moment before he was at my side squeezing my hand in his, and whispering prayers in his, our, native tongue for me to make it through.
The seconds turning to minutes, minutes to hours as Rory worked, at the end of it all he couldn't do anything else for me. I had lost too much blood. The Jardane was right; I was now going to die. Grief and sadness threatened to rip through me, but I quickly squashed those two vile emotions. Rory had done everything in his power to try and save me. I wasn't going to be angry and I most certainly was not going to be sad. Those were not the emotions that I wanted to feel before, before I-I died.
"Kayden I am so sorry. I feel like I failed you. I'm wracking my brain thinking of what I can do but there's, there's nothing. What kind of nurse am I when I can't even save my own friend?" Rory asked to no one in particular. I took his hand in mine and gave it a weak squeeze and mustered up the best smile I could give him.
"I don't blame you Rory, not one bit. You and Amy did what you could for me. You never gave up on me and I will always love you both for that. It is okay, it really is. You have failed no one Rory. Promise." I murmured feeling that I couldn't get my voice above a whisper.
Amy was sitting perched on the corner of the bed hugging her knees to her chest as sobs tore through here. She was silently crying, the bed quaking with each and every silent sob. "Kayden please, you have to be okay. You have to make it through this. Don't leave us. We still have so many adventures to go on, so many worlds to explore and people to save. How are we going to do all of this without you?"
"I will always be with you Amy. Every adventure you go on, every planet and people you save with the Doctor I will still be right there with you every step of the way. Even though you won't see me I'll be there. Did you really think you'd get rid of me that easily?" I joked with her and gave a little laugh which ended in a coughing fit. I was getting worse and knew I didn't have much time left.
Amy and Rory took that as their cue to leave. They wanted to give the Doctor and me as much time as possible together as we could get. Our time together was rapidly wearing thin and everyone knew it. Most of all, the Doctor knew it, and that was the most heartbreaking part of this whole thing. I gave Amy and Rory one last hug and told them that I loved them both and they left the Doctor and me alone together, the door closing behind them with a soft click. We sat in silence, the Doctor and I, neither one of us knowing what to say to the other. There was so much that was left unsaid, so much that was going to continue and remain unsaid and that killed the both of us more than any alien race could do.
"Kayden please, please you can't leave me. I don't want to be alone again. I just got you back and I am not ready to let you go. How could I possibly continue to travel, let alone live without you?" The Doctor begged fresh tears falling from his eyes and rolling down his cheeks.
I gingerly placed a hand against his cheek wiping his tears away as best I could as he turned his face against my hand and placed a kiss against my palm. "You're the Doctor, you'll continue traveling and saving peoples and planets because that is what you do."
"But how could I do this knowing that you're gone? How can I save others in need when I couldn't even save you?"
"Doctor, listen to me. I want you to promise me that you'll keep on living, I want you to promise that no matter how dark or how bleak things get for you, you'll keep on living and traveling and saving those in need. For me Doctor, promise me you'll stay alive for me. Or I swear Time Lord I will not make your time in the afterlife pleasant at all. That much I can promise you."
That actually earned a chuckle from my Doctor and I smiled at him. He held me gently against his chest and kissed the top of my head. I knew he was trying so hard not to break down and cry in front of me. I knew my Doctor was trying very hard to stay strong. It went unsaid, but I knew that the Doctor would keep his promise to me. He would continue to travel with the Ponds and save worlds, people, planets, everything. He knew that no matter what happened I would always be with him and that made this all just a little bit easier to deal with, just a little bit easier.
"Doctor, I'm not afraid to die anymore, you know? I finally found all that I was searching for. I found out the truth about myself, found where I actually belonged. It was alright in the end. I found what it was that everyone looks for and hopes they find before the die, I found love. But not just that, I found a family. I found out that there was so much more to the universe than anyone else could have possible imagined, and I have you to thank you that Doctor. Thank you for helping me to find out who I truly was. Thank you for being my family, you, Amy, and Rory. And remember Doctor that I love you. Nothing will ever change that, not even death."
I glanced up and met his eyes and saw an intense sadness reflected there. There was also burning, unconditional love reflected there as well, and I knew that the Doctor would never stop loving me either, no matter what; come death, war, and the destruction of the universe, whatever. Nothing would stop it. The Doctor leaned down and crushed his lips to my own, kissing me with all that he had to give and more. He let me know with that kiss that he loved me, that he would keep his promise to me, and that he'd see me again.
"I'll love you always Kayden, I promise you." The Doctor whispered to me and I sighed as I closed my eyes and let the darkness overtake me.
Two Days Later
The TARDIS materialized in front of the Pond's home. The TARDIS door creaked opened and the three friends stepped out into the foggy streets of Leadworth. It was quite fitting that the weather represented the somber mood of the three companions. They stood around awkwardly, surrounded by luggage, no one knowing what to say or do at that moment. Finally with a sigh Amy broke the silence.
"Doctor are you sure that you are going to be okay? We could stay with you. You don't have to go through this alone you know."
"I know Amy," The Doctor replied with a halfhearted smile, "But we've been through a lot we just, I think we, I, I need some time alone. You and Rory have lives here and you two should spend some time at home together. I'll be back for you before you know it."
"The Doctor is right Amy," Rory chimed in as he took his wife's hand into his and gave it a squeeze. "We should take this time at home and just take it easy. The universe will still be waiting for us in two weeks when the Doctor comes back."
Amy nodded before wrapping the Doctor, her best friend, in a tight embrace. She knew how much he was still hurting even though he was trying so hard to hide it. He was trying to be 'The Doctor' who never showed when something was bothering him, who always kept on a brave face for her and Rory. It had only been two days since they lost Kayden, two days since they piloted the TARDIS back to The Forest of Prim where Kayden had her first taste of what it was like to travel with the Doctor. It was here in the tranquil forest that the Doctor and his companions gave Kayden a funeral fitting the highest of the Time Lords. Amy still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that when the Doctor came back to pick her and Rory up in two weeks that Kayden was not going to be there. The Doctor was once again the last of his race, but even worse, he had lost the one person in the entire cosmos that he loved. Amy tried to picture what it would be like to lose Rory in the way the Doctor lost Kayden and she couldn't even fathom it. A wave of sadness washed over Amy at the mere thought of losing her husband, and it caused her to hug the Doctor even harder.
"Promise you'll come back Doctor. No matter what, promise you'll come back for Rory and me." Amy whispered to the Doctor as he released him from her tight embrace.
"Amelia Pond I promise that I will come back for you and for Rory. I made a promise to Kayden, a promise that I intend to keep. I told her that I would continue to live for her, continue to save planets and people and worlds and take you and Rory one the most amazing of adventures and I don't intend to break that promise. Now, run along Ponds. I will see you in two weeks."
Another round of hugs between the three companions and the Doctor returned to the TARDIS alone. The silence was deafening. A wave of emotions crashed over the Doctor as he sunk into the captain's chair around the console of the TARDIS, his one constant companion, and reached into the pocket of his tweed jacket. He removed a locket and a fob watch and stared down lovingly at both items. They were Kayden's, and there were the two items that the Doctor decided to keep to remember her by. He placed a kiss against the fob watch before returning it to his pocket and then proceeded to read aloud the inscription on the locket.
"An unexpected journey leads hearts to find that which they yearn for: love, adventures, and never-ending memories. Oh Kayden Grey, my brilliant girl I hope that you have many more unexpected journeys to come."
He fastened the locket around his neck, keeping it closer to his heart before getting up and walking around the TARDIS console lost in thought. An idea struck him then, and he quickly jumped on it imputing coordinates, twisting knobs and slamming down levers until the TARDIS jolted to life and sent him flying through the time vortex. He ignored the voices in his head telling him not to do this and that it was a bad idea from the beginning. The Doctor didn't care and he continued to run around the console pushing more buttons and pulling yet another lever until the TARDIS settled down having successfully arrived at her newest destination. The Doctor took a deep breath, straightened his bow tie and ran his fingers through his floppy brown hair before pulling open the TARDIS doors and stepping out into the snow lined streets of London. He made his way through the busy streets filled with people doing last minute Christmas shopping. It was December 21st and it was two years after he had lost Kayden the first time. He continued to trudge through the crowded streets until he arrived at this destination, a small café on the corner of a busy street of shops. The Doctor peered into the window until he saw who it was that he was looking for. There was Kayden; his Kayden curled up on an oversized chair by the fireplace with her nose buried in a Sherlock Holmes story. She looked as beautiful as ever to him, and with a deep breath he walked into the café with a purpose. He went straight to the counter and spoke quickly to the barista before heading back towards the door that he had just come through. He paused for a moment at the door and watched that barista walk over to Kayden with a steaming mug of cocoa in her hand.
"Kayden Grey?" The barista asked her and Kayden glanced up from her book and smiled at her.
"Yes?" She asked as the barista placed the mug down on the side table next to her chair.
"The bloke over there," the barista pointed over to the door where the Doctor was now exiting, back towards Kayden, floppy brown fair covering his face, "brought you this. Enjoy." The barista said with a smile as she walked away and left Kayden with her mug and her book.
Kayden watched the Doctor leave the café and watched as he walked past the windows getting closer to where she was. When he reached her he turned his head slightly, face still mostly hidden by his floppy hair and tweed jacket, and Kayden smiled at him a dazzling smile and inclined her head towards the mug of cocoa to her right and mouthed a 'thank you' to him. The Doctor inclined his head back towards her and continued on his way back to the TARDIS. Once inside he leaned back against the doors and smiled for the first time in two days feeling better than he had since he lost his Kayden. He realized then that he was going to be okay. And with that he jogged back up to the console and input new coordinates and when he pulled the lever to dematerialize, he felt ready to finally keep his promise to Kayden, the girl he would always love and never forget.
There you have it guys, the alternate ending, bonus chapter! Thus NOW concludes Kayden's journey with the Doctor. I hope you enjoyed. Now you can choose for yourself pretty much which chapter you prefer as an ending. You know the drill (For the last time too i swear) READ, REVIEW, ENJOY and i will see you guys soon. I promise. Cyberhugs gang, it's been a blast. ALLONS-Y
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TheDoctor'sTARDISXO