"He was right." Amy muttered, watching as the Doctor on the Visuliser screen stepped away from her. It was a peculiar sensation, watching yourself. She turned to River. "He was right."
"I know." River sighed. "Isn't it annoying when he does that?"
"At least we listened." Rory said comfortingly, placing an arm around his wife. "I don't think they got the nose quite right though."
Amy looked up to him with a grin, trying to force it in to a reassuring smile.
"We'll never live this one down." She sighed. "It's all we'll hear about from now on, how he was right."
River looked away from them sadly, knowing that wasn't true. They wouldn't hear about it from the Doctor at all. He wouldn't have the chance.
"I wouldn't have thrown myself off a cliff though." Rory shrugged, River looking to him seriously.
"Wouldn't you?" She questioned. "If the Doctor's life depended on it?"
She looked to her father who avoided her gaze, as did her mother.
"Maybe this time we'll have to admit he got it right."
XXXX
"Stop crying Pond." The Doctor said, stepping away from the Amy in front of him.
"Sorry." She sniffed. "It's difficult to stop once you get going."
"Well, it was convincing." The Doctor admitted. "Shame about the rest of it." He stepped towards the edge, peering over the sheer drop. "Now, where's your friend got to?"
"It would have sunk rather quickly." 'Amy' pointed out.
"You lot can cope with depth, though right?" The Doctor asked, genuinely concerned.
"Of course." She replied. "Any minute now."
Sure enough, moments later the Doctor saw a slight crackle on the surface of the water, a green shape emerging and floating upwards. He turned to the Amy standing next to him.
"You can change back now." He shuddered uncomfortably. It had been hard keeping up the charade in front of Stevie and Claire, particularly watching 'Rory' dive from the cliff in to the sea. He knew it wasn't really him, but it didn't matter. As he had held the fake Amy in his arms, his mind flashed to the last time he had seen them, his hearts breaking a little more.
Nodding, 'Amy's whole appearance rippled before his eyes before instantly changing in to a green blob, small tendrils hanging below it as it floated in mid air, on its own static electricity.
The Doctor turned away, looking out of the makeshift window in the cavern, just as the second Rutan floated up in to view.
"Are you ok?" The Doctor asked sincerely, as it hovered next to its kin.
"Yes, thank you Doctor." The creature replied telepathically. "Water isn't a problem for us."
"Good to hear it." The Doctor smiled, peering at the creatures' tentacles. "Did you get it?"
"Yes." The Rutan confirmed, revealing the golden pocket watch from within its tendrils. "I was able to break it free from the stars pull, just in time."
"Thank you." The Doctor took the watch from the Rutan, rolling it in his hand firmly. "I mean it, thank you."
"I believe that makes us even, Doctor." The Rutan that had been impersonating Amy replied. "For your help, on the boat. Although that body was slightly different than my usual one. Took some getting used to."
"There's always room for a bit of variety." The Doctor shrugged. "You can't stay as the same guards forever."
"We've become used to it." The Rory-Rutan replied, it's body pulsing. "We are quite accustomed to our human lives now."
"Good to hear it." The Doctor smiled, looking to the Vortex manipulator on his wrist. "Now, let's get you home." He placed the watch safely in his pocket. "I've got a job to do."
XXXX
Amy turned the screen off as the Doctor disappeared from the scene, hiding the nagging sense off dread at the back of her mind. She really thought they'd won the Doctor round when he took them with him to Brazil, and fought tooth and nail once he explained his plan to take Rutan copies of them with him instead. A compromise, he'd said. He wouldn't be alone, but she and Rory would be safe. Amy had tried to argue that the Rutans would be in just as much danger, but the Doctor insisted that they were much more resilient.
It had been an odd experience, watching a green jelly fish instantly change in to her, but not as strange and disturbing as seeing Rory plummeting towards the ocean to, what would have been for her real husband, his death.
"Is that it then?" Rory turned to River, breaking Amy from her thoughts. "The last chapter?"
"Not quite." River smiled, stepping to the screen next to Amy and setting some dials. "But getting there. Let's keep up with him, shall we?"
XXXX
The Doctor slid the brick away from the wall, looking around him anxiously. It was almost all over, but he just hoped he'd gotten the timing right. Although the Vortex Manipulator told him he was in the right time, he didn't completely trust it. He had much more faith in his TARDIS. His trusty ship. She may not have always taken him to where he wanted to go, but the Doctor knew he always ended up where he needed to be. Throughout his thousand years plus of travelling, he'd seen friends come and go, empires rise and planets fall, but the only constant he'd had was her. His TARDIS. The one thing he had complete faith in.
And he'd let her down. So he had to make this right. He looked the pocket watch over one last time, cursing how much trouble it had caused, as he placed it in the small alcove, carefully placing the brick back in to the wall. Suddenly, he heard a familiar wheezing groaning noise around him, a smile spreading across his face. Turning around he saw the TARDIS forcing itself in to existence, the door creaking open. Quickly, the Doctor darted around the corner of the wall, standing flat against it.
He peered round cautiously, as he saw himself, his seventh self, running from the TARDIS towards the hiding place. He smiled slightly, making a mental note to find that hat in the wardrobe when he got back. The Doctor reached for the Manipulator, but stopped. He had to make sure.
The Seventh Doctor glanced back to the TARDIS as he slid the brick from the wall. His body seemed to be tingling slightly, an effect of jumping in and out of time, he assumed. On the other side of the wall the other Doctor knew the truth, because he felt it too; the sensation of being in two places at once. He listened to the slight grinding of brick as his younger self concealed the hidey hole again, pocket watch in hand. Back then, it had seemed so insignificant, just another peice in one of his grand games. He hadnt given it a second thought back then, let alone thought of all the trouble the little watch had caused. The Doctor tried to push away the nagging doubt in his head, the one that wondered if in a few lives time he would find himself clearing up a paradoxial mess he had caused in this incarnation.
Wasting no time, the Seventh Doctor ran back to the TARDIS, bursting through the doors triumphantly. Breathing a sigh of relief, the Eleventh Doctor tapped buttons on the wrist device, crackling in to the vortex, hurtling towards in time by several years.
XXXX
"You did it!" Amy beamed as the Doctor entered the Visualiser room, grabbing him in to a hug.
"Didn't fancy a chat with yourself then?" Rory pondered. "You could have warned him, you, what was going to happen."
"I could have done." The Doctor agreed. "But I'm not one for breaking the rules."
"Hah!" Amy scoffed.
"What?" He looked hurt. "I leave that to your daughter."
"Only because you enjoy it." River teased.
"It's not over yet though." The Doctor whipped his screwdriver from his jacket pocket, pointing it at the screen. "Let's make sure it all happened as I remember it, shall we?"
XXXX
The cold corridor of the castle seemed to hum with energy as the TARDIS began to materialise, its beacon replacing the light of the wall mounted torches as they were blown out. Almost as soon as the police box had landed, the doors burst open, the Doctor stepping out. He was wearing his usual outfit, light jacket and hat. However, this time a leather strap ran diagonally across his chest, the Time Core strapped to it. The mirror sat to the side at his waist. Round his neck was his greatest weapon, the one that, unbeknown to him, had caused so much trouble to construct. Wires were coiled around the two parts of the cross, poking in to the back of the watch which sat in the middle.
"Never thought I'd see you tooled up Professor." Ace said weakly, following him out of the TARDIS.
"A man of courage never wants weapons, Ace." The Doctor turned to her. "And I'm usually a man of courage."
"You still are."
"No, Ace." He explained. "I'm not, not right now. I'm armed to the hilt, because I'm scared. Scared of what will happen to you." He paused. "And that makes me dangerous Ace. Fear is a dark room, where danger develops. It's a path I tried to avoid, because I know where it leads, what it would make me become. But it appears I can't escape it."
"No one can escape fear, professor." Ace said softly. "It's what makes us human."
"I'll take that as a compliment." The Doctor smiled. "Now, back in to the TARDIS. I can't put you back in to temporal orbit, but you'll still be safer in there."
"I'll still age, though?"
"Until I end the 'curse', yes." The Doctor nodded.
"You'd better get a move on then." She raised an eyebrow. "Before I start looking like my nan."
"One moment." The Doctor paused, reaching to a flask on his belt.
"You're drinking?" Ace said, taken aback.
"Of course." The Doctor replied, taking a swing. "If a man has no tea in him, he's incapable of understanding truth and beauty. I think I need to understand both, don't you?"
"Professor.." Ace muttered, stumbling back and holding on to the TARDIS for support. The Doctor looked at her, her features shifting dramatically.
"Get inside, Ace." The Doctor ordered. "I'll be back soon." He held the door open, ushering her in. "She'll look after you." He pulled the doors closed, turning towards the long stone hallway.
XXXX
Horatio sat on his throne, high up in the tower where he had spent so many years. He gave the air a feral sniff. The Time Lord was back. He couldn't tell how long it had been since he'd last been here; time was a concept Horatio had abandoned long ago. Despite his anger at the Doctors' escape, his minions attack on the Time Lords companion had made it certain that they would return. Across time and space, the king of the Chronopires had felt Ace's life force feeding him, gradually growing weaker. Despite the period where he could not sense her at all, he was sure that she was still alive. The Doctor wouldn't have let her go that easily.
Throughout the years, he'd managed to push his memories of his old life to the back of his mind, but the thought of the Doctor caused them to bubble to the surface. Back then he'd been so desperate to age, to live the same life as his friends, to not be the only one left. However, like most things, he didn't realise the true value of his gift until it was gone. His body had started to age slowly, his back aching, his hair receding. Every time he looked in the mirror, there was another change.
Then they had come for him. Horatio had never really known why, he assumed they had sensed him across time, and lined him up as a meal. However, when the Chronopires found him, they seemed unable to kill him, however hard they tried. For weeks they kept him locked away, leeching his life force away. It soon became clear that he was different. As much as they took, he always recovered. Eventually, the Chronopires realised this, saw the potential he held for their race. Rather than a meal, they made him their king.
Although he continued to survive, his race were dying out, their need for food increasing rapidly. The loss of the Doctor the first time was a setback. But now, it seemed, he was back for revenge. This would be their chance, the opportunity for his race to make the ultimate kill, to feed for eternity.
Horatio stood from his once grand throne, time having taken its toll on the chair. His clawed fingers gripped the arms, his blue eyes glowing with a sense of vigour he hadn't felt for a very long time. He'd always enjoyed a good meal, every time his minions had taken another victim. This, however, was going to be a feast.
XXXX
"It's him!" Amy shouted, recognising Horatio despite his decaying features. "The one you met when you had the scarf."
"Yes, Amy." The Doctor said, a heavy weight upon him. "You see, this is my fault. On so many different levels."
"They'd have still taken him if he still had the mirror." River tried to reassure him. "That wasn't your fault."
"Maybe not." The Doctor sighed. "But I'm still responsible for what happens next."
XXXX
"Get back!" The Doctor roared, holding his cross out in front of him, as a Chronopire pounced. The creature stopped in it's tracks as the Doctor flicked the pocket watch open, the hands spinning frantically, its ticking quick and irregular. The Doctor continued on walking, pushing the stunned creature out of his way.
It was an odd feeling, actively hunting out violence and confrontation. The Doctor had found himself ever more so relying on his power of deduction and, to some extent, manipulation, to get out of situations. He prided himself on using his words and knowledge as his aresnal, but even the Doctor knew that sometimes there was no alternative. Ace had been foolish, something he would certainly be sure to make her aware of later, but it was still his fault that she had been there in the first place. And that made it his responsibility to save her.
He turned a corner, coming face to face with another Chronopire. He reached for the cross, before instinctively changing his mind, awkwardly grabbing the glowing Time Core and lunging it forward. The makeshift stake charged through the beasts' chest, like a knife through butter. Its' body started to burn with dull blue flames, before crumbling to nothing.
The Doctor looked at the ground, to the remains of the Chronopire. He knew he had to do it, to survive, for Ace, but it was still as if he'd lunged that stake though his own heart.
XXXX
Ace sat in the TARDIS, trying to convince herself that she was imagining the sensation of her skin sagging and muscles weakening as the clocks on the mantle peice ticked onwards. The sound of snarling and claws on wood from the other side of the door was a distraction, but not one that she particularly welcomed.
The mirror sat glass downwards on one of the many units that adorned the newest interior of the TARDIS. Whilst Ace had grown accustomed to the simplicity of the plain console room, she had to admit she preferred the elaborate design of this one. She looked over to the wooden framework over the time rotor, trying to take her mind away from everything else, including the reflection that she knew would be looking back at her if she lifted the mirror.
Ace had joked earlier about looking like her Nan, but that wasn't what worried her. No, her biggest fear is that it would be her mothers face staring out of the glass. She had always been told that she looked like her mother, which usually resulted in an angry outburst. Ace had never really thought about her future, never really knowing what she wanted to be. She did however, know what she didn't want to be; her mother.
She'd come a long way since being whisked away to Ice World, before joining the Doctor. It had taken a while for her to forgive the Doctor for manipulating her, both in taking her to that house in Perivale and his attitude towards her during their battle with Fenric. Eventually, she had come to realise that he was only ever doing what was in her best interest. It was only now that she worked out why she had been so resistant to his help and interest in her welfare; it was because no one had ever shown her that before.
Her life with the Doctor may have been dangerous and heartbreaking, and ended up with her sat here, life ebbing away with every second. But at the same time, she had learnt so much, about both the universe and herself. And despite it all, Ace knew that stepping through those TARDIS doors for the first time had been the best thing she had ever done.
XXXX
The long dining table stood in the middle of the room, lit dimly by the candlelight. It was the only thing he'd gone back for after his transformation, his awakening. The chairs sat around the edge, as they always had done, although they hadn't had anyone sat in them for a long time.
Horatio sat at the head of the table, his spot, his goblet in front of him. He sat waiting, until finally hearing the faint echoes of footsteps from the stone staircase behind him.
"Nice place you have here." The Doctor chirped, noticing the table and the figure sat facing away from him. "Oh, a spread. Lovely." He paused, checking his collection of makeshift weaponry. "Not that I'll be able to stay, you understand. You see, I have some very urgent buisness to take care of."
"Take a seat Doctor." Horatio hissed. "I'll have my butler get you something." He extended an arm, pointing to a Chronopire stood in the corner of the room. "I'm afraid he isn't as efficient as poor old Albert, however."
"Albert?" The Doctor questioned, rushing round to the table, recoiling back in surprise. "Horatio? You? You're the king of the Chronopires?"
"Indeed Doctor." Horatio hissed, gesturing for the Doctor to take the seat at the other end of the table. "Seems it was a mistake, you taking that mirror. For both of us. Although, despite some initial discomfort, it's worked out quite well for me, you understand."
"Perhaps." The Doctor mused, sitting down, concealing the mirror on his belt. "I thought you'd given up on immortality?"
"I didn't ask for it." Horatio explained. "Either time. But now, I see the, shall we say, advantages."
"Oh really?" The Doctor questioned. "Leeching off of the energy of others? Bleeding them dry? Prolonging your morbid existence at the cost of theirs?"
"Oh but not for very much longer, Doctor."
"Oh? Giving it up again, are you?" He didn't look round, but was aware of the other Chronopire approaching him from behind.
"Oh no." Horatio shook his head. "But with you, we won't need to feed from anyone else, ever again. I hear Time Lords make very fulfilling appetisers."
The Doctor felt his chair move as it was pulled back. He quickly reached in to his jacket pocket, calmly pointing the TARDIS key at his attacker. With a blast of golden energy, the Chronopire stumbled back, toppling to the ground.
"You're right." The Doctor nodded to Horatio, getting to his feet. "Not much of an improvement on your last one at all. No where near as durable."
"There are many more from where he came from." He hissed. "You cannot escape your fate."
"And neither can you escape yours." The Doctor stated, swinging around the table towards the Chronopire, grabbing the mirror and holding it towards him. "Don't you remember, Horatio? The everlasting life that you always resented? The life you begged me to help end?"
"No!" Horatio yelled, his reflection looking back at him. It wasn't his twisted, mutated face however, but his old face. His young face, the one he had possessed for so long. Then, just for a moment, the image shifted, to a grey haired old man.
"Remember him?" The Doctor said coldly. "Who you used to be? The man with all his friends, his loyal butler? You may live forever, but you can never have that again. That life isn't one you can have anymore."
"Perhaps I don't want that." Horatio hissed, lunging with an arm, knocking the mirror out of the Doctors' grasp, it falling to the floor.
"Perhaps Ace does?" The Doctor suggested. "She still has that chance. The chance to make friends, to enjoy herself, to grow old and have a family?"
"That does not concern me." He rose to his feet threateningly. "She will die, in order for me to live."
"Is that right?" The Doctor titled his head. "Because it occurs to me that you should be dead yourself."
"And what makes you say that?" Horatio snarled impaitently.
First there's your age, then the torture they put you through, then," the Doctor pointed to the floor, "the state of that mirror."
The object lay on the stone floor, its frame intact, but the glass shattered. As Horatio looked in horror at the remains, he saw his face, the older him, staring out of each fragment.
"At last." The old man gasped. "Perhaps now, I can finally be free." He paused, as his imaged started to fade. "We can be free."
"Horatio." The Doctor said the word rolling over his tongue. "I think that mirror may have had a longer lasting effect on you than I anticipated." He watched closely as Horatio stumbled.
"Doctor." He gasped. "I feel...strange."
"Weak?" The Doctor asked. "Tired, frail, old? I think," he said softly, "perhaps for the first time, you're starting to feel human."
"Nonsense." Horatio stumbled. "I'm so much more."
"Not any more, I'm afraid." The Doctor circled him. "I think time may be catching up with you. The mirrors effected stayed with you, you see, holding back the inevitable. It negated all of the factors that should have ended your life. It was the glass that kept you going, not being converted in to a Chronopire."
"It's coming, isn't it?" Horatio whispered. "Death?"
"I think so." The Doctor nodded sadly. "And since they," he gestured to the other crumbled Chronopire on the floor, "they gave themselves to you, it's coming for them too. They made you their king, but also the source of their own energy. The Chronopires will die with you."
"And your friend?" Horatio struggled to get the words out, the glow in his eyes fading. "Will she survive?"
"I hope so." The Doctor confirmed. "I'm counting on it." He paused. "As I've a stern word to be having with her,"
Horatio fell to his knees, then to the floor, embracing the pain that flashed over him, his twisted features looking back at him, distorted in the broken pieces of mirror.
"I'm sorry Doctor." His eyelids flickered. "Perhaps I never knew what I truly had."
"That's often the difference between a blessing and a curse, don't you find?" The Doctor lamented, watching as Horatio writhed in agony, growing weaker by the second.
The Doctor stood over him as his eyes slid closed for the last time. He reached to the table picking up the goblet and raising it to the air in a toast.
"To Horatio. You may have been misguided, in the end, but truly and forever human. But I cannot help but wonder what your live may have bought, had it not been for this." He looked down to the floor, crunching an already shattered peice of glass beneathe his feet.
Horatio should never have been in possession of the mirror, the Doctor knew that. It was one of those little things, an object scattered through time, finding its way from owner to owner. Just an insignificant mirror, in the grand scheme of the universe, but it's very existence caused a ripple effect through time, setting otherwise impossible events into motion, leaving so much tragedy in its wake.
XXXX
"Professor!" Ace beamed as the Doctor strolled casually in to the TARDIS, pulling his weapon belt off with relief and throwing it across the TARDIS floor. "You did it!"
"That I did Ace." He smiled, looking at her, back to her youthful appearance. "That I did."
He headed towards the console.
"Now then," he started, "where next?"
"Anywhere." Ace shrugged. "But somewhere exciting. Somewhere we can make the most of."
"That's what I like to hear, Ace." The Doctor smiled. "Time is there to be made the most of." He stopped, thoughtfully. "Everyone has so much potential. Never take that for granted." He turned to his companion. "Especially you, Ace. Yes, especially you. Perhaps I should take you somewhere where that can be nurtured."
"Professor?"
"Hold on tight Ace." The Doctor smiled, setting the coordinates. "There's a bigger adventure waiting for you, much bigger than I can even show you."
"But where professor? Where are we going?" Ace couldn't hide the excited grin on her face, just grateful that every muscle in her body was no longer aching.
"My dear Ace," he tapped at the console as the Time Rotor burst in to life, a grin on his face. "Have I ever told you about the Time Lord Academy?"