Then the Doctor heard his child's first cry, a big, fat bellow that shook the ancient catacomb walls as if they were fragile paper.
And he smiled.
His fingers reached out into the empty air and clutched, straining to pull at the nothingness around him.
So much blood.
So much.
He was circling the drain of unconsciousness.
But he could almost… feel it… hovering there, bouncing and jostling with the swallowed titan.
Lucifer's golden sword.
"You know, Shubby," he laughed harshly, writhing as his body screamed in protest at any movement below the waist, "It pains me to say this but, you were right. I am a stick. I am just a great, big, bloviating, stick in the mud. And now…"
"AND NOW WHAT, TIME LORD? YOUR CHILD IS BORN- YOU ARE WEAKENING, SOON TO BE UNCONSCIOUS; AS SOON AS IT TOUCHES THE FLOOR, IT IS AS GOOD AS MINE. THEN I AM THROUGH. THEN I WILL CONSUME THIS UNIVERSE, AS I CONSUMED MY…"
"And now," the Doctor finished, blinking away shards of narrowing vision, "I'm gonna prove it by giving you a great big splinter."
