I'm apparently really bad a cliffhangers, because I had to give you guys the next part. Although, well, this one is pretty much a cliffhanger too.

PS: This weekend is my birthday, so I don't know how much time I will have to write, because I have lots to do. But I have next week off of work, so I'm sure I can pump out lots next week. =)

.4.

The Last of the Time Lords

Part Two

"Citizens of Earth! Rejoice and observe!"

Two men are holding me, one on each arm. They lead me into the conference room on the Valiant. Ah, back where this all started. Fitting. Now that's what I call full circle.

Do I sound confident? I hope I sound confident. I'm trying to be confident.

But I think it's failing.

They have Michael. The idiot. I left him in the cave to protect him! And he had to go and follow me here. I don't even know how! I have a vortex manipulator, so it's easy for me to travel, obviously. Did he swim or something? I thought the cave was in South Africa or South America or someplace very far from Britain. He only had a month to get here. So how the hell did he get here?

Two guards pull Michael into the room behind me. He's being smart, for once, and keeping silent. Well, Michael's not exactly the most talkative person ever, but still.

The room looks the same. Except for the Doctor. The Doctor is shrunken, the size of a spider monkey. He looks like a gnome, with giant eyes and a little suit. The little suit was funny in the show. This whole scene was cheesy and over the top in the show.

In real life? Yeah, it's freaking scary.

The guards stop walking in the front of the room, but don't let go of my arms. The Master has his back to the room, Lucy in a red dress stands to his left on the loft. Jack, who warrants only one guard, is to my right. Michael, forced to his knees, is kept to my left. The Doctor is on the right, near the stairs. We lock eyes and I try to manage a smile. I think it comes out like a grimace.

"Your teleport device," the Master demands, voice low, calm, and serious. "In case you thought I'd forgotten."

The guards let me go and walk away. I undo the vortex manipulator and toss it up the stairs to the Master. He catches it easily.

"And now," the Master says, bubbling with barely concealed glee. "Kneel."

I clench my jaw. I get down on both knees, then bow my head for good measure.

"Down below, the fleet is ready to launch," the Master zooms about the lofted area, pushing buttons. "Two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the universe. Are we ready?"

"The fleet awaits your signal," a voice over the com says. "Rejoice!"

My heart is pounding, my palms are clammy, and I really have no clue what I am doing. Kneel and shut up, that's my new motto.

"Three minutes to align the black hole converters. Counting down!" A clock starts to tick. Anyone else thinking about Hook and the crocodile right now? "I never could resist a ticking clock." The Master turns and winks at his audience, the goes back to the window. "My children, are you ready?"

"We will fly and blaze and slice! We will fly and blaze and slice!"

Toclafane. Billions and billions of people from the future, warped to kill their own kind.

"At zero, to mark this day, the child, Lillian Meyers, also known as Lizzie Smith the Storyteller, will die," the Master grins down at me. "Ha, my first blood. Ha, any last words?" He watched me expectantly. I say nothing. "No?" He sighs and starts walking down the stairs, regarding the Doctor in his cage. "Such a disappointment, this one. Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the time vortex. This one's useless! Bring the boy!" The two guards holding Michael push him forward. Michael lands on his knees next to me. "Let's see if this will open your gob, Lily."

I've never actually seen The Matrix, but everyone knows about the special effects. You know, the slowing down of time to show you how cool something is? I didn't know it could happen in real life. But apparently it does.

The clock ticks. Michael looks at me.

I reach out to him.

The Master aims.

The Master fires.

The laser shoots.

Michael keeps looking at me.

Even when the bream of orange light hits his chest.

Even when he falls.

The clock ticks.

"What do you have to say now, Lillian Meyers?" The Master implores.

I blink. I close my eyes. I turn to the Master and open my eyes again. I can almost feel the burning flames shooting out of my eyes. But I say nothing. Michael's death is imprinted in my brain. But very, very soon, just a couple of minutes, it will have never happened.

"Nothing? No?" The Master sighs. "Bow your head," he commands, sounding like an annoyed parent who had to tell his kid to do something about ten times too many. I bow, my body pulsing with anger, energy, and revenge. "And so it falls to me, the Master of all, to establish from this day, a new order of Time Lords! From this day forward…"

Blah blah blah. Important stuff happening.

I start to laugh.

"What? What's so funny?"

I raise my chin, a sardonic, hateful smile stretching my face. "A gun?"

"What about it?"

"A gun in four parts? Really?" I shake my head.

"Yes, and I destroyed it."

I roll my eyes. "A gun in four parts scattered across the world? I mean, come on. Did you really believe that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did you, like, actually read my mind?" I ask him, chuckling. "Did you read anything about what happens? I mean, for real, Master. Are you really as stupid as you look?"

The Master clears his throat. "I peaked, yes, but there was only so much I could gain from you. I knew enough to kill Martha Jones."

"But why?" I lean forward. "Why was it so important to kill Martha Jones?"

Don't look at Michael. You can break down later. This is the world at stake.

"Because she was… going to look for the gun?"

He doesn't know. Holy shit. He doesn't know.

I laugh. I laugh so hard tears start streaming down my face. Soon the laughter turns to sobbing. I slam my palms against the floor. "Then you killed her for nothing, you fool! Letting me live was the worst mistake you could have possibly made. Would you like to know why?" The sobs turn to shouts. Angry? Oh, yes. "Because I know more about the Doctor than Martha Jones could possibly imagine. I know his past. I know his future. And I told it to the whole world." I smile, a cold, hard smile. "I told a story, that's all. No weapons, just words. I did just what the Doctor would have told Martha to do. I went across the continents. And everywhere I went, I found the people, and I told them the story. The story of the Doctor. And I sent messengers to spread it."

"Faith and hope?" The Master is not impressed. "Is that all?"

"Oh, no," I say, rising to my feet. "No, 'cause I gave them an instruction. Just as Martha would have done." I look over at the Doctor. "I told them that if everyone thinks of one word, at one specific time…"

"Nothing will happen!" The Master shouts. "Is that your weapon? Prayer?"

"Right across the world," I shout back. "One word, just one thought, at one moment…" I pause. The Master is shaking his head adn walking away. "But with 15 satellites!"

"What?" His head whips toward me and he freezes.

Jack speaks up. "The Archangel Network."

"A telepathic field binding the whole human race together," I confirm. "With all of them, every single person on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time. And that word…is Doctor."

The clock strikes zero. I fold my arms across my chest and wait. And watch.

It doesn't take long for the glowing golden rings to form around the Doctor. The Master is watching, horrified, shouting for everyone to stop. The change is already happening. This is almost over. I can't wait to sleep.

The Doctor is already becoming stronger. "I've had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices."

The Master panics. "I order you to stop!"

People are still chanting. I'm sure of it. Even Lucy the Flake says his name.

The Doctor grows, stretches, and that head of sticky-upy hair is back. Impressively, his suit is even the right size now. Ok, even in person, this is still a little cheesy. But I can't keep from smiling.

"The one thing you can't do," the Doctor says, floating still in a golden bubble of what looks like regeneration energy. "Stop them thinking."

Jack starts to laugh. He rushes to my side and pulls me into a tight hug. His cheek to mine, we watch this happen.

"Tell me the human race is degenerate now when they can do this."

The Master points his laser screwdriver at the Doctor. "No!" The Master shoots. But the Doctor waves the beam away.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor says, grimly. "I'm so sorry."

"Then I'll kill them!"

The Master turns to Jack and me. Jack lets me go to stand in front of me. I don't even flinch. The Doctor waves the screwdriver away. Apparently with his mind.

Yup, definitely corny. Effective, but corny.

"You can't do this! You can't do—It's not fair!" The Master sounds like a child.

I can't watch anymore. I really can't. So I look at the one place I know I shouldn't look.

I run to Michael's side. I take his hand in mine. Sobbing, I throw my head onto his chest. Wait. Hold the presses. Oh my god. Oh my freaking god. He's still breathing. How the hell is he still breathing?

He squeezes my hand. Barely, but it's there. "Lily," he whispers.

"Shh," I push his hair off his forehead. Not that there is much hair there. "Save your strength."

"Lily," he repeats. "I can't last much longer."

I close my eyes and when I open them, a tear falls. "It's ok," I whisper. "You don't have to hold on anymore, Michael. It's over. Soon everything will be back to how it was. None of this will have happened."

"How?"

"The paradox machine gets destroyed and time straightens itself out," I explain. Then I shake my head. "You'll wake up perfectly fine."

"Will I remember you?"

I bite my lip. "I don't know," I answer. "I won't lie to you anymore. I really don't know."

"I'd rather die than forget you."

I laugh and sob at the same time. "Well, you are dying, sillyhead," I tease. "So get on with it."

"Lily!" Jack interrupts our moment. His tone is urgent. "We need to get to the paradox machine."

I glare at him. "My job here is done. Go do yours." We lock eyes for a moment and he softens a bit, nodding. Then he's running out of the room and I turn back to more important things. Like Michael.

He expels a breath.

I wait for him to take another. But he doesn't.

No. No, no, no, no! He wasn't supposed to die! Not yet! Not until I told him how I feel! Not until I came up with the right thing to say.

I shake his shoulder. I shake his chest.

"No! Wake up! Please!"

Soon I can't see for all the tears. I throw my head into my hands and just sob. I shake back and forth, screaming until my throat is raw. Why did this have to happen? Why? This isn't fair! Not fair at all and I don't like it and I just want to go home! My real home! With real people and real friends. Where this is just a TV show and this kind of pain does not exist.

And then, all of a sudden, I'm thrown to the floor. I look up and see myself throwing a fit, see myself crying, see Michael sit up a bit. Jack walking backwards. The Doctor ascending in that golden light. The Master shooting Michael.

Time is reversing.

We won.