Thanks to trueroyalblue, for proofing this even though I DID NOT ASK HER TO. *sigh* Thanks to all of my readers, and especially my reviewers!
Chapter 21 - Two Sides of the Mirror
I spent the next two days in my room with an aching headache. Two guards were stationed outside because of my rebellious actions. The Master had chuckled at the news that I'd knocked out a guard; he seemed almost proud. The few hours that I'd spent running around the moon base were fresh in my mind. I couldn't shake away the horror.
The drumbeats faded from my mind; they were never anything more than an echo. The Master had lived with them for years. They fueled his destructive actions.
I passed the time by opening my mind and trying to make some sort of contact with the Doctor or Donna. I worried about them. The Master could and probably would hurt one of them, or even me. I liked to think that he wouldn't hurt me, since I still had to help him. I didn't have a choice. I had helped the Doctor as much as I could. My life was now on the line; I had promised the Master my life and I had to obey him or die. I regretted my Gallifreyian promise, but I couldn't take it back.
I received no direct contact from any of the other Time Lords. Donna tried, but she only had the body of a Gallifreyian. She probably couldn't even regenerate. The Doctor had given up trying to contact me. I was scared for him.
The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to side with the Doctor. The Master was dangerous, insane. I had seen a different side of him since he had captured the Doctor. His ego grew with his power. Just as I would decide to take an action, I would remember my promise to the Master and his promise to me: Gallifrey. My glorious home would be back, the Universe would be back to its normal self -- but without Earth.
I didn't understand the Doctor's attachment to the planet. The people were so simple, little unimportant apes getting lucky, hopelessly behind the rest of the Universe. They didn't have much of a future. They were a joke, the cockroaches that you couldn't stamp out. The records of them lasted from their creation to the end of the universe; or as far as anyone had ever gone.
Earth had more potential than Gallifrey. The potential of the place was immense; Gallifrey didn't have as much. The Time Lords were content to stand by and watch, even with the reforms that I'd seen. Humankind had much more of a chance to change the universe somehow, through luck and were hard-to-beat people, and Time Lords seemed to be few and stale. We had had influence, but did not use it.
The Reflection Stone would use that. If the Master harnessed its power correctly, he could bring back Gallifrey. The stone was an energy converter. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, but the stone converted the energies of destruction into almost anything. The Master had found the stone, had been the first Time Lord to actually touch it, and it imprinted on him. It needed the touch of three different living Gallifreyians to activate it properly.
The Master had explained to me about how Dalek Caan had broken through the Time Lock with Davros. The Reflection Stone must have fallen through the Medusa Cascade, and ended up at the Rift in Cardiff. I understood now that the drums had led the Master to the stone. They were his call to war, and the stone was the greatest accretion of destruction and warfare. It was like a magnet.
The Earth would be destroyed, its potential energy eaten away into the stone. With that great power, the Master would bring Gallifrey itself out of the Time Lock, leaving the rest of the Time War. In its final moments, Gallifrey would return, and the Time Lords with it. I would have a home again, a family. Why did humans deserve a home and people any more than I did? I was so much more, a Time Lady. I would have a family, friends, no empty feeling inside. I missed my old, simple life, stuck in archives with dust and books and the warm suns' light.
In a few hours it would begin. The Master would gather everyone in the main room and focus the stone's power on destroying the Earth, the closest source of power, and channel that energy. He would restore Gallifrey, and all he needed was two of the other Gallifreyians to activate the stone. He had originally intended to use me and the Doctor, but Donna complicated things. He didn't need one of us, so whoever acted out would be threatened. Either the Doctor or Donna would be forced to activate the stone. I would help the Master, I decided ultimately. I had to. I wanted to. I would do anything to get Gallifrey back.
Even sacrifice the Earth, and the 6 billion twisting and colorful time lines stretching out from it.