A/N: Events from my life - yay, got into University! Go me! [insert victory dance here]

Chapter 20 - 11th June 2013, 12:40:22

The Doctor woke up an hour later, Rose's arms still fixed around him. He raised his head, a little groggy, only to find the others were back in the cell.

Rose noticed him immediately. "Okay?" she asked, still not letting go.

"Yeah," he replied, blinking a few times. He looked more intently at the occupants of the room - there was Jack, looking solemn, Luke was also solemn, and Asha was…

"Asha?" the Doctor quickly asked, looking at the women. She was quite pale, curled up in the corner coughing.

"Hello," she said weakly, looking up at him. "You look better."

The Doctor pulled away from Rose's arms, crawling one-handed towards the woman and checking her over. "What's wrong?"

She didn't answer the question directly, "it's odd," she said, looking at the floor. "The only thing I ever had to be proud of. I've never been ill. Never."

The Doctor looked at Jack, who confirmed his suspicions with a nod. Toby had taken her immune system. He looked back at Asha, resting his hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay," she said, sniffing.

"I'll fix you," the Doctor said quickly. "I've got the right medicines. We just need to get your back to the Tardis, my ship."

"I don't think I-"

"Yes, you can make it," the Doctor replied firmly. "Too many good people have died at Toby's hand and I swear to you that you're not next on the list."

Asha didn't reply to that; just started up in a horrible, chesty coughing fit, shielding her mouth with her hand. When she was done, they could both see the drips of blood in her palm. The Doctor and Asha both knew his promises were without merit. She didn't have long.

"Is there anythin' we can do for you?" Rose suddenly asked, moving to crouch beside the Doctor.

"I have a question."

"What d'you wanna know?" Rose asked.

"Toby, he calls you an alien. You said about Gallifrey...?"

"I'm from another world, Asha," the Doctor replied honestly.

"What does that mean?"

The Doctor nodded, and made himself comfortable. "Just think of this world, the grass underneath your feet, the beautiful sky, the lakes, the endless woods and everything else, got it?"

She nodded.

"Now imagine the grass is red. The sky; orange. The woods; silver. And those lakes? Brown. That's where I come from."

Asha looked at him, tears in her eyes. "It sounds beautiful."

The Doctor smiled. "It was."

"So you were born on a different cloud."

The Doctor's smile increased. "I like that. Yes, I was."

"Is there lots of you?"

The Doctor nodded. "There's millions of worlds out there, Asha. The universe, teeming with life."

"I am glad I got to see some of it," she said, before launching into another coughing fit.

The Doctor nodded. "... I'm sorry."

"It's not... your fault," Asha told him. "I have learnt so much in… in my time here. Perhaps too much. How could I r-return to Malawi now? Perhaps this is God's g-gift that I… that I have seen these things with my own e-eyes before I die."

The Doctor nodded solemnly, resting his fingers on her pulse. "Perhaps."

"Don't... give up," Asha told him. "You are… n-not bad. No matter what... Toby f-forced you to say."

The Doctor nodded. "Thank you."

"No, thank you," she insisted, and coughed again. She was going. The Doctor could feel her pulse weakening.

"Good bye, Asha," he said quietly.

"Do... not be a-afraid. God... watches over m-my... soul..."

She breathed out, her eyes suddenly staring into nothing. Her pulse was no longer there.

He checked her heart. Nothing. So he reached up and gently drew her eyes closed.

"Oh god," Rose muttered and hugged him. He responded in kind.

The door suddenly burst open. Everyone quickly looked up, only to find Jimmy standing there, surrounded by UNIT guards. He stared at Rose with a horrible, evil smile on his face. Jack tried to dive for him but one of the soldiers caught him, and he and Luke were quickly restrained.

"Oh god, no!" Rose screamed, clinging desperately onto the Doctor, burying her head into his chest with her legs curled right up. The Doctor wrapped himself around her, staring ferociously at Jimmy.

"Don't touch her," he spat.

Jimmy just raised his hand, and pressed down on the remote control. Electricity immediately coursed through the Doctor, and Jimmy kept his thumb down on the button as the soldiers grabbed Rose and tore her away from her screaming husband.

"Don't you dare!" Jack yelled, but he couldn't move, pinned down by the soldiers.

"I waited too fuckin' long for this!" Jimmy swore, grabbing Rose's arm.

"No!" Rose cried, looking back at the Doctor in desperation. He had stopped being electrocuted, now throwing himself forward, his entire body shaking, to Rose.

"Get off!" he shouted ferociously.

Jimmy hit the button again. More screams tore out of the Doctor, throwing him back onto the floor as he contorted in pure agony.

"No, Doctor, help me!" Rose shouted desperately, tears coursing down her face.

"R-Ro-o-os-s-s-e," the Doctor stammered out through the electric, "d-d-do-o-n…"

He collapsed completely, and Jimmy finally let go of the button before he led the way out, dragging Rose behind him. The soldiers flooded out and Jack immediately attacked the door.

"Jimmy!" he roared. "You're dead!"

Jimmy appeared at the window, and threw in the remote control through the bars, grinning. "Press it, it's fun."

Jack swore at him, throwing out a hand to grab the man but Jimmy backed away too quickly. Soon there was only Rose's screams echoing through the corridor until they disappeared into nothing.

Jack didn't give up. He threw himself at the door repeatedly, pushing and pulling. He didn't notice Luke scramble for the remote control, moving back to the Doctor and examining it. He pressed a button, and the collar clicked off. Luke pulled it away from the Time Lord's neck, revealing it was covered in bruises, cuts, burns and sores from where it had rested for three weeks.

The Doctor's eyes snapped open with abrupt consciousness. "Rose!"

"He took her!" Jack said quickly, diving to grab his best friend's to pull him up on one swift movement. "Where's…"

They both looked at Luke, who was holding the collar in both hands.

"Thank you!" the Doctor said quickly, holding his neck as he hopped back to the door, throwing himself at it. It didn't budge.

"No! Jack!" the Doctor turned to him, begging.

"We'll get it open!" Jack shouted back, ramming it again with his shoulder.

"Thete?"

In a whirl of panic, the Doctor and Jack both looked through the window. Brax.

"Brax, open the door!" the Doctor yelled. Brax disappeared from view, followed by the sounds of grunting and clanking.

"Open the door!" Jack demanded.

"I'm trying!" Brax insisted, before the door suddenly opened and the Doctor burst out.

"Thete!?" Brax cried, but he was already around the corner.

His foot was screaming in pain, his entire body was on fire, the alere flamman reaching its height of power. But that wasn't enough to stop him. He pounded down the corridor, following the bond to find her.

"Stop or we'll fire!" a voice suddenly yelled from behind him, and he turned to see a platoon of five UNIT guards running up behind him.

He completely ignored them, diving around the corner just as the gunfire began, bullets planting themselves in the wall near his head. They were hot on his tail.

He kept running, ignoring every pain in his body until the bond became so strong he stopped, and ran into a side room. He waited for a brief moment for the sound of footsteps pursuing him, but they seemed to have stopped.

He finally turned, and saw her lying on the floor in front of him.

"Rose!" he cried, dropping next to her. He turned her over carefully to reveal her head was covered in blood. He quickly checked for a pulse - she was there, strong and regular.

"She's fine."

He looked up sharply, but the voice was coming from a room further in. It was a voice he knew. It was a voice he now hated beyond belief.

He got up, and walked boldly through the doorway, tensed ready for a fight. But it wasn't Toby he met.

It was Jimmy Stone, holding a gun against his chin, pointing up to his own head.

"P-please," Jimmy burst out, tears rolling down his face as he stared at the Doctor, unblinking. There was pure terror on his face, his entire body shaking. "I d-don't want t-to die…"

"I'm not killing you," the Doctor grated.

"No… no… please…" Jimmy continued, seemingly oblivious to the Doctor's presence. "I w-won't tell any… anyone, I sw-swear, I swear… I th-thought we were m-mates, Toby, I th-thought... No… no… NO!"

Jimmy pulled the trigger and hit the floor, leaving only the smell of gun residue in the air.

Toby laughed.

The Doctor fumed, scooping up the gun from Jimmy's still twitching body and through the next door.

The sight was so familiar. Banks of computers and a chair in the middle, someone with red hair turned to face away from him.

The Doctor raised the gun.

"Turn and face me, Toby!" he demanded.

Toby completely ignored his demand. "Hello, Trevor."

The Doctor frowned, thrown by the name, but didn't say anything.

"It's a joke name, I think. That's what Jack calls you. Trevor, the Doctor's dark side. Cold blooded, the killer of his own race. The side of the Doctor that can quite happily murder me; the side Rose Tyler fears. I quite like Trevor, actually. I modelled myself on him. Oh, you wouldn't know. I learnt so much from you, Doctor, and you still have no fucking idea who I am, do you?"

"Tell me."

"And give you the satisfaction of a complete adventure? Everything tied up, packaged up in a little box tied up with string and a bow, high-five TARDIS crew and sail off into the sunset? Think not. Besides, I'm not done with you. We've got so much to come."

The Doctor's eyes narrowed. "What?"

"Did you ever wonder who sold you out to the Proclamation that caused your entire family to be imprisoned?"

"You…!"

"I'm just about to do it. I love time travel. Got myself a vortex manipulator from a time agent you're about to meet and since then I've been all over the place."

"You picked up the recording from the Proclamation," the Doctor realised. "The one that made them create the Echo generation in the first place. You're going to take the recording back to them in the past, so they'll watch it and start the chain of events."

"Correct."

"Then you got to be a doctor heading the UNIT children's ward a couple of years ago when my daughter was admitted. You killed Dr Johnston. You invited the Der Kindestod species in, didn't you? Or should I call them the Cezat species? You found them in the Proclamation - test subjects - gave them a ship and a purpose. You set the whole thing up, knowing I'd walked into the trap willingly to save my daughter. But it went wrong, didn't it? The Cezat species had ideas of their own. They sold me to the highest bidder."

"Correct. I followed them to rendezvous point where they met the Sycorax to exchange you, waited until you were out of the picture, and then blew them all apart."

"And then you became a hairdresser."

Toby laughed. "Actually, that was first. And why would I do that?"

"Tell me."

"I thought you were smart?"

"I'm not proving myself to you," the Doctor snapped, the words acid on his tongue. "What have you done with the Master?"

"Oh, what haven't I done? He's a lot of fun. You two should hang out more."

The Doctor reaffirmed his grip on the gun, tightening his jaw. "Jimmy didn't need to die."

"Him?" Toby sounded surprised. "Why do you give a shit about him? He had it coming. Low-life, greasy scum with a criminal history and half a brain cell. Frankly, I did the world a favour. Drug addicts generally aren't too liked by society. Oh, sorry. Present company excepted. Though frankly, I'm not so sure any one likes you anymore. I've really stuffed up the little Earth thing you had going, didn't I? And God knows what I let Jimmy do to Rose before I made him shoot himself..."

The Doctor checked the chamber was loaded.

"Oh, is that it? Going to kill me, now? Go ahead. I'm not bothered."

The Doctor stepped forward, pressing the tip of the gun to the back of Toby's head.

"Get on with it. I've got things to do."

The Doctor fumed, and within one second he moved the gun away from Toby's head and shot at a small black electronic cassette player sat on the computer desk. It burst out in a fizz of sparks, catapulting off of the surface and into the wall as suddenly all the Doctor could hear was Toby laughing, electrically distorted through the speakers of the destroyed player.

He spun the chair around and there he was; Toby's body, already long dead with a gunshot wound up through his own head, taped upright to the chair.

"Better start running, Doctor…" Toby's voice continued, warped and distorted on the pulverised tape player. "Seven billion... people on this planet... want... you dead…"

The tape died.

The Doctor screamed in frustration, dropping the gun with a clatter. "This isn't over, Toby!" he shouted into the abyss, turned, and ran back to Rose.

Brax came in through the opposite door, stopping dead at the sight of Rose. "Rose!"

"Get her safe," the Doctor said quickly, making to the door.

"Thete, what…"

"I've gotta find him."

"Alex? Jack's getting Alex, just get back to…"

"Get Rose and everyone still alive in this place back to the Tardis!" the Doctor ordered.

"Thete, for Rassilon's sake will you stop running away from me!?" the Doctor heard him cry, but he was already gone, hopping back up the corridor.

"Master!" he shouted. "Master, where are you!?"

Somebody suddenly stepped out in front of his path, further up the corridor. He recognised the face. Clint Mendoza… or rather, Toby's new body. Ripped with muscle, a beautiful face and perfectly coiffed hair. He grinned at the Doctor, waved, and hit his vortex manipulator, disappearing on the spot. And standing behind him was the Master, utterly rigid.

"Master," the Doctor said quickly. "Come with me. Whatever he's done to you, just come with me."

The Master's voice came out as barely a croak. "I can't."

"Please come with me," the Doctor begged. "I can save you."

The Master gazed at him for a moment longer, and finally walked up to him, a foot away.

"That's it. Just come with me," the Doctor begged, reaching up to take his arm…

"I'm sorry," the Master croaked, and punched him in the face. The Doctor hit the floor, stunned for a moment before he managed to look up and saw the Master disappear around the corner.

"Master!" he cried, but what came around the corner instead was another lot of UNIT guards. The Doctor forced himself up, and started running again.

The door of the TARDIS burst open just as Brax was getting ready to fly away, the Doctor tumbling inside. He barely acknowledged the people around him, his eyes focusing straight on Brax.

"Where's Rose!?"

"Infirmary," Brax answered, slightly stunned. "Where…"

"Alex!?" the Doctor asked, interrupting him.

"They're not back yet…"

"Get him straight there."

"We will," Gwen said, stepping forward to take his arm. "Let Martha check you over."

"I'm fine, are the abductees there too?"

"What?" Brax asked, confused.

"The abductees!" the Doctor said impatiently. "Did you take them to the infirmary?"

Brax's eyes disconnected from his. "Thete…"

"What?"

"No one was alive, Doctor," Gwen said gently in the knife-edge silence that followed.

The Doctor frowned. "What? Are you sure?"

"Yes," she replied sadly. "Now let Martha look at you."

"I'm fine!"

"You aren't fine, Doctor," Rhys said honestly. "Go and see Martha."

"I'm fine!" the Doctor insisted.

"For god's sake Doctor!" Jackie suddenly blurted out, storming over to him. "Go and bloody see Martha!"

The Doctor backed off. "Look, I'm fine, why is everyone being so…"

Jackie reached into her bag and pulled out a hand mirror, thrusting it in his face. "Look!" she exclaimed.

He stared at his own reflection. The area under his eyes were jet black, mixed with red and purple from where the Master had punched him. His skin was completely white apart from the dark lines patterning up his face, running around the dry, cracked skin. He had grown a slight beard, but it was somehow only stubble, forcing its way out through reluctant red, partially swollen skin. His lips were also dry, cracked and swollen, and were more blue than red. He looked like a corpse.

He looked at Jackie, suddenly at a loss for what to say. Eventually he opened his mouth, but all that came out was a low-pitched, "oh."

"Go and see Martha," Gwen said gently, the others all nodding furiously behind her.

He nodded, running a hand self-consciously through his hair as though it would make his appearance any better.

"What happened to Toby?" Brax asked suddenly.

"Jimmy's dead, Toby got away," the Doctor replied shortly, quietly.

Brax nodded. "Get to the infirmary. I'll get Jack and Alex straight there."

The Doctor nodded again. "Get us into the vortex as soon as you can."

Brax affirmed with a nod. "I will," he said, before reaching into his pocket and holding out the bottle of Maghmar. There was just a little left. The Doctor took it and downed it quickly, before grabbing Jackie's mirror and checking himself. His face was partially smoothing over and his lips reddened a little and his eyes lightened slightly to turn him into something that was a bit more acceptable to look at. He gave the mirror back to Jackie, shot one last look at them all, and headed to the infirmary.

Next time...

Rose had been next to Alex when the TARDIS jolted and the lights abruptly dimmed. She had panicked for a moment, checking Alex, but the infirmary still had power. Then her husband spoke, his voice emitting from tiny speakers embedded in the walls.

"Everyone, we've gone into hiding. We've been ball and chained to the Earth, somehow, and until I fix this we're hiding in Canary Wharf in London. Be sure that Unit will come after us. I've put the Tardis in emergency power mode so she can't be detected and the infirmary is still fully functional, but I can't promise they won't find us. I can't guarantee your safety. If you wish to leave, you can leave now. Please think about this. We'll have a meeting in the infirmary in three minutes. Thank you."