A/N: Yep. Next chapter last. Aww.

Chapter 24 - 15th July 2013, 21:33:04

Rose woke up, feeling strangely reinvigorated.

She opened her eyes carefully, and immediately was hit by memories. She had been in the TARDIS in the dark, with the Doctor lying on the grating, and a black figure reaching for his head…

She sat up immediately. "Doctor!" she cried.

"Shh," someone said, and the black figure stepped into view.

Rose immediately scrambled to her feet. "Who are you!? Where's the Doctor!?"

"Over there," the figure replied, and pointed across the room. Rose followed the finger, and saw the Doctor lying on some blankets on the floor, gasping terribly. He was shaking, pale and covered in a sheen of sweat, his jacket and shirt open to reveal a mass of dressings covering his stomach. He was most definitely unconscious, but was still whining with every breath.

"What have you done!?" she gasped, running to her husband.

"He's been shot by a Time Agency Klasco gun," the man in black replied calmly. "With the state his body's in he's going to die very, very soon. He needs to regenerate, and it has to be in the same body."

Rose looked at the man, her hands still cradling her husband's head. "But… we don't have the memory."

The man looked her up and down for a long moment.

"What?" she asked.

"You ate the Via Purifico, didn't you?"

"Yeah..." she answered slowly, confused.

"You'll find out soon."

Rose couldn't even begin to process this; struggling to even think of what could possibly be her first question of about three hundred lined up spasmodically inside her head. "Who are you?"

The man ignored her question. "I have Leah, Alex and Kiana."

Rose was upright again, squaring herself up against him. "Let them go!" she ordered furiously.

"They're okay," the man insisted.

"Let me see them!"

"I can't. But I'm looking after them. I'm sorry but I can't bring them to you."

"Why not!?" she demanded to know.

"The Doctor is about to regenerate. I would save them the trauma of what he needs to do first."

"What the hell are you on about?"

"He needs to kill himself before he can regenerate. I would rather they didn't see that."

"This is…" Rose began, nearly speechless at his replies. She usually knew a baddie when she saw one these days. Not this time. "Why the hell should I believe you? How do I know they're okay?"

The man sighed a hefty sigh. "Oh, you're still hard work, aren't you."

Rose's eyes narrowed. "Do I know you?"

The man sighed again and pulled off his hood. He was dark-haired, flopping down over his forehead, with quite a large nose and a very square jaw. Bright blue eyes drilled into hers. He was strangely familiar, but somehow at the same time she didn't recognise him.

"Who are you?" she repeated.

He avoided the question. "When you remember you will trust me. Leah, Alex and Kiana are sleeping, and will continue to sleep until you and the Doctor are both able to get to them. They are well, and safe. I thought it safer for them to be here rather than in the Tardis. The Tardis has been infected by Toby and if they had stayed there they would've been in serious danger. Little bodies don't cope well in turbulence."

"Oh god, the crash," Rose realised, alarmed. "Are they okay?"

"Some knocks and bumps but I've taken care of them. Nothing serious, they were very lucky. You should thank your friends for protecting them."

"What about Jack and Brax and everyone?"

"You crashed very badly. I have no doubts there are a couple of disgruntled occupants at the moment."

She sighed, hand on head, desperately trying to figure it all out. "Okay. Wait," she stopped herself looking at the room they were in. It was relatively large, but old. There were no windows, but plenty of dust, old furniture and a single light bulb hanging in the centre of the room. On her right was some stairs, leading up to the only door. If she didn't know better, she'd say it was a basement. "Where are we?"

The man pulled a face. "Best not," he said.

"It's a basement," she said, and the slight flickering in his eyes affirmed her idea. "Can only be on Earth."

The man rolled his eyes. "I never realised how smart you were."

"Um... Thanks?"

He smiled. She still couldn't recognise his face. So why was it so familiar?

"I'll leave you now," the man said, turning to the stairs. "Good luck with the regeneration."

"No," Rose said quickly. "Please let me see the kids. I won't wake them, I promise, I just want to see they're okay."

"I assure you, they're okay," the man persisted. "You have a far more pressing matter." In indication, he looked at the Doctor, and in turn an upturned bucket in the centre of the room on which rested a scalpel.

Rose looked at the bucket, confused, but before she could ask anything else the man was gone, the door locking behind him.

"Wait!" she cried, but he'd gone.

She turned back to the Doctor, before quickly running to him. Almost immediately he shifted a little and his eyes opened, locking straight on her.

"Rose?" he whispered.

"Yeah," she confirmed, resting a hand on his face.

"Where are we?" he croaked.

"I don't know," she confessed. "I think it's Earth."

"I need to... regenerate," he moaned, barely able to focus.

"I know," she said softly, looking down at his stomach where the dressings covered the bullet wound. "But there was this guy. He said we'd get our memory soon."

"Who?" he whispered. His lips were turning blue.

"He wouldn't tell me. But it was weird, like I recognised him, but I know I didn't know him. He's treated your bullet wound."

The Doctor frowned. He was still gasping, his entire chest heaving.

"He said he took the kids too. To keep them safe. They're asleep and won't wake up until we get there. Can you check the bond?"

The Doctor closed his eyes momentarily before opening them again. "They feel okay... You trust him?" he gasped.

"... Yes," she said after a long pause. "I think he's tryin' to help."

"He said about t-the memory...?"

"He kinda looked at me and said we'd get our memory soon and you had to regenerate into the same body. He asked if I ate the via purifico."

The Doctor nodded, almost imperceptibly. "How... long?" he forced out.

"I don't know," she said quietly. "Soon."

"I don't know how... long I can hold on..." he admitted.

"We need to try," she said quietly, and looked him up and down again. "I'm sorry."

"I'll keep going... for as long as I can," he said.

She nodded. "I love you," she said, kissing him.

"The things I do for you," he said, before suddenly screwing up his eyes and groaning deeply. "Where's... Where's everyone?"

"The guy said they were still in the Tardis."

He nodded.

"Do we trust him?" she asked quietly, glancing up at the door.

"If you trust him... So do I."

"He seems to be tryin' to help and..."

She suddenly trailed off, her hand moving to her belly, cradling her womb. Her brow rapidly creased into a frown...

"Rose?"

She barely heard him as suddenly her belly stabbed through with horrendous pain. She screamed out in pain, her eyes squeezed shut...

"Rose!"

She could feel something warm spreading out her legs, and only had three seconds of clarity to realise it was blood before she began to hyperventilate...

"Help! Somebody... help!" she heard the Doctor cry. She'd never heard him cry out so desperately for help before...

Her breathing became worse. She could barely suck in oxygen, and now she was beginning to become light-headed.

She knew this. She'd done this before. When she'd...

She looked up at the Doctor sharply as he too suddenly cried out in pain, curling in on his stomach which made him scream even more. But it wasn't the bullet wound, she knew. He was sharing what was happening to her, sharing her pain. Something horrific. Something so familiar. Something...

The Doctor passed out, but she didn't. She was suddenly being hit full force by a memory, a memory that had been dormant in her mind for two years...

17th February 2010, 20:04:37

"It's okay, you're safe. They're dead," a man said from above her.

"Who...?" Rose moaned, barely able to focus on his face. "Who are you...?"

The man seemed to ignore the question. "Can you remember what happened?"

"I was… We were gettin' the Doctor, he'd just had his arm severed... The creatures that took Leah were tryin' to sell him off to the Sycorax... I was so angry... I wanted to kill them for what they'd done to the Doctor... So I started walkin' back... Then... an explosion!" she realised, her eyes widening. "It knocked me out…"

"Yes."

She blinked a few times until she brought the man into focus… He was dark-haired, flopping down over his forehead, with quite a large nose and a very square jaw. Bright blue eyes drilled into hers. "Who are you?" she asked again.

He winced slightly. "Don't go mad, I've regenerated, but I'm Koschei. The Master."

Rose immediately tensed, feeling quite, quite sick. "Stay away!" she choked out, backing away, her hands in the dirt and leaves.

The Master didn't react to her fear. "It's okay. I'm not going to do anything to you. Please try not to move, you were hurt in the explosion."

"Liar!" she gasped out, but quickly realised she really wasn't going to get very far. "No, no, no..." she sobbed, tears instantly commencing through pain and utter fear. She tried desperately to stifle them; to not show her fear in front of him... But she couldn't stop herself.

"Please, calm down," the Master continued gently, stepping forward straight towards her.

Rose immediately flinched, covering herself with her arms...

The seconds dribbled by, and absolutely nothing happened. She dared to open her eyes, just to slits, and looked up...

The Master was offering her a handkerchief.

Instead of relaxing, Rose tensed even more. "No," she said, denying the situation. "Stop it!"

"Please let me help you," the Master almost begged, clearly beginning to get a little frustrated. "I need to get you back to the Doctor's protection."

"What're you talkin' about?" Rose demanded to know, still defensive. "What are you tryin' to do!?"

"I'm trying to help you," the Master said seriously. "I understand why you're reacting like this, but I need you to calm down. Then I can get you back to the Tardis to get the Doctor to hospital."

She faltered at this, her breath caught in her throat. She took a long moment to gaze into his eyes, where she could see nothing of the man she knew before.

"What are you doin'?" she practically whispered.

"Trying to help," the Master said gently.

"What?"

"I need to do something with you, but it will help you in the long term."

"Do something?" Rose echoed, trembling.

"I'm so sorry, but it's going to be awful," he said, utterly sincere without a hint of malice in his eyes. Just sadness.

This shook her even more. "... What?"

"When I do this, I'll block out your memory of you and me ever meeting. Then you and the Doctor will have a rough time, and will have to erase your memories. In a few years you will remember all of this. But in order for your future to play out, you need to sacrifice one thing."

"What?"

His expression didn't change. "I need to make you miscarry."

Rose's eyes shot open, glancing down at her belly in horror. "My... What!?" she said for the third time.

"You're pregnant," the Master said softly. "But I need to make you miscarry."

"Why?"

"You having a miscarriage is an important part of the future. If you don't have a miscarriage, your family will be killed and the entire Earth will be destroyed, and the universe will eventually be consumed in a massive paradox. I'm sorry."

Rose began to back away, instinctively putting her arms around her middle. "You can't!"

The Master closed his eyes for a brief moment, taking a deep breath before opening them once more to look at her under heavy eyelids. "You must understand. The Doctor must have told you about paradoxes. If there's no miscarriage, there is no future."

Rose swallowed. "I can't let it happen..."

"You will be okay. You and the Doctor need this to happen."

Rose took some long, slow, deep breaths, looking down at her belly where she now knew a little baby was forming. Her's. The Doctor's. She couldn't just... let it die while it was still inside her, could she? She couldn't do that, not to the baby, and definitely not to the Doctor... She couldn't let it be murdered.

"I suppose I'm just gonna have to believe you, am I?" she snapped, glaring at him.

"Yes," he said softly.

This threw her completely, having expected a fight. But he hadn't. He just stood there, absolutely immobile. He was absolutely nothing like the Master she knew.

"This future is in jeopardy if you have your baby. You having a miscarriage will save your family and the Earth, and eventually the entire Universe," the Master repeated once more, oozing patience. "I am so, so, sorry, believe me, but there is no alternative."

There was a very long pause as she struggled to work it all out in her head.

The Master stepped forward once more. "One pill," he said, holding out his hand with a single, tiny purple pill sat in the centre of his palm. It seemed so harmless.

She didn't take it. "Will it hurt?"

"Your body will react and the Doctor's will also react, but not severely. After the initial shock, you will both be fine."

"I meant the baby," Rose whispered.

"He won't feel anything," the Master assured her.

She looked up immediately, tears lingering in her eyes. "... It's a he? How d'you know?"

The Master winced, mostly at himself for letting it slip. He couldn't turn back now. "I've seen the future if he were to be born."

"What's his name?" she asked, and the Master frowned a little. Rose stepped forward immediately, staring at him unblinkingly. "Please. Tell me his name."

"... Noel."

"It can't be that bad if you've seen Noel," Rose said quickly, confidently.

The Master looked away for a moment, muttering under his breath before turning back. "I'll show you."

He gestured for her to rest her hand on his arm, and he raised his wrist where a vortex manipulator sat comfortably. He programmed it, and suddenly the forest was gone, replaced by a ramshackled old building, largely destroyed. Outside she could only hear the crackling of fire.

"The human race is dead. Planet Earth is burning," the Master explained.

"What the hell happened?" Rose croaked.

"Noel was born."

"You keep sayin' that," Rose began, frustrated. "But why? It's just a baby. My baby. Our baby! What makes him so bad? How can a baby have done this!?"

"It's not him, it's the Proclamation. You, the Doctor and Leah were captured by the Proclamation, except Noel was two months older in the womb than your next son would have been. You gave birth to Noel in the Proclamation. They took him into care and imprisoned you to raise him. The Doctor was sent to Volag-noc, and he was stuck there for three years."

"What about Leah?"

The Master looked at her. "What do you think?"

Rose's jaw dropped. "They didn't..."

He nodded, but didn't dwell on it. "Eventually the Doctor broke out and went back to the Proclamation, but found Noel as the subject of their experiments. He was only three-years-old, but his head was a complete mess from the Proclamation poking about. His psychokinetic powers were extremely high. Noel caused the death of the whole Proclamation when he blew up the entire station, including the Tardis. You were so badly injured by the explosion, Rose, you were brain-dead. The Doctor couldn't take you and Noel was being chased, so he took Noel and got back to Earth, but he didn't realise that the Great Hunters had followed them."

Rose's mouth had dried. "... Great Hunters?"

"The Great Hunters are a group of savages from the end of the universe. They were cousins to the Great Vampires; of colossal size and absolutely no mercy. They could destroy an entire planet within a day. They follow large energy signals in hopes of finding fresh worlds to consume, and the energy signal they found was Noel's telepathy. So they followed it."

Rose involuntarily shuddered, but didn't say a word.

"The Doctor arrived on Earth with about three on his back, and most of Torchwood died trying to save him and Noel. The Doctor was mauled quite badly, but with your bond and the brain-death you were in he couldn't regenerate. He was very badly injured, so Jack took him and Noel to Sarah's, hoping Mr Smith could shield them. He couldn't for long. Sarah and Luke died, and Jack took the Doctor and Noel on.

"By now most of the world was in ruins. The Great Hunters were consuming the entire planet. Jack did a good job, he kept him, the Doctor and Noel together for such a long time. They ran for a year trying to find a way out, but no other planet dared to help the Earth for fear of attracting the Great Hunters. The Doctor and Jack realised there was nothing they could do. They had nowhere to go and no way to fight back. And now here they are. This is it. This is how they die."

He gestured to the group sitting on the ground, huddled together closely conversing in mutters before Jack suddenly got up, drawing both their attention.

"This is it," Jack supposed.

The Doctor looked up at him. Rose immediately recoiled at the fact that he no longer seemed to have a right eye, just a mess of red and black where it should have been, the side of his face looking almost gouged out...

"Thank you for everything, Jack," the Doctor said sincerely.

Jack nodded, just once, gazing at him. "... I'll always remember you."

"Get going," the Doctor said, and Jack leant down to give him a kiss, which he also gave to Noel.

"See you in hell," Jack said with a smile, but it was forced. Then with an insincere salute, Jack turned, and left the building.

"Daddy," Noel suddenly said, secure in the Doctor's arms – arms covered in blood. His left hand was missing too... "I love you."

"I love you too," the Doctor replied, kissing him.

"I wish Mummy was here."

"I know. Me too," the Doctor confessed. "And your sister. But if we're really, really lucky, we'll get to see them in just a bit." He looked through the window to the sky above. The reapers were closing in. He quickly turned back to Noel. "Okay, close your eyes."

Noel snapped his eyes shut. "Yeah."

"Imagine it's Christmas. Mum, Leah, Jack, Martha... everyone, we're all there, we're around the tree, and you're first up. Got it?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah..."

"What's in front of you?"

Noel giggled. "Big present."

"What does it look like?"

"Square."

"Colour?"

"Red. With a big gold bow on top," Noel added, still smiling.

"Good. What d'you reckon it is?"

"RGX mind-controlled car!" Noel said immediately.

The Doctor laughed. "Oh no, it's better than that."

"A machine that makes unlimited cookies!"

"Better than that."

"Dinosaur?"

"Better than that."

"A dragon!" Noel burst out, giggling again.

The Doctor mock frowned. "In that little box? Let's be realistic."

"A mini dragon!" Noel amended.

"Even better than that."

Noel looked up at him, eyes open, frowning. "What's better than that?"

The Doctor just smiled. "Hold out your hands."

Noel did so, his tiny palms held out in front of him.

"Eyes closed, no peeking," the Doctor insisted.

"Okay," Noel said, but couldn't resist a little look.

"You're peeking," the Doctor chastised.

"I'm not!" Noel protested, seemingly utterly innocent.

The Doctor's smile widened. "Eyes tightly closed."

"I am."

"So what does the present look like?" the Doctor asked again.

"Red box with a bow."

"Count back from ten, and it'll be in your hands. But you need to concentrate."

Noel nodded fervently. "Okay. Ten... nine... eight..."

The Doctor looked out of the window again. The Great Hunters were coming for them. There was no running now.

"Seven... Six... "

The Doctor quietly reached inside his pocket, bringing out his heavily modified sonic screwdriver. He looked at it for a moment, twirling it around in his fingers.

"Five... Four..."

The Doctor pulled Noel in closer, kissing him in the forehead as he placed the end of the sonic over Noel's left heart.

"Three... Two..."

The Doctor pressed the button. Noel suddenly frowned, his brow creasing...

"One..." he whispered out, and still with his eyes closed, he sagged quietly and gently in the Doctor's arms. The Doctor dropped his sonic immediately, holding his son tightly to his chest, his lips pressed to the boy's forehead.

"He killed him!" Rose realised in a gasp. "He... Why did he kill Noel!?"

"Wait," the Master muttered, and suddenly the question was answered for her. A Great Hunter suddenly smashed the roof off, a massive clawed hand covered in blood thrusting into the cathedral and groping around. Immediately Rose knew what would happen, and why the Doctor had killed Noel...

An act of kindness.

"No!" she cried, burying his head in her hands, her fingers reaching around to cover her ears desperately as the Doctor's screams began...

Suddenly the screaming stopped as Rose felt a jolt, and looked up to find herself on that planet again, the Master looking at her with concern. She slowly rose her head up, blinking back tears. She was suddenly so very cold.

"I won't remember this?" she croaked.

The Master shook his head. "Not until you need to. I am preventing a larger paradox by creating a smaller one. You will be living inside a paradox for a few years, but this one is resolvable. If Noel were to be born, that paradox would eventually consume the entire universe."

There was a long pause, before Rose straightened up, and nodded. "Do it."

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I can't let that future happen."

The Master held out the pill again, absolutely silent. She took it out of his hand, and swallow it in one go.

"I'll take you back to the Tardis," the Master said, taking her arm.

"Why are you doin' this?" Rose asked seriously. "Why help me?"

"Because in the future the Doctor will do something so extraordinary for me that I will never be able to repay it. I can't tell you what that is, but not even this repays it."

"You've changed?"

The Master pulled a half-smile. "I've got better things to do now than hold grudges."

"What better things?"

"Put things right that are wrong."

Rose gazed at him at they walked. There still wasn't a hint of malice in his eyes. "What the hell did he do for you?" she asked seriously, almost fearfully.

"I can't tell you," the Master muttered.

Rose sighed. "But I must be able do something."

They had reached the TARDIS, the both of them stopping outside. He turned to face her, still looking very serious. "When you remember this conversation, you can't tell him about him doing anything for me. If he acts of his own accord there is a chance I can help him. Him trying to change his future isn't going to help anyone."

She could only nod.

He reached up to her temples. Suddenly he was in her mind – but it didn't feel like the Doctor felt. The Doctor was soft, gentle, probing. He was seemingly able to flutter around her mind like a butterfly that had been on a diet. It almost tickled when he did it to her. But the Master, he was much more abrupt – the little version of him she could feel inside her head stampeding around, unfamiliar with the layout of her mind. It didn't tickle, it almost hurt. But she drew breath, forcing herself to steel and bear this until the Master finally withdrew and...

Wait a minute. What had just happened? She had been... Who...

Never mind.

She stepped into the TARDIS, blood all down her front. Jack stood there, staring at her in horror. She had no idea why. But she didn't care about him, because draped on the captain's chair was the Doctor, his arm nearly severed...

She had to get him back to UNIT for treatment.

"Jack, call ahead to Martha!" she ordered, yanking with she hoped was the return lever. It worked.

A/N: Next time...

The golden light abruptly stopped, and for a moment Rose couldn't see his face - obscured by the afterenergy. So she remained silent and still, staring at the clouds of gold until they began to dissolve…