Chapter 24 – The Last Hurrah
Outside of the Caldera, Jack, Rose and Sarah had been waiting patiently for the Doctor and Theta. It had been twelve hours since their firned and his younger version had entered that place and now time was really wasting away, now. If they didn't get the Eye back to the creature soon, they wouldn't have any time to sort out how to cure the Doctor. And there had to be a way. There just had to be.
After twelve hours, all three companions were seriously considering the idea that maybe Theta and the Doctor hadn't made it to the Eye. No one was voicing it, but they were all thinking it, sharing glances. But how long could they go on not mentioning it?
So it was a relief when the doors finally opened, and they all simultaneously stood to attention, waiting for Theta and the Doctor's emergence...
The Doctor stumbled out, leaning heavily on the wall and panting. Everyone instantly moved to help him, supporting him as he moved out the Caldera and the doors slid shut. He was near collapsing altogether.
"Did you get it?" Jack asked quickly. The Doctor nodded, digging into his pocket with his functional hand and bringing out a small black ball, holding it out to Jack, who took it. They all collectively smiled.
"Wait, where's Theta?" Sarah asked, looking at the closed door.
"He's not coming," the Doctor breathed.
"He's dead?"
"He asked... what would happen when... I took the Eye... Then he punched me... Took it instead... He was erased..." They didn't need to ask again. "We have to go," he continued. "We've got about f... four hours until Galli... F... Frey collapses..."
"We'll make it," Jack assured him. "How are you feeling?"
"My legs are gonna... gonna go soon," the Doctor gasped, brow furrowed. "It's... getting hard to... to breathe."
"What's the quickest way to get to the TARDIS?" Jack asked urgently.
"Skimmers," the Doctor replied through pants. "Down near the space-p...port."
Jack nodded decisively, giving the Eye to Rose before picking up the Doctor, slinging him over his shoulder. "Right," he said, drawing out his gun and turning to the others. "I'll lead, anyone gets in our way I'll shoot 'em dead. We're getting back to the TARDIS in under twenty minutes."
Sarah's eyes widened. "Shoot them?" she repeated.
"No guilt, they'll be alive again in minutes," Jack pointed out. "And I think I know a thing or two about that."
"Jack," suddenly came a breathy voice from the man hanging over his shoulder.
Jack froze instantly. "Doc?" he asked.
"All I can... Can see is your b... Bum."
"Enjoy the view, normally I'd charge," Jack replied with a grin, then looked at Rose and Sarah. "Let's go."
They made it to the space-port in ten minutes, running and ducking through the onslaught of both surprised and angry-looking Gallifreyans. The Doctor directed them to what seemed to be a storage room of sorts... Packed with large ships that were shaped like Viking longboats.
"One of these things?" Jack asked, hauling the Doctor off of his shoulder and holding him to help him stand to face them.
"No, two-man... Easier to fly," the Doctor said, pointing to avert their attention from the massive ships to some much smaller ones piled in the corner in a junk heap. Rose and Sarah simultaneously nodded, jogging forward to untangle two from the pile. They looked like three-wheeled kid's scooters without the wheels and a seat attached in the middle big enough for two people to sit on.
"They're weird," Rose commented, frowning slightly as she regarded the scuffed one she'd picked.
"Yeah," the Doctor muttered with a small smile, reaching into his pocket to draw out the sonic. "Earth modelled. Weren't in fashion for... Very long."
"They seem to be out of power," Sarah observed.
"No problem," the Doctor replied, pulling out of Jack's hold to stumble over to them, running his sonic over them both. Instantly they both seemed to surge into power, jumping up to hover off the ground.
Jack moved forward quickly, not wanting to waste any time. He helped the Doctor to sit on one and climbed up behind him, taking control of the handlebars.
"How d'you work it?" Jack asked.
"Like a motorbike," the Doctor replied, pulling a little on the hand-grip to show the skimmer moved forward a little. "Gear shift... Is height control."
"Rose, Sarah, get on yours," Jack said, glancing back at them both.
The two women looked at each other.
"You wanna drive?" Rose wondered with a sheepish smile.
"I'll leave that to you, Rose," Sarah said politely with a laugh, climbing on the back. Rose took a breath and climbed on the front, quickly familiarising herself with the controls.
"Follow us," the Doctor croaked to Sarah and Rose, then lifted the sonic to the doors and pressed down the button. Instantly the doors exploded outwards in a plume of debris, and even just as the loud cries sounded the guards started flooding in...
"Stop!"
"Let's go!" Jack yelled, and off he went, accelerating dramatically towards the brand new hole in the wall with Rose and Sarah in quick pursuit. The guards fired off shots at them, grazing the sides of their skimmers as they flew up towards the skies, trying desperately to get away. The rudimentary skimmers took a few hits, but didn't seem to be affected as they soared up, up and up...
Jack risked a glance back. Rose and Sarah were still hot on their tail, screaming across the sky at what felt like 50 miles per hour with Sarah clinging desperately to Rose, and Rose in turn looking both extremely excited and very out of her depth at the very same moment.
"We're all okay!" Jack yelled to the Doctor as the wind howled past. The Doctor smiled briefly, and then pointed to the right. Without a word Jack turned to follow his direction, checking Rose and Sarah again. They followed their path.
They continued through the sky like metal birds, the wind in their hair and a beautiful view beneath that changed as they passed through the fractures. Rose and Sarah even began to find themselves enjoying it before too long, screaming to the skies in true happiness and liberation. They had both done many strange alien things in their travels with the Doctor, but nothing even close to this. They were flying!
Eventually the Doctor gestured for Jack to start descending. He shifted down and very quickly found himself hurtling towards the ground at quite a deadly speed. He suddenly shrieked in terror and he heard the Doctor laugh, reaching for the brake to pull on it lightly, bringing them to a much slower descent and a very neat landing... Right next to Don, Martha and Luke.
"Hello!" Jack yelled with a happy grin on his face, Rose and Sarah dropping down just in front of them to a slightly less graceful landing than their skimmering counterparts.
Martha and Luke were gazing at them with their jaws agape, but Don was jumping up and down excitedly with a very loony smile on his face.
"Mini skimmers! I haven't seen 'em in years!" he yelled in delight. "Oh, please let me drive, please..."
"You three... Get on, we've gotta... Go," the Doctor rasped, but he couldn't stop smiling at Don's childlike reaction. "Don on ours... Martha, Luke, on Rose's."
"You got the Eye?" Don asked, as the three hurriedly obeyed, climbing onto the metal bars and holding onto the pilots.
"Yeah!" Rose replied in a happy shout, beaming.
Don grinned. "To the void!" he yelled triumphantly, throwing out his hand to point onwards, before quickly grabbing onto Jack again. Then he paused, and thought about what they were actually doing. "Can these things actually take more than two people?"
"We're gonna... find out," the Doctor breathed, and pulled on the accelerator before Jack and Don had a chance to process what he'd said.
They reached the TARDIS, Don and Jack helping the Doctor inside to sit on the chair beside the console. Instantly he began to direct the crowd to the appropriate controls, gasping instructions to commence a trip back to the void. They had to do this as quickly as possible.
Within seconds the TARDIS begin to churn, creaking and groaning before the dematerialisation column started moving. They were back off into the void.
"Okay..." the Doctor gasped. "Bring it... to a stop... Handbrake, Rose..."
She pulled the handbrake and the TARDIS came to a messy halt, almost sending the Doctor face-planting into the floor if Jack hadn't dived to catch him. The Doctor struggled up, leaning heavily on Jack and trying to just breathe.
"Okay?" Jack asked anxiously.
The Doctor dismissed it with a nod, holding out his hand. "Eye, please."
Rose quickly moved over to him, placing the ball in his hand. The Doctor looked at them all for a moment, taking a few deep breaths.
"Don," he croaked.
"Yeah?" Don asked gently, moving forward.
The Doctor grimaced as he reached into his pocket and drew out the Great Key, holding it out the Don.
Don's eyes widened. "Why the hell do you have that? That's got nothing to do with the Eye..."
"Back up," the Doctor grunted. "Please... Take it. If this... doesn't work... you know what... to do."
Don stared at the Key, then at the Doctor. "I... I can't."
"Please, Don," the Doctor pleaded. "If the... Darkness doesn't... stop consuming... Use it."
"But I can't!"
"What is that?" Martha asked, frowning.
"It's the Great Key," Don croaked. "It powers Gallifrey's De-mat gun... it erases the target from existence..." He swallowed, looking at the Doctor again, suddenly angry. "We're not using it! Not again!"
"Please, Don, please. It's... It's our only... chance."
"How the hell can you stand there and tell me to do this?" Don demanded angrily, almost in tears. "You know what happened last time!"
"Don," the Doctor grunted. "I know... Really, I do... I know... But for the... sake of the... universe... If the Darkness... Incarnate... doesn't s-stop... It's the only... thing to... save... exis-istence..."
"Go to hell!" Don yelled back, shoving the key roughly back into the Doctor's chest.
"I'll use it," Jack said quickly.
"No, you won't!" Don practically screamed at him. "No one, and I mean no one is using the Key! Not ever! All right?"
"Don, it's... it's not the same as... last time," the Doctor insisted. His left leg had completely gone numb, now. It was only a matter of time until he wouldn't be able to walk. "Just... take it, think... about it. Please."
Don was furious, angry that the Doctor could ask him to do that... But knowing in his mind that it was the best option for everyone. There was a long pause, before Don's eyes connected with the Doctor's, tears about to fall.
"... What if I create the Moment again?" he croaked. "What if it goes wrong? What if it's the end of the Time War all over again? I can't go through that. Not again."
"Please, take the... the key," the Doctor insisted. "If... I hope... you never have to... to use it. But if it... comes to it, you... decide what to... to do with it."
Don swallowed, nervously reached out a hand, and took the Key.
"Thank you," the Doctor breathed.
Don just nodded in reply, turning away to accept a comforting hug and kiss from Rose. The Doctor watched this for a moment, before turning to the TARDIS doors and silently starting off towards them. His left leg was completely paralysed now. It dragged along the floor limply so he had to use his surroundings to get there. He finally made it to the doors and opened them.
"TIME LORD!" the seemingly disembodied voice screeched suddenly, and the entire TARDIS jerked abruptly. The Doctor managed to catch himself one handed on the TARDIS door.
"I... have... your... Eye!" the Doctor yelled through gasps for air, trying desperately to get enough air in his lungs to scream into the blackness. "I've... come... to... give... it... back... to... you!"
"EYE!"
"Yeah!" the Doctor shouted back. "It's... yours!"
Suddenly the Doctor saw a black tendril of sorts fly out of the void and grab him around the middle, yanking him out of the TARDIS. He yelped in surprise and found himself hanging in the blackness of nothing, though the TARDIS was protecting him from the null effects as best she could.
"EYE?"
"It's... here!" the Doctor yelled. "But... you... have... to... come... back... to... the... void... No... more... consum... ing...!"
"EYE..." was all the creature said, squeezing him a little tighter. He tried to talk but he could barely even breathe. It felt like all the life was draining out of him... Like it was feeding off of him...
"Please..." the Doctor grunted in barely a whisper.
"... TIME LORD... TINY TIME LORD... UNLIKE OTHERS BEFORE HIM."
The Doctor couldn't do anything but lay in the creature's tight grip, almost suffocating.
"TINY TIME LORD..." the creature continued, letting go of him slightly.
He relaxed, trying to breathe again. "You'll... stop... consum... ing... other... uni... verses?" he asked breathily.
"CONSUME NO MORE," the creature confirmed simply.
"Thank... you..." the Doctor replied, and shifted his working arm out of the creature's grip to hold out the tiny ball that had caused so much trouble.
The creature snatched it up. "PAIN NO MORE..." it boomed. "THANK YOU, TINY TIME LORD."
It went to place him back in the TARDIS, but she had spent so much power on keeping the Doctor safe she was beginning to run out. She began to drop, inch by inch, fading out a little with the concentrated power trying desperately to keep the Doctor alive... But he was slowly beginning to suffocate and become frozen too, unable to exist in the void...
'TARDIS...' the Doctor called out in his mind. 'Save the others, please. Leave me. Take them back to Earth.'
'No!/Always together,' she replied simply.
The Doctor didn't even have time to process that the TARDIS had actually replied to him before the creature holding him started up.
"SAVE TINY TIME LORD!" it boomed, and suddenly the Doctor was flying through the blackness back in the direction of the TARDIS. Then he smacked straight into her, knocking him out for the second time in the same day.
A/N: Chapter 25 - Lungbarrow
A small smile seemed to tug at the end of his afflicted lips, but it was all he managed. And it was right at that exact moment every single one of the companions realised without a shadow of a doubt, that the Doctor was about to die.
Sarah glanced at the others, before kneeling down next to Rose and smiling supportively at the Doctor. "... Is there anything you would like us to do for you before you die?"
The gratitude in the Doctor's eyes alone demonstrated how much he had appreciated that they had finally accepted what was happening. "I want... Lungbarrow."
Sarah frowned, looking at Don. "What's Lungbarrow?"
"The House of Lungbarrow," Don muttered. "If time is fractured here, then there's a chance if we go back to where he lived... His family might be there."