Friday upload flood: Chapters 32-38
1994 (5) E
His hearts were out of sync again. Even breathing had become arduous.
He would not have returned to this exact year, but he had not been alone in his pain. And he would not let him suffer through this alone, either.
And so, he took yet another step forward and pushed a wooden door open. "It has been far too long, my lord."
He knew he was in the room, but he only caught sight of Peter Pettigrew staring up at him in shock. "You need to act now," a quiet, shaky voice cut the silence.
The Doctor took a deep breath and approached the armchair. The Dark Lord appeared as a mere shadow of himself, scrawny and childlike, but he was alive.
"I already did," the Doctor spoke softly as he crouched down and grabbed the wizard's deformed hand, "you're still as brilliant as on the day we met, you know?" He looked weak, though, so weak he was actually shivering. "We're in a safe reality now," the Doctor reported with a sad smile, "but you and I, we will still need to watch everything end."
The Dark Lord looked at him with an unreadable expression on an unfamiliar face. "I feared so," he admitted at last, "You did well."
Once again, the Doctor noted how he had never seen his friend so weak. The Dark Lord was gripping his hand like a life line. Unlike the Doctor, he had consciously seen the world degrade, and on top of that, he was in a horrible physical condition. He would not take the upcoming weeks well, but there was no way around it. The Doctor could travel to the future so he would not have to witness what was to come, but he could not risk taking the Dark Lord through the Vortex, for he was bound to it himself.
So everything he could offer was consolidation. "I'll be here."
Notes: and so the Doctor saved the day again, and with quite a cheap trick, indeed, but considering that definition of magic, it's not too far-fetched at all.
In any case, we've still got to revive the Dark Lord. So, as you can probably already guess, tomorrow's chapters will be, err, the grand finale (along with the ones you just read, actually).
So, once more: stay tuned and please review!