Doctor Who
The Children of Gallifrey
Episode Two
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"There must be another way Doc," Graham said. "There has to be. There always is."
"And if I had time I'd be able to find one," the Doctor replied. "But you've seen what one child can do. Their power is growing as we speak. We can't wait."
"So that's it? We're just going to throw my grandson into a bubble universe, to be forever alone with them?"
"No! Yes. I don't know Graham. It was suppose to be me. I was going to take all the children into me and exile myself."
"Well that's hardly any better now, is it?"
"What choice do I have Graham? Me versus the universe? There is no decision to be made."
"There's always another way Doc."
"Not this time. There is only one way to victory. Because this is what happens sometimes Graham. Sometimes I can't pull out some magical save out of thin air. Sometimes I can't save everyone. Sometimes I have to make a choice, a choice beyond your comprehension."
"Hey, what about me?" Ryan asked, putting himself between his two friends.
"I'm sorry Ryan-" began the Doctor.
"But I'm not," Ryan countered. "You said it yourself, these things are dangerous. These children are going to destroy the universe. If I need to be locked away in a bubble universe so be it. It's better than there being no universe at all for us to be in."
"But-"
"No buts. I made this choice Doctor. I can live with it. And we need to get a move on to stop the other children."
"Ryan," Graham said forlornly.
"When this is over," Ryan said, looking his grandfather in the eye. "Just tell my Dad... tell him I love him, okay?"
"Of course son," Graham said, giving Ryan a hug. The Doctor said nothing, as the guilt of her choices weighed on her. But there'd be time to mourn later, or no time at all.
"Right then," the Doctor said, looking back at the controls. "It appears that the next child is hiding in Hopies."
"Where's that?" Graham asked in confusion.
"A place I hoped I'd never go back to," the Doctor said grimly. "Hold on."
The TARDIS shuddered around them, as it took them to their next destination. Ryan and Graham looked at each other. Whatever happened, at least they were in it together.
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The city was in ruins. Very little remained of the one vibrant city. Instead it was nothing more than a rubble and destruction as far as the eye can see.
"What happened here?" Graham asked, as the three of them carefully made their way through what was once a building.
"A Dalek invasion," the Doctor said. "Don't worry, I sorted it out. I just... didn't want to come back here so soon."
"I didn't know the Daleks were this destructive," Ryan said with a shiver.
"The planet got off lightly, all things considered. Other planets... Anyway, child is this way."
"What can you tell us about the child?" Graham asked. "Why is everything so..." he waved his hands in the air for the word, finally settling on "consistent?"
"If I had to guess, it's the Soulless Child."
"The what?" asked Ryan.
"The Soulless Child. It was connected to the life of all living things thanks to the time vortex. It was life and death unified into one. A thousand million soldiers could be born and grown within a matter of seconds, and another thousand million killed without a second thought. It was genocide on a universal level. It wiped out quite a few things."
"Why didn't it wipe out the Daleks?" Graham asked.
"They quickly discovered a shield to it. No, it was used by its father as a way of getting rid of the Dalek's foot soldiers. Ogrons, Robomen, the slave armies-"
"The slave armies!" Ryan said in shock.
"The Daleks used their slaves as infantry. Well, more like bullet sponges. The Soulless' Child quick and painless death was more merciful."
"But that's immoral," said Graham.
"That's war," the Doctor replied grimly.
"So what stops this Soulless Child from killing us on the spot?"
"The cubes round our necks should protect us, for a time. I hope."
"And if they don't?" asked Ryan.
"We won't be around to know that we failed."
"That is correct, Doctor," said Graham, causing his friends to spin around in shock. It was Graham's voice but somehow not his voice. There was an echo to it, a slight delay.
"Get out of my friend," snarled the Doctor.
"He is the only one not protected," said the child. "My siblings are protecting you two. He is the only conduit I have."
"Don't you dare use my friends," the Doctor said angrily, stalking over to stare Graham in the eyes.
"Then come find me then," the child said. "Come play with me."
"Lead the way," said the Doctor sourly, knowing that she'd protect her friends if it was the last thing she ever did. But knowing the Soulless Child, it very well might be.
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"Hello?" Graham said, to the empty black void he found himself in. "Is anyone there."
"Hello Graham," said a highly familiar voice. Graham spun in shock to see Grace standing in front of him.
"You're not real," he said sadly, having been done this charade before.
"I could be real," said Grace. "I am, as the Doctor calls me, the Soulless Child. I can bring the dead back to life. I could give your Grace back to you."
"At what cost?"
"You look after me. You care for me. You love me."
Graham said nothing, looking at the love of his life. The child's offer was tempting, and would bring him great joy, but...
"Why do you want me to love you?" Graham asked suspiciously.
"I've never known it," said the child. "My parent, they... didn't treat me right. They saw me as something to be used, nothing more. And when they could they abandoned me as soon as things got bad."
"Abandoned you how?"
"By dying."
"I mean, it's not something they can really control..."
"But I can. I brought them back to life. I let them keep living. And yet all they did was hate me for it. They say death was painful, and living was harder."
"I can imagine it was quite traumatic for them though. Constantly dying and coming back... it would take a toll on anyone."
"So why did they take it out on me?"
Graham said nothing, at a loss of words. It was clear what was going on, and he'd seen it all before.
"I know what it's like when someone abandons their child."
"Do you?" said the child, carefully waiting on Graham's every word.
"Yeah, my grandson. His father wasn't there for him, and his mother... Well, I know what it does to someone."
"And what does it do to them, Graham?"
"Sometimes, it can make a person harsh. It can make them cruel. It can make them mean. But sometimes... it can make them kind. And caring. And loving. It makes them determined to help others who need help. It makes them want to do the right thing, despite what happened to them in life, because it's important to do it."
"And you have proof?"
"I have my grandson. That is all the proof I ever need. That boy took the pain of this world and yet refused to be consumed by it, instead becoming a great man, one of the best I've known in my life. He became a hero to so many... and a hero to me."
"You speak of him with such fondness," the child said sadly. "No one has ever treated me that way."
"We could always start now?" Graham asked, offering out his hand. He could see a child needed his help, and he wasn't going to let it down. That's what Grace would do, that's what the Doctor would do, that's what Ryan would do. That's what he'd do, consequences be damned. This child needed a parent, and Graham would do everything he could to achieve it.
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"I don't like this Doctor," Ryan said, as they made their way to the capitol building that seemed oddly familiar, as if Ryan had seen it in a dream. The garden around the building was filled with death, as the plants withered into dust. The stench of death filled the air, even if there were no bodies nearby.
"Neither do I," the Doctor replied, as she followed her possessed friend inside. Graham, or rather the child, hadn't said anything on their trip. The Doctor was quickly trying to work out a way of getting the monster out of her friend's body and trapping it.
"Why is this so familiar?" Ryan asked in confusion. "Have we been here before?"
"No," the Doctor replied quickly, before turning back to Graham, who had stopped in the middle of the room.
"Let my friend go," she said threateningly, as she tried to work out a way of stopping the child from killing them on the spot.
"He's my friend," the child said through Graham. "I don't think he'd want to be friends with you after I tell him what happened here. Neither of them would."
"What do you mean?" Ryan asked in confusion.
"Don't," the Doctor said, fear creeping into her voice.
"You wonder why this place is so familiar?" the child asked. "You wonder why you feel like you've been here before? Well you have. Let's help you remember."
The child waved his hand, causing Ryan to go prone. The Doctor turned and rushed over to Ryan, grabbing him by the shoulders.
"Don't listen to it!" the Doctor said urgently, trying to shake Ryan awake, but it was too late. Inside Ryan's head a movie was playing, one where he saw himself going through the strangest of actions. Befriending an older man and a young woman. Working with them to get into this building. Seeing the Daleks... the Daleks destroying this city. The desperate days attempting to survive, the things he and Graham and Yaz had to do. And the anger. The anger he had towards the Doctor, the woman who had betrayed him, let him down.
"What is this?" Ryan asked, as he came back to reality.
"What happened to this planet," the child replied. "The thing the Doctor wanted you to forget."
"Stop it," the Doctor said.
"The Doctor knew that this would cause you to leave her, and she couldn't bear to travel alone. So she took you to the Silence, to have your memories of the event wiped. It was there she lost Yaz, abandoning her to her fate. She hid the truth from you, because she was afraid of how you'd react."
"Doctor, is this true?"
"I need you guys," the Doctor said. "You wouldn't be able to live with yourself, I had to give you back your lives."
"It's true?"
"I mean yes, but I did it for your own good. How could you go back to your normal life after all that? You didn't realize how much pain you were in. I was trying to help."
"This isn't how you help someone," Graham said. The Doctor spun to see Graham seemingly back to normal, the form of a child standing next to him, holding his hand.
"Graham, let go of it."
"Why Doctor? It showed me the truth. It showed us how you treated us. Like we were just objects to entertain you"
"I did it for your own good."
"We don't grow if we don't remember our past," Ryan said. "It's the past that makes us who we are. It teaches us, allows us to get better. To deny us that is to deny our right to become someone greater."
"You're right," the Doctor said sadly. "You're right. I'm sorry, I... panicked. I can't keep losing people. I've lost so many people in my life. Friends, family, loved ones. I just... I couldn't lose any more."
There was a silence as everyone processed what happened to them.
"When this is over," the Doctor said. "I'll try and get you home. And then I'll stop travelling. I won't put anyone else in danger ever again."
"No."
The Doctor looked up in shock at her two companions.
"No," repeated Ryan. "We're not going to leave you."
"But-" began the Doctor.
"Doc, you have shown us so much," Graham said. "So many amazing things. We've done things I'd have never thought possible thanks to you. I don't want to give that up."
"Same," said Ryan. "We're your friends Doctor. Friends forgive each other. I don't like what you did... but you didn't do it for a bad reason."
"You're not malicious," added Graham. "You made a mistake, but we're here for you. It was as I was saying to the child... you can't change the past. But you can learn from it. Grow from it. Be better because of it. We know you can get better after this. The universe needs you too much to give up now."
The Doctor said nothing, looking at her family. Two ordinary humans, nothing remarkable or notable about them, but capable of forgiveness in the face of such a sin...
"Thank you," the Doctor said, tears in her eyes. "Thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"We're here for you Doc," Graham said. "You don't have to worry about losing us."
"But what are we going to do about the child?" Ryan asked.
"Well you know how you bonded with your child," Graham said slowly.
"No," the Doctor said. "You didn't Graham."
"A child was in pain, Doctor," Graham said. "What was I suppose to do? If Ryan is going to have to be trapped in an alternate universe... then I want to join him."
"But it's not going to come to that, is it Doctor?" Ryan asked. The Doctor said nothing, looking at the outline of the child holding Graham's hand.
"Is this true?" the Doctor asked.
"I have a new parent," the child said. "One who will love me and treat me properly. One I'm never going to leave. Daddy and I are going to play together forever." There was a flash, as the child's glowing form seemed to be sucked into the cube around Graham's next, and it was gone.
"Now what?" Graham asked, as they stood in the strangely quiet building.
"We go after the next child," the Doctor said. "Then I free you from those children. I take you home. I won't lose anyone else."
"Promise?" Ryan asked hopefully.
"Promise," lied the Doctor.
