Doctor Who

The Children of Gallifrey

Episode Five

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Yaz had gotten use to her life of being unnoticed by all around her. Well, as use as one could get, all things considered. There was some element of joy, of being free from consequences. She could do whatever she wanted and no one would bat an eyelid. An entire planet where she had no downsides or regrets for her actions. She was free to do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted, and no one in the world could stop her.

So she put on her uniform. She went into the police station. She examined the cases and determined which ones would best suit her particular set of skills.

A policewoman couldn't normally walk into the middle of a drug bust, slap handcuffs on everyone, then wait for the note they left in the police station to be read for the baddies to be arrested.

A policewoman couldn't normally walk into suspects homes when searching for a missing child, find said child, and carry them back home to their parents without anyone trying to stop them.

A policewoman couldn't normally follow a group of thieves back to their hideout, take all the money they had stolen, and return it back to the bank in an event that even the newspapers struggled to explain.

But Yaz wasn't a normal policewoman. She was a ghost amongst the living, able to do things that others would find impossible.

There were no consequences for her actions, no reason why she shouldn't do what she wanted. She had freedom to choose to do anything. So why not choose to be kind? It's what the Doctor would have done.

It seemed like a normal day, until a child suddenly appeared. It wasn't a normal child. It glowed with a sort of strange light. In its hand it held a strange little cube thing. Yaz took it, putting the strange pendant around her neck like the child indicated.

Suddenly she wasn't in Sheffield. She was somewhere completely different. In front of her stood the Doctor, frozen in fear and pain. Next to her was a child, shining with a different type of light, a sort of dark, blackish light. Graham and Ryan were also there, their faces twisted in terror, tears silently rolling down their still faces.

This child... it was the cause of all the suffering. Yaz could tell. Something in her was telling that this child was what was hurting her friends. She could do something. The consequences would be dire, she knew that, but it was the right thing to do.

"Go on, Doctor," sneered the Nightmare Child. "Get rid of your promise. Become the monster I know you can be. Become my servant, so I may travel the universe and ensnare it in my grasp."

"No," said Yaz. The child turned, confused.

"How did you escape?" the child asked, before noting the cube around the woman's neck. It let out a chortle.

"You really think you can trap me?" it said. "You, a puny little human?"

"Yes," Yaz replied, holding the cube in front of her.

"You do realize that, if you trap me, I will make every moment of your life unending suffering?"

"Yes."

"You will know only misery and pain? Fear that you can't even begin to comprehend? Nothing but agony for the rest of time?"

"Yes."

"And no one will ever know. No one will ever be aware of your sacrifice. You'll be suffering without recognition, without acknowledgement, without thanks."

"Yes."

"Why? If you are going to trap me, before I go, I just need to know... why?"

"Because it's the right thing to do."

"But your act of heroism will go unnoticed. No one will ever realize. No one will ever care. You'll suffer for eternity, and the universe will move on, never realizing what you did for it. No one will ever know."

"I'll know," Yaz replied. "And that's good enough for me."

She closed her eyes and concentrated. She felt as she was holding a powerful vacuum, as a scream rang out that seemed to split the very stars, before suddenly...

"Yaz," the Doctor said carefully. Yaz opened her eyes to see the Doctor standing there, shaken, but mobile. Graham and Ryan seemed to be doing the same.

"Yaz, what did you do?" the Doctor said.

"I trapped it," Yaz said, holding up her cube. "In here. The child is in this cube. I don't know how I knew to do it, but I did."

The Doctor shifted her eyes to a little child standing a little bit behind Yaz. The Timeless Child.

"You told her, didn't you?"

"Yes, father," said the child. "I've been guiding you this entire time. I can't let my siblings destroy this universe."

"Thank you," said the Doctor. "But... you know what happens next."

"Yes," the child said. "It's time for us to move on." The child waved its hands, and everything changed.

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The four of them stood in front of a gawping maw, a chasm of a split in the universe. A sliver of something else, something not found here. Behind them the TARDIS waited, patiently, as they looked down into the inky depths.

"What's down there, Doctor?" Yaz asked.

"It's a tear in the universe," the Doctor said. "It's a gateway from this universe to another. Much like the Solitract. If we put the children of Gallifrey in here they'll be free to run around and do whatever they want. They won't be able to get back into our universe."

"Are we sure we should leave them unsupervised?" Graham asked. "Could lead to them getting out again."

"They won't be unsupervised," the Doctor replied. "I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry... but I can't separate the children from you. You are now, and forever will be, the children. They are a part of your essence, your being, your existence."

Her three companions said nothing, looking back into the giant scar.

"The TARDIS is, as well," the Doctor said. "It absorbed a child. I would need to put it in there with you lot."

"What about the last child?" Ryan asked, talking to the small child standing next to the Doctor.

"It would have to go in alone I suppose," the Doctor said.

"I don't want to leave you father," the child replied.

"I have no choice."

"Yes you do. Don't you remember, Doctor? Currently two of you exist. Two of all of you exist. There is another set of you flying around in the universe."

"Hey that's right," said Ryan. "That's what the Paradox child told us."

"I know you don't want to go because you think you'll leave the universe in danger," said the Timeless Child. "But you won't. There'll be another you out there, keeping it safe, going on adventures."

The Doctor said nothing, biting her lip. Her continued existence in this universe would only worse the paradox, straining the web of time with each passing moment.

"But if we all go in there," the child said. "We could create our own universe."

"What?" said the three humans, unable to comprehend what they'd just heard.

"You all have the building blocks to create whatever you want. You could recreate the universe exactly how it was, then forget it ever happened. Or you could make a better one. A happier one. Your power is endless. In return, this universe is safe. It continues on. The other versions of you continue their existence."

"But we'd resign ourselves to living a half-existence," the Doctor said. "Us, the real us, would no longer exist, replaced by our inferior duplicates."

"Better than there not being a universe at all," the Timeless Child said.

"I like this idea," said Yaz, causing the others to turn around in surprise. "I mean it's a win win, right? We get to do our own thing, and our families get to have a version of us around and don't realize we're missing."

"Yeah, now that you put it like that," said Ryan.

"It does sound rather nice," concluded Graham.

"It'd be nice if you joined us," said Yaz, holding out her hand to the Doctor.

"Yeah," said Ryan, his hand outreached. "Keeping the fam together."

"You could help us, you know," added Graham, also extending his hand towards his friend. "Guide us. Make sure we do it right."

The Doctor stood silently, weighing up her decisions. The humans... they didn't really understand what it meant, to hop from one universe to the next. They didn't understand what it'd be like to resign oneself away to another universe, to never truly fit in. No matter what happened, the Doctor knew she wouldn't be the Doctor, not in a true sense. She'd be a version of the Doctor, a duplicate, off doing her own thing.

But then again hadn't she already made the same choice, all those lifetimes ago, on a beach in an alternate universe. Hadn't she already done all this before? If that other self could have done it, couldn't she?

"You realize that there's no going back," the Doctor said cautiously.

"When have you ever been one to look back?" Yaz replied, causing the Doctor to break into a smile. Once again, Yaz knew the Doctor so well.

"Into the TARDIS then," she said, opening the doors and funnelling them all inside. She turned back, seeing the Timeless Child stand on the edge.

The Doctor got down on her knees and held out her arms. The child looked at her hesitatingly, cautiously, before sprinting forward and diving into them. Holding her tight, the child cried into her shoulder, before merging with the Doctor. The Doctor stood up, the light of the energy still swirling around her.

"Are you ready?" she asked, as she made her way over to the console, putting a hand on the lever.

"Always," said Graham, placing his hand on the lever.

"We're right by your side," said Ryan, following suit.

"We'll never leave you again," concluded Yaz, her hand on top of the Doctor's. The four friends smiled at each other, pulled the lever, and were never seen in the universe again.