Fictions Mentioned: Doctor Who, A Certain Magical Index, Case Closed/Magic Kaito, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Code Geass, Science Adventure, When They Cry, xxxholic/Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, The Works of Stephen Baxter, The Works of Stephen King, Star Wars
Episode 5 - The Time War
OP Song:
Mother - YU-NO: Kono Yo no Hate de Koi o Utau Shoujo(Opening 2 Full w/ Lyrics & Subs in English)[4K]
Location:
Multiverse Clusters: The Whoniverse
Temporal Powers Alliance (TPA) Member Territory: The Time Lords of Gallifrey (Status: KIA) (Pre-Day of the Doctor changes)
Universe: N-Space
Location: The Kurgon System
When the Doctor opened The TARDIS doors after they reached their current destination, they weren't really sure on whether to be surprised or not; the fact that he had opened the doors onto what was basically and clearly into outer space where if it weren't for the safety features of The TARDIS would have dragged them back out into space where they would die in a vacuum due to asphyxiation or decompression sickness, without so much as an asteroid underneath the door to suggest that The TARDIS had landed on something to ensure their safety.
But they were surprised at another thing entirely.
"Oh my Kami." Sota whispered in slight fear and shock, unable to say anything more due to him staggering back towards the others in the back in a probably-futile-but-still-automatic-attempt to preserve whatever air he might have left and almost tumbled down the floor with the others looking back towards him laughing in amusement and good humor while Conan was saying, "Watch your feet, Sota-san, because you might as well fall down to the ground like A Certain Coyote (Wile E. Coyote) if he was running backwards and splatting towards the ground and I wouldn't put it past him to do that considering all the times he has had to chase down a Certain Road Runner (The Road Runner), and after all these years he still hasn't and wouldn't be able to catch him despite how many times he tries. He should really just give up on it and move on with his life if you asked me," while all eyes turned towards looking back at The Doctor, with Sota looking at The Doctor in a state of bewilderment, when he was speaking to Sota.
"Oh, don't worry about our location Sota; The TARDIS force fields keeps the atmosphere contained well enough, although I wouldn't really recommend on getting the door on your way out." The Doctor said all this as he also joined in on the joke and was just shrugging slightly while casually walking towards the door before turning back to face his companions.
"Well, gentleman; what are you waiting for? Come on over here and look outside, because I promise you all, it's worth it. Trust me."
With no other option left, The Companions (Touma Kamijou, Shinichi Kudo/Conan Edogawa, Kyon, Sota Misuzshino, and Lelouch Lamperouge) walked forward to stand beside The Doctor as he stood casually leaning towards the ship's doors, only for their eyes to widen in amazement, excitement, and wonder at the beautiful sight that was before them.
Apparently directly in front of the ship- although they had no idea how it was away from them- was what looked like a vast cloud of space that was an incredible mixture of the most various and diverse colors that were still illuminated by a still incandescent light from an unknown source from an unknown location in the bright starless sky that reminds them of the morning dawn and the afternoon sunlight of their worlds (Earths) and while they were all basking towards it with their hearts content and full of joy, The Doctor explains and describes to them what they were actually seeing with their very own eyes.
"The Kurgon Wonder, The Crowning Jewel of The Kurgon System; it's beautiful isn't it."
"Woah!" Most of The Companions whispered, unable to take their own eyes off from this beautiful image and display; allowing it to burn into their memories for the rest of their days.
They heard all about the space nebulas, of course, during their own time studying in their own classes in their own schools in their own worlds (Earths), but describing and seeing are two very different things entirely.
This space nebula in particular seems to be one of a kind.
"Hmph, I must say Doctor, this truly is impressive." Lelouch said with a smirk while looking back at The Doctor as he was truly impressed by this unique and wondrous spectacle that was standing before him and his other fellow companions.
"If only Nunnally, Shirley, and the others were here to see this."
Lelouch thought sadly as Nunnally wasn't here at the moment and was still back in his universe, in Ashford Academy along with The Ashford Student Council as she was there in his place to help Milly out with some paperwork that was given to her to fill up on, to which Milly herself was most grateful all the while planning a surprise prank on him as a form of revenge by the time he gets back to which he was only trying to prolong and delay the inevitable humiliation and outcome, if a little futile, while Shirley, Rivalz, and Nina might be thinking that he went out gambling on his own again, with Rivalz expectedly complaining about it to no end and Shirley herself was utterly displeased and incensed considering she never really approve of his gambling habits in the first place.
In his defense, it's not like he can get a regular job while he was still in hiding from The Holy Britannian Empire, The Royal Family, and The Emperor himself.
While Nunnally herself truly knows about what he was truly up to since she had met The Doctor and the others alongside him before, and has traveled in The TARDIS before, seeing all the wonders out there as he did, the rest of The Student Council in Ashford doesn't really know about it including Milly and his maid Sayoko, who knows about his and Nunnally's secret and true heritage as the children of the tyrannical dictator of The Holy Britannian Empire and the unworthy father of the year award that he still despises to the core of his very soul.
Emperor Charles zi Britannia.
He still remembered the day that his father rejected his formal request for the pleading of his mother's case while banishing him and his sister to exile in a foreign country as punishment for him renouncing his claim to the royal throne where they nearly got killed by The Surprise Invasion of Britannian Forces and if that wasn't enough, he made their supposed deaths in this invasion as an excuse for The Britannians to conquer Japan as a way to avenge them while stripping them of their right to life and liberty and has been given the designation of a number.
Area Eleven.
With the Japanese themselves being called by a number as well.
An Eleven.
Lelouch utterly despises these derogatory and discriminatory terms to the very fiber of his being.
For Japan and the many other nations of his Earth were forcefully stripped of their own identities, cultures, and traditions.
Some of them could be recovered through time thankfully while others unfortunately could not.
For Japan and the many other nations of his Earth were forced to live in the iron fist of The Empire.
Ordinary Citizens are force to choose on whether to live in the slums or to live as Honorary Britannians.
Both options didn't sound very appealing to everyone who wasn't Britannian.
One day, this will end.
One day, a number will rise up.
One day, it will be a number that will be raised less than one.
One day, it will be a number that will be raised greater than one.
The Number of a Number.
The Number with a Number.
The Number for a Number.
Zero.
One of these days, he's going to have to tell them all eventually, especially Shirley, who would always be worried sick all the time as she was always thinking that her boyfriend is constantly out there all alone doing who knows what all by himself and that she might tear him a new one when he gets back from his sightseeing in The TARDIS.
Yes, You all heard it right. Lelouch vi Britannia has a girlfriend and is no longer single as hard as it to believe.
That caused a lot of headaches and heartbreaks among everyone that was or would be involved, especially the entire female student population in Ashford Academy when they all found out about it.
Lelouch never really even intended to have a girlfriend in the first place due to his lack of time for such things while always being on the constant vigilance for his and Nunnally's secret identities and safety while bidding his own time to fulfill his own promise to destroy Britannia and crush its Darwinian ideals and superiority and its iron grip across the World.
That, and he never wants Shirley or her family to get hurt or get killed in the crossfire due to being a possible target all because of becoming involved with him.
For she was far too important to him way back then and she was far too important to him right now.
Shirley and him had been together for the past year now already. He first met her during his first year in Ashford Academy while helping out an old couple from across the street to which was witness by Shirley herself and that was the beginning of the relationship between the two of them.
After a few situations of awkward and misfortunate (To borrow his old friend's (Touma) Catchphrase ) events here and there, he was a little hesitant as to how to move forward with these new found feelings that had grown on him with his interaction with Shirley for he never felt this kind of love towards anyone in his life. Milly being the instigator who was helping to fan the flames in and out was not helping at all.
But The Doctor's Influence on him over the years tends to rub him off a little which eases him considerably and when he found out about this dilemma that he was having somehow, he once said something to him a phrase that he would never forget.
"True Love should never have to wait For The Right Moment of Time; For Time waits for No Man."
As usual, The Doctor tends to speak in hidden and subtle riddles and puzzles about the past, the present, and the future of his and his other fellow companions lives and the history of their universes.
Lelouch began to suspect since that very day that there was something in that phrase that The Doctor was trying to tell him or warn him about.
As if it was a precaution for how one must handle his problems with the duty of care.
As if it was a warning for the following events to come and that it may somehow involve his goals in trying to defeat Britannia and it's dictatorial rule over the world to which The Doctor certainly knows about and has been training him for that very day when he will eventually have to don the mask.
The Mask of Zero.
Zero meaning Nothing.
Zero meaning Nobody.
Zero meaning No One.
The Symbol of True Fear for Those Who Are The Oppressors.
The Symbol of True Justice for Those Who Are The Oppressed.
Lelouch began to suspect that day as well that The Doctor, being a Time Traveler and a Time Lord, would know how history itself will be dictated and decided in his own universe and that he has been nudging the events, whether major or minor, here and there for quite sometime now with the delicate skill of an experienced professional chess master, to which Lelouch himself knew all to well as a reminder of himself but rather admits humbly to himself and to everyone that his skill pales in comparison to The Doctor's experience in chess.
He remembers all to well the history lessons of The Doctor.
One of them refers to The Doctor's many faces over the years of his long millennia old life.
One of those faces just so happens to be The Ultimate Chess Master who has slain countless gods, monsters, and demons through the perfected art of manipulation.
If he were to try to attempt to play with The Doctor in an actual chess match, whether in a chess board or in an actual battlefield, he would surely lose.
If he were to imagine his brother Schneizel el Britannia and The Doctor in a battle of wits in the art of chess with all of their skills and pawns put on the table. The Victor would surely belong to The Doctor and Schneizel would finally meet his match.
These and all the other reasons mentioned above might be one among many reasons why The Doctor took him and Nunnally in as his own, for he was more of a father to them than his actual father ever was.
He allowed Nunnally her sight back and allowed her to walk again with the help of The TARDIS to which he remembers fondly with a joyful and grateful heart.
He let him and Nunnally see all the wonders, beauties, and divinities of the multiverse in all of its glory, beauty, and diversity.
He gave him and Nunnally new friends and families when they were travelling the multiverse.
He had people whom he would actually call his best friends besides Suzaku.
For this and so much more, he, Lelouch vi Britannia, was truly grateful from the bottom of his heart and he couldn't have ask for more.
And as Lelouch was thinking about all of these thoughts that are in his calculative mind, The Doctor looks towards Lelouch with a knowing smile as he continued his explanation about The Nebula In Question.
"Isn't It. Over two thousand and fifty million metrons wide, and the light's remained at a constant seven hundred and fifty thousand illumiums since it was first analysed about two centuries before now, It's quite unique, really; only a few people even know it even exists at this point that know how all of this was created."
"Metrons?!" Conan asked with a look of curiosity while paying attention to the wording or the tone of the word "metron' given that one word can mean many things and with the great vastness of the multiverse along with it's diverse cultures, societies, governments, etc... it is very possible. Which was to be honest already expected really.
Given the fact that Conan Edogawa or as he was known back then, Shinichi Kudo, was a high school detective back in his own universe and the resident bookworm of their vagabond band of misfits who notices with the naked eye the vast and little details of each topic and subject there is in all of existence along with it's nooks and cranies with it's many long cuts, short cuts and side cuts. He always did liked to spend a very long time in the TARDIS Library when he first heard about it's existence from The Doctor since he has his own large library back in his own universe, although that was a mere nothing compared to the size of The TARDIS Library.
And whenever they would not be too busy travelling and seeing all the wonders that are out there while solving a few side problems here and there, he would just stay there for hours on end while reading as many books as he can find.
To which on the one hand was pretty inspiring to some of The Companions (Touma, Kyon, Sota) themselves because it was because of this that Shinichi had gotten themselves out of trouble and danger so many times before because of the use and application of his knowledge along with the applicable and useful skills that he learned from said knowledge and understanding that he had learned and managed to save their lives along with countless others to which they were all grateful.
While on the other hand, he can be downright exasperating and annoying to some of his fellow companions (Touma, Kyon, Sota), to Ran Mouri, and to everyone else that was or were involved with him at some point in their lives except The Doctor, Lelouch, and a few others due to his sometimes slightly arrogant and cocky attitude whenever he makes a deduction that would put the attention and spotlight on him first and foremost, and after gaining the audience's attention like a glory hound actor (which is ironic considering his mother Yukiko Kudo was a former and semi retired actress) wherever and whenever there was a crime that was committed in the surrounding area that usually involves some form of crime or murder or suicide.
The Companions (Touma, Kyon, Sota, Lelouch) themselves along with Kudo then began to notice that wherever and whenever Kudo goes, usually something like the mentioned above happens and other misfortunate coincidences and cirumstances. to which was accompanied by feelings of dread and disturbing to themselves, due to the explications and implications of these misfortunate coincidences and cirumstances in and of itself.
And it was because of this that they along with Kudo himself began to think that Shinichi Kudo himself was like a magnet and an attractor for any death of any form that lead to countless amounts of pain, death, and suffering to everyone involved especially the ones who are the closest to either the victim or to the culprit.
Sometimes there will be jokes about this sucha as that one joke were Kudo had a Shinigami that is watching out for him.
Such jokes were never really funny to The Companions themselves especially to those who suffered so much as their very lot in life.
People like Kamijou and Lelouch spring to mind.
This was one of the main reasons why The Doctor decided to take him under his wing due to him being reminded a little too much and a little too close to home of what he had gone through back in his younger days of adventure and the uncanny similarities that he had also began to noticed between himself and Kudo along with the death rate that seems to come up and down in a random misfortunate coincidence as it skyrocketed abnormally.
That raises a sudden alarm on The Doctor's complex mind as he begins to see the scarily similar patterns of the various and diverse crime scenes that happen in one form or another, with only for Kudo to show up at the right place at the right time to solve the case.
As if he was meant to be there.
As if he was almost being led there by a certain power.
As if it was written in a certain history.
As if it was hitsuzen.
That, and it was also a personal request of his Parents, Yusaku Kudo and Yukiko Kudo, who were old friends and companions of The Doctor themselves, who had asked him to take care of him as his guardian due to them not always being around all the time and that he needed to experience all the discoveries and wonders that they themselves have and had experienced in their time with The Doctor and that he also needed to live out and experience his own childhood like the rest of the children of his age due to Shinichi Kudo being far too intelligent and mature for his own age like a Certain Imagine Breaker (Touma Kamijou) due to these mentioned above misfotunate situations, although it wasn't as bad as Kamijou's own misfortune, to which he (The Doctor) willingly obliged and happily accepted.
Shinichi Kudo would usually start his deduction and reasoning by explaining what he had found in and out and understood while looking around the scene of the crime for any and every clue that is in his sight, with sharp eyes on the constant watch for the little details whether they were major or minor as he begins to explain to the general audience in question along with the culprit who was hidden from said audience of what he had found out, and after that was done, he then turns towards the culprit of the scene of the crime with his right or left hand raised to reveal and expose the culprit, with his reasoning and deduction being given to the general audience and to the culprit who was revealed and exposed, who tries and fails to counter said deduction, only to be shot down by Kudo's arguments of pure logic and reasoning to which usually the culprit would have no choice but to resort to either try to flee or defend himself by any means that he or she has revealed in his or her own person or what he or she had used in their general surroundings while trying to escape, if a little vain and futile, to which only for the police to come in and attempt to arrest said culprit who sometimes usually resist arrest but was eventually subdued after a much futile struggle.
With Ran Mouri sometimes using her learned skill of karate on said culprit in the process.
Then after that fiasco was over, the police began to thank Kudo for all the hard work that he has done for them and for helping them to catch the right culprit to which he responds with bold confidence that there is no mystery in the world (His Earth and Universe) that he cannot solve and that he will be more than happy to help them bring crime down and bring people to justice.
One of these days, Kamijou thought that one time, his old friend's slightly cocky and arrogant attitude and nature would one day lead to his downfall and would cause so many problems down the line while not knowing back then that he was right on the money on that reasoning.
Which was basically Shinichi's current predicament as of right now.
With him being shrunk into a 6 year old child and forced to take another identity so that he would not be discovered by a Certain Organization (The Black Organization) that had done this to him and if he were to be discovered, they might as well just finish the job and be done with it. Him and his love ones. Whether they were family, friends, acquaintances, etc. would be caught in the crossfire one way or another in order to tie up said loose ends. And so he was forced to live with a new identity in order to keep all of them safe and sound while living with Ran Mouri and her father, Kogoro Mouri, who was a detective, to the rest of The Companions shakes their heads in disbelief, with Kyon facepalming continuously due to idiocy and lack of common sense, as they all knew how Kogoro Mpuri usually acts wherever and whenever there was a case. There were a few exceptions of course were he was actually competent in his job but such things are rare and usually involved something that was personal to him, while using said detective to solve cases as The Sleeping Kogoro in order to use him to get to The Organization that did this to him through an indirect stealth tactic approach and wait for the right opportunity to strike as this Black Organization has many hidden members throughout the world along with the fact that they have eyes and ears everywhere.
The Modus Operandi of The Black Organization is as follows:
The Black Organization commits crimes such as illegal deals, blackmail, robberies, and contract assassinations to raise money for research. They operate like a hybrid of a business and a mafia group. They recruit outside talent and cultivate clients and sponsors by sending high ranking members like Gin (who was the agent who shrunk Kudo by forcing him to swallow a pill known as APTX 4869) to business meetings, but they also use mafia-like tactics to intimidate desirable civilians into making deals with them. Besides their financially motivated crimes, the organization engages in other stereotypical criminal activities like bribery, spying, and eliminating threats or former partners who are deemed useless or a risk.
The Black Organization is highly secretive, and tries to eliminate anyone who has knowledge of their existence and threatens to expose their inner workings, including members who may have become a liability. They will dispose of even senior members without any hesitation just to protect their secrets. Remaining unknown seems to be a higher priority than even their research as is noted by The Doctor. They often destroy any evidence via fire or explosion and they will not hesitate to kill any member of the family and all the friends of a target in order to protect the secret of their existence.
The Black Organization has several practices that resemble those of stereotypical secret societies. They all tend to wear black outfits, which was intentional on their part and was supposed to resemble crows. For an as of yet unrevealed reason, nearly all of The Black Organization's members (with the exception of their boss who remains unknown to most people) use code names based on alcoholic drinks: hard liquors for men and wine or wine-based cocktails for women. Also it would appear that they are rather fond of using detective fiction and classic literature in their project names and passwords. Examples include The APTX 4869 which was pun to Sherlock Holmes, one of their computer passwords, Shelling Ford - a prototype name for Sherlock Holmes, a computer virus called Night Baron named after a character from mystery writer Yusaku Kudo's novels, and mission codenames relating to the novel Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
The Black Organization conducts its crimes in ways that are difficult to trace back to them. Handguns and sniping, fire and bombs, and poisons seem to be their preferred techniques. Sometimes they attempt to disguise their murders as accidents or suicides. To this end, APTX 4869, the same drug that shrunk Kudo, was deployed as a poison because it is forensically difficult to detect. If they are unable to disguise a murder as something else, they will usually attempt to destroy any evidence using fire or explosives to make it difficult to investigate. Sometimes they will time their crimes so the blame will fall on another party instead, confusing the investigation. If a meeting place or asset of theirs is compromised, they typically and thoroughly destroy it before it can be investigated properly. Their supplies of explosives and firearms are very extensive.
The Black Organization have multiple hideouts throughout the world but none of them have been revealed so far to the public eye. In line with their secretive existence, they usually prefer to meet in places that are isolated or where they can slip away easily. Several operatives occupy public positions like which gives them connections to circles of the rich and famous and access to otherwise unavailable locations. So far, they have met clients at a dim restaurant, a Shinkansen's dining car, a crowded wake, a train station under construction, and in an isolated area of an amusement park. They often conduct business and meetings at the shipping yard. Not very many member's abodes have been shown, but they range in extravagance from a relatively plain apartment to a lavish penthouse in a tall building.
The Black Organization is quite large enough to quickly dispatch field investigative teams of at least a dozen members. The members are also demographically varied, including foreigners and natives, men and women, teenagers, and elderly. Individually, the higher ranking members are typically intelligent and often multi-talented. So far, at least all senior members are shown to carry guns and wear body armor under their clothing when out. Many agents, even those outside the assassination divisions, are skilled at using firearms. Disguise is a particularly common skill among them. Many members have been trained to resist knockout effects to prevent capture and cope with the pain whenever such a need arises.
The Black Organization is technologically sophisticated and their equipment rivals even that of The FBI. They have access to a wide variety of firearms and ammunition, vehicles, theatrical supplies, and large amounts of various explosives. They also have military helicopters at their disposal. Their arsenal also includes various specialized gadgets.
The Black Organization has a remarkable amount of resources for a criminal group. Their financial resources, technology, and manpower seems to be on par with or even superior to that of The FBI or The CIA but less than The Japanese Police Force. They have enough manpower at their disposal to thoroughly monitor and investigate even minor threats or to observe all the avenues of entry to a crowded meeting place in the middle of a city.
However, their is some good news in spite of all of this for The Black Organization is nowhere close to being omniscient due to the fact that Shinichi, now Conan, who was supposed to be dead in their official records, was able to participate in several public cases that were successfully hushed up by the police, and can leave the country easily with his passport that was provided by The Doctor or courtesy of The TARDIS.
The Doctor told this information and many more to The Companions as he describes the inner and outer workings along with the scale that this Organization operates along with the fact that they were actually surprisingly, or unsurprisingly at this point if they were to be completely honest, another front organization to their other main enemy that has been a constant pain in the butt to The Companions since Hinamizawa.
The Committee of 300.
One things for sure, though, people weren't really kidding when everyone called him "The Heisei Holmes", not just because of him being a number one fan of The Sherlock Holmes whom The Doctor was old friends with while owning all the books made by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but because you might as well say that he was The Sherlock Holmes in his own universe and you wouldn't really technically be wrong, with only a few people to beat, match, or stalemate him such as his father Yusaku Kudo, The First Heisei Holmes, or Kaito Kuroba/Kaito KID who was also another one of their childhood best friends whom Shinichi/Conan tends to play with in the chase of the game.
Between the second generation of The Cat and The Mouse.
Between a Certain Detective and a Certain Thief.
Between Sherlock Holmes and Arsene Lupin.
But that was a story for another time.
"Not sure how to put that in a context that you'd understand, sorry; measurements don't always translate well into Earth's references, and I haven't been in this area long enough to work out how it compares on my own or anyone else's" The Doctor gave a shrug on that while still continuing the explanation.
"Still, doesn't stop it from being an incredible tale and an incredible site to behold; it definitely makes for an interesting memorial for a unique creature that gave his life so that the universe could live, would you?"
"Oh?!" Everyone noticed immediately when The Doctor said "unique creature" and was about to asked what he meant by that but The Doctor as always beat them to the punch.
"Well technically it was the site of it's death, anyway." The Doctor said with a casual shrug and tone. "The Temperon- that was the creature's name; it was a unique creature who was a time-dwelling life-form, with an origin so far into the past that even my own people were confused by it- was being used by a group of space warriors called The Knights of Valyesha in their time-travel experiments, and then..."
His voice then trailed off with a grim expression on his face as he stared towards the nebula before them, his ancient eyes flickering between them and the nebula with his whole expression becoming serious and firm, and that was the moment when all of The Companions realize that they have to pay very close attention, because for all their years of knowing The Doctor, there were only a few times were he was rarely serious and if that ever happens, they knew that they should just shut up and listen with a teaspoon and an open and attentive mind and an understanding heart as it might as well be important for their own survival as well as the many other innocent peoples, beings, and civilizations that may be saved and spared from further bloodshed and death and that their many adventures throughout the years can attest to that experience.
After how many relative minutes had past for them all in The TARDIS, The Doctor seemed to finally make a decision to continue speaking, with a solemn expression on his face as he turns a wistful look towards the control console which was located in the middle room of The TARDIS, as though it were a reminder of a certain something that was important to him.
"The experiments were used by The Knights of Valyesha in order to conquer my planet, and they actually did managed to succeed for a time with the Temperon unwillingly acting as their means of time travel; I was only able to stop it by letting The Temperon sacrificed itself to keep it's would-be-masters contained forever..."
Everyone was very silent on that, with The Companions looking at The Doctor with the eyes of sympathy, empathy, and understanding due to always remembering that while The Doctor always wins in the end, they noticed that people around him tend to die at the wake of such a costly victory, with The Doctor always losing something or someone important in the end. It was one of the many constants in his long-millennia old and ancient life which is one of the main reasons why The Doctor decided to trained them in any form of survival skill lesson that anyone and anything can think of in order to better protect themselves and think on their own two feet with the constant reminder that The Doctor does not always come to save the day and that they need to be ready for the expected and unexpected events to come.
Then The Doctor said suddenly while clapping his hands together, which brought The Companions out of there deep thoughts of reflection for a while as they all noticed the clap, as he looked towards them with a casual smile that was on his.
"Right then; So, given that there is more to see out there than we do here in the vast and diverse multiverse, and since I've been the only one who was picking and choosing our current destinations and travels for the most part as of late, I should probably ask, do all of you have any preferences on where and when do we go next."
Everyone was still silent on that offer, with something nagging in their own guts about what something seems to be wrong about this situation along with a very deep thoughtful expression on The Doctor's offer while remembering the story of the sacrifice of The Temperon and of course, they couldn't really forget, his people, The Time Lords of The Planet Gallifrey.
The Doctor barely talks about his own people, only mentioning them in their bedtime stories and history lessons, which was very concerning to everyone involved especially towards The Companions themselves, especially towards Touma Kamijou due to The Doctor telling him The Stories of Ages Past concerning his ow people and their vast and diverse accomplishments and wonders, but bedtime stories and history lessons being the major or minor exception, he rarely talks about the present state of his own people which is a cause for sudden alarm and filled them with a sudden feeling of a constant warning and a constant dread while looking towards one another with a silent look of agreement between long-time friends and comrades and then back at The Doctor, their decision was ultimately made, they would take the risk of the opportunity by asking The Doctor about whether or not they can go to his home planet or not, with Touma of course being the one who would suggest that destination being the de facto leader among The Companions.
"Um... Doctor, I speak for all of us when I say this but..." Touma was still hesitant in asking this of him but was still pressing on despite still hesitating. "Can we... all go to your home planet?"
As soon as Kamijou spoke about his request on behalf of everyone, The Doctor's whole face seem to immediately closed up and then filled with a painful, sad, and regretful expression and with Kamijou and the others seeing this, with Kamijou feeling directly responsible for his reasoning being that he somehow messed up, continued speaking to The Doctor to assure him with his hands raised in a calming gesture that it's alright and that they don't have to go there if he doesn't want to.
"We don't have to go there if you don't want too it's just that." Touma looked sideways in a moment of hesitation and then back again at The Doctor. "It's just that you always keep telling us stories about your own people and that you never seem to talked about them a lot whenever it isn't something important or that time when you told us bedtime stories about it since we were kids or when you started to teach us about the subject of history and that leads us all to think and I can definitely say when I speak for all of us that I think it's about time you all tell us about what really exactly happened between you and your people because were already old enough as it is, and I'm old enough as it is, and we've known you long enough as it is so, please, will you tell us?"
Touma Kamijou, The Imagine Breaker, The De Facto Leader, said this while everyone of The Companions nodded in turn, with a steeled and resolved look that was shown on their faces.
The Doctor then gave Touma (especially for taking charge) and the others as well a very proud (because of the confidence of the young men all grown up especially with the one who dared to ask) and yet sad (due to the fact that he was keeping this hidden from them for so long and knew that one day he might need to tell them with his own words and not with anyone else's word) expression on his face and with a tone that was low and grim, he began to say "The Truth" to them that he had kept hidden for so long and buried.
" It's gone, Touma; My planet, we can't go there because... because it doesn't exist anymore. "
Then when The Doctor spoke "The Truth" to them and began to noticed the wording of the tone and the term "gone" and "doesn't exist anymore", then they realized to their sadness, sympathy, shock, and horror which was shown on their faces with the realization that The Time Lords, his people, were NO MORE and that The Doctor was The Last of The Time Lords, The Last of His Kind, in other words; he was completely and utterly ALONE.
No Family.
No Friends.
No Love Ones.
No Home.
No One.
Nothing.
"What happened?!" Touma spoke with a question on behalf of everyone as they listened and paid attention while still having the sadness, sympathy, shock, and horror that was still on their face and voices as he and the others realized that they were speaking to the only known survivor of his people with the implications and explications on that being far too disturbing to them as they realized the gravity of the situation.
Of A Race that was NO MORE.
And now that The Doctor told "The Truth" to them, they needed to know more about what and how that happened which would definitely explain a whole lot as The Companions thought about it if they were feeling a bit honest and that was greatly understating it in this scenario.
And thus The Doctor began to tell them "The War to End All Wars" feeling that they were finally ready to hear the great and terrible tale with with The Companions paying close attention and with sympathetic looks towards the Man who might as well have been all things considered their second father.
Insert Song: Beginning
The Dark and Endless Dalek Night
"There was a war, a Time War, The Last Great Time War, The Last War in Heaven, spanning through all of space and all of time throughout the known and unknown multiverse, With my people, The Xeelee (The Baryonic Lords), The Downstreamers, The Temporal Powers Alliance (TPA) and their armed military forces, The Spatio-Temporal Armed Forces (STARS), The SCP Foundation and all of our Allied Forces on the one side.
"The Allies of The Multiverse."
"The Daleks of Skaro, The Enemy and its Representatives, The Photino Birds (The Dark Matter Ancients), The Great Old Ones Imperium and all of their Axis Powers on the other side."
"The Axis of The Multiverse."
"Daleks!?" Everyone said in surprise as their eyes widened as they all had that exact same question that was on all of their minds, for they had very little knowledge on The Daleks other than what they had learned in their history lessons with The Doctor about their many various and diverse wars with the human race and other species and civilizations and The TARDIS Library, with most of the information on The Daleks being written as "Classified" and "REDACTED" while finding a picture of one or two and if they were feeling very honest about it, they look absolutely ridiculous and a little hard to take seriously, if they were to be fooled by appearances sake and with their many adventures and lessons that they had learn throughout the known and unknown multiverse, they had made them come to the realization of one of its many constants.
That appearances can often be deceiving.
They learned that they were the most dangerous and the most hated creatures in any known universe and beyond; and that they were a very great threat to many while becoming the ultimate symbol of fascism throughout the Multiverse and that they were fascism incarnate taken to its extreme and horrifying conclusion.
They were what you might call The Nazis of The Multiverse along with being known as The Expert Killers of Gods, Monsters, and Demons alike.
They were The Living Anti-Thesis of All that is Good.
They were The Ultimate Symbol of All The Evils of The Multiverse.
For the name of The Daleks in the extinct language of the Dals translates to one single phrase from The Forbidden Book of Predictions.
"...and on that day, men will become as gods."
In the eyes of everyone, especially that of Lelouch, The Daleks made Fascist Empires throughout the multiverse such as The Nazis Party and The Holy Britannian Empire look like saints by comparison and pathetic children with a tantrum at best.
Then The Doctor continued with a grim and earnest expression that made them to understand just how much The Daleks should be taken absolutely seriously as a threat.
"My oldest and most terrible ancient enemies, genetically created and engineered on The Planet Skaro after a Thousand Years of War Between The Kaleds who were the ancestors of The Daleks, and The Thals, and was created and engineered by a madman and a chief scientist of The Kaleds by the name of Davros, Creator of The Daleks and one of my most dangerous and relentless archenemies. The Daleks were stripped of all emotion execpt hatred, anger, rage, and spite for all Non-Dalek Life and they were all placed inside an armed casing, programmed from the moment of creation to regard all other life-forms as inferior and them as the superior-life form; they want absolutely nothing more than the total extermination of all sentient and non-sentient life and they would kill with no conscience, no hesitation, and no remorse because to them, it wasn't a Dalek and anything that is not a Dalek deserves to die in their eyes."
The Doctor explains this to them with a serious and grim tone while telling them of a certain conversation that he had with Davros all those many centuries ago in order for them to know the mind behind The Creator Himself which utterly horrified them greatly due to a certain answer that was given to them with no conscience and no remorse.
Flashback:
Beginning:
Multiverse Clusters: The Whoniverse
Universe: N-Space
Era: Pre-Time War
Event: The Thousand Year War
Location: Skaro
The Fourth Doctor: "Davros, if you had created a virus in your laboratory, something contagious and infectious that killed on contact. A virus that would destroy all other forms of life, would you allow it's use?"
Davros: "It is an interesting conjecture."
The Fourth Doctor: "Would you do it?"
Davros: "The only living thing. A microscopic organism reigning supreme. A fascinating idea!"
The Fourth Doctor: "But would you do it?"
Davros: "Yes. Yes. To hold in my hand a capsule that contains such power to know that life on death on such a scale was my choice. To know that the tiny pressure on my thumb was enough to break the glass that would end everything. Yes! I would do it! That power would set me up above the gods and through The Daleks, I shall have that power!
Ending:
Then he begins to hammer home his explanation to his companions with regards to the threat of The Daleks if they were to ever encounter them face to face.
"There is something that you all need to know about when you are facing The Daleks."
"You do not bargain with them."
"You do not reason with them."
"For they do not feel the concepts of pity or remorse or fear (Except Fear of The Doctor)."
"For they do not feel the concepts of mercy and compassion."
"For it will never stop killing for every waking moment of their accursed existence."
"For it has only One Thought and One Word in It's mind which summarizes all of the goals and ideals of The Dalek Race. "
"EXTERMINATE." (Dalek Echoes)
As The Doctor continued to describe who or what The Daleks are, The Companions became more and more horrified and terrified of the implications and explications on the very idea of such a being that would exist in the Known and Unknown Multiverse.
Of A Being that was born to HATE for All of Eternity.
As The Doctor explains this to The Companions, he began to recall The Day when he failed to save A Certain Pilot ( Cass Fermazzi ) and how that lead to him becoming The Warrior.
Flashback:
Beginning:
Multiverse Clusters: The Whoniverse
Universe: N-Space
Era: The Time War
Location: Karn
On the day I killed him, The Doctor was a happy man. Though since what made him happy was a distress call from a terrified woman who died less than seven minutes later, my conscience is clear.
At the time, he was in his eighth and final incarnation. My memory of his appearance is a little hazy, but I have a general impression of dark hair, urgent blue eyes, and a choice of clothing that was probably intended to be swashbuckling. I think there were long boots, possibly a waistcoat, and certainly one of those overcoats with the kind of collar that young men turn up against the wind in the hope that someone might use the word Byronic. He wasn't young, of course: no one can be called young on the day of their death, when they are as old as they will ever be. But the voice echoing round the creaking, wooden cathedral of The TARDIS console room was young enough, and more than adequately terrified.
'Hello, please, hello, can anyone hear me? This ship is crashing, please, is anyone there, can anyone hear me?'
It should be remembered, this was at the heart of The Time War, that endless savage conflict between The Daleks and their Axis Powers and The Time Lords and their Allied Forces that threatened every moment of the time continuum. It is strange to reflect that the deadliest conflict history will ever know began between a race of traumatized mutants sealed into tiny battle tanks, and an enclave of time-travelling academics, who had sworn never to interfere in the affairs of the wider multiverse. However, the day came when The Time Lords of Gallifrey decided that the Dalek mutants posed a threat to all reality, and so attempted to use their time-travel abilities to cancel them from existence. The attempt failed, and The Daleks used their own time-travel machines in a similar attempt to cancel out the Time Lords. And so time became a weapon in a war that could never end, and the conflict spread not only through space, but backwards and forwards through history. Days became battle lines, and century turned on century, and divergent time streams found themselves fighting each other for the right to exist. It was said, one soldier could die a thousand times in one day of that war, and discover he'd never been born the next. And so, when The Doctor heard that cry for help, there would have been countless billions across the universe suffering in exactly the same way. But this young woman had an advantage over all the others who, in that same moment, were also screaming and begging for their lives. She happened to be in earshot of a man who mistook himself for a hero.
The Doctor had always loved distress calls. They appealed to his vanity. He lived for the thrill of stepping through a door, and seeing all those faces turn towards him in hope and wonder. The danger, too, was delicious. More than delicious; over time it had become necessary. Danger is the only true palliative for a guilty man. And certainly the only drug strong enough for The Doctor.
Setting aside his tea, it took him seconds to track the signal to a little gunship, tumbling towards a red planet. There was one life sign on board, and all the engines were phasing. Clearly, there was no possibility of deflecting the ship's course, and a tractor beam would almost certainly shatter the hull, so a manual extraction was the only possibility. He would have to materialize on board, introduce himself as dramatically as possible, and get her into The TARDIS. She would be so happy and excited to see him. He wondered, briefly, how it would look if he took his teacup with him, but decided the risk of spillage was too great.
'Please, please, somebody, please!'
The fear in her voice would have broken any heart. The Doctor grinned. For the very last time, he slammed the levers, roared the engines, and sent The TARDIS spinning to the rescue. Although there was no one else to hear, he laughed and whooped. If anything sealed his fate, in that final hour of his existence, it was his laughter. I never wanted to hear that laugh again.
The owner of the voice was a young woman, called Cass Fermazzi. She was clever and brave and doomed. In later years, when I was able to return her remains to what was left of her family, I learned that she had grown up on one of the farm planets of the Gazrond Belt, and had stowed away on a star freighter at the age of fourteen to see the wonders of the universe and found there were no wonders left. Instead there was a war that threatened all reality. At first she ran, but one day, helping an old soldier die in a crater full of mud snakes under a burning moon, she realized there was nowhere left to hide. The following morning, the kindly medtech who closed the soldier's eyes unclipped the bandolier from around the dead man's chest and gave it to Cass, perhaps mistaking her for a friend or relative. Cass took the bandolier, tightened it around herself, and decided to start running in the opposite direction.
Three months later, she was crewing a gunship. Four years later, she had survived The Nightmare Child, wept at the massacre of Skull Moon and fought in the ruins of The Ulterium. On the last day of her life, she and her crew successfully repelled a Dalek fleet from the feeding hives of The Vantross, but then, as they flew to safety, found themselves under attack from one of The Time Lord battle cruisers, now as indiscriminate in their slaughter as The Daleks themselves. They were blasted from the stars for no better reason, Cass realized, than that they were blocking the view of the retreating Daleks.
She'd been the only one who didn't panic. She'd teleported the crew to the safety of the nearest planet and, with no one left to teleport her, and realizing that a safe crash landing was now an impossibility, she'd finally asked for help.
'Help me, please. Can anybody hear me—help me!' She slammed the overheating console with both fists.
'Please state the nature of your ailment or injury,' said the medical computer.
'I'm not injured, I'm crashing! I don't need a doctor!' Cass screamed.
'A clear statement of your symptoms will help us provide the medical practitioner appropriate to your individual needs.' A simulated face appeared on the screen and made an attempt at an encouraging smile only marginally less comforting than the cratered surface of the planet now filling the viewplate.
'I'm trying to send a distress call, stop asking about doctors!'
It was a feed line that the hungriest ego in the multiverse could hardly be expected to resist.
'I'm a doctor,' came a voice behind her, 'but probably not the one you were expecting.'
Cass spun round and saw a man, who was making a particular point of leaning casually against the wall. A thousand questions lit up in her head, but he was already stepping forward to the console. 'Where are the rest of the crew?'
'Teleported off.'
'But you're still here?' His hands were now busy at the controls. Was he checking she was telling the truth?
'I teleported them.'
'Why you?'
'Everyone else was screaming.'
He looked at her, and smiled like she'd passed a test. 'Welcome aboard.'
'Aboard what?'
'I'll show you!' And suddenly he had taken her hand (when did she tell him that was okay?) and she was yanked out of the command chair.
The ship howled and creaked, and the main corridor was twisting and flexing, so it felt like running inside a thrashing snake. There was the harsh stink of molten metal and she could feel the heat of the floor thumping against her boots. Her sleep pod was ablaze and everything she'd ever owned was gone.
'Where are we going?' she managed to ask.
'Back of the ship!'
'Why?'
'Because the front end crashes first, think it through!'
A joke? Was he joking? Was this man wasting breath on jokes, right now? And where the hell did he come from anyway? And hang on, did that mean he had a way off the ship? She felt a dangerous surge of hope. And in that moment, with a stomp of iron, the rest of the corridor disappeared. A blast door had slammed across in front of them, blocking their path, and finally Cass Fermazzi knew she was going to die.
'Oh, why did you do that?' she heard him muttering. But he sounded only mildly irritated, like a man trying to reason with a fugitive bar of soap in a bath.
'Emergency protocols,' she found herself explaining, like it even mattered now.
There was a silver rod in his hand, and he buzzed it at the door. 'What's your name?' he asked.
Was he making conversation? Did he seriously think she was in the mood for a chat?
'Cass.' Oh, apparently she was.
'You're young to be crewing a gunship, Cass.'
No, she wasn't telling him her life story, this was not the time. 'I wanted to see the universe. Is it always like this?' Why was she talking to him?
'If you're lucky,' he grinned, and then the door was grinding open. Cass barely had time to wonder how he'd done it, before he'd grabbed her hand again, and they were stumbling to a halt in front of—
What the hell was that?
It looked like a tall blue crate, wooden, with panels and barred windows. Absurdly there were the printed words Police Public Call Box above a pair of doors, and was that really a light on top? And there was something else! Although Cass had never seen this box before, something stirred inside her like a race memory. Even a new-born knows to love the sunshine and fear the storm, and with that same ancient certainty, she knew what this battered old crate meant. To her, to everyone. It was purest evil.
He was pulling her towards it now. Instinctively, she pulled back.
'It's all right,' he was saying, reaching for the blue doors. 'It's bigger on the inside.'
And then she understood the fear she felt. 'What did you say? Bigger on the inside, is that what you said?'
'Yeah, come on, you'll love it.'
'Is that—' The word choked in her throat for a moment. Even on a crashing ship, moments from death, it was a word that felt too dangerous to speak out loud. 'Is that a TARDIS?'
Oh, the look on his face. A wounded infant. The memory of better days and lost magic. 'Yes,' he said, 'but you'll be perfectly safe, I promise.'
She wrenched her hand from his. 'Don't touch me!'
He started to reach for her again, but the look in her eyes stopped him cold. 'I'm not part of the war,' he said. 'I swear. I never have been.'
'You're a Time Lord.' He was, it was so obvious. The arrogance, the presumption.
'Yes, but I'm one of the nice ones!' Oh, and now he thought he could be charming. Could they never understand what they were?
'Get away from me!'
'Look on the bright side. I'm not a Dalek.'
She looked at him, and felt the universe shift …
But no! This is too much. I am old, and perhaps I am getting carried away. Truthfully, no one can ever know for sure what was going through Cass's mind in that moment, but I do think I can guess. For us all, there is a hill somewhere on which we would gladly die. If we are blessed, one day we will find it beneath our feet. That day had come for Cass.
'Dalek, Time Lord, who can tell the difference any more,' she said, and stepped backwards the through the door. She slammed her hand on the red button, and activated the incursion seal. Her ship, like all the others, had been proofed against Time Lords, and now was the time to see if it worked. She watched him through the plexi-panel, buzzing away with his silver rod. The door was shuddering, but it didn't open. 'Cass! Cass!'
'It's deadlocked. Don't even try!'
'Just open it. Please, I only want to help.'
To help? How could he think that anyone would believe that? 'Go back to your battlefield—you're not finished yet, some of the universe is still standing.' Oh, the joy of saying those words, of seeing them impact.
'I'm not leaving this ship without you!'
Those pleading blue eyes, that hunger to be trusted. More than that, to be worshipped, to be adored. Oh dear God, was she supposed to think he was a hero now? They were all the same, those vain, wilful children with their two hearts. But was he really going to stay, and burn with her? Well, if that's what he wanted! Cass Fermazzi smiled and felt the last moment of joy she would ever feel, as she said: 'Then you're going to die right here. Best news all day.'
The ship was grinding and shrieking round her. The heat and light grew fiercer, but now it was exciting.
'Cass!' he was shouting. 'Cass!'
Yeah, she thought, smiling into his silly, anguished face—say my name. Say my name, Time Lord, and die.
Which is exactly what The Doctor did, though not for the last time that day.
'And here he is at last,' someone was saying, 'The man to end it all!'
The Doctor tried to move, tried to open his eyes, but nothing happened. He didn't recognise the voice, but whoever it was, she had to be talking about him. It was always about him, when people talked that way.
'My sisters, the Doctor has returned to Karn.'
Yep, there you go, he was right. Him! He wondered if he should pop one eye open and make a joke, people loved that. Or even sit bolt upright with a big smile. But when he tried, still nothing happened. No, wait, what did she say? Karn? That rang a bell. He decided he should probably make a note, but then remembered he didn't have a notebook. Or a pen. Or, in fact, the ability to move any part of his body. He decided to make a mental note instead, but promptly forgot what he was thinking about. Damn, why hadn't he made a note?
The voice again: 'This has been foretold. We have always known in our bones, one day he would return here!'
Ah, this was sounding very him. A long-awaited return! Probably a prophesied battle against an ancient foe, rising from some sort of terrible depths, he shouldn't wonder. All in a day's work for the Doctor. He decided to leap to his feet, swish his coat about a bit, and choose someone to make him tea. But the world stayed dark, and the rocks stayed cold against his back.
Perhaps Cass could help him. He'd just saved her life, hadn't he? She'd probably be with him in a moment. One good turn deserved another. Now a hand was stroking his face. It was a very warm hand. Or was it that his face was very cold? Oh, that was interesting. He couldn't remember why he was so cold.
The voice, close now, warm breath on his face: 'Such a pity he's dead.'
Oh! Dead, was he? That was going to make things a bit more diff—
Being dead, the Doctor was unaware of his final journey across that barren world, and only the crows of Karn saw him borne into the cave where he and I would stand face to face, at the very end.
Ow! Someone had slapped him, and there was a bitter aftertaste on his lips. He was somewhere else! Sitting on a stone floor! The wind was gone, so maybe he was inside. A cave, going by that dripping sound. There was movement around him; the smell of smoke and the crackle of burning torches. Now he heard a low murmur of female voices. Was one of them Cass? Of course! Cass must have dragged him to safety, after he'd rescued them both from that crashing ship. If only he could remember exactly how he'd done that. He decided to open his eyes as soon as he remembered how.
'Cass!' someone shouted. Good! Obviously she was here somewhere, and safe. 'Cass, Cass!' It was a man's voice, high with desperation, and so cracked and full of terror that it took him several seconds to recognise it as his own. The shock opened his eyes.
She was old, and robed in scarlet. Her face was creased and weathered, but her stare glittered, as she squatted in front of him like a wise old ape. In a line behind her, against the fire-lit rock, stood several more scarlet robed women, younger, but as pale and hollow-eyed as upright cadavers. Each held a steaming goblet.
'If you refer to your companion,' the old woman was saying, 'we are still trying to recover her body from the wreckage. You were thrown clear.'
Oh! The wreckage. Cass was still in there. He remembered Cass's face, and how she'd looked at him when she realised what he was. 'She wasn't my companion,' he said.
'She's almost certainly dead. No one could survive that crash.'
'I did!'
'No.'
That awful word, so calmly delivered. He fought to let nothing show on his face.
'We restored you to life,' the old woman continued, 'but it is a temporary measure. You have a little under four minutes.'
It had always been a rule of the Doctor's never to panic early. If he still had four minutes to fill, it was time to start owning the room. 'Four minutes!' he protested. 'But that's ages! What if I get bored? I need a television, a couple of books, anyone for chess? Bring me knitting.'
'You have so little breath left. Spend it wisely.'
Watch me, he thought. Quick scan. Six women in the room, including the old one. Two exits! One was obviously the cave mouth, the other led deeper into the mountain. Wait, how did he know it was a mountain? Had he been here before? Ah! He'd heard a name earlier. She'd named this planet. And what about this cave? It did look a little familiar. Okay, time to parade his local knowledge, if he could just remember any of it.
'Hang on, is it you? It is, isn't it, it's you.' Of course, he'd got it now. 'Am I back on Karn?' he said, triumphantly. 'You're the Sisterhood of Karn, keepers of the flame of utter boredom!'
The old woman's eyes flashed. 'Eternal life,' she snapped.
'That's the one!' Going by the look on her face, he'd already landed a hit. Good! Time to give it a bit more swagger. He'd clambered to his feet, but as he started to move, he could feel his body shutting down, and the pain of it almost knocked him flat. Buck up, Doctor, he thought. It won't hurt for long.
'Mock us if you will.' said the old woman, 'Our elixir can trigger your regeneration, bring you back.'
Oh, interesting. Were they trying to help him? There had been stories, back on Gallifrey, that The Karn Sisterhood could assist a regeneration in a mortally wounded Time Lord—but why should they care about him? And anyway, did he want to go through it all again? To be torn down and rebuilt into someone else, just to see more of his universe and the wider multiverse burn. He remembered his old tutor, lecturing at the academy, telling them all about the change they dreaded so much. 'You will walk into a storm,' Borusa had said, 'and a stranger will walk back out. And that stranger will be you.' A stranger to himself, yet again. Why? What was the point any more?
The old woman was gesturing to the goblets held by the others. 'Time Lord Science is elevated here. On Karn, the change doesn't have to be random.' She moved among the sisters, pointing to one goblet, then another. 'Fat or thin? Old or young?'
He almost laughed. He was standing in the salesroom of his possible futures!
'Man or woman?' she asked him, pointedly.
Ginger? he wondered, but kept the thought to himself.
Ohila was looking at him, expectant now. He wondered briefly how he suddenly knew her name and realized he'd translated the tiny inscription on her left earring. Good to know some of his skillset was still on-line.
'Why would you do this for me?' he asked.
'You have helped us in the past.'
Had he? A memory surfaced of being tied to a stake in the centre of this chamber, while wood was stacked around him and torches were lit. 'One good burn deserves another?' he decided not to say, then realized he already had.
'The Sisterhood of Karn were never big on gratitude.'
'The war between The Daleks and The Axis Powers and The Time Lords and The Allied Forces threatens all reality. You are the only hope left.'
Oh, of course. They were afraid. But why did everyone always expect him to be a soldier?
'It's not my war,' he said. 'I will have no part of it.'
'You can't ignore it forever.'
Ignore it? he thought. No one in the universe or the wider multiverse could exactly ignore a war that was taking place at every moment in history at once. 'I help where I can. I will not fight.'
'Because you are above such squalid practicalities as the business of warfare?'
Yes, he thought. 'Yes,' he said.
'Because you are the Good Man, as you call yourself?'
'I call myself The Doctor.'
'It's the same thing in your mind.'
'I'd like to think so.'
There was movement behind him, and her eyes flicked to a point over his shoulder. A new look came over her face. Was that cunning, he wondered. Or just cruelty?
'In that case, Doctor,' she said, 'attend your patient.'
Two more of the Sisterhood had entered the cave, and between them they carried what looked like a sack. But then they laid her on the altar stone in the centre of the room, and for a moment he could find no words. She looked so small. Around her chest he noticed a bandolier. It was clearly too old to have been hers originally, and he wondered briefly who had given it to her. Someone she cared about, or who had cared about her. The thought stung him.
He used the screwdriver to scan her for life signs, but he already knew it was pointless.
'You're wasting your time,' Ohila was saying. 'She is beyond even our help.'
I know, he wanted to scream into her face. Instead he just said, 'She wanted to see the universe,' because it was true and it made him ache.
'She didn't miss much. It's very nearly over.'
'I could've saved her. I could have got her off that ship, she wouldn't listen.'
'Then she was wiser than you. She understood there was no escaping The Time War. You are part of this, Doctor—whether you like it or not.'
'I would rather die,' he said, and meant it with both his hearts. Not a soldier, he thought. That was the promise. Never cruel, never cowardly, and never, ever a soldier. He knew what was inside him: the anger that could never be given voice. Death first.
'You're dead already,' said Ohila. 'How many more will you let join you?'
He forced his eyes to Cass's face. No accusation there now. No hatred, no fear, nothing. Just another broken child. Just another one, Doctor!
'If she could speak, what would she say?'
'To me? Nothing. I'm a Time Lord. Everything she despised.'
'If she understood the man you are, and the power you could wield, she would beg your help. As we beg your help now. The universe stands on the brink. Will you let it fall?'
There was no scorn in her voice. No cruelty, no cunning. Simple appeal.
How many more, he wondered. How many more children crushed and burnt as he stood apart? He must never be a soldier, he knew that. But it was like a whisper in his ear now. 'How many more will die, Doctor? While you keep your soul pure and your hands clean?' He felt himself gripping on to the stone table, trying to shut out that terrible, forbidden voice.
'What will it take, Doctor?' the whisper continued. 'How many more will suffer and die before you act?' it begged of him.
Ohila was moving among the goblets again. 'Strong or fast,' she was asking. 'Wise or angry? What do you need now?'
Blood and rage thundered in the Doctor's ears. To his own surprise, he noticed he was unclipping the bandolier from around Cass's still form. Was he doing that? It didn't feel like him. He was now holding the bandolier in front of his own eyes, as if for his inspection. It was cleaner than the rest of her clothes, and had been repaired many times. Obviously it had been of great value to her and she had worn it to the end. Someone, somewhere would have been happy to know that.
'Warrior,' he heard himself say.
Ohila was staring at him. 'Warrior?'
'I don't suppose anyone needs a doctor any more. Make me a warrior now.'
It was his voice, but how could those be his words? It felt like someone else was talking through him.
Ohila was passing him a goblet. 'I took the liberty of preparing this one myself.'
It was warm in his hands, and the smell was bitter one moment and sweet the next. 'Get out!' he said. 'All of you!'
He heard the shuffle of feet. The sisters were moving deeper into the shadows.
'Will it hurt?' he asked.
Ohila's voice seem to come to him from a great distance. 'Yes,' she said.
'Good,' he replied, and raised the goblet. He was alone now, but in that last moment, chose to remember all the times he hadn't been. All the friends who had kept him safe. 'Charley. C'rizz, Lucie, Tamsin, Molly. Fitz. Friends and companions I have known, I salute you.' He looked to the broken child on the altar stone. 'And Cass … I apologise.'
The goblet was almost at his lips now. One last farewell to the man he had been. 'Physician, heal thyself.'
The Doctor drank the poison, and walked into the storm.
The stranger woke. His hands looked different, but he knew that would be the least of it. As he pulled himself to his feet, every nerve and sinew jangled: wrong, wrong, everything all wrong. No, not wrong, he reminded himself. New. Just new. He remembered to breathe, and even that felt strange. He tried to focus on the chamber around him. Oh, the colour balance was wildly different yet again. The reds were a bit greener and the yellows were out of control. He knew he'd get used to it, but it always took a while. Sometimes he missed the monochrome world of his first two incarnations. It had felt like a simpler, cleaner time; so many centuries had passed before he realised he'd just been colour blind. He looked round, testing his focal length, and saw a beautiful woman looking at him.
'Is it done?' asked Ohila.
Is it? he wondered. Is what done? Then he saw Cass, dead on the stone, and the sight of her hurt him all over again. Good, he still had a conscience. But something new flexed under that familiar pain, like the flick of a serpent's eye in the darkness. What was that new feeling? Rage? Vengeance? Was that something to worry about? He ran a hand over his face. Wrong, wrong, wrong!
No, not wrong, new. A new face, for a new man.
There were no mirrors in the cave, but hanging on one of the smoother rock walls, was a highly burnished section of armour plate, some ancient relic of battle. It would do.
The first thing he noticed was that he was now wearing Cass's bandolier round his own chest. When had he put that on? Then he glanced up and met his own eyes.
There is a moment, after regeneration, when the guttering soul of the old man looks out through the eyes of the new. So it was the Doctor who looked into the mirror—but it was me who looked back. And there we stood, the Doctor and I; one man, face to face; an end and a beginning.
My height hadn't changed much, I noticed. My hair was a little shorter, though still dark. Those urgent blue eyes were gone and in their place, a stare like winter. For a moment that stare troubled me. But this was a time of war, and I had been reborn for battle; I was ready to look on a darker world.
I turned my new face one way, then the other. Was I younger? Older? There was something haggard and pained about me now, so it was difficult to tell. Standing before me was a man who had seen horror and no longer chose to hide it. Yes, I thought, this would do. This was right.
I held my own gaze, and spoke. The words came in a cold whisper; a silken rasp; voice like a shiver out loud.
'Doctor no more,' I said.
Ending:
" This was a time were I forsook My Name, for I considered myself to be unworthy of it which was culminated into the point of failing to save someone (Cass Fermazzi), with that same someone refusing my help all because I was a Time Lord. For The Time Lords were just as hated as The Daleks at this point of The War with some of my own Universe barely standing. "
"I became known to many as The Warrior. The Doctor of War. The Unarmed Man who has lead entire armies and fleets into battle against The Enemy."
"In the younger days of my new incarnation, I once saw The Time War as a challenge to overcome which was a very great mistake on my part as I couldn't see the shape of the truth for it should of been a tragedy to be faced instead as I was forced to directly or indirectly kill men, women, and even children due to having no other choice as they were forcibly corrupted by all the evils that every single horror had spread because of this War."
The Doctor continues to explain to them with a grim and serious tone all the while remembering in a mournful sorrow, he also explains to them regarding his dark and terrible battle with The Morlontoa of The Seventh Sky, and on how he had failed to save his old friend Fey Truscott-Sade and The Loshann Children.
A battle that was one of the worst in The Time War.
A battle that made The Companions utterly horrified as the tale was being told to their faces.
A battle that was one of many events that made The Doctor forsake his name.
Flashback:
Beginning:
Multiverse Clusters: The Whoniverse
Universe: N-Space
Era: The Time War
Event: The Space-Time Battle of The Dorian Nexus
Location: Dorian Nexus
A war broke out between My People and The Allied Forces against The Daleks and their Axis Powers- A war that raged across Infinity.
It shattered entire dimensions and burned entire histories.
It turned space-time into a weapon.
CHUB! CHUB! CHUB!
"Any time your ready, Doctor..." said a woman with a black jump suit and yellow wrist and belt as she was firing her staser pistol towards the red corrupted sky.
This is Fey Truscott-Sade.
Companion to The Time Lord known as The Doctor.
One of my many countless companions throughout the meta-millennia.
"Listen Mata Hari, you can't rush genius!" The Doctor of War said as he was working on the wiring of an unknown type of machinery that looked to be a projector of some kind.
I had recruited Fey Truscott-Sade, taking her away from her own war. In following me, Fey had given me the most precious thing she possessed...
Her trust.
Fey has earned many names as The War progressed: 'The Silent Shadow'... 'The Solider of The Unknown'... 'The Dark Reward'...
The Daleks had come to call her 'Haruk Za'... 'The Death of The Light'.
The Time Lords weren't fighting alone at this battle for The Sisterhood of Karn had joined us in The Conflict...
"Ohila, aren't you ready yet? How long can a bit of hocus pocus actually take"
"The Hythala Invocation is alive, Doctor! It shall decide when it is prepared, not us!"
Ohila and her sisters were crafting living symbols of strength and hope.
"We release thee, Spawn of Hythala! Fly free!"
The symbols became a barrage, destroying most of the spores that were coming near us from above.
SKRSSSH! SKRSSSH!
But...
The effort was taking its toll.
"Doctor... we c-cannot sustain the invocation for long... hurry..."
"Almost there! Oh, this is going to be good..."
"Care to explain for once?" Fey said as she was continually blasting her staser pistol towards the red corrupted sky and the spores that were coming right at them.
KA-CHOOM! SHROOM!
The Ninth Prydonian Guard and my 501st Legion Clone Troopers of The STARS were firing continuously with their barrage of staser fire and relentlessly at the incoming spores as well.
The Morlontoa of The Seventh Sky which was an unreality form- a colossal obscenity that stretched across dimensions, devouring anything in its path.
It was firing its spores at the planet- they twisted the internal realities of the people from the inside-out. Anything they touched would be transformed into a monstrous parody of itself.
The Morlontoa was building up to a pollination, preparing to release an unreality wave that would wipe the planet from existence...
SHREEEE! SHREEEE! SHREEEE! SHREEEE!
But I had a plan.
"The masterpiece of engineering is a quantum-intrinsic field projector! It'll bounce the unreality wave back at old gruesome up there, and ka-pow! Morlontoa is Morlontoast!" The Doctor said while activating his sonic screwdriver and point in towards the wiring of the projector.
VREEEE
"How can you be so certain?" Fey asked while she continued firing.
"Because I used to kill his big sister last month! Just keep targeting those spores, protect the machine, and oh, yes... keep me alive!"
CHUB!
"Tell me, Doctor, if a spore would hit you, would it make you less-"
"Handsome? Brilliant? Modest?"
"I was going to say 'irritating'"
The projector began to work, sending pulses of pure reason into the upper atmosphere...
VRZZZZZM!
"Oh, yes! Chew on that, worm-boy!"
RRRAAAIIEEEE!
The Morlontoa felt its power and screamed in agony.
Its cry was more than simple sound- every living creature on the world felt it in their bones...
I rejoiced.
"Can't stop your big fat wave now, can you? Pressure's to great! You're gonna blow! Get ready for a bad night!"
The world had inhabitants... The Loshann.
Their life-cycle was unique. They evolve as one: The entire species had been born together and matured together. The Loshann were a race of children.
"Commander Rex, tell the men to clear a pathway for those Loshann! Get them to the HSTAT (Hyper Space-Time Assault Transport) gunships for evac!"
"Yes, ma'am." Commander Rex, commander of The 501st and The Doctor's second in command, nodded resolutely as he followed his orders to the letter as he and the rest of The 501st open fired at the incoming spores and defended the children with all of their might with the assistance of Captain Dorian and The Ninth Prydonian Guard.
SKA-TRAAK! SKA-TRAAK!
Most of The Loshann Children were successfully evacuated in time thanks to the assistance of my commander and my men. It would seem that with theses apparent victories, the battle would be successfully won and it would end in Allied Victory.
And then... The tide suddenly turned.
And it was not in our favor.
"NOOOOO!" Ohila screamed in horror, grief, and despair as she watches her fellow sisters getting hit by the madness hail.
Most of The Sisters of Karn were struck down by a stream of pure chaos. Captain Dorian and The Ninth Prydonian Guard perished as well in a shower of madness hail.
My men managed to avoid the incoming stream of utter madness by activating their spatio-temporal shields which protects them and anyone at least 30 meters from their current position. The evacuation and protection of most of the children was thankfully still under way.
But there was still far worst to come.
SHRASSH!
"Doctor! The Children! they've been hit!" Fey said as she saw the spores hitting some of the children.
In an instant, everything they were, everything they ever would be, was inverted by the unreality spore. There was no way back for them.
They attacked.
"Fey, you have to stop them! If they smash the projector it's over! For the sake of this world- for all the other Loshann..."
"You w-want me to..."
"You have to!"
And she did.
One by one...
CHUB! CHUB!
Without any exception...
CHUB! CHUB! CHUB!
...They all fell.
CHUB!
All the while tears of grief and remorse were stirring up in her eyes.
And then it was all for naught...
For the projector failed anyway.
SKCHOOM!
"NO! NO!" The Doctor said in a horrified tone as he realized that what he had done was for naught and that The Loshann who died to Fey died in vain.
"For n-nothing... I did it for..." Fey said in a horrified tone with regards to what she had just done.
The planet was finished.
Its surface was being saturated by the spores.
The unreality wave was almost upon us.
The Allied Forces are now in full retreat.
My commander, The entire 501st, and most of the Loshann have already been successfully evacuated off planet as they all head to the nearest safe zone in accordance with my orders while I on the other hand lead Fey, Ohila, and what is left of The Sistershood to The TARDIS.
"Get back to my TARDIS!"
WAAAAAHH!
Fey turned her back as she heard the scream of a Loshann child.
"There's a child!"
Fey didn't hesitate.
"Hold on, little one!"
She was back out in seconds.
"AAAHH!"
"Don't cry, darling, Auntie Fey has you..."
But they were seconds seconds she didn't have.
"AGGH!" Fey slipped off the ground but managed to keep The Loshann safe from the impact for a short while as she place the child to her front while she fell into a puddle of madness hail.
"Doctor, wait... wait for us..."
"Fey!" The Doctor shouted as he tried to rush towards her side but Ohila stopped him from exiting The TARDIS.
"No! You touch the ground now and you're dead! You know that!"
It was too late for Fey. But she still kept crawling.
"Doctor... HELP US!"
I couldn't shift The TARDIS an inch, not while the wave was in motion. So all I did was watch.
The silence remained as we spun away into The Void. Ohila finally dared break it.
"You did all that you could, Doctor."
"Don't call me that. Ever again."
Ending:
The Doctor begins to explain to them of his role in The Time War and remembers fondly of the brave and courageous men who were under his command.
"My experience with The Daleks for a countless meta-millennia made The Temporal Powers Alliance (TPA) seek my advice and counsel and had appointed me immediately to lead the entire army of their clone troopers from The Spatio-Temporal Armed Forces (STARS) as their general, with a personal legion and corps that was given to me personally to lead for my use and discretion."
"The 501st Legion, otherwise known as The Fist of The Doctor of War, named in honor of myself, led by Commander Rex. The 7th Sky Corps, led my Commander Cody. Two of my second in command and the bravest and finest men that I ever knew. I have also lead many Clone Commando Units and Advanced Recon Clone Commando (ARC) Units, the former usually being Delta Squad which was lead by Sergeant Boss and the latter usually being Domino Squad led by Commander Fordo."
The Doctor begins to describe to them the grim dark nature and scale of The Time War Itself.
"And as for The War Itself, It raged with furious relentlessness, but for most species in the universe and in the multiverse, life continued on as normal as it possibly can or possibly will be. The War was fought in The Time Vortex, and beyond that, in The Ultimate Void, beyond the eyes and ears of ordinary creatures, and other higher realms that were known and unknown. The Lesser Species lived in ignorance. If a planet found its history subtle changing – perhaps distorting and rewriting itself under the pressures of the rupturing Time Vortex – then its people were a part of that change, and perceived nothing to be wrong. Only The Higher Species – those further up the evolutionary ladder – saw what was truly happening around everything and everyone. The Forest of Cheem gazed upon the bloodshed, and wept. The Nestene Consciousness lost all of its planets, and found itself mutating under temporal stress. The Greater Animus perished and its Carsenome Walls fell into dust. And it is said that The Eternals themselves watched, and despaired of this reality, and fled their hallowed halls, never to be seen again…"
"And so time became a weapon in a war that could never truly begin or truly end, and the conflict itself had spread not only through space, but backwards and forwards through history. All of history. Days became battle lines, and century turned on century, and divergent time streams found themselves fighting each other for the right to exist. It was said, one soldier could die a thousand times in one day of that War, and discover he'd never been born the next as The Years of Eternity have passed by when The Mighty Armies scattered and clashed with the destruction of countless species, pantheons, and civilizations."
"I want you all to think about it and seriously ponder it: You're fighting in a war that spans across time and space, never truly beginning or truly ending, a war where the most horrible, the most terrible, the most anything of everything is being used as a weapon in an endless fight to the death, a death that'll never come, as every moment will begin again, restart over, you coming back to life, only to die again, perhaps this time in another new, horrifying way, dying at the hands (or other appendages) of some deviously ingenious death machine, or maybe fall victim to some sort of monstrosity spawned from the very fabric of reality screaming in agony as it is ripped apart again and again by the machines used by every combatant that has ever existed or ever will exist, only for it to reform repeatedly to spawn more new and terrifying demons. All of this, all of these worst nightmares come true, recurring in an endless, perverted Groundhog Day-fashion, and you have complete and utter awareness of it happening. You have total clarity of memory, all of it from every iteration, and there's nothing you can do to stop it."
"It was all or nothing for all of creation. We fought for so very long..., tried every single trick in the book that we could possibly and impossibly think of without actually paradoxing each other in and out of existence such as our attempts and pre-attempts to go back and forth along the timeline and pre-empt our pre-emptive attacks."
As The Doctor continues to explain in a grim and serious tone of The Scale and The Magnitude of The Time War as he then recalls a certain choice that was given to him all those meta-millennia ago on Skaro and what that certain choice had cost him and so many others far too dearly without even knowing or realizing it.
"For example, The Skaro Degradations, for they were initially the result of The Time Lords attempting to do what I have failed to do which was to avert, or alter The Creation of The Daleks. It didn't take. For in every single permutation of reality, something like The Daleks existed. Whether this was because of Dalek temporal shielding, or because the universe wanted The Daleks to exist or somewhere in between is very unclear, but the result was that The Daleks of The Prime Timeline always came back in full force but now they had their own mutated allies and servants to serve at their beck and call and this gave them the nifty idea of doing it to themselves to create even more varied troops for The War."
Then The Doctor's voice was tinge in a grip of sorrow as he began to remember what His People had turned into and now became with each passing meta-second of The War.
"Then as The War rages on for an Eternity of Heaven and Hell, my people became Worst to Worst, as they matched The Daleks blow for blow with countless species, pantheons, and civilizations getting caught in the crossfire as collateral damage, with the many member species of the Temporal Powers Alliance (TPA) growing greatly and extremely concerned for My People and their slowing descent into The Darkness and into The Madness of this War."
"They planned to destroy all of creation under the leadership of The Founding Father Himself, Rassilon, by planning to stop The War by initiating The Ultimate and Final Sanction, by becoming beings of pure consciousness, with the effect of rupturing The Time Vortex which would destroy my home multiverse clusters (The Whoniverse) and damaging countless other multiverses below, above, and beyond."
The Doctor paused with a heavy breath and with a resigned voice then continued.
"I couldn't do anything else and was absolutely powerless to stop the madness, so I had no choice but to make my decision. I broke into The Omega Arsenal and stole a Weapon of Great Power which I used along with The Great Key of Rassillon to Time Locked the Entire War that it may be made inaccessible to all who wished to access it and finally stopped the fighting once and for all."
The Doctor then closed his eyes in sorrow and shame as he remembered It.
"I had to used It."
"I had to used The Moment."
Flashback:
Beginning:
Multiverse Clusters: The Whoniverse
Universe: N-Space
Era: The Time War
Event: The Final Days of The War
Location: Gallifrey
The War Doctor: "Time Lords of Gallifrey, Daleks of Skaro, and all other combatants in The Time War of every order and allegiance; I serve notice on you all. Too long have I stayed my hand, No more. Today, you leave me no choice. Today, this War will end. No more, No more.."
He looks out from his eyrie, across the wreckage of a thousand worlds. Below him, fragments of The Time War, broken reefs of Gallifrey and Skaro washed up into this backwater, to rot. His creaking wooden platform shivers with ice, a mile high, atop fragments of Morbius's Red Capitol, its vile towers fused into the black, friable spires of Yarvelling's Church. And yet The Doctor can see glimpses of Earth. The planet had been replicated a million times, to become the bullets fired into The Nightmare Child's skull, and now splinters of human society have gouged themselves into the wasteland below - relics of Mumbai, shards of Manhattan, a satire of Old London Town. Remnants of better days.
The Doctor looks down. Her skeleton lies at his feet. The bones relax into dust, and she is gone. The Doctor looks up.
In front of him, at the edge of the platform, a brass handle, mounted in a simple oak casement; the only remaining extrusion of The Moment into this world, the rest of its vast bulk hidden, chained to an N-form, churning behind the dimensional wall. Screaming to be used.
He steps forward. He grips the handle. He wonders what his last words should be. He decides that last words are useless. He pulls the handle down, flat.
The Moment happens.
The Prime Universe of N-Space sings.
The War ends.
Surrounded by brightness, the Doctor sees the sky above parting to reveal, just as Bettan and The Deathsmiths of Goth had predicted, the final event.
2.47 Billion Children dead.
Gallifrey Original convulses and rolls into flame. Its concentric rings of Dalek warships become silhouettes, then ashes, and then –
The Doctor falls. Every atom around him is sucked upwards, towards the fire, but he alone is capable of falling, saved – or damned – by The Moment's shadow. Above him, he feels The Time Lock solidify, sealing off the war from reality, and as his body tumbles out of existence, into plasmaspace, then foulspace, then beyond, The Doctor leans into the fall, head first, arms wide, diving into infinity.
Alone.
Except…
There.
Something else.
Falling.
Spinning..?
A whirl of blue. That faithful blue. Then a rectangle of white, widening, a doorway, coming closer, towards him, and as the grind of ancient engines reaches a crescendo, he thinks: I'm going home.
The Doctor lies on The TARDIS floor. His bones broken from the fall, his hearts hollowed by his loss. Around him, the console room buckles, warps, shudders, still suffering from the High Council's resurrection of the Master, long ago. It aches for a new shape. "Me too," mutters the Doctor with a grim smile, though he knows regeneration is impossible. The Moment has fixed his existence, and this life is his last.
He wonders what age he's finally reached. The Time War used years as ammunition; at The Battle of Rodan's Wedding alone, he'd aged to five million and then regressed to a mewling babe, merely from shrapnel. Now, the ache in his bones feels… one thousand years old? Well. Call it nine hundred. Sounds better.
Darkness swills through his mind and he forces a smile, ready and yet never ready for the end. Still, no final words.
But then...
Can it be..?
He feels it once more.
That old, deep stirring in every bone and muscle and thought. The joy. The terror. The change, the impossible change!
Amazed, he lifts up his hand. Stares, fascinated, as the skin ripples with a curious new gold.
Of course. She tricked him, right at the end. Her final kiss was not a goodbye; she imprinted the Restoration within him. His lifecycle has been reset, the new man lurching outwards to be born. So this is the meaning of her final song: a whole new body to expiate the guilt. He might even pass the Restoration to another, one day.
Suddenly, they come, in a rush, his final words. He says them aloud, but there is no one to hear, allowing them to be imagined and imagined again for ever.
Then his nuclei turn into stars. Every pore blazes with light. A volcano of thick, viscous energy cannons from his neck, his hands, his feet, his guts, his hearts, his soul - It stops.
The Doctor sits up. The new Doctor, next Doctor, now Doctor. He lifts up his new fingers to touch his new head. His new chin. His new nose. His new ears. He takes a deep breath into his new, dry, wide lungs. He says his first word.
"Blimey!"
Ending:
Insert Song: Ending
After The Doctor finished his story, The Companions grew sad with horror at each passing second of the tale but then by the end of it grew with a delicate sense of knowledge and understanding of what The Doctor had to do as he sacrificed his own people and fought The Daleks and their Axis Powers for the sake of everyone and everything in all of creation, reality, and existence itself.
The Doctor had to make the ultimate choice.
Gallifrey or The Multiverse.
He chose the multiverse.
And so it was in that moment that the companions knew that they were needed to be there to comfort and give encouragement to The Doctor just as he did it to them all those many years ago.
And with all that is said and done, The Companions then suddenly enveloped The Doctor in a group hug, to The Doctor's great surprise and bewilderment, without the utterance of a single word, because The Companions knew that words were not enough in this situation and that sometimes actions are the most necessary course to follow, for they sometimes speak much louder than words. Out of gratitude, out of sympathy, out of empathy, for the countless multitude of sacrifices that he had made for them, for all of humanity, for all of sentient and non-sentient life, for all the various pantheons, and for all of the higher and younger races. Then The Doctor returned the hug happily, with The TARDIS Herself feeling most grateful and pleased with the Companions and their efforts of comfort.
After this moment of comfort between father and sons, they went on many more adventures together, with their bonds strengthen further and sturdier like iron and with hearts full of gold along with lines full of silver.
But that was a story for another time.
ED Song:
Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU NO Ending 2 Full
Characters:
The Tenth Doctor - A: David Tennant
Touma Kamijou - A: Abe Atsushi
Shinichi Kudo - VA: N/A
/Conan Edogawa - VA: Minami Takayama
Kyon - VA: Tomozaku Sugita
Sota Mizushino - VA: Daiki Yamashita
Lelouch Lamperouge/Lelouch vi Britannia - VA: Jun Fukuyama
Flashback:
The Fourth Doctor - A: Tom Baker
The Eighth Doctor - A: Paul McGann
The War Doctor - A: John Hurt
The Ninth Doctor - A: Christopher Eccleston
Davros - A: Terry Malloy
Commander Rex (STARS) - Temuera Morrison
501st Clone Troopers (STARS) - A: Temuera Morrison
Cass Fermazzi - A: Emma Campbell-Jones
Ohila - A: Claire Higgins
Fey Truscott-Sade
Timeline:
Doctor Who: Tenth Doctor - Post-Planet of the Dead, Pre-The Waters of Mars
Era: Post-Time War Era, Pre-Day of the Doctor changes
Flashback Era: The Time War, Pre-Time War
A Certain Magical Index: Post-Biohacker, Pre-Index
Case Closed/Magic Kaito: Post-Episode 1
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Post-Episode 1
Re:Creators: Pre-Episode 1
Code Geass: Pre-Episode 1
DW TV/EU Reference:
** The Crooked World (novel)
** The Sirens of Time (audio story)
** Guilt (audio story)
** Genesis of the Daleks (TV story)
** The Day of the Doctor (TV story)
** The Night of the Doctor (TV story)
** The Day of the Doctor (novelisation)
** The Clockwise War (comic story)
** Meet the Doctor (short story)
** The Eighth Doctor: Time War (audio series)
** The War Master (audio series)
** The War Doctor (audio series)
** Engines of War (novel)
** The End of Time (TV story)
** The Forgotten (comic story)
** Don't Step on the Grass (comic story)
** The Last Day (TV story)
** Doctor Who and the Time War (short story)