No more.
No more…
No more.
That's what echoes through his brains with each step that takes him further from the ship. It's almost like its—her—voice is growing fainter with the distance.
She has always been there at the back of his mind, but she was never very vocal, despite her temperament. Though it's hard to tell where bad piloting ends and where the ship's flights of fancy begin.
But then again, this world has never been so quiet either.
No more…
The ground crunches under his boots, sand swept away to make way for dried shrubs and dusty land.
Dry land.
He looks up at the clear skies overhead and can almost hear children laughing.
No more.
He turns back to the front and resumes walking. He's here, and the burden on his shoulders feels heavier with every step.
Old shoulders. Even older burden. In the midst of a war that has lasted forever, and beyond. It defies understanding – it defies Time.
No more.
Old laughter—hand in hand—old tears—fingers just a hairbreadth away—all flow past him as his heavy steps bring him past the dried riverbed. Here, he made his first and best friend. Here, he lost him as well.
The building is almost older than memory, but just like back then, it still stands to grant refuge to those who would seek it here.
There's laughter, as well as tears, woven in these walls.
No more.
Now, there's a man older than his age, older than he seems to be, older than he ever deserved to be.
And yet, he is far younger than the machine he seeks to operate now.
The task would seem insurmountable to anyone else. But he is not anyone else.
It is time to end this.
No more.
Time to end this War.
No more.
Time to end the Last Great Time War.
He reaches out a hand to the magnificent machine, feels its anger burn his hand, blinding light overtaking the world—
Bad Wolf…
—and when he comes to…
He comes to.
He awakens.
He is not the same man he was before.
No more.
But he still is. A man. Alive.
He rushes to the door, shedding awkward clothing as he goes, pushes it open, out of the way, let me see—
No more.
But there's only empty space.
Bad…
The storm has raged, taking everything with it, leaving only devastation in its wake.
And now, there is nothing left.
No more.