Disclaimer: I don't own the Doctor, the TARDIS, Fitz, Trix, K9, the Vore, Daleks, Madame Xing (From 'Halflife') or the Nestene Consciousness; they're all the BBC. I just own this plot.
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AN: Anything in italics is an extract from 'The Ancestor Cell' by Peter Anghelides and Stephen Cole, while anything in bold is original
Filling in the Blanks
The Doctor raised the viroid to his head, triggered its activation…
And, suddenly, his head was awash with memories.
Visions of his childhood, his father watching a meteor storm with him as they on the grass on a warm Gallifreyian night…
He was on Gallifrey, dressed in the robes of the Prydonians, arguing with his fellow council members…
He was fleeing Gallifrey in his old Type 40 TARDIS, wired into the Hand of Omega as he tore through the transduction barriers into the past…
He was travelling across Marius with his granddaughter Susan and his companions Ian and Barbara, seeking keys to control a machine he didn't approve of…
He was confronting the Cybermen in their ice tombs of Telos, along with the young Jacobite Jamie MacCrimmon and Victorian girl Victorian Waterfield, terrified at the thought of their escape even as he fought to stop them…
He was exiled to 1970s Earth, working with Jo Grant, Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, and UNIT as a whole, as he tried constantly to repair the TARDIS amid what sometimes seemed like a never-ending assault of alien invasions or other forms of crisis…
He was in Skaro's distant past with Harry Sullivan and Sarah Jane Smith, facing Davros, creator of the Daleks, trying to reason with a maniac as his old foes began their spread across creation...
He was in the underwater base with Turlough and Tegan Jovanka, doing everything he could to convince Ichtar the Silurian not to trigger nuclear war on Earth…
He was on trial for his life with Mel Bush and Sabalom Glitz, staring in horror at the Valeyard, now identified as his own dark future self…
He was on the distant planet Ry'leh, accompanied by Ace and Benny Summerfield, along with the extra additions of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson as they sought Holmes' insane elder brother…
He was…
Here.
The Doctor collapsed forward, grasping the console with his hands to steady himself.
He thought back over all his new memories, and smiled; everything seemed to be there. No holes, no unusual gaps, no faces he didn't remember meeting for the first time (Even if the timelines got a bit crossed on occasion; that encounter with Harry at least made more sense now, he'd have to go back and explain things to him when he had the chance)…
The Doctor frowned.
Wait a minute…
Something wasn't right with his last restored memories.
He closed his eyes, and thought back to those events that had led to his previous, memory-less condition…
"We are-"
"You are Faction Paradox," spat the Doctor, looking back angrily at the man dressed in what was almost certainly solid bone. "Yes, I know. That much is patently obvious."
"YOU ARE THE DOCTOR! YOU ARE THE ENEMY OF THE DALEKS!"
"Oh dear…" the Doctor muttered to himself, looking at the sight in front of him; a Dalek, as deadly and armed as ever, hovering towards him, its gun outstretched. He tensed himself, ready to dive out of harm's way…
The Doctor stared at the Time Lord agent, Mali, affronted. "You stupid woman!" he yelled. "You're completely missing the point! I'm not a Faction agent!"
Mali stared down at him, unmoved. "Your biodata is riddled with their virus."
"No!" The Doctor shook his head, and felt the knife scrape against his chin. "It only probably is!"
"Mali, you're missing the point!" the Doctor cried, as he stared at the gun in her hand. "I'm not a Dalek spy!"
Mali stared down at him, unmoved. "Their biomolecular nanobots have overridden your own Time Lord nanobots."
"No!" the Doctor yelled. "They only probably have!"
"Don't you see? The Faction altered my timeline, killed me before my time, thought they'd poisoned my body along with my history. But when I finally did regenerate, inside the console room, the TARDIS knew something was wrong."
"Don't you see? The Daleks not only killed me, they unknowingly altered history, killing me before my time, infecting me with their experimental nanobots in the hope the nanobots would kill my mind and make me their puppet. But when I finally did regenerate, inside the console room, the TARDIS knew something was wrong."
The Doctor nodded thankfully in understanding. At least some things were constant; despite the changes, in both cases, the TARDIS was desperately seeking to ensure history remained unaltered, holding both the original and new timelines within itself to preserve his identity even at the cost of his own. Amid all the chaos that his memories seemed to have suddenly become, a constant factor was a welcome change.
But what's causing these changes? The Doctor asked himself, as he simultaneously remembered Greyjan revealing that the enemy would be the ancestor cells mutated by the energies of I.M. Foreman's pocket universe and Mali discovering that the Daleks had used the actions of the ancestor cells as inspiration for their new ability to absorb arton energy to repair themselves and launch an attack on Gallifrey. Why do I remember both of these alternatives as having occurred at once...?
"My life ends as it began," the Doctor whispered, his face twisted between fascination and disgust at the sight of himself looking out from the podium onto the Shadow Parliament. "Congratulations, Doctor. You're a grandfather again."
"I should have known he'd be here," the Doctor whispered, his face twisted between rage and fear at the sight of Davros, the father of the Daleks himself, actually moving about on Gallifreyian soil. "Congratulations, Doctor. You and they have come full circle."
As more memories returned, the Doctor couldn't help but shudder.
In many ways, the Dalek invasion he was now remembering was worse than the Faction's assault; the Faction might have been aided by future information, but they were still limited in how they could attack Gallifrey on the surface.
But the Daleks… attacking from outside Gallifrey in a ruthless assault… claiming the Cruciform that the Time Lords had established on a distant planet as their first line of the defence in the first few minutes of the assault…
It was a terrifying sight to behold.
But what was causing these memories…?
"Why are you not ours?" Grandfather Paradox- the Doctor's possible future self, the god of Faction Paradox- asked, staring at his past self with the dispassionate interest of a surgeon at an autopsy. "Your body was riddled with the Faction virus- I sensed it in the Council chamber."
"You sensed it because you are attuned to the infected time line trying to imprint itself over the original," the Doctor shouted up at the distorted image.
Grandfather Paradox scowled. "You're lying!"
"He's not, you know," a third voice said. The ghostly, dust-formed image of the Third Doctor- the Doctor that should have been before all the Faction's interference happened- stood, hands on hips, in the centre of the console room.
"Why have you not realised the truth?" Davros asked, staring at the Doctor as he lowered himself down to the ground, facing his old nemesis. "Your body is riddled with the Dalek poison; I have seen its effects!"
"You saw it because you are more ingrained in the infected time line rather than the original it is trying to imprint itself over," the Doctor shouted up at the distorted image.
Davros scowled. "You're lying!"
"He's not, you know," a third voice said. The dust image of the Third Doctor's temporal ghost stood, hands on hips, in the centre of the console room.
"Just one bolt fired will drain off all the energy holding the Edifice together," the Doctor yelled. "The internal dimensions will collapse down to something the size of this stabiliser."
The Grandfather stared back at him. "Gallifrey, Kasterbourus… This entire sector of space will be destroyed, torn apart."
The Doctor nodded, eyes welling with tears. "Forever," he said firmly. "But your entire fleet will perish too."
"You'll die too."
"Just as well, I think," the Doctor said, gritting his teeth. "I'd never be able to live with the memory anyway."
"Just one bolt fired will drain off all the energy holding the Edifice together," the Doctor yelled. "The internal dimensions will collapse down to something the size of this stabiliser."
Davros stared back at him. "You shall destroy all of Kasterbourus with the release of that much energy!"
The Doctor nodded, eyes welling with tears. "Forever," he said firmly. "But your entire fleet will perish too."
"You shall die too!"
"Just as well, I think," the Doctor said, gritting his teeth. "I'd never be able to live with myself for letting you get this far."
The Doctor simply lay on the floor, staring up at the ceiling in horror as memories flooded through him.
Now he knew why he had triggered the destruction of Gallifrey that Marnal had revealed to him; right then, at that moment, he, the TARDIS, and even the universe, were all stuck between two possibilities, and he'd needed to leave the TARDIS, and the universe as a whole, with only one true possibility in order to have any hope of saving anything.
It was either that, or watch creation be conquered, assuming it hadn't torn itself apart because of what had happened.
But then… what was this second history with Davros all about?
The Doctor pushed the button.
The Grandfather screamed, apparently with the scream of the millions still caught on Gallifrey. The Doctor hung on to the vibrating bulk of the ancient console, and pressed his head against the hard bone surface as if for comfort.
The Grandfather howled his despair to the universe…
As Gallifrey, Kasterbourus, and the entire Faction fleet vanished from existence forever.
The Doctor had spent his life moving on from place to place, trying to keep the pages turning, never to reach the end of the story. Finally, there was nowhere to run.
Why could he hear footsteps?
As the Doctor pushed the button, he lashed out with one final, desperate punch at Davros's face, throwing the Dalek's creator back towards the Edifice's door.
As he lay sprawled against the door, Davros screamed, apparently with the scream of the millions of Daleks and Time Lords still caught around Gallifrey, vocalising it for both them and the Doctor, as the Time Lord in question hung on to the vibrating bulk of the ancient console, pressing his head against the hard bone surface as if for comfort.
Davros screamed his rage out to the universe…
As Gallifrey, Kasterbourus, and the entire Dalek fleet vanished from existence forever; the Doctor caught a vague glimpse of Davros's command ship tumbling into the Gates of Elysium, a distant part of Kasterborous long forgotten and ignored.
Dazedly, the Doctor looked up at Davros, watching as the Dalek's creator tethered on the edge of the Edifice's doors, the dimensional instability finally winning, tearing him out of the Edifice even as he fought to activate what looked like an emergency teleport system.
"DOCTOOOOOOOoooorrrrrrrr…" he screamed, as he vanished into the Time Vortex.
The Doctor smiled slightly as he watched the Edifice seal up again. Whatever else had gone wrong in his life, he could be assured of one thing; the sacrifice of the Time Lords was not in vain.
The Daleks were gone… their foul taint eradicated from the entire universe for good at last…
Why could he hear footsteps?
The Doctor shook his head; he didn't need to reflect on what had happened then. He already knew how things had turned out from there; those footsteps was Compassion, giving him the chance to save the knowledge of the Time Lords one last time.
He shook his head, trying to clear everything out. He couldn't be sure, but he was already starting to see how everything added together.
If Grandfather Paradox- the god, almost the creator of Faction Paradox- had ceased to exist when the Doctor annihilated the timeline that led to his creation, than, logically, the Faction itself would have ceased to exist. After all, how could they exist if their creator had never even come about? Even they couldn't paradox their way out of something like that.
As a result, history had done the only thing it could do to cope with the 'wound' he'd so nearly caused Time; 'replace' the Faction in the battle with the only beings capable of matching them.
The Daleks.
Therefore, in this new history, it had been the Daleks who'd sought the Thirteenth Doctor's body; the ship claimed by the Krotons had been merely another Dalek scout ship that arrived independently of the main Dalek force.
It had been the Daleks who'd tried to distract the Doctor by creating a 'perfect' companion for him by tricking him into manipulating his own timeline.
It had been the Daleks who'd tried to destroy San Francisco via manipulation of a tear in reality.
It had been the Daleks who had tried to access the Cold, using the Remote- modified, 'upgraded' Robomen, created via the same memory-manipulated biomass method used by the Factions remote, creating beings essentially bred to be servants and programmed to act as Dalek emissaries on occasions where a more subtle approach was called for- to try and gain access to a TARDIS.
It had been the Daleks who'd sought control of I. M. Foreman's travelling show during the confrontation on Dust (Even if the Remote had been their 'emissaries' once again).
And…
The Doctor sighed.
It had been the Daleks who'd infected his third self, killing him ahead of schedule while infecting him with a robotic nanovirus that they'd hoped would kill him before he could destroy Skaro, or, failing that, turn him into a more advanced version of the next generation of Roboman, granting the Daleks access to time-travelling capabilities far beyond what they now possessed.
They'd nearly torn reality apart, just to get at him…
The Doctor sighed again, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his hands.
Even as he sat on the edge of the TARDIS console, staring blankly ahead of him, he could feel history reset itself in his head, the Dalek timeline overlaying the Faction one. So many slight changes here… Compassion wasn't a Faction agent… Fitz was slightly stronger and his mind more efficient after he was 'cloned' into Kode …
Suddenly, the Doctor froze.
Another new detail was just occurring to him.