City on the Edge of Destruction
Chapter Three
Full circle.

'But she's my sister!' Buffy almost screamed.

'Exactly my dear. Quite, quite unnerving.'

'You're taking this well.' Xander said to Dawn.

'How am I supposed to take it? Shock? I know I was made by those monks so what do I care. I dealt with all this years ago, I don't have a future. So what.'

'Made by monks?' The Doctor asked.

'It's a long story.' Buffy said

'I was made to hide something called the Key.'

'Apparently not that long.' Buffy muttered.

'The Key? Were these monks from the Order of Dagon?'

'Yes' Dawn suddenly felt something, the recognition she had for this man and the almost permanent sugar high she felt since coming to this place fitted together nicely with an almost audible click.

'How amazing. The Time Lords have been looking for you for billions of years!'

Buffy looked at the strange man, once again he radiated power that sent her slayer-senses off the scale. 'What are you talking about?'

'At the beginning of the universe there was a bang, even your "scientists" know this. When my people first discovered time travel we went to this bang to see it for ourselves. We found that the explosion left two things. The first was matter which became the universe, the second was energy. This energy created life. We called it the Key To Life and studied it. We found that it could destroy life the same way as give it. To protect it from our foes it was given to a fellow Time Lord to hide. His name was Dagon. With his last incarnation he told us that the protectors were called the Order of Dagon.'

'Your telling me I create life.' Dawn asked incredulously.

'More than that, I hope you enjoy your meal we have work to do. Come Key let us unlock the door.' He took Dawn's hand and flew out of the dining hall.

Outside Dawn was swept up in something no mortal could ever hope to understand. 'Doctor! What are we doing?'

'We're recreating everything Key. This universe must be and you are the answer to all our prayers!'

'How?'

'If I can merge you with the black hole that's sucking the universe up we can start another big bang. This is what you were created for! The universe is in your hands my dear girl lets not disappoint her.'

'Her?'

'That is why you're a girl, you and the universe are one and the same. Quickly now we don't have much time!'

'This is all going too fast, my head feels like it's going to explode. Something's happening…'

'Of all the times I could have left the thing behind. Sorry what was that?'

'I can't do it! I can't!' she wailed suddenly 'I've got to but I can't!'

'Don't worry Key, you'll be fine. Let it go.'

'That's what I'm talking about! I can't let go! I want to Doctor, I have to but something's stopping me!' Dawn had no idea what she was saying or even doing. It felt like she was being split in half. It had to happen but the bonds were too tight and the two halves just couldn't separate.

The Doctor was trying the TARDIS door. 'It's locked. Typical. Who left the TARDIS last?'

'Xander, I think.' Dawn said sliding to the ground next to the blue box.

Xander was currently watching a interesting discussion between three people at the table. The first was the slightly drunk Giles, who's still smoking drink was half empty, the second was a morally outraged Buffy who was trying to argue with Giles and the third. The third was the Dish-of-the-day. It had explained that it was bred to offer it's self as a meal and politely suggest what wine went with whichever body part you chose to eat.

Willow had fled the moment the cow had started to talk. Buffy was making a heart felt plea to it to stand up for its rights and refuse to let itself be cooked. Giles was busy examining its right shoulder, drunkenly mumbling recipes that the Dish-of-the-day approved of. It was about this time that Xander wondered whether or not it was too late to become a vegetarian.

If anyone cared to ask the cow what it thought about all of this it would have explained that it thought the gentlemen's choice was exquisite. It was also considering why anyone would go to all the trouble of creating a animal that was willing to be slaughtered if the people who were suppose to enjoy a nice lean stake were appalled by it.

Just another one of life's mysteries it thought. But there wasn't that much time left to answer any of them, for anyone.

Xander felt a hand grasp the shoulder on his blind side, spinning around he looked at the out of breath Doctor. 'You… you closed the TARDIS. The key, where is it?'

'Dawn was with you.' Xander frowned, but was glad for the distraction

'The TARDIS key.' he said, badly hiding a swell of anger.

'I didn't lock it.'

'It locks on its own.' he span and headed back to the door. 'I suggest you go for a nice stake with a light salad in Rentusian ale gravy' the Doctor called over his shoulder.

'A spectacular suggestion sir. Sirs, madam; shall I have myself prepared as your friend suggests?' the Cow offered.

While the Doctor was talking Xander Dawn tried to make sense of what she was feeling. Two people came up to the tardis. The woman looked in shock while the man was looking at her.

'Doctor! It looks just like yours.' she said before noticing Dawn. 'Who's that?'

'That, Rose, is the Key,' the man had a strangely angular face 'Hello Key, long time. This is my friend Rose Tyler. Rose this is Dawn Summers; the Key to Life.'

'um hello.' Dawn waved. 'Who are you?' she asked the man.

'Of course, I'm the Doctor.'

'But the Doctor's inside trying to get the key? How can you…'

'Regeneration. He's me and I'm him just not right now. Later perhaps… or earlier depending on how you look at it.'

'Oh, when one of you dies you do something and come back different.' Dawn said trying to grasp the idea.

'Yes' his smile was almost exactly like the other Doctor's; full of mischief, humour and insanity. He was only missing the teeth. 'You're locked out and your friend doesn't have the key! Now I remember! I'll let you in.' he reached over her and opened the door. 'There you go, good luck!' he waved a thumb in the air before retreating with the other girl.

Rose looked behind her; 'What she just said, you can die and you just come back?'

'Nothing like that Rose. A Time Lord has fourteen lives, I am one life of the fourteen. When I die the Doctor regenerates, it won't be me that's all.' he came to a stop and ducked behind a ship, she followed.

'What are we doing now?'

'Braking the law.'

The two watched as a shabbily dressed man in a long scarf and hat that both failed to match either each other or anything else came up to the girl-key thing. The brunet told him what had happened and he looked shocked before going inside with her in tow.

'How was that braking the law?' Rose asked

' "The first law of time travel:- To have no contact with or interfere with your past or future self." Stops paradoxes and the like. It gets right confusing otherwise too.'

'So that bloke with the scarf was you?'

'Yep.'

'Are there any others? Of you I mean'

'I'm the ninth, he's the fourth. Come on Rose I promised you a meal and you'll get one.'

Dawn stumbled around the Tardis, half dragged, half carried by the Doctor.

'The Zero Room.' He pointed at black door that looked out of place in the white corridor. 'it is separate from the whole universe. Inside there is literally nothing. The total void that will exist in only a few minutes. It will take that long to prepare the controls for what I have to do. stay in here and I'll come for you.'

'If its nothing how can I exist there.'

'You are the universe as energy. You can survive.

'Are you sure?'

'I have lived for hundreds of years there is very little I do not know. You WILL survive inside there.' He pushed her in.

The Doctor fretted the moment he closed the door. In that place her belief that she will be alright meant everything, in a world of nothing imagination was real. Running back to the control room he picked up his sonic-screwdriver and began rewiring half the control column. Running out of time the Doctor pulled the TARDIS out of linear time, Giving him forever, literally, to finish his work.

Not a few minutes later he opened the door to the zero room. The Key stepped out before stumbling to her knees. 'Quickly now. The timing has to be perfect.' the Doctor picked her up and carried the shaking girl in to the control room.'

'What's go in on?' she asked.

'I've reversed the polarity of the dematerialisation circuit and redirected the proton flow.' he said without thinking, in other words the system that made the TARDIS vanish was now altered to absorb and then direct the energy of the Key to the intergalactic black hole. He was about to explain that when:-

'Won't work, just me still' Key said weakly.

'I'm surprised you understood that my dear girl. You're quite correct but I've interfaced my sonic screwdriver as a projection amplifier.' He tried to stand her up but she fell to the floor. After two more attempts to get her to stand on her own legs he finally gave up, carried his hat stand next to the control column and simply hooked her onto that.

With great care he lifted his sonic screwdriver from the consol, making sure he didn't loosen any of the frankly ludicrous amount of wires he had attached to it. 'Now hold perfectly still' he said to the dangling, limp and faintly glowing girl before pointing the small device at her.

Meanwhile Buffy was looking at her freshly delivered plate of steaming meat and vegetables. Willow had come back a few moments before and somehow Buffy (and the others at the table) had neglected to tell Willow that the talking cow was actually now sitting with them, as it were. 'It's a nice meal.' the red headed witch commented looking around. 'The decoration's a bit tacky though.'

'I know, this is supposed to be the best place to eat, ever. You'd think they would play down the marble.' Xander joked but didn't touch his food

'…Or the drapes.' Buffy tried to lighten the mood. 'Okay Giles, before you lose the ability to speak, tell us what the hell is going on.'

'You know as much as me Buffy'

'I doubt that. I still don't know what a Time Lord is.'

Giles looked at her as if she had grown an extra head. 'According to the show the Time Lords were a race of aliens who had time machines. They basically watched what happened in time. The Doctor is a renegade Time Lord. Instead of watching he travels though time and space saving worlds and battling other alien races.'

'So he pops in saves the world and pop's out again.' Xander said

'To save another day.' Giles smiled a crooked smile around the table. 'The point is Time Lords can sense peoples destinies, sometimes even change them. They also have powers beyond even Willow's. A Time Lord is physic, can live for almost 300 years without regenerating and some can even control a man's will. They are also devilishly intelligent and can amass more knowledge in a week than you or I in a lifetime.' Giles voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper 'It's also said that they can control the flow of time with only their minds. He may look human but believe me the Doctor could crush us with a mere thought. Not that he would, or at least this virsion of him.'

'Aren't you laying it on a bit thick G-man. Alright he isn't human but come on, control time with his mind?' Xander laughed.

'I am not joking Xander. The Time Lords are the guardians of time itself. I never suspected they were real but obviously they are. I would rather not think about what the hell I am seeing at this moment and if you had half a brain you, all of you, would do what I'm doing.'

'What's that?' Willow asked around a mouthful.

'Get completely smashed and don't think about it.' Buffy could tell he wasn't joking, Giles was so scared of what was going on that he was almost reverting back to "Ripper".

'Guys I don't think Giles is exaggerating. I don't know what makes it happen but whenever he starts doing these things my Slayer-radar goes off the scale. Things might seem odd even wrong around here but we have to remember it's really happening. Giles we've done it so far but how much can we trust the Doctor?'

'If he told me the sky was pink and the sea yellow when my eyes told me they were both blue… I'd believe in pink skies and yellow seas.'

'That's a "yes" then.'

'Yes.' He drained his glass and went cross-eyed.

Max Quordlepleen, host and entertainer at Milliways, had finished the introductions as normal and was now moving on to the standard awe inspiring sight '…And Ladies, Gentlemen, multiform beings and super-intelligent shades of the colour blue if you look up into the once infinite expanse above us you will see the last few, short, hours that this universe has left.' The sight of a black hole sucking the whole of creation into nothing could never be described. While the sight was simply a few coloured dust clouds being sucked like cloudy water down the sink Max knew that with his skills and the fact that this was the WHOLE of creation vanishing the emotional impact was what was indescribable.

The usual gasps of wonder and astonishment came from the tables as the moment came. Then from nowhere a bright beam of green light lanced deep into the core of the back hole. 'What's happening?' Max gasped in wonder as the beam continued.

Even from this incalculable distance watchers of the event could see giant lightning bolts dance across the impossible surface of nothing. The green glowed so bright that it became white and a flash blasted across what was once emptiness.

The restaurant was alive with conversation. As Dawn followed the Doctor back to their table she caught snippets of information, mostly people thought it was some sort of miracle from a prophet named Zarquon, others seamed to think it was a stunt to sell some new "Ultra-Rock" album or something.

'Dawn! Was that light show anything to do with what you two did?'

Before she answered Dawn glanced at Giles, who was sleeping. 'Yes Buffy, it was. I just had to merge with the universe for a moment to recreate it, isn't that right Doctor.'

'I wouldn't put it quite that way but more or less, yes. Have you finished?' Given that most of the restaurant was in a panic and the pates were empty it was a rhetorical question.

Buffy and Xander picked up Giles and carried him to the door. Just before the group got there the Doctor told them to put him into a glass tube.

Two buttons and a switch later and Giles walked out, 'A Sober-O-Matic.' the Doctor explained succinctly. No one said anything as they pretended to understand.

Buffy looked around the control room of the tardis, the Doctor had just started it up.

'Urm I have a question,' It was Xander. 'We're going to save Deadboy right?'

'If you mean the Vampire… Yes.' The Doctor answered carefully

'What with? Buffy's got the Scythe thing in there,' he thumbed the door behind him. 'but what of the rest of us.'

'Do we get some phasers?' Dawn grinned.

'Phasers? You mean phased laser pulse beams? Good heavens no the TARDIS doesn't need those silly things.'

'Well what weapons have you got?' Buffy asked.

'Weapons? The Doctor frowned and Buffy got a sinking feeling. 'There's one in the draw under the second monitor bank on the consol. Just in front and to the right.'

Thanking the powers she found the draw and opened it. Inside was a small pen like thing with a round top and a cone mounted in it. The sinking feeling came back.'What's this

'My sonic-screwdriver.' The Doctor beamed as she held it up.

'And what use is it against a demon?'

'Ah…'

End Chapter 3