Unto the Universe

Chapter Thirty-Two: The Fires of Karn: Echoes

By Lumendea

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any spinoff material, and I gain no income from this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

AN: Thank you everyone for sticking with me through the first of the big lore revelations. We will be getting into some Classic Who lore, but I promise I will be providing background.

….

The Time Analogue hummed and whirled. Both the Master and the Doctor chuckled. For a moment, both of them were back in school and using some methods to interfere with each other's experiments. The Master's smile softened, almost genuine for an instant. The Doctor looked beyond him at the Time Storm. In truth, the Time Analogue wouldn't do much. But if it could help hold it away from the TARDIS and, by extension, the entrance, then that bought time.

But time for what, he didn't know. Ohila and the Sisters seemed to have some idea of what was going on. Rose did, too, though he wasn't sure if it was conscious or not for her. The way her timelines had flared worried him a little. As someone connected to her life, he usually couldn't see them anymore.

"How did the Monk get you to help him?" the Doctor asked. "Or are you just along for the ride?"

"You know I don't care about the Eternals, Doctor," the Master answered with a smirk. "But you have to admit that they are the biggest game in town. I remember the news of them leaving during the Time War. For them to return, to push their way back into N-Space from their bubble means that they are confident that they can claim the upper hand. The Guardians held them in check for billions of years, but no longer."

"So, you're just hanging around to see what you can get," the Doctor sighed.

"Well, my information about the Universe is a little out of date. Give me time," the Master said with a smile. "And I'll be back to destroying planets and being a thorn in your side."

That should not have been as attractive an idea as it was. The Doctor was all too familiar with the escalation of the Master's plans over the years. While once, he could have dismissed it as mischief more than malice, he couldn't now. Not after Traken, not after the Master outright killed him and tried to take all of his remaining regenerations. Then he noticed the Master tapping his fingers on his leg. It was a nervous twitch that he hadn't seen before.

"Developed a twitch in this body," the Doctor noted. The Master looked down and scowled, stilling his hand. "What now?"

"Oh, I'm sure you're making some kind of plan," the Master said. "And I am a little sorry, Doctor, but I am going to have to either take your pet or kill her." He shrugged. "Those are the rules for surviving with the Eternals."

"I'm not going to let you near her."

"What? No offer to join you and escape the Eternals?"

"If I thought you might actually take it, maybe," the Doctor said. He stared at the Master, taking in the new face. "I have missed you." That was the truth. "After I did it, the empty silence almost drove me mad. I locked myself up in the Zero room for months, only coming out to do repairs on the TARDIS. Never looked in a mirror and had no idea of what to do next. I would have been grateful for anyone to still be alive. Especially you."

The Master swallowed. "I'm touched, Doctor. I thought of you as I ran. I made myself human because you'd always loved them. I thought, there must be something in being one of them for the Doctor to care about them so much." Then the Master cleared his throat and stepped back from the shield. "So, even now, you're picking the human. One human girl over the only other survivors of your species."

"I chose the universe once," the Doctor answered. "And we both know that the Eternals are far from benevolent rulers."

"Oh, they aren't all bad. You served Time once and then Life."

"I was a tool to them, and you know it. They are not beings that I would trust. I'm not even sure that Time and Life are among those who returned. The Time War hit even the Eternals."

The Master shrugged, but the Doctor knew he wasn't as indifferent as he might pretend. The Eternals were the stuff of fairy tales and cautionary stories on Gallifrey. What childhood they had in their houses before the Academy was spent in lessons and hearing stories meant to scare them into being good little Time Tots. The more distance the Doctor had, the more he could see the patterns of control woven into the structure of Gallifrey.

The Doctor wasn't sure what to do now. He wanted to check the scanner and see what else he could do to stop the Time Storm. The Eternals and the Monk were still out there. But he was loathed to take his eyes off the Master.

"If I were to turn on the Eternals and help you," the Master said casually. "What would your offer be?"

"You're just as dangerous as ever," the Doctor said. "I can see it in your eyes." The Master beamed at him, and his fingers began tapping again. "I wouldn't trust you on the TARDIS."

"So, a cell somewhere," the Master huffed. "Don't blame you about the TARDIS, though. Old that ship may be, it's one of a kind now. Even the Monk is using a Vortex Manipulator." The Master's nose curled at that. "Dirty time travel, far beneath us."

"You're not getting the TARDIS," the Doctor said.

"You aren't that desperate to make me change sides then."

"I don't want to have to turn around and fight you tomorrow."

"Fair enough, I suppose." The Master inhaled deeply and shrugged. "So, Doctor. What's it to be, keep an eye on me or back into your box to see if you can find a way to stop the time storm? Every second you're talking with me and keeping me busy is one more moment that the Monk is out there." The Master leaned forward. "And between you and me, he has not taken the Time War or being a slave to the Eternals well." The Master circled his finger near his head. "And you know it means something when I say that someone is crazy."

The Master grinned, and the Doctor was left to wonder what the Master knew. Had the Monk revealed anything to him? He wasn't sure, couldn't be sure. What he could be sure of was that the Time Storm was growing, and the glowing, almost ghostly forms of the Eternals were emerging from it. They weren't even taking mortal looking forms this time. He stepped back as the Master grinned. He needed a plan, and he needed it on. Giving the Master one last look, the Doctor turned and stormed back into the TARDIS.

…..

Ohila's eyes bored into Rose, and the question hung in the air between them. She inhaled slowly and nodded. The Sisters stepped closer, adding to the growing sense of claustrophobia sneaking up on Rose.

"Yeah," Rose answered. "I mean- I'm pretty sure. I didn't know about…" she hesitated at the name before accepting she wouldn't get it right. "The Gold Guardian on Gallifrey. White and Black never mentioned them, at least not in front of me."

"The Universe has been without a Gold Guardian for a billion years. Rassilon tied up that power within Gallifrey. As long as Gallifrey stood, it prevented the rise of a Gold Guardian to take up the mantel and repair the damage Rassilon wrought," Ohila explained. Her tone had softened, but her eyes were still just as desperate. "With Gallifrey's connection to the Universe broken, there is now a chance. When the Doctor used The Moment, the weapon severed the bindings Rassilon used. The Universe needs a new Gold Guardian. You are the candidate that the White and Black Guardians put forth."

The history surprised Rose. There'd been enough hints and little things over the years that despite the… magnitude of Ohila's proclamations about her being the new Gold Guardian, or at least the candidate for the position, Rose wasn't surprised. She'd known for years. It had been the wolf nipping at her heels, daring her to turn around and look. But she'd never known that there had been another Gold Guardian. She'd figured it was a Time Travel situation whenever any kind of history with the Guardian was discussed. Apparently not. And the history was much uglier than Rose had understood.

Did the Doctor know? Rose had a feeling that he knew a lot of dirty secrets from Gallifrey. Even in his grief over his role in its destruction, he'd always retained a bit of anger towards the Time Lords. Was it because of this or something else? She wanted to ask. Rose wanted his help in making sense of the thoughts spinning through her head. But that wasn't an option, not right now.

"I've been pretty sure that's to be my role for a few years now," Rose admitted. She straightened up. "But I don't know how to access any power. I don't even know much about the powers of the Guardians. I've only seen them in passing."

"We felt you use the powers," Ohila told her urgently. "When you faced the Daleks."

"That was the Bad Wolf," Rose insisted. "I absorbed the Time Vortex and…." Rose trailed off. She tried to remember. No, she'd released the Time Vortex, at least most of it, and then finished off the Daleks and saving Earth. "I'm not sure."

"The Bad Wolf is part of you," Ohila agreed. "Even now, I can feel the Wolf in you." The words were reverent with a touch of fear that Rose didn't like. "But the Gold Guardian is beyond even the Wolf. The Bad Wolf has risen in many universes. We have seen glimpses of her, of your counterparts. As have the Guardians, I am sure. But there can only ever be one Gold Guardian, and you are the one chosen to take that mantel."

"How do I…" Rose looked down at her hands. "I don't know how to use the power. The last time I used it was right after looking into the Time Vortex."

"Look into the Sacred Flame," Ohila begged her. "It is not the Schism nor the Vortex, but it was prepared for this moment."

Frowning, Rose was about to ask Ohila what flame she meant. Nothing in the room was on fire, but then the ground shuddered and sparked the natural gases to life. The Sisters chanted, and the flames twisted before Rose, dancing above the rocks and water.

"Look into the Sacred Flame, Rose Tyler!" Ohila cried.

Rose's heart pounded. This was it. Part of her wanted to turn away, but Rose hadn't run from her life, from her future in her entire life. She wasn't going to start now. Rose stared into the flaring fire. The cavern was warming quickly. The water in the stream was beginning to boil. Around her, the Sisters started to chant. Energy coiled in the air, thick and sharp against her senses.

The flame twisted. The world shifted around Rose, but she did not move. She saw the surface of Karn as a storm raged far above it. But this was no thunderstorm or time storm, rather the burning inferno of the approaching Time War. Two Sisters cloaked in red lowered a man's body to the ground, leaning him back against an altar. Rose almost gasped when the Sisters stepped to the side, and she could see his face.

It was the Doctor, the man he'd before the one she now travelled with. His brown hair was shorter than it had been when she'd seen him in Prague. His eighth body, she recalled. There were more lines betraying the years on his face. And his clothing had become more utilitarian. This was her Doctor in the Time War. But he was not breathing.

Ohila herself stepped out of the line of the Sisters and held a chalice to the Doctor's lips, forcing some liquid down his throat. Then she stepped back and handed the chalice to another sister. The sisters formed a circle around the altar and the Doctor, with Ohila remaining close to the Doctor. This was the past, Rose realized. She was still in the Heart of Karn; this was the power of the Sacred Flame.

"Cass!" The Doctor shouted, waking with a start.

"If you refer to your companion, we are still attempting to extract her from the wreckage," Ohila said, kneeling down to look at the Doctor.

"She wasn't my companion," the Doctor replied, voice pained.

"She's almost certainly dead. No one could survive that crash."

"I did," the Doctor countered. But Rose knew it wasn't true.

"No. We restored you to life, but it's a temporary measure," Ohila explained in the past. "You have a little under four minutes."

"Four minutes? That's ages. What if I get bored, or need a television, couple of books? Anyone for chess? Bring me knitting."

"You have so little breath left. Spend it wisely."

"Hang on. Is it you? Am I back on Karn?" The Doctor twisted and hoisted himself to his feet as he looked around. Rose could tell that he was still unsteady on his feet. "You're the Sisterhood of Karn, Keepers of the Flame of utter boredom."

"Eternal life," Ohila correctly sternly, standing up.

"That's the one."

"Mock us if you will, but our elixir can trigger your regeneration, bring you back. Time Lord science is elevated here on Karn. The change doesn't have to be random," Ohila explained. She gestured to the sisters around her, all holding chalices with smoke pouring out of them. "Fat or thin, young or old, man or woman?"

"Why would you do this for me?" the Doctor asked.

"You have helped us in the past."

"You were never big on gratitude," the Doctor reminded her.

"The war between the Daleks and the Time Lords threatens all reality. You are the only hope left.

"It's not my war," the Doctor said, pacing in front of Ohila. "I will have no part of it."

"You can't ignore it forever."

"I help where I can. I will not fight."

Rose watched the Doctor as he and Ohila argued. He already showed so many signs of the strain of the Time War, just from trying to help. Her heart ached. She tried to raise a hand, desperate to touch him but knew that she was less than a ghost. A Time Storm was raging on the surface, so why was she seeing this? Perhaps, Rose could admit to herself; she'd wanted to see him in the Time War, wanted to better understand the demons that woke him so often at night. Wanted to better know how to calm him after those dreams.

But then the Sisters brought in a young woman in a heavy flight suit and laid her on the altar. Not a companion then. Someone he'd tried to save, someone he'd wanted to help, who had rejected his help because he was a Time Lord. How many times had that happened to him during the Time War?

"The Universe stands on the brink. Will you let it fall?" Ohila begged the Doctor. "Fast or strong, wise or angry. What do you need now?"

The Doctor reached for the woman, Cass's baldric. "Warrior," he answered.

"Warrior?" Ohila repeated, hope dawning on her face.

"I don't suppose there's a need for a doctor anymore," he said softly, sadly.

"No," Rose said. None of the images of the past showed any sign of hearing her. Her hands tightened into fists. Her chest grew hot as a song began to echo in her ears. "No! He doesn't need to be anything or anyone else other than the Doctor!"

The flames around the room burst to life. Rose's eyes widen in shock. The Sisters all turned with stunned expressions, and Ohila inhaled sharply. Looking up, the Doctor's eyes narrowed as he took in the Sister's reaction.

"What is it?" he demanded.

Gold light spilt out of the fires, a small stream from each one and raced to the Doctor, striking him in the chest. The Doctor gasped, the baldric slipping from his hand. Ohila stepped back as the energy raced across the Doctor's flesh.

"Is he regenerating?" one of the sisters asked.

"No," Ohila replied breathlessly. "No, this is something else."

The energy faded, leaving the Doctor as he had been, but the wounds were closed up. Rose smiled, her body light and energy thrumming across her skin. The song was louder now, but her focus was on the Doctor.

"What?" the Doctor gasped, grasping at his chest. "What was that?"

Ohila exhaled, her surprise clear on her features. Her gaze swept the room, lingering on the fires that had burst to life. The Doctor looked up at her, waiting for an answer. Then she smiled at him and stepped closer, starting to reach for him before drawing her hand back.

"It seems, Doctor, that the Universe still believes that it needs a doctor. Please, Doctor, attend to the patient; the Universe needs you."

The vision began to fade, but the energy did not. Rose inhaled, rolling her shoulders as it built and built-in her chest. Ah, she realized, she remembered this. The song grew louder, and the heat of the flames danced across Rose's fingers.

….

The Doctor kept moving through the corridors of the TARDIS, but it was like a maze. Normally, his TARDIS helped him out and made things easy. Not the case today. But her urgent hum in his mind kept him moving.

"What are you on about, Old Girl?" the Doctor demanded.

The lights in the corridor flashed. The Doctor glanced at the screen, unsure if he dared leave the readings but at a loss of what he could do. Around him, his ship hummed with warning, and the Cloister Bells began to ring. That made up his mind. He hurried into the corridor, following the TARDIS's lead as she changed the lights and the bell continued to ring.

She led him to an old door he didn't remember. It was made of heavy wood with metal cross beams that only added to its strength. An old-fashioned handle with a large keyhole clicked open under his hand as soon as he touched it. The Doctor frowned, unsure of where he was in the TARDIS. But the ship hummed, and the lights flashed. He pushed the door open.

It was an empty room, save an ornate box in the centre on a simple stone pedestal. The Doctor stared at it as his mind throbbed at the painful memory. He knew that box, knew the elegant scripts along the dark red wooden frame and the golden gears that filled the square sides.

"The Moment," the Doctor breathed. "But…"

He didn't remember bringing the weapon into the TARDIS, much less putting it in a room like this. The Doctor remembered Gallifrey burning, remembered the Time Lock sealing the planet, the Daleks and the whole of the Time War away in a desperate attempt to stop it. To stop the Daleks sweeping across the Universe and killing everything, to stop Rassilon and the Time Lords from draining the life out of the whole Universe to save themselves. But he did not remember bringing the damned thing into his TARDIS.

…

AN 2: Still no War Doctor. I've warmed up to him with the help of the Big Finish audios, but I still prefer the tragedy of romantic Eight being the Doctor who ended the war and then regenerated into Nine.