"There's no one left. I made bloody well sure of that."
His voice echoed in his ears, and suddenly, the emptiness in his head filled with another presence. His eyes shot over to Susan, her eyes open wide with horror.
"Grandfather?"
Her voice was as broken as his hearts.
"What do you mean, there's-" Susan choked out, her mouth barely able to form words. "-there's no one left?"
A shudder made its way down the Doctor's spine, and he refused to meet his granddaughter's eyes.
"Susan," he began, before she cut him off, her eyes already brimming with tears. "Susan, I-"
"No, Grandfather, you said- I heard you, you said that- that you made sure of it," she muttered, resting her elbows on her knees as her hands seized fistfuls of hair. "The War- is it… I can't hear anyone."
The Doctor shook his head with tears already threatening to overflow.
"I know, Susan, my dear-" the term of endearment he had used to always use for her felt clunky on these newer, Northern lips. "I can't hear them either."
"Why?" the girl- no, this woman- whispered, and suddenly, the Doctor became entirely aware of Rose's presence. He felt exposed- naked in front of this nineteen year old human he had just met.
"Rose, could you give us some- space, please," he asked in a strained voice.
"Doctor, who is she-"
"Rose, now."
His tone was quiet, but it was forceful. The blonde girl appeared affronted, but she hurried from the room. The Time Lord turned on David now, who shook his head immediately.
"What you say to her you can say to me," he said, folding his arms over his chest. "We've been through everything together."
"David-" Susan didn't look up. "David, please."
She took hold of her husband's hand. "I'll be- this is my grandfather. You know I can trust him."
"Yeah, well he's changed a bit, hasn't he-?"
"David."
The man let go of her hand, and he gave a frustrated sigh, but left the room in spite of this. Now that they were alone, the Doctor looked at his granddaughter closely, trying desperately to keep his composure. She deserved the truth.
"Susan, I…" he began, swallowing hard. "I'm going to tell you of the War. You… saw the inside of it, with what they tried to do to you- what they did to you. There was… so much more."
"Show me," she said, her reddened eyes shooting up suddenly as she moved her hands away from her temples, leaning forward. He shook his head immediately.
"No." His voice was flat.
"Grandfather, I'm not the little girl you left on a Dalek-infested Earth-"
"Susan, it's not up for debate," he snapped. "I will tell you what happened, but it is not your burden to see these things. The only one who must carry that is me. I said no."
The last sentence was said in a forceful Gallifreyan, causing the Gallifreyan woman to quiet.
"Now. I will tell you what happened, sparing the details. The War… had its roots at the beginning of the Dalek race. The Time Lords… sent an agent to destroy them at their genesis. That agent failed, and the Daleks received that… poorly." Purposely, he avoided stating that he was that agent. He tried to ignore Susan's shudder at the mention of the Daleks. "Millenia after their creation, they waged war on the universe. Got hold of Time travel. Abominations were created, weapons of Time that utilized the Vortex, bent it, twisted it, tore it. The Eye of Harmony was destroyed. Countless planets throughout the Universe were wiped from existence. The War lasted for centuries or millennia, depending on how bent your Timeline was."
"You… fought?" Susan's voice was small. The Doctor wished he could disappear.
"I never wanted to, but… yes. It caught up with me in the end. It caught up with everyone." He paused for a moment, lost in thought, before continuing. "But the threats to Gallifrey went deeper than just the Daleks, or even their creations. The High Council became corrupt. They ousted Romana, and they revived Rassilon from the dead."
"Our creator?" Susan asked, confused further. "But Rassilon was meant to be a good man."
The Doctor let out a bark of laughter that was completely humorless, making his granddaughter flinch.
"In legends, he was. In reality, he was a megalomaniac. Released Zagreus again, bent on being a god. And in the end, he was no better than the Daleks. He wanted total Time Lord superiority, and he was going to destroy the Universe, making a select number of Time Lords- all Prydonian, of course- only beings of light consciousness. That was his Final Sanction."
"But… he didn't go through with it," Susan said, losing herself in her grandfather's words. "The Universe is intact. Did you stop him?"
The Doctor stilled, trying to remember to breathe. "Yes." His voice was barely a whisper.
"How… did you stop him?"
"There was no other way," he muttered, feeling the revulsion directed at himself rising again. "I… there was a weapon. The Moment."
"What did the Moment do." Susan's words were a statement, formed in a coarse, ragged murmur.
"The Moment sent out a wave of highly condensed energy to surround Gallifrey and the Dalek saucers attacking us. The weapon trapped them in a single Moment of destruction, a bubble in a constant state of destruction."
There was silence, and then a loud slap echoed across the Doctor's face. He took it numbly, knowing that he deserved it. That was the very least.
Susan rocked back and forth on the bed, a muffled scream escaping her lips as the noise was blocked by her clenched teeth. The Doctor opened his mouth again as he laid a hand on her shoulder, but she recoiled once again, running from the room and down the stairs. The Doctor faintly heard David call after his wife, but nothing else was heard except a slamming door, and then silence.