The Doctor VII
The Doctor, Vivian and Clara were now back in the tower. Clara was walking slowly around the room, looking at all the children's drawings that were hanging up on the walls of the room.
"Ha." Clara remarked as she leaned in closer to see the drawings and his workbench where he would fix toys that children would bring him, "Oh, Doctor. Fixing toys and fighting monsters."
"The turkey isn't done yet."
"Doctor, have you finally gone senile?" Vivian quipped.
"Is it still asking the question?" Clara questioned, ignoring Vivian's comment.
"Oh, never stops." The Doctor looks at his clock, "Come upstairs. It's almost time."
"What for?" Clara asked, puzzled.
"Dawn." Vivian stated, "The light here lasts only a few minutes. You don't want to miss it."
The Doctor picked up Handles and carried him up the stairs. Vivian and Clara followed suit. A small fire is burning in the chamber, "Well, it's a standoff. They can't attack in case I unleash the Time Lords, and I can't run away, because they'll burn this planet to stop the Time Lords. Hey, after all these years, I've finally found somewhere that needs me to stick around. A town called Christmas. Could've been worse. Right, there you go, buddy. Comfy?" The Doctor settles Handles down on a chair. Vivian starts to pull up another chair but Clara sees her struggling to get it over and goes to help her.
"Comfort is irrelevant." Handles stated as Vivian sat down in her chair.
"How's that," The Doctor adjusted Handle's position on the chair a bit, "Is that better?"
"Affirmative."
"You just take it easy, buddy. He's getting old. I do my best for him, but I just can't get the parts, you know. Hey, I know the feeling." The Doctor, while he was speaking, had opened up marshmallows, put one on a stick and gave the back to Vivian, who was currently doing the same thing.
"Where did you get those?" Clara asked, pointing at the bag of marshmallows.
"I have a supplier." The Doctor stated.
Vivian leaned in closer to Clara, as if to tell a secret, "The pink ones are best." Vivian winked at Clara.
"I have developed a fault."
The Doctor's breath hitched, "Hey, don't you worry, Handles. you're just dreaming. The sun's coming up very soon. You just hang on in there." The Doctor rubbed some of the grime off of Handle's head.
"I have developed a fault. I, I have developed a fault."
"Hey, Handles. Come on. Come on. One more dawn, you can do it. You've got it in you. Come on, just hang on in there."
"Attention. Emergency. Attention."
"Handles?" Vivian asked, hesitantly.
"Handles, what is it? What's wrong?" The Doctor asked.
"Urgent action required. You must patch the telephone device back through the console unit." Handle's voice slowed down until the lights went out.
The Doctor closed his eyes briefly then opened them again. Not another death, "Come back. Handles? Handles. Oh. Thank you, Handles, and well done. Well done, mate." The Doctor stared off in the distance as the sun rises between the mountains. The birds sing to greet it, "What do you think of my new place? I come up here once a day for a few minutes, to remind myself of what it is I'm protecting."
"It's beautiful." Clara whispered, "Why did you send me away?"
The Doctor took a deep breath, "Because if I hadn't, I'd have buried you a long time ago."
Clara shook her head, "No, you wouldn't. I would never have let you get stuck here."
"Ha! Everyone gets stuck somewhere eventually, Clara. Everything ends." The Doctor replied bitterly. The Doctor felt Vivian reach out and grab his hand, giving it a squeeze.
"Except you."
The Doctor looked at his companion. His wonderful companion, "Have you been paying attention? I'm an old man now."
"But you don't die. You change. You pop right back up with a new face." Clara said stubbornly.
The Doctor shook his head, "No, not for ever. I can change twelve times. Thirteen versions of me. Thirteen silly Doctors. It's the same for Vivian."
"Okay, so you're number eleven, so-"
"Ha." The Doctor interrupted, "Are we forgetting Captain Grumpy, eh? I didn't call myself the Doctor during the Time War, but it was still a regeneration."
"Okay, so you're number twelve."
"Well, number ten once regenerated and kept the same face. I had vanity issues at the time. Twelve regenerations, Clara. I can't ever do it again. This is where I end up. This face, this version of me. We saw this planet in the future, remember? All those graves, one of them mine. At least now I know why the light was so big. It contained two Time Lords." The Doctor explained.
The sun is setting.
Vivian looked at the Doctor in shock, "You never told me you went to your grave. You know the one place a time traveler isn't supposed to go is their grave. … Wait," Vivian breathed outward, "I'm buried here as well?"
The Doctor sighed, recognizing his mistake, "We'll talk about this later."
"Change the future." Clara stated, tears in her eyes.
The Doctor shook his head, "I can't."
"You've got your TARDIS back."
"Ha! You think I'm just going to fly away, abandon everyone?" The Doctor asked, looking at his companion as she tried to think of a way to save him. He knew it was futile.
"Of course not. But you've been protecting this town for over three hundred years. Do you not think it's anybody else's go yet?" Clara asked.
"There is no one else to protect it but Vivian and I."
Clara shook her head stubbornly, " It's not going to be you for ever. It'll end the same way, whatever you do."
"Every life I save is a victory. Every single one."
"What about your life? Just for once, after all this time, have you not earned the right to think about that? Sorry. Wrong thing to say. We shouldn't be having an argument."
"Clara," The Doctor took her hands in his, "I've been having that argument for the last three hundred years, all by myself."
"But you didn't have your TARDIS."
"Ah." The Doctor smiled sadly, "Yes, well, that made it easier to stay. True."
Suddenly there was thunder in the darkening sky and Tasha's voice was heard, "Doctor!"
"Ah. Look who's woken up." The Doctor snapped at the sky when Tasha's holographic face lit up the surrounding area.
"The Church of the Silence requests parlay. Your rights and safety are sanctified."
"I'll be right up." The Doctor responded, getting slowly up out of his chair. Vivian was doing the same. He grabbed his cane.
"I'm sending a transporter." Tasha stated.
"Nah, don't bother. I've got me motor back." Tasha's face vanished at that statement and warning bells began to ring in the back of the Doctor's head.
"It's gone dark." Clara stated, looking at the surrounding area.
The Doctor shrugged, "Yeah, well, the sun's gone down."
Clara tilted her head, "Already?"
The Doctor looked pointedly at his companion, "Everything ends, Clara. And sooner than you think."
Vivian and Clara had gone into the TARDIS and the Doctor was about to follow when he spotted a tiny hand behind the TARDIS. He sighed and spoke up, "Hmm. Are you guarding my TARDIS, Barnable?"
Barnable peaked out from behind the TARDIS to stare at the Doctor then stepped fully into view, "Are you coming back?"
The Doctor gave a smile and a wink, "Oh, come on. You know me."
Barnable looked down, "I'll wait."
The Doctor, Clara and Vivian stepped out of the TARDIS and into Tasha's private chapel, "She hasn't aged much." Clara remarked. They were back in the hall where they had first met with Tasha.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. He had noticed that little fact as well and had a sinking feeling that it wouldn't end well. He just hoped he could hide that he knew something was amiss so he could work out what was going on. Instead, he said, "No, she's against ageing."
"Approach." Tasha stated.
"Confess." The Doctor hid his wince. He hated the Silence with a burning passion.
"What are those things?" Clara asked breathlessly.
"Confess."
"Confessional priests." Vivian stated. The Doctor looked over at her, surprised that she knew about them, but then remembered she had formal Time Lord secret military training, "Very popular. Genetically engineered so you forget everything you told them."
Clara looked away then blinked, "Told who?"
The Doctor smirked and nodded, "There you go."
Now within the private chapel, the The bed has been replaced by a large table. The Doctor sits at the end of the table, Clara in the middle on his right and Vivian in the middle on his left. Tasha places a big box in front of the Doctor. He looks inside and sniffs. Mmmm. Marshmallows.
"Satisfactory?" Tasha asks as she sits down on the opposite side of the Doctor.
The Doctor looks up, "Where are the pink ones?"
"E numbers. You're hyper enough as it is."
"So, this is sweet. Middle of a siege and you two have little chats?" Clara remarked.
"She's right. This situation cannot continue."
The Doctor looked directly at Tasha, " It can't end, either."
"Why did you ever come to Trenzalore?" Tasha asks.
"Well, I did come to Trenzalore, and nothing can change that now. Didn't stop you trying though, did it?" The Doctor added bitterly.
"Not me. The Kovarian Chapter broke away. They travelled back along your timeline and tried to prevent you ever reaching Trenzalore."
"So that's who blew up my TARDIS. I thought I'd left the bath running." The Doctor lied. He knew exactly who blew it up and why.
"They blew up your time capsule, created the very cracks in the universe through which the Time Lords are now calling."
"The destiny trap. You can't change history if you're part of it."
"They engineered a psychopath to kill you."
The Doctor shrugged, "Totally married her. I'd never have made it here alive without River Song."
Vivian's eyes grew large, "You MARRIED River Song?! She's the women who-"
The Doctor rolled his eyes and waved his hand, "Yeah, yeah. I'll tell you the story some other time."
"I'm not interested in changing history, Doctor. I want to change the future. The Daleks send for reinforcements daily. They are massing for war. Three days ago, they attacked the Mainframe itself." Tasha stated.
The Doctor narrowed his eyes. Shit, shit shit. This wasn't good, "They attacked here?" He asked aloud.
"How did you stop them?" His clever companion asked. Cleaver Clara.
"Stop them?" Tasha stated, "It was slaughter."
"Why didn't you call me? I could have helped." The Doctor whispered. No. Not Tasha. He thought.
"I tried. I died in this room, screaming your name."
"No." The Doctor whispered. At that Vivian stood up, her chair screeching back as it hit the ground.
"Oh. I died. It's funny the things that slip your mind. Ah!" Tasha fell onto the table and he heard crackling noises.
The Doctor stood up at the same time as his companion, who was inching toward him, " No! No, no, no. Tasha, no, please, not Tasha. No. Fight it. Tash, fight it!" A Dalek eyestalk comes out of her forehead, then an actual Daleks enters.
"STEP AWAY FROM THE DALEK UNIT, DOCTOR." A Dalek rolled forward. Vivian had run over and put herself in front of Clara. "ALERT. A TIME LADY HAS BEEN LOCATED."
"I've dealt with the likes of you before." Vivian spat, still in her protective stance in front of Clara, "I can handle whatever you throw at me."
"You shouldn't even know who I am." The Doctor stared at the Dalek.
"INFORMATION CONCERNING THE DOCTOR WAS HARVESTED FROM THE CADAVER OF TASHA LEM."
"Bet she never told you how to break through the Trenzalore forcefield, though. She'd have died first." The Doctor said as two other Daleks maneuvered their way into the room and positioned themselves in triangular format.
"SEVERAL TIMES."
"Well, you'd better kill me, then. Go on. But before you do-" The Doctor quickly takes out his sonic screwdriver and sonics the repeating message into the room.
"Doctor who? Doctor who? Doctor who?"
"I'm a tough old bird. I'll be ages dying. Way enough time to answer a question. And, oh dear, what happens then, boys?"
Tasha grabs Clara's neck from behind, and energy plays over her hands. The Doctor and Vivian spin around, Vivian shouting, "CLARA! Let her go!"
"YOU WILL DIE IN SILENCE, DOCTOR, OR YOUR ASSOCIATE WILL DIE."
"Fine, go on, kill her. Kill her! See if I care. But tell me, what you are going to do next?" The Doctor asks.
"SEE HOW THE TIME LORD BETRAYS." The Dalek stated to Clara.
Clara shook her head, her body tense, "You'll kill me anyway. What difference does it make? I'm not afraid. I'll leave that to you."
"You see, Tasha, that's what I'm talking about. That is a woman! I always knew you were a bit spineless, you and your pointless church. Why did I ever rely on you? Never trust a nun to do a Doctor's work." Tasha turns on the Doctor, releasing Clara, and slaps him. Then she blasts the Daleks into flames.
"And she's back!" The Doctor exclaimed, kissing Tasha. The eyestalk goes back into her forehead leaving a scar, "You never could resist a row."
Tasha puts her hands on The Doctor's cheeks, "Kiss me when I ask."
"Well, you'd better ask nicely."
"In your dreams." Tasha walks slightly away.
"Right, get us back to the TARDIS. Can you do that?"
Tasha nodded, "Yeah, but quickly, the Dalek inside me is waking."
"Fight it." The Doctor said, grabbing Tasha's hand and squeezed it.
Tasha shook her head, "I can't."
"Listen to me. You have been fighting the psychopath inside you all your life. Shut up and win. That is an order, Tasha Lem."
The Doctor, Clara, and Vivian get into the confessional teleport booths.
"The forcefield will hold for a while, but it will decay, and there are breaches already." Tasha warns them.
"Then this isn't a siege any more, it's a war. It's all up to you now. Fight the Daleks, inside and out. You can do it, I know you can." The Doctor said truthfully.
"Oh, I see. You've got your TARDIS back, haven't you? Time to fly away." Tasha said bitterly.
"Tasha, please. Please. Thank you." The Doctor said, hugging Tasha and then breaking away.
Tasha shook her head, "None of this was for you, you fatuous egotist. It was for the peace. Fly away, Doctor!"
Tasha hit the teleport and the three of them teleported off the papal mainframe.
Follower: Pikanet128