So, as an early Easter/Passover present, here is the next chapter. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who!
In the next room over, Rose had heard everything that the Master had said. She even heard the harsh smack of a hand hitting skin. Hearing that sound, Rose had to fight hard to keep Bad Wolf from emerging to take retribution against the Master. However, if the Bad Wolf was to take control of her, Rose wouldn't be able to handle such a fast birth that this child of hers was demanding. So instead, Rose has been focusing more of Bad Wolf's power into slowing down the labor process dramatically.
Suddenly the multiple Masters that are in the room with her begin to scurry about the room as if something major has happened. Two of them head towards the door that leads into the next room where the Doctor is, but when they go to open the door they find it locked. This agitates them and they begin pounding on the door.
From the chair that she is tied to, Rose can't help but feel ecstatic about the Doctor possibly escaping the Master. Even if it means leaving her behind, Rose would rather have the Doctor safe than for him to surrender because of her.
One of the Masters notices that Rose is smiling and decides to see if she knows anything.
"Where did he go?" He asks while gripping his hands over Rose's wrists.
"Don't know and I am not going to tell you." Rose growls out at the man's face.
"Leave her be." One of the other Masters says to the other. "The Doctor will come back for her and their precious Time Tot."
The Master, who is leaning in front of Rose, releases her wrists and walks away from her. He makes his way over to where the others are in the room and there is a shout for more security in the room. There is also a lot commotion out in the hallways as well.
"Be safe, my Doctor." Rose whispers softly to herself as she sends a small prayer to the universe that everything will be alright.
Aboard a ship high above the Earth…
"Now get me out of this thing!" The Doctor yells at his rescuers from the chair that he is strapped to.
It isn't that he is ungrateful for their help on escaping the Master, his guards, or the mansion; but he is not thrilled at having escaped while strapped in a chair. Add to it that Rose was left behind and the Doctor isn't sure where Jenny or Jack are at the present.
"Don't say thanks, will you?" The female alien says to the struggling Doctor.
"He's not going to let us go. Just hurry up and get me out." The Doctor replies.
Wilfred, who was also rescued alongside the Doctor, takes in his new surroundings and realization that he is on an alien ship. But what shocks him the most is seeing the Earth from a large window.
"Oh my goodness me." Wilfred says in awe at seeing such a view. "We're in space!"
Even with the commotion of the two aliens releasing the Doctor from his restraints, Wilfred still can't believe that he is in outer-space. Sure, he had listened to all the fantastical tales that Donna had told him when she traveled with the Doctor, but he had just thought that they were just made up stories. Now, with this proof of evidence, Wilfred can honestly say that he believes every story that Donna had ever told him.
With the Doctor now released from the retraining chair, the first thing he does is aim his sonic screwdriver at the main controls of the alien ship. He is hoping that with the ship offline and not moving that it will keep them safe from the Master finding them.
"Where's your flight deck?" The Doctor asks the two aliens, quickly stowing away his sonic into his jacket's pocket.
"But we're safe." The female alien replies. "We're a hundred thousand miles above Earth."
"And he's got every single missile on the planet ready to fire!"
"Good point."
The two aliens lead the way, out of the engine room and run towards their flight deck. The Doctor runs out the door before coming to a stop and then looks back into the room. He lets out a whistle to get Wilfred's attention, and motions with his hands for the older man to follow. After running for almost a minute, they finally reach the flight deck.
"Shut it down!" The Doctor yells to the two aliens as he heads over to one of their single person consoles.
"No chance, mate. We're going home." The male alien says as he begins entering in the coordinates into the flight computer.
"We're just a salvage team." The female alien tells the Doctor as she too begins working on sending the ship back to their home world. "Local politics has got nothing to do with us. Not unless it's a carnival. The sooner we get back to Vinvocci space, the better."
"We're not leaving." The Doctor defiantly tells the two aliens before pulling out his sonic and aims it at their controls.
The sonic destroys their controls and the consoles explode from whatever it is that the Doctor did to stop them. This causes the whole ship to lose power and go dark which will hide them from any and all sensors that the Master may use to try and find the ship. The four of them keep standing in the dark, staying silent for a short time till finally the female alien decides to speak.
"No sign of any missiles. No sign of anything." She says in a chipper voice before snarling out at the Doctor. "You've wrecked the place."
"The engines are burnt out. All we've got is auxiliary lighting." The male alien reports. "Everything else is kaput. We can't move. We're stuck in orbit."
"Thanks to you, you idiot!"
The female alien stomps away from the Doctor and out of the flight deck in an angry huff about the situation. However, Wilfred looks at the Doctor and sees that the man might need a bit of cheering up.
"Yeah, I know you, though. You've got a plan, haven't you?" Wilfred says to the Doctor. "Come on, you've always got a trick up your sleeve. A nice, little bit of that Doctor flimflam, ha-ha-ha, sort of thing."
The Doctor can only look at Wilfred with a serious look, but very sad eyes. He can't say a thing to give Wilfred hope because he doesn't have a plan. Not for this.
"Oh blimey." Wilfred says as he realizes that the Doctor doesn't have any kind of plan.
Down on Earth…
Night has fallen and the real Master is still trying to wrap his head around just where the Doctor has gone off to. Knowing that he holds the perfect hostage, the Master has sent for the guards to bring Rose to him. It doesn't take them long to bring her before the Master, and he can't help the smile that is on his face.
"He's left you. You and your Time Tot. I find it interesting that he didn't even try to rescue you before fleeing from me." The Master says to Rose as he slowly approaches where she is standing.
Rose doesn't say a word, but her eyes are ever watchful of where the Master is as he begins to circle her and her two guards.
"Before I get started with my plans, I just want you to know that I will be there for you. Never would I let the Bad Wolf birth a child on her own. Nor would I ever leave you behind only to protect myself." The Master reasons to Rose, hoping that she will either break emotionally or release the power of Bad Wolf.
Still, Rose refuses to speak or allow the Master's words to harm her. She trusts the Doctor completely and their loyalty to each other is what drives them to protect each other. Rose will never walk away from the Doctor so easily for another. Nor will Bad Wolf allow herself to be mated to another that isn't her Doctor.
Seeing that he is getting nowhere with Rose, the Master waves a hand to signal to the guards to take Rose away. Since she isn't going to help him, then she isn't going to be allowed to witness his own power.
"Are we ready?" The real Master asks one of his duplicates.
"We're ready."
"Good. We will listen, all of us, across the world. Just listen to the drums."
Leading by example, the Master closes his eyes and focuses on the drumming in his mind. He knows that the others are doing the same, and a surge of pride runs through the Master's mind.
"Concentrate. Find the signal. There! The sound is tangible. Someone could only have designed this. But who?"
Meanwhile, Rose finds herself in yet another room, but this time there is a fainting couch in it and the guards haven't tied up her hands or feet. She is free to roam about the small study-like room with only four guards placed in front of the single door.
Slowly, Rose waddles her way over to the fainting couch and carefully maneuvers to sit on its plush, velvet green cushions. It isn't much of a bed, but it will do. Though she doesn't want to admit it, Rose is feeling very weary and tired from the events of the day. That and also using Bad Wolf's power to keep the labor at a slow pace.
Finding the best position to rest in, Rose closes her eyes to try and get some sleep. However, the child inside of her has other ideas and lets out a burst of Time Lord energy. This causes Rose to let out a startled scream as a very powerful contraction breaks free from Bad Wolf's power. With one hand clutching the edge of the fainting couch, Rose places the other onto her protruding belly. The muscles underneath her hand tighten up but do not release or ease up.
Remembering her breathing, Rose tries to breathe through this rather long and powerful contraction. As she breathes, a bright flash of light cuts through the heavy curtains of the large window. Deep within her, Bad Wolf lets out a howl of warning through the time vortex. A howl that manages to catch the attention of certain captain who is monitoring the time vortex from within a Tardis.
Back on the ship…
The Doctor had begun tinkering with a bunch of wires when a shiny streak of light captures his attention. Setting down the wires and his sonic, the Doctor watches as this meteor heads straight for England. Deep in his bones, the Doctor knows that there is something unnatural about this meteor and its trajectory.
Out of nowhere, something rips into the Doctor's mind and it causes him to curl in on himself as his knees give way. Pressing the palms of his hands against his temples, the Doctor has to force his lungs to breathe as the pain in his mind surges. There is something familiar, yet different about the presence.
"Rose." The Doctor hoarsely gasps as he finally realizes what is happening.
Trying his best to focus, telepathically, the Doctor reaches out to Rose through their link and he can feel the never-ending pain of a single, constant contraction. Reaching further into their link, the Doctor finally brushes up against the small mind of his unborn child, who is rather frustrated at being held hostage inside of her mother.
"Easy my little stardust." The Doctor whispers out loud while also caressing the child's mind with those words. "Mummy is not in a safe place to let you out yet."
The reply he gets from the unborn child is one of irritation, frustration, and a sense of not wanting to be left out. He can't help but chuckle at how similar the child is to him already. With as much gentleness as possible, he tries to placate his unborn, and sings an old melody from his childhood on Gallifrey. His child is soothed for the time being and eventually falls asleep to the haunting tune.
At this point, the Doctor is pleased to feel Rose's thanks through the link as well as the receding of the contraction. She also gives him a warning that Bad Wolf can't hold out much longer against the rising of the birth.
"Doctor? Hello?" Wilfred's voice calls out.
The Doctor, hearing the man, retreats from the link with Rose. Opening his eyes, which he hadn't realized were closed, the Doctor does a quick check of himself. With nothing broken or injured, the Doctor removes his hands from his head and moves to stand up again. He makes his way back over to the bits of wire and console that he was messing with and sits down to wait for Wilfred to arrive.
"Aye, aye. Got this old tube mended?" Wilfred asks the Doctor as he enters the flight deck.
"I'm just trying to fix the heating." The Doctor says, not knowing that his face has some sweat on it.
"Really? Looks like you're all sweated up a bit." Wilfred says as he moves to sit down with the Doctor. Then he looks at the big window before talking again. "You know, I've always dreamt of a view like that. Look at me now, I'm an astronaut."
Wilfred laughs a bit while the Doctor just chuckles at Wilfred's glee about being up in space and seeing the Earth.
"Oh look. It's dawn down there in England." Wilfred comments as he points at the Earth. "Brand new day."
Then Wilfred's voice turns solemn as he continues speaking to the Doctor. "My wife is buried down there, Doctor. I might never visit her again now. Do you think he changed them, in their graves?"
The Doctor, hearing the sadness in Wilfred's voice can only say to the man one thing. "I'm sorry."
"Not your fault." Wilfred answers back.
"Isn't it?"
Deciding to change the topic, Wilfred decides to try a different approach as he speaks to the Doctor.
"Oh, 1948, I was over there. End of the mandate in Palestine. Private Mott. A skinny, little idiot, I was. Stood on this rooftop in the middle of a skirmish. Like a blizzard, all them bullets in the air. The world gone mad. Yeah, you don't want to listen to an old man's tales, do you?"
The Doctor, who had set aside what he was doing so that he could pay closer attention to Wilfred, had his arms crossed over top of his knees.
"I'm older than you are." The Doctor says to Wilfred.
"Get away."
"I'm nine hundred and six."
"What, really, though? And your wife is how old?"
"Only twenty-seven years old, last time I checked."
"Nine hundred and six with a wife who is only twenty-seven. You robbed the cradle to get her didn't you. We must look like insects to you."
"I didn't exactly rob the cradle. More like she wondered out of nursery and clung tight to my leg. Haven't been able to shake her off since, and at this point I don't think I ever want to. But you all look like giants to me."
Wilfred lets out a snort at the Doctor's joke about his young wife before sobering up again. Reaching into his tan bomber style jacket, Wilfred pulls out the pistol that he has been carrying around.
"Listen, I… I want you to have this." Wilfred says to the Doctor as he offers the gun. "I've kept it all this time, and I thought…"
"No."
"No, but if you take it, you could…"
"No."
Seeing that the Doctor isn't budging from his no gun rule, Wilfred brings the offered gun back towards himself.
"You had that gun in the mansion. You could have shot the Master right then and there."
"Too scared, I suppose."
"I'd be proud." The Doctor says to Wilfred.
"Of what?"
"If you were my dad."
"Oh come on, don't start. That'd mean your brood would be my grandkids and I don't think I could keep up with that teenage girl of yours."
"Or my son."
"Or your son."
The two men share a short, but meaningful laugh before Wilfred asks the Doctor something that has been on his mind.
"You said you were told he will knock four times and then you die. Well that's him, isn't it? The Master? That noise in his head. The Master is going to kill you, and do who knows what to your wife and kids."
"Yeah." The Doctor says, finally admitting to himself that there is no way that he can protect Rose or their children from the Master.
"Then kill him first. Before he harms Rose and the kids." Wilfred offers the gun to the Doctor again.
Yet the Doctor still refuses to take the gun. "And that is how the Master started. It's not like I am an innocent. I've taken lives. And I got worse, I got clever. Manipulated people into taking their own. Sometimes I think a Time Lord lives too long. But I can't take the gun, Wilfred. I just can't."
"If the Master dies, what happens to all the people?"
"I don't know."
"Doctor? What happens?" Wilfred forcefully presses on for an answer.
"The template snaps."
"What, they go back to being human?"
The Doctor can only nod his head, but refuses to say any words to confirm the nod of his head because he knows the truth.
"They're alive and human? Then don't you dare, sir. Don't you dare put him before them. Before your own family. Now you take this. That's an order, Doctor. Take the gun." Wilfred yet again offers the pistol to the Doctor, though much more forcefully than previously done. Yet to no avail. "You take the gun and save your life! And please don't die. You're a wonderful man and I don't want you to die. And neither would Rose or your kids."
The Doctor allows Wilfred to take hold of one of his hands and the old man presses the weapon into his hand. But the Doctor twists his wrist to place the gun back into Wilfred's hand and gently guides the gun back towards Wilfred.
"Never. Bad Wolf knows what to do for Rose and our kids when I'm gone." The Doctor tells Wilfred, hoping that those words will bring the man comfort.
"A star fell from the sky," The Master's voice says from out of the speakers of the ship. "Don't you want to know where from? Because the Bad Wolf does, and now it all makes sense. The whole of my life, my destiny. The star was a diamond. And the diamond is a white-point star. And I have worked all night to sanctify that gift with some help from Bad Wolf. Now that star is mine. I can increase the signal, using your Time Tot's energy and Bad Wolf's to fuel it, and use the star as a lifeline. Do you get it now? Do you see? Keep watching, Doctor. This should be spectacular. Over and out."
The Doctor feels nothing but distress within his own mind. He tries to check on Rose via their telepathic link, but feels nothing. This sends the Doctor's mind into a tizzy with fear, worry, and anger warring with each other.
"What's he on about? What's he doing? Doctor, what does he mean? What's Bad Wolf? Is that Rose?"
"Yes, and a white-point star can only be found on one planet, Gallifrey. Which means it's the Time Lords. The Time Lords are returning." The Doctor spews out in horror at what the Master is planning to do.
"But that's good, isn't it? I mean, that's your people."
The Doctor takes the gun out of Wilfred's hand and clutches it tightly within his own. He stares at the gun, contemplating what he must do for only a few seconds. Then, in a mad dash, the Doctor rushes out of the flight deck. He refuses to allow the Master to use Rose's life to power the Master's idea.
Heading into the main bridge of the ship, the Doctor comes to a stop and listens to the pulsating rhythm of four notes. Wilfred and the two aliens, who were already on the bridge, listen to the sound as well and are confused by it.
"What's that?" The female alien asks the Doctor.
"It's coming from Earth." The male alien replies as he checks one of the many display screens on the bridge. "It's on every single wavelength."
"You said your people were dead. Past tense." Wilfred says, trying to understand what it going on.
"Inside the Time War, when the whole war was time-locked. Like sealed inside a bubble." The Doctor explains in a hurry as he begins prepping a certain piece of equipment he had found lying about somewhere. "It's not a bubble, but just think of it as one. Nothing can get in or out of the time-lock. Don't you see? Nothing can get in or out, except something that was already there."
"The signal! Since he was a kid." Wilfred states with understanding now of just what the Doctor was saying to him.
"If they follow the signal, they can escape before they die." The Doctor says while running over to one of the three main controls on the bridge.
"Well then, big happy reunion. We'll have a party." Wilfred says to the Doctor.
"There will be no party."
"But I've heard you talk about your people. They sound wonderful."
"That's how I choose to remember them, the Time Lords of old. But then they went to war, an endless war, and it changed them right to the core. You've seen my enemies, Wilfred. The Time Lords are more dangerous than any of them."
"Time Lords?" The female alien asks, never having heard of that race before. "What lords? Anyone want to explain?"
"This is a salvage ship, yes?" The Doctor asks as he begins running around the room again, going to the many different computer screens. "You were trawling the asteroid field for junk."
"Yeah, what about it?" the female alien replies while asking a question at the same time.
"So, you've got asteroid lasers." The Doctor happily growls out.
"Yeah, but they're all frazzled." The male alien retorts.
"Consider them unfrazzled." The Doctor says to the male alien as he runs up and pulls a lever down on the console that the alien was standing behind.
It is at this point that the Doctor tells the others of his plans and turns on the ship so that they can travel down into the atmosphere. Sending the ship towards Earth, the Doctor tries to send a message to Rose through their link.
'Rose, I'm coming for you.'
So here we are. On the cusp of the climax of The End of Time Part Two. I will be posting the next chapter after the spring holidays, around next.
Selene