A/N: So... this chapter kind of ran away from me after the Master decided to show up, so... you get it early! And, my god, did I write a lot... well, compared to how much I usually write! Umm... Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays (Wouldn't want to be politically INcorrect, now would I? :P)
I DON'T OWN!

UPDATE: So, apparently wasn't allowing reviews on this chapter, so I'm reuploading it and I hope this works. Merry Christmas! :)

The Doctor, giving no further thought to consequences, burst through the TARDIS doors only to be held immobile by an invisible force field. He screamed and beat his fist against the wall, keeping him isolated from the woman he loved, his friends, and the Master, who he could not quite call a friend anymore. He let himself fall to the ground with a small sob, and the Master, watching from his prison by Rassilon's side, convulsed a little.

How many times had the Doctor forgiven him, been this vulnerable in front of him, only for him to turn around and try to destroy everything he held dear? He could hardly remember the time when they had been best friends, inseparable to any who tried. The Doctor always helped him conceal his drums; they both knew that he would have been exiled if Rassilon had known about his insanity. How had he repaid the Doctor for his friendship? By killing him more times than he could count. He glared at Rassilon, the cause of his drums, and swore, then and there, to take his revenge and help the Doctor, even if it cost him his life.

River stared, no coherent thoughts running through her head other than the fact that she wanted to go and join the Doctor, fight his demons with him, not watching from inside the TARDIS.

Amy and Rory stood next to River, Rory's arm creating a comforting cage around Amy's shoulders that she burrowed into. It killed her—it killed them—to see the Doctor so broken. He had always seemed so strong. To have to watch him like this when they didn't even know what was causing it was too much to bear. Amy sobbed when the Doctor sobbed, and buried her head in Rory's shoulder. The only reason Rory hadn't broken down as well was because, to him, Amy needed him to be strong. He would stay strong if it killed him. With the way this was going, he was afraid that it would.

Rassilon smiled, seeing all these emotions passing on the faces of his guests in the split second it took to feel them.

"Oh, Doctor," he called to the collapsed man. "It seems two of your friends are rather confused. Care to explain? Or shall I?"

The Doctor wearily raised his head, tears glistening on his face. He shook his head minutely and whispered, "leave Amy and Rory alone. They don't need to know."

Amy shook her head a bit. "Doctor, I think we do."

Rory, as always, agreed with his wife. "We can help you. We're not the useless humans you seem to make us out to be."

The Doctor continued shaking his head. "No… Too… not good."

Rassilon beamed. "Now, we don't want to disappoint your friends. So, let's tell them the 'not good' story of what you did during the Time War.

We were nearing the end of the War," he continued, eyes boring holes into Amy's and Rory's alternatively. "I had finally perfected our plan, the only way to end the carnage. Timelords would ascend, become only consciousness. Of course, the Doctor wouldn't have that!"

"You would have destroyed the universe! Entire races, planets, realities destroyed just so you could 'ascend!'"

"Collateral damage! It happens during wartime."

"That's not collateral damage, that's genocide! You're as bad as the Daleks."

Rassilon was infuriated. How dare he! "We are more than them. We are superior, we are better!"

"You are just the same, but with fancy ideas and morals. Twisted, but still morals. You cannot call yourselves better than the Daleks when you act just like them."

Rassilon screeched, but was interrupted by River's mocking voice. "My Lord President," she sang. I think you've forgotten about me."

"Oh, Melody, I could never forget about you… or how you so purposefully failed me."

"I go by River, now, President. River Song."

"A beautiful name fitting a beautiful Timelady."

"You have no right to compliment me, not after what you've done, what you've tried to make me do."

Rassilon shook his head. "I only did what I had to, for the sake of our race."

"I don't count myself as one of you, not after what you did."

"Pity. Perhaps you'll step out into the light, face me where I can see you."

The Master strained against invisible bonds. "River, don't you dare, it's a trap! He'll do to you what he's done to the Doctor and me! Get out of here!"

"Thank you for the warning, Master, but I realize that this is a trap. I will also willingly step into it. I would never abandon the Doctor." With that, she neatly stepped into the throne room where she spent so much of her childhood.

Amy and Rory, unsure of what to do, followed suit, also becoming imprisoned in the same unseen chains that had just restrained River.

"Oh, just look at the little party that you're missing, Doctor. I would almost assume that you're asleep. Well," his face twisted with cruelty. "You won't be for much longer."

The Doctor stood and faced Rassilon as the man clenched his gauntleted fist. The Doctor grabbed his stomach and screamed. He doubled over in pain, tears coming into his eyes. He tried to be strong, tried to keep the tears from falling, but it was so hard. The hairs on the backs of Amy, Rory, River, and the Master's necks stood on end. Amy and Rory had never heard the Doctor in so much pain. River had only seen the agony in his memories. The Master lived the last time the Doctor had been so anguished. It was when he made the decision to let Gallifrey burn in isolation, when the Master left him forever and allowed the drums to consume him.

"Stop hurting him! Please… just stop!"

"What is it to you, Master? Last I checked you hated him, always trying to kill him. If I remember correctly, you succeeded on a few counts, as well."

"Please," the Master begged, voice weaker than it had been before. "He's my best friend."

"Best friend," Rassilon scoffed. "You really think he'll forgive you so easily?"

"No, and I don't expect him to."

"What do you expect, then?"

"Let me take his place."

"That's an impossibility." The pain in the Doctor's head stopped, and he breathed heavily, clutching one of his hearts. "The Doctor must die. It's written in the stars."

"No… What's written is that a child of Gallifrey who has spent his whole life running from a past he'd rather forget must suffer. Nothing about death, and nothing naming the Doctor as that Child."

The Doctor clenched his teeth and gazed at the Master through his tears. What had changed in the man, to allow him to honor their friendship again? Then he remembered; when they thought time was ending, he sacrificed himself. The Doctor had thought it was because he wanted revenge against Rassilon for torturing him his whole life, but could it have been more? Could it have been that he wanted to regain his friendship? Whatever it was, he couldn't let the master suffer in his place he knew that. However, Rassilon made any heroic bravery on his part unnecessary.

"Temping offer, really, Master, but I'll have to decline." Rassilon turned back to the Doctor, and the pain returned in ernest. The Doctor's vision went stark white, and he heard River sobbing in her cage, unable to reach him. He shook his head, tried to tell her it was ok, that he wouldn't die here, not today. He still had plenty of life left, and he wasn't about to give up simply because Rassilon had a petty revenge scheme.

The Master screamed, and the Doctor, through the blinding stabs, muttered, just loud enough for him to hear, "I forgive you," before his world went black.

AH! I'm SORRY! I'M SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY! I don't know what happened! BAD RASSILON! I swear, it's all HIS FAULT DX
ummm... review? No flaming please! D':