Chapter Eighteen: The Last of the Time Lords
"Your boyfriend needs to hurry. He's lost three minutes," Halmono informed the companions with a smirk.
Rose shook her head in confidence. "He will do the right thing. He's changed."
"Can you be so sure?" he retorted.
"I've seen in his head. I know it."
Donna gave her a comforting smile. "I believe if you do."
"I do, Donna. I know Koschei. We've been together for months. If there's anything he's loyal to, it's me. He wouldn't do that to me. He couldn't. Just like I couldn't hurt him. He's my best mate."
Covering her mouth, Donna edged closer. "You can't hurt him? What about you and the Doctor then? Don't tell me you're staying with that madman."
"It's not an easy choice, Donna. Of course I love the Doctor. But, I made a promise to Koschei and I don't want to break it. I don't want to lose the Doctor again. He's the one I've always chosen. He had my heart the second I met him. But I do love Koschei. He's more than a friend to me. He's the one that kept me sane without the TARDIS in this world. And so much has changed. I'm not the same girl that used to run about with the Doctor. I want us to go back to how it was, but once a moment is lost…it's lost. I want the Doctor desperately. It's all I've ever wanted. But that man is out there saving the Earth for me. I was starting to love him, Donna. I made a commitment just before the Doctor got here. I've just been so excited to think that I can go back to the TARDIS, back to who I was with the Doctor, that I forgot about what I have here. It wasn't bad. It was good. It wasn't as good as what I had with the Doctor, but it was close. I just don't know what to do. I love the Doctor. I do. With all I have. But…maybe I've overlooked Koschei."
"You really think so?" Donna questioned.
"He would have been here by now if he decided to end the Earth. He's doing something to save it. Not in a thousand years would he have done this before. All I'm saying is that I didn't understand until now just how much he changed and would do for me. That doesn't make this easy. Either I go with the Doctor and hope our love is enough to get back to what we had before…breaking Koschei into pieces…or I go with Koschei. I see what could happen, get over the Doctor, and explore something new. But I say goodbye to the Doctor for good. No hope. Nothing. He'd just be gone after all he's done to get me back."
Donna glanced at the Doctor's injured form. "When we thought he was dead, did you feel like the universe was caving in? Like you'd die with him? If you did or didn't, either way there's your answer."
Rose turned to see his body lying limply on the floor. She spotted just the slightest movement of the Doctor's fingertips. Maybe he was waking up. She didn't answer Donna. Instead, they both held out hope that he would wake up and break them out while the Master finished whatever he was doing to save Earth. They needed to work as a team. The drama could be sorted out after everyone was safe.
In the depths of the ship, the Master stood at a corner. This was the area that they had the fire fight in before. The broken conduit sparked as if to mock him. The aliens and motion detectors were still there. In a moment of genius, the Master had grabbed a few things from Halmono's room. After all, he had found a weapon chest and couldn't resist taking a peek. The grenade like apparatus rolled in and easily took care of any problems. He went a nearby console and opened a channel.
As it hailed the aliens, he grimaced and lined himself up within the wall. His message was pointedly being ignored, so he called to them. "Come on, oh great one! This is the Master! You know that you want to speak with me!"
"Where are you? You are taking your time!" Halmono hissed.
"I have reached a decision. I'm not going to give you the codes. I think that you would just kill us anyway. Everyone knows that there is no escape today. The only thing left to my overactive imagination is the final death toll, and I don't want the entire Earth to be included."
Rose lit up like a Christmas tree. "I knew you'd do the right thing."
"We will shoot them!" Halmono declared.
"You should reconsider. I think that you'll be more concerned with the self-destruct protocol that I have activated. You have fifteen minutes. Good luck trying to stop it. I won't say how I did it, but it is some of my finest work. Not to boast or anything."
Hal chuckled. "There's been no alert."
"I'm getting to that. The conduit you see behind me was damaged. Once I complete the flow, the self-destruct begins. I was only doing this to say goodbye. Rosie…" he paused as his voice dropped. "I have a message for the Doctor, if he wakes up in time. Tell him that I always figured we'd kill each other in the end. It surprises and sickens me that we will go out on the same side, fighting for the same cause, just like when we played as children. Time does odd things to a person. I'm still the same villain…I've just found something…someone…to die for."
Rose's brow knit in confusion. "I don't understand. You can tell him yourself when he wakes up and we get out of here. You aren't going to die. Nobody is."
"Don't be stupid. You know that isn't going to happen. I'm the conductor, Rose. I complete the conduit and I will not survive. The electricity will fry me in an instant. I'll go out like a squirrel on a power line. I'm doing this for you, Rose Tyler. Like a sissy. Sissy sissy sissy. Remember when we were in the dungeon? I said that if I die first, I will save you. I wouldn't tell you what would happen if you die first. Well, I wouldn't want to live. I have chosen to die first, saving you. All of you. Not because I am good. It's because I'm selfish. I won't live without you. You're mine. You see, if I had destroyed Earth you would have walked away. If you were to be killed, I'd still lose you. No matter what, chances are that you will be gone. And I can't live with that. I'm too scared and too big of a coward to imagine what that'd be like. Being trapped, forever, without Rose Tyler…I don't know how the Doctor did it. I refuse."
With tears, Rose watched as he wedged further into the wall and got ready to grip the wiring. "Don't do it. Please. There has to be another way. You mean so much to me, Koschei. I don't know if I can say goodbye to you. You're my best friend. You've kept me going in the last few months."
"There is no time to do anything else. Believe me, I tried to think of anything but this. You have fifteen minutes, Rosie. Try to find a way out. Any way. You do impossible things, my Bad Wolf. I don't know if I hate you or love you for it, but I was changed. Not enough. I'll always be a self-interested lunatic. But at least both hearts are pounding. The drums…they're raging…this is how it was supposed to be. This is why I met you. I am meant to die. For you. I do love you. I hope you know that. This is it. Do me a favor. Look for me in the clouds. One…two…three…four…"
He grasped the wires with all his might. The current moved through him and he was gone instantly. The countdown started, and all of the aliens panicked. He was still on the screen. Rose could see him turn to black ash. There was no regeneration. Donna moved her away from the images by wrapping her into a tight embrace. The force field was still in place, but the aliens aiming weapons at them had vanished. Rose turned to see the Doctor's arm starting to move. She wiped away tears and called to him desperately, similarly to what she had done after he regenerated into this Doctor.
"I need you."
Like magic, the Doctor sat up and grabbed his sonic. He slipped through a gap and limped to Donna and Rose. He freed them, suddenly collapsing onto both of them for support. The chaos around them led to confusion on his part.
"What's going on?" he wondered. "What have I missed?"
Rose was in no state to answer, so Donna took over. "We have less than fifteen minutes to get off this ship before it explodes."
"Explodes? Well done, Master! I'm assuming that the smaller ship was left in a hangar on this ship. Or that it's attached. Which means that it's near the bottom of the ship. So we should go that way. I would guess that the Master is meeting us there? Or is there another plan?"
Donna shook her head while Rose cried harder. "He isn't coming, Doctor."
After a pause, he swallowed his emotions and kept moving. Together, they quickly limped downwards into the belly of the ship. Sure enough, there was a clearly marked hatch. Donna opened it and they climbed inside. The Doctor took the helm and flew them as far from the ship as they could. Then, they waited in silence. In a bright show of flame and spark, the Hotspurlian ship was destroyed.
No one spoke. It was a very emotional moment. The air was still and thick with sorrow. Rose was still crying, the Doctor was in shock, and Donna was numb. The Doctor finally managed to find the words.
"What happened up there? I remember that I was shot, but that's all."
Donna muttered a response since Rose was still seemingly unable. "The Master picked you up and we got into a stairwell. Just when we got to the next level, they got us by transporter. We were kept in force shields, but he managed to get out. Those things put guns to our heads and told him to come back and give him the codes to Torchwood or we'd be killed. So—"
"I told him no," Rose interrupted. "I asked him to spare Earth. For me. But when we had that gun fight, it blew a hole in the wall. Something had to complete the conduit. So he did. Set a self-destruct and let the ship turn him to ash. He said something. He said to tell you that he thought that you two would kill one another in the end, but you went out on the same side like when you were little kids. He said I changed him. That I do impossible things. He wanted to save us if he could because he couldn't live without me. Didn't know how you managed it. He loved me. Truly loved me. And then he said…" she paused as the tears kept flowing. "…he said to look for him in the clouds."
The Doctor seemed stoic. He reached for her, and she shook her head no. She wasn't ready for it. The Doctor, though hurt, nodded and allowed a single tear to escape from his dark eyes. Donna was the only one who wasn't crying. She sat down in a passenger's seat with a nod out the window.
"There's Earth in one piece, though. That man saved all those people at the cost of his own life. Villain or not, he went out a hero."
"He did," the Doctor agreed softly. "Looks like I'm the last of the Time Lords again."
"But that doesn't make you alone," Rose answered as she gazed into his eyes.
He could only nod as Donna put a hand on his shoulder. They decided to take some time before flying back home to explain what had happened and figure out where to go from there.