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Chapter Three: Judgement of a Time Lord

Under normal circumstances, to deliberately enter the Void was considered nigh-impossible and extremely inadvisable. The presence of Ulnar addressed the first concern, and the present circumstances took care of the second. The TARDIS protested every second of the journey, and its passengers feared it would shake itself apart. After an eternity, the blue police box materialized, and its inhabitants stumbled out onto the dark, featureless plain.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Rory moaned.

"Promise me we'll never do that again," Amy concurred.

"Hello there!" the Doctor bellowed into the darkness, "Are you there?"

"This is the Void. Normally a realm of absolute nothing," the Doctor turned to his companions between shouts, "This one place is the only exception, so watch your step. Fall off, and you'll never stop."

"So…" Amy instinctively pressed her back against the TARDIS, "What are we looking for here?"

"Not what, who."

"Who are you? Why have you come here?" a fourth voice echoed, impossibly loud in the Void's emptiness.

Amy and Rory looked up to see a winged woman seemingly made of pure energy. Something about the new arrival spoke to a primitive, primal part of their minds and the couple slowly backed away. The air grew insufferably heavy, and both humans were soon forced on all fours. The Doctor seemed unperturbed and approached.

"Leave this place. There is nothing for you here," the voice echoed again.

"Sarah Louise Kerrigan," the Doctor's declaration gave the woman pause, "That's your name, isn't it?"

The heaviness evaporated, and the former Sarah Kerrigan shrunk down to human stature and stood before the trio. Through the blinding light that emanated from her being, a look of confusion was visible on her face.

"Who are you?" the reverb of Sarah's voice died down.

"I'm the Doctor, and the Koprulu Sector is being levelled by Daleks as we speak. I'm taking you back through Ulnar with me, whether you like it or not."

Kerrigan's expression twisted into anger, and the Doctor was thrown back. He crashed into the TARDIS, the impact knocking the breath from his lungs.

"You will do no such thing," the glow grew brighter once more as Sarah Kerrigan rose back into the air.

"I get it," the Doctor gasped, wiping a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth, "Who knew the woman whose name once made the entire Koprulu Sector tremble in fear was such a coward?"

"Doctor…" Amy reached out warningly, only for the Doctor to push past her.

"So this is your plan? Your idea of penance?" the Doctor's voice rose with every syllable, "To simply seal yourself away in the Void for all eternity?"

"Yes," Sarah replied simply.

Those who met the Doctor learned to fear the Time Lord's raised voice. Those who travelled with the Doctor knew that the time to run was when he grew quiet.

"How many?" the Doctor hissed, eyes narrowing.

Much to Amy and Rory's surprise, Kerrigan looked away.

"How many?" the Time Lord roared, grabbing the golden woman's shoulders and forcing her to eye level.

"Eight billion…" Kerrigan's voice cracked, "One hundred and forty-nine million, one hundred fifty-seven thousand, five hundred and sixty-nine."

"And you think those eight billion souls would be satisfied?" he twisted Sarah around and forced her to look him in the eye, "That after so much blood and death and sorrow and misery and terror, that simply running away into the Void would even begin to atone for your sins?"

"You already have eight billion souls on your conscience. Are you willing add another eighty billion to that?" the Doctor released the woman and allowed her to sink to the ground, "You could stop the Dalek fleet with a thought, wipe them from existence, and you won't lift a finger to help? You might as well have killed them yourself."

The Doctor drew a step back and took a deep breath.

"You're the last of the Xel'naga: the very ones who derived the Skasis Paradigm, and the only ones in all the universes who ever solved it. They understood that wielding the very forces of creation was not a blessing, not a privilege: it is a burden. An obligation to watch over and guide the other races, and you are going to fulfil the duties of your mantle."

"Who are you?" Sarah echoed again.

"You want judgement? You want atonement?" the Doctor seemingly ignored her question, "Then, Sarah Kerrigan, I shall sentence you. I'm the Doctor, and I'm the only one who can judge you. Take those eight billion souls you butchered. Multiply that number by a thousand, then another thousand, and you will have an idea of how much blood is on my hands."

The Doctor knelt down to the Xel'naga's eye level.

"The difference is, I didn't hide away: I fought to create a universe that might just justify what I did. You will do the same. Sarah Louise Kerrigan, I sentence you to live. Every time you look in the mirror, you will be reminded of every atrocity you have ever committed. Every time you close your eyes, you will hear the screams of every soul you murdered. You will never forget a single face, a single name. And you're going to take those memories to remind yourself what will happen if you fail, because your atonement will be stewardship of the Koprulu Sector."

At long last, Kerrigan tilted her head up to look the Doctor in the eye.

"You're going to watch over them, the Terrans, the Zerg, and the Protoss, and guide them to a brighter future. You're going to watch over them until the last star in the universe burns out. Then, and only then, may you return to the Void. But not for long, because you're going to reignite the fires of creation and seed the universe with light and warmth once more. And you're going to watch over that universe until entropy claims it. And the next. And the next. For eternity."

"Very well," Sarah closed her eyes and bowed her head, "I accept this sentence."

"Oh, and one last bit of advice?" the Doctor hauled creation's last Xel'naga to her feet, "Don't try the whole 'lonely god' routine. Trust me, I've been there, and it never works out."


Surface of Ulnar
One Hour Later

Amy and Rory helped the Doctor haul the cocoon out of the TARDIS with barely-disguised relief. The pod's leathery surface rippled beneath their hands, and their proximity to it only magnified the sense of sheer wrongness that the cocoon emitted. The Doctor's eyes widened as the chrysalis began to shake.

"Amy, Rory…" the Doctor turned to the couple, "Run."

The trio dove behind an outcropping as a bone spike punched through the shell. A clawed hand followed, then a second bone spike. A burst of psionic power shattered the shell, and a birth-scream echoed throughout Ulnar's abandoned halls. Fortunately for the bystanders, most of the released power was vented upwards into space.

The Doctor and his companions cautiously approached as Sarah Kerrigan drew herself up to her full height. Her face, framed with dreadlock-like tendrils, may have passed for human had it not been for the pale green skin and purple pupils. Her frame was slim, yet athletic, and covered with heavy purple skin weave reinforced with segmented brown carapace. A pair of enormous bone wings extended from her lower back.

Only the look in Kerrigan's eyes signaling impending doom as she caught sight of herself in a nearly puddle, pausing for a second while staring down at her clawed hands. A sudden psionic shockwave bowled Time Lord and human alike over.

"No…Nonononononono," she repeated as a mantra, "I can't go back like this…I can't!"

The Doctor surged forward as Sarah grabbed a handful of her waist-length tendrils and bought the fingers of her other hand together to ignite a golden psi-blade. He grabbed ahold of her wrist and forced the blade down, grunting with exertion as she struggled in his grasp.

"Sarah Kerrigan, listen to me! What you are now is beyond a human mind, a human body. It has to be this way: anything else, any other form, and your mind burns."

He noticed the fingers of Kerrigan's other hand coming together, and he grabbed the wrist moments before a second psi-blade formed. The Doctor instinctively flinched as he noticed the bone wings whip forward, though they never moved to attack. Rather, they settled in almost the perfect position for her to…

"Amy! Rory!" the Doctor called, nearing the end of his stamina, "Grab her wings! Don't let her bring them forward!"

Despite their reflexes screaming otherwise, the two rushed forward and carried out the Doctor's instructions. Both were surprised and nearly thrown off their feet by how much strength such thin limbs possessed.

"Rory," the Doctor ground out between gritted teeth, "You're the one closest to her ear. You've got to talk her down!"

"Me?" Rory exclaimed in surprise, "What can I say?"

"Something clever!" Amy screeched, throwing her weight backwards in a futile attempt to restrain the bone wing.

Rory thought for a moment, his memory flitting back to their arrival on Korhal. The words came to him naturally.

"He never gave up on you, you know," Rory declared in a barely-audible whisper, "He keeps a picture of you next to his bed."

The wings slackened slightly, and now that Amy could spare the energy to think about it, the other woman's face did resemble the redhead from the photograph.

"He tries to look strong, like he's moved on," Rory's voice grew louder, "But I've seen eyes like his before. They're the eyes of a man who's lost his reason to keep living. He's a General now, got the ear of the Emperor and everything. But I can tell that he only took the job because otherwise, he'd be sitting in a bar on some backwater planet drinking himself to death."

Amy nearly tumbled back as the force behind the wings evaporated entirely.

"You speak from experience…" Sarah whispered.

"It's a long story," Rory released the bony limb, locking eyes with his wife and exchanging a meaningful look with her.

"But I think we have enough time before reaching Korhal to tell the short version," Amy finished.