A/N I don't own BBC or DW.

Book of the Update: The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan

P.S. This episode is two parts and they're each a little over an hour long so it might take up a few more chapters than normal…whoops.

Chapter 12: The End of Time

"How about we put this one here," Rose said, pointing to a spot on the tree, "And that one there?"

Donna huffed. "I'm puttin' that one here and this one there and that's final."

Rose smiled, loving the stubbornness of her friend. The Doctor had gotten a message calling him to some planet full of Ood, and he said they'd told him to come alone, so after they made him promise not to do anything stupid, he dropped Rose and Donna off at Donna's mum's house to help decorate for Christmas. Which happened to be today, according to the watch Rose had gotten from a market on the Zyriod that told the exact date and time of wherever you were. Handy thing to have while with the Doctor.

Rose still hadn't met the famous Wilf, Donna's granddad, but Ms. Noble said he'd gone out with friends just before they'd gotten there, and he'd soon be back.

"Fine," Rose said finally, throwing her hands up in mock exasperation, ""s not my tree, I don't care!"

The doorbell rang, cutting off whatever Donna had been about to say. "MUM!" She yelled down the hallway, only to receive a response of some muffled words, maybe 'you get it?' Donna seemed to understand, though, because she groaned and stepped down off the stepstool, handing Rose the ornament to place where she would.

She walked out of the room to answer the door, and Rose kept right on with her decorating, but had to put down the ornament and go to the door when she heard Donna's unmistakable laugh drift into the living room. She walked out to see Donna blatantly flirting with the man who had been at the door. She didn't blame her – he was quite attractive, with dark skin and gorgeous eyes.

"Donna," she said, "You gonna introduce me to your friend?"

"Oh, right. Yeah. Well, Rose, this is Sean Temple, Sean, this is Rose Tyler."

"I'm a friend of Wilf's," Sean said by way of explanation, though he didn't look like the rest of Wilf's friends, who were all in the old folk's home – Sean looked about 30. "He told me to try and stop by today, something about last minute decorations?"

Rose noticed that though he was speaking to her, he kept glancing back at Donna. Obvious chemistry between those two. Maybe it was time for her to play matchmaker?

"Yeah, we've been decorating already, haven't we, Donna? But you can help us, if you'd like. You two can do the tree and I'll go hang up the lights outside."

"Alright," Sean said, making his way back into the living room. Rose picked up the bundle of string lights, winked at Donna, and walked by her and out the front door.

DOCTOR WHO

CLANG

CLANG

CLANG

CLANG

There it was again. The noise. Like someone wanted him to hear it, like someone was calling him to them. His eyes widened and he took off to the source of the sound, pebbles scattering in his wake.

CLANG
CLANG
CLANG
CLANG

Again. And again. And again. Over and over. And then it stopped. And the Doctor knew that he was coming to find him. To meet him in the middle. He ran over dirt hills and over concrete and through the shipyard and up a pile of rubbish. And then he saw him. Standing there, maybe 25 meters away. He opened his mouth and roared, a painful, screaming sound. And then he jumped. And the Doctor had no choice but to follow, because that's what he does. He follows and gives away second chances. Again and again and again.

More running. Over the rubbish heap and down the far side and on concrete and over metal support beams lying on the ground. And then he stopped. He laughed, a maniacal, menacing laugh that chilled the Doctor right down to his bones. His face flickered and for a moment, his skull showed through, blue and haunting. His life force was being worn down. Soon it would be gone, and that would be it – no regenerating, no second chances.

"Please, let me help!" the Doctor cried, looking up at him. "You're burning up your own life force!"

He smirked, his skin flashing translucent once more, before he laughed and jumped. The Doctor followed, pushing someone out of his way when they tried to stop him. "Outta my way!" He yelled, climbing up the stack of metal beams to look over, but he was gone.

The Doctor became aware of the babbling behind him and turned, dropping down to the ground.

"…who phoned Nettie, who phoned you," and old woman was explaining to a group of older people. Wild stood among them. "And her sister lives near the house, and she saw the police box. And her neighbor saw this man heading east," she smiled broadly, gesturing to the Doctor.

"Wilfred," he said, slowly advancing toward him, "Have you told them who I am? You promised me."

"No, I just told them you were a doctor, that's all. And might I say, sir, it is an honor to see you again." He saluted and the Doctor, looking confused, slowly raised his hand in a salute as well.

"Ooh! But you never said he was a looker!" said the woman in the red coat. "He's gorgeous! Take a photo," she said, shoving a camera into the hands of a man standing next to her.

"Not bad, eh?" the man mumbled, smiling at the Doctor, showing off his dentures. "Me next."

"I'm Minnie," the woman in the red coat said, waling over to him. "Minnie the Menace. It's a long time since I've had a photo with a handsome man." She wrapped her arm around him and the Doctor looked around him in confusion as the rest of the older people there began to crowd around him.

"Leave him alone!" Wilf cried, but Minnie ignored him.

"Doctor," she said, pinching his cheeks, "Give us a smile." He smiled awkwardly, too dumbstruck too do anything else. "That's it."

"Hold on," said the man, "Did it flash?"

"No, there's a blue light," Minnie explained. "Try again."

"I-I'm really kinda busy, ya'know," the Doctor said once he'd regained the ability to speak.

"Oh, it won't take a tick," Minnie promised, wrapping her arm around him again. Her hand dropped a bit too low for his comfort and he jumped.

"Is that your hand, Minnie!"

She smiled at him and patted his bum. "Good boy."

DOCTOR WHO

"Donna!" Rose called, but there was no answer.

She carefully placed the bundle of lights on the ladder, trying not to pull down the ones already up, and walked inside, shutting the front door quietly behind her. She walked back into the living room and saw Donna standing on a chair to put the angle on the tree, Sean standing behind her with his hands on her hips to steady her, though she probably could've managed by herself.

"Hello, Rose," Sean quipped cheerfully, helping Donna down once she had finally managed to get the star on the treetop.

Rose smirked, looking at Donna, who gave a little smile and shrugged innocently. "I was just goin' to ask, where did you want the rainbow lights? I put all the white ones on the front, but what 'bout the others?"

Donna waved her hand, "Oh, wherever's fine. 'Round the bottom of the trees, maybe?"

"Yeah okay. I'll do that." She walked out of the living room, only to pop her head back in, "And don't have too much fun in here," she warned jokingly, "Wilf could be home any minute." She winked at Donna, who was blushing furiously and pulled her head back, walking down the hallway and out the front door again, picking up the bundle of multi-colored lights and heading over to the trees in the front yard, wondering idly if she'd need an extension cord.

DOCTOR WHO

There he was. Again. His hands crackled with electric energy, and he raised his fists to his chest and threw the energy, blasting a hole in the wall beside the Doctor, who didn't even blink. Another blast. The entire part of the building behind him erupted into flames, but the Doctor did not once flinch or look back.

He began to rub his hands together, making the electric energy grow and spark off of his fingers.

The Doctor kept slowly advancing toward him, unwavering even when he blasted his energy right into the Doctor's chest. The Doctor grit his teeth and shuddered as the energy coursed through his body. It finally stopped and the Doctor fell to the ground.

He rushed over, catching the Doctor before he fell. The Doctor looked at him. Looked at the malice in his eyes, masking an insane sort of sadness and an ancient bond, stronger than brotherhood. He dropped the Doctor and stood up, watching the Doctor as he fell to the floor, gasping.

He squatted down next to the Doctor. "I had estates," he said with a dangerous calm in his voice. "Do you remember my father's land back home? Pastures of red grass, stretching far across the slopes of Mount Perdition," he sighed, reminiscing. "We used to run across those fields all day, calling up at the sky." He sat down on the pile of rubble. "Look at us now."

"All that eloquence," the Doctor said, "But how many people have you killed?"

He raised his eyes. "I am so hungry." It wasn't an excuse. Just a statement. A fact.

"Your resurrection went wrong. That energy…your body's ripped open. Now you're killing yourself."

"And that's human Christmas out there," he said spitefully, "They eat so much! All that roasting meat, cakes, and red wine. Hot, fat, blood food. Pots, plates of meat and flesh and grease and juice. And baking, burnt, sticky hot skin. Hot! It's so hot!"

"Stop it," The Doctor growled, having had enough of the madman's rant.

"Slice-"

"Stop it!"

"It's mine. It's mine. It's mine! IT'S MINE! Eat it! Eat it, eat it, eat it!"

"Stop it!" he finally did and they both just looked at each other, breathing heavily. "What if I asked you for help?" the Doctor asked finally, causing him to snicker incredulously. "There's more at work tonight than you and me."

"Oh yeah?" he asked nonchalantly, leaning back onto the rubbish heap behind him.

"I've been told something is returning."

"And here I am."

"No," the Doctor objected, "Something more."

"But it hurts," he moaned, grabbing fistfuls of his hair and pulling.

"I was told the end of time…"

"It hurts…Doctor, the noise. The noise in my head, Doctor. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four," he said maniacally, pounding his fists against him skull to mimic the pattern. "Stronger than ever before. Can't you hear it?" he asked, almost desperately, "Listen, listen, listen, listen."

But the Doctor heard nothing.

"Every minute, every second, every beat of my hearts…there it is, calling to me. Please listen," he begged pathetically, so close to the dirt he was almost laying down.

"I'm sorry," The Doctor told him, "I can't hear it."

His eyes went wild and his lip began to twitch. "Listen," he growled, grabbing the Doctor's face and pressing their foreheads together.

And the Doctor heard it. The never-ending tapping that went on inside the head of his childhood friend, forcing him into madness, every minute, every second.

The Doctor jerked back, mere seconds being too much for him to bear. "I heard it."

He gasped, looking relieved and astonished all at once.

"But there's no noise," the Doctor continued, "There never has been, it's just your insanity."

He stood up, holding his head and looking around at the world, his mouth forming soundless words of relief. "It's real," he mumbled, "It's real!" He laughed deliriously and the Doctor stood up and stepped away from him.

"What is it? What's inside your head?"

"IT'S REAL!" He bellowed for the whole world to hear. He lowered his hands and jumped once more, flying impossibly high into the sky and leaving a trail of greyish-blue energy floating down behind him.

The Doctor began to run again, still gasping from his encounter with the energy. He ran, following the trail and the sound of maniacal laugher drifting through the sky. He skidded to an abrupt stop when he saw him standing there, on a mound of dirt and rubble.

"All these years, you thought I was mad!" he shouted, half taunting, half gloating, "King of the wasteland! But something is calling me, Doctor. What is it? What is it? What is it?"

A bright light shone down from the sky, illuminating only the man standing on the hill, screaming into the night. He looked up, opening his arms to embrace whatever was coming down. Another light appeared, shining onto the Doctor himself.

Ropes came down from the helicopter in the sky, followed by people in all black. They grabbed him and shot a syringe into his neck.

"No, DON'T!" The Doctor yelled, watching helplessly as his best friend – or worst enemy, depending on how you look at it – was taken up and away.

The Doctor ran to him, trying to stop whatever was happening, but the sound of machine guns smacked him in the face and he stopped as, just as the Doctor had reached the hill where he had stood, a bullet shot through his chest, forcing him to the ground.

He lay there, motionless, as the helicopter flew away, carrying with it the only other creature the same as him. Carrying with it the Master.

DOCTOR WHO

Rose had hung nearly all of the outside lights when she got a searing pain in her head and stumbled back off the ladder, pressing her palms to her eyes, trying to stop the white-hot pain behind her eyelids.

It lessened enough that she could think clearly, and in the midst of the chaos within her brain, she heard – or rather, felt – something. A message. She ran inside on unsteady legs, knocking things over left and right as she blindly groped for the door handle and swung open the front door, rushing inside and skittering to a stop in the living room.

"Rose! Rose, what's wrong? Are you okay?" Donna shouted, grabbing her by the shoulders.

"'S the TARDIS," Rose gasped out, trying to push down the pain enough to get her brain working correctly again. "Something's happened. She-she doesn't like it. Bad, bad, bad, very bad," she said, all in an overlapping rush.

"Calm down! What's happened?"

Rose shook her head, pressing her hands to her eyes again. "I dunno. But 's the TARDIS, something bad…the Doctor, we've got to get to the Doctor and help 'im! Bad, bad."

"Where is he? Do you know where the Doctor is? Where the TARDIS is?" Rose shook her head madly, the pain behind her eyes becoming worse and worse.

"Bad, bad, bad, bad!" She cried, becoming less and less articulate as her mind was overwhelmed. "He's hurt, he's hurt….bad, bad, bad, bad….wolf! Bad wolf!" She exclaimed, just before she crumpled to the ground, a motionless ball of limbs and hair, sprawled on the carpet.

A/N So…..there's the beginning of End of Time! This episode, since it's so long and 2 parts, takes up like 4 chapters oops. Tell me what you think, please; let's see if we can make it to 100 reviews maybe? Happy Thanksgiving!