"I thought I told you to stay away from her."
It was the Doctor's voice that pulled Eva back to consciousness, and she opened her eyes to see him and Tegan standing above her and the Master.
"I came looking for him," she muttered, trying to push away the rock that was blocking both hers and the Master's airways.
The Doctor and Tegan leaned down, pushing it off them before helping them to their feet.
"Watch your step," Tegan said as Eva almost fell back, her leg disintegrating for a moment.
"Thank you," Eva said, leaning on her for support.
"I'm very grateful," the Master said, leaning on the Doctor.
"Earth, please," was the Doctor's only reply and the Master nodded, letting them into his TARDIS.
The flight was quick and stable, and Eva spent all of it seated on the Captain's chair of the Master's TARDIS. When they landed, the Doctor and the Master headed out immediately, and Eva made a move to follow but fell down.
"Are you alright?" Tegan asked, leaning next to her.
"I'll be fine," Eva promised. "It's just a bit hard to stand up. I'm slightly dizzy."
She reached out a hand, intending to lean on the console to pull herself up but seeing nothing.
"That's – That's what happened to the Monitor!" Tegan gasped.
"Yes, well, the universe is dying," Eva said. "I'm just a bit more affected by it then you are."
"But... Why?"
"If the universe dies right now, there is no future," Eva said. "Everything will collapse, the speed depends on how much are we dependent on the future."
"How much are you dependent on the future?" Tegan asked worriedly.
"Quite a lot, I'm afraid," Eva said, managing to stand up at last. "Did I mention the fact that I was born in the future?"
"Here, I'll help you," Tegan muttered, allowing Eva to lean on her. "Would you prefer if we stayed inside?"
"No," Eva said quickly. "I think I just might drive myself mad. Let's head outside."
Tegan nodded, helping the other woman out of the door and into the Pharos computer room. The Doctor was crouching next to a man on the floor, and Tegan rushed to him, leaving Eva to lean on a wall.
"He's unconscious," the Doctor told them.
"Never mind," the Master said. "I feel we've been spared a very difficult conversation."
The Doctor and the Master immediately went to business, doing... whatever they were doing to feed the program into the Project's computer. Eva stumbled towards the chair, sitting on it and marking Tegan not to say a word about her situation while the Doctor was in the room.
"What makes you think this program of the Monitor's is going to work, Doctor?" the Master asked, though he was looking at Eva as he spoke.
"Oh, I don't know," the Doctor sighed. "It's a sort of vague faith in the nature of things, I suppose."
"It's in the very nature of things for entropy to win," the Master noted.
"Yes, well, it's the age-old battle, isn't it?" the Doctor questioned. "Entropy versus structure. Still, while there's life, it's six of one and a half dozen of the other."
"Woolly thinking, Doctor," the Master noted.
"Yes, it's very comforting when worn next to the skin," the Doctor replied, not taking his eyes off of the machine for a moment.
Eva hissed silently when a sharp pain burnt through her chest, looking at the two Time Lords in a silent plea for them to hurry up.
EMH
"The dawn's coming up," Tegan told them some time later. "There are security guards outside."
"Any good?" the Doctor asked the Master.
"It's still not running," the Master sighed. "The program's useless. It's time to abandon this line of reasoning."
"Of course," the Doctor said, snapping his fingers. "The program's not been fed into the core."
"Well?" the Master asked.
"We start again," the Doctor said.
"Do we really have time for this?" Eva asked, an edge of worry to her voice.
Her leg underneath her knee had disappeared completely, and had stopped blinking back into existence.
"We will," the Doctor replied. "Don't worry."
"Kind of hard not to at the moment," Eva muttered.
"It's running," the Doctor said.
"If you call this alien gibberish a program," the Master muttered.
"We'll just have to wait till the data reaches the CVE," the Doctor replied.
"First we must reach the transmitter and connect up the light-speed overdrive," the Master retorted.
"What about the guards?" Tegan asked.
"I suggest we use your TARDIS," the Doctor said.
"Impossible," the Master replied. "The light-speed overdrive's disconnected."
"We've still got to get across to the antenna control room," the Doctor said.
"I agree."
"I agree, too, for what it's worth," Tegan interrupted.
"And so do I," Eva said.
"Good," the Doctor nodded, heading towards the door.
Eva made a move to follow, only to fall on the floor, the Doctor rushing to her. He pulled her up and looked at her, seeing for the first time her missing leg and flickering arm.
"You're disappearing from existence," he said, shocked. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"You'd have only worried," Eva replied.
"Of course I would have worried!" the Doctor called, turning to Tegan and the Master. "Did you know?"
"Doctor," Eva sighed.
"You did know," the Doctor said, outraged. "And you didn't tell me?"
"I told them not to," Eva said sternly before shaking her head. "We don't have time for this now."
"You do not hide these things from me!"
"Doctor!" Eva called. "We don't have time for this. We'll talk about this later."
"We better," the Doctor warned, raising her into his arm, bridal style. "Come on."
The group walked out of the room, the Doctor and Eva in the back, stopping for a moment to look out of the window. Through it, they saw the man from the bridge and the Doctor sighed.
"You know who he is, don't you?" he asked.
"I do," Eva said.
"I know you can't tell me much," the Doctor started. "But... will everything be okay?"
"Eventually," Eva replied softly, and the Doctor nodded before moving on.
They ran outside, trying to avoid the guards to the best of their ability. Eva felt bad for holding them back but every time she offered they'd just leave her, the Doctor shut her up. They reached a spot close to the transmitter, and the Master raised his Tissue Compressor Eliminator to kill the guards, but the Doctor stopped him.
He grabbed the device from his hand, throwing it back, and the sound of the device hitting the ground made a guard turn at them.
"Intruders!" he called. "After them!"
"Sentimental fool," the Master said when they finally escaped them. "Thanks to you, we're now weaponless."
"Shh!" the Doctor hissed at him, looking down at Eva in his arms. "Are you alright?"
"I can wait for later," Eva replied.
"No, you really can't," the Doctor retorted.
They heard the sound of a conversation going on behind them, and looked to see Adric and Nyssa distracting the guards. Tegan quickly joined them, allowing the Master, the Doctor and Eva to escape.
The Doctor ran, not looking back until he reached the transmitter. He gently put Eva on the ground, kissing the top of her head.
"I'll be right back," he said.
"I know," Eva told him, trying not to wince at a sharp pain in her chest. "Hurry up, please."
He climbed up the transmitter and Eva rested her head on its side, having nothing to do other than sit and wait. It wasn't long afterwards that the pain ceased, and she looked down to see both her legs and both her arms were where they should be, stable.
The only problem was that she knew from now on, things would only get worse.
EMH
"Peoples of the universe, please attend carefully," the Master's voice transmitted. "The message that follows is vital to the future of you all. The choice for you all is simple. A continued existence under my guidance, or total annihilation. At the time of speaking –"
Eva looked up at the sound of the Master's voice transmitting. From the corner of her eye she could see Tegan, Adric and Nyssa approaching, and ran towards them.
"What's going on?" Adric asked.
"What do you think is going on?" Eva asked. "The Master is trying to take control over the universe."
"Are you okay?" Tegan asked worriedly.
"I'm fine," Eva said. "The Doctor will take care of it."
"The Doctor is falling off the dish," Nyssa told her, looking up.
"Everything will be okay," Eva muttered to herself. "Eventually."
It was the worst experience Eva had ever been through. Looking at the Doctor and knowing he would succeed, but with a cost. She gasped as he slipped, holding on to nothing more than a cable, hundreds of feet above ground.
He swung aside, trying to hold on to the transmitter itself, instead of the cable, but even that didn't work for long. Eva saw him fall, as if on slow motion, and ran to him.
"Doctor!" she called, falling to her knees next to him with Tegan, Adric and Nyssa following closely.
"Doctor?" Tegan asked worriedly.
"Doctor?" Nyssa repeated.
"Doctor," Adric said desperately. "Doctor!"
The Doctor smiled at him. "It's the end," he said. "But the moment has been prepared for."
Eva let out a strangled noise. She couldn't do it. She couldn't watch him die, even if he regenerated. This was harder than she thought it would be, she should have been fine, she saw it on screen dozens of times.
But as the Doctor looked at her, smiling, she couldn't help but feel that this was different.
"Eva," he muttered.
He reached out a hand and the man from the bridge approached.
"The Watcher," said Adric, as the Watcher and the Doctor became one.
"He was the Doctor all the time," Nyssa said in understanding.
For a moment, the Doctor glowed in the golden regeneration light. Through it, Eva saw the face of the Watcher before the light faded and the Fifth Doctor sat upright, beaming at them.
EMH
Adric and Tegan were carrying the Doctor to the TARDIS, Nyssa following closely behind with Eva, alarms blaring as they ran. The Doctor passed out, falling to the ground and taking Tegan with him and Eva leaned down, holding his hand.
"These are secure premises!" one of the guards said, finally catching up to them. "Now, you lot have got some explaining to do."
"But the Doctor –" Tegan started.
"He'll be taken care of," the guard said, leaning down and grabbing Eva harshly.
"Don't touch me!" she hissed. "I know people in places you don't even know exist, and I am staying with him or so help me God, I'll personally make sure you will not hold your position tomorrow."
The guard eyed her before nodding and marking his friends to grab the rest.
"Look, will you let me go?" Adric asked.
"Look, take your hands off me, this is an official uniform!" Tegan called.
"Leave me alone!" Nyssa cried out in pain.
"I'm sorry," Eva muttered to the unconscious body next to her. "I need to stay with you. I need to..."
A golden light started engulfing her and her breath hitched in her throat.
"No, no, no," she called out. "No, the Doctor needs me! Not now! Not now!"
"And then we discovered it wasn't the robot king after all, it was the real one," the Doctor was saying as Eva appeared. "Fortunately, I was able to re-attach the head."
"Do you believe any of this stuff?" Rory asked.
"I was there," Amy replied, spotting Eva. "She was there, too," she said with a smile, looking at the Doctor expectantly as he realized what she just said.
"Eva!" he called happily. "Where did you come from?"
"No," Eva muttered. "I need to get back there. How do I get back there?"
"Get back where?" Rory asked.
"1981," Eva replied, looking at the Doctor. "Right after Logopolis. You regenerated and I... I need to go back."
"Oh, I was fine," the Doctor shrugged. "A different you came back before I even woke up."
"You don't understand," Eva told him. "I need to go back!"
"I didn't even know you were gone until now," the Doctor went on.
"You really are an idiot, aren't you?" Amy asked. "This isn't about you. This is about her."
"Eva?" the Doctor asked.
"It's the first time I see you regenerate," Eva told him. "I need to be there for you. I need to help you through it!"
"You'll have plenty other chances," the Doctor told her, stepping forwards and holding her hands in his. "Don't worry. You were brilliant every time."
Eva frowned, opening her mouth to reply when she was disturbed by a knock.
"What was that?" Amy asked.
"The door," the Doctor said, turning to look at it. "It knocked."
"Right," Rory said. "We are in deep space."
"Very, very deep," the Doctor said, walking towards the door with Eva's hand still in his. "And somebody's knocking." He opened the door, smiling as he saw a bright box floating in front of him. "Oh, come here," he muttered. "Come here, you scrumptious little beauty!"
He reached out but the box flew inside, making Amy jump as it passed next to her and came back. Eva ducked out of the way and the box hit the Doctor right in the chest, knocking him down.
"A box?!" Rory asked in disbelief.
"Doctor, what is it?" Amy asked.
"I've got mail!" the Doctor called out happily.
"Time Lord emergency messaging system," Eva explained as the Doctor walked around the console happily.
"We'd wrap up thoughts in psychic containers and send them through time and space," he said excitedly. "There's a Time Lord out there, and it's one of the good ones!"
"You said there were no other Time Lords left," Rory said, confused.
"No Time Lords left in the universe," the Doctor agreed, throwing the box to Amy. "But the universe isn't where we're going, is it, Evie?"
"No," Eva said, by far less excited than the Doctor as she knew what was going to happen.
"See that snake?" the Doctor asked, marking at a snake painted on the container. "The mark of the Corsair. Fantastic bloke. He had that snake as a tattoo in every regeneration. Didn't feel like himself without the tattoo. Or herself, a couple of times." He frowned for a moment, looking at Eva. "The two of you flirted way too much when she was a girl."
"Looking forward to it," Eva smirked. "Always wanted to meet the Corsair."
"I noticed," the Doctor muttered, pulling a lever and sending them all flying, holding on to the console in order to stay standing.
"What's happening?" Rory called out.
"We're leaving the universe!" the Doctor called back.
"How can you leave the universe?" Amy asked.
"With immense difficulty!" the Doctor called back.
"He's burning up TARDIS rooms," Eva explained, as the Doctor pushed buttons.
"Goodbye, swimming pool," he said. "Goodbye, scullery, sayonara, squash court seven!"
The TARDIS landed, making Eva fall to the ground as she was the only one who didn't have the time to grab the console.
"You okay?" the Doctor asked.
"I'm fine," she grumbled, pulling herself to her feet.
"Where are we?" Amy asked.
"Outside the universe," the Doctor said. "Where we've never, ever been."
The lights went off around them, and Rory frowned.
"Is that meant to be happening?" he asked.
"It's the power," the Doctor said. "It's draining. Everything's draining! But it can't. That's... That's impossible."
"What is that?"
"It's as if the matrix, the soul of the TARDIS, has just vanished," the Doctor explained. "Where would it go?"
Eva sighed, realizing she wasn't going back to the Doctor she just came from any time soon.