A/N: Hiya everyone, sorry it's been a little while since I posted. You know how crazy life gets some times. We are reaching the end of this episode and I have to say that it was one that I have enjoyed writing. So I hope that you enjoy reading it!
After admitting how terrified she was and the Doctor trying to reassure her as much as he could, the pair of them set to work on the flight deck. The Doctor had put his glasses on and pulled out a mass of wires while Kari was sitting with him, not really helping much, but just gazing out of the window. She was waiting for something to happen, for something to come into view.
She felt a little calmer after admitting how she was feeling to him, because she knew just how much he was worrying. Kari had to keep reminding herself that everything would be fine, that the Doctor would be okay and that everything would go back to normal. Right now she needed to to keep herself focused on anything other than what Missy had said to her. For all she knew it could be nothing, it could just be Missy paying with her head, making her think something awful was going to happen when it wasn't.
"Pick somewhere." The Doctor suddenly said, causing Kari to look at him with a confused frown. "Anywhere you want. Pick a place and we will go there."
It took Kari a few more moments to try and process what he had just said. Why was he saying that? "Doctor…" She finally said, catching a hold of his thoughts and what was now running through his head. "Everything will be okay. This isn't something that either of us can run away from. And besides, we don't have the TARDIS. How exactly are we going to go anywhere?" He wanted to run. Run far and fast.
The Doctor knew that she was right, whatever was coming was something that the pair of them both had to face. "I don't know. I don't…" He stopped what he was doing and gave Kari his full attention. "Do you ever wish…"
"No." Kari told him, stopping him in his tracks. "Don't you dare even think that, Doctor. Don't you ever, ever think that." She said to him firmly. "You need to stop this, this isn't you."
"I'm scared, Kari." He admitted to her, his vulnerability finally starting to show through. Kari already knew that he was scared, she could feel it rather strongly.
Kari got up from where she was and sat down in front of the Doctor. "I know you are, I can feel just how scared you are. You don't want to regenerate, you don't want to die. I know you don't. But it's more than that, isn't it?" She knew that the root of it wasn't just about him changing, about him becoming another man. "I swear, it will never change anything. I will always be here for you, okay?" She waited for a response from him, but he seemed to be hesitant. "Please, you have to believe me, nothing will change between us."
The look on the Doctor's face told Kari that he wasn't fully convinced. "How can you be so sure? You've said it yourself, the things you see aren't always exactly the same as what happens. What if…"
"No, I'm going to stop you right there." Kari called, interrupting him. "I know, because I have been there, okay? I know that the person you are going to become is just as fiercely protective as you are. The amount of times that you are going to tell me off because I did something stupid, or something that worried or scared you. Yes, every time you walk away as someone different, but I am telling you now that it does not change anything between us."
All Kari could do was keep watching him and wait for his response. She just hoped that she was getting through to him, that he was listening to her. There wasn't much else she could think of to say to him, to reassure him that everything was going to be okay. Kari needed him to believe her.
Unfortunately, while in his head he was realising that she was right, he never had the chance to respond to her as something caught his eye out of the window, something soaring across the sky. Kari quickly turned her head as well, watching what he was watching. The pair of them both got up and walked over towards the huge window of the ship and continued to gaze at whatever it was that was burning through space, heading straight for Earth. Kari knew exactly what they were watching, and she also knew the impact of what would happen because of it as well.
She continued to stand there, watching, knowing what was going to happen next, knowing what the Master was going to do. Kari wanted so badly to change what was going to happen, to make the Master see that there was a better way, that she could help him, that the Doctor could help him. It was an impossible task. Instead she just listened to the noise that was coming from Earth, the thoughts from every single human who was now the Master.
"Aye, aye." A voice called, bringing Kari back to reality. "Got this old tub mended?" It was Wilfred, having finally returned from his little wander around the ship.
The Doctor glanced over at Kari quickly. While she had been gazing outside, he had been gazing at her, the worry still flooding through him. "Just trying to fix the heating." He answered, still tending to the mass of wires.
Wilf sat down near the Doctor, Kari dragging herself over and sitting right beside the Time Lord. "Oh, I've always dreamt of a view like that." The old man said, before getting a little excited. "I'm an astronaut!" Kari wanted to give the man a smile, but she just didn't have it in her, there was too much going on. "It's dawn over England, look." Both Kari and the Doctor looked to where the man was pointing towards. "Brand new day. My wife's buried down there. I might never visit her again now." The prospect of never getting back to his home was dawning on him now. "Do you think he changed them, in their graves?"
The silence that followed was one that could never mean anything good. "I'm sorry.' The Doctor finally said, a sad and sorrowful look on his face. Kari reached out a hand and placed it on the Doctor's arm, trying to comfort him a little.
"No, not your fault." Wilfred told him, shaking his head.
But the Doctor didn't believe him. "Isn't it?"
Kari wanted to tell him that it was never going to be his fault, that there was someone else who was responsible for all of this, someone with a bigger plan than any of them really knew. But Wilfred had started speaking once more. "Oh, 1948, I was over there. End of the Mandate in Palestine. Private Mott. Skinny little idiot, I was. Stood on this rooftop, in the middle of a skirmish, It was like a blizzard, all them bullets in the air." He told them, recalling what had happened when he was younger. The Doctor was clearly listening, as he had stopped with the wiring and taken his glasses off, his hand now holding Kari's tightly. "The world gone mad. Yeah, you don't want to listen to an old man's tales do you."
"I'm older than you." The Doctor said, giving Kari's hand a squeeze. He could tell that she was thinking over everything, that she had more on her mind than she would tell him.
Wilfred looked at him with a hint of disbelief on his face. "Get away." No, he did not believe that the Doctor could be older than he was.
The look on the Doctor's face, however, was a serious one. "I'm nine hundred and six." He informed the old man.
It was clear the Wilfred didn't believe him, the shocked expression on his face said it all. "What? Really, though?"
"Don't even know how old I am anymore." Kari muttered, not really meaning to speak out loud. It took her a moment to realise that she had spoken those words. "Sorry, I stopped trying to count a long time ago. Pretty sure I'm not as old as the Doctor is. Not yet, at least." It was true, Kari didn't know how old she was, and she honestly didn't really care much. She knew that she had been travelling with the Doctor for years now, so many years. But the time didn't matter, because she was always with him.
It took a moment for that information to sink in for Wilf. "Nine hundred years." He repeated, still in disbelief. "We must look like insects to you." Wilf added with a chuckle.
But that was not how the Doctor saw them at all. "I think you look like giants." Kari knew that the Doctor had always been fascinated by humans, by the progress they made, how they adapted and moved on. He loved it. It was one of the reasons why he spent so much time visiting Earth.
They sat in silence for a few moments, before Wilfred pulled something out from inside of his jacket. "Listen, I… I want you to have this." He said, holding out the revolver that the Master had found on him back at the mansion. "I've kept it all this time, and I thought…"
Kari knew exactly what the Doctor was going to say, she knew his feelings about guns, she knew he was not that kind of man. "No." The Doctor said, not even attempting to go for the gun.
However, Wilfred was not going to give up just yet. "No, but if you take it… you could…"
"You had that gun in the mansion." Kari said, stopping him in his tracks. "You could have shot the Master there and then. You didn't." She knew that the Doctor was going to say all of that, she knew he had been thinking about it since it had happened.
Wilfred looked at her, his old eyes filled with tiredness. "Too scared, I suppose."
"I'd be proud." The Doctor then said, causing Wilfred to ask what he would be proud of. "If you were my dad." Kari knew that this was hard for the Doctor, for him to talk about family. As far as he was concerned she was his family. They were a family and that was all. He never talked about back on Gallifrey, he never once tried to speak of his family. Kari knew that there was a reason behind it, a reason that even the Doctor didn't know.
"Oh, come off it, don't start." Wilf said, noticing that the Doctor was starting to get a little emotional. "But you said, you were told he will knock four times and then you die." He needed some clarification, and to move it away from anything emotional. "Well, that's him, isn't it? The Master. That noise in his head? The Master is going to kill you."
Kari gave the Doctor's hand a squeeze. She wanted, so badly, to tell him the truth, to let him know that things were not like that. But she knew that she couldn't. "Yeah."
"Then kill him first." Wilf said, holding the gun towards the Doctor once more.
But he wasn't going to do it, he was not going to take that gun. "That's how the Master started." Kari said, jumping onto the conversation, hoping to stop the Doctor from saying what he was thinking.
Kari's plan didn't work. "It's not like I'm an innocent." The Doctor added, causing Kari to close her eyes and try to block out some of the emotions that were rolling off the Doctor. "I've taken lives. I got worse. I got clever. Manipulated people into taking their own lives. Sometimes I think a Time Lord lives too long." He looked over at Kari and noticed a few tears rolling down her cheeks. "I can't. I just can't."
"If the Master dies, what happens to all the people?" It was a fair question that Wilfred asked, and one that Kari was happy to answer.
"The template snaps back. They become human again. Everyone returns to normal." She told him, taking a deep breath.
Wilfred looked from Kari to the Doctor. "What, they go back to being human?" The Doctor nodded at him. "They're alive and human? Then don't you dare, sir. Don't you dare put him before them." It was clear to see that Wilf was getting emotional himself now. He wanted to protect his family, the people he had left back on Earth, even if he was never going to see them again. "Now you take this. That's an order, Doctor. Take this gun. You take the gun and save your life." He said holding the revolver towards him once more. "And please don't die. You're the most wonderful man and I don't want you to die." He was holding back the tears now as he took the Doctor's hand and placed it over the gun.
But the Doctor only had one word that he could say to him. "Never." He wouldn't do it. He couldn't. The Doctor felt that it would make him no better than the Master if he did. He was never going to do it.
Suddenly, the Master's voice came through on the speakers across the whole of the ship. "A star fell from the sky. Don't you want to know where from?" The Master said, causing them all to listen. "Because now it makes sense, Doctor. The whole of my life, my destiny. The star was a diamond." Kari glanced over at the Doctor and saw a hint of panic flash across his face. "And the diamond is a Whitepoint Star." At hearing that the Doctor took in a sharp breath. He knew exactly what that meant. "And I have worked all night to sanctify that gift. Now the star is mine. I can increase the signal and use it as a lifeline. Do you get it now? Do you see? And the best thing is, Kari knew. She always knew. Ha! Keep watching, Doctor. This should be spectacular. Over and out."
While Kari and the Doctor knew exactly what was going on, Wilfred was very confused. "What's he on about? What's he doing? Doctor, what does that mean?" He asked, trying to get some answers. He had noticed the Doctor's panicked reaction and the guilt look on Kari's face.
It wasn't the Doctor who answered him, it was Kari. "A Whitepoint star is only found on one planet. Gallifrey. Which means…"
"It's the Time Lords. The Time Lords are returning." The Doctor said at the same time as Kari, causing her to look at him. Usually it was the other way around, her speaking at the same time as him, so this felt a little weird to her.
Wilfred didn't understand why they were both so worried over the new revelation. "Well, I mean, that's good, isn't it? I mean, that's your people." The Doctor didn't reply, he simply took the gun that Wilfred had been offering him and ran off, heading towards the flight deck. "I don't understand." The old man said, looking at Kari.
Kari quickly got to her feet. "The Time Lord's are not our friends here." She informed him, helping him to stand. "They aren't as wonderful as you may think. Now come on, I need to stop him. I need to stop them all." Kari added, making her own way towards the flight deck.
When Kari got there she saw that the Doctor was standing there listening to the beat, the beat of four. The Doctor was breathing heavily, knowing that those four beats meant the end of his life. Now he understood what the Ood meant, what was returning. He looked at Kari and saw the guilty expression on her face. Without even needing to think about it, he knew what was going through her head. "Kari, it isn't your fault. You couldn't have stopped this. Do not blame yourself." He told her, walking over to her and grabbing a hold of her hands.
She looked at him, her eyes gazing into his. "Isn't it? I knew, Doctor. I always knew. I know exactly what Rassilon has done. All those years ago, when you were children, when we were all friends together. I knew. And now…" She was filled with too much guilt now, more than she had felt for a very long time. It was her fault that this was all happening, it was her fault that the Doctor was going to die. At least that was what she was thinking.
"No. Stop it." The Doctor said, trying to get her to listen to him. "Don't do this, Kari, please. He never listened to you. You tried so many times to get him to listen but he wouldn't. He was always going to reach this point." He was desperate to get her to listen to him, to believe what he was saying. It was strange how the tables kept turning.
Kari nodded at him. "You're going down there, aren't you?" The Doctor nodded at her. He had to get back to Earth somehow.
By the time Wilfred had finally caught up to them both the Doctor and Kari were dashing around the flight deck, pulling out wires, trying to get things working. "But you said your people were dead. Past tense." The old man clearly still needed clarification on what was going on.
"Inside the Time War." The Doctor told him, not stopping what he was doing. "And the whole War was Timelocked. Like, sealed inside a bubble. It's not a bubble but just think of a bubble" He was in a ramble now, and there was nothing that could stop him. "Nothing can get in or get out of the Timelock. Don't you see? Nothing can get in or get out, except something that was already there."
This was where Kari stepped in. "The signal, since he was a kid." She added, talking about the Master.
"If they can follow the signal, they can escape before they die." The Doctor added, working on the controls on the desk then rushing over to another control panel.
"Well then, big reunion. We'll have a party." Wilfred said, causing Kari to shake her head and the Doctor to tell him that there will be no party. "But I've heard you talk about your people like they're wonderful."
The Doctor couldn't stop, so carried on rushing around the place as he spoke. "That's how I choose to remember them, the Time Lords of old. But then they went to war." He explained, using his sonic screwdriver on something before quickly putting it back into his jacket pocket. "An endless war, and it changed them right to the core. You've seen our enemies, Wilf. The Time Lords are more dangerous than any of them."
While the two Time Lords and the human had been rattling on in their own conversations, they had failed to notice the two others there, the owners of the ship, the ones who had saved them and brought them there. "Time Lords, what lords?" The green woman asked. "Anyone want to explain?"
Kari looked at the Doctor who was still rather busy. "This is a salvage ship, right?" She asked the woman. "You go trawling the asteroid fields for junk?" Kari smiled when the woman confirmed what she had just said. "Lovely, so you've got asteroid lasers!"
"Yeah, but they're all frazzled." The green man called to her as if she were stupid for forgetting what the Doctor had already done to the ship.
The Doctor rolled his eyes as he dashed back to one of the consoles, his hands on a large lever. "Consider them unfrazzled." He said, flipping it and causing the ship to power up a little again. "You there, what's your name?" He asked the woman, snapping his fingers at her but not giving her enough time to answer him. "I'm going to need you on navigation." He said, before turning to the other one. "And you, get in the laser-pod." Then the Doctor looked at Wilfred. "Wilfred, laser number two. The old soldier's got one more battle."
While the Doctor seemed to have plenty of energy, the two green humanoids were not as energetic. "The ship can't move. It's dead!" The woman stated once more.
"Fix the heating." The Doctor told her, before grabbing two large levers at the front of the flight deck, throwing them both back and fully powering up the ship.
There was disbelief on her face now. "But now he can see us!" She exclaimed, clearly not happy with what was going on.
Kari was getting to the end of her tether. She needed this to be over with, she needed to get the Doctor somewhere safe. All this time the Doctor had thought they were stuck there when they were not. She had her vortex manipulator with her. They could have gotten back to Earth at any time. She could save him, take him away, stop it all from happening. Leave the Earth and just run away with the Doctor. But would she really do that? Would she let the whole of Earth be destroyed? A place that she once called home? A place where her friends and family lived? No. She wouldn't.
By the time she had come back to reality it was just her and the Doctor on the flight deck, with missile after missile being sent at them. She realised that she was holding on tightly, even though she had no recollection of them even beginning to hurtle back towards Earth. Suddenly the green woman came rushing over while Kari was holding on for dear life. She had to duck when the glass from the window before them shattered. The Doctor quickly glanced at her, checking that she was okay. Kari nodded towards him, letting him know that she was fine, even though she was very far from being fine.
"Lock the Navigation." The Doctor yelled, the noise around them making it difficult to hear each other. The owner of the ship asked him what he wanted the navigation locked onto and he was quick to reply. "England. The Naismith mansion"
Kari knew what the Doctor was going to do next, she knew what would happen when they reached the mansion. She heard him call out, asking how long until they were there. "Fifty Klicks and closing." The green woman replied. "We've locked on to the house. We are going to stop though." The Doctor didn't answer her. "Doctor? We are going to stop?"
Hw couldn't answer her, because he knew that she would not like the answer, just like he knew Kari would. However, he had a feel that she already knew, a feeling that was right. They stayed silent as they whizzed over the countryside, heading straight for the mansion, straight towards the Master, and the return of the Time Lords.
"Doctor!" Wilfred called, having finished his mission of fighting off the missiles that the Master sent to destroy them. "You said you were going to die." There was no response from him, only the green woman once more asked what he had said. Wilf ignored her. "But is that all of us? I won't stop you, sir. But is this it?"
The Doctor stayed focused, steering the ship as best he could, determination on his face. He was trying to block Kari out as best he could, he didn't want her knowing what was running through his mind. Unfortunately, she was able to see it all, to hear every one of his thoughts. He wanted her to stay there, to be safe. She was not going to come with him, she was not going to be there when it happened. He couldn't let her see what he was about to do, because he didn't want her to see him become someone he didn't want to be. The Doctor didn't want her to be there when he died. He didn't want to put her through all of that. He just couldn't do it to her.
At the very last minute, when everyone thought they were going to crash, the Doctor pulled up, before heading over to an escape hatch and pulling it off. He hadn't said a word to Kari about what he was going to do. All he did was grab a hold of her, kiss her, and then pull out the gun Wilfred had given him. When Kari looked at him, he could see the tears in her eyes. Then he jumped and Kari rushed to the opening, watching as he plummeted back down to Earth, down through the glass ceiling of the Naismith mansion.
Kari wasted no time, she knew exactly what she had to do. She pulled out the vortex manipulator and quickly attached it to her wrist. She was not going to get down there the same way that he had, but she wasn't sure she was going to be able to explain this one to him. None of that mattered, what mattered to her was getting down there and being with the Doctor, even if he was trying to keep her out of it, she needed to be there.
Wilfred had noticed she was doing something. "Kari, you're not going to jump as well, are you?" He asked, fear and worry etched across the old man's face.
She shook her head at him. "No, but I am not leaving him there." She said, before turning to the green owners of the ship. "You look after him. Wilfred Mott, one of the best men I have ever met. Any harm comes to him, I'm coming for you." She told them, before slamming her hand down on the vortex manipulator.
Kari's stomach turned, like it always did when she travelled that way. It was still better than being pulled through all of time and space, but TARDIS travel was always her favourite. "My Lord Doctor." Kari heard a voice say, before realising she was just out of sight of everyone else. That worked to her advantage as she was able to remove the vortex manipulator and stash it back in her bag. "My Lord Master. We are gathered… for the end." Everything that had happened, all the feelings that were flowing from the Doctor and the Master were mixing with Kari's own emotions. She could feel the time vortex building inside of her, protecting her, but also wanting to run free. Kari clenched her fists and marched into the room, allowing herself to be noticed. All eyes went to her in an instant. "My Lady Angel, at last." The voice that had been speaking was Rassilon, the President of the Time Lords.
She was trying her very best to keep herself in control, to hold back the time vortex. Kari planned to march right over there to the Time Lords, to let all her anger and frustration go at them. But someone stopped her. The Master grabbed a hold of her waist, pulling her back, slightly shaking his head at her. Why was he stopping her? She gave him a questioning look, but he just pulled her further back with him, away from Rassilon, away from where the Doctor was lying in the middle of the room, surrounded by glass.
"Listen to me. You can't!" The Doctor said, addressing the Time Lords, pulling himself up off the ground a little, the gun in his hand. There were cuts all over him, his hands, his face, even his clothes were torn from the fall that he had made getting there. The ceiling he had crashed through had been made entirely of glass and it was now in pieces all over the floor.
But Rassilon wasn't listening. "It is a fitting paradox that our salvation comes at the hands of our most infamous child."
The Doctor scoffed. "Oh, he's not saving you." The Doctor warned him. Kari had warned him, warned him that with the Time Lords returning there was something more that he Master wanted now. "Don't you realise what he's doing?"
"Hey, no, hey!" The Master called, one arm wrapped around Kari while he used the hand on the other to point at the Doctor. "That's mine. Hush. Look around you. I've transplanted myself into every single human being. But who wants a mongrel little species like them? Because now I can transplant myself into every single Time Lord. Oh, yes, Mr President, sir, standing there all noble and resplendent and decrepit, think how much better you're going to look… as me!" Rassilon didn't look impressed, and the Master frowned when he saw the man raise his metal glove. The moment he unclenched it, the heads of all the humans in the room, the ones who had changed into the Master, began to shake. "No, no don't…! No, no, stop it! No, no, no, don't!" It was easy to see that the Master was not happy with the way that things had gone.
When it all stopped, everyone was back. They were all human and different again. "On your knees, mankind." Rassilon ordered. Everyone obeyed and did as they were told. All of the humans in the room got on their knees in seconds.
But the Master wasn't ready to give it up yet. "No, that's fine, that's good, because you said salvation." He said, a hint of desperation breaking through in his voice. "I still saved you, don't forget that."
Rassilon was not paying attention to the Master anymore, he had much bigger things to be thinking about. "The approach begins."
Now the Master was confused. "Approach of what?"
Kari was done with it all, she was filled with too much now and she elbowed him in the gut, getting him to release her. "Something is returning!" She growled at him. "When are you ever going to listen! This was the prophecy. Not someone, something!" She practically yelled at him before marching over to the Doctor and kneeling down beside him, checking that he was okay. She could tell by the look on his face that he was conflicted about her presence. He was glad she was there and okay, but wished she was somewhere else so she didn't have to go through all of this.
"What is it?" The Master was still totally clueless.
This time it was the Doctor who answered him. "They're not just bringing back the species. It's Gallifrey. Right here, right now." Then the whole palace shook. Not just the building but the whole planet. Outside there was something new in the sky, something that hadn't been there before. Something massive and burning orange. Like a giant fall of fire. The only people who knew exactly what was going on were in the Naismith mansion while the rest of the world went into full on panic.
A/N: The end if finally here. Only one more chapter left for this story line. Since writing this, I have been thinking more about the future, one that includes the Master. There are so many ideas teeming in my head that it is hard to get them all organised. I'm hoping that I can figure it all out soon.
I've been having a little writers block recently, but rest assured I am working on the next story line.
A big thank you to all of those who take the time to leave a review, I really do appreciate it and it is nice to know that are so long people are still enjoying reading this as much as I enjoy writing it.
So, until the next time!
Pippa.